The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 193

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 193. High-Rank (1)

Thump-thump-thump-thump!
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed up the stairwell.
Then came a bang as the old metal door swung open with enough force to shatter it, and a figure appeared.
Snorting like an enraged bull was none other than Pi Sora.
Jang Maldong’s face twisted into a scowl as he shouted.
“Easy with the door! I thought my ears were about to fall off!”
But Pi Sora paid him no mind.
No—
Rather than mindless, she glared at Seol Jihoo like a buffalo eyeing a matador waving red cloth before him.
An instant later, as if catching Seol Jihoo off guard, Pi Sora’s mouth opened wide.
“Kyieeeeeee!”
It was a cry born from grievance and fury—truly the wail of a monster.
“What—what’s going on? Why is she acting like that all of a sudden?”
Jang Maldong was bewildered, but it made no difference.
Pi Sora unleashed the anger she had barely contained for days, unable to sleep properly.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Then, as if she meant to rip out every last hair on her head, she raised both arms and charged forward.
“Wait!”
Seol Jihoo sprang to his feet and thrust his arm powerfully in front of him.
At his forceful cry, Pi Sora halted her charge just before she could pounce.
…….
The Shopping Bag hanging limply in his hand caught her eye only for a moment.
“Ha.”
A cold snort escaped her, and her blazing eyes narrowed like a crescent moon.
“You think you can make this right with just this one thing?”
Her voice seethed like a roiling furnace.
“I bought something separate for Master Jang, but the rest I got identical amounts of. Though I suppose this serves two purposes anyway.”
Jang Maldong let out a clearing cough.
Of course, Pi Sora wasn’t listening at all.
“So eat this and stay quiet somewhere else.”
He twisted his neck side to side and raised one corner of his mouth.
His eyes didn’t smile at all, which made it look even more frightening.
Seeing no sign that she intended to accept anything, Seol Jihoo meekly set the gift down.
Then, tilting his head, he asked.
“Are you going to hit me?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna beat the hell out of you, why?”
As Pi Sora glared at him, Seol Jihoo calmly shook his head.
“Please don’t. Why are you hitting people like that?”
“You bastard. You should be begging for forgiveness, and here you are acting like this. Seriously, I hate you.”
The more Seol Jihoo spoke in a calm, reasoned tone, the hotter her blood boiled, and profanities poured from Pi Sora’s lips.
“I’d laugh it off if you were Pi or Picolo. But this? What are you, stupid?”
“Pi! Stupid! Yo.”
“You son of a—”
Unable to continue, Pi Sora’s eyes rolled back.
Seol Jihoo plumped down onto the sofa.
Then he shrugged his shoulders and raised both hands.
“Do whatever you want. I’ll just sit here.”
“How cheeky. Yeah. I’ll do whatever I want. You think there’s something I can’t do?”
Seol Jihoo’s leisurely gaze swept Pi Sora up and down from head to toe.
Then he smiled faintly.
“That gear really suits you, doesn’t it?”
Pi Sora’s fingers, which had been cracking ominously, froze mid-motion.
Having confirmed her reaction, Seol Jihoo’s tongue moved deftly.
“A Longsword, a Shield, Armor, Boots—wow. Whoever gave these to you, they’ve got impeccable taste. Really impeccable.”
…….
“Since they’re Banquet-grade equipment, they have that special shine to them. Don’t they?”
Seol Jihoo rested his chin on the back of his hand, smiling thinly.
Pi Sora’s jaw clenched so hard her neck trembled.
“Right, now that the war’s over—”
“You petty bastard!”
Pi Sora shuddered with barely contained fury.
“Petty? It’s a contract. You agreed to rent it only for the duration of the war—or did you forget?”
His words weren’t wrong, but the timing was the problem.
Why was he suddenly bringing up the equipment?
Pi Sora wasn’t stupid enough to miss the implication.
Modern-world trinkets could be kicked aside easily enough, but Paradise goods were another matter entirely.
Equipment of this caliber and performance wasn’t easy to come by.
She could always return it and request funds to buy new gear, but the problem was that even that decision rested in Seol Jihoo’s hands.
“Tch…”
