Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 83

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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 Ranking 0
Chapter 83
“What are you doing? Let it go.”
He’d thought Nam Rae-in was joking, as usual.
But the voice that followed was serious.
“Did you do something wrong?”
“…What?”
“Did you kill someone? Steal something? Or did you do something that’d get you arrested?”
“No. No, I didn’t.”
“Then why are you acting guilty?”
Ji-u, who’d been struggling in Nam Rae-in’s grip, went still.
“If you’re having fun, just enjoy it. What’s wrong with that?”
Those vivid violet eyes held his gaze without wavering.
“If it bothers you, blame me instead.”
“…Huh?”
“I dragged you out by force, didn’t I? Think of it as something that happened because you got caught up in what I was doing. That’ll work.”
Okay. End of discussion.
Nam Rae-in tapped the tip of Ji-u’s nose.
“What……”
Ji-u’s face went blank as he slowly brought his hand to his nose.
Nam Rae-in sprang up from the bench with exaggerated flair and stretched.
“Let’s go. I’m starving.”
Tap—
A playful hand reached out and caught Ji-u.
Then he dragged the boy along, stiff as a stone.
…Nam Rae-in.
This guy was always on his own terms.
Ji-u looked down at the hand gripping his sleeve.
His face was pretty, but his hands were rough and crude. His actions even more so.
This selfish hand.
Ji-u could easily have pushed it away.
Could have knocked it off and told him not to touch so carelessly.
But Ji-u didn’t.
Maybe.
Maybe I…
Maybe I secretly hoped that someone would drag me along like this once.
His somewhat forceful gesture.
Maybe that was, in some small way, a kind of comfort to Ji-u right now.
“So? What do you want to eat?”
Nam Rae-in turned around with a smirk.
In that moment, one fact became clear.
When looking at this guy, Ji-u felt foolish for all the thoughts running through his head.
“Hmm?”
His gaze clung insistently, as if urging an answer.
Ji-u hesitated, then finally opened his mouth.
“…Tteokbokki.”
“Tteokbokki? Is there a tteokbokki place around here?”
“…Yeah. In front of Incheon Port.”
“Oh, you want to take a boat out?”
Ji-u averted his gaze, uncomfortable before Nam Rae-in’s surprised expression.
“I was just throwing it out there. You can eat something else. Or not eat at all.”
“Did I say I didn’t want to go?”
Nam Rae-in tilted his head to meet his eyes and smiled.
“Let’s go. We’ll just go.”
The hand holding Ji-u tightened gently.
……It didn’t hurt.
Firm enough not to let him slip away.
And somehow even a little warm.
Pretending not to notice that warmth, Ji-u asked,
“…Are you really going?”
“I’m going, I said.”
Between strands of platinum hair falling softly, a tiny silver piercing gleamed like sand.
…He’d only mentioned it because he’d just thought of that tteokbokki place Seol Ji-hyo had mentioned back then.
What was strange was how Nam Rae-in agreed so readily without making a fuss.
Come to think of it, this guy.
He’d followed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Even down in the Abyss.
“If we don’t hurry, there won’t be any boat tickets left.”
Nam Rae-in pulled Ji-u along.
It was the first moment the two, who’d been walking with different strides all day, stood side by side.
“…But how long are you going to keep holding it?”
“Don’t you like it? Does it hurt?”
“It’s awkward.”
“Then, want to hold hands?”
“No.”
“Lame.”
Down a path bathed in sunset.
The long shadows of two figures receded at the same speed.
* * *
Monday, arriving in the summer heat.
A large crepe myrtle tree stood before the Special Unit Annex.
Deep pink petals, bloomed for summer, swayed in the hot wind.
Beside the mound of petals gathered in the shade.
A boy leaning against the tree slowly opened his eyes.
“……”
The boy, Mun Yu-jin, let his gaze drift slightly.
He felt no presence from beyond.
‘…Is it not time yet?’
True enough. There was still time before the Special Unit assembly.
So why had he left the Dormitory so much earlier than scheduled?
Just in case. What if Seol Ji-hyo were already there?
‘She seems like the type to come early anyway.’
It was always Mun Yu-jin’s job to unlock the classroom door first as class representative.
When he arrived that early, there was usually no one there—only occasionally Rim-sa.
But since Seol Ji-hyo started, there had been times she’d unlocked the classroom door before him.
Mun Yu-jin glanced at his smartphone.
‘Should I text her?’
The thought came and went quickly.
