Unsurprisingly, Lee Gun’s words caused a stir in his surroundings.
“D-disciple.”
The people near him were in disbelief. Of course, the Goat Saint had also said a new god had emerged, but that had just been a story.
“C-could it be? Is there really a new god?”
“No way! Does the 13th really exist?”
If a new god had indeed appeared, the world would be turned on its head.
‘The twelve gods gave abilities to humanity.’
Of course, one had to pay a price for these abilities. Whether one was an adult or a child didn’t matter. In this era, people could live as beings above normal humans. This was why humanity couldn’t go against the order the twelve gods had created. And now, the 13th god and its Saint had shown up!
The disciples of the Archer looked at their Saint with surprised expressions.
Hugo was the same; his mouth had fallen open. “Gun! How can you say nothing to me?”
“See? Even Saint-nim didn’t know about it!”
“Not my son! You bastard!” Hugo shouted.
‘Ah! Is that what he was aiming for?’ The Archer Saint stood up in fright. “Not on my watch, you bastard!”
Of course, Hugo understood why Lee Gun was trying to acquire a disciple. Disciples were a strong requisite for a Saint. Of course, Lee Gun probably didn’t need disciples to be peerless. However, there was no downside to having them. Instead, that might make him into a transcendent being!
However, this was Hugo’s son Lee Gun was talking about! ‘Has he lost his mind? He’s already giving me enough of a headache without doing this!’
Hugo knew there was no way his son would become a normal disciple. It wouldn’t end there. Chun Sungjae would create Lee Gun’s church. He would write gospels and recite prayers about Lee Gun.
However, Chun Sungjae didn’t care about his father’s reaction. His face held an expression of disbelief. “A-are you sure about it?”
Hugo felt a knife turn in his heart when he saw his son look touched by the offer. There was no way he would let this happen! Unable to stand it in the end, he had to put his foot down.
“Don’t fall for it, Sungjae! Of course, Dad’s temple is better!”
Chun Sungjae looked at his father with an expression saying, ‘What is this ahjussi talking about?’
Hugo remained undeterred and activated his magical energy. “Look! Dad can do this!”
Lee Gun furrowed his brows at the sight.
Pahk!
The room suddenly became scorching hot.
[The Archer’s power burns into the sky!]
A blazing flame appeared in the room. The flame took the shape of a ball and floated into the air, looking like the sun. The blazing red dots on it shone like bright gems. The flame was menacing like magma.
This cool sight would make one feel as if they were looking at a small universe. As if to prove this point, the disciples of the Archer Saint looked at it with their mouths agape. After all, this was a Saint’s special technique.
The one who executed this skill said, “Look! It’s the sun! Isn’t that cool! Sungjae, I remember the old days when you said Dad looked cool! You wanted this! In the past, you were too young. It was too dangerous. Now, you’re all grown up. If you come under the Archer, I’ll let you play with it!”
A sour expression appeared on Chun Sungjae’s face. ‘How old does Dad think I am?’ He said, “Where are you going to use that aside for entertainment purposes?”
“What? That is… Darkness will no longer be a problem! When my Sungjae studies, you can—”
Chun Sungjae looked at Hugo as if the Saint were an idiot. “Why wouldn’t I just turn on the light?”
“I can put it in a steel barrel! I can make you roasted chicken with it! I know my Sungjae likes that!”
“You have an oven. Why would you do that?”
“I bet you don’t know this. You can cook chicken without oil. This is cutting-edge cooking.”
“I’ll just put it in the air fryer.”
“…!” In the end, Hugo gave up on the sun. He took out his bow. “Look at this! As a member of the Archer temple, your accuracy will go up! You’ll get first place in any shooting game! You can take down hidden enemies one by one—”
“I don’t play FPS games. Also, my specialty is AOE skills on the battlefield. I don’t need that.”
Hugo continued to tempt him. “Archer disciples can track things! If you lose your phone, you can immediately find it!”
“Do you not know that a phone has GPS?”
“Archer disciples are great at handling musical instruments!”
“I don’t need that.”
“You’ll be great at poetry!”
Frustrated with it all, Chun Sungjae replied, “Alright! The Sagittarius sucks. Also, Dad, you should never do missionary work again.”
“…” Hugo sat back down, making Lee Gun click his tongue. Lee Gun wondered why Hugo didn’t highlight the fact that he was one of the battle-type Saints.
In the end, Hugo yelled, “Do you know this? Going under Gun wouldn’t be helpful to you! He only knows how to beat up monsters and insult people! That’s all you’ll learn from him! His only talent is fighting!”
Chun Sungjae looked shocked. “Isn’t that awesome?”
“What?”
“It is my dream to become a battle-type disciple. It’ll be awesome!”
“Sungjae!!!!!” Hugo shouted!
