The Earth’s Constellation God, Igeon.
He currently had a few problems.
The first problem was the kidnapped Hyugo.
Of course, that problem was solved.
And in the process of rescuing him, a few more problems arose for Hyugo, but that didn’t matter.
‘He did get a scar on his face, but like me, he became more manly(?), so it’s fine.’
As for his manhood, I’ll just steal one from some other bastards and give it to him.
‘Other than that, it’s none of my business, so there are absolutely no remaining...’
But Hyugo, who had been listening to Kevin’s story, tilted his head.
“But, Igeon. You said to work together with Seongjae—who is Seongjae... Urk!”
“Damn, this punk actually remembered. Ah, forget it. This is fine too. Just beat it out of him.”
“What?!!”
Anyway, now there was only one problem left for Igeon.
Going home.
Well, he’d heard that the Goddesses of Fate were pulling scams on Earth, but who knows.
‘For now, the Saints already there should manage...’
But it was right then.
[Igeon, we’ve got a big problem!]
“!”
Igeon frowned at the voice of Yeonu that came through the shared telepathy channel for the household gods.
“Yeonu? What’s going on?”
[Seongjae has disappeared!]
‘Seongjae vanished?’
Igeon rarely furrowed his brow.
“I’ll have to try contacting him.”
At that, as if they’d overheard the same telepathy, the household gods shouted in panic.
“My lord, without the here, you can’t contact the Saint.”
The was the means to communicate with Saints.
Even if gods are far apart, they can use telepathy among themselves, but if the other party is a human, telepathy doesn’t reach beyond one’s own colony.
Because of this, the household gods were flustered.
“Damn, something terrible might have happened to our baby Saint. Should we borrow one?”
“Who would lend it! The is already so expensive that only rich Constellation Gods can even dream of it...!”
But it was then.
[I have stolen an .]
[Do you wish to use it?]
“!”
Igeon’s eyes widened as he looked at the slime on his shoulder, shaking a stone.
He didn’t know where it had been stolen from, but it seemed the slime had anticipated its master’s need.
But there was a problem.
[This is a brand-new, unused stone.]
[Connection to a base station is required.]
[Would you like to use the service?]
[The monthly fee is two million dalants. The first-time connection fee is 100 million dalants.]
Damn expensive. Thieving bastards.
By that point, the household gods each stepped forward, offering to take on debt, but Igeon glanced sideways at someone next to him.
And then.
“Club.”
“Yes? You called?”
“Sell this punk and bring the money.”
“?!!”
Suddenly singled out, Anubis was horrified.
“Ah, no, wait! Sell me?!”
Indeed, there was a pawnshop here where you could leave items and borrow money.
But.
“You know very well that place is only for depositing goods and taking out loans...!”
“Yeah. Since you punk are my property.”
“?!”
“If I put you up for auction, I can’t get you back. So, to the pawnshop you go.”
At that, Hyugo, who had once been a regular(?) at the pawnshop, looked at him with disgust.
“At a pawnshop, if you can’t repay, you get sold off all the same, don’t you...?”
“So what? If we catch Scorching Heat Temple, it’s one big payoff. If I can’t repay, then I can’t repay, whatever.”
“!?”
As Igeon gestured, showing no affection for Anubis whatsoever, Anubis ended up screaming as he was dragged away by Heracles.
And the story of a Constellation God being sold to a pawnshop was unprecedented!
Anubis tried to flee, but his opponent was none other than a battle god, so he couldn’t escape.
Osiris remained silent, not wanting to be sold.
And how much time had passed?
[You have received a loan of 200 million dalants from the pawnshop.]
[Payment of the communication fee has been completed.]
[From now on, you can connect to household members in other dimensions. Please designate the target.]
At the voice from the stone, Igeon nodded in satisfaction and immediately connected to Seongjae.
[Connecting to the dimension of .]
[Connection established.]
Soon, a hologram flickered from the gem, revealing a familiar landscape.
It was the inner room of Hyugo’s home, designated as the sanctuary of Ophiuchus—or as it was also read, Igeon’s room.
“Seongjae, Seongjae?”
While he was away, it seemed the number of his figurines in his room had doubled, but that didn’t matter.
“Seongjae!”
