Seven Deadly Sins

Grateful

"Ahh eomma, surely there must be someone or something to help me in this mission," a young teen whined to her mother, upper body slumped on the table in surrender.

Na-ri chuckled as she placed a bowl of cereal in front of the teen.

"Eat your food before you go hunting today."

With a kiss to her temple, the older woman walked away.

But Hana didn't seem in the mood to go Sin-hunting today. No, it wasn't her inner sloth getting to her. Mixed feelings continued to bubble and surface around her mind, some powerful than the others that sometimes Hana just feels like freezing up or curling into a ball. This has to be a nightmare, right? Sadly... everything felt so real. Their powers were frightening and enough to make her insides rigid. She had to admit that she did doubt and underestimate them. After experiencing first-hand their terrifying abilities and ruthless methods of what they can do, Hana couldn't help but feel so inferior and defenseless against them. She wished there was some kind of help from her ancestors, if her family was tasked with this gruesome task of collecting the Sins whenever one of them opened the box and set literal hell to this world.

Is this what her family did for a living?

"Eomma."

"Ne?"

She put down her spoon, looking her mom in the eye. To heck with the cereal going soft; she had more pressing matters to attend to.

"I met Greed one day..." she started slowly, trying to gauge the woman's reaction. "He said you were greedy because you refused to share important information with me." Her hands started twisting on her lap; a nervous habit she has whenever faced with something uncomfortable. "Is- is it true?" She hoped not, that Greed was just trying to make Choo Na-ri look bad.

But said woman sighed in defeat, before nodding slowly.

"He has a point, though," she said. "I was selfish, and wanted to protect you from the truth for as long as I could."

Hana chose her next words carefully.

"What happened, eomma? What happened that made us become the family in charge for this whenever the same thing happens?"

"It happened five thousand years ago, so they said," Na-ri said. "The Sins ruled the world and no one could stop them, not even the gods since they had trouble trying to defeat them. They were at their peak, Pride the leader of the six. They grew more powerful each day, feeding off of the negativity this world has to offer.

"The first one to ever try and stop them was your great-great-great-great-great-great-"

"Uh... ne eomma I get it," the girl cut hurriedly, not wanting to waste any more time. But she gets the point: ancestor. Cool.

"Well, he designed a box that could trap the Sins and lock them away from this world forever. By defeating one by one with their counter opposite, such as generosity and humility, the Sins were powerless against a certain magic that only the box held, able to contain the Sins till time, unless a part of the family opened the box and history repeats itself."

Hana took a minute to process over this.

"So I'm not the first one?"

"Of course not! You know what they say: curiosity killed the cat!" She winked, but all Hana did was frown. "It's a large part of our blood."

"And the first time this ever happened was when?"

Na-ri hummed in thought, eyes looking to the ceiling. Hana deduced to herself that if her mother was thoughtful like this, then hunting the Sins must have happened a very, very long time ago.

"In the nineteenth century?" she tried with a helpless shrug. "Somewhere along those timelines."

"Why did I have to be the one? Couldn't you take over the task?" It's a hopeless question, she knew, but it was worth trying to ask her mom. After all, she was older and wiser and more up to the task than a scaredy-cat like her.

Na-ri released a breath before speaking once more, gently.

"As much as I'd love to take over and do this," Hana's face brightened, "I can't. They'll only listen to their liberator, and at the moment, it's you. They'll never listen to mortals." A hint of disgust showed on her face, but it was gone just as fast as it had appeared. Hana wondered if it was just her imagination.

"How are you faring, Hana?" Na-ri asked curiously, leaning closer to her daughter. She wondered how the girl had been handling herself, even amidst the most powerful evil beings to ever come alive.

Hana mustered a slight smile, unsure on how to answer that. For the most part, she was fine and doing okay, but of course doubt was something she couldn't ease, and so haunted her every now and then, especially at her down moments. Pride must really be disgusted of her attitude. She didn't know how to capture them at all, and all she did as of late was talk to them and make empty promises that she'd emerge victorious over them. But really who was she kidding?

In the end, she settled with-

"I'm doing fine, but really I'm still confused on how to catch them. Aren't there magic weapons or something? Maybe some people old and wise to help me on this?"

A sad shake of the head was her response.

"I'm sorry, hon, but I've never hunted them in my younger years, so I'm not sure on who can help you and who has gadgets of some sort to catch them." Na-ri's hand enclosed the smaller one. "But so far, who's left?"

"Gluttony and Lust."

A finger came up to tap Na-ri's chin, eyes sideways to the ground.

"Hmm... interesting. Lust and Gluttony have yet to reveal themselves to you."

"So you know that we're not immune to their powers? I mean, two Sins already read my mind without permission, and that sucks." Annoyance made itself known at her stomach, but she pushed it down since she knew it did no good, especially when they're not around anyway.

Her mom chuckled.

"Well, privacy wasn't such a big deal to them anyway."

"But what strikes me is how I know that the one staring at me is a person or a Sin, or which is which. How's that?"

True; she never had any trouble identifying which Sin she was talking to, but there was the time she thought Lust had found her, only to be screamed at by Wrath, who was still a puzzling character in itself. Who was Wrath and later smiles so dazzlingly bright at her? She does admit he's attractive. High cheekbones, pearly white teeth... oh, if he wasn't a Sin he'd surely be her crush.

Wait... snap out of it Hana! He's the enemy!

"Must come with the task. So what's your plan today?"

She is incredibly thankful to her mom's voice snapping her out of her thoughts. Else, she'd be totally doomed. Curse the unfairness of this world and making the enemy drop-dead gorgeous.

"I don't feel like hunting anything today."

Her mother merely smirked, but there was no hidden malice in the action. Merely playful.

"Not Sloth?"

"Not Sloth," she confirmed with a smile.

Na-ri nodded and stood, grabbing the sodden cereal and walking away, her footsteps fading as she walked.

Hana is grateful that her mom isn't super strict. She's allowed to take a break and rethink everything. She's not rushed and can take her time, so long as it doesn't take too much.

"I'm off to my room!" Hana bade, bouncing off her chair to climb the stairs two steps at a time.

For now, she'll reconsider and plan out how she'll outsmart the Sins, if only for a moment. For now, she'll give herself time and rest.