The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 151

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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 151. Two Gold Spheres (2)

There was a song about it once—have you ever seen a hyena prowling the foot of a mountain, searching for food?
Of course, the siblings weren’t animals but humans, and they didn’t need to wander the mountains hunting prey, yet lately the hyena’s feelings in that lyric felt somehow understandable.
Just like a thunderbolt from a clear sky—one day they woke up to find their entire organization had collapsed in ruin.
The survivors talked of trying harder together, of White Rose refusing to die like this, of it being a fresh start and not to waver but trust and follow. Words like that.
Bok Jeongsik had gathered the remaining members and delivered an impassioned speech, but the very next day he vanished like smoke.
Only then did they learn the rumors were no rumors at all but fact, and the shock the siblings felt upon learning the full truth was beyond words.
They had known him since childhood and had believed him to be nothing but kind—the gap between his true self and that image was too vast for children not yet adults to accept straightforwardly.
Eventually, only after a red warrant was issued did the siblings finally accept they had no choice but to face reality. And the reality they had been turning away from all along.
Most of their forces were dead, and once the leader fled, the rest scattered like dust.
As White Rose crumbled into complete dissolution, the inexperienced siblings had no idea what to do or how to do it. They heard Pi Sora had returned and gathered their courage to find her, only to be told to pack their things and wait quietly.
Even the stubborn few who held their ground abandoned their posts, leaving only the siblings sitting alone in the empty House Lodging.
They had to vacate the building by day’s end, so today was their last day here.
Every time the thought ‘What do we do after today?’ crossed their minds, the world went dark. Like being on a ship about to sink in the middle of an endless sea.
Lee Seongjin, who had been pointlessly unpacking and repacking his already-prepared luggage, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Sister.”
“…Huh?”
Her response came a beat late; she’d been lost in thought.
“Why is our life really like this?”
Lee Seol-ah, who had been lying on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling, burst out laughing at her brother’s sudden lament.
After giggling for a while, she wiped away a tear that had formed and nodded in agreement.
“Right?”
“Even curses seem to stick hard on us. On Earth and in Paradise both.”
Though they were young to be philosophizing about life, they could say with confidence they’d lived a more turbulent existence than most their age—and many adults besides.
“Nothing we try ever works out…”
Lee Seongjin murmured softly. Lee Seol-ah, who had been nodding along in agreement, suddenly tilted her head.
“Not everything, though.”
“Huh?”
“We haven’t had nothing but bad, have we? On Earth or in Paradise.”
“What was good for you, then?”
“Me? Well…”
Lee Seol-ah began counting on her fingers.
“Starting athletics?”
“You got kicked out for not paying tribute.”
“That’s not ‘didn’t pay’—I couldn’t pay. And I walked out myself.”
“It’s the same thing either way.”
“And… when Mother said she wouldn’t give up on us. How happy was I then.”
“She just suffered through and got sick lying in bed because of us.”
When Lee Seongjin stated the fact coolly, Lee Seol-ah scratched her head with an odd expression.
“Right… what about meeting our brother?”
Lee Seongjin fell silent for a moment, then gave a weak shrug. Lee Seol-ah rolled over to look at him standing limp with exhaustion.
“You know what? Should we go see our brother? They say it’s only a four-day ride by carriage to Haramag.”
Conflict flickered across Lee Seongjin’s face, but he shook his head almost immediately.
“I don’t know. What good would someone like us, poster children for misfortune, be to him?”
“Why? He’s doing well.”
“Even if we go, I don’t think he’d be happy to see us. Remember when we had nowhere else to go and found our maternal grandfather’s place? We got thrown out after a day.”
“…Come on, surely not.”
Suddenly a low voice echoed—a voice that mimicked Lee Seol-ah’s own, cleverly raising its pitch. Her brother thought she must have remembered that time too, and he sighed.
“God, I don’t even know anymore.”
“Why? Do you have somewhere to go?”
“You know as well as I do we don’t.”
