“C…coming out”

“What?”

“What??”

“The baby…”

What?!!

Chun Jiwoo’s words caused Hugo and Lee Gun to turn pale.

Coming out? Right here? Right now? A newborn?

Chun Jiwoo didn’t seem to be joking. Her complexion was abnormal. “Hurry… If not, the child…”

Hugo and Lee Gun screamed when confronted by this scene.

“Plane!!!!”

“Red Eye!!!!!”

“Construct!!!!”

Any topic related to the monarch didn’t matter at all. They quickly looked for items that’ll allow them to transport Chun Jiwoo. If they didn’t get to the hospital right now, the mother and the child might be in danger!

“Plane!!!!”

“How can we get there on time with that? We’ll use Red Eye!!!”

“How will Jiwoo ride that thing, idiot???”

“Let’s use the parcel service!!!”

“W-We just have to use a normal vehicle…”

“Ah!!”

Chun Jiwoo was sobbing with pain. They wanted to transport her using a car, but they bit their tongues when they were about to head toward the parking area.

“Damn it! Those chicken bastards destroyed the building…!”

The car that had been parked next to the building had long been flattened.

In the end, Hugo quickly grabbed Kevin by the collar of his shirt. “You have a flying-type Construct, right? Hand it over!”

“What the hell…”

“Ah… Coming out! The head…!”

“??!!”

Lee Gun was having a mental breakdown because of Chun Jiwoo’s words. He had never experienced this before. He would rather kill monsters! At least, he was confident that he could do that!

“Water!!!!”

“Towel!!!!”

“Let’s kidnap a doctor!!!”

“Plane!!!”

Chun Jiwoo’s eyes flashed. “Taxi is fine!!!”

This was her third time going through this, so she was used to it. 

When Chun Jiwoo tried to move toward the road, Hugo made a call, trying to call a taxi.

This finally brought Lee Gun back to his senses. “Instead of the Constructs, it’ll be faster for me to run.”

“What? Run….”

“It’s fine. Put her in my arms.”

“What?”

Since time was of the essence, Lee Gun immediately called forth Abyss’s power and threw Hugo and Kevin into the pond.

“Ahk!”

“U-Uncle?”

Yooha, who had been calling the hospital in advance, was surprised. When Lee Gun held the laboring Jiwoo in his arms, she asked, “Will you be traveling through Pond?”

“No. If possible, I don’t want to use Death. It might influence the kid in some way.”

“Then how… Kyahhk!”

Lee Gun put strength into his legs and jumped.

“Uncle!!”

When he had said his legs would be the fastest, he wasn’t lying. 

Lee Gun instantly disappeared, heading toward the hospital. He was running at the world’s greatest speed.

* * *

It took Lee Gun only three minutes to reach the maternity hospital.

“Doctor!!!”

He had traveled several dozen kilometers in minutes as he arrived at the hospital, and the hospital was a madhouse. It was for no other reason.

“Lee-Lee Gun-nim?!”

“What the hell? That’s Lee Gun!”

“What? Why is Lee Gun here??”

The doctors and patients inside the hospital were shocked when they saw Lee Gun. Lee Gun was that famous. Moreover, the one holding the mother was Lee Gun!

“Lee…Lee Gun-nim?”

Lee Gun didn’t care as he grabbed the collar of a doctor. “Coming out!!”

“What??”

“Head!!”

“!?!”

Taken aback, the doctors assessed Chun Jiwoo. The flustered doctors then quickly moved Chun Jiwoo.

By the look of their reactions, Chun Jiwoo seemed to have been right about what was happening.

Lee Gun then took out Hugo, whom he had stored within the Pond.

Some time passed.

“Lee Gun-nim!!”

“Uncle!”

It seemed they had heard the news. Yooha, Goat, the half-asleep Lee Jaewon, and Chun Sungjae arrived at the hospital.

Lee Gun looked at Lee Jaewon and Chun Sungjae. “You guys are awake now?”

“Yes…! I feel like I made a mistake against Hugo-nim… But my memories…”

“Well… You’re better off not knowing.”

“I remember something too. I feel like I got permission to marry Uncle…”

“That never happened!” 

Lee Gun slapped Sungjae on the back, and Yooha choked Chun Sungjae by the throat. Of course, that wasn’t important right now.

“That’s odd. This is too early. Mom’s delivery date is still further...”

Lee Gun furrowed his brows. The doctor in charge of her was also shocked at the speed at which the baby was coming out.

‘I should have crushed that chicken bastard.’

It seemed the angels had shocked Chun Jiwoo.  

Lee Gun ground his teeth. If something happened to either Chun Jiwoo or the child, he would exterminate all the angels.

It was unclear as to how much time had passed, but Lee Gun looked at the clock as if something was off.

‘It’s taking too long…? This isn’t her first child delivery.’

Of course, he didn’t know much about this subject, but something felt off.

At that moment…

“What should we do?”

“It’s too dangerous…!”

They were low, but Lee Gun could clearly hear the voices. He moved. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah…!”

When the nurses were about to say something, the doctor quickly called for the guardians. Moreover, what he said next was quite shocking. “We have no idea what is happening. The baby isn’t coming out.”

“It isn’t coming out?”

“It is as I’ve said…!”

Chun Jiwoo’s water had broken, so the baby should be showing signs of coming out. However, as if it had crawled back into the stomach, the baby was showing no signs of coming out.

“The Aquarius temple’s pain relief potion isn’t working either…!”

At this rate, both the mother and child were in danger, so they thought about going into surgery.

“When the doctors tried to touch the baby, an unknown power deflected them…!”

“We believe it’s the power of a Zodiac…!”

“Moreover, it isn’t the power of the thirteen Zodiacs that we are familiar with…!”

