Taming the Wicked Professor (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5

After receiving his call and coming out to the bar, Oh Seung Joon gave Tae Hyuk a wry smile.

“Did your personality change while you were in the U.S.? Or are you just acting weird today?”

Out of the blue, he called him and started asking about his younger sister; then he had her reveal his dark past; and even suggested they drink together first.

None of it resembled the Choi Tae Hyuk Seung Joon knew.

Tae Hyuk, who had been silently drinking, asked in a blunt voice,

“Do you know Moon Na Young, our department’s first-year resident?”

Hearing the familiar name, Seung Joon nodded.

“Of course I do. She’s pretty, smart, and aloof. She’s in the same class as my younger sister—probably the Madonna of her year.”

Tae Hyuk frowned at the irritating nickname “Madonna.”

“So, she had a lot of guys after her?”

Seung Joon shook his head.

“She was absolutely ruthless in that regard. She rejected every single guy who confessed to her—said they’d interfere with her studies.”

Yet she slept with him the night right before starting her residency.

That meant Moon Na Young had intended from the very beginning to end things with him after just one night.

Tae Hyuk clenched his jaw tightly.

He downed the rest of his drink in one go, set the empty glass down, and asked Oh Seung Joon,

“Do you know who the guys were who confessed to Moon Na Young?”

Seung Joon looked puzzled.

“What would you need that for?”

He wasn’t the noble, self-sacrificing type—he just felt like he’d been ripped off.

So he needed somewhere to blow off steam.

When she insisted on staying in hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery, Manager Park genuinely rejoiced and told her she’d made the right choice.

“Despite everything Professor Choi went through, he’s truly a doctor with a lot to learn from. So try your best to adjust well.”

Although Na Young still felt awkward training under Professor Choi Tae Hyuk, she decided not to run away this time.

She simply couldn’t tolerate being seen as a pathetic resident by that man more than anyone else.

She was determined to earn his recognition.

As first-year residents were assigned to the ER, they inevitably had frequent on-call shifts.

Especially on weekends, when everyone else got to rest, she felt mentally more exhausted.

She briefly caught a break and sat down at the station chair, when she noticed a Post-it note someone had left behind.

These were the essential qualities for becoming an excellent surgeon.

Since she was a woman, she already had one of them—she chuckled foolishly at the thought, when an ER call came in.

A teenage boy had been brought in unconscious after a traffic accident; his abdomen was severely distended, and his blood pressure kept dropping.

“Wait— if the CT shows a ruptured aortic aneurysm, isn’t this vascular surgery’s case?”

[Right now, the vascular surgery professor is out of the hospital, so there’s no attending surgeon available immediately. Who’s on call over there?]

With a ruptured aortic aneurysm, the patient didn’t have time to wait for the vascular professor to return.

If they tried transferring him to another hospital to find a surgeon, he’d likely die in the ambulance en route.

This was a true emergency where every second counted, and Na Young felt every nerve in her body stand on end.

She quickly called the on-call attending professor who could operate immediately.

It was Professor Choi Tae Hyuk.

As soon as she explained the situation, Professor Choi Tae Hyuk said swiftly,

[Secure an OR right away, and have everything prepped before I get there.]

After hanging up, she frantically arranged the operating room, contacted anesthesia, and moved the patient to the OR.

The moment Professor Choi entered the operating room, he grabbed a scalpel.

The instant his blade cut decisively into the patient’s abdomen, bright red blood gushed out like a fountain, splattering everywhere and covering her face.

Na Young, still wearing her glasses, saw her vision turn crimson as the lenses became stained with blood.

Everything she saw looked like a scene from hell.

“Suction!”

She heard Professor Choi roar fiercely, but her whole body had frozen—she couldn’t move.

With this much blood pouring out, how could this patient possibly survive?

The patient’s blood pressure dropped alarmingly fast.

The terror of death completely overwhelmed her.

The surgery, which had begun at night, only ended after sunrise.

And the patient didn’t die.

