The Return of the Disaster-Class Hero-Novel

Book 1, Epilogue 8 - First Love (3)

Stevens was looking at a madman. No, that person was beyond mad.

“Ahhk!! I’m going to die! I’ll really die! Don’t do it!” Stevens was frightened by the pond filled with boiling lava.

When Stevens did everything he could to avoid going into the lava, Lee Gun furrowed his brows.

“What the hell? Do apostles die if they are dunked in lava?”

“Of course!? Any human would die if you do that!?”

All the apostles that Lee Gun had encountered at Jordan’s marketplace had become his prisoners. The first to be tormented was Stevens.

Since this region had been invaded by monsters, lava ponds of mysterious origin had formed all over here. They were akin to puddles formed after rain.

Of course, these lava ponds couldn’t be compared to puddles. At the very least, they were deep and wide enough to submerge one or two people.

Stevens was in danger of falling into the lava.

“What the hell? I wanted to boil the apostles in the lava to extract magical energy. If what you’re saying is true, you guys are completely useless.”

“Why the hell do you want to boil someone? Why?”

“I’m doing that because he’s fine?”

“!”

Stevens was shocked when he followed Lee Gun’s gaze.

Hugo was letting out a bright smile as he took a bath in the lava. He seemed to be enjoying his lava bath. “It’s great. It’s warm, Stevens-nim. You should hurry up and come in too.”

“No, your face is burning! Your hair is catching fire! Hurry up and get out of there!”

“I can’t. Teacher told me to get in here.”

“Your teacher is a crazy bastard!”

“All words spoken by my teacher are correct.”

“What the hell did he witness that he turned out like this?!”

While Hugo might be the weakest among them, he wasn’t a dope of this magnitude. He wasn’t a fanatic!

Stevens was dumbfounded, but Lee Gun didn’t care. The thirteenth was satisfied to see the light of the Zodiac emanate from the lava.

‘As expected, the Zodiacs send all kinds of stuff to their apostles when the apostles are in great danger.’

Lee Gun smirked when he saw a variety of protection items float around the lava. Since he didn’t have a Zodiac, he was penniless. He possessed no equipment or items.

This was why he planned on tormenting the apostles so that he could steal items from them.

Lee Gun quickly took up a stick with a net attached to it and fished out the equipment. “Ha ha ha! What a catch! I’ll be able to hunt for a month with this! There is a reason I refer to you as my wallet!”

Stevens seethed when he learned Lee Gun’s evil laugh.

Hugo was the apostle of the god of the sun. He had high fire resistance. It was why he dared to take a bath in the lava.

“See! That bastard is using you!” Stevens said.

“Ha ha ha. It doesn’t matter what Teacher says. He’s always right.”

Stevens decided to drop the subject. He was about to run away when he glanced next to Lee Gun.

“I wonder if gods will die if the apostles are killed.”

Stevens saw an enormous slime next to Lee Gun trying to eat the unconscious Hailey. The Leo Saint screamed when he realized he could see only Hailey’s head. “Ahhk! I wondered where she went! Hey! I’ll kill you if you lay a hand on Hailey!”

“What the hell? Do you perhaps like this person? It seems you’re a romantic at heart.”

“Shut up! You are a vicious thief!”

At that moment, Hugo cheekily shouted, “Teacher! Stevens-nim’s sense of smell is his weakness! You can incapacitate him just by using smell!”

“Damn it! Hey, squirt gun! Whose side are you on?”

“Ah! Hailey-nim should have a stimulant mixed with poison for this reason…! That’ll put him down!”

“Fuck off! Do you really think Hailey will sell out her comrade?”

At that moment…

“?!”

Hailey, who had been pretending to be dead, discreetly took out the bottle of poison. It was the poison specifically made for Leo.

Stevens knew this as well, so he had a mental breakdown. “H-Hailey?!!”

“What the hell? You were awake?” Lee Gun stared at Hailey.

Despite her actions, she still pretended to be dead. The only difference was that she was letting out a cold sweat.

