Seol Jihu, also known as just Seol, is the main protagonist of The Second Coming of Gluttony.
At the start of the story, Seol is a gambling addict, deep in debt and scorned by his family and ex-girlfriend. However, due to an opportunity granted to him by his past life, he obtained a second chance to set things right.
He possesses the unique innate ability, Nine Eyes, which inadvertently caused his gambling addiction after its disappearance as a result of over-abusing the ability. However, experiencing a lucid dream about his past life, it once again reawakened, becoming a powerful ally on his long journey to redemption.
Appearance[]
Seol stands above the average height for a Korean male but otherwise possesses the typical outfit of light skin and black hair. He is generally described as being rather handsome and attractive. He also has a lean but muscular physique thanks to his diligent training.
After exiting the Neutral Zone and returning to Earth, Yoo Seonhwa's three co-workers, who made it a habit to judge each potential suitor of Seonhwa's based on their attractiveness with notoriously high standards, gave him 27 out of 30 points; 10 for the body, 8 for the face and 9 for fashion sense, though the latter was organized by Kim Hannah rather than him.
When Future Vision activates, Seol's eyes are commonly described as colored in an unsettlingly red hue, and gold when Nine Eyes activates.
Personality[]
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— Robert G. "Bob" Ingersoll, 1883
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Initially, Seol Jihu was someone who could be described as dependable, sometimes mischevious, but a whole-heartedly well-natured person. However, he had a crippling weakness for gluttony (in the sense of overindulgence) and developed a fictitious sense of self-importance through and in his unique ability the Nine Eyes, which he believed made him special compared to everyone else.
After losing Nine Eyes, Seol's character drastically took a turn for the worse. His arrogance nosedived into egotism before transforming into a victim mentality. He grew into a neurotic, crass individual, exploiting pity and compassion to continually cheat money out of his loved ones. When it came to defending his wrongdoings, he was quick to speak feelings over morals, morals over reason, and was easily angered when challenged. It was only after the several years of reality and emotions of sorrow and regret from his former life smacked Seol in the face, that the current Seol' received a wake-up call. Now agonizingly aware of his own sins and feeling intensely guilty, Seol began to strive to make amends whenever possible.
After his experience in the Tutorial and Neutral Zone, Seol began to regain a shadow of his former self, now behaving in a far more polite and moderate manner to others and finally regained a sense of self-worth. Once again, after so long, he became able to freely speak of his given name, Jihu, without feeling embarrassed for doing so.
While not necessarily a seeker of righteousness, Seol had a firm unwillingness to compromise, particularly for his own principles; choosing to uphold and defend them with an intense fierceness and determination, having thoroughly learned the lesson that he himself, was his own worst enemy and that it was a constant compromise that led him down his former path of self-destruction.
Despite his continued positive growth, his awareness of his sins remained deeply cast over him and because of it, Seol felt an unexplainable sense of burden and discomfort when praised for his supposed kindness or amazing feats; quick to put down claims that he was a righteous, kind or even just a good person. Due to this insecurity in his self-esteem, Seol held great sentiment towards the concept of the Golden Rule; which he first became aware of from his Nine Eyes ability, coming to believe in the idea of responding to the goodwill of others with equal, if not more, goodwill. Without doing so, he was afraid he would no longer be worthy of their trust and would be abandoned by everyone else once more; therefore, having a tendency to strive unrelentingly towards his goals, repaying others, and becoming apologetic when unable to live up to their expectations.
When it came to facing the issues of his family on Earth, Seol's stalwartness disappeared completely; a gap in character that Kim Hannah found almost baffling. He felt uncomfortable talking about it and often avoided the issue, displaying almost addictive-like traits to the world of Paradise when faced with the reality of rejection from his family and loved ones. It was this attachment to Paradise that drove Seol to carry great respect for the world and its citizens as well as to acquire his characteristic, almost inhuman, tenacity and willpower that even Jang Maldong had to concede to. Understanding that he was far inferior to those who praised him, Seol desperately strived to use the sheer quantity of hard work to overcome the gap he had in the quality of his talent; determined to accomplish his goals and tasks in the best manner possible. Ultimately, Seol believed and felt that Paradise was the only place where he really belonged; finding solace in being accepted and needed by others.
In part, while decisive in action, Seol was generally unable to think outside of the box and come to his own judgments; commonly needing external influences, often in the form of advice, a reality check, or a signal from the Nine Eyes to push him in the right direction. In this way, his ability, including Future Vision, was often something he relied on than he used.
