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Chapter 03
Take It Off
“What are you doing?”
Seunghee asked in disbelief when Nayeong suddenly hid her face behind her back.
Nayeong buried her face in Seunghee’s back, holding back the urge to cry.
“What am I going to do, Seunghee?”
“Why?”
She had left the man alone in the hotel room and come to the hospital, determined to do well in her residency.
But that very man had appeared at the hospital as her supervising professor.
It must be punishment for acting selfishly and leaving without even asking for his consent.
Still, isn’t this too much?
Taehyuk entered the research office assigned to him and sat on the sofa, stretching his long legs onto the table.
The elite doctor in a white coat instantly looked like a reckless playboy.
He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes lazily.
Working at a hospital was familiar to him, but his body still hadn’t adjusted to the time difference, so he felt tired even though he hadn’t done much.
No—honestly, he still hadn’t escaped the afterglow of last night.
He met a woman, and his entire night had been filled with her.
Everything was perfect.
Until she ran away while he was asleep.
He should have expected that a woman who wouldn’t even tell him her name could leave like that. He was angry at himself for sleeping so deeply.
He slipped his hand into his pocket and took something out.
It was small and shiny, easy to lose—a single earring.
The woman whose name, age, and address he didn’t know had disappeared, leaving only one earring behind.
Looking at it, he grabbed his phone and called Cha Hyun.
“Find someone for me.”
—Am I a private detective?
“The woman I told you about yesterday.”
Cha Hyun was also curious about the woman who had rejected Taehyuk twice.
—What’s her name?
“I don’t know.”
—What? Then what do you know about her?
“I want to know too. That’s why I’m asking you to find her.”
—Tell that to Santa Claus.
Cha Hyun hung up irritably, but Taehyuk knew he would help.
As a film director who met people all over the country, Cha Hyun was skilled at finding people.
And Taehyuk needed to focus on hospital work for now. He had no time to search for her himself.
He decided not to rush.
If they were meant to meet again, they would.
“Achoo!”
Nayeong coughed loudly on purpose.
That way, it wouldn’t seem strange that she was wearing a mask.
Her coworkers stared at her unusual appearance.
“Dr. Moon, didn’t you not wear glasses before?”
She didn’t care about looking unattractive and wore thick-framed glasses.
She pushed them up casually.
“Oh! My eyesight’s gotten worse lately.”
“Then you should get prettier glasses. They don’t suit you.”
No matter what her senior said, Nayeong didn’t care.
She was disguising herself to avoid being recognized by Professor Choi Taehyuk.
She even let her hair down to cover her face instead of tying it neatly as usual.
She was trying everything to hide her identity from him.
In the conference room yesterday, there had been too many doctors in identical coats for him to notice her.
But during rounds, it would be impossible to avoid him.
Thinking that she would soon face Professor Choi Taehyuk made her heart race.
Oh God! Buddha! Allah!
Though she was an atheist, Nayeong prayed to every god she could think of.
Please let him not recognize me.
While she desperately hoped to avoid him, others were excitedly sharing rumors about Professor Choi Taehyuk.
His natural good looks already drew attention, and his exceptional skill made him like a hero to the residents.
At exactly 7:50 a.m., when morning rounds began, Professor Choi Taehyuk appeared precisely on time.
Bathed in sunlight streaming through the windows, he strode down the hallway.
His figure filled her vision.
For a moment, her heart seemed to stop, then it pounded wildly, drying her mouth.
Please.
Please don’t recognize me.
She wanted to turn around and run away.
As Professor Choi Taehyuk stopped before the residents, everyone looked up at him nervously.
He was someone to respect, but he was so tall that they naturally had to look up at him.
Only Nayeong kept her head lowered deeply, afraid of being seen.
It made her stand out even more, but Taehyuk paid no special attention to the masked resident.
“Let’s begin rounds.”
It was his first time meeting the patients he would take charge of in Korea, so his focus was entirely on them.
There was no need for Nayeong to tremble with anxiety.
Rounds moved quickly as they had many patients to see.
Some patients looked at him curiously. His striking appearance made some doubt his skills.
