Crazy that helped him grow his abilities.
In particular, Dohyeon was practically a fan of Yonghoon. When he found out that Sunhee had feelings for Yonghoon, he had even shed tears as he let go of his own one-sided crush.
However, even Dohyeon had one complaint about the team. No, it was actually a complaint about himself.
The moment he became an E-rank, he begged Yonghoon to let him join the hunt. Partly because he was tired of training, but mostly because he wanted to be helpful to the team.
But even after going on hunts, it didn’t feel like his abilities were of much help to the team. Dohyeon was deeply disappointed, but he believed Yonghoon’s words that leveling up would make a difference and gave it his all.
Dohyeon clenched the hand he had stretched toward the Soldier Ant. Then, with all his heart, he shouted softly.
“Go! Javelin Attack!”
The moment he spoke, one of the spears laid out at his feet shot toward the ant monster.
Thud!
The flying spear broke through the shell of the dazed Soldier Ant and lodged into its side.
“Kraah!”
The ant monster, which had just recovered from the shock of contamination, screamed as the spear pierced it.
The spear embedded in the Soldier Ant continued to accelerate under Dohyeon’s telekinesis. It struck with far more power than a regular spear, as if launched by a railgun.
Dohyeon gathered his strength once more. A second spear shot forward, propelled by his telekinesis.
The second spear drove into the ant’s lower abdomen, and Dohyeon gathered his strength once more. But the next spear only twitched slightly before stopping.
Dohyeon’s Dimensional Power had been completely depleted.
Dohyeon looked ahead with a regretful expression. The Soldier Ant, with two spears deeply embedded in its body, was still staggering toward Sunhee.
Seeing the still-living ant, Dohyeon bit his lip. He was the only one on the team who couldn’t pull his own weight.
“Good job.”
Yonghoon patted Dohyeon on the shoulder. As expected, an E-rank telekinetic couldn’t replace the firepower of conventional weapons.
However, to protect the team’s many secrets, it was difficult to move alongside mercenaries or soldiers. A Special Ability User was essential.
Fortunately, since Dohyeon had a decent personality, Yonghoon looked forward to seeing how he would grow.
Yonghoon turned his gaze back to the front.
The Soldier Ant, heavily wounded by Dohyeon, was being finished off by Jimin and Kangwoo.
Yonghoon looked up at the sky. Snow was falling in a white flurry.
That day marked the completion of the final Safe Zone installation for the year.
The government officially declared the end of the first round of Safe Zone installations.
The installations had claimed countless lives, but they were expected to become the backbone of a nation sinking deeper into the mire.
And on that day, Korea’s first C-rank Awakened was born.
Yonghoon was seated in the center of the living room.
His eyes were tightly closed, and he sat in a formal kneeling position.
This living room wasn’t the one in the officetel he had stayed in before. It was in a luxury apartment over 1300 square feet.
In the center of the living room stood a triangular pyramid-shaped metal structure. It was a Dimensional Core support for Dimensional Power training.
Yonghoon was focusing his mind for training. Sparks crackled around the structure, accompanied by a low hum.
A 50-inch TV at the front of the living room was broadcasting the news.
[With this, Korea now has a total of five Safe Zones. Compared to other countries, this is one of the fastest rates, and when adjusted for population, it is the fastest in the world.]
A middle-aged news anchor was praising Korea’s achievements at length.
[Furthermore, even developed nations like the UK have failed at least once in their Safe Zone installations, but Korea has succeeded without a single failure–]
Yonghoon, still focusing, sighed and turned off the TV.
Knowing the countless deaths tied to the Safe Zones, Yonghoon found it hard to listen to the broadcast.
After the final Safe Zone installation in Daejeon, Team Crazy returned to Seoul.
All the members of Team Crazy were overjoyed at the news of Yonghoon leveling up to C-rank, as if it were their own achievement. Team leader Han and Kangwoo congratulated him, and Jimin shouted that they should throw a party.
Of course, she meant using the team’s funds.
Hearing this, Dohyeon’s eyes sparkled even more. It seemed his level of devotion had gone up another notch.
Sunhee also congratulated Yonghoon with a bright smile.
Looking at Yonghoon as he received the congratulations, she reaffirmed her resolve to do her best until the day she could stand by his side.
It was now full-fledged winter.
Even the Awakened were taking a break from hunting. Not many wanted to trek through snow in the freezing weather to hunt monsters.
Moreover, Awakened who now had homes within the Safe Zones after the installations were enjoying a far more comfortable winter than others. They had no reason to act recklessly.
The government, too, seemed to be taking a break this winter due to the damage from the Safe Zone installations. All official summoning of Awakened had ceased.
While the government and Awakened rested, ordinary people-especially the majority living outside the Safe Zones-were enduring the harshest winter since the Korean War.
Yonghoon stood up from the Dimensional Power training device and retrieved the Dimensional Core mounted in the corner. The glowing D-rank Dimensional Core dazzled his eyes.
In truth, the number of D-rank monsters Team Crazy had faced was far greater than publicly known.
If there were people nearby or the monsters looked dangerous, they contaminated the Dimensional Core before killing them. Otherwise, they hunted by pure force.
It was all to gather Dimensional Cores for training.
Though the hunts were grueling, thanks to them, Team Crazy was able to collect a decent number of uncontaminated Dimensional Cores.
After retrieving the Cores, they either hid or destroyed the monster corpses. As a result, people thought Team Crazy had encountered surprisingly few D-rank monsters.
While traveling around the provinces installing three Safe Zones, Team Crazy managed to collect about ten D-rank Dimensional Cores.
