The truly harsh winter had passed.
For everyone except Awakened ranked E and above, civilians living in the Safe Zone, and the wealthy, it had been an extremely difficult winter.
Awakened of E-rank and higher, who had gained sufficient wealth through a year of hunting, spent the winter safely inside the Safe Zone instead of risking dangerous winter hunts.
They didn’t move at all unless it was for an important hunt requested by the government or one with a large reward.
But for F-type Awakened, that was a completely unrelated story.
They had no choice but to go hunting regardless of the weather and cold, for the sake of their families and their own livelihood.
In the end, many low-level Awakened who went out to hunt lost their lives to monsters.
And the winter also claimed the lives of those living outside the Safe Zones.
They died without any way to seek help, due to the cold, starvation, and the monsters that appeared at any time.
And so, spring arrived, leaving behind countless deaths.
Stretching as she stepped out of the office building, Jimin let out a sigh of relief.
“Ah, I finally feel alive. This winter was way too cold.”
Jimin smiled happily under the warm spring sunlight.
“Honestly, we don’t really feel the cold, do we? Sure, the temperature was low, but it was bearable.”
Dohyeon, who hadn’t felt the cold during winter, chimed in at Jimin’s words.
“It’s about the feeling! The feeling!”
Annoyed, Jimin grumbled at Dohyeon for not getting the mood.
“It was definitely hard for everyone this winter. Now that the weather’s warming up, things should get better, right?”
Sunhee said as she watched Jimin and Dohyeon bickering.
“Well, now that Link Corp’s energy device has entered full-scale mass production, things should improve a bit.”
Kangwoo responded to Sunhee’s comment.
“What do you think, captain?”
Not getting the answer she wanted, Sunhee turned to Yonghoon and asked again.
“Who knows?”
Sunhee pouted at Yonghoon’s reply. As expected, this man was no fun.
The team members were currently waiting in front of the office for the minibus that team leader Han was bringing around.
During the winter, Team Crazy had also refrained from hunting and spent their time training. They only handled hunts requested by the government or the city of Seoul, so they were able to get through the winter without major incidents.
“But it’s a bit disappointing that our first spring hunt is also a government request.”
Sunhee struck up a conversation with Yonghoon again.
“Now that it’s spring, we have to be more careful. It’s not easy for us to go around accepting public hunt requests, and hunting around the Safe Zone has become more difficult. But going deep into the mountains to hunt is also dangerous for us.”
Kangwoo responded absentmindedly to Sunhee’s words, and Sunhee could only sigh at his lack of awareness.
Regardless of Sunhee’s thoughts, Yonghoon felt the same way as Kangwoo.
It was no longer easy for Team Crazy to move around freely. Many high-level Awakened had seen them in action during battles near the Safe Zone, and their name had become well known-so showing up in regular hunting grounds now drew unwanted attention.
Moreover, with spring starting, countless Awakened who had been lying low were now rushing out, and there was nothing to gain from unnecessary clashes.
A luxury minibus, now practically their team’s personal vehicle, pulled up in front of them.
“Hop in!”
From the driver’s seat, team leader Han called out to the group. The team members piled into the vehicle, and once Yonghoon, the last to board, was confirmed, team leader Han started the car.
“Team leader, what do you think about hiring a driver? It’s a bit uncomfortable when you’re driving, and you seem really tired after battles too.”
Sitting in his seat, Kangwoo made a suggestion to team leader Han. The other team members nodded in agreement.
During the winter, they had moved around snowy areas using either Kangwoo’s or team leader Han’s car, and the team had apparently been a bit worried about their driving.
“Ah, just wait a bit. I’m thinking of getting a new off-road vehicle for the team and also recruiting an Awakened who can serve as a driver. It’d be too dangerous for a regular person in the hunting grounds.”
Team leader Han responded to Kangwoo’s comment. He had already been thinking about it.
