[Breaking news. Do you remember top star Jin Yuri, who fell into a vegetative state due to the Blood Mist incident ten years ago?]
[And now, news has arrived that Jin Yuri has awakened!]
[With this, the Blood Mist incident from ten years ago is being talked about once more.]
[At the time, the scene of the incident was in an area under the protection of the Sagittarius Seat. However, a Red-grade monster appeared, causing a massive shock.]
[It was because of that incident that the Sagittarius Seat lost trust as a Divine Seat, isn’t that right?]
[That’s correct. After all, the number of victims reached into the thousands. There was an enormous uproar at the time, with blame placed on the Sagittarius Seat for the monster’s appearance due to their negligence.]
[Furthermore, among the victims was a princess of a nation…]
[In any case, with Jin Yuri waking up, there is speculation that the roughly five thousand others who fell into a vegetative state might also awaken…]
It was news of joy that set the world abuzz.
But someone watching that news could not help but scream.
“This is insane! The people from ten years ago are waking up! What is this nonsense!”
It was Yoon Siu.
And the place was the penthouse used by the high-ranking adepts of the Gemini Seat.
Having rushed to find his brother because of Cheon Seongjae, he nearly fainted upon seeing the news.
“Back then, they said all those people had their life support cut off at the hospital! So why is that actress waking up!”
The ones who caused the Blood Mist ten years ago were in an extremely awkward position over this situation.
No, they were already dying of anxiety just because that Blood Mist had been captured.
‘And now those people from back then are waking up too…!’
But that’s when it happened.
“Well, there’s nothing strange about it.”
“Hyung!”
It was Yoon Siu’s older brother, Yoon Taewoo.
He was an S-grade adept of the Libra Seat—that is, the Scales—who had been studying abroad at the Gemini Seat for ten years.
In other words, he was active as an adept of Gemini.
Of course, studying abroad in name only, he was in reality a dispatched agent sent to leech the Gemini Seat’s techniques. Moreover, he was a skilled individual capable of reaching SS-grade.
“Hyung! I’m telling you the situation is serious! How could we, to the Sagittarius…!”
“Hey!”
Yoon Taewoo, who had been drinking with women around him, glared sharply.
“Get out. You’re ruining the taste of the liquor.”
“Oh, hyung!!”
Bam!
Eventually, the liquor bottle struck the table. As his brother gestured irritably, the women, reading the mood, slipped out of the penthouse.
Thud!
The moment the door closed, Yoon Siu’s veins bulged on his neck.
“Hyung! We pinned the blame on the Sagittarius Seat! I-if this goes on and the Sagittarius Seat’s wife and his subordinate really wake up…!”
Yoon Taewoo laughed sharply.
“Are you kidding? They can never wake up.”
“!”
“I don’t know about the other five thousand, but those two—I had their souls completely devoured.”
Cheon Jiwoo and Lee Jaewon.
Especially Cheon Jiwoo—they were eyewitnesses who saw them summon the monster.
Of course, they’d dealt with those two and shifted all the blame for the Blood Mist’s appearance onto the negligence of the Sagittarius Seat’s holy adepts.
“Unless their souls are regenerated, the probability of them waking up is zero.”
The younger brother was relieved.
“Right. That’s something even the Constellation God of Aquarius would find impossible.”
At the same time, Yoon Siu let out an “Ah!”
“Right! Hyung! I’m telling you, Cheon Seongjae ran off with our grimoires!”
“Huh, even so, they’re just Gemini Seat grimoires…”
“No! Of all the grimoires that bastard took, it happened to include …!”
“What?!”
Yoon Taewoo shot to his feet in alarm.
“You don’t mean you lost even that?”
“No… Huk!”
The younger brother was grabbed by the collar.
“You don’t understand what that thing is!”
.
It was a forbidden book they had secretly smuggled out of the Gemini Seat.
‘That thing is a prison jointly created by several Constellation Gods.’
The Constellation God of Pisces’s “separate space to block intrusion.”
The Constellation God of Scorpius’s “trap of absolute hell.”
The Constellation God of Gemini’s “binding that even shackles a god.”
The Constellation God of Leo’s “most dangerous beast in the world.”
And the abilities of eight other Constellation Gods besides.
It was a prison of the gods created by the combined efforts of a full twelve Constellation Gods.
Inside it were imprisoned individuals so important that the Constellation Gods would personally confine them.
And extracting a specific person from there was precisely the mission assigned to Yoon Taewoo.
But what did you say happened?
“You crazy bastard! In there is information regarding those people…!”
If by any chance it fell into the hands of Lee Geon or Hugo, things would get troublesome.
‘Well, maybe it doesn’t matter.’
Anyway, that grimoire was an item that even the Gemini Seat’s holy adepts could not use.
Why?
‘Because the First Fairy King, said to be the strongest among the Fairy Kings, is the one in charge of its seal.’
That was why Heiji tried to summon the First Fairy King by having adepts form an initial soul contract.
However.
‘There was not a single adept who contracted with the First Fairy King.’
