My Teacher's Wish

At the playful lilt in his voice, Yun-seo's eyes dropped to the phone. The screen trembled in her grip, but the footage captured everything, start to finish, in perfect clarity. It was flawless evidence, ready to be handed straight to the police.

Had he taken those hits on purpose? Yun-seo nodded quickly, and San flashed a satisfied smile as he brushed the dirt from his trousers. Then he strode over and plucked the phone straight from her frozen fingers.

Beep. The mechanical tone announcing the end of the recording chimed in her ear.

"Let's stop filming here, then."

The phone, screen now dark, returned to Yun-seo's hand.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

Maybe he had let himself be hit on purpose just now, but that didn't change the fact that the other side had plenty of men. They were hopelessly outnumbered. Yun-seo clutched at his wrist in alarm.

"You're not thinking of stepping in, are you? San, you're a patient right now! Those men are really dangerous—"

A large hand settled over the back of her trembling one.

"I don't do embarrassing things."

"Still……"

San patted her blanched knuckles gently, then turned toward the hired thugs.

"Just one question."

Scratching his temple, San looked the men over slowly.

"Sure, ask away. What is it?"

"Just now — were you actually trying to hit our Dr. Ko Yun-seo?"

Our Dr. Ko Yun-seo, was it. The thugs exchanged glances and snickered among themselves, but their expressions soon hardened into menace as they closed in.

"The hell do you think? You think she's a kid we need to coddle? If that bitch had done what she was told when she was asked nicely, I wouldn't have raised a hand."

Ha. San let out a long breath. He massaged the space between his brows as if deep in thought, then rolled up his shirt sleeves in smooth strokes. When he turned back to Yun-seo, his face was calm and dry.

"Dr. Ko. What am I about to do?"

"What are you……?"

"You mustn't be afraid of me."

"Sorry?"

"I'm going to chase them off for you. So even if you're scared, you can't go chasing me off too, all right?"

The corners of his mouth curved up softly, almost sly. His easygoing manner made her own worry melt away as if it had never been there. Yun-seo found herself nodding slowly, as if under a spell.

"Ha! You've got to be kidding me."

Just then, the man who had shoved the papers in her face came sauntering over with a swagger.

"Don't make a fool of yourself flexing on people. Just lie low and head home quietly. Guess that hit hurt less than you let on, huh?"

"Judging by that sharp tongue, you must be scared out of your mind."

"Look at him, playing the white knight just because there's a woman watching. I can't stand that act. Come on, boys. Put him on his knees."

The fear came flooding back in a cold wave.

But from everything she'd observed, San was not a man who would stop just because she asked. He was the type to thrash twice as hard if she did. If that was the case, it was better to be on the helping side.

Yun-seo glanced around and grabbed a plastic broom, ready to swing it at the first head that came within range — when Grandma Pilsun seized her by the wrist.

"Yun-seo, child, there's no call for you to step in."

"I'm sorry?"

Following the old woman's gaze, Yun-seo turned to see San casually shrugging off the rushing thugs. With every savage crack of impact, the situation was being swept clean.

This was no longer something she needed to worry about on San's behalf.

Keep this up and something truly terrible is going to happen. Yun-seo called out to him urgently.

"S-San! Wait, stop!"

At her half-scream, the grip San had on the man's hair slackened. The man, barely freed from that iron hold, crawled limply across the ground, his face a mask of blood.

"What is it? Done already?"

San raised an eyebrow. His face was guileless — the look of a man who would dust off his hands and walk away the moment she asked him to stop.

"Well, it's just……"

Yun-seo looked back and forth between the thugs sprawled on the ground and San. The people she had always thought of as a force closer and more threatening than the law itself now lay wretchedly rolling at her feet.

At the surreal sight, a strange sense of liberation rose from somewhere deep in her chest.

She hadn't known it could feel this steadying to have someone standing beside her in the place where she'd always had to grit her teeth and endure alone. A hope she hadn't sanctioned suddenly lifted its head — the wish that San would grind these monstrous men so far into the dirt they'd never dare come near this place again.

"Anything my doctor says, I'll do."

There was even a thread of dangerous impulse in that low voice. An utterly delicious impulse — the urge to tell him to go ahead and teach them a lesson they'd never forget.

"What should I do?"

