Yi Geon's eyes flashed fiercely.
And at that reaction, Yuha couldn't help but tilt her head.
"What does it say?"
Yuha couldn't read the contents of the letter held by the Blazing Master.
Because it was written in the language of the gods.
But Yi Geon was different. He had once stolen the design of the Magal Seat and taught himself the basics of crafting holy artifacts.
In the process, though only briefly, he had also picked up their language.
So Yi Geon spoke dismissively.
"Basically, it says your dad's been sold."
Yuha froze, a rare sight.
"S-sold?! My dad?"
Yi Geon ruffled Yuha's hair as if it were nothing.
"Uncle's going to get him, so don't you worry."
Of course, the letter had left behind some bullshit like 'Nothing good's happened since you showed up,' and 'Don't come looking for him.' But it didn't matter.
'Who gives a damn about some note like that?'
Nothing changes the fact that he's bringing him back.
But that's when it happened.
"Whether that's truly possible, I'm not so sure."
"!"
At the Blazing Master's words, Yi Geon was about to glare and ask why he was raining on the parade, but the Blazing Master was holding the letter.
It seemed he had torn it from the pigeon-headed Stellar God that Yuha had knocked down.
"The problem is that, of all people, a bureaucrat from the Divine Realm was carrying this."
"!"
Yi Geon furrowed his brow.
If it was the bureaucrats, weren't they the ones who already left a bad impression with the whole immigration checkpoint incident?
"What's their deal now?"
As if telling him to just listen, the Blazing Master read the letter's contents aloud.
"Hear me, gods. A lowly serpent god from the borderlands is targeting the problematic 'it.'"
"!"
"However, 'it' is a valuable communal asset of the Divine Realm's Stellar Gods. Nevertheless, the lowly serpent god, overstepping his bounds, will come seeking his own kin. In accordance with the contract, the Divine Realm is hereby requested to deport this low-ranking Stellar God and hinder his efforts..."
The Blazing Master, who had been reading, yelped in fear and cried out. Yi Geon had picked up a club.
"It says so right here! I'm not saying it, the letter is!"
The Blazing Master looked aggrieved at Yi Geon's expression.
"It seems the Stellar Gods have all banded together regardless of faction. Insect-like bastards."
"Aren't you a Stellar God too, you bastard?"
As Yi Geon raised his fist, the Blazing Master hastily grabbed Yi Geon's arm.
"Nephew! Let's use our words, words! Aren't you a Stellar God too!"
"What did this bastard just say?"
Protesting not to be lumped together, Yi Geon tried to yank off the Blazing Master's wig, but the Blazing Master, defending his hair, was grave.
"Don't you understand? The very fact they've joined forces, even greasing the palms of bureaucrats—this is an unprecedented situation!"
But Yi Geon scoffed.
"You think I care about that? Now that I know the location, I just have to pull him out."
"That's exactly the point, and why it's even more impossible."
As if wondering what kind of nonsense that was, Yi Geon raised an eyebrow, and the Blazing Master pointed at the letter Yi Geon held.
"The letter there says 'Duat,' doesn't it?"
"!"
Yi Geon looked at the letter again.
「The handover location will be Duat. May blessings be upon the Ennead.」
The Blazing Master spoke.
"Duat is the Netherworld... in short, the world of the dead. The nether regions are a special zone even gods cannot enter."
It was a part of the Divine Realm where only those authorized as deathly divinities could go, a place even the Great Stellar Gods couldn't access.
"The netherworld is divided into districts, and this place called Duat happens to be the most exclusive, isolationist region."
The Tartarus netherworld ruled by Hades and the Pluton dimension were pleasure quarters and hot spring tourist spots, while the Six Realms of Samsara netherworld was a massive plantation agricultural factory and surrogate mental training ground.
But the Duat netherworld was used as a torture site for the gods.
"The Ennead faction that governs it is the cruelest among the Eight Great Factions. And before that, look at this. I filmed it specially."
"!"
The Blazing Master pulled a small device from his bosom. When he pressed a button, a hologram flickered to life.
[A new record high price!!]
[A vassal god with 600% faith.]
[Everyone gathered here is outstanding. Your methods for utilizing this profound faith will surely differ.]
[You may brainwash him, destroy his personality, or alter his memories.]
[His face is decent enough to use as a body servant, and his combat ability is high, offering many possibilities for use.]
