Book 1, Epilogue 25 - Devil's Tower (1)
A week had passed since Hugo and Lee Gun became true friends.
“This is nuts!”
“What the hell am I watching right now?”
The twelve Zodiac Saints were dumbfounded when they came to the hospital to visit Lee Gun.
They watched as Hugo whined while delivering snacks, meals, and games for Lee Gun, who remained lying down on the bed.
Lee Gun was pointing out the trash strewn around him. “Hey. Hurry up and clean this. I can’t game because I’m running out of space.”
“What the hell? Do you not have hands and feet of your own? Why are you making me do it?”
“Why else? You’re the easiest to boss around!! Can’t you do such a small favor for a friend?!”
“What the hell did you just say?! Hey!!”
The Zodiac Saints were flabbergasted. Of course, it was rare for them to visit Lee Gun at the hospital, but things had changed.
‘Lee Gun has never stayed in the hospital beyond a day.’
Moreover, they had heard rumors that Lee Gun wasn’t doing well.
While the Zodiac Saints hadn’t officially acknowledged it, Lee Gun was the strongest awakened being among them. Many countries were trying to poach Lee Gun for themselves.
In other words, his absence would change the order of the world. This was why they had come to check up on Lee Gun’s status.
“Hey. I thought they were friends now? I thought Hugo wasn’t his student anymore?”
“It feels as if he’s working Hugo harder now than he did when Hugo was his student.”
Hugo seemed to be serving Lee Gun instead. It was called patient care in name only.
“Hey, Taeksoo. I’m out of snacks. Hurry up and buy some snacks for me in Taiwan.”
After becoming friends, Lee Gun exploited Hugo much more. It was for no other reason.
“If I had slaved around someone under me, I would’ve looked too small. However, that’s not true if I make a friend work like this.”
“Normally, you wouldn’t make a friend work like this!”
“Ah. I should’ve made you my friend in the first place. This is very comfy for me.”
An angry Hugo threw a bundle of trash toward Lee Gun. His respect(?) toward Lee Gun was about to plummet.
‘At the very least, he looked cool when he was my teacher.’
In the past, when Hugo looked at him, Lee Gun always had an aura around him; he always looked cool and admirable. But right now…
“Hey, Taeksoo. I have to take a dump. Go and check if there is anyone in the restroom.”
“Just take one here!”
“Also, I want some food.”
“Get your own food!” Huffing in anger, Hugo delivered two bentos to Lee Gun. One was in a black bento case, and the other one was in a white case.
Lee Gun tilted his head in puzzlement. “What the hell are these? The cases look expensive. Are you sure you bought these?”
Hailey and Kevin jumped in surprise. They were the ones who had brought these bentos, each having bought one. The bentos contained ingredients that held medicinal properties.
Of course, Hugo was unaware of this. He said, “They were among the items delivered in front of the hospital room. I’m sure a fan left them behind as a present. I checked their content, so you can eat them.”
Lee Gun nodded. When he opened the bentos’ lids, Hailey and Kevin looked on with expectant gazes as their hearts beat faster.
Hailey was excited about Lee Gun eating a bento she had prepared. Kevin was excited at the prospect of his abilities being recognized.
‘While I used medicinal ingredients, I made sure the bento was tasty.’
‘I acquired the best ingredients from various sources. I went through a lot to get them. Only one such bento exists in the world.’
Both Kevin and Hailey had gone through extreme troubles to make their bentos. However, when Lee Gun opened the lids, an odd expression appeared on his face. “…uh. Are you sure these were presents sent to me?”
“Yes. That’s why you should enjoy your meal.”
Lee Gun gloomily looked down at the bentos. The black one contained cans of spam, a set of cooking oil, and a cup of ramen.
“What the hell… This is like a holiday gift set…. I like spam, but who would send such a thing…”
Hailey almost screamed. She wondered why the content of her bento had been switched out.
Kevin snickered; he was the one who had swapped out the content of Hailey’s bento earlier.
‘There is no way I’ll let Lee Gun eat your bento.’
When Lee Gun opened Kevin’s bento, Kevin seemed proud.
‘Give as much thanks as I’ve put work into it! Acknowledge it!’
