Chapter 24
Chapter 24
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Nayeo-ju Saves the World
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There were a total of three Awakener Schools in Korea.
Yongsan in Seoul, Yangjeong-dong in Busan, and Doryong-dong in Daejeon.
Awakening generally occurred between the age of puberty and 25.
But in truth, cases after age 20 were extremely rare, so most active Awakeners in Korea today were alumni of one of those three schools.
Among them, the Seoul Awakener School in Yongsan housed elementary through high school all within one campus.
The students there fell into two main categories.
The first, and by far the majority, were those who tested positive in the mandatory Awakening Potential Wave test everyone received at age five.
The second was rarer: those who tested negative but awakened late and transferred from regular schools.
The Lee siblings, Yu-chan and Yu-eul, naturally fell into the first category.
They vividly remembered the day of their fifth birthday, gripping their parents' hands tightly at the health center for their Awakening Potential test.
"Our kids are going to be Awakeners! I'm so excited!"
"Honey, isn't it a bit dangerous, though?"
"No way. With gates opening anywhere anytime, don't they need the power to protect themselves to be safer?"
"That's true, but..."
And right before starting elementary school, their second, more accurate test brought even better results.
"Expected Awakening Rank A or higher? My eyes aren't playing tricks on me, right?"
"Looks like we won't have to worry about their future at all!"
"What if... they really awaken as A-rank? Will they do ads like other Hunters? That could really help the family... Ack!"
"Snap out of it! The kids' money is the kids' money! Don't forget!"
"Okay, okay. I was just kidding, haha."
And so the twins enrolled in the Seoul Awakener School in Yongsan.
As they grew, on their twelfth birthday, the letter "S" appeared for their Expected Awakening Rank, changing their world.
Heading out to school one morning, reporters swarmed their front yard like a hive of bees.
Yu-eul grabbed her frozen brother Yu-chan's hand in shock and dragged him back inside.
It took only moments for news outlets to plaster images of the two children clutching hands.
The twins became the nation's hope and focus overnight.
An S-rank on the conservative Expected Rank test was unprecedented.
The term "prodigy" started being tossed around.
At first, the public's affection felt scary and overwhelming, but by puberty, they genuinely enjoyed it.
Wherever they went, people recognized the twins and cheered them on.
"Can I get an autograph?"
"Yu-chan and Yu-eul are so cute!"
"This is our birthday gift for you—please accept it!"
Everyone eagerly awaited the day they'd awaken as S-rank.
Even among the elementary and middle school prodigies, their physical abilities stood out.
Night after night, the twins dreamed of finally awakening as S-rank.
And on a summer day at fifteen, their world changed once more.
Screeech-!
"Honey! That truck!"
"Kids! Protect the kids!"
Hanging upside down in a mangled, overturned car, the twins reached for each other's hands.
Instinct told them why they were still breathing: they'd awakened in the moment of the crash.
The nauseating stench of leaking gasoline mixed with their parents' blood made them vomit before passing out.
Days later, they awoke to their parents' death notice.
And the revelation that they'd awakened not as S-rank, but C-rank.
A side effect of forced awakening without preparation.
After that, the world turned hostile toward the twins.
"Hey, move it, C-ranks."
"Pfft, look at that jerk's attitude."
"Did you see him whining in front of the cameras when he got discharged? What a brat."
Sympathy for the middle schoolers who lost their parents and bright futures overnight faded quickly.
Post-accident, they stopped smiling easily and grew sharp-edged, turning even the pitying crowd away.
Then, joining the Justice Guild—people they'd long known—turned the once-beloved prodigies into perfect laughingstocks.
So in a way, today's incident wasn't all that special.
"Ugh, get lost to another table! You're ruining my appetite. You think I want to share with you?"
Kwak Ji-hyun, who had recently awakened as A-rank and signed with the Camellia Guild, shouted for all to hear.
"We were here first, okay? If you don't like it, you leave."
Yu-eul scowled, savoring her hamburger steak lunch.
But Kwak Ji-hyun kicked the chair next to Yu-eul, escalating things.
Yu-chan thought: She's picking a fight on purpose.
Since awakening A-rank and officially joining the Camellia Guild's youth training program, Kwak Ji-hyun's bullying tendencies had only worsened.
Yu-chan gripped his sister's arm with one hand and silently kept eating.
He wasn't dumb enough to get riled up in a fight she started.
"Nngh, fine. Stay calm, breathe."
Yu-eul muttered the same, picking up her spoon again.
But her tray vanished.
Crash!
Kwak Ji-hyun had snatched and flung it.
And it landed poorly.
Yu-eul dodged instinctively, getting only a bit on her gym clothes, but Yu-chan took it full-on.
Right as he was about to sip his soup—the tray's edge gashed his forehead, knocked off his glasses, and clattered to the cafeteria floor.
"Yu-chan! You okay?"
Yu-eul checked his face in alarm.
"You little shit, he's bleeding!"
Blood trickled from where the tray edge tore skin.
It was barely a finger's width, but already quite a bit flowed.
A mix of curry, soup, and blood dripped along Yu-chan's long lashes, now exposed without his glasses.