It wasn’t enough for everyone, but it was sufficient for rotating training.
Out of consideration for Yonghoon’s hard work and to support his rapid experience gain, the team assigned the D-rank Cores to him first.
They believed that the stronger Yonghoon became, the safer the whole team would be.
In the end, Yonghoon reached C-rank on the day of the final Safe Zone installation.
Yonghoon placed the Dimensional Core into the thermos that had become his Core container. Now that he was a C-rank Awakened, D-rank Cores weren’t very helpful for his training. It was time for the other members to use them.
With the Core placed in the thermos, Yonghoon finished his preparations to leave.
He looked around the house one last time.
This house was one of the residences the government had allocated to Team Crazy in a luxury mixed-use building in Gangnam, Seoul.
All the team members had wanted to live here, but in the end, only Yonghoon and Sunhee had moved in.
Jimin chose to live with the orphanage kids who had come up to Seoul, and Kangwoo and team leader Han couldn’t leave their own homes. Dohyeon declined, saying he hadn’t contributed enough.
Sunhee’s home was right next to Yonghoon’s. When they moved in, the other team members had made teasing smiles, but Yonghoon ignored them all.
Just as Yonghoon was about to head out, the doorbell rang.
It was Sunhee.
Yonghoon opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Sunhee, who had been waiting at the door, greeted him with a bright smile.
Yonghoon’s four-wheel drive vehicle was slowly making its way through the snow-covered road. They had originally planned to take the minibus, but hearing that no snow had been cleared outside the Safe Zone, they opted to use his car instead.
Jimin was staring out the window with a gloomy expression.
The city outside the Safe Zone was turning into a massive slum.
Broken-down cars were strewn across the sidewalks, and piles of trash could be seen wherever the snow hadn’t covered. The walls of roadside buildings were a complete mess.
Especially the ground floors of buildings that were no longer inhabited were covered in graffiti.
The government had prioritized food, industrial facilities, and Safe Zones in its policies. It had made these choices in an effort to revive the collapsing economy. With resources severely depleted by the monsters, there were limits to what could be done.
As a result, as Team Crazy was now witnessing, even basic public order was hard to maintain outside the Safe Zones.
The car slowly moved along the empty, snowy road.
Team Crazy was heading to the Amsa Water Purification Plant at the government’s request. The Amsa Plant, located on the eastern edge of Seoul, supplied 30% of the city’s tap water.
The eastern edge of Seoul continued into low mountains. The Amsa Plant was situated at the foot of one such mountain, not in the city center.
Located on the mountainside, the plant had long been exposed to considerable danger. For safety, Seoul had stationed an F-rank Awakened there, who monitored the surroundings with a smart watch.
Until autumn, no monsters had appeared at the plant.
But with the arrival of winter, it seemed a monster that had been lurking in the mountains finally descended.
Fortunately, the F-rank Awakened detected the monster’s appearance first and contacted a staff member.
All the waterworks employees evacuated to a shelter, and the plant manager immediately requested help from the Seoul city government.
Upon hearing about the Amsa Water Purification Plant, the city urgently called for help from Awakened through the community.
But the superpowered people didn’t respond at all.
Pressed for time, the city eventually turned to Team Crazy.
“Why is no one moving? If the water stops, everyone will suffer! And this is a request from the city, yet they’re all ignoring it.”
Sunhee spoke to the team with a puzzled expression.
“There are plenty of reasons. It’s winter, so it’s hard to move. It’s too far compared to other requests. And being on a mountain slope is much more dangerous than in the city.”
Team leader Han responded to Sunhee’s comment.
“The water from the Amsa Plant is mostly used by people outside the Safe Zone. They probably thought it wouldn’t affect them.”
Kangwoo answered after team leader Han.
Sunhee’s expression darkened. She was hurt by the selfishness of the Awakened.
As a result, the mood inside the car turned gloomy, and Dohyeon, wedged between the luggage in the back seat, couldn’t even ask to change seats and ended up looking miserable.
Their car, moving slowly along the snowy road, finally arrived in front of the main gate of the Amsa Water Purification Plant after a long while.
However, upon arriving at the entrance of the purification plant, they were unable to go inside.
A young man who appeared to be an Awakened stood in the way of Yonghoon’s car. Seeing that the people inside were wearing Anti-stab Clothing, he shouted.
“Kafka Team has already started the hunt here. If you go any further, we’ll consider it a hostile act and attack!”
The members of Team Crazy blinked at his words.
It was an unexpected situation.
The team members all looked at team leader Han.
“Hold on a second!”
Team leader Han hurriedly pulled out his touchpad and checked the internet. It seemed there was a problem. He frowned as he looked at the screen.
After checking the contents, he explained the situation to the team.
“Damn, looks like there was a double request? After Seoul told us about it, they must’ve forgotten to delete the post from the Awakened request board. Kafka Team accepted the government’s request.”
After hearing team leader Han’s words, the team members let out a sigh.
“Ugh, what a waste of a trip. Why would they handle it like this? Doesn’t look like we’ll even get paid.”
Disappointed they had come all this way, Jimin grumbled.
“At least there’s a team that stepped up.”
Sunhee spoke with a relieved expression.
“That’s surprising. It shouldn’t be easy to come all the way out here. Anyway, let’s head back. No point sticking around and getting on the bad side of the Awakened guarding the front.”
Kangwoo said, looking at the rookie Awakened blocking the front of the car.
But Yonghoon didn’t turn the wheel. Instead, he opened the door and got out of the car.