Illusion Blind Date - Chapter 12

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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 12

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Ji Moon, who had stood night watch at the Intensive Care Unit, made his way to the bed where the child lay recovering from last night’s surgery.
Connected to a ventilator, the child breathed steadily in sleep.
He checked the monitor once more to confirm it was functioning properly, then gently took the child’s hand.
Warmth radiated from the small palm.
He hadn’t told his colleagues, but Ji Moon had been in a traffic accident at roughly the same age.
The memory was so distant that he’d forgotten the pain and suffering of that moment, but one image remained vivid: his father throwing himself into the path of danger to save him.
A drowsy driver’s car had been about to strike Ji Moon as he walked down the street when his father hurled himself forward and pulled him to safety.
In exchange, his father was left with permanent disability in one leg.
Watching him limp through life even now sent a piercing ache through Ji Moon’s chest.
Yesterday, when the Patient’s Father came up to the Intensive Care Unit after his own surgery, the first thing he did upon regaining consciousness was search for his child.
Had he already known it would come to this?

“When the Patient’s Father comes up to the Intensive Care Unit after surgery, keep him next to the child. That way he can see the boy when he wakes.”

Ji Moon had followed Cha Tae Moon’s instructions, though he’d harbored doubts.
The Patient’s Father had grown so desperate searching for his child that his vital signs had wavered dangerously—only when Ji Moon confirmed the boy lay in the adjacent bed did the man finally calm.
Even in pain, the father had gazed at Ji Moon with pleading eyes, begging him to save his son. That image would not fade.
After confirming the child’s IV was running smoothly, Ji Moon made his way to the Station.
“Doctor, please get some rest.”
The ICU nurse looked at him with concern in her eyes.
“I’ll rest inside for a bit. Wake me if anything comes up.”
Truth be told, his head was spinning.
Inside the Tea Room adjoining the Station, Ji Moon rested his arms on the table and leaned his face against them.
Through half-closed eyes, the image of his cousin Cha Tae Moon flickered past—the way he’d shone more brilliantly than anyone else in that operating room last night.
Despite his infuriating personality, in the operating room he was like a god.
‘Can I ever become a surgeon like that?’
Ji Moon replayed the surgery in his mind.

