The Secretary still remembered it, the time when Lee Gun had forced her to join the Serpent Bearerâs temple.
âGood. Youâre our slave starting from today.â
She remembered the laughing face of Lee Gun as he had tossed her into the stables.
That wasnât all. He had used the weird fountain pen at a whim to pierce her hands. He even imprisoned her in a room for a day with no food. Moreover, she was tasked with organizing his bible.
This was why the Secretary had a lot of complaints about Lee Gun.
âIt wouldnât be enough even if I kill him.â
Of course, she did understand the reason for Lee Gunâs actions.
She had tried to kill Chun Sungjae to acquire the bonus skill. From Lee Gunâs perspective, she had attacked his precious disciple and friend. There was no reason for him to treat her well. It was almost amazing that he hadnât killed her.
Of course, it wasn't because Lee Gun had a generous heart. He just coveted the ability of a Secretary.
In the end, the Secretary had always been looking for opportunities that would let her leave the Serpent Bearerâs temple.
It made no sense for someone who denied the existence of the Zodiacs to remain in a temple belonging to a Zodiac.
âIâll be able to run away if I somehow destroy the fountain pen.â
If not for the shitty fountain pen that was obsessed with her, the Secretary would be able to modify the bible to wipe out the existence of the Serpent Bearer. That was why she had searched for an ally that would destroy the fountain pen.
[Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff! Uncle is so cool! Huff, huff!]
The Secretary despaired.
Was it because they had the blood of a Secretary running in their veins? Despite her not making separate pages for them, the Chun siblings automatically created pages in the bibleâŠ
âThose idiots are a lost cause in the first place.â
They were a lost cause in many ways.
Therefore, the Secretary felt like she was losing her mind. Only someone related to the Serpent Bearerâs temple could destroy the fountain pen. Why?
The fountain pen would become vigilant when someone not possessing the energy of its parent approached it. It would become ruthless and go berserk. The other person would get attacked, and the Secretary would get attacked too. The pen meant she shouldnât hang around with anyone not allowed by its parent.
However, the Chun siblings were out of the question, and Chun Jiwoo was also Lee Gunâs fan.
They were unlikely to free the Secretary from her captivity from the fountain pen. Of course, the Serpent Bearer had one other disciple.
Carly!
She had yet to receive her blessing, so she was an unofficial disciple. But with Carlyâs power, the Secretary would be able to destroy this unusual fountain pen.
However...
âSheâs not it either.â
To check what Carly was thinking, the Secretary had made a test using the fountain pen.
When Carly was writing her application form, the Secretary had discretely handed over the questionnaire and the fountain pen to her.
[Q. What do you think about Lee Gun-nim?]
[Q. Why do you want to join the Serpent Bearerâs temple?]
Of course, Carly had grumbled when she received the questionnaire. It was for no other reason.
âWhy do I need to answer such a questionnaire if I want to enter the temple?â
She had been the commander of the number-one ranked temple, and she was quite experienced. Therefore, Carly had been suspicious at being asked to answer such questions.
However, the Secretary had acted as if she were the interviewer and hadnât hesitated to lie.
âLee Gun-nim personally asked me to find out the answer to these questions. He wants to know about his disciples.â
Those words had surprised Carly, and she had quickly written down the answers.
âI⊠Iâll write it immediately, Miss!â
[Q. What do you think about Lee Gun-nim?]
-> I respect him. From the first time I saw himâŠ
The content was normal. However, how Carly felt, which was written underneath, was not.
When the Secretary saw the answer, she had a mental breakdown. Carly is a fangirl too??
She was the commander of the first-ranked temple, and she was supposed to be as hard as nails!
âDad????â
Therefore, the Secretary had given up on Carly after investigating her. She had given up on finding an ally near her.
So why Hugo?
âWell, he does seem to have a lot of complaints.â
Hugo and Lee Gun looked like old friends, and in recent days, Hugo had become the temporary Zodiac Saint for the Serpent Bearerâs temple. ButâŠ
âDie! Just go out and die! Go back to the tower right now!!!â
Hugo had just fought with Lee Gun the previous day. It was so bad that Hugo had grumbled, asking why the gods didnât take Lee Gun away. His reaction was understandable.
âEveryone around him is like that toward Lee Gun.â
Moreover, it seemed Hugoâs discontent was mounting after his temple had gone under Lee Gun as an affiliate.
âHe was able to become the temporary Zodiac Saint thanks to his friendship with Lee Gun.â
However, that had come to an end not too long ago. In truth, the Secretary heard it through Lee Gunâs mouth.
