Emergency Instinct - Chapter 4

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

Ji-an, startled by the man’s fingertips that briefly touched her, quickly covered her burning hot ears with her hands.

“You had hair stuck there.”

As if he hadn’t meant to startle her, he lightly raised both hands to show.

Though his tone was polite, Ji-an somehow felt even more nervous than before.

“…Oh, yes. Well then. I’ll be going now.”

Feeling awkward, she quickly turned around.

At first she had planned to take the elevator, but she didn’t want to run into the man again for no reason.

More than anything, her ears kept burning hot, so she changed her mind. Running around the hospital daily had made her familiar with the stairs.

All the way to the blind date location, her heart was beating unusually fast.

***

Tae-jun stared blankly at the emergency exit door that had briefly opened and closed.

“Really, she’s fast.”

He’d believe it if someone said she was a runner, not a doctor.

Tae-jun gazed quietly at his hand that had touched the woman.

He had only tidied her hair because it was bothering him, but the skin he had brushed against remained more vivid in his memory.

In the first place, caring about someone was something that could never happen to him.

Why did I do that.

Tae-jun furrowed his brow, mulling over his incomprehensible behavior.

However, he couldn’t find a clear answer at all.

Maybe there’s something wrong with my brain from not adjusting to the time difference properly.

As he forcibly rationalized his condition and headed back toward the elevator,

As if waiting for him, he saw the bag the woman had thrown when saving the child.

A designer bag that someone would risk their life for, the woman had abandoned in the hotel corridor.

Unlike her composed appearance, she might be a careless woman.

Anyway, I found an opportunity to make up for my mistake.

He picked up the woman’s abandoned bag.

First I should take care of the blind date, then meet the bag’s owner again.

Getting on the elevator, he leisurely headed to the 21st floor lounge.

“Do you have a reservation?”

“Seo Tae-jun.”

“Ah, yes. You’re a bit late. She’s waiting. Please come this way.”

Tae-jun followed the lounge staff inside.

It seemed the H Hotel lounge was famous as a blind date location.

There were quite a few young men and women sitting across from each other awkwardly.

As he followed the staff past couples in the midst of their exploratory conversations,

A woman sitting at the far end by the window entered his vision like the only light.

It was her.

Dr. Hong Ji-an from Hanyeong Hospital’s Emergency Room, who had disappeared through the emergency exit just moments ago.

The owner of the bag he was currently holding.

Was it because of the sunlight?

Strangely, she was dazzling as if she alone was emanating a different light.

But her expression looked even more serious than during the emergency situation earlier.

No, does she look angry?

The woman with her gaze lowered was scrunching her nose bridge and chewing her lips.

It was a face full of irritation. But every time she wrinkled her nose bridge, she somehow looked cute like a small animal.

She came for a blind date, but did the man not show up?

At the thought that suddenly crossed his mind, Tae-jun stopped walking.

Since he hadn’t been particularly interested, he hadn’t checked his blind date partner’s photo or name. However, he remembered his mother repeatedly emphasizing that she was a busy resident.

Could it be? That woman?

If she was a Hanyeong Hospital doctor, the possibility was even greater.

They say when coincidences repeat, it becomes fate….

Words he had never believed before felt newly meaningful.

Isn’t this an interesting connection.

Perhaps because of the strong first impression, it felt fresh like encountering something new.

A thrilling sensation spread through his entire body and his brain heated up.

Thick veins also stood out on the back of his hand gripping her bag.

If I go over and greet her like this, will she open her eyes wide in surprise again like before.

Tae-jun was about to step toward her with unconscious anticipation. But.

“Sir, your seat is this way.”

The guide staff suddenly stopped and pointed to a different seat.

Tae-jun’s expression quickly hardened.

Hong Ji-an was not Tae-jun’s blind date partner.

Looking properly, there was already another man occupying the seat across from her.

When he reached the place the staff had guided him to, a blind date partner with a completely different impression smiled brightly and greeted Tae-jun.

“Hello? I’m Cha Bo-kyung.”

