There was a rule that all Hunters knew.
If one suddenly gained great power, there would be a proportional side effect.
Many powerful Hunters suffered from these side effects, often in the form of curses. One such example was Ungnyeo, who had been trapped in the shape of a young girl.
Another example were the people in front of him.
“Merlin…”
“Arthur…?”
There was Merlin, the Hunter who had created and controlled the Round Table. She also was one of the few who had suffered side effects after gaining great strength. For her, it was in the form of fusing with Arthur and one other unnamed Hunter. It hadn’t been by choice.
Rather, they had just wished for strength, and in return, their Sponsors had given them what they desired in a horrifying form.
After bestowing them with that “gift”, they then had been given a mission to return to their original forms.
Like a game.
Their Sponsors had mortgaged their lives in exchange for their request.
"This is..."
"Excalibur?"
Arthur and Merlin looked at the colorful decorative sword given to them by Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Their mission had been to find the sword that had been hidden by a Sponsor, Excalibur. They had tried to find it by using the Round Table, but their efforts had failed. Only when Lee Jun-Kyeong had appeared out of the blue that the sword was mentioned again.
Moreover, he had even brought it to them as well.
The evidence was apparent in front of them.
“The curse has been undone!”
“We’ve been split apart again.”
In front of Lee Jun-Kyeong were Merlin and Arthur in their own bodies.
“I’ve kept my word,” the Hunter said.
He had brought Excalibur to them in exchange for Merlin’s necklace and her favor.
“How did you…?”
“So this is all it took…”
Their reactions were odd.
Looking at Excalibur, Merlin was curious while Arthur was flustered.
[I’ve seen Excalibur.]
All Lee Jun-Kyeong had done was bring them the Excalibur he had found based on the information that he had.
The connection between the Demon King and the Round Table wasn’t deep. However, on the other hand, the connection between the Demon King and Excalibur was.
[That bastard had the sword.]
As he thought about the comment that popped up in his head, he spoke to the two about the Excalibur in their hands.
“Unfortunately though, it’s a fake.”
“...”
“...”
There was silence.
The two of them also had thought that the crude sword in their hands was a fake as well. However, even if it was a fake, their curse had still been lifted. That meant, at the very least, the sword in their hands had the same effect as Excalibur.
No.
“It’s a fake that was made to deceive your Sponsor, <The Queen of the Lake>.
They were basically deceiving their Sponsors.
***
[Sponsors only see what they want to see.]
That was something he had learned from the Demon King.
It was something that many Hunters misunderstood. They thought that the Sponsor was like a person. They thought that the Sponsor’s gaze would be similar to the view of a person. However, that mindset itself was a large mistake.
“The Sponsors are different from us. Don’t try to decide what they meant on your own,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Merlin and Arthur.
The two were still looking down at the decorative sword in their hands as if they still didn’t understand it. The sword obviously had a considerable amount of mana condensed within it and seemed to be a great weapon, but it still wasn’t enough for them to think it was Excalibur.
"The Sponsors only see what they want to see. All you have to do is fulfill what they want in some way or another,” Lee Jun-Kyeong continued.
Merlin seemed to have finally understood something.
“I see.”
“What are you talking about…?” Arthur said, scratching his head as if he didn’t understand. However, it was Merlin who responded rather than Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“<The Queen of the Lake> asked us to get Excalibur, Arthur.”
“So?” the boy impatiently responded.
“But, we don’t know what Excalibur looks like. All we know is that it exists in the form of a sword.”
“...”
Merlin looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“You seem to understand the essence of the divine item, Excalibur. That’s how you were able to trick the Sponsors by making something similar to Excalibur,” she said.
Merlin was right.
Excalibur was the sword of the lake.
It had been tempered for centuries within a lake full of mana, and the sword had consumed an incredible amount of the lake’s mana.
Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that fact about it, and had achieved something similar, which is what he had handed over.
