Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 94

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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
Episode 94
It was definitely Ji-u.
Perhaps he’d been cleaning. He stood vacant, a broom clutched in one hand.
But he wasn’t moving the broom at all—instead, he was staring blankly at something held in his other hand.
‘A photo, maybe.’
It was too far to see clearly, but it looked like he was holding a Polaroid photo.
Do Min-ki approached Ji-u slowly.
“Ji-hyo.”
At the soft call of his name, Ji-u lifted his head a beat too late.
Only then did the photo in Ji-u’s hands become clearly visible.
It was a group photo—one the entire Special Squad had taken together at the Welcoming Ceremony.
Ji-u hastily tucked it away in his pocket. Do Min-ki, for his part, made no mention of the photo, as if he hadn’t seen anything at all.
“…You haven’t left yet, then.”
“No.”
Ji-u answered while slowly resuming his sweeping.
“…I wanted to clean this place a bit more.”
The surroundings were already spotless.
Yet Ji-u continued sweeping in silence.
Do Min-ki, who had been watching him intently, retrieved another broom from a nearby cleaning closet.
Then he began sweeping quietly on the opposite side.
How much time passed after that?
Suddenly, Ji-u stopped sweeping and asked.
“…Do you dislike me, deputy leader?”
Do Min-ki answered without pausing in his work.
“Why would I dislike you?”
The reply came without hesitation.
“Because you stayed there while saving me. I’ve heard you knew the leader for a long time. Surely you’d have reason to think that way.”
Ji-u wasn’t looking at him.
Do Min-ki, continuing to sweep mechanically, spoke in a flat monotone.
“Tae Ga-young—she’s a remarkably selfish person.”
“…What?”
Do Min-ki felt Ji-u’s gaze shift to him from the left.
Still fixing his eyes on the broom’s bristles, Do Min-ki continued.
“On the surface, this choice might seem just. It was to save a junior member, and as a result, the cruise and the ordinary people there all came back safely, I’m told.”
“….”
“But I know. Just as you said, because I’ve known her so long, I can see it. The leader—she’s been waiting for a situation like this all along.”
Ji-u swallowed softly.
He brushed his fingers across the surface of the broom handle, then asked quietly.
“Is that…because of your sister?”
Do Min-ki’s sweeping stopped abruptly.
He turned his head slightly, and surprise flickered across his face. He hadn’t expected Ji-u to know that much.
But he quickly returned to his usual expressionless mask.
“….”
“….”
In the fading sunset, their gazes tangled for a moment.
It was Do Min-ki who looked away first.
“That woman…she took a liking to you. Or perhaps she thought of you as a real sibling—I found it almost strange, how much.”
His usual composed face.
Yet shadowed somehow, he returned the broom to the cleaning closet.
“So I don’t resent it. Not me.”
His words fell soft as a whisper to himself.
Ji-u remained still, simply listening to what he said.
His broom had stopped moving long ago.
“Will you continue cleaning?”
Do Min-ki’s gaze touched Ji-u one final time.
Ji-u’s grip tightened slightly on the broom.
“…Yes, just a bit longer.”
“I see.”
Do Min-ki left the hallway quietly.
Afterward, alone, Ji-u stood rigid for some time.
Then.
“….”
Ji-u crouched down where he stood.
Without picking up the fallen broom, he slowly cupped his face in both hands.
His shoulders trembled faintly.
And the more they did, the more he held his breath.
The sunset sinking slowly. In air so quiet that even a breath could be heard….
Ji-u didn’t move for a very long time.
By the time he came to, the sun had set completely.
It wasn’t until the sky had turned pitch black that Ji-u slowly made his way out of the Annex Building.
Then suddenly, he noticed someone standing at the edge of the stairs and stopped.
‘…Deputy leader?’
Wondering if Do Min-ki hadn’t left after all, Ji-u halted and looked up.
But it wasn’t Do Min-ki standing there.
“Moon Yu-jin.”
Ji-u called out to him dazedly, then quickly wiped his eyes in embarrassment, fearing some telltale mark might be visible.
Fortunately, Moon Yu-jin said nothing.
From a short distance away, he turned his body slightly as he looked at Ji-u.
“…I came to walk you back.”
How long had he been standing here?
Surely not since sunset—he wasn’t waiting the whole time, was he?
…The thought flickered past, but Ji-u didn’t ask.
Moon Yu-jin walked ahead, and Ji-u followed silently behind.
Not a word passed between them all the while.
When the Dormitory building came into view, Yu-jin stopped and turned around slowly.
“Want to sit for a bit?”
* * *
As always, their conversation barely continued.
Amid the thin chirping of crickets in the late-summer night, the breeze had grown sharply cold.
Yu-jin glanced sideways at Ji-u, who sat beside him. Ji-u hadn’t spoken a word since arriving here.
But somehow, he could sense what that person was thinking.
Yu-jin’s gaze dropped slightly.
Contrary to his composed expression, there were small hands clenched tightly over his school uniform skirt, wrinkled and creased.
His eyes caught on those hands, as if desperately holding something in.
“….”
Yu-jin’s lips parted, then closed again.
Bringing Ji-u here had been fine, but from that point forward he had no plan.
‘It’s not your fault.’
Such trite words wouldn’t be needed now.
…So what should he do instead?
What do people usually say in moments like this?
Thinking back, he had never comforted anyone in his life. Had never even wanted to.
Not once in his seventeen years.
Yu-jin, who had been lost in thought with a serious expression, seemed to make a decision and lifted his gaze.
“…The leader will come back.”
He’d wanted to offer something like genuine comfort, but what came out instead was a line far more bleak than he’d intended.
That wasn’t it.
Even thinking that, he pressed on somehow.
“The headmaster said he’d ask the government to allocate additional support to the purification sector. It should be fine.”
At those words, Ji-u opened his mouth for the first time.
“…But what if no clues are found even with that?”
“Then we add more personnel.”
“Even if we’re Special Squad, it’s just one high school student who disappeared. Would the government really commit that many resources?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
“How are you going to manage that?”
“My father works in that field. If I tell him, he’ll pull some strings.”
“…You’d ask your father for something like that?”
Ji-u sounded surprised.
At that, Yu-jin fell silent for a moment.
“…Yeah.”
He answered a beat late.
It was a lie.
Yu-jin’s life had always been complete. He had never really wanted for anything, never felt lacking in anything.
So he’d never had the experience of asking his father for something or pressing him for it.
“He’ll definitely listen if I ask.”
The words that left his mouth were half an impulsive act.
Impulse.
Perhaps it was a word furthest removed from Yu-jin’s 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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