But San was a man who would leave this place one day. Once he was gone, there was no telling how those vengeful thugs might retaliate.

Thinking of the cleanup and the cold reality, stopping here was the right call. Just as Yun-seo was forcing her reason back into place, her lips wavering—

"Stop, my foot! Don't you dare hold him back, Yun-seo! He's stirring up a whole pot of trouble, and I feel like a ten-year-old knot in my chest just came undone! Aigoo, this is the best I've felt in years!"

The villagers' pent-up shouting blew the tangle of thoughts right out of Yun-seo's head.

"That's right! Flatten every last one of them!"

Fine — revenge and consequences can wait.

This was truly the wrong thing for a doctor to do, but…… Yun-seo lowered her hand stealthily and spoke in a voice that crept along the ground.

"No…… don't stop them from walking. Just make sure they never come back — a light touch, a very, very light touch, should do it."

At her words, the man in San's grasp stiffened visibly. San wore the face of a man utterly delighted by her answer, grinning slyly.

"Ah, well, that's a tall order. But since my doctor asked so nicely, I'll give it my best shot."

"Ugh, I'm dying."

San flopped down flat in the middle of the community hall's yard. He'd looked perfectly fine mere minutes ago, but the instant the thugs turned tail and fled, he'd started groaning like he'd been waiting for his cue. Suspicious, to say the least.

"Um…… are you all right?"

Yun-seo came over and crouched down beside him.

It seemed like an act, but she couldn't quite stop worrying. He was still a patient with bandages not yet removed, and however painless the beating might have been, the fact remained that he'd pushed himself hard.

As she looked down at his face, eyes quietly closed, her gaze wavered with mixed feelings.

So he really was a gangster after all? Judging by how well he knew the relevant laws, he seemed to have done this kind of work before. Maybe it was knowledge he'd picked up without realizing it, now surfacing……

A frightening man, certainly — but she found she wasn't afraid of him anymore, not the way she had been at first. Without noticing, she had let her guard down completely.

This is dangerous.

As she heaved a sigh and let her eyes travel over every inch of him, he slid one eyelid open.

"You can't send me away."

His black eyes met hers head-on, and her breath caught. Yun-seo sneaked her gaze aside and gathered herself.

"……Thank you. Thanks to you, the elders say their chests feel ten years lighter. They're thrilled."

"Glad to hear it. And you, Doctor?"

"Sorry?"

"Did the doctor's chest feel ten years lighter too?"

At the unexpected question, Yun-seo pressed her lips tight.

The truth was, her chest felt lighter than light — a decade-old knot unraveling — but as a doctor, she had all but condoned and egged on her patient's violence, and she couldn't bring herself to admit it. She hurried to change the subject.

"If it weren't for you, San, I might have stamped those papers by now. I'm truly grateful."

"Are you? That's a relief."

At her thanks, the corner of San's mouth curled up happily. Something about his beaming grin made her feel oddly itchy, and Yun-seo coughed into her hand yet again for no reason.

"You should get up too, San. Let's go to the health post so I can check you over properly for any injuries."

Yun-seo rose first, brushing off her trousers. But San stayed exactly where he was, backside planted in the dirt, just staring up at her blankly.

Am I supposed to help him up? She was still debating whether to offer her hand when—

"Ah, everything's stiff and aching all over. I can't get up."

With a groan, San flopped right back down against the ground.

"Where?"

"Here, and here, and here. Oh — here too."

He rubbed at every corner of his body with a pained frown.

He looks fine from the outside, though…… Yun-seo crouched back down and examined the spots he'd pointed to with grave seriousness. It was only when she caught the faint twitch at the corners of his mouth that she realized he was teasing.

How can you joke around like this? Annoyed, Yun-seo deliberately pressed down hard near his shoulder.

"Here?"

"Ow, ow — that really hurts."

San kept up the act with a face that betrayed no pain whatsoever. As Yun-seo blinked at him in disbelief, he narrowed his eyes at her, mischievous, and asked:

"So — no injuries I should know about. Nothing you owe me, then?"

"……Is there something you want?"

"There is."

"What is it?"

She swallowed dryly, not knowing what he might demand, and he opened his mouth as if he'd only been waiting for the cue.

"Dr. Ko Yun-seo's attention?"