In the end, Lee Jaewon’s desperate effort changed the name “Gunsook” into Yooha.
“Uh? Chun Yooha? She will not take on your last name?” Lee Jaewon looked at Hugo in surprise.
Hugo was running around in joy. His daughter had a social security number now, and she had been put into the family register. “Yes. Her name is Chun Yooha. It’s pretty, right? Right?”
“Yes. It’s tens of thousands of times better than Gunsook, Gunja, Gunji, Gunmi, or Gunok. However, I thought she would take on your last name, Hugo-nim. That is why I’m surprised.”
“She’ll be living in this country. There is no need for her to take on the father’s last name. It’ll also unnecessarily complicate things.”
Hugo had a point. After marrying Chun Jiwoo, he was thinking about becoming naturalized as a Korean citizen. He would confer citizenship from Australia to the country of his wife and Gun.
Of course, that wasn’t the biggest reason the couple had given the mother’s last name to their daughter.
“It’s better for my children. It has to look like they have zero ties to me. I have no idea what might happen to them.”
“Zodiac Saint-nim….”
Hugo was well aware of it. He knew it was tiring and dangerous to be the offspring of a famous person. Moreover, he had a falling out with the other Zodiac Saints. He didn’t think they would do anything, but it would be best if his family stayed out of the spotlight.
“Also….”
“Also?”
“Her mom’s last name is a billion times prettier than mine!!”
“…?!!”
Hugo’s seriousness was gone as pink hearts seemed to float above him while he watched his newborn daughter. This might be the true reason behind his decision.
Hugo was overflowing with love for his daughter. He sounded like a parent who loved his kid to death.
“My name was changed into Oh-Taeksoo instead of Otis! If I give her my last name, it’ll sound like Yooha Oh-Taeksoo!!!”
“…?!”
“That can’t happen. No way.”
“Then why don’t you change your last name to Oh?”
“I don’t like Oh Yooha!!!”
“….”
‘But he liked Gunsook, Gunja, Gunji, Gunmi, and Gunok?’
“This is fine!!!” Lee Jaewon decided to drop the subject.
* * *
[T…This is amazing! Another apostle seems to have shown up!]
[I…Is he perhaps a mutant like Lee Gun-nim?]
[No, I do not think so! He’s using the power of Sagittarius! In other words, he’s an awakened being belonging to the Sagittarius temple!]
[What?!]
[However, he’s different from an apostle! It’s as if he’s a guard that protects the apostle…!]
The world was shocked by Lee Jaewon’s appearance for an entirely different reason. It was to be expected since Lee Jaewon was humanity’s first “disciple.”
The world became excited at the prospect that awakened beings could be born through the power of the Zodiac Saints.
[Won’t we be able to fight against the monsters if we can increase the number of fighters like this?]
The ones who were shocked the most, however, were none other than the Zodiac Saints.
‘This is crazy! Can we create more awakened beings?’
‘Hugo. That bastard…!’
Ivan and Sergeyevich suddenly became afraid. What if their worth decreased if the number of awakened beings increased? What if someone like Lee Gun appeared among them? However, they soon shook their heads.
‘No. This is an opportunity to increase our fighting power.’
The Zodiac Saints knew they couldn’t get rid of the monsters alone. At the same time, they had a realization. As the number of disciples grew, the burden on them would get reduced, and their Zodiacs could grow much stronger.
Of course, the Zodiac Saints of the magic-type temples already seemed to have known about this possibility.
Liv said, “We haven’t tested it out on humans yet, but we did experiment on animals.”
“What?”
“We were close to trying it on a human. That bastard…. Hugo dared to steal the title of the first disciple from us?”
Had Pisces been trying to take the reward for achieving that first title?
Liv ground her teeth. It doesn’t matter what one achieved. The first title in anything was recorded in the Bible. It had a substantial reward.
The reason the Sagittarius temple later became so powerful with a small elite group of disciples was this reward for creating the first disciple.
In the end, this was how “Awakened Beings” and “Temples” were born.
Disciples received the power of the Zodiacs through the Zodiac Saints, so their abilities were inferior to the Zodiac Saints, the direct contractors. However, even that was enough.
