Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 2

Rank 0 at the Awakener Special School

Chapter 2

「Whoa, Seol Ji-hyo, what’s up with you? Who are you texting? Don’t tell me, a boyfriend?」

What followed the scream wasn’t Ji-hyo’s voice.

Jijik─

The entire screen shook violently.

The uneven focus wavered unsteadily.

Even sensory remnants like breathing and heartbeats could be faintly felt from the screen.

The screen Ji-woo was looking at right now wasn’t filmed by someone with a camera.

It was a fragment of memory that So-young had copied.

Unstable data, scraped together from the sensations and impressions left inside a person’s brain.

Perhaps that’s why the memory was torn in places.

Ji-woo narrowed her eyes and examined the screen more closely.

‘…Where is this? It doesn’t look like the school.’

At a glance, it looked like a cave.

Walls exposed in layers like strata that had collapsed long ago. Black, sticky moisture seeping out from them.

The thick fog covering the ground was writhing minutely, like a living creature.

An ominous and gloomy landscape she had never seen or experienced in person.

However, Ji-woo instinctively knew where it was.

‘It’s inside the Narak.’

One of the three major Naraks in the Republic of Korea, and the one managed by the [National Gaon Special School].

She had heard that students were periodically dispatched to the inside or vicinity of the Narak for practical classes.

A girl on the screen reached out with a troubled face.

「G-give it here.」

A girl with the exact same face as Ji-woo.

Black hair, blue eyes.

It was Ji-woo’s twin sister, Seol Ji-hyo.

「Don’t want to. I’m just looking, does it wear out?」

「Acting all high and mighty just because she’s the granddaughter of a pharmaceutical company owner.」

「Is only her grandfather a chaebol? My dad’s a chaebol too.」

Ji-hyo’s complexion visibly darkened at the giggling voices.

「It’s my phone. Give it back. Okay?」

It seemed the kids had forcibly taken Ji-hyo’s phone.

However…….

「Like I give a damn.」

「Acting like such a bitch over a single phone.」

The expression on Ji-woo’s face, who was staring at the video, gradually hardened.

Unfortunately, the faces of the people other than Ji-hyo could not be identified on the screen.

However, judging by the conversation, they seemed to be classmates who had entered the practical class together.

The problem was the way they treated Ji-hyo. This was closer to bullying than teasing or pranks…

「Oh, Infected spotted over there.」

「Where, where?」

The angle turned naturally.

In the center of the shifted screen, a shadow was seen walking slowly and bizarrely like a zombie.

Inside the messy, static-filled screen.

The presence of ‘that thing’ was clearly visible.

Skin faded and distorted like old paper. A gaze staring into empty space. Long, sharp claws like saw blades.

The monster said to exist inside the Narak.

It was an Infected.

「Looks like there are five or six?」

「Doesn’t look like a high-ranker, what do you want to do? That’s points too, but it’d be a pain for our group to rush and take them all out at once.」

「Let’s just ignore them and go up. We’ve already got all the Magic Stones, no need for extra points.」

「But how do we shake them off?」

While they were talking about this and that, someone raised their voice as if they had a good idea.

「Ah, right. Seol Ji-hyo. You go.」

「M-me…?」

「You want your phone back, right?」

Ji-hyo, with a bewildered face, was shown on camera.

There was no room for refusal.

「Can you try to understand what I’m saying the first time?」

Someone shoved Ji-hyo’s back hard.

For a moment, the face of the kid who pushed Ji-hyo was shown on screen, but…

Faster than that, the angle turned, and Ji-hyo was seen falling in the direction where the Infected were swarming.

「Eek!!」

The Infected seemed to react to Ji-hyo’s scream and were walking this way.

「Hey, run!」

「Oh, scary as hell.」

Whoosh!

The kids who threw the phone away started running without hesitation.

「G-guys…!」

A terrified Ji-hyo reached out toward the kids, but the Infected were faster.

「Grrr!」

The Infected, surging like a wave, pounced on Ji-hyo.

「Argh!」

Jijik, jijijik─

The entire screen blurred as if red ink was spreading across it.

Ji-hyo’s figure was no longer visible.

Only the sounds of something being torn, colliding, and bursting could be heard clearly through the speakers.

「Hey, hey… is she okay? Isn’t she going to die?」

「Die, my ass. It’s Seol Ji-hyo’s Core regeneration. We can just watch how long she lasts and then save her casually.」

「That’s fucking hilarious. We’re all running away, saving her my ass.」

Giggling laughter continued over Ji-hyo’s screams.

Thud, thud…….

Following that, the sound of something breaking was heard.

It wasn’t a sound from the video.

Inside the dark, unlit room.

It was from around Ji-woo, who had been staring at the video with an expressionless face.

“…….”

As if reacting to Ji-woo’s emotional turmoil, the entire room began to shake slowly, as if there were an earthquake.

Even in the midst of that, the video didn’t stop.

