“What are you talking about? I’m interested in you!”

Heiji’s unexpected statement shocked everyone.

Pieces of the rice ball that Lee Jaewon had been eating fell out of his mouth. He thought, ‘Uh. She finally said it out loud.’

Hugo’s mouth fell open so much that his jaw was about to dislocate.

The one hit by this most terribly was Hailey, who stood next to Heiji. She had never expected Heiji to take this route, and she looked devastated.

The man in question was also surprised. Lee Gun kept blinking since he found this very unexpected. “Uh… You are interested in me…?”

“Yes.” Heiji brushed her hair back and expectantly looked at Lee Gun.

She had always been a confident woman, but she seemed a bit embarrassed to reveal her true feelings at that moment. And it looked as if her feelings had been conveyed to Lee Gun.

Lee Gun blinked at Heiji, then said, “Uh. I see.”

“!”

He didn’t sound disagreeable, so Heiji’s face brightened a little.

Lee Gun nodded as if it was understandable. “I know you’re interested in my abilities, but the good-for-nothing… Taeksoo has become incredibly strong. He’ll be useful as your teammate.”

“?!!” Heiji’s face froze.

Hugo was shocked. He grabbed Lee Gun as if to say the man was mistaken. Hugo knew Heiji’s temper. She would summon a meteor from the sky while laughing if she became angry.

“T-Teacher!!! She’s not talking about being your party member. Ms. Heiji— Kuhk!”

An angry Heiji grabbed Lee Gun by his collar. “Idiot! It isn’t that kind of interest!”

She spoke near Lee Gun’s face. “I like y— Kyahhhhk!!”

Before Heiji could finish, Hailey kicked her and sent her flying.

Hailey panted as if she had just averted a big crisis.

Lee Gun watched this with his eyes round. “S-Scorpio Saint?”

“Monster!!”

“?”

“There was a monster. Yes. I sent her flying because there was a monster on her. Don’t worry about it.”

A-are you sure about that?”

No matter how they searched, they couldn’t feel the presence of a monster.

“I-It’s a monster that humans can’t sense.”

Aren’t you human too?”

That remark surprised Hailey, and she was about to reply when…

Flash!

“?!”

Hailey screamed when Heiji fell on top of her head.

“Koohk!”

Heiji had appeared there using teleportation. Panting, she placed a hand on Hailey. “Stop getting in my way!”

Hailey disappeared to someplace unknown. Heiji had used teleportation to send her irritant away. Then she said to Lee Gun, “Listen to me well. I like you! I like your abilities, and I like you as a woman! I like your bold actions, and I like your grumpy personality. I like your appearance and face. I like everything about you! Do you understand me?”

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round. Was this some kind of psychological attack? He was baffled.

Seeing Lee Gun stand there dumbfounded, Hugo poked him. “Teacher…!”

“Huh? Oh yeah. Thanks.”

“!”

Heiji’s heart was pounding as she waited for his next words in anticipation.

One second, two seconds, three…

No matter how long she waited, there was no response. In the end, Heiji blinked. “T-That’s it?”

Lee Gun, who had been silent, tilted his head in puzzlement. I hope you meet someone good?”

!!!!” Heiji looked shell-shocked. She became unsteady on her feet, then disappeared using teleportation.

The one to scream was Hugo. “Teacher!!”

“What?”

“What do you mean? Why are you so calm?!”

“What are you talking about?” Lee Gun asked.

“She just confessed her love for you!”

Lee Gun scrunched up his face as if Hugo was speaking nonsense. “Did you really think that she gave a real confession?”

What?”

“The Zodiac Saints are making a big fuss about my items. They’ll say anything to get them. She should have said something a bit more believable.”

“Something more believable

- I like your bold actions, and I like your grumpy personality. I like your appearance and face. I like everything about you! Do you understand me?

Hugo froze. C-Could it be?

Lee Gun shook his head from side to side. “Who the hell would like my personality and a face like this? Let’s go. The air in this neighborhood isn’t that great.”

!!!”

Hugo was shocked as he looked at Lee Gun. Hugo couldn’t comprehend Lee Gun’s reaction at all.

In the end, Hugo was full of questions as he disappeared alongside Lee Gun.

[Whew! It was a success!]

At that moment, two beings hidden underneath the floor revealed their heads. They were the monster subordinates serving the Scorpio Saint.