During the Banquet, Seol vowed to follow the Golden Rule. An example of this is when he decided to destroy the White Rose guild because they tried to involve him in conflict or when he beat Audrey Basler in Stage 2. He can also be kind to those who are kind to him. He lent Marcel Ghionea a crossbow believing that he was not the kind to take the equpment and run away. He inwardly believed that if he did, he can find him with the help of Kim Hannah.
Seol has yet to completely outgrow his naivety and, if emotionally out of control, may act in a manner that was overly hasty or rash and was, on occasion, unexpectedly immature to a degree contrary to what one would expect of his age. Not only did he love to get pampered and spoiled, not to mention being a glutton for good food, he was also incredibly mischievous; loving to tease his friends such as Claire Agnes and her unexpected choice of cute underwear or his repeated, unsavory pranks on Chung Chohong.
He is often compared to a Snow Rabbit while the aggressive women interested in him would be the carnivore.
It is suggested that Yoo Seonhwa is the reason for Seol Jihu's manchild-like behavior. Like a dog, Seol was tamed and Seonhwa learned and taught many tricks about Seol such as when you cover his eyes, he wriggles around and looks in peace.
It was suggested during the Arden Fortress War that Seol is excited to be in a battle.
-infantile
Powers & Abilities[]
Early/Mid phase:
As Seol's Traits section in his Status Window suggests under Aptitude, his talent was incredibly average; normal in every way. Only his unusual tenacity, willpower, and willingness to work harder than anyone else set him apart from everyone else. Because of his understanding of his disappointing ordinariness, he strived to put more effort into what he did than anyone else. Jang Maldong, his master, described him as the type who needed to be taught ten out of ten things, unable to learn ten from one, but would at least attempt to understand more than one thing. In his former life, perhaps precisely due to this persistence, he managed to achieve a level of formidable prowess as a spear-wielding Warrior; even as a Red Mark. In the end, he was capable enough to stand on the final battlefield and was ultimately known as the Demon of the Battlefield.
For his starting point, Seol's base stats were beyond atrocious; a result of his unhealthy lifestyle and substance abuse. Compared to Yun Seora, who's stats averaged in the lower range of Low (Low), and Kang Seok, whose stats were in the upper range of Low (Low), his stats were absolutely terrible. They rated far below the standard of an ordinary citizen of Earth, averaging at Low (Low), apart from his Mana stat at Intermediate (Low), which he was able to develop early as a result of his Innate Ability, Nine Eyes, awakening in his childhood. If not for him breaking his Magic Circuit, consequently losing the ability to use Nine Eyes, and letting his mana return to dormancy and regress, he could've surpassed the High (Low) boundary by the time he set foot into Paradise.
Due to this abundance of mana that outranked even a majority of High Rank Warriors, Seol was capable of using his mana to supplement his physical capabilities; granting him the potential to overpower other earthlings two, or even three levels, higher than himself. In practice, this allowed him to stand his ground as a Level 1 against the Level 3 Olivier Salcido and a female Lioner, estimated to rival the strength of a Level 4. Under Agnes' recommendation, he always tried to learn and develop his Class Abilities without learning them through the use of Ability Points; allowing him to forge a considerable foundation for his future growth but also spend an equally considerable long amount of time to do so.
Seol's weapon of choice was, of course, the spear; following the memory of himself in his previous lifetime, demonstrating a high prowess with it, and using just the three simple techniques of 'Thrust', 'Strike' and 'Cut' to slay a countless number of foes. However, the current Seol was unable to achieve it to this degree and was only able to mimic that level of spearmanship when allowed to adopt the right form. If interrupted, his skill plummeted and devolved into aimless flailing due to his lack of experience with adapting himself on the fly.
Seol tended to demonstrate more of an instinctive thought pattern, particularly in combat. True to his short-tempered nature, he often acted before thinking things through clearly; at least until it was fixed through Jang Maldong's training. While meticulous in what details he knew and consistent in his practice, he generally failed to think outside the box without someone guiding him; and often attempted to bite off more than he could chew. Without the providence of Nine Eyes and Future Vision, despite the many people who praised and acknowledged his ability to plan, decide and lead, it was extremely likely that he would not have been able to achieve many of the feats he was widely known for without them.
Due to both Nine Eyes and Future Vision intervening with the pattern of his growth, while massively pushing him forward, Seol suffered from a deep, twisted disharmony in the fundamental elements of his mind, technique, and body as a result. Seol's talent appeared to be exceedingly average and his mind was incomprehensibly chaotic, so, even though his technique seemed to be refined, he was unable to utilize it properly. On top of that, Seol had a powerful but also disproportionate amount of mana; which his undeveloped body was completely incapable of handling. Furthermore, despite having a perfect engine of mana, Seol's usage of it was completely inept; often simply pooling all his mana together to face the opponent, using quantity to face quality, instead of exerting a finer level of control over it.
