The Return of the Disaster-Class Hero
chapter-40

[Let me ask one question]

[Who killed me?]

The reporters gathered in Korea were making a commotion. All this was due to the words discovered on Sophie’s back and the place where the Leo Saint had fallen.

“Were those words really written there?”

“Yes! It really said that.”

When the inspector confirmed it, unrest rose within the press conference.

This announcement had come from the Korean government. The Korean government had taken stewardship of Lee Gun’s possessions.

Aside from the Korean government, the wealthiest men around the world had also collected most of Lee Gun’s famous possessions. They refused to part with the items and show them for handwriting analysis. This was why the Korean government had to step in and conduct the analysis.

“The words were written in Korean, and the handwriting matched with all his past documents.”

Unrest descended once again. The government wouldn’t announce a false statement about this matter unless the people in charge had lost their minds.

However, something was even more shocking than the analysis.

“What about the message? What does it mean?”

The reporters were puzzled about the message left behind in Drachma.

“Who killed me…”

“It was said that Lee Gun-nim sacrificed himself to save the twelve Zodiacs…”

“That’s right. This was why the twelve Zodiacs received his inheritance.”

If this was really a message Lee Gun had sent out…

‘This is big news!’

It was the calm before the storm. The legend, which the public had believed for twenty years, was starting to falter.

***

At that moment in the simulation room…

“Uh, is this necessary?”

The disciples of the Archer Saint were surprised at the sight before them.

It was an archery field. Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary archery field.

[Large Practice Room] It was a practice field where disciples could practice fighting. Moreover, this field had a virtual simulation environment. The climate and location could be replicated from real locations. Whether one wanted the city, the ocean, the forest, or any other location, all of them could be simulated.

The power of a god had created this location. Even manifesting a monster was possible here. In this place, one could confirm one’s battle skills.

The ranking system was divided into weapons, fighting styles, and monsters. Currently, a rush of the ocean lay before the group, and the archery targets were placed in a location so far that they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.

Lee Gun and Hugo faced their respective targets with their bows in their hands.

“You don’t have to measure your skill against Lee Gun-nim…”

“The result will be a foregone conclusion”

“That’s right. It's obvious Lee Gun-nim will win.”

“What did you just say?” the surprised Hugo asked, but his underlings just laughed.

At the end of the day, they were fans of Lee Gun, but it seemed they weren’t being serious with their statement.

Lee Gun tried pulling back the bowstring and spoke, “Wow! This is a cheap move. You chose an event that showcases your best skill. Do you have any moral scruples?”

“Shut up! If you didn’t want this to happen, you shouldn't have said those words.”

That was right. This had started due to the sudden question thrown out by Hugo's son. Chun Sungjae had asked who was better with the bow, Lee Gun or his dad!

***

The question had surprised Hugo, but he had laughed. At the end of the day, he was the Archer Saint. Lee Gun was amazing, but Hugo was the better archer. The comparison shouldn’t have been made in the first place.

However, he didn’t expect the next statement.

Lee Gun said,"Some questions have obvious answers, Nephew. Your dad is the Archer Saint."

"Yes. That’s right. Gun is amazing, but—"

"Of course, I’m better with the bow!"Lee Gun finished his sentence.

"Hey!" The dumbfounded Hugo looked at Lee Gun.

Lee Gun just snorted. "What? I thought the Sagittarius is a god that relays the weather or something like that. Am I wrong?"

It wasn't even predicting the weather. The Sagittarius was known for observing the weather.

Thanks to Lee Gun’s provocation, the Archer Saint started emanating the magical energy of his god.

[You have hurt the pride of the Sagittarius.]

[The Saggitarius is all fired up.]

The next moment, something surprising happened.

[The Sagittarius has placed buffs on its contractee.]

[Increase Destructive Power]

[One thing after another is being placed on its contractee.]

[Increase Physical Ability]

[It is continuing to apply buffs.]

[Will, Focus, Aesthetic sense, Musical talent, Jumping ability, Fatigue recovery, Assassination skill, Agility… Stamina, Grip Strength, Cleaning ability, Singing ability, Show Off Beauty skill]

[The Saggitarius has ordered his Saint to take care of the one who insulted him.]

“…” Lee Gun cackled as buffs stacked on Hugo.

It seemed the Sagittarius was a petty and a difficult god. Lee Gun could somewhat guess what some of the abilities did by their names.

The Sagittarius was a frugal god with great ambition. It usually wanted a lot in return for anything it gave out. This was why Lee Gun's friend always lacked power. From that point of view, this was a big boon for Hugo.

[You have humiliated your opposing god.]

[You have earned a massive amount of Saint EXP.]

[You have influenced an opposing god(Saint rank)]

[You have acquired a characteristic.]

