House's Report
Joyeon’s room on the fourth night since arriving at the hospital. Late at night.
“Agh, this is exhausting. That Arty… she really didn’t say a single word from start to finish. Thanks to her, I’m the only one suffering. I should’ve just asked May and Jack to handle the hospital tour from the beginning.”
After sending Arty back to her room, Joyeon flopped onto his bed, grumbling in exhaustion.
“I should just sleep early tonight. Ugh~!”
Joyeon got up again and headed for the shared shower room. Because it was so late, the place was empty, allowing him to wash up in peace. Once he returned to his room before his body cooled down, he quickly burrowed under the covers.
“Haaa~ This is it~ Now, straight to dreamland without any interruptions…”
Skitter-skitter!
Just as he was about to drift off, a familiar sound came from near his shoulder. A chill ran down his spine, but he quickly calmed himself.
Come to think of it, I asked House to scout the surroundings. I haven’t had a moment alone, so I never got the report.
When Joyeon slowly opened his eyes, he didn’t see the baby roaches he expected.
“…House?”
Joyeon sat up and looked around, spotting House’s main body sitting a fair distance away from him.
“Why are you over there? That’s different from usual.”
- Report.
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, go ahead and report.”
- A large number of roaches are required to make a report. Apologies.
“Uh, yeah… of course that’s fine.”
What’s this? It asked for permission because it needs to use mana? Doesn’t feel like that’s it.
Though puzzled by House’s odd behavior, Joyeon gave permission anyway. The egg sac opened, and baby roaches poured out. They began covering most of the floor, forming a massive map.
“Whoa…”
It was a little gross, but impressive enough to draw admiration. The map House created was centered on the hospital and extended seven kilometers in every direction, complete with simple symbols. It was detailed enough for Joyeon to read.
“That’s amazing, House! You can do stuff like this too? You’re incredible~!”
Feeling like he was watching a strategic operation unfold, Joyeon patted House’s main body.
[Following the Dominator’s orders is only natural for a follower.]
[And sincere praise toward such a follower makes them dance with joy.]
[Loyalty of the follower House toward the Dominator, Ju Joyeon, has increased.]
[House has resolved to do whatever it takes to perfectly carry out your orders.]
Joyeon was slightly surprised by the sudden notifications, but similar things had happened before and the messages were nothing but positive, so he simply continued patting House without thinking much of it.
- Map creation complete.
“It’s done? I think I’ll need some explanation. I’m not smart enough to read this easily.”
- Unnecessary information removed.
All symbols for abandoned buildings, animals, and low-threat monsters vanished from the densely marked map, making it much easier for Joyeon to read.
“Great. Let’s see… This is the hospital, and over there are monsters… There’s an orc. Just one, so that’s fine… There’s a group of people. Maybe they’re looking for the hospital? And beyond that… House? What’s this?”
Joyeon pointed at the outermost edge of the map, roughly seven kilometers from the hospital, where countless baby roaches were clustered so thickly that the symbols were barely visible.
- Monster horde.
“Huh, monsters? Looks like a lot.”
- Estimated at around 350. Presumed species: War Trolls and Saber Leos.
“…How many?”
- Estimated at around 350. Object species presumed to be War Trolls and Saber Leos.
“…Any chance they’ll come here?”
- Information: War Trolls travel in groups of 100 to 500. They will not attack unless provoked first, but once attacked, the entire group will retaliate. They will not stop fighting until either they or their enemy is dead. Saber Leos are beast-type monsters with sharp, sword-like fangs, raised as mounts for War Trolls.
“Looks pretty dangerous. As long as we don’t attack first, we should be fine… That’s a relief, at least.”
Joyeon felt somewhat reassured by House’s detailed explanation. Still, having such dangerous monsters near the hospital made him think they would need to be dealt with eventually.
- Report.
“Huh? You’ve got more to report?”
House pointed not at the War Troll horde, but at a group of people symbols located five kilometers ahead of them. Then it began forming letters again.
Knock knock knock.
A soft tapping sound came from the door of the neighboring room. Joyeon’s gaze naturally shifted toward the wall where Arty’s room was.
…Next door? That’s Arty’s room. Who would visit her at this hour? Her mom?
Thud thud thud.
This time the knocking came from the wall connecting Arty’s room to his own.
“Arty? What’s with you all of a sudden…”
Thud thud thud!
“……”
Joyeon stared blankly at the wall Arty was knocking on, then opened his door and stepped out to see who was knocking on Arty’s door.
“Huh? Mr. Ragon?”
It was indeed Ragon, who had left the hospital that morning. For some reason, he had returned.
Ragon looked slightly surprised to see Joyeon.
“Joyeon. Ah, good evening. Hehe…”
“Didn’t you leave the hospital this morning?”
“Ah, well~ I wanted to repay the favor, so right after leaving I caught a bunch of stuff that could serve as food and came back. Ahaha! And since it was late, I asked if I could stay just one night.”
If what Ragon said was true, his presence at the hospital wasn’t a problem. But that was separate from why he had come looking for Arty.
“You came to see Arty?”
“Yes! There’s something I wanted to tell her…”
“Something you wanted to tell her?”
“Yes. She won’t regret hearing it.”
“I can pass it on for you.”
“Ah, no! I wanted to tell her myself. Just the two of us. Hehe.”
“Hmm… Is that so?”