The vascular surgery professor, urgently contacted and rushing in, joined the operation, removed the ruptured aorta, and replaced it with a synthetic graft, saving the boy’s life.

Na Young took off her glasses and slowly wiped the blood off her face.

Even that small act required every last bit of strength she had left.

After barely managing to wash her face clean, Na Young stepped out and spotted Professor Choi Tae Hyuk leaning against the hallway wall. She hesitated and stopped in her tracks.

As if he’d been waiting for her, Professor Choi straightened up and walked straight toward her without hesitation.

Na Young had to forcefully suppress the urge to turn around and hide in the women’s restroom again.

Right now, she had to face him barefaced—without even her glasses.

Choi Tae Hyuk stood firmly before her and interrogated sharply,

“You thought that patient was going to die, didn’t you?”

Na Young couldn’t deny it—she just looked up at his face.

She truly believed it, which was why she’d been unable to do anything during the early part of the surgery.

Only after Professor Choi clamped the ruptured aorta and flooded the patient with blood and Hartmann’s solution to barely restore normal blood pressure did she snap out of it and assist in the operation.

“If you’re going to come into my surgery and cause trouble by thinking like that, don’t ever step foot in my OR again!”

That’s why, even though Professor Choi was harshly berating her, Na Young couldn’t utter a single word of protest.

When she still couldn’t pull herself together despite his stern scolding, Tae Hyuk furrowed his brow deeply and then thrust his hand forward, ordering,

“Give me your hand.”

She wondered if he was about to slap her palm as punishment.

Without a word, Na Young placed her left hand into his open palm.

She felt him grip her hand firmly.

Whoosh.

By the time she realized what had happened, her hand was resting against Professor Choi Tae Hyuk’s chest.

Through his thin surgical scrubs, she could clearly feel the firmness of his body.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

She even felt the vibrations of his heartbeat, undiminished.

“Don’t forget this. The toughest thing we have is life.”

Na Young’s eyes reddened.

She knew she’d never forget it—

the chilling coldness of death in the operating room and the fierce warmth of life from his body.

During morning rounds, Nam Ho Jin made a pointed remark upon seeing her without glasses—thinking it was a joke on his part.

“Ugly Moon Na Young didn’t show up today, huh?”

Na Young and the other female doctors shot him sharp glares, and Nam Ho Jin immediately shut his mouth.

Right on time at 7:50 a.m., Professor Choi Tae Hyuk appeared as usual.

His gaze briefly touched her—the one not wearing glasses—but he quickly looked away and addressed everyone,

“Let’s begin rounds.”

It hadn’t been long since she first heard those words, yet they already felt familiar.

Na Young looked at Professor Choi Tae Hyuk’s back as he walked ahead and silently resolved to herself:

She’d really do her best.

She was determined to earn Professor Choi Tae Hyuk’s recognition before her first residency year ended.

For the first time since Professor Choi Tae Hyuk arrived at the hospital, Na Young was able to face him not as the woman from that one-night stand, but as a doctor to a doctor.

But Tae Hyuk was completely the opposite.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Sitting at his office desk, Tae Hyuk glared at the “death note” in front of him.

It was a list of male doctors who’d confessed to Moon Na Young, given to him by Oh Seung Joon—and it was far too long.

As he schemed how to legally eliminate every single one of them, a knock came, and the door opened.

“Professor.”

It was Chief Dong Gun.

“We’re planning a welcome dinner for you tonight—would that be alright?”

Tae Hyuk didn’t usually like group dinners.

But a dinner might give him a chance to talk privately with Moon Na Young.

Feeling his mood lift at this unexpected opportunity, Tae Hyuk replied,

“Alright, got it.”

Since Professor Choi readily agreed, Dong Gun immediately sent a notice about the dinner to the entire hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery department.

Attendance was mandatory for all members of the department.

And because this was an official welcome party for Professor Choi Tae Hyuk, they also announced that anyone from other divisions who wished to attend should notify them in advance—so the dinner’s scale gradually grew bigger.

“…….”

With Choi Tae Hyuk—the de facto guest of honor—sitting dead center and only scowling, Manager Park sitting next to him gave him a reprimanding look.

