Chapter 84: [Bonus Chapter] Second Awakening

That was the first thought in YuWon's head. There was no mistaking it. It was the same moon hanging over their heads. But something was different. It wasn't red, but pink.

Even so, people were staring at the moon, but none of them were turning into maniacs like Soo-Ah and Min-Joon did. They were... normal.

The change in the moon took surprised everyone. Couple that with the announcement of the second phase of awakening, whatever it was. They were shocked, but no one was transforming into hungry maniacs.

But the peace only lasted a minute before the camp got shrouded in gasps and yells. YuWon and the others rushed toward the camps and met with the stench of rotten food.

"Huh? What?" Yuna asked. "What do you mean, all the food went bad?"

But they weren't the only ones. Everyone's food rotted as soon as they stepped under the moonlight. That's when YuWon and the rest came rushing in.

"What's going on?" Yeji asked.

"The food... it's all gone bad in a blink of an eye!?" someone yelled from the crowd.

"All my food is gone too!"

"I'm gonna kill whoever did this!"

Everyone freaked out. But for YuWon and the rest, they knew exactly what was happening.

"Have you checked the pantry?" YuWon asked Yuna.

"Not yet—"

"Yeji, Gina, go with her and check if everything is fine there," YuWon instructed. "Everyone else, take what food you have and hide it out of the moonlight's reach."

Everyone looked at YuWon as if he had gone mad. But seeing as Yeji and others were hurrying, they didn't bother arguing and did as they were told.

At the same time, YuWon ordered the soldiers to close all the windows and doors. No moonlight should enter the buildings. The soldiers didn't argue and followed YuWon's commands.

Meanwhile, YuWon looked at his watch and frowned.

"Um... we could cook that," he said, pointing at the far end of the base.

YuWon looked up, thinking the guy was talking about goblins and ogres and was about to reprimand him for that. But then he noticed the creature.

It looked like a rabbit. Only it had four arms and four eyes and was about the size of a motorcycle.

"What is that?" YuWon asked, walking closer to get a better look.

It was the first time he had seen the strange monster, so he obviously had questions.

"We're not sure," the soldier shook his head. "But since it looks like a rabbit, I thought we could cook it."

He wants to cook a monster? What an absurd yet great idea.

But before YuWon could agree, he wanted to know more about the monster. After all, it wasn't there before. Yuna sensed his mind and answered.

"That thing appeared shortly after you guys went inside the crack," she said. "It wasn't the only one either. We saw a bunch of them hopping around, feasting on the leaves."

"There's more of these?"

"Yeah, not just rabbits, either. There were other animals too. All bigger and more ferocious than normal."

YuWon scratched his chin. It all made sense to him now. He was wondering why they weren't getting any more classes or other rewards after the second awakening announcement.

After all, they received their classes when the first awakening notification appeared before them. But nothing of that sort happened this time.

The first awakening was aimed at the humans. Could it be the second one is for the animals?

It made sense why monsters they hadn't seen before suddenly appeared before them. But that wasn't all. If animals were evolving, it meant everything was about to get much worse.

They had barely survived fighting against monsters, and now they would have to face evolved beasts as well. Also, to force their hand and fight the evolved beasts, the second awakening took their food from them.

"We'll have to hunt those beasts to make up for what we lost..." YuWon mumbled. "First kill monsters to survive, then kill evolved beasts to continue surviving... fucking hell!"