The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 31

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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 31. Misunderstanding

Yun Seora, age twenty.
A woman of mysterious youth, spotted by a Shin Young scout and invited to Paradise as an Invitee.
Lee Hyung-sik, now an Unreturnable Guest, calls her the Cold Woman.
Among the March Invitees, she and Kang Seok were both regarded as the brightest prospects in Area 1.
She had a habit of always observing first before acting, her thoughts and judgments untainted by emotion, her nature indifferent to others’ affairs.
That disposition had served her well enough during the tutorial, but everything changed after she lost her right arm.
In the Neutral Zone, where cooperation was inevitable, she too had become acutely aware of her own weakness.
For the past month, Yun Seora had devoted herself entirely to recovering her damaged arm.
But when she learned that a mere 317 Survival Points couldn’t cover the cost of treatment, she shifted her focus to basic training instead.
She was one of the few Invitees who understood how things worked, and she’d planned to raise her physical condition until she could claim a profession.
If she could become a mage—or even a priest, at the very least.
Even in that desperate state, Yun Seora hadn’t let go of that slender hope. But the moment her profession was decided as Warrior, the last thread of hope snapped.
There was nothing she could do as she stumbled out of the Awakening Chamber.
The Survival Points she’d had were already spent long ago, and the special bag she’d received she’d sold for pennies.
Whenever she tried to earn points, no survivor wanted to partner with a one-armed cripple of a warrior.
Living in the dormitory was a luxury she couldn’t even dream of.
Unable to afford even one meal a day, her health began to fail, and her starving body grew weaker by the day.
Too weakened to even complete the basic training that paid out meager points.
Her spirit was already depleted, and surviving on sheer malice had its limits.
If not for the siblings who came by every other day, she would have starved to death.
But knowing they themselves lived in want, she couldn’t keep relying on them.
When Lee Seol-a noticed her discomfort, she broached the subject carefully.
Why not seek out her brother, she’d suggested—he was a dependable man, surely he wouldn’t turn her away so coldly.
It would have been a lie to say the idea didn’t tempt her.
Yet Yun Seora shook her head firmly.
It would be different if she owed him a debt.
He had saved her life, and she had given him an elixir of resurrection in return.
That was the end of their relationship, or so she believed.
One could call it a pitiful shred of pride.
But she had no shame left to seek him out now.
Still, refusing Lee Seol-a’s proposal weighed on her conscience.
The woman, unwilling to burden them further, secretly moved to a different place to live.
That night, Yun Seora found herself suddenly unable to breathe.
When her eyes opened, she saw three foreign men she’d never encountered before.
Two held her arms pinned, and one sat astride her.
Wherever you went, there were always men like Kang Seok.
As she struggled and fought back, the man’s face drew close.
“So you’re the cripple with one arm, huh?”
“You going to live like this forever? Don’t you want to go back to Paradise?”
“Just do as we say. We’ll give you food, a place to sleep.”
“Who knows? Maybe even points….”
Survival Points.
The moment those words reached her ears, her strength drained away.
Her resistance naturally weakened.
In that instant of hesitation, coolness swept across her skin.
When her mind cleared, her underwear had been pulled down to her ankles.
As the man laughed deeply and unbuckled his pants, her face vibrated like a ringing phone.
She trembled ceaselessly, as if ice water had been poured over her head in the depths of winter.
The command to open her mouth slid across her ears like a serpent’s tongue.
Even as the grotesque thing approached her face, her lips would not part.
If she surrendered now, it felt like everything would truly end.
Not just end,
but spiral down into an endless abyss….
And so her mouth remained closed.
She screamed, pouring all her rage into sound.
She bit at whatever came near, her entire body thrashing in defiance.
Crude curses came with flying fists and kicks.
Even as she took the blows, Yun Seora didn’t stop struggling.
The men, sickened by her resistance, spat and left.
She fumbled her clothes back on and staggered up to the 5th Floor.
She collapsed as if her legs had given out, curling into herself.
A single drop of the liquid she’d been holding back fell from her eye.
What she’d wept in silence became tears, then sobs.
‘I wish I were dead.’
