Chapter 4 – Did you have fun while I was gone?

Lee Gun slapped his ears when he heard the unfamiliar sound.

Pahng!

Everyone looked at him in surprise. It should have hurt, but Lee Gun's expression wasn't one of pain.

‘I’m not dreaming.’ He had heard a woman's voice. However, the voice was unfamiliar. It was a sound he had never heard even after becoming the thirteenth awakened being. Lee Gun looked at his surroundings, but the mysterious voice continued.

[You have broken through the Death Trap!]

[You have achieved the 'Impossible Achievement'!]

[You have acquired the right to become the owner of the <Serpent Bearer’s Nest>!]

[All of your achievements within the tower will be converted into EXP! Since you gained a massive amount of EXP, the conversion will take a bit of time. ... Conversion complete!]

[You have developed a new Divine Skill!]

[The new Divine Skill will be activated now!]

[All the Advance Skills and Attributes you possess have evolved!]

As soon as the voice stopped, something amazing happened.

Flash!

A never-before-seen glowing shape appeared on Lee Gun's left palm. At a glance, it looked like a geometric pattern with a snake coiling around it. As Lee Gun stared at the crest, unfamiliar words appeared above it.

[Lee Gun: (Human)!]

[The seat of the 13th Zodiac/Ophiuchus Serpent Bearer’s Title <Beginning and End Serpent>!]

[Awakened Name: Man Who Pounds on All Creations]

[Personal Characteristics: Freak Genius, Master Craftsman, Perverted Eyes, Masochist, Excellent Senses ▶ Dexterity of a god]

[Advanced Skills]

[Extreme Observation (Lv.99) ▶ Gaze of a god!]

[One Room Workshop (Lv.99) ▶ Creation Workshop!]

[Transcendent Sense (Lv.99) ▶ 13th Sense!]

[Bull Instinct (Lv.99) ▶ Suicidal Instinct!]

[Family: None]

[Sanctuary: None]

[Active Divine Skill of the Serpent Bearer]

[(1/???)]

[Super Regeneration (F Rank): (Not Enough Energy)]

- Your body was recently reformed from its horrible state!

- Your broken tissues were recovered to their baseline status!

- Your aged cells have regenerated to their baseline status!

- A small penalty has been placed on you because of your body's complete reformation!

- Penalty: 50% Reduction in Physical Ability! (Remaining Time: 1,032 Hours)!

As soon as Lee Gun stopped looking at it, the crest and the information disappeared. He didn’t know what it was, but he soon had a hunch. ‘Is this the Divine system that the Twelve talked about?’

When humanity was about to lose to the unknown civilization, mysterious beings had appeared out of the twelve Zodiacs in the sky. These twelve heavenly bodies had bestowed power to humans. They had told the humans to fight against the monsters using these powers. Those humans were now called the twelve Zodiac Saints.

These twelve said they served the Zodiacs and demanded to be called the Zodiac Saints. Lee Gun always laughed out loud when he heard the term.

'Divine, my ass! Those idiots probably mistook servants with saints.’

This made sense considering how the twelve individuals received power from their individual patron Zodiac and the twelve Zodiacs demanded a price in return. It led to these twelve individuals being called special, but that wasn’t the case.

‘That’s odd. They never mentioned that they could see these messages.’

Moreover, the twelve of them had never mentioned that they could see such detailed information. According to the Twelve, messages were a one-way notification from the Zodiacs. The Zodiacs' messages were more like threats that demanded the Twelve fulfill the Zodiacs' demands, and the Twelve had to accept these requests. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the Twelve were the Zodiacs' servants.

‘Anyway, it seems my body went through some changes thanks to a Divine skill.’ One thing certain was that his skill was better than the others’ and his original skill had evolved as well. But the more Lee Gun realized this, the more puzzled he became.

‘I can’t feel the presence of my Zodiac.’ Lee Gun was thinking about the sensation he felt around the treacherous Twelve. And he had never heard about the 13th zodiac that was in the message.

‘What's going on?’

When he thought about the <Serpent Bearer>, he could only come up with one possibility.

