The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 148

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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 148. A Night Like a Dream (3)

Floné kept flying for a long while after escaping the villa, only halting when Seol Jihoo told her to stop.
Seol Jihoo, who had hurled Pisora away, dropped to his knees the moment his feet touched solid ground, gasping for breath.
He’d fled in such panicked haste—like roasting beans over scattered sparks—that he could barely recall how he’d made it out at all.
All that remained was the memory of that colossal darkness that had swallowed the entire 4th Floor, gooseflesh still crawling across his back, refusing to settle.
What if he hadn’t been fortunate enough to meet Floné’s grandfather? What if those souls—apparently the spirits of the entire Expedition Party that had been slaughtered—hadn’t desperately thrown up their barriers to shield him?
No. If he hadn’t made the choice to take Pisora with him when escaping, would they truly have helped so desperately?
As various thoughts brushed through his mind, another chill ran down his spine.
‘Damn Nine Eyes.’
If something that terrifying existed, it only made sense it should show up in black, he thought bitterly, cursing his innate ability without giving it much thought.
Of course, he’d faced similar situations before—more than once—and he had the sense that the villa’s significance extended beyond simple Immediate Escape, but having nearly died and then lived, he found himself resentful of the Nine Eyes regardless.
Floné was staring back toward the direction of the villa. There was something pitiful about her unwavering gaze, but not the slightest desire to turn back and re-enter that place.
Better to find a decent hiding spot, cover themselves with camouflage, and wait it out.
Seol Jihoo spoke softly.
“What… what was that thing?”
Floné turned slowly and shook her head.
[Don’t know. Even my grandfather seemed incredibly shocked.]
“Really?”
[Yeah. He shouldn’t even be able to wake up—he normally never leaves the Emperor’s Bedroom—but I heard him panicking through telepathic communication.]
In other words, if they’d opened the wrong door on the 4th Floor, they would have been slaughtered without a doubt.
[Still… are you all right?]
Seol Jihoo had started to say, “No, I’m not all right. Not at all. Why would I be?”—but then he noticed Floné’s eyes lowering toward the ground and followed her gaze down.
Pisora, who had been suffering from respiratory distress when thrown to the ground, was now sleeping with a peaceful expression, as if none of that had ever happened.
“She looks so peaceful.”
[People are always most at peace just before entering Eternal Sleep. I know from experience.]
“Tch. Here I am struggling to death… wait. Eternal Sleep means sleeping forever, doesn’t it?”
[Yeah.]
Floné nodded curtly. When Seol Jihoo stared at her intently, she pointed at Pisora matter-of-factly.
[Her spirit is preparing to leave her body right now.]
“What? That can’t be.”
Seol Jihoo placed his hand near Pisora’s nose.
“…Oh.”
She wasn’t breathing. The peach-blossom flush that had colored her like ripe fruit moments before had withered, leaving her complexion deathly pale.
“Pisora?”
He shook her body, even slapped her cheeks sharply with a hint of emotion behind it, but there was no response—nothing.
Healing Water trickled down her throat, but her adam’s apple didn’t move.
Seol Jihoo, who had thought cutting the rope would be the end of it, finally panicked and attempted emergency treatment. Drawing on his past experience completing a CPR course, he pressed diligently at the center of her chest with interlaced hands.
When no signs of breathing returned, he pressed harder and attempted Artificial Respiration.
[!?]
He placed his mouth against her cold, cooling lips and slowly breathed air into her.
[Ugg…!]
Floné felt a sensation of her hair being sharply yanked, but Seol Jihoo paid it no mind, focusing entirely on resuscitation.
He knew that if he did nothing, she would die on her own. But Pisora wasn’t a villain like Kang Seok, and saving her hadn’t entailed any special danger—turning away and pretending not to notice just didn’t sit right with him.
And he certainly didn’t want to laugh while watching her die just because he’d been irritable with her a moment ago.
‘Besides, I made a slip of the tongue too.’
At least by doing what he could, he wouldn’t feel guilty even if Pisora died.
He understood that dying quietly would be more convenient, but he wasn’t numb enough yet to let that happen without resistance.
Time passed, unmeasured.
By the time he’d repeated CPR and Artificial Respiration dozens upon dozens of times, sweat pouring down his face,
“Huh—!”
A choking sound burst forth. Eyes bright, Seol Jihoo pressed her solar plexus even harder, and she coughed violently.
He placed his mouth against hers once more, breathing air in, and felt her hot breath, exhaled through her throat, brush gently against his lips.
“Hngh…”
Fine, long eyelashes trembled, and Pisora’s eyes fluttered open.
“……”
“……”
Confirming she had been revived, Seol Jihoo raised his upper body as he pulled his mouth away, landing hard on his backside. He spat sharply, tilted his chin back, and stared up at the sky.
“Haaa—”
Pisora blinked rapidly, her eyes rolling unfocused. It was clear she had no idea what was happening.
‘I know exactly how she feels.’
Seol Jihoo had cheated death more than once by the narrowest margins, so he understood her shock perfectly.
After several minutes of staring blankly into space, Pisora wiped her lips with the back of her hand and slowly pushed herself upright. Her trembling fingers touched her neck, where rope marks were still vivid, and she raised an eyebrow.
“How… did this happen?”
Her voice was hoarse and raw—nothing like her usual crisp tone.
“A rescue team.”
Seol Jihoo decided directness was better than dancing around the issue. Of course, he couldn’t tell her the whole truth, so he was prepared to mix in some carefully chosen lies.
“A rescue team?”
Pisora’s brow furrowed.
“That man would never assemble a rescue team…”
From her muttering, it was clear Pisora knew that Bok Jeong-sik would throw her to the wolves given half a chance.
Seol Jihoo decided to use this to his advantage.
“Not from White Rose.”
“?”
“Someone didn’t want you to die. I’m here at their request.”
He was still deciding whether to name Jangmaldong or keep it vague when—
“I understand.”
“Pardon?”
“I get it. I can guess who it is. Anyway, you came without White Rose knowing, didn’t you?”
“Well…”
“Stop stammering. If I’d said I wanted to rescue them, that bastard Bok would’ve thrown every obstacle in my way, spouting nonsense about the Ruins. Obvious, right?”
Pisora clicked her tongue and glanced at Seol Jihoo.
“I’m not so thick-headed that I can’t understand what’s going on. You saved my life—I’m not so callous that I’d forget that.”