She was terrified of falling asleep, but forced her eyes shut anyway.
It felt as though dying this way would leave her without regret.
At this point, nothing mattered anymore.
And so Yun Seora, slipping into deep sleep,
[…Yun Seora?]
Just before crossing the River of Three Paths,
[Yun Seora.]
turned to look back.
And she could see it clearly.
[Are you all right?]
A young man extending his hand toward her.

While the one called Seol cared for Yun Seora, Lee Seol-a and Lee Seong-jin arrived.
The hesitant siblings entered with their mouths agape at the accommodations—grand as a palace—but the moment they saw Yun Seora groaning on the bed, they rushed over with stricken expressions.
“Two days ago it wasn’t this bad….”
“Really?”
“Yes. Why did it suddenly….”
Lee Seol-a shifted her weight from foot to foot. Seol gripped her own chin.
‘What could be wrong?’
At a glance, her pallor was unmistakable. Even after bringing her to the quarters, beads of sweat dotted her forehead and her breathing came in ragged gasps.
It was certainly a better sign than when she wouldn’t respond no matter how much they shook her, but Seol’s limited medical knowledge left her helpless.
The young man decided they couldn’t simply leave her as she was, so he left the quarters, saying he’d be right back. In this situation, there was only one person he could turn to.
After hearing the situation, Agnes quickly summoned one of the maids.
The woman who answered the call was, surprisingly, Maria. The blonde woman who appeared with an easy stride saw Agnes introducing herself to Seol and winked.
It turned out she was a Level 4 Priest.
Moreover, she had walked the path of LV.1 Priest – LV.2 Deacon – LV.3 Monk-Priest – LV.4 High Priest, specializing in healing.
Having successfully brought two maids back, Seol returned to the quarters at once.
“This is… quite something,” Maria said briefly, examining Yun Seora up close.
She gave a terse assessment.
“How serious is it?”
“The right arm aside—she’s clearly been starving for at least a month. Her body and spirit are already weakened, and then on top of it all she’s been beaten black and blue, so….”
“She was beaten?”
“Yes. I don’t know who did it, but whoever it was did a real thorough job.”
Maria let out a hollow laugh. As the cause of her sharp decline over two days came to light, Lee Seol-a covered her mouth.
“Bringing her here was a good call. Without this room’s effects, by now she’d be crossing the River of Lethe and raising the Cup of Oblivion to her lips.”
“What about treatment….”
At Seol’s question, Maria shrugged.
“I could do it if you want, but there’s no real need. If she eats well, sleeps well, and stays in this room for a few days, she’ll recover.”
“Will the right arm return to normal too?”
At that, Maria suddenly fell silent, staring wordlessly at Yun Seora.
Agnes, who had been examining Yun Seora’s right arm closely, spoke up.
“Six stab wounds… looks like they were made with a sharp dagger. In two places, whoever did it twisted the blade after stabbing.”
“How long ago?”
“Two months. Would Moderate or Massive be enough?”
“You know the answer—why ask? If it had been right after the injury, Light would have sufficed, but… it’s too late now. The longer a wound sits, the harder it is to heal. Colossal might work, but I’m not confident.”
Agnes let out a sigh.
Seol couldn’t hide her amazement as she watched the two women read what happened two months ago just by looking.
At the same time, unease began to creep in.
Though the technical terms flew over her head, she understood enough to know that treating the right arm would be difficult.
Maria straightened up, shaking her head, then looked at Seol.
“That arm is as good as dead. It needs revival, not healing. I’d recommend amputation rather than letting it rot like this.”
“What?”
“There’s no help for it. In Paradise, perhaps—but here, there’s no Priest superior to me, you see? Yet even for me, it’s… difficult.”
She’d hoped otherwise, but there it was. Maria delivered the verdict calmly: treatment was impossible in the Neutral Zone.
And that wasn’t all. Nearly a month remained before the Neutral Zone ended. In that time, her right arm could deteriorate further—there was no way to know.
“How… is there any way…?”
Seol hadn’t expected a diagnosis of incurable condition, so she could only chew her lip helplessly. That was when it happened.
“It’s not that there’s no way.”
