Boss, It's My First Time Being Your Resident - Chapter 35

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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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Episode 35. Curious and Strangely Curious

“Cha Yu-ju. I’m heading to work. This isn’t a conversation we should be having right now.”

Ha Tae-hun glanced down at his wristwatch and cut her off with surgical precision.

“…It’s really expensive, Ha Tae-hun. Do you have any idea how many men have been texting me for years, asking to grab a meal just once? How many?”

It wasn’t even begging.
Pathetic, Cha Yu-ju.

She threw his words back with forced lightness, desperate to hide the shame clawing at her insides, but six years of facing Ha Tae-hun’s hollow responses had never gotten easier.

“Should I care?”
“…”
“Whether there are men around you or not doesn’t give you the right to block my commute.”

Cha Yu-ju’s lips pressed into a hard line as Ha Tae-hun drew his boundary with ice.

That gaze—the one that looked at her yearning for love as if it were contemptible.
His expression remained colorless, unmoved.

Whenever she stood before Ha Tae-hun, the pride that had once soared to the heavens came crashing down, scraping against the floor.

It infuriated her to the edge of madness, yet the man before her remained flawless, remained dazzling—which only made her more stubborn.

Doubt crept in: should even the incomparable Cha Yu-ju be reduced to such desperate confessions? But in matters of love, whoever loves more is always, inevitably, the weaker one.

“I’m leaving.”

As Ha Tae-hun rose from the bench, Cha Yu-ju reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

“Wait! ‘Romance, Medical Hall’—it’s my first program, the one where I’m finally taking on the role of producer with my name on the line! I want to do it right.”

I want to prove myself to you.
My skills, my ability. I’m going to make you see me differently.

Yu-ju swallowed the lump rising in her throat and moved to the heart of the matter.

“The Hospital Director recommended this resident named Ju A-gang as the lead. Turns out he’s a really interesting person.”

In that instant, Ha Tae-hun’s brow tightened, a subtle crease marring his composure.
Yu-ju’s eyes gleamed—she’d caught that flicker of change.

“Now you’re interested? The Hospital Director said you warned him to keep his hands off Ju A-gang.”
“…”
“That’s why I’m even more curious about him. Like Pandora’s box—I just have to open it.”

Satisfied that her instinct hadn’t failed her, Yu-ju stood, laughing softly.

“Tonight at eight, meet me at Page 58 across from the hospital. I have something to show you. Don’t even think about standing me up.”

As she turned away, a smile of quiet triumph played at her lips.

Yu-ju felt the weight of Ha Tae-hun’s sharp gaze on her back, and for the first time, she found it thrilling.

***

Ju A-gang crept cautiously through the sliding doors of the Trauma Center, peering around.

Ha Tae-hun, who always arrived before dawn to claim his post, was nowhere to be seen.

A-gang exhaled in relief, pressing a hand to his chest.

Last night’s clumsy recipe for a safe goodbye had burned to ash before it could even begin.

The mission So-dam had given him was a perfect, hollow defeat.

With dark circles sunk beneath his eyes, he slipped quietly into the center.

He hadn’t slept—his heart had spent the whole night hammering erratically, bewilderingly.
It was strange. Strangely strange.

Part of him wanted to run an EKG.

Papers to read, techniques to practice—both piled high.
Yet somehow the beginning and end of every day revolved entirely around Ha Tae-hun.

That heavy voice near his ear.
The way his eyes had grown languid and deep for just an instant.
Lips that had hovered so close, almost touching.

Ha Tae-hun had haunted the on-call room ceiling, his bedsheets, the steamy shower room—everywhere.

Mission or not, he had to steer clear of Ha Tae-hun’s orbit today. No face-to-face encounters.

“Ju A-gang, is this sparrow mode today?”
“Oh! You scared me!”

Eun-do’s booming voice made A-gang jump, his shoulders quivering.

“Why are you always so startled! You come in so quietly every morning—yesterday you were in kitten mode, but today you’re padding in like a little sparrow hopping around?”
“Ah, did I?”

A-gang laughed sheepishly and rubbed at the bruise on his leg from where he’d banged it against the rooftop door last night.

“Come in with confidence! Shoulders back! Head high!”
“…Yes.”

