Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 71

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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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Awakener Special School, Rank 0
Chapter 71
The figure that emerged from the darkness was a face Ji-u knew well—Nam Rae-in.
Befitting the festival, his appearance was more vibrant than usual. There was face paint on his cheeks and a headband from who knows where.
But Ji-u wasn’t in the mood to quibble over such things, so he simply pretended not to notice.
He’d hoped Nam Rae-in would pick up on the hint and leave, but instead, he drew closer.
“I saw you bolt out of the Grand Hall like you’d suddenly remembered something you forgot.”
……
“I was wondering if something was wrong, so I followed you. Instead, I find you here looking pathetic.”
From the way he was acting, it didn’t seem like he’d be leaving anytime soon.
Ji-u subtly slipped Seol Ji-hyo’s letter from his hand into his pocket, and reluctantly answered.
“…I just came to watch the fireworks.”
“Alone?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, that’s pitiful.”
At his light, joking tone, Ji-u’s brows drew together sharply.
“You’re alone too.”
“Me? I’m doing it on purpose.”
“So am I.”
“Really?”
That’s it.
Right now, he didn’t want to deal with anyone. So he swallowed the sigh that was escaping and turned to leave.
“Then how about two loners hang out together?”
Nam Rae-in’s voice caught Ji-u’s ankle—or so it felt.
Ji-u answered curtly.
“I’m not in the mood for jokes right now.”
“It’s not a joke.”
“Joke or not, I’m not playing with you.”
“Why? It’d be fun.”
Dogged as Nam Rae-in was, Ji-u eventually stopped in his tracks and turned to face him.
Boom—!
A burst of fireworks lit up right then, illuminating his platinum hair brilliantly.
“I’ll show you something good.”
“…What’s so good about it?”
“Hmm, something you’d like?”
“Since when do you know what I like?”
Nam Rae-in grinned and pointed somewhere off into the distance.
“Come and see for yourself.”
* * *
Step by step, step by step.
Two footfalls with slightly different rhythms overlapped yet didn’t quite match in the darkness.
Though he’d been half-forced into following Nam Rae-in, Ji-u’s mind was clearly occupied elsewhere.
On the letter carefully folded in his pocket—Seol Ji-hyo’s letter.
“What are you doing? We’re here.”
……Ah.
Nam Rae-in’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
They’d somehow arrived at the Annex Building near the Lake Shore.
The vacant building they’d borrowed briefly during the Special Class’s training camp.
“Is it okay to just walk in here without permission?”
“Of course not.”
“Then shouldn’t we leave?”
“As long as we don’t get caught.”
……
It occurred to him that there was no point in saying anything to this guy anymore. And he wasn’t in the mood anyway.
Ji-u followed him, half-resigned.
They eventually arrived at the top floor of the Annex Building—the rooftop.
Clank.
Nam Rae-in opened the iron door and gestured to Ji-u as if this place were his own home.
“Come in.”
As Ji-u stepped onto the rooftop, the open night air brushed against his face.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
‘I wonder where he’s taking me, and it’s here of all places…’
But before he could voice the complaint welling up in his throat,
“What do you think?”
Nam Rae-in, who had been walking ahead, turned back at that moment.
Boom—!
The sky blazed brilliantly bright, nearly blinding.
“!”
A bluish light like snow flowers poured down behind his back like the Milky Way itself.
Nam Rae-in, smiling, looked as if he were standing in the light itself.
“The fireworks are better to watch from here.”
His curved smile and slightly narrowed eyes glistened, painted by the sparkling fireworks.
Ji-u forgot to answer and walked toward the railing as though bewitched.
…He was right.
The view from here was completely different from below.
The fireworks that had been half-obscured by the roaring campfire and the milling crowd unfurled across the night sky in their fullest glory.
Blue and lavender light mingled and burst forth once more—boom—
Nam Rae-in, who had walked to the railing alongside Ji-u, spoke.
“Didn’t I tell you? That you’d like it.”
Fireworks cascaded softly over his shoulders.
The light that painted the sky even reached his bright blonde hair.
