“Please take me on as your student!”

It happened a very long time ago.

Lee Gun had saved Hugo Otis, a person who looked like a dweeb and acted idiotically, from being eaten by a monster. In turn, that person had started stalking Lee Gun.

“I’ll do the laundry! I’ll cook! I’ll do anything! Please!”

Hugo didn’t care where and when. He kept telling Lee Gun that he would like to become Lee Gun’s student.

When Lee Gun was eating...

“Lee Gun-nim! Do you need some soy sauce?!”

When he was killing monsters...

“Lee Gun-nim! Let me take care of these small fries... Ahhhk!”

Even when he went to the restroom...

“Do you need some toilet paper?! I’ve prepared the highest-quality toilet paper with gold flecks!”

When he took a bath...

“Do you want me to scrub your back? I think you’ll like this aromatic oil. I extracted it from a monster and processed it for you!”

When he went to sleep...

“If you want, I’ll sacrifice my body! I’ll be your Dutch wife! Please take me in as a student!”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Ahhhhk!!”

In the beginning, Hugo had a strong sense of justice, and he was also a psycho who had been out of his mind.

When Lee Gun and Hugo got to know each other for who they really were, they had become enemies. Then, they became friends. Their relationship had been bumpy for various reasons, but in the end, Hugo was Lee Gun’s precious friend.

They had met after Lee Gun had lost Yeonwoo, so Lee Gun had been on edge. Yet, Hugo allowed him to think about his family again. Hugo was his best friend, and Lee Gun was thankful to have him.

Moreover, Hugo hadn’t faltered for the past twenty years. He continued to support Lee Gun, and just this made Lee Gun feel thankful toward him.

‘That’s why I have to bring him back to life at all costs.’

Alongside Yeonwoo, he had to return his friend to his family.

***

Back to the present.

It had been a while since Lee Gun had a dream about the past. He opened his eyes since it was time for him to get up.

‘My magical energy is slowly recovering, so— Kuhk!’

Lee Gun had a hard time breathing. He felt like he was going to die.

‘It’s heavy...!!’

When he tried to get out of bed, he found out that he couldn’t. That wasn’t all.

‘Shit! It’s so hard to move!’

He found it hard to move his hands and feet, as if something heavy was pressing down on him.

‘Shit! Is it an aftereffect from going overboard in controlling Death?’

He had been able to return home safely thanks to the ring that he made using Order. However, Death had tried to go berserk throughout the night, so he had a rough time controlling it.

‘Shit! No matter how much I sleep, my magical energy and vitality recover only by a single degree...!’

In truth, fighting monsters in his current situation would be hard. It might be the aftereffect of reaching Death stage 6.

This was probably why Lee Gun’s magical energy and vitality weren’t recovering. Furthermore, his body seemed to have become paralyzed.

Zzz! Zzz!

“!!”

Lee Gun became angry when he suddenly heard a sound. The reason was the snoring he heard coming from something on top of his stomach.

[Junwoo is full, so he’s in a deep sleep.]

[Junwoo says sleeping on top of Master’s body is the best. He’s in a deep sleep.]

“Hey! You wanna die! You’re too heavy! Get down and sleep!” Lee Gun screamed.

The one sleeping on top of his body was the Construct of the Serpent Bearer temple. He was named Junwoo and designated as a snake god.

Lee Gun was screaming because Junwoo was enormous. “When the hell did you get so big?”

He was sure that the Construct looked much bigger than him. It was understandable since Junwoo would become bigger than a mountain when fully grown, but...!

“What the hell did they feed you? Why are you so big?”

Lee Gun was being crushed under Junwoo. He couldn’t get up.

The black snake didn’t seem to care. Junwoo liked Lee Gun, so he wound his body around Lee Gun.

The face with two cute black bean-like eyes rubbed against his owner’s face.

Of course, Lee Gun was suffocating, so he quickly used his hands to push away Junwoo.

“Stop it—”

At that moment.

“Uh?”