[Provoke +1]

[<Serpent Bearer> that provokes a god]

[The acquired characteristic determines the characteristic of the Serpent Bearer.]

[Depending on the characteristic, the Divine Skill to be created will be determined. The characteristic also determines the direction of the development of the Holy Ground.]

Lee Gun was fascinated. He wasn't sure what the voice meant, but it seemed like the voice was talking about the attributes of a god. In other words, accumulating attack-type characteristics would develop offensive skills, creating a battle-type god. If Lee Gun accumulated passive characteristics, he would develop defensive skills and become a defensive-type god.

‘The twelve Zodiacs appeared with their characteristics already set.’

***

In the present, Chun Sungjae pressed a button. “I’ll raise the targets.”

Kwahng!

Two targets randomly appeared atop the coastline. One was blue and the other was red. They were at a distance of a hundred meters from the group. However, Chun Sungjae and the spectators had to immediately cover their ears.

Kwahng!

“?!”

The blue target was destroyed, destroyed before it could fully set itself! The result appeared at the same time.

- 10 points.

- Perfect score.

Hugo’s underlings reared back in shock.

‘Saint-nim! He used too much power!’

‘It was only a hundred meters away!’

Hugo’s eyes flashed. Puffing up his chest, he looked toward his son. His son had his arms crossed, baffled at what his father had done.

Chun Sungjae had a sour expression on his face. “Hmmph! It's only a hundred meters. As an awakened being, that’s not—”

Suddenly!

Kwahng!

- 10 points.

- Perfect score.

When the red target was destroyed, it seemed as if Chun Sungjae's previous expression had never existed. “Wow, Uncle! You're amazing! It was a hundred meters!”

Hugo felt a surge of anger.

It didn’t take long for the next set of targets to appear.

- This time it's two hundred meters.

With zero hesitation, the arrows flew toward the center of their respective targets. Both targets were destroyed.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

“…!”

Then, it was three hundred meters, then five... Finally, the one-thousand-meter mark came.

Kwang! Kwahng!

Chun Sungjae was so impressed that tears appeared in his eyes. The reason for this was none other than Lee Gun, who was shooting arrows in front of him. “This must be a dream! I watched Lee Gun-nim shoot arrows five times!”

Hugo had quite the expression on his face as he watched his son cry. 'If he had seen Lee Gun catch Pixiu, he would've fainted.'

The underlings of Archer Saint were taken aback as well.

“I thought Lee Gun-nim didn’t use the bow during raids.”

“I’ve never heard of him using a bow and arrows before…”

Usually, in archery, disciples trained by battle Saints would experience their accuracy falling under forty percent when the target was at a distance of five hundred meters.

‘We have to receive buffs from the Archer Saint when we want to hit something one thousand meters away.’

Lee Gun laughed. He acted as if his accomplishments were no big deal. It was child’s play.

Finally, the targets started appearing in a range where normal awakened beings couldn’t hit them.

-Two thousand meters!

The two men imbued magical energy into their arrows. They released their arrows at the same time.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

- 10 points.

- Perfect score.

Hugo’s underlings were unable to close their mouths. They were well past the point where they could see the targets with their naked eye. Yet, the all-time record for archery had been easily broken.

“Is the one shooting the arrows right now really Lee Gun-nim? Are we sure he isn’t a clone created by the Archer Saint?”

“Can’t you tell!” At this point, Chun Sungjae couldn’t shut his mouth for a different reason.

In truth, he had never expected this match to last so long. Lee Gun was one of the first thirteen awakened beings and was known to be the weakest. It was true that Chun Sungjae liked Lee Gun, but for the longest time, everyone had been telling him that the videos of Lee Gun's fights were not genuine.

That wasn’t true at all.

Chun Sungjae had even forgotten to take pictures.

Hugo yelled out in anger, “Ten more! Random location!”

“What? You want to do that at this distance?” Lee Gun asked.

“Of course!” Hugo's opponent was Lee Gun. The result of the contest would be inconclusive if they kept shooting one target at a time.

In the end, the subordinates changed the system that brought out the red and blue targets. Now, a total of twenty moving targets appeared in the field. And these targets appeared in six-second intervals. Basically, one had to hit ten targets within a minute.

“Even Lee Gun-nim will have trouble—”

Before he could finish his sentence, a series of terrifying sounds rang out.

Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!

- 10 points.

- 10 points.

- 10 points.

Both contestants didn’t give an inch. They recorded perfect tens.

“Not bad.” Hugo glared as he drew back his bow.

Eight, nine, and ten!

- Perfect score of a 100 points.

Hugo’s continuous shots came to an end. Then...

Kwahng!

- 7 points.

“!”

Everyone was surprised. It seemed the last arrow Lee Gun had shot was slightly off.

