“I’m your uncle.”
“!” Chun Yooha’s eyes turned round. For a moment, she wondered if her eyes and ears had deceived her. “Uncle?”
“Yes, I’m your uncle.”
One second passed.
Two seconds!
Three seconds!
“…?”
When Chun Sungjae saw his noona’s[1] expression, he knew he had made a mistake. It seemed he hadn’t properly explained the situation to her. Sure enough, the expression on Chun Yooha’s face was a sight to behold. Her face asked how this could be possible as she stared at her dongsaeng[2].
Chun Sungjae read the meaning behind the look and yelled, “He’s the real deal! He really is Uncle Lee Gun! In fact, Dad brought him home!”
Chun Yooha was shocked. She looked at Lee Gun. ‘Did he deceive Dad too?’
However, she soon shook her head from side to side. Her father was a bit unreliable(?), but he would never mistake someone else for his best friend.
‘Then this person really is…!’ Chun Yooha was thrown for a loop. She never expected ‘him’ to look similar in age to them.
Her reaction was understandable since she had spoken to her father. It was after the Leo Saint had skydived into the Red zone. Chun Yooha had asked about the man residing inside the holy ground of the Archer Saint.
[Yooha] Dad, is he really Uncle Lee Gun?
[Hugo] Who told you?
[Yooha] Sungjae!
[Hugo] Fuck!
[Yooha] Is Uncle the same as twenty years ago?
[Hugo] …
[Yooha] Dad?
[Hugo] Are you going to meet Gun?
[Yooha] Why?
[Hugo] Are you going to meet him?
[Yooha] Of course, I want to. I just can’t right now due to an assignment.
[Yooha] Anyway, has he changed much from twenty years ago?
[Hugo] He’s the same!
[Yooha] So, he is still cool?
[Hugo] ?? Of course, Dad is cooler than him.
[Yooha] Oh! So Uncle is still cool.
[Hugo] Are you listening to me?
[Hugo] Dad is much more handsome than him!
[Hugo] Dad is taller than him!
[Hugo] Dad is a better archer than him!
[Hugo] Dad is better at English than him!
[Hugo] Dad burns less food in cooking than him!
[Hugo] Dad is a better gamer than him!
[Hugo] Dad is a better drinker than him!
[Hugo] Yooha!
[Hugo] Yooha????
[Hugo] Yooha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Yooha-nim has exited the chat room.)
Chun Yooha still became dumbfounded when she recalled the conversation with her father. ‘He’s completely different from what Dad described.’
How could her dad claim he was cooler than Lee Gun?
‘Uncle is taller and more handsome.’
Moreover, Lee Gun’s appearance was completely different from the past. He now had soft skin and a handsome face. His physique was also built. With just a glance, one wouldn’t think he was a User.
Chun Yooha was flustered, and she was about to speak.
However, Lee Gun’s eyes suddenly turned cold. After erasing the expression on his face, he threw something upward.
Kwahng!
Lee Gun had thrown a piece of chocolate from the order stand. The chocolate piece instantly broke open the sprinkler on the ceiling. Lee Gun had moved so fast that his movement was undetectable to the naked eye.
He had destroyed the sprinkler’s glass bulb. Normally, the liquid within the bulb needed to reach a certain temperature for the sprinkler to release the water. However, one could physically break the bulb to release the water.
Beeeeeeep!
Finally, water erupted as the fire alarm went off, leaving everyone flustered. Before anyone could scream, however…
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doohk!
A magical being approached them. It was traveling through the fault line.
The first one to sense the magical energy was Chun Sungjae, and he flinched. “…!”
Kwang!
The next moment, a flame erupted from the floor.
“Kyahhhk!”
All of this had taken place in just five seconds. Due to the already-activated sprinkler system, the flame couldn’t grow. This made the flame, which had a consciousness, very flustered. It disappeared to some unknown location as it knew that its plan had failed.
If someone else had been in Lee Gun’s place, the people inside the store wouldn’t have gotten away injury-free.
Beep beep beep beep beep!
The alarm finally rang out from the phones and the cafe. It was the Calamity alarm system.
[The energy of a Calamity has been detected.]
[Please be careful!]
[We repeat!]
[The movement of a Calamity has been detected. The Calamity will soon appear…]
Chun Sungjae furrowed his brows as he looked at his phone. The alert came from the Calamity alert system set up by the twelve Zodiac Saints. However, this alert system was too slow.
