Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – He has Returned? (1)

The world was abuzz.

-Is it really Lee Gun?

-This is nuts. It really was from him?

-There is no way lolol The Counterfeit skill can be used to counterfeit the handwriting. lolololol

-Have you lost your mind? It is possible, but do you realize how difficult it is to counterfeit Lee Gun’s handwriting??

The world was filled with news about Lee Gun. One person was currently grabbing the back of his neck at this development.

“Archer Saint! Please come out and talk to us!”

“Do you know the whereabouts of Lee Gun?”

“Is he really alive?”

“Is the hero whom the world has been yearning for really back?”

Hugo almost threw the convenience store bento on the ground. It was to be expected. After all, a group of reporters was crowded outside his building. This group included foreign press reporters and government officials as every channel was reporting about this situation.

“Saint-!”

Hugo, who had been plugging one ear with his finger, threw his chopsticks. “Why did you have to cause trouble?”

The chopsticks flew toward the sofa for guests, like arrows. Lee Gun was sitting there.

“What were you thinking? Sending that picture and message to a tv station? I can’t go out today because of you!”

Lee Gun whistled and easily snatched the chopsticks out of the air. “What do you think I’m doing? It’s obviously a declaration of war. I know those bastards will watch the news. I’m just telling them to wait and wash their necks since I’m coming for them.”

'What an attention whore!'

In the end, it didn’t matter. Even if Lee Gun hadn’t caused trouble, his presence would've been exposed soon. This was inevitable after he had killed the Spider Queen.

That wasn’t all.

As if the breaking news about him wasn’t enough, Lee Gun had contacted the government.

He spoke with his normal voice.

‘I’ll give you guys one week. I want you to recover all my items that you guys sold to other countries. Do it before I go there.’

He spoke in a fierce low voice that was unique to him.

It caused chaos within the Cheongwadae.

He had merely used his voice to deliver the message, but he sounded the same as his past self.

Then there was the current state of affairs.

“I’m begging you. Can’t you be a bit more careful when making your move? I’m afraid to watch TV…”

‘Lee Gun scratched his rear. “Ah! I’m out of hearts. I need to recharge them.” Without any hesitation, he selected the option to recharge his hearts in the mobile game via a credit card.

Whenever Lee Gun acted as if it were his right to do so, Hugo would get angry. It was understandable. Lee Gun was using Hugo’s phone; the payment would come out of Hugo's card.

“Hey, stop using my money for games!”

Lee Gun looked at his friend with contempt. “Even I won’t steal from the Poverty Saint.”

Hugo glared at Lee Gun. Lee Gun then picked up a credit card on the table with his toes. It was a gold card. He had no problem entering the card number; as for who the card belonged to, there wasn’t even a need to question it.

[Credit card approved for Yang Wei-nim! 8/27 17:47 Temporary Charge of $1,000 to Kakao Games]

[Accrued charge of 50,000 dollars]

When Hugo read the alert on Yang Wei's phone, which was at the table, he was at a loss for words. ‘He's sucking him dry down to the bone marrow.’

As if trapping Yang Wei weren’t enough, Lee Gun was using him as a game wallet.

‘I’m shocked that he wasn’t blocked from using the card. Aside from his appearance, it feels like I've gained an unruly and immature son.’

[You Zodiac EXP has risen.]

[You Zodiac EXP has risen.]

[You Zodiac EXP has risen.]

[You Zodiac EXP has risen.]

…

[You Zodiac EXP has risen.]

[Your level has risen. (Lv.3)]

[You have acquired Points.]

“Hell yeah. I leveled up.”

“......”

Should he deep fry the mosquitoes and feed it to Lee Gun for a month?

Hugo scrunched up his face as he looked at the corpses of mosquitoes, which was increasing in number.

However, this didn’t bother Hugo much. He was happy and thankful that his friend had returned. He also understood why Lee Gun was keeping his appearance hidden from the public.

“What do you plan to do? The reporters have come in droves…!”

It happened at that moment.

Lee Gun suddenly threw something toward Hugo as if he was complaining about the noise.

“!”

It was a blade. “Why don’t you give that to the reporters as bait?” he said.

Hugo felt underwhelmed. The blade was small enough to be a knife. It was a normal blade that didn’t contain any skills. Therefore, Hugo asked, “What is this? Is it a toy?”

