Taming the Wicked Professor (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9

“You’d do just fine if it were you, Na Young.”

“Yeah, you’re the only one among us who can match Professor Choi Tae Hyuk.”

“If Professor Choi makes things unbearable, just go tell your dad.”

“Go for it!”

Na Young silently listened as her colleagues each said a word and walked past.

The slip of paper Professor Choi Tae Hyuk had drawn bore her name.

Na Young wanted to deny this reality, but everyone else—except her—was delighted.

Plunged into misfortune, she even began to suspect he might have deliberately picked her name.

But since she herself had witnessed him drawing names randomly in front of everyone, she couldn’t object to the result.

Sighing deeply, Na Young headed toward Professor Choi Tae Hyuk’s office.

After all, he’d said right before leaving the room,

“The person drawn should come to my office.”

It felt as if he’d tied a leash around her neck.

Now, whenever he tugged that leash, she’d have to run straight to him—and that thought made her feel awful.

If she saw him merely as her professor, she could’ve obediently followed his orders without hesitation. Yet, she kept failing.

Even though she repeatedly resolved not to let her personal feelings interfere, they kept slipping out whenever she let her guard down.

That’s why she kept resenting his presence here as a professor at this hospital.

Of all the hospitals in the world, why did it have to be Hangang University Hospital?

Of all possible careers, why did he have to be a doctor?

“…”

Upon entering the office, Na Young stopped short when she spotted tea and snacks laid out on the table.

Professor Choi Tae Hyuk, seated on the sofa, naturally gestured for her to take a seat.

“Come, sit down.”

“I came thinking you’d called me about the paper.”

Her voice came out stiff and cold.

“Yeah, let’s just talk comfortably over some tea.”

Even if he’d supposedly changed how he treated residents after being scolded by Manager Park, this was going too far.

“I don’t really want to.”

The memory of dried yellow croaker was still vivid—did he really think she’d want to share that with him again?!

“You’re still mad at me about that restaurant incident, huh?”

Hearing him bring up that day first only worsened Na Young’s mood.

So she replied with deliberate petulance,

“It’s not me who should be angry—it’s Professor Yoon I Na. How dare a mere resident get caught between the two of you?”

Her sarcastic remark made Tae Hyuk’s brow furrow.

He hadn’t been asking about Yoon I Na at all—he’d meant to ask whether she was upset about what he’d said that day.

Yoon I Na wasn’t important at all.

“Yoon I Na and I…”

“You don’t need to explain anything to me. I don’t even want to hear it.”

His explanation cut off before it even began, and her outright refusal to listen stung Tae Hyuk.

“Then why are you angry?”

“Me? Angry? I’d never dare be angry at you, Professor.”

Tae Hyuk had always been blunt—he never beat around the bush.

Frustrated by this indirect conversation, he grabbed the teacup in front of him and downed it in one gulp, trying to cool his temper.

Na Young’s eyes widened slightly at his action.

Because it didn’t look like iced tea—

Wasn’t it hot tea?

His expression showed no change, making her wonder if it wasn’t that hot after all—or whether he was silently enduring the burn, judging by how he’d clenched his fist over his mouth.

“Professor?”

“…”

He didn’t answer even when she called him.

Na Young slowly walked over to the table and touched another teacup with her hand.

It was hot.

She glanced sideways at his face with just her eyes.

Professor Choi Tae Hyuk still wore an utterly indifferent expression.

It struck her as funny—he must be enduring the heat just to preserve his professorial dignity, unable even to admit the tea was hot.

Seeing this rare vulnerability, the porcupine-like spikes she’d raised softened.

“I’ll get you some cold water.”

As Na Young straightened up and turned toward the door, his words halted her in her tracks.

“Yoon I Na and I aren’t involved in any way.”

Na Young suppressed the flutter in her chest and replied coolly,

“You don’t need to tell me anything about your ex-girlfriend…”

“I’ve never dated Yoon I Na—not even for a single second.”

His firm declaration made Na Young turn her head and stare at him, seated as he was.

They hadn’t dated?

But Seung Hee had said she heard it from Oh Seung Joon.

And Oh Seung Joon was Tae Hyuk’s closest friend among their peers.

Tae Hyuk handed Na Young the medical records of the patient who would be receiving the hospital’s first liver transplant from him.

This was the real reason he’d called her to his office.

“Since you, Dr. Moon, will also be participating in the surgery, take a look.”

As she accepted the documents, Na Young looked at his face.

He’d told Oh Seung Joon he couldn’t remember sleeping with her due to a blackout.

Yet, he’d stubbornly insisted on clarifying his relationship with Yoon I Na to her.

What was going on?

She had a nagging feeling she was missing something, but as a resident speaking to her professor, she couldn’t outright ask.

“I should go now.”

Na Young bowed and left the office.

Tae Hyuk stared at the door she’d just exited through, then pulled a slip of paper from his coat pocket.

It read “Moon Na Young”—the same slip he’d drawn during the lottery earlier.

But the handwriting wasn’t hers.

He’d prepared it in advance and had it with him from the start.

It wasn’t even a particularly cunning plan, yet she hadn’t noticed a thing.

She probably never imagined a professor would cheat.

