The Second Coming of Gluttony Chapter 19:
“Will you please keep it down over there?”
The Guide issued a stern warning as soon as things became a bit noisy . Hyun Sangmin didn’t say anything else and suppressed his laughter .
“First of all, let us commence with evaluating your level of cognition . ”
As soon as those words were spoken out, a message popped up in front of everyone’s vision .
[5 . Level of Cognition]
Actions/Emotions/Disposition
“This is how it should look to you . From the left, Actions, Emotions, and Disposition . Well then, let’s start by assessing your Actions . ”
Suddenly, the left-most column began spinning up and down, just like how it was with a slot machine . Countless words flashed by .
“The first section reflects how you appear to others through your actions and speeches . ”
As Han’s explanation continued, the speed of the dizzying spin gradually slowed down . ‘Righteous’, ‘Fussy’, ‘Temperamental’, ‘Disgusting’… all sorts of descriptors flashed by . Seol’s column went back and forth between ‘Moderate’, ‘Neutral’, and ‘Hypocritical’ before finally stopping on the word ‘Moderate’ .
“What?”
Shin Sang-Ah responded to her evaluation as if it was the most absurd thing in the whole world .
“This can’t be right! Is this really correct?!”
“I assure you, things will only get tougher for you if you are getting shocked already . ”
Han chuckled to himself and clapped his hands . Then, the middle column began spinning this time .
“The middle column, ‘Emotions’, reflects your thought process or what you feel from facing certain events or phenomena . Out of the three, you could say it has the most variability . ”
For Seol, the middle column came to a stop with the word ‘Curiosity’ . Seol nodded his head in agreement . He then saw Hyun Sangmin giggling to himself and couldn’t help but get curious – what did he get as his assessment result?
“And finally… . The last column, ‘Disposition’ . This one has been raising a lot of controversy for a long time now . ”
Seol didn’t even have the time to check using ‘General Observation’ before the third and the final column began spinning .
“The ‘Disposition’ column indicates your inclination according to your overall personality . There have been numerous cases where this part simply repeats what’s been shown on [Temperament] of your Status . ”
Seol’s heartbeat sped up . He was judged to be ‘weak-willed’ and ‘short-tempered’ before . Since he couldn’t really dispute those, he had no choice but to unhappily accept them until now .
“However, there have been quite a few cases, where the ‘Disposition’ and [Temperament] didn’t match . ”
Han’s voice became rather serious there .
“How could such a thing be possible? After many debates and research later… . We focused on the fact that [Temperament] was listed under [Traits], while ‘Disposition’ was listed under the [Level of Cognition] . And so, we arrived at a temporary conclusion . ”
Words such as ‘Altruistic’, ‘Selfish’, ‘Rational’, ‘Lethargic’, ‘Evil’, ‘Detestable’ flashed by in front of Seol’s eyes… . Until the spinning speed gradually slowed down .
“If your Temperament is a personality trait formed by interacting with the world at large, then… . ”
Seol’s column heavily seesawed in between the words ‘Moderate’, ‘Hot-headed’ and ‘Narrow-minded’ .
“… . Then, your Disposition should indicate your true nature; in other words, the foundation that forms the core of who you are . That’s what we decided on . ”
However, the column suddenly spun again wildly and landed on ‘Chaos’ instead .
“If you find that your Disposition and Temperament don’t really match, or you find it disagreeable and that you’re unhappy with the assessment, allow me to offer you this advice . ”
Han’s voice became as light as air once more .
“If you wish to change your Disposition, then you’d do well to try changing your Temperament first . You see, I personally hold the view that a good Temperament would naturally lead your Disposition towards the nicer path . ”
If you wish to change – those words rang inside Seol’s heart .
“On the flip side, your Disposition looks good, but your Temperament happens to be not? I can confidently say this – your Disposition too will slowly deteriorate and end up corrupted, eventually matching your Temperament . ”
The implication was simple – he was saying that one should try to change one’s Temperament before it negatively influenced one’s Disposition .
And so, the evaluation came to an end . Seol carefully surmised his own evaluation results .
Moderate (Actions and thoughts are sensible) / Curiosity / Chaotic (Many things are jumbled up and is impossible to unravel)
[Your Status Window is being updated . ]
‘Chaotic… . ’
Although his head was tilting to a side ever so slightly, he could more or less understand why he ended up with that assessment .
No matter what, the contradiction coming from the disposition he used to have up until his early twenties, the disposition he revealed after falling into a gambling addiction and losing his ability, and finally, the disposition he suddenly gained after experiencing that dream, was as chaotic as one could imagine .
“Of course, that’s not an easy thing to accomplish . The ‘Disposition’ has the lowest chance of changing, after all . Meaning, a person doesn’t easily change . ”
Han winked a little here . It happened, then .
Koong, Koong .
Accompanied by loud thuds indicating that someone was coming up, the sixth-floor door was violently flung open . A clearly-incensed woman and a young man hesitantly following behind her entered the rooftop . They were the trio from before . No, one of them was missing now . The girl who pleaded with Seol to save her older brother was not among them .
