Chapter 1

Taehee often had nightmares.

In those dreams, there was always the acrid stench of hell.

Flesh charred by fire. Limbs shattered into pieces. People struggling helplessly in pools of blood.

But at the very end, as if to protect her, her father would invariably appear.

Wiping the lens of his camera, he would whisper to her.

“Taehee, the bravest person in the world isn’t a soldier holding a gun. It’s someone who doesn’t run away when faced with a person who’s bleeding.”

Her father was as warm and comforting as the gentle sunlight of a spring day.

Could she live her life the way he had?

“Patient incoming! Female in her sixties, van rollover accident on a national highway!”

“Severe blunt abdominal trauma! Blood pressure seventy over forty, pulse one-forty! Hypovolemic shock!”

“Dr. Jung! Clear a bed in the trauma resuscitation room and get the ultrasound ready! Two large-bore eighteen-gauge IV lines! Start a rapid infusion of normal saline!”

It was an ordinary day in the chaotic, blood-soaked world of a regional trauma center.

But the moment the backboard was wheeled beneath the bright lights of the resuscitation room, Professor Kang’s eyes began to dart frantically.

“F-Foreign patient?”

A blonde woman who had rushed in behind the paramedics, clearly the patient’s companion, was deathly pale. She immediately began speaking in rapid-fire English.

“Is there a helicopter? Can’t you arrange an emergency transfer to Seoul? She’s losing blood… Oh, God! What are we going to do?!”

“Oh, God. My face. Please!”

Professor Kang, whose greatest achievement in English was a TOEIC score of 700, went deathly pale.

His eyes darted around desperately. Then, spotting Taehee, who happened to be heading home after completing a forty-eight-hour shift, he grabbed her by the shoulder and practically shoved her forward.

“R-Right! Our ace, Dr. Han Taehee, is excellent at English and trauma care! She’ll take responsibility for this patient!”

“What?! Professor! I already gave up my day off to cover someone else’s shift today… Ah. Professor…!”

The so-called professor abandoned the patient and fled.

His junior, Gyuyoung, a second-year resident directly under Taehee, muttered under his breath.

“Seriously, this is driving me crazy. How can a professor dump a case like this on someone else and run away?”

“Keep your voice down. We’re in front of the patient.”

“I’m just saying it’s unfair. Everyone in the department knows he got that assistant professorship because he went to the same high school as the hospital director.”

Taehee had nothing to say.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. But that didn’t mean she could simply give up on becoming an emergency medicine specialist and head to Gangnam to spend her days administering laser treatments and removing wrinkles, just as her mother wanted.

No matter what anyone said, she was a doctor.

That was what she had always believed, and it was what had kept her going all this time.

Setting down the bag she’d been carrying to go home, Taehee gently patted Gyuyoung on the shoulder.

“I’ll take the patient.”

Gyuyoung let out a brief sigh, then picked up the ultrasound gel and squeezed some onto the probe.

“Doctor…”

“I’m Han Taehee, a specialist in emergency medicine. I’ll take care of the patient, so please don’t worry.”

“Oh, thank goodness! You speak English! Doctor! Wait, please!”

Just as Taehee took the ultrasound probe Gyuyoung handed her, the patient suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Please, don’t move. You need to stay still. There’s internal bleeding in your abdomen…”

“My face! Please look at my face! I…!”

Despite her rapidly deteriorating vital signs, the blood-covered woman desperately reached for her own face, pleading with Taehee.

“Ma’am, your face is perfectly fine. Here, at least take a look at this!”

While rubbing the ultrasound probe over the woman’s abdomen with one hand, Taehee signaled to Gyuyoung with her eyes.

He understood immediately.

Without missing a beat, he grabbed a stainless-steel tray from the treatment cart and held it right in front of the patient’s face.

Reflected in the gleaming silver surface was the elegant face of a woman wearing an oxygen mask. Miraculously, there wasn’t a single visible injury.

“See? Perfectly fine, isn’t it? You’re absolutely… incredibly beautiful!”

Even covered in dirt and dust, she looked this stunning.

Taehee’s admiration was entirely genuine.

The woman’s rigid shoulders gradually relaxed. Seeing the pleading tremble in her eyes soften into a beautiful curve, Taehee lowered the tray and shouted.

“Dr. Jung! Suspected splenic rupture! Get an operating room ready immediately and send for crossmatching!”

