“Who is Yeonwoo?”

“!”

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round, and the light inside them changed a bit.

Seeing the look in his friend’s eyes, Hugo realized his mistake.

“Did I ever talk to you about her?”

“Uh? Uh? That is...!” Taken aback at the unexpected question, Hugo furtively moved his eyes.

‘Shit! I didn’t give any warning signals before I asked the question.’

Since this topic was related to the mighty Lee Gun, Hugo had been curious. It was bothering him, so he had asked the question. However, he now wondered if he had touched something he shouldn’t have and incurred Lee Gun’s wrath.

‘It was the same with Abundance.’

Scared, Hugo was about to apologize. “Ah! It was when we were stealing the bible from the generals.”

“...!” Lee Gun immediately had a suspicion even if Hugo didn’t say anything.

Only one incident in recent days was connected to “her,” the incident where he had viewed the events from twenty-four years ago through the general’s body.

Hugo found Lee Gun’s cool response unexpected.

‘Doesn’t he mind me asking?’

The look in his friend’s eyes did change, but it wasn’t anger. It was more an expression of curiosity.

This was why Hugo knew this was his chance. “Who is Miss Yeonwoo? There is no way she’s your friend.”

Lee Gun was dumbfounded. “Why couldn’t she be a friend? I might have a friend that you don’t know about.”

“Let’s be real. You don’t have friends, Gun. Only someone like me would put up with someone like— Kuhk!”

Hugo took a hit.

“What? I’m just telling the truth! Anyway, who is Miss Yeonwoo? I’m pretty sure it was the beautiful woman Abundance transformed into, right? As expected, she was your girlfriend!”

“!”

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round, and that made Hugo almost certain. There was no way Lee Gun would get that angry at seeing her face if she wasn’t his girlfriend.

“Ah. I see. She was your girlfriend—” Hugo’s expression changed as he was speaking; the reason was his friend’s expression.

Hugo was about to burst out laughing when Lee Gun kicked him in the shin, leaving the Archer Saint feeling aggrieved. “What? I didn’t say anything yet!”

“Shut up! I can read your face. I know what you were thinking. You‘re thinking that there is no way I had a girlfriend, right?”

Hugo looked shocked.

“She really was your girlfriend?!”

It wouldn’t have been strange considering his age, but...

Hugo looked a bit disappointed. “I feel a bit hurt. How can you not tell me something so important...”

“She isn’t my girlfriend.”

“What? She’s not? Really?”

“It isn’t a simple relationship like the one you’re thinking of.”

Lee Gun felt complicated emotions when the memories popped up.

‘Gun!’

Yeonwoo was someone Lee Gun had grown up with in an orphanage.

“She was born deaf, so her parents had thrown her away.”

“Deaf?”

“Yes. Our relationship was strong because we shared the memories of being abused by the orphanage teacher.”

“Abuse?” Was this why he developed such a masochistic character?

“Ah! Of course, I took care of that bastard.”

Hugo became much more afraid when he saw the look in Lee Gun’s eyes. His friend seemed to have been like this from an early age.

“Anyway, I lived with them before I met you. It was the three of us.”

“Three?? N...No way!!!”

This was more shocking than the idea that Lee Gun had a girlfriend. Hugo looked at Lee Gun with contempt.

“What the hell are you thinking right now? I lived with Yeonwoo and her brother.”

“Ah!”

“But her brother died at the hands of a monster. In the end, I lived with Yeonwoo. It was the two of us. However...” Lee Gun suddenly glared at Hugo. “Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

Hugo clenched his fists as if he was happy; he was cheering. The Archer Saint seemed to have stopped listening at some point. He was moved.

‘I won against Gun in one aspect.’

Gun never had a girlfriend before! On the other hand, Hugo had dated before! He even had children now.

‘I’m the winner....’

Lee Gun immediately kicked Hugo.

“Kuhk!!”

“We weren’t related by blood, but she was my only family.”

“Is that so? Family? That was all she was to you?”

Lee Gun became silent at that question. She had been more precious than a friend. However, she was dead, so nothing was to be gained in talking more about that subject. If that fateful day hadn’t happened, he had no idea how his future would have changed.

