Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 47

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School
Episode 47
Ji-woo excused himself to the others and followed Nam Rae-in out of the classroom.
They ended up in a small garden behind the High School Building.
The two of them sat on a bench, keeping a slight distance between them.
“Want some?”
Nam Rae-in held out a dented cream bread.
“It’s lunchtime, and you might be hungry.”
“…No thanks. I’m planning to eat a packed lunch in a bit.”
“Is that so?”
With a soft tear of the wrapper, Nam Rae-in bit into the bread.
Ji-woo stared at him intently.
“So, what did you call me out here for?”
“Did there always have to be a reason for us to talk?”
“…You promised we’d stop pretending we don’t know each other.”
“You did. Unilaterally, at that.”
Nam Rae-in popped the last bite of the bread into his mouth and brushed his hands lightly.
Beneath the sunlight, his violet eyes—more vivid than usual—turned toward Ji-woo.
“Are you still angry?”
……
“We went through that ordeal together. I took it as a reconciliation then. Wasn’t it?”
Is that how reconciliations work—fading away like this without proper closure?
He had no way of knowing. He’d never fought with anyone before, let alone made up.
‘What should I even say?’
Either way, he’d be seeing Nam Rae-in again in the Special Team. There was much he wanted to know about him, too.
In good ways and bad, Nam Rae-in was the only classmate saved in Ji-woo’s phone.
After a moment of deliberation, Ji-woo answered.
“At least, I have no intention of acting like strangers from now on.”
“Good thinking.”
Nam Rae-in smiled faintly.
“I was planning to act like I knew you even if you hated me anyway.”
“…What?”
Then why did you ask? Ji-woo’s brow narrowed slightly.
“I’ve been waiting a long time. For the day I could talk to you again.”
……
Sunlight filtered through the branches and fell onto Ji-woo’s forehead. At the same moment, Nam Rae-in’s hand extended smoothly.
—The scent of vanilla hand cream.
A hand marked with delicate blue veins, incongruous with his refined features, cast a large shadow over Ji-woo’s head.
“Stop that.”
“Huh?”
Smack. Ji-woo swatted his hand away.
“You were about to flick me on the forehead, weren’t you?”
“No, I was just blocking the sunlight.”
“Why would you block the sunlight?”
“Because you looked dazzled.”
“…?”
Ji-woo’s brow furrowed as if he couldn’t comprehend.
Even Lisa, the only one he’d grown close to since coming to school, had never done anything quite so strange.
“Ah, the mood was getting nice just then.”
“What mood?”
“That’s just how it is.”
“What is?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Why am I a kid? We’re the same age.”
……
……
As Ji-woo stared at him with a rigid expression, as if analyzing his behavioral logic, Nam Rae-in finally burst into laughter.
“You know you’re a little strange, right?”
“…I think you’re stranger.”
“Maybe.”
After laughing for a long moment, Nam Rae-in leaned his back against the bench and tilted his neck slowly toward the sky.
“Do you have time this weekend?”
…Suddenly?
Ah.
Was this what he’d heard called a “date proposal”? Could it really be that Ji-woo and Nam Rae-in had that kind of relationship…?
If so, did that text message he’d seen mean a breakup?
‘Wait, no. Wasn’t Ji-woo—I mean, wasn’t I supposed to like Bae Han-gyeol?’
In a brief moment, countless thoughts flooded his mind. Because he couldn’t respond immediately, Nam Rae-in turned his head sharply.
“I roughly know what you’re thinking, but it’s not that kind of thing.”
“Then—”
“You know Tae Ga-young? The captain. He said he wanted to throw you a Welcoming Ceremony this weekend.”
“A Welcoming Ceremony?”
“There’s a lake on the northwest side of campus. We’re gathering at the Annex Building nearby.”
With that, Nam Rae-in rose from the bench.
It seemed that was all he had to say.
Ji-woo, who had been lost in needless thoughts, finally relaxed his shoulders.
…A Welcoming Ceremony. Do we really have to do that?
‘To be honest, my condition isn’t great, and I was hoping to rest this weekend.’
Well, it should be fine soon enough anyway.
By the weekend, his shoulder wound should be completely healed.
“Understood. I’ll attend.”
“Okay.”
Nam Rae-in waved his hand and was taking a few steps away when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
“…?”
“The handkerchief didn’t get the blood out very well. Throw it away, and I’ll buy you a new one next time. This is my thanks.”
Whoosh.
Something flew through the air.
Acting on reflex, Ji-woo reached out and caught it.
‘This is—’
A butterfly keychain.
The very one Ji-woo had lost.
One wing was cracked, probably stepped on by someone, but there was no doubt this was his.
“How did you have this…?”
He snapped his head up.
But Nam Rae-in had already vanished.
* * *
“Ah, Ji-woo!”
As he returned to the classroom, Lisa was waiting and came bounding over.
“Sorry, I meant to come back soon, but the conversation went longer than expected.”
“It’s fine. It wasn’t that long anyway.”
Han-gyeol went ahead, urging them to hurry.
And so the four of them slipped out of the classroom and headed for the rooftop.
Somehow Lisa and Han-gyeol had taken the lead, with Ji-woo and Yoo-jin following behind.
“Remember that summer vacation assignment in elementary school—raising beetles? You must have gotten a really good grade on that, Lisa.”
“That… it kept growing, and the teacher mistook it for a cockroach at first, so actually the grade was kind of…”
“What? Did the teacher fix it later?”
“Yeah, fortunately…”
“What about other insects? Have you raised any others?”
“Crickets, dragonflies, wasps, spiders, and also…”
Lisa was shy in general, but with Bae Han-gyeol, the conversation flowed surprisingly naturally.
The one struggling to keep a conversation going was here—with Ji-woo and Yoo-jin.
Walking in silence all the way to the rooftop seemed worse than bringing up a topic.
With that thought, Ji-woo spoke first.
“Looks like the captain called us out for something this weekend.”
Having blurted it out without much thought, Moon Yoo-jin asked him.
“…Nam Rae-in told you?”
And his eyes—not on Ji-woo, but below, on Ji-woo’s hands.
Ah. That’s right; Ji-woo was still holding the butterfly keychain Nam Rae-in had given him.
Ji-woo quickly stuffed it into his pocket and answered.
“Yeah, Nam Rae-in did. Are you going too?”
Moon Yoo-jin’s gaze returned to what lay ahead.
“…I’m not going.”
“You don’t have to?”
“Unless it’s a mission, it doesn’t matter.”
Ah, right.
“I suppose. It’s called a Welcoming Ceremony, but honestly, we don’t even know what we’ll actually do there.”
But in that instant, Moon Yoo-jin walking beside him halted mid-step.
“Welcoming Ceremony?”
“You didn’t hear?”
“…Only up to that point.”
Yoo-jin fell silent for a moment.
Looking as if he was thinking about something, he took his eyes away slightly, then looked back at Ji-woo.
“You?”
“What?”
“…Are you going to participate?”
“Well, it’s my Welcoming Ceremony, so I have to go.”
……
Yoo-jin stared at Ji-woo.
Was there something he wanted to say?
When he looked at him like that, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“Yoo-jin, Ji-woo! Hurry!”
Han-gyeol’s voice called from behind.
“Yeah, we’re coming.”
Patter-patter.
Ji-woo hurried ahead.
Left alone, Yoo-jin fell into thought, his finger coming to his lips.
‘A Welcoming Ceremony…’
For Seol Ji-woo, a Welcoming Ceremony…
Come to think of it, he didn’t seem to have anything else to do this weekend.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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