Ch.6666. Kang Yerin and Jung Euiseok’s Wedding. And,

“…Ah.”

Kang Yerin opened her eyes in bed, basking in the warm morning sunlight.

She looked down. She was naked. The dried bodily fluids were a bit messy.

When she turned her head, she saw Jung Ui-seok’s lovely face, still asleep. She gently stroked his beard that had grown out a bit, adorably sticking out.

“…This isn’t a dream.”

Kang Yerin felt content with happiness. She started her day by placing a light kiss on Jung Ui-seok’s cheek.

***

Afterward, that’s how her daily life went.

At the association, they mainly shared intimate moments in Kang Yerin’s room every night.

In the morning, they would go to work, train together, and handle affairs as association heads.

The two formed a new Dragon King Sentai.

Returning the S-Sentai title to Washington created financial problems for running the association immediately.

Still, they managed to train the relatively strong heroes at the association for urgent matters.

The newly formed Dragon King Sentai had seven members.

Though they had more people than before, their combat power was clearly diminished.

Technical shortages caused production delays for Pestam weapons.

Without investment funds to develop new Switches, the research team scattered.

Kang Yerin trained desperately to strengthen her body. A direct approach was the only way to defeat the Galaxy Empire now.

When she entered her first training session after returning, Jung Ui-seok was somewhat suspicious of her.

“Ability level 15…? Yerin, did something special happen recently?”

“What? Oh, I did train secretly on my own… Did you know?”

“This much improvement from training? Your ability level should be capped. Well, that’s just in the original work… I guess that’s it. You’re more of a genius than I thought.”

Kang Yerin barely managed to deceive Jung Ui-seok and felt relieved.

***

Finally, the Galaxy Empire’s attack began.

Unlike the original history, this time Emperor Recter came alone and immediately confronted Jung Ui-seok.

“Are you the warrior who defeated Dark Arthur?”

“Yes, I am Red Dragon.”

Jung Ui-seok faced off against Recter.

However, instead of immediately fighting, they merely gauged each other’s abilities.

Jung Ui-seok demonstrated his diplomatic skills.

He negotiated with Recter and gained three months of time.

At this point, Kang Yerin felt a crisis.

The total battle period, which should have been six months, was cut in half, leaving less time to prepare.

The ensuing battles were not easy.

The Dragon King Sentai continued training relentlessly, but the Galaxy Empire was strong.

Kang Yerin realized once again how crucial Vengeance and the villain alliance had been in the original fight against the Galaxy Empire.

They barely defeated Pegasus but lost two sentai members.

They easily overcame Cancer thanks to Jung Ui-seok’s diplomacy, but Eridanus who attacked afterward was too powerful.

Eventually, the Dragon King Sentai was defeated by Eridanus, and death approached Kang Yerin and Jung Ui-seok.

Covered in wounds and collapsed, Kang Yerin reached out to Jung Ui-seok who had fallen beside her.

After all her efforts to reach this moment.

After everything she’d done to secure this future.

To have it all crumble like this.

Tears welled up.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Ui-seok. If only I had been stronger…”

“No. There’s still a chance. You need to escape. Save yourself.”

“But then you’ll…!”

Having already seen Jung Ui-seok dying before Eridanus once, Kang Yerin had no intention of escaping.

But somehow, Jung Ui-seok seemed composed.

“Once is fine. I didn’t expect to use this privilege so soon, but dying once…”

“I won’t let you die. Never again.”

Kang Yerin manifested the yellow dragon’s power once more.

She had gained insight from this timeline.

She would go back to the past.

Try again.

This time, for a happy ending.

***

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

A familiar scene.

Kang Yerin didn’t hesitate.

She’d done this before.

She subdued Ji Se-hwa, Shin Yukyong, and Choi Minseo.

She escaped the Dark Kingdom’s ship with Jung Ui-seok.

She confessed her feelings and they became intimate.

Though she had experienced these things before, the sensations were still incredibly special and warm.

The Galaxy Empire’s attack began.

This time, she made a suggestion to Jung Ui-seok.

“What about collaborating with the American technology you mentioned before? Dillitter, was it?”

“What? No. That could cause complications. It created major problems before.”

“We can’t defeat the Galaxy Empire with our current strength. If we apply Dillitter to hero suits, we might win. Oh, and while we’re at it, we could change the hero ranking system…”

“Yerin.”

Jung Ui-seok’s expression turned cold.

“Do you know something?”

Realizing her mistake, Kang Yerin tried to salvage the situation. But she had already lost Jung Ui-seok’s trust.

Even if she defeated the Galaxy Empire, losing him would be meaningless.

Kang Yerin went back to the past again.

***

Kang Yerin thought of another approach.

Originally, Jung Ui-seok had negotiated six months from Emperor Recter, not three.