Kevin almost screamed when his bento was revealed. The white bento was supposed to contain western food, yet it had dumbbells and protein powder inside it.
Hailey’s eyes flashed. She had swapped out the content of Kevin’s bento.
‘Do you think I’ll let you feed poison to Lee Gun?’
Dumbfounded, Lee Gun picked up the protein powder. “Yes… I guess protein is also important…”
Hugo had burst out laughing when he had checked the content of the bentos earlier. “Right! Muscle loss is dangerous. You’ve been in bed for a week. This is a very good present… Kuh-huh!”
“You can eat it, asshole.”
At that point, the Virgo Constructs and the Scorpio Constructs started to fight each other. They were the ones that had to gather the ingredients for the bentos.
On the other hand, Yang Wei used this opportunity to sell food to Lee Gun, and the Capricorn Saint was busy installing something odd inside Lee Gun’s hospital room.
Sophie was trying to steal Hugo’s items, and Stevens was trying to take the slime and Heaven’s punishment.
When the atmosphere within his hospital room turned into that of a bustling market, Lee Gun glared at them. “Everyone, get out!”
All the Zodiac Saints were chased out, and Lee Gun left as if he had things to do.
Hugo let out a sigh of relief. “Finally, everyone left. It was so loud that it was driving me nuts.”
“Nope. Someone is still here.”
“What? Who else could be here…”
Instead of answering, Lee Jaewon took out a needle from his belongings and stabbed the sofa. The next instant, a scream emanated from the sofa.
“Ouch!!”
Hugo’s surprise at the sound lasted only a moment as something surprising happened.
Flash!
The sofa emitted light and transformed into a familiar face.
“Ms. Liv!”
The Pisces Saint Liv Rich (19) was called the ever-changing magician. In the future, she would have her body stolen by her Zodiac. She was the young female magician that Chun Sungjae would encounter within Abundance’s stomach.
It seemed the needle had pricked her rear.
Rubbing her rear, Liv glared at Lee Jaewon. She was asking what he was doing.
Lee Jaewon let out a bright smile as if he had done nothing wrong. “You’ve always been stalking us by transforming into objects, right? Hugo and Lee Gun-nim might have not noticed, but I won’t let it be. Stabbing you with a needle will be the least of your problems.”
Liv pouted as she looked at Hugo. “I just had a question for Hugo.”
“What? Me? Not Gun?”
“I heard the Cancer Saint tried to come between you and Lee Gun.”
“Ah, yes! We both had a misunderstanding, and we almost fell for it.”
Liv looked at Hugo with an odd look in her eyes. “Has Jean-Louis ever appeared in front of you looking like Lee Gun?”
Hugo burst out laughing as if she was talking nonsense. “I thought the transformation skill can only be used by the Pisces Saint.”
Lee Jaewon interrupted him. “Huh? I thought the Cancer Saint and the Aries Saint can use techniques that can make copies, right? I’m pretty sure the Cancer Saint can make copies using his Cloning skill. Then there is the DNA Clone skill of the Aries Saint, who can mass-produce stuff. If they cooperated, I’m sure they could create a doppelgänger…”
Hugo shook his head from side to side. “The Zodiacs are prideful. They would never share skills with other temples. Moreover, there is the risk of information about the temple leaking out, and even if they were able to make a doppelgänger like that, it would be obvious that it is fake. Other Zodiacs will be able to see through it.
“The only one that can pull it off is the Pisces temple. There is no way you would do such a thing, right?”
“!”
Hugo understood Liv very well. She was a hikikomori and someone who got very annoyed easily. She wasn’t one to cooperate with the Cancer Saint.
At that moment, the shapeshifter Liv became silent.
“Ms. Liv?”
“Ah. Yes. The Pisces temple wouldn’t do something like that.” Liv looked at her Zodiac’s mark in suspicion.
* * *
To monitor Lee Gun and Hugo, Jean-Louis had come to visit Lee Gun at the hospital. He stood outside the hospital room, looking furious.
“Hmph. As if the trust between the two being revived wasn’t enough, a new thread was created?”
He was dumbfounded by the newly created thread of connection within Hugo.
‘The Pisces should have gotten rid of Hugo’s trust.’
However, a thicker thread called Faith had appeared. Mover, the severed Trust thread was starting to repair itself, as if the Faith was fixing it.
