Chapter 43: Facing greed.

There are five angels in the world.
And the desires of these angels: ‘Wrath, Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth’.

It has never been revealed why they take on the forms humans commonly associate with ‘angels’,
yet specifically embody the Seven Deadly Sins of humanity.

Regardless, if you were to ask people who the most feared angel in the world is,
they would undoubtedly all say, ‘the Russian Angel’.

That’s because she always harbored an unquenchable wrath in her heart.
Due to this, incidents and accidents occurred daily, even over the most trivial matters.

Consequently, her caregivers and those around her
made an effort to avoid disturbing her, being careful even with their breathing and footsteps.
No matter how difficult it was, they were in a tragic situation where they couldn’t even quit their jobs as they pleased.

For example, recalling the story of the Russian Angel’s caregiver that became a hot topic online:
One day, one of the Russian Angel’s caregivers quit because they were too scared.
The Russian Angel then got annoyed, asking why the person had changed.

Because of this, the Russian government had to quickly bring the caregiver back, using all sorts of persuasion and threats.
It somehow became public and was an incident that created a stir online.

Of course, it was truly unavoidable for the Russian government.
The public opinion was unexpectedly not as bad as one might think.

Anyway, for these reasons,
the most feared and terrifying angel in people’s hearts was the Russian Angel.

In that vein, if you were to ask who the most ‘malicious’ angel was this time,
the Chinese Angel would undoubtedly be chosen.

First, as her desire was Greed,
she wanted to acquire everything that seemed even slightly valuable to her eyes and ears.
This meant she inevitably had overwhelmingly more interactions with people than other angels.

Also, it was because China had repeatedly engaged in acts of plunder against other nations, using the Angel as an excuse.
After all, Greed made it easy to induce situations that benefited them compared to other desires.

Well, naturally, China didn’t overtly show it.
However, they had been leaking information about things that were necessary and beneficial to their country to pique the Chinese Angel’s interest.

This was a fact already known by those who had a certain level of information.
This included Choi Eun-ju.

Thanks to this, Lee Hye-jin, who had heard some of the full story of this matter,
frowned intensely, full of anger.

“No! Then, China leaked information, targeting the Korean Angel, didn’t they!? Isn’t that a huge international problem!? Why isn’t everyone arguing about it!?”

Choi Eun-ju gave a wry smile in response.

“It’s not yet certain if the government was involved. Besides, since they only touch what the Angel actually wants, how can we argue about it? Otherwise, the Chinese Angel might move herself.”
“Ugh… Even so… We can truly give away theme parks, but coveting the Angel…”

As Lee Hye-jin gnashed her teeth,
this time Park Gyu-tae asked Choi Eun-ju, who still maintained her wry smile.

“Is there no way…? No matter how you look at it, wanting to possess the Angel… it’s too forced, isn’t it?”
“A way…? Hmm… If there were an immediate solution, other countries wouldn’t have had their cultural assets taken so pointlessly.”
“… So, there’s no way?”

Park Gyu-tae asked again, his face completely stiff.
Choi Eun-ju stared at his expression before opening her mouth.

“Well, since it’s come to this. Just go with the Angel as if you’re taking a trip.”
“Go…? Where to?”
“China, of course.”
“… Huh?”
“Huh!?”

At Choi Eun-ju’s words, Lee Hye-jin and Park Gyu-tae both showed surprised expressions simultaneously.
She added an explanation.

“Honestly, there really is no way to stop it. The only case where it was stopped was when the Russian Angel got involved.”
“The Russian Angel…?”
“I didn’t hear what she wanted. But anyway, the Russian Angel got furious and fought, and that’s the only case where the Chinese Angel’s demand was rejected.”
“Hmm… a fight between angels…”

Park Gyu-tae suddenly thought of the incident at the Folk Village, and involuntarily swallowed hard, muttering to himself.
The scale of it would surely far exceed his ordinary imagination.

Lee Hye-jin also seemed to be thinking something similar, and her expression turned serious.
Choi Eun-ju spoke again.

“In short, there’s no way to stop it unless our Angel steps forward herself.”
“B-but…”

Lee Hye-jin tried to say something midway, but the words continued.

“That’s right. Of course, she won’t step forward in her current state. That’s why I’m telling you to go. There’s no other way.”
“……”
“……”

The meeting room fell silent for a moment at the irrefutable words.
Soon, Park Gyu-tae’s last question came.