“So it’s a fake…”
"Then the curse will not be completely lifted,” Merlin said.
“But… aren’t we still split apart like this?”
Arthur still didn't seem to understand.
Merlin shook her head.
"It's only temporary. The Queen of the Lake will soon notice that this is a fake. It’s only a matter of time before the curse will be restored.”
"If that’s the case…"
Arthur looked sharply at Lee Jun-Kyeong, but Merlin stopped him.
"No. Still, it will last quite a long time. Right, Mr. Underdog?”
"No,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied, denying Merlin's words.
While Merlin paused, obviously bewildered by the response, Lee Jun-Kyeong continued, “The issue isn’t time. Although the sword was made to deceive your Sponsor, your Sponsor will still let things slide to some extent. As long as you don’t get involved with anything outside of this area–no, even if you get involved within anything up to the Round Table, you will still be able to temporarily lift the curse when you want.”
To think a fake constructed sword could do such things. Merlin’s eyes glistened as if she had learned a whole new theory while Arthur continued to scratch at his head at the complicated explanation.
“Although your Sponsor was the one to curse you…it’s because they are still hoping that you will get ahold of the real Excalibur,” Lee Jun-Kyeong explained.
However, he wasn’t done yet and turned over to Arthur.
“Either way, I’m letting you know that I’ve accomplished my duty.”
However, Arthur didn’t seem satisfied yet.
He complained, “It’s not enough.”
It made sense, though, as Arthur’s curse was worse than Merlin’s.
He had been forced to not only take the form of a child, but also his outward appearance was even being dominated by the form of Merlin.
Lee Jun-Kyeong could understand how his personality had become so problematic, as this meant that the boy would always be trapped, even though he still had his own will and reason.
"So..."
They had finally come to the matter at hand.
The sword in their grasp was nothing but an imitation that had been hastily crafted in order to create a positive feeling about him within them and to establish a form of trust.
Still, Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that he wouldn’t be able to bring the Round Table to his side with such a little trick.
He grinned. “I’ll tell you the actual location of Excalibur.”
The real Excalibur.
[The bastard that held Excalibur got even more difficult to deal with once he got his hands on it.]
The Demon King had seen the sword.
[I had to get rid of the blade first. Fortunately, as he wasn’t the original owner of the sword, I was able to find a way to make it lose its power.]
It was to create a sort of fake Excalibur as he had done.
Excalibur was a sword that there could only be one of.
Therefore, even if a second Excalibur was created and was clearly fake, the power of the first Excalibur would be halved as soon as the second was created.
That was the penalty the Queen of the Lake had given to the sword.
Regardless of how it worked, Lee Jun-Kyeong had made a fake Excalibur in the same manner that the Demon King had done.
Moreover, he even knew the location of the real Excalibur as well.
However, he didn’t plan on just giving them this information.
"From now on, you owe me two."
He had temporarily lifted the curse with a fake Excalibur and had allowed himself to be manipulated to defeat Lancelot as they had wanted.
As they had created two debts to him, “It’s time for you to clear your debts, Heroes of the Lake,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said in a warm tone.
Though, he was sure that as soon as they cleared their debt, another one would fall into place.
***
A giant man moved quickly, his stature enormous.
He was over two meters tall, and the muscles of his entire body had expanded to the point where he had torn through his leather armor.
BOOM!
Whenever the steel gauntlets that encased his two fists moved, the air split apart and exploded.
“Ha…”
Every time he moved, he got even faster.
The red light from his eyes left afterimages as he moved, almost as if they were drawing a trajectory.
BOOM! BOOM!
As the light grew darker, the explosions became more frequent, and the man’s body eventually became so fast that it was no longer visible.
“It’s slow.”
Even still, he wasn’t able to even touch the man he was facing.
“HAA!”
The huge man moved his body with even more vigor. As if his expanded muscles were on fire, visible heat could be seen emanating from between the tears of the leather armor.
