Bruises mottled Seo Tae-joon’s body. As Ji-woo cut away his blood-drenched clothes with a pair of scissors, a constellation of angry, bluish contusions was revealed across his upper body.
A beast weighing over five hundred kilograms had thrown its full weight against him; the impact was akin to being struck by a car. The ligaments in the wrist he’d used to brace the stake against the boar’s neck were severely damaged.
The doctor, who had rushed to the emergency room after her call, looked surprised when he saw Seo Tae-joon. For a man who had just battled a wild boar, his injuries were remarkably light.
“I’ll stop by the house in a little while,” the doctor said, departing with an aluminum tray of used supplies after administering first aid.
Thanks to him, they had bypassed the reception desk and its tedious paperwork. Ji-woo had driven straight to the emergency entrance without a second thought, and in her panic, she might have been stuck, unable to even fill out the line for her husband's resident registration number.
“Ji-woo.”
The privacy curtain swished shut, leaving them alone. Exhausted, Ji-woo sank onto the edge of the bed.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Seo Tae-joon began. “Who is he?”
“...Who?”
“That man.” He gave a careless nod toward the spot where the doctor had been sitting.
“The doctor?”
“Yes.”
Seo Tae-joon’s gaze was intense. With his torso wrapped in white bandages and his face streaked with dried blood, he looked like a gangster fresh from a brawl.
“What about him? He’s just a doctor,” Ji-woo said, tilting her head in confusion.
“Hm.” His cold glare seemed to bore into her, searching for the truth. The way he stared, unblinking, was enough to raise the hair on her arms. A flicker of fear made Ji-woo defensive, like a wife scrambling for an excuse.
“He’s your doctor, Seo Tae-joon.”
His silence prompted her to continue.
“He was your primary physician when you were in a vegetative state. You must have seen him, coming and going between the house and the hospital. That’s because he’s your doctor—”
“Are we that rich?” he cut in sharply. “To hire a personal doctor who comes running with a single phone call?”
“Uh…” Her heart hammered against her ribs. She couldn’t discern the intention behind his question, but the slight arch of his eyebrow set her on edge.
Her own guilt was making her paranoid. If she gave the wrong answer now, he might start to question everything, and all her lies would unravel.
“Y-your family! I mean, your older brother provided full support!” she said in a rush. “He’s a good doctor, I’m telling you, so don’t worry. Your family wouldn’t have sent someone unqualified. He worked so hard for you, day and night.”
“Day and night?”
“Yes!”
“Did this man come and go from our house while you were there alone?”
Suddenly, Seo Tae-joon leaned in, bringing his face close to hers.
“W-what?”
“Did he?” he repeated, his voice a cold, pressing weight.
“Yes…? That’s the benefit of having a personal doctor.” As Ji-woo instinctively pulled back, she saw a flicker in his dark brown, tree-bark eyes. She held his gaze, determined not to miss the slightest shift in his expression.
“So, that guy is the first person you think of in a situation like this?” Seo Tae-joon’s hand moved slowly, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
“It’s because you were hurt, and he’s your doctor—”
“What did he do, day and night?”
“Uh… Treatments?”
“Who treated who? And how?” He grabbed the collar of his t-shirt, using it to wipe his chin. He clenched his jaw so tightly that the sound of his teeth grinding reached her ears. Only then did she sense how warped his line of questioning had become.
“Are we even talking about the same thing? I don’t understand what you’re implying.”
He turned his head away, staring sullenly at the wall.
“Do you want me to call the doctor back? I think the fight might have rattled your head more than we thought.” Ji-woo leaned forward, tilting her head to get a better look at his face.
Seo Tae-joon let out a short, sharp sigh. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, closing his eyes for a moment. “For being oversensitive.”
With the bloodstains streaking his skin, he looked less like a patient and more like an actor in his dressing room, the stage makeup of a brutal fight still clinging to his features. “You seemed to rely on that doctor,” he continued. “And it was right after talking to him that you suddenly wanted to be alone.”
“…” Ji-woo fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, avoiding his penetrating gaze.
“The thought of him coming and going from our house while I was lying there like a useless invalid…” He grimaced. “I couldn’t control my anger.”
He pressed his fingers to his temples and exhaled a long, slow breath.
Ji-woo lowered her head. She could understand, to a degree, why his memory loss might make him paranoid. But for some reason, his suspicions always seemed to run wild when it came to people connected to her.
Is this really just because of the syndrome?
“The one who caught the boar, are you here?” The curtain was abruptly pulled aside, and a clear, firm voice, like a news announcer’s, cut through the quiet.
Seeing Seo Tae-joon, a woman broke into a wide smile, revealing a charming snaggletooth. “Ah, there he is.” She wore a large jacket bearing the logo of the Wildlife Rescue Center. She was tall and freckled, her face bare of makeup.
“Hello,” she said, bowing to them both. “We’ve just finished clearing the boar’s carcass. We’ve also run an ASF virus test, just in case.”
Behind her, several men in matching jackets hovered, peering at Seo Tae-joon with undisguised curiosity in their eyes.
“Thank you so much for catching—I mean, for reporting it. We were under a lot of pressure from the authorities. He was notorious, a man-eater who had already attacked and killed people.” There was an excited tremor in her voice. “This boar was much larger than average, so we’d even put together a special hunting team. I guess we won’t be needing it.”
She scratched her head, smiling sheepishly. “Besides, I’ve never seen a boar taken down with a torn carotid artery before.” The woman looked at Seo Tae-joon, her eyes twinkling with admiration. A blush bloomed on her cheeks like ripe apples as her smile broadened. “With an axe and a stake, right?”
Her voice trembled with an excitement that neither of them mirrored.
Seo Tae-joon simply closed his eyes, feigning exhaustion. Unable to bear the awkward silence, Ji-woo answered for him.
“Yes.”
“Ah, forgive my rudeness. My name is Joo Dong-mi. I work for the mammal team at the rescue center.”
A sudden wolf-whistle cut through the air from behind her. The men in matching jackets had their fingers in their mouths, cheering. Joo Dong-mi’s face instantly turned beet red as she shouted, “Please give me your phone number!”
The abrupt demand made Ji-woo flinch.
In that same instant, Seo Tae-joon’s hand shot out, his fingers wrapping around her wrist and pulling her closer.