The alert had rung out after the monster had appeared.
‘No, Uncle is just too fast.’
Of course, Chun Sungjae was also able to locate the monsters pretty quickly, but Lee Gun was on another level. He was so fast that he was beyond the realm of humans.
‘The monster hadn’t even appeared at that point…’
This meant Lee Gun had known what type of monster would show up due to his senses. Thus, he had activated the sprinkler system.
Chun Sungjae wailed inwardly. ‘Why didn’t I bring my camera?’ This was how it felt to meet a legend. ‘The generals are nothing compared to him!’
Suddenly…
Kwahng!
A black object erupted through the floor. It was an enormous hand made out of rock. The hand was large enough to reach the ceiling, and on top of that, lava was interlaced through the rock. The hand immediately attacked Lee Gun.
Chun Sungjae was shocked. “Uncle!”
Lee Gun was nowhere to be seen. Chun Sungjae wondered where his Uncle had gone when he heard his voice from behind him. “They always crawl out in the middle of the summer when it’s hot as hell.”
“…?”
Before the sound could fully register, Chun Sungjae screamed. “Ahk!”
Something large had flown past his face like a missile.
Boom!
This item was none other than a commercial refrigerator so large that a normal person couldn’t lift it. The refrigerator ruthlessly slammed into the stone hand.
Kwah-gwah-gwahg!
The crushed hand twitched as it tried to rush toward the crowd. However, Lee Gun immediately stepped on it.
Kwah-jeek!
[Saint EXP has increased!]
[You have acquired data! (Solid Body Attribute)]
The data was tasty, but there was a problem.
[Warning! You are receiving damage from the heat.]
“Tsk!” Lee Gun looked down at his foot. In the end, he had stepped on the rock, and it had melted his sneakers. ‘Tsk! It was a pretty high-ranking holy item I stole.’
When the holy item trading center was being attacked, Lee Gun had used the chaos to his benefit. He had snuck into a shoe store and had stolen this shoe. ‘No way an item made by an A-rank crafter should break this easily.’
The A-rank item sucked. Of course, this also meant the heat generated by his enemy was strong.
‘Oh well.’ Lee Gun threw away the sneakers and suddenly headed toward the kitchen. When he came out, he had rubber dishwashing gloves in his hands. Then, he threw the gloves. He had thrown them on top of the rock hand, which was roiling with lava.
At the same time, Lee Gun extended his hands. The green magical energy of the Serpent Bearer instantly appeared on the floor.
Pah-jee-jeek!
[Creation Workshop]
[<Repair Reinforcement> skill has been activated.]
[The special attribute <Random Luck> has been activated alongside the Repair Reinforcement skill.]
[<Random Luck> changes depending on the day.]
[Today is the Gold attribute day. The <Rank> will be determined randomly.]
[When you reinforce an item, its rank may increase or decrease.]
This was the skill Lee Gun had used to strengthen Chun Sungjae’s knife.
Chun Sungjae had never seen Lee Gun use his skill. So when he got the opportunity, his mouth fell open. This was different from the Saints, who had to borrow power from their gods. For some reason, this felt sacred. Chun Sungjae couldn’t look away as a sense of awe overcame him.
Kwahng!
When the magic circle appeared on the floor, something surprising happened. The embers in the ash surged into the sky.
[Attribute Reinforcement has started.]
Alongside the voice, a hammer made out of light appeared in Lee Gun’s hand. It was a skill. Lee Gun brought down the light hammer toward the rubber gloves, which were surrounded by flame.
Ggahng!
A clear sound rang out. It sounded like steel hitting stone. Along with the explosive sound, a light erupted.
Flash!
The pink rubber gloves changed in color. They became black, like a charred stone plate.
[The kitchen’s <rubber gloves> were temporarily reinforced into <Fire Resistant Gloves>]
[The ingredient has merged with the fire to give the item flame resistance.]
Chun Sungjae was fascinated by this scene. He was unable to close his mouth. With the power of the unknown civilization, one could reinforce a normal item into simple weapons and defensive gear. Of course, the gods could reinforce an item into something sturdier.
However, Lee Gun was different. He was very skilled with his hands, so he could freely reinforce the attributes of an item. In fact, the reinforced items were basically reborn as new items.
