At Yonghoon’s request, team leader Han was able to rent the gym facilities located beneath the office. The gym had been completely shut down since the monster appearances, so the owner was more than happy to lease it to Team Crazy at a low cost.
Team leader Han grumbled a bit about the operating costs, but thanks to the recent string of hunts, their pockets were full, so he didn’t seem too bothered.
Yonghoon contacted his regular hardware store and had several triangular pyramid-shaped metal structures installed on the gym floor.
They were structures for Dimensional Power training.
Once the installation was complete, Yonghoon selected one of the structures and equipped F-Rank Dimensional Cores at each of its corners.
After all preparations were done, Yonghoon called Dohyeon to the gym.
A short while later, Dohyeon came down to the gym and widened his eyes at the unfamiliar structures.
Yonghoon had Dohyeon sit in the center of the structure with the Dimensional Cores installed.
Once he confirmed Dohyeon was seated in the center, Yonghoon spoke to him.
“Focus your mind and try to draw out your Dimensional Power.”
Tightly tense, Dohyeon began to draw out Dimensional Power from deep within, just as Yonghoon instructed.
Woom~ Woom~ Woom~
The metal structure trembled in response to the vibration of the Dimensional Cores. Weak sparks began to flicker around the structure.
Startled, Dohyeon looked around nervously.
“Focus! If your mind wavers, you’ll just be wasting the Dimensional Cores!”
Yonghoon shouted at the distracted Dohyeon, and Dohyeon refocused his mind at Yonghoon’s words.
“Special Ability Users grow about twice as fast through training compared to regular Awakened. If you keep this up for six hours a day, you’ll reach E-Rank in a month. Then you’ll be able to fight in hunts just fine.”
Dohyeon’s concentration shattered at Yonghoon’s words.
“Huh? Six hours a day in this position? Without letting my mind wander?”
At his words, Yonghoon nodded.
“It’ll be tough. But I believe you’ll do well. I’ll see you at lunchtime.”
Yonghoon waved to Dohyeon and left the gym.
Left alone, Dohyeon stared blankly at the door Yonghoon had exited through.
The next day, Team Crazy was on the move for a hunt, riding in the luxury minibus rented by team leader Han.
The minibus had been rented long-term under the team’s name by team leader Han. Before that, they had either rented vehicles temporarily or used Yonghoon’s car, but as the number of members increased, long-term rental became unavoidable.
Inside the vehicle were the existing members of Team Crazy along with Dohyeon.
“Hey Dohyeon, wouldn’t it be better for you to stay at the gym and train your Dimensional Power? Why did you come along?”
Jimin asked Dohyeon with a puzzled look.
“I’m a member of Team Crazy now, so it wouldn’t make sense not to see how the hunts go. I need to observe how everyone hunts and prepare myself.”
Dohyeon clenched his fist and declared firmly to everyone.
Watching this, Kangwoo casually commented.
“You just didn’t want to train, right? I passed by earlier and saw you looking like you were dying of boredom.”
At Kangwoo’s words, Dohyeon shook his head vigorously and replied.
“Not at all. As a new member, I made this decision with a pure mindset to observe the hunt.”
Dohyeon rebutted Kangwoo’s words like he was giving a speech. But his eyes kept sneaking glances at Yonghoon.
Despite Dohyeon’s rebuttal, the other team members shook their heads.
“Well, since you came along, watch carefully. Watching is training too.”
Yonghoon said to Dohyeon, who was arguing passionately.
“Yes, sir!”
Dohyeon saluted at Yonghoon’s words.
Yonghoon turned his gaze away from Dohyeon.
Watching the chatting team members, he checked his smart watch.
Rank D
Dimensional Power: 153/300
He still couldn’t push past the mid-range.
After reaching D-Rank, unless he hunted monsters of the same rank, growth became extremely difficult. For now, there was a gap of over 100 with the other members, but as his growth slowed, that gap would surely narrow.
