The attending physician quietly looked at Kim Tae Rin and nodded. Her voice, answering as if in a daze, was so soft it was barely audible.

“Well…, I suppose so.”

“Oh really?”

Suddenly, another doctor fussily adjusted his clothes and got a canned coffee from the vending machine. Seeing this, the other doctors laughed boisterously. In contrast, the attending physician didn’t laugh at all. Someone chided him.

“Why, are you trying to make a move?”

The doctor shrugged as he grabbed the canned coffee from the dispenser.

“No harm in trying.”

Choi Yoon glared at them chattering away from a short distance.

What are those guys up to now? As if my head wasn’t splitting enough already.

Anger welled up inside him.

Another doctor stared at Kim Tae Rin with folded arms. He said with a meaningful look:

“Isn’t she that woman?”

“Who?”

“You know. The one photographed with Choi Yoon recently.”

“Ah, now that you mention it.”

A few doctors pretended to be in the know. The attending physician furrowed his brow. Someone chimed in.

“Earlier, Dr. Kang said he personally examined Choi Yoon. The nurses said they confirmed his ID too.”

“Really? So they came together?”

“Are you sure it was Choi Yoon?”

Choi Yoon closely watched the doctors who seemed to be having the time of their lives. He didn’t mind his name being tossed around. However, every time their glances turned towards Kim Tae Rin, something sharp twisted inside him.

He didn’t understand it himself. This wasn’t the first time. He had even intended it. Kim Tae Rin had already become a hot topic online with just one photo taken with Choi Yoon. This was the result. But somehow, it was hard to endure.

“Is she dating Choi Yoon?”

“No way. Even if she was, what’s it matter? It’s not like they’re married.”

The doctor who had been waiting for the right moment to talk to Kim Tae Rin replied, adjusting his grip on the canned coffee. Just as he was about to take a step, someone snatched the coffee can.

“Senior, this is my patient. If the guardian needs an explanation, I’ll give it.”

After politely cutting in, the attending physician strode towards Kim Tae Rin. Passing by the doctors who watched with dumbfounded expressions, Choi Yoon also started moving. His pace quickened, almost running by the end.

The attending physician had just bent over, as if to shake Kim Tae Rin awake. Choi Yoon nonchalantly inserted himself between the visibly tense doctor and the obliviously sleeping Kim Tae Rin.

Before the attending physician could react, Choi Yoon threw Yoo Ji Ho’s coat he had been wearing over his shoulder onto Kim Tae Rin. After roughly covering her face like that, he slipped his hands behind Kim Tae Rin’s back and under her knees. Without hesitation, he lifted her up in one swift motion.

Kim Tae Rin’s entire body folded neatly into his arms as if rolling in. She was warm and soft, and surprisingly light. Like a husk that had lost all the contents that should have filled it.

He adjusted his hold, pretending it was nothing. Kim Tae Rin’s head gently touched his nape. Only then did he realize what he had done.

It was excessive. Even he thought so.

However, he had no intention of leaving Kim Tae Rin exposed before the eyes of those idle men.

He faced the attending physician.

Choi Yoon tried to compose his expression. Generally, this was a very easy task for him. But his voice came out harsh and aggressive.

“This person doesn’t like coffee.”

The doctor lowered the hand holding the canned coffee with a bewildered look. He should have turned back after reading the atmosphere, but the attending physician quietly scanned him.

Even with a hat and mask on, he was easily recognizable. It didn’t matter. If asked if he was Choi Yoon, he planned to answer affirmatively.

However, the attending physician asked something else.

“Are you her boyfriend?”

He’s got guts. Unnecessarily so. Irritation surged. He tried to smile but felt like his face was twitching, so he gave up. His answer came out crisp and clear.

“I’m a business partner, like a boyfriend.”

The attending physician’s tense face relaxed somewhat. On the other hand, Choi Yoon was dumbfounded.

This bastard is relieved again?

Does he think he has a chance if I’m not her boyfriend?

“Are you interested in our Tae Rin?”

He emphasized ‘our’ and tightened his arms holding Kim Tae Rin. He whispered lowly.

“But what can you do? Tae Rin’s standards are too high because of me, so she won’t be satisfied with just any man.”

He added, spitting out the words.

“Even I get scolded all the time.”

The last part came out without him realizing. He knew it was a mistake. But he didn’t want to correct it.

He turned and walked away briskly.

His mind was tightly knotted, on the verge of snapping. Rationally, he knew. That even now, it would be safer in many ways to tell the attending physician that earlier was just a joke and to hand over the canned coffee to give to Kim Tae Rin when she wakes up.

But if he did that, they’d keep pestering her, right? Imagining that made this obstruction seem entirely justified.

Anyway, even if the other party turned around and gossiped, no one would believe them, and he didn’t seem like the type to do so, Choi Yoon rationalized as he gently adjusted his hold on Kim Tae Rin.

As soon as they reached Han Seo Jung’s room, a nurse came out pulling a cart with a tired face.

“I’m her guardian. Can I go in now?”

The nurse nodded.

“Yes. It’s all done. If anything happens, please press the bell.”

Han Seo Jung was sound asleep.

The IV drip flowed slowly at the head of the bed. Under the dim lights, the low hum of machinery buzzed, and the bitter smell of disinfectant filled the air.

