The Temporary Apostle (2)
Lee Hyun submitted a request for temporary leave from the hospital.
The hospital staff tried to dissuade him, insisting that his tests were not yet complete, but his stubbornness was so strong that they eventually relented—only after Go Jin-woo agreed to vouch for him.
“He’s one of the few connections Su-chan hyung left behind. They were the closest out of everyone.”
Sun Wukong seemed to be rolling the name of the man who had nearly become his apostle around in his mind.
Lee Hyun couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“By the way, Great Sage, does no one else see you at all?”
In truth, the thing Lee Hyun had worried about most when bringing Sun Wukong outside was exactly this. He himself had grown used to it, but if a white monkey started talking in front of other people, it would cause an absolute panic.
Fortunately, Sun Wukong was completely invisible to anyone other than Lee Hyun.
“You mean they have no ties to the Great Sage?”
Only later did he learn that having served as the chief priest at the royal tomb had played a massive role in his appointment as temporary apostle. Lee Hyun had essentially created and forged a connection with Sun Wukong that had never existed before.
“I’d like to stop by Jongno 3-ga first.”
“My alter ego.”
Sun Wukong tilted his head in confusion.
“Here it is.”
When he saw where Lee Hyun had stopped, the monkey’s eyes sparkled.
“It’s a hardware store.”
Sun Wukong was a martial god who pursued his own unique path of combat. Naturally, he had a deep interest in all kinds of weapons.
Especially in this era, where every kind of myth and legend had begun running wild again in the form of dungeons. Modern reinterpretations had been added to the mix, resulting in a flood of new types of armaments.
“Yes. It’s my weapon. Since I’ve recovered my magic power, I thought I might be able to use it again.”
“I did obtain the Ruyi Jingu Bang, but right now I can’t actually use it as a weapon even if I wanted to.”
The only functions currently available from the Ruyi Jingu Bang were Ultra Recovery and Metabolic Regulation. While those alone were incredibly powerful, they were merely fragments of the staff’s true capabilities.
That was why he needed a real weapon. The one Zet had used.
‘A weapon, huh… I wonder what kind will come out.’
From what Sun Wukong had observed so far, Lee Hyun was a hunter with exceptionally keen senses. His skill with weapons seemed considerable as well, so he was quite curious what kind the man had used.
‘It’ll have to pair well with that bizarre lightning of his—whatever it’s called, Dueoksini’s Breath.’
Sun Wukong recalled the dark, sharp, almost shadowy quality of Lee Hyun’s magic power despite its lightning nature, and smiled.
“Excuse me.”
Lee Hyun entered the most rundown-looking hardware store among the options.
There wasn’t even a proper signboard.
But the moment he pushed open the thick iron door—
Whoosh!
A blast of scorching heat swept over him.
Inside, an old man with bronze-colored skin was hammering away at a piece of iron.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Even though a customer had arrived, he remained completely focused on his work and didn’t spare them a glance.
“Gramps, I’m here to pick up something I left with you before.”
Clang! Clang!
“I’ll find it myself, okay?”
Clang! Clang!
“Keep up the good work.”
Clang! Clang!
Without waiting for the old man’s reply, Lee Hyun walked toward the warehouse area set up in one corner.
“……What the hell is with that guy?”
Only after the heat died down did Sun Wukong finally let out the breath he’d been holding.
[Four Evils — Taotie]
A monster that devours anything and everything in its path. Among all things, it especially loves iron.
The iron it excretes carries traces of everything it has consumed, boasting a wide variety of types and materials.
—Origin: Legend “Classic of Mountains and Seas: Monster Volume”
Through his Fiery Golden Eyes, Sun Wukong could glimpse countless legends and myths swirling around the old man hammering iron.
This was no ordinary craftsman on the level of a mere apostle.
“He used to make weapons for the unit I belonged to. It should be around here somewhere… Found it.”
Lee Hyun spotted a single box half-buried in a corner among the haphazardly stacked crates and piles of hardware.
It was covered in so much dust that the name written on the side was barely legible, but to Lee Hyun it was painfully familiar.
Four years ago, he had left it with the old man while crying, promising he would definitely come back for it.
“Of course he didn’t make weapons for just anyone. I don’t know what his standards were, but he only crafted for the squad members who caught his eye.”
