Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 362

363. Pharmacy

“No. That’s not it… I’m just saying, in case you two misunderstand, I really didn’t.”

Number 1137 spoke with a rather serious expression, as if appealing to them.

“What misunderstanding? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I didn’t pretend to be sick to get out here or anything like that.”

Number 1137 added a look of utter injustice to his expression, pouring out his story as if pleading.

“I’ve never had a bad thought during my long time in prison, and I’ve served my time diligently. But when the warden said earlier that I didn’t need surgery, so I didn’t get it, the moment I heard that, I felt like I was someone who had pretended to be sick on purpose, and I didn’t feel good. You two might not believe me, but I was really beaten a lot. I was beaten so badly that I thought I was going to die.”

The two guards who heard Number 1137’s words stared at each other for a moment, dumbfounded.

“Heh!”

Then the senior guard let out a small chuckle.

“I was wondering what it was. Are you worried we’ll misunderstand that you’re faking it?”

“Yes? Yes…”

“Come on. Neither Kim nor I think that way. Like you said, we know best what kind of prison life you’ve had. Right?”

“Of course. If we were to pick the most exemplary prisoner in our prison, Number 1137 would definitely be one of them. Other inmates, maybe, but this guy faking it… He’s not that kind of person.”

“Did you hear that? The warden said earlier that you might feel severe pain from the severe assault, and that the intensity varies from person to person. No one thinks you pretended to be sick on purpose, so don’t think like that and take care of your body.”

Contrary to Number 1137’s worries, the two guards rather soothed and defended him.

He was a person in prison for committing a crime and was always under close observation, but he was so trusted because he was usually such an upright prisoner.

“Thank you.”

“If you’re thankful, wipe that grim look off your face.”

“Yes, Officer.”

After that, Number 1137 lay still on the bed until the anesthesia wore off.

* * *

Knock, knock.

“Yes, come in.”

“Senior?”

As Euijin entered the examination room, Taekyung’s face, which had been looking at the monitor, lit up as if a light had been turned on.

“Are you coming back from rounds?”

“Yes.”

“How’s the patient who had the myoma [fibroid tumor] removed?”

“The progress is good, and the recovery is going well.”

“Lemon tea?”

“Sounds good.”

Euijin received the mug from Taekyung and sat down next to him, continuing the conversation.

“The patient was very worried before the surgery, so I’m glad it went well.”

Euijin recently performed a myoma removal surgery on a patient in her early twenties.

The size of the tumor was quite large, so she considered an open surgery, but the patient was young and thinking about getting married later, so both the patient and the guardian wanted to do it with a laparoscope [minimally invasive surgical procedure].

In the end, after looking up various surgical data and 고민 [agonizing over it], she decided that laparoscopy was possible and proceeded with the surgery, and the result was good.

Euijin is seeing more obstetrics and gynecology patients than before because of Lee Donghoon, who has now fully returned. She also attends academic conferences from time to time and is working hard as an obstetrician and gynecologist, diligently looking up papers and data.

“It went well because you did a good job with the laparoscopic surgery.”

“If you keep saying that, Senior, I’ll get conceited.”

“You can be as conceited as you want.”

“Really? Then like this?”

“Heh! What’s that?”

Euijin raised her shoulders with a lot of force and made an exaggerated gesture, causing Taekyung to burst into laughter.

“Oh, right! What did you decide to do about the inmate patient?”

“I’m going to watch him a little longer for now. When I opened him up, it was clear that he wasn’t in enough pain to warrant surgery. And the smell…”

Taekyung almost talked about the fifth vital sign of Number 1137 without realizing it.

“Smell? What smell? Why are you stopping mid-sentence, Senior?”

“No, the smell is so good.”

“Smell? What smell?”

“The smell of lemon tea.”

“Senior, really. It’s not the smell of lemon tea; it’s the fragrance of lemon tea.”

“Now that I hear it, it is. Maybe it’s because you gave it to me, Euijin, but it smells more fragrant than other lemon teas.”

“Oh, no, it’s because the lemon tea is good. My mom sent it to me, and it’s a famous product.”

