Manchester Airport, England.
Brrrr.
Hugo furrowed his brow as his phone went off yet again.
The phone screeched and wailed, practically begging its owner to just pick up, but he only felt a vein throb in his forehead.
To make matters worse, now even his private phone was ringing.
'Just give it a rest already. That's the sixtieth call!'
Twenty years ago.
He had been one of the thirteen saints—and his closest friend Lee Geon called him a quack prophet.
His seat was the ninth, the Scorching Leo, nicknamed "Burned to Death."
Hugo Oters was on the verge of being carted off with high blood pressure. All because of today's insane flood of calls.
Of course, at first, with the phone going haywire, he thought it might be some urgent summons.
'They were all reporters.'
Out of nowhere they asked how he felt, and he thought these bastards had finally lost their minds.
That was the price of having Lee Geon as a friend.
In the end, he'd had to threaten lawsuits and police reports, throwing a fit just to get them to quiet down.
But how long had it been since then?
'It hasn't even been an hour, you bastards.'
And on his private number, which only those close to him knew?
Not that they couldn't manage to unearth it if they tried. Hadn't a reporter just recently pestered him on his personal line?
And sure enough.
Brrrr.
A mysterious number had been doggedly calling for the last thirty minutes. Moreover, he'd be debating whether to answer even if it came normally, but the number was actually a 1541 collect call.
'A collect call? These sons of bitches.'
Now they're pulling out every trick in the book.
Hugo Oters stared at his phone like it was a mosquito at dawn.
Eventually, when the furious buzzing stopped and it rang again from the same number...
"Huh."
Hugo Oters simply blocked it. He even turned the power off.
In the first place, there was no reason to answer a personal call unless he knew the number. And even more so if he could guess why they were looking for him.
'After everything, a survival theory about Lee Geon? It's absurd.'
He couldn't hide his displeasure at hearing that name after so long. Even now, while on the phone with the government of his home country.
- Hugo. Are you listening?
"I'm sorry, but if you're asking me to look for the 13th, I'll have to decline."
- Hugo!
The person on the phone was the Prime Minister of Australia. As expected, it was about Lee Geon. That was why he was angry.
"Don't even mention that dead man's name. Wasn't it publicly announced 20 years ago that he died?"
- Wait...
"What now?"
He swallowed the words—what face do you have to search for that hero now? Back when I said he wouldn't have died like that, you wouldn't listen to a damn thing.
"Back then, didn't you forbid searching the tower because it was dangerous?"
- No, at that time...!
But just then.
"Ahhhhh!"
At the sudden outcry, Hugo Oters hastily turned his head. The sound was so loud that people claiming luggage, cleaning staff, and even flight attendants helping with ticketing were startled.
The sound came from the airport waiting area.
It was a lament like you'd hear when a goal was scored in a Korea-Japan World Cup match.
- Surrender! In the end, the UK has surrendered to the monsters!
- The trusted S-rank of Europe! Even the pillar of Europe, Holy Order Leader Oliver, has failed in the conquest!
- No, this is insane, does this make sense? Was it truly impossible without Lee Geon?!
The news from London played on the waiting area's big screen.
- Indeed, the wall of the highest danger Red Zone was too high. The year-long effort to recapture London has ended in failure.
- But the monsters from London, that is, the calamities, are a type that Lee Geon already conquered 25 years ago, I believe. Is that correct?
- Yes, that's right. They appeared in Korea during the 2002 World Cup. At the time, Lee Geon handled those calamities alone. So this time, the European Holy Order also challenged them with confidence, but...
- Far from conquering, they retreated from the entrance.
The TV reporters were delivering the news with veins bulging in their necks. Of course, the London incident had just happened yesterday. The screen changed shortly.
- What do you think caused this failure?
- Failure? This time it was simply a string of bad luck.
- There's no way they couldn't do what an Asian hero did alone 25 years ago.
- Wasn't Lee Geon the weakest among the first awakened?
The interview continued, the European Holy Order barely hiding their emotions.
- The proof is that when the 12 saints captured the Red Eye, he died without even being able to lay a hand on it.
Hugo Oters, who had been called in to clean up their mess, twitched his eyebrows. Some said Lee Geon was just a dead hero being deified, but Hugo Oters knew well.
'He was the strongest of the thirteen.'
