Chapter 185

Episode 185 Person (2)

“Are you going to do it or not? Don’t you want to be set up? Want to see her picture?”

“I am really fine. I have to write a thesis right now, so I’m busy.”

“This Saturday in Seomyeon, you can’t make it? Is it that hard? Just so you know, her father even owns a building in Busan.”

Pffft.

I almost spat out my bottled water. Choking on it, I coughed frantically, pulled out some tissues, and wiped down the desk.

“Cough! Cough! Wheeze! A... a building?”

“Yeah. A building.”

Lee Minjae continued his devilish whispering. A building owner's daughter. For a split second, my capitalistic soul almost swore allegiance and dropped to its knees, but I managed to hold onto my reason.

“No, no, I’m seriously fine. Yes, really. Now is not the time for me to be dating.”

I waved my hands in refusal. I had just come back from signing a one-and-a-half-year slave contract—no, a massive project—with the hospital director, and now a girlfriend? If I had to dump her mid-date to run off for an emergency call, I’d get dumped 100% of the time. There was no need to go around breaking the heart of someone’s precious daughter for nothing. And above all, I was currently up to my ears in my own problems.

“Don’t back out. You should start seeing someone around now too. Doesn’t your family say anything?”

“My parents are hands-off types.”

“When a man draws his sword, he should at least slice a radish.”

“I use my sword plenty in the Emergency Room. I will really pass on this. You should just focus on preparing for your own wedding, Teacher.”

I declined firmly and stepped back. At that, Lee Minjae started staring at me intently.

“Hmm...” He stroked his jaw and began circling around my face.

“Why... why are you doing this? It’s making me uncomfortable.”

“Look at you.” Lee Minjae pointed his index finger at my bangs. “You let your hair down.”

“...Yes?”

“Before, you used to say it was a hassle and just tossed it back roughly with wax. Exposing your whole forehead. Making your impression look mean.”

“No, it wasn’t mean, it was charismatic—”

“But look at you now. You’ve regressed back to your 1st-year hair, haven’t you? A calm, covered-down hairstyle? That’s a pretty sudden and drastic change in style, isn’t it?”

“Ah, this is just...”

“And the glasses.” Lee Minjae’s finger pointed to the tip of my nose. “Where did those strange glasses you used to wear go, and why did you change them again? It looks like you're aiming for a somewhat intellectual image here too, doesn't it?”

Lee Minjae began making wild assumptions on his own.

“My conclusion is this, Han Hyeonjae! You are either ready to meet someone, or you are already seeing someone! That must be it!!!!”

“What? No, Teacher. Where would I even find someone to meet...” I stammered.

To be honest, it was true that my style had changed. But that was entirely because someone had given me advice on styling, and it would be rude to keep ignoring it. Besides, I was quite satisfied with how I looked right now.

“Then what is this? There has to be a reason your style suddenly changed completely. Like a change of heart.”

“Ah, this... before, Eunseo said it might look better if I let my hair down a bit... so...”

The moment the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Shit.

“.......”

The corners of Lee Minjae’s mouth crept up all the way to his cheekbones.

“Ah~”

That short exclamation held tens of thousands of meanings. For example:

'Ah, I see.'

'Ah, so that's what it was.'

'Ah, you two are a thing.'

Oh, no.

“Yes?”

“Ah~ okay, okay. Message received.” Lee Minjae nodded and threw a thumbs-up my way. “Hyunjae. I was so dense. You already have someone, and here I was trying to bark up the wrong tree. My bad~”

“What? No, that’s not it...” I frantically waved my hands.

This was a misunderstanding. A complete misunderstanding.

“No, it’s really not like that! With absolutely no special meaning, we were just taking a walk in Geoje Island, and the topic of hair happened to come up by chance, so I changed it!”

“Right, right. I believe you entirely! The shaman of our Emergency Room is finally looking for a mate!” Lee Minjae didn't let a single word of my excuse enter his ears.

