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T4

T

Chapter 4. A Squalid Woman

Executive Director, you’re drunk.

Tae-woong’s eyes were closed as he leaned against Eun-young’s shoulder.
The warmth that touched her neck wasn’t just from alcohol.

She reached out to feel his forehead — it was burning.

You’ve got a fever.

“It’s because I drank,” he murmured.

“It’s not from the alcohol. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Why? You see me as a patient too?”

He gave a small, crooked smile, lifting his head.
Swaying slightly, he steadied himself against a tree before heading toward the entrance.

They rode the elevator up in silence. Each time he stumbled, Eun-young reached out to support him — but Tae-woong never quite fell.

Eun-young fetched an IV kit and syringe from the utility room, then entered his bedroom quietly.

He was sitting on the sofa, pouring himself another glass of whiskey.

“Why? Want a drink too?” he teased.

“Stop drinking and go to bed. I’ll give you a drip.”

Without resistance, he lay down on the sofa, letting one arm hang off the side.

For the first time, she saw him completely undone — a man who had always looked sharp and controlled.

Kneeling beside him, Eun-young tried rolling up his sleeve, but the thick knit fabric and the muscle beneath it made it difficult.

“Please take your arm out of the sleeve.”

Tae-woong sat up slightly, pulling off the sweater altogether.
No undershirt. His upper body, lean and sculpted, was completely exposed.
Eun-young forced herself to focus on his arm, not his chest, as she tied the rubber band and searched for a vein.

Then, his voice broke the quiet.

What do you think of him?

Her hand froze for a second, then continued.

“He’s kind. Cheerful.”

She meant Ji-woong. His diagnosis was muscular dystrophy, a rare disease that weakened the muscles over time — eventually the lungs and heart. Life expectancy was short.

For most people, twenty meant a new beginning. For Ji-woong, it meant the beginning of the end.

Tae-woong gave a short, bitter laugh.
Ignoring it, she inserted the needle smoothly.

“It’ll sting.”

He didn’t flinch. She taped the line in place, rose to hang the IV — and that’s when Tae-woong caught her waist.

Off balance, she fell slightly forward, bracing herself with one arm beside his face.

His dark eyes were wide open — and fixed on her.

She tried to pull away, but his grip was firm.

Not him. Me. What do you think of me?

“What are you—!”

He smiled lazily, releasing her.
Eun-young quickly stood up and left the room.
No use talking to a drunk man.
More than anything, she wanted to hide her flushed face.

That sudden touch — that gaze — had been too intense, too dangerous.

Back in her room, she pressed a hand against her pounding heart.

Meanwhile, Tae-woong lay still, staring at the spot on his arm where her fingers had been.
He remembered her blushing as she rushed out — and smiled faintly.

So easily flustered. How amusing.


Doctor, you’ve got a boyfriend, right?

The question came out of nowhere.
They were behind the annex, just finishing Ji-woong’s rehab session.

Eun-young froze, then calmly replied, “No.”

“Really?”

“I broke up recently.”

They reached the elevator. She pressed the button, standing in front of his wheelchair.

“Why do you ask?”

“I heard about it once — at the hospital,” Ji-woong said shyly.
“Some staff were gossiping that you were dating another doctor.”

Eun-young sighed. “Ah. That rumor.”

“Then you really broke up,” he said softly, smiling a little.

“Are you happy that I did?”

“N-no, I just think… he didn’t deserve you.”

His smile was gentle, almost boyish.
At twenty, Ji-woong was tall — nearly 180 centimeters — but thin and fragile.
The breathing therapy left him pale and exhausted.

Eun-young tried to lift his spirits, talking to him more, watching movies together.
He had brightened since then — enough to tease her like this.

As she was about to respond, she noticed someone in the distance —
Madam Han, Ji-woong’s mother.

Their eyes met briefly before the woman turned and walked away.

Ji-woong followed her gaze, puzzled, but the elevator arrived and Eun-young quickly pushed him inside.

As the doors closed, he murmured,
You really feel like a gift to me.

