- It seems Lee Gun is a proper awakened being like us. His abilities are beyond reproach.

- Please cheer for the new thirteenth apostle.

Notre-Dame de Paris, France.

In the future, the territories of France and Western Europe would be taken over by the Virgo temple, but currently, the Saintess of the Aquarius temple occupied those locations.

The Taurus Saint Ivan was inside this cathedral, grinding his teeth. It was for no other reason.

- The thirteenth is the new superhuman acknowledged by the Leo Saint!

- The thirteenth’s name is “Lee Gun”! Mr. Lee Gun has become the hope of humanity!

- Waaaaaaaaaaa!

Ivan was watching the DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) on his phone.

He was angered by Stevens’s interview and the news coverage around this topic.

“Why did you do something unnecessary?”

“What do you mean?” Taken aback, Stevens looked at Ivan. He had come to the cathedral to give a report, yet Ivan suddenly came at him as if he wanted to kill him.

An enraged Ivan threw the DMB toward Stevens. “Why would you acknowledge that mutant as our peer?!”

“What’s the problem? He’s a great fighter.”

This time Ivan was surprised. “Are you kidding me? That bastard doesn't even have a Zodiac! He’s a fake, so how can he be called an apostle?”

“Who cares about that?”

“What?”

Stevens snorted. “Humanity is in pain right now. Who cares about his origins? It’s great to have a reliable ally. Am I wrong?”

“Hmmph. You’re an idiot who can’t comprehend what’s going on!”

“What the hell? Are you afraid of him?”

?!”

Stevens let out a vicious laugh as he approached Ivan. “Is it because he broke your air of superiority? Isn’t that why you are acting weak and afraid right now?”

!!” Ivan felt an unbelievable amount of humiliation, so he immediately released his magical energy.

Ivan extended his hand, aiming to kill Stevens. “You are an idiot who is useless without a weapon!”

“Shut up! At the end of the day, you’re only good at being a meat shield!”

The main fighters of the Zodiac Saints were about to use their power. They were getting ready to rip into each other.

“Stop! What are you doing in the royal palace of a god?!”

!”

The two men flinched at Sophie’s sharp words. They broke apart. This cathedral was considered a base for the Zodiac Saints. The Zodiac Saints were spread out across the world, so they gathered here if there was a need to.

Sophie always resided here and provided any resources the others needed. She also acted as a middleman if the Zodiac Saints wanted to contact each other.

Sophie tried to mediate a resolution between the two Zodiac Saints.

Ivan ground his teeth as he glared at Stevens. “You are acting high and mighty right now. However, will you be fine if you and your Zodiac aren’t given the proper due because of that Lee Gun?”

Steven furrowed his brows as if Ivan wasn’t even worth talking to. “I'm glad there is someone strong enough who’ll make me want to chase after him. It’ll allow me to become stronger.”

!” Ivan gritted his teeth.

Stevens didn’t even want to bother dealing with Ivan. “I get why you’re on edge. You reached your highest level, yet the number of monsters that you can’t defeat is increasing. Anyway, it’s ridiculous to cut down someone excellent because you have an inferiority complex.”

Those words had Ivan glare at Stevens. “Alright. Let’s see how long you’ll be able to say such words.”

“What? Do you plan on getting rid of Lee Gun? It’ll be impossible for you. He is incredibly strong.”

“!”

“Also, he won’t take it lying down if you try to kill him.”

Stevens’s carefree laughter made poison appear in Ivan’s heart.

* * *

“Please buy this, Hyung.”

“!”

On a forest trail that branched off from the road heading into the city, Lee Gun’s eyes turned round when a young teen appeared in front of him.

The teen before him looked like a wanderer. However, he was too dirty and beggar-like to be one of the gypsies who lived in this region. That wasn’t all.

‘Asian?’

His exact nationality couldn’t be pinpointed, but he didn’t look like a native. Of course, that wasn’t important right now.

‘What does he want me to buy?’

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round when he saw the item being pushed toward him.

Zzuhk!

The slime, who had been riding on top of Lee Gun’s head, tried to eat the star candy that the teen had pushed forward.

The slime was a mutant that Lee Gun had created when he was trying to create a shampoo to prevent his hair loss.

A surprised Lee Gun quickly pulled back on the slime. “Hey. You have no idea what that is. You shouldn’t eat it.”

Of course, the slime never ate something that didn't look appetizing.

“Hey!! That’s a health-recovery item!” Hugo’s shout could be heard from a distance.

Hearing Hugo’s voice, Lee Gun glared at him for refusing to go away. However, that wasn’t important right now. “Health-recovery item?”

Lee Jaewon let out a bright smile when he heard this. He pushed the star candy toward him. “Yes! You guys are apostles, right? I thought this might be of help to you...!”

Lee Gun could clearly feel powerful magical energy emanating from the candy. He wondered why such a kid would have this item.

“Some parts of a monster’s corpse are helpful in recovering health!” Hugo brought out his wallet as if he had hit the jackpot. “If those parts are used, they can create a substance that accelerates one’s health recovery. The saintess told everyone to gather those parts and sell them...!”

“Right. I worked very hard to gather the ingredients to make this. This item has a thousand condensates in it, so it should be very effective.”

“Oh! There are over a thousand in it! I’ll buy it all for you, Teacher! I can guarantee its effectiveness! When I ate one with a hundred condensates, I was able to fight without sleeping for three days!” Hugo tried to approach Lee Gun, but...

“Ahhk!!”

He screamed when an attack came from the tree. “Ah! Really!”

Kevin had used the tree’s fruit as a projectile. His eyes flashed. “Go away! I’ll buy it for Teacher.”

“What?”

“That’s why you should buzz off, you weakling!”