“On the day I awakened, Yeonwoo died at the hands of a monster instead of me.”

“...!” Hugo was shocked. This was why his friend hated talking about his awakening.

Others described that day as a day when a hero was born. But from Lee Gun’s perspective, it was the day he had lost a loved one.

‘It was a hot topic at the time. Everyone congratulated him, yet he never had a happy expression on his face.’

Lee Gun said with a complicated expression, “She was my best friend in the world. She was also a family member I loved the most.”

On the day of his awakening, his power had surged forth to revive everyone. The only one left dead on that day was Yeonwoo. This was why her name hadn’t even made it in the newspaper.

On that day, the only news anyone cared about was the awakening of the thirteenth. Yeonwoo’s name had been erased from this world because of his name. It was to be expected since there had been no corpse left.

“Gun!”

“No. You guys couldn’t have killed them even if you came.”

The Zodiac Saints would have been wiped out if they had gone there.

Just a while ago, Lee Gun and the others had learned through the Abundance general that most of the monsters in that incident were red-zone rank and black zone rank and were led by the monarchs.

“At the time, I was able to kill them by luck through the power of my awakening.”

That was why everyone called his awakening a blessing, but Lee Gun would rather have her alive than himself.

“That is all there is to it.” After saying all that, Lee Gun started munching on the chicken leg.

Hugo felt a complicated emotion. This topic seemed to be something he shouldn’t have brought up.

At the same time, he had an understanding. He now understood why Lee Gun hated the Zodiac Saints. He also learned why Lee Gun went crazy when he caught sight of the monsters, why he killed the monsters down to the last man, and why he always got involved when people were dying.

‘It might have to do with the guilt stemming from that incident.’

Lee Gun had overwhelming power, yet he had been unable to save a loved one in front of his eyes.

‘Well, this is merely my guess.’

Anyway, it seemed Lee Gun would not stop until he killed all the monsters.

Seeing Hugo’s face, Lee Gun cackled. “What’s with that expression? My best friend in the world now is you.”

“...!” Hugo was moved.

“You are also my most precious minion.”

Asshole!!! Why did he have to say such a thing when he started so well?

Hugo soon came to another understanding.

‘I wondered why Gun was so good with sign language. This was the reason.’

Lee Gun had lived with a family member with bad hearing.

Things were different now with the dome. Inside the dome, it didn’t matter if one spoke a different language or whether one’s hearing or vision was bad. Communicating with each other through telepathy was possible.

‘The fact that Miss Yeonwoo was unable to hear sound was unexpected...’

Hugo’s eyes turned round when he saw Lee Gun move away from him.

As if to promote the Serpent Bearer’s temple, the slime had changed into a serpent while moving around.

At that moment...

“Now that I think about it, snakes can’t hear sound, right?”

* * *

Around the same time, in Northern Seoul, the red zone past the area of the Devil’s tower!

After failing to invade Seoul, two monsters were running somewhere.

[Shit! Our monarch’s territory fell into the hands of that snake Zodiac!]

[Our monarch lost its authority over that land!]

[It is still fine. Our monarch’s power isn’t completely gone. He cannot take our monarch’s territory yet.]

[Please come to your senses!]

[Oh, monarch of Abundance!]

These monsters were yelling toward a piece of hide. This piece of hide that looked like regular leather at a glance was actually the hide from the body of the Abundance monarch.

Of course, there were no abilities left within it. Lee Gun had stolen all of them. Therefore, the hide was useless as an ingredient. The only thing left in it was a small piece of Abundance’s soul.

[Hurry.... Hurry and go to Time.]

The Time monarch might be able to revive Abundance using its Time Regression ability. Of course, Abundance had never suffered this badly, so it had no idea what the result would be. Everything could return to normal, or only its body might return to normal. There was also the chance that it could die. That ability was extremely random.

Moreover, Time was quite difficult to negotiate with, so it might not easily agree to Abundance’s request. However, there was no downside to trying.

If its body could be fixed, the monarch would never leave its encampment. Abundance never wanted to meet Lee Gun again. There was only one problem with that.