「Hey, still… what if the teacher finds out?」

「Seol Ji-hyo’s a total coward anyway, she won’t even tell.」

「Agreed. If she were going to tell, she would’ve already snitched back in middle school.」

「Ah, so what if she snitches? Adults don’t care what we do anyway. They’re too busy looking out for their own interests.」

What’s the problem as long as no one gets murdered? With someone’s laughter, the video cut off abruptly.

The room became quiet after the video stopped.

Although the video was off, Ji-hyo’s vivid screams as her skin was torn by the Infected still seemed to ring in her ears.

She couldn’t help but realize.

That this was definitely the ‘accident’ Ji-hyo suffered at school.

“…Crazy bastards.”

Clatter!

An empty water glass on the desk suddenly shattered into pieces.

Starting with that, the faint vibration became rapidly intense.

Rumble…!

Dust began to fall from the shaking ceiling, as if it would collapse at any moment.

“Agasshi!”

The door burst open.

It was So-young.

“Agasshi, Agasshi! Please calm down. Take a deep breath!”

“So-young eonni…….”

At So-young’s appearance, the sharp air surrounding her softened for a moment.

The vibration did the same.

However, Ji-woo’s expression was still frozen.

Ji-woo pointed toward the reader where the memory card was inserted.

“Eonni, take that with you.”

“Yes? Where…….”

“Anywhere. A newspaper, a broadcasting station, take it and make it public. That such things are happening at that high-and-mighty Gaon…! I have to reveal it to everyone……!”

Ji-woo’s breathing was becoming ragged.

“Agasshi, please calm down and take a deep breath first.”

So-young held onto Ji-woo and spoke in the calmest, most composed voice possible.

“You know, Agasshi. The ‘memory card’ copied with my ability is one-time use.”

At that, Ji-woo’s shoulders flinched.

She had forgotten because she was too agitated.

She glanced back at the reader where she had inserted the memory card. Just as So-young said, the memory card she had inserted there had vanished like smoke.

“The Chairman doesn’t even know yet that I secretly approached Ji-hyo Agasshi while she was being transported and copied her memory. It’s something I did on my own.”

In other words, if the Chairman, Ji-woo’s grandfather, found out about this, So-young would be disciplined.

Perhaps…… depending on the circumstances, there was even a possibility that her life could be in danger.

The grandfather was that kind of person.

Everything that happens in this household must be in his grasp.

A person who does not forgive other things happening where he doesn’t know.

Regardless of the intention, that is.

“Agasshi.”

So-young, who hesitated for a moment, called Ji-woo quietly.

“Even if, by any chance, I had taken the memory card and reported it somewhere, this matter would not have been revealed to the public in the end.”

“…What?”

As if asking what that meant, Ji-woo raised her head.

“Why?”

“Because not only the Gaon side, but the Chairman also wants it that way.”

Grandfather?

Ji-woo’s gaze wavered.

“Ji-hyo… is like that?”

Gaon is one thing. But Grandfather shouldn’t be like that.

We’re family, right?

“Agasshi. Could you sit down first?”

So-young quickly sat Ji-woo on a nearby chair.

“It’s not the right time to say this, but the reason I came here is because the Chairman asked me to deliver a message.”

“……A message?”

“It seems Ji-hyo Agasshi’s treatment will take longer than expected. Winter break already ended last week. At this rate, she might be expelled.”

Republic of Korea Awakener Special Law, Article 1, Paragraph 1.

Awakeners must graduate from an educational institution regulated by the state, namely the [National Gaon Special School].

There are no exceptions.

An Awakener who has not received regular education cannot register with the Association, and is instead treated as a ‘potential criminal’ who might abuse their Core.

That was this country’s damn law.

If she gets expelled like this, Ji-hyo will─.

“So, the Chairman has ordered you to attend school in her place.”

…What? Her head lifted on its own.

“I don’t know how long it will take for Ji-hyo Agasshi to recover, but he said to take care so that attendance and overall grades are not affected during that time.”

“What is that…….”

She was bewildered.

That her grandfather, who hadn’t allowed her to go out even once since she was 5, would give such an order.

Was he that worried about his ‘only’ granddaughter’s future?

If so, why not reveal this incident? For Ji-woo, there were too many things she couldn’t understand.

“…No. I’ll talk to the Chairman again.”

So-young, seeing Ji-woo’s hardened face, began to pack her bag. She must have thought this wasn’t right either.

Normally, Ji-woo would have scoffed. Saying she had no intention of listening to anything her grandfather said.

However…….

Still in the dark room, the only thing emitting light was the noise-filled monitor.

Jijik─

The blurry monitor. And… the remnants of her twin sister that had already vanished from there.

“Wait, Eonni.”

When she realized it, Ji-woo was holding onto the wrist of So-young, who was leaving the room.

“I’ll go.”

“…Yes?”

Surprised eyes.

In So-young’s wide-open pupils, a girl with a determined face was reflected.

“School, I’ll go in her place.”

Eyes blue like a lake.

Seol Ji-woo’s face, looking surprisingly identical to Seol Ji-hyo’s.