Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 8

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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
Episode 8
“Hey, are you insane?! Why the hell are you doing this?!”
The boy drenched in cola erupted in fury.
Grade 1, Class 2—Kim Yeon-hee. A classmate, as it turned out.
“Sorry, wasn’t it you?”
“…What?”
“You called me a cockroach before. If it wasn’t you, I apologize.”
……
“But it was you.”
His eyes gleamed with certainty and conviction.
For a moment, words failed her. It was the stark contrast with the Seol Ji-hyo she’d known until now.
Yet the boy before her was unmistakably Seol Ji-hyo. Which meant there was no need to be afraid at all.
A slightly raised voice would make him flinch and back away—she was certain of it.
Kim Yeon-hee smiled mockingly and spoke.
“Crazy comes in all shapes and sizes, doesn’t it?”
The warmth drained from Ji-hyo’s face.
He hadn’t been provoked by her words just now.
Kim Yeon-hee stood there with crossed arms, looking at him as though she’d just heard something amusing.
On her wrist, a bracelet with a four-leaf clover pendant gleamed.
That bracelet. He’d seen it before, in a video.
No doubt about it. This girl was……
“So I called you a cockroach—what’s the problem with that, huh?”
Mistaking his silence for fear, Kim Yeon-hee’s voice took on fresh confidence.
Ji-hyo, who had been staring fixedly at the four-leaf clover pendant dangling from her wrist, lifted his gaze and met her eyes directly.
“…Then is it a problem that I poured cola on someone who insults me to my face like that?”
Crash!
Ji-hyo dropped the empty can onto the floor.
“…What?”
“You heard me call a cockroach from behind, and you just laughed and walked on by. Is that right?”
Crunch—the sound of the empty can being crushed underfoot. Ji-hyo looked down at Kim Yeon-hee.
“Why don’t you answer?”
Kim Yeon-hee’s shoulders jerked. It was a reflex.
“Did you just flinch from Seol Ji-hyo?”
“She’s scared. She’s actually scared.”
Kim Yeon-hee’s brow furrowed sharply.
She didn’t want to lose face in a place like this. Not in front of someone like Seol Ji-hyo.
Kim Yeon-hee’s voice grew louder.
“Did you hit your head in an accident or something?”
“Just my head?”
“What’s with this attitude since earli—”
Whoosh!
Kim Yeon-hee swung her hand.
But it was caught helplessly by Ji-hyo’s grip.
“Damn it, let go!”
“You don’t get to be the only one cursing.”
Holding her wrist, Ji-hyo leaned his face closer.
“So stop spewing insults like some dog.”
His voice was cold in a way that didn’t seem like Seol Ji-hyo at all.
As if in response, the cola can lying on the floor suddenly crumpled with a sharp sound.
‘…What?’
Kim Yeon-hee’s eyes flicked to the side. The can that had been lying still on the floor—why had it suddenly…?
But there was no time to worry about that.
“It was you. Jo Won.”
“What do you—”
“The day I got bitten by an Infected Being, you went down into the Abyss with me. Didn’t you?”
“What crazy nonsense is this?”
“Answer me. Were you there or not?”
“How far back are you dragging up some old story?! What are you going to do about it—call the police?”
Ji-hyo let out a bitter laugh.
“It doesn’t end there.”
Crack!
Her wrist twisted painfully in his grip.
Other students had begun swarming around them like a cloud of insects.
“Ohhh……”
“What’s going on?”
“Hey, they’re fighting!”
Kim Yeon-hee’s face flushed crimson, stained with cola and shame.
Right now, she stood before everyone—soaked in cola, wrist gripped by Seol Ji-hyo—a picture of helplessness.
But the worst part was—
She couldn’t break free from his grip.
He didn’t seem to be applying much force, but what kind of grip strength did he have? How could it be so overwhelming?
“…Hey, but seriously—Seol Ji-hyo’s changed. His expression looks totally different.”
“No idea. I’ve never been in the same class as him. What was he like before?”
“Didn’t you notice him getting bullied? Back in eighth grade, those kids even cut his hair with scissors and he didn’t say a word.”
“No way……”
The murmurs grew louder.
