The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 165

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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 165. Convulsions (4)

Thunk! A dull, heavy sound erupted, making Seol Jihoo flinch.
His head snapped downward hard enough that his forehead nearly touched the ground.
“…You bitch.”
Even in that position, Ora Hee managed to wrench her head upward.
But Pisora’s sole was already waiting, and when it lashed across her cheek with brutal force, Ora Hee’s body spun a full ninety degrees.
Crash! She tumbled across the floor.
Seol Jihoo, who had only ever heard tales of the Kick Strike, stood slack-jawed.
“…You.”
Pisora twirled her ankle with detached composure, her expression utterly unimpressed.
“Lost your nerve? I haven’t seen you in forever, and that’s all you’ve got to say? Not even a hello?”
Ora Hee’s eyes narrowed to slits as she ground her teeth.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why do you always push back when you know you’re going to get hit? Why, huh? Hee?”
Ora Hee spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva.
Seol Jihoo snapped back to attention at the sound of cackling laughter. Their leader was being beaten, yet the Blood Line team members were cackling like hyenas.
“Those two always end up fighting the moment they see each other.”
“Are we getting to watch an actual sparring match? What’s the record?”
“Sixteen matches, five wins, eleven losses. Hee’s down.”
“What? It’s that lopsided?”
“They were tied five-five at first. But then Pisora suddenly awakened and went on a six-win streak.”
As this impossible history unfolded, Jang Maldong appeared.
“What’s all this commotion?”
At the arrival of Paradise’s legend and elder, the entire room fell silent as a tomb.
Ora Hee rose quietly from her spot. Pisora hastily withdrew her leg as well.
“She started it first!”
The girl pointed at Ora Hee, tattling like a child and brushing herself off.
Jang Maldong stared at her coldly for a moment, then glanced at the woman whose expression had already returned to blank, and his eyes widened slightly.
“…It’s been a while.”
“…….”
“I heard allied forces would be coming… So you’ve come to Haramag?”
“…Yes.”
Ora Hee answered in a small voice, brushing her disheveled hair back.
“Good. Take care of yourself.”
With her eyes half-closed, Ora Hee nodded slightly.
“The rest of you, continue talking. And you—come with me. Don’t just stand there being a nuisance.”
“No! Please!”
“No more excuses—move it!”
Jang Maldong barked sharply, then turned and opened the door.
“Ugh!”
Pisora grumbled irritably and followed him out, her footsteps heavy and sullen.
Once the storm had passed, Ora Hee exhaled a long breath.
“Is that person on your team as well?”
“We took her on temporarily. Because of the war. But are you alright?”
“It’s fine. She still seems full of spirit, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Seol Jihoo blinked.
Nothing to worry about?
“Honestly, her temperament is something else.”
Ora Hee murmured quietly, touching her cheek.
‘Surely not.’
Was that how they greeted each other? Through mockery and a Kick Strike?
[How is the old master doing?]
Now that he thought about it, Ora Hee seemed to know Jang Maldong.
For reasons he couldn’t quite place, she’d appeared wary of him just now, and Seol Jihoo found himself curious about the shared past of these three.
“Have you found Lodging yet? If not, I could arrange—”
He’d been planning to offer them a room so he could hear more of their story at a leisurely pace.
“We already have.”
“Ah. A roster registration, perhaps.”
“That’s what we came to handle.”
Ora Hee had already processed all the necessary procedures, true to her profession as a mercenary.
“We’re not so green as to be ignorant of such basics… Oh, that reminds me.”
She spoke in a businesslike tone before breaking into a knowing smile.
“The Princess was absolutely thrilled, you know?”
“You mean Princess Teresa?”
“When we went to register. The moment she heard we’d come through Carpe Diem, she was over the moon—honestly, she looked just like a girl in love. I’m telling you?”
She must have been. When they’d added Pisora as a single recruit, Teresa had welcomed her warmly enough; how could she not be delighted when an entire team of skilled mercenaries arrived at once?
