That day’s hunt ultimately had to be finished using Sunhee and Yonghoon’s abilities.
Although team leader Han blocked well and the team members’ attacks were excellent, it became too difficult to continue fighting because of their disgust toward the cockroaches.
With Sunhee’s interference using the Dimensional Core, several cockroaches were rolled across the floor, and Yonghoon eliminated all the fallen cockroaches with his Spatial Ability, but in the end, team leader Han ended up drenched in cockroach bodily fluids.
Thanks to that, team leader Han, along with Jimin, was tormented by nightmares of cockroaches for a while.
The ordeal continued with the arrival of technicians from Shilla Heavy Industries who came to collect the monster corpses. They turned pale and barely managed to load the corpses.
Despite the mental suffering the team members endured during the hunt, the new equipment showed excellent test results.
After some time passed following the hunt, team leader Han’s shield, which had been scratched all over from defending against the cockroach attacks, returned to its original state, and the scratches on Jimin’s and team leader Han’s cuirasses also completely disappeared.
“Is it similar to shape memory alloy?”
Dohyeon picked up team leader Han’s shield and stared at it curiously.
He was sitting at the bar in the gym with the other team members, admiring the shield that had returned to its original form.
After handing over the corpses to the recovery team from Shilla Heavy Industries, Team Crazy had returned straight to the office. As soon as they arrived, they rushed to the showers attached to the gym on the floor below.
Although they had wiped themselves down with wet towels after the hunt, the lingering filth was no joke. Especially team leader Han and the female team members shuddered as they dashed into the showers.
The male team members, having washed away their discomfort with showers, were now resting at the bar set up in one corner of the gym. Meanwhile, the female team members still hadn’t emerged from the showers.
“I find the ability to draw in monsters even more fascinating. It’s amazing that the contaminated Dimensional Core can attract monsters instead of people, just like the turtle lured humans.”
Kangwoo shook his head in disbelief.
Yonghoon agreed with him. Even after fighting for ten years in the other world, they still knew very little about monsters.
“Man, I think we need to hire a driver. Fighting like this leaves me with no stamina to drive.”
In the end, team leader Han surrendered.
It had been Yonghoon who drove on the way back to the office today. Team leader Han had been completely knocked out.
Even now, team leader Han was half-reclined on the sofa, looking dazed.
“So now all our weapons, shields, and armor have been upgraded?”
Dohyeon said as he set down the shield. He was right.
Team leader Han’s shield and every team member’s cuirass had been newly fitted. Moreover, their spears, made from monster corpses not long ago, were still in good shape. Even Yonghoon, whose spear had been broken, now had a newly made spear.
“Captain, your sword is still just an ordinary one, right? Why didn’t you replace it when everyone else did? You use it a lot more than other Strike-type Awakened.”
Sunhee approached the bar and asked Yonghoon.
Having just finished showering, the scent of her shampoo wafted subtly along her body.
Immediately, Dohyeon’s face slackened into a goofy smile, and he got a flick on the forehead from Jimin, who had followed right behind Sunhee.
“Ugh, I’m so tired. I feel like I’m going to have a seizure just from seeing a cockroach now.”
Jimin, after flicking Dohyeon’s forehead, sat down next to the sprawled-out team leader Han and groaned. She looked like she would fall asleep if left alone.
Yonghoon, hearing Sunhee’s question, looked at his sword hanging on the wall. He had fought for nine years in the other world with that plain steel sword.
However, the reason he hadn’t replaced the sword wasn’t because of nostalgia.
He was planning to find a proper sword. While spears could be mass-produced to a certain standard using monster corpses, swords were different. Yonghoon had no greed for other things, but when it came to swords, it was different. There was a sword he wanted.
It was an antique-style oriental sword that shone with a sky-blue light.
Wherever that sword passed, the bodies of monsters boasting hard shells were sliced cleanly apart. It was as if the sword was cutting through empty air.
Yonghoon still couldn’t forget the scene he had witnessed two years before crossing over to this world.
He had seen that sword during one of the fiercest battles toward the end of the war.
Yonghoon had been one of the countless C-Rank Awakened, and the wielder of that sword had been one of the few A-Rank Awakened in Korea.
That Awakened had fled from the Manchurian region, slaying countless high-level monsters with just his sword and making his way alone to the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Over the following year, he had played a major role in many battles and earned the title of the best swordsman in Korea.
Yonghoon had seen him and his sword during that man’s final battle.
That battle had been brutal. Three Dimensional Beasts, countless high-level monsters, and innumerable low-level monsters had surged toward Daejeon like a tidal wave.
On top of that, civilians and soldiers contaminated by Dimensional Beasts had turned their guns on their own, making the scene almost hellish.
Yonghoon had been assigned to the team supporting the A-Rank Awakened who wielded the sword.
Fascinated by the sword, Yonghoon, contrary to his usual nature, had persistently asked the swordsman about it whenever he had a chance. Though initially annoyed, the man eventually talked to Yonghoon about the sword. Perhaps he had sensed that death was near.
In the end, humanity suffered a devastating defeat in that battle. They lost the central region and were pushed down to the southern areas by the endless onslaught of monsters.
On that final day, more than half of Korea’s surviving Awakened perished. Following that battle, the Korean government relocated to Jeju Island, and the remaining high-level Awakened also evacuated there.
In that last battle, the swordsman and his sword were both obliterated by a beam attack from an A-Rank monster. Having exhausted all his Dimensional Power in the long battle, he disappeared into the light along with his now-dimmed sword.
Yonghoon, who had barely survived, still occasionally thought about that sword. Though he would never see it again, it even appeared in his dreams sometimes. But there was no way to retrieve a sword that had already vanished.