A quiet voice made her ears perk up. Agnes, who had been watching Yun Seora, was rising to her feet.
“As Maria says, treating this person requires at minimum a Level 5 Priest, someone of high rank. But a Priest is the one occupation most intimate with the divine among the four jobs.”
“…….”
“You remember, I mentioned that when you reach Level 5, you must choose a god to serve?”
Seol nodded.
“Colossal is an extremely powerful sacred spell that a Priest can learn upon reaching Level 5.”
“But didn’t Maria say she’s Level 4?”
“That’s right. Normally she couldn’t use it, but… there’s an exception.”
“Agnes? Shut it.”
Maria’s eyes blazed. But Agnes merely glanced at her and kept talking.
“From Level 1 through 4, if a Priest walks a solitary path without drawing power from other gods, the divine finds them worthy and grants them the title of High Priest. And a High Priest receives one special privilege.”
“A special privilege?”
“Yes. The right to perform a Ritual—to beseech the divine to grant use of a higher-level spell.”
Maria squeezed her eyes shut. A grinding sound escaped—she seemed to have cursed under her breath.
Seol opened her mouth.
“I—”
“No! Absolutely not!”
“M-Maria?”
“I can’t hear you~. La-la-la, la-la-la.”
Maria plugged and unplugged her ears repeatedly with both hands.
“Please, couldn’t you help us? I’m begging you!”
Lee Seol-a couldn’t stand it anymore and pleaded,
“Shut your mouth already, damn it.”
Maria flinched at the sharp curse and hid behind Seol’s back, gaping like she’d been struck. Seol signaled the teary-eyed girl to stay quiet, then moved toward Maria slowly. Maria seized up.
“Don’t come near me. I told you not to come. Don’t. Don’t!”
“Maria. Please, just listen to me.”
“What, won’t you let this go?”
She looked ready to bolt at any moment, so Seol grabbed both her arms. Maria thrashed, swinging her fists in resistance. She landed a few blows on Seol’s chest, but they barely hurt—it was clear she had no intention of causing real damage.
“What would it take for you to help?”
“Are your ears plugged? I’d do it for Survival Points if it were within my power, but it isn’t. I can’t.”
“A Ritual—”
“Don’t you dare mention Rituals. I’m only holding back because you’re an Invitee with Miss Foxy—otherwise I’d crush your skull in.”
Seol wanted to retort, ‘Is this what you call restraint?’ but managed to bite her tongue. For a moment, she glimpsed why Maria had undertaken silent practice, but that wasn’t what mattered now.
“I’m asking you to help. You’re the only one who can do this.”
“Why should I?”
Maria still glared as she snapped back.
“Do you think a Ritual is just saying a prayer and bowing a few times? What about the offerings I need to give to the divine? Why should I use the offerings I’ve scraped together at the cost of my life for that woman? I’m not even part of Shin Young. You think that’s all? Do you have any idea what kind of backlash I’ll suffer after performing a Ritual?”
Her emotions running high, she poured out harsh words. She looked almost mad enough to frighten Seol, yet Seol didn’t look away.
‘Blind pleading will backfire.’
She had to persuade her.
“There’s a passage in scripture.”
Maria, breathing heavily, gave her a look that said ‘what nonsense are you spouting now?’
“‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you….'”
“Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31.”
Maria cut in sharply, then let out a breathless laugh as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Seriously? So you want me to treat that bitch like that? Based on scripture?”
“It’s not just Yun Seora.”
Seol interrupted.
“I would be grateful, and Kim Han-na would be too.”
There was weight in her voice. Maria stared at the young woman. Her gaze was still sharp, but her raised eyebrows softened slightly—as if she’d heard something unexpected.
“What did you say? Who?”
Yes, mentioning Kim Han-na had struck a chord. Seeing even this glimmer of hope, Seol continued.
“You know Kim Han-na came to the Neutral Zone, don’t you?”

“That’s…”
“She asked me to then, when she left. Kim Han-na herself.”
“Oh, damn it. God, Luxuria.”
With a soft thud, Maria pressed the crown of her head against Seol’s chest. In that position, she remained utterly still for a long while.