It wasn't just because he was his friend. He was certain because they had been comrades in arms.
Without Lee Geon, the Demon Tower itself would have been impossible to conquer.
But.
'There's no way he could survive there alone.'
Of course, he hadn't seen Lee Geon's death or the capture of the Red Eye himself. At that time, he was briefly outside the tower.
Because suddenly the monsters around the tower began attacking a nearby city.
So he was on defense, piercing through the heads of the swarming monsters.
And the ones who were there testified that Lee Geon sacrificed himself for his comrades, but sacrifice my ass.
'A guy who hated the 12 saints so much he'd spit out even the food he was eating?'
Even that glutton who threw away chicken drumsticks saying they tasted bad?
Anyway, for over ten years he investigated alone, insisting that that shameless bastard who used to steal my chicken drumsticks couldn't possibly die.
In the end, despite opposition, he went as far as the entrance and realized: there is no madman in the world who could come out of there alive.
'Especially since he fell into the worst trap.'
Hugo Oters gave up hope like that. After about ten years, his tears dried up.
That was when.
- Hugo! Do you know what's going on right now...?
"Yes. I'm well aware the Korean government has been trying to find him."
- !
He had left the airport and climbed into a taxi. The English sky was dark, as if draped in dust.
"Anyway, don't do anything foolish like looking for a dead man. This one's bound to be another fake, just like always. But if you're thinking of using my friend's name to boost your approval ratings..."
- Listen, my boy, that's not it!
The prime minister spoke in genuine haste.
- They say the phone rang! After 20 years!
In an instant, Hugo Oters' expression changed.
"Pardon?"
- I'm talking about the direct line created just for Lee Geon. The one set up so that no matter which government was in power, he could always reach them!
"!"
Immediately, Oters shouted.
"Stop!"
At Hugo Oters' cry, the taxi driver screeched to a halt. The driver looked at him baffled, but that wasn't important.
"Prime Minister. Did you happen to call my personal number? About five minutes ago?"
- Look. Don't you remember the ruckus the last time I called that number? That's why I haven't since.
Oh, for fuck's sake!
It was certain. The other side might not have gotten through, but that direct line was a number only Lee Geon knew.
And that meant...!
'No way, that collect call!'
He hurriedly cried out.
"Please turn back to the airport! I need to catch a flight to Korea right now!"
At his words, the taxi driver was dumbfounded, and the person on the phone was stunned.
- Wait! Korea? Weren't you sent to clean up the situation in England? You can't just do that!
"What do I care! This shitty island nation! They caused all this trouble themselves! You think saints are pushovers? Huh?"
The taxi stopped and Hugo Oters dashed back to the airport. As he ran, he quickly turned his personal phone back on.
'Geon, could it really be you?'
His hand holding the phone was slick with sweat.
Finally, it powered on.
"!"
Hugo Oters couldn't believe his eyes.
A new message had arrived.
[1 voice message received. Press the call button to listen.]
"……!"
With trembling hands, Hugo Oters checked the voice message.
And the first words that flowed out.
- Otaeksu.
At that single word, in an instant, his pupils dilated as if in disbelief.
But only for a moment.
- I will find you. And I will kill you.
His face froze.
- Good luck.
For some reason, his expression was one of pure terror.
***
"Otaeksu. You've really grown, not even answering my calls."
Meanwhile, Lee Geon, who had left the voice message, was smiling brightly.
The boy in front of him was trembling.
It must have been about thirty minutes ago. Having called with a smile, Lee Geon was now on the verge of shooting beams from his eyes after the recipient hadn't picked up for thirty minutes.
It wasn't just because he didn't answer.
'Did I, out of my mind, write a will leaving my fortune to those bastards?'
The world might not know, but if he was his friend, he should have sensed something was off. It was more than enough to make him think the guy had been blinded by money and betrayed his friend.
Not that that was the reason Lee Geon was furious.
Why?
- Among the 12 zodiac saints, only one refused Lee Geon's fortune, correct?
- Yes, that's right. Hugo Oters, the Sagittarius saint, was the only one who didn't accept Lee Geon's assets.
- Didn't he say he had no right to receive it because he couldn't protect his friend?
At a glance it sounded admirable, but the man in question was practically spewing magma.
'That bastard should have accepted it! Are you ignoring Seoul real estate? In 20 years, the property values must have skyrocketed!'
