Side Story Chapter 2 – A Little Grace Period Before Entering the Grave
When do we consider a relationship between loved ones to be socially recognized?
Is it when you announce your relationship in front of everyone?
Or when you openly exchange feelings?
Or when you’re just flaunting and showing off everything you’ve done together?
All of these make sense, but they’re just a bit lacking.
From a ‘social’ perspective, they can’t be seen as tied to each other.
And because of that, there’s a separate procedure to ‘socially’ recognize that relationship.
And that’s through a wedding ceremony.
However, that doesn’t mean you absolutely have to have a wedding ceremony.
In societies where institutional marriage doesn’t exist, a wedding ceremony usually signified the recognition of marriage.
But in modern times, just filing a marriage registration is often enough.
Of course, it’s still quite common to have a wedding ceremony.
Now it’s not just someone else’s story.
But right now, it wasn’t my turn.
I was moving to another floor of the building to watch that wedding ceremony.
Some might wonder about this.
If I had nothing to do, couldn’t I just go to the heroines?
Why would I bother attending someone else’s wedding?
But even I couldn’t help it.
At first, I asked if it was okay to join them since I had spare time.
But each of them urgently replied that I should definitely not come.
Even the piece with them gave a consistent answer.
[It’s better if you don’t come.]
‘What on earth is going on?’
I couldn’t understand.
[Hyeji’s wedding dress ripped.]
‘……What…?’
The follow-up from the piece was even more shocking.
Honestly, do you think this makes any sense?
If a dress rips, it would be someone else’s, right?
Why on earth would Hyeji’s wedding dress rip?
Hyeji doesn’t even have a bust to rip in the first place.
[She stuffed some padding in her chest…]
‘Ah.’
But it actually did rip.
Not just the bride’s beautiful wedding dress.
Everything, including Hyeji’s feelings and her slender, vain hopes, ripped apart.
Indeed, Hyeji’s bust was a cruel reality that couldn’t exist, even as an illusion.
Anyways, there’d be no good coming from meeting them in that state.
Out of consideration, I was moving to another floor for a bit.
While I was at it, I could check how other people were conducting their weddings.
The building was solely built for the purpose of weddings, so it was quite grand.
Naturally, there were other weddings going on, excluding mine.
And just as I ascended one floor.
“Waah…!”
“Stop crying! It’s a happy day, isn’t it?”
An incongruous sound of wailing resonated in the wedding hall.
Even with joy and happiness overflowing at weddings, sadness, the uninvited guest, shoved its way in.
No, it was more like it had settled itself into the scene.
A young boy who looked quite young was sobbing bitterly.
And a lovely bride in a wedding dress was soothing him over and over.
Despite not knowing the exact situation, it seemed the two were related by blood.
“I can’t let you get married, can I, noona?”
“Stop it. Aren’t you sweet, our little brother?”
The younger sibling continued to cling to his sister while the bride grimaced, biting her lip.
“But! But!”
“This will make our family alright.”
From that alone, I could piece together some of the situation.
Perhaps unwillingly, the woman had chosen to marry for her family’s sake.
And the younger sibling seemed to be desperately trying to stop that unfortunate choice.
Whatever the content was, it surely held some circumstances that were hard to share with others.
“My first was you!”
“I’m sorry. Noona is already the master’s captive.”
“I can’t let her be taken away like this!”
From another perspective, it was genuinely hard to say.
[It’s a family NTR story.]
‘Families typically seek out others, you crazy girl.’
Meanwhile, several weddings were simultaneously taking place.
From what I could tell on the floor I was on, it seemed like only we were there.
They must have rented an entire floor of the building.
Looking back, it really felt like they were serious about it.
Anyways, thanks to the nature of the building, I could witness various scenes.
“Congratulations on your wedding! I’m so glad things are turning out well!”
“Thank you for coming! But who’s that next to you?”
First, there were guests arriving to celebrate the wedding.
It appeared they hadn’t met in ages, as they hugged each other tightly, expressing their joy.
Upon seeing the groom being embraced by an outsider, I felt a twinge of discomfort, but I just shrugged it off, thinking it was merely a way of expressing excitement at seeing someone they hadn’t contacted in a while.
At the same time, I thought this was worth observing personally.
