episode_0063

It had been almost ten days since that day.

Lager no longer looked out the window from his hospital room. He didn’t even glance at his phone, saying it was too far away.

He simply made sure to visit Dakota on time every meal, bringing her food in front of her each time. For dishes that required both hands, he fed her himself, and after their evening walk, they would do squats together and shower. It was their daily routine.

Today, as usual, Lager finished his walk with Dakota and completed the squats. Since the start of his caregiving, he had not missed a single day of doing squats with Dakota, and on the 17th day of caregiving, he finally reached the level of 500 squats.

It was an unbelievable rate of growth, but Lager’s perseverance, combined with the unique perspective of having a “body that fights monsters” and the protagonist’s adjustments, led to tremendous growth.

“Amazing.”

Dakota raised her left hand as if in admiration, trying to wipe Lager’s sweat.

“Ah… I guess I still have a long way to go.”

She awkwardly smiled and raised her right arm.

Dakota’s left arm had only completed the external restoration. In reality, nerve restoration took longer in limb injuries. Currently, Dakota’s arm was just a piece of flesh attached in place.

Sweat beads formed on Dakota’s smooth forehead and slender neck as she complimented Lager, who awkwardly scratched his nose.

“Was your posture okay?”

“It was good. My center didn’t waver, and my knees didn’t go past my toes.”

Ignoring Dakota’s praise, Lager opened the curtains and windows for ventilation. The chilly air rushed into the room, circulating the heavy carbon dioxide-filled air.

Dakota, still with her unresponsive left arm extended, headed to the bathroom, which was accompanied by a small shower area.

“Need help with your shower?”

Turning around, Dakota untied her hair.

Her silky purple hair cascaded in waves in front of Lager.

Nodding, Lager followed Dakota.

The sound of water splashing echoed in the steam-filled shower booth.

Since it was originally designed for one person, Dakota and Lager were uncomfortably close to each other.

Lager had no space to move his hips back, so there was a precarious distance where he could accidentally touch Dakota’s firm and smooth buttocks.

From Dakota’s perspective, should she express it as ‘unfortunately’?

“…It’s been a few days since you helped me shower, but are you really unable to even take off your clothes in front of me?”

From the first day Lager helped with her shower, he was willing to endure his clothes getting wet but never undressed in front of Dakota.

At this point, Dakota’s pride was slightly hurt. Honestly, asking for help with the shower was a kind of ultimate temptation. She admitted her upper body’s weakness, but she was confident in her slender hips and healthy lower body, the source of her attractiveness.

Setting aside those appealing factors, would it make any sense for a robust man and woman to be pressed together in a cramped shower booth and not even touch each other impulsively?

“…Was what you said back then true?”

“About being a woman in the past?”

“Yes.”

Dakota intentionally shook her long hair, soaked with water, and splattered the moisture behind her.

Lager, with a lackluster expression, poured body wash on a shower towel and gently rubbed her smooth back.

“It’s not because of that, really.”

Despite Lager’s dry expression, his lower half was stiff as if about to burst. Of course, it was true that she used to be a woman, but that didn’t seem to matter anymore.

Lager had already experienced his second wet dream recently.

Back then, it wasn’t Dakota who pounced on him in his dream, revealing her bare skin, but his childhood friend, Aylee Chloe.

In his dream, Lager poured his resentment towards her for not accepting his feelings, along with his anger at himself for still not being able to let go of her. He grabbed her tail and aggressively pushed her into various positions.

Although it was just a dream, she whimpered incessantly, begging for forgiveness.

When he realized it was all a dream, the overwhelming pleasure turned into emptiness and shame.

Lager was quickly affected by hormones, evident in his rough treatment of her in his dream.

Not touching Dakota, who was openly seductive, was not because he lacked desire.

It was simply because he still couldn’t let go of his childhood friend in his heart.

So, he resisted, just enduring it.

Dakota shut off the water with a rough expression. Lager went outside to get a towel and wiped Dakota’s body. Since one arm wasn’t cooperating, there was a struggle to dry off the moisture, making it Lager’s responsibility to wipe off the moisture from her entire body.

Dakota glanced at Lager’s lower body and sighed lightly, raising her right hand to her waist in a dissatisfied manner.

“Impressive.”

Dakota’s snarling and discontented appearance was quite different from her usual arrogant and dry demeanor.

If it weren’t for Lager, any man would have been unable to resist rushing to admire her sharp face and toned body.

However, Lager was not like that, so Dakota’s beauty held no significance for her.

But that only made Dakota more resentful.

“Let’s see how long you can hold out.”

Ignoring Dakota’s words, Lager left to get a new patient gown.

While leaving the hospital room and heading towards the elevator, Lager received a notification on his phone. Besides Aylee’s contact, there was another piece of news that Lager was eagerly waiting for.

“Right. It’s about time.”

Lager checked his phone and called Aylee. Without any greetings, Lager went straight to the point.

“A mission has come up.”

*

This was serious.

Being a Tier Brown and having a tablet to shoot with would have been helpful to pretend to fight. But becoming an ‘Extra Tail Tool’ overnight was hard to accept.

While trying to come up with a plan, Lager hoped that the demons would take a break, but that was wishful thinking. The unwelcome guests couldn’t even wait ten days before showing up.

“A mission has come up.”

It had been a while since Lager’s dry voice didn’t sound so welcoming.

“What’s this additional mission about?”

“It’s a survival mission. Survive for 15 minutes. If you survive, you’ll get an additional reward.”

“Just hearing about it sounds brutal.”

“The difficulty increased because we didn’t do the sudden mission last time.”

“That’s true.”

Now, they would praise you just for enduring it. It felt like the difficulty level in the story Lager had set had suddenly skyrocketed.

In such a situation, it was frustrating that I couldn’t be of any help. I regretted leaving that tablet behind.

“Get ready. See you then.”

“Ah, Lager!”

In reality, I had lost my abilities.

…I was about to say.

“No, nothing.”

“…Okay.”

I shut my mouth.

Being so cold-hearted in pushing Lager away, only to seek his help again when needed, felt cowardly.

It was fortunate that the mission was about surviving from monsters, not just defeating them.

Even in a position where I couldn’t do anything, completing the mission was possible as long as I ran away well.

“…Alright.”

I will survive on my own without relying on Lager.