“…Seo Tae-jun.”

Tae-jun spoke stiffly and sat down.

“There was a small accident, so I’m late.”

“You’re busy, so that can happen. I understand. I’m doing my residency at Hanyeong Hospital. I’m a 2nd-year Family Medicine resident.”

His partner was also a Hanyeong Hospital doctor.

But the blind date partner had a completely different atmosphere from the woman named Hong Ji-an.

Stylishly set short hair, flawless makeup, feminine dress. She wasn’t particularly different from the women he’d seen at gatherings.

Beyond feeling no interest, he even thought she was bothersome.

“Um, oppa?”

Oppa?

The suddenly grating term of address flowed from the blind date partner in front of him.

“We’ve met before, don’t you remember?”

“I don’t remember.”

Tae-jun’s expression hardened even more coldly.

“That’s disappointing. I was looking forward to meeting oppa today…. We greeted each other 5 years ago at the Hanyeong Group year-end party. Dad had just been appointed as a director at Hanyeong Electronics then, so we attended together.”

“You’re the daughter of Director Cha Dong-un from Hanyeong Electronics.”

“Yes. Do you remember now?”

Of course he didn’t remember.

He only knew of Cha Dong-un with the same surname among the Hanyeong Electronics directors.

Cha Bo-kyung smiled with her eyes and asked, glancing at the bag Tae-jun was still holding.

“But what’s that bag?”

“I happened to pick it up on the way here.”

Tae-jun answered slowly, feeling an inexplicable thirst.

“Oh my? You picked it up?”

Cha Bo-kyung’s eyes sparkled as if amused.

“Where? Don’t tell me you picked it up at a department store? To give as a gift?”

As if.

Tae-jun’s hand gripping the bag kept tensing up.

Since I’ve already met the bag’s owner anyway, wouldn’t it be better to return it right away.

There might be valuables inside, and from what I could see, she didn’t look particularly interested in her partner either.

Maybe she’d want someone to rescue her.

As Tae-jun continued his thoughts while thinking of that woman, he raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised at himself.

How annoying.

The unfamiliar sensation increasingly grated on his nerves.

***

The afternoon sunlight in H Hotel’s lounge was incredible.

She was insanely sleepy.

Her entire body grew drowsy from exhaustion in the warm heat, constantly making her sluggish.

As Ji-an barely suppressed the yawn that welled up, the man in front of her talked non-stop as if his mouth didn’t hurt.

“Actually, I’m not someone who waits for people. You’re the first woman to make me wait, Ms. Hong Ji-an. It’s unpleasant, but I’ll generously forgive you.”

Yes. Yes. Do whatever you want.

Ji-an barely suppressed the words that were about to spill out.

The man, who was a full 15 years older than Ji-an, was the most arrogant and shameless of all the blind date partners she’d met so far.

“Actually, I have an extraordinary instinct for investment. A golden touch, you could say? Wherever I put my hands, it becomes a huge hit. If I invest in Dongsan Hospital too, it’ll get back on its feet right away. Looking at you, Ms. Ji-an, I think you’re worth investing in.”

This is ridiculous.

It felt like she was listening to bogus investment consulting rather than being on a blind date.

She didn’t even have time to apologize for being late.

The man just kept rattling off his own bragging without pause.

“I heard your major is emergency room? Why do something so difficult? I’ll set up a separate plastic surgery clinic for you in Gangnam.”

How does one major in an emergency room?

His ignorance was endless, lacking not only any concept of what a resident was, but even basic knowledge about medicine.

“Foreigners line up with bundles of cash for Korean plastic surgery. They love it to death, to death.”

The man’s increasingly outrageous crude remarks turned her drowsiness into irritation.

“I heard from your grandmother, Ms. Ji-an. She said your hobby is pouring water into a bottomless jar?”

What is he talking about now?

“That you pour money into your hopeless mother. Ah, those were your grandmother’s words. Not mine. Haha.”

Ji-an’s eyes turned cold at the man’s mocking words.

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