The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 46

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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 46. First Experience

Every first experience carries a certain enchantment.
The sensation of traveling to Paradise was like sinking into the deep sea—a warm, enveloping stimulus that touched every nerve in his body.
With his eyes gently shut, Seol Ji-hu suddenly felt the sensation of buoying upward into empty space.
When he opened his eyes, the gate at the Altar was rippling with light behind him.
“Made it?”
Kim Han-na was there.
He had finally returned to Paradise. This was his second time entering.
After turning in a form at the reception counter and receiving a key, he rushed to the storage room to gather his equipment. Once he confirmed that the number ‘8’ had changed from gold to silver, he returned the key and left the Temple.
Kim Han-na, who had been waiting at the entrance, spoke.
“You got everything, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, so….”
She let out a long sigh and made an expression of bitter regret.
“There’s still time, you know.”
Just as Seol Ji-hu was about to ask what she meant, Kim Han-na gave him a subtle eye signal. Though it was brief, he caught her glancing to the right.
“I’d like to take things easy for a while.”
“Well, that can’t be helped. If you change your mind, get in touch. The door of Shin Young is always open.”
With that, Kim Han-na held out a coral-colored bag. It was equipment she was providing from her personal account.
Compared to the conditions Shin Young had offered, it was modest, though not without value. For a Level 1, it was even more than generous. Seol Ji-hu accepted it gratefully.
“Aren’t you sure I won’t come with you?”
“I said it’s fine. I know you’re busy.”
“Then at least to the South Gate.”
“Really, it’s okay.”
The woman persisted stubbornly, and the man feigned reluctance. Of course, it was all carefully calculated. In Paradise, Kim Han-na had to remain thoroughly aligned with Shin Young.
‘She certainly knows how to put on a show.’
They exchanged a brief farewell and parted ways. They had already spoken plenty on Earth, and he knew she was genuinely pressed for time.
He wasn’t a child; he had no desire to waste her time on unnecessary sentiment.
‘So this is Sheherazade….’
Buildings of uniform clay-colored stone, meticulously maintained roads, and crowds of people everywhere. It was a capital worthy of a kingdom, bustling and prosperous. It was hard to believe a war was underway.
What caught his eye most were the fortifications, towers, and barracks—structures that could never exist back on Earth.
He wondered what the shops sold, what the forges looked like, whether there were other temples. There was no end to his curiosity.
Ideally, he would have spent the entire day wandering around, but Seol Ji-hu’s immediate task was to leave this place quickly.
Sheherazade was the most prosperous city within human-controlled territory, and Shin Young’s headquarters was located here. In other words, it was Shin Young’s home base.
Part of him resented having to flee this promising place for some other city, but what choice did he have? Shin Young had its sights locked on him. To avoid becoming a puppet, he had to go somewhere beyond Shin Young’s reach.
As he wandered, looking this way and that, the South Gate appeared before him.
Beside the gaping entrance were stables and several carriages….
‘Carriages?’
Seol Ji-hu blinked.
If money was no object, using carriages to travel between cities was the standard practice. But instead of the coach-type carriage he had ridden in the neutral zone, there were only shabby wooden carts lined up in rows, which was startling.
The Carriage-type vehicles with canvas windbreaks on either side looked presentable enough. Still uncertain, he cautiously approached a man lounging in a pile of straw, chewing hay.
“Hello.”
“Hm?”
The man, who had been gazing at the sky with a bored expression, straightened up as a shadow fell over him. He was a Native with bronzed skin, a thick mustache, and shaggy hair.
