Sophie always thought that Lee Gun was never fit for her company. Lee Gun looked scary, but above all else, he thought of her as a thorn in his side. This was especially true when it came to matters related to Hugo.

Sophie had fallen in love with Hugo at first sight, and she had tried to hand him a lunchbox that she had worked very hard to make. But it all became useless.

“H-Hugo! This is a lunchbox. If you don’t mind, would you like to eat it?”

“Lunchbox? Uh… Ok. Thank—”

“Oh! Food? Awesome! I’ll eat it.”

“?!”

“G…Gun?!”

Lee Gun had stolen the lunchbox she had made for Hugo. Moreover, he had the audacity to throw it in the toilet, saying it tasted terrible.

‘Kyahhhhk! It took me all night to make that lunchbox!’

After that, Sophie had worked on the taste of her food before she tried giving it to Hugo. However, Lee Gun intercepted it again and threw it to the pigs.

Sophie had used so much money putting in nutritional supplements and herbal medicines each time she made a lunchbox.

“Kyahh! This wild ginseng will be great for fertilizer.”

Lee Gun had cackled as he mixed her medicinal herbs with excrement. He said it would make good fertilizer.

‘If he just ate it, I wouldn’t have said anything!’

That wasn’t all.

One time, when she was alone at the base camp with Hugo, she shyly gave Hugo a present. But this turned out to be useless too!

“Hugo, is today your birthday? Here is your present.”

“Uh. Uh? Present? Thank—”

“Kya kya kya! This will make good firewood!”

“Kyahhhhhhk!!!!”

Lee Gun had laughed like the devil as he took her present away and tossed it into the campfire. He had even broken the present into pieces in front of her eyes!

“Where did you get this firewood? You should tell me where to get it.”

“Lee Guuuuuuuuuun!!!”

“‘What? You’re a drug maker. I bet you put something in here.”

“W… What did you just say? You really want to do this, you bald— Kyahhhk!! What are you doing? Stop it! You’re going to pull out my hair!”

“How dare you call me bald! I still have some hair left! Also, do you think I’m unaware that you drugged this food?”

Lee Gun hated Sophie getting close to Hugo. It was to be expected. Sophie was a pharmacist capable of making any drug. The present she tried to give Hugo contained a drug that would make Hugo her love slave. Of course, half of the reason Lee Gun did it was that he liked tormenting Sophie.

Therefore, Sophie had a lot to say about Lee Gun’s character. Then, twenty years later…

“It’s fine. Let’s start after I hit you a couple of times.”

When she was reunited with Lee Gun at the holy item exchange market, Lee Gun had beaten her up. His filthy temper never changed.

Of course, she couldn’t say anything considering what they did to him 20 years ago.

* * *

Back to the present.

“Lee Gun! You’re here to rescue me!”

“Yes. I’m here to rescue you.”

The man’s smile moved Sophie. When she had fallen to the barren soils of the unknown civilization, she had starved. She had wondered if she would have to abandon her dignity as a human since she didn’t have anything to eat. Of course, she would be happy when someone said he had come to rescue her!

Lee Gun didn’t speak much about it, but at the end of the day, the thirteen awakened beings were comrades. Yes, she did commit some wrongs against him twenty years ago, but he had probably called it even when he had beaten her up last time.

They were also on the side of humanity as fellow humans, sharing a common enemy in the monsters. So, Lee Gun had probably come to give her a helping hand.

Contrary to her thoughts, however…

Poo-hahk! Poo-hahk! Poo-hahk!

“Kuhk…! Ggoo-ehhk! Ooh-geh-ehhk!!”

[You have activated the attribute of The Man Who Pounds on All Creation.]

[You have acquired data(Drug Manufacturing).]

[You have acquired data(Tears).]

…

[You have acquired data(Poison).]

Sophie roared as she was beaten up by Lee Gun once again. “Lee Guuuuuuuuun!”

She had just come out of the prison, and yet, she received this beating. Of course, this beating was less severe than the beating Lee Gun gave her at the holy item exchange market. 

Back then, his fist had anger behind them. Currently, he was going easy on her.

“Ah! What the hell? Why isn’t it coming out? One more time!”

“Kyahhhhk!”

Data didn’t come out of a corpse, so Lee Gun was purposefully controlling his power. But…

“Why are you doing this? You said you are here to rescue me!”

“That’s right. I’m here to acquire your data.”

“?!”

What the hell did he just say? Sophie had no choice but to scream.

As always, Lee Gun treated the Zodiac Saints as bugs, Hugo being the sole exception. There was no way he would act considerately toward the Zodiac Saints.

“Kuhk! Koo-heh-ehhhk!”