Lee Gun flinched when he tried to get a hold of the snake. It was for no other reason.

‘My hands...!’

The hands grabbing Junwoo were impossibly small. Moreover, they weren’t just small. His fingers resembled those only seen on little children...

‘Sausage fingers?!’

He was sure of it. Junwoo hadn’t grown ignorantly

“Shit! I became smaller!!”

When he saw his size and shape, he realized he looked like a baby!

[By changing your sleeping form, you have developed a new buff skill.]

[Baby Status: Recovery Buff]

Lee Gun became angry. “Hu did dis!!”

It was unclear if he was gurgling or speaking. He screamed.

“Uncle! What’s wrong!”

“Lee Gun-nim!”

The incident with Death and Hugo had already put them on edge, so the Chun siblings and Lee Jaewon quickly entered Lee Gun’s room. However, when they saw Lee Gun struggling on the bed, their eyes turned round.

“U-Uncle?!”

A baby that looked to be less than a year old lay on the bed. A snake was coiled around him, and it looked like the baby was dying(?).

“Hu did dis? Did chu do it?”

“S-So cute!”

While they were still shocked at the loss of Hugo, they became distracted for a short time. However, they soon became flustered.

“L-Lee Gun-nim! Why are you...!”

“Is it Time’s doing?”

Chun Sungjae soon realized what had happened.

“Ah! My stone! The time stone that Hailey-nim gave to me is gone!”

The item that he had turned into a necklace was gone. Moreover, the one responsible for it was nearby.

“Ah...! That bastard!”

Holding Chun Sungjae’s stone, Lime jiggled next to Lee Gun as it placed a headband on his head.

Chun Sungjae bit his tongue. After he had found out Hahn Jimin’s true identity, he had gone to say thanks to the Virgo Construct who had been with him.

This Construct had told him unexpected pieces of information that had allowed him to deduce Hahn Jimin’s true identity.

– That’s odd. The only ones able to smell it before his awakening should be monsters.

– What?

– Do you not remember the fight between Lee Gun-nim and Abyss at Drachma? It was before Lee Gun-nim awakened as a Zodiac rank. Abyss said Lee Gun-nim smelled good like Taurus and wanted to eat him.

– Those are words spoken by monsters, who see gods as food.

Those words had allowed him to realize what Hahn Jimin was, and thankfully, he was able to escape Hahn Jimin’s trap.

This was why he sought out that Construct within the Virgo Saint’s camp, yet the Construct had said something unexpected.

– What? You want to thank me? This is the first time I’ve met Sungjae-nim.

– What? But...

– I’m telling the truth. This is my first time meeting anyone from the Serpent Bearer temple.

– What?! First time?

– Yes. The only point of contact that I had with the Serpent Bearer temple is playing with the slime...

– The slime?

Chun Sungjae looked at the slime wiggling next to Lee Gun with an odd expression.

‘How suspicious!’

Did the slime transform itself to give him a hint about Confusion?

When Lime jumped onto its owner’s face, Lee Gun heard a notification.

[As expected, the ribbon goes well with you.]

[Next time, it wants you to put on a dress.]

Lee Gun became angry. “Hu are yu? You vermin Zodiac!!”

[It feels hurt by the word vermin Zodiac.]

[Looks like it has to return you to a period where you cannot even gurgle your words.]

Lee Gun glared as he grabbed the slime to steal the stone that rewound time.

[This is useless.]

[You are merely a baby. You cannot move in that form.]

Lime nodded.

[It says to stop wandering off and stay in place for a little longer. It says all your magical energy and vitality will be recovered.]

[Recovery Buff: Body Recovery and Magical Energy Recovery]

[A week’s worth of recovery has been shortened to a day’s.]

It seemed someone had created this ability. Lee Gun had a feeling that each age had a different buff.

However, he didn’t care if his body was recovering or not. He was pissed.

[...!]

Lee Gun went blind with anger as he brought down his small fists on the bed.

Kwahng!!!

