Dohyeon sat in the chair with a tense face.
The seat felt extremely awkward. Having rarely experienced situations like this, he sat in a formal posture, only rolling his eyes around to observe his surroundings.
This was a small meeting room that could accommodate about ten people. Just like the office he saw when he first entered, it was a small space that didn’t match Team Crazy’s reputation.
He turned his eyes to look at the people sitting in front of him. A variety of people were seated before him.
Team Crazy had become incredibly famous online and among people due to this recent operation. However, their faces had never actually been revealed.
People had searched hard for photos of Team Crazy, but finding the faces of people whose names they didn’t even know was a hopeless task.
These were the real members of Team Crazy. He had seen them once before, but Dohyeon had been so out of it that he couldn’t properly remember their faces. No, the image of one person had been so strong that he couldn’t even think of the others’ faces.
Dohyeon’s eyes shifted to the left. At the far end on the left was a young woman staring at him like he was a strange animal, her eyes wide open.
She had a cute face but gave off a vibe of being very self-sufficient. Dohyeon was a bit displeased, thinking she seemed to see him as a kid, even though they didn’t look that far apart in age.
Next to her was a man wearing glasses. With an ordinary face and a relaxed aura, Dohyeon tilted his head, thinking he looked familiar for some reason.
And in the middle sat a middle-aged man. He looked to be in his mid-40s, his face worn from the tides of war, but his expression was bright, like a kind-hearted neighborhood uncle.
After seeing the man, Dohyeon turned his gaze to the next person.
His heart sank with a thud.
There was a beauty!
She had a bob cut down to her shoulders, a neat forehead, eyes full of firm resolve, a straight nose bridge, and gently closed lips.
Seeing her soft jawline and long neck reminiscent of a deer, Dohyeon’s eyes widened enormously.
As Dohyeon stared at her intensely, she tilted her head. Embarrassed by her reaction, Dohyeon quickly turned his eyes away.
Dohyeon snapped back to his senses.
There was a man with an expressionless face. He looked slightly lean but had a solid build and a sharp impression.
Dohyeon knew his name. His face had been filling Dohyeon’s mind all this time.
“Hmm, can I go ahead and speak first?”
Team leader Han, who was sitting in the middle, cleared his throat and spoke.
Team leader Han’s eyes were on Yonghoon.
“I gave him the business card, but the interview should be conducted by the team leader.”
In response to team leader Han’s words, Yonghoon spoke calmly.
“Hmm, if the captain says so, I’ll proceed. But isn’t it a bit crowded in here?”
Team leader Han scanned the team members with his eyes.
“Ooh~ We’re just observing. Observing.”
Jimin grumbled at team leader Han.
“We came in because we were curious about who the new team member would be. Jimin, let’s go.”
Sunhee stood up and called Jimin.
“But I want to watch……”
Sunhee dragged the pouting Jimin out of the room.
“Then I should head out too.”
Kangwoo also followed the two out. Yonghoon tried to leave as well, but sat back down at team leader Han’s suggestion.
And so, the interview for the sixth member of Team Crazy began.
The interview proceeded in a straightforward manner.
Team leader Han asked about his family situation, age, when his ability manifested, and whether he was okay with joining a hunting party.
Dohyeon answered the questions sincerely.
He said he had a mother and a younger sister, was 18 years old, and that his ability had manifested early but he had been hiding it until recently when it got discovered.
He also explained that his mother had been working but recently had to quit, so now he had to work.
Team leader Han let out a sigh.
“So it’s come to this, huh.”
The monsters made life even harder for those already socially vulnerable.
Families like Dohyeon’s were steadily increasing.
“It must be difficult to keep attending school anyway, so that’s the end of my questions.”
As team leader Han finished his questions, Dohyeon asked with a curious expression.
“Um, aren’t there any other questions? Like about my grades? I brought my report card.”
Team leader Han tilted his head.
“Why would that matter for hunting?”
At team leader Han’s words, Dohyeon shut his mouth tight. The interview was different from what he’d seen in books or dramas.
“Captain, you got no questions?”
At team leader Han’s words, Yonghoon looked at Dohyeon briefly and then spoke.
“How far are you willing to go to get what you want?”
At the unexpected question, Dohyeon stared blankly at Yonghoon.
Stammering for a long time at Yonghoon’s question, Dohyeon finally managed to answer with team leader Han’s help and finished the interview.
After sending Dohyeon off, team leader Han asked Yonghoon.
“What did that last question mean? The kid totally froze.”
Yonghoon gave a bitter smile.
“That was my mistake. Please forget that question. Anyway, I think that student is someone our team needs. That’s my opinion as the one in charge of hunting.”
Team leader Han nodded at Yonghoon’s words, seeming to have gotten curious about something.
“Hmm, his personality doesn’t seem bad, so let’s accept him. But is there a way to raise the abilities of Special Ability Users? Since their powers are fixed, they’re all treated like burdens.”
“I have something to tell the team about that. If we’re going to accept a Special Ability User anyway, it’s something that will come out eventually, so I’ll explain it to everyone.”
At the team leader’s words, Yonghoon requested the team members to be gathered.
“Yeah? Then let’s reconvene the meeting in a bit. We need to talk about the new team member anyway, so we can discuss it all at once.”
Team leader Han nodded and got up from his seat.
Left alone in the meeting room, Yonghoon thought about what he had just said.
That question hadn’t been directed at the student named Dohyeon. It had been a question he asked himself.
Yonghoon fell into thought while waiting for the other team members in the meeting room.
Yonghoon told the gathered team members about Dimensional Power training. He disguised the information as something he had extracted from the Link System Company.