How had that negotiation happened?

Kang Yerin inferred and adjusted the situation, then jumped in directly.

After defeating Pegasus, she used his Switch to confront Emperor Recter herself.

The first attempt, predictably, ended with Eridanus impaling her.

***

After dozens of attempts, Kang Yerin managed to secure six months by using the existence of phantom warriors. She focused on making Jung Ui-seok and the Dragon King Sentai as strong as possible.

During this process, she used her negotiation skills to recruit American heroes, Absolute Seven and Exile.

The completed Dragon King Sentai had ten members.

Finally, Kang Yerin succeeded in defeating Saint Eridanus.

Her confidence grew that they could take down Emperor Recter.

Her desires kept growing.

This time, she would succeed.

She had gained Jung Ui-seok’s love.

The defeat of the Galaxy Empire was within reach.

No one could interfere—not Ji Se-hwa, Shin Yukyong, Choi Minseo, or the association president.

There would be no need to go back to the past again.

So, she decided to make it official.

Kang Yerin asked Jung Ui-seok:

“Ui-seok. Could we… get married?”

“At a time like this?”

“Especially because of the timing. We might die fighting Recter…”

Jung Ui-seok’s face showed discomfort as he pondered.

“Yerin. You understand that besides me, you’re the strongest force on Earth right now, right?”

“When you compliment me like that, I get embarrassed.”

“It is a compliment, but that’s not the important part… Sigh. Alright, fine.”

“We’re r-really getting married? Really?”

“Yes.”

“Ui-seok…!”

At this moment, Kang Yerin experienced the greatest happiness of her life.

No, each moment kept surpassing the last as the greatest happiness.

So this is life.

This is what living means.

She felt grateful to be alive, thankful for all her efforts.

Of course, she sensed that Jung Ui-seok didn’t fully love her.

Half pity, half gratitude.

Kang Yerin was now an incredibly capable hero association president and the greatest hero.

If he made her lose motivation or fall into despair, it would severely impact their fight against the Galaxy Empire.

That was Jung Ui-seok’s greatest concern. Because of this, he was in a position where he had to grant almost any request she made.

It was essentially coercion.

Kang Yerin wasn’t oblivious to this.

But she was happy nonetheless.

She was so happy that she ignored it.

***

The ceremony was quickly arranged.

The weather was beautiful. Numerous hero guests blessed the couple.

The marriage of the strongest heroes.

Everyone present believed their children would also protect the world.

Kang Yerin, wearing a luxurious white dress, shone brighter than ever before.

Walking down the aisle, she gazed at Jung Ui-seok in his suit.

He looked more handsome and dashing than ever.

After exchanging vows, they exchanged rings.

Kang Yerin wanted to share a deep, passionate kiss with him, to soil her dress with his scent and fluids, but she restrained herself with a light peck.

‘I’m happy.’

‘I’m happy.’

‘I’m the happiest person in the world right now.’

She walked down the carpet, her hand overlapping with Jung Ui-seok’s.

He turned to look at her.

“Yerin, are you happy?”

“Yes. I’m truly happy.”

“Do you love me?”

“More than anyone in the world.”

At those words, Jung Ui-seok smiled lightly.

Had he finally acknowledged it?

Jung Ui-seok looked into Kang Yerin’s eyes with deep pupils and parted his lips.

“Yes. I also—

——

—————

“Huh?”

Kang Yerin looked around.

Something was strange.

Before her was the tall, handsome groom Jung Ui-seok in his suit.

Her man.

The guests applauding and blessing them.

Doves flying away.

Everything— had stopped.

“Ui-seok…?”

Kang Yerin slowly reached out to touch him.

There was no warmth.

She felt nothing.

It seemed as if nothing existed in this space, not even air.

Literally, all time had stopped.

“…Why?”

Kang Yerin lifted her wedding dress with both hands and began running frantically.

Everywhere was the same. The world had stopped.

Everything, frozen in place.

Kang Yerin checked the time.

She checked the date.

“…Ah.”

She realized.

“Ah.”

“Ah, ah, ah.”

“Ah, no, no, no. No. No.”

“No. No! NO! I don’t want this, I don’t want this, I don’t want this, I DON’T WANT THIS!!!”

“I CAN’T GO BACK THEREEEEE!!!!”

This date and time.

Accurate down to the second.

The very beginning.

After villain Gerogius was defeated, Dark Matter saved him, and E.lena appeared before them.

It was the exact moment when Kang Yerin had lost control and returned to the past.

—-

Ability: Time Dragon Nozutorm

Skill: Clock Out

– Slows or stops time within range.

Max Performance: Clock Rewind

– Rewinds time for individuals within range. Does not alter history when usage ends.

– Cannot return to before scenario completion.

– Cannot advance beyond the point when the skill was activated.

—-