A month had passed since Lee Gun’s return, and every day had been eventful for the top media companies. The media members monitored someone as they whispered to each other.
“Please be careful, chief! He’s over there in the back!”
A watchdog dispatched by a Zodiac Saint was monitoring them. In other words, this person was suppressing the press from publishing certain stories.
This man regularly made an appearance. He made sure no frivolous story about the Zodiac Saints got out. If the story was egregious, he would directly get involved to suppress it.
Since a Zodiac Saint’s power depended on people’s faith, such involvement was inevitable. However, the situation had been much worse in recent days.
“Hey! There are too many stories about Lee Gun! Erase them! Write some stories about our Saint-nim!”
Lee Gun’s presence and actions garnered a lot of attention. When he had exited the Devil’s Tower, his story had been the top one.
In the end, the reporters had to secretly investigate Lee Gun.
“What about the fact-finding group that was sent to the Devil’s Tower. An investigation team went there when the Devil’s Tower fell. It has already been a month.”
The reporter who had gone searching for the answer to this question looked rattled.
“Ah! That’s…”
“What is it?”
“The members of the investigation team that went to the tower are missing!”
“!”
Their conversation had been a bit too loud. The watchdog glared at the reporters. The reporters didn’t pay any attention to the man as they whispered to each other.
“It was a special investigation team where each country sent a representative!”
A man snorted as he placed a cigarette between his lips.
“They weren’t an international investigative team. They probably went to the tower to recover anything Lee Gun left behind….”
The investigative team wanted to find out what had happened at the tower, but at the same time, they also wanted to find anything there that could make them money. They wanted dibs on anything they found. In the end, they found a bunch of dead monster corpses. This had garnered a lot of attention.
“Whoever made it out of the tower was in a complete state of panic. They all said Lee Gun was nuts for being able to stay inside the tower for twenty years.”
“…!”
Any awakened being chosen for the special investigation team possessed above-average mental fortitude. Despite this, all of them had been afraid to enter the tower. They shook in fear.
There were no monsters inside, yet the tower’s interior was so terrible. How much more hellish would the tower have been with the monsters?
A chill had run up everyone’s spine. Lee Gun had boldly exited from such a place.
And this wasn’t all.
“Have you heard? The observatory detected the presence of the thirteenth Zodiac.”
“!”
That’s right. The Goat Saint had given testimony that a new Saint had appeared. Of course, everyone didn’t believe it. However, the five observatories had confirmed it.
[The thirteenth Saint exists.]
The observatories were institutes the twelve Zodiac Saints had jointly created. They would never lie in this matter.
Therefore, this information created much surprise.
“What? That story is true? Aren’t there only twelve Zodiac signs? There’s another Saint?”
“Yes. The observatory plans to send out an official statement to the world tomorrow.”
Everyone screamed at that statement. They didn’t care if the watchdog was glaring at them.
‘The thirteenth Zodiac!’
According to Earth’s science, there existed an unknown thirteenth constellation that was considered a part of the Zodiacs. It was the <Serpent Bearer>.
However, this wasn’t some academic theory now. A thirteenth Zodiac really existed.
“Who is the Saint!”
“It’s Lee Gun!”
Everyone immediately accepted that answer. At the same time, they felt electricity run up their bodies.
‘In the beginning, there were thirteen awakened beings instead of twelve.’
Back then, Lee Gun had been so different from the twelve Zodiac Saints that no one had even thought of the possibility of him being a Saint.
However, he was undoubtedly a Saint. For some odd reason, he had awakened to his abilities after twenty years.
Some even speculated that Lee Gun had regained his youth because he had awakened as a Saint.
“I heard Chun Sungjae became the Serpent Bearer’s first disciple!”
This took everyone by surprise.
“Isn’t he a talent of the Gemini temple?”
“Yes. He disappeared from the directory kept by the observatories.”
The observatories had a “Planetarium” called the “Disciple Directory.” In this planetarium, all the disciples affiliated with the twelve Zodiacs were marked as stars. The stars shone around each of the Zodiacs, and telling a disciple’s allegiance was easy unless one purposefully hid that. Their rank could be discerned by how bright the star was.
“The Chun Sungjae star, which was near the Gemini, migrated to some unknown constellation.”
“Is it the Serpent Bearer!”
