CH 321

That day, there was heavy rain. Lee Gun picked up a cat in front of his house. It was a baby kitten covered in blood. Its entire body was broken, and its face had an especially nasty burn wound.

“My god! Kitty… Where did you hurt yourself like this?”

Of course, the kitten had been Hailey, who had lost her power. 

But there was no way Lee Gun would have known this. At the time, Lee Gun had just left the orphanage and had been living by himself. He was still a student, so he didn’t have much money.

Yet, he had taken the kitten to the vet and taken care of it with all his heart.

“I want you to heal quickly. Oppa will take you somewhere nice, and we can go play.”

It had taken quite a long time.

“It’s cold. Why are you outside? Come here. You can sleep with Oppa.”

Yeonwoo and Junwoo had still been living in an orphanage, and they knew about the existence of the cat. They knew Lee Gun dearly loved his cat. This was why Lee Gun had been very sad when the cat had suddenly disappeared. The two of them had been equally sad as Lee Gun. 

Of course, a young girl with a burn mark in the same location as the one on that cat had shown up in front of Lee Gun. At the time, Lee Gun had no idea who the girl was. She had merely shown him her face.

***

Back to the present.

Hailey opened her eyes and saw Lee Gun gently touching her face.

“You’re all healed.”

“…!”

Hailey was overjoyed. It was to be expected since she saw Lee Gun as soon as she opened her eyes! Moreover, it was a dream where Lee Gun was gently petting her!

It really was the best of dreams…

Dream….

Dream?

“??!!?!”

When Hailey came to her senses, she almost screamed. It wasn’t a dream. Lee Gun was stroking her face. However, she didn’t have the opportunity to scream.

“I looked for you for a very long time. I’m glad. You became pretty.” Lee Gun gently rubbed her face and forehead as if he were petting a cat. 

Hailey’s face turned red. He was close.  Lee Gun was unnecessarily close, and his lips were that much closer. She was at her limits.

[P-Princess?!!]

Hailey once again lost consciousness.

The sound of her head hitting the ground was quite loud, so her subordinates cried out in despair.

[Princesssss!!!]

Lee Gun was also surprised. He was very taken aback because he had reigned in Life to save Hailey.

“Shit! Is Life making trouble again?” He criticized Life for already causing trouble, and Life seemed to feel aggrieved.

It had to do with the fact that he had consumed energy to the extreme when he used the power of Cycle on Time.

The effects of the power going berserk had temporarily died down, but Life once again started to move violently. It caused cries to erupt from all directions.

On the other hand, the Zodiac Saints couldn’t close their mouths when they saw Hailey live again. The Chun siblings didn’t care about that. They clung to Lee Gun as they wailed in joy.

“Ah…!!”

At that moment, the nearby disciples were surprised. Phantom beings gathered in front of Lee Gun.

“They are…!”

They were none other than the Constructs of the original Serpent Bearer, who used to be called the strongest god.

[The Constructs of the older Serpent Bearer temple feel the presence of their owner. They are approaching you.]

[As the empty seat of the Serpent Bearer has been filled again, the other old servants are crying out in joy.]

[The older servants want to meet their master.]

All of them came close to Lee Gun before they took a knee. Of course, these weren’t their true bodies.

After the death of the thirteenth original owner, most of these Constructs had forcefully been taken by the other Zodiacs. They were here secretly as they avoided surveillance from the Zodiacs.

[We cannot see you in our true forms, yet we are fortunate enough to see your face before we die.]

[We want to become a source of power for the Serpent Bearer like before, but we cannot escape the owners that hold us. We cannot stay here too long.]

They were able to send their clones when they felt the danger to the Serpent Bearer and their original temple. The Constructs ceaselessly shed tears.

[We can no longer be with you, but we will always help whenever needed.]

[Please keep your exalted body safe until the day we meet again.]

Lee Gun nodded as he looked at them. “Alright. Thank you.”

