Over the next three days, Yonghoon successfully hunted three more toad monsters and retrieved four Dimensional Cores.
It was a life-or-death stretch of time, but in the end, he succeeded in every hunt.
But he felt he couldn’t push himself any further. In the last hunt, he had come dangerously close to dying.
When Yonghoon returned home, his once-long hair was now cut short. That was because the venom had splashed and melted his hair during the last hunt.
If things had gone even slightly wrong, his entire face might have been burned.
But thanks to that, he managed to obtain a significant amount of the toad monster’s venom.
He stopped by a hair salon and had his hair trimmed short.
Yonghoon looked at the triangular pyramid-shaped metal structure standing in the middle of the officetel.
Carefully, he took the Dimensional Core out of the container holding the venom.
Then he placed an F-Rank Dimensional Core, previously used for training, into the container with the venom. The duration would be a bit shorter, but he couldn’t afford to waste an E-Rank Dimensional Core here.
He mounted the four E-Rank Dimensional Cores at each corner of the structure. Now, E-Rank training was about to begin.
Yonghoon sat in the center of the structure and closed his eyes.
Vrrrrrr.
The metal pillars began to tremble with a low hum.
The people he met after a week didn’t look too bad. There had been dangerous moments, but everyone had received great rewards and gained popularity. They couldn’t help but be in good spirits.
But Sunhee’s expression was a bit dark. It seemed to be because of the last hunt. The way she kept glancing sideways at Yonghoon was getting on his nerves.
And team leader Ha looked like he was pondering something.
Yonghoon tilted his head curiously.
“First of all, great work, everyone.”
Team leader Ha opened the conversation.
“Before we talk about the next hunt, I have a few announcements.”
Everyone turned their attention to team leader Ha.
“First, we’re setting aside part of the operating budget to prepare an office. We can’t keep having these discussions in cafés.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
They were currently at a café in a tall building in Jamsil.
Until now, without an office, they had no choice but to meet in cafés or the minibus for discussions.
Thanks to the recent hunts, they had earned a good amount of money-enough to lease the minibus and still have operating funds left.
Now it was time to find an office.
“Second, I’m thinking of handing over the team leader position to Yonghoon.”
Yonghoon was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected team leader Ha to make such a quick decision.
The expressions on the others’ faces showed they understood.
It seemed everyone had felt it during the last hunt.
“But when it comes to managing funds and that sort of thing, I think team leader Ha is better suited for it.”
Kangwoo voiced a minor objection to team leader Ha’s suggestion.
“But we all saw what happens if Yonghoon doesn’t have command authority-during the last hunt.”
At team leader Ha’s words, Sunhee lowered her head deeply.
“This isn’t to blame you, Sunhee. At the time, I also thought you made the right call.”
Team leader Ha reassured Sunhee.
“About the last hunt.”
Yonghoon began to speak. Everyone turned to look at him.
“The last hunt was my responsibility. I proceeded without sharing information with everyone. I apologize.”
Yonghoon bowed his head to everyone.
Sunhee, who had been bowing her head, shut her eyes tightly upon hearing Yonghoon’s words.
She opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry. It was my fault. No one else did anything wrong. It was my mistake.”
Sunhee barely finished speaking and clenched her teeth.
She lowered her head even further, her face looking like she was about to burst into tears. She didn’t want anyone to see her face.
Everyone looked at Sunhee with pity as she trembled, holding back tears.
Seeing her like that, Yonghoon instinctively patted her shoulder.
Then he stared blankly at his hand for a moment. It was a habit he used to have with his lover.
He shook his head.
“Then I’ll handle only the hunting and training. I’d like team leader Ha to continue managing the rest.”
Yonghoon calmly proposed an alternative.
“Oh! That sounds good. Team leader Ha stays as team leader, and Yonghoon, hmm, you can be the captain.”
Jimin raised her hand in enthusiastic agreement.
“That’s not bad. Captain Kang. Hmm. Has a nice ring to it.”
Kangwoo stroked his chin and nodded.
Team leader Ha also nodded, seemingly okay with it.
“What do you think, Sunhee?”
Sunhee nodded while still keeping her head down.
In any case, it was unanimous.
“Then from now on, Yonghoon-no, Captain-please designate the next monster to hunt.”
When it was time to choose the next monster, Jimin spoke to Yonghoon.
Yonghoon nodded.
“Then the next monster will be……”
The group steadily continued their monster hunts.
Yonghoon shared information under the pretense that he had heard it from Instructor Seo, and the team followed his directions well.
Sunhee seemed a bit timid, but she still did her best to follow Yonghoon’s orders and fulfill her duties.
And so, two weeks passed.
Yonghoon stepped onto a pile of steel plates next to the monster and launched himself high into the air. He stabbed a spear into the monster’s back and retreated.
Yonghoon shouted to the others.
“Strike team, fall back! Team leader Ha, defend!”
At Yonghoon’s shout, Jimin and Kangwoo moved behind team leader Ha. Team leader Ha lowered his body and raised his shield.
Thud!
With a loud crash, team leader Ha was pushed straight back.
They were inside a massive assembly factory. Huge cranes and steel plates were piled up, and car parts were scattered all over the conveyor belts.
Inside this factory, Yonghoon and the members of Team Crazy were fighting a giant moon bear.
The bear monster was covered in blood. Spears were hanging all over its body.
Each of the three strike team members still had a spear stuck in their backs, and a skewer-like sword that hadn’t been there before was lodged in Jimin and Kangwoo’s sides.
“Graaargh!”
The bear monster let out a loud roar, seemingly in pain from the spear Yonghoon had stabbed into its back.