'I'm going crazy. This person is writing a whole rom-com in their mind right now.'

“Yes, yes! I get it! I’ll keep it a secret. In-hospital romance is naturally a bit delicate. Especially between residents, even more so.” Lee Minjae patted my shoulder. “Fighting! Good luck with Eunseo! Eunseo is great. Works well, sharp. You two look good together.”

“I told you it’s NOT LIKE THAAAT!!!!” I shouted, let out a sound that was practically a scream.

At that, Lee Minjae chuckled, picked up his coffee cup, and leisurely walked away.

“I’ll be smart and get out of your way. Make sure I'm the first one to get a wedding invitation. Keep up the good work!”

“Teacher!!! I said no!!!”

I was doomed. From the very first day of my return, a strange rumor—and a pink-tinted, distorted one at that—was bound to follow me like a tag. I grabbed my head and slumped onto the desk.

A few days later.

I realized that rumors travel faster than feet. Especially in a closed-off, stress-ridden hospital society, there is no side dish more stimulating and delicious than someone else's love life.

“Han-ssam.”

Nurse Jeong, the powerful veteran nurse of the Emergency Room, stopped shifting through charts and subtly called out to me.

“Yes? Did I miss any orders? The verbal order for the R-room earlier, by any chance...”

“No, not the orders.” Nurse Jeong looked around and lowered her voice. “Are you seeing someone lately by any chance?”

“What? All of a sudden?”

“No, just because. Your style changed completely and all, so I wondered if you were dating. Must be nice, spring is in the air.”

“No, Teacher. It's really not like that...”

“Sure, sure. Fighting, Han-seonsaeng.”

“...Sigh.”

She already knew and was just asking anyway.

During lunchtime, I was in the middle of administering a rapid caffeine charge at the cafe in the hospital lobby.

“Hey.” Son Jongwoon from Pediatrics asked, sucking on his iced americano.

“What.”

“Are you seeing someone these days? From what I heard, a fling?”

“Who did you hear that from?”

“Who else. The 2nd-year kids in our department. It seems she's quite famous? Something about how love blossomed between two residents of the Emergency Medicine department while pulling an all-nighter together during their dispatch.”

“Go write a novel, why don't you.”

“So it's really not true?”

“No. You were even in the same room as me.”

“...That's true.”

“Then you should be thinking about squashing the rumor, you jerk.”

I gave the spiteful Son Jongwoon a hearty slap on the back.

“Hey, Han Hyeonjae.”

My peer Cho Suyeon, whom I bumped into in the hallway, glared at me.

“What.”

“While I’m working looking like a beggar, getting my hair grabbed by drunk old misters, what are you doing? You go on dispatch and play house? Must be nice, huh?”

“I said it’s not true!!”

“Oh my~ I should have just gone to Internal Medicine~ To think it's already been three years since I fell for our genius Han-seonsaeng's garbage trickery... While making sure I'm in an environment where I can absolutely never date, he goes and—mmph.”

I roughly stuffed Cho Suyeon's mouth with some gauze that was nearby.

Around 6:00 PM, a call came through not on the Emergency Room landline, but on my personal cellphone.

[Choi Sumin Teacher (Gimhae Samjeong)]

Choi Sumin? The gentleman who was the chief until last year? What is this sudden call about? Don't tell me it's a patient who can't be treated at a secondary hospital, so they're urgently trying to transfer them over.

“Yes, hello, Teacher?”

[Hyeonjae! How have you been? Everything good?]

“Yes, Teacher. It's really been a while. Is everything fine on your end?”

[As for me, I'm just enjoying the life of an average paid doctor. Actually, I called because I have something to tell you.]

Judging by how his voice wasn't as dark as I expected, it probably wasn't an urgent patient? Or was it just a courtesy call?

“Yes, yes. But for transfer inquiries, you should call the transfer coordinator teacher...”

