RASL 05

Chapter 05

Awakened Special School Rank 0

Jiwoo hadn’t expected the one on the other side to greet him first.

The calm eyes, which had seemed completely devoid of emotion, widened ever so slightly.

But that was all.

“…Hi.”

He answered as if tossing the word out carelessly, then immediately looked away again, as though he had never been looking at Jiwoo in the first place.

It had been a very brief exchange, but it was enough to gather the information he needed.

‘That’s not the voice I heard in the video.’

He couldn’t be completely certain, but for now, it seemed highly likely that this handsome deskmate hadn’t appeared in the recording.

In other words, he wasn’t the target.

Jiwoo quietly stared at his flawless, pale cheeks.

“…”

Then he, too, looked away as though nothing had happened.

First period began.

The first class was P.E.

That was welcome news.

Ever since childhood, Jiwoo had undergone all kinds of treatment because of his core issue, including specialized home training. Thanks to that, he was fairly confident when it came to physical activity.

…However, things were never that simple.

The first obstacle was finding the locker room to change into his gym uniform.

“Excuse me, do you know where the locker room is?”

“…”

Not a single person in the classroom gave him a proper answer.

In the end, Jiwoo had no choice but to find it on his own.

‘I think everyone went this way earlier.’

By the time he finally found the locker room and hurriedly changed…

The problems didn’t end there.

‘What? Where did everyone go?’

When Jiwoo stepped back out, the hallway was already completely empty.

He had planned to simply follow the other students, but that option was gone.

Guess I’ll have to find the field myself.

‘Was it… this way?’

Why was this campus so ridiculously huge?

Just finding his way out of the building was exhausting.

In fact, he’d even had to take a boat to reach the island that morning.

There were over a dozen buses operating inside the campus alone. That was how enormous Gaon’s grounds were.

Approximately nine hundred students, from elementary through high school.

More than a hundred faculty members.

In addition, there were instructors for special training, purification staff responsible for managing the Abyss, medical personnel who oversaw the students’ health…

And when you included the security teams, maintenance crews, logistics support, and all the other specialists…

‘Around two thousand people?’

Maybe even more.

Even this single high school building was so vast that calling it a school felt inaccurate.

It was more like a fortress.

‘Where am I, anyway?’

After finally reaching the first floor, he struggled once again—this time to locate the exit.

If only there had been someone walking by to ask, but with class already in session, there wasn’t a soul around.

‘Ah, there it is.’

Fortunately, he spotted a door leading outside in the distance.

Once he got out, the athletic field should be easy enough to find.

As Jiwoo briskly exited the building and looked around for the field—

“…Ugh…”

A faint groan drifted through the air.

It sounded like a young child.

Jiwoo stopped walking and scanned the area.

‘…Where did that come from?’

Beside the entrance stood a large fir tree.

Underneath it crouched a tiny figure.

A little boy, perhaps around ten years old.

It looked as though he’d either fallen from the tree or tripped. The back of his hand had a scraped wound.

‘An elementary student? What’s someone this young doing near the high school building?’

There didn’t seem to be any guardian nearby.

After hesitating briefly, Jiwoo walked straight over.

“…?”

Round, crystal-clear eyes looked up at him.

Jiwoo crouched down in front of the boy and held out his hand.

“Your hand. Let me see it for a moment.”

“…”

The boy simply stared at Jiwoo with wide eyes.

Was he being cautious?

Or merely surprised by a stranger’s sudden appearance?

“It hurts, doesn’t it? Let me see.”

When Jiwoo repeated himself, the boy timidly extended his hand.

Jiwoo gently placed his palm over the scraped wound.

Fwoosh…

A faint warmth spread across his skin.

A soft, dim light seeped from Jiwoo’s palm as it covered the injury.

A moment later, he removed his hand and asked,

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”

The boy stared blankly at the back of his own hand.

“Huh…”

The scrape that had been there only moments ago had vanished without a trace.

“How did you do that?”

…Huh?

The boy looked at Jiwoo with wide, curious eyes.

Something felt off.

For a child, the way he spoke sounded rather strange…

“And why is your hand like that?”

The boy’s gaze shifted to the back of Jiwoo’s hand.

There, where his skin had been perfectly fine before, was now an identical scrape.

As though the boy’s injury had simply been copied onto Jiwoo.

“It’s fine. It’ll heal soon.”

Jiwoo casually shoved his hand into his pocket.

“What about the pain?”

“There is none.”

His speech was… peculiar.

Arrogant, maybe?

Or simply old-fashioned.

Either way, he was a strange little kid.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

“Good. Just be more careful next time.”

Jiwoo stood up without another thought.

He started walking away—

Then suddenly realized something important and turned back.

“Sorry, but do you happen to know where the athletic field is?”

“…Over there.”

“Thanks.”

Tap, tap, tap.

Jiwoo immediately hurried off.

Left alone beneath the tree, the boy silently watched Jiwoo’s retreating figure.

Then footsteps approached from the opposite direction.

“There you are, sir. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

A man in a suit stopped before the boy.

But the boy kept his eyes fixed on the direction Jiwoo had disappeared.

“Find out what grade and class that child is in.”

Jiwoo arrived at the athletic field about fifteen minutes after class had started.

“Seol Ji Hyo, why are you so late? Class started ages ago.”

Jiwoo gave a respectful bow toward the P.E. teacher, who was scolding him.

“I’m sorry. I got lost.”

“You got lost? Come to think of it, didn’t you miss the high school entrance ceremony?”

“Yes. Today is my first day attending.”

“…”

The teacher let out a small sigh, apparently deciding not to lecture him any further.

His voice softened.

“Today we’re doing a running assessment. If you want to sit this one out, that’s fine. What will you do?”

It was probably consideration for Ji Hyo, who had supposedly been injured in the accident.

However—

“I’ll participate.”

Jiwoo chose to join.

If today’s class counted toward his grade, he couldn’t afford to skip it.

He had expected something more unique from an Awakened school…

But if it was just running, there was nothing difficult about it.

The only problem was…

“Really? Then go stand with the last group.”

The students in his class had already finished dividing themselves into groups.

In other words, there was no longer any opportunity to choose his teammates.

“Seriously… why does he have to come over here…?”

The students assigned to the same group openly expressed their displeasure.

Amid the unpleasant whispers, Jiwoo calmly walked over to them.

Even after quietly taking a seat nearby, the murmuring didn’t stop.

“Hey, this isn’t actually that bad. If Seol Ji Hyo drags us down, it’s better for us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I was worried our scores would suffer since we’re grouped with Yujin.”

…Yujin?

The name sounded familiar.

When Jiwoo turned his head, he spotted a lone figure with black hair sitting a short distance away.

It was Moon Yujin, the student who sat beside him in the classroom.