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Chapter 21
“He’ll Do Anything for You”
Taehyuk went to the Borigulbi restaurant with Yoonina.
Yoonina stopped in front of the restaurant and only stared at the sign. He turned his head to look at her.
“You said you like this place and sometimes eat here alone.”
That was a lie.
Yoonina couldn’t tell whether he was deliberately mocking her or genuinely speaking, knowing that he had noticed the truth.
When he walked into the restaurant, Yoonina had no choice but to follow him inside.
Since the restaurant had only one set menu, there was no need to order separately.
While Taehyuk wiped his hands with a wet tissue, Yoonina took out the utensils and placed them in front of him.
“Thanks.”
Yoonina looked at him in surprise. It was such a common, everyday phrase, yet in fourteen years, it was the first time Taehyuk had said it to her.
Her hands trembled slightly beneath the table, and she pressed one with the other.
“Why did you ask me to eat together today?”
She knew there must be a reason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked her to come.
At that moment, two sets of the Borigulbi meal were served.
Taehyuk casually picked up his chopsticks.
“Let’s eat first.”
As he began eating, Yoonina watched him before slowly taking some food and putting it in her mouth.
She couldn’t even tell what it tasted like.
By the time he finished his meal, she hadn’t even eaten half. He had always eaten quickly.
When he put down his utensils, Yoonina did the same.
“Eat more.”
He urged her, but she shook her head.
“I’m full.”
When she refused to eat more, he didn’t insist and took a sip of water.
Placing his glass down with a soft thud, Taehyuk asked Yoonina:
“You’re the one who posted about Eunbyeol smoking, right?”
Even though he asked abruptly, Yoonina didn’t flinch. She only stared at his face silently.
He let out a short chuckle and muttered:
“You’re not even denying it.”
“Even if I said I didn’t, you’d believe it anyway.”
“Yeah, it really seemed like something you would do.”
Pressing her hands tightly under the table, Yoonina thought: He’s the only one in the world who thinks so badly of me.
And sometimes, she wanted to argue with him. She wanted to ask why she was being treated as if she had done something terribly wrong.
“So, you bought me a meal just to try to get me to admit it?”
If that were the case, he would have had to remain completely kind. But Taehyuk shook his head.
“Thinking about it, I haven’t really done anything good for you either. I’ve always been obnoxious.”
Before being harsh, he felt he had to at least share a casual meal to clear the debt in his heart. After all, they had known each other for fourteen years.
“No. You used to walk me home every day.”
“That was because you lied about being hurt by a stalker.”
Yoonina’s face reddened at his blunt remark.
Taehyuk played a video from his phone and placed it in front of her.
It was a CCTV recording from the hospital.
It showed Yoonina arriving at the place where Eunbyeol had hidden to smoke but leaving without intervening.
“You deliberately sent Moon Nayeong to Eunbyeol.”
Yoonina looked at the video blankly, then stared directly at him.
“And what? This video isn’t proof that I posted on the forum.”
As Yoonina protested, Taehyuk spoke firmly:
“Eunbyeol is your patient. She’s someone you have to protect. She’s not a tool for you to use!”
Her eyes reddened at his rebuke, but her expression remained composed.
Taehyuk never expected Yoonina to honestly confess everything. Adults find it harder to reflect and correct their mistakes than children.
He brought out his phone and warned her:
“Apologize to Eunbyeol properly. Otherwise, I’ll show this video to her.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Taehyuk stood up and left the restaurant, leaving Yoonina frozen in place.
Silently, a single tear slid down from one of her eyes.
She felt she understood why she hadn’t been loved, yet she still felt unjust.
Why was Moon Nayeong allowed to do it, but she wasn’t?
What did she lack compared to Moon Nayeong?
The hospital had to take action against whoever posted patient privacy content on the online forum.
And now that everyone knew Nayeong had first discovered Eunbyeol, they all assumed she had posted it.
“I never wrote anything online.”
Her firm denial made Chief Park look troubled.
“We know Moon isn’t usually like that. But no one else saw Eunbyeol smoking, right? And she didn’t tell anyone. Then who else could know the content besides her?”
For Nayeong, it was a frustrating situation. All evidence pointed at her.
“If Eunbyeol officially forgives, then you just apologize to her.”
Although it was extraordinary generosity to resolve a nationwide scandal with just an apology, Nayeong couldn’t apologize for something she hadn’t done.
