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Chapter 25: He has Returned? (1)
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-nim?”
“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.
‘He’s capable of killing SS rank Users, so there's no way he could stay under the radar.’
However...
“You should've revealed your face if you planned on going this far!”
Lee Gun picked at his ear. “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.”
“…” Hugo couldn't say anything. 'What the hell? So why did you stab Yang Wei as soon as you encountered him?'
“Whatever! If you have time to spout that nonsense, you should stop watching TV. You should be diligent like me, Mr. Oh Taeksoo.”
'What? Diligent?' The words surprised Hugo. “You're doing nothing right now! You're playing games and watching dramas on your phone!”
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.
This made Hugo sigh. 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.’
Despite all the annoyance he felt, 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.
‘He did suffer a lot.’
If Hugo were in the same position as Lee Gun, he might have done the same thing. Lee Gun had told him that he wanted to stay low because there was a penalty placed on him.
“Hell yeah! I got two five-star characters! Sweet!” Lee Gun suddenly shouted.
“…”
'Or did he say that because he wanted to play games?' Hugo couldn’t tell if Lee Gun had lost an edge. However, Lee Gun always had a high standard for himself.
‘He said he lost muscle mass.’ Lee Gun’s new body had been reconstructed. His speed had increased, but it seemed he needed to increase his strength.
‘I guess that makes sense. He used to be bigger.’ Hugo wondered. He then said, “Anyway, a swarm of reporters is here. What are you going to do?”
It happened at that moment.
[You have acquired the Saint’s EXP.]
[You have acquired the Saint’s EXP.]
[You have acquired the Saint’s EXP.]
...
[You have acquired the Saint’s EXP.]
“…!”
Lee Gun was skillfully killing mosquitoes while playing the game. He suddenly threw something toward Hugo. 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 contained no power of the gods; neither did it contain any skills. Therefore, Hugo asked, “What is this?”
“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.
“Even if you give it to the reporters, I doubt they’ll come back with anything useful.” Hugo sighed. “If you were hit by this, it was definitely not Yang Wei.”
“Hmmph! It would be embarrassing if I fell from a knife he threw.”
“So what do you plan to do? You said you killed Yang Wei because you planned on asking me about the others.” 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 once again used Yang Wei’s credit card to pay for game items. “It’s fine. I’ll just kidnap someone else.”
“Hmmph! What can you do? They are holed up in their impregnable fortresses.”
“Leave that to me. You just have to investigate the knife. I’m busy today.”
Hugo laughed at the absurdity. Of course, it wouldn’t be hard for him to investigate this lead, but...
‘What? Busy?’ Hugo’s angry eyes headed toward the phone in his friend's hand. “You're making me work hard for which game!”
He was about to take the phone away when something caught his eyes and surprised him. “This game…!”
Seeing Hugo’s surprised expression, Lee Gun laughed in a pleased manner. He looked proud. “That’s right. This is the number one RPG fighting game. It seems they modeled the characters according to real awakened beings. I haven’t drawn my character, but I bet it is a seven-star character.”
“….” If Hugo told the truth, the developer in Korea would be razed to the ground.
Lee Gun was growing Chun Sungjae’s character and some odd SS rank male character. However, they were separate from his main character.
He said, “Look. She’s the main character I’m leveling up. She's the most popular character. She’s very pretty in real life. She might be my type...”
“Hey! Erase it,” Hugo suddenly said.
“Huh?”
He rushed toward Lee Gun. “Erase that female character right now!”
“Why! Do you realize how much I had to spend to get her! She’s pretty! She has good abilities too!”
“Don’t even show interest in her!”
Lee Gun asked, “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.
┕ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ They are merely merchants that rent out elemental magic. Rumors regarding Lee Gun’s return are everywhere.
┕ㅇ?? 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)' Chun Sungjae broke out in cold sweat when he read the screen. To be precise, his reaction was caused by the person showing him the comments.
“This can’t really be Lee Gun, right?”
The one holding the phone was the number two ranked User in Korea. His name was Choi Sunghyuk, and he was the general of the Gemini temple. Choi Sunghyuk was on a short global list of general rank(Cardinal) awakened beings. He was also known for hating Lee Gun.
Chun Sungjae could only move his eyes when he saw his superior’s displeased expression.
“Your friend, who is in the hospital, seemed excited. He said that the one who killed the Spider Queen was Lee Gun-nim.”
Chun Sungjae clicked his tongue when he heard this. His roommate wasn’t being helpful. “Please don’t listen to him. At the time, my friend had been poisoned, so he wasn’t in his right mind.”
“Are you saying it wasn’t Lee Gun?”
