Ch.2222. Internal Strife and Brawl in the Dragon King Corps

I watched a movie once.

The plot was filled with ordinary clichés and classic tropes. The characters seemed cookie-cutter.

Though somewhat rough and lacking, destined to be forgotten as an average film, it still managed to be the talk of the town for a while.

That was because the greatest actor of the era played the villain.

The villain’s actions in the film, incomprehensible through dialogue alone, were all explained through that great actor’s performance.

That indescribable, subtle expression of regret when he died.

That single moment’s expression was the plausibility, the storyline, and the completeness.

In that way, sometimes a single scene can explain everything better than countless explanations, narratives, or persuasions.

“Ah, ah…!”

Seeing my face, Iron Mountain Tiger collapsed to the ground as if her legs had given out.

“You’re… alive!”

As if the tears she’d shed until now weren’t enough, Iron Mountain Tiger created a lake on her face.

Meeting Red Dragon in this moment, all her emotions swirled together.

Anxiety turned to relief, her long patience to reward, loneliness to certainty, admiration to compassion.

The figure she had been searching for had already been deeply involved in her life, right by her side.

How could she not be overwhelmed?

I declared:

“I cannot reveal myself to the world right now.”

“Why, why…!”

“Because it was the Dragon King Sentai who killed me.”

“That can’t be…!”

Iron Mountain Tiger clutched her chest painfully with her fist.

“How much, how much you must have suffered. How much pain you endured. I can’t even imagine. Why would Dragon King Sentai do this to you, Red Dragon.”

“The heroes of this country are corrupt.”

I stated firmly.

“Your justice can never be realized within the current Association system. Create a resistance, Lee Jung-hye.”

Iron Mountain Tiger bit her lower lip.

Still kneeling, she bowed her head to me.

“Respected Red Dragon. I, Iron Mountain Tiger, am infinitely grateful for saving my life twice, and I swear to dedicate my remaining life to serving only you.”

She raised her head.

“From now on, I will abandon the name Iron Mountain Tiger, and as the human Lee Jung-hye, I will lead a resistance to bring down the Hero Association.”

Iron Mountain Tiger—no, Lee Jung-hye’s tears had stopped. In her eyes, only my figure was reflected.

◈ ◈ ◈

“This man is the new Red?”

Kang Yerin, entering the hospital room with the Dragon King Sentai members, already had a headache.

New Red was wrapped in bandages from head to toe and placed inside an intensive care capsule.

“He was attacked by terrorists on his way here. Those damn Vengeance bastards again. Damn it.”

The Association Chairman gritted his teeth.

“Ah…? Ahh… Dragon King Sentai… I see. You’re even more beautiful in person… haha…”

Akshi let out a weak laugh. The Dragon King Sentai was left speechless at his terrible condition.

“Was it Dark Matter again?”

Shin Yukyong asked.

“Monster, monster… Devil, red devil…”

Akshi mumbled as if his soul had left him.

“Red devil? A monster even?”

Hearing this, Kang Yerin tilted her head. While there were villain organizations that controlled monsters, Akshi was a B-rank hero.

It was hard to believe that a new organization like Vengeance would have the technology to control such a powerful monster that could demolish him like this, especially one operating alone.

“Could you communicate with this monster?”

“Y-yes…”

That meant it was at least executive level.

That made it uncontrollable. It wasn’t a monster but a villain.

‘A red monster-type ability user.’

Kang Yerin thought of a familiar person but shook her head, knowing it couldn’t possibly be him.

“My… my balls are fine… Ahh, it’s okay. My rod is still intact… Hey, Yellow lady over there, don’t you feel sorry for me? We’re teammates now, so how about giving me a blow…”

Hearing those words, Kang Yerin’s face crumpled. She immediately approached Akshi.

“Ooh, good, good. I always welcome aggressive women… ARGHH!!”

Kang Yerin planted her fist right in Akshi’s face. She wiped her hand with a disinfectant tissue as if she’d touched something filthy, then left the room.

The other Sentai members followed her.

“Everyone, you saw New Red’s condition, right? Consider Dragon King Sentai to be just the four of us.”

Kang Yerin declared to the three as soon as they left the room. Shin Yukyong crossed her arms and sighed.

“We don’t have time. We need to start training immediately.”

“Will that even help us win?”

Ji Se-hwa asked pessimistically.

“We won’t know until we try.”

“We’re going to die anyway, so who has the brain capacity to think about it?”

“Watch your language.”

“Um, excuse me!”

Choi Minseo interrupted.

“U-unnies…”

Choi Minseo looked up at the three while trembling. Shin Yukyong, Ji Se-hwa, and Kang Yerin focused on her.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Choi Minseo barely managed to speak. Hearing this, the three realized it was time to back down.

How frustrated must they have looked for the youngest to speak up first like this?

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Minseo. It’s been tough, hasn’t it?”

Shin Yukyong, the eldest, patted Choi Minseo’s shoulder.

“B-but.”

Choi Minseo looked up at Shin Yukyong like a small rabbit.

“In the last battle, if I had controlled Quetzalcoatl better, everyone would have been less hurt… I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I, I didn’t know the Dark Kingdom would be so strong. I’ve been getting scared lately… Oppa Ui-seok said it would be okay, but—eek?!”

Bang! Ji Se-hwa pushed Choi Minseo against the wall with a fierce expression.

“What the hell are you saying?! Are you making fun of us? Are you picking a fight, you little bitch?!”

“Hey, stop it!”

Shin Yukyong immediately pulled Ji Se-hwa away. She turned to look at Choi Minseo.

“Minseo, what are you talking about?”

“Huh? Well… I talked to Unnie Somi, and she said if I apologized, everyone would understand… Wait, that’s not right?”