He hadn’t expected her to fill in the blanks for herself, but apparently she was sharper than he’d anticipated.
Seol Jihoo studied her with fresh eyes.
Jangmaldong had described her as someone who dealt in black and white—dividing people into enemies or allies, nothing in between.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
Seol Jihoo asked abruptly.
“Did White Rose never try to contact you?”
“Contact me?”
Pisora turned the question back on him.
“What are you talking about? Not only did they not contact me, but I called them dozens of times and couldn’t reach them.”
“They didn’t contact you at all? Not once?”
“From the moment White Rose showed up, I couldn’t reach anyone. Not a single call went through.”
‘From the moment they showed up?’
That meant they hadn’t even tried to contact her before entering the site, let alone during the Expedition. Not that excuses were hard to find, but—
Seol Jihoo’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“You don’t mean to tell me you came alone to rescue them…”
Pisora’s question trailed into confusion as her eyes suddenly widened. She looked frantically around her.
When she realized no one was there except Seol Jihoo, her mouth fell open.
“Where are the others?”
Here it came. Instead of answering, Seol Jihoo simply shook his head.
“This can’t be real.”
Pisora gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand, swaying. As she tried to push past him, Seol Jihoo’s hand caught her by the nape of her neck.
“Listen to me before you go.”
Pisora stopped and spun around, her gaze sharp as a blade.
“They’re all dead. I saw at least thirteen or fourteen corpses. I can’t say if that’s all of them, but—”
He was counting from the bodies he’d seen blocking out the darkness.
“Honestly, I barely escaped with my life. If we go back in there now, I’m telling you straight—we won’t make it out. But if you still want to go, I won’t stop you.”
Pisora stared hard at him for a moment, then frantically pulled a Crystal from her pocket. As she gripped it tightly, the Crystal glowed with clear light.
“Please… please…”
She muttered under her breath as she watched the Crystal anxiously, but the light only pulsed at a steady rhythm.
Even so, she didn’t give up—she tried again and again, until suddenly the light burst into fragments.
“Sohyun!”
Pisora cried out in relief.
“Sohyun, Sohyun? Are you all right? Where are you? You’re alive, aren’t you? Say something!”
Seol Jihoo frowned. The connection had opened, but all that showed in the Crystal was darkness.
—Hrrrnnnhrrrnnn—
“So-hyun—!”
As an indescribably eerie sound drifted across the beach, Pisora, who had been calling out desperately, flinched.
– Whhheere… yooouuu gooo….
“So….”
– Ssaaave mmeee… sssiiisteeer….
“…….”
– Hhheelpp mmmeee… dddoooon’t leeavveee….
It was the grating, unbearable sound of metal scraping against stone.
Seol Jihoo watched Pisora standing frozen, at a loss for words, and sighed.
The meaning was clear enough—and both of them knew what it was: a trap.
Seol Jihoo spoke carefully.
“You already know that, don’t you?”
The light of the crystal embedded in the sand flickered out. Pisora’s legs buckled, and she collapsed to her knees.
“…I don’t know….”
Her voice was hollow.
“There were four of them left, I know there were… they barely escaped, and I said I’d be the bait… I know that….”
“…….”
“I came out just fine… I was making all that noise to distract it… and the coastal area was so quiet… I told them to slip away while I had its attention… but I never heard them run….”
“…….”
“It was too quiet… something felt wrong… so I went back to check… and they were all….”
A heavy, labored sound—like struggling to swallow water—escaped her throat.
“I don’t remember anything after that… I just went mad, searching for them, ready to kill… and then my vision went black….”
Pisora, who had been muttering in a daze, suddenly buried her face in the sand. Seol Jihoo lay still, watching the woman with clenched fists grinding her teeth.
If there was blame to assign, it belonged to the decision to enter that villa in the first place.
‘Now that I think about it.’
There was still something Seol Jihoo hadn’t figured out. Why had that villa appeared colorless?
The instant he activated his Nine Eyes to check for any color changes even from a distance, Seol Jihoo’s blood ran cold.
The villa wasn’t the problem. The entire coastal area had changed color.
From yellow to red. From caution to evacuation.
‘Damn it.’
His worst fear had come to pass.
There was no time to waste.
Seol Jihoo gestured silently to Floné, who had already dematerialized. Her lower lip was trembling, but she came forward obediently and prepared for flight.
“Pisora! Come here.”
“…What?”
“Hold on to me. Now.”
Seol Jihoo spread his arms wide. Pisora blinked, then let out an incredulous breath.
“Are you… insane?”
“What?”
“Look, I never thought of it that way— I mean, I’m grateful you saved me, but seriously? This is too much! At least try to comfort me a little!”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Seol Jihoo’s patience snapped. He was already desperate with urgency, and this meaningless chatter was making his blood boil.
Though her words had been poorly chosen, the fact that the threat level had risen one notch meant there was more than enough room for it to climb higher still.
They had to escape while they could.
“This is Parasite Territory. We need to leave as fast as possible.”
It was sound logic, and Pisora quickly scrambled to her feet.
“But— the boat.”
“Don’t worry, I have a way! Move!”
Seol Jihoo’s shout made Pisora flinch, her shoulders hunching.
Red status meant evacuation alert—if it climbed any higher, chaos would erupt,
“Then why didn’t you just say that from the start!”
Pisora, unaware of the real danger, snapped back at him.
“Don’t go misleading people like that and then yell at them! I’m already miserable enough as it is….”
Her voice wavered as she cried out, and tears began to pool in her wide eyes.
“Understood? So stop!”
Seol Jihoo swallowed his frustration and softened his tone.
Pisora, apparently not entirely unfamiliar with Paradise’s ways, wordlessly grabbed his arm. When Seol Jihoo embraced her and surged into the air, she jumped in surprise, then looked bewildered as the ground fell away beneath them.
Seol Jihoo preempted her question.
“It’s a Flight Artifact.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. We found it by chance at the ruins, and it has an attuning function with a limited number of uses. Anyway, don’t ask any more questions.”
“W-who’s asking?”
“I’m saying don’t go blabbing about it all over town.”
“Then say it like that from the start. Honestly, what a mess.”
Pisora pouted.
[That’s not it!]
Floné, who had been listening quietly, felt deeply wronged.
[I’m not a Flight Artifact! There’s no limit to my uses!]
“…….”
[Why are you lying!]
At her unceasing protests, Seol Jihoo grudgingly nodded.

