Lee Gun saw a familiar sight unfolding in front of his eyes. Of course, his perspective was akin to someone watching a movie.
‘It’s a bird’s point of view.’
He wondered whether this would be the scene a bird would see if it looked down at a pity.
Lee Gun saw the clear sky and the buildings that were yet to be destroyed. He saw the peaceful Jongno streets in Seoul. At first, his gaze fell on the Seoul Plaza. And when the bird turned its head, he saw the Deoksugung Palace, which was no longer there. This sight surprised Lee Gun.
‘This is when…’
He was sure of it. This scene was from a time when everyone was frightened because of the monsters’ invasion. It was the year 2001, when the presence of the twelve awakened beings gave people hope.
Suddenly, Lee Gun heard a sound.
[Breaking news! The Taurus Saint Ivant, who had appeared six months ago to kill the monsters in Washington…]
[The US government is going forward with making an exclusive mercenary contract with the Taurus Saint Ivant…]
Although he couldn’t see it, it was surely the news coverage being broadcasted in the streets.
Moreover, Lee Gun vividly remembered the events of that day. It was understandable since that was the day he had awakened as the thirteenth.
The news coverage continued. It was the voice of the Taurus Saint Ivant.
[Do not worry. I will show up wherever the monsters appear. My Zodiac gave power to a mercenary like me, and it will protect us from all evil.]
[Did you hear that? The entire world is raising money to donate toward that great warrior.]
[The Korean government gave a sizable amount to him.]
[There is nothing to fear now that we have the Zodiacs and the Zodiac Saints!]
However, Lee Gun knew. It was currently 4 o’clock. In two hours, Seoul would collapse. And the Zodiac Saints, who told everyone to look for them, never showed up. The Zodiacs had also been missing in action.
This was how everyone at Jongno had died, and Lee Gun knew it very well. He wondered why he was seeing this again, but he soon knew the reason.
[The Record Extraction of the Secretary is active]
[Record Extraction (S)]
– The hand touching the opponent’s soul creates a connection. All the past engraved in the soul will be extracted.
– In the process of extracting information, one can read memories.
In other words, this vision was the general’s memory.
The Secretaries had to record events they hadn’t witnessed. They were able to read the memories of any person and the memories were extracted as texts. This was part of that process.
If this was truly a memory of the general…
‘The ones to invade Seoul were these bastards?’
He was proven right.
[Humans are noisy beings.]
Lee Gun saw a familiar face through his field of vision. It was the Abundance general, who had invaded Lee Gun’s holy ground.
The general had the head of a goat, and it wore the outfit of a magician. Then, it crooked its finger and had countless monsters sneak into the city.
Lee Gun’s field of vision changed at this time. Now, it was the point of view of a different monster. He wondered what was going on, but he soon heard the voice of Guisoon.
[Ahhk! Since this bastard is at the general rank, it is connected to the monarch. Ahhhk! I hate it! The monarch might reverse the connection and invade us! Please let go of my hand, damn god-nim!]
Guisoon sounded like she was crying, but she did as Lee Gun told her to.
[The Secretary is invading the soul of the Time general.]
[The general’s internal information is being stolen.]
[Caution! In the process, you have connected to the ruler’s network, which the general is connected to.]
[Caution! The information of other monsters connected to this network may be mixed in.]
[Caution! There is a risk that you will be discovered by the highest ruler.]
In other words, all monsters were connected to their monarchs, who were their kings. It might be through brain waves or some special signal system. That was a hive network. Moreover, the network was probably structured in a hierarchical structure, going from low to high.
That was why the low-rank monsters were far from the monarch, but a general rank was probably close.
‘We’ll have no problem extracting information from the monarchs.’
Moreover, the general-ranks were probably connected to many monsters, so there was a high probability of memories becoming crossed with other monsters.
‘That’s why my point of view changed.’
Lee Gun had been watching a bird’s point of view, but it was different now. He observed the movement speed, the height, and where the owner of his current vision was landing…
‘It’s a fly.’
