Southern Seoul.
Igeon couldn't help but let out a scoff at the grounds spread before him.
‘Damn, it's ridiculously huge.’
This was the sanctuary of the Aries Constellation located in Korea.
He had hurried over a bit, worried the other twelve might catch on and swarm here, but...
‘What is this, some kind of children's grand park?’
It was the perfect place to get lost.
But what was even more absurd was that this place was called a sacred land.
So Igeon let out a hollow laugh.
‘Sanctuary, my ass.’
Just as there were temples enshrining gods in the past, this was a place to serve each holy deity and saint.
The world called them divine palaces, and usually sanctum guards protected them.
Of course, it wasn't really his concern where they nested or what they did, but...
‘Those bastards. I warned them so many times not to come to this side.’
If they had really come to protect Korea, that might have been different. He might have been purely grateful then.
But when they uprooted his perfectly good protective holy items and set up their own sanctuary over them, the intention was clear.
‘Seems the larger the sanctuary, the stronger the holy deity's power and influence become.’
As if that weren't enough.
Igeon looked at the gaudy sheep statue erected by the lake with disgust.
A statue with gold, silver, and jewels crammed in haphazardly, lacking even a trace of artistic beauty.
Igeon kicked the statue repeatedly, sending its sheep head flying.
‘Originally, there was a holy item I made right here.’
It was a protective holy item that drove away monsters. Far more effective than those bastards' misguided prayers.
But they clumsily removed his holy item, making it even easier for monsters to enter than before.
‘Did they remove it clumsily, or on purpose?’
Igeon smiled coldly. Of course, it wasn't that Yang Wei bastard who removed it.
‘He doesn't have that kind of ability.’
It was probably some other saint who removed it.
Of course, what mattered to him now wasn't who had removed it.
‘So, where did you hide my darlings?’
He scanned the surroundings, detecting magical energy.
In fact, he had come here to find his belongings.
After all, to use his final unique skill, he needed a crafted holy item of S-rank or higher.
‘Anyway, I need a proper weapon too.’
He had gotten some items back from Min Seonghun, but those were just auxiliary tools.
They were rings, so they didn't directly help in battle.
‘If only I could find my old weapon, that would be perfect.’
Of course, though his combat prowess had become legend, he was strictly a production-class crafter, not a combat class.
He could just make a new weapon, but...
‘Legendary-grade items aren't made that easily.’
Moreover, when it came to crafting tools, it was extremely inconvenient to work with anything other than his familiar ones.
That was why Igeon had come here.
He'd heard that this place currently held the most of his belongings in Korea.
Sure enough.
Igeon's eyes flashed as he glared at a certain spot.
The place he was looking at was none other than a tourist attraction crowded with ordinary people.
“Dad, is it true there's a Red Eye that the Twelve Saints captured inside?”
“Yeah. They say you can even see Igeon's weapon.”
“Really? Then I want to go see Igeon's weapon!”
“What? You said you wanted to see the Golden Chair of Aries.”
“No! I don't like that fat uncle's stuff, Igeon's weapons are way cooler!”
That's how it was.
The place he had arrived at was none other than the Aries Museum.
And this place was already a famous tourist spot; Yang Wei had built enormous themed museums in his sanctuaries all over the world.
Of course, it was exactly the sort of thing those bastards who love hoarding and flaunting wealth would do...
‘Wait, who gave them the right to use my darlings as their cash cows?’
Sparks flying from his eyes, Igeon strode toward the museum entrance.
To begin with, he was quite attached to the things he made.
That wasn't all.
He didn't know what items were inside, but this was a timely opportunity.
If what was here was his weapon, that would be the absolute best; even if it were something else, he could dismantle it and use it as materials.
Either way, it was a win.
That was the moment Igeon stepped inside the museum entrance.
[Warning: This is another Constellation's sanctuary, so your power is limited.]
[Warning: The sanctuary's Constellation trait, , is active.]
[Those with the power of a Constellation must pay the designated tribute.]
[Caution: You may be stripped of your possessions.]
[You must leave this sanctuary immediately.]
But Igeon just smirked and put something on his face.
It was a sheep mask he'd swiped from the crowd of tourists in front of the museum. They were wealthy tycoons attending the auction house next door.
So Igeon put on the stolen mask and boldly passed through the museum entrance.
He had to buy a pass, but it didn't matter.
[VIP card detected.]
[Welcome, Sir Simon. Have a pleasant day.]
At the same time, Igeon was greeted by Aries' underlings. He even shamelessly waved back, as if to say, “Keep up the good work.”
It was worth stealing the free-pass ID card from Yang Wei's wallet. 'Simon' was surely Yang Wei's alias for his pleasures.