“Uncle is a battle-type Saint! I hadn’t even thought about that! As expected of Lee Gun-nim!”
“No! Dad won’t allow it! In fact, give up on being an awakened being right now— Kuhk!”
Lee Gun stepped on Hugo’s foot and stopped him. “Ok, you’re done!” He then brought up a skill that he had learned for this occasion.
[You can use the <Familiar> skill.]
[Familiar (Missionary) (F)]
– Missionary skill
– A human may be awakened as a disciple of the Serpent Bearer.
– If the skill is used on a Construct or a monster, the skill will tame them.
Familiar skill was a must when one wanted to take in a human familiar.
[Caution! Familiar (Missionary) can be attempted only once on the same person.]
[Please decide with utmost care.]
[A disciple’s betrayal will threaten a god’s authority.]
[Please be very careful in choosing someone who will be loyal to the Serpent Bearer.]
That didn’t matter. Since it was Sungjae, Lee Gun didn’t need to check his loyalty. Hadn’t the young man already proven himself in the incident with Heiji? That wasn’t all.
‘Sungjae is top tier in terms of potential.’ Lee Gun had witnessed it himself. Chun Sungjae was young, but the other disciples hadn’t treated him well. ‘At the very least, he will grow to be an SS rank.’
Heiji had merely thought that Sungjae had the potential to become one of the Ten Stars. ‘Short-sighted fools.’ There was more to it.
– Chun Sungjae’s <Personal attributes>
[Genius] Learning Effect: 200%
[Predict Future] Sense 1s into the future
[Persistent Obsession] Specialized Tracking, Increased Completion rate, Increased Success Rate
[Idol Worship] When you are with your idol, all your personal attributes will strengthen.
These personal attributes would continue to grow depending on one’s personality and environment. In Chun Sungjae’s case, the Genius attribute was pretty good. However, <Idol Worship> was the better one. That was a rare cheat ability.
‘He’s smart, so I think he’ll manage the other familiars pretty well.’
At this point, Hugo was despairing. Of course, his son becoming Lee Gun’s disciple wasn’t a bad thing. A part of Hugo felt relief, in fact. He knew Lee Gun’s prowess better than anyone; Lee Gun was a thousand times better than the Gemini Saint.
The problem was that Hugo knew his son would never look up to him after becoming Lee Gun’s disciple.
Lee Gun had a smile of victory on his lips, a devilish smile. ‘This is like taking candy from a baby.’
He was about to easily clear one of the three trials. “Alright. You will become Uncle’s disciple.”
However…
Tuhl-suhk!
Chun Sungjae suddenly fell to his knees, his forehead on the floor.
Lee Gun laughed. “Sungjae? You don’t have to kneel!”
“I’m sorry!”
“What?” Lee Gun’s eyes turned round.
Chun Sungjae, whose head Still touched the ground, had a crying expression on his face. It was as if his world was about to collapse. It looked like he didn’t want to speak the next words. Yet, he said, “Thank you very much for your offer! However, I can’t do it!”
“?!”
Wailing, Chun Sungjae ran outside. The expression on everyone’s face was a sight to behold.
* * *
It was as if the world had gone mad.
“I’m sure of it. The world is ending tomorrow.” The first one to speak was a disciple of the Archer Saint. They looked like they had seen a ghost.
“I can’t believe Sungjae didn’t accept Lee Gun-nim’s offer!”
“This is nuts! That was obviously a fake!”
“I’m sure the Pisces Saint sent in a changeling spy!”
“We have to vet him right now!”
Hugo’s subordinates were ready to go to war. Of course, their Saint didn’t care if his subordinates were being serious or not. As Sungjae’s father, he was overjoyed.
“Hahaha! That’s my son! There is no way he would become Gun’s disciple! Fuck yeah!” Hugo was so happy that he started dancing a jig. Waving his hands, he tap-danced. It was quite the spectacle.
On the other hand, Lee Gun was in a bind. Of course, the young man’s decision hadn’t offended or shocked him. It just felt weird. ‘Why can’t he do it?’
Chun Sungjae’s faith was sky-high. There was no way he would turn the offer down unless he had lost his mind. Of course, Lee Gun didn’t need Sungjae to be his disciple, but…
“Ha ha ha ha! No way he would serve Gun!” Hugo continued to make fun of Lee Gun while tap-dancing. “Ha ha ha! Gun got rejected! Gun got rejected!”
“Hey, Taeksoo! I’m being nice right now. Just quit it. Once is enough.”
“Gun got rejected! Rejected!”
Was it an exaggeration to say that Hugo looked the happiest at this moment ever since Lee Gun’s return? He continued to say, “Ha ha ha ha! Even the mighty Lee Gun isn’t much—”
Bbah-gahk!