âHmmph. Heâs so mad that his Faith went down by half.â
Half! It went down by half! And there was no way the total figure could be over 100%.
âIf it went down by half, it should be at least less than 50%!â
Unless Hugo was a massive pushover, there was no way his Faith toward Lee Gun was above 50% after being cut in half.
A Faith around 50% meant one didnât like or hate the Zodiac. It was a state of indifference!! This was born out of how Hugo treated Lee Gun.
Anyway, it was a great opportunity for her.
âI can save Hailey-nim if I get rid of Lee Gun.â
Hailey was blinded by love, so she wasnât rational in her decisions. Above all else, the Secretary really didnât like Lee Gun for a personal reason.
First of all, the man had kidnapped her. Then there was the incident that had happened after she had entered the Serpent Bearerâs temple.
When she was changing her clothes, the fact that she was a woman had been revealed to Lee Gun. However, Lee Gun seemed to already know this, so he didnât blink an eye.
âWhy are you surprised? I knew you were a woman from the start.â
This had shocked the Secretary.
âWhy wonât the Information Distortion not work against him?â
She had been on the run from Constructs, so she had used one of the Secretaryâs skills, called âInformation Distortion.â The skill dulled the perception of others.
Normally, it was easy to tell if one was dressing up like a man or a woman. However, Information Distortion made others not question such facts.
It was someone accepting a statement like âThe earth is square.â There was no hesitation in accepting it. The skill was that scary.
Of course, there was the downside of the Information Distortion unraveling if the truth became known.
That skill had been the reason the Zodiacs were unable to find the Secretary for a very long time, and she was able to pass any inspection with flying colors.
Even Lee Gunâs disciples and Zodiac Saints hadnât realized the truth! The only one that the Secretary had revealed the truth was to Hailey!
So how did Lee Gun know!
âDid Hailey-nim tell him?â
There was no way that would have happened. In the first place, Hailey wasnât someone who would leak a secret.
âHeâs supernaturally perceptive.â
The Secretary had wondered if she had been relying on her skill too much. So she went overboard in buying items for her disguise. ButâŠ
âWhy the hell are you wearing bandages again?â
Lee Gun clicked his tongue as he spoke.
âIâll protect you, so you donât have to do that. It is bad for your health.â
ââŠ!â
Because of those oddly warm words, the Secretary had wondered if Lee Gun was a good guy.
âIt doesnât matter if you wrap it up or not. There is no difference.â
âHey!!!!!â
Lee Gun cackled as he spoke.
âWhy are you doing it? In the first place, no one beside me noticed it. Itâs fine. You donât even have to use Information Distortion, and no one would know.â
âHey, you son of a#$$*!â
The Secretary wailed.
In truth, Hailey was overwhelmingly stacked. Even if the Secretary were to compare herself to someone close by like Yooha, Yooha was out of her league, too.
Those words had made the Secretary sharpen her knife.
âIâll leave this place.â
Aside from the personal grudge, this wasnât a bad opportunity.
âZodiacs are a malaise for humanity.â
She would carry out her original plan of erasing the existence of the Zodiacs.
The Secretaryâs eyes flashed. She had to visit someone before she could do that.
* * *
The Libraâs holy ground in the southern hemisphereâŠ
âWhaaaaaat? Lee Gun made custom weapons for the Archer disciples?????â
The young male Virgo disciples, whom Kevin had sent on an errand, sent him a text.
Kevin raged. âWhy the hell does Lee Gun always make stuff for the Archer???â
Since the Virgo temple had become an affiliate, Kevin had wondered if Lee Gun would spar with him. He had been hopeful, but Lee Gun had completely forgotten about it.
Moreover, the members of the Virgo temple inwardly wanted weapons made by Lee Gun, but they didnât want to bother him about it. However, Lee Gun seemed to have no plans of making weapons for them. It wasnât as if they didnât understand why.
âThe Sagittarius temple is dirt poor.â
[!]
Kevin nodded at that reasoning.
âThe Sagittarius temple is so poor that they almost wear nothing in battles. Even the mighty Lee Gun took pity on them. Heâs doing a good deed. They are a battle-type temple. They need good weapons so that they donât embarrass Lee Gun as an affiliate. It isnât something we should be envious ofâŠâ
[Oh, yeah! Baby snake-nim sparred with the Archer disciples.]
[Oh my! Really?]