“Loosen up that face. It’s your welcome party.”

So this was supposed to be a celebration to welcome him—but why wasn’t Moon Na Young here?

Seeing how many people had shown up only made his irritation spike.

So many people came—and yet Moon Na Young wasn’t here?!

“It seems one hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery resident is missing.”

He finally spoke up first.

Kim Young Mi, who had swapped on-call duties with Na Young today, answered,

“Oh! Doctor Moon Na Young is on call, so she’s staying at the ward.”

Tae Hyuk had already confirmed earlier that Na Young wasn’t scheduled for on-call duty today, so he glared at Young Mi with clear disapproval.

Young Mi, clueless about the reason, tensed up instantly.

Just then, Manager Park stood up and proposed a toast, helping her escape from Professor Choi’s viper-like stare.

“Alright! Everyone, raise your glasses. It’s rare for all the surgeons from Han River University Hospital’s surgery department to gather like this—let’s make this toast meaningful.”

Tae Hyuk reluctantly raised his glass.

Truthfully, even if Na Young had come to the dinner, there wasn’t much he could actually do.

Treating her like he had that night would cause major trouble, and pretending to be an overly friendly professor would clearly put her on even higher alert.

“And since today is Professor Choi Tae Hyuk’s welcome party, let’s all raise a glass to welcome Professor Choi back!”

As Manager Park said his name, everyone’s eyes immediately turned to him.

Amid this awkward, spotlighted moment, Yoon I Na, seated in the front row, smiled and gently clinked her glass against his.

“Welcome.”

From a corner seat, Oh Seung Hee swiftly snapped a photo with her phone.

She felt deeply satisfied, convinced she’d just scored a major scoop at the dinner.

“Uuuughhh!”

The sound, akin to a beast’s howl, came from a hepatic encephalopathy patient in altered consciousness, thrashing violently.

When she heard it and rushed over, the intern was too terrified by the deranged patient to even attempt an enema.

She had no choice but to help out herself.

Even restrained with restraints, the patient displayed superhuman strength—they had to use all their strength just to hold him still.

After finally finishing one enema, Na Young went to a corner to rest.

Since hepatic encephalopathy patients required enemas every 30 minutes until their blood ammonia levels dropped, she deliberately pulled out a chocolate bar to replenish her energy—when her phone rang.

Checking it, she saw it was from Seung Hee, who’d been at the dinner.

It was a photo of Professor Choi Tae Hyuk and Professor Yoon I Na clinking glasses.

Na Young let out a hollow laugh.

While she battled through the filth of performing enemas, that man was casually drinking with his ex-girlfriend.

Glaring at the photo, she angrily crunched into the chocolate bar.

After handing over the rest of the hepatic encephalopathy patient’s enema duty to the intern and stepping out, she realized her clothes already reeked of stench.

She lifted her arm to sniff it and grimaced in disgust.

She headed straight to the locker room to shower, when she heard a low, firm voice call out from behind.

“Doctor Moon Na Young.”

She turned her head and saw Professor Choi Tae Hyuk walking toward her—she flinched.

What? Shouldn’t he be at the welcome party? Why’s he here?

As he strode quickly toward her with his long legs, Na Young hastily raised her hand to stop him.

“Wait! Stay right there.”

He froze mid-step.

Clearly stunned that a first-year resident would issue him a “do-not-approach” order, his face filled with disbelief.

“Can’t you just talk to me from there? I can hear you perfectly fine.”

She couldn’t let him smell the stench clinging to her body.

Even though it came from legitimate medical care, the shame was hers alone to bear.

But to Tae Hyuk, her behavior looked nothing more than her putting up defensive walls against him.

He’d gone through the trouble of slipping away from the dinner just to see her—and now she wouldn’t even let him get close.

This felt like full-on stalker treatment.

No matter how much she dreaded running into him in the hospital, she knew she shouldn’t have acted this way.

Because he was a professor—and she was only a resident.

“I don’t like that.”

Tae Hyuk took a step toward her.