“What did you just say?”
A voice rang within NY Times Square. Times Square was considered the center of the world’s media. It was a place with three hundred consulates and over ten thousand members of the world’s press.
The <New York Observatory Station> was also located here. The world had five such large observatory stations. After the appearance of the unknown civilization, these observatories kept track of the Calamities. Most of the news around the world started off talking about Calamities. Tens of thousands of Calamities were observed each day, so the reporters had an abundance of stories.
Therefore, a piece of news had to be extraordinary to cause a stir here. Yet, on this day, an incident made the veteran reporters lose their poker faces.
“What? The Leo Saint fell from Drachma? Isn’t he supposed to be the strongest?”
“I thought an unkillable monster had invaded the Drachma!”
“Didn’t you say the Saintess was ambushed before that!”
“I thought the story was all about the appearance of Lee Gun’s legendary weapon!”
“Shit! What a mess!”
The journalists felt faint. Stories that would take up the front page on a normal day had appeared one after another. And all this had taken place in half a day.
‘The news about the Devil’s Tower not too long ago was enough to cause waves around the world.’
As if that wasn’t enough, in the week following that, the reporters continued to receive news pieces that felt like nuclear bombs. They felt as if their souls were about to leave their bodies.
“Uh… Which one should be our top story?”
“Do you even need to ask? We have to put up all of them!”
“We already pushed out three bulletins. Even CNN is wondering if these are just rumors…”
Instead of an answer, the director threw his pen at the reporter. It meant he wanted the reporter to work instead of talking so much.
“We still have no idea who did it—” as soon as the reporter said this…
Another young reporter rushed into the conference room. “It was Lee Gun!”
“What?”
“Lee Gun pushed the Leo Saint off Drachma!”
“…?” The director’s face was a sight to behold.
However, it didn’t take long for everyone to burst into laughter.
“Look! If this is about the so-called message ‘Lee Gun’ sent to the broadcasting station, it was a forgery—”
“It isn’t about that! The disciples of the Leo Saint witnessed that scene themselves!”
“…?”
“Moreover, the Saintess was found inside a septic tank, and it’s being reported that Lee Gun wrote some words on her back!”
“…!” Intuitively, the director realized something big had happened.
* * *
[Around 3 pm on Friday, the Saintess was kidnapped from the Integrated Exchange..]
[After the medical staff transported her to the hospital, she regained consciousness. However, she screamed when she saw a Lee Gun doll amongst the get-well-soon gifts. Then, she fell unconscious once again. Everyone is confused about this…]
[Coming up! Another letter from Lee Gun was found at the location where the Leo Saint fell…]
The world had been flipped on its head. Hugo let out a sigh as he heard the string of new reports on the TV. He looked troubled. Of course, he wasn’t troubled by the news that a Saint had been beaten. It wasn’t about the weird letter Lee Gun had left there either.
“My god! Saint-nim, how could you deceive us like that?”
As soon as he returned to his holy ground, his underlings had become angry at him.
“You said he’s not Lee Gun-nim!”
Their gazes headed toward Lee Gun, who was carving up the bone of the beast. At this point, the Archer Saint felt a headache coming on. Originally, he hadn’t planned on talking about Lee Gun to his disciples.
“How can he not be Lee Gun-nim? We can tell by Sungjae’s reaction! A hundred percent!”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
Facing the ire of his disciples, Hugo glanced toward the sofa.
His son sat there, looking at Lee Gun with starry eyes.
‘He never came here when I invited him to come.’
Chun Sungjae was the main culprit behind all of Hugo’s problems. The young man always refused to come to the Archer Saint’s holy ground. He used to treat his father’s holy ground like a landfill. Yet now, he wanted to stay here. Moreover, he completely ignored his father to look at the only man he admired.
Chun Sungjae’s actions spoke for themselves. Prostrating on the floor, he yelled toward Lee Gun, “I’m sorry for not recognizing you! I had no idea you were Lee Gun-nim. I’m sorry for my rash words and actions toward you!”
Lee Gun laughed when he saw Chun Sungjae feeling miserable. “You don’t have to use -nim. Just call me uncle.”
Chun Sungjae sobbed. He was glad to be alive.
On the other hand, Hugo looked as if he was feeling heartburn. He kept pounding his chest. The Archer Saint could guess the future just by how his son was acting.