- Blue: Total 100 points.

- Red: Total 97 points.

<Blue wins>

Hugo made a fist when he saw the final result. “Yes! This is how it should be.”

There was no way he would lose with the bow.

In the end, Chun Sungjae sulked. He had expected this result, but it seemed he had held out hope that Lee Gun would win. “It doesn’t matter. Uncle’s main weapon isn’t the bow.”

This actually made the result much more impressive.

Chun Sungjae pouted, while Hugo preened. The Archer Saint said, “Haha! Even Gun can make a mistake when it comes to accuracy…”

In contrast with the two of them, for some reason, Hugo’s subordinates were trembling as if they had seen a ghost.

Hugo wondered why they were acting that way.

“He…”

“What?” Hugo asked.

“Lee Gun-nim! From the midpoint, he shot the arrows with his eyes closed!”

“?!”

The expressions on Hugo's and Chun Sungjae’s faces were a sight to behold.

Lee Gun tossed the bow. “Ah! My calculation was wrong on the last one.”

“…?” Hugo’s mouth fell open. He felt as if he had been hit on the back of his head.

Chun Sungjae started sobbing louder than before. He was humbled and had realized the limitation of his imagination.

This young man had grown up listening to the legend of Lee Gun. He used to think his father was exaggerating the stories as the latter would be drunk when telling the stories. “It was all real! He killed a monster as big as a mountain with one punch! It was all real!”

The light in Chun Sungjae’s eyes completely changed as he looked at Lee Gun. His childish feelings of fandom turned into a powerful feeling of respect. “You're the best, Uncle! The Saints can’t hold a candle to you!”

Suddenly, Lee Gun heard an unexpected sound.

[You have achieved a condition.]

[Belief of a Worshiper]

[You have gained a new Divine Skill.]

[<Disciple>]

[You have become aware of a human familiar.]

“Hey! Let’s go one more round! I can do it with my eyes closed too.”

“Saint-nim!”

The angry Hugo was about to charge Lee Gun.

Lee Gun had coolly accepted his defeat. On the other hand, Hugo felt humiliated. He had realized that he had lost this battle, but he could also do what Lee Gun had done.

Hugo shouted, “You cheated! The rules of the match should be kept equal! That's why we should do another match! I’ll close my eyes too!”

“Ok, ok! You go do it by yourself.” Lee Gun gave a nonchalant reply.

“Hey!”

Lee Gun let out a cheeky smile as he threw something at Hugo. It was a fist-sized box containing an item he had created. Lee Gun had made this item using Hugo’s data.

He had hit Hugo so many times. Of course, he already had Hugo’s data. ‘I’ve tested it enough.’ The item's durability and structure were still very lacking, but that would do for now.

“You're the best, Uncle! Dad is… lame! He's really lame!”

“Shit! Let’s go one more round!” Hugo couldn't accept this.

“Uh! Cheer up.” Lee Gun acted as if he wasn’t aware of it, but Hugo was burning with anger.

***

Early morning in the Leo Saint’s temple!

An air of nervous tension hung in the temple. It was to be expected.

“We have to find Saint-nim.”

Their Saint had fallen toward the land occupied by the unknown civilization. It was an unprecedented situation. All of their officers that had been dispatched to other countries had returned to the temple. Even the general class disciples had gathered at the somber conference hall.

“We have to find the culprit and make him take responsibility.”

“It seems the Saint fell near the black zone…”

The generals had a good reason for being tense.

“From what I’ve heard, the culprit was Lee Gun…”

“Who cares if it is Lee Gun? He lost to our Saint in the past.”

That was true.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s the real deal or not. He has to pay for besmirching the Leo Saint’s name…”

Suddenly...

Kill that bitch ass lion~♪

Kill that idiot lion bitch~♪

A casual phone ringtone rang within the solemn conference hall.

Everyone was taken aback. The generals from various countries turned pale thinking it was one of their subordinates. However, the owner of the phone with that ringtone was a member of the Leo Saint’s main fighting force. Moreover, she was one of the ten most famous people in the world. She was called the <Scarlet Light>.

Everyone turned to look at her with shocked expressions.

The woman didn’t even care as she unlocked her phone.

“Excuse me, Sub-general?”

“Ah! What were you guys talking about?” the woman asked.

“We have to find the Leo Saint!”

“Why do we have to go look for that bastard?” the woman replied.

“What?”

When everyone froze in place, the expressionless woman smiled. “Ah! My mistake! How do we find him? We have no idea where he fell.”

“Scarlet Light-nim!!”

The woman didn’t care if the man spoke to her; she continued to text.

[Noona! That’s not important right now! Uncle is amazing! He’s fucking amazing!!!!]

After seeing the text, the woman tilted her head in puzzlement.

‘Uncle?’