Chapter 17 – Happily ever after #3

“Cordelia-nim!”

The moment Yuder and Cordelia opened the front door, Hong Yu-hee, who had been waiting in the entryway, cried out with a face full of joy before immediately dropping to her knees and clasping her hands in prayer.

Cordelia was flustered by the sight, but Yuder was not.

He gazed fondly at the piously praying Hong Yu-hee, as if looking upon the pope of the Cordelia Church, then shot a look at Kang Jin-ho, who was standing awkwardly beside her.

‘Aren’t you going to do it?’

He was sure Cordelia had given him a baptism during their last meeting.

Kang Jin-ho flinched at Yuder’s glance, then quickly clasped his hands together in a prayer-like gesture.

A few seconds passed like this.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Cordelia helped Hong Yu-hee to her feet, and only then were the two able to properly enter the house.

*

As soon as they settled in the living room, Cordelia grabbed Yu-hee and started chatting about this and that. The conversation, which began with catching up, naturally flowed toward the wedding.

“So, I was thinking of calling some angels, you know?”

“Excuse me? Angels?”

“Yeah, angels from the Heavenly Realm. You know them, right? They’re in Heroic Saga. Like Raguel-unni?”

“Ra-Raguel? The archangel?”

“Yep, the archangel. She’s an older sister figure I’m pretty close with.”

They didn’t see each other often, but they were always incredibly happy to meet, so that counted as being close.

“It might be a bit hard for Raguel-unni to come in person, though. Since she’s an archangel. Unless she uses an avatar like me. So I was thinking of calling some of the angels under her instead.”

“I-I would be grateful.”

Angels coming to celebrate her wedding.

Could there be any other wedding like this in the world?

But Cordelia wasn’t satisfied with them merely being guests.

“I’ll call about thirty of them—some to sing the congratulatory song, some to be bridesmaids, and some to give blessings as you walk down the aisle.”

“A c-congratulatory song?”

“Yeah, the wedding song. Oh, have you already decided on who’s singing?”

“Well… Natasha-unni and Hye-eun-unni were going to sing together.”

“Really? Then that’s even better. We’ll have them sing a chorus with the angels.”

Cordelia said with a brilliant smile, and faced with the grin of her favorite character and the goddess she worshipped, Hong Yu-hee was powerless to resist.

‘I’m sorry, unnis!’

She could vaguely imagine what it would be like to sing sandwiched between angels, and the image of Kim Hye-eun and Natasha suffering amongst them easily came to mind, but Hong Yu-hee couldn’t help but nod.

Watching the two of them—Cordelia and Hong Yu-hee—from the side, Yuder thought:

‘Well, as long as Cordelia’s happy, that’s all that matters.’

What were thirty angels? Couldn’t he call hundreds and pack the wedding hall?

As long as it made Cordelia happy.

After having this very Yuder-like thought, he glanced to his side and saw Kang Jin-ho having a very Kang Jin-ho-like thought—namely, ‘Isn’t it fine as long as Hong Yu-hee is happy?’—and nodded once more.

While the men were occupied with their thoughts, Cordelia brought up a new topic.

“Where’s the wedding venue?”

“Um, it’s not too far from here. It’s an outdoor wedding.”

“Ooh, outdoor.”

“Yes, but… that’s why I’m a little worried. They said it might rain on the day.”

The main problem with an outdoor wedding was, of course, the weather. Because of the nature of weddings, reservations had to be made at least a few months in advance, making it impossible to actively respond to sudden changes in the weather.

But Cordelia just smiled brightly as if to say, ‘Don’t worry.’

“It’s fine, it won’t rain. Who am I? The God of the Sun. I’ve never met Earth’s God of the Sun, but I doubt they’d make a fuss over me just keeping the rain away from a wedding venue. Yup, yup.”

In truth, localized weather manipulation was simple enough with just Control Weather magic.

As Cordelia thumped her chest and boasted, Hong Yu-hee once again clasped her hands in prayer. She wore an expression of immense pride, as if to say she was proud to be a believer in Cordeliaism.

