Book 1, Epilogue 12 - Pushover Maker (1)

“Hmm. This is baffling!”

Watching the scene before him, Lee Gun furrowed his brows. He looked at Hugo as if Hugo were pathetic.

In the end, Lee Gun let out a long sigh. “Are you an idiot? Why can’t you do this?”

Those words made Hugo aggrieved. “Ahhk! Of course, I can’t do this!! How do you expect me to shoot a person?”

Hugo was practicing archery, but his target wasn’t an object; it was a human, a sixteen-year-old kid!

Hugo expressed his anger at the target. “Hey, Jaewon! Why did you agree to become the target? Have you lost your mind?!”

Lee Jaewon tilted his head in puzzlement as if Hugo was talking nonsense. “I’m not the target. It’s the apple on my head!”

“Tomato-tomahto!”

Unable to take it anymore, Hugo looked at Lee Gun. “Teacher! Shooting a living target like this is too dangerous!”

“Why? I’ve seen other sharpshooters snipe an apple.”

“No! You saw them in movies! Also, what do you think the distance is? It has to be at least several hundred meters!”

“You can’t do it? I thought you were called the Divine Archer. That means you aren’t an archer with perfect marksmanship?”

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“He’s right. Why can’t you hit it? Are you an idiot or something?”

“Hey, Lee Jaewon!! You shouldn’t be saying that! The normal thing to do is to run away!”

“No, I’m fine. Lee Gun-nim will compensate me. Each arrow will net me a million won. He said he’d give the money out of Hugo-nim’s pocket.”

“Hey!!” Hugo ground his teeth.

Lee Jaewon was someone who Lee Gun had determined would prove useful. This was why they had started taking Lee Jaewon everywhere.

Of course, Lee Jaewon was a regular human, so they hadn’t planned on bringing him along to dangerous locations.

‘However, monsters can’t sense Jaewon’s presence.’

They had wondered why this was the case, but the answer was quite simple.

‘He said that while running away from a site of monster subjugation, he accidentally brushed against the magical energy of Cancer.’

Lee Jaewon was the reason everyone thought the thirteenth was born in the same fashion.

It was why Jean-Louis had been interested in Lee Jaewon and was growing him as a thief.

However, Lee Jaewon wasn’t like the superhumans, who had awakened completely. He was a normal human with extraordinary senses.

It was why Lee Gun thought Lee Jaewon would be useful to him.

‘I heard you became orphaned after following your parents on a business trip. You can help us by working as our porter. We’ll feed you if you’re willing to do that.’

Hugo had been moved when he had seen that side of Lee Gun, but now…

“What kind of target is that?! Give me a proper target! This is too dangerous...”

Annoyed by his words, Lee Gun took Hugo’s bow. He aimed toward Lee Jaewon as if it wasn’t a big deal and shot an arrow.

Shweeng!!

There was zero hesitation.

The next instant, the arrow destroyed the apple on top of Lee Jaewon’s head.

Poo-oohk!!

Both Lee Jaewon and Hugo were surprised.

“H-He hit it?”

Lee Gun tossed the bow back to a surprised Hugo and said, “At this distance, his safety is guaranteed. You can do this, right? Hurry up and shoot.”

Hugo despaired. He wailed as he pounded his fist on the ground. “Damn it! He’s so cool… No, it’s dangerous to shoot at a human… Teacher is a close-range fighter, so why is he so good at shooting an arrow… No, it’s still dangerous… As expected of Teacher…!!!”

Lee Gun furrowed his brows as he watched Hugo.

‘Something is off.’

When he had tested him, Hugo’s stats weren’t that bad. Although they were terrible as per Lee Gun’s standards…

‘They aren’t so poor that he can’t kill monsters.’

Above all else, Hugo’s speed was his best attribute. It surprised even Lee Gun sometimes.

‘His accuracy isn’t bad either.’

Since Hugo was called the weakest of the bunch, Lee Gun thought Hugo was useless and couldn’t hit the side of the barn with his bow.

However, Hugo was unexpectedly good with his bow. He was still inexperienced when hitting long-distance targets, but his accuracy was 100% for targets within three hundred meters’ range. He wasn’t bad enough to be derided by the other Zodiac Saints.

If Lee Gun could point out a problem…

“Ahhhk!”

“!”

Lee Gun furrowed his brows when Hugo finally shot his arrow. The distance between Hugo and Lee Jaewon was a hundred meters. Hugo’s accuracy should have been 100%. Yet the arrow had flown in the wrong direction.

Lee Gun clicked his tongue.

‘His accuracy is terrible if a human is present.’

Yes, Hugo’s accuracy would plummet if living beings were near his target.

Lee Gun asked, “Why are you so scared to shoot the bow if people are there?”

“What?”

“The difference in your accuracy is too stark when you’re shooting non-living targets and when you have human targets. I’m asking if there’s a reason behind this?”

Hugo awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I guess… It might be related, but I made a mistake before.”

“Mistake?”

“I was trying to save a hostage from being eaten by a monster when I mistakenly shot the hostage in the leg.”

“Ah!”

“Of course, it wasn’t a life-threatening injury, and I was able to save the hostage. However, my accuracy falls whenever humans are nearby…”

Lee Gun immediately accepted the excuse.

‘I see! That’s what happened.’

When eliminating monsters, coming across humans who were running away was inevitable, and Hugo’s accuracy would drastically fall in fights where monsters and humans were mixed.

‘This is why he’s called an idiot.’

It was better off not having a marksman if the marksman’s accuracy was this low. That left close-ranged fighting, but Hugo was a bit too…

“Hey. Sit down.”

“Yes!”

After bringing a small table, Lee Gun positioned himself for an arm wrestling match. Hugo hesitantly sat on the other side.