“A princess and a prince. Like something out of a fairy tale. They do suit each other.”
Ora Hee laughed lightly, turning toward the door.
“Are you leaving already?”
“I only came to pay my respects today. I’ll appear when it’s time to depart, so don’t worry.”
With that, Ora Hee left alongside her team. Seol Jihoo walked them down the stairs out of courtesy before returning to the quarters.
“Haa…”
The moment he collapsed onto the bed, a long-suppressed sigh escaped him entirely.
The events of recent days rushed through his mind in sequence.
He’d trained to the death on Big Stone Rock Mountain and achieved results greater than ever before.
An elite archer named Marcel Gionea had joined them. Pisora had been accepted provisionally, and a cooperative relationship had been established with Blood Line.
He’d freely shared the equipment he possessed to strengthen their overall power.
…Yes. By this measure, he’d done everything within his reach as a leader.
There was nothing left to do, no matter how hard he tried.
Yet Seol Jihoo’s eyes, fixed uselessly on the ceiling, grew narrower with each passing moment.
‘Why…’
Why does this sense of insufficiency refuse to fade the more he prepares?
He affects brightness, plays the part of being fine, yet occasionally a nameless unease seizes him entirely, consuming every part of his being.
It’s not mere sentiment.
‘Something’s off.’
‘The feeling isn’t right.’
‘That’s true.’
‘The premonition is dreadfully bad.’
Those who’ve worked in Paradise for long have all grown restless as one.
The cause remains unclear. Yet even Seol Jihoo himself suffers from an unexplainable tension—the dread that everything he’s prepared thus far amounts to nothing but a final thrashing against the inevitable.
‘The Seven Great Armies.’
Seol Jihoo sat in silence for a long while, then lifted his torso upright.
He crossed his legs and began the Qi Circulation Technique.
‘What I can trust…’
He cannot drag his allies down, at least—he must not become a liability.
With that resolve, Seol Jihoo poured all his focus into circulating the Qi within his body.
Only by doing so could he forget the anxiety that otherwise refuses to dissipate.

Sheherazade.
At Shin Young’s headquarters, a man sat in private audience with a woman.
“This is really amusing, isn’t it?”
The figure waving the report with a guileless laugh was a woman with an icy impression yet capable of smiling with childlike clarity.
A simple black tunic shirt paired with soft-looking silk robes; her skirt concealed much, yet beneath the desk stretched shapely, elegant calves.
This was Yoon Seohee—a director of Shin Young and the eldest sister of Yoon Seora.
Yoon Seohee lifted a spoonful of sherbet from a transparent crystal bowl with genuinely graceful movements.
She worked her lips thoughtfully as she read the report, humming softly while nodding in approval.
The man standing across from her with both hands respectfully clasped wore an awkward expression.
Observing the woman before him carefully, every motion seemed restrained, refined with palpable grace. She must have absorbed such habits naturally from her upbringing and extensive dealings with people.
Occasionally her words contradicted her bearing, yet nothing about it seemed amiss.
The same held true for her face. Though her features were sharp and cold as ice, her expressions proved wonderfully expressive.
Clearly practiced, yet never artificial—only harmonious.
And yet, something felt discordant. Like wearing an ill-fitting garment, somehow.
That invisible gap was precisely what unsettled him each time he stood before Yoon Seohee.
Of course, he didn’t let it show, forcing a smile instead.
“Thank you. I’m glad it pleased you.”
“Very much. This is exactly what I wanted. More vibrant than formal, stiff reports… It looks like you heard it directly and wrote it yourself. Am I right?”
“Precisely. She was an archer named Lara Wolf.”
“Lara Wolf?”
Yoon Seohee’s eyes widened, then blinked rapidly. It was the kind of reaction that would make anyone who didn’t know her break into a smile.
The man swallowed.
“She’s an archer who progressed through Stage 1 and Stage 2. She said she received considerable favor from Seol Jihoo.”
“Oh, and she just spilled everything?”
