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Chapter 10
1st Choi Taehyuk Fan Club
Taehyuk barely managed to catch the Orthopedic resident.
“Come. I need to talk to you for a moment.”
Professor Choi Taehyuk suddenly appeared from behind and spoke while wrapping an arm around the resident’s neck like a real snake. The Orthopedic resident’s face instantly turned pale.
“P-Professor. I didn’t do anything.”
You’re about to. And it will be something very unpleasant for me.
So Taehyuk dragged the Orthopedic resident away from the Surgery ward.
“Min Hojun?”
Taehyuk read the name from the staff ID hanging around his neck. Min Hojun stiffened his shoulders.
“You see, I’m not on good terms with your professor.”
Min Hojun had no idea what that had to do with him. He simply stared at Taehyuk with wide eyes.
“So I’d like it if Orthopedics and General Surgery didn’t get involved privately at all. Do you understand what I mean?”
As Professor Choi spoke in a solemn tone and stepped closer, Min Hojun felt more and more pressured. It became hard to even breathe.
“Th-that is…”
Of all days, why did the relationship between the two professors turn bad on the exact day he planned to confess to Moon Nayeong? Min Hojun couldn’t understand it.
When he hesitated to answer, Professor Choi’s eyes flashed sharply like a snake.
“If you’re not answering, does that mean you’re taking my words lightly?”
“Absolutely not! I’ll keep it in mind!”
Min Hojun shouted in a stiff, military-like voice.
After successfully protecting his Madonna, Taehyuk turned around—then paused when he spotted Yoon Ina.
He simply walked past her without saying anything.
Yoon Ina watched his back as he left, then asked the resident who had just been scolded,
“What happened?”
Min Hojun explained everything to her in great detail, sounding very wronged.
A new patient was admitted—a twenty-year-old with liver cancer. She officially became the first fan of Professor Choi Taehyuk.
She said it herself. She admitted she liked handsome faces.
Unfortunately, Nayeong was in charge of her, so every time they met, she had to listen to endless praise about Professor Choi’s looks.
“He really looks like the male lead in a romance drama.”
That was only because she didn’t know his personality fit perfectly in a disaster survival show.
Professor Choi, who used his sharp tongue on residents like a snake, at least filtered his words when speaking to patients.
But that didn’t mean he was sweet.
“Yes, Professor Choi is handsome.”
Nayeong agreed casually while checking the patient’s condition.
It was just a mild fever, but it hadn’t gone down, which worried her.
“I wish my first kiss would be with a man like Professor Choi.”
Nayeong stiffened without realizing it.
A PK who had once been scolded for making a bad expression in front of a patient glanced at her.
First kiss.
How could anyone not react to that?
Nayeong quickly left the hospital room. While walking, she suddenly stopped after noticing something outside the window.
Two people were arguing loudly. One was clearly the daughter of patient Hwang Myeongsun, who was waiting for a liver transplant. The other was the donor’s husband.
Seeing them shouting at each other didn’t feel like a good sign.
Nayeong immediately took out her phone and called Professor Choi.
[The person you are calling is currently on another line…]
Of course, he was busy.
She ran to find him in person.
After hearing he had gone to his office, she rushed there and opened the door without knocking.
“Professor! Ahhh!”
Taehyuk, who had been changing his clothes, froze when she suddenly barged in and screamed.
“Don’t you know how to knock?”
“I’m sorry!”
Nayeong quickly apologized and turned her back in a hurry.
Her heart pounded loudly, like a hammer hitting her chest.
Seeing her unable to even look at him, Taehyuk smirked slightly.
It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d seen him. Why was she being so dramatic?
“So what’s the matter?”
He finished buttoning his shirt as he asked. Nayeong explained without turning around.
“Ah! I saw patient Hwang Myeongsun’s daughter arguing outside the hospital with the donor’s husband.”
“So?”
His calm reaction made her voice rise.
“They’re probably fighting because of the transplant. I thought you should meet them and try to solve it—”
“My job is to perform the transplant surgery.”
“But—!”
“Doctors are not gods. We can’t control or fix everything. And we don’t need to.”
As he spoke, he walked closer and closer to her.
Step. Step.
He stopped right behind her.
“And when you talk to someone, look at their eyes. Not the wall.”
Nayeong’s shoulders trembled slightly.
But he was right. She looked foolish.
So she turned around and looked up at him.
“If you won’t mediate, then who will?”
“You try.”
Her eyes widened.
“Can I?”
“Yes. But shouldn’t you take care of your own patient first?”
“What?”
“Patient Lee Suji’s fever still hasn’t gone down, right?”
When Professor Choi pointed it out, Nayeong answered heavily.
