
![[ENG DUB] The Kiss Was Just the First Step](https://acfs3.goodshort.com/dist/src/assets/images/pc/common/f901131c-default-book-cover.png)
Serena Rivers spends three years in prison for a crime she didn't commit and uses every single day of it. She trains under four of the most formidable masters the underworld has ever produced and walks out as something entirely different from the woman who walked in. On her first day of freedom she corners the cold prison warden Xavier Stone against the water dungeon wall and kisses him without apology. He is her insurance policy and she knows it. Outside, the fake heiress has stolen her shares, her younger brother demands she kneel, and her former fiance has already moved on with a new bride. She tears up the rejection notice on the spot. Moments later, the Stone family motorcade arrives, the warden reveals himself as the family patriarch, and he shows up with a hundred billion in betrothal gifts and absolutely no intention of letting anyone touch her again. Together, they dismantle every person who had a hand in her three lost years.

On their wedding day, Betty Gibson, an architectural designer, was shown a video of her groom Justin Norton cheating with her best friend. She broke off the engagement on the spot. To get back at him, she decided to marry Justin's disabled uncle, Jason Norton. After marriage, Betty learned that Jason had trouble walking and lived in poverty, so she worked hard to support him. In reality, Jason was the CEO of the famous Morgan Group, pretending to be disabled to investigate a fire ten years ago. Though it was a contract marriage, he walked a tightrope every day to hide his identity. As they overcame various crises together, Jason became increasingly drawn to Betty, and love began to blossom. However, as their relationship deepened, the truth about the fire ten years ago was revealed. The mastermind was none other than Jason's brother Jeff Norton, and the person who saved Jason's life in that fire was Betty herself. In the end, the villains were brought to justice, and the two lovers who cherished each other finally found happiness.

Serena Rivers spends three years in prison for a crime she didn't commit and uses every single day of it. She trains under four of the most formidable masters the underworld has ever produced and walks out as something entirely different from the woman who walked in. On her first day of freedom she corners the cold prison warden Xavier Stone against the water dungeon wall and kisses him without apology. He is her insurance policy and she knows it.Outside, the fake heiress has stolen her shares, her younger brother demands she kneel, and her former fiance has already moved on with a new bride. She tears up the rejection notice on the spot. Moments later, the Stone family motorcade arrives, the warden reveals himself as the family patriarch, and he shows up with a hundred billion in betrothal gifts and absolutely no intention of letting anyone touch her again. Together, they dismantle every person who had a hand in her three lost years.

Three years ago, Dylan Smith, heir to the Cloudrise Group, hid his true identity and chose a life of quiet obscurity at Wendy Lewis's side. In secret, he even used Cloudrise's name to rescue the Lewis family from collapse. His devotion was repaid with betrayal: his fiancée Wendy and her family turned on him, while Frank Lee's schemes left him humiliated and disgraced.No longer willing to stay silent, Dylan returned wielding the full power of both Cloudrise Group and Wilson Group. Calm yet relentless, he exposed Frank's lies and dismantled the Lewis family's deceptions piece by piece.At his side stood Rachel Wilson, the Wilson heiress who grew from a silent protector into his strongest ally. Together, they faced public humiliation, deadly traps, and ruthless battles for power. In this world of shifting loyalties,love and betrayal collide with revenge and redemption.Some rise to reclaim their throne, while others are left to drown in regret and loneliness.

Billionaire Ethan Gibson, determined to break the family's curse of ending without an heir, spent a fortune recruiting ten "candidate mothers" and placed them together on his private island. On the day they arrived, Ethan announced publicly: Whoever delivers his first heir will become the future mistress of the Gibson family. Greed grew faster than desire. Within just a few months, several women announced their pregnancies with great pride. However, they and their unborn children were thrown into the ocean and fed to sharks. The reason was simple: they had been found to be involved with other men. Every night, the screams coming from the harbor kept me awake. I was terrified, because I had also had a single accidental encounter with Ethan, and I was now pregnant. When the day finally came and I saw what I had delivered, everything went dark before my eyes. Those mistresses who were fed to the sharks had at least carried human babies. I had given birth to three tiny puppies.

Seven years ago, ordinary girl Emily learned that her husband Vincent was actually the heir to a mafia family. Back then, Vincent had fractured his arm in a car accident and urgently needed surgery. His father laid down a condition for the treatment—Vincent must divorce Emily. Deeply in love with Emily, Vincent refused without hesitation, never expecting their conversation to be overheard by her. Unwilling to hold Vincent back, Emily chose to leave voluntarily, only to be caught in a car accident on the way. Vincent mistakenly believed Emily had died and was consumed by overwhelming grief. However, Emily not only survived but also gave birth to their daughter Lily—though she herself was left seriously ill as a result. To get treatment for her mother, Lily accidentally crossed paths with Vincent. Yet Vincent neither knew Lily was his daughter nor recognized that the mother of this "little wanderer" was the Emily he’d been yearning for day and night. Worse still, he even spoke harshly to her...