“At first, she seemed quite guarded. But once she learned that Seol Jihoo is affiliated with Shin Young as a member, and that this would be considered for the September personnel evaluation, she made an effort to speak as favorably as possible.”
“Ah, it would’ve been perfect if you’d added that accurate, detailed information is necessary for a fair evaluation.”
“Of course I did.”
Yoon Seohee smiled faintly. Seeing her mood brighten, the man ventured to speak carefully.
“I… Director Yoon.”
“?”
“There’s a meeting coming up with the Royal House participating. The director asked me to come with a clear head about it….”
Right now, addressing the support requests coming in from six cities was the urgent priority—a delicate way of saying there was no time to focus on the report documenting Seol Jihoo’s activities.
“I know. That’s why I’m reading it.”
Her slender finger tapped the report. The man straightened his posture.
When Yoon Seohee spoke casually, she tended to drift into her own world. But she never spoke nonsense—only things she alone understood and believed.
Though he couldn’t fathom any connection between this report and the war.
“Sir?”
The man tensed inwardly. He’d need to focus with every ounce of effort just to grasp even a fraction of what she meant.
“Would you like to make a wager with me?”
“A wager, ma’am?”
“Whether or not the Seven Great Armies will come to Haramag. Can you guess right?”
“Seven, the Seven Great Armies?”
The man stammered.
“I’m betting they’ll come. At least one. Possibly two at most.”
“I don’t know. The Federation is preparing a general offensive… if even one of them is absent, won’t we lose Tigol Fortress, which we worked so hard to capture?”
“Logically, yes. But this Parasite Queen sister of ours has some rather peculiar habits.”
A shadow of distaste crossed the man’s face. In all of Paradise, only Yoon Seohee would speak of the Parasite Queen in such an intimate manner.
“I like to imagine sometimes. If I were the Parasite Queen? What would I do, how would I do it to rule this world… and looking at it that way, I’ve noticed the sister’s movements align with my thinking in some respects.”
The man’s expression showed he had no idea what to say.
“Did you know? Every time the Parasite Queen invaded human forces with the Seven Great Armies, there was always a strange commonality.”
“A commonality?”
“There is. A secret commonality between me and the Parasite Queen sister alone.”
The man’s jaw worked uselessly. Apparently pleased by his reaction, Yoon Seohee rested her chin in her clasped hands and smiled with satisfaction.
“One or two times could be coincidence… but it’s strange. Every person I’ve ever marked has been dealt with one way or another. Either she converts them into Parasites and takes them, or she cleanly eliminates them.”
“Really?”
The man’s voice rose.
“Yes. That’s what I’m telling you.”
Yoon Seohee affirmed in a clear tone, crossed her arms, and lifted her gaze.
“What was her name… Ah. Have you heard of Marika Larisa?”
“The Romanian mage, wasn’t she? The one who traveled with the Iron Archer. She was famous once.”
“Exactly. She manipulated photons rather than elements—the only mage of her kind, so I was keeping an eye on her. But the Parasite Queen sister just swept her up wholesale. Turned her into a Parasite.”
Yoon Seohee uncrossed and recrossed her legs, then shrugged.
“And that’s happened more than once or twice.”
“Then could it be… this war as well?”
“Seol Jihoo. His reputation has been growing by leaps and bounds lately, hasn’t it? That’s how I’m reading it.”
The man’s demeanor suggested he couldn’t accept it at face value. Had the speaker been anyone but Yoon Seohee, he would have scoffed and dismissed such a wild hypothesis.
“Still… Tigol Fortress is at stake….”
“Well, time will tell. What matters is what we do about it.”
The man gathered his thoughts and spoke.
“If what you’re saying is true, wouldn’t it work to summon Seol Jihoo to Sheherazade? We can fabricate a reason.”
“Then the Parasite Queen sister’s blade will reach here too. We might be safe for now, but it’s not a permanent solution.”
“What if we simply let it be?”
“?”
“In truth… as you say, Director, Seol Jihoo’s position grows stronger by the day. Just my personal opinion, but I’m beginning to think it’s beyond our capacity to do anything about it anymore….”