“What’s all this commotion? Is this a street market, huh?!”
A passing teacher noticed the disturbance and pushed through the crowd.
The student affairs director.
Even at his arrival, Ji-hyo didn’t release Kim Yeon-hee’s wrist.
Rather, he leaned in deeper, whispering against her ear.
“I’m looking forward to the next time we go down into the Abyss.”
……!
“I hope we end up in the same group. You and me.”
Snap!
The four-leaf clover bracelet on Kim Yeon-hee’s wrist suddenly snapped, as if cut by invisible scissors.
The pendant and beads that had been attached to the bracelet fell, scattering across the corridor floor.
“You two, step back this instant. What are you doing in the hallway?”
Only at the teacher’s reprimand did Ji-hyo slowly release his hand.
Kim Yeon-hee, eyes reddened, seized her wrist.
Clear marks from his fingers. The bones where he’d gripped her throbbed painfully.
“Explain yourselves. What is this fighting about? Huh?!”
“I haven’t done anything wrong, sir.”
Ji-hyo replied calmly.
“What? Then why all this chaos!”
“She started it. I just gave her back what she gave.”
The teacher then turned his gaze to Kim Yeon-hee beside him.
“Is that true?”
Kim Yeon-hee, massaging her crumpled wrist, glanced back toward Ji-hyo.
The moment their blue eyes met, her shoulders trembled involuntarily.
She let her head drop, and her lips clamped shut.
……
Her lips wouldn’t open.
Damn it, they simply wouldn’t.
* * *
‘……I’m exhausted.’
Ji-hyo returned to the Dormitory at 5 p.m.
Of all times, such an incident had to happen in the hallway.
– Yeon-hee, don’t let something like this happen again. You’re classmates—you should get along well.
– ……Yes, sir.
After that, Kim Yeon-hee crossed the hallway quickly without even meeting Ji-hyo’s eyes.
It hadn’t satisfied him entirely, but an escalation was something Ji-hyo wanted to avoid as well.
That girl, Kim Yeon-hee, seemed to lack courage more than he’d expected.
Conversely, the thought that Ji-hyo had suffered such humiliation at the hands of such an unremarkable person infuriated him.
…In any case, he’d made an example of her now, so she’d be careful going forward. If she had any sense, that is.
That aside—
‘I think I acted too conspicuously without meaning to.’
But it couldn’t be helped.
The moment he heard someone insulting Ji-hyo, his vision went red.
…And that bracelet.
The bracelet glinting on Kim Yeon-hee’s wrist—seeing it had sent ice through his veins.
‘I don’t know. Somehow I’ll figure it out.’
The sudden weight of exhaustion pulled down upon him from all the thinking.
It had been an incredibly long day.
After entering That House at six years old, this was his first time outside—it made sense that he’d be worn out.
‘And I used my Core twice today. Maybe that’s why I feel so drowsy.’
He’d ended up using it twice, after all.
Come to think of it, that injured boy earlier—he’d made it back to the Dormitory all right, hadn’t he?
As he drifted through these scattered thoughts, his eyelids grew heavier.
Just a brief rest. Let me close my eyes for a moment.
Then I’ll wake up and sort through my thoughts a bit more……
“Gasp!”
When his eyes snapped open, it was already the next morning.
He checked the wall clock in a panic—the hands pointed to 6 a.m.
How many hours had he slept? Had he been dead to the world for at least twelve hours or more?
How long had it been since he’d slept for so long? He couldn’t stay in bed any longer.
After finishing his preparations and leaving the Dormitory, Ji-hyo checked the time again.
7 a.m.
First period wouldn’t start for two hours. It seemed awfully early to arrive……
Well, there was nothing wrong with getting there early.
If he showed up during the rush, he might have another unpleasant experience.
Since he still wasn’t familiar with the campus layout, he figured arriving early was reasonable enough.
‘…It’s quiet.’
At this hour, the school building’s entrance stood silent. Of course—not many students would arrive this early.
Ji-hyo approached the shoe rack just inside the front entrance on the first floor.
He was about to open the locker door to change into his indoor shoes.
“Kyaaaah……!”
A scream from somewhere brought his footsteps to a halt.

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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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