The day when Yonghoon and the team members were scheduled to perform Dimensional Movement had arrived.
Since dawn, the rooftop of Team Crazy’s building was bustling.
Yonghoon, Dohyeon, and Sunhee were preparing for Dimensional Movement, and the other team members were helping them.
They checked their luggage and equipment and exchanged farewells with the other team members.
Dohyeon’s face was flushed red with excitement at the thought of seeing a new world.
“I’m going to be a visitor to another world. A dimensional traveler. My dream is coming true.”
Dohyeon kept muttering like that.
Sunhee, standing next to him, was visibly tense. Seeing her, Eunseo came over and tried to ease her tension with small talk.
Hyangseol, watching them, looked a little saddened. It was because Yonghoon kept leaving her behind to travel far away. Still, perhaps because she had grown closer to the other team members, she didn’t seem as anxious as before.
Jimin was teasing the excited Dohyeon, while team leader Han and Yonghoon were having a conversation.
“This time, since I’m going with the team members, I’ll try to avoid combat as much as possible. I plan to gather the information people want and look for ways to contact the rebel forces. There’s an officer we’ve detained separately, so I think we can get help from him.”
At Yonghoon’s words, team leader Han nodded.
“We’ll take responsibility for things here, so don’t overdo it and come back safely.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful this time.”
Yonghoon answered team leader Han and finished his preparations.
Sunhee and Dohyeon also seemed to have finished their preparations to some extent.
The night sky over London was showered with the light of the Aurora.
London.
It was the capital of the contaminated dimension known as Zero Dimension.
Among the darkened government complexes under the Aurora, only one building was brightly lit in red.
It was the dimensional research lab under the intelligence department. The research lab, a five-story antique-style building, was undergoing much stricter inspections than before, and luxurious cars not seen previously were parked in the parking lot.
However, aside from the security personnel standing guard, no other people were visible in the brightly lit building.
With only a few soldiers patrolling the empty building, the atmosphere felt somewhat eerie.
But the situation was different in the basement of the building. It was bustling with many people.
In the center of the building’s basement was a large room.
In the middle of the room were a bed large enough for a person to lie on and what appeared to be medical equipment. At a glance, it looked like an operating room.
However, looking at the other machinery filling the surroundings, it also resembled a laboratory.
On the central bed lay a beautiful woman with long hair, dressed in a white hospital gown. Doctors and technicians in white coats moved around her, checking the equipment.
As they kept getting on her nerves, she-Lieutenant General Eunseo-frowned.
“Do we really have to do this here? Last time, I saw them just using a connector in a regular hospital room.”
In response to her words, a voice came from the loudspeakers.
“It can’t be helped. This is a transmission operation for an S-rank Awakened. If something goes wrong and you rampage, several blocks of the capital could be destroyed.”
Hearing the voice from the loudspeakers, she scowled and looked ahead.
In front of her, a large two-story-high glass wall filled the space, and behind it, people could be seen seated.
At the center, an elderly Arab man was speaking into a microphone.
He was Pasha, the head of the research institute, who had created the Dimensional Movement device and was in charge of the lab.
Due to his age and achievements, even the ever-confident Eunseo couldn’t speak recklessly to him.
Beside him, a handsome middle-aged man was waving at her, and she also saw familiar faces of the personal guard units.
“Don’t try to scare me. Didn’t you say there’s no problem anymore? Was that all a lie?”
“There’s no such thing as 100% certainty in the field. If you’re worried, you can still back out.”
The old man’s voice sounded almost as if he were encouraging her to quit.
“Forget it. It just annoys me because I feel like a zoo monkey.”
“Everyone gathered here to send off the Lieutenant General on her long journey. There’s no need to be so cold.”
“Tch, aren’t you all just here to lock me up if the transmission fails and I go berserk?”
“Ha, ha, well, there’s some truth to that.”
It was only natural. Otherwise, half of the A-rank personal guard members and one of the other S-ranks wouldn’t be sitting there waving at her.
But she had no intention of giving up, not even the slightest.
The meeting Eunseo had convened had started in a serious atmosphere but ended in chaos.
The information she brought was enough to completely ruin the Empire’s plans, and the intelligence department was shattered to pieces.
During the serious discussions about countermeasures, Eunseo’s words turned the meeting room into a mess.
It was the story of an S-rank Awakened becoming a Linker and infiltrating enemy territory.
Naturally, everyone opposed it in unison.
The head of the intelligence department had even timidly voiced support but was crushed again, and the personal guard units, who held real power in the military, along with the entire military, stood against it.
However, when Eunseo asked for alternatives, everyone was rendered speechless.
Already, all members of the advance party and one A-rank personal guard had lost contact. On top of that, the dimensional larvae sent with Peter were likely all lost as well.
Peter, who had lost contact, was one of the strongest among the A-rank Awakened as a gravity Ability User. Sending someone else without information would be like pouring water into a broken pot.
Unlike other dimensions, their own world had an extreme shortage of manpower. Every member of the personal guard was precious. They couldn’t afford such waste.
In principle, Eunseo’s argument was correct. The problem was her ability and position.
Eunseo dismantled every counterargument one by one and ultimately received the president’s approval.
“In the end, you refuse to give up. Even this old man can only bow to your loyalty, General.”
The head of the research institute bowed his head when Eunseo refused to back down.
However, a few of the personal guard members who were close to her chuckled quietly.
They knew she wasn’t becoming a Linker out of loyalty.
She was a self-proclaimed ability enthusiast.
She had become an S-rank Awakened faster than anyone else through the best talent unrestricted by limit level and endless training.
