Ch.6262. Kang Ye-rin’s Evolved Ability

Lena looked as if Lee Lu-a was reading the empty air.

“The owner of the Red Dragon must always demonstrate superiority over others. Historically, the most straightforward system of subordination was slavery. You must receive oaths of loyalty. The more loyalty you receive from strong, high-ranking individuals, the more your power accumulates.”

“Lu-a, what are you talking about?”

“The sign of loyalty is simple. You must receive their ‘most precious thing’ as an offering.”

Lu-a’s breath trembled as she finished speaking. She turned to Lena and asked.

“Lena, what’s most precious to you?”

“Why are you asking that now…?”

“Quickly.”

Lena read the seriousness in Lu-a’s eyes and answered immediately.

“Isn’t it obvious? Elli is most precious to me.”

“Yes. Then it’s impossible for you.”

Lu-a approached Jung Ui-seok and knelt down. His heartbeat was gradually slowing.

“I don’t have anything in my pocket. I’ve never had anything my whole life. If there’s one thing I have, it’s the life I received from Geo that day.”

“Lu-a?”

Lu-a turned to look at Lena. Her face was filled with fear, but she was forcing herself to smile.

“Lena, I’m sorry. After you worked so hard to heal me. Tell Geo… tell Ui-seok that I was very grateful.”

Lu-a bent down to look closely at Jung Ui-seok.

Unable to touch his body, her anguished hands eventually clutched at her own chest.

“…Hic. I must have run this simulation countless times. Still, I’m scared. But even so, even so.”

Lu-a took a deep breath.

She steeled her resolve and continued without hesitation.

“…I, Lee Lu-a, swear loyalty to Red Dragon, Jung Ui-seok. As proof, I offer my most precious life here.”

As she finished speaking, Lu-a created dark matter in her chest.

RIIIP!!

Blood sprayed everywhere. Through Lena’s vision rained a shower of blood.

She clearly witnessed Lu-a’s heart flying through the air.

“—Lu-a?”

Thud.

Lu-a’s body lost all will and collapsed, surrendering to gravity.

At the same moment, Jung Ui-seok’s fingers twitched.

“Kuhurk—!”

Jung Ui-seok resumed breathing.

Lena recognized the situation with a composed, expressionless face. Though she couldn’t understand the principle, the causality was simple.

Lu-a had sacrificed her life to save Jung Ui-seok.

It was obvious which of the two needed more urgent attention.

Lena immediately rushed to Lu-a and grabbed her heart. Blood gushed out, staining her face and white uniform red, but she paid no attention.

She placed it back in Lu-a’s chest and began casting verbal commands.

“‘Strengthen eye muscles.’ ‘See through.’ ‘Brain stem blood circulation.’ ‘Oxygen supply.’ ‘Strengthen chest vessels.’ ‘Connect.'”

She enhanced her own eyes. She forcibly supplied blood to keep Lu-a’s brain alive while reconnecting her heart. Lena began surgery, recalling her medical knowledge.

“Lena.”

A low voice called to her. Jung Ui-seok was barely managing to raise his blood-covered body.

“Ui-seok.”

“My power level… is 2. Transformation is impossible. I’ll take it from here.”

Jung Ui-seok reached for equipment at his waist. A belt emerged and wrapped around him. He pulled out a Switch from his chest.

Orange particles mysteriously floated around. Jung Ui-seok pressed the button.

[QUANTUM]

Jung Ui-seok equipped the Quantum Switch. It activated immediately. Quantum light began to envelop Lu-a’s body.

“Quantum…”

Lu-a’s body was reconstructed with new particles. Her cells were rebuilt and repaired from the ground up. Light flashed, and finally, a fully healed Lu-a appeared there, scattering particles of light.

The Quantum Switch, having fulfilled its role, returned to quantum state and disappeared.

“That’s all I can do.”

Jung Ui-seok collapsed after completing the task. Lena supported him.

Lu-a had avoided death by Demerit, but her body was already in critical condition. He had used the Quantum Switch without even transforming.

The strain on his body had exceeded its limits.

“Rest now, Ui-seok.”

After providing emergency treatment with verbal commands, Lena laid Jung Ui-seok down next to Lu-a.

Then she raised her head to face the enemy.

Eridanus, who had grown to about 15 meters tall with an enhanced body.

Those black eyes looked down at Lena with contempt, as if she were a bug to be squashed.

Lena was never arrogant. She immediately understood the difference in level between herself and the enemy. It was impossible to face this monster alone.

Still, she had not the slightest intention of retreating.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Tap. Her high heels struck the floor, making a sharp sound.

***

There was nothing she could do.

A sense of helplessness coursed through Kang Yerin’s veins, taking over her entire body.

The moment Jung Ui-seok killed Shin Yukyong, reality cut sharply into her mind.

To him, she was an enemy.

Villain and hero.

Natural enemies that could never reconcile.

Moreover, she was a traitor who had taken his life.

From the beginning, Jung Ui-seok never had the option of returning as a hero.

Nor the option of forgiving the Dragon King Sentai.

Not even a speck, a dust mote of hope existed.

No. Maybe.

Perhaps, perhaps.

There might have been a way to talk things through once more.

Kang Yerin now knew too.

That Han Somi’s death was the responsibility of Choi Minseo, Shin Yukyong, and Ji Se-hwa.

She had heard the story from Ji Se-hwa.

Even Jung Ui-seok had learned the truth, she’d been told.

He must hate the Dragon King Sentai.

There was no possibility now.

No matter what efforts she made, whether she continued as a hero or not, whether she followed his teachings, it would mean nothing to Jung Ui-seok now.

He wouldn’t even notice her.

“…Huh, huuu.”

Realizing this, tears streamed down Kang Yerin’s face.

