A little grocery shop at the end of Xinjiekou in a small northern city.
The shelves are piled with Thai lemon candies, Showa-era soda, old-fashioned snow cream, and all sorts of trendy new items. Seven doors behind the register are engraved in Gothic lettering with Wrath, Greed, Envy… But customers who step inside always freeze in surprise:
The Demon of Gluttony is a musclebound pastry chef in a pink apron, always smearing cream on customers’ wounds.
The Demon of Sloth is a kid slumped in a gaming chair, playing CS, yet can finish your graduation thesis in three minutes.
The Demon of Lust is wrapped in a turtleneck, knitting, and says, “Touching a soul is far harder than touching a body.”
Huh? Why are the Seven Deadly Sins here nothing like the ones in the books?
The little shop doesn’t just sell goods. It also buys and sells your soul.
The “price” paid by customers turns into merchandise on the shelves: a heart burned by envy is made into strawberry chocolates, priced at 38 yuan a box.
The Demon of Wrath’s flames are actually burning the bullies in a customer’s memories. He says, “Anger is armor, but wear it too long and it becomes bone.”
The Demon of Envy forces a wealthy woman to swallow the wedding candy from her first love thirty years ago. “You don’t hate that she’s happy. You hate yourself for not having the courage to elope back then.”
A tall, thin figure works in the shop. His name tag reads, “I’m the shopkeeper,” but in truth he manages the Seven Deadly Sins.
He wears seven earrings on his right ear, each a soul vessel sealing a demon, while a claw-shaped burn scar marks the left side of his neck. Deep among the shelves sits an old film projector, showing customers the sharpest desires in their hearts. His job is to cut those desires into “compliant doses” that the Seven Deadly Sins can digest. He also keeps the neighborhood peaceful.
