“Hyusoon!!”
Hyugo’s eyes flashed as he picked up the birth registration form.
People looked at him with contempt.
“Are you serious?”
“Look! See! The kid likes it too!!! Hyusoon!!”
At those words, a wail burst forth.
It was the third child. And perhaps the name was not to their liking. As the baby cried with great sorrow, everyone furrowed their brows and stared at Hyugo.
“She’s crying….”
“Seems like she really doesn’t like it….”
“Sounds like she’s saying ‘take it away’….”
“Then Hyuri!!!”
“…Huh?”
“Hyudol!!! Hyuji!!!! Hyuja!!! Hyusook!!!”
“Waaaaaah!!!”
As if she would rather die than accept it (?), the youngest wailed loudly.
Watching this scene while munching on a fish-shaped pastry, Lee Geon looked at Hyugo with pity.
“See. The baby’s crying because she hates it. Says she doesn’t even want her dad’s name in it.”
“That can’t be!!! It’s just a coincidence!!! She’s just hungry!”
“It’s true. Right, Seongjae?”
“That’s right. Want to see?”
With a bright smile at the baby, Cheon Seongjae spoke as if demonstrating.
“Leegeon!”
“Kya!”
“Geonsoon!”
“Kyaa!”
“Geonja!”
“Kyaaa!”
“Geonsook!”
“Kyaaaa!”
The youngest smiled brightly with her toothless mouth, as if she had never been crying at all. Lee Geon chuckled smugly.
“See. She likes all the names with my name in them.”
“That can’t be…!”
“Just put my name in.”
“Get lost!!!!”
Hyugo roared in anguish.
“My daughter wouldn’t do that… she wouldn’t….”
Watching Lee Geon and his daughter who kept going ‘dadadada’, Hyugo despaired. Sobbing in front of his beloved daughter, the weeping Hyugo sniffled and said,
“Then let’s compromise a little—Hyugeon! No, Hyubaem!!!”
“…….”
The expression on Lee Geon’s face, still holding the fish pastry, was a sight to behold.
It was a look of utter contempt, as if questioning that such a monstrosity could be born into the world. But Hyugo roared,
“Why!!! I put something similar to your name in it to-… Urk!!!”
Hyugo was struck again.
This time it hit him squarely on the top of his head, and he collapsed, unable to finish his sentence.
In the end, Lee Geon looked at the youngest with a hint of regret.
The baby, with her eyes open, reached out with a tiny fern-like hand, as if asking Lee Geon to hold her.
“If it were a boy, I could’ve named him Geon. But it’s a girl, so it doesn’t really fit.”
The ones surprised by this were none other than Yuha and Seongjae.
Especially Seongjae, who was a boy, looked as if he had heard the news that Earth was doomed.
“That was possible…? It was like that…?”
He trembled, seemingly greatly shocked.
Lee Jaewon tilted his head and looked at Cheon Seongjae.
“Young master? What’s the matter….”
“Can’t I go back to the past and change my name…?”
“Young master?”
“Can’t I be reborn through reincarnation…?!”
“Young master!!!”
“No, at that point, could I even change my chromosomes first?!!?”
“Seongjae!!!”
Lee Jaewon screamed and desperately tried to stop Seongjae, who had momentarily fallen into turmoil. But his sorrow was short-lived; Cheon Seongjae lifted his head at Lee Geon’s words.
“Didn’t you say you already had a list of baby name candidates?”
“Ah, yes. There are a few that Mom and I picked out.”
Though they hadn’t been confirmed since there was no father around. That was why they had planned to let Hyugo choose from the candidates when he returned.
But then….
“Hyusoon… Hyusook… Hyuja….”
The so-called father turned out to be like this.
Eventually, Lee Geon clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Then let’s just pick the one the baby reacts best to from the candidates.”
“Ah. Then it would be great if you could choose it, Mr. Lee Geon.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes.”
Cheon Jiwoo looked at Lee Geon with an expectant face.
“If not for you, Mr. Lee Geon, my child and I would no longer be in this world. You’re like our savior who saved this child’s life.”
“…!”
“So, if it’s not too presumptuous, I’d like to ask you this favor… Would that be okay?”
“If it’s fine with you, I’ll do it.”
“Ah, thank you so much!”
“First, send me the candidates by text.”
“Okay!”
The Cheon siblings, pounding on the floor, were practically dying of envy.
Uncle gets to pick the name!! He’s even going to agonize over it and choose it himself!!
However, Hyugo, seemingly having come to his senses, whined and stretched out his hand.