“Yes! It’s the new Zodiac that made its appearance recently. It’s very large and bright.”
Anyway, although Chun Sungjae was an A-rank, he was quite famous. He was the youngest member of the temple directly managed by the Gemini Saint. He was a magician on par with the general class.
Everyone let out a sigh at the same time. The reason was simple.
“Everyone in the world will run at Chun Sungjae to steal his <Bonus Skill>.”
“The one who kills a first disciple gets the <Faith Destroyer(SS)> skill.”
“It’s a rare skill that’s difficult to gain, so all the generals will flock to Chun Sungjae. They will try to kill him.”
“My god! I doubt a mere A-rank will be able to defend against them!”
All of them sympathized with Chun Sungjae’s plight.
It was when the world was abuzz from the appearance of the new Zodiac.
* * *
The south was a closed-off region ruled by the southern Saints. Currently, one man was dying there. Entirely bound, he was being tortured and was leaking blood all over.
“Who told you that you could use that power?”
This man was none other than the Cancer Saint.
Jean-Louis laughed. “You were the one who told me to kill Lee Gun.”
His counterpart clicked his tongue. The person who had made a Saint into a bloody mess looked furious. “Why did you spare the Virgo Saint? I told you to kill him using Pelio.”
Jean-Louis laughed in resignation. “We all know Lee Gun has a filthy temper. I never expected Lee Gun to spare him even after hearing the Virgo Saint had stabbed him.”
They were in a messy situation.
“The Virgo Saint has gone to the Scorpio Saint’s holy ground before. What if he guides Lee Gun to her?”
“…”
“Did you forget that the Scorpio Saint has that power?”
[Secretary]
It was a special administrator that only a Zodiac could possess. This being managed the scripture of a Zodiac.
However, most of the Secretaries were locked away in a special prison by the Zodiacs. Yet, one of those powers existed within the Scorpio Saint’s holy ground.
The exact details about its identity were unknown, but such a being was capable of giving a Saint enormous power.
As if to make matters worse, Lee Gun had stepped forward as the thirteenth Saint. If that power entered his hands, things would get much worse for them.
‘Still, it will be a useless power unless Lee Gun is capable of calling forth his Zodiac.’
“Nevertheless, I doubt the Scorpio Saint will willingly hand it over to Lee Gun.”
The Scorpio Saint was clearly on the same side as them. Of course, she acted differently with them.
For some odd reason, every time she saw Lee Gun, she would run away. If they were forced to be in the same place, she was unable to meet Lee Gun’s eyes. This gave off the impression that she hated Lee Gun. She probably hated Lee Gun like Sophie.
‘There is no way a beauty like her fell for a beast like him.’
This was understandable. Even Jean-Louis hated having conversations with Lee Gun while looking in his eyes. It didn’t matter in the end.
The Crab Saint spoke. “Please give me another chance. I’ll kill Lee Gun for sure this time.”
“!”
He then laughed. “Also, do not worry about the Scorpio Saint! In the first place, they won’t be able to enter her holy ground.”
The great god of war stood in the way. They had to get through the Golden Beast’s home turf.
* * *
At that moment in the US, Lee Gun’s expression was turning sour.
The Virgo Saint, who stood next to Lee Gun, had a scrunched-up face as if he had eaten a lemon.
The only one who hadn’t scrunched up his face was Hugo, but he looked nervous. He was worried about Lee Gun exploding at any moment.
[Yes! The Leo Saint is amazing! He’s great! He defeated Lee Gun!]
[When Lee Gun got up in the sparring ring, the Leo Saint defeated him with one blow!]
[Ah, ah! Lee Gun! He’s unable to get back up!]
[Lee Gun! Is this for real? Will you be KO’d by a single punch from the Leo Saint? He didn’t even use a skill!]
[Ah ah! It’s at an end! The Leo Saint has knocked down Lee Gun with a single blow! Isn’t this amazing?]
[As expected, Lee Gun is nothing in front of the great Leo Saint!]
[As expected of the strongest battle Saint, the Leo Saint is amazing! We have broadcasted the fight live to you until now!]
As soon as the TV program finished airing on the large digital billboard, Lee Gun threw his hammer toward it.
Boom!
“Kyahhk! What the hell! What happened!”
“It’s a terrorist attack!”