But there was no answer. Just as he was about to think the connection was crap—
“!!”
Igeon and Hyugo nearly screamed at the giant eye caught in the hologram.
That black bean-like eye belonged to none other than a snake. It was Igeon’s household god, .
And since that baby snake was still too young for battle in the divine realm, Igeon had left it with Seongjae.
The moment Igeon saw the snake, he asked urgently.
“Junu, where is Seongjae?”
The snake, which had been delighted to see Igeon, now danced energetically as if answering his question.
It seemed to be imitating Seongjae.
At that sight, Igeon tilted his head.
What does that mean?
‘Is he imitating me? Wings?’
That wasn’t all.
The snake cheerfully signed many things. Seeing that, Igeon immediately called for a household god.
“Decipher that.”
“Huh, huh?”
“Strange. If something happened to Seongjae’s life, I would’ve gotten a signal.”
After all, the structure meant a Constellation God could never fail to know if their Saint died.
At the same time, Hyugo frowned.
“Nothing must happen to our Seongjae.”
At those words, Igeon looked at Hyugo as if finding him admirable.
“So you’re thinking about family now?”
“That’s not it, but he’s my son, isn’t he? Then he’d be a cute dad-baby, right?”
Igeon made a face like he’d chewed on dung.
“...Mm, right. He’d really love... his dad... wouldn’t he?”
“Right! He’ll be a total dad-devotee!”
Would it just be better to make this brat forget permanently?
“Whatever, let’s find Scorching Heat Temple first. Without that bastard, I can’t go home.”
“Where is that Scorching Heat Temple guy?”
“A place you know well too.”
Hyugo wondered where that was, but at the words Igeon whispered, he couldn’t help but be stunned.
“What?! That guy went there?!”
* * *
Hyugo stared at the building before him as if flabbergasted.
“He’s really here?”
This time, Igeon also stared at the building as if he couldn’t believe it.
It couldn’t be helped.
“This is a cat cafe!”
At that exclamation, Persephone, who had guided Igeon and Hyugo, smiled brightly.
“Yes, it is very famous! There are branches everywhere, but the main store is the best because you can touch the Beast Lord there!”
Persephone, who had just disposed of her husband’s assets, beamed, while Hyugo pressed his palm to his forehead.
That was it.
This place, supposedly where Scorching Heat Temple was hiding, turned out to be none other than the business establishment of the Leo Constellation God.
An animal cafe.
In other words, a place where the Leo-sect household gods freely roamed and acted cute, receiving the doting... of customers.
“It is an extremely popular place. Where else could you go to pet the Leo Constellation God himself! Of course, you have to pay an enormous sum to even see the Lion God, and an extra fee to touch him.”
“Huh. Huh-huh. A battle god running an animal cafe...”
Though Igeon had gleefully farmed materials, Leo was unequivocally a great battle deity, a Battle God of the highest rank within the .
Mahabharata was one of the Eight Great Forces. And that place, filled with battle gods, was said to be a hell of raging lightning and flames the moment you entered.
‘It should be no easy place to even get into...’
Meaning he was a difficult god just to find.
Yet right here nearby, he was running a cute cafe.
“That Lion God. He’s... unexpectedly good at business...”
Although it was far too full of fierce beasts to call it an animal cafe, whatever, it was fine.
“Why did that bastard go to that cat lord bastard’s place?”
“Igeon...”
Well, of course, he could understand.
‘Among the Zodiac, even though they’re on the same side, the only one who’d be sufficiently indifferent to others is that Lion God...’
Well, he chose wisely.
It was a place Igeon himself would never visit, and with all the employees in animal forms, it was easy to hide one’s face.
Virgo would be the closest ally, but since she was on Igeon’s side, there was no way he’d go there. Other factions were full of folks who’d aim for the bounty.
“Anyway, if Mahabharata is hiding him, it’ll be a pain. I suppose that’s exactly why he hid here.”
“Who cares.”
Igeon shoved the cafe door open.
BANG!
All eyes were drawn to the scene, and beast-gods in waiter uniforms approached Igeon.
“Welcome. Are you looking for a specific object?”
“I came to see the Beast Lord.”
“Ah! Special guests! Hey, the Master’s butler! Escort these VIPs!”