Lee Gun smirked. “I’ll relax my arm, and you will use all your strength. If you move my arm by one degree, you win.”

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“Hmmph. One degree? Wow! You really are underestimating me. I’m a fellow superhuman like you!” Hugo laughed as he grabbed Lee Gun’s hand and put strength into his arm.

‘He isn’t even putting strength into his arm!’

“I’ll gain your approval by pinning your… Ahhhhhhk!!!” Hugo yelled as he tried to pin Lee Gun’s arm. “Ahhhk! It won’t move at all…! Teacher!! You broke the rule by putting strength into your arm!”

“What are you talking about? I’m not flexing at all”

“This is you not putting strength in your arm?! Ooh-ahhhhhk!!” Veins started bulging on Hugo’s forehead. He squeezed out all his strength as he tried to move Lee Gun’s arm.

In the end, he found himself unequal to the task. So he deployed his other hand and his shoulders to try to pin Lee Gun’s arm. However, Lee Gun didn’t budge at all.

In the end, the only thing that happened was Hugo’s feet dug into the ground. “H…Huh-uhk…!! You’re like a rock, Teacher.”

Lee Gun clicked his tongue as he looked at the fatigued Hugo. The other problem with Hugo was his strength. Hugo was extremely weak when it came to strength!

‘This is why they call him squirt gun.’

Of course, it wasn’t as this was a surprise to Lee Gun.

‘This is why he’s useless even if he has good accuracy.’

This would be akin to inflicting damage of 1,1,1,1,1… on a monster with a health of ten million.

That was why Hugo was stuck at the bottom. Then there was the last problem…

“Ahhhk!! Help me! I’m going to be eaten!”

Lee Gun had instructed the slime to turn into a rabbit monster, and the slime was chasing after Hugo. Lee Gun shook his head from side to side when he saw what happened.

‘He’s fast, but his battle sense is completely lacking…’

Basically, Hugo had three problems: lack of power, extreme fear, and terrible battle sense.

He was basically a piece of trash that could run fast…. No, he was an idiot.

On the other hand, the solutions to these problems were easy.

“Alright. I’m going to build you up as a strength-based archer from now on.”

“S-Strength-based??”

“Yes. We just have to raise your power. That’s why I want you to follow my strength training regimen. Also, I’ll force-feed battle sense into you.”

“U-Understood. What about my last problem? Fear? How are you going to solve that?”

Lee Gun let out a bright smile. “That? That’s the extremely easy part”

“E-Easy? Wait a moment. Why are you raising your fist?”

“Fear can be treated if something more terrifying is introduced to overwhelm the original fear.”

“What? What do you mean by that— Ahhhk??!!”

The sound of his head being cracked open rang out.

Bbah-gahk!

Hugo vomited blood and fell over. He was close to being a vegetable. “K…Kuh-huhk….”

“I’ll be attacking you without warning from time to time. You better be on your guard if you don’t want to die. After we finish your strength training today, you’ll prepare dinner. Then, you’ll do the laundry. Your skill-strengthening training will start tomorrow morning.”

“Kuh-hoo-uhp… I understand… Ah. What should I do? Jaewon took all my money today, so I don’t have enough to buy ingredients for dinner. The bank is already closed, so…!”

Lee Gun was about to respond when…

Boom!

“!”

An incredibly large number of food ingredients appeared nearby. It started with ten kilograms’ worth of prime beef. Then there were lamb, vegetables, fish, ham, and even fresh frogs that were still jumping.

“What the hell? Who would do this…”

Lee Gun saw her at that moment.

He saw Hailey walking by while pretending to be a passerby. She had her face buried in a newspaper.

Lee Gun tilted his head in puzzlement and yelled, “Hey! What’s this all about?”

Hailey was surprised when he called out to her. However, she acted as if nothing was wrong and sat on a nearby bench. She started to page through the newspaper.

“I found them on the streets! I didn’t have a place to get rid of them, so I just dropped them off here!”

Lee Gun tilted his head in puzzlement. “Food ingredients can be found on the streets?”

Well, it didn’t matter, since this was good for them.

Puhng!!!

“!”

Suddenly, a light erupted from the sky as something fell toward him. It was a letter.

To be precise, letters appeared above the heads of Lee Gun, Hugo, and Hailey.

“What the hell is this?”

Lee Gun scrunched up his face when he saw the content of the letter.

“Libra Saint…?”

* * *

Around that time…

[We have done as you’ve asked, Zodiac Saint-nim. We sent an invitation letter to all the Zodiac Saints, and all of them have agreed to attend the meeting.]

“Oh my! Really? That’s great.”

The Zodiac Saint of the Libra temple was named Giselle Lawrence (27). Giselle had been very happy when she had heard the news about Lee Gun. “I’m sure he’ll become the hope of humanity.”

Giselle had seen the videos of Lee Gun’s exploits multiple times. She let out a bright smile.

She was a daughter of a politician, and her family had been in politics for generations. So she was interested in the eradication of monsters more than anyone. Her heart had bled when she had watched governments be powerless in front of the monsters.

“If we have Lee Gun-nim, we’ll be able to achieve the impossible wish of humanity.”

[Yes. We agree with your opinion. We will wholeheartedly support Lee Gun-nim.]

“Thank you!”

That was why she had sent invitations to the other Zodiac Saints.

Giselle was excited at the thought of meeting Lee Gun. However, something happened that day.

“…!”

Giselle became surprised when she looked into the mirror. The reflection in her mirror didn’t match her own. It was laughing.

[Yes. You’ll do.]

A monster shot out from the mirror.

“Ahhhk!!!!”

That day, Giselle died at the hands of the monster. It was the day when the monarch of Negligence became the Libra Saint.

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