episode_0055

If Lager Godin were to list the three most familiar places in this world, he would choose the main building, the dormitory, and the hospital.

In reality, he found himself frequenting the hospital quite often.

However, it was the first time he had visited the hospital alone without his childhood friend, Ael Cloi.

“Damn.”

Having lost his arm in the recent battle against the humanoid demon, Dakota Kale, the deputy chief, Lager, felt a sense of discomfort as he reluctantly swallowed his distaste.

*

After a day of intense battle, Ael, with far fewer examination items than Dakota, quickly completed the admission process and was ready to return to the dormitory. However, he was stopped by a nurse.

“Guardian, you must wait until the severe patient’s admission process is complete.”

“My ward is already admitted.”

“Aren’t you Dakota Kale’s guardian?”

“No.”

The nurse quickly glanced at the hastily written chart and pointed to a corner, showing Lager.

“Usually, the guardian is the commanding officer, but since the commanding officer is injured, according to the regulations, Lager Godin, the ‘uninjured person closest to the battlefield,’ becomes the guardian.”

Lager clicked his tongue at this rule, but he knew he had to accept it to some extent. If not mentioned in the novel or guidebook, the detailed regulations of the world, untouched by Lager, are arbitrarily created and filled in as long as they do not compromise coherence.

In a situation where everyone was injured, it was reasonable to select Lager as the person who could explain the circumstances of the incident in the most detail, following the nurse’s explanation of the regulations. So, Lager had no grounds to complain.

As a result of this rule, he was stuck in the hospital until Dakota, who had the most delayed emergency treatment, entered the room with him, unable to return to the dormitory.

Looking out the window of the hospital room, Lager saw that the sun had already set. He hadn’t even had dinner yet. What was he doing here? Lager pondered the futility of life for a moment and let out a heavy sigh.

“Are you Dakota Kale’s caregiver?”

But this nurse continued to make inappropriate remarks. Lager, with an annoyed expression, asked, “What caregiver?” But the nurse casually recited the regulations again, seemingly unaffected by any mental damage.

“Patients with injuries beyond the elbows or knees must have a caregiver.”

“Why?”

“Because they need assistance in daily life separate from injury recovery.”

Of course, there could be ways to adapt and live independently, but in a world where even severed arms could fully recover in a month, it was more efficient to receive help from someone at specific times rather than stress about adapting to disabilities.

Although Lager did not create this system, it was a reasonably well-made regulation that he found it difficult to criticize.

So, he had to find a rational way to escape within that regulation.

“I want to be the caregiver for the commanding officer.”

“You have already designated someone else.”

“Then am I also a caregiver because Dakota appointed me? Can’t I refuse?”

“You can express your disagreement with being selected as a caregiver.”

He was about to refuse outright, but suddenly realized that this was a hospital room and that Dakota had been watching him since earlier.

“…Wait, nurse. Could you please step outside? We have something to discuss.”

The nurse nodded and left the room with a dry shuffle of her feet.

“Do you dislike it that much?”

Dakota’s pale lips quivered.

Fingers weren’t severed, but the entire arm below the shoulder was torn off. Due to the excessive bleeding, Dakota’s complexion was so pale that it looked sickening.

“Ah, I don’t like it.”

“What did I do wrong…”

“It’s not your fault. I like Ale, and you’re overly pretty. If I spend time with you, Ale will definitely dislike it.”

“Thank you for saying I’m pretty. But, I heard we’re not in a dating relationship.”

“We’ll date eventually, so we should practice being considerate and caring from now on.”

“I envy you. What’s so great about her?”

“There’s a reason I fell for her. I don’t need to explain it to you.”

Lager abruptly turned his head and glanced at the clock on top of the refrigerator. It was an unspoken pressure, saying ‘Hurry up and finish talking because I’m bored.’

However, Dakota continued without hesitation.

“Please just do it. We don’t need to be together all the time. Just be there during morning and evening showers and meal times. It might be inconvenient, but I’ll be respectful enough.”

“No need for respect. And you can use someone else. You have plenty of followers.”

When Lager first met Dakota while going to help Ale in the women’s dormitory, he remembered that there were quite a few followers accompanying her. Any one of them would do a better job if chosen, so why insist on her.

“There are two reasons.”

Dakota raised a finger to show, but then raised the opposite hand.

“First, they follow me not because of me, but because they like the position of being a follower.”

“Is that position really that valuable?”

“I voluntarily participate, but to provide convenience to myself, I can create as much absurdity as I want. I don’t want to give extra points to those who approach me with such greed.”

Lager suddenly remembered that before Dakota joined this group, she never ate with anyone. Of course, he was the one who set Dakota as the ‘lonely wolf-like heroine.’ She guards herself against those who approach her for power and doesn’t easily give up her side.

But.

“And secondly, I just like you and want to keep you by my side.”

It was also him who assigned the role of filling the void of such feelings to the protagonist, Lager Godin.

“You said it yourself. Don’t be so guarded against others. Sometimes, accept the kindness of those around you.”

“…”

“When I first entered school, you told me that.”

“Why were you nice to me back then, but now you’re trying to distance yourself?”

He knows.

Lager, or rather Jisoo, cannot be unaware of this setting. Because.

-Why do you ignore others when they talk to you?

-They keep teasing me for coming from the countryside.

-They want to be friends with you too. If you keep acting like that, you’ll only have me as a friend in your surroundings.

At the age of seven, due to the annoying kid next door instigating the neighborhood kids to tease her as a country bumpkin, Jisoo was reluctant to go outside. Those words that Eugene said to her.

-Just keep protecting me.

Even at a young age, her heart thumped for the first time.

Since then, she secretly developed feelings for him as he acted as her bodyguard under the guise of being friends from the neighboring houses.

And it was him who, embodying that tender emotion from back then, created Dakota Kale.

Before becoming a leader, Dakota, who pursued strength and ran forward with a single focus, was made to look beside her by the protagonist, Lager Godin.

As the two filled each other’s gaps and overcame various crises, they fell in love.

That was the essence of this novel.

As it was a novel that he had conceived while hoping for his love to come true with Cha Yujin, Lager understood Dakota’s feelings better than anyone else. As he wished for his loved one to be happy, he was ready to even give way to his rival for her sake.

When the opportunity came, he would aggressively seize it no matter what.

Just like how he continued to court Aeil without giving up, she was determined not to give up as well when she had the chance to dominate him for a month.

“Well, let’s do this.”

As expected, Dakota made his move.

It was a risky gamble, but it offered a high reward.

“During the month that you take care of me, I will make sure your heart turns away from Chloe and towards me. If I fail, I will not cling to you any longer and will cleanly give up.”

Lager was speechless at Dakota’s declaration of seducing and capturing him with such a straightforward method.

However, if enduring for a month meant he could focus solely on Aeil afterwards.

It was a gamble worth trying for Lager as well.

“Alright. But there’s a condition. Aeil has to approve of me taking care of you.”

“Let’s do that. But in return, let’s make it a condition that you don’t tell Chloe about accepting the care.”

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t my chances of winning become too low if I go that far?”

Whether this was modesty or self-deprecation, it was truly embarrassing for the listener.

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

*

Despite the proposal, Lager nodded in agreement.

Aeil accepted Dakota’s proposal without showing any signs of caution.

After going through several processes, on the first day of visiting the hospital as a caregiver.

“Lager Godin, you can go in right away.”

Knowing that there was no need to go through the hassle of registering with the reception in the medical department when visiting as a caregiver, Lager was slightly confused about whether he should be happy for skipping the tedious process or annoyed for reducing the time to delay.

The current time was 7 a.m.

It was almost time for breakfast to start.