But Yonghoon wasn’t too worried.
Yonghoon stared into the air in front of him for a moment. The space shimmered.
He had a second ability.
From now on, there was no need to hide it from the team during hunts. He couldn’t use it when others were around, but when they weren’t, he could make full use of it.
Yonghoon turned his gaze outside the vehicle.
The view of Jamsil Sports Complex passed by. The minibus driven by team leader Han was headed for the department store in Jamsil.
The city of Seoul had requested hunts from Awakened living in Seoul and those who had come from the provinces but decided to stay in new homes in the city.
The request was to hunt monsters near the Safe Zone.
Seoul wanted to eliminate the monsters before they could enter the Safe Zone and cause damage.
They were doing their best to build barricades around the entry routes, but the area was too large, so it would take time.
Team Crazy was heading to Jamsil in response to Seoul’s hunting request.
Regardless of these circumstances, Dohyeon, sitting in the back of the van, looked amazed by everything.
Dohyeon’s mouth dropped open.
He was shocked by the number of monsters pouring down the escalator from the second floor, following Jimin.
“What the heck did you do?! Now I’m curious too!”
Kangwoo shouted at Jimin.
“Ugh~ This isn’t the time to ask that! They’re going to catch up!”
Nearly in tears, Jimin dashed down the escalator. Dozens of squirrel-sized monsters the size of humans were chasing her down.
“They’re not cute at all when they’re that big!”
Even while fleeing, Jimin had looked closely enough to shout angrily.
Thankfully, Jimin’s legs were fast again this time.
She reached the first floor and slid toward team leader Han in front of her. She slid right between his legs, and team leader Han raised his shield to block the squirrels’ charge.
“Ack, I feel like I just saw something I shouldn’t have.”
Jimin grimaced as she got up. But she quickly regained her focus and ran to team leader Han’s side.
Kangwoo and Yonghoon also stepped up beside team leader Han to block the squirrel monsters pouring out of the escalator. The escalator connecting the second and first floors was filled with squirrel monsters.
But since they were all F-type monsters, Team Crazy had no trouble handling them.
The difference between D-Rank and F-Rank was huge. The squirrel monsters flew away at team leader Han’s shield, and died in one hit from the strike-type Awakened’s spear attacks.
“Wow~”
From behind the team members, Dohyeon watched in awe, his mouth agape.
This was the first floor of the department store that Team Crazy had chosen for their hunt.
Team Crazy quickly cleared the first floor and took positions in front of the escalator. Then they had Jimin lure the monsters from the upper floors.
Dohyeon stared blankly at the team members’ hunting before snapping out of it.
They were truly amazing.
When he first met them, all he saw was the captain ramming a monster with a bus, so he was really curious about how they actually hunted. And now that he saw it, it exceeded his expectations.
Watching the team members hunt, Dohyeon licked his lips.
After watching for a while, Dohyeon raised his hand. He pointed it toward the massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Dohyeon clenched the hand he had extended toward the chandelier.
“Gravity. Lock down!”
In Dohyeon’s mind, he saw the chandelier falling from the ceiling. It plummeted at terrifying speed and crushed the monsters.
“Tch.”
Dohyeon scratched his head as he looked at the chandelier, which was still hanging just fine. It seemed he still had a long way to go before reality matched his imagination.
That’s when it happened.
The intact chandelier suddenly swayed.
“Huh?”
Dohyeon looked up at the chandelier in confusion. It was swinging side to side, and the decorations attached to it rained down.
Through the falling decorations, a black shadow burst out from the chandelier and dropped toward Dohyeon.
Dohyeon’s eyes went wide.
It was a giant flying squirrel. Dohyeon froze in fear.
“Sunhee! Above Dohyeon!”
While fighting monsters and keeping watch, Yonghoon noticed the chandelier swaying and turned his gaze toward Dohyeon.
Yonghoon saw the flying squirrel monster falling toward Dohyeon.
He urgently called out to Sunhee.