‘What the hell happened?’
However, he didn’t have time to be surprised.
“Hey, why the hell do you keep stealing glances at us?”
“?!”
As a familiar voice rang out, a punch in the face sent Jean Louis flying.
Kwahng!!!
Jean-Louis almost lost consciousness as he slammed through the building. He vomited blood and groaned as he tried to get back up.
“Koohk!!”
This time, a foot sent him flying. The eyes of the one who had sent Jean-Louis flying flashed ruthlessly.
“You copied my voice to play both sides against each other?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Jean-Louis glared at the man before him. “Lee Gun!!”
The reporters and the other Zodiac Saints rushed toward the commotion. The mouths of the Zodiac Saints fell open when they saw Jean-Louis being beaten up by Lee Gun.
“Hey, Lee Gun!”
“What the hell are you doing?”
They couldn’t believe their eyes as they looked at Jean-Louis, who was a bloody mess.
It didn’t matter how bad Lee Gun’s temper was. He had almost never attacked the other apostles before. Moreover, Jean-Louis wasn’t one to lose so easily, yet…
“If you pull this nonsense one more time, it won’t end with this.”
Lee Gun furrowed his brow when he saw Cancer’s energy emanate from Jean-Louis’s body.
‘I wonder what price that idiot is paying.’
The suit was covering it up, but Lee Gun could see Jean-Louis’s body rotting away. So he said,
“You’ll die a quick death if you keep this up. You better find out what’s important to you. Oh, yeah. I don’t need your dirty get-well present. Take it back with you.”
Lee Gun turned back as he tossed the fruit basket that Jean-Louis had brought him.
Jean-Louis had become a bloody mess in front of the other Zodiac Saints and the media. His body shook from the humiliation.
In truth, he had to temporarily sacrifice his power to Pisces to use its power. This was why Jean-Louis couldn’t use his power. As luck would have it, Lee Gun had attacked him during this period. Moreover, someone like him of all people was giving Jean-Louis that advice?
‘He’s the one who looks like a corpse who’ll die at any moment!’
Jean-Louis glared at him.
‘Let’s see who dies first.’
* * *
On the same night…
“It was your doing, right?”
The Pisces Saint Liv expressed her anger toward the Zodiac of the Pisces temple. It was the Zodiac of the magic-type temple and the culprit who had killed Junwoo and the thirteenth Zodiac.
“I’m asking you if you loaned out your transformation skill to the Cancer Saint.”
Liv had gaps in her memories. When a Zodiac possessed the body of their Zodiac Saint, the Zodiac Saint couldn’t remember what happened during that time.
This was true for Liv as well. That was why Liv had an epiphany.
“I thought Jean-Louis changed his voice to sound like Lee Gun and Hugo. In truth, you borrowed my body and transformed Jean-Louis. Am I right? Jean-Louis used the transformation to pit Hugo and Heiji against Lee Gun.”
Among the two Pisces Zodiacs, the older sister responded.
[What will you do if that’s true?]
“I’ll talk. I’ll reveal everything.”
[You’ll talk?]
“Yes. Also, I’m ending my contract with you.”
[Oh. You want to end the contract?]
“At the end of the day, a Zodiac cannot manifest its power without the Zodiac Saint.”
[Is there a reason you should go that far? Aquarius’s Saintess accepted her place. She kneeled before her Zodiac.]
“I like Lee Gun.”
Liv couldn’t help but feel attracted to him. However, she just liked him as a human being. She thought he was a good person.
“I have a feeling that the Zodiacs are sketchy.”
Liv realized something important about the Zodiacs, so she intended to end her contract with her Zodiac. However…
[I can really eat your Zodiac Saint?]
“!!”
Liv froze as she heard an unfamiliar voice. Someone stood behind her. It wasn’t a Zodiac or a human.
It was a demon. It was one of the monarchs called Abundance. In the future, Lee Gun would kill Abundance by piercing through its stomach.
[You can.]
Liv screamed.
At that moment, Abundance ripped out Liv’s soul and started to eat it.
Then the fallen body of Liv got up.
“I have a body now.” Pisces smirked after taking her Zodiac Saint’s body for herself.
It was one month before Red Eye would appear.
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