‘Lee Gun will mess up all our plans like before.’

Yes, the re-invasion from not too long ago was an attempt to expand its territory. That was also an attempt to make the humans feel helpless.

Humanity had become arrogant under the Domes. Even if it was impossible for them to recover their territories, humans felt at ease since they couldn’t be taken as food.

That was why the unknown civilization wanted to break that impregnable defense. They planned to crush the hope of the humans.

‘That bastard, Lee Gun.’

He had demolished their invasion plans and put Abundance in this state.

‘I’m sure of it. He is someone who will destroy both the monarchs and the gods.’

Anyway, Abundance was in a bind.

‘If I get exterminated, Lee Gun would get all my territory and possessions. The barrier will disappear too.’

Its authority would be completely transferred to Lee Gun. That would create a lot of problems. In its territory, Abundance had hidden many things from the other monarchs.

‘If Lee Gun finds them, they’ll cause a lot of trouble.’

Therefore, Abundance was on the move even as it barely maintained its mind.

‘It’ll be fine. All will be solved if I reach Time.’

Time could use “Time Regression” to return Abundance to its original state. Moreover, Abundance planned on telling Time something.

‘Lee Gun has a weakness. There is a full-proof way of defeating him.’

Abundance had a realization as Lee Gun had defeated it. And if the one fighting him were Time, Time could carry out this tactic. Moreover, Time was the one that wanted to kill the Serpent Bearer twenty-four years ago.

[Anyway, we have to hurry up and go to Time...!]

[Yes! We are here! We just need to ride that gate!]

Abundance laughed at its underling’s words.

‘Just wait, Lee Gun. I’ll use your weakness to conquer you.’

Suddenly, Abundance, which was in the form of leather, flinched. The reason was the thick fog in its surroundings.

‘Could it be?’

Abundance was sure. This feeling belonged to that bastard. Abundance quickly yelled out when it felt an ominous feeling.

[Stop! Not here! We have to quickly take a different path!]

Abundance and the monster holding Abundance both suddenly disappeared.

At the same time, the other monster that had been running with them while acting as a lookout came to a stop.

[Uh? Why am I here?]

The monster stood there with a blank look, as if it had forgotten about its master.

Meanwhile, Abundance screamed as its hide was swallowed up by the fog.

[Damn it! What are you doing? This isn’t the way to Time’s encampment! Where are you going?]

[What? We are going to the Serpent Bearer.]

[Serpent... What?! Hey! Why would we go there?]

[Please wait! We’ll quickly head toward that arrogant Serpent Bearer, and I’ll make sure that you will become the Serpent Bearer’s wallet.]

[What are you talking about? Hey!!]

Abundance soon came to a realization. The reason was the attitude of his underlings.

Abundance knew which monarch had this power. This was a power that could make its subordinate forget about its loyalty.

Therefore, Abundance trembled.

‘It is that bastard.’

And as expected, Abundance felt a frighteningly chilling wave of energy behind it. Its body had been ripped apart by Lee Gun, so it wasn’t supposed to be able to feel the temperature. Yet, the sensation was vivid, as if the energy would eat its soul.

Abundance felt the presence of the being that had made its subordinate forget its loyalty, the being that was also the culprit that precipitated all of this—Oblivion.

Oblivion’s mouth was open as it tried to eat Abundance.

Knowing Oblivion’s power, Abundance screamed.

[Ahhk! There is no point in eating me. My power, territory, and authority were stolen by the Serpent Bearer! I’m telling the truth— Kuhk!]

Abundance was instantly eaten.

Kwah-jeek!

When its eyes went extinct, the ground shook.

The Red Zone and the Black Zone ruled by Abundance changed into a clean Green Zone. Abundance and its underlings vanished from the wasteland.

Inside the fog, Oblivion roared.

[I still need more food.]

The tastiest food it had was some woman who had been with the Serpent Bearer twenty-four years ago.

Now that Oblivion thought about that, the one to eat everything belonging to the Abundance was... Wasn’t he called the Serpent Bearer?

Oblivion started to move.