Chapter 437 -Die (2)

A while ago, Lee Gun had a conversation with Aslan, who had regained consciousness.

- Ennead’s Great Spirit is a formidable foe. He’s the strongest among the gods. It’s why I couldn’t kill him in the end.

- !

- I’m sure he has a secret, but even I couldn’t figure it out. If I’m being honest, I have no idea how to kill him.

Aslan had said that Ennead’s Great Spirit was a god that even the Primordial god couldn’t kill.

- It’ll be a tough task.

Aslan was worried about Lee Gun.

However, Lee Gun wasn’t worried about his own well-being right now. “Die, immoral bastard.”

“Ahhk!!!!”

Hugo screamed when he saw Heaven’s Punishment fly toward him. However, the weapon didn’t stop.

Kwahng!!!

Heaven’s Punishment fell right next to Hugo’s ear. Having barely dodged the ax blade, Hugo felt a certain part of his shrink.

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. Unlike his normal self, he wasn’t laughing right now.

A flustered Hugo yelled, “Ahhhk! Wait a moment. Listen to me…!”

However, Lee Gun acted as if he wasn’t worth hearing him out; he brought down his ax again.

Kwah-jeek!!!

“Ahhk!” Hugo felt like he was going to die.

Heaven's Punishment was a weapon that became stronger when the opponent was a monster.

So in front of the current Hugo, Heaven's Punishment roared in a manner more psychotic than usual.

Kwah-jee-jeek!!

“Damn it!”

In the end, Hugo screamed as he bent his head backward. Folding his legs and twisting his waist, he barely dodged the weapon.

Lee Gun became a bit angry when he saw Hugo dodge everything as if he were a mole in a whack-a-mole game. “You dodged all of them?”

“Of course, I can dodge them! You were the one who taught me how to do it!”

This was an attempt to get on the good side of Lee Gun, but it failed.

“Ahhhk!!!”

The next moment, black flames erupted from Lee Gun’s body. Hugo screamed when he realized it was Death stage 6. He was a mere fly, yet Lee Gun was using the power of a Great Spirit. It seemed Lee Gun was enraged.

[It doesn’t matter what you say to me.]

“!”

[You dare cause damage to the people around you?]

“…!”

He didn't care if Hugo verbally abused him or betrayed him. He was used to hearing abusive language. Moreover, another betrayal at this point wouldn’t faze him. He just had to kill the betrayers, and the problem would be solved.

However, the story became different because Hugo had spread pain to his family and those who supported him.

[You burned your family picture. You basically put a stake through your wife’s heart. You made those around you worry about you!]

“No! That’s not…!”

[I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself.]

“Great. So what happened is—”

[Right. You didn’t say anything worth hearing.]

“Hey! I didn’t even get to say anything—”

Kuh-huhk!”

It seemed Lee Gun hadn’t planned on hearing him out from the start. He wagged his finger back and forth.

[Are you on the side of humanity or the other side?]

“!”

[Just give me that answer.]

“…!”

It was a question that got to the heart of the matter.

Lee Gun didn’t feel the need to hear an excuse, an explanation, or other trifling reasons. He was asking Hugo to choose a position unequivocally.

If Hugo said he was on the side of humanity, some tacit meaning could be gleaned from it.

However, Hugo didn’t open his mouth.

Lee Gun’s eyebrows twitched in anger.

‘That bastard…’

From the perspective of a being protecting humanity, was it the right choice for him to spare a monarch who had attacked the earth?

Had Lee Gun let his temper decide for him, he would have turned Hugo into ashes already, but the faces of his niece and nephew kept floating around in his head.

Lee Gun released his stage 6 mode. “This is your last opportunity. Are you going to return or not?”

Hugo sighed when he heard this. “Alright.”

“You should have said so from the start…”

“I have no plan on returning.”

“…???”

Lee Gun’s eyebrows rose. He couldn’t believe his ears. “What the hell did you just say?”

“Why would I go back? It’s as I’ve said before. You piss me off so much that I want to slap your mouth off your face.”

Lee Gun’s eyebrows spasmed. What the hell did he just say?

With a dumbfounded expression, Hugo continued, “What? You want to give me an opportunity? After you became a Zodiac, your arrogance became high enough to pierce the sky. Idiot.”

“….”

“Originally, I planned on following you. I would have taken my time in infiltrating humanity, and I would have razed their lands to the ground. I no longer want to do that. I can't even do that because I don’t want to see your face. It’s nauseating.”