As they crossed the hushed Dawn Sea, the two—no, three of them—said nothing at all.
When the Nine Eyes turned green again, Seol Jihoo could finally breathe easy.
Pisora sat quietly in his arms, her lifeless gaze fixed endlessly on the water below. He felt a pang of guilt seeing her like that.
It was no wonder she wasn’t herself—she’d lost seventeen comrades in mere days, including one she’d fought alongside since the Tutorial began, all within a few years of shared struggle.
Seol Jihoo, his lips working silently, spoke at last in a low voice.
“At the Villa.”
“…….”
“Some of those people were still there. Actually. Quite a few of them.”
“…What?”
Seol Jihoo felt her strange gaze from below, but he kept his eyes forward and continued.
“Your comrades, you see. Even though they were dead, they didn’t leave. They stayed behind. Because they were worried about you.”
“What are you talking about? How can they stay if they’re dead?”
“I saw and heard it clearly. The Young-looking Priest told me which room you were in and asked me to save you. They even helped quite a bit with our escape.”
At the mention of the Young-looking Priest, Pisora’s eyes widened like lanterns, but Seol Jihoo didn’t notice.
“They blocked the way so desperately. Thanks to them, we managed to get away with you without being caught.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Believe it or not.”
“…Well, it’s better than some hollow encouragement to hang in there.”
The conversation ended there.
But soon after, Seol Jihoo felt her arm trembling ever so slightly.
Glancing down discreetly, he saw tears. She’d turned her head as far toward the sea as it would go, but Pisora was crying quietly, her voice barely contained.
Watching the tears drop one by one into the water, he found himself struck by the composure she was exercising—it was extraordinary.
‘If it were me….’
When he’d confirmed Dylan’s death.
Truthfully, if he lost even one member of Carpe Diem, he thought he’d go mad right there on the spot.
Seol Jihoo said nothing, only turning his gaze forward again. He simply loosened the grip of the arm that had been holding her roughly before, adjusting his embrace as gently as one would cradle a princess.
And so time passed until the horizon began to glow with the approaching dawn.
A harbor gradually came into view in the distance.
It was Nur Harbor.

(To be continued in the next installment)

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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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