"Ah, no! Typical C-rank—can't even dodge that?"
"Hitting someone and playing the victim... At least that's something!"
"It's your worthless brother's fault for sucking! Why's it on me? He wouldn't have gotten hurt if he dodged! Showing off that shitty upbringing!"
"You're crossing the line, bitch."
Yu-eul gritted her teeth.
The usual trigger words that started fights with the twins.
Mom and Dad.
But they were also the go-to buttons for those baiting them—like a karaoke hit—so they'd toughened up over time.
Her clenched fist trembled.
She fought with all her might to hold onto reason.
Then Kwak Ji-hyun smugly scanned the gathered students and added:
"You loser trash. That new healer chick in your guild's probably busted like you—some broken bi—"
Thwack!
Kwak Ji-hyun's head snapped sideways from a solid punch.
She crumpled, toppling her chair with a racket.
"Take that back, you bitch."
It wasn't Yu-eul who hit her.
Yu-chan.
His large, fierce eyes blazed with fury down at the fallen girl.
"What? Yu-chan hit her, not Yu-eul?"
"Yeah, that's what happened. That quiet kid suddenly snapped. Giving me a real headache."
The twins' homeroom teacher grumbled, but couldn't retort properly.
It was a bit shocking.
I'd assumed Yu-eul lost her temper and jumped in.
But the usually timid Yu-chan?
"From what I heard, Yu-chan just lunged out of nowhere. There was some verbal spat and shoving first, though."
Weird. Yu-chan wasn't the type to explode over mere words.
Kang Han, who'd entered the office and sat quietly like the good student he was, finally spoke.
"Where are Yu-chan and the other student now?"
Come to think of it.
Normally, both fighters and guardians meet for mediation, right?
"The victim returned to her guild for treatment, and Yu-chan's in the counseling room."
Yu-chan isolated alone?
Is this right?
My temper started bubbling fiercer than Yu-eul's.
"Isn't that unfair handling?"
"Unfair? Guardian, you're the one talking strangely. You think I'm treating him badly out of personal bias?"
"If not, then what? You said there was shoving first—situation's unclear who started it, so why isolate only Yu-chan?"
"No, sigh..."
The teacher rubbed his eyes wearily behind his glasses, half-assedly replying.
"The other kid's with Camellia Guild."
"So?"
"You don't get it? One of the top four guilds. A-rank buffer."
I got it, loud and clear.
So the other kid was from a powerhouse guild, a buffer who couldn't heal aggressively like a healer but boosted allies' healing or speed.
"What does that have to do with this? It's just two students fighting."
"Guardian, this is an Awakener School. Not like regular ones. Harsh as it sounds, guild affiliation and rank are like grades here."
In other words, inferior C-rank Yu-chan hitting a superior student was the issue.
Getting more pissed by the second.
Then Kang Han stepped in.
"We'll move to the counseling room. I want to hear from Yu-chan directly—please guide us."
"No need, really. Aish, fine. This way."
The counseling room was next door to the office.
Seeing Yu-chan sitting there all alone, I lost my words.
"Your face..."
A scabbed, bruised gash above his left eyebrow, bloodstains darkened to rust on his white uniform shirt—clearly heavy bleeding.
Plus, curry and mystery sides still stuck to his clothes.
They left the kid like this, no treatment, locked in a back room?
"Yu-chan, face this way."
I strode over and lightly healed the forehead wound first.
This shitty efficiency!
It cost me a whopping 15 stamina, yet the yellow bruise barely faded.
I could erase it with more, but I needed reserves for bigger fights.
"You okay?"
"...Yeah."
But Yu-chan's voice held no strength.
"Sorry."
"For what."
"You'll get flak again because of this. Not just you—the Justice Guild too."
Hearing his dejected words snapped something in my head.
Straightening from my crouch to his eye level, I turned to the teacher.
"Call the other student and the Camellia Guild Master."
"Pardon?"
The teacher blinked in disbelief.
"We've got someone guild-master adjacent here. Fair's fair—they send theirs too."
"N-no. Guild Master Yu Myeong-hwa's insanely busy... Calling her? Come on, let's settle nicely."
"'Nicely' meaning pin it all on Yu-chan, right? That's not a real fix."
My voice dropped lower.
"Please make the call, teacher. Camellia Guild Master and that student, Kwak Ji-hyun? Ask them to come now."
"Yu Myeong-hwa won't come for something this minor."
"Oh, she will."
Yu Myeong-hwa was the type to chase goals relentlessly, consequences be damned.
Among the top four guilds chasing me, Camellia was most aggressive—if that meant anything, she'd come.
No doubt.
"Call her. Please, homeroom teacher."
"...Haa. Fine. I'll phone Camellia, but don't get hopes up."
The teacher pulled out his phone, face screaming embarrassment as he dialed.
Exactly 30 minutes later.
"Hello. Regretful to meet over something like this. Camellia Guild Master, Hunter Yu Myeong-hwa."
Yu Myeong-hwa entered the counseling room, perfectly tailored pantsuit suiting her tall frame, flashing a bright smile.