The Constructs wailed in joy at those words, then they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The only one left was the leader of Eeny, Meeny, and Miny. He was the one that had been imprisoned by the Gemini temple. It was a giant with a copious amount of white fur, a god that looked like a yeti.

[The White god of Light is happy to finally meet the Serpent Bearer.]

[It is very sorry for sending subordinates that weren’t of big help to the Serpent Bearer.]

[It promises to pledge loyalty to the new Serpent Bearer.]

Lee Gun nodded at the notification. “Alright. I will allow it.”

Accompanying a massive light, the furry god’s appearance changed. It turned into a gorgeous and powerful woman.

[Chief Gatekeeper of the Serpent Bearer temple (Heimdall) - (Highest rank)]

[God of Light (Highest rank) has become the Construct of the Serpent Bearer.]

[It has the spec to be put in the seat of the Royal Construct (directly under the Zodiac). Will you place it there?]

“No. I have someone else I have to place there first.”

Was it because of the faith and the fact that the existence of Time had been completely disassembled?

[You have satisfied the condition.]

[You have become the only god of the earth.]

[You have become the Zodiac of district Earth.]

[The earth has been designated as the holy ground of the Serpent Bearer.]

[Will you give a name to district Earth?]

Lee Gun picked at his ear as if he found the task annoying. “My land.”

[The earth has been changed to “My Land.”]

[Heroes can be grown into Constructs, and you can challenge outside holy grounds.]

[In the same vein, the Zodiacs ruling over other places may show interest toward the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground…]

Lee Gun didn’t find this important, so he surveyed his surroundings once again. He had brought back Hailey. The ones left were Yeonwoo and Hugo. Before he did that…

“Come here, Hugo.”

Hugo wailed in joy when Lee Gun called for him. “My ears didn’t deceive me! Teacher called me by my name again!”

The Zodiac Saints, who had been putting things in order, shook their heads from side to side when they saw this. At some point, Hugo had stopped being a Lee Gun fanboy, so they had forgotten about it.  However, the Hugo who they remembered had always been like that.

On the other hand, Virgo fell into her own thoughts when she saw this. It was to be expected since Lee Gun had united the temples and become the one and only god of the earth.

Suddenly, she had a thought.

‘Maybe, the Serpent Bearer planned all of this.’

She was referring to the thirteenth original owner. He was reputed to be one of the strongest gods in the Divine world, called one of the cornerstones of the Divine world.

He had been a magic-type Zodiac, unlike Lee Gun, who was outstanding in his fighting abilities. Still, even the great spirits were afraid of him.

Yet he was a kind god who treasured his Constructs. Other gods’ Constructs were usually treated like slaves, so the Constructs of the thirteenth original owner had willingly followed after him.

However, Virgo remembered the day of the usurping. When Virgo had told the thirteenth original owner to run away, he had laughed as he spoke.

“No. This is enough.”

“What?”

“They are the underhanded usurpers. With this, my revenge is done.”

“…!”

Yes, his comrades had been murdered by their Constructs, and he was dying as well. Yet he was laughing. He acted as if the original owners deserved to die.

That smile had bugged Virgo for the longest time, and it was the reason she had kept an eye on the Serpent Bearer. In the end, she could only come to one conclusion.

‘Could the Serpent Bearer have….’

However, such thoughts lasted only a moment.

“Ahhk!! Teacher!!”

Hugo, who had been ecstatic at his name being called, screamed. It was time for Lee Gun to send him back to the time he belonged to.

[You are using Time’s data]

[Time Travel (1 turn)]

Lee Gun broke the black gem. It was one of the countless pieces of data that he had acquired by killing the young Time.

Of course, it couldn’t perform amazing abilities since it was the data of young Time. However, it was capable of sending Hugo back to his original time. 

“Ahhhk!!”

An enormous light swept up Hugo.

At that moment, Lee Gun grabbed Hugo’s forehead.

“T…Teacher?”

“Farewell! Say hi to the version of me that is there. Tell him to hang in there.”

