Patient Emergency!
“N-no… Humans sticking knives in my body… It’s over! You said it was all over! No, I don’t wanna die in a place like this! You damn humans… I won’t let you get away with this… sob… honey, save me…”
Grandine, who had accidentally snapped my arm by squeezing too hard in her panic, burst into tears, and the medical staff recoiled in major confusion.
A girl who wouldn’t die even if you fired ten cannonballs at her face was making this much fuss over a tiny IV needle, no matter how severe her injuries were.
And more importantly—my arm was broken!
Pain like death itself shot up from my shattered arm, but I gritted my teeth and endured it, stroking Grandine’s head with my good arm.
“It’s… it’s over, Grandine. I told you it’d just sting a little. They’re not trying to hurt you. You did great holding still. So bold, just like a true dragonkin. Good girl, good girl…”
As I petted her, her childish sobs gradually quieted down.
The nurses who’d inserted the IV had fled the room long ago, afraid of getting caught in any rampage, and were peeking in from the hallway. So it was just me and Grandine in the room.
With some distance from the other humans and my comforting pets, Grandine’s trembling body slowly calmed. She looked up at me and asked,
“…But why’s your arm like that?”
She seemed oblivious to what she’d done, probably from the intensity of her panic.
“Ha… haha… yeah… wonder why…”
And with that, I passed out from the unbearable pain in my broken arm.
As I blacked out, I vaguely heard the nurses in the hallway shouting, “Patient emergency!”
The familiar ceiling. It shouldn’t be familiar, though?
A thick cast encased my arm, locking it rigidly in place so I couldn’t move it carelessly. I’d been standing by Grandine’s bed just moments ago, but now I was lying in a bed in some other room.
Checking my phone with my good arm, I saw only about four hours had passed.
Was I the only guy in the world who went to nurse his wife and ended up with a broken arm, carted off to a hospital bed?
“Aigoo, my arm… Of all things, it had to be my right arm. How am I supposed to eat now… whoa!”
Wincing through the throbbing pain as I sat up, I spotted Sharl sitting motionless by my bedside like a corpse.
Not expecting anyone there, I nearly jumped out of my skin and barely calmed my pounding heart.
“Sh-Sh-Sharl. You scared the hell outta me. Why’re you sitting there all quiet like that? I thought you were a ghost.”
“……Does senpai fear ghosts but not me?”
“Hm?”
“I’ve told you a million times to be careful! Every time there’s some dangerous situation, you always handle it yourself and leave me stuck in the office! You go out alone and come back hurt how many times now?! First you butt into the subjugation team mess, then there’s a mountain fire and I thought you’d lost your mind—somehow you miraculously came back unscathed! And now you break your own arm in the hospital?!”
She’d completely lost it, unleashing a torrent of casual scolding as she paced furiously.
She’d never been like this even a few months ago—what was up with her lately…?
“No, Sharl, I didn’t try to get hurt—”
“I’ve never seen anyone come back unhurt from the field only to get injured in the hospital! Are you challenging yourself to get hurt in the most creative ways possible?! Senpai, are you trying to kill me?!”
“Hey, why’re you getting so—”
“Shut it?! I’m scolding you right now!”
Sharl shoved me roughly back onto the bed and snapped in a voice seething with rage.
“They said no using your arm for two weeks. You can use your left, but don’t go causing more trouble fumbling around with your off-hand. If you need anything, just say so. I’ll help. I registered as your guardian, so no complaints. Or what, you got a problem? Even if you do, what’re you gonna do about it? This is karma for what you did.”
“……”
“Meals three times a day, no skipping. Stick to hospital food—no sneaking out for snacks. I’ll be watching.”
“But hospital food tastes like crap and kills your appetite—”
“What???”
“No, I mean, I’ll eat whatever they give me.”
For a split second—probably my imagination—Sharl’s pupils seemed to slit vertically like a cat’s.
“Normally we couldn’t even bill the Countermeasure HQ for treatment from your dumb stunts, but I’ll fudge the report somehow so you can get reimbursed. Don’t say anything stupid and make more work.”
