The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 144

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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 144. Fated Selection (4)

– Stop muddying the waters. Set aside everything else and for this incident alone, distinguish cleanly between perpetrator and victim.
“That’s not hard to do.”
The incident was tangled and complex, but the relationships were clear.
The merchant who sold the same information to two places was the perpetrator; PAX and White Rose were the victims.
– Why?
But Kim Hanna raised an objection.
– How is Bok Jeongsik a victim in this case?
Isn’t the head of White Rose a victim?
– Bok Jeongsik said so himself, didn’t he? He had trouble finding cooperative organizations, so he canceled the plan outright just before departure.
Seol Jihoo nodded first.
– Then he canceled it of his own volition. The incident hadn’t even occurred yet—he abandoned the expedition on his own initiative, which means the damages he’d accept were already decided at that point, wouldn’t you say?
Kim Hanna emphasized the word “already.” She was pointing out that he hadn’t canceled the expedition because of any objection.
It was oddly persuasive, so Seol Jihoo ground his teeth.
“But.”
– Right. In the end, that bitch went ahead anyway. Still, I think it’s entirely plausible.
“Why? If the head canceled it, she shouldn’t have gone, right?”
– That’s your thinking. In White Rose, that bitch is an incomparable ace. Everyone acknowledges she’s the real power. Bok Jeongsik is the head in name, but his actual influence amounts to nothing more than a figurehead.
[Our captain sure has grown, hasn’t he? Even spreads gossip about himself.]
[Never mind. I’ll tell this part myself.]
It was true. Bok Jeongsik had seemed ineffectual. She’d even seen him act arbitrarily with her own eyes.
But she’d never imagined he was merely a figurehead.
– And the departure happened before PAX raised the issue. The information—bought for ten gold coins. We’d confirmed the ruins existed too. We spent months preparing thoroughly, and then he overturns everything right before launch for a reason that barely matters? It doesn’t add up.
Kim Hanna’s face in the mirror drew gradually closer.
– I find this suspicious too.
Her whispered words came lower still.
– Ten gold coins isn’t pocket change. That’s over five billion won. And the opportunity costs incurred during preparation—who knows how much? Canceling the plan meant throwing all of it in the garbage. What would the members have thought? Surely there were comments about incompetence?
“What are you trying to say?”
– Think it through holistically. A man already on weak ground puts himself in a position where he has to swallow his pride, then suddenly pulls back. Now that things have blown up, doesn’t it seem rather convenient?
‘Now that things have blown up?’
Seol Jihoo caught himself.
“Wait. So Pi Sora—”
– She drew the short straw.
Kim Hanna summed it up in a sentence.
– The moment that bitch moved independently, she shouldered all the blame. And no matter how aggrieved White Rose is, the Royal House will likely side with PAX, the first buyer. Now let’s piece it together.
“…….”
– Dead, and it ends there. Alive and she returns, she’s still engulfed in controversy. In other words, regardless of success or failure—whatever outcome emerges, the answer is already written.
Kim Hanna smiled, faintly, barely there.
– Excluding the con artist, who profits most from this?
Seol Jihoo stared blankly at the mirror.

