Illusion Blind Date - Chapter 59

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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 59

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“Professor Cha, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
Tae Moon, who had just finished surgery, was washing his hands at the sink.
Chief Kang approached him with a warm, friendly smile.
“Are you heading into surgery?”
Once he’d finished drying his hands, Tae Moon turned to the chief and bowed politely.
“Yes, I have one coming up. Word about you seems to be getting around—people keep asking about you from all corners. You’re going to be quite the celebrity at the conferences.”
“You’re too kind.”
“You know we’ve got 1st Year Residents dispatched to the Branch Hospital now, right? Some of our residents are down there too. I was thinking—why don’t you go this year? Visit them, offer some encouragement, that sort of thing.”
“You mean Busan?”
“Right. And Han Bom is there, isn’t she?”
“Yes, that’s my understanding.”
“If you don’t want to go, we can send another professor. But since you’re going to be the next Director anyway, might as well use the opportunity to meet with the Hospital Director and the department chief down there.”
Tae Moon stared at Chief Kang without speaking.
The chief’s expression seemed oddly strained, his eyes not quite meeting his own, which made Tae Moon doubt his sincerity.
“Is there a particular reason I must go?”
His heart wanted nothing more than to rush down there immediately, but he needed to understand why the chief had singled him out from among so many other professors.
The thought crossed his mind that his mother might have had a hand in this.
“Ah, no—it’s not that you have to. If you don’t want to, we can send Professor Lee Hae Il instead.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go. Friday’s surgery list is clear, so I’ll head down that day.”
“Then you can rest over the weekend and come back Monday.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
“Go on upstairs.”
“Thank you for your time.”
Tae Moon bowed and left the sink area.
Even without the chief’s suggestion, he’d been planning to visit Bom over the weekend—and now he smiled quietly to himself.
His mind was already racing toward Busan.
The thought of seeing Bom made his chest swell. The time they’d spent apart had been nothing short of torture.
He found himself wondering what expression she’d wear when she saw him.
Would she be startled, running toward him with those wide, rabbiting eyes and burying herself against his chest?
While he was down there, he figured he ought to make it clear to anyone eyeing her that she was his.