“Then let’s go. Let’s go and ask him to buy us something delicious, and we can at least hear what he has to say.”
Her voice sounded like she was holding back a laugh, but Lee Seongjin didn’t notice anything amiss. His mind was entirely elsewhere.
“I told you, we can’t. We don’t even have our contract released in the first place.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already taken care of the contract.”
“You did? How?”
“I went to Pi Sora and fought for it.”
“Didn’t you tell him to shut up and wait?”
“I went back. After slapping him a few times and demanding he hand over the contract, he just whimpered and gave it up without a fuss.”
“What?”
It was only then, sensing something off, that Lee Seongjin turned around—and found Lee Seol-ah frozen in shock, her eyes fixed on the door.
Both eyes pointed straight at it.
Lee Seongjin reflexively looked at the door and went rigid himself.
A familiar young man was leaning through the doorway with a crooked grin. When their eyes met, he smirked and raised his hand in greeting.
“Hey.”
The siblings cried out in unison.
“Big brother!”
“Seol Jihoo!”

Seol Jihoo led the chattering siblings to the dining hall, making sure to collect their luggage himself on the way.
As befitted the capital’s establishments, it boasted facilities and an atmosphere far superior to Haramag’s Eat Drink and Enjoy—cleaner, more refined altogether.
When Seol Jihoo told them to order whatever they wanted, the siblings immediately bombarded him with “How did you get here?” instead, and with a soft laugh, he simply placed their orders and began his explanation.
By the time he’d satisfied their curiosity, the food arrived.
Seol Jihoo encouraged the bewildered pair to eat while they talked, but when he watched them devour each bowl in moments, he was secretly stunned.
It crossed his mind that White Rose might actually be starving the children.
To be honest, the siblings hadn’t gone hungry—but they’d never eaten a single meal in peace. Every meal came with the weight of watchful eyes, and now that they were finally eating freely, the food went down effortlessly.
Besides, the person they’d dreamed of seeing had come to fetch them in person; how could their appetites fail them?
Once they’d ordered dessert to settle their full bellies, conversation resumed where it had briefly paused.
Nothing momentous—just small talk about how they’d fared since leaving the Neutral Zone, whether they knew what others were up to, and so on.
But above all, the central topic was Seol Jihoo’s accomplishments.
The siblings competed to recount what they knew of his deeds, and he grew uncomfortable under the weight of their admiration.
‘This is… a bit awkward.’
It was time to set the record straight. Before broaching the main matter, Seol Jihoo decided to first shatter their illusions.
He understood why they were making such a fuss—after all, he had pulled them from a sinking ship—but Seol Jihoo was no savior, no Superman.
“No.”
So he said it plainly.
“Most of what’s written in the records is a lie. Exaggerated.”
He wanted to be clear.
“The Banquet? Ian wrote it generously in my favor, but strictly speaking, I couldn’t have done anything alone—and I mean couldn’t, not ‘might not have.’ The Triad, Umitsubame, and Carpe Diem all worked together. Without that backing, I’d have been beaten to death as some nobody getting above his station.”
Seol Jihoo continued rapidly.
“The research facility was the same. The explosion? Not me—it was the Federation. Creating the opening by luring away the guards wasn’t intentional; I just happened to stumble into it while running for my life.”
“…….”
“After that was nothing but suffering. Crying from hunger, drinking my own urine and vomiting it up… In the end, I made a desperate charge through the encirclement and took a sniper round through the thigh. Do you know what happened after I went down?”
The siblings, who had been chattering without pause, fell silent, staring at him blankly.
“I begged for my life. Crying. A pathetic memory.”
When he rolled up his sleeve to show the scar, Lee Seol-ah hiccupped.
“This is the truth. This is how I’ve lived.”
Seol Jihoo sighed and pulled his sleeve back down.
“And going forward, I’ll have to do it again. I will. Definitely.”
The weight in his voice turned the previously cheerful atmosphere solemn. The siblings, unless they were fools, understood why Seol Jihoo was laying bare the truth so candidly.