However, after reaching S-rank, she had been deeply discouraged by her lack of further growth. Now, a new way to become stronger had appeared right before her eyes.
A brief drop in level wasn’t much of an issue for her. She was confident she would quickly return to S-rank. The version of herself she glimpsed during the brief connection was a Defense-type Awakened.
An S-rank Awakened with both Defense-type and Strike-type abilities.
It was a realm no one had stepped into in the decades since Awakened first appeared. She couldn’t help but rush toward it with burning eyes.
She turned her head to avoid the director’s bow.
After a moment, the researchers checking the equipment nodded to the director. The director picked up the microphone again.
“We’ll begin the operation now. As I mentioned earlier, we’ll first establish a connection with the connector, and if there are no abnormalities, the mental transfer will begin immediately. It will take about 20 seconds.”
The director continued explaining. Eunseo was bored by the repeated explanation but endured it.
“Once we start the operation here, your mind will begin to settle into the other world. Focus at the same time. You’ll feel the other mind being taken over. Our Dimensional Power is the opposite-negative Dimensional Power. Their minds cannot resist it.”
Finishing his words, the director wore a bitter expression. Their world had become the reverse of other dimensions. Thus, they were doomed and had no choice but to invade other dimensions.
Moreover, their Dimensional Power was advantageous for invading other dimensions.
The director quickly composed himself and gave instructions to the researchers, and Eunseo closed her eyes to connect to herself in the other world.
[Link Start]
A small mechanical sound was heard again. She couldn’t hear it clearly, but once again, she heard hallucinations. Eunseo staggered from dizziness.
But it was time for the team members to depart for a distant place. She couldn’t make them worry. Once they left, she thought she should visit a hospital.
She shook her head and looked at the team members.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. It was just a brief dizziness. No need to worry.”
Sunhee, who had approached at some point, was looking at her worriedly.
Eunseo gestured for Sunhee to hurry and depart.
Numbers began to sound in her head.
[20, 19……]
Yonghoon sensed a strange discomfort in Eunseo’s expression. It was a look he had seen before.
“What’s wrong?”
Yonghoon asked worriedly.
“I think Eunseo isn’t feeling well. She struggled with hallucinations and illusions yesterday, and now it’s happening again.”
Sunhee answered on Eunseo’s behalf.
‘Hallucinations? Illusions?’
Yonghoon’s expression changed.
The pained look on Eunseo’s face began to disappear.
And a flash of gray light passed through her eyes.
Yonghoon lunged forward. Even if it was just a misunderstanding, it didn’t matter.
No matter how he thought about it, Eunseo’s expression earlier was the same one he made when he looked into the mirror in this dimension.
Dimensional connection and gray eyes.
There was no time to hesitate in disbelief.
He desperately opened a dimensional tunnel.
He didn’t know if the hastily created dimensional tunnel would function properly, but there was no time to think about that.
He grabbed Eunseo and Sunhee and jumped into the dimensional tunnel.
[……2, 1.]
“Aagh!”
A flash of light erupted from the Dimensional Connector Eunseo was wearing, and she screamed as she woke up.
It was a failure.
The researchers around her screamed in surprise and backed away, while the Awakened watching from beyond the glass jumped to their feet and gathered Dimensional Power into their bodies.
She might go berserk.
Eunseo threw the broken Dimensional Connector and covered her face with her hands.
Everyone watched her movements tensely.
After a moment, when she lowered her hands, her expression had become cold and composed.
She looked around and spoke.
“I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine.”
At her words, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
The director, who exhaled in relief, cautiously asked her a question. He felt as if he had just returned from hell.
“There was no problem with the connection itself, but was there an issue on the C dimension side? Like the test subject dying?”
However, Eunseo didn’t answer immediately and jumped down from the bed. After shouting at the people around her to bring her clothes, she quickly spoke to the personal guard units beyond the glass.
“A dimensional traveler has appeared in the C dimension. His name is Kang Yonghoon, an East Asian man in his early thirties. He’s an A-rank Linker with a Dimensional Core that allows him to use both spatial abilities and strike-type abilities.”
At her sudden words, everyone in the room looked shocked.
“He’s also responsible for the recent New Berlin terror attack. Just now, he attempted Dimensional Movement here with two female Awakened. Issue a first-class wanted order for them across the entire army!”
At her words, some of the personal guard units rushed out, while others stared at her with curious expressions.
While she was seizing Eunseo’s mind, she had managed to skim through some of C dimension’s Eunseo’s memories.
Though it was a short time and she couldn’t learn much, she did manage to gather information about the man she had seen.
It was at that moment.
Yonghoon had rushed in, grabbed her and the woman next to her, and jumped into the dimensional tunnel.
At that moment, she was forcibly ejected from Eunseo’s body. The connection was severed because of the dimensional tunnel.
It was regrettable. She had been just a little short on time.
But she pushed aside her regret. Thanks to it, she had obtained valuable information.
Within the same dimension, a Dimensional Connector could not be used.
But if they survived and crossed back over to that dimension, she could attempt it again.
Or she could capture them alive, throw them into another dimension, and forcibly attempt it again-that wasn’t a bad idea either.
After briefly falling into thought, she began to speak to the people still staring at her with curious expressions.
The people remaining on the rooftop stared blankly at the spot where Yonghoon and the others had been.
After a moment, they looked at each other with worried expressions.
“It’s okay. I don’t know what’s happening, but since the captain is there, it’ll be resolved. We just need to protect this place as we originally planned.”
At team leader Han’s words, the team members reassured themselves by thinking of Yonghoon.
The team members left the rooftop, leaving only Dohyeon behind, his face on the verge of tears.