“Yes.”
Lee Suji’s condition worsened.
She no longer talked about Professor Choi.
Because of the high fever that wouldn’t go down, she could only lie in bed all day.
She even needed a catheter because going to the bathroom was difficult.
Seeing the helpless twenty-year-old girl made Nayeong almost miss the days when she acted cute, calling herself Professor Choi’s number one fan.
If complications occurred, it could become the worst situation.
“Excuse me? You want me to take a picture of Professor Choi?”
The intern looked troubled.
“Yes. Maybe showing her his picture will make her feel a little better.”
It made sense—but if Professor Choi caught someone secretly taking his photo, it would be a disaster.
When the intern hesitated, Nayeong had no choice but to step up.
“I’ll take pictures too when I get the chance. Let’s make Suji smile again. Okay?”
The intern nodded.
It wasn’t something medical staff had to do, but medicine was still about people. She just wanted Suji to feel a little happiness.
She considered asking Professor Choi honestly if she could take photos. But he didn’t even step in for the transplant family conflict. It didn’t seem like he would do this for Suji.
And if he refused openly, it would be harder to take photos secretly.
So she decided to just do it quietly.
He could think of it as donating his handsome face.
A few hours later, the intern sent photos—but they were all from far away or from the back. You could tell how nervous he had been.
<Staff Nurse Byun asked why I was taking pictures. When I said it was for patient Lee Suji, she offered to help.>
Since people were volunteering without even being asked, Nayeong decided to expand the plan.
People worked harder when there was a reward.
And so, the hospital became a factory producing Choi Taehyuk paparazzi.
If Professor Choi found out she was behind it—
She didn’t even want to imagine it.
Click.
The moment he heard the shutter sound, Taehyuk quickly turned his head.
He had been hearing it often lately.
At first, he didn’t care. Everyone used phones to take pictures these days.
But it kept happening.
It felt like people were taking pictures of him.
He looked around sharply. People seemed to avoid his gaze on purpose.
He had a feeling something was going on in the hospital that he didn’t know about.
It irritated him.
He turned forward and started walking again.
Click.
This time, he turned even faster.
If he caught the person, he wouldn’t let it slide.
Two days after starting the photo event, someone got caught.
Second-year Nam Hojin, who was never careful, tried to take a close-up shot—and Professor Choi confiscated his phone.
Thankfully, Nam Hojin kept quiet and didn’t reveal the mastermind.
But when people saw he was punished with fifty pages of report writing, some started to drop out.
The coffee coupon wasn’t worth that risk.
What started as a small event for Suji was becoming something messy.
But Nayeong couldn’t stop.
The quality of photos had improved.
When she showed the pictures to Suji, the girl smiled for the first time in a while.
“Later, you have to choose the best one yourself, Suji.”
Suji nodded and gave a thumbs up.
Seeing her respond made Nayeong feel relieved.
On her way to deliver a research paper about living-donor liver transplantation to Professor Choi, Nayeong bought him a cup of coffee.
Maybe it was a small bribe because she felt guilty about the photos.
“Professor. Please have some coffee.”
It was the first time she had bought him coffee. He looked at her suspiciously.
“Do you need something from me?”
He had already contributed plenty as a photo model.
“No. I was buying mine anyway, so I got one for you too.”
He had known her for less than a month, but that didn’t sound like her.
Moon Nayeong didn’t casually show kindness.
“I’ll drink it.”
As he took the cup, she thought,
‘Holding Suji’s hand once would be more effective than a hundred photos.’
She was starting to think like a fan club member herself.
At this rate, she might become the second member of Professor Choi’s fan club.
When she kept staring at his hand holding the coffee, Taehyuk narrowed his eyes.
Today, not only was the coffee strange—her behavior was too.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
She flinched and quickly looked away.
“Ah! Well…”
Should she say it?
But she was afraid of being rejected.
She couldn’t even ask to take pictures. How could she ask him to hold Suji’s hand?
As she hesitated, Taehyuk became more sensitive.
What is it that’s so hard to say?
It didn’t seem like hospital work.
Her eyes blinked faster than usual. There was even a hint of shyness.
Then could it be…?
His heart began to beat faster with anticipation.
He wasn’t the type of man who could cut things off cleanly after just one night.
It would be hard for her to treat him with only respect.
She hadn’t said a single word yet, but his thoughts had already gone far ahead.
He was almost certain.
“If it’s hard for you to say it, I’ll say it instead. I understand everything.”
Nayeong jumped in shock.
“What? You already knew I was the mastermind behind the photo-taking?”
“……”
“……”
“What?”
A cold air wrapped around her.
It seemed she was doomed.