Seol Jihoo gazed at the two of them, uncertain how to proceed.
Having spent the Two Gold Spheres, he didn’t want to let them slip away. But he didn’t want to force them with the contract either.
In the midst of his turmoil, one thing gave him hope: both of them still shone with that golden light.
But what approach would make this brother and sister trust him and follow?
After deliberation, Seol Jihoo resolved to “show” them.
He drew two sheets of paper from his pocket—the ones he’d received from Pi Sora.
“These are your contracts. As long as this paper holds power, you’re bound by the terms.”
The moment two pairs of anxious eyes landed on him, Seol Jihoo gripped the papers in both hands.
“First.”
And without a moment’s hesitation, he tore them clean in half.
Ignoring the siblings’ gasps of horror, he ripped the contracts to shreds and tossed them into the waste bin.
“There. You’re free now.”
He smiled gently.
Seol Jihoo dusted off his hands and continued.
“Now that you’re free, infinite choices open before you. You can return to Earth, or continue life in Paradise. I assume the latter, but if so, you’ll have another choice to make: whether to navigate it together on your own, join another organization, or follow me.”
Seol Jihoo paused briefly, then spoke in a lower tone.
“In other words, depending on why you came to Paradise and what you think of it… your life there will be vastly different.”
In other words, she was saying that the choice belonged to the siblings.
“You’re saying that if I follow you, Seol-ah and I will have to do dangerous things too?”
Lee Seongjin had grasped the core of it.
“Not right now. You need real skill to qualify for high-risk work in the first place. But when you two level up later and build the strength to match…”
Seol Jihoo trailed off, gathering his thoughts.
“If a time comes when you really don’t want to do something, but you have no choice—I’d want you to help me then. If you’re not confident about that, it might be better if you didn’t follow me at all.”
Seol Jihoo pressed on, finishing his thought.
“Here’s the point: if you two think of this Paradise as just a game to enjoy for a while, I don’t want to be with you. Our goals don’t align.”
He fell silent after that, waiting for their answer.
It wasn’t a question to answer lightly, so a long pause settled over them.
Lee Seol-ah spoke first.
“Actually, our mother is very ill.”
“Your mother? She’s sick?”
“Yes. Though she’s not my biological mother. My stepmother.”
“Ah, so your father divorced and remarried?”
“Yeah, and my father is also a stepfather now. He’s not with us anymore.”
Seol Jihoo blinked.
Both parents were step-parents? Orphans? Adopted? Several thoughts flickered through his mind.
“You two… I hope this isn’t rude, but…”
“It’s fine.”
Lee Seol-ah bit into her fork, which had cake crumbs on it, and gave a small shrug.
“We had biological parents originally, but they divorced when we were little. Seongjin and I went with our birth mother, and she remarried not long after. Our stepfather came into our lives and we rebuilt a family, but our birth mother couldn’t handle the abuse and abandoned us, running away. Then our stepfather remarried our stepmother, and that’s how we got to know her. But then our stepfather ran away too.”
Seol Jihoo’s jaw gradually dropped as he listened.
“But it’s okay, really. There were tough times, I won’t lie… but Stepmother is a good person.”
Bewildering would be one way to put it. Not just Lee Seol-ah’s bright, spirited tone, but the thought wouldn’t leave him—what a twisted, complicated life this was.
“She cried when she heard our situation, but said she’d do whatever it took to get us by. She worked too hard because of us, and that’s how she got sick.”
“Is she in critical condition?”
Lee Seol-ah shook her head.
“It’s not a matter of days. But we don’t have money, and they say it’s the kind of illness where there’s no cure…”
He could see her clenching the fork in her mouth, as if trying not to let it show.
“So—”
Lee Seol-ah said,
“I came to Paradise to earn hospital bills and find medicine. That’s the goal Seongjin and I have in Paradise.”
She managed a smile.
“Did you know? They say there’s a Universal Panacea in Paradise that can cure any disease.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But they say it’s incredibly rare and hard to find, and you need an enormous amount of Merit Points to take it back to Earth.”