Slightly embarrassed, Cordelia let out a few dry coughs, then wrapped an arm around Hong Yu-hee’s shoulders and asked, “By the way, Yu-hee. Have you decided on a wedding dress?”

“Yes, I have.”

The wedding was only a week away. In fact, it would have been a bigger problem if she hadn’t chosen one yet.

‘Ugh, that’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.’

Since she’d already decided, she couldn’t just tell her to cancel it and give her the Fairy Dress.

‘No, wait, can’t I just have her cancel it?’

Knowing Yu-hee’s personality, she would have rented it, not bought it. They could just pay the cancellation fee.

Cordelia was not only the goddess’s avatar but also the queen of the Holy Nation of Yudelia. In other words, she lived a life where her sense of money was quite paralyzed.

“Um, Yu-hee, would it be… okay if I prepared a wedding dress for you?”

“You, Cordelia-nim?”

“Yeah, I have a dress that would look great on you. Ah, but you don’t have to force yourself to change. I haven’t seen the dress you picked yet, either. If that one suits you better or is prettier, you can just wear that. Think of it as me just giving you one more option?”

As she spoke, Cordelia began to ramble, wondering if this was the right thing to do, but Hong Yu-hee was Hong Yu-hee. There was no reason for her to refuse a wedding dress prepared by none other than Cordelia.

“I’ll wear it. I’ll wear the dress you give me, Cordelia-nim.”

“No, you should at least see it first. Here.”

With that, Cordelia immediately took the Fairy Dress and the Heavenly Dress out of her spatially expanded magic bag and used her telekinesis to suspend them in mid-air.

“What do you think?”

“Woooow…”

Hong Yu-hee couldn’t answer Cordelia’s question right away. The dresses hanging in the air were literally glowing.

“Want to try them on?”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course it is.”

Why wouldn’t it be?

Giggling, Cordelia stood up, took Hong Yu-hee’s hand, and headed for the master bedroom. The dresses followed behind them as if they had feet of their own.

And so, the two women and two dresses left the living room.

Left alone, Yuder and Kang Jin-ho awkwardly looked at each other. Yuder, being the more composed of the two, spoke first.

“Congratulations.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

And again, the conversation died.

But not for long.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been staring toward the master bedroom, turned his gaze back to Yuder.

“Yuder. There’s one thing… I want to confirm.”

What did he want to talk about?

Yuder gave a calm nod, and Kang Jin-ho took a deep breath before looking Yuder straight in the eye and asking, “Are you… me?”

A single answer that would pierce through all his various questions.

At Kang Jin-ho’s question, Yuder smiled bitterly and nodded. The situation had changed, making it pointless to deny it as he had before.

“Did you find out from Natasha? She wouldn’t have told you directly. Was she the start of your reasoning?”

The existence of Natasha.

More than half a year had passed on Earth since Yuder and Cordelia had left. Having observed Natasha up close for that long, Kang Jin-ho must have noticed something was off.

“As you said, Natasha was the beginning. Can you tell me what happened?”

Yuder nodded again at Kang Jin-ho’s question. Instead of hiding it, he glanced toward the master bedroom and began to speak.

A few minutes later.

After hearing the condensed story, Kang Jin-ho crossed his arms with a thoughtful expression, then nodded as if he understood.

“It’s a story that’s hard to accept, but since you’re standing right in front of me, I guess I’ll just have to accept it.”

He had already confirmed during their previous meeting that the Yuder before him was the real Yuder Bayer. Any more questions would be a needless waste of energy.

“So, I wanted to say.”

“Yeah.”

“The sprinkler… that was you two, wasn’t it?”

The sprinkler incident that had also happened to Cowabunga and AAA.

This time, instead of offering a pointless denial, Yuder simply raised both hands in surrender.

“Yeah, that was us. To be precise, it was Cordelia’s idea.”

In Cordelia’s mind, the sprinkler was already Cupid’s arrow, a god, and an invincible force.

At Yuder’s answer, Kang Jin-ho smiled bitterly before his expression softened.

“Tell her I said thank you.”

“I will.”

