Goddess of Fortune
Three hours ago.
She had intended to stay busy with her usual work and wait calmly while the transplant surgery was in progress, but the surgical residents kept making ominous remarks, making that impossible.
“This surgery has the highest chance of being the first table death since Professor Choi Tae-hyuk came to this hospital.”
“Ugh! Poor baby.”
Bang!
She slammed her medical textbook onto the table, and only then did the room go quiet.
Na-young glared at Nam Ho-jin and Kim Young-mi with cold eyes, clearly angry.
“Is it appropriate for doctors to talk about a patient dying while they’re on the operating table?”
Instead of feeling embarrassed, Nam Ho-jin looked baffled and even criticized her.
“Why are you suddenly taking the snake’s side? Did the snake treat you especially well or something?”
Na-young didn’t want to waste time arguing with Nam Ho-jin, so she left the department office.
Although she was still anxious with the surgery not yet over, she decided it would be better to prepare to celebrate Professor Choi Tae-hyuk after the surgery, rather than sitting around worrying.
She was certain he would successfully complete the operation.
Na-young grabbed her wallet and left the hospital.
Walking through the city streets lined with streetlights, she recalled everything that had happened.
It felt like just yesterday that she first saw Professor Choi Tae-hyuk at the hospital and thought he was a disaster, but now she had become accustomed to his presence there.
In fact, if he were to disappear from this hospital, she would feel a deep emptiness.
When Tae-hyuk stepped out onto the rooftop and saw the cake with candles and champagne, he stopped in his tracks.
Na-young clapped her hands in greeting.
His presence on the rooftop meant the surgery had been safely completed.
“Come blow out the candles.”
“It’s not my birthday, so why?”
“To celebrate the successful surgery.”
Tae-hyuk tilted his head and chuckled, amused.
“How many successful surgeries have I done so far? Celebrating this one alone seems silly.”
“This was the first surgery you tried to avoid by running away.”
Tae-hyuk grimaced as if hit in the chest and clutched his heart.
“Come on.”
Na-young brought the cake close to his face and urged him, so he had no choice but to blow out the candles.
Satisfied, Na-young spoke again.
“I thought you probably didn’t eat properly today, so I prepared some food. Eat.”
Along with the cake and champagne, she had prepared a proper meal.
Tae-hyuk merely looked at the sushi and sandwiches without touching them. Na-young asked, curious,
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“What I really want to eat right now is instant cup noodles.”
Na-young was dumbfounded. After thinking carefully and bringing all this food, he only wanted cup noodles?
“Just eat the sushi.”
“Wouldn’t it taste better with the cup noodles?”
Na-young gave him a look that said she wanted to smack him, then reached under the chair and pulled out a convenience store bag with cup noodles.
She had bought them as a backup, knowing he would eat a lot.
And yet, it ended up being the main attraction.
As soon as Professor Choi Tae-hyuk saw the cup noodles, his expression looked as if he had everything in the world.
“They say married couples are one in heart.”
“Stop saying weird things!”
She didn’t want to hear something like that over just a cup of noodles.
He tore open the cup noodle package and poured in the soup powder.
Watching him like a spectator, Na-young asked,
“Why do you want cup noodles the most?”
After starving for so long, it made sense to eat something proper.
Professor Choi Tae-hyuk poured the hot water she had brought in a tumbler into the cup noodles and answered simply,
“This was the first thing that came to mind when I came up to the rooftop. Eating cup noodles with you here on the rooftop.”
In truth, when she came up to the rooftop again, that day naturally came to mind for her as well.
“It was so delicious back then.”
Na-young remembered feeling frustrated at the time, as if she kept getting pulled along with him against her will.
Tae-hyuk opened the lid before three minutes had passed and began eating.
The way he devoured the cup noodles in just three spoonfuls made him look more like a competitive eater than a surgeon.
He continued eating until none of the food she had brought was left.
Seeing her not eat, Tae-hyuk asked,
“Have you already had dinner?”
She had actually bought plenty to eat together, but he ate so well that watching him was more entertaining.
Na-young nodded, saying she had already eaten.
Just watching him eat made her feel full.
Professor Choi Tae-hyuk finished the champagne in one shot.
Only then did he speak, looking satisfied.
“Now I can live a bit.”
Seeing him relaxed, Na-young also felt at ease.
“You really worked hard today.”
Those few words felt sweet at the end of a long day.
Professor Choi Tae-hyuk glanced back at her and said lightly,
“Do you know what I said to that baby before I started the surgery?”
Na-young answered without much thought,
“That you’d make sure the surgery was a success?”
Tae-hyuk shook his head.
Na-young frowned, confused.
“Then what did you say?”