“It's the main culprit that made me fall into the trap.”

“!” Hugo almost dropped the knife in surprise. It wasn’t a holy item, yet it had almost killed Lee Gun. That made no sense.

‘It isn’t a normal blade.’ Hugo saw a crest he had never seen before. 'Who would do this?'

Lee Gun let out a savage laugh. “I plan on beating up everyone who took credit for my achievements. As for the one who used this on me, beating them wouldn't be enough.” It couldn’t be an eye for an eye. He had to do more. Lee Gun let out a sharp laugh.

‘It isn’t a normal blade.’

On that day, it had paralyzed all his senses in an instant. Above all else, the crest gnawed at him.

His instinct was telling him this.

Hugo sighed. “If you were stabbed with this, it was definitely not Yang Wei.”

“Hmmph! It would be embarrassing if I fell from a blade that he used.”

“So what do you plan to do? You said you planned on operating on your own since you don’t have anyone you can trust. Yang Wei’s voice can’t be heard by others, and we are at too much of a disadvantage to do a press conference. They are already in power, and there will be no answer forthcoming if they feign innocence.”

It seemed he was speaking out of experience.

Hugo somberly looked at Lee Gun. “I’ll say this again, but I ended my relationship with them after you died. I have no information that’ll be helpful to you.”

“You have no money either.”

“Hey!”

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you come under fire.”

“!”

Lee Gun was well aware of it.

He knew how the Zodiac Saints were adept at using the media.

“I’m sure they’ll try to pull off one of their petty tricks.”

“!”

“I have to start it off by kidnapping, and I’ll be sure to crush them all.”

“!”

Hugo’s mouth fell open. It seemed he realized something when he saw the cold look in Lee Gun’s eyes.

Was this the reason why he still hadn’t revealed his face!

It was as he had expected. Lee Gun let out a wicked laughter.

“If they knew my face, won’t those bastards run away? That would be a waste.”

He continued to speak.

“If I had done that, everyone would've started searching for me again. I don’t want to hunt in difficult mode. I would have to be crazy to do that.”

“....”

Lee Gun let out a cold laughter as if he was joking.

“This is good. I’ll just kidnap a witness from the nearest place.”

He already knew a young magician that was affiliated with the Gemini temple.

‘If I’m going to do this, I need someone powerful with big influence.’

“Anyway, you should look for the owner of that knife. We have to find the culprit who stabbed me.”

After he spoke those words, Lee Gun was about to head out.

However, he stopped himself.

It was as if Lee Gun had remembered something. He took out something from underneath the sofa.

“That’s right. I’m going to take this bromide.”

“What?”

“It was sent by your temple. One of your subordinates must have sent it.”

Hugo sighed at those words.

If his subordinate had sent it, it was a poster of himself.

He didn’t like having photos taken of himself. However, these photos were used for promotions, and they brought in income. This was why he had been forced to take a lot of pictures.

He had taken another photo not too long, and this was probably a printed copy of it.

Hugo suddenly felt pleased.

Lee Gun was going out of his way to take Hugo’s bromide.

“You are a good friend…”

However, Hugo’s face became distorted when Lee Gun opened up the bromide.

“Wow. She is pretty.”

“?!”

Lee Gun had unfolded a bromide of Hugo. It was a picture of some woman.

“I saw her fight on TV. Isn’t she popular around the world? She has a lot of fans.”

For some reason, Hugo rushed Lee Gun.

“Hey! Hand that over right now!”

“What? Why? You are also her fan. You keep a lot of her pictures in your room. We can like her together. I think she’s fine…”

Hugo was enraged as veins popped out on his neck. “Don’t even show interest in her! Don’t even think about meeting her!”

“What? Who is she? Is she someone bad?”

“She is….” Hugo was about to say it was his daughter, but he stopped. He thought about what might happen if he did. His daughter was a fanatic when it came to Lee Gun. This was why Hugo had no plans of introducing her to Lee Gun. If she saw Lee Gun’s current face… “No! No matter what!”

“???”

Hugo was a desperate father who was a fool when it came to his daughter.

* * *

┕ It must be the Gemini temple. They are ranked number one in Korea.

┕lolololol They are merely merchants that rent out elemental magic. Rumors regarding Lee Gun’s return are everywhere.

┕What?? Stop bullshitting me.