***

Thursday night, fresh from the Emergency Room, Bom handled the remaining paperwork at the Ward Station.
Behind her, the Evening Shift and Night Shift nurses were in the middle of their handover.
A glance at the clock showed it was already past ten.
Most patients had returned to their rooms, and the corridor was quiet.
Once Bom finished charting, she checked to make sure there were no patients backed up in the Emergency Room, then stood from her desk.
Unlike the Main Headquarters, the 1st Year Resident position here was vacant—so the 2nd Year Resident was shouldering both roles.
Bom hesitated: should she head to the Dormitory and try to sleep, or go down to the Emergency Room and help the 2nd Year Resident?
Knowing full well that patients would start flooding in after this hour, she exchanged a nod with the Night Shift nurse and headed downstairs to the Emergency Room.
At one end of the Emergency Room Station, she spotted the Surgery Department’s 2nd Year Resident.
As she approached, the resident recognized her and stood from his desk.
“Why’d you come down? Go get some rest.”
“I thought there might be something I could help with.”
“No, there’s nothing. Don’t you know that resting when you can is the National Rule around here?”
The 2nd Year Resident firmly refused her offer.
“All right, then I’ll head back up. Thank you for your hard work.”
Bom bowed and left the Emergency Room. Though patients continued arriving without pause, the Emergency Room was running smoothly.
“Hey! Han Bom!”
Ha Jun, a 1st Year Resident in the Emergency Medicine Department who’d come down from the Seoul Main Headquarters with Bom, spotted her and waved.
“Oh, Ha Jun.”
“You came down without calling? What’s up?”
“Oh, just felt like getting some fresh air. Is it really busy down there?”
“Come on, head back up. There’s a 2nd Year Resident up there—what are you doing down here? Any minute now this place will be swamped. Get out of here.”
“Right, I’m going. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Oh, that’s right. I was wondering—are you dating Bang Su Ho, by any chance?”
At the abrupt question, Han Bom’s expression soured.
Ha Jun’s logic baffled her, but the sheer absurdity of it demanded a response.
“Who told you that? That I’m dating Bang Su Ho?”
Whoever had started this ridiculous rumor was going to catch hell when she found them. Her fists clenched.
“No, it’s just that guy calls me every other day. Tells me to take good care of you.”
“Well, what do you expect? We’re just close friends, that’s all.”
“Right, right? I mean, of course, right?”
“Ha Jun, imagine you were a woman. Would there be any romance between you and Su Ho?”
“No way. A man is a man—looks are everything. By that standard, he’s got no presence, no build, and yet…but still….”
“But still what? You keep talking nonsense like this, I’m telling Su Ho everything you just said about him.”
The ridiculous threat made her laugh, but Ha Jun grabbed her arm before she could leave.
“Wait! Come here a second.”
“Come on, why? Su Ho is just a guy friend. Hey, call him right now! Call and confirm it!”
“Fine, fine. Just keep it down.”
Ha Jun suddenly took Han Bom’s arm and steered her toward the Emergency Room exit, then pointed to a spot.
“See Lee Jae Hyung over there?”
“Yeah, I see him.”
Lee Jae Hyung was sitting at the central station of the Emergency Room, absorbed in his computer screen.
He was the one who’d taken special care of Han Bom at the dinner they’d all gone to last week. They’d even taken a photo together.
“So what? You’re saying he got me in a photo?”
After he’d been so attentive at that dinner.
Han Bom looked at Ha Jun with something close to dread. Then his face broke into a grin.
“In a manner of speaking, you could say you were caught.”
“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I think Lee Jae Hyung has a thing for you. He asked me when you had days off.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Cute as I am, that’s not going to happen.”
Han Bom brushed it off as a joke and moved past it lightly.
“So I can tell him you’re not dating anyone?”
“Ha Jun, I’m telling you this for the first time—I like someone. So drop it and focus on work.”
When Han Bom spoke seriously, Ha Jun’s eyes narrowed. His expression made it clear he didn’t believe her.
God, what an idiot.
“Listen up. I like someone. So if you pull any funny business, you’re dead.”
“So it is Su Ho? I knew it, I knew it!”
“Do you have a death wish?”
Han Bom rolled up her sleeves and flexed her fist menacingly. Ha Jun reluctantly nodded in surrender.
The legendary grip of the Steel Rabbit had spoken.
“Can’t you at least tell me who?”
“No way. I’m not telling Mr. Big Mouth anything.”
“Man, that’s not fair. My nickname isn’t that—it’s actually Big Meal because I used to buy my juniors food all the time. Su Ho’s the one who changed it to Big Mouth.”
“Whatever, Big Meal. Anyway, if you want me to keep my head down, do my work, and leave quietly? Then let’s both stay quiet and go, okay?”
“…All right.”
Han Bom tapped Ha Jun’s shoulder twice more in warning, then turned and left the Emergency Room.

Han Bom lifted her gaze to the night sky, so different from Seoul’s, and drew in a deep breath.
A ten-minute walk from the Back Gate and the beach opened up before her.
Lined with tall buildings and hotels as befitted a tourist destination, the place felt like she’d stepped into a vacation.
Just stepping outside the building like this and breathing the open air was refreshing in itself.
And in that quiet moment, her thoughts naturally drifted to Cha Tae Moon.
What was our professor doing right now?
They’d video-called this morning, but still—she missed him.
Cha Tae Moon’s voice was smooth as honey, and his face was better than any energy drink.
Maybe she should call him.
Just hearing his voice made dopamine, serotonin, endorphins bloom in her bloodstream.
Her mobile phone rang just as she was turning it over in her hands.
Could it be him?
Han Bom checked the screen eagerly.
Maybe she’d been hoping too hard.
It was her Aunt.
Of course, that didn’t mean her Aunt’s call wasn’t welcome.
Han Bom answered with a bright smile.
“Hi, Aunt. How have you been?”
-How’s our pretty girl doing in Busan?
At her Aunt’s joke, laughter bubbled up.
“Busan’s doing great. Too great, actually—that’s the problem.”
-Well, that’s a relief.
“What about you, Aunt? Everything okay?”
-What could possibly be wrong? Same as always.
Han Bom’s eyes narrowed.

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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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