If he had to justify it, he’d say it wasn’t cheating—he was simply shaping his own fate.

With a satisfied smile, Tae Hyuk tossed the slip into the trash can.

⭐⭐⭐

The liver transplant surgery Professor Choi Tae Hyuk was about to perform had drawn public attention due to the relationship between donor and recipient.

Except in cases of organ donation, transplants typically occurred between blood relatives—but this time, the donor and patient were mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Legally family, yet not sharing a single drop of blood.

“Could the daughter-in-law really have volunteered her liver willingly?”

“She’s probably doing it reluctantly—for the sake of family harmony.”

“Even if living with in-laws is tough, this is a liver transplant! Isn’t that going too far?”

“It’s ironic that only the daughter-in-law’s liver is compatible among all family members.”

While parents and children would naturally donate out of love, the commonness of mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflicts meant the surgery sparked heated discussion even among hepatobiliary surgery residents.

“I heard Professor Choi Tae Hyuk’s liver donor is his patient’s daughter-in-law. Did she volunteer herself?”

Seeing even gastrointestinal surgery’s Seung Hee asking her about it, Na Young realized the surgery had already become hospital gossip.

“I don’t know the details myself.”

Professor Choi Tae Hyuk—the very man known among residents as “Viper”—had been the one primarily speaking with the donor.

She was curious what words he’d used to convince the donor to go through with it.

Seung Hee shook her head and frowned.

“If I ever got married and something like this happened, I’d refuse even if it meant dying.”

It wasn’t an attitude Na Young could call selfish.

“By the way, Professor Yoon I Na asked about you.”

Na Young paused mid-sip of her coffee.

“When did your skills catch the eye of a gastrointestinal surgery professor?”

Na Young clearly knew Yoon I Na’s interest wasn’t for the reason Seung Hee assumed—but she chose not to show it.

Losing favor with another professor because of Choi Tae Hyuk was undoubtedly a setback for her.

But when he’d insisted he’d never dated Yoon I Na, Na Young felt a knot inside her chest finally unravel.

Maintaining distance from Professor Choi Tae Hyuk remained an ongoing challenge for her.

She just hoped no further incidents would shake her resolve.

Her ordinary daily life had already been rattled enough by recent events.

All Na Young wanted was to safely complete her residency at Hangang University Hospital.

⭐⭐⭐

Cha Hyun, who’d been overseas filming, returned and contacted her to meet up—but this time, he was too busy to see her.

[Surely he’s not getting back at me for refusing to drink with him last time?]

Back then, she’d called Oh Seung Joon instead, since Cha Hyun had been out of the country.

“I’m really busy.”

[So you pestered me to find some girl whose name you didn’t even know—and now you’ve already forgotten about her?]

Come to think of it, he hadn’t told Cha Hyun he’d found her yet.

“I don’t need to look anymore.”

[What? Did you already meet her?]

“Yeah.”

[Wow. So Choi Tae Hyuk’s finally having a sweet romance with a girl?]

Romance felt utterly mismatched with his life.

His trials had begun the day he was born.

While other kids grew up carefree under their parents’ care, he’d spent those years fighting fiercest battles.

While others enjoyed their youth dating and having fun, he’d been in hospitals, wrestling with death.

Now in his mid-thirties, finally recognized as a doctor, he’d met a woman who stirred his heart—yet once again, fate refused to grant him smooth sailing.

“For now, I’m focusing solely on hospital work.”

[What kind of reaction is that? If you don’t know how to date, just ask me.]

He knew very well how experienced Cha Hyun was with women.

But even Cha Hyun couldn’t resolve the issue currently between him and Moon Na Young.

“Then turn me back into a resident again.”

[What nonsense! I told you to date, not quit your job.]

Now, he too wanted to fall in love.

If only he weren’t a doctor—if only he weren’t a professor—he’d rush straight to Moon Na Young right now and ask her out.

[If you ever start dating a woman, I swear I’ll get you married.]

Tae Hyuk chuckled at Cha Hyun’s words—he himself was a confirmed bachelor, yet so adamant about getting Tae Hyuk married.

After hanging up with Cha Hyun, Tae Hyuk checked a message that had come in during the call.

It was from Oh Seung Joon.

His twenty-year friend Cha Hyun cheered him on in love, yet this ten-plus-year colleague only stirred up salt.

Reading the message, Tae Hyuk bristled and immediately hit call.

The moment Oh Seung Joon answered, Tae Hyuk confronted him bluntly,

“You just stood by and watched?!”

[No, I cheered him on—told him to succeed!]

“…”

Was this guy friend or foe?

After fourteen years, he still couldn’t tell.

⭐⭐⭐

Na Young was briefing Chief Dong Gun on a patient in the ward.

“The patient had a hepatectomy; we administered 4mg Ativan due to seizures. The blood test results are…”

Dong Gun, listening intently, suddenly looked surprised as if he’d spotted something.

“Huh? When did Professor Choi get so close with that orthopedic resident?”

Na Young turned around, confused by his remark.

Sure enough, Professor Choi Tae Hyuk was walking down the hallway, arm-in-arm with a male resident from another department.

What was with that excessively intimate physical contact?

How unusual.