His mana was boiling and was expanding his muscles and giving them incredible power.
“Haa…”
Moreover, it had gotten to the point where steam was coming out of his mouth.
His eyes had turned so red that it seemed as though they couldn’t get any more crimson. It was like watching a beast of the night.
The man moved aggressively, like a hunter who didn’t care about what was behind him, like a beast that was about to tear through its prey’s neck.
However.
Thud!
A simple blow, a weak attack that seemed to just brush by the neck of the huge man, caused a big reaction.
“Cough!”
The man of great stature, Heracles, let out a scream.
The Madness in his eyes had disappeared, and his augmented muscles contracted.
He spoke as he collapsed to the floor while breathing heavily.
“Gasp… gasp…?what in the world is that?”
Heracles was looking at the sword in the hand of the man he had been facing.
Just now, although it had only been a simple move, the reason he had been defeated was largely due to the sword in the man’s hand.
The moment that sword touched his body, he wasn’t able to control his mana.
“Just something that I picked up a while ago,” the man said.
“You're saying…you picked it up?”
Even Heracles, who usually didn’t think deeply, knew that what the man had just said was quite ridiculous.
If it was possible to pick up that sort of sword just on the side of a road, then everyone would be rich.
Hercules rose from the ground, shaking his head.
“Well… You’ve grown enough to be forgiven for breaking the agreement on your own and acting arbitrarily,” the man said haughtily as he looked at Heracles.
He was a man with long gray hair tied back neatly.
Although it required quite a bit of courage to live in a modern world and stick to that hairstyle, it still looked impeccable.
“Then, do I not have to undergo disciplinary action?” Heracles asked in a delighted tone.
“No. I’m forgiving you now,” said the gray-haired man as he gestured behind himself.
“But it seems as though Athena wants to undergo her disciplinary action now?”
Athena.
She stood, arms folded behind Heracles and the man.
‘I didn’t feel any signs of her appearing.’
There had definitely only been the two of them, the man and Heracles at first, but living up to her title, he hadn’t been able to feel any signs of Athena’s approach until she had already come up next to them.
Heracles clenched his fists, regretful at the fact that he had still not reached their level despite his great growth.
“What have you come here for, Athena?” asked the gray-haired man as he held his sword.
Athena spoke with a deep bow.
"I'm here to report to you."
It would have been a shocking sight if anyone had seen this scene.
Athena, who was known to be as arrogant as the size of her reputation, was speaking with her head turned down in a sincere bow.
“...”
However, Heracles looked at the two of them as if the scene in front of him was only natural.
Athena carefully raised her head as she continued, “As you instructed the other day…”
Her eyes shone.
“It’s my report of the Underdog.”
The eyes of both Heracles and the gray-haired man grew bright at the same time.
They were both interested in the Underdog.
The gray-haired man rubbed his hands together as if expressing his interest and ordered Athena to continue with her report.
“We’ve received news that he is currently in England after returning from China.”
“England?”
Athena nodded. “Yes. We still aren’t sure of the exact reason why, as we don’t have any connections within the Round Table.”
“Hmm.”
The gray-haired man also nodded cautiously.
"I see. Keep an eye on it for the time being. Also, Heracles, don’t neglect your growth.”
The report had finished, and so did the battle.
Athena and Heracles bowed their heads deeply at the same time.
“I’ve received your orders.”
“I’ve received your orders.”
The two raised their heads at the same time and spoke in unison, calling out to the man in front of them.
"Zeus."
***
“So you’re saying, right now…” Arthur said, speaking to Lee Jun-Kyeong, having been free of Merlin at least while they were inside the Round Table.
Lee Jun-Kyeong thought to himself for a moment.
‘The look on Arthur's face is worth watching.’
"Yes."
1. Reference to the Lady in the Lake.
2. Having such long hair was a common hairstyle back before the fall of the Korean Empire, as the introduction of the Japanese, and then the Americans brought about widespread fashion changes.