He realized he didn’t even have her contact information.
‘I’ll ask when she comes.’
Would that work?
‘…What if she doesn’t give it to me?’
The moment that thought crossed his mind, tension began to creep in.
It was strange. It wasn’t as if he’d never exchanged contact information with anyone before.
Of course, he was always the one who gave his number when asked, but reversing the roles—he didn’t expect it to make him this nervous.
While he fidgeted with his phone, someone approached abruptly.
“Hey.”
He looked up to find a less-than-welcome figure standing there.
…It was Nam Rae-in.
Yu-jin’s face hardened as he shoved his phone into his pocket.
“Wow, not even greeting me back.”
Rae-in sat down casually beside Yu-jin and started playing a mobile game.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
Ping, ping, ping.
The sound of the mobile game mixed with the summer breeze.
“Why don’t you come over here and sit? It’s cooler here than where you are.”
Nam Rae-in tapped the spot next to him.
Faced with that characteristic glib smile, the scene from the festival came to mind.
Seol Ji-hyo, coming out of an empty building with just the two of them.
…A faint displeasure flickered through him.
Mun Yu-jin looked away.
“…It’s fine. This spot’s okay.”
“Your arms are getting tanned in the sun.”
“I don’t care. This is better than over there.”
Mun Yu-jin took out the earbud case he’d placed in his front pocket.
Nam Rae-in, watching it intently, let out a soft laugh.
“Do I smell that bad?”
“……”
“Wow, you’re not even denying it. That’s a bit rough.”
He spoke without seeming wounded at all.
But to Yu-jin, Nam Rae-in’s attitude felt unpleasant.
Perhaps noticing his brow furrow slightly, Nam Rae-in quit his mobile game and lifted his chin.
“What’s making you so uncomfortable? Did I do something seriously wrong to you?”
“No.”
“Then am I really smelly?”
Sniff, sniff. Nam Rae-in pressed his nose to his sleeve and cocked his head. “Doesn’t seem like it.”
This conversation itself was exhausting.
Yu-jin sighed.
“Is there any reason for you and me to get along?”
“Is there any reason for you to be uncomfortable?”
“……”
“It’s not like we’re enemies, right? I’m just saying we should get along peacefully as members of the same Special Unit.”
“Seems like you can do that.”
“What can’t be done?”
Nam Rae-in tilted his head slightly.
Beneath his gleaming pale eyelashes, his violet eyes looked directly up at Mun Yu-jin.
Again.
That glib smile.
As if he were conscious only of Yu-jin while remaining utterly indifferent himself.
As if Yu-jin were beneath his notice.
…The irritation he’d been holding back surged up abruptly.
“You like Seol Ji-hyo, don’t you.”
Click.
Yu-jin put the earbud back in its case and shut the lid.
“I’m concerned about her too. So it’s only natural that you and I are uncomfortable with each other, isn’t it?”
“……”
That moment.
The air around them seemed to drop in temperature rapidly.
Even though nothing had actually changed.
“No buildup, just hitting me with it all of a sudden. You scared me.”
After a brief silence, Nam Rae-in smiled thinly.
“Being concerned is different from liking.”
“…Exactly. It means I’m curious about her. That I want to know her.”
“Then you don’t like her.”
“Maybe I don’t. But my heart seems more generous than I thought. Seeing how you displease me proves that.”
“……”
No answer came back.
Mun Yu-jin put the earbud case back in his pocket.
“But thinking about it, what you said was right. There’s no reason for me to be uncomfortable with you.”
Mun Yu-jin pulled away from the tree and stepped closer to Nam Rae-in.
“You and Seol Ji-hyo—you’re nothing to each other anymore, right?”
In that instant, a tiny crack appeared across Nam Rae-in’s otherwise composed face.
Mun Yu-jin walked up and deliberately sat down beside Nam Rae-in.
A sudden silence descended.
In that stinging quiet, Nam Rae-in spoke first.
“…Your personality isn’t as nice as you look, is it?”
“You’re exactly as you look.”
“Yeah? Then let me say something while I’m at it.”
Nam Rae-in rested his chin at an angle.
“You’re hopeless.”
His voice was tinged with laughter.
But his eyes, unlike usual, weren’t smiling at all.
“…What do you mean?”
“Want me to spell it out for you?”
Those vivid violet eyes stared at Yu-jin as if trying to peel him open, then narrowed to slits.
“Don’t bother wasting effort. Just finish living your perfect little life.”

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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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