Lee Gun’s kick landed on Hugo.
“Huh-uhk…!”
Sent flying away, Hugo clutched at his stomach. ‘It hurts. It fucking hurts.’ “G-Gun! You..! I can’t believe you put real power behind that kick!”
Lee Gun didn’t care if Hugo was dying from pain. He just picked up his phone. “Yes! Hi, Yooha! It’s me, Uncle. Do you want to become Uncle’s disciple? Yes. Your Dad gave a strong recommendation that I ask you.”
When Hugo heard this, he screamed. His face was asking for forgiveness. “Gun…”
“Yes. Right! I’ll train you. You’ll stick to me for 365 days.”
“#$&#$*!”
“Yes. Withdraw from the Leo temple and come here!”
Hugo continued to speak in undecipherable words, but Lee Gun ruthlessly ended the call. The Archer Saint despaired. Then, he sat back down in a respectable manner as if he had never tried to make fun of Lee Gun. “Lee Gun-nim! Not Yooha! Please spare Yooha!”
“I’ll see how you act before I make that decision.” Lee Gun had never made the call. Grinning, he put away his phone. He would roll with it.
‘He must have his reasons.’ Lee Gun thought about Chun Sungjae. With his faith toward him so high, it didn’t make sense for Sungjae to run away. ‘Also, his figures for the other gods are negative.’
Lee Gun couldn’t think of a reason Sungjae would enter the service of a different god. Hugo had thought it was simply a rebellious face, but Lee Gun snorted. Even if the young man didn’t listen to his father, Lee Gun didn’t think Sungjae would throw away Hugo to follow a different Saint.
This was true for Yooha too. ‘There must be a reason she is with the Leo temple.’ Lee Gun hadn’t given her the offer yet, but the probability that Yooha would turn him down like Sungjae was high.
‘Moreover, she might not even have a 100% faith.’ So, Lee Gun gave up on pursuing the siblings for now. He stood up as he held no grudge. ‘Let’s finish the trial of strength first.’
Lee Gun picked up his hammer. It was a tool he made weapons with, but it was also his partner in battle, an indispensable weapon.
Lee Gun was about to leave, but he suddenly came to a stop. Then he rolled his eyes. ‘I am curious as to what this is about.’ He wagged his finger.
[Get Hit Instead of Me (F)]
As soon as he activated the skill, someone surprising appeared in front of Lee Gun.
“Gemini Saint!” The startled Archer disciples were about to get into their battle stance.
However, the charismatic beauty screamed as soon as she saw Lee Gun. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll crawl on the floor if you want!”
Heiji was prostrate in front of Lee Gun. This was actually Raeriqueen, who was in Heiji’s body. Lee Gun had sent her back to the Gemini temple to see how they were doing.
The “Get Hit Instead of Me” skill could remember up to three people. It would reset itself on a first in, first out basis. Raeriqueen was the very last person Lee Gun touched. So, Lee Gun had to be careful about who he touched with his left hand if he wanted to call forth Raeriqueen.
“Send me to Europe. I want you to find out why Sungjae insists on staying with the Gemini temple. Also, I want you to tell me everything you know about the secretary position.”
* * *
Montreal, Canada!
Caw! Caw!
In this coniferous forest, not a single beam of sunlight could penetrate the dense foliage. The forest was riled up in tension. It was to be expected. This place was the Scorpio Saint’s headquarters. Fierce beasts she had raised surrounded this place.
“Be careful! This is the den of the Scorpio Saint.”
“We will be having a meeting with her.”
“Be on your guards. You might die if you put down your guards because of your beauty!”
Everyone gulped under the lit torchlight. The ones gathered here were the officers of the Leo temple.
“We must succeed in making a deal with the Scorpio Saint. One of Lee Gun’s eight great holy items is on the balance.”
“Yes!”
These disciples’ mission was considered an S rank mission. Every one of them might get slaughtered here. Of course, their temple’s SS rank disciple and Chun Yooha were participating in the mission to protect the group.
Actually, Chun Yooha had come only because her uncle’s holy item was the transaction item. Suddenly…
Brrrrrrr!
Yooha tilted her head in puzzlement after she received a text. Her reaction was due to the sender. ‘Dad?’
She had already told her dad that she would be on a mission, so the message had to be urgent. Thus, Chun Yooha opened the chat window.
[Hugo: Yooha!]
[Hugo: Gun’s temple is a no!]
[Hugo: I’ll allow Sungjae, but not you!]
[Hugo: There was that incident with the Libra Saint. You’ll be safest staying in the Leo temple!]
[Hugo: Anyway, Gun’s temple is off limits!]
This was her first time hearing about this. Chun Yooha tilted her head in puzzlement. “Uncle’s temple?”