While mana may flow through the Circuits, it was his body that bore the brunt of the influence in the long term. The influence manifested in symptoms such as stomach knots, regular dizziness, or sudden losses of strength. This meant that any increase to Seol's mana was essentially poison to him and, as long as his current state of incongruity persisted due to it simply complicating the gap between his three fundamentals, he was a ticking time bomb. His own special abilities, that he had thought set himself apart from others, had, quite literally, begun to strangle him in return.
Comparing him to a geometric shape, Jang Maldong stated that Seol would be a strange polygon with one or two vertices stretched out abnormally. He mentioned to Claire Agnes that, even if they abandoned molding Seol's mind and body up to par with his technique—thus drawing a line on his growth potential—he would still be able to become a High Ranker. If he had chosen the path of Magician, he and one of the Seven Gods said that with simply Seol's talents in his technique alone, he could become a Unique Ranker quite quickly. Despite having a limit if suppressed, Seol's limit was abnormally high and he had the potential to become an extraordinary diamond in the rough, but only if polished well with willpower that a human should be, in every sense of the word, incapable of. That is, unless they had repeatedly confronted multiple, life-threatening experiences.
Incidentally, he is also a fantastic cook.
Ending phase:
"The infinite Golden Constellation—a being who had more potential than even Chaos. That was the Seol Jihu that Hwajung saw."
“I know it’s best not to irritate you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything about you. I just don’t find the need to.”
"Mm…. That is true. It would become a little annoying. It might cause a universe-wide problem after all….”
"Seol Jihu’s level of existence had suddenly soared. No, it was still soaring. It was a pure, spotless divinity that even a pure-blooded Angel like her could not surmise."
(SCOG, Sidestory 12)
He did not feel any hostility or evil intent from the Seven Sins. Instead, he felt extreme respect and admiration, like they hesitated even to lift their heads in front of him." (SCOG, Sidestory 56)
- While being equipped with the Sura Demon Spear, Seol is capable of wiping out an otherworldly god, one of the closest aids of Father of Darkness that was worshipped by the Dimensional race (Evident from SCOG, Sidestory 57).
- According to the Goddess of Wrath Ira, Seol's cooking has long since surpassed Divine Beginning and it as the level of Godhood. Gods from other dimensions visit his shop just to taste his cooking as it is one of the hottest restaurants in the universe[1]
Trivia[]
- The characters of Seol's name when divided translate: Seol (설) meaning 'snow', Ji (지) meaning 'steadfast', and Hu (후) meaning 'jade'.
- Unlike Sung Shihyun who stubbornly refused the Magician class, the Seven Gods took a vote to decide his class between Warrior and Magician after hearing his request. It ended up a four to three vote after Gula voted in favor of a Warrior.
- Seol "affectionately" named the lead skeleton monster in the Neutral Zone's 'Breakthrough the siege and survive!' Hard mission, 'Skellie'.
- He was constantly doubted to be as low-level as he was when he first left Scheherazade due to his unusually high combat prowess and intelligence.
- Became a Level 7 (Chapter 353 [[1]])
- Once joked with Alex that he was a Level 10 Spear God.
- Managed to give both Claire Agnes and Chung Chohong new aliases in their Status Window after his constant teasing and pranking of the aforementioned two, and much to the ire of the former.
- Often referred to as an Irregular, similar to Sung Shihyun, due to the monstrous speed of his growth.
- He got repeatedly reprimanded and even slapped by Gula for complaining about the crude naming sense of his Classes.
- His alias "The Adversary" came from his soaring popularity in the Federation after his win against the First Commander of Parasite Army, Undying Diligence.
- Seol Jihu apparently had five stages of sulking: tiny-sulk, little-sulk, medium-sulk, big-sulk, and super-sulk. According to Yoo Seonhwa[2]
- Seol has almost zero common sense with women. For example he ended up with a habit to gift underwear as a present for to females (and males) though this is because of a misunderstanding between him and Yoo Seonwha (he thought since she liked it others would too) or that the act of giving ring to a woman would not be indicative of a romantic interest.
- Like Sung Shihyun, Seol threatened to join the parasites if his class name even had mana.
- After Seo Yuhui confesed to him he said ‘I will keep you by my side and make ramen for you whenever you want.’ on which she replied by saying yes, so they became a couple.[3]
- He is the first Level 9 in Paradise.
- Gula has considered making his level 10 class name Golden Mana God.
- The reasons of his gambling addiction is his greed and bad habit of overindulgence.