There was a rule that all Hunters knew.
If one suddenly gained great power, there would be a proportional side effect.
Many powerful Hunters suffered from these side effects, often in the form of curses. One such example was Ungnyeo, who had been trapped in the shape of a young girl.
Another example were the people in front of him.
“Merlin…”
“Arthur…?”
There was Merlin, the Hunter who had created and controlled the Round Table. She also was one of the few who had suffered side effects after gaining great strength. For her, it was in the form of fusing with Arthur and one other unnamed Hunter. It hadn’t been by choice.
Rather, they had just wished for strength, and in return, their Sponsors had given them what they desired in a horrifying form.
After bestowing them with that “gift”, they then had been given a mission to return to their original forms.
Like a game.
Their Sponsors had mortgaged their lives in exchange for their request.
"This is..."
"Excalibur?"
Arthur and Merlin looked at the colorful decorative sword given to them by Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Their mission had been to find the sword that had been hidden by a Sponsor, Excalibur. They had tried to find it by using the Round Table, but their efforts had failed. Only when Lee Jun-Kyeong had appeared out of the blue that the sword was mentioned again.
Moreover, he had even brought it to them as well.
The evidence was apparent in front of them.
“The curse has been undone!”
“We’ve been split apart again.”
In front of Lee Jun-Kyeong were Merlin and Arthur in their own bodies.
“I’ve kept my word,” the Hunter said.
He had brought Excalibur to them in exchange for Merlin’s necklace and her favor.
“How did you…?”
“So this is all it took…”
Their reactions were odd.
Looking at Excalibur, Merlin was curious while Arthur was flustered.
[I’ve seen Excalibur.]
All Lee Jun-Kyeong had done was bring them the Excalibur he had found based on the information that he had.
The connection between the Demon King and the Round Table wasn’t deep. However, on the other hand, the connection between the Demon King and Excalibur was.
[That bastard had the sword.]
As he thought about the comment that popped up in his head, he spoke to the two about the Excalibur in their hands.
“Unfortunately though, it’s a fake.”
“...”
“...”
There was silence.
The two of them also had thought that the crude sword in their hands was a fake as well. However, even if it was a fake, their curse had still been lifted. That meant, at the very least, the sword in their hands had the same effect as Excalibur.
No.
“It’s a fake that was made to deceive your Sponsor, <The Queen of the Lake>.
They were basically deceiving their Sponsors.
***
[Sponsors only see what they want to see.]
That was something he had learned from the Demon King.
It was something that many Hunters misunderstood. They thought that the Sponsor was like a person. They thought that the Sponsor’s gaze would be similar to the view of a person. However, that mindset itself was a large mistake.
“The Sponsors are different from us. Don’t try to decide what they meant on your own,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Merlin and Arthur.
The two were still looking down at the decorative sword in their hands as if they still didn’t understand it. The sword obviously had a considerable amount of mana condensed within it and seemed to be a great weapon, but it still wasn’t enough for them to think it was Excalibur.
"The Sponsors only see what they want to see. All you have to do is fulfill what they want in some way or another,” Lee Jun-Kyeong continued.
Merlin seemed to have finally understood something.
“I see.”
“What are you talking about…?” Arthur said, scratching his head as if he didn’t understand. However, it was Merlin who responded rather than Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“<The Queen of the Lake> asked us to get Excalibur, Arthur.”
“So?” the boy impatiently responded.
“But, we don’t know what Excalibur looks like. All we know is that it exists in the form of a sword.”
“...”
Merlin looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“You seem to understand the essence of the divine item, Excalibur. That’s how you were able to trick the Sponsors by making something similar to Excalibur,” she said.
Merlin was right.
Excalibur was the sword of the lake.
It had been tempered for centuries within a lake full of mana, and the sword had consumed an incredible amount of the lake’s mana.
Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that fact about it, and had achieved something similar, which is what he had handed over.
