The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 117

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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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Chapter 117. The One Who Leads

Leader.
A word that describes the person who stands at the forefront, the guide of a group.
The most central figure in a community—one who provides direction for how members act, standing foremost as the one who leads.
Commonly called a leader.
But what qualifications must one possess to become a leader?
There may be many requirements—martial prowess, intellect, virtue, renown—but each can be traced back to a single root.
One person’s strength, eloquent speech, benevolence or charisma, reputation or standing.
Many paths exist, yet the conclusion is always the same: trust.
Whether it is trust that encompasses loyalty and righteousness, or the faith and expectation one inspires in others—ultimately, a leader is an existence for whom trust is utterly indispensable.
Seol Jihoo’s mind drifted unbidden to Dylan. That broad-shouldered man with a sharp mind. His abilities went without saying, and even in crisis, he always led the team with calm judgment.
Though the time they spent together was short, he had left such an impression that Seol Jihoo found himself missing him even now.
‘What would Dylan have done?’
But Seol Jihoo soon realized the futility of the question.
Dylan was Dylan, and Seol Jihoo was Seol Jihoo.
It could not be denied that he fell far short of Dylan. Yet he had his own methods, ways that only he could pursue.
He harbored some vague anxiety about how the situation had been allowed to deteriorate, but as the saying went, the beginning is half the battle. He had no intention of letting his hands fall idle any longer.
So now Seol Jihoo began the task he knew must be done.
Shale Sophie’s treatment had just finished. Her wound had been severe—her forearm bent and bone breaking through skin—but under the Level 4 healing spell Cure Massive Wounds, her left arm had been restored to its proper form.
Even so, to be safe, Shale Sophie withdrew a Healing Potion she carried as a reserve. She was drinking it in small sips when a sharp voice cut through the air.
“Why don’t you finish up and get on your feet?”
Expressionless stared down at her with characteristic half-lidded eyes.
“I get that losing your shield is bleak… but do you have to drag it out like this? Never crossed your mind that keeping people waiting is annoying?”
Lara Wolfe’s jaw dropped in disbelief. She turned to Expressionless with an expression that screamed, ‘What kind of person is this?’
The human body is not a calculator. Even after complete healing, the mind needs time to recover from shock. Drinking the potion slowly to aid that recovery was standard—and yet she couldn’t even wait for that?
It was transparent. Expressionless was clearly taking offense at Sophie’s intervention and lashing out. What’s more, there was a deliberate contempt in her gaze, and at this point, even the most good-natured person would be wounded.
Yet Sophie showed no sign of hurt.
“I’m sorry. I’ll resume right away.”
She smiled and drained the remaining potion in several greedy gulps.
Lara ground her teeth. Part of her wanted to scream that this was going too far, even for Sophie.
But since she understood why Sophie endured it, and why she had to, all she could do was clench her fists.
Even a dungheap would be better than this life, as they say. One moment of rejection here meant death or elimination for certain.
Rising to her feet, Sophie rifled through the rubble. The shield hadn’t shattered completely, but a vertical crack had split it—it looked less like a shield now and more like a rag, though it was still something. As she picked it up, a laugh erupted.
“Wow… I’m getting tears here. Actual tears. I’d just throw in the towel and call it a day.”
“My, aren’t you surprisingly pragmatic?”
“Is that a compliment?”
“It is. I like practical people.”
Snake Eyes and Expressionless continued their exchange as Lara’s complexion darkened with mounting tension.
Seol Jihoo intervened just before she reached the breaking point.
“I think it would be best to discard the shield. In that state, it won’t be of much use.”
Sophie’s steady footstep faltered. Her eyes widened as she looked at the young man who had spoken so gently.
“Excuse me! Are you fanning the flames on a burning house? It’s not like anyone doesn’t know—”
Lara, finally bursting with pent-up frustration, snapped something out before suddenly trailing off. There was no mockery in the young man’s tone or expression.
Seol Jihoo cleared his throat.
“You’ve worked hard.”
And so it came to pass.
“From here on, I’ll take the lead.”
The moment he broke his silence and declared his involvement,
Expressionless, Snake Eyes, and Maria
reacted differently from Lara, Sophie, and White Headband Girl.
The reactions of these two factions clearly diverged.
“Um… I…”
Sophie looked back and forth uneasily. She had half-expected it, but to have the man who had been silent all this time suddenly offer his help was bewildering.
Snake Eyes too seemed caught off guard, letting out a low whistle.
“Oh, so the prince makes his entrance at last?”
She laughed mockingly, her thin frame shaking as she glanced back at Expressionless.
“Now it’s time to vanquish the wicked witch.”
“A witch, is it? That’s going too far.”
Expressionless murmured calmly. She was smiling, though it hardly qualified as genuine—one eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.
Maria was no different. If she’d simply stayed quiet, she could’ve made it through at least the middle rounds. The irritation was plain on her face—she resented stepping into something she needn’t have done at all.
Then Expressionless, who had been scrutinizing Seol Jihoo from every angle, lifted the corner of her mouth.
“I thought you were realistic… but you’re surprisingly sentimental?”
