"I've been looking for you forever. So you were here?"
The one who appeared behind was Han Jimin.
At the same time, Cheon Seongjae felt a chill down his spine.
Clearly, the person before his eyes was his best friend, yet his hands trembled involuntarily.
An unbearable fear and anxiety assailed him, as if pressing down on his shoulders.
It was like the feeling of seeing a terrifying murderer.
‘This bastard. Chaos.’
But perhaps he hadn't noticed.
"Seongjae, you don't look well. What's wrong?"
At Han Jimin's casual question, Cheon Seongjae flinched.
When he turned his head, the expression on the face of the Virgo goddess, who met his eyes, had also frozen.
"Seongjae?"
And did she read Cheon Seongjae's expression, which he couldn't manage?
A strange eeriness was felt in the eyes of Han Jimin, who had grabbed his shoulder.
"Seong..."
"Ah, what! You surprised me. Why are you here!"
"!"
Cheon Seongjae hurriedly managed his expression and naturally slipped out of Han Jimin's grasp.
"You said you'd be at the shelter, so I was surprised to see you here."
At those words, Han Jimin patted his chest in relief.
"Of course I came because I was worried about you! And I have a request!"
"A request?"
"Yeah! There's someone with severe injuries, and I thought you might be able to save them...!"
"Severe injuries?"
"Uh, their face is so damaged I don't know who it is, but it seems like a follower of Lord Lee Geon. I'll guide you, follow me!"
It was then that Han Jimin grabbed Cheon Seongjae and tried to lead him somewhere.
"!"
What had he seen on Han Jimin as he turned his back?
Cheon Seongjae's face contorted.
And.
"Jimin."
"Huh? Why?"
"Before that, I have something I want to ask first."
"Seongjae, we need to hurry."
"You said your parents died in a traffic accident back in the second year of middle school."
"Yeah. That's why you suggested we live together."
"Was that really a traffic accident?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm asking if they were really your parents."
At those words, Han Jimin's expression hardened.
"Why are you suddenly asking something like that?"
Han Jimin looked like he was about to cry.
"Surely you're not suspecting me?"
But Cheon Seongjae was different.
"When we went to the Alps, why did you follow us?"
"!"
"When you killed Giselle of ? in this Alps. You said you were unconscious near there."
"Seongjae."
"A Lord-class was turned to mush and the surroundings were completely devastated, so how were you unharmed, without a single scratch?"
"Ah, Lord Lee Geon's defensive authority is so outstanding. So..."
"Then when Uncle returned, how were you so sure it was him? Even Saint-level beings didn't notice."
Eventually, Han Jimin sighed.
"I know you're confused amidst all this chaos. But Seongjae, I'm not being manipulated..."
"What about Jaewon hyung?"
"!"
Had he been unable to hold back any longer?
Bloodshot veins stood out in Cheon Seongjae's eyes.
"Seongjae?"
"What about Jaewon hyung?"
"Uh... sorry, I haven't seen him today."
Cheon Seongjae gritted his teeth.
He had no choice but to.
"Then why does a bastard who says he hasn't seen him have Jaewon hyung's blood on his shoulder?"
"!!"
Han Jimin was momentarily surprised and quickly checked his own shoulder.
But on the shoulder he examined, there was nothing.
‘!’
So, puzzled, he looked back at Cheon Seongjae, and in that moment.
Han Jimin was astonished.
"……!!"
Cheon Seongjae had vanished right before his eyes.
Just as expected.
"You bastard! I didn't even have anything like that on my shoulder!"
"!!"
In that short time, Cheon Seongjae had run hundreds of meters away.
Han Jimin seemed dumbfounded.
He fell for that?
At the same time, a fierce killing intent welled up in his eyes.
But regardless, Cheon Seongjae, who had tricked him, gritted his teeth.
‘Dammit…!!’
In truth, Cheon Seongjae had seen it.
‘Jaewon hyung’s blood.’
That’s right.
Though invisible to the eye, it had remained clearly on the back of the shoulder.
A familiar drawing, as if painted in blood.
[9999]
As if showing a luminol reaction, fluorescent-colored characters glowed on the back.
And that was undoubtedly a skill of Sagittarius.
[Secret Trace (C)]
-Can write invisible letters
-Only those who can use the skill can see the contents of the letters
It was a hidden skill of Sagittarius that only he and Lee Jaewon could use.
