It was a shocking sight.
Yuhwa’s eyes widened at the scene unfolding before her, and even Igeon, who rarely did so, blinked.
After all, what lay before them was a scene of debauchery and excess worthy of the term "Juji-yurim" (lakes of wine and forests of meat).
Liquor formed ponds, and countless meats and delicacies piled up like mountains...
“Ahaha, I don’t feel like going home at all. This is heaven!!”
“Ohohoho, my dear husband! Please accept this cup as well.”
Amidst all manner of gold, silver, treasures, and women, there was but a single man...
“Even if I returned to the human world, I’d just end up playing Geon’s punching bag, so why bother? Hahaha! This place is the best!”
Is that crazy bastard for real?!
Veins bulged on Igeon’s face.
Indeed, right before their eyes was Hugo, tearing into meat and booze, living it up.
And with goddesses clinging to his sides, no less!!
“Ohohoho, husband. Why aren’t you eating more? There’s plenty of fine liquor here.”
“Oh divine Hokou!!”
“How in the world did you reach 600% faith?”
“Please, bestow upon us that secret method!!”
Weren’t everyone on Earth worried about Hugo?
[He was suddenly dragged off to an unfamiliar world!]
[What if he’s being tortured there for being human?!]
[The gods are a cruel lot...!]
But being kidnapped and tormented, my foot.
“The Pantheon is the best! I’m gonna live here forever!!!”
Igeon’s eyes turned vicious.
“What the hell kind of dog shit is this...”
A menacing killing intent radiated from Igeon’s body as he watched the scene.
That was the power of malice, which he had been forcibly suppressing since arriving in the divine realm!
“I came all this way, went through hell and high water, and you're here fooling around with women?”
At that sight, Anubis, who had been dragged along by Igeon, screamed in apparent panic.
“Stooop! The palace is collapsing! I told you this would happen!! Hokou said he wouldn’t go home...!”
Anubis had already warned Igeon repeatedly even as he was dragged along.
That it would be useless to try.
“He’s a 600% faith holder, after all. Did you think we would treat him carelessly... Keuk!!!”
Igeon stomped on the prattling Anubis.
And when Yuhwa tried to step forward at the sight of Hugo enjoying himself amidst the women, Igeon unexpectedly held her back, signaling her to stop.
“Uncle?”
“Your dad isn’t that loose of a guy. I’d bet anything that Hades bastard did something. Memory loss or some crap.”
“!”
Among Hades’ authorities, there was definitely said to be a skill for altering memories.
So this was well within the realm of expectations.
“There’s a risk he’d run away. No way they’d sell him off without erasing his memory.”
“Then...!”
“Wait. Seeing the state of things, dragging him away by force right now won't work. First, we need to calmly explain the situation...”
“Ah, who was my previous owner? There’s this guy called Igeon, a narcissist who thinks he’s all that, a hopeless masochist virgin... Ker-pwuhuk!!!!”
“Kyaaahk!!”
Igeon flew forward and planted a kick square on Hugo.
And as if he'd never said anything about calmly explaining the situation first, he stomped on Hugo like a madman.
“You little shit, what did you just spout? Huh? A narcissist thug who thinks he's hot shit, a perverted masochist, a balding grade-schooler with a filthy personality?? You wanna die.”
“Ke, ke-heuk! Wait, why did the list of words grow... Ke-heuk!”
The startled attendants shrieked and tried to grab Igeon, but it was no use.
Grab!
Igeon seized Hugo by the collar and hauled him up.
“Enough of this, let’s go home, you bastard!”
But it was right then.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
The male gods attending Hugo gestured. Then, something astonishing happened.
Woom!
“!”
A round circle formed beneath Igeon and Yuhwa’s feet, and a deep hole appeared.
[A passage connected to the outside of Duat]
[A banishment order has been issued]
Igeon and Yuhwa, having fallen into the hole, were about to be ejected from Duat in an instant.
But in that fleeting moment, as Igeon’s red eyes flashed, he disappeared and instantly reappeared above, holding Yuhwa.
His incredible speed shocked the subordinate gods, but Igeon glared at Hugo with visible frustration.
Because despite the danger to himself and his daughter, Hugo's expression hadn't changed one bit.
Sure enough, Hugo recited coldly:
“I will ask them to open an exit to the underworld, so do not interfere and leave.”
Igeon’s face hardened.
“Are you seriously going to live here?”
“What does it matter? They said my replacement went to your side, didn't they?”
“...!”
“In the first place, you. Why did you come all the way here?”
Hugo laughed as if dumbfounded.
