Chapter 2
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’ve decided to leave home for a little while. I’m going to Africa, to the red desert, camels, and oases. I’ll come back having learned and grown a lot. I love you.
– Your youngest daughter ♥ Yeonwoo
Yeonwoo left for Africa with nothing but that simple note.
It sounded more like she was going on a vacation, written so lightly. But according to Saekwon, their father was on the verge of passing out from shock after finding out about her so-called runaway. Their mother clutched her head and lay down, overwhelmed.
Her older brothers, Ilkwon and Igwon, dropped everything they were doing and caused a huge scene, swearing they’d go drag their runaway little sister back home.
It was Saekwon who calmed their frantic family with his slick tongue.
That’s also why Yeonwoo agreed to that annoying request from him.
Anyway, putting aside the hidden hardships of being the youngest and only daughter in a family of three sons, the reason Yeonwoo left for overseas volunteer work was simple.
To find her original purpose.
She had spent the past three years training as a surgical resident to become a great surgeon. But when the time came to choose a specialty, she started doubting whether she was on the right path.
The gap between her ideals and reality had grown too wide.
And she had become too disillusioned with people to continue practicing medicine in that environment.
Yeonwoo had become a doctor with the intent of helping the marginalized and suffering. To return to that original resolve, she decided to leave.
So, together with her friend Seyoung, she gathered her courage and arrived in Sutan, Africa.
They weren’t sure if they’d get what they were looking for, but at least they had safely arrived at their mission site.
Boom! Rumble-rumble—BOOM!
Again.
The ground trembled as if it might collapse at any moment.
This time, the bombing must have landed closer to the hospital—its force felt stronger.
“Are we seriously gonna die here or what?”
Seyoung came running out of the building with a terrified expression.
“If we’re gonna die, we can worry about that later. Let’s treat the patients first.”
Patients brought in by van or pickup truck were waiting under a tent on one side of the hospital courtyard.
There were so many injured that they had to set up a makeshift emergency room outside the building.
Team leader Lucy and the other staff members sorted the patients who needed immediate surgery and moved them to the OR, while Yeonwoo and Seyoung handled the rest with minor injuries.
They weren’t just disinfecting wounds and applying gauze. They also did minor sutures on the spot.
Fortunately, Yeonwoo spoke English well enough to communicate without a local coordinator.
“What kind of luxury was I hoping for… I must’ve fallen for Satan’s temptations.”
“Satan” referred to none other than Yeonwoo.
As Seyoung muttered complaints under her breath, Yeonwoo focused on a young patient with a wound on his arm.
The boy had been playing in the front yard when a flying piece of shrapnel from a mortar grazed his arm.
He was lucky.
It only sliced the surface of his skin. Any deeper, and he might’ve lost the whole arm.
BOOM!
“Ugh, not this crap again.”
Startled by another explosion, Seyoung grumbled while treating a different patient. A child lying down nearby blinked his big, calf-like eyes and burst into laughter.
“Jee-ral? Keke.”
The boy didn’t understand Korean, but just from her tone and expression, he sensed the vibe and giggled brightly.
“I’m going to numb it and stitch you up. You can handle a little pain, right?”
“Yes!”
“I’ll try to make it hurt as little as possible.”
Yeonwoo began the treatment with practiced skill.
She carefully stitched the wound one thread at a time, making sure it wouldn’t reopen, and then cut the thread to finish.
Just as she was wrapping up, a tall shadow fell over her.
Thinking it was a nurse come to assist, Yeonwoo looked up with a bright expression—only for her eyes to go wide.
…Who is this?
It was a man she’d never seen before.
Wearing black sunglasses that covered half his face, he was tall enough that she had to crane her neck to see him properly.
Dressed entirely in black, he gave off such an intimidating vibe he might’ve been mistaken for a terrorist.
If this were a movie theater in Daehak-ro, Korea, Yeonwoo would’ve assumed he was a celebrity. But here, in a place where mortars could fall any second, that kind of appearance was suspicious at best.
She straightened up, cautiously alert.
Even so, she didn’t reach his shoulder in height. Still, she looked up at him with as much confidence as she could muster.
Truthfully, she was a little scared.
The man slowly took off his sunglasses, revealing his full face.
The sunlight streaming into the tent seemed dull compared to the presence he exuded. Yeonwoo’s lips parted slightly in surprise.
His close-cropped hair emphasized his sharp, symmetrical features.
He had what could only be described as a perfectly sculpted face.
Looking down at her with a faint smile on his well-shaped lips, he—undoubtedly—was Korean.
“…Wh-Who are you?”
Maybe that’s why.
Yeonwoo unconsciously asked the question in Korean.
“Princess?”
With a frown between his dark brows, the man uttered a word she never expected.
Yeonwoo doubted her ears.
The only people who dared call her “princess” at her age were her parents and brothers—and it was always embarrassing.
Yet this stranger called her that.
This was a big deal.
Just like Yeonwoo, the man seemed equally surprised to be meeting her. He let out a quiet, incredulous laugh.
“Gon-joo? Guh, gon-joo?”
The boy being treated repeated the unfamiliar Korean word.
“Teacher, gon-joo?”
“No, no, that’s not it.”
Absolutely not.
After calming the boy’s curiosity, Yeonwoo turned back to the man.
But seriously—who is he?
I would definitely remember someone this handsome…
“You really are the princess,” he murmured like talking to himself, the corners of his mouth lifting again.
Yeonwoo, who never dreamed of being called “princess” in Africa of all places, looked at him in genuine confusion.
“Do you… know me?”
“Not very well. Just your name, maybe?”
That didn’t sound right. Not at all.
As Yeonwoo squinted suspiciously, he jerked his chin toward the boy’s stitched arm.
“If you stitch that tightly, it’ll cause problems later. Is this your first time suturing?”
“Ah…”
On top of calling her “princess,” now he was condescending?
This guy—sculpted by the gods themselves—had the audacity to be smug?
Something about him was seriously off. Yeonwoo’s guard went up again.
“Doctor Beom!”
From a distance, the coordinator came running toward the man.
Doctor Beom?
Even while staying cautious, Yeonwoo perked up her ears.
“Doctor, you’ve arrived! I should have come to meet you.”
So this man was part of the medical staff for this mission.
Maybe he was the surgeon sent to replace Lucy, who was returning to Korea next week?
“No worries. I know this area well, and it’s been a while—I’m glad to be back.”
His smooth English pronunciation was practically ear candy.
Yeonwoo rolled her eyes thoughtfully as she studied him.
Height: about 187 cm. Weight: roughly 82 kg.
With three older brothers, she could eyeball a man’s stats pretty accurately.
And that face…
Long, almond-shaped eyes with a single eyelid on one side and a faint double on the other. A sharp nose. Well-defined lips. A clean-cut jawline.
In short, a face good enough to conquer the world.
But how does this guy know me…?
“Let’s save staff introductions for later. For now, why don’t I give you a quick tour of the hospital?”
No, please introduce him now.
Yeonwoo glanced back and forth between the coordinator and the man, biting her tongue.
“Sure,” he replied coolly.
The man—oozing with the air of someone who knew all her secrets—walked off with the coordinator.
“Holy crap, who was that?”
Seyoung, who had been pretending not to watch, rushed over excitedly the moment he left.
“I don’t know either.”
“Think hard. He knew you’re a princess.”