The team members’ eyes widened as they listened to Yonghoon’s explanation.
“Ah, so that’s why the flame Special Ability User was able to knock down the moths during the installation of the blocking device.”
Kangwoo nodded at Yonghoon’s words.
The Special Ability User who appeared that day had become a hot topic among other Awakened. Especially the powerful ability she displayed didn’t match that of an F-Rank, leaving everyone puzzled.
Hearing that, Sunhee spoke with an angry expression.
“That kind of information should be known to everyone! It’s ridiculous to monopolize something that could help others grow!”
As expected, just as Yonghoon predicted, Sunhee got angry.
Yonghoon responded to Sunhee’s words.
“I think the company is worried that if this gets out, people will try to capture monsters without contaminating them, which would increase casualties among Awakened and make it harder to acquire monster corpses.”
He looked straight at Sunhee and continued.
“If that happens, it’ll also be harder to produce Dimensional Movement Blocking Devices. I don’t think the company is entirely in the right, but they seem to have their own troubles.”
In reality, there was another reason. For the company, generating power using two Dimensional Cores was the more important reason.
But at this point, Yonghoon didn’t know that yet, so he didn’t mention it.
Sunhee seemed like she was about to say something in response to Yonghoon’s words, but stopped.
Yonghoon gave her a pat on the shoulder.
“Anyway, I think this is a good chance for our team to start Dimensional Power training like the Link System Company. From now on, when we capture monsters during blocking device installations or hunts, we should set aside some for Dimensional Power training.”
Yonghoon strongly asserted this to the team members.
The team members thought it over and one by one agreed with him.
Sunhee looked at Yonghoon with a dark expression, then nodded. Jimin also raised her hand high in agreement.
“With the rewards we got this time and what we’ve saved up, we secured a house to move to in Seoul. The orphanage kids should be able to move next month. So I’m going to train too.”
At Jimin’s words, all the team members congratulated her.
With Jimin being the last, all the team members agreed to Dimensional Power training, and Dohyeon’s recruitment was also decided on the spot.
While the team members were asking team leader Han various things about Dohyeon, Yonghoon looked at the people and fell into thought.
Now that he was D-Rank, it was hard to acquire Dimensional Cores alone. In the end, he had no choice but to rely on the team, which is why he had to tell them about Dimensional Power training.
Yonghoon had been worried about Sunhee’s honest opposition, but thankfully, she seemed to accept his explanation, and he had passed a major hurdle.
Now they could hunt to acquire D-Rank Dimensional Cores and grow rapidly again. Though he felt a bit guilty about dragging the team into dangerous hunts, Yonghoon shook off that feeling.
This was definitely something good for the team members. Yonghoon repeated that to himself in his heart.
While the team members were listening to team leader Han’s explanation, Sunhee was watching Yonghoon from across the room with a hardened expression.
Meanwhile, team leader Han was explaining the details of the training schedule.
The next day, team leader Han immediately informed Dohyeon that he had passed the interview and asked about a date when he could come in again to discuss contract terms.
Dohyeon rushed to the Company right away.
Yonghoon and team leader Han sat with Dohyeon in the meeting room to talk again.
Yonghoon first handed Dohyeon a confidentiality agreement. It was a document to ensure the team’s internal secrets were kept, especially due to Dimensional Power training.
Dohyeon signed the agreement immediately.
Yonghoon checked the agreement and began explaining Dimensional Power training to Dohyeon.
Dohyeon’s eyes widened as he listened to Yonghoon’s explanation.
“Still, we need to be clear about the calculations, so let’s have you repay the cost of the Dimensional Core little by little through hunting later. Hunting will be tough until you grow to a certain level.”
Dohyeon nodded at team leader Han’s words. It was a contract he could only be grateful for.
“And since you’ll need living expenses, we’ll provide a basic salary in advance during your training period.”
At team leader Han’s words, Dohyeon bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
And with that, Dohyeon became a member of Team Crazy.
Dohyeon agreed to start coming in from the next day and left. After that, team leader Han asked Yonghoon.
“But do we really need a Special Ability User that badly? Can’t we handle hunting with just us right now?”
The other team members had agreed because Yonghoon strongly insisted, but they must have been somewhat curious as well.
Perhaps team leader Han was asking on behalf of everyone.
Yonghoon shook his head.
“Hunting is tough with just us. You saw it this time too. Without a Mercenary, even if we Contaminate a Dimensional Core, it’s hard to deal with it. We managed somehow because our levels were low before, but it gets difficult at D-Rank.”
Team leader Han tilted his head.
“But judging by the abilities he’s using now, it doesn’t seem like his attack power will increase that much, right?”
Yonghoon responded to team leader Han’s words.
“It will increase. You’ve heard about Flame Ability Users, haven’t you? Telekinesis Ability Users can become incredibly strong too.”
Yonghoon recalled the near-disastrous attacks of high-level Telekinesis Ability Users he had seen in the other world.
With a single gesture, they could collapse an entire building, drive steel bars into a monster’s body, or crush a monster’s body with countless stones- that was the true image of an Ability User in Yonghoon’s eyes.
Team leader Han seemed to somewhat agree with Yonghoon’s story.
But Yonghoon didn’t mention the more important part.
Special Ability Users weren’t needed now, but for when the Dimensional Beast would appear later.
Against the numerous corrupted humans contaminated by the Dimensional Beast, the most effective Ability Users were Special Ability Users, especially Telekinesis Ability Users.
To prepare for that time, they needed to train Special Ability Users as much as possible starting now.
Yonghoon called the team members. It was time to start gathering Dimensional Cores.