“So it’s a fake…”
"Then the curse will not be completely lifted,” Merlin said.
“But… aren’t we still split apart like this?”
Arthur still didn't seem to understand.
Merlin shook her head.
"It's only temporary. The Queen of the Lake will soon notice that this is a fake. It’s only a matter of time before the curse will be restored.”
"If that’s the case…"
Arthur looked sharply at Lee Jun-Kyeong, but Merlin stopped him.
"No. Still, it will last quite a long time. Right, Mr. Underdog?”
"No,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied, denying Merlin's words.
While Merlin paused, obviously bewildered by the response, Lee Jun-Kyeong continued, “The issue isn’t time. Although the sword was made to deceive your Sponsor, your Sponsor will still let things slide to some extent. As long as you don’t get involved with anything outside of this area–no, even if you get involved within anything up to the Round Table, you will still be able to temporarily lift the curse when you want.”
To think a fake constructed sword could do such things. Merlin’s eyes glistened as if she had learned a whole new theory while Arthur continued to scratch at his head at the complicated explanation.
“Although your Sponsor was the one to curse you…it’s because they are still hoping that you will get ahold of the real Excalibur,” Lee Jun-Kyeong explained.
However, he wasn’t done yet and turned over to Arthur.
“Either way, I’m letting you know that I’ve accomplished my duty.”
However, Arthur didn’t seem satisfied yet.
He complained, “It’s not enough.”
It made sense, though, as Arthur’s curse was worse than Merlin’s.
He had been forced to not only take the form of a child, but also his outward appearance was even being dominated by the form of Merlin.
Lee Jun-Kyeong could understand how his personality had become so problematic, as this meant that the boy would always be trapped, even though he still had his own will and reason.
"So..."
They had finally come to the matter at hand.
The sword in their grasp was nothing but an imitation that had been hastily crafted in order to create a positive feeling about him within them and to establish a form of trust.
Still, Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that he wouldn’t be able to bring the Round Table to his side with such a little trick.
He grinned. “I’ll tell you the actual location of Excalibur.”
The real Excalibur.
[The bastard that held Excalibur got even more difficult to deal with once he got his hands on it.]
The Demon King had seen the sword.
[I had to get rid of the blade first. Fortunately, as he wasn’t the original owner of the sword, I was able to find a way to make it lose its power.]
It was to create a sort of fake Excalibur as he had done.
Excalibur was a sword that there could only be one of.
Therefore, even if a second Excalibur was created and was clearly fake, the power of the first Excalibur would be halved as soon as the second was created.
That was the penalty the Queen of the Lake had given to the sword.
Regardless of how it worked, Lee Jun-Kyeong had made a fake Excalibur in the same manner that the Demon King had done.
Moreover, he even knew the location of the real Excalibur as well.
However, he didn’t plan on just giving them this information.
"From now on, you owe me two."
He had temporarily lifted the curse with a fake Excalibur and had allowed himself to be manipulated to defeat Lancelot as they had wanted.
As they had created two debts to him, “It’s time for you to clear your debts, Heroes of the Lake,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said in a warm tone.
Though, he was sure that as soon as they cleared their debt, another one would fall into place.
***
A giant man moved quickly, his stature enormous.
He was over two meters tall, and the muscles of his entire body had expanded to the point where he had torn through his leather armor.
BOOM!
Whenever the steel gauntlets that encased his two fists moved, the air split apart and exploded.
“Ha…”
Every time he moved, he got even faster.
The red light from his eyes left afterimages as he moved, almost as if they were drawing a trajectory.
BOOM! BOOM!
As the light grew darker, the explosions became more frequent, and the man’s body eventually became so fast that it was no longer visible.
“It’s slow.”
Even still, he wasn’t able to even touch the man he was facing.
“HAA!”
The huge man moved his body with even more vigor. As if his expanded muscles were on fire, visible heat could be seen emanating from between the tears of the leather armor.