At that, a young waiter hurriedly approached.
“Yea-yea, I’ll escort you to the Master right away... Urk!”
The god wearing a snake mask recoiled and stopped dead.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘That crazy bastard! Why are those guys here!’
He was none other than the master of Scorching Heat Temple, who had fled to the Leo Constellation God.
And in return for being hidden, he was currently serving as the Beast Lord’s butler, and now he was sweating bullets.
‘Damn, I have to run.’
Ultimately, at the sight of Igeon, Scorching Heat Temple immediately tried to flee out the back door.
But it was right then.
“Hey, where do you think you’re running?”
“?!!”
As if he’d been waiting, Hyugo blocked the path of the Scorching Heat Temple master.
With his debts repaid and his divine authority restored, Hyugo was very fast.
“Now, get ready to be sold off. All you need to do is help for a moment.”
“You think I’d believe that!”
The Scorching Heat Temple master urgently used a skill on Igeon and Hyugo as he bolted.
[Alopecia]
As Igeon’s and Hyugo’s hair began falling out in clumps, sparks flew from Igeon’s eyes.
“This bastard?”
I’d been about to go easy on him since he’s supposedly a blood relative. Just as Igeon was smiling ferociously and cracking his knuckles—
“Guest. Do you have business with our employee?”
“!”
A beast-god grabbed Hyugo’s shoulder. And at that moment—
“Idiot! This way! Hurry up and run!”
All the employees aided the Scorching Heat Temple master’s escape.
“The Master ordered us to help that idiot get away!”
“Hurry!”
At that sight, Igeon, standing at the entrance, curled his lip in disgust.
“What? All you bastards are in on it?”
Even so, he’d tried to handle it gently with words since it was someone else’s business.
And it was that moment—
“Guest. My apologies, but you’re causing a nuisance, so please leave... Urk!!!”
Igeon kicked the waiter beast-god, who had raised his hand menacingly.
At that, customers screamed, and the animals that had been acting cute flashed their eyes.
Then they immediately lunged at Igeon.
“Gyaaang!”
“Gyao!”
The employees did the same.
“Catch him! He’s nothing but a baby snake who just became a Constellation God!”
“You think a mere baby snake can defeat the beasts!”
“Don’t think we’re allies just because we’re in the same Zodiac!”
“If we succeed, it will be a tremendous help to the Lion Lord!”
At that, Igeon’s eyes flashed as if this was a welcome development.
“Well, the Olympus bastards were all humanoid, so I felt a prick of conscience about grinding them down, so I let them be.”
He curled his lip and summoned his item.
The divine authority unlocked as a reward for cramming the Olympus gods into prison and wiping their debts!
[The right to use the Divine Artifact is granted.]
“Come forth.”
As Igeon reached out his hand, an immense divine might erupted.
BANG!!
[Heaven’s Judgment (EX)]
Perhaps it was being treated as Igeon’s own divine artifact.
At last, Heaven’s Judgment, having revealed itself, let out a ferocious roar.
Rumble!
In the end, as a storm engulfed the shop, the gods screamed, and the onlookers were horrified.
“What rank of divine artifact is that...!”
“No, more importantly, just...!”
The gods couldn’t finish their words.
Because Igeon, eyes flashing, was charging at them like a madman.
At that sight, even the employees, and the small animals that had been about to lunge, were terrified and began fleeing.
“Hey! Shut the store doors!”
“Run...!”
As even the Scorching Heat Temple master was abandoned, he panicked.
“Hey! If you just leave, what about me! You were supposed to protect me! Did you forget our deal?!”
“Can’t you see that bastard’s eyes have turned?!”
“If you’re so great, handle it yourself!”
“We’re delicate pets, you know!”
In the end, the Scorching Heat Temple master cursed and turned around, but right at that moment—
SNAP!!!
“Urk!!”
The fleeing Scorching Heat Temple master was seized by Hyugo.
And the moment he tried to shake him off, goosebumps rose all over his body at the sound of approaching footsteps.
“!!”
When he turned to look, Igeon, having already flayed the beasts’ hides, was standing there with crimson eyes blazing.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Now that Igeon had even drawn his divine artifact, there was no path of escape.
(To be continued in the next episode)