Lee Hyun’s eyes sparkled as he tore off the tape sealing the box.
“And this is the very first custom item the old man ever made for me.”
The moment he flung the box open, he saw the neatly folded uniform of the Cheongroe unit and, resting on top of it, three hand axes.
Modern-style axes commonly used for camping.
◈ Axes imbued with the gluttony and greed of the Four Evils’ Taotie. Each one constantly craves iron, flesh, and blood.
◈ Type: Axe. One-handed weapon.
◈ Origin: Tale of the Four Evils — Taotie
Sun Wukong widened his eyes after examining the history of the three axes.
“Yes. They were originally created specifically to maximize the properties of Dueoksini’s Breath.”
Taotie’s Fangs each had names: Steel-Eater, Flesh-Thirster, and Blood-Biter.
To devour iron, to crave flesh, to tear at blood.
Just as cruel as their names suggested, they had been made purely for slaughter.
At times, they had even threatened their own owner, Lee Hyun.
But their compatibility with Dueoksini’s Breath was simply too perfect.
The more his suppressed emotions exploded, the stronger the skill became. When he swung these hand axes while channeling that power, the result could only be utterly destructive.
Blue-white lightning that seemed capable of shattering the world itself would rain down.
These were the very weapons that had butchered the Snow Queen.
‘They were pretty wrecked back then, so the old man basically had to remake them. Still, their power is the same.’
Lee Hyun ran his hand over the axes for the first time in years.
‘No… they’ve gotten even stronger.’
He had only touched the blunt spine of the blade, yet a cut had already opened on his index finger, blood welling up.
Lee Hyun put his finger in his mouth, eyes sparkling.
‘He must have drawn out every last bit of the grudge the Snow Queen left on these axes.’
He let out a small chuckle without realizing it and stored the axes along with their carrying equipment in his bag.
“Looks like I can just barely use them. That’s a relief.”
“Wouldn’t that actually be better?”
“The fiercer they are, the faster my skills will come back. And since I’ll never know when I might get eaten alive, I’ll have to stay sharp at all times. It’ll double as training.”
Sun Wukong looked at him as if he’d seen a complete madman, but said nothing more. After all, a true martial artist needed at least that much madness if they wanted to grow even a little stronger. There had been a time when he himself was the same.
“That’s also why I didn’t bring any other protective gear. I think I need to train my body first.”
Lee Hyun ran his fingers over the various custom items that had once symbolized Zet, then closed the box flaps and pushed it back into place.
‘Someday.’
Inside that box were items far more vicious or of much higher grade than Taotie’s Fangs. There were even holy relics among them.
But Lee Hyun had no intention of returning here until he had finished all his preparations.
“Gramps, I’m heading out.”
He gave the old man a light farewell and left the forge.
Even then, the old man continued hammering away without a single reply.
Clang! Clang!!
『This stop is Cheongnyangni, Cheongnyangni Station. The doors on the…』
Lee Hyun completely exited the subway station and looked around.
Since it was a transfer station, crowds of people were constantly coming and going in every direction.
“You told me to come, so here I am… but is there really a dungeon in a place like this? No matter how I look at it, there’s nowhere a dungeon could possibly be.”
When a dungeon appeared, regulations required that a one-kilometer radius around it be completely cleared.
No matter how busy or crowded the area was, there were no exceptions. It was to prevent the massive damage that would occur if a break happened.
So hearing that one was here of all places was naturally suspicious.
“……?”
“……??”
The place Sun Wukong pointed to was a fish-shaped pastry cart.
Lee Hyun wondered why the guy was suddenly acting like this, but the look in Sun Wukong’s eyes as he stared at the pastries was anything but ordinary.
“You’re going to eat them?”
Sun Wukong looked at Lee Hyun as if he had asked the stupidest question in the world.
For a moment Lee Hyun wondered what kind of situation this was, but he went ahead and bought the pastries, placing them in Sun Wukong’s hands.
Lee Hyun stared in disbelief at Sun Wukong, whose eyes were sparkling with an expression that seemed to say, ‘How can something this delicious even exist in this world!’
‘Wait, aren’t you a spiritual entity? How the hell is that even going inside you? And how does digestion work?’
Lee Hyun shook his head and began moving in the direction indicated by the Fiery Golden Eyes.
