Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 89

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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 89
“A monster? What do you mean by that?”
“Ah, ah…….”
The Captain seemed unable to hear Tae Ga-yeong’s voice.
Like a man pursued by something, he had been pounding frantically at the controls, but he suddenly stopped dead.
Then he simply collapsed where he stood, as if his legs had given out.
“The ship—the ship isn’t moving. Is it the engine? Or is there a problem with the propeller……?”
“Sir, please calm down first─.”
“The Chief Engineer! Where’s the Chief Engineer?! We need the Chief Engineer!”
The Captain spun around to look at Ga-yeong.
She shook her head slowly.
“After thoroughly searching the ship, we’ve found no other survivors besides the two of you.”
“Damn it!”
Bang! Bang!
The Captain cursed and began hammering at the helm controls like a madman.
“Move! Move, I said!!”
It didn’t seem like he was in any state to be reasoned with.
The Crew Member beside them, unnerved by the news of the ship’s trouble, grew steadily paler.
He collapsed onto the deck and muttered like someone possessed by a ghost.
“The ship’s broken—we’re all dead. It’s the end! Sob……!”
Both men were drowning in the terror that they might die here.
“Where is the engine located? I’ll go below and check it.”
“Captain, I’ll go with you.”
“No. You stay here.”
“But……?”
“The situation’s different now. We’ve confirmed there’s an Infected Creature inside. If that’s the case, we can’t leave civilians unattended and both of us away at the same time.”
She was right.
But it was hard to accept.
With these two in such a panic right now, there was no way to find the engine’s location.
Searching blindly for the engine in this sprawling cruise ship was naturally no simple task.
And even if they found it, whether it could be repaired was still uncertain. There was even a possibility the problem wasn’t with the engine at all.
Not to mention the “monster” the Captain had mentioned.
The Infected Creatures they’d seen so far resembled small sea creatures—squid or jellyfish, at most.
Of course, even those could be threatening enough to ordinary people.
But.
‘The Captain looked like he’d seen something truly monstrous.’
An ominous premonition gnawed at him.
From Ji-u’s experience, such premonitions had almost always been right.
He knew it—this could simply be his imagination.
There might be no monster at all.
Even if there was one, Tae Ga-yeong might dispose of it in the blink of an eye.
But.
But what if—what if the Captain made a mistake……?
—I’m only saying this because she’s like a younger sister to me.
Tae Ga-yeong’s smile—gentle, warm—floated before his eyes as if painted there.
Ji-u clenched his fists silently.
‘What do I do?’
The ship, stalled in the heart of the Marine Abyss.
Civilians who needed rescuing.
The existence of a “monster” they hadn’t yet confirmed.
Even now, the second hand kept ticking.
Awakeners were not immune to toxin. As time passed, Tae Ga-yeong would find it increasingly difficult to endure the poison.
She may have called herself a Neophyte, but she’d already seen minor combat.
Though Tae Ga-yeong didn’t show it, her movements had noticeably slowed since the beginning.
The best solution was to get this ship moving immediately and reach the Abyss’s exit.
Of course, they had no idea where the engine was, and there was no way to repair it if it was broken─.
…Yet there was one thing.
Ji-u had exactly one last resort.
“Then I’ll be going─.”
The moment Tae Ga-yeong placed her hand on her Sword Scabbard and turned,
Dash—
Ji-u suddenly kicked off the ground and bolted.
“Ji-u?”
As the startled Tae Ga-yeong turned to look, the deck began to tremble.
Whooooom—
A low, eerie vibration hummed through the ship.
“What is……?”
The Captain, who had been clinging to the helm and whimpering, lifted his head slightly.
An earthquake? In the middle of the sea?
Soon, a tremor swept across the entire deck, unmistakable.
Screech.
A fixing clamp on one side of the deck twisted on its own. At the same instant, the railing groaned and bent.
“C-Captain?”
The frightened Crew Member gripped the wall, confusion written across his face.
But the confusion was shared by both the Captain and Tae Ga-yeong.
‘What on earth is this—’
Tae Ga-yeong didn’t release her grip on the Sword Scabbard as she quickly surveyed the surroundings.
At the edge of her vision, she saw Ji-u’s retreating form outside the Captain’s Bridge.
He was gripping the railing as if gripped by seasickness, his head bowed low.
Crunch—
The iron plate beneath Ji-u’s feet had crumpled. It couldn’t have happened from body weight alone—something was definitely wrong.
“Ji-u! Get back inside, quick!”
Tae Ga-yeong shouted, but Ji-u didn’t move.
Crack!
The ship suddenly lurched violently.
As the massive hull staggered, everyone aboard swayed and stumbled.
Tae Ga-yeong braced herself with her Sword Scabbard and regained her balance.
“W-what! A collision?”
“I-I don’t know… but there’s something beneath the ship……!”
Confusion bloomed across the Captain’s and Crew Member’s faces.
They knew a stationary ship couldn’t collide with anything, yet the impact was too violent to explain any other way.
Tae Ga-yeong quickly exited the Captain’s Bridge and peered over the railing below.
But all she saw was dark water.
It was then.
“……!”
Squeal—
The stationary vessel moved forward ever so slightly.
A movement so minute that most would miss it.
But she saw it clearly.
“That’s not… possible…….”
Tae Ga-yeong’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
There was no wind strong enough, no engine, no violent waves to move this enormous ship.
Yet the tens-of-thousands-ton cruise ship was slowly advancing as if pushed by an invisible hand.
A phenomenon that defied all explanation.
The ship tilted dramatically once more,
Crash!
The glass lights on the deck shattered in succession as if unable to bear the strain.
“Yes!”
A cheer came from the Captain behind her.
“The ship—it’s moving! We’re saved!”
At their voices, Tae Ga-yeong’s gaze returned to the sea.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle……
The water beneath the enormous hull was being forcibly split to either side, dark waves rising like low walls.
It was real.
The ship really was moving.
“Cough……!”
A coughing sound was heard.
From Ji-u.
Tae Ga-yeong, who had been frozen in place, snapped back to awareness at the sound and rushed over.
“Are you alright?”
The moment she asked, something fell to the deck with a soft tap.
Blood dripping from Ji-u’s nose.
Startled, Tae Ga-yeong leaned down to examine his face.
Because his head was bowed, his black hair hung forward, obscuring most of his features.
But one thing was clear: how tightly he was gripping the railing—his knuckles had gone completely white.
“Ji-u, you─.”
Before Tae Ga-yeong could finish, Ji-u slowly lifted his head.
“…I’m fine.”
He released the railing and dabbed his nose lightly with his thumb.
Then he turned back to Tae Ga-yeong with a perfectly composed expression.
“I just get really bad seasickness.”
…Seasickness?
Doubt flickered across Tae Ga-yeong’s face.
“You were fine on the way here.”
“Yeah, that is strange. It just hit me suddenly.”
“…….”
“Captain, do you have any tissues?”
“That, I’m not sure…….”
Ji-u, pinching his nose, passed the wide-eyed Tae Ga-yeong by.
“I’ll go ask over there.”
The sound of his shoes on the deck faded into the distance.
Tae Ga-yeong’s gaze dropped downward.
“…….”
Along the path Ji-u had taken, small drops of blood fell one after another.
Whoooosh……
As the cruise ship began in earnest to cut through the dark waters,
the ship, which had shaken so violently, soon recovered its calm as if nothing had happened.

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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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