‘Since I reinforced a normal item, it’s a disposable item.’ It was why Lee Gun made holy items from ingredients that were reinforced. In the past, this process was the reason he had lost his hair, and he had almost died from poisoning. This had happened around the time when he had just awakened to his power.
[<Random Luck> attribute activated]
[All attributes will be distributed randomly.]
[Rubber Gloves(F) ? Fire Resistant Gloves(B)]
– Mid-level durability (It might get ruined after a couple of uses)
– Fire Resistance granted.
“Shit! It’s a dud.”
Chun Sungjae was taken aback by Lee Gun’s words. The item looked too good to be called a dud.
“The fire resistance is too low,” Lee Gun muttered.
The reinforce attribute was too low. At the very least, he needed enough fire resistance to resist fire from Red zone level monsters.
“I guess I might be able to use them once or twice.” Lee Gun put on the gloves as he looked at his surroundings. He also put on the slippers left behind by an employee in the break room. He hadn’t forgotten to give the slippers fire resistance too.
Lee Gun moved his foot but suddenly came to a stop. “Hey, Sungjae!”
“Yes?”
“Where’s your noona?”
“!”
* * *
Lee Gun looked at his surroundings. He hadn’t felt it, but Chun Yooha was gone. ‘She disappeared like a ghost.’ When he had broken the sprinkler, he had sensed she was nearby.
Lee Gun was inwardly surprised he hadn’t noticed someone with that much magical energy disappear. Of course, monsters were sensitive to humans’ presence. They were drawn to humans like mosquitoes. Monsters could detect human presence as if they were mosquitoes detecting the change in carbon dioxide.
This was why it was imperative that one had to hide one’s presence. When Chun Yooha had detected the presence of the monster, she had hidden her presence as she moved.
Despite knowing this, Lee Gun couldn’t sense her. ‘She’s skilled enough to be a master of concealment.’
He was honestly surprised. His senses were a bit dull currently because he still suffered the penalty, but they weren’t so dull that he shouldn’t be able to sense her at all.
‘In terms of concealment, she is better than her father.’ He wouldn’t notice her even if she followed him as a prank.
Chun Yooha’s nickname was the <Scarlet Light>. Her main skill wasn’t concealment.
‘Her main skill is lightspeed.’
In terms of fighting ability, Chun Yooha was in the top three. On the battlefield, she was death personified. As if to prove this, the sound of monsters screaming came from near them.
Kwhang!
The sound came from outside the cafe.
By the time Lee Gun exited the cafe, a field of corpses already lay outside. It was very obvious where Chun Yooha had gone. She was moving in a fixed direction while killing the monsters outside. She was killing the monsters with a single blow to their vital spot.
Chun Sungjae clicked his tongue as if he was used to this. “She got excited because she met you. Her switch has been flipped.”
‘Me?’ Lee Gun had no idea why he was being mentioned.
Chun Sungjae huffed and puffed as he went toward his noona. Around two hundred meters away, they could see Chun Yooha swinging something. At a glance, it looked like she was wielding a spear, but at closer inspection, the weapon was revealed to be a red beam of light.
As if that wasn’t enough, red lightning flashed around her.
Pah-jee-jeek!
The lightning swept through the enemies in a flash.
‘I wondered what the Ten Stars were all about.’
Chun Yooha possessed enough skill to make Lee Gun flinch. Rumors said that the defection of a member of the Ten Stars was enough to cut a temple’s power in half. It seemed to be true.
Aside from that, one thing still bothered Lee Gun. ‘That is…’
Lee Gun activated his [13th Sense] when he felt an oddity! His eyes turned into those of a snake. Lee Gun then focused his attention on Chun Yooha’s arms.
In his vision, Chun Yooha’s entire body was blue. However, her arms were different. ‘They are the only parts that are red?’
From his experience, Lee Gun knew that red meant a connection to the unknown civilization. He was trying to decipher what he was seeing when…
Lee Gun turned his head around as he sensed something.
[Warning! A heinous Calamity has appeared.]
[The Serpent Bearer’s holy ground has been activated.]
1. Noona – Korean word for elder sister <i class=”far fa-hand-point-left”>
2. Dongsaeng – Korean word for younger brother/sister <i class=”far fa-hand-point-left”>