While Seol worried her racing heartbeat might be noticed, a small white hand suddenly rose. Tap, tap—her index finger flickered in quick succession.
“Cigarette. And let go of my arm, please.”
“Oh.”
Seol released her arm at once and handed over a cigarette. She even lit it for her.
“Huuuuh…”
Maria exhaled smoke through her nose and mouth, her eyes gleaming with an eerie light.
“From now on, shut your mouths for exactly five minutes. I’m already in a foul mood—don’t make it worse with your chatter.”
She leaned her back against the wall, tilted her chin toward the ceiling, and exhaled smoke in sharp, rhythmic bursts. Curses continued to tumble from her lips—damn this, damn that—but Seol waited with patient silence.
After a moment.
Maria spat out the cigarette butt, then spat. When Agnes saw her grind it under her heel, the woman’s brow furrowed, but she said nothing. She knew what sacrifices a priest must bear when performing a ‘Ritual’, and what perils came with it.
“Haaa… damn it all…”
She raked her hair back with agitation, then opened her mouth.
“82,010 points. No, wait—82,000 points, since I gave you a cigarette.”
“M-Maria?”
Unusually, Agnes stammered. Her mouth hung slightly open—genuine shock.
Maria paid no attention and stared directly at Seol.
“Let’s see. Your Survival Points right now are… pathetically short. In any case, if you want me to fix that woman’s arm, earn 82,000 points and bring them to me. Then I’ll perform a Ritual or whatever else you need.”
Lee Seol-a let out a sharp gasp. A girl who marveled at 200 points could scarcely fathom a figure as vast and bottomless as 82,000.
Still irritated, Maria raised her middle finger at the girl and,
“The conversation ends here. Don’t forget—exactly 82,000 points.”
she growled, then turned on her heel.
Bang! As the door slammed shut hard enough to rattle, Lee Seol-a murmured,
“82,000 points… it’s insane. Way too expensive.”
“No. Not expensive at all.”
It was Agnes’s voice.
“Rather, it’s remarkably reasonable. She quoted you only the absolute minimum.”
“Is that so?”
The deflated youth laughed weakly and asked,
“Forgive me for asking, but since I don’t understand Rituals well—why does Maria look so disgusted?”
“Because… there is much to lose.”
A Ritual is a kind of ceremony—an offering to the divine in pursuit of one’s wishes. The greater the desire, the higher quality the Offering demanded; wishes beyond one’s means invariably invite backlash.
For instance, should Maria cast Colossal—the highest-tier Level 5 sacred spell—she would suffer Divine Fever for three days straight. Beyond that, a Spell Prohibition would bind her, preventing her from using any spell for fourteen days.
“After performing the Ritual, she will likely have to leave the Neutral Zone.”
“Leave here?”
“The deity she serves dwells in a Temple. There, she can halve the Prohibition’s duration through prayer. And by purifying herself within the Temple’s sacred space, she can prevent her body from degrading or her spells from being lost.”
“…….”
“But that is not all. Leaving the Neutral Zone itself inflicts enormous loss upon Maria.”
The maids of the Neutral Zone are not volunteers. By working here—or by collecting Survival Points from the survivors—they too earn Survival Points; when they depart, those points convert directly into Credit Points. If she leaves prematurely, she naturally forfeits those benefits as well.
In other words, Maria performing a Ritual at this moment meant bearing all those losses.
“Those 82,000 points represent only the value of the Offering itself. It is the priest’s final dignity. If you call even that expensive, I have nothing left to say.”
At the stern tone, the girl bowed her head deeply.
Seol fell into thought. Her remaining Survival Points: 38,580. She needed to earn 43,420 more.
‘It won’t be easy.’
She’d decided against taking ‘Hard’ missions anymore, and ‘Very Hard’ missions would require spending Survival Points on preparation. Even if she saved her companion, splitting the reward among them all would diminish her share proportionally.
‘Especially after buying from the VIP shop…’
The saying held true—if only she’d known when she held over 120,000 points.
Agnes, watching Seol with quiet remorse, bowed respectfully.
“I hope things work out well for you.”
Agnes too left the quarters.