‘Tacky bastard.’
As soon as he entered the entrance, Igeon tossed the sheep mask away. What was revealed was Igeon's black mask.
He passed the entrance and headed deep into the museum.
And though this was Aries' sanctuary, it was a museum that didn't discriminate against visitors.
It was a place where other Constellations could sneak in and exert their influence sufficiently.
As such, he needed to find his belongings quickly before things became troublesome.
But.
[Warning: This is another Constellation's sanctuary, so your power is limited.]
The moment the warning appeared, the power of the Serpent Bearer Constellation slightly dulled.
‘!’
Maybe that was the reason. An old quack friend of his had always nagged him, ‘Never enter the sanctuaries of holy deities,’ but...
‘Who cares.’
Boom!
Igeon headed toward the place where he felt the aura of his belongings the strongest.
It was the Grand Exhibition Hall on the third floor.
But something was off.
‘The aura cut off.’
He was looking around, wondering what had happened, when—
[Warning: This is the aura of Aries.]
“!”
A powerful force.
Igeon quickly turned his head.
What's more, the force was such that even Igeon momentarily had to stay on guard.
Sure enough, a sanctum guard with formidable power was behind him. The disapproving look he gave Igeon was ominous.
Realizing the employee's gaze was fixed on his face, Igeon frowned.
He'd known it would be caught on CCTV anyway, so he'd worn the Igeon mask partly as a declaration of war, but maybe it stood out too much.
In the end, just as Igeon clicked his tongue and was about to move his hand—
“Your group is over there.”
“......?”
Igeon was dragged away by the Aries sanctum guard. And the moment he was led into a special exhibition room, Igeon flinched in surprise.
“This is really the clothes Igeon-nim wore?”
“Look at this! There's even the crafting tools Igeon used!”
“Wow, they even have the gum Igeon chewed and threw away.”
There was a whole crowd of people wearing the same mask as him.
They were foreign tourists. Not only ordinary people, but even sanctum guards with tremendous power were there.
“Oh my god, this is the weapon Igeon used?”
“I can't pass this up, I need to ask if I can buy this at the auction.”
“Wake up. Even a Monami ballpoint pen Igeon used sold for $100,000. The weapon will be beyond imagination. The tycoons go crazy for that kind of thing.”
“Would a million dollars do it?”
“Not nearly enough! In the first place, the weapon is an item that keeps gaining a premium, so I doubt the Aries faction will even consider selling it.”
Seeing professional curators and collectors even show up, Igeon groaned.
He should have expected this to some degree after seeing the community posts and Cheonseongjae.
‘Shit-hair, that damn merchant!’
People welcomed Igeon's arrival.
“Are you a latecomer? Your name...?”
Whatever.
‘It's nearby.’
Igeon found his belongings.
There was a spot where people crowded the most, claiming it was Igeon's weapon, but he paid it no mind.
Why?
‘They're all fakes.’
Well, items like spoons or clothes might be genuine pieces looted from his house, but all the weapons were fake.
The strange thing was that even though they were fake, they oddly still carried traces of his magical energy, which was bizarre.
But then.
“!”
Spotting something, Igeon grinned.
* * *
The place Igeon looked at was none other than an exhibition space in the corner.
It displayed the tableware, books, and various odds and ends he had used.
But the most eye-catching among them was...
‘A toothpick.’
An object for picking between teeth was proudly on display.
Of course, most visitors were interested in the armor Igeon supposedly wore, and weapons like swords; no one paid any attention to a toothpick.
That was only natural.
“There's no way that's something Igeon actually used.”
A person from the Igeon fan club beside him approached with a chuckle. He clearly had strong magical power; though it was unclear which constellation he belonged to, he was likely a formidable awakener.
“I'm definitely going to buy that weapon of Igeon's when it goes up for auction this time.”
“Really?”
“Yes. That legendary video of him wielding that weapon to subjugate Russia was absolutely killer. But still, displaying a toothpick next to a weapon like that is a bit... we can't even know if Igeon-nim really used it.”
“Why? You don't think it's Igeon's?”
“Of course not. It's something you see everywhere, so it might just be there for show...”
“So then it'd be okay to just take it, right.”
“Huh?”
At the same time, Igeon smiled brightly.
And his fist came crashing down.
Crash!
“?!”
Soon the display case glass shattered, and alarms began to blare.
Beep—Beep—
The surroundings turned into chaos.
“Wha—What the hell is this?”
“Who's there?!”
The awakener right next to Igeon was horrified.
“N-No, wait...!”