“What?!”

“Ah. I guess it doesn’t matter since you won’t remember this?”

“What?! What are you saying?”

Instead of answering, Lee Gun used the ability of Oblivion. This Hugo was from the 18,733th world, the world where Lee Gun existed. It meant this was Hugo from Lee Gun’s past.

Basically, if this Hugo remembered what had happened, the future would change. This was what Lee Gun had planned to do in the first place.

[Oblivion will be used to erase the memories related to this timeline]

Hugo screamed as he disappeared into the gate of Time.

After Hugo disappeared, Lee Gun suddenly shouted in surprise. “Ah!”

The Zodiac Saints were shocked since it was rare for Lee Gun to scream.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Shit! I forgot to Oblivion his faith…”

“What?!”

“Since he doesn’t have any memories of this, I guess faith shouldn’t matter too much.”

“Hey! That’s the most important part?!”

At that moment…

“Koohk…!”

“Uncle!”

Lee Gun was about to say something when he fell. He clutched at his heart. It seemed just maintaining stage 6, the berserk stage, was a problem.

[Warning! The ring of Order has reached its limit.]

[Stage 6 Divine statuses are trying to take the life of their owner.]

[Death has to be chosen so that Life can be killed.]

Lee Gun furrowed his brows as he dismissed those words. To revive the two, he had to maintain stage 6 even if it was painful.

Lee Gun quickly gestured with his hand, making the slime suddenly appear from an unknown location.

“Hurry… Take out Yeonwoo and Taeksoo!”

Then…

“Kuhk!!”

“Lee Gun!”

Lee Gun was as tired as he could be. He vomited blood as he fell over. He had indeed spent a lot of power getting rid of Time, but he also hadn’t slept since his Divine statuses had reached stage 6.

Despite possessing the ring of Order, he couldn’t control stage 6 while he was asleep. And in such a state, he had to kill Time over 18,000 times, while using the power of Cycle. There was no way he would have enough stamina left.

[You cannot control your Divine statuses.]

[The Divine statuses stage 6 are destroying the body of the Serpent Bearer.]

Lee Gun lost consciousness. 

When the person suppressing them lost consciousness, Life and Death went berserk.

“Shit!”

Chun Yooha and Chun Sungjae quickly tried to suppress their respective Divine statuses when it happened…

Koo-goo-goong!

“!!”

They were surprised.

The stage 6 Divine statuses, which had been about to go berserk, suddenly disappeared.

“Uh? Where’s Lee Gun?”

Lee Gun was also gone.

* * *

“Wow!! Humanity won!”

“Lee Gun brought us to victory!”

The news of Lee Gun killing Time spread across the world, and the whole world was celebrating.

“We just have to get rid of the remaining remnants of the monsters!”

“We’ll do that in no time!”

“That’s for another time! Where is Lee Gun-nim?”

“We need an interview!”

The happy people diligently looked for Lee Gun. However, Lee Gun was somewhere else. He wasn’t on the earth.

[Gun.]

“Fuck off!”

[Gun.]

“Fuck off, Oh Taeksoo.”

[Gun~]

“??!!”

Lee Gun woke up in shock as he felt wind enter his ears. He was surprised at his surroundings. His surroundings looked like space.

‘Where is this place?’

However, something was more odd than his surroundings.

“…????”

Lee Gun was struck dumb by the person in front of him. A golden-haired, handsome man was standing in front of him.

‘This guy is the thirteenth original owner of the Serpent Bearer temple.’

There was a playful expression on his face, but his laughter was oddly arrogant.

Lee Gun bit his tongue.

‘Since Time was reverted to a point before his genesis, this guy must have appeared as Time was made from him.’

Lee Gun sighed as he got up. Since this being was the owner of Yeonwoo, he wasn’t an enemy, but… “I don't have time to meet you. I have people to revive right now….”

[You slept for a long time, my son.]

Lee Gun’s face instantly froze. What? What did this bastard say?