Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 82

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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 Zero of the Awakener Special School
Episode 82
During childhood, when Ji-u experienced frequent rampages, there was another side effect—not quite a side effect, but one nonetheless.
It was that memories around the time of a rampage would sometimes vanish.
This also applied when his condition was poor.
Whenever he suffered a bad cold, the memories before and after would grow hazy—it had happened more than once.
Because of this, Ji-u’s childhood memories had gaps scattered throughout them.
Of course, it wasn’t quite amnesia, so he didn’t think it particularly inconvenient.
As he grew older, his rampages stabilized in their own way, and such incidents ceased to happen.
Thinking back on it now… that day…
The day his mother’s friend, the Ballerina Aunt, had visited the house—Ji-u hadn’t been feeling well then either.
That’s why his memory of that day was especially foggy, but not completely gone.
“You still remember the promise, don’t you? We said we’d have our children marry each other later.”
“Oh my. When exactly was that promise made?”
“A promise is a promise. So what do you think? Our son. It’s a shame about Ji-hyo, but he’s not a bad match, is he?”
That day, the Ballerina Aunt sat in the Living Room with his mother, speaking of such things.
Ji-u, who had slipped quietly out of his room, was hiding in the shrubbery of the Garden, peeking through the living room window.
But the Aunt’s son, who should have been beside her, wasn’t clearly visible from this spot.
The Ballerina Aunt’s son and Ji-hyo were to marry? Then he desperately wanted to see that boy at least once.
If he stood on his toes just a little more, he thought he might catch a glimpse…
While he was straining like that among the shrubs, he heard rustling from behind.
And there.
He was.
“Ah…”
Eyes the clear violet of a violet flower.
A small boy who looked about his own age.
Ji-u’s heart sank.
His mother had told him to stay in his room. If she found out he’d snuck out like this and run into someone other than family, he’d be scolded badly.
It hadn’t even been that long since he’d caught this cold, and going barefoot all the way to the Garden was something that absolutely couldn’t be discovered.
Suddenly gripped with fear, Ji-u turned to flee from that place.
But then he saw it.
“Your knee…”
Blood was trickling from the boy’s knee—the one with those beautiful violet eyes.
He must have fallen while playing in the Garden.
Yet the boy didn’t cry or shout; instead, he was quietly touching the wound with his fingers.
‘He seems younger than me…’
He couldn’t know his exact age, but the boy’s frame was very small, and he was much shorter than Ji-u.
Watching such a young child bear the wound with such composure struck Ji-u as rather admirable.
Was he the child the Ballerina Aunt had brought?
Whatever the case, the sight of this small boy’s injury tugged at something in Ji-u’s chest.
Besides, he had the ability to heal a wound like that in the blink of an eye.
‘Should I fix it?’
The thought came suddenly.
But he’d been told not to use his Core carelessly…
The hesitation stretched on.
The Ji-u of now might have simply walked past.
But back then, Ji-u still didn’t know the secret of his own birth, and even if he had, he was too young to worry about such things.
A small cough escaped him.
Ji-u made up his mind and stepped briskly toward the nameless boy.
Perhaps startled by the sudden approach of a stranger, the boy’s body tensed.
But he didn’t retreat.
Ji-u crouched down in front of him.
“Stay still.”
Then he unwound the handkerchief from around his neck—the one his mother had wrapped like a scarf because the day was cold.
Placing the handkerchief over the boy’s knee, Ji-u laid his small palm on top of it.
“…What are you doing?”
“Shh. This is a magic handkerchief.”
“Magic?”
As the boy tilted his head in confusion, Ji-u quietly focused all his attention on his palm.
Soon a faint light began to flow from his hand.
In the blink of an eye, the boy’s wound was healed.
“There. All done.”
Ji-u stood up.
The boy stared at Ji-u and then at his own knee, his eyes wide with wonder.
“You can’t tell anyone that I did this. Understand?”
At those words, the boy, though still wide-eyed, nodded obediently.
“…What’s your name?”
Just before leaving the Garden, the boy called out from behind him.
“Ji-hyo.”
Ji-u answered without hesitation.
“I’m Seol Ji-hyo.”
…What happened after that?
Probably the sound of adults coming from the living room sent him scrambling out of there in a hurry.
That night his cold worsened, and by the next morning he found himself being dragged by his parents to the hospital.
Fortunately, the fact that he’d used his Core never reached the adults’ ears…
But he probably spent weeks after that recuperating.
Yes, that was all of Ji-u’s memory of that day.
‘But was there something more that happened that day?’
No matter how hard he wracked his brain, nothing more came to mind.
Ji-u glanced at Nam Rae-in in front of him.
‘…Even if Nam Rae-in remembered that day, he wouldn’t know it was me.’