‘There is a hidden constellation that wasn’t included amongst the twelve Zodiacs.’

He wondered if he missed the presence of his Zodiac, so he concentrated once again.

‘As expected, I can sense only twelve of them.’ There was no way he wouldn’t be able to sense their wicked presences! So this meant that a Zodiac hadn’t latched onto him. Moreover, the voice from before had said that he had developed a Divine skill on his own, not that it had been given to him. That was why he found it odd.

‘Then, is it possible to use a Divine skill without making a contract with one of the Zodiacs?’ This didn’t bother Lee Gun at all. From the start, he had naturally awakened without the patronage of a Zodiac. Therefore, the information didn't surprise him. Whether it was his skill or his magic, he hadn’t received it from a zodiac.

‘One thing certain is that I died, and by doing so, I satisfied some kind of requirement.’ It seemed Lee Gun didn't have to beat his charlatan of a friend. Above all else... ‘I have no reason to kowtow in front of those bastards.’

Lee Gun’s lips turned upward in a savage manner. It looked like he was laughing, but his smile held murderous intent. He probably wouldn’t be able to easily forget the sensation of someone shoving his back.

‘I’m sure it was someone who stood close to me back then.’ He had his suspicions. Now that things had turned out this way, his mind was set. ‘At the very least, I have to kill the one who pushed me.’

Lee Gun didn't want to give the culprit a quick death. Instead, he wanted to make that person feel like hell on earth. However, he first had to find out who it was. What would he do to the rest? The outcome would hinge on the fact whether they were accomplices to the deed or not.

‘I’m rather grateful for what they did.’

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed in a frightening manner. His skin had looked hideous because of the burn marks, but now, it was as soft as a baby's skin. He even felt that he had become much lighter than he was during his prime. It felt odd to go from being an old man to a young man. His body had been seventy years old and was failing, so there was no way Lee Gun would mind being young again.

So as long as they weren’t accomplices and meekly cooperated…

‘Depending on how they act, I might forgive them a tiny bit...’ However, that thought lasted only a moment.

“No way! There is no way Lee Gun-nim is still alive!” the hunters shouted as they watched something. “It has to be a monster if something living left that place. Idiots!”

They were lamenting as they read articles on their smartphones. Lee Gun craned his neck to see what they were looking at, so the teen handed over his phone to Lee Gun. Lee Gun was seeing a smartphone for the first time, so he flinched in surprise.

‘What the hell is this?’ As a person from 2005, he was shocked by the smartphone. However, that wasn’t important right now.

“Hey! Think about it for a second. From a common-sense point of view, do you really think it's possible to survive within the tower for twenty years?” The hunters continued their discussion.

The topic of the conversation, Lee Gun, flinched. Sure enough, the phone's screen was filled with shocking articles.

<Did the hero of Korea return after 20 years?>

<US says, “It can’t be Lee Gun. He died 20 years ago.”>

For a moment, Lee Gun couldn’t believe what he was reading. ‘Twenty years?’

He quickly turned to look outside. His gaze fell at the road located in front of Kimbap Heaven’s logo. He woke up here so he hadn’t had the chance to properly look around, but it was clearly summer outside.

Of course, time passed differently inside and outside the tower. That was even before the attack, he had taken an item that would tell him the difference in time.

If his prediction had been correct, only five years should've passed outside the tower. How could it be 20 years? ‘This is nuts.’

If it was twenty years, then he wouldn’t be reported as missing, but as dead! It seemed he had taken longer than he had expected to catch the monster.

The teen interpreted Lee Gun's gaze as if he had some information regarding this subject. The teen then eagerly asked Lee Gun a question, “Do you know anything about that, Hyung? You came from the direction of the tower.”

The other man ridiculed the teen. “It’s true that the world misses the hero, but he’s a die-hard fan of Lee Gun. Can you not tell by the comments they are writing?”

“Uh? However….”

“The comment section is blowing up. Those trash journalists must be having a lot of fun.” the man said.

Lee Gun scrolled down. It was insane.