They were elated as they watched the retreating figure of Lee Gun. He had turned down Heiji.

[Good. We protected that human in the place of our princess!]

[If we hadn’t interfered, I’m sure he would have fallen for her confession!]

[She’s the Gemini Saint, right? At the end of the day, she can’t hold a candle against our princess, but… she is dangerously beautiful for a human like him…!]

[That human male is a virgin. I’m sure of it! If we had left them alone, he would have 100% fallen for her feminine wiles and the possibility of sex!]

Yes, they had taken measures to make sure that Lee Gun wouldn’t fall for Heiji.

[This is an ultimate deadly skill! It’s a poison that dulls the feeling of affection!]

[It’s called “Celibate Time”!]

The Constructs of Scorpio cheered in joy.

[In front of this poison, sexual desire and sexual dreams are useless! These desires won’t be able to dominate Lee Gun’s thoughts!]

While the Scorpio Constructs disappeared as they cheered, some beings were monitoring them.

[Those Scorpios are sly.]

[They hurt our Zodiac Saint using such an underhanded trick…!]

They were none other than the fairies under the Gemini temple, who traveled with Heiji.

[Hurry up and inform her!]

The eyes of the fairies flashed.

* * *

“What? Heiji did what to Lee Gun!?”

Harbin, China.

Sophie, who was heading to Russia, almost screamed when she heard the shocking story that Yang Wei told her.

“Are you sure that’s true?”

“Yes. I distinctly heard it!”

Currently, Red Eye had yet to appear on the earth. In the future, there would be four great raids, and right now, the Zodiac Saints were moving in teams for one of them, which would later be dubbed the great raid of Russia.

A monster was occupying Russia and threatening the entire continent. So all twelve Zodiac Saints had been invited.

Steel Wall with an Adamant Body—the Taurus Saint

Humanity’s Final Weapon—the Gemini Saint

The Greatest Strategist—the Cancer Saint

The Wild Man of Destruction—the Leo Saint

Peerless Genius Swordsman—the Virgo Saint

The Ingredient Producer—the Libra Saint

God’s Blacksmith—the Capricorn Saint

Everchanging Magician—the Pisces Saint

The Savior of Healing—the Aquarius Saint

Lastly, the Savior of Affluence—the Aries Saint.

As his name implied, Yang Wei was in charge of acquiring supplies.

Yang Wei whispered to those who he had teamed up with for this venture, “Do you really think that Humanity’s Weapon confessed to Lee Gun?!”

“Does that woman even have functioning eyes?! How can she like that monster?”

“That’s beside the point. How did you find out about it, pig?”

The voice of a woman came from the back. Yang Wei rubbed it in their faces as he triumphantly said, “Eh-hehm! I thought Lee Gun would make me money, so I put a tail on him! I stole things like Lee Gun’s clothes to resell them. Anyway, I think I’ll make a great deal of money if I sell this piece of news to the tabloids— Ahhhk!!!”

Yang Wei suddenly screamed. It was to be expected since he realized that the one who had asked him that was the Gemini Saint Heiji.

“Ahhhk!! Y…You— Kuh-huhk!”

“Should I roast you and sell you in the market?” A smiling Heiji angrily grabbed Yang Wei’s face.

Sophie burst out laughing. “Is it true that you like Lee Gun, Heiji? Your standards are so low that it is in hell. The world’s greatest man is beside Lee Gun, so how can you like that orc— Kuh-huhk!!!”

Sophie fell over when a phone hit the back of her head. A familiar face had thrown the phone.

“You are going too far with what you say, bedwetter.”

“L-Lee Gun! Hugo Otis!”

Yang Wei was surprised.

When Lee Gun appeared there, Heiji was happy but embarrassed to death at the same time. She wanted to get out of there. However, she didn’t even have the time as other familiar faces appeared in the square.

“Why is he here?”

“I thought he couldn’t participate because his arm was injured.”

“!”

They were Stevens and Kevin. Next came the Taurus Saint Ivan and Jean-Louis. The Pisces Saint Liv and Sergeyevich followed suit. The last to arrive was the Libra Saint Giselle.

All the Zodiac Saints had gathered in one place.

Heiji and Hailey glared at each other.

The stand-off lasted a moment before Ivan spoke in annoyance. “What the hell? Why do we have so many of us looking like they’ve been starving themselves? At this rate, it’ll eat into how much we can bring in. We are already distributing cuts based on contribution.”

