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Chapter 15
So What Am I Supposed to Do?
Chief Donggeon was the first to ask her about the Wilson’s disease patient who had come to the ER the night before.
“I’ve only read about it in textbooks. I’ve never seen a real patient. Did you see them yourself, Dr. Moon?”
“She was fifteen.”
When she mentioned the age first, Donggeon clicked his tongue in sympathy.
“That’s too young. They say if it develops before fifteen, liver complications are common. That’s probably why she developed cirrhosis.”
As she was explaining the patient’s symptoms to him, she heard nurses walking past outside the room.
“Why is Professor Choi already down on the ward?”
“Looks like he’s searching for someone.”
Nayeong’s heart dropped.
She hadn’t expected him to come looking for her in person just because she didn’t go to pick up the lunchbox.
He was a professor, for heaven’s sake—chasing after a woman around the hospital!
Her mistake had been forgetting that he was the type of person who didn’t care at all about other people’s stares.
“Chief… my stomach suddenly hurts. May I run to the restroom?”
Her expression must have looked genuinely unwell, because Donggeon immediately nodded.
“Sure. I can check the remaining patients myself. Go.”
The moment he gave permission, she hurried out of the room and ran toward the women’s restroom.
Somehow, she had ended up playing tag with Professor Choi Taehyuk in a hospital—something she hadn’t even done as a child.
She sat on the toilet, anxiously watching time pass on her phone, when the screen suddenly lit up with a new message.
<Constipated?>
She nearly threw her phone.
Who do you think I’m like this because of?!
The fact that she was the only one hiding in the restroom, flustered and restless, felt unfair and foolish.
Nayeong sprang to her feet.
If she kept hiding, she would continue struggling in the palm of Choi Taehyuk’s hand.
This wasn’t just an issue between a resident and a professor—it was something that had happened between a woman and a man. If anything, she should be confident in front of him.
Bang.
Resolving herself, she opened the restroom door.
She marched out, bracing herself—only to spot Professor Choi leaning against the corridor wall.
The moment she saw him, she immediately spun around and ran straight back into the restroom.
“Haah!”
Bracing both hands against the wall, she admitted her defeat.
She couldn’t possibly be that shameless.
Judging by his behavior, Professor Choi had clearly lived his life without worrying about other people’s opinions.
But she had always lived quietly, properly.
This power struggle was far too disadvantageous for her.
This must be the side effect of someone who had never once strayed from the rules suddenly committing an act of rebellion.
She had learned painfully that life was smoother when you stayed within the lines.
Beep.
Her phone rang again.
Certain it was him, she nervously checked.
So whose fault is this?!
Despite her internal fury, she timidly pressed herself against the wall and peeked outside.
He was gone.
Only a lunchbox sat alone in the hallway.
The very lunchbox made by Mrs. Hwang.
If there were a Michelin Guide for lunchboxes, this one would easily earn three stars.
Only after confirming he was truly gone did she step out.
She crouched in front of the lunchbox.
“Right. Mrs. Hwang did nothing wrong.”
She hugged it and stood.
No matter how she thought about it, Professor Choi’s sudden behavior didn’t feel purely innocent.
He was known for being ruthless with residents—“Professor Viper.”
How could he suddenly be pure only toward her?
The man she had met that night had been flawless—but perhaps that, too, had been an act to seduce her.
The difference between that version of him and the hospital version was too stark. Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
So she needed to separate them.
Professor Choi Taehyuk at the hospital—and Choi Taehyuk from the club—were different people.
It was better to think of them that way.
Ever since Professor Choi had arrived at the hospital, rounds had been a trial for her—but today was the worst.
She couldn’t even look him in the eye.
She fixed her gaze on her notebook, doing everything she could to avoid eye contact.
“Dr. Moon Nayeong.”
But he was a professor. Whenever he called her name inside the hospital, she had to respond—regardless of her feelings.
“Yes.”
She answered and subtly hid behind Chief Donggeon’s broad back.
Relief flickered when Donggeon’s large head blocked most of his face—but he deliberately shifted positions to find her.
