The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11. A Cross-Section of Humanity (2)

[User Registration is complete.]

Clang!
A dull metallic sound echoed through the space. The embedded Iron Bars tore away from the ceiling all at once, their pointed ends gleaming as they slid downward in a fluid motion and vanished. Where the bars had been, a clear passage opened up.
“What—what just happened? How did you do that?”
Hyeon Sangmin’s bewilderment lingered behind him as he stepped through.
Clang!
“Huh?”
The Iron Bars shot upward the moment he crossed the threshold, embedding themselves back into the ceiling with a sharp ring. Suddenly separated from the other side, Hyeon Sangmin lunged at the bars, shouting frantically.
Seol was just as startled, but she quickly spotted a Red Button on the wall beside the entrance. She pressed it without hesitation, and sure enough—the metal sang as the bars descended again.
“I just aged ten years on the spot.”
He stumbled through, gasping, and pressed a hand to his chest.

[Hyeon Sangmin has arrived at the 2nd Floor Waiting Area.]

Seol’s body went rigid at the announcement. She hadn’t anticipated an arrival message.
Stealing a glance sideways, she saw Hyeon Sangmin doing nothing but sighing repeatedly. He hadn’t noticed—the screech of the bars and his own cries must have drowned it out. Relief settled quietly in her chest.
“Oh! You finally—wait?”
Kang Seok, who’d been waving at Seol, trailed off the moment he saw Hyeon Sangmin.
“…What’s this? Did you two decide to work together?”
Something about his tone rubbed him wrong. Hyeon Sangmin lifted his head.
“You guys.”
“We got here ages ago.”
Kang Seok smirked. Lee Hyeongshik and Jeong Minwoo were visible too. Seol glanced around the space.
The Waiting Area resembled an ordinary school corridor from middle or high school. The only difference was that the walls had Iron Bars instead of windows. A door was visible at the far end of the left passage; the right side was sealed off by a solid wall.
“It’s like a prison… please tell me we don’t have to go deeper into this place.”
“Can’t go in. Don’t know why, but it seems like you can’t cross the Iron Bars. Unless they’re not there, I guess.”
Hyeon Sangmin nodded at Kang Seok’s answer, then asked carefully.
“Back then—did you open the door?”
“Didn’t open it. Broke it. Someone threw rocks and a flowerpot at it and ran away, which did us a favor.”
“You blaming me?”
His tone turned sharp. Kang Seok’s eyes widened before he burst out laughing.
“No way! I said it, didn’t I? I don’t care what you three do. As long as you don’t interfere with us.”
……
“Look, maybe my phrasing was a bit crude. Cut me some slack. That’s just how I am… Invitees don’t need to butt heads with each other, right?”
“…I suppose not.”
“Good. As an apology, let me share something interesting with you.”
At the word “interesting,” Seol turned to look at Kang Seok too. His lips twitched with anticipation. The weight of standing before an Invitee who bore a Gold Mark made her throat tighten.
“Look at this. This is the passage we came through, right?”
Kang Seok pointed behind him and pressed the button. The Iron Bars descended, then rose again. Hyeon Sangmin murmured quietly.
“The button’s on the inside, not the outside….”
“Exactly! That’s what’s interesting about it.”
Kang Seok clapped his hands together.
“To put it simply, from the moment I entered, this door became mine. Only I can open and close it.”
“What?”
“I found out after entering. The first person to arrive at each passage gets the right to control the door. But only one door per person.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Don’t believe me? Try pressing it yourself.”
Kang Seok stepped aside, and Hyeon Sangmin quickly pushed the button. Nothing happened. He tried again, and again, pressing it several times, but the Iron Bars didn’t budge.
As Seol consulted the Map with lingering doubt, she caught her breath. Six markers in the 2nd Floor Waiting Area—four of them were now red. When she’d looked at it in the Club Room, only one had been.
“Did you really need to control three doors?”
“Huh? How’d you figure that out?”
Kang Seok looked genuinely surprised at her question.
“Why the serious face? Doesn’t it sound fun? Hey, why don’t you grab one too?”
Looking at Hyeon Sangmin, Kang Seok pointed across the passage.
“We’ve claimed all the ones on this side, so go take that one over there. You just need to grab the bars. Simple, right?”
Hyeon Sangmin seemed caught in quiet conflict. He glanced sideways at Seol, then shook his head.
“I’m fine. Just being here is enough.”
With that, he settled down in a convenient spot.
“Do what you want.”
Kang Seok and the two other men sat as well, but they couldn’t stay down for long. Hyeon Sangmin had produced a fresh pack of cigarettes. When hands reached out asking for one, he dealt them out singly, calling it “information tax.” To Seol, who was patting his pockets, he handed over an entire pack.
“You smoke?”
“Yeah…”
“Saw you were out earlier. Picked some up at the convenience store.”
Hyeon Sangmin spoke low and gave a quick thumbs up.
Soon the hallway filled with smoke from five men’s cigarettes.
As tension melted away, Seol felt his eyes growing heavy through the haze. Not that he hadn’t slept—he was just drowsy. Probably fatigue from overusing his Ability.
‘Sleep or stay awake?’
Over three hours remained.
Sleep was the most effective way to cool an overheated mind and eyes. Not ideal to nap when you’re barely hanging on, but… he’d only just regained this Ability. Lose it again through recklessness, and there’d be no greater fool.
Seol surrendered to the waves of drowsiness washing over him.
And so, he heard nothing.