Kevin took up a blade and tried to attack Hugo. This spurred Hailey to make an appearance.

Everyone thought that she was trying to save Hugo, but unexpectedly, she took out her wallet. “I’ll buy them all.”

“H...Hailey-nim?!”

It seemed she planned on giving them to Lee Gun.

Kevin became angry as he looked at Hailey. “Hey, why are you getting in my way?”

Hailey gave him a side eye. In truth, he was one of the reasons she had followed Lee Gun.

‘The Gemini Saint will be hovering between life and death in the restroom for the near future.’

That meant only Kevin was left. She had no reason to be worried about Kevin since he was male, but...

Hailey didn’t want Kevin close to Lee Gun for another reason.

Flash!

In the end, an angry Kevin instinctively used his magical energy.

Hailey flinched.

Whenever Kevin used his magical energy, he would turn into a gorgeous girl. Currently, Kevin didn’t have much control over his power. So it didn’t take much for him to change into the sex that his Zodiac preferred.

Moreover, his Zodiac was mischievous. She made it so that most guys would fall for Kevin’s looks.

This was why Hailey had come to clean out the trash(?) in Kevin.

In this current company, she was the only one who had seen Kevin’s female face!

‘Damn it! Before he sees Kevin, I have to...!’

There was malice(?) within Hailey as she tried to send Kevin into a different time-space.

“I won’t buy those items. Also, I want you to come here, blondie,” Lee Gun said.

Thinking that Lee Gun was calling for him, Hugo approached him as if he were a dog.

However, Lee Gun menacingly said, “Not you!”

“I’m also a blonde...!!”

Lee Gun kicked Hugo, then stroked Kevin’s head as if he found Kevin cute.

Hugo couldn’t believe this. He felt aggrieved. He had also served Lee Gun, so why was he treated differently? Also, why was Lee Gun cutting Kevin slack when Kevin was shadowing him?

“I had to endure so much hardship

At that moment, Hugo felt a chill run up his spine as he looked at Kevin and Lee Gun. It was to be expected since Hugo could see something.

‘T-Teacher is stealing his magical energy!’

Lee Gun was pretending to pet Kevin as he sucked magical energy out of Kevin!

Of course, Kevin was oblivious to this. He was just happy to be accepted.

At that moment, was it because Lee Gun had sucked Kevin dry of magical energy?

“Teacher! I’ll go buy some food— Kuhk!!!”

Bbah-gahk!

After being done with Kevin, Lee Gun kicked Kevin over the cliff.

“Oooh-ahhhhhhhh!!!”

Kevin felt toward the bottom of the cliff.

Lee Gun then dusted off his hands. “I’m pretty sure he won’t die.”

Hugo’s mouth fell open.

As if he were done with his business, Lee Gun turned to Lee Jaewon. “I want to buy the magical energy version of the item from before. Show me

However, Lee Gun was surprised. “What the hell? Where did he go?”

Something was even more surprising.

“Ahhk!! What the hell? Where’s my wallet?”

Hugo had planned on settling the account when he started to search his pockets.

Lee Gun also reflexively checked his waist.

‘My belongings are gone too.’

At that moment, Hailey became surprised as she looked at the star candy that had fallen to the floor.

“Wait a moment. That kid was trying to sell us a fake item.”

“What?!”

It was obvious who the thief was.

* * *

In an empty storehouse hidden on the outskirts of the city...

“Hey, why the hell would you bring such items?”

Lee Jaewon groaned as items were thrown in his face.

A lot of gang members who looked like they were bad news were standing in front of him. Then they started beating him up.

“At the very least, you should have brought us the holy items of the Zodiac Saints! We sent you because we got the news that they were nearby!”

“Why the hell do you think these herbs will be of help to us?”

“It’s pretty obvious you failed, so you probably picked up whatever was nearby!”

Lee Jaewon was beaten to a bloody pulp as he fell over.

“Damn it! Do you realize how much people pay for items of the Zodiac Saints?!”

“Useless bastard! You’ll receive no food today!”

At the same time, they became anxious. They had planned to steal the items of the other Zodiac Saints as they had promised to send them to the Cancer Saint Jean-Louise. The reason they had made that promise was Lee Jaewon.

That kid had been nearby when the Zodiacs had descended on the earth, and he had acquired a power by luck.

He wasn’t an awakened being, but in terms of sensing someone’s presence, his ability was monstrous.

- You’ll get the occasion to use him.

The Cancer Saint Jean-Louis had spoken those words as he had tossed this kid to them.

“What should we do? At this rate, we’ll be

“We have no choice. We’ll use this kid to lure in the Zodiac Saints.”

“Yes. The Zodiac Saints won’t be able to stay back if they see a kid about to get eaten by a monster.”

The men grabbed Lee Jaewon’s legs.

Lee Jaewon violently shook as he desperately tried to run away.

‘Damn it! I’ll be thrown to a monster!’

He’d suffer the same fate as the others.

‘Please! Anyone...! Please save me...!!’

“While apostles might be idiot pushovers, it doesn’t mean I’ll help a pickpocket.”

“?!”

A voice suddenly rang out.

The surprise of the gang members lasted only a moment as the ceiling caved in.

Crunch!

They screamed as they were crushed by the ceiling.

“Ahhhhk!!”

Lee Jaewon was surprised. The ceiling of the storage room had been destroyed, and sunlight came through the gaps.

Then Lee Gun appeared in front of Lee Jaewon as a sublime golden light shone on him. Lee Jaewon was unable to look away from Lee Gun.

‘He is like a god.’

Then...

“Kuhk!”

“How dare you steal my bag? You’re asking for a beating.”

It was unclear if he was a hero or a calamity. The man grabbed Lee Jaewon.