***

“I’m Cha Tae Moon. I’ll be performing surgery today. Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Welcome. We hear the new professor will be leading the operation. We appreciate your work.”
The anesthesiologist’s greeting was followed by acknowledgments from the other operating room staff.
Ji Moon watched as the Scrub Nurse approached Tae Moon to help him into his surgical gown and glove his hands in a practiced sequence, then offered his own belated introduction.
“I’m Ji Moon, a first-year resident, and I’ll be serving as First Assistant.”
Taking his position at the First Assistant station, Ji Moon steadied his nerves and spoke with measured professionalism.
Cha Tae Moon, recognizing him the moment he entered the operating room, gave a slight nod.
That single, trivial gesture was enough to draw tension and all eyes in the room toward him.
From his position as the lead surgeon, Tae Moon’s low voice cut through the sterile cold of the operating room.
“Beginning surgery. Scalpel.”
The abdominal wall already bore an open wound, with the intestines exposed.
After examining the injured area, Tae Moon made a decisive incision through the skin. Pooled blood began to flow.
Ji Moon quickly wiped it away with gauze.
“Bovie.”
Handing over the scalpel, Tae Moon received the electrosurgical unit and continued the incision with practiced skill. Smoke rose with a sizzling sound.
“Suction.”
The Intern held up the suction tip. But how could a greenhorn who’d barely started be skillful?
The frozen terror on the Intern’s face drained it of all color.
‘This kid’s going to cause a disaster.’
Ji Moon shot the Intern a sharp look, and the young man, trembling, gathered his nerve and pushed the suction tip forward.
The suction tips typically used in General Surgery had three openings total—one at the bottom and one on each side—and drew in body fluids and the smoke from the electrosurgical unit.
“Suction the smoke.”
A sharp reprimand finally escaped from Cha Tae Moon.
“Yes, sir!”
The intern’s hands, already trembling like those of someone with nerve damage, now shook like aspen leaves.
He was going to catch hell for this.
“Good work. That’s exactly right.”
Ji Moon’s eyes widened—he’d braced himself for a barrage of curses that never came.
American training had changed the man. No question about it.
“Phew…….”
The intern exhaled in relief, tension draining from his shoulders.
‘Kid, he’s not normally like this. Get your head in the game.’
But contrary to Ji Moon’s concerns, the Operating Room’s atmosphere began to loosen, and not just the intern—the entire staff’s expressions softened.
For a first collaboration, they’d all been wound tight, naturally enough.
Still, the mood was improving by the minute.
This one had already fallen completely under Cha Tae Moon’s spell, his face aglow with admiration.
The technique of disarming with a smile and converting allies with a gentle voice—it was still sharp as ever.
Cousin or not, Ji Moon found it infuriating.
“Retractor.”
Snapped back to attention by the cold command, Ji Moon carefully fitted the retractor to the child’s small abdomen. The interior lay exposed and clear.
“Warm saline ready? Irrigation, please.”
The Scrub Nurse poured the pre-warmed saline carefully into the field, and the intern immediately began suctioning with practiced efficiency.
‘Is this kid a genius?’
One word of praise and he was already working with surprising dexterity.
“Starting with the intestine.”
What followed was the methodical revelation of the small intestine and identification of the necrotic tissue, then the resection itself.
At least the section requiring removal was lengthy—a small mercy.
The damaged bowel was resected, then anastomosis began, intestine to intestine.
Ji Moon, witnessing his cousin’s skill with his own eyes for the first time, experienced something between shock and revelation.
‘What the hell? Is this even real?’
‘Brother, do you have hands blessed by heaven? Why didn’t you ever mention this?’
Tae Moon finished his careful examination of the pancreas and duodenum, then continued the irrigation.
“Drain.”
“Right, yes.”
That fraction of a second’s hesitation earned him a look sharp enough to cut steel.
He hadn’t heard the words spoken aloud, but the feeling was worse than any curse.
For the remainder of the surgery, Ji Moon was beset by chills. The abdominal wall was restored, the abdomen closed.
He’d technically served as First Assistant, but it was clear his cousin had done virtually everything alone.
“Thank you for your work.”
“Thank you for your work.”
With the surgery concluded successfully, Cha Tae Moon delivered several postoperative instructions and slipped out of the Operating Room.
“Wow, that’s real skill right there. During the anastomosis, his hands were practically invisible—you couldn’t even follow the movement.”
“Seems like he eats and operates, nothing else. We don’t have many people at this hospital wearing size 8 gloves, and with hands that large, I don’t know how he manages such precision…….”
Praise for Cha Tae Moon rippled through the room from every corner.
Even having large hands had become something to admire.
What was supposed to take five hours was finished in three. And the child was successfully transferred to the Intensive Care Unit.
It was axiomatic: the shorter the surgery, the faster the patient’s recovery.
There was no way Cha Tae Moon didn’t know this.
By performing anastomosis at a speed almost impossible to follow with the eye, he’d shortened the operation time—a deliberate choice that left Ji Moon contemplating multiple implications.
Perhaps his cousin was the very ideal toward which Ji Moon should be striving.

***

After stopping by the Resident Dormitory to change clothes, Bom headed to the Intensive Care Unit Station to check whether Ji Moon was there.
“Excuse me, is Ji Moon here at the Station?”
The nurse nodded and pointed silently to one location.
Walking toward the Tea Room inside the Intensive Care Unit Station, Bom spotted Ji Moon sprawled across the table, fast asleep.
“Ji Moon, wake up. Now’s not the time to be sleeping.”

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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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