Ivan snorted as he looked at Lee Gun, who was applying his bandages. “You won’t be able to swing your fist this time, Lee Gun. You should stop hanging around us and go back.”

Lee Gun sneered. “This was sent to me personally, so how could I ignore it?”

Everyone was surprised when Lee Gun brought out an item. It was a personal seal of the Russian President.

The seal allowed one free entry to all the sealed regions in Russia. It also gave Lee Gun the carte blanche power to move the army in the Eurasia region. Then there was a letter that asked him to save Russia.

In reality, Lee Gun had been given the position of commander.

Ivan glared at him. “What the hell? We never received such a thing…!?”

“I guess he finds you guys unreliable.”

“What the hell did you just say?!”

“What? Just compare our achievements. It’s true.”

“Son of a bitch!”

When the air between the two started to get violent, Hugo got in between them. He tried to calm them down and shouted, “Ah! Please don’t fight! Teacher is here as support! He gave me the authority to carry out this mission!”

Everyone’s mouth fell open. Of course, they knew what this implies.

“That means Hugo is the leader of this mission…?”

Stevens and Kevin, who had been watching from the sidelines, spoke up. They were unable to accept this arrangement.

“Hey? Are you kidding me? He’s the weakest among us, and he can’t even cause damage…!!”

“While Teacher might have approved it, you can’t be the leader!”

“Lee Gun!! What are you thinking? How can you make him your proxy?”

“He’ll die. Please stop this.”

Jean-Louis clicked his tongue as if he pitied Hugo. Heiji and Yang Wei shook their heads from side to side. Sophie, who was a fan of Hugo, couldn’t say anything.

They all knew the truth. Hugo might be a fighting-type Zodiac Saint, but he was called squirt gun for a reason.

While he was a fighter, he was too weak. Ivan, who had monstrous power, would beat Hugo up on the regular. Hugo was a weakling.

So the non-fighters looked at him in pity.

Sophie carefully tried to talk him out of it. “H-Hugo. Why don’t you let Ivan take over

Ivan was a defensive-type Zodiac Saint. As a tanker, Ivan stood at the very front. He was the spearhead.

This made Lee Gun laugh in derision. “Do you not realize that the monster in Russia has a very high attack? It’s the highest-rank monster we’ve encountered so far. You have a body made out of glass, so you’ll probably be the first to run away. Why would I leave it to you?”

“You’re such an asshole, Lee Gun!” An angry Ivan tried to punch Lee Gun.

The surprised Heiji and Hailey tried to stop Ivan, while Jean-Louis smirked as if he found all this funny.

However, at that moment…

Kwahk!!

?!”

Someone grabbed Ivan’s arm.

Everyone’s mouth fell open when they saw who it was.

“H-Hugo?!”

Hugo had grabbed Ivan’s arm with one hand. Ivan was normally the first or second Zodiac Saint in terms of power. Even a weak blow by him would usually send Hugo to the ground!

“Please use your words. If you lay a hand on Teacher, I won’t stand back.”

Ivan was flustered for only a moment. He ground his teeth. “You’re a lousy bastard with a big mouth! You always took a beating from me, yet you dare try to stop me!”

Ivan put magical energy into his body. As always, he planned on beating Hugo half to death.

Hugo flinched when he saw the fist flying toward him like usual. However, he was surprised when he caught the look in Lee Gun’s eyes.

‘!’

In truth, Lee Gun had guessed how events would play out. So he had given instructions to Hugo beforehand.

‘If that angry cow charges toward you, don’t be afraid. Just meet him with your fist.’

‘What?! My fist? Are you playing with me? Do you realize how strong Ivan is? In terms of strength, he is ranked 1 or 2…!’

‘It’s fine. Just trust me. Don’t say anything. Swing at him as hard as you can.’

When Hugo recalled these words, his eyes turned sharp. He already possessed excellent speed and visual acuity, so dodging Ivan’s fist wasn’t hard.

‘!’

Then he made a fist and took a swing!

Boohoo-gahk!!!

Hugo’s fist struck Ivan’s face.

As if a fist made out of stone had hit him, Ivan was sent flying like a paper doll.

Absolute silence descended into the square. Everyone’s expression was a sight to behold.

The weakest of them had sent the strongest flying.