Boss, It's My First Time Being Your Resident - Chapter 3
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 3. Take Off Those Clothes
He’d first encountered the woman a few hours ago.
With an unexpected stretch of free time before his shift, Tae Heon had stopped by Baekun Temple to visit his Teacher.
“Tae Heon, you’re destined to wield a blade, but that blade must always be used to save lives.”
After dropping out of high school, his Teacher—who had guided him away from the darkness he’d nearly fallen into—had turned out to be a remarkably accomplished medical professor.
A cruel bond, if one could call it that.
His Teacher had chosen monastic life as a consequence of his father’s misdeeds, yet he’d shown such magnanimity that he’d extended kindness even to the son of his enemy. The man was like a second father to him.
He was reaching into the car trunk for a box of fruit to bring to his Teacher when it happened.
A luxury sedan—utterly out of place in the quiet mountain setting—pulled into the parking lot.
His gaze naturally drifted toward the vehicle.
Would the chauffeur emerge next to gallantly open the rear door?
Without quite meaning to, he’d anticipated the cliché scene to follow—a wealthy middle-aged matron, perhaps, stepping carefully to the ground with the chauffeur’s assistance.
The rear door swung open abruptly, as if the passenger inside was impatient.
Instead of gleaming high heels, a pair of pristine white sneakers stepped confidently onto the ground.
The one who emerged was a young woman.
She suited the snow-blanketed courtyard of Baekun Temple far better than the sedan worth hundreds of millions won—somehow fresh, luminous, and pure.
Even from a distance, she was striking. She gathered her loose hair carelessly into a high knot, then pulled her hoodie’s zipper up to her chin. As the fabric rose, a sliver of bare waist became visible beneath.
The oversized ivory training suit, loose-fitting though it was, paradoxically only emphasized her slender frame all the more.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
The woman took the luggage from the chauffeur’s hands.
“A temple, a church, or a cathedral! Could there be anywhere safer in this country than here?”
“Well, that’s true, but—”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Moon.”
“Your grandfather asked how long you’d be staying.”
“Tell Grandfather that his granddaughter will come down the mountain when the time is right.”
She adjusted the small light blue wristwatch on her wrist as she spoke.
Her small face, radiant with excitement and anticipation, was lit by an unselfconscious smile.
“Oh, and please tell Grandfather something else. This is the most important part!”
“What is it?”
“Tell him I’m not bringing home a husband. I’ll bury my bones in the hospital during my four years as a resident physician, so don’t come looking for me.”
“Stop this playacting and come home, A Gang. Don’t worry your grandfather like this.”
“I’m twenty-six! And from now on, don’t send a car for me like this. Once I come down, I’m heading straight to the hospital for my shift. I’ll be living in the on-call room for a while.”
“He’ll be waiting for you.”
“Mr. Moon Joo? You’re on my side, aren’t you?”
……
“I really want to do well at my new job!”
The woman grinned.
The dimple carved beneath one eye was foolishly—
—foolishly beautiful.
***
[A record-breaking cold wave has arrived.
Though we’re approaching the end of February, severe cold continues to grip the region.
Deaths from cold-related illness this year have reached twenty-eight.
Special care should be taken to stay warm when venturing outdoors.
Especially for those who spend time in outdoor activities, please dress warmly to prevent frostbite and hypothermia…]
On the drive up to Baekun Temple, A Gang had barely registered the radio news playing from Moon Joo’s car—her father’s dedicated chauffeur.
She should have brought a thicker puffer jacket.
Though she’d never imagined a situation like this would arise.
Following the man through treacherous snow that came up past her ankles, she’d arrived at a shabby shelter nestled deep within a mountainside.
When he pushed open the creaking wooden door, the damp smell of pine needles rushed to her nostrils.
Tae Heon collected several short candle stubs left on the floor and arranged them neatly on the table.
After striking the moisture-swollen matches several times, he lit them in succession, and soon a wavering, amber glow filled the shelter completely.
“It’s been closed for quite a while, hasn’t it? Looking at these old candles and matches.”
A Gang swept her gaze across the interior.
