Chapter 334: The Seven Deadly Sins (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 334: The Seven Deadly Sins (1)
Four hours had already passed since the intruder escaped the church after causing a commotion.
Kwang!
Receiving reports from the priests spread throughout the upper level, Jung-won slammed his fist on the desk in a rage.
“You're telling me you still haven't found him?!”
“I-I'm sorry.”
“It's been three hours since that bastard left the church! And you still can't find him?!”
Over a hundred priests had left the church to find the intruder.
Four hours was more than enough time for a hundred priests to turn the entire upper level upside down.
Yet, the fact that they hadn't found a single witness, let alone the man himself, was enough to make him anxious.
‘Did he already escape? No, that's impossible…!’
It couldn't be.
The very first thing he did upon learning of the intruder was to contact the Black Market administrator and seal the only passage out of the upper level.
Because of that, everyone on the upper level was trapped inside.
How could the intruder alone have slipped away so calmly amidst all this?!
“Dammit…!”
Time was running out.
“Open the gate right now, you son of a bitch!”
“You want to see this church get torn to pieces? Huh?!”
The number of people voicing their complaints was starting to grow.
If he kept the passage sealed any longer, there was no telling when those shouting their complaints might turn violent.
With bloodshot eyes, he gave a final order to the priest before him.
“Thirty minutes from now… Find him within that time.”
“Y-Yes, sir…!”
As the priest rushed out, Jung-won sank into his chair and let out a deep sigh.
While he was erupting with volcanic rage, a man of small build, clad head-to-toe in black armor, was seething with a cold fury.
Shinggg
Blood had dried on the sword embedded in the wall at the end of the hall.
He had clearly thrown it at the man's head, yet his opponent had dodged it as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
Thanks to that, all it did was graze his shoulder.
“……”
He touched his still-throbbing chest, cooling his boiling rage.
He had received a disproportionate reply for what was just a shallow cut on the shoulder.
The moment he saw the blue flash darting toward him, sparking like a firecracker, he felt it.
‘Death.’
A clear and distinct death approaching him.
If he hadn't defended himself by wrapping his armor in mana, he surely would not have escaped death.
It was the first time.
An opponent who had, even for a moment, struck fear into him.
That was why he intentionally hid it.
The existence of the drop of blood on his sword.
“…I will find him.”
He had heard there were Awakened Beings who could use blood to find its owner.
If he commissioned one of them, he would be able to meet the owner of the blood on his sword.
However, that meeting had to be between just the two of them.
‘I will kill him.’
Because the sliver of fear and humiliation carved into his heart could only be erased by facing it alone.
Vowing to find that bastard and kill him with his own hands.
Clank.
He carefully slid the bloodstained sword into its sheath.
*
Amidst the swirling vortex of worry, anxiety, and hot and cold fury that consumed the church, only Son Si-woo was at peace.
No, he was made to be at peace.
“Huhu… Don't you worry too much.”
Michelle.
One of the four paladins assigned to assist Son Si-woo, she was currently soothing him.
Having tossed aside even her heavy armor, she chattered on endlessly, pressing her captivating body against him.
“I promise you, Brother, you won't suffer any losses from this incident.”
“I suppose not.”
He replied nonchalantly.
It wasn't an act, pretending to be bold in front of a woman while hiding his worries; he genuinely believed it.
At first, he had been very worried.
He wondered if everything he had built up until now would crumble because of this.
But he soon calmed down.
Feeling a sense of security from Michelle's ample bosom pressed tightly against his arm, his thoughts began to change.
He was certain.
‘This incident won't tarnish my image.’
The intruder had only overheard a few words of the conversation between him and Jung-won before fleeing.
Even if the intruder used that to spout nonsense on the internet or TV, his image wouldn't be broken.
No, something like that could never break it.
Living as Son Si-woo, he had come to realize it clearly.
The image of the 'National Hunter,' built over decades of life-threatening battles, was several times more solid and substantial than people thought.
A secret conversation with a cult priest?
‘I just have to deny it.’
A single word of denial would be enough.
The media—no, the entire Republic of Korea was favorable to him.
The people swayed by all sorts of gossip, the reporters who claimed the right to know, the conglomerates that fed the nation, and even the government that led it.
That was the power the name Son Si-woo held in this land.
To exaggerate a little, if this body's original owner had harbored even the slightest ill intent, the entire country might have become a cartel just for him.
‘There's nothing to worry about.’
So he wouldn't worry.
No, he mustn't.
Because.
