Avaritia's Life as a Messenger of Greed

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same.

The place of her first death, and the start of her second life.

You sure like reminiscing, the voice in her head mused.

Humans are sentimental beings, she replied silently, gazing out upon the glassy river surface.

She had drowned herself to death as Park Seohee, and had awakened as Mammon’s apostle with the given name of Avaritia. It really had been a drastic change. Now, she was the closest thing to a demon a human could get.

An embodiment of greed. A messenger.

Even in your human life you had been incomparably greedy. Mammon snickered. Even if the whole Contest didn’t exist, I would’ve given you my Blessing.

That’s nice to know. Avaritia hummed.

The Contest among the Seven Deadly Sins, and the demon embodiments of said sinners. All of them had challenged each other to find their human counterparts, apprentices, that would carry out their sins in their name. Within a hundred years, the amount of sinners blessed by each apprentice would be tallied, and the Winner would be given the Throne of Sin.

As Mammon’s apprentice-apostle, Avaritia had been tasked with bringing out greed in people she crossed paths with.

Wealthy CEOs, commoners, even the elderly - Avaritia had learned the hard way that no one could escape Mammon’s grasp.

Avaritia had drowned in order to escape her family background.

It had been a long time since she remembered her past as a low-class commoner in the city of South Korea. From a young age, pudgy Park Seohee had dreams of glory and wealth, flightful fancies of more than what she had. More. At the age of twenty-two, when she had realized that she could never escape the vicious cycle of poverty she had been born in, Park Seohee had suicided in the Han River in hopes of reincarnating.

She had heard a voice, then.

After the water had enveloped her, Seohee heard someone speak.

Floating to the bottom of the river, with the sun just a distant, faraway orb above the crystalline surface, she blinked.

What is greed to you?

She had replied on reflex, unbothered.

Park Seohee had been called greedy her entire life. She had stolen as a kid, begged, lied, cheated and even mugged people in order to finally get a job as a small office worker. She had never done anything unless something was in it for her. More, more, more. 

To hell with morals.

If it was to reach the top, morals meant nothing. They were only worldly constraints. Family? Pah. She had sacrificed her drug-dealing parents to the cops for a pretty penny and an article in the newspaper.

She hadn’t been a good person, and she never wanted to be.

But she had never reached the top.

It was her short life’s one regret.

So the answer came easily.

Wanting more than what the world can give you.

She had confided in the voice before her death.

It disguises itself as ambition, sometimes. Knowing what you desire and being able to sacrifice everything to fulfill it. Greed is wanting more than what you can have.

The voice had chuckled.

You are young, but I like you. At least, better than the other candidates. They’re much too righteous. But you… you know that you are greedy. 

A pause.

Would you like to join my conquest, child? 

I will help you fulfill your dream. 

I, Mammon, shall bless you.

Seohee had blinked again. I….will...be at the top?

Yes, child.

A green-skinned, clawed hand, as if tearing through a rip in space and time, had reached towards her. Will you join my conquest, and take upon the name of Avaritia?

Seohee’s eyes had glimmered. Unhesitatingly, she had reached for the hand.

With a blinding flash, she had started her new life.

Now, Avaritia sighed as she looked down at the Han River.

It’s my death anniversary. Her feet shuffled to the exact point at the bridge where she had thrust herself in the water twenty four years ago. Setting down a bouquet of white lilies at the foot of the railing, she crouched at the distant Seoul scenery. The city was just as she had remembered in her forty six years of living. I should pay proper respect to the dead.

But you’re alive. They sounded amused.

Avaritia is, but Park Seohee isn’t. Matter-of-factly, she shrugged. I’ll get back to my duties sooner or later. After all, I reached my daily quota two hours ago. The old woman in the Czech Republic, remember? I dream-visited her.

Mammon rolled their eyes. Alright, then. As you wish, my apprentice.

Avaritia - and all the Seven Apostles - had one duty, and that was to help sinners realize their sins. She would visit the dreams of those who had even a glimmer of greed lurking in their subconscious, and make them face their past sins. Only when someone admitted their guilt would they be ‘freed,’ in a sense. She visited at least five sinners per night. Avaritia visited those who committed the sin of greed, and the others would visit their own respective sinners as well. 

The existence of magic and demons hadn’t perturbed her, not even for a bit. Being adaptive had been one of her more desirable traits in both lives; she had gotten used to being stuck in a twenty-year-old immortal body and being summoned to different parts of the world through dreams.

Of course, there were Others.

The Others. She knew their names and masters.

Luxe, the stoic-faced playboy, of Lust.

Fierte, the arrogant CEO, of Pride.

Jalouisii, the fortune-teller fangirl, of Envy.

Mandise, the gourmet chef, of Gluttony.

Paresse, the billionaire inheritor, of Sloth.

Coletto, the hacker Netizen, of Wrath.

And, last of all, Avaritia, the commoner, of Greed.

She had crossed paths with each of the Apostles at least once, and she had a not-so great opinion about all of them. All of them were from different backgrounds and countries, with a diverse range of pasts. But all of them were sinners in immortal bodies and eccentric personalities, which made it hard to strike up a partnership. 

Besides, all of them were part of the Contest.

Avaritia was here to win.

And that was all that mattered.