Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 78

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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 78
“Why? Why that house?”
“We merely follow orders.”
“Ha…….”
Her voice trembled thin as a thread, breath coming fast and shallow.
“It’s always like this.”
There’s nothing I can do on my own terms.
“It was a lie from the start, wasn’t it?”
“…….”
“You never intended to let me meet Ji-hyo from the beginning. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“…….”
“Then why did you send me to that school? Why did you tell me to bring back scores on the exam?”
Why if it was going to be like this.
Why if it was going to be like this—.
Why did you keep me alive?
“Young miss? Young miss!”
The moment the secretary felt something off and urgently grasped Ji-u’s shoulder—
Shriek—!
The air around them sharpened violently.
It was the effect of the Core Ji-u possessed.
“……!”
The secretary’s body shrank back involuntarily.
The sensation of air transformed into needles, pricking her skin relentlessly.
Even the temperature seemed reversed; cold sweat trickled down her back like water.
He glanced uneasily at the fluorescent light flickering ominously overhead.
‘Is this… the Core of young miss Ji-u?’
He had only heard of it by rumor until now.
The girl before his eyes was an unintended masterwork born from a forbidden experiment.
A “creation” so perfect it shouldn’t exist in reality.
Behind closed doors, everyone referred to the young miss like this:
—The Unfortunate Jackpot.
Now, confronted with that Core in person, his entire body felt as though it were freezing over.
An overwhelming pressure that no ordinary Awakener could produce.
Despite no actual use of the Core, the surrounding reaction manifested merely through emotional disturbance…….
Indeed, the Chairman had good reason to keep it hidden.
This was not the domain of ordinary people,
nor of ordinary Awakeners.
“Take your hand away.”
“Young miss…….”
Ji-u let out a dry laugh.
“When did you start treating me that way?”
“…I understand the young miss’s feelings. However, the Chairman—.”
“What is there to understand?”
The moment the smile vanished from Ji-u’s lips.
“What could any of you possibly understand?”
Rumble…….
The surroundings began to shake.
The fluorescent light that had been precariously flickering burst with a pop and a hiss.
“Young miss!”
At someone’s voice, Ji-u froze mid-motion.
Arms quickly pulled her close in an embrace.
Even without turning around, she knew.
“……So-young?”
* * *
“Here, have a drink first.”
So-young had brought Ji-u to a small, sunlit room.
There, So-young handed her a glass of barley tea with ice.
Accepting the cup, Ji-u looked around.
“…Is this Ji-hyo’s room?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Why is it so empty?”
One single bed, one desk.
Though the year had changed long ago, the calendar on the wall was still frozen at last year’s date.
“As you know, young miss Ji-hyo spent most of her time living at the Dormitory, and during breaks she was mostly at your place. There’s no reason for the Family Home to have much in it.”
……Is that so?
No matter how one looked at it, the emptiness was such that one couldn’t call it an occupied room.
“But… young miss, did you use your Core?”
So-young’s gaze was fixed on Ji-u’s hands.
There, dried blood from Seol Ji-min had yet to be wiped away.
Ji-u quietly lowered her hands.
“I didn’t use it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
So-young asked nothing more and closed her mouth.
After taking a sip of barley tea, Ji-u set the cup down and stood.
A water droplet on the glass surface fell with a plop.
“So-young, take me back to school.”
“…What?”
“I heard. My house—grandfather sold it.”
“That’s…….”
“I don’t want to stay here anymore. I’m going back to school, so can you bring the car around?”
“…….”
So-young fell silent.
The face of Ji-u before her was far too dark.
“Young miss.”
So-young, hesitating, approached Ji-u.
Her expression, seen from slightly below, held the look of someone who had made a grave resolve.
“I may not be of great help… but since you’ve come this far, would you like to meet young miss Ji-hyo for a moment?”
“……! How could—?”
Ji-hyo was said to have gone to the university hospital… that she wasn’t at the Family Home now.
At that, So-young smiled bitterly and brought a finger gently to her lips.
“It’s a secret from everyone else.”
* * *
So-young led Ji-u to a dense Bamboo Forest located behind the Family Home.
Bamboo stalks, stretching straight toward the sky, stood as if leaning on each other’s shoulders.
Walking along the stone path with Ji-u, So-young spoke in a hushed voice.
“The Chairman moved young miss Ji-hyo to the Separate Building. A regular hospital wouldn’t do, since she mustn’t be noticed by others.”
It was an obvious matter.
While Ji-u was openly attending school as Seol Ji-hyo, the real Seol Ji-hyo had to hide in the shadows.
“Only a very few can access the Separate Building… or rather, only a handful even know of its existence. Myself, the Chairman, and perhaps the secretary.”
“But it’s okay to take me there?”
“What else can I do but go all the way?”
“Don’t joke. Grandfather trusts you deeply. This is a betrayal.”
So-young was the tutor Ji-u’s parents had personally hired for her.
But before that, she had been from the Seolhwa Pharmaceutical Research Institute—a senior researcher at that.
A youngest graduate of a prestigious university whose name was known to all. After joining, she had succeeded in project after significant project, a truly capable prodigy.
If not for her parents, she would be at the Chairman’s side now, continuing her research.
In fact, after her parents passed, the Chairman, who had long valued So-young dearly, had tried to bring her back to the research institute.
So-young refused and chose to remain at Ji-u’s side instead.
In exchange, she had reached an agreement to participate as a mentor in important research.
In other words, So-young stood in a precarious position, being both Ji-u’s confidant and the Chairman’s confidant.
So this act now was dangerous.
If the Chairman were to find out…….
“I’ll go in alone from here.”
“What?”
“If anyone happens to discover me, I’ll say I snuck in on my own. You go back.”
“…….”
So-young regarded Ji-u intently.
Then, a smile spread across her face.
“Young miss, thank you for worrying about me. But it’s all right. If it’s betrayal, I’ve already committed it long ago.”
So-young laughed quietly.
Was she speaking of refusing the Chairman’s offer and staying as Ji-u’s tutor?
Or of that day, when she secretly conveyed Ji-hyo’s memories to Ji-u without the Chairman’s knowledge?
Or perhaps…….
Informing Ji-u that Ji-hyo was undergoing treatment in the Separate Building?
“Hurry, young miss.”
So-young, who had already walked some distance ahead, gestured quietly in urging.
“…….”
In the end, Ji-u moved forward with So-young to the small building at the end of the stone path.
There stood the Separate Building, nestled as if hidden in the depths of the Bamboo Forest.
A low roof tiled with traditional eaves.
In the shallow pond ringed with round stones, no carp were visible. Instead, only a few withered lotus flowers floated.
After checking the surroundings, So-young spoke.
“Good—no one’s around. Come in.”
The interior of the Separate Building was filled with the bitter smell of medicament.
Ji-u stood before the sliding door covered with white mulberry paper.
Beside So-young, who nodded as if to say it was all right to open, Ji-u hesitantly brought her hand to the door.
Slide.
As she carefully entered the darkened room, at first nothing was visible.
Only the scent of some unnamed medicament seemed to vibrate in the air.
As she took slow steps forward, a bed came into view.
A wooden frame that suited the traditional house well, with hospital equipment arranged quietly around it.
A faint red light from the crude medical equipment flickered dimly.
Countless tubes connected to the equipment led to the bed…….
And at the end, there she was.

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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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