“By the way, what’s today’s request about? I didn’t really understand the explanation in the meeting room.”
From the back seat, Dohyeon asked team leader Han.
“Eh~, it’s not that you didn’t understand-it’s that you weren’t listening. You were looking at your phone.”
Jimin immediately got her revenge from earlier.
“Well, I mean…”
Dohyeon scratched his head.
Team leader Han chuckled at their banter and explained it again for Dohyeon.
“As I mentioned earlier, it seems that areas occupied by monsters-Dead Zones-have increased over the winter. The government contacted us to confirm several Dead Zones. Now that the weather is better, they’re gathering people to handle them, and recon is needed. The failure in Daejeon taught them a lesson.”
Team leader Han checked the green light and turned the car south.
“They also contacted us and another team of D-rank Awakened. Since the risk is high, they need a high-level team like ours.”
Team leader Han looked at Dohyeon through the rearview mirror. Dohyeon bowed his head with an apologetic expression.
The car sped off toward the southern area of the Safe Zone.
According to team leader Han’s findings, all the Dead Zones the government requested recon on were national infrastructure facilities.
On the first day, Team Crazy investigated a thermal power plant and an LPG storage facility.
Fortunately, the monsters at the thermal power plant and LPG storage facility were just normal E-rank monsters. There were quite a few of them, but a group of E-rank Awakened or an elite D-rank team could probably handle them without issue.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Team Crazy spent the night at a small hotel in Pyeongtaek and headed straight to the Petroleum Corporation the next day.
After driving for about 30 minutes, Team Crazy arrived at the Pyeongtaek base of the Petroleum Corporation and witnessed an unexpected scene at the main gate.
“This area is being hunted by Suseong Group’s Awakened teams. General hunting teams, please use another location.”
In front of the main gate, where massive oil storage tanks could be seen, were Awakened holding spears and mercenaries with guns. They were gripping their weapons tightly and guarding the gate.
Among them, a man in a suit was speaking continuously through a megaphone.
“What the hell is this? This isn’t even a Suseong Group-owned company-what right do they have to block hunting here?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
In front of the gate, many people were protesting against the mercenaries and Awakened blocking the entrance. Judging by their gear, they seemed to be Awakened too.
The barricades that had marked the Dead Zone had also been moved aside. It looked like many people had already gone inside.
Team Crazy parked their vehicle a bit further away and got out.
“This is a mess. What the hell happened here?”
Team leader Han looked at the main gate with a baffled expression. The other team members shared the same thought.
“I’ll go find out.”
Dohyeon said and ran toward the group of protesting people.
“Then I’ll check with the people on the other side.”
Watching Dohyeon’s direction, Kangwoo moved toward the man in the suit.
Dohyeon slipped into the group of F-rank Awakened gathered at the back. Maybe because they were around the same age, he quickly made friends and got the story.
Kangwoo’s situation was a bit more dramatic.
At first, when Kangwoo spoke to the man in the suit, the man scowled and ignored him. But when Kangwoo said something, the man was startled and looked toward where the team members were.
He had probably mentioned that they were from Team Crazy.
The man’s attitude changed immediately. He politely explained the situation to Kangwoo.
The real problem came after Kangwoo and Dohyeon returned and reported back to the team.
The Suseong Group people stared at Team Crazy with tense expressions, and the man in the suit began making urgent phone calls.
The Awakened who had been protesting at the gate also began to glance at Team Crazy one by one and started murmuring among themselves.
“Looks like this just got annoying……”
Yonghoon muttered as he looked at the gate, and Sunhee, standing next to him, nodded.
The story Kangwoo and Dohyeon brought back went like this.
This refinery had only recently become a Dead Zone. Toward the end of winter, it was taken over by monsters and designated a Dead Zone.
A general hunting team passing through here discovered the Dead Zone and tried hunting near the entrance.
But the monsters here turned out to be unexpectedly ordinary.
Surprised by the easy hunt, they decided to come back and go deeper next time.
