Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Curiosity Killed the Cat
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Curiosity killed the cat.
I knew I shouldn't look.
But just once wouldn't hurt, right?
"Hoo..."
The man's trembling hand was just about to lift the sealing paper and peek inside.
"Don't."
"Hek!"
An iron-gloved hand suddenly intervened, firmly blocking the man's action.
The knight who approached the startled man spoke resolutely.
"Th-that is, I..."
"Don't speak."
The man couldn't say a word.
He just clamped his mouth shut and continued moving the ominous, dangerous thing.
The knight's warning rang in the man's ear.
"Unless you want to die."
In the silence, the man kept transporting the thing.
Something no human could possibly handle.
Only Lord Judak could resolve it.
They opened the door to a room full of beds.
"Put that down."
As the knight instructed, the man slowly placed it on the bed.
At that moment, the sealing paper that had been holding it slipped off.
And the man confirmed what it was.
"Huh, heup...!"
"Shh!"
The knight urgently covered the man's mouth, stifling the noise.
It wakes to surrounding sounds.
It opens its eyes to a changed environment.
You must never make a racket around it.
"Heeng."
Was it because the sealing paper and ultra-fine microfiber blanket had weakened?
Soon, it winced at the sunlight.
The knight's heart pounded wildly.
But with superhuman patience, he ever so gently covered its face with the blanket again.
"Hueeng."
And just like that, it fell back asleep as if nothing had happened.
"Huh, heuk."
The knight and the man sighed in relief inwardly, drenched in cold sweat.
Sloth was wrapped tightly in the blanket and sealed away in the Judak Academy dormitory just like that.
*
"It worked."
Sloth had been sealed.
I tried tossing the blanket around wildly, and it actually stuck.
As long as you don't look at it or touch it, Sloth doesn't transfer over, apparently.
But the problem wasn't solved.
[Title: I Want to Rest Today]
(Image of someone sprawled out in the living room)
I don't get why I was struggling so hard to stay alive.
Nothing's gonna get better tomorrow anyway.
Whether you try or not doesn't matter.
You still won't find a job, and your life tomorrow won't improve.
[Recommendations 12] [Disrecommendations 41]
- Open a window first and then think, dude.
- Facts.
- But isn't that kitchen on fire?
└ OP) Yeah, it is.
└ Not the time to post, you madman.
[Title: Living Slothfully vs. Living Desperately]
(Image of a haggard peasant frog)
What's there to agonize over?
Either way, your future's the same.
I was grinding hard until just now,
But suddenly reality hits like a truck.
[Recommendations 10] [Disrecommendations 21]
- Gallery's vibe is off today.
- Yeah, these posts have always existed, but the frequency's weird.
- (Charred elf image)
Sloth was spreading rapidly.
"It's weird. Even Envy wasn't this bad."
The influence was abnormally strong.
Thinking about why, the medieval destruction backdrop played a big role.
Apathy, ennui, giving up.
No time was more perfect for these to emerge.
- But the facts are all true.
└ The more you struggle, the more wrecked you get.
└ (Frog meme sobbing and shooting arrows at the sky)
And the depression spreads.
Even the normally fine gallery users were swept up in the gloomy posts.
The gallery, which should be full of dopamine and energy, was growing damp and listless.
"This won't do."
An Isekai Depression Gallery is a no-go.
So I called Penny.
Since she's one of the Seven Deadly Sins, she might know something.
"Sloth? Why's that thing here?"
Penny's eyes widened and she froze upon seeing Sloth in the gallery.
"You know something about Sloth?"
"Yeah, I know of it, but..."
Penny repeatedly checked Sloth's face in disbelief.
Long black hair trailing all the way to her feet.
Dull gray, ashen hazy eyes that had lost their shine somewhere.
And finally, that limp, floppy posture and gaze just from looking.
"It's probably not here to invade."
Sloth was never the type to come out on her own volition.
"Then?"
"...Maybe she got kicked out?"
The most plausible guess was that she'd been exiled.
Among the Seven Deadly Sins, Sloth was the least helpful.
No, she was a walking headache.
"She turns everything around her slothful. Enemies and allies alike."
A walking sleep bomb.
On top of that, the outside environment wasn't great.
If she went around looking for a spot to sleep, the whole area would end up in ruins.
"And... Wrath really hates her."
"Wrath? Another Deadly Sin?"
"Yeah. Needs to get angry, but she's a hindrance right next to him."
Above all, Sloth didn't hate this world to begin with.
"To be hostile, you need emotions, right?"
"Yeah?"
"She even found emotional fluctuations bothersome."
Out of laziness.
Truly a reason straight out of Sloth herself.
"Anyway... this is tricky."
Penny frowned and rubbed her chin.
Regardless, Sloth had infected a few people, and it spread to the gallery.
"Any way to fix it?"
"You just need to overcome the slothful feeling in your heart with your own will, even just once."
Suppressing Sloth.
Just once is enough.
But easier said than done—trying isn't easy.
Even beasts can't handle Sloth; how could ordinary people?