In the first place, who could possibly summon a being that not even the holy adepts could initially soul-bond with?
Out of tens of millions of mages, no suitable candidate existed.
“Ah, forget it. You go to Lee Geon!”
“Wh-what? Go to Lee Geon? Why!”
“Why do you think! It seems like Lee Geon is the one who captured that Blood Mist! What if those bastards conduct an autopsy or something!”
“……!!”
“So you go deceive Lee Geon, whether through the investigation team or for auction purposes, and recover the corpse. I’ll chase after Cheon Seongjae.”
“Ah, got it!”
The younger brother hurriedly left the penthouse.
And meanwhile, there was a woman hiding and watching this scene.
She was one of the women Yoon Taewoo had chased out earlier.
‘As expected, the prison grimoire was with those brothers.’
At the same time, as the woman swept back her bangs, an astonishing thing happened.
The woman’s form changed into that of a young man. He was none other than the head of the Gemini Seat’s Korean order, Choi Seonghyeok.
He had used a gender-switching spell.
At the same time, having dispelled the eavesdropping magic, Choi Seonghyeok ground his teeth.
‘Even if I made a mistake, to go this far…!’
No matter what, he had not wanted to use even this kind of magic.
‘Damn. If only I hadn’t thrust the Gemini Seat contract at Lee Geon…!’
Thanks to that, he was pressured by the council of elders and ended up in this sorry state.
Of course, the reason he was doing all this was entirely because of that disaster fiend—no, Lee Geon.
‘Of all people, Lee Geon has severed the connection to the Gemini Seat’s Constellation God…!’
Because of that, the Gemini Seat couldn’t even use their skills and was on the brink of annihilation. Hadn’t the entire group fallen into a panic?
Even now, they were casting magic using the Constellation God’s power stored in the order’s reserve.
‘The Divine Seat was barely maintained, but it’s still a very precarious situation.’
The stored power of the Constellation God would eventually run out.
‘We must reconnect with the Constellation God.’
And the prison grimoire taken by those brothers was the sole solution.
Because within it was a method to reconnect with the Constellation God.
In any case, for that reason, he attempted to retrieve the prison grimoire from the Gemini Seat’s library, but what do you know?
- What? The grimoire was stolen?
- Yes…! It seems… someone left a dummy and stole it!
Thus, while searching for the stolen item, those brothers were caught red-handed.
Of course, it was not strange. There was no way the Libra Seat sent their own flesh and blood without ulterior motives.
But what did it matter now?
‘Of all people, that grimoire ended up with Seongjae?’
Choi Seonghyeok’s face turned pale.
He could not help it.
‘Damn. If it’s fallen into Seongjae’s hands, there’s a high probability it’ll end up with Lee Geon!’
It must not go to that damn disaster god!
Somehow, he had to lure Seongjae over before that.
Soon, space distorted urgently.
It was a teleport.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time.
Gote could not hide his bewilderment at the sight before him.
It was because of Hugo, no less.
“So, our Geon, you see! He caught that gargantuan toad!”
“Ohhh! So it wasn’t the Saint of Virgo but Lee Geon who caught it?”
“The defense forces said Virgo caught it, though…!”
“No! Geon completely turned it into paste!”
“Ohhhhh!”
At that cheering, Gote was dumbfounded.
‘But weren’t you supposed to be people who hide your identities?’
That was it.
The place Gote had arrived was none other than a tavern.
Before his eyes, Hugo—who had properly taken the stage with a microphone in hand—was being cheered on by the citizens.
Having drunk, Hugo shouted into the microphone.
“That was a monster even saints couldn’t catch! Yet Geon caught it in a single strike!”
The people cheered. The adepts of the other seats present also stirred.
Weren’t they all curious about this incident?
“Of course, it was Virgo’s territory, so I thought Virgo caught it…!”
“That’s absurd.”
“Still, the Sagittarius Seat wouldn’t seem the type to lie…!”
This was a matter that had threatened even the 3-Dome. Reporters who had heard the rumors flocked over but were blocked outside the door, and the people’s interest was immense.
“Did Lee Geon really catch it? Not Virgo?”
“Virgo wasn’t even there!”
“Then the Sagittarius Seat caught it or…!”
“That bastard couldn’t catch it either! In that sense, our Geon is amazing! The Twelve Divine Seats are lame!”
Wait, is a saint badmouthing his own Divine Seat right now?!
Gote clutched his head, but Lee Geon was calmly sipping vodka.
“Ah. That bastard. His drunk habit is still the same.”
Gote was appalled.
“Lee Geon-nim. What on earth is…”
“Why. Your captain’s been like that for three hours now.”
“……?!”
Gote was horrified, but Lee Geon, with no intention of stopping it, just snickered.
That was only natural.
[The faith of Ophiuchus rises sharply.]
[The faith of Ophiuchus rises sharply.]
[The faith of Ophiuchus…]
To have not even an adept but a saint doing missionary work of his own accord—wasn’t that the ultimate windfall? The effect was overwhelming.