In the year 2399, all of humanity is drawn into a game known as Doomsday Hotel. Every player who enters is given a basic hotel. The higher the level, the larger and more powerful the hotel becomes. In his previous life, Ryan Charles sold his hotel for $30 million. Little did he know that 30 days later, the Earth would descend into a doomsday, and the hotels within the game would manifest in reality as shelters. As a result, Ryan fell into slavery and met a miserable end. Who could have imagined that when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the very day he was pulled into the game—and this time, he was bound to the strongest system. Trash men and scheming women come to provoke him? They only end up getting slapped in the face. While other players are still trying to figure out the game's mechanics, Ryan has already built a top-tier luxury hotel, gathered four beautiful maidservants, and is comfortably lying back, waiting for Doomsday to arrive.

The year my boyfriend is dead broke, I leave him. Later, he becomes a mafia boss and uses every means at his disposal to marry me. Everyone says that I am the first love he can never forget, the wife he cares about the most. However, he then starts bringing home a different woman every night, making me a laughingstock. Still, I don't cry or make a fuss. I quietly stay in my own room, never interrupting his affairs. Elton Carter is furious. He pins me beneath him, kisses me harshly, and growls, "Aren't you jealous?" He has no idea that I'm gravely ill. He could buy half the city with violence, threats, and money. He could buy my freedom, my marriage… and each night bring a different woman home, oblivious to the truth. Little does he know, I have just seven days left to live.

"In my previous life, I gave everything I had to marry him, only to receive fifty years of cold indifference, betrayal, and my son kneeling by my bedside on my deathbed, begging me to ""let Father go."" Reborn on the very day we were to register our marriage, Sebastian was still the same impatient man, tapping his fingers on the table. This time, I picked up the pen and slowly wrote my sister’s name in the applicant column. Since she was the one you’ve always longed for, I’ll grant your wish. I personally helped her try on wedding dresses, slipped the ring onto her finger, and watched him take her away to the capital. Then I turned around and left for the prestigious finishing school for ladies in Southport, starting from zero, determined to live for myself. I thought the story would end there. But when he discovered that the name on the marriage certificate wasn’t mine, he went mad and came chasing after me."

In a dark-energy-ravaged wasteland, Lyra, the last survivor guarding humanity's genetic archive, stumbles upon a devastating truth: her world is nothing more than a comic built around her endless suffering, manipulated by a ruthless corporation, and she is the heroine doomed to die over a billion times for the sake of its story. Oriel, the Creator God, lost his divine authority after defying the System to protect the woman he loves. Gravely wounded, he forges a pact with Lyra, binding their lives—and their pain—together. Channeling the dark energy born from her billion deaths, Lyra awakens unimaginable power and turns a higher-dimensional god into her ultimate weapon. The former male lead sacrifices himself in a desperate attempt to stop the System, but it retaliates by erasing Lyra's memories and imprisoning her in a false utopia. The pain of the bond with Oriel awakens Lyra once more. Together, Lyra and Oriel shatter the boundaries of their comic world, escape the page through humanity's genetic archive, and enter the real world—where Lyra finally claims the pen to write her own destiny.

"If she can't reclaim love within a week… what will become of her?” In a world obsessed with appearances, a fantasy romance thriller unfolds—one that shakes love to its core. After seven years together, she is abandoned by her boyfriend for one cruel reason: she isn’t pretty enough. Consumed by betrayal and rage, she reaches the depths of despair—only to find herself standing in a plastic surgery clinic. That’s when Lucifer appears before her, whispering a tempting offer. “Would you like to be reborn with a new face?” But there’s a catch. If she fails to win back love within seven days, she will be condemned to live forever with a grotesque face. Bound by a devil’s contract, Jung-yun is granted breathtaking beauty. Yet what begins as a simple desire for revenge soon forces her to confront the deepest parts of herself. Between what is seen and unseen, love begins to bloom. What is love? Who am I, really? A chain of endless questions leads into a complex and delicate psychological thriller—where love and revenge collide, both inside and out.

Urban security officer Alex Han is beaten to death by vampires. His father's lingering soul uses the Sun Seal to send him back to 1650, where he becomes a legendary demon hunter. Armed with future knowledge—repeating crossbows, gliders, financial futures—he slaughters the blood demons. He rescues his sacrificed aunt, snaps Dracula's neck, and pierces the thousand-year-old Vampire Lord's skull with three silver bolts. But victory comes at a price: all vampiric hunger floods into him, the golden seal transforms into a silver moon emblem, and an ancient "Night King" awakens in the East. The Empire's emperor is revealed as the Vampire Lord's vessel. Alex leads an army of half-bloods to storm the capital and personally breaks the emperor's neck. In the final battle, he uses the silver key to lock the Night King—a giant of pure fear—back into darkness. The curse shatters. Humans and vampires stand together in the sunlight. Selena rides east, saying, "When you return to your own time, I will be there waiting for you."

Tracy Brown moves through the world as the daughter of Ben Brown, one of Ariston continent's most feared crime lords. The truth is darker. She is his captive, kept close and controlled, her life never fully her own. When she watches her mother die at his hands, something in her hardens into purpose. She wants revenge, and she intends to use her assigned bodyguard to get it. What Tracy doesn't know is that her bodyguard isn't who he says he is. Henry Jones is undercover, working to build an airtight case against Ben from the inside. Two people with hidden agendas, orbiting the same dangerous man, each using the other to get what they came for. Somewhere in the middle of the deception,the lines begin to blur. When Henry finally reveals the truth, it doesn't end them. It frees them. Together they dismantle Ben's empire, settle debts older than their partnership, and pull each other out of the darkness they both came in carrying.