“I even left a letter telling you not to come. Can’t you understand plain language?”
Igeon, who had fallen silent, let out a hollow laugh.
“Huh.”
His notoriously short patience seemed to have snapped. The proof was the smile that spread across Igeon’s face.
“Fine. If that’s truly what you want, it can’t be helped.”
“Yeah. Now you're finally catching on. Send my regards to that sid—...”
“I’ll kill your kid right here and then leave.”
“?!!”
Craaack!!!!
Igeon slammed his fist into Hugo’s face. And after sending Hugo flying, Igeon gave a chilling smile.
“If I can’t take you with me, then I’ll just hold your funeral right here and now.”
“Wha... Keuk, puhuk!! Uwaahk!!”
Igeon struck down at Hugo like he was pummeling a monster.
Craaack! Craaack!
At the sight, the gods of Duat screamed as if they were witnessing something unspeakable.
“Kyaaahk!”
“Lord Hokou!”
Igeon showed no mercy at all.
The power behind his blows made it impossible to tell if he was dealing with a human or a beast.
Yet Hugo was able to endure, perhaps because Igeon was controlling his strength.
Surely, Igeon was beating him just enough not to knock him out in one hit—so he wouldn’t miss out on the pain—while pummeling him as agonizingly as possible.
Thanks to that, Hugo, his consciousness fading, was in a state of panic.
He couldn’t help but be.
‘Dammit! This isn’t what we agreed on!’
Indeed.
While he appeared to be Hugo, he was actually a subordinate god of Olympus wearing Hugo’s skin as a disguise.
It was Hades’ order.
He was pretending to be Hugo, deceiving all the gods here.
And as a side task, if the Snake God came looking for Hugo, he was ordered to send him back home.
Sending him back, of course, wasn’t difficult.
Just hurt his pride, and he’d leave, right?
But...
“Okay. Noted. If you won’t go, then die here, you bastard. You don’t even have the right to see Uncle Jiu or Seongjae.”
“Keuheok! Kkuheoheok! Keok! Kkuek!”
At this rate, he’d die before even starting the trade!
The subordinate god, who never expected Igeon to actually kill him here, coughed up blood.
Not only had his body been given protective authority from Hades and the other gods who allowed him to wear Hugo’s skin...
‘Dammit, is he even breaking through that protective barrier?’
No, that was the least of his problems.
‘Who beats the crap out of their best friend like this, you lunatic!!’
Of course, with rage blinding him, it was clear Igeon couldn’t see anything else.
At that point, the subordinate god of Hades desperately clung to Igeon. He was supposed to stay silent, but at this rate, he’d truly die.
“Excuse me. Excuse me!! I have something important to tell you...!”
He had to admit he was a fake.
That was the least he could do to make Igeon come to his senses!
“Excuse me! I’m a fake!!”
“I know, you moron!!!”
“?!!!”
The subordinate god, appalled, screamed in indignation.
“Then why are you hitting me!!!”
“Because you're spouting that crap with that face, and it pisses me off!!”
What in the world is going on!!!
In the end, Igeon’s vicious fist, backed by his blazing red eyes, sent the subordinate god flying.
Boom!!!
The force was so overwhelming that the protective authority encasing the subordinate god shattered to pieces.
Kwarjijik!
“Ke, ke-heok...!”
That wasn’t all.
“Kyaak!!! What’s with this guy!”
“Where did Lord Hokou go!”
The skin of the subordinate god, beaten to a pulp by Igeon, began to peel away.
It was Hugo's human skin mask that he had been wearing.
The disguise unraveled, revealing the subordinate god’s true face. The onlookers from Duat flipped out at the sight.
“What! It was a fake?!”
They had been attending to him because they thought he was Hugo. Being shocked was one thing, but their anger was only natural.
Even Yuhwa, watching from afar, seemed startled by the reaction.
But Igeon shook off his bloodied fist and raised an eyebrow.
“There’s no way a drunk guy would badmouth me.”
The surprised Yuhwa rushed over and asked urgently.
“Then that letter from Dad that you said you saw...”
She was about to ask if it was also a fake.
But Igeon furrowed his brow.
“No. That letter was definitely in Taek-su’s own handwriting.”
There was no way he wouldn’t recognize Hugo’s handwriting.
That was why he was so furious.
“As long as he’s wearing crap like this, everyone gets fooled.”
“Ahk!”
Igeon ripped a familiar watch off the subordinate god’s arm.
Yuhwa was shocked.
“That’s the watch Dad always wore since way back...”
He now used its strap as the emblem for his divine seat, but he said it was a precious item he’d received from someone.