A grinding sound escaped through her teeth.
“I mean, we could’ve just beaten each other for a while and moved on. Why drag it out like this?”
“What? Can’t the original owner ask for their equipment back?”
“God, you’re so childish. How did you end up like this?”
“Let me think—who was it that pranked first~?”
Pi Sora’s face registered utter disbelief.
He was still holding a grudge over that?
No matter how much she called him immature or childish, Seol Jihoo’s response remained unchanged.
Arguing further would only make her own frustration explode.
After glaring at the smirking Seol Jihoo for a long moment, Pi Sora’s eyes snapped open wide and she growled as if ready to devour him whole.
“Damn it. This equipment is mine from now on. Don’t even think about asking for it back. Understood?”
Seol Jihoo laughed heartily.
“So Pi Sora has a conscience—or does she?”
“No conscience at all!”
Pi Sora bellowed the words so loudly the air seemed to chill around her, and she spun around sharply.
Even as she did, she snatched the shopping bag and stomped heavily toward the Lodging.
“Damn!”
She stopped mid-stride and stamped her foot hard against the ground.
How furious she must have been.
Seol Jihoo watched her disappear into the Lodging, clutching his sides as he chuckled.
When the door slammed shut with a bang not long after—
“When did those two get so close?”
Jang Maldong asked blankly.
Someone unfamiliar with the situation might have asked what closeness he was talking about, but Jang Maldong, who knew Pi Sora well, was genuinely startled.
The fact that Pi Sora—who hated being teased about her name more than anything—had held back her temper meant at minimum that she viewed Seol Jihoo as an ally.
“They’re not friends exactly. Just bicker whenever they see each other.”
Despite the casual tone, Jang Maldong let out a hollow laugh.
He sighed with relief, then shook his head and rose from his seat.
Seol Jihoo’s laughter faded.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll step out for a bit.”
“The rest of the story—”
“Let’s talk about that after I reach high-rank.”
Jang Maldong smiled wryly.
“High-rank is high-rank, whether fabricated or genuine. You’re the leader in name, so wouldn’t leveling up improve the team’s appearance as well?”
With those words, Jang Maldong withdrew a tile no larger than his palm from his pocket and placed it on the table.
Seol Jihoo’s gaze naturally drifted downward.
Geometric patterns were carved in relief and gleamed with golden light—striking to behold.
“This is—”
“A credential tile granted by King Priehi. He presented it directly at the office.”
“A credential tile?”
“Listen here. From high-rank onward, strictly speaking, it’s a promotion system. Don’t you know the Royal House gets involved in promotions?”
Only then did Seol Jihoo recall that fact, his expression going blank.
“He said you’ve already proven yourself more than enough—a formal test isn’t necessary.”
……
“Besides, if you’d been making excuses one way or another and taking on difficult missions, I was prepared to relocate our base entirely.”
Seol Jihoo carefully picked up the tile.
“I’ll be right back.”
The way he spoke suggested he’d return only to pick up where they’d left off, so Jang Maldong hurriedly pulled a bundle of records from his breast.
“These are records I found while organizing Ian’s belongings. You know he served as our archivist as well, don’t you?”
The moment Ian’s name was mentioned, Seol Jihoo’s expression grew somber.
“There’s one more thing I wanted to ask you personally.”
“?”
“After talking with you today, I noticed you’re focused solely on personal growth.”
Jang Maldong continued.
“But there are limits to what an individual can accomplish alone.”
Seol Jihoo found himself nodding without thinking.
If he’d been alone during that war, he would have died and awakened countless times without ever achieving victory.
“What I’m curious about is what vision you hold for the future beyond the confines of individual power.”
After a brief pause, Jang Maldong pulled his fedora down low over his eyes.
“That’s what I wonder.”
Seeing Seol Jihoo’s bewildered expression, he let out a soft chuckle.
“If you’re uncertain, set aside a day and read through this slowly. It should help.”
Seol Jihoo clutched the records tightly in his hand.

