Illusion Blind Date - Chapter 8

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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 8

“I’m not entirely sure myself. Just remember—you’re the First Assist today, so don’t slip up. Keep your head in the game.”
“Yes, understood.”
The thought of stepping into the Operating Room with a professor he didn’t even know made Ji Mun’s vision blur at the edges.
Please let him not be one of those tyrants with a difficult temperament.
“Where the hell did Min Ki disappear to?”
Chief scanned the Emergency Room, eyes darting about, searching for second-year resident Ju Min Ki.
“I’m right here!”
Ju Min Ki’s voice rang out from the adjacent bed, where he was performing intubation alongside Kim Young Ung.
“Push the Epinephrine!”
Their situation was just as urgent. Kim Young Ung, notorious for his slow speech, fired out his words like rapid gunfire.
Ji Mun took a sharp breath to center himself.
“Heading out now.”
Ji Mun wheeled the child’s bed out of the Emergency Room alongside an intern.
“Easy, easy. Intern, go grab the elevator.”
“Yes!”
At least the surgeon should be competent, right?
Is his specialty pediatric surgery?
Even in the chaos, doubt gnawed at him.
Once he arrived at the Operating Room, Ji Mun completed all the surgical preparations and waited for the attending surgeon.
Click.
The pressurized Operating Room door swung open, and a tall man stepped inside.
Wearing a surgical cap and mask, his scrubbed hands held high, he swept his gaze across the room in a single, measured motion.
There was something oddly familiar about the sharp set of his eyes—and then a deep voice emerged from behind the mask.
“I’m Cha Tae Mun, the attending surgeon for today’s procedure. I appreciate your cooperation.”
What? Why is he showing up here?
The professor doing the surgery today was his cousin?
Cha Tae Mun’s predatory gaze fixed on Ji Mun.
Damn. I’m screwed, aren’t I?

***

When had the rain started?
Well past midnight, Cho Eun hurried out of the Hospital through the fine drizzle, quickening her pace.
Fortunately, the father of the child who’d gone into emergency surgery had undergone the procedure safely and had been moved to the ICU.
The child who’d been operated on by the newly arrived professor was also recovering in the ICU.
There was already widespread praise of his surgical skill—something bordering on the miraculous.
She’d heard that he’d carefully examined the child’s condition in the ICU and only left after confirming stability.
Though she hadn’t managed to see his face in person due to scheduling conflicts, the medical staff’s reaction alone told her enough about what kind of person he was.
And on top of everything else, he was young and handsome.
Was a fresh wind finally blowing through the Department of Surgery?
He’d said he’d start officially soon, so she’d be able to see him in person before long.
Whoosh.
The light drizzle suddenly thickened into heavier rain.
“Ugh, it’s freezing. Maybe I should have stayed at the Hospital.”
Chief had practically pushed her out the door, insisting she get some comfortable rest at home, but now she found herself regretting the decision.
No matter how close home was—barely a stone’s throw away—the moment she turned into the alley, the foot traffic vanished, leaving an eerie silence.
At times like this, memories from less than a year ago surfaced unbidden.
Around this time last year, Cho Eun had been stalked by some damned junior resident.
Living alone in a one-room apartment, she’d spent months with the constant, sickening feeling of being watched.
Then one night, arriving home late after work, the moment she opened the door to step inside, she came face-to-face with the junior resident who’d been hiding in the stairwell.
Later, once she learned his identity and motives, some kind of trauma took root—and for a long time afterward, Cho Eun couldn’t bring herself to go home.
When Ji Mun learned of her situation, he’d arranged for her to move into his cousin’s House, where she lived now.
Two other classmates were already living there, and the environment was incomparably better than her old apartment.
With CCTV cameras positioned throughout the Mansion and a security company providing round-the-clock monitoring, the place gave Cho Eun an unparalleled sense of safety.
Just one more block and she’d be home.
Spring’s footsteps quickened.
A Mansion with such refined elegance came into view that she wondered if she could ever afford to live in such a place, even if reborn.
Even with no one inside, automatic lights illuminated the exterior, and the basement-plus-three-story pale gray building revealed its sophisticated grace.
Spring approached the Mansion, which embraced an inner courtyard in an L-shaped layout to conceal its interior, and pressed the Door Lock before stepping through the gate.
Crimson lighting also brightened the cozy Garden, pushing back the darkness beyond.
Spring crossed the stepping stones through the Garden and entered the entryway, finally able to exhale in relief.
“Sigh… I’m exhausted.”
Her rain-soaked body shivered with cold, and as the tension drained away, she felt as though she might collapse at any moment.