“Geon is so terrible at naming things…!! I… I’m going to pick the name. I will!!”
“Dad, stay out of it! You’ve been giving off a weird vibe since earlier!”
“What do you mean, weird vibe!”
At those words, Lee Geon gave Hyugo a strange look as he left the hospital room.
Then, checking the candidate list sent by Cheon Jiwoo, Lee Geon frowned.
It wasn’t for any other reason.
‘The schemes of the gods can be dealt with somehow.’
The problem was.
‘It’s Taeksu.’
That’s right.
Hyugo was a reincarnated Kruder.
He’d heard about it from the Crimson Lord, but Hyugo’s past life was the issue.
Of course, you couldn’t brush it off as simply a past life, nor could you treat him as a different person since his very soul was the same.
But the biggest problem was….
‘The gods won’t stay quiet.’
It seemed Hyugo was a traitor to the divine realm in his past life. In short, he had wreaked havoc in the divine realm just like Lee Geon himself.
Well, seeing that they even thought of making such a guy a vassal god shows how truly foolish they are, but still.
‘It means he was that harmless. To the point of being unnoticeable.’
He must have been tightly bound, stripped of his powers, and tossed down as a human.
However, to say such a being was truly harmless….
[Violent killing intent is boiling from him]
Even without the notification hammering it in, he had already noticed.
Though others didn’t seem to realize it, the aura of a monster was increasingly leaking out.
And after returning from visiting the goddess of childbirth, Lee Geon had gotten goosebumps upon seeing Hyugo’s state.
‘No matter how human, a sovereign is still a sovereign.’
His instincts were awakening.
Moreover, it was the aura of a monster whelp, the very thing he despised most.
At the same time, having personally confronted and killed sovereigns, he knew better than anyone.
‘You can never become allies with those bastards.’
There had been the case of Hayley, but she was different.
Most decisively, hadn’t the Crimson Lord told him?
About Hayley’s birth.
- That child is not a Kruder.
Of course, even upon hearing that, Lee Geon hadn’t been surprised.
‘As expected.’ He had already guessed as much.
As someone who usually bristled at the smell of monsters, he had never smelled it on Hayley, felt no urge to consume, and in fact, she smelled similar to them.
That was probably why she had been chosen by the Holy God in the first place.
‘How much those god bastards detest Kruders.’
It wasn’t for nothing that he had let it slide when investigating Hayley after his return.
On the other hand, sovereigns were different.
Those bastards were predators that could never coexist in the same space.
And now those instincts were awakening?
Lee Geon momentarily remembered Cheon Jiwoo and her three young siblings. And even a future where they were torn apart and killed by Hyugo.
The moment that future flashed through his mind, Lee Geon’s expression hardened.
What should he do?
But it was right then.
“You’ve noticed it too.”
“!”
Kevin appeared before Lee Geon.
This time, Kevin was reeking of an angel’s scent.
And around that time.
“What’s wrong with Hyusoon, Hyusook….”
Having been rejected (?) by his wife and children, Hyugo sniffled as he returned home.
It was because he’d been told that if he was going to keep doing strange things, he should go home and pack some baby supplies and his wife’s things.
Well, despite all this, if Lee Geon was picking the name, there was nothing better than that.
‘Things chosen and touched by a god carry blessings.’
With luck, the name itself might carry the Holy God’s blessing.
Then there would be no safety issues.
Of course, that didn’t mean he would let her grow up as a Lee Geon fangirl this time.
“Should I show her her dad’s heroic deeds every day? Since she seems to like Geon, I’ll start with him being there and gradually convert her over to my side.”
Was he aiming for the contrast effect (?) ?
Arguing (?) that he wouldn’t lose in looks back in those days (?) Hyugo cunningly packed an old photo album into his bag.
But it was then.
“You look happy.”
“!”
At that voice, Hyugo’s gaze turned ferocious.
“You!”
The one who appeared was the angel Michael, missing an arm.
Soon, he spoke.
“This is ridiculous. A trash beast that should’ve vanished long ago is grinning here.”
This bastard?
* * *
Around that time.
The divine realm, the Pantheon, was in chaos due to the Sage God of Kunlun and the Abyss.
“What’s going on? The divinity of Hermes became a divine artifact?!”
The divine realm was in an uproar.
Understandably so. Not only was the rampaging Sage God of Kunlun a problem, but they were dealing with a secondary shock from the Abyss.
Of course, they had succeeded in containing the Abyss using previously gathered data, but the problem was the fountain pen that suddenly appeared.
Though they didn’t know where it came from, the Abyss had been moving erratically and attacking the gods because of it.