A-gang’s response came out meek and small.

“What, are you scared because of Tae-hun? Worried he’ll scold you again?”

Eun-do’s instincts were, as always, uncannily sharp.

Maybe it was the round glasses.
Today Eun-do seemed like a boy detective, seeing right through to A-gang’s innermost thoughts.

“The praise Tae-hun won’t give you, I’ll give you! Ju A-gang—you did amazingly yesterday!”

Eun-do threw up a thumbs-up with enthusiasm.

His bright, infectious laughter marked him as the Sein University Trauma Center’s official mood-maker.

“The patient—the one with the skull base fracture who came in emergency this morning—just regained consciousness after surgery.”
“Really? That’s wonderful.”
“You were sharp! Keep developing like this, and in four years we’ll have a second Ha Tae-hun on our hands?”

The good news about the patient loosened the knot in A-gang’s chest that had tightened all night because of Ha Tae-hun.

A-gang’s grin widened, and Eun-do chuckled warmly in response.

“Tae-hun’s gruff sometimes, but he’s not a bad guy. Don’t feel hurt about it.”

Hurt?
Was that what this was?

All the emotions he’d felt seemed too vast and complex to fit into a word as shallow as “hurt.”

“Wait, looks like Tae-hun’s not always so noble after all. Is he coming over here?”

A-gang turned to see Ha Tae-hun walking toward him with steady steps.
Still immaculate, still cynical in bearing.

A-gang’s heart lurched and dropped.

He tried to slip behind Eun-do, but he miscalculated and lost the moment.

His face flushed without reason, and he quickly lowered his head, hurrying toward the station desk.

But before he’d gone a few steps, a large shadow blocked his path.

“Is Greeney all right?”
“…”

A-gang slowly lifted his gaze.
Ha Tae-hun was looking down at him, his expression composed, as if nothing had happened.

But face-to-face now, Ha Tae-hun seemed even more composed, even more unhurried than yesterday.

“The wind and rain were so loud last night. I was worried Greeney might catch a cold.”

Was that irony?
The spring night had been transparent and still, not a whisper of wind, not a cloud in the sky…

He was clearly teasing him about fleeing in panic with some excuse about bringing in potted plants.

The unprovoked opening strike flushed A-gang’s face burning red.

“Give one tube to the man with the broken knee, and one to Greeney.”

Ha Tae-hun pulled a small paper envelope from his coat pocket and set it down on the desk without ceremony.

“…What?”
“And tell the man with the broken knee that if he runs off like that without warning, it puts his creditors in quite an awkward position.”

A-gang’s pupils trembled.

Ha Tae-hun seemed to savor that confusion, his lips curving up in satisfaction before he turned and walked into the ICU.

“…”

A-gang watched Ha Tae-hun disappear into the ICU, chewing his lip.

He carefully opened the rustling paper envelope, and two unlikely objects caught his eye.

A salve and… a banana?

A-gang picked up the ointment with confusion.

It was early morning.
The hospital pharmacy wasn’t even open yet—he had no idea where Ha Tae-hun could have found this.

A cute little shark character was printed on the box for children, its colors bright and cheerful.

[Bruise Relief Gel that works fast. It doesn’t sting!]

A-gang’s brow furrowed. Ridiculous.
Unbelievable.

He couldn’t fathom Ha Tae-hun’s intentions at all.

He set the ointment down on the desk with a sharp tap, then pinched the banana stem between his index and thumb, pulling it out.

Dangling in midair was a perfectly ripe, bright yellow banana.

Stuck to its flawless yellow surface was a small Post-it Note in Ha Tae-hun’s characteristic neat handwriting.

[The fruit is for the man with the broken knee. The peel is Greeney’s fertilizer.]

There really should be limits to how much you mess with someone!

This absurd object and those mocking words were clearly a continuation of last night—a form of revenge.

A-gang’s glare followed Ha Tae-hun’s retreating figure.

For a moment, it looked like an un-Ha-Tae-hun-like mischievous smile flickered across his lips as he walked away.

A-gang’s lips pressed shut, and his foot tapped restlessly against the floor.

That’s when he should have realized it.
That he could never escape Ha Tae-hun.

That his entire existence was already trapped in the universe that was Ha Tae-hun.

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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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