Lee Gun approached Hailey. He was already puzzled because of the familiar scent coming from her. Although he couldn’t place it through his memories, he knew this scent steadied him greatly.

However, Hailey fainted as soon as he approached her.

‘Is she sick?’

In the end, Lee Gun tapped Hailey’s shoulder. “Hey, are you listening to me?”

Hailey refused to raise her head and pretended to be dead. She had no plans on matching eyes with him.

This made Lee Gun pout.

‘Is it my face again?’

She didn’t want to see his face at all. Of course, his face had indeed become monstrous. After being awakened, he had surprised many people with his face. It was bad enough that people thought that he was a monster that had escaped from a haunted house.

Well, it didn’t matter.

Kwah-jeek!

Lee Gun stepped on Stevens. “Whatever. Let me ask you a question.”

“Kuhk! Bastard… How dare you… Kuh-huhk!”

Lee Gun glared at him. “In the Seoul invasion from half a year ago, you were scheduled to go there, right?”

“…!”

Stevens’s face froze at the unexpected question. He should have expected it since the thirteenth had awakened during the invasion of Seoul. Of course, they had no idea what had caused his change, but…

‘Is that why he’s hostile toward us…!’

Stevens might be simple-minded, but he wasn’t dumb. It was as he had expected.

“You guys told people to wait for you. Tens of thousands of people waited for you. Why didn’t you come? Your actions caused so many deaths.”

‘As expected, he was one of the civilians there.’

Stevens quickly yelled, “It isn’t that we didn’t go! We couldn’t! When we reached the halfway point, monsters clogged the roads— Kuhk!”

“People donated to you guys so that you could teleport. Why didn’t you use teleportation at that time?”

“The teleportation wouldn’t work!!”

Lee Gun contemptuously smirked. It was a sadistic smile. “Then why did you save the rich people?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the rich people in the neighboring country. You said it’s easier to make money by killing monsters in the Caution group in the neighboring country.”

Hugo was shocked. “Stevens-nim! Did you really do that?!”

“No way! I continued to kill monsters at the entrance to Seoul! The business with the neighboring country was carried out by the Cancer temple! I know nothing about that!”

“Cancer temple?” Lee Gun furrowed his brows. Were they the disciples that looked like beggars?

Stevens didn’t care as he showed hostility toward Lee Gun. He ground his teeth. “Anyway, don’t let it get to your head because that idiot took you in as his teacher! We won’t acknowledge your presence! Right, girl from the Virgo temple?”

“Shut up!! Fuck off! I’ll turn all the disciples into eunuchs!”

“Why the hell is she being like this??”

At that moment, Hailey, who had been pretending to be dead, flinched. A large earthquake hit the city, and the city’s buildings fell.

Koo-goo-goo-goong!!

Everyone looked outside in surprise.

The epicenter of the earthquake was a government building. Monsters had suddenly appeared there, and they violently roared as they destroyed the city.

“Ahhhk! The kingdom is under attack!”

“Our king…!”

“Ahhhh! Save us!”

The monsters were destroying not just the government buildings. They also destroyed the buildings where the king resided. It truly was pandemonium.

Thankfully, the Zodiac Saints were present in the city, so they arrived at the epicenter. Of course, Lee Gun was the first one to move when he felt the earthquake. The rest of the Zodiac Saints were able to come only because Hugo had let them go.

Stevens and Kevin huffed in anger when they finally caught up to Lee Gun.

“Why the hell is this bastard so fast?”

“Where is he? I’ll cut open that bastard!!”

“Where did he go—”

At that moment, something suddenly fell from the sky.

Kwah-jee-jee-jeek!!

“?!”

It was the head of a monster that was as big as a building.

This surprised them. The monster’s head had been cut off way too clearly.

“W-Who can do such a…”

Hugo immediately cheered. “Who else? My teacher did it!”

“What? That bastard killed this monster?”

Kevin and Stevens were in disbelief. There was no way it could be true.