“A gift?”

“Yes. A gift from my brother.”

Eun-young smiled faintly — but after that, she avoided Tae-woong whenever possible.

His hand gripping her waist. Those eyes looking up from beneath his lashes. She couldn’t forget them — no matter how hard she tried.

It was just a drunk man’s prank, she told herself.
They wouldn’t have to see each other often anyway.


Why are you here unannounced this early?

Tae-woong frowned, sitting on the sofa across from Madam Han.
The elegant woman ignored his irritation, sipping her tea.

“I need an appointment to visit my own son’s house?” she said coolly.

“When did you start acting like a mother?”

“When I need to.”

“Get to the point.”

He disliked seeing her anywhere near Ji-woong.
She had always treated her younger son as a burden.

Even before his illness, she’d called him useless for giving up academics to pursue fencing.
After his diagnosis, her disdain had deepened.

Did you choose the right doctor for Ji-woong?

“You don’t care about him.”

“I care that there’s a woman living under the same roof.”

“You got the report.”

Their exchanges were purely businesslike.
To her, Tae-woong was just a competent subordinate — useful to please her husband, the chairman.

Make sure you keep things in check.

“She’s not that kind of woman.”

“I wasn’t talking about her. I meant you.”

Tae-woong’s jaw tightened.

Don’t end up like your father — leaving the house to build another family. One is enough.

After Ji-woong’s diagnosis, their father had left with his pregnant mistress.
Eight years later, Madam Han still refused to finalize the divorce.

Sleep with whoever you want, but don’t get entangled on paper.

Setting her teacup down, she rose gracefully.

Better yet, don’t even sleep with her. Nothing good comes from mixing with squalid women.

She walked out of the living room, her heels clicking lightly across the floor.

It was one of the few times Tae-woong’s expression hardened with visible anger.

His mother always projected her resentment toward his father’s mistress — an ordinary woman — onto him.
She expected betrayal, looked for it, and punished him for it before it even existed.

A faint noise drew his attention.
At the top of the stairs stood Eun-young, having witnessed everything.

Their eyes met. She descended the steps as if nothing had happened.

“Would you like some water?” she asked evenly.

“Yes.”

He followed her to the kitchen and accepted the glass she poured.

Did you hear everything?

“Which part?” she asked calmly.
“‘Don’t mix bodies’? Or ‘squalid woman’?”

Her tone was cool, her gaze steady — and somewhere between her question and her faint smirk, there was defiance.

Tae-woong looked into her clear, unflinching eyes — then let his gaze trail down to her lips.

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Trick

Trick

계교
Score 10.0
Status: Ongoing Type: Author: Released: 2025 Native Language: KOREAN

Synopsis

“Because I didn’t want to do it with you.”

When she asked her ex-boyfriend why he cheated, that was the answer she got.

Eun-young, who had relied on her boyfriend Jung-won as her only support through the hardships of hospital life, faced a miserable breakup.

The woman Jung-won had been seeing was the hospital director’s daughter.
Perhaps because he didn’t like seeing Eun-young in the same hospital as his new lover, she was dismissed overnight from her position as a resident.


“Doctor.”

With a polite tone and sharp, cold eyes behind a charming appearance, Tae-woong smiled softly as he offered Eun-young a position as a live-in physician for his younger sister.
Unaware of the cunning hidden behind his pleasant smile, she accepted his offer.

“I like you.”
“Then you’ll have to quit your job.”

The man who had shared her bed night after night turned his back on her with a single confession.
Eun-young begged him to let her keep working, promising to put her feelings aside.
But after that confession, Tae-woong stopped coming to her at night.

Then, one day, Eun-young learned a hidden truth from her ex, Jung-won —
it wasn’t the hospital director or his daughter who had her fired, but someone connected to the Lee Myung  Group.

“They said you were the one who got me fired. Is that true?”
“Why ask when you’ve already slapped me after being so sure?”

“You thought I was a fool too, didn’t you?”

Two people, suffocating as though strangled by life itself,
begin to breathe fully and love each other — through each other.

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