Yet, that dream had come back to life after he crossed over to this world.
He still had to wait a little longer. Eventually, the time would come when he could obtain that sword.
Yonghoon gave a vague answer to Sunhee’s question. He couldn’t tell her his story.
However, it seemed Sunhee had gotten a rough grasp of Yonghoon’s character. Hearing his half-hearted reply, she pouted and looked like she was about to press him further. It seemed it would get a bit troublesome.
It was at that moment.
Yonghoon’s phone rang. It was Instructor Seo. Yonghoon excused himself to the team members and stepped out into the hallway to take the call.
“It’s been a while.”
[How’s your body? I couldn’t visit because I didn’t want to attract attention.]
A light greeting.
Yonghoon decided to get straight to the point.
“What’s the reason for your call?”
Laughter came from the phone.
[Haha, good. I’m not good at exchanging pleasantries anyway.]
Yonghoon waited for him to continue.
[There’s some internal company news and a favor to ask.]
“Go ahead.”
[A few Linkers have left the company. The time is coming. We called it indefinite leave, but everyone pretty much figured it out. Some might be trying to play king in abandoned cities, but given the times, most are moving to find items.]
“Time? What time are you referring to?”
Yonghoon had a rough idea of the situation. But it was still too early to show it.
[It’s just something known among Linkers. If you don’t know, just leave it at that.]
“So the information is that some Linkers have left Link Corp. Understood.”
From Yonghoon’s tone, Instructor Seo spoke with a slightly disappointed air.
[If you put it like that, it’s harder to ask for a favor. I was hoping to trade information for it, but oh well.]
The favor Instructor Seo requested was to provide part of the turtle monster’s corpse to Link Corp. Since no better defensive material had surfaced yet, Link Corp had no choice but to want the turtle monster’s corpse.
[We tried negotiating with Shilla Heavy Industries, but they said we need to coordinate with Team Crazy. Manager Oh is frustrated, so I stepped in. I also want to use this chance to rebuild some of the reputation I lost to Grace.]
Yonghoon pondered over Instructor Seo’s words.
It wasn’t a bad deal. Moreover, Link Corp had the strongest Awakened gathered in Korea. It might be better for Korea’s safety to share it with them.
However, a few conditions were necessary.
“As long as the corpse doesn’t leave the country, I have no major objections. Also, the number of items must not exceed the number of Korean Awakened registered in Link System. Other Awakened should get their share too.”
A tongue-clicking sound came from the other side.
[There’s no proper processing facility in Korea. We have to take it to HQ to make proper equipment.]
“Then you can either commission Shilla Heavy Industries or collaborate with them. As long as it doesn’t get exported overseas, I don’t care. Handle it however you see fit.”
[You’re not making it easy, huh. Fine, I’ll settle for that. Thanks. I’ll contact you again later.]
As soon as the conversation ended, the call was cut off.
Yonghoon pocketed his phone and fell into thought. It seemed other Linkers were starting to move too. Everyone must have been sensing that the time was near.
Yonghoon felt a bit impatient too, but it still wasn’t time to act.
He opened the gym door and returned to the team members.
It was a dark night.
Elliott, a night security guard at the Louvre Museum, was muttering to himself as he patrolled the eerie museum. It was his own way of warding off fear.
“There are barely any visitors anyway, so why not just close the museum? No, then I’d lose my job too. Can’t have that. I’m not an Awakened, so if I lose this job, I’ll starve to death.”
Luckily for Elliott, the inside of the museum was quite bright.
When the museum had gone completely dark due to limited power transmission before the thermal power plant was restarted with energy generators, not only Elliott but all the guards had been terrified.
In a world teeming with monsters like in the movies, even the exhibits inside the museum had started to look like monsters.
“Still, no matter what anyone says, I should be grateful to Link Corp. Thanks to them, I can still make a living. But why is that company collecting antiques from auctions anyway? What good are antiques in a world like this?”
Elliott tilted his head in confusion.
Recently, the antique and auction industries had been bewildered by the sudden emergence of Link System as a major buyer.
Link System was focusing on purchasing certain types of relics appearing at auctions. There were even rumors that they were contacting collectors directly.
Among insiders, there were theories ranging from it being the CEO’s hobby to collecting items for a Noah’s Ark in preparation for humanity’s downfall.
For Elliott, such talk was mere gossip. As someone who hadn’t become an Awakened, the affairs of Link Corp were like stories from a distant land.
Elliott entered the Royal Relic Hall. Though the grand exhibition halls and relics unfolded before him, Elliott, who saw them daily, wore a bored expression.
“Even the shining glory of the past gets buried under dust. With money running short, even this place is starting to gather dust.”
Just as he said, dust could be seen accumulating on the walls and floor. With visitors dwindling and government funding drastically reduced, even cleaning had been cut down to a minimum. Now, even the security staff was being operated at the bare minimum.
“The glowing sword speaks of past glory, but now it has no meaning.”
Speaking poetically for the first time in a while as he looked at the sword before him, Elliott blinked and fell silent.
Right before his eyes, the Royal Sword was actually emitting light.
“Aaaah! A ghost!”
Blinking in disbelief, Elliott finally let out a scream loud enough to shake the entire museum.
A week had passed since Team Crazy had exterminated the cockroaches.
The world was thrown into chaos by incidents that erupted at museums across various countries. Some of the relics housed in museums had started to emit light.
That light wasn’t limited to relics in museums; it also appeared from relics held by private collectors, and though people didn’t know it, it was even shining from beneath deep lakes and from hidden stone chambers inside Egypt’s pyramids.
The relics around the world had absorbed Dimensional Power and awakened.