“We’ve brought along the passage fee . ”
With an icy voice, the woman threw down the object in her hand . It was a wooden handle of a mop, one that could be found commonly in any janitor’s closet . However, from where a mop head should’ve been, only blood managed to drip down to the floor .
Seol felt like he could hear the sorrowful wail of a woman coming from down below . However, the young man hurriedly closed the door behind him .
A strange but conspicuous light flashed by Han’s monocle .
“What’s the matter? Are we not allowed up here?”
“No . I shall acknowledge it . ”
Han simply smiled even when the woman spat out coldly . In the end, the two belated arrivals also had to go through the assessment of their own Level of Cognition .
As soon as that was completed, Han ordered everyone to line up in a row in front of the warp gate . The first one on the line was the last woman to arrive . She was glaring at Hyun Sangmin with venomous eyes . Even deep grudge could be spied on them as well .
“Aigoo~, I’m sooo scared . ”
Of course, Hyun Sangmin didn’t even bat an eyelid .
The woman then cast the coins off in a disgusted manner . However, Han showed off an incredible display of dexterity and caught every single one of them . And while maintaining a nonchalant smile, he pulled out a piece of document to read .
“Let’s see… Ah, it was simple to calculate the points for Miss Oh Minyoung . You will receive 35 Survival Points . ”
“… . Survival Points?”
“You haven’t done anything during the first mission, so out of the possible 100, you get 0 . No need to mention the second mission either – 0 out of the possible 150 . In the third mission, you couldn’t even find enough coins for your passage, so also 0 . However… . Just now, you have been judged to have struggled bitterly for your own survival, so 35 points were added to your tally . That is all . ”
“Where are we supposed to use these points, then?”
“You’ll find out once you get there . ”
The woman, Oh Minyoung, glared at Han for a long, long time . She then wordlessly stepped through the warp gate and disappeared from the view . The next person was the young man who had followed Oh Minyoung up to the roof .
“You have 0 point . ”
Han’s evaluation was short .
“You’ve done nothing . Literally, nothing . I can’t even see one category where you might have earned a point or two . ”
The young man was clearly embarrassed as he stepped through the gate .
And so, the entry procedure carried on .
Yun Seora received 317 points . Shin Sang-Ah, 116 . Hyun Sangmin, 302 . Yi Sung-Jin, 114 . As for Yi Seol-Ah, she could only receive 46 for the things she had done in the assembly hall . As people stepped through the gate and disappeared one by one, Seol’s turn eventually arrived . Han began groaning out as soon as seeing Seol’s face .
“Really now… . I thought I was going to die while trying to calculate your points . Although it wasn’t as difficult during the first mission, the second and third missions were really, really problematic for me . Especially so, during the second mission, when things became really, completely nonsensical . ”
“?”
“Not only were you not satisfied with breaking the all-time clear record, you then proceeded to destroy all of the traps as well as the mechanisms found there . Such an event is unprecedented . ”
The tone of his voice was quite combative, but Han was beaming rather brilliantly .
“In any case, here is your points tally . During the first mission, 200 bonus points added after successfully chasing away the Gaekgwi from the assembly hall . Also, you made a correct move by going upstairs as soon as emptying out the convenience store . Since you were in possession of the diary, all you needed to do was to procure some food . So, 100 bonus points . Another 50 bonus points for rescuing Miss Shin Sang-Ah . ”
That amounted to 350 points . Hearing this, Seol tilted his head .
“I thought 100 points was the maximum for the first mission?”
“That’s only for the base points . If you perform certain actions that weren’t included within the mission goals, you’re eligible to receive bonus points if those actions fall under certain categories . These bonus points can be as much as double the amount of base points . ”
Seol nodded his head in acceptance .
‘Is that why both Yun Seora and Hyun Sangmin have high scores?’
Just by receiving the points from the first mission, he had become the top scorer .
“For the second mission, the basic score is 150 . 300 bonus points for the fastest clear in history . Another extra 300 points for destroying every trap and mechanism found . Total of 750 points . ”
“… . ”
“For the third mission, the base points on offer are 150 . 300 bonus points for finding as many coins as you have during the treasure hunt . 300 extra points for killing the Gaekgwi alone . 150 extra points for reviving Miss Yi Seol-Ah . 100 extra points for the act of giving out some of your coins to others, seen as an act of mercy . Total of 1050 points . When calculated together, 2150 points . ”
Han spoke non-stop up to here, but he wasn’t finished yet .
“And finally, possessing the Mark of Survival – which adds a 10 times multiplier . So, your total Survival points tally is 21500 . ”
Han folded the paper away and stared at Seol with an envious expression .
“… . You must be very happy . Your points tally is the highest in history . You might even be able to use the VIP store as well . ”
“The VIP store?”
“There is such a thing . You’ll see once you get there… . Oh, I almost forgot . ”
Han suddenly displayed an extremely friendly attitude and leaned in closer to whisper something to Seol’s ear . Seol began frowning somewhat after hearing the Guide out .