And what was that unidentified fountain pen?
The snake god made it using the divinity of Hermes?
‘If it were just granting authority to an existing object, maybe I could understand.’
“Damn it…! I thought it was nonsense when I heard a spear imbued with a sovereign’s power was roaming around…!”
“That wasn’t a lie either…!”
And to explain how absurd this was: just as attaching a human brain, heart, or organs to a cup doesn’t make that object a living, moving creature—this was something beyond common sense.
‘No matter how divine, there are things possible and impossible within the bounds of reason.’
But there were unique beings who could do just that.
‘It’s the Creator.’
‘That bastard, he’s a Creator!’
Only those bastards could present such bizarre and unconventional techniques.
And it was exactly then.
“Huh, I heard he bore the name of that guy, but could it be he was a Creator after all?”
“…Valhalla’s Baldur, sir…!”
“Wha- what’s that chicken you’re holding next to you…? Agh! Lord Thoth!”
The gods recoiled in horror at the sight of Thoth, whose torso and legs had been grotesquely transformed.
Thoth seemed to have been struck by the Sage God of Kunlun, as he was nearly dying.
“Lord Baldur, what happened to him…!”
“The strange power spewed by the rampaging Sage God of Kunlun did this.”
“Huh? Could it be a new divine authority?”
“No. Rather, he seems to be a victim as well.”
“Huh?!”
The rampaging Sage God of Kunlun emitted a sinister light, and any god hit by that light was transformed into a bizarre shape.
And the root of all this evil was one person.
‘The snake god.’
Moreover, though he had been strangely transformed because of Lee Geon, the Sage God was not called a great god for nothing.
“Thanks to that, 40% of the divine realm’s territory was obliterated.”
“Could it be that this Creator aimed for this from the start?”
Instead of answering, the high-ranking gods frowned.
Understandably so. Though their clan had been annihilated, the Creators were tremendous beings that none could rival.
‘Well, there is a master craftsman who matches them now….’
Even so, the Creators followed the primordial god and were the architects who built and established the divine realm itself.
Were they not the ones who created the very foundation of the divine realm—from the system of divine achievements to all the zones, the rulebook, and everything else?
Well, that wasn’t what was important now.
And sure enough.
“You are the root of all this evil!!”
“Aaaack!!!”
The Lord of Yeolsa, standing on the execution platform, screamed.
Tightly bound, he was tied to the guillotine. All the gods of the divine realm flocked to him, shouting.
“Sinner! Sinner! Sinner!”
The Lord of Yeolsa struggled as if feeling wronged.
It was good that he had avoided the Sage God of Kunlun’s molestation, but Lee Geon’s scheme had caused the Sage God of Kunlun to rampage.
And the root of that evil was the clothes Lee Geon had made for him.
Meaning, branded as the main culprit and a minion of the snake god, Yeolsa was on the execution platform.
Because of this, the Lord of Yeolsa blew his top.
“I’m innocent! You bastards! Strictly speaking, I’m a victim too!”
“Innocent? What do you mean innocent?! Did you think we wouldn’t realize you’re part of a faction trying to overthrow the divine realm alongside the snake god?!”
“Overthrow?! Why would I?!”
“The fact that your Saint even chose a sovereign shows it was planned all along!”
“Indeed! Even that wasn’t enough, you even let the snake god into the divine realm! Purposely doing such things….”
“What? What did you just say?”
At those words, Baldur of Valhalla approached the Lord of Yeolsa with an incredulous look.
“You’re playing dumb? Everyone’s heard about it. Your Saint mercilessly killed a goddess using the power of a sovereign.”
The Lord of Yeolsa’s face stiffened.
The power of a sovereign?
Soon, Baldur let out a laugh and spoke.
“We’ve already confirmed it in Mahabharata. He’s the first-generation sovereign. A detestable enemy of the gods, a cunning bastard who, not satisfied with just preying on gods, eagerly summoned his comrades to toy with the divine realm. You knew all along and did this from the start to overthrow the divine realm, didn’t you?”
“……!”
The Lord of Yeolsa was so dumbfounded he couldn’t speak.
No wonder his brother had been saying weird things like, ‘did you know everything when you chose him?’
“No. Wait. That guy….”
“Well, we’ll execute him anyway. But right now, there’s something more important.”
“What?”
“Either way, the Snake Lord has declared war on us.”
The Lord of Yeolsa felt a foreboding sense of dread.
And sure enough.
“You, who brought such a being here, will be executed.”
…What the fuck??!
(Continued in the next chapter)