‘I am Son Si-woo.’
To live as Son Si-woo, he had to be that way.
Which meant he needed to be a little bolder right now.
Reluctantly, he detached Michelle's voluptuous body clinging to his arm and stood up.
Then, with a rather heavy gaze, he looked down at her and spoke.
“All four of you, come to the guild by tomorrow afternoon.”
“The guild…?”
“If you're going to move with me, you'll at least need to join the guild.”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
“And tell Priest Jung-won.”
“What should I….”
He recalled.
The angry expression Son Si-woo had made that he'd seen on the internet.
He perfectly replicated it on his own face and continued.
“This kind of thing… must not happen a second time.”
In a way, it was a bluff.
But the incredibly solid physique surrounding his weak mind packaged it in a way that made it seem utterly sincere to Michelle.
“Y-Yes… I-I'll be sure to tell him that.”
Michelle nodded, her voice trembling as she answered.
It wasn't a bad feeling.
The feeling of watching the eyes of someone looking up at you become consumed by fear.
No, honestly, it felt good.
‘Was it like this for them, too?’
The group that used to bully him came to mind.
Kim Jeong-hun and his gang, who had sent him on bread runs, extorted money from him, and beat him up almost daily.
Did they feel this way when he looked up at them with eyes full of fear?
Is that why they tormented him so viciously and relentlessly?
“Hah…”
A weak, dry laugh escaped Son Si-woo.
He didn't know.
And he didn't want to.
But one thing, he knew for sure.
He would rather die than return to those days when he was a helpless victim, unable to even resist.
He would overcome any crisis and seize what he wanted.
Whether it was Han Ju-hee or fame.
‘It's all mine.’
To that end, he was prepared to do anything.
No, he had just now finished preparing himself mentally.
*
All the way from the Black Market to his home, a single word from their conversation churned through his mind.
“Invidia…”
Searching for it on the internet yielded the following results.
【The long-awaited ZTX 9000 series is here! Will it succeed in making a comeback?】
【The ZTX 9000 series, released after the disastrous 8000 series. Have they sharpened their knives?】
The first thing to pop up was, of course, that crazy graphics card company whose products swung between heaven and hell with every release.
It said all eyes were on whether the Taiwanese chairman from the Hwang family, who had come to be called 'Hwang the Bastard' after releasing the disastrous 8000 series last year, could restore his honor.
“What is it with these damn graphics cards…”
Well, it wasn't that he didn't understand.
It was a universal feeling to be upset when a long-awaited product turned out to be worse than expected.
“This isn't it.”
But this wasn't the information he was looking for.
As he flipped through the pages, all sorts of things popped up.
A short drama from long ago, an animation, and so on.
Then, the dictionary definition on a language tab he'd clicked idly caught his eye.
“Envy, jealousy…?”
So it was Latin, not English.
The thought of disliking and worrying about another's success as if it were one's own loss.
And.
“One of the Seven Deadly Sins…”
He'd heard the term before.
The seven sins defined by Christianity in the past.
He knew that the Vatican Orthodox Church, which had become mainstream since the dawn of the Hunter society, also promoted doctrines using them.
Not as a public doctrine, of course, but more like a code of conduct that priests had to follow.
Things that one must never do to become a priest who serves God, or something like that.
Of course, whether they were truly abiding by all seven sins… well.
“He'd seen far too many rotten ones.”
There were more than a few priests who demanded money in exchange for joining a dungeon conquest.
Wasn't coveting money against their doctrine?
“The Seven Deadly Sins…”
He was almost certain that the 'Invidia' those bastards mentioned referred to Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
He followed a link on the word and examined the types of the seven sins.
Pride (Superbia), Avarice (Avaritia), Envy (Invidia), Wrath (Ira), Lust (Luxuria), Sloth (Pigritia).
And….
“Gluttony (Gula).”
The moment he uttered the last word, the scattered fragments of memory in his mind began to come together.
Invidia, meaning Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
And the sub-trait he had been given, Gluttony (Tamsik).
Considering that Gula, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, is also known as Gluttony (Tamsik), it meant two of the sins had already appeared before him.
Then, the final fragment of memory surfaced.
“The face-to-face meeting.”
The 504 'Ones with Aptitude' gathered in one place.
And the seven chairs imbued with a special power that were placed there.
As his memory reached that point, a chilling thought flashed through his mind.
“Could it be…”
That the aptitude possessed by the 504 of us, myself included, is somehow deeply related to the Seven Deadly Sins?