Nod, nod.
“Either he’s got nerves of steel, or he really doesn’t care about the Tutorial.”
Kang Seok let out a wry laugh watching Seol’s head bob. He flicked his cigarette butt away and sighed.
“When does this end? I wish we could move past it.”
“Still three hours to go… damn it. Why do we have to wait four hours for some mission like this?”
Lee Hyeongshik groaned after reading the message. Kang Seok nodded in agreement, pressing his interlaced fingers to his temple.
“Bored out of my mind. I wish someone would just come up through this door.”
“Nobody’s coming, is there?”
“Unlikely. Besides, not all the Invitees have arrived yet, have they?”
“Lee Seol-ah? She’s dead.”
“Not her. That stupid bitch. Those loudmouths always get killed early.”
Kang Seok’s blunt words made Jeong Minwoo smack his lips.
“Bit of a waste, though.”
“True. Don’t worry. We’ve still got one more.”
“Who?”
“You know. That Yun Seora, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, the reckless one?”
As Lee Hyeongshik chimed in, the three of them snickered. An ominous sort of laugh.
“Screw it. Might as well sleep.”
It was just as Kang Seok yawned so wide his mouth nearly split and sprawled out flat.
Suddenly, a sound mixed with shouting and running footsteps echoed faintly. Kang Seok blinked twice and shot upright. Except for Seol, who was fast asleep, everyone turned toward the door.
“Where? Which way?”
Jeong Minwoo pointed to the center across from them. Since Seol occupied the far left, this door was still unclaimed. Disappointment flashed across Kang Seok’s face as he stared at Hyeon Sangmin.
“There’s still time.”
“I said I was done.”
With a sigh, Kang Seok stood with his arms crossed in front of the door. He looked ready to watch a show.
The sounds drew closer rapidly.
Three people scrambled up. A middle-aged couple and a young-looking girl. A woman gripping the child’s hand tightly and, ahead of them, a bespectacled man in a necktie racing with it fluttering behind him. Looking closer, it was the middle-aged man who’d asked Kang Seok for help before.
“Just a bit more, just a bit more… wait!”
The moment he rounded the corner, he stopped short at the sight of Iron Bars blocking the stairwell. Despair bloomed in his eyes—he clearly hadn’t imagined it would be blocked.
Then the man spotted Kang Seok standing beyond the bars. His stopping caused the two behind him to collide and stumble back. Almost simultaneously, a sharp, hooked appendage descended upon them both.
“Please, help us!”
The man bounded up the last steps, wailing.
“Let us in!”

[User Registration is complete.]