The woman, her consciousness beginning to fade beneath the oxygen mask, whispered faintly.

“Thank you, you lovely woman. You… saved my life… I promise I’ll repay you.”

Taehee’s eyes curved into a gentle smile above her own mask.

“Just walk out of here in good health, ma’am. That’ll be more than enough repayment for me.”

Under ordinary circumstances, that would have been the end of the story—a tale about an extraordinarily beautiful foreign patient who had come to a trauma center tucked away in some corner of Gangwon Province.

But that wasn’t where the story ended.

“All right, the dressing is done. If you make it through tomorrow and get discharged safely, that’ll be your repayment, Mrs. Sophia.”

The day before her discharge.

With practiced hands, Taehee smoothed the fresh white dressing foam over the surgical incision on Sophia’s abdomen and secured the final piece of tape.

It was hard to believe that the woman had once been a critically injured trauma patient standing at death’s door. Her recovery had been remarkably swift.

Sophia had been so anxious about receiving treatment in a foreign country that she had personally requested Taehee as her attending physician. As a result, Taehee had spent the past month practically living in the VIP ward, even surrendering her days off to look after her.

At long last, it felt as though the enormous weight pressing against her chest was finally lifting.

Taehee carefully tied the front of Sophia’s patient gown, then pulled the blanket up to her chest and straightened it neatly.

“Ma’am, from now on, you only need to be careful when laughing heartily or coughing. Your wound is healing beautifully.”

“Dr. Han, have you ever considered coming to Canada? A hospital I know is recruiting clinical fellows. They have positions open for international applicants.”

“Thank you for thinking of me, Mrs. Sophia. But even if I were accepted, there would be issues with salary support, not to mention all the other obstacles.”

It wasn’t as though Taehee had never considered such an opportunity.

Ever since learning that she’d been passed over for promotion for the second time, the thought had crossed her mind more than once.

But even if she managed to get accepted, she would have trouble securing a visa without her hospital’s sponsorship. And the very people who had blocked her promotions certainly wouldn’t go out of their way to help her secure an overseas placement.

She had given up on the idea long ago.

“Just get accepted. I’ll take care of everything else. I happen to know quite a few influential people.”

Mrs. Sophia smiled softly and wrapped both of Taehee’s hands in her own.

“That’s already far more than I could ever ask for as repayment. Thank you, Mrs. Sophia.”

Concealing the bitterness in her heart, Taehee smiled at the woman who was expressing her gratitude with such genuine sincerity.

But Sophia’s words refused to leave her mind.

Even so, would a massive hospital in Toronto really hire an emergency physician from some provincial hospital in Korea?

It sounded absolutely insane, and Taehee spent a long time hesitating.

But the day after Sophia left, she finally found herself on the hospital rooftop, downloading an application for the Emergency Medicine Clinical Fellowship at SGMC.

Let’s just give it a try. I’ll give it everything I’ve got.

Having finally found a direction to pursue, she felt a new surge of energy.

The next several months were grueling.

After finishing her shifts, she translated medical papers. On weekends, she practiced for English interviews. Whenever her mother called to complain about money, Taehee would simply set the phone down on the floor and memorize English vocabulary instead.

And then, several months later, a letter finally arrived from Canada.

Among emergency medicine applicants from all over the world, Taehee’s acceptance was an extraordinary achievement. She was a graduate of a non-English-speaking country’s medical school, an Asian applicant, and yet she had made it through the final selection process.

Taking a sip of her Tim Hortons coffee, Taehee gazed up at the Toronto night sky.

The CN Tower rose majestically above the skyline. Red streetcars glided through the heart of downtown, while the nighttime scenery along Queen Street lent the city its unmistakable romantic charm.

Well, let’s just ignore the biting winds at minus twenty degrees and the raccoon the size of a bear rummaging through the trash can beside me.

Actually, it reminds me of Gangwon Province. Not bad at all.

Taehee chuckled softly as she took another sip of her coffee, which was practically overflowing with sugar and cream.

Dad, I wonder what you’d say if you could see me right now.

Her father had spent his entire life photographing the darkest corners of the world and the people society had abandoned.

He would probably say something like this.

You’re doing well, Taehee. You didn’t run away this time, either.

That’s right. I’ll do everything I can, and I won’t let a single life slip through my fingers. I won’t let myself be intimidated or run away, even in a hospital full of arrogant white doctors who look down on an Asian fellow.