This time, he saw the interior of a building. Unlike the bird monster’s vision, this vision was blurry. It was hard to see. However, Lee Gun soon flinched.
“Are you sure about coming here? Department stores are expensive.”
He heard a familiar voice. His vision was blurry, but his hearing was very clear. It might be because it was a monster.
<Who cares? We only do this once a year.>
Lee Gun saw two familiar shadows. One was him talking in sign language. The other was…
“Alright. I want tonkatsu.”
<What? I have enough to buy you a steak. Why do you think I brought you here?
“I like tonkatsu.”
It was a voice that he could no longer hear in this world. It had been a voice more beautiful than any sound in the world.
Lee Gun ground his teeth. The person he was seeing right now was someone he knew very well. This person had been with him for as long as he could remember. They weren’t related by blood, but they had thought of each other as a family at the orphanage they were in. There was that much love between them.
That was why Lee Gun became angry when he checked that person’s face. He had been unaware back then, but he now knew for sure. Monsters were hidden all over the building. That wasn’t all. The employee who gave them the directions was a monster, too.
Therefore, Lee Gun became desperate as he saw the two of them head toward the elevator. They had to get out of there. He wanted to tell them that, that wasn’t the right direction. He tried to extend his hand, but the elevator ruthlessly closed its door.
Boom!
It was beyond despair. Lee Gun saw something he didn’t want to see the most. It was like the nightmare he saw when he fought the helmeted man.
Kwah-roo-roong!
Suddenly, fire erupted within the department store, and monsters invaded the streets of Jongno. He saw helpless people get slaughtered.
Boom boom!
At that moment, the people within the department received word that the Zodiac Saints and the Zodiacs would soon be there. They were letting out sighs of relief as they clustered around each other.
“It will be fine. It will be fine. They said it’ll be more dangerous if we leave this place. They said to wait here no matter what.”
“No, Mom! I’m scared. I want to go outside!”
“Be a bit patient, baby. If we wait in here, they will come to save us. They said so.”
It was as he remembered. The only thing different was that he was seeing this from a monster’s point of view. He was able to see sights he was unable to at that time.
Suddenly, he saw a monster that was on a different level than the monsters that had swept through the place like a fire.
Flash!
This monster had black wings like a crow. It was a hideous monster that had appeared from within the black fog.
Kwah-roo-roong!
It was a monarch
[Ah ah! Our Time monarch…!]
The monsters eating and violating the humans dropped everything they were doing and worshiped this being.
At the same time, something surprising happened.
Flash!
The monarch, who had looked like an enormous monster, turned into a person. He became a young man wearing a suit, and he was as good-looking as Hailey.
[Did you find what I talked to you about?]
[Yes. That’s it. It was as if the dumb Zodiac had squealed. This was especially true of the Aries, who didn’t realize who we were. It chattered away while drunk.]
[Is that so?]
The monarch furrowed its brow.
Seeing its presence, no one would ever think it was a human. The monarch looked like the devil. There was something odd and alien about it, which gave one goosebumps. It was a monster with a very cold gaze.
Lee Gun soon flinched. The reason was the place where the Time monarch was headed. It was where Lee Gun and the other person were unconscious. Lee Gun was unaware of this as it had taken place when he had been unconscious.
Lee Gun had to curse. In a flash, that person’s limbs were ripped away.
Kwah-jeek!
Of course, he couldn’t see what happened next. His point of view shifted to a different monster’s. However, he heard what happened.
[Since you’ve achieved your goal, shall we leave?]
[No. All the humans on this land will become food for us. That’s what I wanted to do from the start.]
Suddenly, the monarch sneered as it told them to have fun. But then, a light exploded forth. It was accompanied by the desperate voice of the Secretary.
[Hey! God-nim! I think we were found out by the monarch! Hurry!]
At the same time, a notification rang out.
[The Record Extraction of the Secretary has ended successfully.]