“… By the way, did you find out the reason for the Angel’s condition?”
“Ah, yes. The conclusion was just reached today.”

With Choi Eun-ju’s explanation, the conversation concluded.

For some reason, Park Gyu-tae’s expression wasn’t very good after hearing the explanation.

After returning from the theme park, I idled around for about a week.
I had no particular schedule.
Nor did I have the will to do anything, so I just rested deeply without a care.

‘…… This might be a bit sudden after all…’

I ended up heading to China completely out of the blue.

The reason was… hmm, what was it again…?
Was it because the Chinese Angel wanted to see me?

Well, anyway, with a feeling of great haste,
the conversation and preparations finished lightning-fast, and we were on our way to China.

As for me, I didn’t have any special preparations.
I was simply floating around like a jellyfish while being held, so it didn’t matter at all to me.

But then, it seemed Park Gyu-tae and Lee Hye-jin had some kind of problem during the process.
Since leaving the research institute, they hadn’t even looked at each other.
They weren’t even exchanging a single light word.

This was clearly an atmosphere that screamed they had fought.
I was quite flustered because, from what I had seen of them so far, I had never imagined they would fight.
This heavy atmosphere was also quite burdensome.

So, I wanted to ask why they fought,
and quickly help them reconcile…

‘The reason… I’m curious… but it’s bothersome… curious… but bothersome…’

As expected, it wasn’t as easy as I hoped.

Ah… why was I born as Sloth, of all things…?
Weren’t there many other good things I could have been…?

Instead of reconciling the two, I naturally started trailing off into useless thoughts by myself.
Since it had become bothersome to move my body lately, the time I spent on such fantasies had drastically increased.

‘Ah, still, it might be a good thing I wasn’t born as Lust…’

Nevertheless, this one fact remained unchanged no matter how many times I thought about it.
After all, if I couldn’t control myself and… hmm… towards Park Gyu-tae or Lee Hye-jin…

… No.
I won’t even imagine it.

I quickly stopped my thoughts.
I stared blankly at the clouds outside the window.

‘Well… they’ll reconcile on their own, probably…’

And I immediately decided to think comfortably.
They weren’t children, but grown adults, so I figured they’d manage just fine on their own.
It definitely wasn’t because I was bothered, this was… hmm.
Ah, yes, trust. It was trust.

‘After all, we’re family, right?’

Although we weren’t related by blood,
we were connected strongly enough that we would surely reconcile quickly.

So, especially for those two,
I stealthily closed my eyes to pray for Park Gyu-tae and Lee Hye-jin’s swift and smooth reconciliation.
The content of the prayer was…

‘Hmm, fighting…’

I kept it suitably concise.
It wasn’t particularly because I was bothered, or because I had actually closed my eyes to sleep.

Anyway, I immediately fell asleep naturally.

“… Angel, Angel…?”

When I opened my eyes at Lee Hye-jin’s call,

‘So sleepy…’

we had already arrived in China.

“Ah, you’re awake? Uh… I’m sorry. I really tried not to wake you, but… it’s because the Chinese Angel said she’d come to greet us…”

Lee Hye-jin’s voice was filled with apology.
I was a little tired, but it didn’t matter at all.
Yet, for some reason, she seemed especially sorry today.

‘… Come to think of it, was she feeling apologetic from the moment we started coming to China?’

I tilted my head slightly at her seemingly puzzled expression.
We then waited for the Chinese Angel, who was supposedly coming to greet us kindly.

So, I blankly observed Park Gyu-tae, who was intentionally a few steps away from Lee Hye-jin.
I watched the two, who still seemed unreconciled.

“Oh, they seem to be here! Oh…? N-no… but what, what is all that!?”

With Lee Hye-jin’s startled expression,
the Chinese Angel finally appeared.

‘……?’

No, to be more precise, the Chinese Angel wasn’t even visible yet.
Yet, the reason I could deduce her presence was her entourage… or rather,
should I call it a parade or a procession…?

It was because an immense number of soldiers were seen approaching.

It was a sight that would be completely incomprehensible if it weren’t for the Chinese Angel.
It was the moment I understood Lee Hye-jin’s instant deduction.

Click.

Anyway, a long, black vehicle stopped in front of us a good while later.
Strangely, the door automatically opened by itself.

Thud.

From inside the car, unlike me—
ah, no… unlike other angels, a pair of long legs extended out.

The Chinese Angel had her hair tied up in round buns on both sides of her head.
She was wearing a qipao and giving a crescent-eyed smile.