Seven Deadly Sins

CHAPTER:9

Y/N stood at the entrance of the grand hall, her eyes tracing the intricate designs on the walls, her mind heavy with everything she'd learned so far. The mansion was deceptively quiet, but she knew better now. It wasn't silence that surrounded her-it was tension, like a storm waiting to break.

The encounters with the sins had begun to blur in her mind, each one more unnerving than the last. Taehyung's envy, Jin's restrained gluttony, Jimin's seductive lust-they all revealed glimpses of the demons beneath the surface, but something was still missing. A key piece of the puzzle she hadn't yet found.

As she entered the hall, her footsteps echoing against the cold marble, she felt the presence of someone behind her. Turning around, she found Hoseok leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, his eyes sharp with curiosity.

Wrath.

"Always wandering, aren't you?" Hoseok's voice cut through the stillness, a smirk playing on his lips.

Y/N frowned, crossing her arms as she faced him. "It's hard to find peace in a house full of demons."

He chuckled darkly, pushing off the doorframe and walking toward her with deliberate steps. "Peace isn't what we're here for, Y/N. You should know that by now."

She narrowed her eyes, refusing to be intimidated by his presence. Hoseok had an energy that felt like a live wire, crackling beneath the surface, ready to snap at any moment. His title-Wrath-wasn't just a name. It was a promise.

"And what are you here for, then?" Y/N asked, her voice steady, though she could feel the weight of his gaze on her.

Hoseok's smirk faded as his eyes darkened, a glint of something dangerous flickering in them. "To survive. Just like you."

Y/N held his gaze, refusing to back down. "Survive what?"

"Themselves," a low voice answered from behind Hoseok.

Namjoon stepped into the hall, his presence commanding as always. Pride radiated off him like a crown he wore with ease, but there was something else there, something beneath the surface that Y/N hadn't noticed before. Exhaustion, maybe. Or was it something deeper?

Hoseok gave Namjoon a sideways glance, his expression unreadable. "And each other."

Y/N's eyes flicked between them, confusion knitting her brow. She had expected them to work as a unit, to be united by their sins, but the more time she spent around them, the more she realized that wasn't the case. There was a tension between them that went beyond mere rivalry. It was as if they were all walking on a tightrope, each one carefully avoiding stepping too close to the others' territory.

"You're not like a family, are you?" Y/N asked, her voice quiet, more of a statement than a question.

Namjoon's eyes met hers, and for a moment, the mask of pride slipped. "We were, once."

Hoseok snorted. "Once, but not anymore."

Y/N frowned. "What happened?"

Neither of them answered right away, but the silence spoke volumes. Whatever had bound them together before was long gone, replaced by bitterness, competition, and the constant threat of their own sins consuming them.

"We're cursed, Y/N," Namjoon finally said, his voice low, almost resigned. "Cursed to embody these sins, to be slaves to them."

Y/N's heart skipped a beat at the raw truth in his words. "You don't want this?"

Namjoon's jaw tightened, his eyes hardening as the familiar arrogance returned. "It doesn't matter what we want. This is what we are."

Before Y/N could press him further, the sound of footsteps echoed through the hall. She turned to see Taehyung and Jungkook entering, their expressions as guarded as ever. Taehyung's eyes met hers briefly before flicking away, while Jungkook-Pride incarnate-strode forward with his usual air of superiority.

"What are we discussing?" Jungkook asked, though his tone suggested he didn't particularly care about the answer.

"The price of sin," Hoseok replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jungkook's gaze shifted to Y/N, and for a moment, his expression softened. "Don't let them fill your head with their regrets," he said, his voice smooth and confident. "We are what we are. There's no use in fighting it."

Y/N felt a surge of frustration rise in her chest. "But you do fight it, don't you? All of you. I've seen it."

Taehyung, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "We don't fight it. We just... manage it."

Y/N turned to him, her gaze sharp. "That's not what it looked like when you warned me. You wanted me to stay away from the others-why?"

Taehyung hesitated, glancing at Namjoon and Hoseok before meeting Y/N's eyes. "Because... I didn't want you to get caught up in this. In us."

Y/N's breath caught in her throat at the vulnerability in his voice. For all the danger and power the sins represented, there was a part of them that feared themselves-feared what they might do to her, to each other.

But the moment passed quickly, and Taehyung's expression closed off again, the walls firmly back in place.

"You're all bound to these sins, but that doesn't mean you have to destroy each other," Y/N said, her voice stronger now. "You still have a choice."

Jungkook laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. "There's no choice, Y/N. We're demons. We were born from sin, molded by it. It's in our blood."

"Maybe," Y/N replied, stepping closer to them. "But you're not just sins. You were more than this once. You could be again."

Namjoon's gaze softened, but there was doubt in his eyes. "You don't understand what it means to be one of us. You think you can fix us, change us. But we've been this way for centuries. There's no going back."

Y/N took a deep breath, refusing to back down. "I don't believe that."

Silence fell over the room again, thick and heavy. Each of them stood, caught between their own inner turmoil and the weight of their pasts. There was no easy way out for them, no simple fix. The sins defined them-but Y/N couldn't help but believe there was still more to them. They were broken, yes, but they weren't beyond redemption.

Or were they?

As the moments dragged on, Y/N realized that whatever connection they had once shared, it had been fractured by the very sins they represented. And if she was going to survive, if she was going to help them, she would have to understand the delicate balance between them-their rivalry, their pain, their hidden desires.

But even then, there was no guarantee it would be enough.

Because in a house full of demons, salvation was never certain.

---

Later that night, as Y/N lay in bed, her mind refused to rest. The more she learned about the sins, the more questions she had. They were fractured, barely holding themselves together-and she was caught in the middle of it all.

She wondered if they even realized how close they were to tearing each other apart. Or if, deep down, they were waiting for it to happen.

But there was one thing Y/N was sure of now: the sins weren't just dangerous because of what they embodied. They were dangerous because of what they feared-and what they longed for.

And that, more than anything, could destroy them all.