Sunhee was startled by the call and looked in the direction Yonghoon was speaking, then quickly extended her hand toward the monster.
As she used her ability, the flying squirrel monster that had been gliding toward Dohyeon with limbs outstretched suddenly stiffened.
The monster flailed and then plummeted downward.
Thud!
The flying squirrel monster that had crashed in front of Dohyeon immediately got back up. It lunged forward, trying to attack Dohyeon who stood before it.
But the flying squirrel failed to carry out its intent. As it rose, the air behind the monster’s head shimmered.
Then, a spear shot out from the empty space.
Thunk!
The spear pierced through the back of the monster’s head and disappeared back into the void. The flying squirrel monster collapsed on the spot, lifeless.
Dohyeon, who had been right in front of the monster, had only been blinking the whole time.
Not long after the monster fell, all the monsters in the department store had been taken care of.
After the hunt ended, the team members came outside and sat in front of the bus, watching the company’s retrieval team inspect the monster corpses.
The team had already extracted the Dimensional Cores from the E-rank flying squirrel monster and a few F-rank ones, and hidden them in the back of the bus.
While everyone was resting comfortably, Team Leader Han was frowning off to the side.
Kangwoo looked at the frowning Team Leader Han and asked what was wrong.
“It just feels wasteful to leave the corpses after taking the Dimensional Cores. Meeting with black market dealers is shady too. They say it’s used as some kind of aphrodisiac or whatever-it’s pretty gross.”
“I heard there are companies these days that buy monster corpses, whether they have Dimensional Cores or not. Seems like they’re trying to process them into products. But since they don’t pay much, it’s hard for companies to get hold of monster corpses.”
Kangwoo, feeling bad for Team Leader Han, shared information about a company he knew.
“Oh, there’s a place like that? Do you have a contact? Our team’s got a name now, so it’s hard to operate openly.”
“Sure, should I introduce you?”
At Kangwoo’s offer, Team Leader Han nodded.
Kangwoo pulled his phone out of his pocket and began making a call.
“Whoa, Uncle Kangwoo is amazing too. He looks so capable.”
Jimin exclaimed in admiration as she watched Kangwoo make the call.
Seeing that, Sunhee chuckled and turned to Dohyeon, who was still staring at the team members with sparkling eyes.
“Did you enjoy the hunt?”
At Sunhee’s question, Dohyeon looked at her with admiration in his eyes.
“You’re amazing. The best. Truly Korea’s top team protecting the Earth.”
Sunhee flinched and stepped back at Dohyeon’s sudden excited outburst.
“If we had matching uniforms, shouted team slogans, and named our techniques, it would be even cooler. But maybe that’s asking too much?”
In that moment, Sunhee felt cold sweat trickle down her back.
Yonghoon leaned against the bus, listening to the team’s conversation. It was a relaxed atmosphere.
That’s when it happened.
“Are you Team Crazy?”
When the team members looked ahead, they saw a middle-aged man and a young woman standing there.
The man in a suit looked like someone important, and the young woman had an intellectual appearance.
Team Leader Han stepped forward and answered the man.
“Yes, we are Team Crazy.”
The man in the suit handed Team Leader Han a business card.
Team Leader Han checked the card.
“Director Jang Byungchul of the Monster Countermeasure Headquarters under the Blue House? Are you from the government?”
The man in the suit nodded at Team Leader Han’s words and introduced themselves.
“Yes, I’m the director of the Monster Countermeasure Headquarters. And this is Officer Jo Hyunju from the same department.”
“Jo Hyunju.”
Team Leader Han looked puzzled at Director Jang. A high-ranking government official he’d been in contact with had come in person.
“What brings the government to our team?”
“We were originally going to visit your office, but it seemed like you’re always out hunting during the day, so we came to your hunting grounds instead. If we’d arrived a bit earlier, we might’ve seen you in action-what a shame.”
At the director’s words, the team members recalled Yonghoon’s hunting and tensed up a little.