[Whoever takes him, it will surely be better than his former master!]
[Kyaa! My dear husband!]
The Blazing Master stopped the hologram.
"See that? A scene from the auction house. I went through great trouble to film Hugo being sold... Urk! No, why are you suddenly—cough hack!!!"
The Blazing Master was stomped flat by Yi Geon and Yuha.
"You wanna die? You had time to film this shit but no time to save Taek-su?!"
"Useless Sagittarius!!!"
"I didn't film it! A subordinate did!! Ack!"
The pummeled Blazing Master, protesting that wasn't the point, pointed at someone in the video.
"There! Look at that bastard! Can't you see that group in white?!"
"Who the hell are they?!"
"A faction from Kunlun! Anyway, Hugo was originally sold to a Great Stellar God from Kunlun!!"
"!"
His white clothes now stained red, the Blazing Master grabbed Yi Geon's leg and spoke.
"That auction I filmed was three months ago! But that letter Hugo's daughter brought—he was supposed to be sent to the Netherworld yesterday, wasn't he?"
"!"
"Because you came to the Divine Realm, Hades changed the plan. To make sure you couldn't follow at all!"
That wasn't all.
"Earlier, you asked which bastards Hades was on bad terms with, right? It's them. Hades turned Duat into a wasteland in the past."
Especially for reasons unknown, the Great Stellar God of the Ennead faction hated Hades enough to kill him.
"Didn't the letter say? He wants to resolve past grievances with a 600%-faith vassal god. In exchange, they’re to trap you in Duat and dispose of you."
In other words, for whatever reason, Hades had absolutely no intention of losing to Yi Geon.
But Yi Geon just scoffed.
"Enough. Just tell me how to get to the netherworld."
The Blazing Master broke out in a cold sweat.
He hadn't expected Yi Geon to stay put, but still.
"Nephew. No matter how much you have the divinity of death, you need experience to get the license. It costs an astronomical fortune. Getting to the netherworld is incredibly complicated."
Yi Geon raised an eyebrow.
Was this bastard going to cooperate or not?
But for some reason, the Blazing Master averted his gaze.
"W-well, since he's being sold to the Great Stellar God of the Ennead anyway, they'll transport him from the netherworld to the Ennead's main palace. The only way is to intercept him in Ennead..."
But right then.
"Oh my, Lord of the Sun. There's a much simpler way than that!"
"!!?"
A familiar face popped out of the summoned Pishu's mouth.
"Pe-Persephone!"
It was the Stellar Goddess Yi Geon—no, Yuha—had kidnapped.
As she peeked her face out of the Pishu's mouth, the Pishu, its jaw agape, whimpered and rasped.
Yi Geon frowned, looking at her.
"A simpler way?"
Meeting Yi Geon's eyes, Persephone cried "Kyaa!" in embarrassment, ducked back inside the Pishu, and spoke.
"Yes! Herm—"
"Aaaack!!!!"
The Blazing Master urgently clamped her mouth shut.
Sweating coldly, looking profoundly troubled.
'The Lord of Messengers is absolutely not, not, not. It means getting entangled with Olympus in the end.'
Hermes was already very close to the Great Stellar Gods.
And if he got tangled with the Olympus faction any further, his act of hiding Yi Geon would be exposed to the Stellar Gods and Great Stellar Gods.
Then, for the crime of harboring an illegal entrant and making Olympus into this mess, he'd be dead too!
"Nephew? It's nothing—"
"It's Hermes!"
"Aaaack!!!!"
The shrieking Blazing Master looked at Yi Geon's face.
"L-look, nephew. If I get tangled with Olympus, I'll die too—"
"You'll die by my hand before that."
"Ack!!"
The power of
* * *
"Damn it all."
Opening his eyes, Hades spat out a curse.
With good reason—before him stood the Stellar Gods of Olympus and the forces from the shipboard party.
And they, having bound Hades, held their divine weapons as if ready to kill him.
Hades bit his lip.
'Shit, if it weren't for that strange woman earlier!'
He had intended to capture Yi Geon before the Great Stellar Gods found out.
But that unidentified woman who popped out of Yi Geon's belongings had knocked him unconscious...!
Still, Hades was sweating for a different reason.
The aura of an unknown civilization—of a Sovereign—he had felt from that woman.
'It can't be, right...?'
No, it couldn't be.
The Divine Realm was already in an uproar because of Yi Geon. If a Sovereign had come to the Divine Realm too, that would mean annihilation.