Move west.
Move northeast.
The place the navigator-like guidance eventually led him to was Gyeongdong Market, not far from Cheongnyangni Station.
Specifically, the eastern section known as the herbal medicine market.
The strong scent of ginseng and various other medicinal herbs filled the air.
And then—
‘A door?’
Far in the distance, between two stalls, he spotted a shabby aluminum door.
Golden light resembling the color of the Ruyi Jingu Bang was leaking through the cracks of the rectangular frame.
‘Is this it?’
Lee Hyun stood in front of the door and looked around. Fortunately, it seemed no one else could see the light.
He lightly touched the door handle.
Flash!
The moment the Ruyi Jingu Bang emitted a brilliant burst of light, the golden glow leaking from the doorframe vanished.
Then—
Clunk!
Creak—
With the sound of a lock disengaging, the door swung open.
Lee Hyun stepped inside before anyone else could see. A wave of light engulfed him.
Whoosh!
The exact same sensation as when crossing a gate.
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in Gyeongdong Market but standing in an entirely new space.
‘A dungeon!’
An endless yellow desert stretched out beneath a dark, murky horizon.
The scorching heat and dry wind brought Lee Hyun’s senses back to vivid life.
“Is this some kind of custom-made dungeon just for me?”
It was a natural question, since he had never heard of the concept of an instance dungeon before.
“Could you please finish eating first and then talk?”
Sun Wukong spoke while tossing the tail end of a fish-shaped pastry into his mouth.
Sun Wukong grinned and continued.
Lee Hyun realized that the [Door] Sun Wukong was talking about referred to the gate that served as the entrance and passageway into a dungeon.
“Then I need to clear it before the story structure is completed. We can’t have a dungeon appearing in the outside world.”
Lee Hyun nodded quietly. It felt like he had just caught a glimpse of a secret about dungeons that had never been revealed to the world.
On the other hand, he realized that when he went to collect Sun Wukong’s myths in the future, he wouldn’t have to worry about interference from others.
As long as it wasn’t a completed dungeon where the gate had already formed, he could simply clear it beforehand.
Of course, thinking about it the other way around, this also meant he had no idea what the exact story of this particular dungeon was.
And there was nothing more dangerous than a dungeon whose story you didn’t know.
However—
‘That’s exactly what a guide is supposed to do.’
Lee Hyun opened his Fiery Golden Eyes to their fullest.
The magic power of Dueoksini’s Breath, whose proficiency he had raised all night long, seeped into both eyes and dyed them golden.
Investigation of the dungeon has begun through the magic-power-enhanced relic Fiery Golden Eyes.
All senses are fully opened.
Beyond sight, synesthesia begins accepting and attempting to interpret information from the surrounding world.
One thing Lee Hyun learned for the first time today was that the more magic power the Fiery Golden Eyes absorbed, the less they were limited to pure vision.
From sight to hearing, smell, touch, taste—and eventually to synesthesia that encompassed all five senses.
And later, it could even open up super-senses or a sixth sense that transcended the five senses entirely.
Since Lee Hyun already possessed incredibly refined senses honed on the battlefield, the fact that he could now link and even integrate those senses with the Eyes was an enormous achievement.
Thanks to that—
Lee Hyun could clearly perceive even distant areas far beyond his line of sight.
Swish!
He instantly detected the flash of sharp fangs cutting through the sandstorm that had suddenly obscured his vision.
His reaction was immediate.
One of the Taotie’s Fangs hanging at his waist shot forward.
The throwing speed was so fast it was impossible to follow with the naked eye.
Thud!
Yelp! Yipe!
Something burst violently out of the sandstorm and rolled across the ground.
A wolf the size of a grown man lay dead with a hand axe buried deep between its eyes.
‘Wolves move in packs.’
Lee Hyun reached for his waist again while scanning the area that still showed nothing to the naked eye.
The battle had already begun.
Sun Wukong watched the fight from atop Lee Hyun’s head with a bright, amused smile.
His mocking attitude was a little irritating, but Lee Hyun didn’t show it as he continued scanning the surroundings.
“Yeah, they’re pretty troublesome. By the way, Great Sage.”
“With all this sand blowing around, is your fish pastry okay?”
The pastry he had been saving to savor later was already completely covered in sand.