“That’s… forging official documents…”
“Huh? Every other department fakes justifications for budget spending all the time—why can’t we? Don’t spout useless truths; just shut up.”
She’d already mastered bureaucratic document forgery and bogus expenditures. I’d raised my junior all wrong.
How did my sweet, innocent little Sharl turn into this dark civil servant?
After rattling off instructions like a machine gun, Sharl avoided my gaze and casually added one more thing.
“You can shower, but avoid the right arm as much as possible. Don’t lift it. You can’t shower with just one arm anyway, right? Bathroom stuff’ll be tough too. I’ll help, so tell me when you need to go or shower.”
“No need to go that far… I’ll just ask for a caretaker.”
“Shut it?! You’ve got no say right now. With you out injured, I’m in full charge of the Settlement Support Division. Fudging your medical billing is already a hassle—I can’t add more.”
“I can just pay out of pocket.”
Her glare sharpened even more.
“I save you hospital bills and you’re already thinking of throwing money away again? Quiet, and do what I say. No calling caretakers.”
Dismissing my input outright, Sharl stood, grabbed her tablet PC, and prepared to leave.
“Anyway, all the transferees from the Taebaek Mountain incident are at the Dimensional Transfer Countermeasure HQ branch here, so I said I’d handle out-of-office work here for a bit. Take help when it’s offered from someone close by. And your smell makes it hurt less? Shower up then. Call me when you do.”
With that, she haughtily shut the door behind her.
……
The moment she stepped out, Sharl searched “foods good for healing bones” on her tablet.
“Cheese, anchovies, beans, tofu, seaweed, mackerel… Hmm, anchovy soybean paste stew? With grilled mackerel? Senpai’s from this country, so he’ll like it.”
Switching to “how to make soybean paste stew” and “how to grill mackerel,” she checked off ingredients and headed to the mart.
While shopping, her eyes lingered on towels, shower scrubs, shampoo, and body wash in the daily essentials aisle. Imagining using them, her face flushed red.
Jeong Hyun-soo, unable to use his right arm, couldn’t shower alone.
He’d have to call his caretaker—her.
In the hospital shower, she’d peel off his clothes layer by layer.
Washing his muscular naked body, shampooing his hair—inevitable physical contact between them…
—Ahh…♡ Senpai, it’s gotten so big here…♡ Have a lot built up?
—With a beautiful girl like you rubbing against me nonstop, how could it not?
—R-right. Too much buildup’s bad for you, so relieving it is part of caretaking…♡ Senpai, what should I do?
—First, I’d like some devoted oral service from my lovely kitten. Go on, suck it nice and hard.
—Ahh… yes…♡ If that’s what senpai wants…♡
“Ehehehe… uhuhi…”
Lost in her fantasy of the future, Sharl felt intense heat flood her face as her ears and tail twitched wildly.
Over a week after Lee Min-ho lost consciousness.
“Gah!!!”
Lee Min-ho, lying corpse-still, bolted upright like he’d been electrocuted, eyes snapping open in the hospital room.
For a few seconds, he blankly scanned the room, unsure where he was or why.
Then he remembered: deep in the mountains, his memory had suddenly cut off.
Unsure if he’d fallen asleep or passed out, he’d had a terribly vivid nightmare.
Himself burning alive in hell, screaming in agony.
It felt so real he desperately wanted to wake up, but bizarrely couldn’t, forced to endure the nightmare the whole time.
Finally free, Lee Min-ho panted heavily as he pieced together his memories.
When did I black out…?
Right, yeah. After I decked that smug Settlement Support prick in the jaw…
Nothing after that.
He’d already hated the guy cozying up to women he had his eye on. Now this nobody was overstepping into subjugation team business—decent face on a total piece of trash.
That bastard must’ve done something.
It’s gotta be him! Daring to humiliate a First Class like me? You little shit… Working at the Countermeasure HQ got you cocky? You’re dead meat!
Even after his soul’s trip to the underworld, Lee Min-ho’s nature remained unchanged.