……His boastful tone was a bit irritating, but he had to admit what was true.
Ji-u’s heart was captured by the sight before him.
The complicated thoughts that had been churning in his head moments before seemed to empty out a little, thanks to the fireworks bursting endlessly across the sky.
‘Did he deliberately bring me here?’
If so… why?
Still gazing at the sky, Ji-u turned his head slightly to look at Nam Rae-in.
Sensing his gaze, Nam Rae-in tilted his head lightly and smiled.
“You’ve never seen something like this before, have you?”
“…How can you be sure whether this is my first time?”
“Just a feeling.”
Vague, yet unmistakably confident—that was his answer.
Now that Ji-u thought about it, Nam Rae-in had always been this way.
Acting as though he knew him well. As if he understood everything.
It made sense, since they’d been engaged and had known each other since childhood, but……
‘Is that all there is to it?’
For some time now, he’d felt a strange sense of incongruity.
Like that time Nam Rae-in had offered him Soda-flavored Candy instead of Banana Milk, as he used to.
A disconnect. A discordance.
Whenever Ji-u was with Nam Rae-in, an inexplicable, unnatural feeling kept surfacing.
And yet—
Nam Rae-in was undoubtedly kind.
It was a gentleness different from Han-gyeol’s, harder to notice, but Ji-u could feel it.
Was that, as Nam Rae-in himself said, simply because he loved Seol Ji-hyo?
“…Why do you like me?”
The question tumbled out before his brain even registered it.
Nam Rae-in, whom he’d expected to be at least somewhat taken aback by the sudden question, remained instead perfectly calm.
With his arms resting on the railing, he gazed up at the night sky.
“There’s no particular reason.”
“…No reason?”
“Yeah, I fell for you at first sight.”
……
“You don’t remember the day we first met, do you?”
For a moment, words failed him.
‘The day we first met?’
From what Ji-u could recall, Nam Rae-in’s mother had first brought him around when he was five years old.
A large house with a garden attached.
Nam Rae-in had come to that place, where Ji-u lived with his family, holding his mother’s hand.
But Ji-u wasn’t a hundred percent certain that was the first time Seol Ji-hyo and Nam Rae-in had met.
So he hedged.
“That was when I was too young. How could I remember that?”
“I remember.”
Boom—
Another firework burst overhead.
The violet eyes reflecting the light curved softly, as if recalling something.
“I remember all of it.”
Ji-u’s lips parted slightly.
He didn’t understand.
The moment his eyes met Nam Rae-in’s, his chest trembled just a little.
Was it because of the fireworks blooming in the sky, this dreamlike atmosphere? Or was it the unusual intensity in Nam Rae-in’s gaze, devoid of his usual playfulness?
In that moment, even the sound of the fireworks bursting overhead seemed to fade away. As if he might be drawn into those violet eyes.
Ji-u unconsciously looked away.
“…If you like me that much, why did you agree to the engagement dissolution?”
Then came a soft laugh.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Why are there so many questions? Have you finally taken an interest in me?”
“……! No, I haven’t.”
“Liar.”
At Ji-u’s protest, Nam Rae-in’s laughter deepened.
Realizing he’d been toyed with again, Ji-u glared at him with slight irritation.
Boom—!
Pure white light blazed again, spreading across the night sky like the Milky Way itself.
Beneath that brilliant light, Nam Rae-in’s joyful laughter echoed.
“…Stop laughing.”
“Why? I’m laughing because I’m happy.”
Ji-u let out an exasperated sigh, finding him troublesome, but he clearly felt it.
The heaviness in his chest, the chaos in his mind—both had lightened considerably.
For just this moment, he could forget everything.
The beautiful fireworks painting the sky.
The trivial, meaningless conversation flowing between them.
The smell of campfire smoke drifting on the night breeze, and the faint cheers of people carried from far away.
All of it, if only for a time, made him forget everything.
Ji-u thought to himself.
‘Much as I hate to admit it.’
……Perhaps this, too, was thanks to Nam Rae-in.

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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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