Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 293

293. Can’t medicine help? Is it serious? Is it?

“Hello.”

Kim Ilsang, who was following behind, suddenly greeted Choi Mona. He did it so cheerfully, like a crazy person.

‘What is this guy doing!’

Lee Chanhee felt annoyed without realizing it.

“Who… are you?”

“Ms. Choi, he’s my friend.”

Lee Chanhee, realizing Choi Mona was flustered and stuttering, quickly explained who he was.

“Hello. I’m Kim Ilsang, Chanhee’s friend.”

“Ah! Yes, hello.”

“Ms. Choi, I’ll be in the on-call room for a bit. Call me if a patient comes.”

“Okay. Don’t worry.”

Lee Chanhee finished the awkward conversation with Choi Mona, grabbed his friend by the scruff of the neck, and quickly headed to the on-call room.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! Why are you suddenly greeting her like that?”

“Who? Oh, that female teacher from earlier?”

“Yeah. I thought you knew her.”

“How would I know her? I just greeted her because she’s a colleague working with you, Chanhee. And she seemed attractive.”

“You’re full of crap.”

Lee Chanhee cursed for real when his friend suddenly mentioned Choi Mona’s attractiveness.

“Did you just say that ‘Dog Mona’! No, Ms. Choi is attractive?”

“Yeah, she was attractive.”

“Attractive my ass. You’ve been eating British food for a few months and your eyes are messed up.”

“What’s with this reaction? Do you like that colleague?”

“What are you talking about, you crazy bastard? She’s not my type at all.”

“Well, she’s not really your type. Hey! But the work environment is amazing. You even have a private room. It’s good to be a doctor. Are you a ‘Doctor God’?”

Unlike the huffing Lee Chanhee, Kim Ilsang leaned back on the sofa comfortably.

“Private room my foot, it’s the on-call room. You’re not planning on sleeping here, are you?”

“You’re so heartless. Are you going to send me away at this hour?”

“Fine, stay. But really, why so late all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know… I was at home and my chest felt so stuffy like it was going to explode. So I came.”

“Where? How does it hurt? Does it feel like it’s being squeezed?”

“Don’t examine me. You always bring up your job. I’m just getting old and failing after going all the way to England, so my chest feels heavy and stuffy. It’s not my body that’s hurting, it’s my mind and spirit. Do you understand? Doctor.”

“You should have done better then. Back then, me and the others told you not to rush.”

“I know, stop hitting me where it hurts. My mental state is already in pieces.”

“Ugh! Well, whatever. It’ll work out somehow. Don’t worry too much.”

“Thanks for the comfort.”

“You’re saying all sorts of things.”

“Chanhee?”

“What?”

“Give me your card.”

The friend lay down on the sofa and held out his hand to Lee Chanhee.

“What card?”

“To order chicken or something, some late-night snack. Give me your card.”

“I’m going crazy. Your confidence is charming.”

He was an exceptionally sociable friend since high school.

He was friendly, spoke his mind freely among friends, and easily got food at friends’ houses.

He was also good at studying and went to a good university. So, among friends, he was considered the most likely to succeed. But suddenly, he went abroad to study and came back a failure.

“Dr. Lee, please give me your card quickly.”

“You haven’t changed?”

“People die if they change easily. Hey! Chanhee, what kind of card is this? It looks awesome.”

The card Lee Chanhee handed over had a black background with a staff symbolizing doctors and a snake wrapped around the staff in gold.

“It doesn’t have any special benefits, but I carry it around because it’s a card for doctors and it looks cool.”

“Cool. I should have become a doctor too. Nice.”

“You were good at math, why did you go into humanities?”

“Tell me about it… Hey! Sorry, I ordered something other than chicken.”

“What did you order?”

Ding-

As soon as he asked, a notification popped up on his phone. The amount Kim Ilsang paid, who said he would order chicken, was 96,000 won.

It was a bit much for a late-night snack for Lee Chanhee, whose stock investments were hitting the daily limit down these days [meaning the maximum permissible price decrease for a stock in a single day].

“Hey! How does it cost this much for a late-night snack? What did you order?”

“Beef tartare. I haven’t been able to eat meat lately, so my body is weak and I keep getting pimples, so I couldn’t help it.”

“Ah, okay. If that’s the case, you should eat it. Enjoy.”

Lee Chanhee, who replied in a tone of doing whatever he wanted, also lay down on the makeshift bed next to the sofa.

Although the amount his friend ordered for a late-night snack was a bit much, he didn’t want to skimp on his friend who had gone through a hard time.

Still, he thought it was fortunate that he, who received a regular salary, could buy his friend a meal, rather than his friend who had a bleak future.

“Chanhee, you work so comfortably. Do you get paid while working like this? I’m so jealous.”

“Oh, you’re doing it again. I told you it’s not like that. It’s only like this today. Come back on Friday. I’ll show you how crazy busy it is then.”

“Geez, you’re getting defensive. Okay. Still, it’s a relief.”

“What is?”

“That you’re not busy on the day I come…”

“Ilsang-ah?”

“Yeah?”

“You suffered in England. Welcome back.”

“……!”

In fact, Lee Chanhee pretended not to know earlier, but he knew what his friend meant when he said his studies abroad had failed.

He knew that the emotions hidden behind saying it so brightly were huge.

It wasn’t easy to decide and execute going to the other side of the world in his late 30s.

His friend, who had burnout from working at the company for a long time, decided to study in England for something he had wanted to do for a long time after much deliberation.

His family and friends initially tried to stop him, but they eventually supported him because they knew how desperate he was at the time.

In particular, his girlfriend, whom he had been dating for a long time, actively supported and encouraged him, so his friend was able to prepare and go abroad to study with peace of mind.