Leaning toward her, he whispered quietly into her ear.
No one else was listening anyway.
“After the surgery, I have to go to the beach with Moon Na-young, so you must stay healthy.”
Na-young let out a short laugh.
“You worked hard thinking about going on a trip?”
“No.”
He gave her a look that said, why can’t you understand anything?
“From now on, you’re my goddess of fortune.”
Na-young stared at his face, unsure of the weight behind his words.
“Is that important?”
He took her pale hand and squeezed it tightly.
“Yes. From now on, if you’re not there, my surgeries lose their luck. So you absolutely have to stay by my side.”
Her hand throbbed under his grip—no, it was her heart that throbbed.
Director Cha-hyun had said that they met for a reason.
Na-young wanted to believe that too.
They weren’t just a fleeting encounter—they were destined to be together.
Professor Choi Tae-hyuk looked at her with a serious expression.
“In that spirit, I prepared something today as well.”
Prepared?
Curious, Na-young watched as Professor Choi Tae-hyuk reached into his gown pocket and scattered red rose petals high into the air.
More petals.
Before, it had been cherry blossoms; today, it was roses.
Na-young stared blankly as the red rose petals drifted over her.
It had been a long time since cherry blossoms had fallen; she never imagined she’d see this again.
“Actually, I got a little delayed buying these.”
Na-young laughed.
He had just finished a grueling surgery, was starving, and yet went out to buy flowers.
From her perspective, he was insane.
Above her smiling face, he scattered the last remaining red rose petal.
“My goddess of fortune deserves this treatment.”
Offering flowers to the goddess was proper etiquette for a devoted believer.
Na-young’s cheeks turned as red as the roses he bought, from laughing.
This man was driving her crazy.
Clatter.
At that moment, the rooftop door opened, and both Tae-hyuk and Na-young flinched.
Quick-thinking Tae-hyuk grabbed Na-young’s hand first and quickly ducked behind the ventilation shaft.
As they hid, three male doctors in white coats came onto the rooftop.
“What’s this? Were they having a birthday party here or something?”
The only food left by Tae-hyuk was the cake.
“Wow. Champagne and roses too. Lucky someone. Flirting at the hospital, huh?”
Hearing this behind the vent shaft, Na-young’s face turned pale.
She shuddered imagining what would happen if they were caught here.
Unable to move, Tae-hyuk gently lifted her chin and showed her the message on his phone.
<Should I go out and scold them?>
Na-young shook her head vigorously, signaling absolutely not.
Tae-hyuk clicked his tongue.
He wasn’t scared of the three men at all, but had to hide because of Na-young.
Then one of the three men showed unnecessary sharp intuition.
“Could it be they’re hiding somewhere else because we came?”
“Hah. So they’re still on the rooftop?”
Na-young buried her face in Tae-hyuk’s chest.
Her heart was pounding unbearably, and she instinctively hid in the safest place.
Tae-hyuk held her small body protectively with one hand and grabbed a small rock nearby, throwing it forcefully in the opposite direction.
Clack.
Hearing the sound, the three men immediately turned their attention.
“They must be over there.”
“Let’s check. Who could it be?”
“I think it’s definitely a doctor and a nurse.”
As they moved in that direction, Tae-hyuk pulled Na-young along.
“We need to leave now.”
Na-young shook her head, afraid that moving would get them caught.
Unlike her, Tae-hyuk was decisive, and he immediately scooped her up in his arms and charged toward the rooftop door.
Na-young clenched her eyes shut and bit her lips, fearing she would scream.
As soon as Tae-hyuk pushed her out the rooftop door, one of the three men returning from the opposite side spotted him.
“Oh? Professor Choi?”
Tae-hyuk immediately turned, blocking the rooftop entrance with his body, and glared at the resident.
“Were you having a party here? Do you think this is a school?”
Without a single flicker of his eyebrows, he pinned all the blame on the three residents.
The three resident doctors, scolded by the sudden appearance of the snake, desperately tried to defend themselves.
They really hadn’t been having a party.
“No! We didn’t do that! Someone else did!”
“Who else is here besides you guys?”
“Really, it’s not us. We just came up to the rooftop for a smoke.”
“Stop making excuses and clean this up immediately!”
Although the three residents felt deeply wronged, they had no choice but to obey, tidying up the leftover food packaging and rose petals.
Satisfied with successfully pinning the blame on the residents, Tae-hyuk turned toward the entrance—but Na-young was nowhere to be seen.
She must have run off alone, “save yourself” style.
The goddess of fortune was truly selfish.
Tae-hyuk pulled out his phone, took a picture of a rose petal that had fallen on the ground, and sent it to Na-young along with a message.
<What are you going to do with my heart that you abandoned?>
