Chapter 17 – Happily Ever After #4

The meteorological agency had forecast heavy rain, but it never came.

In fact, it was as if an umbrella had opened in the sky; the area around the hotel where the wedding was being held remained clear and sunny, while just beyond a certain boundary, a torrential downpour was truly underway.

An abnormal climate.

But Cordelia looked up at the sky with a face more proud than anyone’s and gave a proud little shoulder shimmy. Yuder praised her generously for it.

There weren’t that many wedding guests.

Other than acquaintances of Hong Yu-hee’s parents, there was hardly anyone to invite.

Hong Yu-hee, who had become a willing social outcast to play games, only had her chatroom friends, and Kang Jin-ho’s acquaintances were limited to Natasha and a few people from the VTuber industry.

But just before the wedding, something unexpected happened.

The guests… are flooding in?

“Flooding in” was an exaggeration; it was only a few dozen additional people. But it was true that a crowd had suddenly appeared.

And these newcomers all had one thing in common: they were all foreigners—that is, not Korean.

What the heck, why is everyone so beautiful? Are they from a modeling agency or something?

Hong Chan-hee (25, college student), Hong Yu-hee’s cousin who was collecting the gift money, was bewildered by the sudden flood of handsome men and beautiful women, but this was a pleasant sort of bewilderment.

The wave of confusion that followed was closer to fear.

“Do I put the money in here?”

At the curt question, Hong Chan-hee swallowed dryly and nodded.

The man’s pronunciation was strange, like the awkward Korean you sometimes hear in movies or American TV shows, but it wasn’t funny—it was terrifying.

And for good reason. The man standing before him was truly intimidating.

He was just over two meters tall.

His muscular frame looked like it might burst out of his suit.

His face, hidden behind sunglasses, was covered in fearsome scars, but the most frightening thing was the aura the man himself exuded.

A person to stay away from.

An incredibly dangerous person.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Starting with that man, a line of guests with similar auras followed.

First a modeling agency, and now a mercenary company?

Correct.

Natasha, dressed in a red gown, greeted the guests with a wide grin as they came to drop off their gift money, standing beside Kang Jin-ho.

“Natasha, is it really okay to invite all these people?”

“What’s the problem? It’s been a long time since we retired, and we’ve already crushed every organization that might hold a grudge against us.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Besides, it wasn’t as if they had hidden their identities when they retired in the first place.

“Jino!”

“Bertrand.”

As the Frenchman approached with a bright smile, Kang Jin-ho returned the light hug and finally broke into a smile himself.

No matter what, he was happy to see his old comrades after so long.

“Natasha! How have you been? Is it true you became a cyber-whore?”

“Pfft! Wh-what is this lunatic saying? A V-VTuber isn’t like that, you know? W-wait, before that! Who told you? Huh?!”

As a flustered Natasha, her face instantly turning red, urgently questioned him, Bertrand cackled and played a video on his phone.

It was one of the videos guaranteed to make Natasha die of embarrassment: ‘Tanya Noona’s Scolding Special.’

“This is you, isn’t it, Natasha?”

How many years had he known her?

He could tell just by her voice.

Besides, the character model subtly resembled Natasha.

“N-No, ugh… P-Please. Stop it. I’m sorry. Okay?”

Seeing Tanya Noona squirming in embarrassment as she uttered scolding remarks, Natasha begged and pleaded as if her brain had momentarily broken. True to his intelligence background, Bertrand recorded her reaction on another phone while simultaneously stopping the video.

“Anyway, you both look good. Seems like you’re living well after retirement.”

When Natasha had first announced her retirement, Bertrand had thought the day would come when he’d be invited to her and Jino’s wedding.

But to think Jino would actually end up marrying an ordinary woman.

Bertrand was a man of common sense, and true to form, instead of spouting nonsense like, “I knew you two would get married,” he once again congratulated them on their peaceful life and entered the wedding hall.

“Haa… haa… That bastard Bertrand. I’ll make sure he can never watch that video again. I’m going to block him everywhere.”

As Natasha fanned her red face with her hand, Kang Jin-ho let out a small laugh.

The usual Natasha would have turned the tables on Bertrand, saying, “What kind of videos are you watching for that to pop up in your algorithm? Huh?” The fact that she couldn’t even think of that showed how truly flustered she was.

How did she even end up filming that in the first place?

Tanya Noona’s Scolding Special.

But the mystery didn’t last long.

After all, the main theme of Natasha’s streams these days was still Tanya Noona getting embarrassed while scolding people.

Is this the power of money?

While Kang Jin-ho was lost in thought, new guests arrived.

Once again, they were comrades he had fought alongside during his mercenary days.

The angels Cordelia had summoned and the mercenaries Natasha had brought.

As the two groups, which had captured the attention of the ordinary guests, took their seats, Hong Chan-hee let out a sigh of relief and slumped his shoulders.

That felt like a storm, but I guess it’s over now.

There were only about three minutes left until the wedding began.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been out greeting people, and Hong Yu-hee’s parents had all gone inside the hall long ago.

But it was at that very moment.

At the appearance of a couple approaching with the clack-clack of high heels, Hong Chan-hee was so startled he shot up from his seat.

It was because they were Yuder and Cordelia.

Wh-What is this?

Cosplay?

Having been forced by Hong Yu-hee to play as Yellow Storm a few times, Hong Chan-hee knew a fair bit about Heroic Saga 2.

He was so knowledgeable about Cordelia, Hong Yu-hee’s favorite character, that he even had a figure of her at home.

And now, Cordelia had appeared.

A woman of such staggering beauty that she effortlessly overcame the gap between a game screen and reality, a woman who could only be Cordelia, had appeared.

And next to her was a handsome, black-haired man who could only be Yuder.

