Magnetic Pull

"A volunteer work announcement? An overnight trip?"

"Yep. This year they're going to Muyeong Stream in Gangwon-do."

Kang Jiho looked thoroughly pleased with himself, waiting for praise after putting Dajeong down as a participant for the annual summer medical volunteer trip.

"They call it volunteer work, but it's basically a real vacation with zero on-call duty. Everyone was fighting to go, so I said we should send our chief! Go get some proper rest."

Watching Kang Jiho grin, Dajeong crushed the urge to smack him.

"The department head isn't even here, and there's a mountain of work. I still have to cover the wards. Just go yourself, Dr. Kang."

"I already submitted the roster to the admin office. Can't change it now."

Haa. Deep sighs kept spilling out of her.

When she was distressed and unsettled, she needed to keep her mind busy with work. And on top of everything else, the foundation was hosting this volunteer trip, which made her even more wary.

"......"

She was reluctant for any number of reasons, but canceling would be a hassle—especially thinking of the juniors who had already redrawn the schedule around her absence.

Fine. It wasn't as if the busy CEO would show up for volunteer work, right?

As long as she didn't run into Jang Taekyung, it would be fine. It should be okay.

"Next time you put my name down without asking, Dr. Kang, you're on duty three days straight."

After delivering the warning, Dajeong grabbed the heart model. She needed to calm herself by finishing the vascular anastomosis practice she'd been working on earlier.

The day of departure for the volunteer trip.

The chartered bus was overflowing with energy. Faces that had been drained dry all over the hospital were bright for the first time in ages.

"Yu Dajeong! Over here."

The moment Dajeong climbed aboard, Lee Suhui raised her hand high.

"How many bottles is that?"

The massive backpack at her feet was packed solid with alcohol. Soju, whiskey, even gaoliang—liquor of every kind sloshed as the bus rolled out.

"It reminded me of our first MT, so I packed them. Remember? We all ran off to the neighboring pension. The seniors made us drink way too much."

How could she forget. Dajeong laughed softly and accepted the snacks Suhui held out.

"It was a total mess. Back then Jeon Minwoo got drunk and picked a fight with a senior—ah...!"

Hup. She'd spat out the forbidden name. Suhui clapped a hand over her mouth at once. She'd seen Dajeong's face twist in that strange, complicated way.

"S-sorry."

"...It's fine. It's all in the past."

"R-right? Um. I looked it up before we left, and there's a stream near our lodging. Let's soak our feet!"

Her effort to change the subject was painfully transparent. Dajeong smiled easily and nodded.

The bus that had set off so cheerfully drew steadily closer to its destination. Amid the bursts of laughter all around them, Dajeong and Suhui sank into a fairly serious conversation.

"So you think ER will make it?"

"Yeah. Our department head says we're the kind of department that's so filthy you want to quit, but you can't even open a private practice. He takes vicious care of us."

It was Taekyung's terrifying assignment, the one they'd forgotten about for a while amid everything else—the matter of improving the operating profits of the three deficit departments.

"How bad must it have been if a little over a month of effort improved things by ten percent? Honestly, it had gotten pretty severe."

She was genuinely envious. Pediatrics didn't even have a department head.

"I heard bed turnover in the ER has been fast lately—is that because of this?"

"Yeah. He says we need to take patients quickly and in large numbers, like a gukbap joint. Ugh."

Suhui shook her head, complaining that the ER residents' lounge had even cut off all snacks.

"Still, good for you guys. We're in real trouble. Only two months left..."

Taekyung's ruthless warning to improve operating profits by twenty percent within three months rang in her ears. Now only two months remained. Thinking of the pediatric professors who seemed to have no plan at all, worry came first.

Before she knew it, the bus had slowed and pulled into the playground of a small elementary school.

"Looks like we've arrived. Huh? But what's all that?"

Suhui, getting ready to get off, muttered as she looked out the window.

"Is some idol coming today? Why all the press?"

Just as Suhui said, people with cannon-like cameras rushed toward the bus as if they'd been waiting. It was a completely different scale of publicity from the one or two photos they used to take and call it done.

"True to form for a big corporation. Squeezing every last drop of PR out of one volunteer trip."