‘I wanted to hide this news from my daughter. Now, she’ll know everything.’ His already-disobedient son looked at him with anger in his eyes. Above all else, the most troublesome part right now was…
“Hey, Oh-Taeksoo.”
“!” Hugo flinched when he heard Lee Gun’s voice.
Lee Gun continued, “What did you say? You said your son hates me?”
“….”
“You said he hates hearing any story about me?”
“I meant to say…”
“Fuck off! You are asking for a beating.”
Hugo had already taken one beating, so he felt disheartened.
Lee Gun ignored Hugo as he spoke in a triumphant voice, “Of course. There is no way a child of Oh-Taeksoo would hate me.” He kept grinning. It was clear that he was trying to tease Hugo.
Hugo wanted to throttle his friend.
Lee Gun didn’t stop with the punches. “Just because you’re jealous of me, you shouldn’t dupe everyone like that. Just be honest and say you’re jealous of me.”
“I didn’t dupe anyone. My kids are just curious about…”
“No way! I saw it all. His room was full of figurines of me. In fact, I saw nothing related to his father, yet over five items related to me.”
‘What! I had told Sungjae to throw them all away!’ Hugo glared at his son, but Chun Sungjae feigned indifference.
The young man didn’t care anyway. He was also keeping some stuff for his older sister.
Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as if he had caught Hugo in his trap. “You told him to throw away all my figurines? I heard you smashed and burned some of them. You even threatened to disown your son if he spoke about me.”
“…!”
Lee Gun’s eyes turned oddly cold. “You should’ve treated my memory with respect, yet you acted as if I hadn’t existed? Be truthful with me. All the rumors around the world about me were your doing, right?”
Lee Gun smiled as if he was mocking him, but Hugo felt aggrieved. Of course, Hugo was wrong in destroying the figurine. However, if he hadn’t done so, the number of figurines would’ve multiplied like cockroaches.
‘Even looking at the figurines was tough for me.’ Whenever Hugo saw the figurines, he always thought about his dead friend. It had been painful for him. Moreover, his son always talked about wanting to enter the Devil’s Tower. Other parents would’ve reacted the same way as Hugo. They would’ve threatened to disown their son.
Lee Gun knew this, yet he was having the time of his life. He laughed mockingly. “If you’re sorry, you should sign this.”
Hugo’s face crumpled when Lee Gun waved the slave contract in front of his face. ‘I’m pretty sure I ripped that apart!’
“Hey, Sungjae,” Lee Gun suddenly said.
“!”
“Give me that pendant in front of you.”
Chun Sungjae sobbed once again. The fact that his name had been passed through Lee Gun’s lips had moved him.
Seeing this, Hugo clutched the back of his neck. “How did he turn out like this…”
For some reason, his son had loved Lee Gun for the past 15 years. He had no idea what had caused it. However, his underlings stared at him with surprised expressions..
“You really don’t know, Saint-nim?”
“What do you mean?”
“You turned on videos of Lee Gun-nim every time you got drunk. You’re the one who told heroic stories about Lee Gun-nim to your children…”
“Also, you always told us that Lee Gun-nim was the strongest amongst the thirteen. He could kill a large monster with a single punch. You cried while touting Lee Gun-nim as the coolest. You spoke about him again and again.”
“Even I would’ve turned out like your son if I had repeatedly heard those stories.”
“…?” Hugo was shocked. He had no idea what they were talking about.
“Also, you might be thinking your daughter might act differently in front of Lee Gun-nim. If I’m being honest, she’ll act similar to Sungjae.”
“Right? Anyway, we might transfer out of here if Lee Gun-nim establishes his temple.”
“Please take good care of us until then”
“Hey!”
Lee Gun laughed out loud; Hugo had reaped what he sowed. ‘Anyway, I’ll be able to unlock more skills now that I have more points.’ He had amassed a decent number of points while leveling up. Lee Gun quickly raised his abilities to match his elevated level.
《New Divine Skills that can be created》
– You have 9 Points
[Act forbidden by the gods] (Needs 5 points)
[Get hit instead of me] (Needs 1 point)
[Create Holy Ground] (Needs 3 points. Needs prerequisite condition.)
[Familiar] (Needs 5 points. Needs activation of Holy Ground)
Lee Gun released the first two skills.
