Once upon a time in the underworld, the sins were created to tempt and mislead humans. Not just humans—they also competed among themselves to become the strongest sin and subdue the weaker ones.
Thousands of years passed, and the result of that chaos gave birth to seven kingdoms, each led by the victorious sins whose power was acknowledged. You must already be familiar with all seven of them.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
They were feared, honored, and worshipped. The sins who lost in the struggle for the throne chose to submit and follow their favorite deadly sin, conquering human hearts together.
However, among the seven deadly sins, there was one sin that the junior sins despised.
He was nicknamed the most indecent sin, one who brought no benefit to any other sin except for self-satisfaction. On top of that, his neutral stance toward the eternal enemies of sin—the virtues—made many sins feel disgusted by him.
The youngest. Lust, the Sin of Desire.
As time went on, Lust's followers dwindled until he was left all alone. His existence was on the verge of extinction. So be it. He knew he was an unpopular and useless sin.
Was it wrong for Lust to desire freedom?
Just as Lust was ready to accept his fate, one of his older siblings visited him. Envy, the Sin of Jealousy. The only sibling who understood him and often invited him to work together in leading humans astray.
"Dear brother, go to the surface and gather as many sin points as possible."
"Forget it, Bro. Wouldn't it be better if one sin went extinct? The seventh seat could be replaced by someone stronger than me."
"Because you are my brother. I can't just stand by and watch my favorite sin die out. Listen, Lust… every sin has its own role. If desire disappears, who will be the ultimate tempter of human urges?"
And so, Lust found his motivation. He left his world and went to Earth to gather as many sin points as possible. Unfortunately, he was a naive spirit who had never set foot in the field before.
Tempting humans directly turned out to be much harder than he had imagined.
***
The first thing Lust felt was a cold sensation.
He was submerged in red water. His eyes widened as he sat up quickly, gasping and coughing for air. His body was soaked, his head throbbed badly, and his left wrist stung every time he moved.
What on earth happened?
His vision was still blurry as he glanced around. The room was narrow, dark, and stuffy. At first, he thought he had landed in a river, but this place looked more like a room. A bathtub, to be exact.
Lust stumbled out of the tub. Whether it was from crossing dimensions after so long or simply from being submerged, he felt nauseous. First things first, he needed to find a blanket or a change of clothes. Staying wet would only make him colder.
As he passed a tall mirror, Lust stopped, stepping back three paces. He stared at his own reflection in disbelief, inspecting his new appearance.
"Wait, who is this?"
Lust's original form was a pink goat. But upon entering the human world, his body automatically adapted to the surroundings. That transformation took the shape of a human who had just died in an incident of overwhelming lust.
Lust examined each part of his medium's body carefully. Fair skin, a soft, gentle voice, small fingers, sleepy gaze, mesmerizing orange eyes, and hair that had probably been black before Lust took over—now naturally turned pink.
"Hmm, looks like this is a boy, and still young. Too bad it's not a girl."
He wasn't joking. In fact, he was pleased to receive such a pretty vessel—like a candy vendor boy with a smile as bright as the sun. There was a lot he could do with such an innocent-looking body.
Ah, whatever. He could admire himself later.
He removed the wet clothes, revealing the infinity heart engraved on his chest. His sin symbol. But suddenly—argh! Lust grimaced from the sharp pain in his left wrist. Blood had been dripping since he got out of the tub. There was a fresh cut.
"Damn it!" Lust gritted his teeth, sweating from the pain. "So this body's injured?! Why didn't I realize earlier?"
Lust hobbled toward the living room. His steps were shaky due to the searing pain. His face was pale from blood loss, but his memory was still intact. He had read the manual on how to adapt to Earth before leaving.
If injured, use the tools inside the first aid kit for emergency treatment. There's a rule that prohibits spirits from using their powers in the human world to maintain balance. So they had to be careful. Unless the situation was truly critical.
Lust's eyes scanned the room, searching for the mentioned object.
"First aid kit, first aid kit… where is that thing?"
What did it even look like? They didn't bother showing any pictures in the book. Was it big or small? Colorful? Or sparkly like a jewelry box? Humans had one, right?
Fortunately, Lust wasn't slow. His eyes caught sight of a white box with a red cross lying on top of a cupboard. He sighed in relief upon opening it and finding tools useful for stopping the bleeding, stitching the wound, and bandaging it.
But then, something else caught his attention.
A letter and a wallet on the bed.
Lust picked up the letter and began reading it. Within seconds, he clicked his tongue in annoyance—he couldn't read Hangul. He focused for a moment. Sync to the local language.
"There, now I can read it."
It was a suicide note. Very short. The original owner of this body had ended his life without a clear reason. The note explained the situation that Lust had woken up in—a bloodied bathtub.
With mixed feelings, Lust opened the wallet. He found a few bills, some plastic cards, and an ID card. He picked it up and read the info written there. The name of the body's owner was Han Maehwa, 20 years old, a first-year Korean Literature student.
"Your face is sweet. Why would you kill yourself, hmm?" he muttered. "Your eyes still looked bright…"
Humans were fragile. Once they lost hope and support, they'd fall into darkness. Judging by the surroundings, this person probably lived alone. No one to cheer him on. Lonely.
Whatever the reason, this body now belonged to Lust. The vessel had already fused with him. There was no use digging deeper into why the previous owner gave up on life.
He is now Han Maehwa.