<The Twelve Zodiac Saints are taken aback by the heated discussion around Lee Gun’s survival. They want everyone to stop speculating.>

<The Twelve Zodiac Saints say, “We would've known if Lee Gun were alive for the past twenty years.”>

- Maybe, he was sleeping.

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ 222222 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Stop using facts ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

- What the hell did the Twelve accomplish after receiving supporting funds?

└ Would we have recovered all our lands if Lee Gun were still here?

└ㅇㅇHe was great even though he acted solo. He was better than the Twelve.

└ Nonsense. He can’t be compared to the Twelve.

└ Why can’t he?

└ ㄴㄴ He’s not a core member. No matter how much you idiots suck up to Lee Gun, in the end, the Twelve Zodiac Saints killed Red Eye.

└ㅇㅇThe Leo Saint from the US beheaded it!

└ He said Lee Gun only slowed them down ㅋ

- Was Red Eye really some amazing monster?

└ It was strong. If the snake hadn’t been killed, humanity would've been wiped out twenty years ago.

└ Anyway… The twelve Zodiac Saints who killed the boss in the Devil’s Tower >>>>>> Huge Gap >>> Lee Gun

- There is a theory that says Lee Gun killed the boss.

└ Do you really believe that? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ All the desperate Lee Gun fanboys believe the tabloidsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ What? The tabloids might be right.

└ ㄴㄴ. Fact. All twelve came out alive, but Lee Gun died by himself. What does that say?

└ The twelve Zodiac Saints killed Red Eye. Hurray for the heroes of humanity, lol!

The sound of a phone cracking instantly rang out in the restaurant.

“E-excuse me?” The teen nervously opened his mouth.

Lee Gun was willing to overlook the fact that twenty years had passed. Honestly, it had flummoxed him, but it was still reasonable. Rather, he was thankful only twenty years had passed considering how long he had been confined in the tower. However, as for the other information...

‘Who killed Red Eye?’ Fire erupted within Lee Gun’s eyes. The Twelve were the ones who had retreated in fright! ‘Parasites.’

The teen who lent him his cellphone was restless. Well, either way, Lee Gun had a general idea of what had happened. Of course, he had seen a lot of convoluted information in a short period to get a truly accurate picture, but it wasn’t too difficult to connect the dots.

‘Those bastards took credit for my kill and acted like heroes for the past twenty years. Is that what’s going on?’ Lee Gun laughed in disgust. It was quite the sight. He looked scary enough to make an onlooker bite their tongue in fear. Lee Gun laughed at their foolishness.

‘Yes. That was pretty cute.’ It was plenty cute. He had sold out those bastards in the past for profit, so he was willing to call it even.

‘So first, I’ll break their teeth, then make them correct the stories...’ At that moment…

- Korea is considered the lowest-ranked territory. They do not have any Saints, who can borrow the power of the twelve Zodiacs. However, this landscape is rapidly changing with the rumor that Lee Gun is still alive. This is why the world is focused on Korea. However, this is not what our viewers should be interested in.

- Well?

- It's about Lee Gun’s fortune. Do you remember what the will left behind by the Thirteenth said?

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round when he read the unexpected story.

'Will?' Of course, he never knew when he would die, so he had made a will through a private law firm. ‘My wealth should've been donated to orphanages and funded scholarships...’

- His will said, "I want all my wealth and items to be given to the twelve Zodiac Saints to help humanity. I hope they will use them to their benefit.”

Lee Gun let out a bright smile. Yes, he came to a decision. "I’ll kill all of them." Forgiveness? He didn’t care about that.

His eyes flashed as he handed the phone back to the teenager. “Hey, kid.”

“Huh? Are you talking to me?” the young hunter asked.

Lee Gun replied, “Yes! Do you mind making a call for me?”

“W-whom should I contact?”

“I have someone in mind. He’s the first one who'll receive the punishment of heaven.”

After a moment, the young man again handed Lee Gun the phone. When Lee Gun put the phone to his ears, he heard a familiar ringing tone. Twenty years had passed since he had heard this ringtone.