A few days later, they returned to the Dead Zone and witnessed something shocking.
All the monsters they had previously killed had been replenished.
Alarmed, they confirmed this over several hunts and posted their findings on the Awakened forum.
Their post quickly became a hot topic on the forum.
After reading the post, general Awakened rushed to Pyeongtaek, but before they could hunt much, Suseong Group’s Awakened blocked the entrance.
“That’s strange. Monsters getting replenished right away? What is this, a video game? Is there some monster inside that lays eggs every day or something?”
Jimin tilted her head as she listened to the story.
“Still, this is serious. I mean, Awakened ignoring the monsters all over the world just to hunt easy ones in front of them, and others blocking them off to monopolize the profits-it’s all messed up.”
Kangwoo looked at the main gate with a worried expression.
The Awakened who had been protesting at the gate had now stopped. After talking among themselves, they sent one Awakened over to Team Crazy.
“Just like the captain said, things really are about to get messy.”
Sunhee frowned as she looked at the Awakened approaching them.
“Yeah. It really does look like trouble.”
But Yonghoon wasn’t looking in the same direction as Sunhee. He was staring off toward the Petroleum Corporation base.
The middle-aged Awakened who approached the group said exactly what Yonghoon and Sunhee had expected.
“You’ve come at just the right time. That Suseong Corporation is trying to start up their old business again. We didn’t have the strength to stop them ourselves, so thank you for coming. Please handle this matter fairly. We’ll do our best to help.”
Sunhee was surprised by his words.
It was an impressive bit of sophistry.
Listening to him, it sounded like they were government inspectors sent to stop Suseong Corporation’s wrongdoing. But they hadn’t come for that reason, nor did they have the authority.
Sunhee tried to correct his statement.
That’s when it happened.
Yonghoon’s expression twisted sharply as he stared at the Petroleum Corporation base.
With a hardened face, Yonghoon shouted to his teammates.
“Everyone, grab your weapons!”
The team was bewildered by Yonghoon’s sudden outburst. Sunhee, too, was startled by his abrupt command.
But the team quickly began pulling out their weapons from the vehicle. They now followed Yonghoon’s orders without question.
“Wait, there’s no need to be so aggressive. Let’s try talking first……”
Seeing Team Crazy arming themselves, the middle-aged Awakened broke into a cold sweat and tried to calm everyone down.
The Suseong Group members guarding the main gate all tensed up.
Among them, the Awakened raised their weapons, and the mercenaries disengaged the safeties on their guns.
Even as Team Crazy armed themselves, they looked at Yonghoon with puzzled expressions. They had brought out their weapons as ordered, but didn’t know why.
A man in a suit at the main gate spoke into a microphone.
“Team Crazy, do not approach the main gate. If you come any closer, we will open fire.”
Yonghoon started moving toward the gate with his team but stopped at the man’s warning.
“These lunatics!”
Rage surged through Yonghoon for the first time in a while.
The fact that hunted monsters were reappearing over time meant this place was a Singularity with weak Dimensional Power, making it easy for monsters to cross over.
The constant replenishment of monsters in one area meant the ones that crossed over were gathering here, maintaining a balance of Dimensional Power.
The problem was that the replenishment interval was too short. That meant this area was extremely deficient in Dimensional Power.
And now, a large-scale hunt had taken place in such a dangerous Singularity. If too many monsters were hunted, the balanced Dimensional Power would undoubtedly collapse.
If that happened, countless holes would open up across the area.
Just like right now!
Alarms began ringing from the team members’ wrists. The wrists of all the Awakened gathered at the main gate began to ring as well.
People gasped and looked down at their wrists in shock.
“It’s a Dimensional Movement Mark!”
“There’s so many of them!”
Shouts of alarm echoed from all directions.
Yonghoon also looked down at his smart watch.
Dozens of Dimensional Movement Marks were filling up the detector.