Thud. Choi Minseo collapsed to the ground. Tears had already formed in her eyes.

“No, this is strange. When is this memory from? Oppa Ui-seok, where’s Oppa Ui-seok? Oppa, I’m struggling… Unnie Yukyong, where’s Oppa Ui-seok? I feel weird. I want to talk to him. Oppa always…”

“Shut your mouth!!”

Crash! Ji Se-hwa slammed her fist into the wall right next to Choi Minseo’s face. Her titanium fist crushed the wall.

“Say that bastard’s name one more time. I might just rip out your vocal cords. Understand?”

Choi Minseo stared blankly up at Ji Se-hwa.

“I asked if you understand!!”

“That’s enough.”

Kang Yerin’s arm blocked Ji Se-hwa’s upper body.

“Don’t touch me.”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t touch Minseo. Can’t you see she’s anxious?”

“Since when did you care so much? Are you trying to imitate that fucking bastard?”

“…Stop cursing at Ui-seok.”

“What! My head is a mess because of that bastard! I’m so angry I could die! If it weren’t for that son of a bitch—”

Smack!

Unable to hold back any longer, Kang Yerin punched Ji Se-hwa in the face.

Ji Se-hwa stepped back a few steps, seemingly unable to understand the situation for a moment, then raised her head and charged at Kang Yerin.

“Waaah, waaaaaaah.”

Choi Minseo crouched down, holding her head and starting to cry. In front of her, a brawl broke out between Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa. Shin Yukyong tried her best to stop them but to no avail.

“Do I need your permission to curse that bastard? Who do you think you are!”

“Ui-seok didn’t deserve to be cursed at mindlessly like that! Se-hwa, he saved you too! He helped you!”

“What do you know about other people’s business! It’s not your place to interfere!”

Ji Se-hwa was furious.

Of course she remembered.

When she was only acting on instinct, consuming emotions, living with death by her side, watching what little time she had left slip through her fingers.

That straightforward man with his strange sensibilities.

From the basics of communicating with people, to not being picky with food, to how to be polite.

The memories with Jung Ui-seok, who showed her the wider world of society like teaching a child to walk.

Those were hers alone.

Her memories alone.

So it angered her to hear them in someone else’s mouth, becoming tainted.

It angered her to see them erode.

She had locked away those memories as they were and cut the real Jung Ui-seok out of her life.

Anger management issues, drug addict, slave to capitalism, battle maniac, selfish person.

Before he abandoned them, abandoned justice, became a villain, became an enemy they had to kill—she cut him off first and killed him in her mind.

She had no regrets about that decision.

She shouldn’t have any.

She thought she wouldn’t have any.

So she couldn’t bear how angry Choi Minseo and Kang Yerin made her by constantly shaking that decision.

“And what do you know?”

Kang Yerin asked, throwing another punch.

“If you didn’t know anything, you shouldn’t have killed him!!”

Ji Se-hwa was taken aback. Kang Yerin’s fighting had become much more agile and sharp.

She couldn’t defend herself.

“Both of us, we got this far all thanks to Ui-seok!”

Kang Yerin too began to spill out the words she had been holding back.

“How could you throw away all that time and kill Ui-seok?! You could have at least talked to him once more!”

“How much more should we have talked?! Yukyong and I were always clashing with him! You and Minseo were hiding behind us, not even coming out! After Han Somi died, he became weird!!”

“Of course he became weird! How could anyone stay normal after losing someone they love!”

After Han Somi’s death, Jung Ui-seok changed. From then on, even Kang Yerin could see that Jung Ui-seok was often at fault when he clashed with Ji Se-hwa or Shin Yukyong.

In the latter part of the battle with the Dark Kingdom, as the fighting intensified, Jung Ui-seok’s anger worsened to the point where one might question his sanity.

He also ate monsters more frequently. His rough and bizarre appearance.

The explanation that it was a side effect of his ability sounded like the ravings of a madman.

He even monopolized the Switch. It was reasonable to wonder if he might become a villain at that rate.

Now Kang Yerin understood those feelings.

When someone you love dies, people tend to become like that.

That was normal.

People who don’t break down should be the ones viewed with suspicion.

Her fists were proving that right now.

The accumulated sadness, the regret flowing from her very cells, the despair that had consumed her like a swamp.

All were transforming into hatred and anger, pouring out.

It was only difficult the first time. She had lived her entire life politely, never cursing or even speaking informally to others.

Now that she had started using violence, she found herself wanting to not just hurt Ji Se-hwa but genuinely kill her.

Murderous intent was blooming.

“You could have at least told me clearly that you were planning to kill Ui-seok!!”

Kang Yerin’s knee struck deep into Ji Se-hwa’s abdomen. Ji Se-hwa flew back, spitting up stomach acid. As Kang Yerin charged in to finish her off—

“You’ve crossed the line. Kang Yerin, stop!”

Shin Yukyong jumped in and tightly embraced Kang Yerin’s entire body.

“…Fuck. Fuck.”

Ji Se-hwa, sprawled pathetically on the floor, couldn’t lift her head.

“Waaaah. Oppaaa. Help meee…”

Choi Minseo was still crying with her face buried in her hands.

Only then did Kang Yerin start to catch her breath and lower her fists.

From a monitor installed on the corridor wall, a small sound played along with an advertisement.

“Welcome the strongest heroes!”

“There’s only one S-Sentai that conquered the world!”

“Dragon King Sentai Draodger!”

“Transformation devices! Exclusive mechs! Now on sale!”

In the quiet corridor with just the four of them.

How long did the advertisement sound and Choi Minseo’s crying echo?

Kang Yerin finally steeled her resolve.

“…Everyone, please listen.”