Dahyun's Pov:
"Surgery doesn't wait for you. It doesn't care if you're tired, if you're hungry, or if you're on the edge of a breakdown. It's a game of endurance, a test of who can outlast the storm. But the real challenge? It's not the long hours or the sleepless nights. It's keeping your soul intact while the world expects you to be a machine. And that's the part no one warns you about - the part where you lose pieces of yourself along the way."
---
*Interns' Lounge
Dahyun woke to the sound of something being kicked across the floor. Her eyes fluttered open, still heavy with fatigue. The harsh fluorescent lights above made her wince, and she had to blink a few times to adjust. Groaning softly, she pushed herself up on her elbows, scanning the room for the source of the noise.
Her gaze landed on Taehyung, standing by the door, his face tight with frustration. He'd just kicked a chair, sending it sliding across the floor with a loud screech. She recognized that look-grief, anger, exhaustion. He was wrestling with something, and it wasn't hard to guess what.
A patient. Someone he cared about didn't make it.
"What are you doing here?" Taehyung asked, his voice rough as he ran a hand through his hair. "Your shift ended hours ago."
Dahyun rubbed her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. "I would like to ask myself about that too. Why am I here when I have a perfectly peaceful and soft bed with a beautiful air conditioning at home, yet, here I am on a worn-out couch forcing myself to be comfortable because there are two people in my house who just don't know how to have a normal conversation without shouting at each other." She leaned back against the couch, her voice laced with irritation. "So, yeah... I just wanted somewhere quiet to sleep, but I think peace is impossible right now."
Taehyung's shoulders slumped slightly, some of the frustration in his posture easing. He let out a low, understanding hum and walked over to sit on the couch across from her. "I'm sorry about that. Didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine," Dahyun muttered, pulling the blanket tighter around herself. "Seems like there's no real escape from chaos anyway."
For a while, they sat in silence, the hum of the hospital machines in the distance the only sound between them. Dahyun closed her eyes, trying to will herself back to sleep, but it didn't come. She was too aware of Taehyung's presence, the quiet tension in the room.
Eventually, Taehyung broke the silence.
"You know," he started, his voice softer now, more reflective, "I've been thinking about that time you worked under me. When Dr. Im had you rotate to my service."
Dahyun opened one eye, glancing at him. "What about it?"
He shrugged, staring at the floor. "You were... different back then. Less confident, maybe. But more... I don't know. Open? You didn't have that look in your eyes yet."
Dahyun furrowed her brow, fully awake now. "What look?"
"The look we all get after a while. Like the weight of everything is catching up to you, but you're trying to pretend it's not."
Dahyun chuckled bitterly. "Well, it's hard to keep pretending after a while, you know? You start strong, but this place... it grinds you down."
Taehyung nodded, his expression grim. "Yeah, it does. But you're doing well, better than most. You've been keeping up in the competition. Jihyo's tough, but you're right behind her."
Dahyun leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't even care about the competition anymore. I'm just... so tired. I don't know if it's worth it."
Taehyung was quiet for a moment, his eyes studying her. "It is worth it," he said finally. "But only if you don't lose yourself in the process. You have to remember why you're here."
Dahyun scoffed. "Why I'm here? I don't even know anymore."
Taehyung leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he spoke quietly. "I think you do. You care too much about the people you're treating to say that. It's hard, but... you're one of the good ones, Dahyun. You can't let this place take that away from you."
Dahyun blinked, surprised by the sincerity in his voice. She wasn't used to Taehyung being this open. They had worked together before, but he'd always kept a certain distance, a professional wall between them. But tonight, with the exhaustion weighing them both down, it seemed that wall had crumbled a bit.
"Thanks," she said softly, unsure of what else to say.
Taehyung sat back, the tension in his shoulders easing a little. "Look, this place will chew you up if you let it. But if you ever need someone to remind you why you started in the first place... I'm here."
Dahyun gave him a small, tired smile. "I'll hold you to that."
They sat in silence for a while longer, the weight of their shared exhaustion hanging between them. But there was something comforting in it, knowing that they weren't alone in the struggle.
"Let's be friends," Taehyung said suddenly, breaking the silence again.
Dahyun blinked, caught off guard. "Friends?"
"Yeah," Taehyung said, a hint of a smile on his face. "We're always going to be in this together, whether we like it or not. Might as well be on each other's side."
Dahyun considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Friends."
Just as the moment settled between them, the overhead speaker crackled to life, paging both of them to the emergency room.
*"MVC incoming. Multiple critical injuries. All hands on deck."*
Dahyun and Taehyung exchanged a glance, their fatigue momentarily forgotten. Without a word, they both jumped to their feet, grabbing their coats and rushing out of the lounge.
---
"You start this journey thinking it's about skill. About who can cut the fastest, who can close the cleanest, who can handle the pressure the best. But by the end, you realize it's about something else entirely. It's about endurance. It's about pushing through when you have nothing left, not just for your patients, but for yourself. And sometimes, it's not just about saving lives. It's about surviving your own."
---
The night had turned into a blur of surgeries. Dahyun barely remembered how many patients she'd assisted, how many lives they'd saved. But by the time the sun was rising, she was still standing, still pushing through.
Jihyo had gone home hours ago, confident she had secured her lead. But Dahyun had stayed, and that had made all the difference. When Dr. Im finally announced the winner of the competition, Dahyun felt the weight of the last two weeks lift off her shoulders.
As Dr. Im handed her the sparkling pager, the prize that allowed her to steal surgeries from any intern, Dahyun glanced over at Taehyung. He gave her a small, approving nod, and she smiled back.
She had won.