Immediately after their conversation ended, Seol Jihoo made his way to Gula’s Temple.
There was much to think about, but he decided that reaching High-rank status was the first step.
Of course, raising his Level alone wouldn’t instantly grant him the power befitting High-rank status, but as Jang Maldong had said, there were at least surface-level advantages to it.
Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely free from the desire to achieve High-rank status as quickly as possible.
“Hmm….”
Seol Jihoo stopped before the temple and patted his pockets.

[Sacred Mark.]
Among the marks that appear on a person’s body, it is the vestige of a deity bearing special meaning.
Upon offering it as tribute, you will be transported to a place where trials are tested.
If you can endure the trials that your patron deity sends down, you will gain power rivaling that of a Saint.
Though the trials are intensely painful and perilous, the stigma carved into you through that ordeal will surely return as formidable strength.

‘Is now the right time to use this?’
After reading the description, Seol Jihoo secured the Sacred Mark firmly and entered the temple.
Strangely, not a single person was visible today.
When Seol Jihoo caught sight of the stone statue, he stopped and bowed his head.
Quiet silence fell.
Seol Jihoo stood motionless for a long while.
He hadn’t called out to Gula because the moment he lowered his head, he felt a hand settle gently on his crown.
‘Mm….’
Good.
Murmuring inwardly, Seol Jihoo surrendered himself fully to the soft touch of the goddess he hadn’t felt in so long.
Gula, too, continued stroking him without a word, endlessly gentle.
How much time had passed?
[It seems the time has come at last.]
A languid voice resonated in his ears.
‘Time?’
[Our decision to accept an Earthian was, in a sense, a gamble.]
As Gula abruptly turned to the main subject, Seol Jihoo, who had been drifting in a drowsy haze, felt his mind snap suddenly alert.
[But we had no choice in the matter.]
Gula waited until Seol Jihoo was ready, then collected herself and spoke.
[The situation was that desperate. Do you know what the Parasite Queen did first after establishing herself in the Intermediate World?]
‘I heard she destroyed the Empire.’
[Indeed.]
Gula affirmed quietly.
[The Empire was the absolute sovereign state that held dominion over the Intermediate World at that time.]
[However, that is merely the surface reason.]
Gula’s voice continued steadily.
[The Parasite Queen knew something.]
[If she wiped out the Empire without leaving a single seed behind, Paradise’s future would be nothing but ruin.]
‘Nothing but ruin?’
Seol Jihoo tilted his head.
[The moment the Empire fell, the future of the Intermediate World slipped into the Parasite Queen’s grasp as surely as water through open fingers.]
It wasn’t quite the hollow prattle of before, but it remained maddeningly obscure.
Seol Jihoo decided to listen first.
[The Parasite Queen toppled the Empire with her newfound power, consumed the Main Deity, and went on to devour all seven Constellations.]
This much Seol Jihoo already knew from overheard whispers.
[At that point, every path leading toward a hopeful future vanished without trace. Yet…]
[The emergence of the Fallen Angel—another alien species—was something neither she nor we could have foreseen.]
[After the Fallen Angel established the Federation, we began to perceive, however faintly, the futures of life that had seemed invisible before.]
[It was then we reached our decision.]
That decision was simple.
[If we could not forge a future with the power remaining in this world, we would borrow strength from another realm to resurrect one.]
[Though the precedent existed in only one case—the War God—we believed it worth attempting.]
Gula’s voice continued, steady and measured.
[At first, it seemed promising enough.]
[Of course, the gap between mortal and immortal remained absolute, so we harbored no illusions beyond what was reasonable.]
[Yet if hundreds, thousands of salmon swam upstream against the current, might not the very current itself change course?]
[Might we not at least contribute something to the future the Federation had opened? That was all we dared hope.]
Gula fell silent for a moment, then spoke with a note of lament.
[The problem was that the Parasite Queen understood our intentions all too well.]
[She dismissed us with disdain, methodically weeding out every Earthian she deemed a threat by her own calculus.]