Lee Gun attacked when Hugo revealed his true colors. He didn’t even feel the need to give a reply. He just tapped the ground with the Fetters of the Underworld.

Tahk!

As if he had been attracted by a magnet, Hugo was lifted into the air.

“Kuh-huhk!”

The Fetters of the Underworld was a weapon capable of dominating the fate of one’s opponent.

Lee Gun had robbed Hugo’s freedom of movement. When Hugo crashed onto the ground, Lee Gun put power into the Fetters of the Underworld, which was shaped like tongs.

A black flame erupted as the weapon changed its form into a sword. Lee Gun called forth Death. He had a cold look in his eyes as he grabbed Hugo by his head. “Is that all you have to say?”

Hugo laughed in resignation. “Kill me. However, I have one last request.”

There was no reason to grant the request, but Lee Gun furrowed his brow. “What is it?”

“Don’t let the world know that you killed me.”

Lee Gun feigned laughter. He had burst out laughing because these were the most ridiculous words spoken by Hugo.

However, his reaction lasted only a moment. His eyes became colder and angrier than ever before. “I was wondering what you were going to say.”

It seemed Hugo’s words had the effect of further pissing off Lee Gun. “Why? Are you embarrassed to die by my hands?”

“This is my request. You can say I rampaged before I died. You can say someone else took care of me. It must not be you. Even if I die, Jiwoo and the children must never find out. At the end of the day, I am Jiwoo’s husband. I am the father of my children.”

Lee Gun scoffed. “What? Your pride won’t allow it? You want to be remembered as a great father?”

Hugo responded, “I want you to forever be a hero to my kids.”

“…?”

Lee Gun blinked. For a brief moment, he couldn’t comprehend what Hugo was trying to say.

Soon, Hugo spoke as if he was in pain. “Since it will be something done by you, my children will accept your decision, but at the end of the day, you would have killed their father. While they might accept it in their heads, their heart wouldn’t be able to accept it.”

“……”

While they might accept it in their heads, they were human, after all. Would they truly be able to wholeheartedly love someone who had killed their father? Could it be guaranteed that not even a bit of hate would appear within their hearts?

Hugo didn’t want Lee Gun to be hated for something so inconsequential as him dying. “They started liking you from a young age. I would like you to forever be their hero like right now.”

It wasn’t just the children. Hugo knew what Lee Gun had to do to come back as a hero.

“I don’t even want you to become the topic of gossip. I’m at fault, so please grant my request.”

Lee Gun was silent. By the looks of it, Hugo didn’t seem to be lying. In fact, his current expression was something he knew very well.

‘That’s right.’

It was the face of his idiot friend, who had waited for him for twenty years. He had done it by himself because he trusted Lee Gun.

When everyone had thought Lee Gun was dead, they tried to sell him for power and wealth. Hugo had been the only one who stood firm as he kept a clean conscience.

It didn’t matter if he was a monarch. He was someone who Lee Gun knew. This was why he looked at Hugo as if he couldn’t comprehend something. “Why are you being like this, Taeksoo?”

“…!”

Lee Gun released Hugo.

Hugo looked at Lee Gun in surprise. His friend’s murderous intent was gone.

Lee Gun was having a hard time comprehending it. Everything indicated that the man in front of him was the pushover friend he knew, yet he kept doing things that were out of character.

Hugo said, “Hmmph. You are so easy to dupe—”

“Talk, asshole. Sungjae just telepathically messaged me. He said you took out a parasitic monster from his body.”

“…”

Now, Hugo had no way to dupe Lee Gun.

In the end, Hugo sighed as if he had given up. “If I don’t act like this, I can’t trick Wind.”

“Wind?”

“Yes. Wind secretly put an observer on me.”

Lee Gun’s murderous intent was nowhere to be seen. He scrunched up his face, immediately realizing what was going on. “Is that why you burned the family picture???”

Lee Gun looked like he wanted to beat up Hugo.

Hugo screamed as he tried to hold back Lee Gun, “If it’s you, you can recover the burned picture!!! Also, I’ll be gone in the future! I didn’t want Jiwoo to cry while she looked at my picture!! Kuh-huhk!!”

“That is why you burned it all??? Also, what do you mean, you’ll be gone?”

“That is…” Hugo hesitated before saying, “Karmic Debt.”

“Karmic Debt?”

“I found out about it after I recovered my memories. Eternal Change has an enormous amount of it.”