The director looked around for a place to sit. Finding none, he sighed and sat on the ground.
“We’ve heard much about Team Crazy’s reputation. Thank you for your great help with the Yongsan blocking device installation.”
Director Jang, sitting on the ground, expressed his gratitude to the group and explained why he had come.
Several things were discussed, but in the end, the director had come to establish a friendly relationship between the Korean government and Team Crazy.
“Since Link Corp’s HQ is in the U.S., they often act under orders from there. They’ve helped our country a lot, but we can’t rely on them forever.”
After hearing this, Yonghoon grasped the situation. The government’s distrust had grown after Link System failed to detect the appearance of the D-rank monsters.
“Also, it’s difficult to request help from Link Corp when reclaiming national infrastructure from monsters. During the Busan blocking device installation too, we realized we can’t rely solely on Link Corp.”
What the director said matched what Yonghoon had been thinking.
In the end, the government seemed to want to build its own Awakened unit once again.
Director Jang continued to persuade Team Leader Han. He recommended becoming government-affiliated-or at least cooperating through a liaison if full affiliation was difficult.
Team Leader Han handled Director Jang’s pitch skillfully. He deflected all decisions, saying he needed to discuss with the team, and kept the conversation friendly.
Just as the conversation was wrapping up–
Yonghoon sensed something tickling his awareness. His expression hardened. It was a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time.
He lifted his head to find the source. The Dimensional Power that subtly brushed against his own was coming from the woman standing behind Director Jang.
‘Special Ability User. Detection-type.’
Yonghoon realized why the government had suddenly become so active. They had found someone who could read the Dimensional Power of other Awakened.
Yonghoon bared his teeth as he stared at her.
At the same time, his Dimensional Power shot toward her.
“Ack!”
The young woman let out a panicked cry and stepped back. Her face turned pale with fear.
The others looked at her in confusion.
Director Jang saw her trembling and Yonghoon glaring sharply at her, and understood the situation.
She had been caught.
Director Jang quickly apologized.
“We’re sorry. We acted rudely out of urgency.”
Director Jang bowed deeply.
Yonghoon relaxed his expression and looked at Director Jang.
“Next time, I’ll consider it an attack and retaliate.”
At Yonghoon’s words, the woman frantically shook her head. She had no intention of ever using her ability on him again.
The team members were baffled by the unexpected situation.
“So? What did you think of the Team Crazy members’ abilities?”
Director Jang asked Officer Jo in the car on the way back.
“I could only confirm about half. They were all D-rank Awakened. I identified one Assassin-type and two Strike-types.”
Director Jang nodded.
“They called him Crazy Kang, right? How did he figure out your ability?”
Hyunju shook her head. She didn’t know either. But it had happened once before.
“It felt the same as when I got caught by Seo Donghyuk from Link System. I think there’s a way they can detect my ability, but I don’t know how.”
Director Jang listened and stroked his chin.
“So some high-level Awakened can detect when abilities are used? You’ll have to be more careful.”
At Director Jang’s words, Hyunju apologized.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s not your fault. Thanks to you, we now have a way to move forward. Anyway, this means Kang Yonghoon is at least on par with Seo Donghyuk-or even stronger. It really does seem like only Team Crazy can stand against Link Corp.”
Hyunju nodded at Director Jang’s words.
“I’ll have to report back to the higher-ups more assertively.”
Director Jang muttered to himself and fell into thought.
Seeing him deep in thought, Hyunju brought out the hand she had kept hidden.
It was still trembling.
When she tried to connect to Kang Yonghoon’s Dimensional Power to analyze his ability, his powerful Dimensional Power had attacked her.
When she had been attacked by Seo Donghyuk before, it had felt like a wild beast growling. But this time, it was like a sharp sword stabbing right before her eyes.
She had felt like she was going to die on the spot.
Hyunju quietly took a deep breath and clasped her trembling hands together.
The car sped off toward Gwacheon.