[Conversely, those Earthians she believed would serve her vision, she spared—even preserved deliberately, with surgical precision.]
[Her intent was transparent: to transform our final gambit into a self-inflicted defeat.]
Seol Jihoo’s eyes narrowed as he listened.
‘I have a question, if I may.’
[What is it?]
‘If the Parasite Queen actively sought to thwart us, could not the seven Constellations have aided us? Could they not have warned us, given us even a hint—’
—something like ‘An enemy hunts you’ or ‘Leave Paradise; return to Earth for now.’ A single word of warning seemed hardly unreasonable.
It was a fair question by Seol Jihoo’s reckoning.
[Impossible, for two reasons.]
Gula’s tone remained businesslike.
[First: one failure would not discourage the Parasite Queen from trying again. Second: the Revelation of Heavenly Secrets exerts considerable influence over the Law of Causality, however subtly.]
‘The Law of Causality?’
[If we intervene and create a cause that yields an effect, the Parasite Queen gains commensurate causal rights to counter it. That is the world’s governing law.]
‘Forgive me, but by that logic, the Parasite Queen herself would also be bound by the Law of Causality—’
[She is now the undisputed sovereign of Paradise and, within this realm, the sole entity free from the world’s ordinances. By claiming the Main Deity’s station, she transcended merely observing the Constellations’ movements—she gained the authority to interfere directly. Our circumstances are not the same.]
Seol Jihoo closed his mouth.
In other words, the Parasite Queen could activate an unrestricted map hack while the rest of them were bound by the game’s rules.
Understanding that, he finally grasped just how hopelessly the human faction—the seven Constellations and all—were fighting this war.
[Yet exceptions exist everywhere.]
[Lushulea was right.]
Gula’s voice suddenly rose.
[We now have an entity capable of wielding power equal to hers.]
What was she saying?
[…Truth be told, I wanted to cherish you longer.]
[When we were exhausted, worn thin to nothing, you were the precious possibility we barely found. I wanted to nurture that growth, give it time.]
[But Ira’s greed forced the Parasite Queen to notice you sooner than expected, and]
[sensing an unprecedented threat, she raised an army unlike any the world has seen. Yet…]
Gula’s hand descended from his crown, trailing across the back of his neck, his shoulder, his back.
[You did wonderfully. Truly.]
[You proved beautifully what you promised us at the banquet.]
Gula’s voice began to quicken, tinged with emotion.
[And as a result, we can finally see it.]
[One path—centered on you—a future…!]
By the end, his voice trembled slightly.
Then came a long breath, as though he were steadying himself.
[…Yes.]
[Now is the time.]
The time had come.
This was the second time he’d heard those words.
Just as Seol Jihoo was beginning to lose track of time, struggling to grasp what moment this even was, a gentle touch brushed across his eyes.
‘No way.’
Seol Jihoo’s eyes snapped open.
He tilted his chin up sharply to stare at the stone statue.
Now he understood.
The Nine Eyes.
‘Are you… allowing this?’
[There is no choice but to allow it.]
Gula spoke as though it were obvious.
[There is nothing left to hide, after all.]
[You have already proven your singularity, and your Merit Points overflow abundantly, do they not?]
Seol Jihoo’s body trembled faintly.
A shiver ran through him.
Every cell in his body stirred awake, and an overwhelming chill seized him.
At last.
[Do you desire it?]
‘I do.’
He did not understand all of Gula’s words.
Yet Seol Jihoo grasped intuitively that this was an extraordinarily significant moment.
Above all else, it was something he had longed for ever since he entered Paradise.
[Then it is good.]
At last, Gula’s permission fell.
[Come closer, my child.]
The goddess’s hand settled upon his head once more.
[By the name of Gula, I hereby appoint Seol Jihoo as Level 5 Lance of Nemesis, effective this hour.]
[Henceforth, as one of the highest rank, I expect your deeds to match a name that punishes according to the law of causality, without distinction of good or evil!]
And at that moment.

[The innate ability ‘Future Sense’ resonates with the new evolution of the innate ability ‘Nine Eyes’!]

‘Wha—’
Before Seol Jihoo could even process the word “new” in the message that followed.
A blinding white light consumed his vision.
Seol Jihoo’s entire field of sight drenched in pure white radiance.

(To be continued)

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————