Interrogation Time
I'd been getting an earful from Sharl, but once she confirmed I was unscathed, her tension finally eased in the late hours of the night, and she promptly crashed on the guardian's bed in the hospital room, fast asleep.
Watching Sharl sleep, her cat ears twitching now and then, a belated question popped into my head.
Unless someone really hated their workplace senior, most people would be shocked to hear they'd nearly gotten into big trouble—but would they go this far?
Driving from Seoul to Taebaek Mountain takes hours, and this was past 1 a.m., the dead of night. She must've woken up to the news and rushed straight over.
Sure, it wasn't impossible for colleagues to do that, but in a typical boss-junior relationship at work? Honestly, no way.
Unless they were secretly dating or something...
...
Nah, what kind of ridiculous fantasy am I spinning? Got some delusions of grandeur going on?
I shook my head quickly.
My wives from those other worlds made sense, but Sharl had no reason to feel that way about me.
Even if she'd adapted brilliantly to Korea and become a proper member of society, it had only been a little over a year since her dimensional transfer.
No way had we built a bond deep enough in that short time for her to race from Seoul to Taebaek in the witching hour just to check on me.
If it'd been like with my wives—overcoming insane trials and tribulations together, teetering on the edge of life and death for years—sure, some bridge effect could spark feelings. But here? Everything was peaceful.
No heart-pounding events to trigger that, and we hadn't even gone on dates or anything.
So why had she come all this way, this late, in such a hurry?
After mulling it over, I concluded it was because she was a dimensional transferee, just like the others.
Even among them, plenty feared adapting to this alien world far from their original homes.
Those types tended to cling extra hard to familiar ties from their past lives. Sharl had to be one of them.
She'd transferred alone, with no one from her old world left—no friends, no family. Her only connection was me, the Settlement Support Division chief who'd helped her settle in.
Worried she hadn't fully achieved psychological independence yet, I decided to carve out time for a serious counseling session soon.
Lily and Grandine's breathing had steadied nicely by then, signaling they'd passed the worst. Extreme fatigue hit me hard.
I made final rounds, swapping their towels, then crashed on the guardian sofa in Lily's room and passed out.
Two days later.
Lily woke first.
#####
Grandine, having roughed it in the mountains for months, showed mild malnutrition and recovered slower. Lily, who'd been eating well all along, beat her to it.
The moment Lily opened her eyes, she called for me. Knowing the moment of truth had arrived, I headed her way.
Wrapped head to toe in bandages and casts, Lily lit up for a split second when I entered.
"Ah! Hyun—"
Then something clicked, and she schooled her face into a stiff, icy glare.
"Ahem. So, you've finally crawled out of your hole? Come here and sit. Let's finish that talk from before."
Interrogation was inevitable, so I turned myself in early, hoping for leniency.
"Mind if I bring Yukino too? Got stuff to explain to both of you..."
"...Do we have to call that bitch?"
"She helped a ton saving you this time."
"Tch..."
Lily knew full well I couldn't handle Grandine alone right now, so she couldn't deny it.
She grudgingly agreed. Once Yukino joined us in Lily's room, the real grilling began.
"Alright, let's hear your excuses. Where to start... Right, that dragon bitch—what's her deal?"
I laid out the tale of Libertas for them.
A world ruled by humans, not so different from here on the surface—but packed with far baser, greedier humans.
Humans lording over it like celestial dragons, exploiting and enslaving elves, dwarves, beastkin, dragonkin, all sub-races—discriminating, killing on whims. A total hellhole.
There, I met Grandine fighting for sub-race liberation. We survived near-death scrapes; I took their hatred head-on to win their trust.
Over time, as I helped rack up victories, Grandine and the others opened up.
Under the banner of the Half-Human Alliance, we plunged into the sub-race liberation front. After three years of bloody struggle, we toppled the human kingdom and freed them.
And that night with Grandine—the kiss, the intimacy—then poof, off to another dimension.
Lily and Yukino gawked at me, dumbfounded after the long story.
"So after Astraia, you met her, then after her world, the dragon chick, then bounced again?"
"Uh... Wasn't exactly by choice, but yeah."
Yukino replied coolly.
"How many more like us did you rack up? Confess honestly. Unless you fancy a trip to the afterlife."
"Spill it! Come clean, and I'll mercy-kill you in as many pieces as you have wives!"
"You three included... total of four."
With Lily, Yukino, and Grandine accounted for, that left one more absent from this party.
Hearing there was still one unknown out there, Lily and Yukino let out hollow laughs.
"Ha... Four?Four?? Wait, yeah, you said four worlds. One girl per world, huh? Stamina king? Fine, four pieces it is... Argh!"
Lily tried channeling mana but screamed from her injuries. Alarms blared; nurses rushed in and chewed her out big time.
Fuming but bedridden, unable to vent, and now scolded to boot—Lily trembled with frustration. Once the chaos died down, Yukino eyed me pityingly.
"To think the man I loved was such a... philanderer. In Omitamano, I thought him pure-hearted, eyes only for me..."
"S-Sorry... I never imagined it'd play out like this..."
Forced flat on her back again by the pain, Lily stared at the ceiling and snapped.
"Ugh, unbelievable. Even if you got dimensionally separated against your will, you'd already met a perfect woman like me—yet you couldn't hold back and picked up three more? All men this horny?"
Yukino bristled.
"Slutty women? Isn't that backwards? After three years tangled with you, he probably craved someone proper."
"Huh? Second-fiddle concubine like you mouthing off? If I weren't injured... Urk!"
"First one dumped, and all talk. Couldn't handle me even at full strength."
"What? Fine, soon as I heal, I'll make sure you never get up again—"
"W-Wait, Lily! Yelling'll make it worse! Deep breaths, calm down—"
"Whose fault is this!!! Urgh..."
Lily shrieked but quieted as pain throbbed.
While she groaned, Yukino took over.
"So, who's this fourth? What's her story? Give us the preview."
"Well—"
I was about to explain the last world before this one—Jungwon, and the woman there—when
BOOM!
A massive quake hit the hospital. Someone started bellowing.
"You human scum!! Stay back! I'll kill you! Get out, all of you! Where am I?! Where's Hyun-soo?! Hyun-soo!! Humans are coming to finish me off while I'm hurt! Help! I'm in danger!"
Grandine's frenzied screams.
With her sky-high hatred for humans, even a twitch of strength meant she'd likely attack the staff.
To avert disaster, I clasped hands in apology to the two. "Sorry! Talk later! Leave her, and she might hurt someone! I'll calm her and come back!"
"...I get it, but it pisses me off."
"Can't let you go nicely when you're mad."
Yukino personally escorted me to the door—and delivered a solid kick to my ass.