With only four of them remaining, Lee Seol-a murmured, looking sheepish.
“I’m sorry… all because of me…”
Truthfully, it stung a little. Seol was neither a saint nor a gentleman. More than once, while enduring Maria’s hysteria, she’d caught herself thinking, ‘Why do I have to do this?’ But each time, she recalled the old parable of the foolish old man and his mountain, and she held firm.
To abandon the task now would render all her effort meaningless; if she persevered to the end, her labor would return twofold. That was the promise.
‘This golden law… let it prove its worth.’
And besides, she hadn’t known at the start—but now that she’d begun, she meant to see it through to completion. She refused to live with regret.
Having settled her thoughts, the youth transferred 300 Survival Points to Lee Seol-a.
“Oh, brother?”
“Just rest for now. We’ll eat what we have for dinner, and if Yun Seora wakes up, bring her something light too. Nothing heavy on the stomach—maybe some rice porridge.”
At such thoughtful consideration, the girl and boy stood dazed.
“Brother, you….”
“I’m going to earn some Survival Points. Don’t worry. Just wait for me.”
He watched her grip the window sill, her expression hollow.
If Lee Seol-a had activated her Nine Eyes at that moment, he would have hesitated.
But consumed by thoughts of points, he opened the door without delay.

Down in the plaza, though, he found no brilliant strategy waiting for him.
All he could think of was tackling a “difficult” mission. Ten sheets remaining. Nine attempts left on each. If he managed it like last time, he could earn around forty thousand points. But….
‘Stop staring at me, would you.’
The attention from the crowd was relentless. They said nothing only because they had no words for it. The moment he started another “difficult” mission, the whispers would begin—that much was certain.
Damn it. Who said he shouldn’t try?
‘Sorry, but I’m in a hurry too.’
Just as Lee Seol-a steeled herself and reached for the paper, a finger poked his back. He turned.
“Could you spare time for a cup of tea?”
The moment he turned, a voice like a nightingale’s song flowed out, melodious and bright. A woman in a blue gown gazed at him with eyes that sparkled like stars.
Odette Delphin. She was one of the two Kim Han-na had recommended.
“Will you refuse me again today?”
Asked so innocently, he couldn’t bring himself to decline.
“No.”
“OK. Let’s go to the café. Everyone’s waiting for you.”
At the mention of waiting, Lee Seol-a raised an eyebrow in question, but only understood once Delphin had dragged him to the lounge.
Four people sat at the table, waiting for him. Three of them were familiar faces.
“Huh?”
Upon spotting the lean man in a turban, Lee Seol-a let out a gasp.
“You thought I was dead?”
The man, who looked Indian, smiled faintly as he spoke.
“Yes. I was certain that back then….”
“Everyone thought the same. Wonder whose fault that was.”
Delphin, who had been grinning, suddenly poked out her tongue with an “oops” expression.
“Turns out failure doesn’t always mean death.”
“One path is death, but there’s also a restart option.”
“So restart doesn’t send you back to the plaza…?”
“Right. You start from the beginning of the underground labyrinth all over again. I thought I’d die trying to escape… well, though it was a couple of months ago now.”
The exchange revealed how little Lee Seol-a had paid attention to the Neutral Zone beyond training.
Taking the seat Delphin had indicated, Lee Seol-a slowly examined each person in turn.
“Anyway, nice to meet you. Call me Mister Tongchai.”
The lean man who’d just spoken was Tongchai, from Area 5.
“…Salvatore Riordano.”
A young man with sharp, wolf-like gray eyes. Salvatore Riordano, from Area 2.
“Pleased to meet you. Hao Win.”
The man who lounged with his feet up on the table, smoke curling from his cigarette. Hao Win, from Area 7.
‘This man….’
He was also a survivor whom Kim Han-na had recommended—supposedly a senior officer in some vast underworld organization, a triad or something. Yet he looked refined and distinguished, nothing like a gangster at all.
And then,
“Finally! My dream has come true!”
Smiling brightly with delight—the second-in-command of the Neutral Zone and its only mage, Odette Delphin from Area 2.
All except one were survivors who had been called by Che Ssia in the theater.

(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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