But this is where the problem arose.

Less than a week after his friend left to study abroad, his girlfriend notified him of their breakup with just a few lines on KakaoTalk [a popular Korean messaging app].

-Ilsang, I’m sorry. Actually, I’m seeing someone. I don’t want to lose this person. We’ve been dating for a long time and it’s not as passionate as it used to be. I think you’ll understand. Forget me in England and live a new life. Thank you so much for the past 7 years. Take care.

It turned out that she had been secretly seeing another man behind his back. She was having an affair with his friend’s junior.

The betrayal of his girlfriend, whom he had promised to marry after his studies, must have been a shock to his friend.

Moreover, she was a woman he had loved passionately, even volunteering to support her while she studied for a long time.

According to news from other friends, Ilsang would not be coming to Korea for a while.

He said that he was upset and angry, but he gritted his teeth and said that he would succeed and return. That’s why Lee Chanhee was so surprised when his friend suddenly showed up in front of the hospital earlier.

Frankly, it’s easy to say, but his girlfriend, whom he had promised to marry, had an affair, so he couldn’t have studied in that situation.

He knew all the hard work his friend had put into preparing, but how difficult must it have been to return?

And how hard must it have been in a foreign country? He could tell without having to say it.

“Ilsang-ah, forget everything. I know it’s cliché, but you’ll meet someone better.”

“Of course. Otherwise, I’ll be so upset I’ll die. But Chanhee? That bad woman and bad guy are getting married.”

“……”

“Aren’t they both too cruel to me?”

“What? What kind of xxxx and xxx are they? Oh! People have no morals. xxxx things.”

“Hehehe!”

His friend burst out laughing at Lee Chanhee’s unexpected, heartfelt curse.

“Wow! If even the kind you is cursing like that, they must be really bad. Right?”

“Of course. Those two people. They can never be happy. Those who rise by the wind will fall by the wind [a Korean proverb meaning those who achieve success through unjust means will eventually lose it].”

“That’s right! Good job. My friend. Thank you. Chanhee, in that sense, shouldn’t we buy soju [a Korean distilled spirit] and have a drink with the beef tartare?”

“I’m on duty, you idiot! This is a hospital. You’re doing well and then talking nonsense.”

“Ha! I see. Okay. By the way, are you going to stay in this hospital? Are you not going to open your own practice? Or are you going to go under your father?”

“I’m never going to go to my father’s hospital. I’m going to stay here.”

“Why? Do they pay a lot here?”

“No, it’s not about the money, I want to learn more from our director.”

“That director you mentioned back then? Come to think of it, there’s a famous person here, right? I think his name was Kim something…”

“Yeah. He’s our director. I want to be like him, so I’m going to stay. It’s not easy to meet a doctor like him as a mentor, even if I live my whole life.”

To Lee Chanhee, Taekyung was more than just a doctor, he was a mentor.

Of course, if he opened his own practice chasing money or went to a famous hospital as a paid doctor using his well-known father’s connections, he would earn more money than he does now.

But he knew that he would never meet a senior and mentor like Taekyung again if he did that.

He didn’t know how long it would be, but Lee Chanhee wanted to be with Taekyung for a long time unless he was kicked out.

And he enjoyed working with the people at our hospital now.

“I like it here. I like my mentor, I like my colleagues, and I enjoy treating patients here.”

“Yeah. That’s great. I’m really jealous.”

The two friends, who had met after a long time, spent time sharing stories.

Lee Chanhee would go to the emergency room when he received calls in between and then return to the on-call room to continue chatting with his friend.

“Oh, my back. Ouch! This really hurts…”

After about two hours, Kim Ilsang, who was naturally adjusting his posture, suddenly flinched and groaned.

“Why? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“No, it’s not that, but something grew on my butt and it didn’t hurt, but it started hurting a while ago.”

“What! Where? Let me see.”

Lee Chanhee reacted in surprise when his friend said he was in pain.

“You came to see your doctor friend, why are you telling me now? Let me see quickly.”

“I have my modesty, why would I suddenly show my butt?”

“Stop joking and show me.”

“Oh, it’s okay. It’s nothing.”

“People with cancer all think it’s nothing at first?”

“It’s okay.”

Slap-

Then, with a heart full of love for his friend, Lee Chanhee slapped him on the back.

“Ouch! You bastard, why is your hand so spicy [meaning strong or harsh]?”

“Of course I’m hitting you to make it hurt. Stop talking and show me quickly.”

In the end, Kim Ilsang couldn’t resist Lee Chanhee’s nagging and lay face down on the sofa and lowered his pants.

“You should have done this from the start. You don’t listen.”

“Hey, Chanhee? But what is this? It hurts a lot.”

“I don’t know. It could be folliculitis or a cyst.”

Lee Chanhee said, looking at the lump on Kim Ilsang’s butt.

“What? You’re a quack.”

Lee Chanhee, who didn’t care about being called a quack, reacted while touching the affected area on his friend’s butt.

“Why? Are you a quack so you don’t know even if you look at it?”

“It’s not important that I’m a quack, but it feels squishy when I touch it.”

“Aaaaaaah!”

When Lee Chanhee touched it again, his friend screamed so loudly that the on-call room shook.

“Hey, you crazy bastard, stop touching it. It hurts more than I thought. Will it get better if I take medicine?”

“Stop talking about medicine. No way. But Ilsang-ah, I don’t think this will be easy…”

“What is it? What’s not easy?”

Kim Ilsang also began to get serious, watching Lee Chanhee suddenly wipe away his smile and speak seriously.

“Can’t medicine help? Is it serious? Is it?”