“What kind of psycho would take on such a large…”

“I’m telling the truth! There is a reason I consider him my teacher! If I learn battle techniques from Teacher, I’ll be able to stop being the absolute last—”

“Hey, what did you just say?”

“…!?”

A menacing voice that was as cold as ice rang behind Hugo. As Hugo whipped his head around in surprise, Lee Gun roughly squeezed his neck. “You said you wanted to learn the techniques to save people. So what is this? You merely want to get out of being last?”

“!!”

“How dare you lie to me?”

“N…No! It isn’t like that…!”

Lee Gun looked angrier than ever before. He roughly pushed Hugo away. “It’s fine. Buzz off! Never call me Teacher again. If you show your face again in front of me, you’re dead.”

Lee Gun seemed to feel betrayed. He was glaring at Hugo when…

“Ah! Stop it! These monsters aren’t yours to kill!!”

“!”

A group of men ran toward them. Everyone was surprised to see them.

These men were wearing suits, and they looked to be from the government.

“Prime Minister of Jordan?”

The men quickly tried to make Lee Gun’s party leave.

“We already called in the strongest weapon. You will bring us misfortune if you touch them!”

“Strongest weapon?”

Lee Gun scrunched up his face, but unlike him, Stevens did a double-take. “Are you talking about the witch of the east?”

The Gemini Saint Heiji was one of the four apostles who had reached level five. Among the apostles, only she could be called the strongest weapon.

She truly was a living weapon that possessed the world’s most powerful destructive capability.

“What? Those monsters aren’t a big deal to me.”

“!”

A beautiful woman with long hair appeared in the sky. She had a high-voltage smile as she floated. This woman was the strongest weapon of humanity—the witch of the east.

She was an absolute beauty with a sleek look. It was like looking at the top actress in China.

She boasted of having the strongest firepower among the twelve Zodiac Saints. The magician of destruction activated her magic circle.

“I’ll be taking care of the prey here.” Heiji let out a bewitching laugh as she flicked her finger. She used her Fairy King as a medium to activate a powerful magic of destruction.

Koo-goo-goohng!!

Flaming meteors fell from the sky.

As they felt the incredible impact, the politicians who had called her cheered.

“As expected of the strongest weapon, she is on another level than the mercenaries of the other temples— Uh?”

However, their faces turned pale from fright. Heiji’s attack hadn’t worked at all against the monster.

“W-What the hell? Why is it unhurt?”

Heiji was also taken aback. “My attack failed on that monster… What’s going on?!”

“What the hell? Some crazy lady interfered with my work, yet she can’t even scratch it?”

Kevin looked on in shock.

Stevens was surprised as well.

‘She can destroy a country with one attack, yet her attack failed against that monster?’

Heiji kept attacking the turtle-like monster, but it just made the monster destroy the city more violently.

Hailey, who had been watching from the side, was about to step forward when…

Hweek

“!!”

Kevin, Stevens, Hailey, Hugo, and Heiji couldn’t believe their eyes. This was also true for the prime minister, who had invited Heiji.

Like a flying squirrel, Lee Gun surged upward and landed atop the turtle’s head like a feather. Then he swung Heaven’s Punishment and bisected the turtle.

Kwah-gwa-gwa-gwahng!!!

Every single movement of his was inhuman.

This was the incident where the name “Lee Gun” became known to the world for the first time.

The reporters had even forgotten to trigger their cameras.

The Zodiac Saints who had seen it with their own eyes were unable to close their mouths.

“Crazy bastard…”

Stevens, who had refused to acknowledge Lee Gun, had his gaze stolen by him.

This was Hailey’s first time seeing Lee Gun fight, so her face turned red.

“Wow… That hyung is so cool. I might fall for him.”

“He isn’t too bad. I want him to be mine.”

“…!”

Unfortunately, Kevin and the Gemini Saint had also fallen for Lee Gun, so Hailey had to immediately raise her guard.

The Gemini Saint approached Lee Gun.

“I want dibs on him.”

Hailey became desperate.