After the hunt in Jamsil, Team Crazy steadily collected E-Rank Dimensional Cores separately.
The corpses of F-Rank monsters were handed over to the company’s disposal team, and the corpses of E-Rank monsters with the Dimensional Cores removed were sold at a low price to a company introduced by Kangwoo.
During a transaction, team leader Han heard from the other company that weapons and armor made from monster corpses would be released soon. He shared this news with the team, and everyone in Team Crazy was excited.
Not long after, the government contacted them.
Finally, it seemed the government was planning to establish a Safe Zone in Busan. Though D-rank monsters were a concern, it was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress the anger of citizens living in the provinces.
Team leader Han conveyed the government’s message to the team members gathered in the meeting room.
“I’m not sure if there’s a way to deal with D-rank monsters. Given the recent damage, it seems there still aren’t many Awakened who’ve reached D-rank.”
Upon hearing team leader Han’s words, Sunhee spoke with concern.
The other team members seemed to share the same concern.
“This time, it looks like they’re going to inspect everything thoroughly. Including the subway, they probably won’t leave any failed zones like last time. There may still be some hiding, but if they’re around D-rank, they think they’ll be noticeable.”
Team leader Han relayed what he had heard from the government to the team.
Kangwoo’s expression darkened upon hearing this.
“So that means they’re going to shove Awakened into every area where monsters might be. That’s going to result in a lot of casualties.”
Team leader Han nodded at Kangwoo’s words.
“They seem to think too many high-level Awakened died during the Seoul barrier installation. If it hadn’t been for Captain Kang, it might have failed. So now they’re planning to deploy low-level Awakened to assess the monsters’ levels.”
Everyone’s face darkened at team leader Han’s words.
“But would low-level Awakened really participate in such a dangerous operation?”
Sunhee asked again with concern.
“Surprisingly, the idea of having a home inside a Safe Zone is a huge motivation. They’ll join for their families’ sake. It seems almost all F-Rank Awakened in the Gyeongsang region are gathering. If they refuse, people living in Busan might be forced to relocate.”
“That’s awful.”
Jimin responded in a shocked voice to team leader Han’s words.
It seemed she was thinking of her orphanage family.
“There’s no choice. When the majority of the population aren’t Awakened, no one would object to expanding Safe Zones if it means a few more Awakened sacrifice themselves.”
Yonghoon’s expression darkened. It had begun. The time had come when Awakened would be sacrificed for the nation and its people.
Since only superpowered people could stop monsters, humanity was forcibly pushing them to the front lines.
Awakened specialized only in fighting monsters couldn’t even resist the government or military and had no choice but to be dragged into such hunts.
This phenomenon was happening in most developed countries and all nations where governments still existed. If one hated such sacrifices, the only option was to go to countries where the government had collapsed and take over cities.
In any case, since they needed to collect Dimensional Cores, the group had to participate in the government operation and departed for Busan. Dohyeon wanted to come along, but Yonghoon didn’t allow it.
Leaving behind Dohyeon’s sad eyes as he stayed to watch the office, the group headed to the airport.
The airport was crowded with people flocking to Seoul. They were people who wanted to live in the Safe Zone.
The group made their way through the crowd and boarded the plane.
As Awakened, they were guided straight to business class, and the plane took off for Busan.
There was a long artificial tunnel where dim lights gradually brightened. It was a long corridor with concrete walls on all sides. Judging by the occasional doors along the walls, there seemed to be rooms next to the corridor.
This artificial tunnel was an old emergency facility located in Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan. It was a place where government officials evacuated during national crises like war, but it had been closed recently as it was no longer needed.
A few people were walking through this gloomy place. Armed soldiers and unarmed individuals were moving together, but strangely, the unarmed ones were walking in front.
“Damn it, am I really doing this just to be a good son at this age?”
Among the two men at the front, the shorter one grumbled.
“What choice do we have? Neither of us can leave our families in a place with monsters.”
The taller man tried to comfort the other.
“Still, come on. Are only high-level Awakened considered real Awakened? If they send F-Rank Awakened like us as bait, what do they plan to do later?”
“I’m sure they have a plan. Let’s just focus on surviving. Luckily, since we’re moving with soldiers, we should be able to escape even if there’s an E-Rank monster.”
“Yeah, right. What good are soldiers against monsters that bullets don’t work on?”
The two continued walking deeper as they talked. Soldiers followed behind them.
The Awakened gathered in Busan began searching, along with soldiers, the monster-occupied and abandoned areas within the planned Safe Zone.
The government held back E-Rank and higher Awakened and sent F-Rank Awakened into each area. The government had them use smartwatches to identify monster information.
Using that information, they planned to send high-level Awakened to hunt the monsters.
They didn’t know how many F-Rank Awakened would be sacrificed in the process, but the government pushed forward to establish the Safe Zone in Busan.
As a result, the levels of monsters in many areas were revealed, and Awakened appropriate to the level were dispatched to eliminate them with minimal casualties.