She had been holding back so hard all this time, but now she couldn’t bear it anymore.

No, she didn’t want to bear it anymore.

“…Even now, I…”

Can’t do anything.

Even though Jung Ui-seok is dying right before my eyes.

E.lena and Dark Matter were by his side.

That place was no longer hers.

What could she have done there anyway?

She didn’t know why he was suffering like that, nor how to solve it.

“…Ah.”

And at the sight that followed, Kang Yerin was even more dumbfounded.

Dark Matter ripping out her own heart. Simultaneously, Jung Ui-seok regaining his life and beginning to move.

Then Jung Ui-seok overexerting his body and even using a precious Switch to save Dark Matter.

E.lena standing before Eridanus to protect the two who had collapsed.

“…I’m trash.”

Kang Yerin wanted to die from self-loathing.

Even at this moment, she was so worried about Jung Ui-seok, but at the same time, she couldn’t bear the feeling that overwhelmed her.

She was insanely jealous of their bond.

“…What’s the point of trying hard alone…”

Kang Yerin hunched over, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Her breathing faltered and tears covered her face.

“Relationships aren’t built by one person alone…”

Jung Ui-seok had already gone to a place beyond her reach.

Their goals were different. Their positions were different. New people had entered his life.

Reliable comrades who would unhesitatingly give their lives for him, more dependable than herself.

“I want… I want to start over from the beginning.”

A strong desire began to take over Kang Yerin’s body.

If there was a chance. If she could turn back time.

Those standing in that place wouldn’t be them, but…

It could have been me.

“Hic… AAAAAAHHHHH!!”

She screamed.

A meaningless cry that no one would respond to, no one would sympathize with, that would simply echo and disappear into the void.

Her fists clenched tightly. Fingernails dug into her palms. Her vocal cords tore and split.

Despair and frustration rising from the deep abyss of her heart.

The only one responding was herself.

No, was it her ability?

“I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!”

She threw her head back and shouted to the sky.

Simultaneously, a yellow dragon, clearly visible enough to be materialized, rose from her body.

“Aah, aah, AAAAH!!”

A sphere formed with Kang Yerin at its center.

Clock Out.

Her ability to stop time within a radius began to turn the world gray.

Sound disappeared.

Darkness fell as light lost the time to travel.

Because of this, no one could perceive what was happening.

They weren’t even given the time to perceive.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tick. Tick.

Ti—

ck. Ti

ck Ti ck Ti

ck Ti ck Ti ck Ti—

——————ck.

“——Huh?”

Kang Yerin looked around with a dumbfounded expression.

Her field of vision had changed in an instant.

The giant Eridanus, the underwater prison plant on the sea, the collapsed Jung Ui-seok—all had disappeared.

The smell of blood and sea that had assaulted her nostrils was gone too.

Like magic, in an instant.

She touched her head. She felt a helmet. The very helmet she would never wear except as part of the Dragon King Sentai.

She looked around. A dim, stuffy interior. She immediately realized where she was.

“…Dark Kingdom?”

She was inside the Dark Kingdom’s ship. Around her were fallen elite combat troops.

Thud, the sound of someone collapsing.

When she turned her head, he was there.

A bright red hero suit and helmet.

A man collapsed on the floor, his entire body in shambles.

Red Dragon.

It was Jung Ui-seok.

He barely lifted his head and smiled helplessly, somewhat embarrassed.

“We won. It’s over now. Can you help me up? I’m drained. Haha…”

Kang Yerin looked in the direction of Jung Ui-seok’s gaze.

Blue, silver, and green warriors. Needless to say, they were Ji Se-hwa, Shin Yukyong, and Choi Minseo.

Kang Yerin understood in that moment.

Her ability had evolved.

Not ‘time stop’.

But ‘time reversal’.

“What’s wrong? Come and help me…”

The moment Jung Ui-seok opened his mouth, Ji Se-hwa reached for her sword. Kang Yerin remembered what would happen next.

There was no question.

From now on, Jung Ui-seok would die.

Or more precisely, he would be brought to the brink of death.

This was the moment when all the tragedy would begin.

“NO!!!”

Kang Yerin immediately launched herself forward. She activated her ability to freeze Ji Se-hwa’s arm.

“What the hell?! What are you doing, you fucking bitch!”

Shin Yukyong also realized Kang Yerin’s betrayal and drew her dagger to attack. Kang Yerin immediately equipped her knuckles and counterattacked.

WHAM!

In an instant, she struck Shin Yukyong and Ji Se-hwa in the solar plexus. Her body had also returned to the past and was pathetically weak without her chin.

But her training hadn’t been in vain. She displayed her honed fighting sense to the fullest.

Above all, her ability level remained the same.

“Kang Yerin, how dare you betray us!”

“You’re the traitors!! How dare you try to kill Ui-seok!”

“My, my plan—!”

At that moment, Choi Minseo stabbed the back of Kang Yerin’s head with her sword. Kang Yerin staggered.

“Ugh— ah…”

“Hurry up and finish Jung Ui-seok!”

“Where did he go?!”

It seemed Jung Ui-seok had escaped. Though she couldn’t judge the situation properly as she was about to lose consciousness, that alone was enough to reassure Kang Yerin.

As she was about to collapse, surrendering to gravity.

“AACK!”

“UUGH!”

The three bodies flew through the air and crashed into the wall. As Kang Yerin was falling, she could feel two strong arms supporting her.

Kang Yerin slowly looked up at him. His eyes were filled with anger, but also concern for her.

With tears streaming down her face, Kang Yerin spoke the words she should have said long ago.

“Ui-seok… I’m… sorry…”

Jung Ui-seok answered as he held Kang Yerin and stood up.

“What do you have to be sorry for? You saved my life. Let’s escape, Yerin.”