Paradise’s population had been drastically reduced by prolonged war, but those who survived were not extinct. Aside from those in military service, the Natives who had lost their livelihoods scraped by by involving themselves in Earthling activities. Some farmed, others sold goods in shops, and so forth.
This man, for instance, had fled to Sheherazade and changed his profession to carriage driver to make a living.
“Are you an Earthling?”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
“How far are you going?”
“To Haramark.”
“Haramark?”
The man’s dour expression crumpled.
“I only go as far as Zahra.”
“Oh… why’s that?”
“Just to be safe. Zahra has had almost no attacks lately, but Haramark….”
The man shook his large head slowly,
“So you need to go all the way to Haramark?”
“Yes.”
“Then wait a moment. Hey! Maktan!”
He threw up his hand and shouted. The bald man turned around. Seol Ji-hu felt a pang of disappointment—he’d spotted the cart beside him.
“What is it? We need to get moving soon.”
“Is there room?”
“There’s always room.”
“Perfect. This fellow here is heading to Haramark.”
The man called Maktan approached with a sour expression, giving the young man a quick once-over.
“An Earthling, are you?”
“It’s obvious at a glance. Why do you need to ask?”
“Shut it. I heard you asking the same thing earlier, didn’t I?”
At his blunt tone, the man laughed sheepishly.
“I’ll charge you separately. Thirty Bronze Coins to the village of Zahra. But if you want to go all the way to Haramark, you’ll need to pay three hundred Bronze Coins.”
The price had suddenly jumped tenfold. Of course, Seol Ji-hu understood without being told that Maktan’s own hide was included in that calculation.
Maktan, who had been eyeing the youth, continued.
“Hmm… but if you’d work as a mercenary, I’d cut the fare to Haramark in half.”
“A mercenary?”
“An escort, I mean. I know a fairly safe route, but we get attacked maybe two or three times out of every ten trips.”
Now understanding, Seol Ji-hu nodded and pulled his bag closer. If an attack came, he wouldn’t be able to just sit idle anyway. Better to travel cheaply if he could.
Kim Han-na’s provision list had included funds. When he drew open the purse, a handful of coins gleamed silver.
‘Was it a hundred Silver Coins?’
The standard currencies used in Paradise were Bronze Coins and Silver Bronze Coins. A hundred Bronze Coins could be exchanged for one Silver Bronze Coin.
Above that came Silver Coins. One Silver Coin was worth a thousand Bronze Coins—or ten Silver Bronze Coins.
Of course, there were also concepts of higher denominations like Gold Coins and Platinum Coins, but those were still a distant country for him.
When he produced a Silver Coin and handed it over, Maktan’s eyes went wide. The man gave back eight Silver Bronze Coins and twenty Bronze Coins as change, then jerked his chin upward. The sun was climbing toward its zenith.
“If we push hard, we can reach Zahra by nightfall.”
“And from Zahra to Haramark?”
“Two days if nothing goes wrong. Three or four if luck’s against us.”
“Three or four days….”
“Let’s go. We’re leaving right now.”
Maktan gave Seol Ji-hu a push forward.
“Say, how long have you been here?”
“How did you know?”
“Not many Earthlings speak so politely to characters like me.”
Maktan scratched his chin and tapped the young man’s shoulder before walking ahead.
‘…I didn’t expect it to be this rough.’
Seol Ji-hu carefully climbed onto the cart—though “cart” hardly seemed the word. There were chairs mounted on either side, but barely enough to lean your back against.
Yet his heart was pounding.
‘I’m excited.’
Had he come straight here from the neutral zone, he wouldn’t have felt it. But after making that trip back to Earth, the simple act of riding in a cart to another city still felt unreal.
There was a tingling sense of unreality to it.
‘It feels like a dream.’
Still, it wasn’t bad at all.
At least he felt more at ease than he had been on Earth.
A moment later.
With a shout of “Hyah!”, the cart lurched forward and his body swayed.
Seol Ji-hu gripped the railing and watched Sheherazade receding slowly into the distance.

