The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 48

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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 48. Haramag

Push forward or return to Zahra.
Alex and Hugo debated the question at length. The accident had struck at the worst possible moment, making any decision difficult.
Seol Ji-hu offered no opinion of his own. He reasoned it was better to defer to the judgment of two seasoned, experienced men than to rely on someone who still knew almost nothing of this world.
After much discussion, they decided to continue forward.
Once outside Zahra, nowhere seemed truly safe.
It made more sense to push directly to the city rather than waste time and coin returning to wait for the Archer and procure another carriage.
Seol Ji-hu agreed. He was somewhat anxious about the remaining distance, but he chose to trust in the stamina he’d developed in the Neutral Zone.
“All right. If we’re going, let’s at least take what we can.”
As consensus formed, Hugo abruptly spoke up.
“I’ll handle her. You two grab what you can carry.”
Hugo turned away, whistling.
“I’ll gather the weapons Mol dropped. Seol, you handle Maktan!”
Alex moved swiftly. He began walking about, collecting the daggers Mol had scattered. Hugo was pulling the body of a woman from beneath the carriage. Then Ji-hu understood what was happening.
Looting—taking the possessions of the dead.
Maktan’s corpse lay in front of the carriage. His eyes were wide open, a nail still embedded in his forehead, and Ji-hu found his hand hesitating to reach. It wasn’t disgust at death, but something closer to regret.
He’d only just met this man. He held no strong feelings toward him either way.
Yet until the moment of his death, Maktan had faithfully discharged his duty. He had trusted the Earthlings at his back and sworn to protect them, but Ji-hu had failed to keep him safe.
“Hey, what are you doing? Why are you lagging?”
Hugo approached with a gleeful expression.
“Damn, this girl’s loaded. She’s got plenty besides that Combat Longbow! Look at this.”
The warrior thrust an armful of mixed plunder toward him. Ji-hu accepted it and frowned. Beyond the bow and arrows were pieces of armor and even women’s undergarments.
He glanced back and saw the Archer sprawled on her back without so much as a thread covering her.
Maktan was the same. Though rigor mortis must have set in, Hugo stripped the corpse with practiced ease.
“Hugo.”
“Hm? Oh, was your name Seol? Anyway, what’s up?”
“Is it necessary to take their clothes and undergarments?”
“Of course. Won’t fetch much, but I can still get a few coins for them.”
Hugo answered plainly, as though the question were obvious.
“Still—”
“Still what? Are you worried the corpse will catch cold?”
Hugo chuckled at his own joke, then his expression sobered as he continued.
“Listen. A warrior is respected according to how well they equip their armor. As your Level rises, you need gear to match, and the prices are steep enough to make you weep. Does money fall from the sky? Every coin is scraped together like this.”
It was a fair point, and yet uncertainty lingered. Hugo seemed to notice the young man’s discomfort and laughed softly.
“Nobody here gives a damn what you think is right. Leave them like this and beasts will tear them apart, or some lucky bastard passing by will help himself.”
…….
“If it really bothers you, think of it this way: sell this stuff and buy a good weapon. Then the next time you meet Mol, slaughter him. That’s the real way to honor the dead.”
Hugo found the coin purse. Among the bronze and copper coins lay a single silver coin.
“Here.”
He withdrew the silver coin and glanced sideways before offering it to the young man.
“This one.”
It was the silver coin Maktan had paid with when settling his fare.
“Come on, take it. He’s turned away right now.”
“But—”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Hugo slipped the silver coin into the youth’s pocket. “Shh,” he said, placing a finger to his lips with a grin.
“Truth is, I pocketed some of the money she and I exchanged too. Heh.”
With that—making him an accomplice, swearing him to secrecy from Alex—Hugo turned away smiling.
Ji-hu made to follow but stopped short. Watching the now-naked Maktan, his expression grew complicated.
‘…If this is the kind of world it is.’
Slowly, the young man reached out, pulled the nail from Maktan’s forehead, and closed his eyes. A shout soon came calling him to hurry, and he rose to go.
What kind of place was Paradise?
He was beginning to understand.