[No, it's not a patient. It's just something I heard through the grapevine.] Choi Sumin lowered his voice. [Are you by any chance dating a lower-year resident?]

“......”

What could be the reason for him to suddenly ask this question? One thing was for sure: the rumor had made its way outside the hospital. What on earth is this?

“No, I am not. Absolutely not. I don't know what you heard or through whom, but it's a misunderstanding.”

[It's not? Really? Can't you just tell me? I'll keep it a secret. I'm in a local clinic anyway, so I don't have anyone to spread it to.]

“It's really not. I don't have time to date right now.”

[Well, it is a busy period. A lower-year and a higher-year... it is a bit ambiguous.]

“Did you call just to ask that? During shift hours?”

[Of course! A junior's news is the most important thing! Keep up the hard work!]

Click.

The call cut off. I blankly stared at the dark screen of my phone. Has everyone who graduated from our hospital's Emergency Medicine department had their brains turned to mush because the work is too hard?

“...Haaah.”

I swept my hair back. If things kept going like this, it was going to become an established fact. If that happens, what did Baek Eunseo do to deserve this? A 2nd-year resident. At a time when she should be focused on learning the work and walking on eggshells, it would be troublesome if she became the subject of gossip for no reason because of me.

'I need to make things clear.'

With that, I made up my mind and went to look for Baek Eunseo during a relatively quiet hour.

“Eunseo-ya.”

“Yes, Teacher?” Baek Eunseo poked her head out.

I could feel the interns nearby prick up their ears.

'Stop listening, you punks.'

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

“Ah, yes!”

A moment later, on a bench in front of the Emergency Medical Center building.

“Teacher!” Baek Eunseo ran over, the tails of her gown fluttering in the wind. “Why did you call for me? Did I make an order mistake by any chance? The troponin follow-up for that MI patient earlier, did something go wrong—”

“No, no. It's not about work. You're doing well with your work.” I waved my hand. Take a deep breath. Relax. I carefully opened my mouth to bring up the main point. “You know, have you by any chance heard the rumors going around lately?”

“Ah... the rumors.” Baek Eunseo’s face turned red in an instant. “Ah, ah, yes. But I’m really innocent regarding that.”

Baek Eunseo hurriedly waved her hands to explain herself.

“There is absolutely no way our 2nd-years or I spread anything, or made any slip of the tongue at all, at all! It's not like I talked about you behind your back or anything! I also don't know what the reason is, but I'm incredibly flustered too—”

“Calm down, please. I know.”

“Yes!”

I let out a sigh and chose my words.

“So anyway... sigh. If this keeps spreading further, it’ll be awkward for you too. It could also interfere with work.”

“Yes!”

“And since other residents or staff around us might see us the wrong way, I called you out because I thought we should make a clear clarification.”

“A clarification?” Baek Eunseo blinked.

“Yeah. Just naturally, when a gathering of people comes up, we can nail it down that we're just close seniors and juniors. That way, it'll be comfortable for you, and comfortable for me too.”

Public and private life must be clearly separated. And if rumors like this aren't caught in time, they spread far and wide. It didn't really matter to me, but for a junior with a bright future ahead to get tagged with a weird image for nothing... it made me feel uneasy.

“...Hmm.” Baek Eunseo tilted her head slightly. “Teacher.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Do we absolutely have to clarify it?”

“Huh?”

I was at a loss for words. Did I hear wrong?

“Yes? No, I mean... a rumor is something that burns hotter if you try to put it out forcibly, right? If we step forward and get all serious, people might find it even more suspicious.”

“That's true...”

“Yes. And even if we do, there’s no guarantee they will believe us. That’s just how rumors are. If you clarify, it sounds like an excuse.”

“Then what?”

Baek Eunseo subtly avoided my gaze.

“I just thought... it might not be a bad idea to just let people think whatever they want to think...”

I blankly turned my head as far as it would go and stared at the scenery in front of the hospital.

'What the fuck is this.'

Is it arrhythmia?