Haramark was a city at the southern edge of human territory.
There were two reasons he’d chosen it as his destination.
First, it was the one place where Shin Young’s reach didn’t extend. Second, it was a region where Earthlings could move about with greater freedom than anywhere else.
But where there are advantages, there are always drawbacks.
One was that the city’s very nickname—”Crime City”—reflected its poor security.
A royal family existed there and maintained minimal control, but in truth they’d largely abandoned the place. After the first civil war, all the rebel organizations that participated had relocated their headquarters there, which couldn’t be helped.
The other drawback was its proximity to the front line. Of course, Earthlings and war were inseparable, but Seol Ji-hu’s Level was only one.
Yet the reason he was going there anyway was, to be precise, that Haramark Castle itself wasn’t actually in a border region.
Security was no worse than anywhere else except Sheherazade. And with the recent war intensifying between the alien race that conquered the empire and the federation of allied species, there would be no spare attention for human factions in the near future—or so the calculation went.
After much deliberation, Kim Han-na had emphasized solemnly that he must not venture any further south, but gave her approval for his journey to Haramark.
So he rode in the cart bound for Haramark with high hopes, but around two hours in, his rear end had begun to go numb.
He’d tired of sightseeing too, for there was nothing to see but wasteland in every direction.
‘How dreadfully boring.’
If he’d known even one person, at least there’d be conversation to pass the time. How many times had he thought of his companions and the children during the journey?
The wind tousled his hair.
Seol Ji-hu, who had been resting his chin on his hand and idly watching the landscape, discreetly shifted his gaze.
Apart from himself and the driver, there were three other passengers in the carriage. They appeared to be fellow Earthlings based on their attire.
Sitting beside him was a bald black man who yawned repeatedly—a muscular male who cut an impressive figure in sturdy armor. Most striking of all was the large Combat Axe slung at his side, its blade gleaming with a vicious edge.
For some reason, he’d been stealing sidelong glances across the carriage ever since they’d departed.
When Seol Ji-hu turned to look, a young man with neatly arranged golden hair and a pleasant face came into view. Judging by his white vestments and faded mantle, he appeared to be a priest.
Beside him sat a woman with passionate crimson hair and a Combat Longbow strapped across her back. She sat with her arms crossed and legs folded, her head bobbing in drowsiness.
“Hey, Archer.”
Around the moment Seol Ji-hu noticed the faint freckles lingering on the bridge of her nose, a raspy voice suddenly grated against his ears. The black warrior leaned back slightly, fixing his gaze on the woman.
She hadn’t been entirely asleep, for the woman slowly lifted her head, squinting as she cast her eyes toward him.
“What?”
Waking someone from the edge of sleep with that husky voice seemed to have irritated her considerably.
“Yeah, you. That bow’s pretty impressive.”
The woman’s cold expression shifted, her eyes narrowing.
“Well, I went all the way to Sheherazade and back for it.”
“Just for a bow?”
“I had other business there too.”
“It looks like a Combat Longbow… surely not Level 4?”
The woman shook her head.
“No. Level 3. It’s called the Tracer.”
“Ah, a Tracer. Looks different than I’d expected.”
At the man’s exclamation, the woman cast him a fresh, contemptuous glance.
“You woke me up just to ask about that?”
“Just curious, is all.”
“You’re having fun. Now that you’ve asked your questions, I’d like to get some sleep.”
The barbed tone drew a snort of laughter from the man.
“Come on, you know how I am. How much?”
What was he talking about? Curious, Seol Ji-hu, who had begun eavesdropping, tilted his head in confusion.
“…Sigh.”
The woman sighed as if she’d seen this coming, a deep exhale. After grumbling for a moment, she held up her index finger to her lips.
“Five. In Silver Bronze Coins.”
“You’re awfully confident. How sure are you?”
The woman looked the warrior up and down, then snorted disdainfully.
“It’s rare to find a musclebound fool with any substance.”
“The only way to know the difference is to compare. Right?”
The warrior slapped his own thick thighs resoundingly, but the woman waved him off.
“Not interested. I don’t engage in such pastimes in carriages.”
“Another Silver Bronze Coin, then. How about it?”
“Forget it. Don’t push it. I wouldn’t have even agreed if I hadn’t overextended myself buying the Combat Longbow.”
The Large Warrior licked his lips and hastily drew coins from his pouch, tossing them over. The woman caught them with practiced ease, then yawned so widely her mouth nearly split, pulling herself upright. Scratching the back of her head, she gestured with her chin toward Seol Ji-hu.
“You there, move over.”
Before Seol Ji-hu quite knew what was happening, they’d traded places, and the woman smoothly settled her side against the Large Warrior’s thigh.
“Touching?”
“Nothing below. And the instant your hand goes near my head, you’re a dead man.”
“Well, well, looks like you’ve got me figured out.”
The warrior grinned and slipped his hand beneath the Archer’s tunic.
Kneading, kneading. The young man stared blankly, then hiccupped as he watched the woman bury her head into the Large Warrior’s lap. He hastily averted his eyes.
‘What—what are they doing?’
His heart thundered. It was culture shock, pure and simple. The scene unfolding before his eyes was beyond anything he could have imagined, and his mind went white.
The priest, observing with bland detachment, noticed the flustered youth and smiled slyly.
“First time?”
“Huh?”
“Is this the first time you’ve seen something like that?”
“…Ah, yes.”
The priest, seeing the young man’s reaction, expressed surprise.
“You look at least Level 2… were you only in Sheherazade?”
Seol Ji-hu, barely regaining his composure, managed a faint nod.
“I see. A gentleman, then. Is Haramark new to you as well?”
“Of course.”
Was it his imagination, or did that playful voice sound like she was teasing him?
“If this is your first time, cut me some slack. Haramark is a city where romance is still alive—unlike Sheherazade.”
He wanted to say that romance was nonsense, but he bit his tongue.
“Well, think about it. No TV, no computers. What else is there to do? There’s exploration and expeditions, sure, but you can’t go out every time. In the end, you just eat, drink, and do… what comes naturally. That’s all we’ve got to enjoy, so we make the most of it.”
Though he couldn’t relate to a word of it, Seol Ji-hu kept nodding along. The wet, sucking sounds from the adjacent room had been grating on his ears since earlier.
It wasn’t quite a public place, but listening to this cheerful young priest instead of paying attention to those mad bastards carrying on was infinitely preferable.
The jovial young priest suddenly remembered something and thrust out his hand.
“I’m Alex. Level 3 Priest, from Area 4.”
Seol Ji-hu hesitated for a moment before taking his hand.
“Seol. Level 1 Warrior, Area 1.”
“Huh? Level 1?”
Alex’s eyes went wide, and he burst out laughing, clutching his forehead.
“Ah, now it makes sense! I thought you were some refined gentleman, but you’re just a greenhorn!”
He elbowed the young man in the ribs with a smirk.
“Wait till you get to Haramark—you’re going to be absolutely floored.”
Faced with that mischievous gleam in Alex’s eyes, Seol Ji-hu could only laugh awkwardly.