“…….”
“Well, what can you do?”
She shrugged and flashed her teeth, glancing sidelong at Lara and Shale Sophie.
“The young prince wants his white horse ride, doesn’t he? We should step aside. What else can we do?”
She even added with a jest, “Ah—I wish I’d been born white too,” and Snake Eyes burst into raucous laughter, while the two women’s faces flushed red.
Seol Jihoo opened his mouth composedly.
“There’s something I’d like to ask of you.”
“Ask?”
“Would you watch the Keeper?”
At such a direct request, Expressionless’s eyebrows twitched.
Entrusting the Keeper—who protected the priest in the most dangerous space at the vanguard—to her?
Seol Jihoo turned his gaze elsewhere.
“And I’d like to ask you to coordinate from the rear.”
“Me?”
Snake Eyes, suddenly called out, pointed at herself with her index finger.
“Yes. Traps might trigger again like before. I’d appreciate it if you watched from behind and could stop us if needed.”
This wasn’t a difficult task either. If anything, it was the safest role one could ask for.
Snake Eyes, tilting her head, suddenly let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha… our young prince is quite the glutton, isn’t he? Huh?”
“?”
“Don’t play dumb. You want to taste over there too, and you want us too, right?”
“…….”
“Well. Being a male with a—you know—you can’t help yourself in a flower garden, can you? Try to keep your appetites reasonable? If you start eating everything you fancy, you’ll get sick~.”
It wasn’t about taking sides. Seol Jihoo gave a bitter smile at the instruction to choose one side only.
Whether because of Expressionless’s joke or not, Snake Eyes seemed to be placing excessive meaning on the fact that she was the only one in blue.
Still, there was one thing he couldn’t deny:
‘Gluttony.’
The word itself—Greed.
He could have remained silent and watched from afar. Even now, he could abandon Expressionless and Snake Eyes, gather the remaining four, and walk the easy path.
But Seol Jihoo didn’t, and he didn’t want to.
The world doesn’t revolve around any one person, and things don’t always go as planned. There are days when things work out and days when they don’t; there are people you get along with and people you don’t.
In a lifetime, countless situations like this would arise. Would it truly be right to always choose the easier path according to circumstances?
‘I don’t know.’
Whether it’s right or wrong—he still didn’t know. He only wanted to test himself once, to see what the right choice was.
He wanted to know if he had the capacity to embrace even these two who were straying from the path.
Yes, if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to taste everything. Even if it didn’t suit his palate. Subduing those two ruffians—well, that seemed a bit off the mark; in any case, trying to lead them once might have its own peculiar flavor.
Once he admitted as much, Snake Eyes’s food analogy resonated with him deeply, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
Seeing the young man laugh, Snake Eyes’s expression grew strange.
“You’re laughing?”
“Ah. No, you seem to be misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding what? Or what is it then?”
Whether she thought Seol Jihoo was growing too confident, or whether that attitude simply displeased her, Snake Eyes shot at him sharply.
“Why are you stepping up now after being quiet all this time?”
The question he’d been waiting for had come. Seol Jihoo spoke clearly.
“Because of the time limit. It’s only a possibility, though.”
“What?”
Snake Eyes, who had expected something like “we can’t wait any longer” or “don’t overdo it,” couldn’t help but object to this unexpected answer.
Even Expressionless opened her eyes slightly.
“I’m worried there might be a time limit on this Stage 1.”
“How would you know that?”
“Can you be certain there isn’t one?”
“Oho. Look at this bastard. Playing word games, are we?”
“This is the second time.”
“So you’re watching after all… huh?”
As Snake Eyes blinked, her expression darkening, Seol Jihoo continued.
“Looking at past tournaments, if we count only Stage 1 and Stage 2, that’s eight occasions. Among those, only two had time limits imposed.”
Seol Jihoo smiled slightly,
“That’s a condition occurring with a full 25% probability. It might not happen, but wouldn’t it be wise to keep it in mind?”
Snake Eyes fell silent. In a tournament where uncertainty ran high, 25% was far too significant a figure to dismiss.
Knowledge is power, as they say. Had she simply trusted her team and entered blindly, she’d have been left gaping. But thanks to her meticulous research, she’d become reasonably conversant with every tournament that had come before.
As a result, she now had grounds for persuasion in their current predicament—so the time spent investigating hadn’t been wasted after all.
“…….”
Expressionless displayed expressions no longer deserving of her name—a rich tapestry of emotions flickering across her face. Irritation gave way, however slightly, to intrigue.
As though she’d discovered a new toy.
“Unless we had no choice, the seven of us here working together could clear Stage 1 easily enough.”
Seol Jihoo pressed forward with renewed conviction.
“And even without a time limit, clearing quickly wouldn’t hurt. We could scout Stage 2 ahead of time.”
His words were long-winded, but the essence boiled down to: stop wasting time and get to Stage 2.
In truth, most Earthians participating in the tournament had set Stage 2 as their bare minimum goal. Only then could they receive a Twisted Desire.
From that perspective, Seol Jihoo’s argument was perfectly sound logic.