But his intimidating presence kept anyone from questioning him.
“This is a liver cancer patient scheduled for a hepatectomy.”
Chief Donggeon briefed him in detail.
As a first-year resident, Nayeong should have been carefully taking notes, but today she barely wrote anything, too busy watching him.
Professor Choi Taehyuk did not let things slide just because it was his first day.
“What are the patient’s CBC levels?”
When he asked for more detail, Chief Donggeon looked toward her.
It was her assigned patient.
Normally, she would have answered immediately. But under his sharp gaze, she froze completely.
Their eyes met—just like at the club.
Instead of loud music, her pounding heartbeat filled her ears.
Fear that he might recognize her sealed her lips.
As her silence dragged on, everyone grew uneasy.
“Dr. Moon. The CBC levels.”
Donggeon urged her again.
But all she could see was Professor Choi Taehyuk’s frowning expression.
Her mind went blank.
“Are you wearing a mask because you’re sick?”
When he finally asked, second-year resident Nam Hojin quickly answered for her.
“Yes, she has a high fever but is still holding on.”
He exaggerated out of habit.
Nayeong hadn’t meant to lie and looked flustered.
If Professor Choi Taehyuk hadn’t been staring at her so coldly, she would have corrected it.
He didn’t check if she truly had a fever.
But he didn’t show sympathy either.
He simply wanted to remove what he saw as wasted time.
“Go. You seem useless here.”
She had never in her life been called useless.
Why am I useless?
Why!
The man who had shown model student Moon Nayeong her first act of rebellion was now teaching her incompetence in just one day.
Was this bad fate—or destiny?
By the end of the day, the legendary professor from America had earned a new nickname among residents and interns: the viper you must never cross.
After a long day, the residents gathered and shared stories of his harshness.
“I thought he was going to hit me in the OR. I just loosened my grip a little!”
“He told the chief to practice tying knots a thousand times!”
“He even scolded the nurses brutally.”
Everyone realized in just one day:
The new professor was terrifying.
Nayeong sat quietly in a corner, listening.
Was all this really not a dream?
Nam Hojin glanced at her.
“Dr. Moon had it easiest. That was him looking out for you.”
The others envied her for being sent away during rounds.
She let out a dry laugh.
She had wanted to treasure that night like a movie memory and focus on residency.
But the moment he introduced himself as Choi Taehyuk, that became impossible.
Looking out for her?
What nonsense.
That perfect man from that perfect night had simply become a bad-tempered professor.
The next morning, Nayeong braced herself for rounds.
She still hid behind a mask and glasses, but she promised herself she wouldn’t freeze again.
She was not useless.
She was training to become a necessary doctor at this hospital.
At exactly 7:50 a.m., Professor Choi Taehyuk appeared again.
“Let’s begin rounds.”
Everyone followed him cautiously.
“ESR is 18, and the patient had a fever last night. We checked vital signs every thirty minutes. It has now dropped to thirty-seven degrees.”
Nayeong reported clearly, just as she had resolved.
The moment Taehyuk heard her voice, his gaze shifted toward her.
Her voice… felt familiar.
But with the mask on, he couldn’t see her face clearly.
He dismissed the thought.
There was no way that woman from that night would be at this hospital.
Working under him?
Impossible.
“Who’s assisting in my surgery today?”
Her patient was scheduled for surgery.
Reluctantly, Nayeong raised her hand.
He gestured for her to come closer.
She wanted to keep her distance, but she couldn’t move.
The other residents grew anxious.
Yet surprisingly, he didn’t yell.
Instead, he walked toward her.
Step by step.
As he approached, her heart raced and her breathing quickened.
He stopped right in front of her, crossed his arms, and looked down at her arrogantly.
“Do you still have a fever?”
She shook her head.
“If I ask you something, answer me!”
His voice turned rough.
“…Well…”
Since her voice was barely audible, he leaned down slightly—
And caught a faint scent from the top of her head.
Herbal.
The same scent from that night.
Shampoo could be the same.
But combined with her familiar voice, his senses sharpened.
Impulsively, he gave an order.
“Take off your mask.”