And just as writing with lemon juice makes it invisible but becomes visible when heated, and just as wiping away blood leaves nothing behind but spraying luminol makes it fluoresce.
It was writing secret letters.
Seeing the glowing number 9, Cheon Seongjae realized the entire situation.
He had no choice but to.
‘That character is a code.’
That’s right.
Back when he was very young.
It was when all citizens were being educated about monster warning signals.
‘So, one skull means caution, two skulls mean evacuate, three skulls mean flee, four means absolutely do not approach. Understand? Shall we try drawing them together?’
‘Yeah, yeah!’
‘Huh? Young master, why did you draw a 9 for the most dangerous stage?’
‘Why, of course! Pigeons go coo coo coo! Pigeons are the scariest!!! I almost died to a pigeon yesterday!! So they’re the most dangerous in the world!! In my dreams, Dad and Mom got eaten by pigeons!!! Plus, Dad can catch monsters but he couldn’t catch a pigeon!! They must be super strong!’
At those words, Lee Jaewon, who had been carrying him on his back, doubled over laughing.
‘Hahaha. Then from now on, shall we use 9 as a danger signal?’
‘Yeah!! Let’s do that!’
In other words, it was a code they had used since childhood.
When Dad was really angry, they would draw a on the conference room whiteboard to mean run away immediately, and when he calmed down, they would change the 9 to a heart to mean it was okay to come in.
And now it was the same.
What was drawn on Han Jimin’s body was none other than !
‘Hyung…!!’
There was no doubt.
Something had happened to him.
Just by the thick amount of blood around the letters and the shape of the writing, as if written with great difficulty, he could tell.
It must be an injury that could kill him.
But even in that situation, he deliberately used a skill that burdens his body and left a message that wouldn’t be discovered by , surely thinking that their safety was more important than his own life!
Therefore, Cheon Seongjae gritted his teeth.
But that wasn’t what was important now.
‘That bastard is definitely the one Dad warned about.’
Surely !
Of course, he couldn’t know how long Han Jimin had been .
Whether he was possessed at some point, or had been from the start.
But whatever the case, no one had noticed.
Of course, no skill is perfect, so the risk must be enormous, but still.
‘Anyway, I have to inform everyone quickly.’
Otherwise, it could be total annihilation.
But now, perhaps due to , all communication was down.
Even teleport, return, and furthermore skills for communication with the constellation god, attack and defense skills!
In fact, he couldn’t use any skills at all!
He had to get as far as possible to a place where there was no interference.
‘Well, even if I can’t inform them, thankfully the Virgo’s subordinate deity who was with me will probably tell everyone.’
The moment he left, that subordinate deity had also disappeared.
Well, since I deliberately drew ’s attention for that, the plan seems to have succeeded.
But then.
Ku-gu-gung!
“!!!”
Cheon Seongjae screamed at the sudden strike that flew at him.
A tremendous blow destroyed his leg.
“Ah, seriously, I really hate perceptive brats. I knew it, but if you find out this fast, it's very troublesome for me. I've only managed to kill one Sagittarius so far.”
“……!!!”
Han Jimin, no, had chased after him.
He was laughing as if disgusted.
“Why are you so surprised? You think I’ve only watched you for a day or two? Even if I was born a human, something like tracking you is nothing.”
“!!”
Cheon Seongjae was surprised.
Because from the way he spoke, Han Jimin didn’t seem to be in a possessed state like the others.
Just as expected.
“What? Did you think I was just possessing a human body like those idiots too?”
“……?!”
“From the start, I was me, and even when I first met you, I was me. Pathetically weak Han Jimin.”
There was no need to ask how that was possible.
“Hah, that damn bastard trapped me in a newborn baby because I was interfering with his plans! Son of a bitch, who told him to keep regressing meaninglessly at critical moments?!”
That’s right.
Because of that, , who was forcibly regressed at every crucial moment, had from some point aimed to assassinate .
Since he couldn't kill , he subtly manipulated events.
If he couldn’t kill him, at least to ruin ’s plans, he had deliberately stolen the constellation gods’ and even Yeonwoo’s at times.
Well, at any rate, it all ended in failure.
[Younger brother. Cool your head in a human body.]
[Aack!! You son of a bitch! I’ll really kill you!]