However, many F-Rank Awakened died while identifying the monsters’ levels.
The group walking through this underground facility was among those Awakened.
As the two Awakened walked ahead, one monitored the surroundings with a smartwatch while the other kept watch with his eyes.
“See anything?”
The taller of the two asked the one checking the smartwatch.
“It’s clear. This seems to be almost the entire area, so just a bit more and we’re done.”
“Right? According to the map we checked earlier, if we just pass that corner up ahead, there’s one last large room. We just need to check that room.”
The two Awakened sighed in relief. The soldiers following behind also looked a little more at ease.
“Then let’s check it quickly and get out. It really feels like a bomb shelter down here-it’s creepy.”
The tall Awakened shivered as he looked around, and the other agreed and quickened his pace.
Soon after, they reached a dead end.
At the dead end was a large door directly in front of them.
“We just need to open this door.”
The tall Awakened walked toward the door.
That’s when it happened.
The other Awakened shouted loudly from behind him.
“Get back! A monster’s coming!”
The Awakened who was about to open the door instinctively turned his head.
In his view, he saw his teammate shouting at him, having lifted his eyes from the smartwatch.
Boom!
The door on the wall exploded. The Awakened in front of it was lucky enough not to be hit by any of the flying debris. But that didn’t lead to a good outcome.
Crunch!
A massive cricket burst through the door and bit the man in front of it in half.
“Aaaaargh!”
At the sudden sight, people screamed, and the shorter Awakened was the first to flee. He shouted as he ran.
“It’s E-Rank! Run!”
At his words, the soldiers panicked and began running through the tunnel after him.
The cricket tossed aside the corpse and lunged at the fleeing humans.
“Damn it! At this rate, we’re dead!”
Four soldiers and Awakened were sprinting down the corridor in a frenzy.
Unfortunately, the cricket monster caught up with a single jump.
The only reason they had been able to run this far was because the cricket had paused briefly after killing someone.
But that only bought them a moment, and it quickly caught up and killed another.
“Aaargh!”
Now only two squad members remained. Lieutenant Ahn, the support squad leader of the exploration team, gritted his teeth. The half-wit Awakened fleeing ahead was of no help. He had been prepared to die when he received this mission, but he had no intention of dying in vain.
He spotted the exit ahead and shouted to his squad.
“Pull the pins on all your grenades and drop them in front of the monster! We’re collapsing the whole place! If we bring down the entire tunnel, it won’t get out!”
Lieutenant Ahn recalled the warnings he’d heard before the mission but ignored them all. Letting the monster out was worse than doing things his own way. He pulled the safety pin from a grenade and threw it behind him.
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of grenades hitting the ground echoed. Lieutenant Ahn and his squad ran even faster.
Due to the public advisory to refrain from going out announced throughout Busan a few days ago, this area of Suyeong District looked like a ghost town.
Among it, the old civil servant training center located below Geumnyeon Mountain had become a ruin after monsters appeared and the area was sealed off as a danger zone.
In front of the now-ruined building stood several people. Soldiers armed with rifles and grenade launchers, and police controlling the surroundings.
But with no civilians around, they simply stood quietly at their posts, and the area felt almost peaceful under the early autumn sun.
That atmosphere was shattered by a loud explosion from underground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All the windows of the three-story building in front of the parking lot shattered. White smoke billowed from the windows and open doors.
The soldiers and police stationed in the parking lot immediately tensed up. Lieutenant Jung of Support Team 2, who was among the soldiers, quickly grabbed his radio and reported.
“Explosion detected underground in Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District. Appears to be grenade use by the underground bunker exploration team.”
Swearing burst out immediately from the radio he was holding.
And right after, an order came through.
[We’ll send a high-level Awakened nearby as fast as possible. Hold them off no matter what until then!]
The officer shook his head as he stared at the radio.
It was what people often called a suicide order these days.
The officer looked around.
Behind the building was Geumnyeon Mountain, but on the other side, there were clusters of residential houses. That made it hard to disobey the order and retreat because of the civilians.
Everyone aimed their guns at the building with grim expressions.
The police also raised their pistols.
It happened then.
People came running out from inside the building.
It was the search team.
Only a few of the people who went in made it out, but seeing them alive brought joy to everyone else.
Seeing that, Lieutenant Ahn of the search team shouted toward the officer.
“We collapsed the inner cave and crushed the monster. No matter how unkillable it is, there’s no way it survived!”
Hearing that, Lieutenant Jung frowned.
“Are you serious? You heard the precautions too!”
Lieutenant Jung shouted at Lieutenant Ahn of the search team.
“Even if we’re not supposed to trap the monster, there’s no way it’s getting out after that!”
Lieutenant Ahn shouted that what he had done was the right thing.
An Awakened who had been catching his breath until then spoke up from the side.
“Contact HQ. The monster will go berserk. A monster that’s reached D-rank won’t be stopped by that level of collapse.”