âIâm so fucking jealous!!!â
Spark flew in Kevinâs eyes. How dare those disciples get a chance to spar with Lee Gun!
In recent days, Kevin had offered Lee Gun all kinds of meat and vitality medicine as tribute, all to fight Lee Gun.
But when Kevin brought up the promise for a sparring session, Lee Gun said the following words.
âI never said when Iâll spar with you.â
He was telling the truth.
When Kevin had despaired, Lee Gun told him, âIf you steal the Libraâs Constructs, Iâll spar with you.â
It was said that a portion of the Libraâs Constructs were locked up in the Libraâs prison. Therefore, Kevin had mobilized the Virgo Constructs and secretly come to pilfer the Libraâs prison.
[You are trying to steal my servants. It seems you have no fear.]
â!â
Kevin and his Constructs became guarded when they heard a familiar voice in the prison.
âGiselle!â
However, they were soon surprised.
âWhy is she imprisoned?â
Yes, Giselle was locked up in prison like the other Constructs. Moreover, her outer appearance was unexpected.
Was it because Lee Gun had fought and injured her? She looked completely different from the Giselle they knew.
Zodiac? That wasnât it.
âMonster?â
Giselle looked like half-Zodiac, half-monster.
They wondered who had locked her in the prison, but the culprit was quickly identified.
[I heard you lost to the Time Monarch. That seems to be true.]
â!â
A man appeared on the other side. He was a half-monster with the face of a goat.
Kevin raised his guard, and his brows furrowed because of the monsterâs words.
âTime monarch?â
The Time monarch was said to be the owner of the Devilâs Tower.
âHeâs the one that kept Lee Gun in the trap and conducted experiments on him.â
The Time Monarch was also the one to imprison the undead monarch in the towerâs basement.
Well, it didnât matter. The important thing right now was the enemy in front of him.
âI donât care about the Time monarch. But itâs quite convenient that you guys imprisoned her in the cell.â
Kevin unsheathed his royal holy item, Winter Frost.
âGood. We got rid of Jean-Louis. You guys are next. Iâll kill both of you at onceâŠâ
[Jean-Louis is dead?]
â!â
Giselle asked as if she were surprised. It didnât take long for her to burst out in laughter. She seemed incredulous at the news.
[Yes! You killed a blood relative of the Time monarch! It seems you arenât worried about future retaliationâŠ]
Kwah-jeek!!!
Cold air pierced through Giselleâs body.
âYou are the one who should be afraid of future retaliation.â
It was hard to move past those suspicious words, but that wasnât important right now.
âBecome Lee Gunâs tribute.â
The savage cold air moved past Giselle to head toward the monster who had come to visit her.
â!â
However, the body of the monster blurred. Kevinâs attack passed right through it.
The monster smirked as if it was amused.
[Lee Gun is the one from twenty-four years ago. He is the one who the cruel Time monarch kept a special eye on.]
Twenty-four years ago? That was when Lee Gun and the others had appeared as awakened beings for the first time.
[Well, this has nothing to do with our monarch.]
The monster suddenly emitted skin-crawling magical energy. The energy was powerful enough to swallow even a Zodiac!
âThis isnât an ordinary one.â
It was unclear if the monster was here for Giselleâs Constructs. Or maybe it was here for Kevin and Giselle. Whatever the reason was, the monster showed murderous intent toward both of them.
Kevin and Giselle vomited blood at the same time.
The monsterâs eyes flashed as it spoke.
[Donât worry! Iâll send Lee Gun after you guys soon.]
At the same time, Kevin scoffed. âYouâre wrong to look down on our Zodiac. He wonât be easilyââ
[Ah! It doesnât matter. We have already recruited a traitor from within his ranks.]
ââŠ!!â
Kevin flinched, and Giselle smirked.
This monster was with the Monarch of abundance, who had kidnapped Sophie. It was probably here to steal her Constructs, yet Giselle became happy when she heard that they would attack Lee Gun.
The fact that the monster spoke in such a way meant it had already secured someone. Sorrow and joy appeared on the faces of Kevin and Giselle, respectively.
[Cough⊠Ha ha! I thought you guys only slept, so I thought you were useless. However, it seems you have been busy! It serves him right!]
âShitâŠ.â
[Yes! We turned the Archer Saint, whoâs the closest to Lee Gun. Lee Gun will die at the hands of someone he treasures the most.]
The expressions on Kevinâs and Giselleâs faces were a sight to behold.
What? Who did they turn over?
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!