Sloth (1)
“What if it asks us to kill it?”
At Mukkebi's relayed message, Kim Sung-tae stared straight ahead at the massive World Tree, which loomed like a black wall. He'd assumed it was some purely evil bastard, but Mukkebi's words had shown him otherwise.
What to do.
He couldn't just kill it outright if he wanted to save Garba. Sure, it had begged for death, but he needed to extract the World Tree to heal her. So how the hell was he supposed to save it?
This is a real headache. Wait. Yeah!
Sung-tae, clutching his throbbing head in thought, suddenly lit up with an idea and turned to Mukkebi.
“Hey, Mukkebi. Think you could slip into Garba's inner world? She's out cold from some weird spell or curse.”
“Got it.”
Mukkebi nodded and dove into Garba's inner world. Inside, she beheld a realm soaked in ashen gray.
“Ugh, it's all such gross colors.”
The world was blanketed in gray like volcanic ash had fallen everywhere. To grant Sung-tae's request, Mukkebi opened wide and sucked in the gray haze.
“Eugh... tastes like crap...”
She devoured the tasteless gray dust relentlessly, but the world stayed colorless. No matter how much she ate, more gray pollen kept drifting down from the sky.
“That must be it?”
Looking up, Mukkebi spotted something and zoomed in. Tree roots had invaded from the outer world, connected far off to the World Tree itself.
She tried yanking them out, but they were anchored deep in Garba's inner world—pull too hard, and the whole realm might collapse.
“How was it?”
Mukkebi emerged and described what she'd seen. Sung-tae had hoped she could fix Garba's condition, but no dice. Gripping Gloria, he eyed the World Tree.
“Guess we gotta figure out what to do with this thing after all. Hmm, Mukkebi. This time, dive into its inner world. Pull out the one begging to be saved.”
If Mukkebi was right, its soul hadn't fully corrupted yet. They could head to the World Tree's inner self and learn how to save Garba. If death was the answer, they could always go there later.
“Okay!”
Mukkebi hurled herself at the World Tree. But unlike before, she bounced right off.
“Ow...”
In that split second, she'd glimpsed what blocked the path to its inner world: an immense darkness that permitted no intruders. Far more sinister than the evil spirit once inside hero Leo.
“Can't get in. Darkness is blocking the way.”
“Alright. Watch from inside then. I'll slice it open with this sword.”
Sung-tae jammed Gloria into the World Tree, careful not to thrust too deep and pierce its soul for purification.
Mukkebi slipped back in and confirmed the slit of darkness around the blade. Through the gap, the World Tree's inner world came into view—ashen gray, just like Garba's.
[You've come... to save me...]
“Yeah. Sung-tae says come out.”
The World Tree's inner world was a forest, reminiscent of the Ruined High Elf Forest in its most prosperous era. But like the outside, everything was gray, and at the center, the glowing green soul of the World Tree lay bound by black tentacles.
[But... with your power...]
The World Tree eyed Mukkebi and despaired. The bindings were too mighty for a little girl to break—they'd resisted even when it was whole.
“Yeah, those look super gross. Sung-tae!”
“You got it?”
“Shove the sword in deeper. Angle it a bit lower.”
Like a foreman on site, Mukkebi signaled. Sung-tae adjusted and pushed Gloria accordingly.
“More. More... There!”
The white blade grazed the soul, severing the black tentacles that bound it.
[How...]
“'Cause Sung-tae's special! C'mon, let's go. Air here's nasty too.”
[I'm a soul without a body. I can't leave this place.]
“No prob. Go into Sung-tae's body.”
“Eh, I'd rather not.”
Sung-tae, eavesdropping from outside, rejected the idea. The soul seemed decent, but it might be tricking them. Having seen the monstrous body first, he was wary.
“Perfect. Move here instead.”
He offered his bow—the World Tree bow from the Demon King Castle's stores.
“Okay! Let's go!”
[Ahh... this is... part of my body... Thank you...]
The World Tree's soul, freed from its corrupted flesh, shone like an emerald. Sung-tae unconsciously reached out to touch it.
“Hm?”
Memories flooded into him, projecting like a beam across his mind in a panoramic rush.
“This is...”
A peaceful forest. Beautiful high elves. Something infiltrated the World Tree, corrupting it and sealing its soul away. The caretaking World Tree lulled the forest's lifeforms to sleep, draining their vitality. They turned into ghouls, luring outsiders into hypnosis, offering the slumbering as tribute. Endlessly.
“So that's how it happened.”
It wasn't just memories—emotions poured in too. Sorrow so crushing an ordinary human might self-harm. Contrary to Sung-tae's fears, the soul had weakened but not fallen.
“Thanks, but whatever. One of my subordinates is asleep 'cause of you. How do I wake her?”
Convinced it wasn't deceiving him, Sung-tae asked how to revive Garba.
[If I regain a bit of power, I can purify her. Or that sword that saved me could do it too.]
“Hm. True, but... feels iffy.”
He knew it was a holy sword for purifying souls, but that's exactly why he hesitated to stab Garba. She was loyal, but a werewolf— what if the purification hit her wrong?
“You do it. But hey.”
Screeech!
“Can I smash your body?”
With the soul extracted, the husk went berserk, shaking the earth like an earthquake, cracking the ground. Thousands, tens of thousands of roots burst skyward, smashing everything in reach.
