Emergency Blind Date - Chapter 47

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 47

 

“You’re not doing some kind of diet like your sister, are you?”

 

“No. I was naturally thin to begin with, and I’ll gradually get better.”

 

An awkward silence fell for a moment. She had never had a long conversation with Father, who was originally a man of few words.

 

“…Nothing’s wrong, right?”

 

“Yes, what could be wrong?”

 

Da-som felt like that question about whether anything was wrong pierced her heart so much that she wanted to confess right then and there that she was meeting Kang Hyeok.

 

“Alright, that’s good then. I’m drunk, so I’ll go in now.”

 

“Yes, Father.”

 

Father got up from the sofa, patted the back of his neck, and disappeared into the master bedroom.

 

After Father went in like that, Younghye approached Da-som.

 

She plopped down on the living room floor and looked up at Da-som.

 

Her expression was full of things to say.

 

Since the position of looking up from below didn’t look very good, Da-som also came down to the floor.

 

“Da-som, how is that doctor? The doctor your sister is meeting, I mean.”

 

She resented her sister for not telling the truth all this time. What on earth was she supposed to say?

 

When Da-som kept her mouth tightly shut, a questioning look crossed Younghye’s expression.

 

“Why, is he not good? Your sister said he has such good manners and is so friendly, isn’t that right?”

 

Younghye, looking at her with sparkling eyes, believed her sister’s lies completely.

 

“I, I’m not sure.”

 

Not knowing what to say, she answered like that, and Younghye’s eyes narrowed.

 

“How can you be so indifferent? Don’t you like that your sister is meeting a doctor?”

 

“It’s not that I don’t like it. …But how did the blind date come about?”

 

She had always been curious about this.

 

No matter how well their fortune compatibility matched, there had to be some connection, right?

 

“How did they meet? This all happened because it was meant to be fate.”

 

Younghye’s expression became gentle again, as if she was thinking about that time.

 

“You know Mother’s friend Misuk, right? She goes around to all the places said to be good because of her husband’s business, and she asked me to go with her to a fortune teller in Cheongdam-dong who was supposed to be good, so I went and only had your sister’s fortune read. It was a place where you couldn’t even get a reading without a reservation, but we were lucky.”

 

“And then?”

 

“A while after getting the fortune reading, Central General Hospital contacted us. They said they were calling through the introduction of the Cheongdam-dong Philosophical Institute and wanted their son to have a blind date with our So-yeon.”

 

Now she roughly understood how it had happened.

 

Since they said the two were such a good match, things like family background probably didn’t matter much.

 

Da-som swallowed a bitter smile while looking at Younghye, who was still full of dreams.

 

“As you know, what does our family have to boast about? But even so, they’re the ones who are eager, so isn’t that nice? Honestly, it feels like a dream.”

 

“…”

 

Da-som silently swallowed a sigh and looked at the clock hanging on the living room wall.

 

So-yeon showed no signs of coming home, and Father had already gone to bed.

 

At this rate, she would just keep lying, so it seemed better to get up now.

 

“I’ll be going now.”

 

“Already? At least tell me what kind of person that professor is.”

 

“…He’s a good person.”

 

Mother’s mouth stretched from ear to ear.

 

“Your sister said the same thing, that he’s a good person. Oh my, to think I get to see such a son-in-law. Looking at things like this, I must have good fortune in my later years. If only Father’s business would do well, there’d be nothing to complain about.”

 

“How is Father’s business? Is it still very difficult these days?”

 

“It’s always the same complaint.”

 

Even among people who worked at the same large corporation, some create success stories while others live ordinary lives.

 

It was unfortunate that Father’s business didn’t shine like others’, but what could be done?

 

That woman who often fought with such a Father had left home, but Younghye, who said she liked Father despite everything, stayed by his side.

 

“I’ll be going now. If I’m any later, I’ll miss the last train.”

 

“Alright, and when you see your sister, say lots of good things about that professor. So-yeon has high standards and is secretly picky, but if you help from the side, she might be swayed. She doesn’t listen to me but listens well to you.”

 

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

 

Da-som got up from her seat and headed toward the master bedroom.

 

“He’s probably snoring and sleeping now. Just go.”

 

When she carefully opened the door, Father was indeed sleeping and snoring, just as Mother had said.

 

“He falls asleep in 3 seconds when he lies down.”

 

In Mother’s eyes as she looked at Father over Da-som’s shoulder, affection was abundantly evident.

 

She quietly gazed at the face of Mother, who had lived together through difficult circumstances up to this point.

 

It couldn’t have been easy for her to raise the daughter of a previous wife either.

 

Even though she wasn’t particularly warm to her, she was someone who had maintained the family’s foundation.

 

Yes, that was enough.

 

Da-som handed the money she had prepared to Younghye. She had withdrawn it from an ATM before coming to the apartment, just in case.

 

“It’s nice having a doctor daughter and receiving spending money too.”

 

“…I’m always grateful.”

 

“What are you saying such things for?”

 

Younghye’s eyes wavered as she looked at Da-som.

 

Da-som showed a gentle smile toward such Younghye and immediately headed to the entrance.

 

Da-som took the elevator down to the first floor and slowly exited the apartment.

 

She had to go down quite a way to catch the subway. She thought about taking a taxi, but walking seemed good given her complicated feelings.

 

Da-som walked slowly along the dark night road.

 

How nice it would be if Kang Hyeok were beside her at times like this.

 

If she could hold his large hand and walk while chatting sweetly, all the day’s fatigue would melt away.

