Why Are You Here?

Why is this thing so small?

His frame was probably two full sizes bigger than slim-built Ong Jun-soo's, and the T-shirt had shrunk to a skintight second skin.

Because of the man's Pacific Ocean-sized shoulders and massive chest, the small, cute Ongsimi graphic stretched sideways and ballooned in volume.

The situation was so absurd that laughter escaped her even in the middle of it all.

"Pfft—ah, I'm so sorry. Really, I'm so sorry."

"Confiscating the knife."

The man snatched the green vegetable knife out of So-yul's hand and slipped it into his pocket.

"Why are you taking my potato peeler...?"

"Thought I might practice my carving?"

Carve wh-what, exactly?

So-yul stared at the terrifying man before working up the courage to say what she'd been dying to ask.

"Um, about the settlement money..."

"Take this for now. If complications show up, we'll talk then."

With that, the man walked straight out of the restaurant. She hurried after him, too late, but by then he had vanished—no trace of him anywhere in the market.

Whether the Crazy Peach Penis, which had been swollen up like a balloon, was doing well without its scarred skin, and whether the Ongsimi T-shirt had survived without bursting—she thought she would never know the answers to any of it.

She was wrong.

Her golden vacation came to an end.

And on the very first day of her orthopedic surgery residency.

"AAAAH!!!"

So-yul came face to face with the man. In the last place she could ever have expected.

March 1st.

The long-awaited first day of residency dawned, and in the early morning Ong So-yul, her dark circles not quite banished, stepped through the hospital's main entrance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Inside the heavy revolving door, she spun around once, failed to make it out, spun again—and repeated the cycle about three times.

"Okay, okay, but at least I got into the department I wanted. Woo! I'm excited!"

So-yul dragged her spirits up by force, consoling herself. She was trampling across the lobby with all the bravado she could muster when she happened to look up.

Seoul Taemun Hospital begins a new chapter as a Regional Emergency Medical Center.

Brilliant lettering danced across the enormous electronic billboard.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare, famous for being notoriously strict with its approvals, had designated Seoul Taemun Hospital as a Regional Emergency Medical Center effective March 1st.

It was an unprecedented decision—and the man responsible for making it happen was the one now filling the screen as it changed: Kang Young-hoon, Chairman of the Taemun Group.

A man of imposing presence and bold, commanding features, the Chairman had built the hospital into a premier institution barely any time after founding his foundation.

His aggressive, success-driven management style drew endless praise from within the hospital walls as well.

As So-yul stood gazing blankly at the footage of him shaking hands with the hospital director, someone draped an arm over her shoulder.

"Our Ong-ong's gonna break her neck. What're you staring at like that, eh?!"

She turned to find her fellow resident standing beside her, instantly recognizable by her bleached-pink hair.

Her name was Ahn Hae-young. Same age as So-yul, she was practically a walking justice brigade—if something benefited her, she absolutely had to do it, and if it was unfair, she wouldn't do it even on pain of death.

She sported that pink hair without a shred of concern, even though it was obvious the senior doctors would make note of it the moment they saw her.

She acts like a total delinquent, so how is her brain this good? Ahn Hae-young is honestly an OP cheat character.

But there was a reason no one could treat Hae-young lightly: she carried the title of national valedictorian.

And she wasn't just smart—she had surgeon's hands to match, good enough to win a high-difficulty surgical technique competition. A true elite.

"Dr. Ong, why are you spacing out so hard?"

"Didn't really get much sleep."

"This from the guy who turned his phone off just to go hibernate. Why couldn't you sleep?"

Every time she closed her eyes, the question floated up to the ceiling: was it a Crazy Peach Penis, or a Crazy Fucking Penis?

Of course, she hadn't been dwelling on it with any strange thoughts. It was worry, as a doctor, over whether the victim was all right—and dread, as the offender, over when the victim might come storming in waving complications in her face.

"Hae-young, there's something I..."

She was just working up to asking for advice from Ahn Hae-young—a fellow doctor, cheerful about everything—when—

—Ba-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam—ba-ba-bam. Ba-ba ba-ba-bam.

—Ba-ba-ba-bam! Ba-ba-ba-bam!

So-yul's MacGyver theme ringtone and Hae-young's Beethoven's Fifth Symphony ringtone blared at the same time, in perfect disharmony.

"Where are you? Didn't you see the notice? We're supposed to gather in the residency office ASAP. If you two are late they're going to murder us, so haul ass over here!"

