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 monitored his surroundings, but the mysterious voice continued.

[You’ve broken through the Death Trap!]

[You’ve achieved the 'Impossible Achievement'!]

[You've acquired the right to become the owner of <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’ve 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 shape that exuded light 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 god/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—No, humanity was at the point of being wiped out—mysterious beings had appeared out of the twelve Zodiacs in the sky. These twelve petty heavenly bodies had bestowed power to humans. They had told the humans to fight against the monsters using these powers. Their timing had been so impeccable that it was almost disgusting.

‘They are no different from the monsters.’

The individuals who had received powers from the mysterious beings were named after the twelve Zodiac signs by the public. However, these individuals insisted that the mysterious beings were divine, and they wanted to be called Zodiac Saints. Lee Gun always laughed out loud when he heard the term.

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

His assumption made sense when one considered that these twelve individuals had to perform rituals to receive power from the twelve gods. Although this led to these twelve individuals being called special, 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 gods. Basically, the Twelve felt like they were being played with. Being contacted by the gods wasn't a great feeling. The gods' messages were more like threats that demanded the Twelve fulfill the gods' demands, and the Twelve had to accept these requests. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the Twelve were the gods' servants.

‘Anyway, it seems my body went through some changes thanks to a Divine skill.’ It was apparent that his skill was better than the others, and when Lee Gun realized this, he became more puzzled.

‘I can’t feel the presence of my god.’ Lee Gun was thinking about the sensation he felt around the treacherous Twelve. In the first place, the messages never mentioned the existence of a thirteenth god.

‘What's going on?’ He wondered if he was missing something, so he concentrated once again.

‘As expected, I can sense only twelve of them.’ How could he not sense their wicked presences? However, this meant that a god hadn’t latched onto him. Moreover, the voice from before had said that he hadn’t received the Divine skill from a god; he had developed it on his own. That was why he found it odd.

‘It's possible to use a Divine skill without making a contract with one of the gods.’ This didn’t bother Lee Gun at all. To begin with, he had naturally awakened without the patronage of a god. Therefore, the information didn't surprise him.

‘It's true that I died, but in 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 always had a hard time forgetting it, forgetting the sensation of someone pushing him from the back.

‘I’m sure it was someone close to me.’ 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 was it. 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 more than 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 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. He had gone to a place of death and died for all practical purposes. So, of course, Lee Gun didn’t mind being young again.

If the culprit confessed without making much of a fuss...

‘Depending on how they act, I might even forgive the others...’ 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!”

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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 found this gadget shocking. However, that wasn’t important right now.

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“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 articles he found shocking.

<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 eye fell at the road located in front of Kimbap Heaven. He hadn’t paid attention before, but it was clearly summer. Lee Gun then looked at the pocket watch dropped by the last monster he had killed within the tower. It had been a human-type monster.

‘According to this, not a lot of time should've passed outside.’ If his prediction had been correct, only five years should've passed outside the tower. How could it be 20 years? ‘This is nuts.’

They said he had been missing for twenty years! He was already as good as dead to the world! However, it seemed 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. “He’s a die-hard fan of Lee Gun. Can you not tell by the comments he’s 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. The content of the story wasn’t the inflammatory part.

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

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

Lee Gun then looked at the comments.

- 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. You idiots are sucking off Lee Gun, but in the end, the Twelve Zodiacs killed Red Eye.

└ㅇㅇThe Leo from the US beheaded it!

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└ 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 Zodiacs 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 Zodiacs killed Red Eye. Hurray for the heroes of humanity, lol!

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

“H... hello?” The teen nervously opened his mouth.

Lee Gun was willing to overlook the fact that twenty years had passed. Honestly, it had flummoxed him. Still, 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.’

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.

‘I’ll break their teeth, then they’ll have to voluntarily correct the stories...’ However, he happened to see another piece of information at that moment.

- Korea is considered the lowest-ranked territory. They do not have any disciples, so they borrow power from 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, I’m sure our viewers are interested in other aspects of this story.

- 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. It should've funded scholarships...’

- His will said, "I want all my wealth and items to be given to the twelve Zodiacs 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.

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