"Defective inventory? Ouch. That cuts deep, Chief Surgeon," Ra-ik replied, leaning his head back against the pillow with a lazy, provoking smile. "But coming from a woman who could buy out this entire hospital ward just to fire a nurse who looked at her sideways, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Don't you dare! There is something called discipline and decorum in such a specialized department, there is no space for careless errors, if only your own professionalism was solid enough would you have understood this" Se-na said, her voice echoing off the glass.
As do ra-ik was about to say something, she got more agitated, and started again, "You ruined my surgical privileges, cost me fifty million won, and turned my immaculate department into a chaotic circus!"
"And yet, your life was profoundly boring before I an unprofessional liability landed in your ER," Ra-ik teased softly, his dark eyes gleaming in the shadow. "Admit it, Dr. Maeng. You love having someone who doesn't tremble when you open your mouth."
"Boring?!" Se-na's eyes widened in sheer, incredulous fury. "My life was peaceful, prestigious, and completely free of an ungrateful, theatrical maniac who refuses his medication!"
For those chaotic minutes, the sterile VIP room turned into a full-blown verbal arena. They openly sparred back and forth, hurling sharp insults and cheeky retorts without restraint. Bizarrely, under the surface of the petty argument in whispers, both of them were actually enjoying it. For Se-na, it helped blew off the suffocating pressure built up inside her; for Ra-ik, seeing her abandon her stiff clinical facade brought a genuine, roaring pulse of life back into his quiet world.
Then, right in the middle of their chaotic sparring match, Ra-ik's expression softened. The teasing spark in his eyes gave way to a deep, weary earnestness.
"Dr. Maeng... jokes aside," Ra-ik rasped softly, his gravelly voice dropping all arrogance. "I really respect you. And... well, I don't know what took over me that I got to the verge of this bad decision... I seriously want to know. How do you know so much?"
Se-na's sharp defense mechanism flared instantly. "I told you, Do Ra-ik-shi, it is nothing more than standard medical deduction..."
"Look..." Ra-ik cut in, his voice cracking with an almost pleading desperation. "I know I am not talking sane. I know even I am feeling strange. Previously... I was entirely disrespectful to you, going directly to your house. I sincerely and greatly apologize to you."
Se-na froze, caught off guard by the raw, humble sincerity in his eyes.
"But I seriously want to know..." Ra-ik pressed, his chest rising and falling heavily. "Even right now... you were talking about me as if you know me like the back of your hand. I am so confused. Is this a hallucination? Have I got something wrong in my head? Or am I on the verge of another death?"
He ran a weary hand over his face, shaking his head. "I am racking my brain... What brought me back to life? Why did I keep living the same loop in my head, but still didn't feel like it was just me? If I say it was a dream, then it surely explains... but then how do you know so much? It's not normal, Dr. Maeng. Strangers don't talk like this..."
Se-na stood paralyzed under the weight of his words. Being a top-tier expert who lived by medical science, logic, and clinical evidence, the reality of what happened was scientifically impossible. Experiencing another person's memories? Sharing a soul during clinical death? It sounded like unhinged insanity. She couldn't accept it herself, let alone explain it to him while still trapped in the lingering trance of his trauma.
As her lips parted, her eyes narrowing as she prepared to unleash another wave of ruthless, defensive insults to shut him down...
Ra-ik suddenly lifted both hands and jammed his index fingers directly into his ears!
"Ok! Don't say!" Ra-ik shouted loudly over her, closing his eyes tightly and shaking his head back and forth like a rebellious five-year-old child on a playground. "I know you will say more insults! My ears will bleed at this point! Blah, blah, blah... I'm not listening! Stop talking! I can't hear you!"
Se-na's sharp, lethal tirade ground to an abrupt, violent halt.
She stood completely paralyzed, her mouth slightly open, her chest heaving as she stared at a six-foot-tall former senior surgeon sitting half-up in a VIP bed with his fingers shoved into his ears.
Silence descended on the room once more.
When the stream of merciless insults unexpectedly failed to materialize, Ra-ik slowly cracked one eye open. Seeing that her lips were no longer moving, he opened both eyes, pulled his fingers out of his ears with a satisfying pop, and looked up at her with an innocent, wide-eyed expression.
"What?" Ra-ik asked simply.
Se-na kept staring at him, her eyes squinted into skeptical slits of sheer annoyance.
"What????" Ra-ik repeated, tilting his head slightly, a subtle confused expression on his face.
As she looked at him sitting there with that ridiculous, disarmed posture, something quiet shifted inside her. In the thirty-five years of his life that she had inhabited during that harrowing night...among all his dark, terrifying memories of beatings, cold hospital corridors, and silent isolation...she had never seen him like this. In all those memories, Do Ra-ik had never been allowed to be disarmed, silly, or easygoing for even a single second.
She closed her eyes and let out a long, heavy, utterly defeated sigh. That sudden realization had melted the last of her aggressive defense mechanisms.
She reached over, grabbed a rolling metal stool from beside the telemetry monitor, dragged it across the floor with a harsh, screeching scrape, and sat down directly in front of him.
"Ask whatever you want to ask," Se-na said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest.
Do ra-ik looked at her with an unreadable shocked expression. And then as if he realized what she was saying, he took a deep breath and moving a little forward, he started.
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