Although he was controlling his power, this didn’t mean Sophie didn’t feel pain. Moreover, she currently was maintaining a deeper than usual connection to her Zodiac because it was the only way she could survive.

[The Zodiac Saint and the Zodiac have a temporarily higher sympathetic link to each other.]

[She is connected strongly to her master.]

[Damage given to the Zodiac Saint has been transferred to her master.]

[You have acquired partial data of the Zodiac(God’s Beverage).]

[You have acquired partial data of the Zodiac(Chalice Fragment).]

[The Aquarius is shocked.]

It wasn’t as effective as when the Zodiac possessed the Zodiac Saint, but Lee Gun laughed at the blessing in disguise. “Hell yeah! Purify!”

Everyone watching him had their mind blown. This was true for the Zodiac Saints, who were watching the live broadcast on TV.

“Crazy bastard…” Stevens dropped the cup in his hands. “Did he forget that it’s being broadcast live…!”

After Stevens had exposed the truth, Lee Gun had threatened him. Lee Gun told him to write an autobiography. It was a form of punishment, and the autobiography would be used as an advertisement for Lee Gun.

[You should write only good things about me as you guys did for yourselves. I’m going to make everyone I spare do that. If I don’t like the book, you’re dead.]

Stevens had blown the whistle, but the story he told was shocking. For the past twenty years, the Libra temple, the Cancer temple, and anyone allied with them had maneuvered to sully Lee Gun’s image. It wasn’t something that could be fixed overnight.

Of course, the Virgo temple, the Scorpio temple, and the Sagittarius temple had tried to fix it, but a scheme devised by the Libra had foiled their efforts.

The Leo Saint and the neutral Zodiac Saints felt guilty, but they chose a path that would benefit their temples. The Zodiac Saints who felt jealous or had an inferiority complex toward Lee Gun overlooked what the other temples were doing.

Therefore, Stevens planned on doing his best to repent despite being threatened by Lee. 

- Kyahhhk! Saintess!

- What’s going on? Lee Gun is attacking the Saintess!

- S-Shouldn’t we stop him?

- W-We shouldn’t! There is no hesitation in his attack. That means she’s a fake saintess!

- Ah! I see! This is to be expected of the Zodiac Saint Lee Gun!

- He’s quickly getting rid of the fake to go and find the real Saintess…!

Fake, my ass! Stevens looked like he wanted to die as he massaged his face.

‘His temper is something.’

The Leo Saint felt the need to do a massive edit to the autobiography he was writing. His disciples, who were watching the TV with him, were shocked.

“S-Saint-nim… That….”

“She’s a fake. The Saintess must be a fake. It’s a monster, so its life or death doesn’t matter.”

“Uh… Lee Gun-nim just said right now that she is the Saintess…”

“You saw nothing! You didn’t see his crazy— Kuhk!!”

As if it was reacting to his words, Stevens’s left prosthetic arm slapped his cheek. It was saying how dare Stevens act as if its parent was empty air to be ignored.

[The angry Prosthetic Arm says it will charge a million dollars per hour.]

[The Prosthetic Arm angrily says to hurry up and give it.]

The Virgo Saint was also taken aback by the scene of Lee Gun beating up Sophie.

After becoming Lee Gun’s affiliate, Kevin was changing the facilities of the Virgo temple for the Serpent Bearer’s disciples under Lee Gun’s order. Lee Gun had said he would bring in a lot of disciples.

[Excuse me, Goddess… No! Servant of the Serpent Bearer. Are you sure that is alright?]

The Virgo Constructs were watching the news through the phone. They were breaking out in a sweat as they looked at Kevin.

[This is a live broadcast!!!]

[Shouldn’t we stop him!]

[He doesn’t care about his image at all!]

Kevin ignored it. “Whatever.”

[Also, he’s extracting data through his fists! Does that mean our master will also—]

“Let him take as much as he wants. If he gets something decent, maybe I’ll get one too.”

[Keviiiiiin!!]

Kevin turned his head as if the Saintess wasn’t important. “What about the Libra?”

Hearing those words, the Constructs looked in a certain direction. Unexpectedly, Carly was there too.

[The Libra…  No, that child said she found the location of Giselle.]

Yes, this group was in the south where the Libra’s base was located. Under Lee Gun’s order, Carly and Kevin were looking for the missing Giselle. Of course, why Lee Gun asked them to do that was unknown.

‘If my guess is correct, Lee Gun is aiming for a Zodiac’s Core like the one he got from the Cancer.’

At the same time, he was probably aiming for the Libra’s powerful Constructs. The Libra temple was ranked number one for a reason. It was thanks to the Four Royal Guardian Gods.

Lee Gun was probably aiming for them. His temple didn’t have one, but they were considered the highest-ranked gods amongst the Constructs.