The monster rampaged in all directions, and the unpleasant sound of the defending team leader Ha’s shield echoed through the factory. The shield was getting crushed.
Yonghoon confirmed that the spear he had planted was still firmly lodged in the monster’s back.
Yonghoon looked up above the monster and raised his hand.
Above the monster, a huge crane had stopped, holding a massive machine.
And hanging beneath the machine was Sunhee.
Sunhee nodded at Yonghoon,
“Attack!”
Yonghoon shouted to the others and charged at the monster again.
Yonghoon and the strike team began stabbing the bear monster’s lower body with spears. The bear, just over 4 meters tall, couldn’t be reached above the waist.
When Jimin’s spear broke during the attack, she immediately drew the sword at her waist and began stabbing the monster.
And as the monster was distracted by the others, Sunhee silently dropped down.
She landed on the spear that Yonghoon had embedded.
Sunhee displayed incredible skill, landing silently on the spear lodged in the monster’s back from over 5 meters up.
Then she braced her foot on the spear and placed her hand on the bear monster’s neck.
And after a moment, overcoming the monster’s rampage, Sunhee successfully contaminated the Dimensional Core.
Yonghoon slung the falling Sunhee over his shoulder and began to run.
The other team members scattered in all directions, and the monster let out a feral scream.
That was when it happened.
Yonghoon, who had run to the wall, slammed his fist onto the crane switch attached to one side of the wall.
The lock on the crane above the monster’s head was released.
And the massive chunk of machinery hanging from the crane dropped straight down.
Thud!
The monster, crushed beneath the machine, was flattened and burst blood in all directions.
“Are you planning to charge full price for this?”
A member of the disposal team, stunned by the sight of the moon bear flattened under the machine, asked in disbelief.
“Yes, of course.”
Team leader Han, acting under Yonghoon’s orders, replied with a shameless face.
“Still, in a situation like this, shouldn’t you be giving us a bit of a discount?”
A senior-looking member of the disposal team shook his head and spoke to team leader Han.
“Then we won’t hand it over to the company. I hear the black market is starting to form, so we’ll look into that.”
Team leader Han firmly resisted the disposal team’s attempt at a discount.
The senior disposal team member sighed as he looked at team leader Han.
“Understood. We can’t afford to be on bad terms with Team Crazy. I’ll wire the payment.”
Behind them, Jimin perked up her ears and cheered inwardly.
After confirming the transfer, the team members left the disposal team behind and quickly exited the factory. This time, they had to collect the commission from the factory contact as soon as possible.
If the client tried to cut the fee claiming the machine was damaged while crushing the monster, it would be a big problem. Team leader Han hurriedly made a call on his phone.
And a moment later, team leader Han raised his hand and made an ‘OK’ gesture to the group.
“Yes!”
Jimin clenched her fist, and Sunhee let out a sigh of relief. Kangwoo was grinning at the others.
Yonghoon nodded at the group. The team was finally starting to become somewhat dependable.
Team Crazy had completed four hunts in two weeks, all successful.
Fortunately, there hadn’t been any accidents during that time.
The group faithfully followed Yonghoon’s instructions.
Aside from the Dimensional Power training he did at home, Yonghoon also did his best to stay in sync with the team.
As a result, the group earned hundreds of millions and gained a significant amount of Dimensional Power.
Yonghoon checked his smart watch.
Level E
Dimensional Power 42 / 50
Not much left now.
Over the past two weeks, Yonghoon continued to hunt E-Rank monsters and train his Dimensional Power. An E-Rank Dimensional Core could be used for training for about four weeks. Now that two weeks had passed, cracks were starting to appear.
However, Yonghoon decided not to obtain any more Dimensional Cores. With just two or three more hunts and training sessions, he would likely fill his E-Rank Dimensional Power.
After that came D-Rank.
Yonghoon felt relieved.
He had been worried when an E-Rank monster suddenly appeared, but it seemed higher-ranked monsters wouldn’t keep showing up.
Still, Yonghoon remained on edge. A D-Rank monster could appear at any time and catch them off guard.
In any case, all they had to do now was continue growing steadily. The team members were also improving steadily, so the path forward was becoming clearer.
Now, there was only one thing left to resolve.
Yonghoon stared into the empty air before him. The space distorted briefly.
And the moment Yonghoon’s hand glowed, the distortion vanished.
He still hadn’t found it.
But Yonghoon calmed his impatience. This was just the beginning. If he kept trying, he would surely succeed one day.
While Yonghoon and the group steadily hunted E-Rank monsters and grew stronger, the world was slowly falling into ruin.
The number of E-Rank monsters was steadily increasing. Many of the superpowered people affiliated with the Link System Company had now become E-Rank, but among the general Awakened, there still weren’t many E-Rank superpowered people.
Moreover, the rate at which people were Awakening was far too slow. The number of deaths among superpowered people had already surpassed the rate of new Awakenings.
Now, beggars were becoming a common sight on the streets, and soldiers trying to suppress riots could be seen everywhere.
And one by one, the functions of cities were starting to shut down. Some urban areas had even been partially lost to monsters.
And there were others falling into ruin. Namely, the superpowered people affiliated with Suseong Corporation. After losing the “first” title to Team Crazy, they kept falling behind.
Of course, there were also superpowered people from the Link System Company ranked above them, but the public had already started to view those individuals as a separate group.
The Suseong Corporation’s team focused hard on E-Rank hunts to catch up with Team Crazy, but while Team Crazy captured five monsters in three weeks, they only managed to capture three.
Worse yet, they suffered casualties during that time, severely damaging the team’s reputation.
In the end, the parent company, Suseong Corporation, played their trump card.
It was a large-scale hunt to reclaim territory taken by monsters.