The sprinkler had been the bridge that brought the two of them together. If Cordelia hadn’t resorted to such forceful means, it would have taken them much longer to develop the relationship they had now.

‘They both would have subtly backed away.’

In that sense, breaking the door to Hong Yu-hee’s house had also been the right thing to do.

“By the way, are you going to continue being a VTuber even after you’re married? And you’ll keep managing that chatroom?”

“I have to. It’s something Yu-hee enjoys. And the pay is better than I thought. Natasha’s popularity is beyond imagination.”

The difference between the days Natasha appeared and the days she didn’t was stark. Kang Jin-ho was even planning to launch Natasha as a separate, independent channel.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just… the thought of Kang Jin-ho managing a chatroom… It’s peaceful, but also kind of funny.”

Although Yuder had Kang Jin-ho’s memories and knowledge of modern civilization, there were still limits. The concept of a VTuber was still a bit foreign to him, and managing a chatroom was much the same. The same Kang Jin-ho who had roamed battlefields since childhood was now managing a chatroom. The gap between the two felt almost dissonant.

But at Yuder’s remark, Kang Jin-ho became very serious and said, “I’m only saying this because it’s you, but managing a chatroom is harder than you think. Deciding where to draw the line, what to allow and what to cut out. It’s not easy to set those boundaries. You can’t do it emotionally. It’s a job that requires a rational approach.”

“When you put it like that, it sounds kind of plausible.”

“It’s not just plausible, it’s a really important job.”

Kang Jin-ho spoke sternly, then gave a small nod as if to emphasize his point again, before uncrossing his arms and asking, “How’s the pope business?”

“It’s great. It’s exciting. It’s a job where I can just fangirl over Cordelia all day.”

“…Are you sure you’re a pope? No, before that, am I sure I’m me?”

“Yeah, you’re you. The you who used to risk his life playing games just to tease a girl nine years younger than him. You.”

Kang Jin-ho let out an involuntary groan at Yuder’s self-deprecating jab, but again, it didn’t last long. He chuckled softly, let his shoulders slump, and said, “But… I think I get it now. We’re different people.”

Yuder and Kang Jin-ho were no longer the same person.

Yuder smiled wryly, as if in agreement.

“That’s right. We’re different people. We just share the same roots… I’m a person who has lived another twenty years on top of Kang Jin-ho’s life, and in a completely different world at that. My life before I awakened my memories at seventeen was also completely different. It’s the same for Cordelia. We’re different people, even at the genetic level.”

They were no longer the same.

They were separate individuals.

At Yuder’s declaration, Kang Jin-ho felt a sense of stability rather than disappointment. And because of that, he spoke with a much more relaxed expression.

“It feels strange to say this now, but… thank you for everything.”

“Yeah, and if you’re grateful, be nice to Natasha, too.”

“Because she’s like Maia to you?”

“Yeah, Maia.”

As Yuder’s expression softened at the thought of Maia, Kang Jin-ho leaned back on the sofa, his curiosity piqued.

“Come to think of it, how is Maia living in that world?”

“She’s working as the chamberlain. And Dahlia is the knight commander.”

For Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee, they were like Natasha and Kim Hye-eun.

How long did Yuder’s story continue?

After listening to Yuder boast about Maia for a while, Kang Jin-ho seized a momentary pause in the conversation to ask a question.

“Hey, there’s one thing I want to ask.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Can Yu-hee and I visit Pleiades?”

At the question, which was laced with a hint of tension and excitement, Yuder couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s possible.”

“Then… could we ask to go there for our honeymoon?”

It was a question that was both unlike and very like Kang Jin-ho. Yuder readily nodded his head again.

And at that very moment.

“Ta-da!”

Cordelia, her face wreathed in a smile, opened the master bedroom door, and Hong Yu-hee appeared behind her, wearing the Fairy Dress with a shy smile.

And at the sight of the two of them—

‘As expected of me.’

Yuder watched Kang Jin-ho, whose eyes were sparkling as he shot up from his seat, and thought with another wry smile.

And one week later.

On a very clear and beautiful day.

Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee’s wedding began.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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