Raising her paper cup toward the dazzling city lights, Taehee was just about to make a toast when—

VROOOOM! SPLASH!

A black pickup truck casually blew through a yellow light, spraying half-melted snow from the road all over Taehee’s cream-colored coat as it sped past.

“……”

She could taste the salt between her lips.

So this is the authentic North American experience.

First things first. I need to get back to my accommodation.

After throwing away her coffee cup, she opened her map app. That was when she noticed a dark figure sprawled on the ground near the pedestrian crossing.

Sleeping outside in minus twenty-degree weather? That’s definitely hypothermia.

Taehee instinctively rushed over, grabbed the man’s shoulder, and reached for his carotid artery.

“Hey! Can you hear me?”

“…Who the fuck are you? What do you want?! Don’t fucking touch me!”

His pupils were completely unfocused, and his agitation was unnaturally intense.

Oh, no.

This wasn’t an ordinary drunk or someone on the verge of freezing to death.

He was a homeless man heavily under the influence of drugs.

It suddenly struck Taehee how different this place was from Korea. She had heard that drug addicts were everywhere here, but she hadn’t expected to encounter one so soon.

The man let out an animalistic roar and shoved her hard in the shoulder.

“Ah!”

His strength was tremendous. Taehee slipped dangerously on the ice, barely managing to keep herself from falling.

The homeless man staggered before abruptly scrambling to his feet. A foul stench of urine mixed with cheap alcohol washed over her.

Screams and shouts erupted from the surrounding area.

“Now, that’s dangerous.”

A low, gentle voice accompanied the sudden pull of a powerful arm wrapping around Taehee’s waist.

In the next instant, her back slammed against a broad, solid chest.

The man who had pulled her into his arms tilted his head slightly and fixed his gaze on the homeless man.

“People around here have rather rough ways of welcoming newcomers.”

He wore a languid, effortlessly charming smile.

Yet there was something strangely sharp and sensitive about him, an air as cold and dry as the winter itself.

“He’s trying to steal my stuff! That fucking thief!”

At the man’s shout, Taehee turned her head and sucked in a startled breath.

The homeless man was holding a broken bottle.

The blonde man slowly straightened from where he had bent down to accommodate Taehee’s height.

Taehee instinctively tilted her head back to look up at him.

She’d heard that Canadians were tall, but she hadn’t expected anyone to be this enormous.

Perhaps even the most severe anger-management issues could be naturally cured when confronted with a man of that size.

The homeless man looked thoroughly intimidated. Muttering something that could have been either curses or incoherent rambling, he staggered away into a dark alley.

The street fell silent once more.

The man slowly released the firm arm he’d wrapped around Taehee.

“Your hand.”

“Ah…”

Before she could even respond, he reached out and gently enclosed her left hand in his much larger one.

Only then did Taehee notice the dark red blood seeping from her palm, which had been scraped against the ice.

“Stay still.”

The man took a handkerchief from his coat pocket. Without the slightest hesitation, he located the bleeding point and pressed down firmly.

His movements were astonishingly quick and precise.

The thick calluses embedded in his fingertips. The faint trace of alcohol lingering on his skin. His nails, groomed so meticulously they bordered on obsessive cleanliness.

And, above all, the calm, practiced manner in which he handled blood without so much as batting an eye.

There was no mistaking it.

Oh, I know this type.

That’s the unmistakable scent of someone in the same line of work.

And not just any medical professional, either. Someone from a particularly demanding field, like trauma surgery or general surgery.

It was an instinct honed by years of treating thousands of patients at the regional trauma center in Gangwon Province.

“Fortunately, it’s shallow. You won’t need stitches.”

Having finished stopping the bleeding, the man raised his head.

The moment their eyes met, his fingers, which were holding Taehee’s wrist, stiffened ever so slightly.

The cold wind swept through his golden hair.

After a brief silence, he carefully released her wrist.

“Um, thank you so much. Could I at least have your name…?”

“I’ve called the police, so you’ll be able to get back to your accommodation safely.”

Gently cutting off her question, he straightened up.

“Next time you find yourself sprawled out on a street at night…”

His long, elegant eyes narrowed slightly as he gave her a languid smile.

“You’d better practice running away first. Your reflexes were absolutely terrible back there.”

And that was that.

With only his handkerchief left behind, the man turned and disappeared without a backward glance into the snowstorm sweeping through the Toronto night.