But Igeon, having nonchalantly smashed the display glass, picked up the toothpick. And at that very moment, Aries security guards swarmed in from outside.
“Don't move!”
They hurriedly blocked the exit.
But Igeon smiled brightly and pulled something from inside his coat. It was one of the holy items Min Seonghun had possessed.
Poof!
As he activated the item, smoke instantly filled the exhibition room. At the same time, people began screaming and rushing out.
“Kyaa! What is this, a fire?!”
“I don't know! Just get out!”
The visitors fled, and the Aries sanctum guards surrounded Igeon.
“It's a robber!”
“Send the sanctum guards quickly!”
In an instant, the sanctum guards who had surrounded Igeon glared at him.
But they were baffled by the fact that, of all things, Igeon had stolen a toothpick. After all, there were plenty of armor sets and weapons around.
‘Why on earth would he steal that?’
‘Is he some kind of attention seeker?’
The sanctum guards looked at Igeon.
“It seems he doesn't have any weapons on him for now.”
“Then put that item down and surrender quietly….”
But Igeon grinned and infused magical power into the toothpick he had in his mouth.
And then an astonishing thing happened.
“Kack!”
“Urk!”
In the blink of an eye, the four sanctum guards surrounding Igeon collapsed.
And after taking down the guards, Igeon leisurely tossed something and caught it.
It was none other than an awl-shaped chisel used for sculpting.
The tool commonly struck with a hammer when carving massive stone statues.
The curious thing was that its size and length were enormous—taller than Igeon himself.
And the chisel in Igeon's hand wriggled excitedly, clearly recognizing its master.
Igeon watched it and smiled.
‘It seems twenty years ago, the last form I used was a toothpick.’
This item was a special holy artifact that could transform its shape in response to Igeon's will.
[Crafting Holy Item (S-Rank)]
[Feature: Shape Transformation (S-Rank)]
Among the things Igeon had made, a rare mutation with an ego had been born, and this item was one of them.
Of course, its own rank wasn't very high, making it hard to use in combat, but its crafting and shape-transformation skills alone boasted S-rank or higher performance.
It was a crafting tool he had used as essential when making holy items.
And honestly, as precious as a legendary weapon was, if he was truly lucky he could possibly recreate one, so he'd figured it was fine if he didn't find it.
But this was different.
To a craftsman, nothing is as precious as the tools you're familiar with. Even more so a tool he quite cherished as his bread and butter.
And then.
[Conditions for opening the Creation Workshop have been met. You can now use the Crafting Skill.]
[A half-pyeong Production Workshop has been generated.]
[Base zones of the Creation Workshop are opening.]
[]
[]
[You can generate an Engraving Skill and grant a binding attribute to .]
Igeon was extremely satisfied.
With this, all the skills he possessed had been unlocked. Though he hadn't checked yet, it seemed some new functions different from before had also appeared.
‘Well then, shall I make my exit?’
Sensing the Aries sanctum guards closing in from outside, Igeon moved his feet.
But then.
Suddenly, there was an area that caught Igeon's attention.
‘A vault?’
It was none other than the area.
[The aura of the Golden Fleece is strongly felt.]
Igeon's brow muscle twitched after a moment's thought.
Right. It would be a shame to leave empty-handed.
It was a vault that clearly contained valuables, so Igeon curled the corners of his mouth into a sly grin.
* * *
Meanwhile, at that time.
“Huff, huff…!”
Hugo, who had rushed to the Aries sanctuary, witnessed a horrifying sight.
“An intruder has appeared!”
“Hurry toward the museum!”
“They say that holy items of Aries are being stolen amidst the chaos!”
The Aries sanctuary was already utter pandemonium.
And Hugo, who had predicted this situation after seeing the message saying he'd go to Shit-hair's house, clutched his head.
‘Geon-ah, please!’
There was no doubt.
The mastermind behind all this was definitely Igeon!
And after all his warnings about how dangerous it was and never to enter other bastards' sanctuaries!
‘He's calmly turning someone else's sanctuary into a wasteland!’
Whatever.
Boom!
Perhaps to catch the intruder, giant treasure toads appeared from the Aries divine palace.
Rumble!
“!!”
Because of that, Hugo was startled.
And those were one of the types of subordinate deities raised by the Aries holy deity!
As the guardian deities appeared, Hugo moved urgently.
‘Damn it!’
But then, with the sound of metal slicing through the air, the toads collapsed.
Boom! Boom!
It was Igeon.
Igeon appeared calmly amidst the fallen toads.
“Ah, I'm starting to get hungry.”
And then.
Igeon heard an all-too-familiar voice.
“Geon-ah!”
It was a cry of despair.
(To be continued)