What is this? What’s going on? Is this a surprise event? Are they actors hired for Yu-hee’s wedding?

Realistically, that had to be it.

But Hong Chan-hee found himself wanting to deny that realistic thought.

Part of it was his family’s hereditary wild intuition, but it was also because the two people before him were just that incredible.

They’re not actors.

They weren’t actors.

If they were, they would surely be world-famous stars who had already taken the world by storm.

Then who were they?

Could they possibly be the real Yuder and Cordelia?

“Here you go.”

It was at that moment.

Taking the gift envelope Cordelia offered, Hong Chan-hee was stunned once again.

Cordelia’s beauty, seen up close, was simply dazzling.

But this was Hong Chan-hee.

As Hong Yu-hee’s cousin, he quickly composed himself and replied in a relatively normal tone.

“Ah, yes, yes. Thank you.”

He was still dazed, but he had properly received the envelope and expressed his thanks.

Cordelia gave him a small smile—a smile that sent Hong Chan-hee into another daze—then gave a little wink and said.

“Thanks, Chan-hee oppa.”

“…Pardon?”

What did she just say?

Chan-hee oppa?

How does she know my name?

No, it’s not just that she knows my name.

Her tone and expression just now… she definitely knows me.

Hong Chan-hee’s wild intuition was firing on all cylinders again, but at the same time, a corner of his mind was short-circuiting with a mix of bewilderment, surprise, embarrassment, and other emotions, preventing him from reaching a proper conclusion.

In the meantime, Yuder and Cordelia had gracefully entered the wedding hall.

“Hmm, I like it.”

The guest seats in the outdoor venue were filled with people.

The people sitting around the circular tables could be divided into three main groups.

Just ordinary guests.

The angels Cordelia had summoned.

The mercenaries Natasha had brought.

After spotting Cowabunga and his group sitting among the ordinary guests, too busy gawking at the angels, Cordelia chuckled and looked toward the front of the hall.

Natasha stood at the emcee’s podium, and in the parents’ seats were Hong Yu-hee’s parents and a foreign woman she had never seen before.

A red-haired woman who looked so young it was hard to guess her age, though she seemed to be in her forties.

Cordelia turned to ask who she was but flinched in spite of herself.

A look of both longing and bewilderment had crossed Yuder’s face.

“…It’s Rachel.”

“Rachel?”

“Alexei’s lover… the one who was. She taught me espionage techniques and acting.”

An undeniable longing colored Yuder’s voice.

The time he had spent with Rachel was barely two years, but they were two unforgettable years.

“So she was alive.”

“…Don’t you want to go see her?”

“It’s fine. I’ll just say hello later.”

Yuder, feigning nonchalance, gently squeezed the hand he was holding to escort Cordelia. Cordelia, in turn, smiled warmly at Natasha, who was at the emcee’s podium.

Kang Jin-ho’s Maia.

Kang Jin-ho’s family.

“It’s starting.”

Just as Yuder said.

With Natasha’s playful voice, the wedding began.

*

The wedding was, quite literally, fantastic.

There was no officiant, so instead of a long sermon, the ceremony was filled with a variety of… interesting events, each one more extraordinary than the last.

It’s a real choir of actual angels.

These were angels who had undergone a week of special training to carry out Cordelia’s orders.

From the congratulatory song to mastering idol dances, the angels’ celebratory performance was literally out of this world, drawing an enthusiastic response from the guests.

Natasha was the one who caught the bouquet.

It was originally supposed to be caught by AAA—Yoo Ga-young—but a sudden gust of wind and a series of mishaps caused it to fall. Natasha, who happened to be nearby and possessed extraordinary reflexes, snatched it from the air.

“The world is cruel,” Natasha muttered under her breath with a melancholic voice. Fortunately, only Yuder and Cordelia heard her.

Natasha quickly looked up with a bright smile, and the wedding entered its final phase.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They had stayed in the back until now, but they had to be in the final photo.

Many people—including Hong Yu-hee’s parents, who couldn’t help but know about Yuder and Cordelia thanks to their incredibly enthusiastic daughter—were flustered by their appearance, but Yuder, and especially Cordelia, paid them no mind.

Because Hong Yu-hee, the bride and star of the wedding, was beaming with more joy than anyone.

“Congratulations, Yu-hee.”

“Yes, Cordelia-nim.”

Dressed in the Fairy Dress, Hong Yu-hee truly looked like a fairy.

Cordelia smiled brightly and put an arm around Hong Yu-hee’s shoulders, which naturally placed Yuder next to Kang Jin-ho.

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

After exchanging slightly stiff but warm greetings, the two men faced forward. Natasha, positioned right behind Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee, smiled once more.

And four hours later.

The wedding now over, Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee sat in Natasha’s living room with their suitcases. Behind them sat others, also with suitcases.

Natasha, Kim Hye-eun, Cowabunga, and AAA.

And facing them all were Yuder and Cordelia, a large Spatial Gate open behind them.

“Going to Pleiades for our honeymoon. It really feels like a dream.”

Cordelia beamed at Hong Yu-hee’s excited voice and glanced at the rest of the group.

Kim Hye-eun, Cowabunga, and AAA, being the Heroic Saga fanatics they were, were literally trembling with excitement at the prospect of a trip to Pleiades. Natasha, as always, stood aloof, exuding a mysterious aura.

‘I want to see Maia.’

That was Natasha’s reason for heading to Pleiades.

Of course, that probably wasn’t all.

Having grown very close to the chatroom members, she wouldn’t have missed a trip like this.

“Shall we depart if you’re ready?”

At Yuder’s question, everyone nodded. Cordelia, grinning, activated the Spatial Gate.

A honeymoon to Pleiades.

Yuder and Cordelia stepped through first. Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee looked at each other.

Almost in unison, they broke into bright smiles and took a step forward.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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