The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 132

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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 132. The Full Truth

The moment their eyes met beneath the shadow of her hair—cold, piercing eyes—both of them froze.
Screeeech—!
Metal scraped against metal, a grating sound filling the air. Seol Jihoo advanced step by step, his spear lowered, its tip dragging.
The color drained from both their faces. As though Death itself had materialized before them, they shuffled backward in jerky, panicked steps until their backs hit the wall.
They glanced frantically over their shoulders, but there was nowhere to run.
“Why, why….”
Tears glistened in her eyes as she asked why he was looking at them like that, but Seol Jihoo’s expression didn’t soften—not even a fraction.
“You bastards….”
His voice came out as a growl, trembling with fury.
His eyes were shot through with blood, the veins in his forearms bulging visibly. Seol Jihoo was furious in a way that ran bone-deep.
Because he’d seen it.
The moment he’d confirmed them with the Nine Eyes, the vision played out again.
He’d watched clearly as these two—man and woman—murdered Lara Wolfe in the Meadow and fled with her Matching Desire clutched in their hands.
Of course, he couldn’t take a sudden vision at face value, but Audrey Bastler had testified, and his own leading questions had drawn out the truth from them.
More than anything, if they were truly innocent, they wouldn’t have hesitated at a body search.
Which meant they’d committed this crime after the Alliance team left.
It’s not as though no one had remained in the Meadow until then.
He’d done his best to run the Event fairly, but even as things fell apart, Lara Wolfe had begged for her life—only for them to kill her anyway.
This was the deepest source of Seol Jihoo’s rage.
“Why did you kill her.”
His voice came out hoarse.
“Y-yes?”
The woman, whose lips had been trembling, stammered out a question in return.
“Lara Wolfe… short-haired Archer.”
“Short-haired… a woman?”
Seol Jihoo drew a long breath.
“Why did you kill her.”
“We didn’t kill her!”
“It’s a misunderstanding!”
The man shouted desperately as well.
Regardless, when the young man raised his spear, both of them went rigid with shock.
“Please! We really didn’t kill her!”
“Short-haired Archer? We’ve never even seen her!”
Seol Jihoo’s arm paused. Sensing his hesitation, the man started to add something calmly, but—
“You’ve got this completely wrong, it seems…?”
Seeing the arm swing again, he cried out in desperation.
“Wait, wait! The one we killed wasn’t a woman—it was a man!”
The woman quickly clamped her hand over the man’s mouth. But it was already too late.
“?”
Seol Jihoo’s brow furrowed.
“Not a woman—a man?”
The man’s face went blank as he realized his slip of the tongue.
‘But the vision clearly showed Lara Wolfe….’
“You idiot!”
Then the woman, in sudden fury, clamped her mouth shut before spitting out a small thorn with a “Ptui!”
Though they were at close range, the thorn fell short of its mark. Around Seol Jihoo drifted small white discs, circling lazily in the air.
‘So they did kill someone.’
Seol Jihoo, who had been staring coldly at them, moved his arm without hesitation.
Shwip!
Her slender neck severed cleanly, her head flew through the air.
Her headless body staggered, then collapsed with a dull thud. The man screamed and fell hard on his buttocks. Watching the woman’s body convulse, he looked up with watery eyes.
“Please….”
“…….”
“Please spare me….”
Seol Jihoo looked down at him with cold eyes and spoke quietly.
“Why did you kill her.”
“Save me….”
“Why did you kill him!”
“Unh, uhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The scream tore from his throat as he lunged forward, dagger clenched tight—only to be driven back by the spear lodged in his chest, his body crashing against the wall.
The man’s frame, which had been writhing like an octopus, went limp.
……
The first kill.
It didn’t feel like destroying a game character.
The sensation of soft tissue parting beneath the blade. The resistance of bone being cut through. The frantic pulse of a beating heart, the weight of organs—all of it crystalline, vivid, utterly present.
Nothing more. His pupils remained steady. His hands did not tremble. He simply withdrew the spear with calm precision, steadied his ragged breathing, and let his shoulders rise and fall.
Five remained.
Half of them were dead, yet the chamber stayed silent. Nothing changed. The game wasn’t over.
Seol Jihoo glanced up at the ceiling for a moment, then turned slowly. Ora-hui, who had been watching in silence, felt her throat tighten.
‘Is it really… him…?’
She could think of nothing else. Because as Seol Jihoo’s gaze swept across the remaining survivors, his eyes blazed with a crimson gleam, bright and restless as a beast’s.