“I do have it in my possession . But, why… . ”
“I was only reminding you since you seem to have forgotten all about it . After all, you were lucky enough to draw them in the first place . Fufufu . ”
Seol was about to ask something, but then, the blonde maid began pushing him from behind .
“H, hey! Wait a minute!”
“My role ends here . ”
The last thing Seol got to see as he was being pushed into the warp gate was… .
“I wish you best of luck in the Neutral Zone . ”
… . Han politely bowing his head, his hand placed on his chest .
*
As soon as Seol entered the warp gate, he arrived inside a small room . Seven people who entered before him were waiting there .
The blonde maid was still pushing Seol forward while panting quite heavily . Once they were in, she let out a big sigh of relief and walked past everyone . She opened the exit door and pointed towards the passage beyond it, before walking first in light, airy steps .
The passageway was made up of marble . It was long and dark like a tunnel . The group simply followed the maid while remaining completely clueless as to where they were headed off to . But, when they spotted light from a distance, a certain sense of excitement began filling them up .
The maid arrived at the exit of the passage first and her steps came to a halt . She then softly opened her mouth .
– Korea, Area 1, cleared .
An unexpectedly clean and beautiful voice came out of her mouth .
‘She could actually speak?’
As Seol stood there stewing in mental shock, several other clean and nice voices rang out from somewhere and entered his ears .
– Europe, Area 2, cleared .
– Germany, Area 3, cleared .
– North America, Area 4, cleared .
– Asia, Area 5, cleared .
– Africa, Area 6, failed .
– China, Area 7, cleared .
– South America, Area 8, failed .
– Oceania, Area 9, failed .
“That’s a bit weird, isn’t it?”
Hyun Sangmin muttered almost inaudibly .
“What is?”
“Six of those areas are the six continents, right? So how come Korea, Germany, and China get a separate area designation? Hey man, what do you think?”
Seol shook his head .
“Ah, she’s moving again . Are we supposed to enter first?”
Hyun Sangmin’s guess proved to be correct . Beyond the exit of the passage was a large and empty area, shaped like a high-end theatre . While walking on the red carpet, Seol took a look around him .
Towards the darkened front, he could sort of see a stage . Although the lights were off, there were some strange things on the walls that glistened and managed to illuminate the darkness a little bit . The ceiling was so high, he couldn’t even see it properly .
The maid leading in front took the group towards a row of chairs located just before the stage . The number of chairs was exactly eight . After confirming that everyone had taken a seat, the blonde maid climbed up to the stage and disappeared behind the curtains .
That was the signal; Seol could hear many more footsteps coming from behind him .
“I guess they are from the Area 2 . Was it Europe?”
Hyun Sangmin spoke as he turned his head around to look . Over thirty people were following a maid to their seats .
The place this maid led them to was a location a bit behind Seol’s group . There was a total of 32 chairs . The unfamiliar maid also disappeared behind the curtains as soon as she was done leading them to their seats .
‘So, that many people survived the European Tutorial . ’
As Seol wordlessly checked them out, one of them also began looking at Seol . It was a woman sitting in the middle of the front row . No, perhaps it would be more correct to call her a girl, instead .
She possessed curly light brown hair and a pair of eyes bright enough to softly shimmer within this darkness . The rest of her face revealed with the aid of a white hairband holding her hair back was very memorable as well .
Seol ended up inadvertently focusing on her neck that reminded him of a beautiful orchid flower until he saw her waving her hand slightly in greeting . So, he inadvertently ended up greeting back with a slight nod as well .
Meanwhile, people continued to stream inside . Soon enough, Seol got to learn that the number of survivors differed greatly from area to area . Perhaps Hyun Sangmin thought of the same thing as he was constantly muttering to himself .
“We have eight people . Europe, 32 . Germany, 10 . North America, 11 . Asia, 17… . ”
The queue of people steadily entering this large area briefly broke up . A short while afterwards, five men, all wearing the same type of black suits, appeared from the passage . And there were three people following behind them as well – all women, and for some reason, their heads lowered .
“Huh . A group of five decked out in identical suits… . Oh, there are three more . So, a total of eight people from China, I guess?”
That was the end of the queue and no one else entered afterwards, no matter how long they waited .
“Does that mean there are no survivors from South America and Oceania?”
“Don’t forget Africa, too . When transitioning from Area 5 to Area 7, there was a short gap there . ”
Hyun Sangmin added his opinion while agreeing to Seol’s guesses .
‘So, that means… . ’
The surroundings became quiet . Sitting inside this lengthy silence, Seol inexplicably began recalling Han’s words from earlier on .
“You possess the notes from the Guide with you, yes? How about reading them and see what’s written on them? Ah, I suggest that you read them while you’re alone, if possible . ”
Seol got that ‘note’ while drawing medical supplies . There were three of them, even . But, why did the Guide go out of his way to mention them? They weren’t even the so-called SPECIALs, either .
Unable to calm his curiosity, Seol pulled his bag closer to open it . However, just as he was about to reach in… .
The curtains hiding the stage were silently pulled to the side .
Paat!!!
Suddenly, blinding lights bathed the stage .
Not just Seol, but every survivor from the six continents dazedly stared at the brightly-lit stage .
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