- Come join the Leo temple!! You can become a beast and run across the battlefield! ※Diet Guaranteed
- Let us all join hands in the magic-type temples! Everything you dream of is at your fingertips! ※Fix Hair Loss
- The only thing that protects families and the world is the power of healing! ※Aphrodisiac of Love sold separately
The world now operated under the “Faith” and “Reward” system. It brought in a new era.
* * *
Four years had passed since Lee Gun had died.
The “Apostles” had become “Zodiac Saints” in name, and they were busy expanding their power. It was their sole focus.
Holy grounds had been declared, and as countries were added to the territory of the Zodiacs, they started fighting for territories.
This was how the temples grew in terms of countries they controlled, and most expected Stevens’s or Ivan’s temples to become the number one temple.
In terms of financial backing, they were the strongest, and they were rivals on the battlefield. They fought for the spot of the top fighter.
“Oh my! Why aren’t you attacking? Are you unable to attack me?”
‘T…This is nuts…!’
However, the situation changed completely when Giselle joined the fray.
“Do you now know who is on top?”
At a martial arts hall, Stevens and Ivan were shocked since Giselle had beaten them to a bloody pulp.
Up until this point, Giselle had remained in the backline as support. She acted as an alchemist. Supposed to have zero martial prowess, she was a nerd who supplied them with supplies.
‘What is this overwhelmingly large power difference?!’
As if she was mocking their assumptions, Giselle cut off her long hair and threw away her image of being a goody two shoes.
“This makes me number one now.”
“…koo-oohk!!”
“Do you understand me now? It’s time for you to use your simple minds. Who is the king? Whom do you have to kneel to?”
They shook from the humiliation.
Giselle let out an angry laugh as she stroked the chin of the two men. “Don’t drag this out. Hurry up and end this. I’m already angry because of Hugo. You guys better not make me angry too.”
Stevens flinched. It was for no other reason.
“Don’t you guys think it's disgraceful to be treated like this? I made the proper moves to ensure that we benefit from Lee Gun’s achievements. Hugo doesn’t know his place.”
“…!”
There was no mistaking it. Recently, a lot of articles trying to undercut Lee Gun had appeared in the media.
‘Did she have a hand in it?’
In reality, Giselle was slowly working on her “Erase Lee Gun” plan. She started buying media and sent out fake news. Swindling the world wasn’t difficult at all.
- Lee Gun’s achievements until now were possible only thanks to the power of the twelve Zodiacs.
- Lee Gun was stealing and using the power of the Zodiacs.
Of course, Hugo denied all the drama-inducing rumors, so people continued to praise Lee Gun. Moreover, there seemed to be more people besides Hugo who were trying to take down the rumors.
‘It’s obvious who they are.’
They probably were Hailey and Kevin, who had hidden after Lee Gun’s death. Or…
Giselle smirked as she looked at Stevens. “Stop this nonsense. Why don’t you come work under me?”
She grabbed Stevens’s chin.
The other Zodiac Saints were beneath her notice except Hugo since her “Royal skill” didn’t work against him.
“We are all on the same side, right? Did you already forget what happened at the tower?”
“…!!!”
“Hugo will be taken care of soon. Don’t worry about him.”
Stevens immediately realized something when he heard her laughter, which was full of danger.
‘Hugo is in danger.’
This woman might kill Hugo.
Giselle laughed when she heard something from a bloodied Ivan. “Yes. Taurus is throwing in the towel. He’s on my side now. The only one left is Leo… It’s a given that you'll come under me, right?”
When he heard those words, he flipped her off. “Fuck off, idiot!”
An angry Giselle kicked Stevens.
* * *
A couple of days later, Yang Wei and Stevens were sweating bullets. The reason was…
“E…Excuse me. Are your parents home?”
The two men had come to Hugo’s house, but the appearance of the child before them surprised them.
The one staring at them from the yard was Yooha, who was around four years old.
Chun Yooha stared at the two men who had intruded(?) into their home. She didn’t cry or laugh. She merely looked at them as if they were thieves.
The two adults started to sweat.
“H-Hey, kid. We aren’t weirdos.”
“I…is Mr. Hugo in there? We are here to meet him…. He hasn’t responded…”
“Hoo-goh? Dahd?”