When they were younger, Ji-u and Ji-hyo looked even more alike than they did now.
Their parents had confused them so often that they always distinguished them by using different-colored Hair Pins.
There’s no way the five-year-old Nam Rae-in, meeting them for the first time, could have told Ji-hyo and Ji-u apart at a glance.
‘But Nam Rae-in keeps saying things with such loaded meaning…’
The thought kept creeping in: maybe…
“You, by any chance…”
Ji-u stopped abruptly, pressing his lips shut.
He’d been about to ask if Nam Rae-in remembered him.
But what good would that do?
If Nam Rae-in said he remembered. If he said he knew Ji-u wasn’t Ji-hyo.
‘Then what?’
Nam Rae-in acted as though he knew something, yet he’d never directly questioned Ji-u’s identity.
He could be playing dumb despite knowing.
Or perhaps all of this was simply Ji-u’s paranoia.
So there was no need for him to broach the subject first, was there?
‘Nam Rae-in isn’t what matters right now anyway.’
That’s right.
There was something more important than Nam Rae-in.
He still hadn’t uncovered the truth behind the bullying Ji-hyo had suffered.
“Around a month ago, when I went to the Annex to check on Miss Ji-hyo’s condition, someone had gotten there before me.”
“It was a student in a Gaon Academy uniform.”
So-young’s voice suddenly brushed across his ear.
And then.
“How pathetic—coming home half-crippled after getting bullied at school. That’s your fault.”
The color drained from his entire body.
Ji-u’s lower lip trembled as he bit down hard.
“What are you thinking about?”
A shadow fell over Ji-u.
When he looked up, Nam Rae-in’s face had drawn so close that Ji-u flinched, his shoulders shaking.
“…What? Why are you suddenly getting in my face like that?”
Nam Rae-in’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You—”
His shallow breath tickled Ji-u’s lips like it might touch them.
“Stop making that face, will you? Didn’t you hear me?”
“What?”
“You’re scowling like crazy right now.”
As Ji-u reflexively brought his hand to his brow, Nam Rae-in burst out laughing.
“Smile a little, why don’t you? You never smile.”
That sweet vanilla scent that always lingered around him suddenly receded far away.
“Let’s go eat. Is there anything you’d like?”
…Ji-u still hadn’t answered Nam Rae-in’s earlier question.
But he didn’t seem inclined to press the matter any further.
“Hmm? If you don’t have anything in mind, we’ll just go eat whatever.”
Nam Rae-in tilted his head as if prompting an answer.
Ji-u, who had been thinking for a moment, murmured quietly.
“…I’d rather go back.”
“Go back? Without eating?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? Am I boring?”
Nam Rae-in pouted slightly.
Ji-u looked down at the ugly Doll in his hands. On his lap lay the Photograph he’d taken with Nam Rae-in just moments ago.
“No, it was fun.”
“Then why are you saying you want to go back?”
“…Because it was fun.”
To be honest, today, like the festival day, he’d been able to forget pointless thoughts thanks to Nam Rae-in. That was the truth.
But…
“I can’t afford to have fun.”
The words spilled out before he could stop them, and his fingers trembled as they toyed with the Doll.
By the time Ji-u realized his slip, it was already too late. Once words left his mouth, they couldn’t be taken back.
“What do you mean by that?”
Nam Rae-in asked, but Ji-u didn’t answer.
He couldn’t answer.
“Seol Ji-hyo?”
Sensing something was wrong, Nam Rae-in lowered his face slightly to examine Ji-u’s expression.
Ji-u bowed his head more deeply so Nam Rae-in couldn’t see his face.
‘What am I doing right now?’
Just hearing the news that Ji-hyo was hurt felt like the world was collapsing.
But seeing it with his own eyes was a world apart from merely imagining it.
When he first saw Ji-hyo—unconscious, trapped in a coma—the first emotion that welled up wasn’t anger or sadness.
Looking back on it now, he thought he could finally understand what that feeling had been.
Guilt.
Self-loathing toward someone who had been subtly enjoying school life.
“Why are you like this?”
…It was the same even now.
Though Nam Rae-in had dragged him here by force, roaming the Campus with him had actually been quite enjoyable.
The ice cream tasted good, and even the badly taken Photograph was a novel experience in its own way.
This Doll too…
He’d actually wanted to try grabbing for it himself. He was confident that with just a little practice, he could do far better than Nam Rae-in.
But still.
Just yesterday he’d gone to see Ji-hyo lying in that coma…
‘Is it right for me to be doing this?’
That guilt kept pressing down on his shoulders.
It was then.
“Seol Ji-hyo.”
Squeeze.
Nam Rae-in suddenly reached out and cradled both of Ji-u’s cheeks in his hands.
“Look at me.”
“…!”
He turned Ji-u’s face toward him in one swift motion.

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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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