Lieutenant Ahn’s face turned pale at his words, and the other officer listening scowled.
“Screeeeech!”
A monstrous shriek echoed from inside the building.
Lieutenant Jung immediately reported.
“Monster rampage! After rampaging, the monster is now D-rank!”
Nothing came through the radio for a moment. Lieutenant Jung took the radio from his ear and looked ahead.
A moment later, curses burst from the radio, but Lieutenant Jung wasn’t listening anymore.
The entrance of the building exploded open, and the cricket monster, its entire body radiating red energy, burst out.
The radio crackled in Lieutenant Jung’s hand as he stared blankly at the monster.
[Awakened are arriving soon! Just hold it off a little longer, just a little!]
The cricket monster that had burst out of the building trembled all over. Then it tested the movement of its wings.
Everything was functioning fine. Excited from the rampage, the monster leapt at the humans right in front of it.
With no height restrictions here, its jump was incredibly high and long. The cricket monster landed where the soldiers were gathered.
Boom!
The soldiers, frozen as they watched the monster fall toward them, snapped back to their senses at the sound of the impact right before their eyes.
When they looked ahead, a middle-aged man in anti-stab clothing stood in front of them with a large shield, protecting them.
Team leader Han looked at the cricket monster that had been knocked back from the shield and asked the soldiers,
“Where is the D-rank monster?”
At his shout, the soldiers all looked confused.
People passed by the bewildered soldiers.
“I don’t see any D-rank monster?”
Jimin shouted as she rushed to team leader Han’s side,
“Catch that thing over there first! If a rampaging one gets in the way while we’re handling the D-rank, it’s a pain!”
Kangwoo shouted to Jimin as he dashed forward.
Sunhee ran after him.
From beside the dazed soldiers, Yonghoon’s voice rang out.
“Is that rampaging one the only monster here?”
Startled by the sudden voice, the soldiers froze, and only an F-rank Awakened barely managed to answer Yonghoon.
“Yes, it’s just that one monster over there.”
At his words, Yonghoon gave a bitter smile.
Yonghoon and his teammates, who had been clearing out monsters on Geumnyeon Mountain, had rushed down the moment they heard about the D-rank monster over the radio.
Yonghoon had also come down at the same time, but since he only sensed one monster here, he asked the soldiers.
It seemed the radio interference in the mountain had prevented the part about the monster going berserk from getting through.
Yonghoon shouted to his teammates who were fighting up ahead.
“They say there’s only one monster! Sunhee, finish it quickly!”
Without realizing, Yonghoon had started speaking informally to Sunhee as he ran toward the group with his spear.
“Huh? This isn’t a D-rank though?”
Jimin said in confusion as she thrust her spear.
“No wonder there was so much static on the comms,”
Team leader Han said as he blocked the monster with his shield, understanding the situation.
“That’s a relief. Looks like this’ll be over quickly.”
Kangwoo pierced the cricket’s wing with his spear and retreated, and seizing the opening, Sunhee immediately climbed onto the cricket’s back.
Then she placed her hand on the cricket’s back and began searching for the Dimensional Core, and as the monster thrashed from the energy, Yonghoon shoved his spear into its mouth to pin it down.
The cricket monster’s Dimensional Core was soon contaminated, and the red energy that had enveloped its body vanished. The rampage had stopped because the core was contaminated.
Sensing the Dimensional Power draining from the monster’s body, Yonghoon drove his spear into the cricket monster’s head.
The cricket monster collapsed with Yonghoon’s spear as its final blow. Confirming the monster was dead, team leader Han went to the soldiers to assess the situation.
The other team members sat down beside the fallen cricket to catch their breath. Having run down from the mountain and fought, they were all out of breath.
Once she had caught her breath, Jimin asked Yonghoon,
“With people watching, I guess we can’t extract the Dimensional Core?”
Yonghoon gave a bitter smile at Jimin’s words.
“A rampaging monster’s core loses its Dimensional Power, so it’s useless. The company won’t pay much for it either.”
“Ack! It’s not even D-rank, and now it’s completely worthless?”
Jimin immediately looked like she was about to cry.
The other team members also sighed, looking a bit disappointed.
Seeing them, Yonghoon felt a bit conflicted. They were all becoming Hunters. Hunters who were more disappointed by the low value of the prey than concerned for human lives.
It was then.
Team leader Han shouted from where the soldiers were.
“Looks like there are injured people! Help out!”
“Got it!”
At team leader Han’s call, the team members immediately responded and stood up. They walked briskly toward the soldiers.
Following behind his teammates, Yonghoon silently apologized to them in his heart.
With the rampaging cricket monster defeated, the preliminary cleanup for the Dimensional Movement Blocking Devices in Busan was complete.
A day passed.
Today was the day the Dimensional Movement Blocking Devices were to be installed in Busan.
Whether the sacrifice of so many F-rank Awakened was justified would be decided by today’s outcome.