After the call ended, Seol Jihoo leaned against the railing and looked out.
Kim Hanna had said she’d contact him again once she had solid proof, but by her own logic, the answer was as good as reached.
It was only circumstantial evidence, but his thoughts kept drifting in strange directions.
When he closed his eyes firmly, the image suddenly surfaced: Pi Sora hanging from her neck in a shabby abandoned house, smiling.
‘Fated Selection….’
[You seem to think destiny is something grand. But it’s quite the opposite.]
Fated Selection is an inescapable destiny, inherent from birth.
That was what Ian had said.
To live as a human, one must breathe—that too is destiny. To cease breathing is to die—that is also destiny.
Because this Law of Causality is absolute and immutable, Fated Selection ultimately harbors no “change.”
For instance, the moment the “cause” of Pi Sora pushing ahead with the expedition comes into being, the “result” of her hanging herself in that place must occur without fail.
This is inescapable destiny, and Ian called it Acceptance of Fate.
Then why is the word “Selection” added to it?
There is not just one destiny—there are multiple.
Seol Jihoo could have dissuaded Pi Sora, could have joined the expedition alongside her, could even now go to save her.
In the end he had chosen none of these, and would choose none in the future, but had he picked any one of them, perhaps Pi Sora would have faced a different destiny.
If the former corresponds to the act of holding one’s breath until death, then the latter corresponds to the act of continuing to breathe and sustaining life.
One can interfere with the choice between fates that have no choice but to be accepted.
That is the Fated Selection.
[What are you thinking about so hard?]
At the sudden voice, Seol Jihoo opened his eyes. Black smoke drifted softly before him.
“Did you have a good time out there?”
[Yeah. Just took a quick look around. I’ve seen everything worth seeing anyway.]
Plone’s voice carried a hint of boredom. Her lingering discontent at having left Scheherazade early was still evident.
Fair enough—after being confined for centuries, one could hardly blame her for wanting to explore the outside world. Seol Jihoo decided to be understanding.
“I was thinking about the Ancient Emperor’s Villa.”
[Why? Don’t tell me you’re planning to go there?]
At the cautionary tone, Seol Jihoo shook his head.
“No. I heard that someone I know ended up going there after all.”
[I wonder why….]
“It’s human nature—the more you’re told not to go, the more you want to.”
[True. Back in my day, there were plenty of fools blinded by greed.]
“Was there?”
[Yeah. To be honest, I’ve never been without the urge to go myself. My mind knows it’s dangerous, but curiosity just wells up regardless.]
Watching the black smoke nod, he suddenly remembered an unfinished conversation from before.
“Plone, how was that villa used during the Emperor’s lifetime? It doesn’t seem like a simple retreat.”
[It was used for political purposes and as a personal vault.]
“Political purposes? A vault?”
[A place where he eliminated political enemies and hoarded stolen wealth.]
Plone exhaled heavily.
[Gorgon, Rochsuard, Rotrek, Rottingen, Montpensier, Valois, Alva, Anjou… I don’t even know how many family heads were sacrificed at that villa.]
Seol Jihoo, listening intently, narrowed his brow.
“Wait. Did you say Rochsuard?”
[You remembered.]
Plone’s full name was Plone-sia Lujon la Rochsuard.
In other words.
[That’s right. My family was also among the Emperor’s targets. We were a prestigious house famous for our vast wealth.]
[According to the Secret Chronicles kept in the royal archives, I’m described as the beautiful youngest daughter of a once-illustrious family that fell into ruin.]
As Plone’s and Ian’s words overlapped, Seol Jihoo’s mouth fell open.
“So your family fell because of that incident, and….”
[…Yes.]
Plone affirmed in a bittersweet voice.
“But why would he do such a thing? As the Emperor of an empire, he should have had absolute power. What could he possibly be lacking?”
[Money.]
Plone stated it plainly.
[That greedy Emperor waged wars like a madman. And waging war requires enormous expenditure, doesn’t it? But even an Emperor cannot sustain military spending for decades on end.]
“I see.”
[So he racked his brains trying to figure out where money could come from, and eventually decided to seize the wealth of various noble families. By making up pretexts, of course.]
“What sort of pretexts?”
[For instance, if the Emperor invites you to the villa, you have no choice but to go, right?]
“What if you don’t?”
[Then he’d seize on the crime of brazenly defying an imperial summons.]
Seol Jihoo still looked unconvinced.
[Once you step inside the villa, no one knows what happens there. All I saw and heard was that there was an assassination attempt on the Emperor at the villa, that our grandfather died in the process, and that he brought soldiers under the pretext of investigation and tore through our family’s entire estate.]
“And in doing so, he confiscated your wealth.”
[Exactly.]
Seol Jihoo let out a hollow laugh.
“That’s absurd.”
[Everyone knew it was absurd. Every single person.]
He fell silent at the quiet tone.
[But we didn’t take it lying down.]
After a brief pause, Plone continued.
[When the invitation came to our family, my grandfather, who was the head of Rochsuard at the time, saw through the Emperor’s intentions. So he devised a scheme.]
Seol Jihoo’s expression grew curious.
[Since going meant death and not going meant death, he at least wanted to preserve the family fortune. So he secretly hid all of our family’s wealth somewhere no one knew about.]
“Ah. Then there would be no reason for the family to fall….”
The problem is, we only found out about it when we heard the news of Grandfather’s death and discovered his will in his personal study.
“He didn’t write down where he hid the fortune in his will?”
Right. He went to die. Before the Emperor could pull any tricks, he’d already withdrawn his entire fortune in advance. And the will just contained instructions to read it and then burn it.
Seol Jihoo tilted his head.
“So in the end, he just didn’t let it be taken. He didn’t leave us anything at all.”
Strictly speaking, yes. Except for this one thing.
A sudden tightness seized his throat. Seol Jihoo stared at the Pendant, which swung gently back and forth.
“The necklace….”
It’s the only thing Grandfather left me. I’m told he called my mother aside separately before he departed for the villa and gave it to her. He told her never to lose it, no matter what happened, and to treasure it always.
So that’s why he’d been so angry when Clara carelessly touched it.
Finding that he understood it now, Seol Jihoo nodded softly.
“If other families had done the same, it would’ve been quite the sight to see the Emperor’s expression.”
If there were someone as clever as our Grandfather, there are also fools for household heads. Plenty of them were too frightened from the start and eagerly handed over their fortunes of their own accord.
“Wow.”
Seol Jihoo let out a breath of admiration. If what Plone said was true, he couldn’t even imagine how much wealth lay dormant there.
Not to mention how lavish the Ancient Emperor’s Villa must be—and if the fortunes of several great families were stored there on top of that….
Seol Jihoo, swallowing hard, gulped once, twice, three times.
“Hah—.”line>
He gasped when he suddenly saw Plone’s face right in front of him, wisps of Black Smoke rising like steam.

