The storm outside had eased into a quiet drizzle, the kind that made the world seem slower. But inside Daehan General Hospital, Dr. Seo Ra-hee's pulse hadn't calmed.
It had been three hours since the surgery. Three hours since he looked into her eyes and told her she shouldn't have saved him.
Most patients woke up with confusion. Fear. Gratitude. But he had awakened with regret.
Ra-hee stood outside Room 5 with a clipboard clutched to her chest, her eyes fixed on the man lying behind the glass. Machines beeped steadily beside him, each one monitoring a life that wasn't hers to understand.
The man had no listed identity. No visitors. No records in the system. Even the police, when called, told the hospital to "stand by" and not interfere. It was as if the system had already been warned to stay silent.
She stepped inside.
The scent of antiseptic filled the room, but it couldn't mask the raw scent of something more primal: blood, leather, and danger. His jacket had been removed during surgery, and now he lay bare-chested beneath the hospital sheets, revealing the full extent of his tattoos—dragons curling up his ribs, inked thorns on his wrists, and something like scripture down his spine.
Ra-hee swallowed.
Who are you?
As if in answer, his fingers twitched.
Then, slowly—his eyes opened.
Those same dark, heavy eyes found hers again. This time, sharper. Clearer.
"You again," he rasped.
Ra-hee nodded. "You survived. Barely."
He stared at the ceiling for a moment, as if checking whether he was alive. "You should've let me die."
"I'm a doctor," she said calmly. "That's not my choice to make."
He turned his head slightly, his voice lower, almost accusing. "Do you know what you've done?"
"You were bleeding to death. I did what I was trained to do. I don't ask questions—I save lives."
His lips curved into a dry, ironic smile. "Even when that life is meant to take others?"
Ra-hee froze.
There was no denial in his voice. No attempt to pretend. He knew what he was. And now—so did she.
"…What's your name?" she asked softly.
He looked at her then—not just with his eyes, but with his silence. It was the kind of look that warned you that names were bullets, and that knowing them made you a target.
Finally, he said, "Tae-hyun."
No surname. No origin. Just a name that fell like a stone into still water.
"I'll call you Mr. Kim for now," she said, trying to find her footing.
He almost laughed. "You think giving me a fake surname will protect you?"
She crossed her arms, suddenly defensive. "Protect me from what, exactly? You're in my hospital. In my care. You can barely sit up."
His voice dropped lower. "Which means I'm vulnerable. And when men like me are vulnerable… enemies come to collect."
There was a long silence.
"You're afraid someone will come here?" she asked.
"I'm not afraid," he said flatly. "But you should be."
Outside the Room
Ra-hee walked back to the nurse's station, her heart still pounding.
She'd had patients from all walks of life—gang members, addicts, corporate executives, homeless war veterans. But none of them ever unsettled her like this man.
There was something in his gaze. Not just violence—but pain. Old pain. Deep pain. The kind that leaves scars on the soul.
Nurse Jiyoon approached her with a hushed tone. "Dr. Seo… there's a car parked across the street. It's been there since your gunshot patient arrived."
Ra-hee turned to the window.
A black SUV. Tinted windows. Engine off.
Watching.
She clenched her jaw. "Notify security. No one enters unless cleared."
Later That Night
Ra-hee sat in the hospital cafeteria, barely touching her food. She opened her phone and searched the name: Tae-hyun. Nothing. Too common.
She tried searching keywords: dragon tattoo, Korean mafia, Han River shooting. Still nothing.
Then something caught her eye—an old article.
"Jang Tae-hyun, alleged leader of the Baekho Syndicate, presumed dead after a warehouse explosion five years ago."
She stared at the photo. It was grainy, but the face was unmistakable.
Her patient wasn't just any gangster.
He was Jang Tae-hyun, one of Korea's most feared mafia bosses—thought to be dead.
And now, he was alive. In her hospital. Under her care.
And someone out there knew it.
Ra-hee's breath caught in her throat.
She was no longer just his doctor.
She was now part of a secret too dangerous to be forgotten.
To Be Continued...