The moment their eyes met, her heart felt like it was under severe strain.
At this rate, she might really develop arrhythmia.
His voice—I never forgot what happened that night—rang in her ears like tinnitus.
She ended up missing half of what he said about patient Lee Suji.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you clearly. Please repeat that, Professor.”
She told the truth.
And remembering their night together did not make him go easy on her.
“You didn’t hear? Are you going to say you were daydreaming in the OR too and need me to repeat it there?”
Strangely, being scolded steadied her.
That wasn’t normal.
That day, she instinctively moved to avoid him. Eventually, she found herself in the room of patient Hwang Myungsoon, who was to receive a liver donation from her daughter-in-law.
Professor Choi had often sent her to mediate the family dispute, so she had come to check frequently. Watching the daughter care devotedly for her mother made it impossible to take sides.
The son and his wife struggled with sacrificing for a mother-in-law who had made their lives difficult for years. The daughter, on the other hand, urged surgery out of concern.
No one was wrong.
Today, the daughter was absent, and the daughter-in-law—the donor—sat by the bedside.
“Your daughter-in-law is here today.”
“Oh! My sister-in-law had her daughter’s school event.”
Looking at Hwang Myungsoon’s aged sleeping face, Nayeong explained gently.
“If the surgery goes well and she manages properly afterward, she can live a long, healthy life.”
The daughter-in-law stared at the patient without expression.
And Nayeong understood.
She hadn’t made this decision for her mother-in-law.
“Who did you decide to have surgery for?”
It was impulsive.
The daughter-in-law answered without hesitation.
“My son.”
She didn’t want to remain in her son’s memory as the person who let his grandmother die.
That reason alone seemed enough, as a faint smile appeared on her face.
Compared to such a weighty choice, Nayeong’s own problem suddenly felt trivial. Her heart, which had been bouncing wildly all morning, began to settle.
Carrying the lunchbox bag, Nayeong went to Professor Choi’s office first.
Avoiding him wouldn’t solve anything.
They needed to talk properly.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
She took a deep breath and entered.
She had been to his office many times before, but this moment felt the most tense.
“Professor. Thank you for the lunchbox.”
She placed the bag on the table politely.
As Taehyuk began to stand, she quickly raised her hand.
“Please stay seated. It’ll be easier for me to talk.”
He slowly sat back down, arms crossed, eyes fixed on her face.
She couldn’t meet his gaze and lowered her eyes instead.
“You told me to sit so you could speak comfortably. Why aren’t you speaking?”
At his prompting, she cleared her throat.
“I want us to remain strictly professional in the hospital.”
“Then can we kiss outside the hospital?”
The unexpected remark nearly made her legs give out.
If she faltered here, she would forever be dragged along by him.
“First-year residents are too busy to leave the hospital.”
“So you’re not saying no.”
His lips curved upward. She frowned.
“I think it’s inappropriate for a professor to behave this way toward a resident.”
“Then let’s do it outside the hospital.”
“I told you I don’t have time to leave the hospital!”
Her face flushed red.
He ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated.
“Didn’t you pretend not to remember at first?”
“You wore a mask and avoided me first.”
She fell silent.
“If I’d known you were the new professor at our hospital, I would never have slept with you.”
“If I’d met you first at the hospital, I wouldn’t have slept with you either.”
His blunt reply shook her.
Why did it hurt her more when she had said it first?
“But those are all ‘what ifs.’ We already crossed the line. To me, Moon Nayeong isn’t just a first-year resident at Hangang University Hospital—she’s the woman who spent a night with me.”
He stood and walked toward her.
The closer he came, the harder her heart pounded.
Was it wariness? Something else?
It was tangled and unclear.
He stopped one step away.
Hands in his pockets, he gave a cynical smile, as if the situation itself was troublesome.
“I’ve already fallen for you. So what am I supposed to do?”
She stared at him, stunned.
Why was this man so willful?
And worse—why did her heart flutter instead of rejecting him?
One act of rebellion had already caused her enough trouble. If she wavered again, it would be disastrous.
I seriously don’t have time to date you.
So what exactly am I supposed to do?