She’d materialized at some point and was glaring at him with narrowed eyes.
“You s-scared me.”
I’m going to leave.
“What?”
No. You can’t. I won’t let you go. Never.
“But—”
He protested, but the smoke that poured out bound his limbs tight.
Suddenly unable to move an inch, Seol Jihoo smacked his lips.
“I won’t go. Let me go.”
I don’t believe you.
“Why not.”
Your eyes were sparkling.
“Please let me go. How long are you going to keep doing this?”
Let’s see. About a year? By then, maybe the idea of leaving will disappear?
‘A year, huh.’
No matter how many times Seol Jihoo thought about it, that seemed impossible, so he bowed his head as low as it would go.
Then he stuck out his tongue and began to lick the Pendant eagerly.
Mweeee!
Plone convulsed and recoiled.
With his limbs now free, Seol Jihoo undulated like an octopus dancing, watching the ghost flee into the distance.
That’s awful! You know I hate that!
As the angry voice rang out, Seol Jihoo scratched his head.
“You were holding me too tightly.”
I was worried!
“I understand. I won’t go. I promise I absolutely won’t.”
When Seol Jihoo pressed his palms together and begged earnestly, Plone hesitantly drew near.
Really?
“Of course. You said so yourself—it’s a place the living shouldn’t enter. Even if I went, there’d be no point in seeing anything good….”
In fact, Seol Jihoo had absolutely no intention of going whatsoever.
From the Nine Eyes onward, every indicator around him pointed in the direction of don’t-go, and besides, there was no reason to.
Good. You’re thinking clearly.
Plone spoke in a slightly softened tone.
“By the way, didn’t you say you were curious too?”
Our Grandfather used to say excessive curiosity is poison. Just because you’re curious doesn’t mean you need to willingly walk into a scary place.
At the lifeless tone in her voice, Seol Jihoo let out a quiet laugh.
“That’s unexpected. So you do have things that scare you.”
Well, that’s because our family was directly involved in it, and besides, I was very young back then….
“But Plone is already—”
Seol Jihoo closed his mouth, stopping himself from saying ‘a dead person, so it shouldn’t matter much, right?’
He knew well how formidable Plone was, but there were things one should say and things one shouldn’t.
He understood, at least, what rudeness was.
[Me? What am I?]
“Well… you’re strong….”
[Already strong? That doesn’t sound right.]
But even as Seol Jihoo tried to brush past it, Plone deployed her trademark persistence, forcing him to break into a cold sweat.
“Plone can wander around wherever she likes whenever she feels like it. She does it all the time, after all.”
[Why? Is it because you hate when I disappear without a word?]
“That’s not it.”
[Then why are you always stuck to my side?]
He found her reasoning oddly fascinating, but unable to withstand her relentless interrogation, he ended up admitting at least part of the truth.
“It’s just that… even if I don’t go into the villa myself… as long as you stay at a reasonable distance….”
Unable to finish his thought, his words trailed off—and the whimpering sound fell silent.
The truth was, whatever lay inside posed no physical threat to Plone whatsoever.
She was already dead, after all. A ghost.
Moreover, Plone was a terrifying Malevolent Spirit born from centuries of accumulated resentment. She had torn apart dozens of those fearsome Parasites in the blink of an eye.
Even if the villa housed some grotesque monster, wouldn’t it simply become a mouthful for her?
Though these thoughts crossed his mind, Seol Jihoo observed her expression carefully.
Plone’s face was vacant—she hadn’t yet released her materialization.
‘Damn it. This mouth of mine.’
He knew she clung to life, yet he’d let his words slip.
Just as he was about to apologize and reproach himself—
[…Oh.]
Plone let out a dazed voice.
[That’s right, isn’t it?]
Her eyes grew wide as lanterns.
“Yes?”
[That’s it. Why was I even scared?]
Then, like a child discovering something amusing, she quickly grew excited and began floating through the air.
“P-Plone?”
[I’m going to go play and come right back!]
Without another word, Plone simply vanished into the distance.
Seol Jihoo stared helplessly after the ghost, already so far away she’d become a mere speck.
‘…She didn’t even realize it?’
Or perhaps—maybe some childhood trauma had made her instinctively afraid all along.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he spotted Plone rushing back in a distant shimmer.
Knowing exactly why she was returning, Seol Jihoo swiftly gripped the railing with all his strength—summoning every ounce of force he possessed.
Moments later, on the third-floor staircase of Carpe Diem, a surreal sight unfolded: a ghost clinging to the railing like a cicada, yanking forcefully at the young man’s collar.
“I absolutely won’t go.”
[Why~! Come on~!]
“It’s terrifying.”
[You don’t have to go in~! I’ll just slip in and come back out~!]
“No. Ugh.”
[Eek!]
‘What kind of… strength is this…!’
As his grip steadily loosened, Seol Jihoo panicked and hastily tasted the Pendant with his tongue, but—
[Aaaah, you’re killing me!]
Plone’s threat startled him into submission.
“No! Don’t you understand—there’s something in there!”
[So what!]
At his desperate cry, Plone responded with pristine cheerfulness, as if she’d never whimpered at all.
[I’m already dead!]

(To be continued in the next chapter)

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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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