Gray pollen rained from above, mummifying and crumbling anything it touched to dust. The rampaging body was pure nightmare monster.
[Please do.]
“Alright. Smash it quick and wake Garba!”
Sung-tae kicked off the ground, soaring into the sky. Gloria blazed, but roots swarmed heedless of their own destruction.
“Sorry, but we're done here.”
He sheathed the sword and clenched his fist. Toward the mountain-sized World Tree that had driven high elves extinct and devoured countless lives.
“Time to rest!”
A colossal explosion replaced the World Tree, like a volcano dormant for eons erupting, shaking the continent. The corrupted husk shattered into tens of millions of fragments, raining down.
The Ruined High Elf Forest—long a forbidden mystery—had its culprit erased.
“Whew.”
Sung-tae descended amid the debris. Where the tree had stood was now a massive crater like a meteor strike.
“Okay, time to wake Garba. Hey, World Tree buddy. When's your power coming back?”
[Just wait a moment. No, danger first! The one who corrupted me...]
Yaaawn.
Before it finished, a yawn pierced the falling debris—lazy, mismatched to the chaos, from the crater.
“Was sleeping so nice... Who're you... the one who wrecked my house...”
Dust settled in an instant, as if lulled to sleep.
“But hey, got a body, so goal achieved... Yaaawn.”
A figure emerged. Human—a small child about Mukkebi's age. Half-lidded eyes, fighting sleep, scanned the devastation indifferently with gray irises.
Childlike, but Sung-tae didn't buy it.
“What a mess... Was a nice house...”
The boy wore gray leaves like clothes, unmoving in the wind. His ashen hair whipped about.
“You? The one who wrecked my house?”
Yaaawn. “So sleepy...”
Tears welled between the boy's drooping eyelids. He surveyed the warzone forest with endless yawns, unfazed.
“Need more sleep. Body's not perfect. Too young.”
“Who are you?”
Sung-tae knew he was soft on kids. But this boy screamed suspicious—emerging from the World Tree's ruins no less. Anyone with brains would link him to the corruption.
And sure enough, the World Tree in his bow vibrated a warning.
[That's him! The one who corrupted my body and killed my precious children... Human, be careful. He's dangerous.]
“So you're the one yapping. Moved into the World Tree, huh? Ditching your body? Harsh. Yaaawn.”
“Shut it, kid. Who are you?”
“Me? Yaaawn. What to call me? Never had a name. We have nicknames, but... you don't need to know.”
The boy vanished. In an instant, he closed the distance, staring up at Sung-tae.
“You're gonna die.”
His hand shot forward, halting before Sung-tae's eyes.
Wasn't that an attack? As Sung-tae puzzled, the boy muttered softly.
“Nah. Wanna sleep more. You're stronger than I thought? Life force sparkles. Guess I'll make you my house.”
“Says who?”
“Not asking. Don't need your permission. If I want it, that's enough. So...”
The boy turned translucent, charging at Sung-tae with a semitransparent body.
“Just accept it.”
“Hm?”
A bizarre sensation probed his mind. Like when Mukkebi first entered his inner world. Sung-tae focused.
Feels gross.
Unlike Mukkebi, whom he'd welcomed, his fierce rejection flung the boy out.
“Whoa, you're really strong? Can't even get in. I made the World Tree my house easy.”
“Want a house? Work for it. Don't hijack someone else's body.”
“That's for humans. I'm not human.”
“Then what are you?”
“Hmm. Gotta weaken you first. Humans get mentally frail when their body's beat...”
Ignoring Sung-tae, the boy monologued, dark aura swirling around him.
“Half-kill you first. Test this body's specs too.”
“Ignoring me?”
The boy's hand surged. One strike, but hundreds of afterimages of palms overwhelmed Sung-tae.
Dodge. Danger chilled his neck.
This could shatter my armor.
“Oh? Dodged? Shoulda slept more. Body's incomplete. Fine, another way.”
The boy leaped skyward. Dark clouds—the same that corrupted the World Tree—formed around him. Hundreds of tentacles lashed down like lightning from the gray mass.
“Dodge this.”
No escape. They were lightning-fast, blanketing everywhere.
Sung-tae drew a breath and unsheathed Gloria. Swinging it bathed the world in white light.
“Oho! Not bad. Cool sword?”
The holy blade's glow vaporized the tentacles. The boy smirked, then bored again.
“Knew you weren't ordinary... Yaaawn.”
“Hey. What the hell are you?”
“Feel it, huh. Demon king power... But weak. Just lingering thoughts? Then...”
Grinning playfully, the boy chatted amiably.
“You a hero? Who sent you? Didn't sense 'em. Weird. No god power. New-type hero?”
“...”
“You look slothful like my hero'd be. Oh wait, never made one. Pride's? Nah, he wouldn't. Envy then?”
“Sloth? Pride? Envy?”
The words sparked a memory. Lust. Gluttony. Pride. Greed. Wrath. Sloth. Envy.
“The Seven Deadly Sins?”
The boy showed no intent to explain, just yawned hugely at Sung-tae.
“Dunno whose, but damn, makes me greedy even though it's not Greed. Gotta have you as my house.”
“You...”
Lazy expression, constant yawns. Only one sin fit.
“Sloth?”
“Pfft. Knew that already, huh? Fine, I'm...”p>
His half-lidded eyes gleamed through drooping lids. Pitch black, brimming with darkness.
“Sloth.”
And killing intent.