“Use these Bath Salts when you take a half-bath, Spring. The scent is lovely and they’re wonderful for your skin. Perfect for recovering from fatigue.”

When Cho Eun had given her the gift, Spring had wondered if she’d ever actually get a chance to use them—but now those Bath Salts suddenly came to mind.
The others living in the Mansion were all at the Hospital today, she’d been told.
A half-bath sounded perfect.
Though Spring mostly used the Bathroom on the second floor where she stayed, there was a large whirlpool tub in the first-floor Bathroom.
Spring went upstairs to the second floor, gathered the Bath Salts and a change of clothes, and came back down.
Passing through the corridor into the Powder Room, Spring shrugged off her outer coat as if shedding a second skin.
Whoosh.
But what was that sound?
At first she’d dismissed it as rain, but it didn’t seem to be.
A chill crept down her spine.
Spring perked up her ears, straining to listen.
Water sounds were clearly coming from the Bathroom—where no one should have been.
Frozen in place, Spring began pulling her discarded clothes back on.
Who was that? Could her cousin from America have arrived?!
It seemed quite possible.
Spring suppressed her anxiety and gathered up the clothes she’d thrown down.
The faster she tried to dress, the more her legs tangled and the fabric wouldn’t cooperate.
Just as she sat on the floor and was threading her pants on, the Bathroom door swung open silently.
As her hair stood on end, her mind went completely white.
Her heart rate spiked and her breathing grew ragged.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
This place was nothing like her old studio apartment—it was a safe space where outsiders couldn’t just wander in.
Footsteps.
A tall man emerged from the Bathroom, passing through its LED lighting.
The shadow of the broad-shouldered man fell across Spring’s head.
Spring looked up at him, her trembling hands covering her mouth.
In an instant, her eyes went wide.
……Why—why was this man here?
The man was undeniably the predatory Blind Date from yesterday, wiping his wet hair with a white towel and stepping forward one foot at a time.
But more than that…….
The man wasn’t wearing a single thread.
Spring’s gaze, unbidden, began to drift slowly downward.
Broad shoulders that steamed with residual heat, firm abdominal muscles unmarred by a hint of flab, and below that, something enormous…….
“Ah—”
A strangled gasp escaped her lips.
The moment the man noticed her presence, his eyes narrowed fiercely.
Spring, who had been staring at one specific place on him with an expression of pure shock, belatedly registered what it was.
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
A shriek like someone being strangled burst from Spring’s mouth.
“Who are you?!”
She had to get out of here.
As the man quickly covered himself with the towel, Spring grabbed her clothes and bolted.
“Stop right there!”
She heard curses behind her, but she scrambled up to the second floor with every ounce of strength she possessed, wild as a beast.
Bang.
Gasping, Spring rushed up the stairs and immediately locked her door. Her hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.
“Gasp, gasp… why is that Blind Date guy here……?”
Slump.
Spring sank to the floor with her back against the wall, desperately trying to make sense of a situation she couldn’t comprehend.
But her mind, reeling from the sight of the man’s nakedness, had no hope of functioning properly.
Even squeezing her eyes shut and trying to shake the image loose, that photograph-like impression burned through the steam only grew sharper, more vivid.
And yet—how was someone supposed to manage daily life carrying something like that?
She lifted her own slender wrist, trying to gauge the size, and the moment she realized how perverse she must look, she dropped her hand away in horror.
“I’ve completely lost it.”

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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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