┕This is a link showing Lee Gun. ‘Shocking! Man wearing Lee Gun mask uses frozen meat to beat monsters.jpg’

┕Interesting! Which temple are they from?

Pic.twitter.com/PdjYjd

┕Lee Gun killed something the Gemini Saint failed to?

(58,994 New Comments)

* * *

At that moment in time near the Sheep Saint’s holy ground in Korea...

“Saintess, we can't feel the presence of the Sheep Saint. We can't sense the presence of the Zodiac either.”

- Is that so?

A woman talked as she looked at the screen of her tablet near the Sheep Saint’s holy ground. On the other end of the call was the owner of the chalice, called the .

The Aquarius Saint was praised as the world’s greatest saintess. Her temple was ranked 1 in terms of how many disciples she possessed. Many countries and men of power hung around her. The holy water she supplied was worth it.

The holy water had made her the Saintess, and she possessed the most political power.

Her subordinate, who had come out to investigate, furrowed her brows. “We can’t contact him. He might have run away with his money. The fact that his Zodiac went into hiding means they might be planning something.?”

Yang Wei wasn’t a battle type Saint, so they weren’t too worried about him.

However, it put them in an awkward spot when a client acted this way.

There were ingredients that were needed to create the Chalice’s holy water. The dealer that had these ingredients had cut all contact with them.

“Should we crush the Sheep Saint’s holy ground?”

- No. Don’t do that. Killing isn't good. Those disciples can be used in various locations.

“!”

- Anyway, this puts me in a jam. It’ll cause me a major headache if Yang Wei decides to join up with the other Zodiac temples.

The Saintess was anxious. All of her items were in Yang Wei’s safe.

‘The rest of the twelve Saints stored their most important items in there.’

If anyone other than Yang Wei opened Infinite Storage, it would be troublesome. Moreover...

‘Yang Wei has a hidden ability that even he's unaware of.’

It was a useful ability that only she had picked up on.

A person like that had disappeared.

‘If someone finds out about that ability, it would change the tide of the battle..

There was no way it would be revealed easily. However, if the person who took Yang Wei was quick on the uptake like Lee Gun, it would cause difficulty.

It happened at that moment.

Suddenly, her subordinate, who was observing the surroundings, said, “Excuse me, Saintess.”

- Yes.

“Didn’t the Devil’s Tower fall just a while ago? There are reports that Lee Gun sent a message to a broadcast station...”

- Yes. What about it?

“The Korean government received a message, and they are in an uproar. What if Lee Gun is really back? There is a possibility he kidnapped Yang Wei..”

A clear ringing laugh came from the other end.

- You like to tell bad jokes, sister.

The laughter abruptly stopped. The Saintess's voice trembled. An odd mixture of fear and anger appeared in it. Just the thought of that man made her feel terrible.

- In the first place, Lee Gun doesn’t have the ability to pull that off.

“You're right. He was an incompetent man. He could fight on the level of the twelve Zodiac Saints only thanks to your power.”

For some reason, the Saintess cringed at the slander. However, she soon started laughing.

- You're right. How could a dead man kidnap the Sheep Saint? The message might be a fake sent by Lee Gun fanatics. Let’s not pay too much attention to it.

“I’m sorry! I said something unnecessary.”

- Please don't worry too much about it. The Sheep Saint is probably trying to dodge media scrutiny regarding the Spider Queen. Moreover, Korea is the Gemini Saint’s territory. There’s no way Gemini would stand by and do nothing if Lee Gun had appeared.

The Saintess spoke.

- I want you to make preparations. I plan on going to the holy item trading center

“Holy item trading center? Why would you go there…”

The holy item trading center was managed by the Goat Saint, who was known as the Maker Saint. It was a special place that combined an auction house, a department store, and a large scale workshop for master craftsmen.

- We have to go buy our ingredients. If we miss the delivery date, it’ll be bad news for our temple.

Above all else…

- I have received information that one of Lee Gun’s items will appear at the holy item market. It’s one of the legendary items that I must acquire.

“What? Are you sure? My god! The legendary item that has been missing...”

-It’s rumored that some hidden whale had put out the item for sale. That was why…

Something happened at that moment. An underling ran up toward the Saintess, who was talking on the phone.

“It’s bad, Saintess!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Other Zodiac Saints are headed toward the marketplace. They are aiming for Lee Gun’s holy item.”

The Saintess immediately got up.