His mana was boiling and was expanding his muscles and giving them incredible power.
“Haa…”
Moreover, it had gotten to the point where steam was coming out of his mouth.
His eyes had turned so red that it seemed as though they couldn’t get any more crimson. It was like watching a beast of the night.
The man moved aggressively, like a hunter who didn’t care about what was behind him, like a beast that was about to tear through its prey’s neck.
However.
Thud!
A simple blow, a weak attack that seemed to just brush by the neck of the huge man, caused a big reaction.
“Cough!”
The man of great stature, Heracles, let out a scream.
The Madness in his eyes had disappeared, and his augmented muscles contracted.
He spoke as he collapsed to the floor while breathing heavily.
“Gasp… gasp…?what in the world is that?”
Heracles was looking at the sword in the hand of the man he had been facing.
Just now, although it had only been a simple move, the reason he had been defeated was largely due to the sword in the man’s hand.
The moment that sword touched his body, he wasn’t able to control his mana.
“Just something that I picked up a while ago,” the man said.
“You're saying…you picked it up?”
Even Heracles, who usually didn’t think deeply, knew that what the man had just said was quite ridiculous.
If it was possible to pick up that sort of sword just on the side of a road, then everyone would be rich.
Hercules rose from the ground, shaking his head.
“Well… You’ve grown enough to be forgiven for breaking the agreement on your own and acting arbitrarily,” the man said haughtily as he looked at Heracles.
He was a man with long gray hair tied back neatly.
Although it required quite a bit of courage to live in a modern world and stick to that hairstyle, it still looked impeccable.
“Then, do I not have to undergo disciplinary action?” Heracles asked in a delighted tone.
“No. I’m forgiving you now,” said the gray-haired man as he gestured behind himself.
“But it seems as though Athena wants to undergo her disciplinary action now?”
Athena.
She stood, arms folded behind Heracles and the man.
‘I didn’t feel any signs of her appearing.’
There had definitely only been the two of them, the man and Heracles at first, but living up to her title, he hadn’t been able to feel any signs of Athena’s approach until she had already come up next to them.
Heracles clenched his fists, regretful at the fact that he had still not reached their level despite his great growth.
“What have you come here for, Athena?” asked the gray-haired man as he held his sword.
Athena spoke with a deep bow.
"I'm here to report to you."
It would have been a shocking sight if anyone had seen this scene.
Athena, who was known to be as arrogant as the size of her reputation, was speaking with her head turned down in a sincere bow.
“...”
However, Heracles looked at the two of them as if the scene in front of him was only natural.
Athena carefully raised her head as she continued, “As you instructed the other day…”
Her eyes shone.
“It’s my report of the Underdog.”
The eyes of both Heracles and the gray-haired man grew bright at the same time.
They were both interested in the Underdog.
The gray-haired man rubbed his hands together as if expressing his interest and ordered Athena to continue with her report.
“We’ve received news that he is currently in England after returning from China.”
“England?”
Athena nodded. “Yes. We still aren’t sure of the exact reason why, as we don’t have any connections within the Round Table.”
“Hmm.”
The gray-haired man also nodded cautiously.
"I see. Keep an eye on it for the time being. Also, Heracles, don’t neglect your growth.”
The report had finished, and so did the battle.
Athena and Heracles bowed their heads deeply at the same time.
“I’ve received your orders.”
“I’ve received your orders.”
The two raised their heads at the same time and spoke in unison, calling out to the man in front of them.
"Zeus."
***
“So you’re saying, right now…” Arthur said, speaking to Lee Jun-Kyeong, having been free of Merlin at least while they were inside the Round Table.
Lee Jun-Kyeong thought to himself for a moment.
‘The look on Arthur's face is worth watching.’
"Yes."
1. Reference to the Lady in the Lake.
2. Having such long hair was a common hairstyle back before the fall of the Korean Empire, as the introduction of the Japanese, and then the Americans brought about widespread fashion changes.