A mere inheritance could just be snatched back by throttling him later!
After checking the real estate prices and practically breathing fire, Lee Geon made a vow.
'When I find him, he'll be torn limb from limb, holy saint and all.'
On top of that, he'd been living in poverty, having everything squeezed out of him by those bastards while treating his body.
Now that the reason to grovel was gone and his pay had been deposited, he'd thought he could put an end to them siphoning his account.
'Anyway, this is a bit troublesome.'
Truth be told, so much of his fortune had been robbed from the start that it didn't really bother him now.
The issue was that he currently had no living expenses and no decent place to stay.
Well, there was one villa the government had specially prepared for him, but...
Good heavens, it had become a shrine dedicated to him!
Lee Geon couldn't help but doubt his own eyes reading the articles.
Of course, he was grateful they'd deified him, but seriously?
'They hold ancestral rites there every year? It's become a pilgrimage site?'
For the first time, he understood what it felt like to be unbearably embarrassed.
Freezing him like some American hero and putting him in a museum would have been better.
'What bastard's head did this come out of?'
He almost died of sheer cringe just seeing it. No wonder they say you can't trust the desk jockeys.
'Still, if I go around saying I'm Lee Geon, they'll definitely treat me like a lunatic.'
Returning to youth was all well and good, but there was a bit(?) of a gap between his appearance before and after death.
Of course, there was a way: going to the media and claiming his identity...
"Wow, the world media has gone insane. Even the tabloids are in an uproar."
"It's only natural. It's Lee Geon, of all people. And this is nothing. If they find even a single piece of his armor, it'll get even crazier."
Who would be happy if, the moment he came back, he did something that would delight those lowlifes again?
'They didn't even give me time to eat ramen.'
How much he'd been harassed.
It wasn't just invasion of privacy—it was a full-on assault on his very person.
In the end, unable to stand it, he'd thrown a whole pot of boiling ramen at the reporters' heads, but only regretted the lobster he'd put in.
So for now, it was better to let them babble as they pleased. It made it easier to keep tabs on their movements too.
'Well, in my current state, the reporters wouldn't believe me anyway.'
Anyone who would remember this face was gone, and his old records had vanished when the unknown civilization invaded.
So he'd called the hospital that should have had his medical records, but guess what.
- Lee Geon's data had too many thieves targeting it. We disposed of it five years ago.
Lee Geon smiled with interest.
Well, there seemed to be all sorts of problems, but he couldn't care less.
'Just drag those bastards out by the hair and they'll believe me.'
Lee Geon's eyes flashed.
Anyway, it was a problem.
First he had to find those guys, but the ones he knew weren't answering, and in his current state, he couldn't even afford travel fare—he'd have to start by sleeping on the street.
'What to do. Should I rob a neighboring country's bank? Shake someone down for cash?'
Still half-seriously mulling over such jokes, they were all leaving the shop.
[Caution. You are being watched.]
'!'
Lee Geon halted at the sound he heard. And sensing a familiar presence, he narrowed his brow.
It was faint, but unmistakable.
'A saint.'
Then came the voices.
"Ah, seriously, Lee Geon, Lee Geon. Everyone's screeching about him nonstop."
"Tell me about it. He flipped the entire world's top news all by himself. As if that deified has-been amounts to anything."
The ones walking over were a well-dressed young couple.
The magic power they gave off suggested they were no ordinary citizens.
"Thanks to that, our order producing an upper-level devotee got buried too."
"Huh, Lee Geon only gets hyped because he was with the 12 saints. The idiots don't know any better."
"For real. If he showed up now, he'd be worse than us."
But just then, their eyes met Lee Geon's.
And in that instant.
"What's this, another Lee Geon fake?"
The two's faces crumpled.
But only for a moment—they started snickering for some reason.
Then they raised their voices as if for him to hear as they passed by.
"Morons. They think Lee Geon was really so impressive. Rumor on the street is he was actually low-rank."
"Yeah. I hear he just hid behind the 12 in the Demon Tower and then died."
"Well, what would these fakes, copying Lee Geon, know about it?"
The passing man deliberately blew cigarette smoke right into Lee Geon's face.
The acrid smoke instantly blanketed him.
Lee Geon smiled as if it were nothing.
Look at these punks.
(To be continued in the next chapter)