But I wasn't too shaken.
"Feels like I can solve it."
"Really?"
Penny looked at me in surprise.
Even fellow Sins couldn't deal with Sloth.
Plus, in this medieval destruction setting, people were succumbing even harder.
But overcoming it might surprisingly be easy.
"Grill..."
"Huh?"
"Grill and meat should do it."
The starving medieval folk day in, day out.
A perfect solution came to mind.
*
"You in there? I'm coming in."
After a few knocks, the man opened the door.
The worn door accepted the outsider without resistance.
Inside was a drab atmosphere, a charred kitchen, and the sprawled homeowner in the living room.
"Worse than I thought."
No shut-in was this bad.
The man, Frank's old friend, frowned as he entered.
All because of the rift's influence, they said.
Hardworking Frank turning into a shut-in overnight—hard to deny.
Looking at Frank lying like a corpse, the man unpacked what he'd brought.
"You gotta eat, right?"
"..."
"I'll cook on the side. You eat too."
He pulled out a portable gas burner from the bag.
Connected the mana conduit called butane gas, and placed a square grill on top.
The man repeatedly checked the gallery, carefully learning how to use it.
And finally, as he turned the knob.
-Tadak
"Ooh!"
A fine flame rose from the man's hand, unknown even to magic mages.
Truly astonishing.
"..."
But Frank's gaze remained utterly indifferent.
Whether a stranger entered his home or he used Lord Judak's magic, whatever.
Devoid of all drive and purpose, he didn't respond.
"Still like that? Well... fine."
This matched what Lord Judak had described.
The man silently moved on.
He took meat out from the transparent, soft thin cloth called a vinyl bag.
[1++ Beef, Assorted Premium Cuts One Plate]
No ordinary meat.
A special breed raised solely for taste, unavailable at markets—even nobles couldn't have it.
-Sizzle!
Placing it on the grill, it delighted the ears,
And a never-before-sniffed aroma spread.
For the first time, Frank's corpse-like head turned.
The man demonstratively popped the steaming beef into his mouth right in front of him.
"Fuck. Ah, sorry."
A taste that cursed from your mouth.
Tongue and palate screamed at the first-time juices and luxurious texture.
Texture this, flavor like that,
Just fucking delicious.
No other way to describe it.
"You..."
For the first time, Frank spoke.
"You want some too, right? Then come sit! Just sit and grab it yourself!"
The man excitedly said to Frank, who hadn't budged no matter what.
One single effort.
That's all Lord Judak said it took to cure this sloth sickness.
But the response was different.
"What's the point?"
"...Huh?"
"Eat it, and I'll just get hungry again."
No matter how tasty.
No matter how fine the clothes.
All fleeting.
"The world's like this anyway. Look at me—what's gonna change going forward?"
A world full of disgust and selfishness.
Even if beasts invade, nothing changes.
Frank had struggled his whole life, yet he was still at rock bottom.
The man couldn't rebut.
No matter how hard you work, nothing improves—that was plain fact.
"Take the meat back."
Frank looked away.
Was being slothful a crime?
If struggling changes nothing, maybe just lying there is better.
Watching day and night cycle out the window until death—not so bad.
That's when all drive was lost.
"Really think that?"
The gallery was thrust in front of Frank.
[Notice: Judak Academy Admissions Results Announced]
Author: Judak*
(Primary Pass List)
- Ah!!!Fuck!!!Fast!!!
- (Frog meme shaking its ass)
- Fuck yes!!!!!!
Cheers and despair everywhere.
"...Huh?"
Frank's listless eyes widened round.
Frank.
His three-letter name was on the pass list.
"How could this..."
Couldn't even find daily work, starving daily—yet passed? Hired?
Frank's lips trembled.
Then, the man's voice rang clearly in his ear for the first time.
"The world's changing."
"Changing?"
"Yeah. And if you fail? So what?"
- Ah shit lololol
└ Lololol result's obvious without looking
└ I passed! Pass-yahoo!!!
└ Ah lol wait for secondary passes lol
Try again.
-Sizzle...
"Aigoo fuck my lovely meat!"
The man, mid-sentence, urgently salvaged and ate the cooking meat.
"And getting hungry again? So?"
The market and gallery were still there.
Eat something tasty again.
"Just eat more tasty stuff."
50% meaningless, 40% hard and painful,
But we grind for that 10% joy, right?
At least the man did.
"But the world..."
"Really think it's unchanged?"
Cutting Frank off, the man retorted.
Then Frank noticed the meat in his hand.
Commoners couldn't dream of it—product of Lord Judak's great magic.
The meat itself was proof of hope.
"So quit yapping and sit and eat."
-Sizzle...
Gazing at the juice-filled meat, Frank thought.
Goals are made by you.
Looking back, scraping 1 quadrillion units for a tuna can felt like owning the world.
With hope named Judak, the world no longer flows the same.
"Hmm..."
Frank slowly rose.
And as he sat and took a bite of the perfectly grilled beef.
"Delicious fuck..."
Tears slowly fell from Frank's eyes.