After destroying the digital billboard, he cussed. “That fucking idiot.”
The US was the land of the free, and it was pretty easy to travel back and forth from there. The teleport cost had been put on Kevin’s tab, and the group didn’t have much difficulty arriving in the US.
[Yes! It was twenty-three years ago. It was the legendary fight! You have just watched <the Leo Saint vs Lee Gun>.]
[Ah! You missed it? We’ll continue to show you a re-run!]
[Wahhhhhhh!]
Cheers could be heard as the video of <The Leo Saint VS Lee Gun> was broadcast all over the US.
[This is the match that you have been waiting for! It’s the fight everyone was curious about!]
From the digital billboards at the airport to the outdoor displays in stores, they were all showing the same program.
Lee Gun was showing signs of trying to smash them all. Hugo held him back. The Archer Saint said, “It can’t be helped. The US is the Leo Saint’s territory! Of course, they put their Saint on a pedestal!”
Lee Gun scrunched up his face in anger. As soon as he had arrived in the US, he saw all the streets plastered with pictures of the Leo Saint.
Of course, the sparring video was from twenty-three years ago. Lee Gun had made a deal with the Leo Saint to broadcast the fight live. The Leo Saint had begged him to throw a fight on top of the stage and offered him money in exchange.
In the first place, Lee Gun considered boasting about one’s strength tacky, so he hadn’t thought much about the deal. In humoring the Leo Saint, he had received a lot of money. It had been a sweet deal in his eyes.
Therefore, Lee Gun didn’t care if the video was used for marketing or not. However…
“Shit! I can’t believe he’s living off that for the past twenty years. Has he no shame?”
Even a top model had a shelf life. Twenty years was stretching it.
The Virgo Saint, who had come here with Lee Gun, looked furious. “You’re cowardly, Lee Gun! You fought him, yet you won’t fight me!”
The reaction baffled Hugo. He looked at Kevin. Twenty years had passed since this video was released. Even if it was mainly popular in the US…
“You’ve never seen that video?”
“Of course not! Why would I pay attention to anyone other than Lee Gun! They are sideshows!”
“Ah… Alright.” Hugo clicked his tongue as he looked at Lee Gun. He asked, “Well, you made a lot of money for a couple of seconds of work. How much did Stevens give you?”
“Five million dollars.”
Hugo scrunched up his face. He did receive a lot. At that moment…
[Anyway, Lee Gun is being revered as the thirteenth Saint, but I’m not sure how many people will flock to him to become his disciple…]
[However, there was the incident with Thousand Legs. People are looking at Lee Gun in a completely different light now. He’s being treated like the anointed one.]
[No way! In the end, didn’t he lose to just one punch from the Leo Saint?]
Lee Gun let out a cold smile. At this point, the Secretary didn’t matter. He would have to get rid of the mud on his name.
* * *
Around the time Lee Gun arrived in the US…
“Saint-nim. We’ve received info that Lee Gun has come to the US.”
The SS-rank Saint from the Leo temple came to visit the Leo Saint. Stevens had been discharged from the hospital, and he looked to be in good shape.
He welcomed the news his subordinate had brought to him. It was to be expected. He had been searching for Lee Gun, yet Lee Gun had come to his land. “Lee Gun is here? That’s great. I’ll—”
He was about to say he would ask Lee Gun to make him a weapon. However, the eyes of the SS-rank disciple who worked directly under him, Oliver, sparkled as if he knew what his Saint was thinking.
“Please do not worry! We’ve already set up a match.”
Stevens’s face instantly stiffened.
Oblivious to this, Oliver continued, “There was the recent incident. It seems some people doubt your greatness even after seeing the video of your match with Lee Gun. That’s why I have set up a fight that will be broadcast to the whole world!”
“What?”
“This is the moment that will solidify your greatness. This time, weapons will be used, and killing skills can be used too. Everything is on the table. I have set this up for you.”
Oliver’s eyes flashed. “Media from all over the world will be here. Government officials and important guests will be attending as well. I’ve already sent the invite to Lee Gun. I’m sure he will come to the sparring gym. This will be your rematch with Lee Gun after twenty years. This fight will rewrite your legend once again, Saint-nim”
The Leo Saint was sweating.
Fuck! Why the hell did he have to set up the fight?