Like when the Future Foresight activated.
A chill ran down her spine where his gaze touched.
‘Terrifying.’
Ora-hui’s instincts told her that her choice had been right. Directing her blade at the white-haired gang was the correct call.
If Seol Jihoo turned on her, she wouldn’t go meekly to her death—yet a fierce, groundless premonition gripped her that she’d lose if they fought now.
Ora-hui sheathed her rapier and slowly raised both hands in the open.
“It’s not me.”
She spoke quietly.
“I’m on your team. You know that, right?”
Ora-hui smiled with her eyes. Seol Jihoo, who had been watching her intently, let his gaze drift to the next target.
“Why are you looking at me.”
The words came out blunt and resentful.
“I did exactly what you wanted—stayed quiet and out of the way. I went in before you, even. You know that better than anyone.”
Audrey Bastler muttered with half-lidded eyes.
Seol Jihoo’s gaze shifted. The moment it landed on the Giant, his brow twitched.
Pop!
An image.
Another image.
But this wasn’t Stage 2—it was Stage 1. The scene showed the Giant rampaging like a ghost, systematically slaughtering seven people. As he carved into each one, the expression on his face was unmistakably joyful.
As if he took pleasure in the killing itself.
Ora-hui crossed her arms, having caught the shift in Seol Jihoo’s expression.
“You there. What’s your class?”
Clink-clink-clink!
In place of an answer came the sound of chains.
The Giant, sensing the dangerous atmosphere, held perfectly still and slowly raised his scythe.
“Why are you trying to kill me?”
To the Giant’s seemingly baffled question, Seol Jihoo opened his mouth.
“In Stage 1….”
The image of the Giant climbing alone, drenched in blood, when Stage 1 ended, surfaced in his mind.
“Why did you come up alone?”
It was a considerable time before the wary Giant finally spoke.
“I had reason to kill.”
“Reason to kill?”
“That’s all there was to it.”
“So you murdered all seven of the others?”
For the first time, an expression crossed the Giant’s face.
“What are you talking about. I only killed six.”
‘What?’
Seol Jihoo’s eyes narrowed.
“Six of them conspired together and made a move against me and one other. I merely responded to that.”
“But when you reached the top….”
“If you’re talking about the stairs, I came up from the second floor. The one who came with me was killed mid-way by a monster’s attack. Are you blaming me because his strength was lacking?”
How could this be? If the Giant’s words were true, then the image’s information was wrong again.
He didn’t appear to be lying. Seol Jihoo pressed his palm to his forehead.
[Wait, wait a moment! The one we killed wasn’t a woman—it was a man!]
The words that man—already cold in death—had cried out flashed through his mind.
[Take me back quickly!]
The same man who’d saved his life twice when facing the Orc Champion.
[My brother got badly hurt trying to save me….]
The white-haired girl, voice trembling with tears.
Seol Jihoo closed his eyes tight.
“Are you going to kill me?”
The atmosphere teetered on the brink of violence as he gripped the spear. Then,
“…Damn it.”
He muttered the words quietly, then opened his clenched fist—the hand where his nails had dug so deeply into his palm that blood marks remained.
Clang!
The Ice Spear rang out into the silence.
“I’m stopping.”
Seol Jihoo, head bowed, spoke into the darkness where nothing could be seen.
“Damn it. I’m done! I’m ending this here!”
His voice raised, Seol Jihoo turned to look around with a complex expression tangled in conflicting emotions—and his eyes went wide. The four who had been standing rigidly until moments before began to crumple one by one to the ground.
Ora-hui and Audrey Bastler both fell, and the Giant released his chains and collapsed as well. Even the Priest that Kazuki had summoned lay unconscious on the ground.
Then.
[How utterly disappointing!]
A voice tinged with anger reverberated through his ears. Seol Jihoo’s body went rigid with shock as he whirled around.
[You were doing so well—and then you go and quit right before the final choice?]
A crushing pressure bore down on his entire body, forcing a groan from his lips.
A sensation not unfamiliar to him. More precisely, he’d experienced it once before in the Awakening Chamber of the Neutral Zone.
[Look here. We pushed you forward this far. So why did you make that choice at the end?]
The voice booming like thunder belonged to the god who presided over rage—Ira.
‘The Seven Gods!’
The Seven Gods of Paradise had appeared before him.
Yes. Looking back on it, the strange points were not one or two.
In Stage 1, everyone else had been scattered and separated into fragments, yet Seol Jihoo had entered together with Maria. As if she were some minimum safeguard.