She picked up the phone to find her fellow resident Ko Jae-goon delivering the message without pausing for breath. Glancing sideways, she saw Hae-young had apparently heard the same thing, her pace already quickening.

Da-da-da-da-da.

On their first day of work, two brand-new resident chicks sprinted swiftly across the lobby.

Was the lobby always this cold on the way to the residency office?

So-yul and Hae-young stepped out of the elevator, each rubbing the gooseflesh on her arms. It wasn't even summer, yet a draft seemed to be blowing in from somewhere.

Though perhaps the chill came not from any actual wind, but from the icy, murderous atmosphere hanging in the air.

"Let's get in there fast."

"Right."

They opened the door to the residency office and stepped through—and the very first thing that greeted their eyes was the backs of three men they'd never seen before.

Three hulking, imposing figures stood in a row, completely blocking the doorway, and So-yul's field of vision was abruptly cut off at chest height.

Seen from behind in their short fellowship gowns, they looked as solid and forbidding as men clad in armor.

The napes rising above their white coats were all deeply tanned.

"Chief Resident. Are all the residents here?"

"Yes, Professor!"

Only then did So-yul notice Professor Ham standing off to the side, and she bowed her head.

She shuffled along with Hae-young and slid into the group of first-year residents.

As she bowed her head, she noticed her shoelace had come untied. Pointlessly preoccupied, she pinned it under her foot while she listened to the Professor.

"Three new fellows are joining our Orthopedic Surgery department."

Ah, so those are the new doctors.

"With Seoul Taemun Hospital designated as a Regional Emergency Medical Center, we've recruited men whose credentials are befitting of that stature—abso—lutely! as—tonishing! credentials. Ahem!"

Professor Ham cleared his throat to steady his voice. Just how impressive were these men, that they had the Professor raising his voice like this?

"Career military doctors—men who've completed not one, but a staggering four overseas combat deployments! Men who've treated gunshot penetrations on the battlefield! Men versed in traumatic limb reconstruction! Soldiers among soldiers!"

Career military? Combat deployments? Soldier? Words that would make anyone gasp at just one of them came pouring out like rounds from an assault rifle, bang bang bang.

So-yul peeled her eyes away from her untied shoelace and slowly lifted her gaze.

At the very moment she was about to get a look at the faces of the three giants the Professor had praised to the skies—

"First, allow me to introduce Dr. Kang Dae-han! Everyone, applause!"

"..."

Her eyes locked with those of the tallest, most imposing man among them.

Gasp.

The instant she confirmed the man's face, So-yul's eyes went wide, like a person shot square through the forehead.

One, two, three, four!

The owner of the voice that had barked commands at her so terrifyingly was standing right there before her, in a white coat.

"AAAAH!"

The moment the realization hit, a scream of utter despair burst from So-yul's mouth. Even someone as proud of their poker face as she was, even the most socially composed person alive, could never have handled this.

'You perverted quack, you're the greedy one.'

'Excuse me, sir, what YOU'RE saying sounds way more perverted!'

The man she'd squabbled with over who was the bigger pervert—Mr. Crazy Peach Penis himself. Why was he here, of all places?

"Dr. Ong So-yul, is something the matter?"

"Ah, a cramp—a cramp in my leg. Sorry."

Professor Ham shot her a piercing glare and called her out, and only then did So-yul come to her senses and zip her mouth shut.

"I'm Kang Dae-han."

A crisp, weighty baritone shook the room.

"I've returned from service to the residency office, but I consider the battlefield I lived in for so long and this hospital one and the same."

"..."

"Because when you make a mistake, the price is death—either way."

Kang Dae-han's merciless eyes swept the room before landing squarely on So-yul. She was hardly one to be easily cowed, but her palms kept sweating all the same.

"I expect you to keep your heads on straight and cooperate as we care for our patients. Understood?"

"Yes! Understood!"

"LOYALTY!"

At Kang Dae-han's words, the responses of the male residents who'd served in the army rang out loud and clear through the room.

"Ong-ong. Is this the army or a hospital?"

Hae-young jabbed So-yul in the ribs and asked.

"...He says they're the same, doesn't he."

"Whoa, soldier doctors. So freaking hot. And the next one up is apparently a big deal too."

Hae-young was buzzing with excitement over the new fellows, but nothing reached So-yul's ears.

She couldn't even have said what the remaining two doctors looked like—she just kept staring, endlessly, down at her shoes.

Ha. What do I do now.