Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 5

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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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Ranking 0 of the Awakened Person Special School
Chapter 5
He hadn’t expected Ji-woo to greet him first—his normally vacant gaze widened slightly.
But that was all.
“…Hello.”
He tossed back the reply as though discarding it, then withdrew his gaze just as quickly. As if he’d never been looking this way from the start.
The exchange was mercifully brief, yet the data was sufficient.
‘That’s not the voice I heard in the video.’
He couldn’t say with certainty, but this handsome classmate seemed highly likely to be someone who hadn’t appeared on camera.
In other words, not the ‘target.’
Ji-woo gazed steadily at those clean, pale cheeks for a moment.
…….
Then he too withdrew his gaze, as though nothing had happened.
* * *
First period began.
The first class was physical education.
Good news to hear.
Ji-woo had been receiving treatment since childhood for Core complications, and as a result he’d undergone specialized home training. He was quite confident in his physical abilities.
…But as the saying goes, nothing ever goes quite that smoothly.
Finding the Changing Room to switch into gym clothes proved the first obstacle.
“Excuse me, do you know where the Changing Room is?”
…….
No one from the same class offered him a proper answer.
In the end, Ji-woo had no choice but to locate the Changing Room on his own.
‘I think the others were heading this way earlier.’
He finally found the Changing Room and quickly changed into his gym clothes, but…….
The trouble didn’t end there.
‘Where did everyone go?’
When Ji-woo emerged from the Changing Room after preparing, the hallway was already empty.
He’d intended to follow the others by guessing where they’d gone, but that plan failed.
There was nothing for it. He’d have to find the Sports Field on his own.
‘Was it this way…?’
Why was this building so impossibly vast?
Simply navigating out of it left him drained.
In fact, he’d arrived on the island by boat just this morning.
There were easily a dozen buses running through the campus. Gaon boasted grounds so overwhelmingly expansive.
From elementary to high school, roughly nine hundred students total. More than a hundred faculty and staff.
Beyond that, specialized trainers for combat training, purification personnel managing the Abyss, medical staff overseeing student health.
Add to that security teams, facilities maintenance, logistics support, and other specialized personnel…….
‘About two thousand people, perhaps?’
Or possibly more.
Even this High School Building alone was so vast that ‘fortress’ seemed a more apt description than ‘school.’
‘Just where am I?’
When he reached the first floor, he struggled to locate an exit.
He would have stopped someone to ask, but at this hour with classes underway, there was no one wandering about.
‘Ah, found it.’
Fortunately, a door leading outside appeared in the distance. Once he went through there, he should be able to spot the Sports Field.
Ji-woo had just stepped outside the High School Building and was looking around for the Sports Field
when he heard a faint whimper from somewhere.
It was a child’s voice.
Ji-woo stopped and looked around carefully.
‘…Where is that coming from?’
A tall fir tree spreading its boughs beside the entrance to the High School Building.
Beneath it sat a small shadow, crouched down.
A boy, perhaps ten years old. He had what looked like scraped skin on the back of his hand, whether from falling out of the tree or tumbling down.
‘Is he an elementary student? Why would such a young child be at the High School Building?’
There was no guardian visible nearby.
After a moment’s hesitation, Ji-woo walked purposefully toward the boy.
“……?”
Clear, round eyes like silver marbles looked up at Ji-woo.
Ji-woo crouched down in front of him and extended his hand.
“Your hand. Let me see it for a moment.”
“…….”
The boy simply stared at Ji-woo with wide eyes.
Was he wary? Or startled by a stranger’s appearance?
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Come on, let me see.”
At his second request, the boy hesitantly held out his hand.
Ji-woo gently placed his palm over the boy’s wound.
A soft warmth bloom….
The skin’s surface grew gently warm.
A faint, pale light seeped from Ji-woo’s palm covering the injury.
He withdrew his hand and asked the boy.
“Doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?”
The boy stared at his own hand in astonishment.
“Huh……?”
Where moments before there had been scraped skin, it was now clean as though it had never happened.
“How did you…?”
…What?
The boy looked at Ji-woo with those round eyes.
Something felt odd about his speech pattern for a child.
“And what’s the matter with your hand?”
The boy’s gaze had shifted to Ji-woo’s hand.
Perfectly intact until now, Ji-woo’s hand bore the exact same wound.
As though the boy’s injury had been copied directly onto it.
“It’s fine. It’ll heal soon.”
Ji-woo thrust his hand into his pocket.
“The pain?”
“There is none.”
His manner of speaking was rather presumptuous, or perhaps strange…….
In any case, a peculiar little fellow, but there was no time for this now.
“Good. Be more careful next time.”
Ji-woo rose without hesitation.
And as he turned to leave,
he suddenly remembered something important and turned back.
“Sorry, but do you happen to know where the Sports Field is?”
“……That way.”
“Thanks.”
In a flash.
Ji-woo promptly left the spot.
Left alone, the boy watched Ji-woo’s receding figure intently.
Then footsteps sounded from the opposite direction.
“There you are, sir. I’ve been looking everywhere.”
A man in a suit stood before the boy.
But the boy kept his gaze fixed on the direction where Ji-woo had disappeared as he spoke.
“Find out which grade and class that boy is in.”
* * *
Ji-woo arrived at the Sports Field about fifteen minutes into class.
“Ji-hyo, why are you so late? Class started forever ago.”
Ji-woo bowed to the scolding gym teacher.
“I’m sorry, I got lost on the way.”
“Lost? Now that I think about it, didn’t you skip the entrance ceremony for the high school division?”
“Yes. Today is my first day.”
…….
The gym teacher sighed softly, apparently deciding not to lecture further.
Then he spoke in a slightly gentler tone.
“Today we’re doing a running evaluation. You can sit out if you’d like—what do you want to do?”
He was probably being considerate of Ji-hyo’s accident.
But.
“I’ll do it.”
Ji-woo decided to participate.
If today’s class counted toward his grade, he couldn’t skip it.
He’d thought that at an Awakened Person school there would be something more special, but…a simple running test wasn’t difficult at all.
The only problem was…….
“All right then. Go join the last group over there.”
His classmates had already finished dividing into groups.
Which meant no one had the option of choosing their group members anymore.
“Ugh, why did he have to come here…….”
His new groupmates made their displeasure obvious.
Amid their uncomfortable murmuring, Ji-woo calmly walked toward them.
Even after he’d found a seat, the murmurs didn’t stop.
“Hey, it’s not so bad. If Ji-hyo tanks, we actually benefit.”
“True. I was worried we’d get a low score since we’re with Yu-jin.”
…Yu-jin? He’d heard that name before somewhere.
When he turned his head, he spotted black hair sitting alone some distance away.
It was Moon Yu-jin, the one who’d been sitting next to him in the classroom.

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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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