The shelter, which held only one sleeping bag and not a single other emergency item, hardly lived up to its signage, but she was grateful enough that they could at least escape the cold for a time.
“Thank you for helping me.”
Offering a belated greeting, she bowed her head slightly.
Her gaze drifted unconsciously to the man’s wrist. The shirt cuff she’d gripped so tightly had lost a button, and now hung loose and torn.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Funny how you didn’t mind clinging to me so desperately back then.”
Embarrassed by his dry reply, A Gang carefully brushed out the creases of his sleeve with both hands.
“I didn’t know there would be a mother bear nearby.”
“It’s basic knowledge. There’s always a mother watching over the young of wild animals.”
The man withdrew his wrist from her hands and stooped down to gather up the scattered old blankets strewn about.
“In places like Alaska, it’s common enough for someone to feed a cute bear cub and then get mauled by the mother.”
“Are you from Alaska?”
A Gang’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Tae Heon turned back with an exasperated expression.
A meaningless laugh escaped his lips at her naive question.
“I was speaking in general terms. And do I look Alaskan to you? I’m clearly Northern East Asian.”
“Even if you’re East Asian, you need to check the haplogroup to know for sure. Looking at the nasolabial angle, you definitely appear to be Northern East Asian, but who knows! Maybe you have Koryak or Khakassian DNA in your ancestry!”
Taking a step back, A Gang stared at him intently.
“Your skeletal structure is a type you don’t often see domestically…”
She stepped closer again and rose slightly onto her tiptoes.
“A type you don’t often see?”
Tae Heon echoed her words back at her as a question.
A Gang stared at his now-close face before freezing, pressing her lips firmly shut.
Whether from a distance or up close, the man was excessively—
“Why are you staring so intently?”
—handsome.
Dolichocephalic features, sculpted jawline, cool and pellucid eyes framed by a sharply prominent nasolabium ridge.
Faced with such unrealistic, screen-like beauty, A Gang found herself swallowing involuntarily.
“…Finished your analysis?”
Their eyes met in mid-air.
Their gazes locked, yet somehow her cheeks burned hot.
“Oh, um—I’m Korean too. I’m twenty-six years old, and my name is A Gang.”
A Gang introduced herself without being asked, tucking a strand of wet hair behind her ear with modest grace.
At the same time, she awkwardly extended her other hand toward him.
“And you?”
“Did you come to the mountain to date?”
“…Oh, if it’s a secret, you don’t have to tell me!”
Confronted by his gaze—as if he was looking at someone utterly unhinged—A Gang sheepishly withdrew her hand.
Without a mirror, she could guess how ridiculous she looked.
The way he stared down at her with that subtle, inscrutable smirk instead of returning her offered handshake told her everything.
Completely drenched—her top, her pants, even her socks. She was the very picture of a drowned rat.
“Um, do you think we can find our way down? Or should we call for rescue…?”
Meanwhile, as the ice that had crusted her clothes began to thaw and seep into the fabric, a bone-deep chill started creeping through her.
The shelter felt as cold as a freezer.
“Do you have a cell phone?”
“One moment.”
A Gang fumbled through the inner pockets of both her hoodie sleeves.
She distinctly remembered holding it in her hand when she’d started the climb, but it must have slipped out when she tumbled down the slope.
Shaking her head with a helpless expression, the man simply pulled a flashlight from his pocket and held it up without comment.
“Unfortunately.”
“Damn… What do we do?”
“When daylight comes, we’ll head down. It’ll be easier to find the path once the sun rises.”
“What? We’re spending the night here?”
In this cold?
“In the mountains, it’s safer not to move at night. That’s common sense too.”
“Right, common sense…”
“Also, common sense would be that most people don’t go hiking at night dressed like that.”
“I wasn’t hiking! I was just walking and thinking, and—”
“—and before you knew it, that patch happened to be a snowy winter mountainside at night?”
Yes, I clearly lack common sense!
Faced with the man’s acerbic tone, A Gang opened her mouth to retort but released a sigh instead.
Her white breath drifted into the air.
She curled her trembling hands tightly into fists and hunched her shoulders against the cold.
After observing her in silence for a moment, the man finally spoke.
“Take off those clothes.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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