Chapter 103 - I Do Have Disciples? (2)

제103화. 나도 성도 있거든? (2)

“Look at this! It says, ‘Dear Lee Gun-nim, whom I adore.’” 

Lee Gun took the envelope from Hugo. He cackled as he read the words on it. Then, he took out the letter inside the envelope. “Oh! Your wife has pretty handwriting.”

Hugo raged. “Hey, give it back! I received only a couple of handwritten letters from her, so why should you get one?”

Lee Gun ignored him. “Also, the letter is ten pages long.”

“What?! You got ten pages? The longest letter I received from her had three pages!” Hugo extended his hand, saying he was going to burn the letter. However, he couldn’t reach it.

Lee Gun turned around and read aloud the content with a straight face. “You’re always like the sun! You’re the greatest in this world, Lee Gun-nim! I worry that I’m being rude by suddenly contacting you like this, but I wanted to thank you!”

“Don’t read it! Who the hell are you to receive such a letter from her? Burn it right now!” The enraged Hugo created a flame, but Lee Gun immediately kicked him.

“You want to die? Why are you trying to touch my fan letter?”

Lee Gun told his friend to know his place and not bother him. Then, he quickly read the rest of the letter.

The letter was a heartfelt thank you to him. Chun Jiwoo first talked about being grateful to Lee Gun as he had rescued her and her husband’s disciples. She also thanked and apologized to him for having to protect her two children.

The second half of the letter talked about her worry for Lee Gun. She thanked and apologized for affairs related to her husband. It seemed she had heard various stories from her daughter and son.

People said that one could guess someone’s personality by seeing their writing. Lee Gun found it almost unbelievable that someone like Chun Jiwoo was the wife of his friend. 

She didn’t want to be a bother, so she had tried to keep her feelings neat and proper. However, hiding one’s fandom was impossible in the end. Although Chun Jiwoo’s words were respectful and plain, one could feel that she was almost delirious from being happy. It was obvious.

If she had it her way, she probably wanted to say that she liked Lee Gun-nim. However, it felt as if she was holding back on that desire.

‘Well, I noticed it when all the pictures from the dates were taken in front of my museum.’

Of course, Hugo obstinately denied the fact that his wife was a Lee Gun fan. He angrily said, “Hand it over! I said, hand it over to me, you bastard!”

Lee Gun pretended to not hear anything. He raised the letter as he read it out loud. “Ah! Lee Gun-nim! Lee Gun-nim is my ideal type!”

When Hugo realized that Lee Gun was saying out loud the letter’s content, his eyes flashed. “Are you playing with me? I bet you are making shit up right now!”

Hugo fumed as he said his wife would never write such words. 

Lee Gun nonchalantly replied, “Don’t worry! She mentions you at the end. The passage is quite long.”

Hugo’s face brightened. “What? She talks about me? It’s long?” 

He smoothened his jacket as if to say that he had expected this. The corners of his mouth lifted as well. “Jeez! Jiwoo is probably praising me. I told her not to do that in front of people, but… What did she write? I bet she said I’m a wonderful husband…”

“‘I’m sorry for my idiot husband, who always causes trouble for Lee Gun-nim.’”

“…?!” Hugo froze.

“‘My husband is indecisive, and he still lacks self-discipline. He’s very lacking compared to the amazing Lee Gun-nim, but please do not cast him away! Please look after him! However, if you think he won’t be of any help, please throw him away immediately.’ 

“She said I should throw you away if you make a mistake.”

As if a dagger had pierced him, Hugo despaired. “Throw… Throw me away….”

It seemed he had taken serious damage. However, that wasn’t the end. 

Lee Gun grinned as he read the last page of the letter. Then he showed it to Hugo.

Hugo wondered what Lee Gun would bring out this time to torture him. However, his eyes turned round when he saw the page Lee Gun pushed forward. His reaction was inevitable.

[I love you♡]

“?!!” Hugo screamed. He immediately took up his phone and made a call.

This made Lee Gun cackle. In truth, the original text was [I have been your fan for a very long time, Lee Gun-nim. I admire you, and I love you♡]. Lee Gun had covered the initial part of the sentence with his hand so that Hugo could see only the “I love you” part.

In truth, the letter revealed Chun Jiwoo’s true love and worry for Hugo, but it also revealed gratitude toward Lee Gun. It was a feel-good letter.

Well, that didn’t matter.