Right. She understood what he was saying, but….
‘So that’s how it is?’
The problem was his rhetoric.
Expressionless was intrigued by how Seol Jihoo orchestrated his argument. He seemed poised for confrontation, then dangled a carrot through the keeper and rear-guard coordination, then grounded his plea in the time limit’s legitimacy.
It wasn’t an offer she couldn’t accept, but the feeling was unfamiliar. Like being hit first and then gently soothed.
‘Should I….’
Go with it or not?
After a moment’s deliberation, Expressionless caught Maria’s eye. The blonde girl smirked and quietly stepped behind Seol Jihoo. Expressionless’s lips twisted.
A skilled healing priest defecting to the other side was no trivial matter. True, her side had a skilled archer, but strictly speaking, they could hardly be called one team.
Naturally perceptive as she was, she’d never truly trusted others anyway—but she’d long since grasped that Snake Eyes wouldn’t hesitate to backstab.
“Hmm….”
Expressionless drew forth a rueful smile and stepped forward.
“I was trying to go easy on you….”
One step. Another. She approached slowly until she stood directly before Seol Jihoo’s eyes.
“But you don’t know how to play nicely, do you?”
When their gazes met—her eyes revealing not a shred of emotion, utterly mineral in their coldness—Seol Jihoo felt cold sweat break across his scalp.
‘What kind of woman….’
What must she have endured to wear such an expression?
Call it expressionless if you will; honestly, it was rather unsettling.
“Will you help us?”
Seol Jihoo’s voice dropped lower. He’d decided this was where his attempts at placation would end.
There were another card or two he could play to persuade her, but he had no wish to show his whole hand from the start, nor did he care to grovel.
Everyone had limits to their vessel, just as Priehi had shown.
Perhaps she sensed the line he’d drawn. The woman exhaled softly, then slowly raised her hand to rest it on his shoulder.
With eyes tilted upward and fingers idly worrying the tips of her hair, she gazed up at him in a manner that felt almost languid.
A moment passed.
“Yeah….”
After a brief sigh, Expressionless finally spoke.
“All right. Since our dear prince is going to such lengths to look after us… I suppose I can hardly refuse.”
She rested her hand slowly against her chest,
“But… what do I do?”
Her expression shifted to a deliberately sorrowful one.
“My wounds haven’t even healed yet, and now someone’s gone and torn them open again.”
“You’re being quite theatrical.”
“Theatrical? I genuinely wanted things to work out, and suddenly I feel betrayed.”
Seol Jihoo gave a wry chuckle.
“I’d like to soothe that wounded heart of yours.”
“You plan to do it with words?”
“How many doors would it take?”
Expressionless’s smile deepened. “Hmm-.” She rested her forefinger against her chin as if pondering, then opened her mouth.
“About forty doors would be good consolation, I think?”
At least she retained some shred of conscience—she demanded the same number of doors she’d opened herself.
“Fine.”
Seol Jihoo agreed without hesitation or comment.
With this, they’d cleared the major hurdle. His solution wasn’t perfect, if he was honest—more like hastily patching a wound on the verge of infection—but he’d managed to keep the team intact.
In any case, Seol Jihoo must have been hit first.
The rest was not difficult.
“Would you help me?”
Lara and Shale Sophie stood dazed, their minds elsewhere.
The moment they thought it was over, a lifeline descended. How could they not grasp it?
“Thank you. Then….”
Right now, Lara and Shale Sophie were in a state of severely diminished self-worth. The cause stemmed from having nothing to do—so filling that void would solve it.
The two women could hardly believe their ears when Seol Jihoo made his request.
“That’s all we have to do?”
“It’s the fastest way to clear the stage.”
“But still….”
“It’s fine. I’d like to move on to Stage 2 as quickly as possible. Will you do it?”
At Seol Jihoo’s urging, Shale Sophie—her face a mixture of gratitude and remorse—hurried toward the door.
“You don’t need to wait for a signal. Just open it right away.”
As his voice cut through the air behind her, Shale Sophie, who had been about to turn around, immediately grabbed the handle.
Following his instructions precisely, the moment she threw open the door without hesitation—
Boom!
“Eek!”
A deafening crash accompanied by violent tremors struck her ears; Shale Sophie stumbled backward and fell flat on her back.
When she instinctively turned her gaze, she could see Seol Jihoo with his left arm thrust forward as if he had just hurled something, and behind him four women bearing faces similar to her own.
Even Expressionless and Snake Eyes, who had been sitting so calmly, were now frozen.
Shale Sophie, staring dumbly at the doorway, gasped for breath.
A massive creature lay collapsed. Its chest had not merely been pierced—its upper body was obliterated.
The moment the door opened, it had perished without even a whimper.
‘One door down.’
Seol Jihoo rotated his left arm leisurely and glanced back. Perhaps Expressionless was startled by the power of the Mana Spear Throw—at the sight of the smile vanishing from her face, he felt oddly at ease.
For reasons he couldn’t quite place—
“Then.”
the woman who had seemed so formidable at first
“We shall resume our conquest.”
now appeared to him as merely one Earthian among many.

(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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