“Hugo-nim went in to check, but…!”

“Could it be!”

When his niece and nephew were surprised, a serious look appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes and he said, “You guys stay here.”

Lee Gun instantly disappeared. He had used a teleportation skill called Pond Walk (Death 3 star). This ability used nearby darkness or evil intent as coordinates. It also allowed him to move toward disciples who possessed the power of Death like him.

So he wasn’t supposed to be able to teleport toward Chun Jiwoo.

[Pond Walk has been activated. The nearest evil intent is being used as a coordinate.]

[You are being teleported nearby.]

The ability activated, and Lee Gun was dropped off in front of Chun Jiwoo, who was in pain! This meant…!

“Bastards.”

“Gun?!”

Hugo, who had been trying to find the culprit, was surprised. Lee Gun glared at the strange bird that Hugo had captured.

[You can feel the power of the goddess of fate, Norn.]

[You can feel the power of the Construct who is in charge of childbirth.]

[She is interfering with a human’s birthing process.]

It was clearly the doings of the gods. 

Chun Jiwoo was in enough pain that she felt like dying. She looked at Lee Gun. “L…Lee Gun-nim…!”

“Endure it a bit longer.” Lee Gun didn’t want to influence the weak baby, so he couldn’t use his Divine status of Death. He couldn’t use Eliminate Pain on her.

Instead, he generously used the power of Life and activated the Gaze of a God. He used the skill to locate the light birds hidden in various parts of the wall. Then he tried crushing them all using the power of Death.

The power of Death acted like tentacles as it captured the birds. However, Chun Jiwoo was in extreme pain when this happened.

[The gods say you should cooperate with Eden if you want to see that child safe.]

It seemed Chun Jiwoo was connected to the birds. If he attacked the birds, she would also feel the pain.

“Lee Gun-nim!”

“Uncle!”

“Mom!”

The ones outside ran into the room, and a figure made out of light appeared from the floor. It was a being that they had never seen before.

[I never expected a god of Life to kill Raphael-nim. He has the same attribute of Life as you.]

“!!”

It seems she was the goddess in charge of the birthing process. She continued.

[I do not like this situation at all, but I have come to understand that you are causing a lot of problems.]

Lee Gun immediately tried to rip her apart with Death, but it was a false image. The power merely brushed past the goddess. The goddess added.

[Our request is simple. If you want a healthy mother and child, you have to kill that monster before he regains his instinct.]

Everyone was shocked when they saw the direction pointed out by the goddess.

“What! Dad!”

The goddess had pointed out Hugo. Everyone except Lee Gun was confused. 

Lee Gun furrowed his brow as if he had an idea as to what this was about. He recalled the conversation he had with the Red monarch.

[He’s a monarch.]

Hailey’s birth mother was the fire monarch, and she had revealed that Hugo was a monarch. It had left Lee Gun very dismayed.

[What are you talking about? He’s my best friend. Also, why would a monarch choose to work as a Zodiac Saint? Unless that baldie is an absolute idiot, there is no way he would designate a monarch as a Zodiac Saint.]

[He is a first-generation monarch like me.]

[!]

The Red monarch continued to speak, starting from the monarchs.

[First-generation monarchs are called kings of the monarchs. Your friend is one of them.]

[…!]

[He’s the king of formlessness. Like water, he has no form. He is the Endless Change monarch. Among us, he used to be the most cunning and vicious monarch. He is a predator, who is always bored and hungry.]

He was the first one to invade the Divine world.

[He insulted and killed the gods. He used his ability to wear the skin of the gods. He pretended to be a god.]

That wasn’t all.

[He was easily bored, but for some reason, he decided to live among the gods. However, he couldn’t overcome his predatory need. In the end, he killed countless gods.]

[So what? Why is he human?]

[He was part of the Divine world, and he had pretended to be a god. So he accrued Karmic debt. This was why he was handed over to Mahabharata.]

In the end, he would be executed for his sins. According to the original plan, he was going to die at the hands of Time. His Karmic debt had dictated that he would die a humiliating death at the hands of the later-generation monarch.

[His fate changed.]

Because of Confusion, Hugo’s soul and body had been separated. His soul had been freed. When Hades had stolen and taken the soul to the Divine world, Hugo had started regaining his memories.

[His original psychotic personality will show up, eventually. Wind, who is also a first-generation, will be happy. Wind will come looking for him.]

[Do you expect me to believe that….]

How could a monarch have 600% faith toward a god?

In the case of Abyss, it chased after gods, thinking they were a buffet.

The Red Monarch spoke in response.

[Yes. The reason he stuck close to you is that he was drawn to you, a prey.]

[…!]

Of course, it all sounded like nonsense to Lee Gun. He had planned on ignoring it, but he could no longer deny it now. 

After he had recovered Hugo and returned from the Divine world, something had changed. For some odd reason, Hugo had started smelling like a monster. To be precise, he was starting to smell like the monarchs.

The monarchs were mortal enemies of Lee Gun. Hugo smelling like them had taken a mental toll on him.

If he were being honest, it went beyond being hit with a sense of reality. He also felt betrayed.

- I was raising a tiger cub.

Anyway, Lee Gun immediately understood what the goddess was saying since he had context.

He let out a cold smile. It had always been this way from the start. His eyes looked at the gods with judgment. 

The goddess spoke.

[What is your opinion as the god of Life?]

His niece and nephew were dismayed.

Lee Gun extended his hand toward Hugo. “Understood. This is more important right now.”

“Uncle!”

Everyone was surprised when Lee Gun looked at Hugo as if he were displeased.

Then, the Serpent Bearer took out another Divine status, the Divine status of Hermes.