Yang Wei and Stevens screamed when they heard the clear voice of a lark. She was cute. She was really cute!
No, that wasn’t the important part!
“Dad?! You’re Hugo’s daughter? Wow! This is crazy!! Why is his kid so pretty? I thought she was a moving doll!!”
“…!!!”
They were already having a hard time believing Hugo had a kid, yet she was too pretty! If they were being honest, they had never seen a kid like her before.
However, Chun Yooha didn't seem to care. She just looked at the two of them with suspicion.
In the end, the two of them were pushed out by her gaze. They decided to leave.
“T-There is no way he would leave his kid like this and go far. Let’s wait for him outside.”
“A…Alright.”
At that moment, it seemed Yooha disliked the two men. She took out a strange remote from her pocket.
At a glance, it looked like a smart key for a car. But its shape was a bit odd as if it was something from a horror movie.
The two men screamed when they saw the remote.
“Ahhk! What the hell? That’s Lee Gun’s holy item!”
“Why does she have that?”
In the past, Lee Gun had created it to screw over… made it to chase away the Zodiac Saints. It was an item that Lee Gun made by combining the Archer Saint’s tracking skill: the Tracking Missile.
They turned pale from fright when they recognized the familiar remote controller.
“That’s crazy! Why would Hugo give that to a kid?!”
“No, no, no! You must not press it! If you press it, we are dead!”
They had suffered several times under the effects of the item. They ran toward Yooha in fright.
“K…Kid? D…Don’t get it twisted! W…We aren’t bad uncles!!!”
“That’s right. You are a good girl, right? That thing is dangerous. Hand it over to me. Hmm?”
Chun Yooha’s delicate eyes scrunched up when she heard this. She had decided that they were bad guys, so she moved to press the remote’s button. To make matters worse, she was about to press the lowest of the three buttons!
“Ahhhk!! Third!! She’s going to press the third button!”
“If we get hit by it, it’ll take us twenty weeks to recuperate!”
The two men grabbed each other’s hands as they nervously moved their feet.
“Hey, pig! Hurry up and do something!”
“Hey, kid! You’re a good kid, right? I’ll give you this!” Yang Wei quickly took out a candy from his bag. “Here! This is the 'Leo Saint' candy! It’s the most popular candy among kids! You want to eat it, right!!”
“…when the hell did you make that?”
“I made it a month ago! It’s at the height of its popularity now!!”
“…did you buy our license?”
“No way!” Yang Wei ignored Stevens as he waved the Leo Saint candies in front of Yooha.
“Look! This is the most popular one among the line of thirteen heroes’ candies! It’s called the Lion~ You can have the one that looks like the face of a lion or the paw of a cat! What do you think? You want to eat it, right? So why don’t you give that dangerous item to me? Let’s trade.”
Yooha glared at the candy as if she found it very lacking. The candy she loved the most was either the one of her father or Lee Gun-nim. Stevens and Yang Wei flinched when they read her expression. She was about to explode.
“Hey. Hey hey, hey! I don’t think this is the one.”
“W-What are you doing? Hurry up and take out another one!”
“Damn it. Alright—”
Crack!
Yang Wei had been retreating backward when he froze. He had stepped on something and broken it. It was…
“Ahhk!! Figurine?!”
To give them a sunbath, Yooha had carefully placed a Lee Gun figurine and a Hugo figurine on top of a towel, and Yang Wei’s foot had destroyed them.
Yooha’s expression was a sight to behold. “Bwoken.”
“W-Wait a moment!”
“Dead.”
“N-No! Ahh! Look here! Lee Gun’s face was destroyed, but your father is unharmed! Uncle will replace the broken one with a new one…”
“You killed Lee Gun-nim.” An enraged Yooha pressed the button on the remote.
Click!
“Ahhhhk!!!”
In the end, Yang Wei was sent flying after being hit by a missile.
The enraged Yooha was about to press the remote as she glared at Stevens.
“Yooha? When did you go out to the yard?”
“!!!!”
Stevens was relieved to hear the familiar voice. He turned his head.
Hugo’s eyes turned round when he discovered a trembling Stevens. “What the hell? What are you doing here?”
“Hugo!!” As if he had met his maker, Stevens hugged Hugo. However…
Click!
Yooha pressed the button.