With Alex to talk to, the journey no longer felt tedious. Alex seemed delighted that someone was actually listening to him, and he chattered on without pause about all manner of things.
As they talked, the carriage gradually left the wasteland behind and entered a new region.
They arrived at Zahra just after sunset, as Maktan had said they would.
Seol Ji-hu had expected a small rural settlement where the natives lived simply, but he was startled by how large the town turned out to be.
Alex explained that over a thousand natives lived in Zahra, and the town had facilities like a governor’s residence, inns, and a marketplace where you could find basic supplies. He added, however, that Sheherazade took special care of this place—not all villages were like this.
Exhausted from a full day in the carriage, Seol Ji-hu barely touched his evening meal before heading straight to his room at the inn.
It was supposed to be a memorable night—his first evening in Paradise—but it turned out to be a complete disaster.
The building was dilapidated to begin with, but the Warrior and Archer in the next room made a ruckus all night long. The man’s breathless groans and the female Archer’s shrieks were loud enough to penetrate even with his ears covered.
He ended up losing sleep entirely, boarding the dawn carriage with a haggard face.
Watching the shameless pair as the carriage departed and Zahra fell away behind them, he felt a flicker of resentment—but it soon faded.
The landscape shifted gradually as they traveled deeper. The wasteland was slowly overtaken by lush vegetation, sparse trees gave way to towering ancient oaks that blocked out the sky, and he began to see them more and more often.
Though the road grew rougher, the taste of admiring the scenery while breathing in the sweet scent of unspoiled nature was exquisite. As he inhaled the cool, crisp air, sleep—the sleep he’d missed yesterday—began to creep over him at last.
There was one other change worth noting: from the moment they entered Haramark territory, the attitudes of the two men shifted.
The Warrior stopped his flirting, and the Archer grew quiet, her eyes sharp and alert.
“Get some rest. Don’t worry. We should be fine for a bit longer.”
The young man took Alex’s kindness to heart and drifted off to sleep.
Yesterday he’d thought it remarkable that the Archer could sleep in a moving carriage, but now he found he could do the same.
‘I hope we get to Haramark soon….’

How much time had passed?
– What’s happening…?
– Stay quiet for a moment….
– We should wake him….
– There….
Through his sleep, several voices reached him, and then he felt a gentle tap-tap on his shoulder.
When Seol Ji-hu opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the forest, now shadowed in twilight. And though he couldn’t be certain, the carriage seemed to be racing at an unusual speed.
“Hey, Seol!”
“Alex?”
“You’re awake? Huh?”
“Where are we…?”
Just as he was about to ask, Alex pressed a finger to his lips and gave him a sharp “Shh.” Seol Ji-hu closed his mouth and looked left and right.
‘A forest?’
But that wasn’t all.
The Large Warrior had an unsettled look on his face as he fingered his Combat Axe nervously.
And the female Archer was crouched on the carriage floor, her ear pressed close to the boards.
Her face was tense with concentration, and unease was written all over it.

(To be continued in the next part)

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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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