It made sense. The moment a cure-all appeared in the modern era, the world would turn upside down—that much was obvious.
With that kind of impact, it wasn’t just a guess—even with all the Merit Points Seol Jihoo had accumulated so far, it wouldn’t be nearly enough.
“So the moment I heard you, I thought: Oh, if I follow you, I can build my skills and earn Merit Points too. Where else would you find such perfect conditions?”
At her deliberate gestures and flattery, Seol Jihoo found himself laughing sadly.
In any case, the conclusion was that she’d follow him.
“What about Seongjin?”
“Me too.”
His answer was immediate, almost anticlimactic after all the tension.
“Sister said most of what I wanted to say anyway…”
He pursed his lips before continuing.
“But personally, I’d add one thing: I want to be happy.”
What was this now?
“Following me makes you happy?”
“I’m not really sure, honestly.”
Lee Seongjin answered plainly.
“But when I was in the Neutral Zone, I was happy. For the first time in my life.”
Seol Jihoo scratched his cheek.
“The Neutral Zone and Paradise are different.”
“They are. So are you happy in Paradise?”
Happiness. That wasn’t easy to answer.
To be honest, he hadn’t been purely happy. There’d been pain more than once, and there’d been times he’d shed tears unable to overcome despair.
But ultimately?
“Yes, I am.”
Seol Jihoo smiled softly.
“Good colleagues, good teachers, good people… I think I’m happy.”
At least more than on Earth.
Lee Seongjin simply nodded, as if that was enough.
With those words, the conversation fell silent.
After emptying his cup completely, Seol Jihoo set it down quietly.
“I suppose…”
He spoke with a soft chuckle.
“It looks like you two want to follow me. Like you’ve already made up your minds.”
Seol Jihoo took a long breath and rose slowly from his seat.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Where else? Haramag, of course.”
When Seol Jihoo winked, the siblings glanced at each other. Their faces brightened, and they both cried out at once.
“Yes!”
“Yes!”

***

“Seol Jihoo, there’s something I’ve been wondering about.”
On the way to the stable near the City Gate, Lee Seongjin asked suddenly.
“What?”
“Did you really slap Pi Sora and get the contract?”
Seol Jihoo chuckled.
“Of course not. Given her personality, she’d definitely retaliate if I actually hit her.”
“That’s true.”
Lee Seongjin’s face bore a subtle hint of disappointment.
“Why?”
“She’s a really terrible person, I mean… woman.”
“Her personality is difficult, sure. But she’s not entirely without redeeming qualities.”
“She’s good to people who fawn over her, takes care of them. But everyone else? Purely antagonistic.”
It was something one had to agree with.
“Especially, there’s this thing called her tantrum time. She hasn’t done anything wrong, but she throws a fit exactly once a day. Without fail. Even when she’s done nothing.”
“But if she hadn’t turned down other recruitment offers, we wouldn’t have had the chance to meet like this.”
“She did that?”
Lee Seongjin looked thoroughly shocked. “That witch would never do that,” he said, genuinely bewildered.
How much had he heard to make him react like this?
Just as curiosity began to stir, the City Gate came into view.
When they tried to arrange for a carriage heading to Haramag, the driver hesitated.
“About that—there was a carriage bound for Haramag that just…”
He turned back toward the gate, blinking.
“Wait, hasn’t it left yet? Hey, Jang Tu!”
Calling out loudly, the driver named Jang Tu came rushing over as if flying.
“Oh! We have customers?”
“Three of them. But didn’t you just fill the carriage?”
“Don’t even mention it! We were about to leave with three people, but then this madwoman jumps out saying how we can’t possibly go with just three, demanding we wait longer. I swear!”
“Who?”
“Hell if I know! Some crazy woman going on and on about how we can’t possibly leave with three passengers, throwing an absolute tantrum!”
Jang Tu bounced about in exasperation, then spat.

(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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