Clang—the Iron Bars descended. The man stood stupidly in the open passage. Then, turning to look behind him with that very expression frozen on his face,
“My wife!”
He couldn’t help but flinch. His wife and daughter were caught in the monster’s grip.
“Honey, help me! Honey!”
“Dad! Save me, Dad!”
Though their cries were desperate, his feet hesitated. Confronted by those bloodshot eyes—grotesquely, impossibly large—
“He… he… Hee, Heejin….”
His legs had gone numb. He couldn’t move.
Squelch, squelch.
Step by step. The wet sound grew closer. The man stared at Kang Seok with a trembling face, helpless and lost. Kang Seok spoke, tossing the words out casually.
“Make up your mind. Now.”
“Wh… what…?”
“Get out or come in—decide fast. Are you trying to get us all killed?”
Whether it was the shout or the cold creeping up his spine, the middle-aged man took a step forward.
Clang!
“Dad…?”
“Honey! Don’t go!”
He went inside.
“Dad, no!”
“Don’t leave us! Honey!”
Two dark hands seized both their legs. The man watched his wife and daughter dangle upside down, and his eyes clenched shut.
Rip.
A sound like fine silk being torn in one motion pierced his eardrums sharply. The high-pitched wail echoed in his skull. He collapsed forward, pressing his hands hard against his ears, thrashing wildly in the dust-covered hallway.
The man couldn’t lift his head.
Not until the screaming stopped.

It was no surprise that the commotion woke Lee Seol-ah from her light sleep. By the time she came to, it was already over.
Beyond the iron bars, two bodies lay limp on the floor. Each one split lengthwise.
What startled Lee Seol-ah most was the expression that didn’t relax even in death. A face twisted by agony and terror, despair and rage. How badly they had wanted to live was written plainly there.
“I didn’t… I didn’t do it….”
The middle-aged man hadn’t moved since he went inside. He only trembled, like an aspen in the wind.
“There was no choice… there was no choice….”
No one had said anything, yet he continued to mutter and sob without pause.
“Heh.”
Suddenly, laughter sounded. The man’s trembling stopped dead. Kang Seok clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Heh, hehehehehehe~!”
He seemed to be holding it in, but his shoulders soon began to shake as he bowed his head. The middle-aged man’s fists clenched until his knuckles whitened. It was like breaking the very bowl you were supposed to protect. Lee Seol-ah’s brow furrowed.
‘He’s laughing?’
Then came the sound of iron bars descending.
Yun Seora emerged from the last remaining door—one whose owner hadn’t yet been decided. She too seemed to have searched the school, holding several sheets of A4 paper. She swept her eyes across the hallway as she had in the Hall, then settled into a spot and focused on her notes.
With that, seven survivors had been confirmed. Less than half of thirty-six.
Time trickled past in the quiet stillness. Occasionally, loud sounds echoed from below, but they soon faded away.
Lee Seol-ah made a provisional conclusion. There would be no more survivors.
That assumption shattered when barely thirty minutes remained.
“We’re almost there. You’ll be here soon, so come up quietly.”
Against all expectation, survivors appeared. Not just one or two, but a group of five. Two of them were people Lee Seol-ah recognized.
Shin Sang-ah, who had raised her voice with Kang Seok in the Hall. And Lee Seongjin, Lee Seol-ah’s brother. By whatever means, they’d managed to reach the destination.
The problem was that they’d come up to the side that Kang Seok and two others now controlled.
“Well, well. Who do we have here?”
Kang Seok’s eyes widened, feigning exaggerated surprise.
“Made it this far, huh? Little Crybaby?”
“Huh… what?”
Shin Sang-ah, who’d climbed the stairs cautiously, was flustered. Upon seeing the iron bars and the people inside, she asked uncertainly.
“What’s going on? Why is it blocked?”
“Oh, that?”
Kang Seok smiled with relish. The moment he’d been waiting for had arrived. Seeing him, Shin Sang-ah’s brow deepened.
“What?”
“What else? I own this door.”
“You… own it?”
Kang Seok began his explanation with a quiet chuckle. Slow and detailed, like a tutor.
But his words likely wouldn’t reach her ears. Shin Sang-ah kept glancing behind her anxiously, her voice rising slightly.
“Fine, fine. So you can open this door, right?”
“Oh, sharper than you look, aren’t you? Was the explanation helpful?”
“Just open it already!”
“Hey, but how did you even get here? An Invitee like you, sneaking around without getting caught?”
He paid no attention. Kang Seok seemed to be genuinely enjoying the moment.
“I don’t know either. We almost got caught, but he used something that came out of a Random Box or whatever. We barely got a window and slipped out.”
Shin Sang-ah pointed at Lee Seongjin. The boy’s face had gone ashen. His sister’s death must have struck him hard.
“Well, he’s an Invitee too, so… at least we know it wasn’t just luck.”
“Now open it.”
“Um….”
Kang Seok, his mouth hanging open,
“I don’t want to.”
grinned annoyingly.

(To be continued in the next episode)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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