The slime seemed taken aback. It couldn’t have predicted that the form of a mobility-challenged baby would be more dangerous. In the end, Lee Gun’s power started destroying the building.

Koo-goo-goong!!

“U-Uncle!”

Everyone quickly exited the building.

It was unclear how long had passed.

“Really?”

“Uncle...!”

After becoming an adult again, Lee Gun exited the building. He had folded the whining slime as if it were dough.

When he headed somewhere else, everyone was surprised.

“Where are you going, Uncle?”

“I’m going to go make a weapon!”

“What? I thought you couldn’t move...!”

“I’m all good now!”

Time would be coming after him soon. Lee GUn didn’t know what Time was thinking, but he had to hurry.

Brrrrr!

At that moment, he received a call.

* * *

Around that time, at the World Conference Hall...

“What? Really? You won’t invade if we hand over Lee Gun?”

“That’s correct.”

Tension spread in the air as all the world’s important figures gathered for a meeting. Over a thousand people had participated in this meeting. There were heads of state and politicians representing various counties. Of course, the Zodiac Saints, generals, and the Ten Stars were gathered there as well.

The current war-time confusion was the most chaotic since the incident with Red Eye in the past.

The monsters Confusion had called forth remained outside of the domes, getting ready to invade once again. The problem was the threat delivered to the heads of state of the various governments.

– You just have to hand over Lee Gun. Then we will spare humanity.

This was why the meeting that was supposed to happen at dinner time was quickly pulled forward.

Moreover, the Zodiac Saints seemed to have heard about what had happened from the others. The Zodiac Saints participating in the meeting started bickering amongst each other.

“I’m the boss!”

“Fuck off, Cat! This isn’t a place where you should step forward.”

“Why don’t all the other Zodiac Saints stay out of this? All of you guys got rolled by Lee Gun-nim!”

“What the hell did you say? Hey, Cancer Ten Star!”

“Why isn’t Hugo here yet?”

“Not a single member of the Sagittarius temple and Serpent Bearer temple is in attendance.”

After receiving the threat from Time, they had come up with the Coalition plan. It was the first coalition formed since the Red Eye Raid!

Moreover, this wasn’t an ordinary alliance.

‘All the temples will go under Lee Gun as affiliates.’

This was why the position of commander had to be chosen to lead the affiliate temples, and everyone was fighting for that position.

“Anyway, every Zodiac except the Scorpio was rolled by Lee Gun-nim. That’s why the commander should be Hailey-nim...”

“!!”

At that moment, they felt something. The Zodiac Saints surged to their feet.

“Get down!”

“?!”

Screams rang out alongside Hailey’s words.

Kwahng!!!

An explosion occurred at the conference hall, where several thousand people were gathered. It was unclear as to how long had passed.

“...!”

The conference hall was in a state of pandemonium, and groans rang all around.

“Shit! It’s a raid!”

“Is everyone ok?”

However, that wasn’t important right now.

“Shit! Everyone became old!”

The appearance of the heads of state and reporters gathered at the conference hall had changed. That wasn’t all.

“General!”

“...!”

The top disciples gathered in the conference hall had either disappeared or turned into children.

“!”

At that moment, an unfamiliar face appeared above the broken ceiling of the conference hall.

Hailey flinched at the sight of that face.

“That bastard is...!”

“Kyahhhk!! Monster!”

Yes, the one to turn the conference hall into rubble was a monster sent by Time.

[I am here since you still don’t get what is going on.]

They shook when they saw the monster. The more problematic part was the beings that the monsters had brought along.

‘Zodiacs?’

Were they brought here using the power of Time? A gate opened behind the monster, and familiar faces rushed out. Of course, their appearances were completely different, but they were the Zodiacs that these people had served. Moreover, they were showing clear hostility toward their Zodiac Saints.

[If you do not hand over Lee Gun, they will kill you.]

It spoke.

[Well? Have you made your decision? Will you hand over Lee Gun or not?]