[You have released <Get hit instead of me> and <Act forbidden by the gods>.]
[The special requirement for <Create Holy Ground> skill has been satisfied. It will be released.]
[Prerequisite condition: Deification (One or more persons.)]
[You have created your <Holy Ground>.]
[With the release of the new skill, you have solidified your status as a god.]
[The holy ground of the <Serpent Bearer> has been created. Your Divine Level has increased!]
[Rookie God Lv. 6]
[A holy ground is the minimum area a god needs to preserve and use their power.]
[You can oversee your holy ground.]
A magic circle emitting green light appeared beneath Lee Gun’s feet.
[Serpent Bearer’s Holy Ground / Ophiuchus (Lv. 1)]
[Area 1.6㎡ (0.5 pyeong)]
[You can set your base position.]
[Would you like to move low-rank slave god <Piggy Bank> to your holy ground?]
[It can receive the power of the Serpent Bearer. It will defend the holy ground as it recuperates.]
[No Holy Ground Skill]
[You can evolve human familiars depending on their level of contribution.]
Lee Gun was very interested in what he had heard. ‘Human familiars…’ He was about to dig for more information when someone interrupted him.
“Excuse me, Lee Gun-nim. Are you sure it’s ok to mess with the Leo Saint like you did?”
Hugo’s underlings had serious expressions on their faces as they looked at Lee Gun. The incident with Saintess was a problem, but the bigger problem was the Leo Saint.
“Since he fell into the land controlled by the unknown civilization, we have no idea if he is alive. However, what will happen if his disciples track him down?”
“The Leo Saint is considered the strongest amongst the battle Saints. Moreover…”
The two men monitored how Lee Gun would react.
“I’ve always heard that Lee Gun-nim lost to the Leo Saint…”
It was a roundabout way to ask if Lee Gun was weaker than the Leo Saint.
Chun Sungjae sulked. He wanted to refute that statement, but he couldn’t. Lee Gun really had indeed lost against the Leo Saint in a fight. The Leo Saint had himself released the official video of that fight.
“According to the video, Lee Gun-nim can’t…”
For some reason, Lee Gun started laughing and clutched at his stomach.
Hugo let out a sigh. “I knew you guys would be under that false assumption.”
“What? What do you mean…”
Hugo explained, “Don’t worry about it! He purposefully threw that fight.”
“What?”
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
Lee Gun cackled. “At the time, I was broke. That rabbit bastard said he would give me a million dollars if I threw a fight against him on live TV. I thought I had hit the jackpot since I could use the money for living expenses.”
“…!”
Hugo’s underlings were shocked. What would happen if this truth became known to the public?
Chun Sungjae grinned when he heard Lee Gun’s words.
Hugo said with a sigh, “Anyway, the disciples of the Leo Saint saw your face. They’ll cause a ruckus.”
“I don’t care about that. I want you to give me your bow. I need to extract physical data from it.”
“Why?” Hugo asked.
“What do you mean why? I have to make arrows for you.”
“!” Hugo was surprised. He was so flustered that he just stared back at Lee Gun.
Lee Gun narrowed his eyes. “Do you really think I didn’t notice? I have no idea why, but you don’t have any decent arrows.”
“…!”
“You’re using weird junk items.” Lee Gun laughed in contempt. He hadn’t asked before, but for some reason, Hugo couldn’t use his divine bow, a royal holy item. Lee Gun further said, “I wouldn’t use that bow even if you give it to me for free.”
“Huh? It might look like this, but it was a pretty expensive item…!”
Suddenly…
“Huh? Do you know how to use a bow, Uncle?”
The conversation revealed an unexpected piece of information to Chun Sungjae. When he asked the question, Hugo’s underlings laughed.
“No way. He’s just saying that. I’ve never seen him use one.”
“That’s right! He may be Lee Gun-nim, but there is no way he…”
Hugo sighed for the umpteenth time. “No. He might not look it, but he’s very good with the bow and arrow.”
“What?”
Hugo had to admit the truth when it was the truth. In fact, there was no weapon that Lee Gun was unable to handle. As a Manufacturer, Lee Gun could create all types of weapons and test them all out. He was one of the best in archery as well. Even Hugo, who was known for his sniping, had to acknowledge Lee Gun’s skill.
“Who’s better at archery? Dad or Uncle?”
“What?”