Their eyes met then. As he faced those coldly staring eyes, the man felt goosebumps prickle down his spine.
Her keen gaze curved like a crescent moon.
“That’s an interesting thought.”
“….”
“True enough. That abnormal growth rate—surpassing even Seong Sihyun—was unexpected. And Kim Hanna played her role well in providing cover too, but… at any rate, it’s become burdensome to force the issue. You’re reading this well.”
The man finally exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“But do we really need to provoke her?”
Yoon Seohee’s taut expression gradually softened.
“If she won’t accept it willingly, we’ll simply make her come on her own.”
As Yoon Seohee leisurely raised the report, her head tilted back in kind, and her ebony hair—cascading past her hips—rippled silkily through the air.
“I told you. It’s fun.”
She held the paper up to the light, her silent laugh forming into a serene smile.
“The cause and effect of each major action is remarkably clear. When causality is so evident, retribution becomes equally transparent. Unless one’s mind isn’t structured on the principle of causation….”
She chuckled and turned to regard the stiff-faced man.
“Aren’t you curious?”
“Pardon?”
The man answered blankly.
“If we impose an irrepayable debt upon him, how exactly will Seol Jihoo react?”
“An irrepayable debt, you say….”
“In this situation, what else could there be? I’ve made my decision.”
Yoon Seohee rose from her seat with a bright, composed smile.
“Let’s go.”
“To the conference hall, then?”
“Not before I persuade father. And the Guides as well—oh, wait.”
Yoon Seohee glided across the room, then suddenly halted. She turned to the man, who looked somewhat weary, and asked:
“By the way, how is Rusheria’s daughter doing lately?”

At that very moment.
Inside the Rusheria Temple in Sheherazade, a considerable crowd had gathered, murmuring amongst themselves.
More precisely, Earthians were huddled in small groups near the gateway, whispering.
“What? She’s leaving too? I thought she’d returned for good.”
“Does it really matter? The Emergency Mobilization Order hasn’t been issued anyway.”
“Still, it’s unusual for her to….”
Seo Yuhee crossed the gate corridor steadfastly, enduring the weight of dozens of stares. Then she finally disappeared into the portal.
Pop! Light burst forth, and the landscape transformed.
Back on Earth, Seo Yuhee exhaled softly. She surveyed her familiar room, then quickly grabbed her mobile phone from atop the drawer and dialed a number.
Ring, ring… The signal seemed to drag on, but then it cut off abruptly.
— Yes.
A voice touched with electronic static came through briefly. Seo Yuhee’s eyes closed gently.
The hesitation was fleeting. She drew a deep breath and spoke directly, without preamble.
“Please help me.”
A few seconds of silence followed.
— …Tell me in detail.
A quiet voice flowed through the line.

Recently, Seol Jihoo’s complexion was better than one might expect. While tension and anxiety hadn’t entirely vanished, he’d received two pieces of good news of late.
Two, in fact.
First was that Seo Yuhee had ascended to Level 8—only the second time in Paradise’s history. He’d known it was coming and anticipated a smooth promotion, so he accepted the news calmly.
But what truly astonished him was that the Sheherazade Royal Family had made an official announcement to primarily support Haramag and declared an Emergency Mobilization Order.
He’d wondered if perhaps Yoon Seora had exerted her influence, but the intelligence report delivered by the Assassination Guild identified the person who decided and orchestrated all of this: Yoon Seohee of Shin Young.
She had passionately advocated that Haramag would be the primary battlefield, according to reports, and played a central role in drawing out the Sheherazade Royal Family’s decision.
Moreover, she’d appealed for the assembly of all Guides except for three currently vacant positions.
‘If it’s Yoon Seohee….’
Yoon Seora’s elder sister. He couldn’t fathom why she’d singled out Haramag to support, but regardless of her motives, he was grateful for it.
Though he couldn’t be certain, if four Guides came to Haramag, he truly felt they had a fighting chance.
And then.
The day finally dawned when they would march toward Aden Gorge.

(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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