The same had been true in Stage 2. He’d already harbored doubts about why the Priest was attending to him alone, day and night.
He’d found it odd that the exchange results seemed to possess some kind of binding force, and he’d sensed fleeting similarities to the Neutral Zone between the events of the raid.
He’d suspected. Suspected and suspected again.
But now that the Seven Gods had truly appeared, it felt like a blow to the back of his head.
[A blow to the back of your head?]
A voice tinged with ‘envy’ came,
[How dare you?]
followed by a tone of ‘arrogance.’
[We gave you special treatment in Stage 1—even assigned you a companion. And just to be safe, we approved having Lushulia’s daughter as your escort. After all that, you feel wronged?]
Seol Jihoo clenched his teeth. Before long, even opening his mouth became a burden, and he could only glare into the void with complicated eyes.
[What? Why did we even hold this raid where you all kill each other, you’re asking?]
As if reading his thoughts, Ira let out a scornful laugh.
[Do you really not know, or are you pretending? Do you even wonder why we summoned you Earthians in the first place?]
Seol Jihoo’s face hardened instantly.
The reason was simple. To save this world standing at the crossroads of destruction.
In return, he would receive compensation.
[At first, it was fine. But as time went on, it became a farce.]
[Even though we needed all our strength against the Parasite, you grew blinded by immediate profit and fought as if to kill one another.]
[What’s more, you staged rebellions because things displeased you, attacked Paradiseans and enslaved them.]
[Evil… corrupt….]
Multiple voices thundered simultaneously.
[The raid itself is the same.]
Ira growled.
[The original purpose was to give a chance to those who couldn’t rise to Upper Rank, and to cultivate those with courage and talent.]
‘But!’
[Don’t make me laugh. Were the trials we imposed truly so difficult you couldn’t even attempt them? You cleared Stage 2 with 110 people—do you really believe otherwise?]
Ira, having read his thoughts in advance, struck first. Seol Jihoo went silent like someone with a mouthful of honey.
[Well, I’ll admit the conditions were harsh. We set them up that way on purpose.]
Ira chuckled darkly.
[Because there was no other way. Surely you didn’t think we’d just sit back and overlook your behavior?]
Seol Jihoo bit his tongue.

1. First Raid
Stage 3 survivors: 8 / Deserters: 2 / Casualties: 0
2. Second Raid
Stage 3 survivors: 5 / Deserters: 4 / Casualties: 1
3. Third Raid
Stage 3 survivors: 1 / Deserters: 1 / Casualties: 8
4. Fourth Raid
Stage 3 survivors: 0 / Deserters: 0 / Casualties: 10

I never understood why casualties spiked from the third raid onward. Now I think I see it.
The Raid has twisted just as Earthians have changed—lost its original purpose and rotted from within. In Stages 1 and 2, Paradise filters out humans who defy its will, and then in Stage 3—
[Paradise has no use for humans who sow discord.]
Just as Ira said, they’re executed there.
For instance, the word Seol Jihoo saw on the door was “wolf.”
The given condition: “Decide the life or death of all eight people, excluding the Priest.”
In other words, the Executioner selected for the fifth Raid was Seol Jihoo himself.
[If you understand, kill him.]
Ira’s voice stabbed at his ears with the certainty of inevitability.
[Didn’t you see it yourself? Even though it could have been resolved with words alone, they slaughtered everyone because things went slightly wrong.]
Giant lay sprawled on the ground, limp and powerless.
It would be easy to kill him now.
[Just kill that one. That’s all.]
Whisper, whisper.
[We’re not asking you to kill just anyone, are we? Kill only him, and this tedious Raid finally ends.]
Seol Jihoo’s face twisted at the covetous murmur that oozed from the voice.
[You don’t like it?]
Ira was about to burst with irritated fury—
[But isn’t it fine?]
A strange, ethereal tone cut across it.
It was an unsettlingly sensual voice that made one respond just by hearing it.
[I find this young one fascinating. I’d like to hear what he has to say.]
[There’s nothing to hear. Don’t you know what he’s thinking?]
[I’ve read him. This child has a neutral concept—wanting to lead both the righteous and the wicked. That’s what makes him special.]
[Ha!]
A sigh escaped. Lushulia pressed on, undeterred.
[His character may be ruined, but there were many humans not worth killing. We can’t afford to be choosy, can we?]
[Even so, this one’s actions don’t match that reasoning at all.]
A hand touched the crown of his head.