They had been summoned at the Archer Saint’s holy ground for a short period, and Lee Gun probably coveted them. 

Of course, the eyes of the Virgo goddesses shone.  They said, ‘Baby snake-nim is trying to increase the class of his temple!’ and ‘Magical energy expands if there are more Constructs!’  

Kevin looked like he had bitten into a lemon.

‘That’s odd.  There is no way he’ll just use it as a familiar…’

Kevin remembered it clearly.

He remembered the look in Lee Gun’s eyes.  Lee Gun snickered as he told Kevin that he could borrow it if he wanted.  

‘That’s why he sent Carly with me since she was part of the Libra temple.’

Carly had written a cover letter and an entry letter, a hundred pages long. She was allowed to join the temple of the Serpent Bearer. Of course, Lee Gun’s expression said he never expected her to really write a hundred-page-long cover letter.

After getting accepted into the temple, Carly had immediately told Lee Gun that she wanted to be helpful to him and that she would bring back the Libra Constructs.

This was why Kevin and Carly had to join hands in searching for the Libra.

Back to the present.

Kevin furrowed his brows as he looked at Carly watching her phone in joy. “Hey, kid. We have no time to lose. Where is your Zodiac—”

“Wow! Lee Gun-nim! Amazing! He is so cool!”

Carly was moved by the scene of Lee Gun wreaking havoc.

This made Kevin angry. 

The Libra and the Virgo were ranked number one and two. They were enemies that fought over territories. Moreover, Carly was the commander of the Libra temple. Kevin had lost many disciples to Carly, so he didn’t have a good relationship with her.

“Girl! Hurry up and tell us the location of the Libra! Don’t interfere in Lee Gun’s matters!”

“Lee Gun-niiiiiiiim!!”

“Really!”

Was it the fault of Lee Gun’s video? Carly had forgotten about Kevin’s presence.

Therefore, Kevin planned to snatch the phone away from Carly. “You keep ignoring me—”

“As expected of fath— Lee Gun-nim! You’re amazing!”

“…?” For a moment, Kevin wondered if he had heard wrong. What did this kid say?

Fath…?

Father?

Fatherrrrrr????

* * *

The world was in turmoil as they watched Lee Gun work to extract the data. It was unclear if he knew the state of the world.

[Human! If you want the Saintess returned, you shouldn’t beat up the Saintess. Give us ten general-ranks and—]

“What the hell? Stop bothering me! Fuck off!”

[Kee-ehhhhhhk!!]

Lee Gun sliced up all the monsters that were trying to protect Sophie.

Sophie wailed when she saw this. “Monsters! Please last a little longer! Please kill him!”

She seemed to prefer captivity compared to being beaten by Lee Gun. “Monsters! Don’t die! Please!”

The disciples who had arrived to hold back Lee Gun were shocked.

“Why is she cheering on the monsters? Is she really a fake saintess?”

“I guess. There is no way Lee Gun-nim would act that way toward the real one.”

“W-What?”

“Hurry up, and kill the fake one!”

“Ahhhk! No! That isn’t it— Kyahhhk!”

Sophie screamed.

Lee Gun didn't pay any attention to them. He laughed as he approached Sophie. “How many SS-rank Purify did I get? One, two, three, four, five.”

It seemed the main course hadn’t come out yet.

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he grabbed Sophie’s shoulder. At that moment…

[You have acquired rare data.]

[Purify(SSS)]

Lee Gun clenched his fist when he finally got the notification he wanted.

“Great!”

Was it because he finally got it? As soon as Lee Gun pulled his fists back, Sophie screamed in sorrow. “It comes out even if you don’t hit me?!”

Of course, her sympathetic link to her Zodiac was high. She wasn’t hurt too badly thanks to her Zodiac’s blessing.

“You’re the devil! You should’ve taken out the ring from my stomach first! Is the data that important to you?” Sophie started to sob when her stomach hurt once again.

Lee Gun ignored her as he immediately used the skill.

[You have used the extracted data (Purify - SSS).]

[The core of Heaven’s Punishment is undergoing purification.]

Accompanying the notification, the Core in Lee Gun’s hand started emitting a light.

[It is very effective.]

[<Cancer>.  It is driving out the energy of the Star of Darkness.]

[Purify: 30% complete]

…

[Purify: 40% complete]

Lee Gun laughed. Then…

[Purify: 50% complete]

[The skill was successful.]

[The effect of Purify(SSS) (one-time) has ended.]

What the hell? It was a one-time use skill again? Lee Gun again turned toward Sophie.

Seeing those menacing eyes, Sophie wailed. “S-Stop! You can acquire it even if you don’t beat me up—”

Flash!

[The Aquarius requests a negotiation.]