Choi Yoon unfolded the cot and laid Kim Tae Rin down. He spread out the blanket and covered her well.

He brought a chair and sat by Han Seo Jung’s side.

He brushed away the hair sticking to her slightly sweaty forehead, and carefully arranged the lines connected to the needle in her arm to prevent tangling.

It had been a long day.

Choi Yoon gently grasped Han Seo Jung’s pale hand stretched out on the bed. He listened intently to the faint warmth and thin pulse felt from that hand. He leaned his upper body gently over the bed.

When he woke up after dozing off, Choi Yoon felt a warm and soft sensation sliding off his upper body. As he groggily got up, he found the blanket half draped over his shoulder. It was the blanket he had covered Kim Tae Rin with.

He looked back. The cot was empty.

As he turned his head the other way, running his hand through his hair, Kim Tae Rin’s closed eyes were right in front of his nose. Startled, he jerked back. He almost fell over with the chair.

His heart pounded.

Kim Tae Rin must have woken up briefly, as she had brought a chair right next to Choi Yoon and was now sleeping, hunched over beside him.

The hand not pillowing her cheek had slipped into Han Seo Jung’s blanket, out of sight. Lifting the blanket slightly, he saw Kim Tae Rin lightly gripping the hem of Han Seo Jung’s hospital gown.

Choi Yoon tried to calm his startled heart as he picked up the fallen blanket and smoothed it with his hands. Just as he was about to drape it over Kim Tae Rin’s shoulders.

Should I leave her like this?

She’s an impersonator who ran away and crawled back on her own. Instead of covering her with a blanket, he should make a decision now. Report her. Expose her.

Objectively speaking, that’s what he should do. The problem was, it was really difficult to be objective. To be precise, it had become difficult.

Choi Yoon recalled Kim Tae Rin as she told the story of Han Seo Jung getting hurt, her round shoulders swallowing her sobs, and her lonely gaze that looked down but saw nothing.

If there was an inherent violence in impersonators, he wondered if it could coexist with that warm heart Kim Tae Rin possessed.

Could there be such a thing as a benevolent impersonator?

Perhaps violence exists in both humans and monsters, and the conditions for its manifestation are simply met in fleeing impersonators.

An assumption he had never considered before overlapped with the sleeping Kim Tae Rin.

For the first time, he was confused.

Now Kim Tae Rin approached Choi Yoon as a different question.

Beyond whether this woman was an impersonator or human, could impersonators also be warm?

As he traced Kim Tae Rin’s back slowly rising and falling with her breath, following the shabby and lonely line extending downwards, Choi Yoon slowly turned his phone over in his hand.

He tried to imagine himself leaving the room now and reporting Kim Tae Rin to the Monster Management Center. It didn’t come easily. He tried to flatten himself into a character from the script, as if acting. Still, it wasn’t easy. Rather, another assumption quietly crouched in a corner of Choi Yoon’s heart and refused to leave.

Wouldn’t it be okay to trust her once?

Even if she’s an impersonator, she’s still Kim Tae Rin.

Buzz, a loud vibration sounded.

Choi Yoon checked his own phone in surprise, but it wasn’t his. As he put his phone down on the bedside table, he looked around. A phone was flashing next to Kim Tae Rin’s elbow.

Kim Tae Rin frowned and shifted in her sleep. Worried she might wake up, Choi Yoon hurriedly picked up the phone and pressed the call button. He spoke softly.

“Hello, this is Kim Tae Rin’s phone…”

– Are you the truck owner? Please move your car. How could you park like this?

The other person’s voice boomed loudly, and Choi Yoon quickly lowered the call volume. He swiftly left the room so as not to wake Kim Tae Rin.

Ah, the truck we came in was Kim Tae Rin’s.

He hadn’t realized it in the chaos of switching vehicles after Jang Yong Sik’s truck broke down.

– Right now, because of your truck, cars can’t get out…

He had no idea how the car had been parked to receive such a call. Choi Yoon had lost consciousness as soon as he handed the wheel to Kim Tae Rin, and when he opened his eyes, he was in the emergency room.

“I’m sorry. Where exactly is this?”

– You parked and don’t even know?

“The owner can’t come down right now, so I’m going in her place.”

– Well, this place is, near the back entrance…

After hearing the location, Choi Yoon put Kim Tae Rin’s phone in his back pocket and re-entered the hospital room.

Kim Tae Rin had shifted slightly, her hair disheveled, but was still sound asleep.

Where would the car key be?

Not wanting to wake Kim Tae Rin, Choi Yoon silently slipped his hand into her cardigan pocket. There was nothing.

Choi Yoon gripped the bed to support his weight and leaned his upper body over Kim Tae Rin to reach for the other pocket.

At that moment, Choi Yoon realized.

This was the opportunity. The one he had been waiting for all along.

He could brush back Kim Tae Rin’s hair, so exhausted she wouldn’t notice if someone carried her away, to check for traces of cut horns. He could undo the strings of her blouse to run his hands over her shoulder blades for marks where wings might have been.

Pausing with just the slightest gap between them, Choi Yoon’s gaze traveled from Kim Tae Rin’s tightly closed eyelashes, past her roundly curled back, to rest on her softly curved waist.

He could undo the buttons of her skirt fitted snugly at the waist and check the skin near her tailbone.

It was possible. If he did it now.