Someone snarked from behind. Everyone murmured in agreement.

At that same hour, contrary to every hope Dajeong had, Taekyung was at the volunteer site.

"When is this going to end? We finished taking photos ages ago."

Glancing at Taekyung, who was cleaning the pitch-black kitchen stove of a rural house, the director carefully caught the vice director by the arm.

"Ah, tell me about it. I figured he'd just show his face and leave, so I dressed casually."

Starting with a meeting with the village chief upon arrival, Taekyung had worked without a break until evening. He'd assumed, as always, that simply pretending to work hard in front of the cameras would be enough—but Taekyung looked like a man seriously immersed in volunteer labor.

While the two doctors were rubbing their aching backs and declaring they were dying, Taekyung had already cleaned up every farm tool abandoned in the yard and dusted off his hands with a sharp clap.

"Looks like we're done. Shall we go?"

"Ah, yes! Coming, sir."

When Taekyung gripped the rusted gate and jerked his chin, they stopped chatting and scrambled after him.

"The climb was tough, but the view is incredible."

Walking down the mountain path, the director and vice director marveled at the lush scenery. Dense forest, clear air, even the sound of a large stream flowing somewhere nearby. It was certainly a healing place worth the hard journey.

"......"

Standing still for a moment to take in the view, the corner of Taekyung's mouth tilted up. It wasn't because he was moved by the natural scenery. It was because he sensed his choice had not been wrong.

His purpose in carving out nonexistent free time to come all the way to Gangwon-do wasn't just volunteer work. He'd also come to assess whether this place was suitable for building the Seohan Hospital Affiliated Well-Aging Center.

The village chief was a reasonable man. He welcomed the idea that Hanju Group would create jobs and bring vitality to the village. If they paved a couple of roads down below, they could persuade the local government too. Quickly calculating even the scale of compensation per household, Taekyung nodded. It had been a satisfying time in many ways.

"Let's head down."

Just as he was about to move again, his phone rang.

"Go ahead."

Listening to Secretary Kim's report, Taekyung's face grew increasingly wrinkled. The director and vice director could only swallow dryly, baffled.

"...Honestly, fuck. My brothers. They always pick the most childish stunts."

Saying he'd deal with it when he got back, he hung up and started walking fast.

Arriving at the branch school, Taekyung headed straight for the water faucet in the back. He wanted the dust and sweat coating his body washed off as soon as possible.

"So to sum up, those idiot brothers of mine pulled this dumbass move to keep me from attending tomorrow's board meeting."

Continuing his call with his secretary, he turned on the faucet. Watching the water gush out, he wedged his phone between his left shoulder and ear.

Claiming it was the first official activity of a hospital foundation absorbed by a conglomerate, all sorts of strange streamers had flocked in and were livestreaming the volunteer work nationwide in real time. Thanks to that, Taekyung's ankles had been bound—he'd planned to return to Seoul that evening to prepare for tomorrow's board meeting—and he now had to complete the full overnight schedule.

There were many watching eyes. One wrong move and it would be easy to get slapped with criticism for only pretending to volunteer, so he had to be careful.

"Even if you're going to screw someone over, it should at least taste good enough to be fun taking it."

Could a petty interference like this even slightly erase Taekyung's presence from the board meeting? There was a reason their father didn't trust the older brothers.

"Bring the laptop properly. See you later."

He'd only lightly packed a tablet PC, but now that he was staying overnight, he needed his work laptop containing secure materials. That was the full extent of the damage Taekyung had taken.

Hanging up, Taekyung furrowed his brow and gripped the hem of his round-neck shirt. He yanked it up hard and stripped it off—

"Ah...!"

He sensed the presence of a herbivore watching him from the water faucet on the opposite side.

Was it really possible for coincidences to pile up and overlap this much? At this point, one had to suspect whether Yu Dajeong and he had magnets pulling them toward each other.

"What is it."

"Ah, I— I'm sorry."

Seeing her pale face flush bright red, she seemed thoroughly mortified. Then turn your face away, or at least close your eyes. What was with staring at a bare torso all the way through?

A hollow laugh escaped him. He was speechless.