 

Da-som’s heart became urgent.

 

Suddenly she missed Kang Hyeok. So this wasn’t the time to be walking leisurely like this.

 

Da-som flagged down a passing empty taxi.

 

Now it was time to return to her own home. And it was also time to meet Kang Hyeok.

 

***

 

After finishing his shift, Kang Hyeok headed to the university alumni gathering place near the hospital.

 

This place, which had converted a regular house into a restaurant, had so many hospital departments holding gatherings here that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say hospital people were the main customers.

 

“If you keep skipping, it’ll become harder to come out in the future. I’ll go first and wait, so make sure to come!”

 

Kang Hyeok, who had always skipped with various excuses, came today at Seong-ho’s request to definitely come out this time.

 

Passing through the small garden with its rich floral fragrance and entering the store, his classmates who had secured seats waved and welcomed him.

 

“Hey, Professor Tae!”

 

“Kang Hyeok! Come here!”

 

“Long time no see!”

 

He responded lightly with a smile to the greetings popping up from here and there and looked for an empty seat.

 

“Here! Your seat is here.”

 

Seong-ho looked at Kang Hyeok with a flushed red face and shouted.

 

“I see you enough at the hospital to be sick of it, so why sit next to each other? No way.”

 

When Kang Hyeok spoke curtly and tried to go sit next to an internal medicine classmate, Seong-ho jumped up from his seat and pulled Kang Hyeok over.

 

“Are you drunk?”

 

When Kang Hyeok reluctantly sat next to Seong-ho and glared at him, he laughed and waved his hands dismissively.

 

This guy can’t even handle alcohol well.

 

“Who gave this guy alcohol?”

 

When Kang Hyeok asked, everyone snickered and pointed at Seong-ho.

 

“Would he listen if we tried to stop him? He was going back and forth with Eun-ju and ended up like that.”

 

Even looking around, Choi Eun-ju was nowhere to be seen.

 

“She went out to take a call, didn’t you see her when you came in?”

 

“I didn’t see her.”

 

“She’ll come back. Why are you looking for a grown adult? Now that Kang Hyeok is here too, let’s all toast together.”

 

“Everyone fill your glasses.”

 

These socially awkward people were finally starting to show some human warmth as they got older.

 

The colleague sitting across from him picked up the soju bottle to fill Kang Hyeok’s glass.

 

“I’ll have beer instead.”

 

Both soju and beer were laid out on the table. Since he had to go see Da-som after this gathering ended, he planned to keep it simple with just a glass of beer.

 

“Alright, if everyone’s filled their glasses, let’s make a toast.”

 

Each person filled their glass with their preferred drink and raised it.

 

“Cheers!”

 

They all emptied their glasses while shouting the bland cheer.

 

“Come on guys, let’s be civilized and drink whiskey now.”

 

It was the guy who had opened his own dermatology clinic.

 

He seemed quite displeased with the soju, frowning as he spoke.

 

“What whiskey in a place like this? Just drink whatever.”

 

When Seong-ho snapped back, the clinic owner snickered.

 

“Well, soju is perfect for a fellow, I guess. Isn’t this already your third year? You should just go down to some regional emergency room at this point. Getting that pittance of a salary and drinking soju – that’s just not right.”

 

Kang Hyeok’s thick eyebrows shot up.

 

So this guy who usually didn’t even bother showing up to these gatherings came out just to show off his money?

 

A university hospital fellow’s salary wasn’t much to speak of. It couldn’t even begin to compare with what his dermatology clinic colleague was making.

 

“You bastard, since you’re making good money, you pay. Yeah, with a salary as small as a mouse’s tail, we should be grateful for even soju.”

 

Seong-ho, known for being good-natured, immediately fired back.

 

The atmosphere had already started turning strange from the moment the low salary topic came up.

 

And when Seong-ho got heated, the mood became even more frigid.

 

Staying on as a professor at a university hospital was as difficult as a camel passing through the eye of a needle. It wasn’t just about skill – there had to be an opening.

 

So it was common for people to leave their original university hospital and move to other hospitals.

 

Kang Hyeok always felt sorry toward Seong-ho, who had become a professor before him.

 

Love him or hate him, Seong-ho was Kang Hyeok’s best friend.

 

“By the way, have you paid off all your loans yet?”

 

Kang Hyeok stared directly at the skin clinic doctor’s face as he asked.

 

The guy flinched and stiffened at the cold gaze, then his face turned bright red.

 

“Hey, how long has he been in practice? You think he’s already paid everything off?”

 

Just as he thought.

 

The old saying about paying off loans in three or four months after opening a dermatology clinic in Gangnam was outdated.

 

“Know your place and drink soju like the rest of us. What whiskey in a meat restaurant?”

 

How much does a bottle of whiskey even cost?

 

Acting all high and mighty over whiskey.

 

A bitter smile crossed Kang Hyeok’s lips.

 

No matter how successful someone acts, everyone starts from similar places. Without family backing, we’re all birds of a feather.

 

Seong-ho staying at the university hospital as a fellow even after getting his specialist certification was to build more expertise.

 

Everyone here knew that fellows got paid peanuts.

 

If it had been someone other than the skin clinic doctor who said those things, he wouldn’t have humiliated him this much.

 

“Hey, hey, the meat’s burning. Let’s eat.”

 

The skin clinic doctor bit his lips and scowled but couldn’t argue back anymore.

 

Kang Hyeok leisurely picked up a lettuce leaf, placed some meat on it, added some ssamjang, and held it out toward Seong-ho’s mouth.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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