“My ex-boyfriend.”
“……What…?”
“He’s my husband!!!”
“That surprised me…”
I would also need to greet arriving guests like the groom did.
I didn’t know how many would show up, but I had to welcome them with as much sincerity as I could.
Furthermore, many people would bring their spouses like that woman.
“I seduced him when we were in elementary school.”
“We were in the same class in elementary school!”
“Oh, anyway, it’s nice since you’re the same age. Congratulations.”
Then I’d certainly be learning a thing or two from this!
“She was our homeroom teacher back then.”
“Those were good times.”
“Get out of my wedding, you crazy bastards.”
…Or so it seems.
Meanwhile, I could also catch a glimpse inside several bridal waiting rooms.
Perhaps the wedding-specialized building was pursuing extreme efficiency.
Hence, the bridal waiting rooms were packed into one area.
“Your wedding dress is so beautiful!”
“Thanks! It was worth pondering all night.”
“It’s a white wedding dress that suits you perfectly!”
In each room, brides were greeting their guests.
“During the ceremony, the colors will change.”
“Huh? Really? Technology is so good these days! What color will it change to?”
Naturally, all the brides wore lavish wedding dresses befitting them.
“Only the lower part will turn yellow.”
“Oh! It’s a half-and-half dress!”
That was a weapon that maximized the unique features of her beauty.
[……Wait a minute… how does it turn yellow…?]
‘Ah, f*ck.’
Seeing that made me look forward to the heroines’ appearances.
The women present seemed good-looking, but the heroines would undoubtedly be more beautiful than them.
Even though I still couldn’t feel like I was truly getting married.
‘I wonder what they’ll all look like.’
[You’d be surprised, I bet.]
But I always had to remember.
In that funeral hall, once so filled with sorrow.
And now, at this wedding hall, filled with joy and cheers.
Whether I liked it or not, hunters existed.
Falsely giving wedding money at someone else’s wedding, of course.
Or receiving numerous tickets and flipping them to sell as scalpers, or completely converting them into souvenirs was quite common.
In the banquet hall, it was also common to get caught collecting food in preservation containers.
I even witnessed people stealing others’ clothes to pretend they were part of the staff.
Maintaining the identity of a hunter here had been quite a feat.
“Hah… it’s a significant blow since I contributed a lot, but… it feels a bit relieving.”
“What the hell did you do to the wedding gift box…?”
At least it was thankfully not a case of them taking away the box with the money.
“I put about 100 million won in there. Is that not enough?”
“Put in money, you dog! Don’t put in weird stuff!”
It seemed it would have been better to just take it away rather than what happened.
[……I was wondering why that idiot’s pants were falling down …]
‘Sigh, this f*cking world hasn’t changed even in the side story.’
Just then, conveniently, I got a notification on my mobile phone.
It was a message from an unknown number.
But the content was familiar to me.
It finally said that my outfit alterations were complete.
Seeing that, I hurried back downstairs toward the dressing room.
There were staff waiting with my tuxedo.
Other than their rather haggard faces, everything looked just like before.
“We’re done! Please try it on!”
“Thanks for your hard work.”
Receiving the tuxedo, I felt a bit bad for them as honestly, there was no difference.
If this was the work of a skilled artisan, I could accept it, but.
Trying it on again, the only feeling I got was that it was comfortable like earlier.
That being said, they wouldn’t have left their posts just for fun.
Unless they told me directly, I wouldn’t notice any changes.
“Now it fits perfectly!”
“Is that so…?”
“Yes! I’m relieved it’s finally right!”
The staff’s faces lit up, so I thought it was good to keep things pleasant and move on quietly.
From the beginning, I wasn’t the type to focus too much on clothing anyway.
“Thank you for your attention until the end.”
“Of course! Please use us again next time!”
I felt a bit dizzy, but it was concerning.
“Next…?”
“Ah, f*ck. That slipped out.”
In any case, today was a good day, so I decided to let it slide.
“…It’s alright. Remarriage is quite common these days. I won’t be doing it, though.”
“Yes…”
Anyway, it seemed like I had about everything I needed.
‘Now, shall we head out?’
[Let’s do that.]
It’s finally time to meet those women I had been waiting for!