Soon, as Igeon pocketed the watch and stood up, Yuhwa discovered an object that had fallen near his feet.
“Uncle, there’s something down here...”
But Igeon immediately erased the object with his powers of malice.
‘!’
It was Hugo’s human skin mask, fallen from the subordinate god's face.
But Igeon’s expression as he erased it was chillingly cold.
Though he’d only glanced at it, there was no way Igeon wouldn’t know.
The origin of that mask. Moreover, whether it was real or not.
And surely, that mask and the watch were used to create a perfect disguise capable of fooling even the gods.
Perhaps because of that.
“So. Where’s Taek-su?”
“!”
A murderous voice stabbed into the subordinate god and the gods of the Ennead.
“I think I can hear something coming from somewhere nearby. But the location is unclear.”
At those words, Anubis, who had been dragged along by Igeon, tried desperately to flee out the door.
But...
Boom!!
“Keuk!!”
The surging aura of malice slammed down on Anubis, pinning him as if crushing him.
“Where do you think you’re going, you mutt?”
“...!!”
Anubis, caught by the power of malice, gritted his teeth. He hadn’t brought Igeon here for nothing.
‘While I was stalling for time, he was supposed to finish the trade. Could it be that the trade still hasn’t been completed?’
Anubis had already informed his superior that Igeon was storming in.
And since Igeon’s goal was Hugo, hadn't they told him to quickly take Hugo to the Ennead while he held Igeon off? Once inside that isolationist territory, even Igeon wouldn’t be able to follow!
But...
‘Could it still not be finished?’
No, that wasn’t the real issue.
‘A sound, he says.’
The trading partner was in the labyrinth at the very bottom of this palace. Could that bastard really be able to hear sounds from all the way down there?
But Anubis’s bewilderment at Igeon was brief.
“Messenger of the Underworld, it appears the trade hasn't yet proceeded.”
At his subordinate’s whisper, Anubis was exasperated.
“Why hasn’t the trade proceeded yet! The trading time passed long ago!”
“Well, we don’t know the reason, but the Great God hasn’t arrived yet...!”
Anubis was baffled.
The Great God wasn't one to miss an appointment.
Why on earth?
But it was then.
Grab!!
“Take me to the trading location before I dissect you.”
“As if I’d tell you... Keuk!!”
As Igeon seized Anubis by the throat, the power of malice seemed to erase his jackal head, revealing his human face.
His armed state had been forcibly dispelled.
And it was in that very moment.
“Igeon!”
At the voice coming from somewhere, the gods within Anubis’s shadow cried out in panic.
[We’re sorry! The guy at the trading post suddenly started rampaging!]
“What? Stop him immed—...”
In that instant, Igeon vanished.
* * *
Around that time, in the lowest level of the palace of Osiris, where Igeon had been.
“Mmph!”
Hugo was pinned down by the gods at the trading post.
The subordinate gods barely managing to hold Hugo down were sweating profusely.
That was because Hugo was quite a powerful subordinate god. It had been incredibly difficult to drain his strength.
“This wretch, suddenly trying to escape!”
“He was quiet for a while...!”
“Mmph!”
Hugo, with his mouth gagged, had bandages wrapped around his face.
It was then.
The door burst open.
“What’s going on? Did something happen while I was away?”
Hades, who had briefly stepped outside and just returned, furrowed his brow at the sight of Hugo.
“Has that object done something?”
“No, it’s nothing. Maybe he doesn’t want to be sold, but I don't know the exact reason. As soon as a sound came from above, he suddenly started trying to rampage...”
At that, Hades scoffed and took a seat.
“So, when exactly is the Great God of the Ennead supposed to arrive?”
The seated Hades looked incredibly displeased.
And no wonder, considering the situation.
He had fallen into debt for damage compensation because of Igeon, and starting with the taxes he had to pay to the divine realm, he’d instantly become a debtor, forcing him to sell off even his house and his own divine body.
That was why successfully completing this trade was his top priority.
“Time is gold, and we aren’t exactly in a leisurely position ourselves. When is he coming?”
“W-well. For some reason, we've lost contact with the Great God... But they said the Lord of the Netherworld will be coming as a proxy shortly.”
“Ah. Is that so.”
As if he didn’t care even if it was that guy, Hades was about to say something when—
Boom!!!
“Aarghk!”
Screams echoed throughout the trading post. The gods present, and even Hades, were startled.
“Who is it!”
Hugo flinched, his body trembling.
It was none other than a familiar voice.
“I came to find you.”
(To be continued in the next chapter)