HIS MAN, Part One: The Professor’s Favorit

Chapter five

Episode 5:

The Morning After

Morning arrived quietly, the kind that didn’t announce itself—just slipped through the blinds and settled over Ward 12.

Hyun-woo stirred before he fully woke, his head heavy, thoughts scattered like broken glass. The beeping monitor beside him was the first thing he noticed. The second was the dull ache behind his eyes.

He blinked slowly. White ceiling. Hospital smell.

“…What happened?” he whispered.

A chair scraped softly near the bed.

Soo-young looked up from her notes immediately. “You’re awake.”

Hyun-woo tried to sit up, then winced. “My head—”

“Don’t move too fast,” she said calmly, already stepping closer. “You had a head injury during basketball practice. You were brought in yesterday.”

His brows tightened. “Basketball…?”

The memory came in fragments. The court. The shove. The ground rushing up.

Before he could speak again, the door opened.

Ji-hoon stepped in, already adjusting the file in his hands. His eyes scanned Hyun-woo once—quick, clinical.

“Good, you’re awake,” he said. “How’s your head?”

“It hurts,” Hyun-woo admitted.

Ji-hoon nodded slightly, as if that answer was expected. “Normal. You lost blood and took a hard impact. Nothing life-threatening.”

From the corner of the room, another voice cut in.

Ha-rin stood near the window, arms folded tightly like she hadn’t moved all night. “You scared everyone,” she said flatly.

Hyun-woo looked at her. “Coach…”

“You’re staying here until I say otherwise,” she added. Not harsh. Just final.

Ji-hoon flipped a page in the file. “He’ll remain under observation. One week minimum.”

Ha-rin exhaled slowly, but didn’t argue.

⸻

Outside Ward 12 – Later That Morning

The hospital corridors were already filling with movement—patients, nurses, footsteps that never really stopped.

Mu-lin stood near the staff lounge entrance, checking her watch for the third time. When she saw Ji-hoon approach, she straightened immediately.

“Doctor Ji-hoon,” she greeted.

He paused. “You asked to see me?”

“Yes,” she said, falling into step beside him. “It’s about the new case transfers. We might get overflow from surgery today.”

He listened, expression unreadable. “We’ll manage.”

Mu-lin hesitated, then added more quietly, “Also… the patient from Ward 12. The basketball injury. There’s something odd in his chart.”

Ji-hoon stopped walking.

“What do you mean?”

She opened her folder slightly. “His blood loss was more than expected for the type of external injury he had.”

A beat of silence.

Ji-hoon’s eyes sharpened. “I’ll review it myself.”

⸻

Back in Ward 12, Hyun-woo slowly turned his head toward the window.

Outside, the world looked normal.

Inside, something about his injury no longer felt simple.

And somewhere down the corridor, Ji-hoon was already walking back—faster this time.