Joyeon scratched his cheek at Ragon’s words and glanced at Arty’s door. Since they were talking right outside, she had probably heard everything, yet the door didn’t budge. In other words—
She has no intention of coming out. Makes sense, Ragon’s been pestering her for days.
“You came pretty late. She’s probably asleep by now. Why don’t you come back tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow… Then I’ll come again tomorrow. It can’t be after tomorrow, so please make sure to tell her I found it!”
“Sure~ I will~”
Joyeon waved Ragon off as he left surprisingly easily, then lightly knocked on Arty’s door.
“All good? I’m heading back. Sleep well.”
Joyeon grabbed the handle of his own door, intending to continue his conversation with House.
Whoosh.
Suddenly Arty’s door opened and she stepped out.
“…? Got something to say?”
“I’m sleeping in your room.”
“What?”
“I said I’m sleeping in your room. I don’t have a good feeling. Feels like someone else might come looking.”
“Someone else might come…?”
Joyeon was about to dismiss it as nonsense when he suddenly remembered the people who had snuck into Tiasia’s dorm room at the modern university just days ago. Ragon had backed off obediently, but he had no idea what the men from Delpiari’s party—whom he had guided today—might be thinking.
“…You’re not gonna call me a pervert again later, are you?”
“You planning to pounce on me?”
“This girl and her nonsense again.”
“If you do pounce, I’ll report everything to the Saintess. To Tiasia and May too. Got it?”
“I won’t lay a single finger on you, so don’t worry!”
Joyeon flung his door open and walked inside. Arty followed, only to freeze when she saw the baby roaches covering the floor.
“Eek?!”
Arty turned pale and screamed. If there had been fewer of them she might not have reacted so strongly, but the sheer number triggered an instinctive urge to flee.
“Calm down. I was just talking with House.”
“H-House? Aren’t there way too many of them out?”
“They’re out because we needed a lot of them.”
Joyeon had planned to keep talking with House, but with Arty’s sudden intrusion the situation had become awkward. He called out to House.
“House, mind if we continue this later? I’d like to rest tonight.”
- ……
House remained still for a moment, as if thinking—unlike its usual behavior.
- …Understood.
Eventually House agreed to continue the report later, recalled all the baby roaches, and returned to its shadow.
With House gone and the floor clear again, Arty immediately dove onto Joyeon’s bed.
“Huaa~ It’s been ages since I had a bed~”
It wasn’t a particularly good hospital bed, but to Arty, who had been sleeping on nothing but a mattress until now, it felt like heaven. She had already forgotten the earlier discomfort and happily pulled the blanket over herself with a bright smile.
Guess I’m sleeping on the sofa… Bodyguard, my ass. I’m just a slave. A damn slave.
Complaining about his fate, Joyeon walked toward the sofa in the corner of the room.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“I’m gonna sleep too.”
“Ah, okay? Sleep w—”
Clink!
A screw holding up the ceiling fell right next to Arty’s head.
“…Where exactly are you planning to sleep?”
“…? The sofa. You took the bed, so I’m sleeping on the sofa.”
“How can you sleep on the sofa!”
Seeing the fallen screw, Arty changed her stance and shouted at Joyeon.
“What the hell are you—”
“If you go over there, I won’t be able to sleep on the bed! You want to see my head get cracked open?!”
“Ha?! Then what do you want me to do?! Sleep on the floor?! Stand guard while you sleep?!”
“You can just sleep here!”
Arty patted the empty space beside her on the bed.
“…You serious?”
“Of course I am! Did you think I came here without thinking about that? If I’m sleeping in your bed, obviously I have to sleep with you. Otherwise I’ll be in big trouble.”
“You… I really don’t get what’s going on in your head.”
“My thoughts? Something like, ‘It’s been so long since I got to sleep in a bed~ I’m so happy,’ ‘Joyeon must be the luckiest guy in the world to sleep in the same bed as an unparalleled beauty like me,’ and ‘I hope he doesn’t get any weird ideas from this~’ That kind of thing?”
Arty answered cheekily. In truth, her real thoughts were—
Moving to Joyeon’s room to avoid anyone coming to mine was fine, but I forgot we’d have to sleep together… I regretted it when he was guiding Delpiari’s party too, and now I forgot again. Honestly, I’ve never slept with a guy before… but it’s too late to back out now. Since we’re always stuck together anyway, I can just think of it as sleeping close like usual. He wouldn’t pounce on me while I’m asleep, no matter how ridiculously pretty I am, right?
Half worried, half flustered, she was only putting on a bold front so he wouldn’t notice.
“Fine. I get that you really have no ulterior motives. Just don’t complain later.”
Feeling his face heat up from Arty’s provocative words—and not quite processing the unbelievable situation of sharing a small hospital bed with an unparalleled beauty—Joyeon lay down beside her just as she suggested. The bed was so small their backs were practically touching.
Arty, trying to hide her slight nervousness, quickly bid him goodnight and fell asleep. Joyeon lay still for a while, organizing his thoughts, then sighed when he realized he had once again acted like a child.
Lara and Jack would definitely have something to say if they saw this. There must’ve been a better solution. I really need to think things through more. Maybe I should ask Lara for etiquette lessons again.
Trying to ignore the warmth and presence of Arty behind him, Joyeon slowly drifted off to sleep.
…The problem was, in his flustered state, Joyeon had completely forgotten about Arty’s morning habits.