RASL 09

Chapter 09

A scream near the academy building at this hour.

Jiwoo turned his head toward the direction the sound had come from.

“Ah, what the hell? Why are you tripping over my foot and falling, damn it?”

Near the entrance.

Voices drifted over from around the corner.

Leaving the shoe lockers behind, Jiwoo quietly moved closer to where the voices were coming from.

It seemed someone had taken quite a hard fall. A girl was sprawled on the floor, with books and other belongings scattered everywhere from her bag.

Jiwoo narrowed his eyes and looked at her more carefully.

A black bag.

Black socks and dress shoes.

Dark burgundy hair tied into a low braid, giving her a rather gloomy appearance.

‘I think she’s in the same class as me.’

He recognized her because he had carefully observed all of his classmates the day before.

But…

Why was she lying there?

Just as that thought crossed his mind—

“Hey, aren’t you going to apologize? You tripped over my foot and fell on your own, and now you’ve gotten my shoes dirty.”

The sharp voice snapped Jiwoo back to reality.

Someone else was standing beside the fallen girl.

…The fluorescent-haired idiot.

The guy with piercings all over his face.

He was shouting at the girl lying on the ground.

“S-Sorry…”

“Say it louder. Got bugs stuffed down your throat or something? Huh?”

Jiwoo watched the scene with a bewildered expression.

‘What? I thought he only bullied Ji-hyo.’

He had been unusually quiet all day yesterday despite Jiwoo showing up at school.

…Had he simply switched targets while Ji-hyo was absent?

Or was he just the type who bullied anyone whenever he got bored?

‘What should I do?’

Standing motionless behind the corner, Jiwoo hesitated.

Would stepping in really be the right choice?

Absolutely not.

He had already drawn enough attention yesterday—from the race during PE to what happened with Kim Yeonhee.

On top of that, he still hadn’t identified the watcher his grandfather had planted.

It wasn’t wise to cause another scene.

Jiwoo calmly took off one of his dress shoes.

Whoosh!

The shoe floated into the air and shot forward like a bullet.

“Gah?!”

Straight into the back of the bastard’s head.

“The hell?! Who did that?!”

Jiwoo immediately ducked back behind the corner.

…He couldn’t help it. If he ignored this, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

From the other side, he heard the guy pick up the shoe and look around.

Jiwoo cautiously peeked around the corner.

Since the shoe had struck him on the top of the head, the fluorescent-haired punk assumed it had fallen from above and glared up at the academy windows.

“Whichever bastard did this is dead!”

As he angrily turned around while searching for the shoe’s owner, the girl on the floor hurriedly gathered her belongings and jumped to her feet.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!”

The girl bolted away as fast as she could.

“What’re you doing, Gu Minjae?”

“Idiot.”

The rest of his group, who had been nearby, approached him while snickering.

‘Gu Minjae?’

…That must have been the fluorescent-haired punk’s name.

“When are you going to stop holding that filthy shoe?”

“You know you look like a complete idiot right now, don’t you?”

“…Shut up.”

Watching them from a distance, Jiwoo narrowed his eyes.

‘Are they all in the same group?’

Maybe one of them had also been involved in bullying Ji-hyo.

Most of them seemed to be from the same class.

‘I can’t see them very well.’

They were too far away. He couldn’t make out their faces, let alone what accessories they were wearing.

He wanted to get closer and have a better look.

But if he did, he’d definitely be spotted.

Meanwhile, Gu Minjae glared at Jiwoo’s shoe.

“I don’t care who you are. I’ll find you.”

“That shoe looks pretty small. Isn’t it a girl’s?”

“Size 240. Probably belongs to a girl.”

“But how are you supposed to figure out whose it is from that? Planning to search for Cinderella?”

Gaon Special Academy had an official pair of school shoes.

Unlike the uniform, though, wearing them wasn’t mandatory, so not everyone used them.

That meant the owner of this shoe was probably one of the female students who wore the academy’s standard shoes.

There were no other clues.

“Hey, just throw it away. You’re not seriously planning to carry that dirty thing around, are you?”

“Shut your mouth. I’ll handle it.”

Gu Minjae clenched the shoe so tightly it looked like he might crush it, then strode away.

The group of boys with brightly colored hair followed after him.

…Taking Jiwoo’s shoe with them.

‘Ah… my shoe…’

Jiwoo stared helplessly at it disappearing into the distance before hopping back toward the shoe lockers on one foot.

It was fine.

It was only a pair of shoes.

During orientation on the first day, they’d been told that school uniforms and shoes could be replaced or reissued whenever necessary.

After changing into his indoor slippers, Jiwoo calmly headed for the classroom.

‘I think the supply room was on the first floor of the dormitory.’

As soon as classes ended, he’d head back to the dorms and get a new pair.

He’d be inside the academy building during lessons anyway, so wearing slippers all day shouldn’t be a probl—

“Today, as I told you beforehand, we’ll be doing the group assignment. Stop dragging your feet and get on the bus.”

…Yeah, right.

He was screwed.

Today was that class.

Core Application.

One of Gaon’s signature courses, designed to help young Awakeners develop and make practical use of their Cores.

‘If I remember correctly, there’s a good chance Ji-hyo entered the Abyss during this class in the video.’

Unlike regular subjects such as Korean, Math, Social Studies, Science, or English, this class lasted from first period until the afternoon.

It was the academy’s main practical course.

And today they were taking a bus.

An outdoor class.

Which also meant there was a chance they would enter the Abyss.

‘Wait… what am I supposed to do about my shoes?’

What else?

He had no choice but to board the bus barefoot.

Why barefoot?

Because walking around with only one shoe seemed even stranger.

“Ji-hyo, where’s your shoe?”

The teacher asked as soon as Jiwoo got onto the bus.

“I lost it.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I think someone hid it.”

“They hid it?”

“It’s okay. Stuff like this happened all the time.”

Jiwoo himself had never experienced it.

But if he was pretending to be Ji-hyo, this sort of bullying was probably nothing unusual.

So he shamelessly made up an excuse.

“I’ll get a new pair from the supply room after class. I don’t really have another choice right now…”

“I-I see. Well, wear these for now.”

The teacher handed Jiwoo a spare pair of slippers.

“Thank you.”

After changing into the slippers, Jiwoo stepped inside the bus.

“…”

“…”

The entire class turned to look at him.

The fluorescent-haired punk… no, Gu Minjae, stared at Jiwoo with a stiff expression.

Behind him sat Kim Yeonhee, whom Jiwoo had clashed with in the hallway yesterday.

“…!”

The moment their eyes met, Kim Yeonhee hurriedly looked away. Having cola dumped all over herself must have left quite an impression.

Looking around for an empty seat, Jiwoo walked over to one.

“Ah…”

It was right beside the girl who had been bullied by Gu Minjae in front of the academy building that morning.