They set out marching as they emerged from the forest.
Walking all day was neither romantic nor pleasant.
When night fell, Seol Ji-hu experienced his first night sleeping rough in Paradise, and stood watch—something he hadn’t done since his military days.
Perhaps that was why every joint ached when he woke, muscles sore and heavy-headed—a pain he hadn’t felt since leaving the Stone Chamber.
He told himself it was something he’d grow accustomed to in time, and pressed on in silence.
Building rapport with Hugo along the way had been an unexpected windfall. For all his hot temper, the man proved as affable as Alex, once you looked past the surface.
Hugo, for his part, didn’t regard the young man poorly either. A firm believer that warriors ought to be strong, he found himself quietly warming to Seol Ji-hu—who never complained even when Hugo pushed the pace, and who listened with genuine interest whenever Hugo felt like spinning yarns to pass the time. It was hard not to grow fond of him.
So a day passed, then two, and by the fourth evening, as dusk began to settle…
They emerged from the rolling hills into a vast plain. At the far end of the road leading toward Haramag, the city’s walls caught the sunset, small and distant against the violet sky.
It was Haramag.
Just as Maktan had said—they’d arrived in four days, luck be damned.
Hugo threw both arms up with a whoop of delight.
“I’m going straight in to eat, drink, and have a time. What about you two?”
Hugo made a drinking gesture, but Alex shook his head firmly. He needed rest.
“Why not? A drink and a clean parting—what’s wrong with that?”
“You’re a warrior; you’ve got energy left. I’m a priest. Besides, I need to visit the temple and file a report.”
“A report? It’s not even an expedition.”
“Demons have been appearing in Haramag. This is something the temple needs to know.”
“Ah, I suppose.”
Hugo scratched his head, eyes drifting away.
“What about you, then?”
“This is your first time in Haramag, isn’t it?”
Alex cut in before Hugo could finish.
“Yes.”
“A drink isn’t a bad idea, but eating, drinking, and having a time…well, it might not be quite your speed.”
“What do you mean?”
“A tavern. A multi-purpose tavern.”
Alex smiled a touch awkwardly, suggesting he’d understand once he saw it.
“Anyway, if you want a quiet place to rest, I know an inn I can recommend. It’s lodging only, quiet, good for sleeping. A bit shabby, but.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Come on, let’s go.”
“Tch.”
Hugo pouted. For someone so large, he moved and acted like a child, and Seol Ji-hu almost laughed—almost, keeping it to himself.
Where there is meeting, there is parting.
The three of them exchanged brief farewells once they reached Haramag and went their separate ways.
Whether Hugo was sulking or genuinely offended, he barely said goodbye before vanishing. Alex, sighing, led the young man to the inn.
“Hugo seems bothered.”
“Don’t worry about him. He’s narrow-minded and stubborn, but he doesn’t hold grudges. Buy him a drink next time and he’ll grin like a dog with a bone. I’m telling you.”
Seol Ji-hu smiled gently at Alex’s words.
While he wouldn’t have minded exploring the city now that he’d finally reached it, exhaustion was all-consuming. Sightseeing could wait—all he wanted was a bed, a blanket, and sleep.
“Welcome to Haramag, friend.”
After a firm handshake, Alex bid him goodbye and ambled away.
Left alone, Seol Ji-hu carefully pushed open the inn’s door. An elderly woman dozing at the counter on the first floor cracked open one eye.
“What can I do for you?”
“Ah, I was recommended by someone I know…”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“A single room is ten Bronze Coins a night. If you’d prefer something nicer, we have a premium room—twenty Bronze Coins.”
“The premium room, please.”
He paid twenty Bronze Coins and took the key, following the old woman’s directions up to the second floor.
The room was cramped for a premium space but tidier than expected. A small potted plant sat on the nightstand beside the bed—one of those that aided physical recovery. He also liked the worn wooden table and two chairs beneath the window.
It lacked the grandeur of the Neutral Zone’s lodgings, but this analog simplicity had its own charm.
Seol Ji-hu dropped his bag and collapsed onto the mattress, staring up at the stained ceiling.
There had been a mishap along the way, but since then the journey to Haramag had been smooth.
He’d fought with a stranger, grown close, and parted ways.
‘We might meet again someday.’
There was a touch of melancholy to it, yet that too held a certain appeal.
As the bed creaked beneath him, his eyes grew heavy. Compared to sleeping in the cold brush outdoors, this mattress felt wonderfully soft and yielding.
Before long, the young man lay limp as a water-logged sponge, breathing evenly in sleep.