“S-Saint-nim! What are you doing right now!” Goat, who stood next to the raging Hugo, became alarmed. “Why are you ordering ten thousand flowers?”

“I’m sending them to Jiwoo’s hospital room!”

“What? You… You have more important things to do! We have to discuss the rare-type monsters for the safety of the world—”

“This is more important!”

“Saint-nim, you can’t! You can’t order ten thousand flowers! You have to leave behind enough for our living expenses…”

“We’ll just starve!”

“What?!” Goat was having a hard time trying to stop his Saint, who had flipped his lid.

On the other hand, Lee Jaewon nonchalantly told Hugo which type of flowers was pretty. He helped Hugo choose them.

At that moment…

“So what happened to the task I assigned you guys?”

“!”

The look in Lee Jaewon’s eyes changed. Goat, who had been trying to hold back Hugo, had a similar reaction.

Soon, Lee Jaewon spoke. “Red Eye’s neck, which had been displayed at the stadium, had already been stolen.”

Lee Gun laughed as if he found this interesting. “Is that so?”

“Yes. We brought whatever was left over, but…”

Lee Gun laughed as he took the object from Lee Jaewon.

[Red Eye’s Scale]

- A part of Red Eye. A small amount of data still exists. 

The corners of Lee Gun’s mouth lifted. He wondered whether he could acquire larger data if he found a bigger part.

Was it because the thief had touched it? Normally, Lee Gun was unable to extract data from a corpse, yet he was gaining data right now. It was a gain in his favor.

He had no idea why someone would take Red Eye’s neck, and he was also interested in the stolen part. Red Eye’s data would be something special, after all. 

“What about the item I asked for?”

“Yes. I found it in the Leo Saint’s waiting room. It’s the item that you spoke about. I stole it.”

These words surprised the Leo disciples. How dare this man steal something from their Saint’s waiting room!

As if to answer their question, Lee Jaewon let out a sharp laugh. “As Lee Gun-nim had expected, the Leo Saint brought many of these items.”

“He brought a satchel full of them to the stadium.” Goat opened his wooden tablet.

[Genius Workshop’s Wooden Tablet (S)]

Along with a light, a large bundle appeared on the wooden tablet, startling the Leo disciples.

‘That’s…!’

The bundle contained all the Lee Gun items that the Leo Saint had gathered. Moreover, these Leo disciples had been in charge of transporting this cargo. They knew how rare and important the items inside the cargo were. Therefore, their faces turned pale.

‘Shit! All hell will break loose if those items are found absent!’

The Leo disciples wondered how those items had been stolen, but they realized their mistake when they saw the culprits.

‘Goat and Lee Jaewon…!’

Both men were top talents. It was almost considered a shame that the two of them were part of the Archer temple.

The missionaries had a top-fifty list of the people they wanted to convert. These two men were part of that list.

‘The Leo Saint once got embarrassed trying to scout the Archer disciples.’

The same Archer disciples who had put on an air of importance were openly sidling up to Lee Gun?

The Leo disciples wanted to say something regarding that when…

Crash! Crash!

“Ahk! Lee Gun-nim!”

The Leo disciples screamed.

As Lee Gun checked the items within the satchel, he got angry. “Ah! That son of a bitch gathered all kinds of things.”

“?!”

It seemed the Leo Saint had believed he could win against Lee Gun in the match if he brought Lee Gun’s items. That had been a faint hope of his.

‘Looks like he wanted to make a deal with these items.’

If money didn’t work, the Leo Saint had brought these items as a last resort.

“Why does this bastard have my chamber pot?”

Crash!

“Ahk! That white porcelain was worth a hundred million dollars!”

These were items Stevens had scrounged up as he visited wealthy individuals. Of course, he didn’t give up these precious and expensive items even until the end.

However, Lee Gun didn’t care. He ruthlessly destroyed all of them.

Crash! Crash!

‘!’

It seemed even Lee Gun felt embarrassed by the items that he had made long ago. He was still ruthlessly destroying them when he started laughing.

“Ah! Found it.” Lee Gun picked up a container made of bamboo.

Lee Gun had a good list of the items the Leo Saint had bought through the auctions. Therefore, when he heard Stevens had come to the stadium with a lot of luggage, he had hoped this item would be there.

‘Bingo!’

Lee Gun shook the container and heard the sloshing of a liquid. A lot of the liquid had evaporated, but a decent amount remained in the container.

