Ming and all of his subordinates were moving through the thick forest when Pride slowly walked closer.
"My lord," Pride asked carefully, "if you don't mind me asking… where exactly are we going?"
Ming looked toward Hao, who was walking ahead while humming like a child.
"We're going to a place," Ming answered, "where we might find someone who can cure Hao's mental condition."
Pride nodded, but his brows tightened.
"My lord… forgive me for asking, but… where did you learn those questions you used on me?
Those riddles… they weren't ordinary."
Ming smiled faintly.
"It's nothing."
But inside his mind, he remembered a distant moment—
A time when his master stood before and asked him the same paradox.
Back then, Ming had answered just as Pride did.
And his master had defeated him with a single sentence.
Ming's smile deepened as the memory faded.
"Let's keep moving," he said. "We still have a long road ahead."
After some time, Wrath — the girl — walked closer to Ming.
Her condition was much better than before, but her steps were still hesitant.
"My lord… may I ask a question?"
Ming paused.
In truth, every time someone called him my lord, it felt strange — unfamiliar — but he answered calmly:
"What is it?"
Wrath lowered her head slightly.
"My lord… how can you trust us?
We only met you yesterday.
How can someone like you put faith in people like us?
After all… even a brother can stab his own brother in the back."
Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from the pain of betrayal she had lived through.
The forest wind blew softly.
Everyone walking behind them quietly stopped, waiting for Ming's answer.
Ming smiled and said,
"People don't stay loyal to you. They stay loyal to their need for you.
The moment you're no longer useful, they forget you ever mattered.
People are ungrateful… fickle… false… cowardly. Accept this truth — not to become bitter, but to become smarter .Be useful, but never dependent.
So even if all of you betray me one day, I will never depend on you in the first place. And right now, all of you need me, so I'm sure none of you will betray me.
And even if you do betray me after becoming strong…
I'm not worried.
Because by then—
I will already be stronger than all of you."
Hearing those words, no one said anything.
Wrath bowed deeply.
"I will never betray you, my lord."
But Pride, Envy, and Gluttony all felt a cold fear rise in their hearts after hearing Ming's terrifying words.
They continued walking until they reached an underground lake.
Ming and all his subordinates entered.
Pride frowned.
"My lord… this place is creepy."
From deep within the cavern, they could hear sobbing.
Slow… painful… echoing sobs.
Ming said,
"A monster lives here. One that can show illusions.
I named it the Dark Wailer.
If Hao can face the illusion of his past… he might be able to break free from his mental chains."
Envy swallowed nervously.
"But my lord… if he fails to face the illusion, his mind might shatter.
He might even die."
Ming replied calmly,
"If he dies, then it means his resolve was weak.
Besides…
if we do nothing, he will die anyway — trapped inside his broken mind."
Ming and Hao stepped deeper into the tunnel.
Cold air wrapped around them. The further they went, the louder the distant sobbing became — slow, painful, echoing sobs that scraped against the soul.
Then they appeared.
Tall figures, skin stretched too thin across bone… Mouths stitched open, black mist leaking from their hollow chests.
When they wailed, the world itself trembled.
Dark Wailers.
The moment their cries hit, the illusion exploded inside Ming's and Hao's minds.
Ming's vision cracked — but he had been here before.
He knew this monster's power.
He stabbed his own thigh without hesitation, forcing pain through his body to break the illusion.
But Hao…
Hao's world shattered.
He saw everything —
His family being slaughtered.
His master dying in front of him.
Himself being framed for a crime he never committed.
His brother, Soho… kneeling for execution.
Soho's last words echoing in his ears:
"If we met a little earlier… we could've been brothers."
Hao screamed.
He saw Jisoo / Gluttony — fighting the Alliance Leader before being thrown into the Red Line.
He saw everyone he trusted breaking apart.
He saw Ming turning away.
It was all inside his mind —
But outside, Hao was collapsing, clawing at his own head, shouting:
"WHY!? Why did you all betray me!? WHY!?"
Ming grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard.
"Hao! Get a hold of yourself!"
But Hao couldn't hear him — only the endless illusions of his past.
And then Ming sensed it —
The Dark Wailers were closing in.
Their stitched mouths widened, black mist pouring out as they reached for Hao.
Ming's eyes snapped open.
"Damn it—!"
He threw Hao over his shoulder in one motion.
"We're leaving!"
Without another word, Ming sprinted through the tunnel, carrying Hao while the monsters' cries chased them, cracking the tunnel walls behind them.
Ming was fast, and with his footwork technique he managed to escape the tunnel. The monsters didn't dare come out — as if they were afraid of the light.
Pride, Envy, Gluttony, and Wrath ran toward him.
"My lord, what happened?! Did it work?" Pride asked.
Ming, panting heavily, shook his head.
"I… don't know."
Slowly, Hao opened his eyes and looked at all of them. He had been with them for a long time, but this was the first time he looked at them with clarity instead of confusion.
Then Hao stood up and said softly:
"Thank you… for taking care of me."
Envy stepped forward.
"So you're stable now?"
Hao bowed his head.
"Yes. Thanks to this gentleman—" he pointed toward Ming, "—I was able to face the worst parts of myself. I… I will never forget that debt."
Then Hao suddenly dropped to one knee.
Hao slowly lifted his head, eyes still trembling from everything he had witnessed inside the illusion.
Then, with a deep breath, he spoke—his voice steadier than ever before:
"I saw it all… every word you said… every promise you made."
He clenched his fists, knuckles turning white.
"If you can truly give me the strength to stand again… then I will not walk behind you—"
He dropped to one knee, head bowed.
"I will follow you into hell itself."
His voice sharpened, burning with long-buried hatred.
"Because there are debts in this world that I will repay…
even if I must drown the earth in blood to do it."
Ming summoned his sword from the shadows and rested it gently on Hao's shoulder.
"I accept you as my fifth sword," Ming declared.
"And from now on… your name shall be Greed."