If she apologized, she would become someone who spread another’s private life recklessly.
“Have the police investigate and find the person who posted anonymously.”
Nayeong suggested involving the police, but Chief Park was horrified.
“If Eunbyeol is forgiving, why drag the police in and make it worse? It would only bring more attention to the hospital’s name.”
With the police ruled out, Nayeong left the office with a heavy heart.
As she walked down the hallway, she felt everyone’s eyes on her.
Even if she didn’t admit it, her reputation was already ruined.
“Moon Nayeong.”
The voice made her snap out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Professor Taehyuk walking toward her.
Seeing his face made her feel slightly relieved. She trusted that he would believe she hadn’t done it.
“I have something to tell you. Follow me.”
Even though she felt the eyes of others on her, it didn’t bother her as much this time.
Taehyuk led her to the rooftop.
“Yoonina will apologize to Eunbyeol. You don’t need to apologize.”
Nayeong’s eyes widened.
“She admitted she’ll apologize?”
The person Nayeong had suspected was Yoonina. There was no one else she could suspect, but there was no physical evidence linking Yoonina either.
“No. At the time the post was made, Yoonina was in the operating room.”
Relieved, Nayeong looked exhausted but glad.
“This is the only evidence connecting Yoonina to the incident.”
Nayeong stared at Yoonina in the CCTV footage with a complicated expression.
As a first-year resident, she couldn’t understand why such a remarkable professor would go to these lengths.
“Because of this, Yoonina will apologize to Eunbyeol. If she doesn’t, he said he’d show the video to Eunbyeol.”
“So, even if they find the anonymous poster, it has nothing to do with Yoonina?”
Nayeong asked, unable to hide her frustration. Taehyuk couldn’t give her the answer she wanted, leaving her heart heavy.
“This may not be much comfort, but…”
No words seemed comforting now, and Nayeong kept looking down.
“Yoonina’s greatest punishment is that she will never be loved.”
Nayeong looked up at Professor Taehyuk’s face.
“And that has been true until now, and will continue to be so, even more than for you.”
She had thought his words wouldn’t bring comfort, yet they somehow did.
To apologize, Yoonina arrived at Eunbyeol’s hospital room and noticed Nayeong standing outside. She stopped walking and smiled politely at her.
“Did you come just to watch me apologize for you?”
At the word “for you,” Nayeong gave a hollow laugh. But she calmly replied:
“There’s something I really don’t understand.”
When she first saw the CCTV Taehyuk showed, she was stunned and frustrated. But over time, something still didn’t make sense.
“You didn’t know I was looking for Eunbyeol, yet why did you leave after seeing her?”
So, Yoonina had decided to trap her the moment she discovered Nayeong was looking for Eunbyeol. Not at the moment she found Eunbyeol herself.
Yoonina said nothing and just looked at her face before speaking:
“She’s a patient with a serious stomach ulcer requiring gastrectomy at just twenty. From my perspective, psychological factors were significant. Seeing her hiding in that small, filthy place to smoke, it seemed like her only escape. So I let her finish the cigarette and planned to warn her afterward that smoking in the hospital is strictly prohibited.”
Nayeong looked at Yoonina speechless.
Her words were something a truly good doctor could say.
But what she did to Nayeong was something only a malicious person could do.
It was hard to believe both could be the same person.
“Are you saying the one who pushed Eunbyeol into that filthy scandal was someone who thinks like that?”
“No, that’s you. That’s what people believe,” Yoonina replied, passing by and opening the hospital room door.
At that moment, Nayeong’s phone rang.
Half-dazed, she answered:
“Hello?”
[Nayeong! A post admitting to writing about Eunbyeol smoking was just uploaded on the hospital forum! You’re okay now!]
The caller was Seunghee.
“So the poster personally clarified it? Who was it?”
Yoonina, about to enter Eunbyeol’s room, paused and turned to look at her. Nayeong also glanced at her.
[It’s PK Seonam-yong. He was extremely diligent when he was in our department, unbelievable.]
Lowering her phone, Nayeong asked Yoonina:
“Do you know PK Seonam-yong?”
She asked about PK, but Yoonina spoke about someone else.
“Taehyuk will do anything for you.”
In her gaze, Nayeong could see the deep pain she had endured.
Professor Taehyuk’s words were right.
Yoonina had suffered longer and more deeply than anyone else.