[Blood of a Great Demon that cannot tell a lie]

‘I can activate the fountain pen with this.’

[A Wooden Fountain Pen that cannot write lies]

- It can never write a lie.

Lee Gun had made this item during his early days, so he might not have purified the energy of the monster. Or maybe it was because the monster had been very evil.

Like all the mutated items that he had created, using this one came with a risk. The risk was so large that Lee Gun didn’t like to use this item. 

At this point, he used it only when he was dealing with a Saint. Why?

[Did you not know that? The one to stab you in the small of your back was the Virgo Saint.]

In other words, this item was a lie detector. Of course, he could just get rid of all the Saints, but that would cause problems since he was still unaware of some information.

Hugo, who knew what the bamboo container was, whispered to Lee Gun while looking at Kevin, “You think he’s the culprit?”

“No! The culprit is the Libra Saint.”

“What?”

Lee Gun let out a cold laugh. “I said I was stabbed in the back, but I never said I was stabbed in the small of my back”

“…!”

Yes, the precise location where Lee Gun had been stabbed was near the small of his back. Only the culprit would know the exact location.

However, this didn’t mean Lee Gun could assume the Libra Saint was the only one involved in this matter. It might not just be the Saints. The unknown civilization could be involved in the plot as well.

‘Or maybe….’ Lee Gun glanced at the mark of the Leo engraved on the stadium. It was the mark that symbolized a Zodiac.

Lee Gun’s snake eyes flashed. What thought had crossed his mind at that moment?

‘First, I have to do this.’

Lee Gun took out the fountain pen and dipped its tip inside the bamboo container. Surprisingly, the fountain pen sucked in the ink and emitted a light. 

At the same time, Lee Gun heard a voice.

[The Wooden Fountain Pen, which has been asleep until now, is starting to evolve after receiving the Serpent Bearer’s energy!]

[The Serpent Bearer’s energy is purifying the evil energy.]

[The risk involved with using the item has significantly gone down.]

[You can give the item to your secretary.]

After the pen was recharged, Lee Gun wrote something inside his pocketbook. Then, he ripped a page out for Hugo and Kevin. “Take it.”

“??”

The two Saints took the paper with surprise. It was a questionnaire. The expressions on the faces of two Saints were a sight to behold. Why?

[Q. What do you think about Lee Gun?]

[Q. What do you want to do about Lee Gun?]

“What the hell is this?”

“What do you mean? Answer it.”

Both men wondered why Lee Gun was suddenly giving them this questionnaire.

As for Lee Gun, he just let out a bright smile as he gave them the fountain pen. “I want you guys to answer the questions using this”

“…?”

Dumbfounded, the Saints took the fountain pen from Lee Gun.

The corners of Lee Gun’s mouth lifted when he saw this. ‘After these guys, the Scorpio Saint is next.’

Lee Gun planned to ask people general questions about their feelings toward him. It would allow him to differentiate between allies and foes.

At that moment, Chun Yooha’s face brightened as she checked something on her phone.

Dusting off his hands, Lee Gun said, “Alright! We’ll travel up north tonight.”

These words puzzled Hugo. It was to be expected. Their original plan had been to go west, then push toward Toronto. Other locations were dangerous thanks to the Scorpio Saint’s forests.

“North from here would be….” Hugo’s face crumpled when he tried to guess where they were headed. It seemed he realized Lee Gun’s wicked intentions. “Hey! That’s where the hospital is!”

“What? The hospital is right in front of the Scorpio Saint’s holy ground. Sungjae is there too.”

Lee Gun had planned on meeting up with Sungjae during the trip. He had a problem related to the Serpent Bearer.

[Disciple Mission]

- Give formal baptism to your disciples.

- You will be able to grant them baptized names.

- Once you grant them baptized names, your disciples will awaken their innate skills.

- Without formal baptism, your disciples’ abilities will be limited.

Lee Gun laughed when he read this. ‘I have to nominate a Saint too. I have a lot to do.’

Of course, it assumed that he could make the faith of the kidnapped(?) Leo disciples reach 100%.

In any case, he had to go to the hospital so that Sungjae could go through a formal awakening. Of course, that wasn’t his true goal in going to the hospital.

“What does your wife like?”

Really! At that moment…

“!”

[Your disciple’s contribution has increased.]

[The holy ground’s EXP has increased.]

[A secretary has appeared.]

[Disciple 1 is in danger]