Eternal Change had ruthlessly killed and eaten countless gods, and he had been taken to court over it.

After being caught by the Creators, he had lived as a resident of the Divine world. This was why the Karmic Debt system applied to him too. That wasn’t all.

Hugo clearly remembered it. He might have done it for revenge, but his actions had been too depraved and inhumane even if one considered that he was letting his instinct as a predator take hold of him.

The weight of the blame and sins for his action was too heavy.

Did the Great Spirit of Mahabharata know about Eternal Change’s motive behind his actions? Or was his sense of guilt for killing the Primordial god and the Creators still existed within him?

Whatever it was, instead of sentencing Eternal Change for his Karmic debt, the Great Spirit gave him a sentence where he would be reincarnated.

If the monarch had been sentenced for his Karmic Debt, it would have caused harm to the Divine world.

Being sentenced for Karmic debt would mean a situation like what the Lord of the Sky and the other Great Spirits had just gone through. They ceased to exist when they couldn’t overcome their Karmic debt.

However, Hugo wasn’t a god. Since he was a monarch, he had no idea what kind of monster would appear once he received his Karmic debt. His case was unprecedented.

Unlike the gods, he had a sturdy body. It wouldn’t cease to exist. Instead, a rare monster would be born.

In other words, Hugo’s demise might destroy the Divine world or cause a calamity-rank event.

- That’s why Samsara Hell’s harshest sentence of human reincarnation will be given to you. While you are human, your Karmic Debt will be deferred.

Eternal Change’s punishment had been to live as a human, like a lowly bug. It would be humiliating, and the Great Spirits preferred that he died in pain as a human.

However, things were currently different now. Hugo had recovered his memories and power. He had returned to being Eternal Change.

“The Karmic debt that was deferred for several thousand years will be activated.”

In other words, he was a ticking time bomb. So, how could he stay next to his friend and family?

This was why Hugo had planned on getting rid of all the troublesome figures. Then, he would go to a location unrelated to the earth and pay for his sins there. That was how he would disappear.

Lee Gun raised his eyebrows as Hugo’s plan had left him dumbfounded. “So you planned on dying? You planned on creating a single-family home for the kids? You did this despite having a newborn baby?”

“It’s better than being swept up in my Karmic Debt and suffering the same fate as me! Also, I have life insurance, and they’ll receive my pension!! It’ll be plenty enough!! Also…!”

“Also, what!!”

“You can make anything. You are a god of Creation, so I thought maybe you might keep my death a secret. I was hoping you would make a clone of me as a replacement!!”

“What the hell are you talking about, idiot?” An enraged Lee Gun spit fire from his mouth as he kicked Hugo.

After beating up Hugo, Lee Gun turned around in anger. “Damn it! I acted like a moron because I had to deal with that bastard.”

“Gun?”

“Let’s go.”

“What?”

Lee Gun spoke as if he wondered why Hugo had a stupid look on his face. “Don’t worry about the Karmic Debt that was placed on you.”

“What?”

“I can cover that up with the exoneration ticket.”

“W…What? But I…”

Hugo had too much Karmic Debt. There weren't enough exoneration tickets to erase all that debt.

Lee Gun snorted as if he read Hugo’s thoughts. “Kill Ten Thousand to Save One.”

“…!”

Lee Gun was a god who could kill ten thousand to save one. It didn't matter who the target was. It also didn’t matter how weighty or how numerous the Karmic debts were. He just had to get rid of them all.

“It isn’t too hard for me to save you.”

Hugo put a hand on his forehead as he swooned.

[Hugo Otis’s Faith is rising]

[Serpent Bearer Faith: 1000%]

Flash!

Accompanying the notification, a light erupted from Lee Gun’s body. After having a heart attack(?), Hugo could no longer hide his faith.

A change occurred to Lee Gun’s body as the Faith rose.

“!”

His body, soul, and Divine status had been damaged, yet all of them instantly regenerated. His ailing body immediately felt light.

‘As expected, he’s a cheat code.’

Hugo’s Faith had been unexplainable in the past, but it seemed this was possible thanks to all the internal force he had accrued as Eternal Change.

Lee Gun turned around coolly, and Hugo got up in joy.

“I can really go back now?”

“That’s right, you moron.” Lee Gun nodded without hesitation, but then suddenly came to a stop. “Except.”

“...except?”

Lee Gun let out a bright smile. “You have to die once before you go back.”

Hugo’s scream rang out.