When the sun had climbed to its height, Seol Ji-hu woke. He’d expected to rise in the morning, but the forced march had taken its toll—he’d slept far longer than planned. Apart from hunger, however, his body felt light. The heaviness that had weighed on his head seemed to have lifted.
He opened the window and a cool breeze rushed in. Leaning on the sill, he breathed the fresh air and took in the sight of Haramag.
Sheherazade had mostly pale ochre buildings, but Haramag was more varied. White, gray, reddish-brown…
‘What should I do.’
Now that I’d arrived, I needed to do something. The young man closed the window, set his bag on the table, and sat down in the chair.
As he pulled open the bag, several items came into view.
‘This should fetch a decent sum, they said.’
The Combat Longbow. It was the most valuable item among the spoils from looting the corpses. Hugo had coveted it, but Alex had yielded it to the young man as consolation for ruining his first trip to Haramag.
Besides that, he’d been able to divide five daggers, the leather jacket Archer had worn as an outer garment, and one silver coin.
He suddenly recalled Hugo’s face yesterday, delighted as he counted three silver coins on Archer, who otherwise seemed unremarkable. The young man added the silver coin he’d secretly taken yesterday to his purse.
‘The appointment, the Sacred Mark… now that I think about it, should I visit the temple too?’
There was no real need to go on account of the Sacred Mark. It was something he could use when rising through the ranks.
A Sacred Mark was what allowed divine traces to be inscribed upon the body, granting the protection of a god and bestowing special classes and power.
But one had to overcome the trials and tribulations that the god imposed, they said.
In any case, he couldn’t just sit idle here.
Kim Han-na had told him to think of it as a game. If Paradise was a game, what would he do first?
‘Information.’
Seol Ji-hu shouldered his bag and descended to the first floor. As he returned the key on his way out and asked where the plaza was, the old woman pointed to the left.
“If you go out and turn left, you’ll find a wide road. Just follow it straight, and you’ll come to the plaza.”
Following her directions, he left the inn, turned left, and the broad street appeared before him.
If taking the first step in Sheherazade had been the beginning, then this was another step forward.
What awaited him in Haramag? Who would he meet? The young man felt his heart quicken at the thought.
But like all things in this world, he already knew that what lay ahead wouldn’t unfold according to his plans alone.

In some ways, Haramag’s appearance was the complete opposite of Sheherazade. If the capital was bright and vibrant, Haramag was chaotic and drab—a lawless freedom, if anything. The buildings stood haphazardly everywhere, creating a dizzying sensation. You couldn’t tell where anything was. The roads were uneven in places, and the streets were littered with wet straw and sewage.
‘Learning my way around here will be a real trial.’
Most of all, the atmosphere was entirely different. Perhaps because he’d heard it called a city of crime, every passerby seemed to wear a sinister expression.
After a while, passing walls cracked in places, scrawled with meaningless graffiti, he emerged into a spacious area.
The rounded space bustled with people, filled with the noise of shouting and clamoring voices.
The young man’s eyes gleamed when he spotted a large bulletin board in the center.
‘Here too.’
He hadn’t understood why they’d posted mission papers on a board in the Neutral Zone, but perhaps this was the reason.
Approaching the board with an unexpected sense of familiarity, he gazed at the topmost paper.

Looking at the paper hanging directly below, Seol Ji-hu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

– Royal Commission
– Compensation: detailed contract negotiation
*Sicilia

He lowered his eyes. From now on, he had to move as part of a team. If he went solo like he had in the Neutral Zone, he’d end up getting himself killed.
Finding the section with recruitment notices wasn’t difficult, but Seol Ji-hu narrowed his eyes. Most of the papers were so close together they overlapped halfway, with some obscured entirely.
‘Looking for priests level 2 and above… Warriors level 3 and above… So they want priests but recruit warriors. Looking for porters… porters too?’
“Hmm.”
Even trying to read carefully, it was far too dizzying. Finding papers that matched his criteria was work in itself.
In the end, he activated the Nine Eyes. Direct observation was fine, but there was no reason not to use an ability he already had.
The bulletin board transformed into a riot of color. One curious thing, though: most of the papers were tinted in Danger Detection colors. Yellow was the most common, with red appearing frequently. There was even one in crimson.
‘What are you that you warrant a withdrawal advisory… huh?’
Smacking his lips as he shuffled through the papers, the young man froze.
His hand touched one of the obscured papers. He was about to pass it by, thinking it was yellow, when an unusually bright glow caught his eye.
The paper gleamed.
‘Golden!’
The Golden Law.
He hadn’t expected to see golden here.
Seol Ji-hu opened his eyes wide and peered at the paper.

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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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