Chun Sungjae was in a pickle. Of course, that man had moved uncannily like Lee Gun, and he also possessed Lee Gun’s mask. Chun Sungjae had become suspicious when his father, who was one of the 12 Saints, had arrived there. However... “It isn’t Lee Gun-nim,” he said.
This matter had bothered Chun Sungjae, so he had called his father. A while had passed since the two of them had spoken to each other, yet the Archer Saint had just coldly scolded his son. Hugo had then told Chun Sungjae to return home if he wanted to continue speaking such nonsense.
Chun Sungjae had then consulted his older sister just in case, but she had also laughed it off. She was an S-rank User who worshipped a different god. She had told him that no Saint could've returned alive from the Devil’s Tower.
Choi Sunghyuk laughed when he heard the answer he wanted from one of the witnesses. “Yes. I knew it couldn’t be true.”
In the first place, a Saint rank awakened being had failed to kill the Spider Queen. There was no way Lee Gun could do it. By putting together several pieces of information, Lee Gun was estimated to be a B rank awakened being.
“It was an assessment given by the Aquarius Saintess.”
Those words left Chun Sungjae crestfallen. He had heard stories about Lee Gun from his father and watched many videos of his fights. It was why he had come to admire Lee Gun, but he had to face reality. The tales of heroes were always exaggerated.
This was why most awakened beings looked down on Lee Gun. The general ranked ones looked down on him even more.
The Gemini general laughed at Chun Sungjae's reaction. ‘If Lee Gun were really alive...’ The chances were fifty-fifty, but if Lee Gun were alive, the situation would be fun for the General. ‘I can show that I am superior to him.’
This was the reason Choi Sunghyuk was interested in the young man who had killed the Spider Queen.
Conversion!
Basically, the recruitment of a talented individual helped a lot in increasing the power of one’s god.
“The Spider Queen… There's no way a mere User killed it when even a Saint was unable to. I’m sure the monster was suffering under the aftereffects of being sealed…”
In any case, that young man had killed a monster that had eaten an S rank User just before.
“We have to recruit that man. At the very least, he's either an A rank or S rank User.”
“Then…!”
Choi Sunghyuk was sure this young man was talented enough to erase the shadow cast by Lee Gun. He would recruit this young man and support him from the back. It would be splendid. The general started making calculations in his head.
He then said to Chun Sungjae, “You're the only point of contact we have. I want you to find him before the other temples do. Do it while the world is focused on Lee Gun.”
“!”
“You won’t do something unfortunate like introducing him to your father’s temple, right?”
Chun Sungjae sighed when he saw the wary look in Choi Sunghyuk’s eyes.
Chun Sungjae's reaction meant he understood. So Choi Sunghyuk laughed. “The Gemini Saint will love it if we can bring in this young man.” The general hoped the young man wouldn’t faint in the presence of the Gemini Saint.
* * *
At that moment in time...
“Saintess, we can't feel the presence of the Sheep Saint. We can't sense the presence of his construct either.”
A woman talked on the phone near the Sheep Saint’s holy ground. On the other end of the call was the owner of the chalice called the .
The Aquarius Saintess was praised as the world’s greatest saintess. She was under the healing god, who possessed the most disciples in the world. Many countries and men of power hung around her. The holy water she supplied was worth it.
Her subordinate, who had come out to investigate, burned with killing intent. “Should I force myself into the Sheep Saint’s holy ground and search inside?”
- No. Don’t do that. Killing isn't good. Those disciples can be used in various locations.
“!”
- Anyway, this puts me in a jam.
The Saintess was anxious. Yang Wei's disappearance was a big loss, but that was of secondary consideration. ‘Did he perhaps ally himself to a different Saint?’
The biggest problem was that Yang Wei possessed valuable treasures. The first was a golden crate called , and the other one was .
‘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.’
If the person who took in Yang Wei was quick on the uptake like Lee Gun, it would cause difficulty.
Suddenly, her subordinate, who was observing the surroundings, said, “Excuse me, Saintess.”
- Yes.
“Didn’t the Devil’s Tower collapse just a while ago? There are reports that Lee Gun sent a message to a broadcast station.”
- Yes. What about it?
“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 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.
- I want you to make preparations. I have something to deal with today.
“What? You want to go out, Saintess?”
Since she had to make holy water, the Saintess never left her holy ground. However, things were different right now. She had received information that one of Lee Gun’s items had appeared at the holy item market. It was one of the legendary items she had to acquire.
“What? Are you sure? My god! The legendary item that has been missing...”
It was a rumor 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 Saints are headed toward the marketplace. They are aiming for Lee Gun’s holy item.”
The Saintess immediately got up.
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