Seol Jihoo’s head turned reflexively—
[If you truly believed that,]
And in his field of vision appeared the corpses of a man and woman laid before the wall.
[Then shouldn’t those two have lived as well? Hmm?]
Seol Jihoo closed his eyes.
His blindspot had been struck, though it was a question he’d wrestled with countless times while running the Raid.
And he’d already reached his answer.
Just as Priehi had said, everyone has a Vessel Limit. The moment those two ruined the Raid I’d constructed, they crossed the line. So I killed them.
But Giant is different. Far from ruining the Raid, he participated faithfully.
And frankly, if he’d done anything to me, perhaps. But he caused no harm. Though Seol Jihoo might curse him for lacking conviction, that was his honest heart.
[By that logic, that lover should be the same too. She was admitted in the end because she did something foolish, but she caused you no direct harm, did she?]
[……]
[Just admit it honestly. That girl caught your eye. And since you received help from her, your heart grew soft.]
No. It’s different.
The slicked-back-haired man clearly committed a wrong.
The nameless couple I never directly witnessed—but Audrey Bastler brought the truth to light.
But Giant… I’m not certain. Without proof that the footage was real, I couldn’t bring myself to kill him thoughtlessly.
[Why do you think that way?]
Seol Jihoo had believed Paradise’s future would unfold as it dreamed. Even when Kim Hanna found him, exactly as he’d seen and experienced in dreams, he’d thought so.
But as he acted within Paradise, his thinking changed. Seol Jihoo bore no enemy mark, and he didn’t grovel like a slave. The future had shifted.
A thought surfaced unbidden.
What if the vision the Seven Gods showed didn’t include this change? More precisely, what if it was only a Future Sense of something that happened in the past?
[Hmm….]
If that were true, then the man’s confession—”It wasn’t Lara Wolfe, I killed the man”—and the Giant’s words would make sense too.
Because by existing here, in this moment, the future would have shifted, however slightly.
[Is that so?]
Seol Jihoo flinched. Ira’s voice had suddenly struck him with force.
[Well, well. You figured it out that far. How confident of you….]
Hehehehe. A low laugh rippled through the air.
[Those two… yes. You’re right. They didn’t kill Lara Wolfe.]
[But the fact remains that someone was murdered. Does that mean the future still changed?]
The voice whispered on, relentless.
[Every human is born under their own Star of Destiny.]
Star of Destiny? Seol Jihoo coughed and shook his head.
[This star’s orbit doesn’t change easily. No matter what interference is introduced, it strives to return to its appointed fate.]
[You said Lara Wolfe didn’t die, but someone else did instead? That’s the mechanism at work—a star that has strayed slightly from its course pulling itself back into its original orbit. This is why the future doesn’t change easily.]
The final words lingered in his ears longer than the rest.
[It’s not because we hate you or are bored and feel like killing. It’s because attempting a clumsy change and failing is far less certain than simply killing and erasing. That’s the surest method.]
His head turned of its own accord again.
[He is no different.]
His gaze fell on the Giant, still sprawled on the ground.
[Just as there exists a star born of the leader’s destiny, so too exists a star standing at the opposite pole.]
Seol Jihoo swallowed.
[Still don’t understand? Then I’ll tell you. That man was born under the aura of the Heavenly Killing Star.]
[A terrible fate indeed. In the future, he will kill thousands—at minimum. And among them, you and your comrades are certain to be included.]
Sweat beaded on his skin; his half-closed eyes, barely visible before, opened slightly.
[What do you think? Isn’t that justification enough?]
Seol Jihoo stared at the Giant, gasping for breath. Then he shook his head side to side.
[No.]
In the present moment, Seol Jihoo’s thinking was not wrong. The Giant had merely retaliated; he hadn’t killed all seven. At least he hadn’t crossed that line.
Small and trivial as the difference was, it was still a change.
[What… the Heavenly Killing Star…!]
And even if—granting it a hundred times over—Ira’s words were true. It was a future yet to come.
[Huh?]
The Golden Law was clear on this. Every effect follows its cause.
That principle applies to the future too. Whether or not that Giant truly bears the Heavenly Killing Star cannot be hastily judged from the present moment.
If it’s true that he killed thousands in the past, when he lived as a slave with an enemy mark in Paradise, then surely there must be a cause behind it.
Then all he had to do was touch that cause—delete it or change it—so the result of the Heavenly Killing Star would never manifest.
If the cause shifts, the result will surely differ too.
By the time he’d thought that far—
[Hehehehe, hehehehe!]
[Ahahaha!]
[Karrrrr!]