Trapped in a human body, the original owner Han Jimin’s soul gradually faded, now only a speck remained.
And so, from the 16,498th regression, he regressed while trapped in Han Jimin’s body.
And at those words, Cheon Seongjae seemed at a loss.
“Then everything you did by my side was all planned…!”
But soon, he thought, ‘Oh no.’
“Then, don’t tell me, the spider that appeared at the mart after Uncle came out too!!”
Han Jimin giggled.
“Even so, it’s the middle of a sanctuary. Did you think something like that could appear in the middle of a city blessed by a constellation god? Especially one that a constellation god had sealed?”
“!”
“I undid that seal and summoned it. To release our Lord Lee Geon’s body. Well, I didn’t expect you’d make mincemeat of something I sent to give you a hard time. As expected of Lee Geon.”
Cheon Seongjae’s blood boiled.
“What’s your goal!”
“The awakening of Lee Geon’s .”
“!”
Han Jimin, with his arms crossed, smiled thinly.
“If those around him die, even that Lee Geon will fly off the handle, right??”
“!”
“No, he must snap. Lee Geon is the only existence we’ve never seen in all those countless regressions. A unique mutation that only appeared in this world. He’s certainly the only one who can kill .”
Anyway, so I was going to proceed with the plan while staying well hidden, but.
“Before that, Lee Jaewon caught on first, didn’t he. He absolutely shouldn’t have noticed, so how on earth did he?”
It was possible because he was in front of the subordinate deity, but Chaos had no way of knowing that.
“Well, don’t worry. The plan went awry, but I’ll take care of you soon. Still, if his nephew kicks the bucket, even the mighty Lee Geon will lose it, right? He’ll blossom into the god of death, right?”
“……!”
This bastard??
“Because something like shouldn’t exist. I’ll prevent from ascending to the 6th Stage of Death. So I have to raise to stop Life from reaching the 4th Stage.”
Even at just the 4th Stage, ’s power increases drastically.
But what Chaos aims for is the 6th Stage .
“The 6th Stage is literally a berserk state without reason, the strongest calamity god that no one can oppose! Aren’t you looking forward to it? With that, Time! The world! The Great Constellation Gods! Humanity! I’ll annihilate them all and make them my power.”
Cheon Seongjae absolutely could not listen.
Amidst that, a faint notification sound came.
[Healing of ... is... ending]
[Remaining... time 30 seconds]
[29 seconds]
“Hmm, to reach the 6th Stage, you have to go through the 5th Stage first, but since I sent our children, the 5th Stage growth should be quick, right?”
[5 seconds]
[3 seconds]
It was then that Cheon Seongjae, having recovered his strength, flashed his eyes.
“Keuheok!!”
As if telling him not to play tricks, Cheon Seongjae’s body was pierced.
“Heok…!!”
“I may be a layperson, but I’m still a member of Ophiuchus. Did you think I wouldn’t hear the notification?”
“……!”
“Yeah, that’s why I need to get rid of . Like a cockroach. Though ’s energy is too strong to even raise ’s level...”
At the same time, Cheon Seongjae thought.
‘Maybe this is what Dad meant.’
The annihilation of Sagittarius.
But then.
[The experience of 's 3rd Stage is increasing]
[The experience of 's 3rd Stage is increasing]
...
[The experience of is increasing]
[The evolution of is imminent]
[ is about to reach the 4th Stage]
At that tremendous notification, ’s face twisted.
“Dammit! That bastard Lee Geon won’t let his guard down! What on earth is he doing…!”
In the end, flustered, he decided to kill Cheon Seongjae quickly first.
“If I kill his nephew, Lee Geon will snap and instantly become the god of …!”
But at that moment.
Bang!!!
Kwa-kwa-kwang!!!
A tremendous attack separated the two.
“Kkeuk…!! Who is it!!”
It was a force he had never felt before. Enough to even make step back.
So was perplexed.
‘What, is it god-level?’
Finally, someone appeared before them.
A person enveloped in a golden-green light.
And at that familiar face, both Cheon Seongjae and were startled.
“Take your hands off my son!”
“Dad!”
An enraged Hugo radiated killing intent and power like never seen before.
Moreover, his state was different from usual.
[Level 20 has been reached]
[Awakening as a subordinate deity]
(To be continued...)