'The moment even a fragment of a Sovereign's corpse enters, it's already a state of emergency.'
And what mattered now wasn't that vanished woman.
"Did you think the Great Stellar God would forgive you after seeing what you've done?"
"Wait! It wasn't me who did all this, it was that serpent god—!"
"Weren't you the one who brought him here in the first place! To be played by a low-ranking Stellar God!"
As thousands of gods swarmed, Hades ground his teeth.
"I... I will somehow compensate for the damages."
The moment those words fell, Hades screamed.
As if they had been waiting, the swarming gods stripped Hades of his entire fortune.
His talents, his palaces, even the assets within!
Hades, who had belonged to the wealthy ranks, was at a catastrophic level.
[The Divine Realm issues a warning notice to the Lord of the Underworld. Your debt ratio appears high, making you seem unable to afford taxes.]
[Please be aware that failure to pay the tribute and taxes by next week's income tax day may result in being cast into the Torture World.]
All gods had to pay tribute and taxes to the Divine Realm.
Failure to do so meant immediate slavery in the Divine Realm. But because of Yi Geon, Hades had instantly lost the money for taxes, turning pale as a ghost.
As if that wasn't enough.
"Hey, the money's short! Hand over more!"
"The remaining balance! I'll pay it soon, so wait!"
In the end, Hades, who was forced to sign a promissory note for bodily compensation, tried to hurry to the Netherworld.
Given the situation, he needed to quickly finalize Hugo's transaction and receive the balance.
But—
"Hey! Where do you think you're going? The Great Stellar God is looking for you!"
"Our master is looking for you too!"
At the mention of the Great Stellar God, Hades turned deathly pale.
Going to the Great Stellar God? Was he insane!
He knew all too well what would happen if he was dragged to them.
As if on cue.
"Ah! Over there!! It's money!"
"What? Money?"
"Ah, that bastard ran!!!"
Hades hastily vanished into the Netherworld.
That damned Yi Geon had reduced him to a beggar in an instant, but it didn't matter.
'Once I hand over that
There was no problem with the transaction and transport.
The only problem was Yi Geon, who uselessly came looking for his vassal.
But the transaction location itself was the answer.
'That bastard can't even reach that region anyway.'
Because he had already issued an entry ban order for all gods to every netherworld god and the gods of Duat.
'Even illegal entry won't work there.'
A smirk on his lips, he hurriedly headed for Duat in the Netherworld.
* * *
It was around that time.
"That bastard Hades, where the hell did he run off to!"
"Hey! Distribute the wanted posters!"
The central district of Olympus's 3rd floor.
In the increasingly noisy atmosphere, Yi Geon raised an eyebrow.
It was because of Hades's name.
'Don't know why those bastards are looking for him.'
He must have done something bad again.
'Should I just tell them where he went?'
Whatever, it didn't matter.
"Uh... so you want to be sent to the Netherworld? With the state Olympus is in?"
"Uh, um... I have something I absolutely must do there."
They had come to the passenger transportation company run by the Lord of Messengers, Hermes.
It was said that among the gods, the Lord of Messengers was the only one who could travel to all worlds.
"Hermes can transport all of us, right? Since you're in the passenger business."
"That's true, but... Hermes-nim isn't here right now. And also—"
"Also?"
"Currently, entry to all nether regions is prohibited."
"More than that, have you heard about the terrorist at the immigration office? They say it's under our Olympus Great Stellar God's jurisdiction, and there's a huge uproar from above, ordering all Stellar Gods to be mobilized to catch the culprit."
"Do you know who the culprit is?"
"Ugh, they can't even track him. Who on earth is hiding him..."
Pale as a ghost, the Blazing Master looked at Yi Geon.
"N-nephew. Since it's come to this, let's give up on this place and just wait somewhere else..."
But Yi Geon, who had been staring intently at a poster stuck on the wall, curled his lips.
Then he approached the counter.
"I see you do parcel delivery here too?"
"Huh? Ah, yes...! That's right. We're the largest courier company in the Divine Realm!"
"Then, as your slogan says, you can send items to anyone, right?"
"Of course! You shouldn't underestimate the power of the Messenger God!"
"Then can you send a person as a parcel too?"
"...Excuse me?"
"The recipient is
Yi Geon, pointing at himself, curled his lips.
(To be continued in the next episode.)