[Pfuahahaha!]
[Hick… hick….]
Suddenly the gods burst into laughter. Only two of them remained silent.
In the midst of that thunderous laughter that shook his eardrums, Seol Jihoo could not hide his confusion.
‘Why are they laughing?’
He thought it was possible. He thought he could do it.
[Phew, phew. They do say audacity and courage are but a paper’s thickness apart!]
Ira’s voice had grown rough from so much laughter.
[Heh… you really think so.]
[Wow— what kind of idealistic future does this one dream of? It’s making my heart race~]
[No wonder. He doesn’t even grasp what he’s talking about.]
[Hehe. It reminds me of that god of war, gazing at the unreachable futures among the World Tree’s countless branches, full of regret.]
[Even he… could not accomplish it… and he thinks he…?]
Then.
[I think there’s a possibility.]
Lushulia’s voice rang out, calm and steady.
Beset by so many emotions, Seol Jihoo finally dropped to one knee. After facing so many gods for so long, every cell in his body seemed to be crying out in exhaustion.
[This child has made this corrupted event into something worthy of a raid. And they’ve already succeeded in changing the color of one person.]
A gentle touch—a hand softly stroking his hair as if offering pity.
[Then I suppose we could grant him a chance. There’s still time, after all.]
[A chance for what!]
[Enough.]
A slow, measured voice cut through one god’s fury.
Gula had stepped in.
[We stop here. You’ve maintained Divine Possession for far too long already. This place is not our Temple—not our true domain. Push any further and the boy won’t survive it.]
[You mean to let the Heavenly Killing Star live!]
[What choice do we have? We granted him authority to finish Stage 3 in the first place. And he chose this of his own will. The moment he made that choice, the raid was over—truly over.]
Gula’s words brought a heavy silence.
Seol Jihoo was utterly spent—that much was undeniable. When he’d stumbled out of the Awakening Chamber earlier, he’d been nearly dead on his feet. Now he was facing a trial twice as long. Much more, and his life itself might hang in the balance.
Death could come at any moment now.
[No. Not yet.]
Ira objected.
[I will not allow my child to be treated so carelessly.]
Gula’s voice, too, carried a faint note of displeasure.
[True enough. Let’s withdraw now. But since the raid has ended, shouldn’t we give what’s owed?]
[?]
[The Matching Desire, you understand.]
This time, Gula fell silent.
[Let me consider. What is this one’s deepest wish….]
Seol Jihoo managed to lift his head through the haze, barely conscious. He still couldn’t see anything, yet he felt them—seven pairs of eyes boring down upon him with terrible intensity.
[Reconciliation with family… difficult. The merging of the Profound Heart… we already granted him a Competence for that, and he traded it away. Then what….]
[We’ll simply withdraw the Competence, then.]
Gula spoke in haste, but
[No. How could we do that? This is Stage 3, after all—we must grant something of equal weight, surely?]
Ira’s refusal followed at once, the words dropping softly yet with unmistakable force.
[The Nine Eyes. That’s what we’ll give.]
[Out of the question.]
Gula’s voice answered as if she’d anticipated this very move.
[This child is not ready to receive it. He must first reach at least Upper Rank.]
[That’s your greed. Overprotection, nothing more.]
Ira gave a mirthless laugh.
[Don’t argue with me on this. If we must respect his choice, as you say, then we must surely respect his desires as well? Both are equally his own will, are they not?]
At the silken certainty in her tone, Gula ground her teeth.
[I’m not saying we should open all three pathways. Only the right one—just that single direction.]
[Like the left pathway, opening the right requires all three to act simultaneously.]
[I know. But I can bear this burden alone.]
[…….]
[Anything else?]
Faced with such resolve, even Gula had nothing left to say.
Ira clearly meant to open the Nine Eyes by whatever means necessary.
[Does it truly have to be this way? I don’t understand the reason.]
[Of course! The reason is more than sufficient.]
Just before consciousness slipped away, Seol Jihoo became aware of something descending upon him.
[I’m curious. So desperately, terribly curious.]
Whatever it was covered his entire face—it felt like an enormous hand, vast beyond measure.
[You had the rather charming idea of applying the Golden Law to the future.]
[So I wonder if you can bear the weight of your own words….]
A moment later, a tremendous force brushed softly across his eyes.
[You. Never forget this.]
And so.
[The choice you made today…!]
As Ira’s voice echoed across the void,

[The innate ability ‘Nine Eyes’ is evolving.]

His vision flooded white.

(To be continued)

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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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