On the other hand, Gote buried his face as if dying.
Of course, he could guess why they had come here.
‘This place is the closest to the Virgo Seat’s holy territory.’
It was optimal for observing the situation. So he understood, but….
‘The Saint Lord’s drinking habit has struck again…!’
From what he heard, Hugo was apparently even talking about all of Lee Geon’s exploits from twenty years ago.
Well, it wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
“Seeing him talk you up like that, the Sagittarius Seat’s saint is a big-hearted person.”
“If this is true, the rumor that Lee Geon is the lowest rank must be wrong.”
“Should we make a donation to those two?”
As Gote sighed and contemplated whether to buy hangover medicine, it happened.
“But hey, is it okay you didn’t go with Seongjae?”
“Excuse me?”
Lee Geon subtly pulled a card out of Gote’s wallet.
“That order leader guy. Seemed like someone pretty special to you.”
“…Even a Ten Star SS-grade cannot neglect the Saint Lord and leave! So!”
Gote grabbed the card as if to say, “Where do you think you’re paying with my card?”
“And Jihun and Yerin, who went with Seongjae, are S-grade. They’re plenty capable even without me.”
Lee Geon smirked knowingly, saying he knew all about it. Since those two were his fans anyway. He was already planning to gradually poach them later.
“Well, they do have the fastest wit among the fifty.”
At those words, Lee Geon’s face twisted.
The implication was: how dare Oh Taeksu have fifty adepts?
Meanwhile, Gote was straining to extract his card from Lee Geon’s fingers.
But Lee Geon’s fingers, as if not even exerting strength, didn’t budge at all.
‘Damn, what kind of strength…!’
“Anyway, when Jaewon hyungnim wakes up, he will be overjoyed! The order leader always boasted a lot about Lee Geon-nim tooㅋ… Huk!”
Gote toppled backwards.
Lee Geon, having released the card, rounded his eyes.
“What. Your order leader, is he someone I know? I didn’t recognize the name at all.”
Then Gote’s gaze toward Lee Geon was one of disbelief.
“At least remember the names of people you went to the battlefield together with!”
“No. Too lazy if it’s more than three characters.”
“…How fortunate you can still remember my surname.”
“Yeah. Idiot goat.”
“…….”
This person, really!
Gote brushed himself off and stood up, glaring at Lee Geon.
“Do you know? The Saint Lord must honestly also think of Lee Geon-nim as a nuisance. No matter if he’s your friend, if you keep acting like this…”
That’s when it happened.
“Everyone! Listen carefully! Our Geon also just brushed aside my household’s SS-grade without any trouble!! Isn’t that amazing!”
“Ohhh! Then is Lee Geon stronger than SS-grade!”
“The Sagittarius Seat’s SS-grades are nothing special, then!”
“That’s right! SS-grades aren’t a big deal!”
Gote, as if on the verge of tears, slammed his forehead against the wall. Lee Geon, holding a chicken drumstick, cackled.
Of course, Gote had to acknowledge it too.
Lee Geon was incredible. Even without seeing it with his own eyes, isn’t it the case that Hugo—whom he respected—acknowledged him to that degree?
Incredible…
“And look at this! This is something Geon gave me as well! Thanks to this Red Hare, my life was saved! Amazing, right!”
“Ohhh! Is it a protective relic?”
“May I touch it once?”
“Of course!”
But that’s when it happened.
Thud!
The awakener who touched Red Hare suddenly collapsed, unconscious.
People screamed.
“Hey! What’s wrong! Are you okay?”
“Ah, this bastard must have drunk too much!”
Hugo was also startled.
“Saint Lord!”
At the same time, as the flustered Gote approached, Red Hare rolled to his feet.
The moment the bewildered Gote picked up Red Hare.
“Huk…!”
Gote staggered violently.
‘M-magical power…!’
In an instant, half of his magical power drained away. What’s more, that magical power was directed toward Lee Geon!
Having caught on to the relic’s true nature, Gote glared at Lee Geon.
No wonder it seemed like something that stole magical power from the first time he saw it!
“Lee Geon-nim! So this really isn’t a protective relic! You gave something like this as a gift?”
Even for an SS-grade, it was at this level. For other adepts, it was a dangerous item that could drain all their magical power and make them faint!
But Lee Geon feigned innocence.
“Sharing is sharing. I’m self-sufficient, so my mana pool is small, you see.”
“?!”
Of course, Hugo was a direct contractor of the Constellation God.
His mana supply method was fundamentally different from that of ordinary adepts.
His ability was different too. So even with this much drained, it wouldn’t affect him, but…
“Even so, still!”
“It’s fine. It’s fine. That guy’s a dummy anyway, so he won’t even notice.”
“?!”
How is that fine!
“If you’re jealous, I’ll give you one too.”
“I don’t need it, thank you!”
That’s when it happened.
Thud, thud, thud!
The sound of rough footsteps was heard. Having seen something outside, people stirred.
And then.
Bang!
“Lee Geon! Are you here!”
The door was violently thrown open.
(Continues in the next episode)