[Warning! The ruler realized there was an intruder in the network.]
Lee Gun took out the Secretary’s hand.
Kwahng!
The shock of having its body pierced made the Time general vomit blood.
Taken aback, Hugo looked at Lee Gun. “Are you ok, Gun?”
He looked at Lee Gun with a worried expression. Lee Gun held the arm of the Secretary, and he had made their hands pierce through the body. Above all else, it had to do with Lee Gun’s expression.
Their hands had pierced through the body for a mere couple of seconds. However, Hugo knew just from looking at him. He knew Lee Gun’s mood, and he sensed the magical energy starting to emanate from him; it was infused with killing intent.
Moreover, Hugo sensed a rage he had never felt before from Lee Gun, so he was worried. “Gun….”
“…woo.”
“!”
The voice was low, but Hugo was sure he had heard a name.
‘Yeonwoo?’
It didn’t take long for screams to ring out within the trap. Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he squeezed the necks of the generals. “Speak. You guys were the ones to invade Seoul twenty-four years ago? You guys came with your monarch?”
[…!]
The generals flinched at his question, and Hugo was surprised as well.
It was to be expected since the invasion of Seoul was one of the worst calamities in human history. At the time, Hugo had been fighting a war in Australia, so he couldn’t go there. However, that invasion was also famous for Lee Gun’s awakening.
‘I never expected the monarchs to show up themselves.’
This thought lasted only a moment as Lee Gun started twisting the necks of the generals. “Are you deaf? I asked if the one to show up was the Time monarch? Ah. It wasn’t just the Time monarch. I saw your face too.”
Lee Gun’s gaze headed toward the Abundance general. Both the generals were taken aback. It seemed information had been extracted from them when their bodies had been pierced with their hands. Some form of memory extraction skill had been used, but…
‘We are connected to our monarchs, so it shouldn’t have been extracted so easily. How…!’
Lee Gun let out a cold smile.
‘It was the Time monarch. I’m sure of it.’
That monarch was the one that had cut off the undead monarch within the Devil’s Tower. This wasn’t the only interesting part.
‘He looks very similar to the crab bastard.’
Yes, the Time monarch’s face looked similar to that of the Cancer Saint Jean-Louis. There was nothing off about it. Jean-Louis had trapped Lee Gun by stabbing him, and the Devil’s Tower had been the property of the Time monarch.
Jean-Louis wouldn’t have been able to trap Lee Gun within the Devil’s Tower if he didn’t have a connection to the Time monarch. However, that wasn’t important right now.
“You guys seemed to be looking for something twenty-four years ago. What were you looking for?”
[We have no duty to tell you— Kuh-huhk!]
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed red. “I’ll give you five seconds.”
Lee Gun activated Death Instinct. He had released 100% of his Zodiac’s power. The two generals were having a hard time breathing in front of him.
The invasion of Seoul had taken place after China had been conquered. The monsters had gone in there with the intent of replenishing their food supply. However, all the people who were going to be used as food had come back alive with the awakening of the thirteenth. This was why the invasion had been a big loss, but…
[W-We were looking for the 13th Zodiac, the God of calamity that’ll destroy everything…]
Flash!
When Lee Gun twisted their necks, black lights appeared from the two generals. An unexpected being had contacted him.
[The Abundance monarch is asking for a negotiation.]
[If the precious Knights are released, it pledges to never mess with the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground.]
[It will also help you get rid of the Time monarch.]
The monarch seemed to have purposefully imitated the Zodiac system to contact him. The Abundance monarch was despicable as it imitated the Zodiacs.
[Its underlings didn’t participate in the incident twenty-four years ago.]
[It says the monarchs can become good friends with the God of calamity.]
The snake eyes shone menacingly before he could speak.
Kwahng!!!
The grasping power of his hand made the Abundance general’s head explode!
Kwah-jeek!
As the blood dispersed, Lee Gun smirked savagely. “Fuck off! You will all die.”
The corpse turned into porridge as it fell.