I was the eldest daughter of the Shadow Wolves pack. Anyone who married me would gain the full support of Shadow Wolves. Every wolf in the pack knew that Ryan Trivett and I had grown up together, practically destined for each other. I'd been infatuated with him for as long as I could remember. In this life, though, I didn't choose Ryan. Instead, I ended up with his uncle, Lucas Trivett. Why? Because in my previous life, I had been married to Ryan for five years, and he had never touched me. I used to think he had his reasons—some secret burden he couldn't share. But one day, I accidentally stumbled into the hidden chamber behind our bedroom. There, I saw him pleasuring himself to a photo of my cousin. That was the moment I realized the truth. He never loved me. He had only ever used me. Now, with this second chance at life, I had decided to let them have each other. But when I walked down the aisle in my wedding dress toward Lucas, Ryan completely lost it.

Attending the ten-year high school reunion for the cheerleading squad and football team, I arrived in an old domestic Ford, while the parking lot was filled with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maybachs, and even a gold Bugatti. It was as if I were the only relic from another era. The moment I stepped out of my car, a former classmate, whose name I could no longer remember, looked at me with a sneer. “Well, if it isn’t the coach’s pet. How is it that after all these years, you’re still driving this beat-up old Ford?” “This thing looks like it belongs in a scrapyard from the last century!” During dinner, everyone gathered around the Bugatti owner, raising their glasses in celebration, while I was left ignored at the side. Only the cheerleading assistant sat next to me, raising a glass in my direction with a comforting smile. “Don’t let it get to you. Your car may be old, but I believe you’ll be driving a luxury car one day.” I let a small smirk curl at the corner of my lips and lowered my voice. “This car may look unimpressive, but it’s been fully upgraded with a carbon fiber body. It’s already worth over half a million dollars. Too bad, none of you even recognized its true value.”

I married Don Matteo in secret. Every time he fucked his childhood sweetheart, he promised me a real wedding,in front of the Five Families. For five years, Matteo promised me ninety-nine times. And ninety-nine times, he left me at the altar. The first time, Cecilia’s prize-winning show cat died. To comfort her, he postponed the wedding for three months. I stood at the altar alone, eyes red, trying to calm down the family elders. The second time, Cecilia threw a tantrum at a casino and shattered a hundred-million-dollar antique vase. He diverted the private jet meant for their wedding and rushed through the night to clean up her mess. And every time, right before our wedding, his childhood sweetheart would have some kind of emergency. I cried. I screamed. I even held a gun to his head. But Matteo would just pin me against the wall and shut me up with a cold, hard kiss. “She’s just a fuck. You are Mrs. Falcone. Have some goddamn class.” After the ninety-ninth time, I was finally done. I slid the papers across the table. The ink was still wet, the Falcone family seal stamped at the bottom. “Our marriage, our alliance—it’s over.”

The end of the world was upon us, but there weren't enough spots for evacuation. The roars of the zombies echoed in my ears as my fiancé, Oliver, gritted his teeth and pulled me onto the rescue vehicle—securing the last available seat. I arrived safely at the survivor base. Lina, his first love, did not. The zombies tore her apart. Oliver still went through with our marriage, but I never expected that he had only done so to make me suffer. In his eyes, I was the one who had killed Lina. If she had to endure such agony, then I should, too. For five years, he hated me. My life was worse than that of a stray dog scavenging for food on the street. On the day my divorce was finalized, he kidnapped me, dragged me into the wilderness, and wrapped his fingers around my throat. Then, he threw us both into the swarm of the undead. When I opened my eyes again, I was somehow reborn on the day the apocalypse began. The rescue team was shouting impatiently, "One more! We have room for one more—hurry!" I turned to Oliver, watching his hesitation. Then, with a quiet smile, I took a step back and let someone else have the last seat.

The night before our 17th wedding attempt, my mafia husband, Rafaeal Holloway, looks at me and promises an uninterrupted wedding. He solemnly swears. "Gianna, I promise you. I told Natalia that even if the sky falls, she'll deal with it alone." I am five months pregnant by then. After three years of dating and five months carrying his child, we've never managed to make it down the aisle because he's canceled the past 16 weddings. Every single time, it's for his sworn sister, Natalia Sullivan. The first time, she claims she has a fever. I spend the whole night at the hospital, still in my wedding dress, just to find out she has a mild cold. The second time, she claims her chest hurts. Rafael abandons me mid-wedding and rushes to her side, while she's out laughing over afternoon tea with friends. The third time, she cries for fear of thunder. He bolts mid-vows and leaves me alone in a hall full of staring guests. But everything's different now. Three days ago, a letter arrived from Northern Silenzio. My father, the Don of the Rossetti family, has finally summoned me home. If Rafael walks away for Natalia one more time, I'll leave for good.