“I see. Still, I’ll say it’s better because Euijin gave it to me.”

“Then let’s go with that. Anyway, I’m glad it’s not bad enough to warrant surgery. If he had surgery, it wouldn’t have been easy to focus on recovery even after returning to prison…”

“That’s right. Even though prison life is better than it used to be, it’s still different from life outside. Now that he’s out of the hospital, he should get his external injuries treated well, get the pain under control, and go back.”

“But why didn’t he mention the spinal surgery he had in the past? Usually, patients tell you everything before surgery, even before you ask.”

“I asked him about it, but he said he was in so much pain that he couldn’t even think about it. Lee Jigook didn’t know about the surgery either.”

“I see. Right! Donghoon said he might be faking it, but what do you think, Senior?”

“Well! He didn’t seem like that kind of person… Honestly, I don’t know what kind of person he is, so I don’t know. However, as a doctor, I have to listen to what the patient says, judge what I see, treat him, and make sure he can go back well.”

“…”

“Why? Is there something on my face?”

Taekyung asked as Euijin stared intently at him.

“No. It’s not because you’re my boyfriend, but you’re really cool, Senior.”

“Really? Are you going to fall for me again?”

“What, did you know you’ve become subtly cheesy, Senior?”

“Isn’t everyone like this in front of their girlfriend?”

“No, they’re not.”

Taekyung chuckled at Euijin’s words, but his expression didn’t seem very refreshed.

* * *

Oh Changgyu, who had been working hard, headed to the hospital parking lot when he had some free time. It was to pick up the coffee and drinks he had ordered.

“Thank you. Drive safely.”

“Yes.”

After receiving the drinks from the delivery person, he went around the hospital delivering the tea to the medical staff and employees.

“Please have some of this.”

“Oh my, it’s a vanilla latte.”

“Is it on Oh’s tab?”

Two receptionists took out takeout cups with a sweet scent from the bag.

“Yes.”

“It’s one thing to get a drink once, but this is already the nth time, including the last time and the time before that.”

“That’s right. I feel too sorry to drink it.”

It wasn’t just once or twice; Oh Changgyu had often bought drinks and given them to the staff since he started working at the hospital.

“Just feel free to drink it. I ordered plum tea and felt bad about ordering only mine, so I ordered some together.”

“Ah! That’s right. Oh said he was suffering from enteritis [inflammation of the small intestine] symptoms earlier, right?”

“Yes. I feel better when I drink plum tea when I have enteritis.”

“It’s warm and good. But this isn’t cheap, and I keep getting it.”

“That’s right. We’ll buy it next time.”

“No, really, it’s okay. I like drinks and desserts so much that I get a lot of gift certificates from my friends every birthday. So I didn’t buy it with my own money.”

“I’m just grateful. Then I’ll enjoy it.”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

Oh Changgyu left the reception area, and the receptionist who was drinking the vanilla latte pushed her chair toward her colleague.

“Sister?”

“Yeah?”

“About Oh. Isn’t he a gold spoon [born into wealth]?”

“Why are you suddenly talking about gold spoons?”

“I was thinking while drinking my latte, but I was wondering if he’s from a wealthy family.”

“Why? Because he buys coffee well?”

“No, it’s like this. As you said earlier, it’s not cheap, and how much money would someone who’s been working at our hospital for a little over a month have?”

“He said he bought it with a gift he received.”

“When I looked at Oh’s expression earlier, I don’t think so. I feel like he bought it with his own money, but he felt like the staff would feel sorry for him. When you look at him, he has a kind of noble air, or something?”

“Oh my! Now that I see it, is it because you like Oh?”

“Maybe? Now that I think about it, he seems handsome…”

“Hey! Stop talking nonsense and get to work.”

“Why? Who knows, we might become the third in-house couple at our hospital.”

“No. Oh has a girlfriend.”

“What, really?”

“Yeah. I asked Soo while having dinner with him the other day, and she said it was his first love since high school. So stop daydreaming.”

“I really just drank a one-shot of daydreaming. Oh. It’s a shame, but I’ll let you go from my heart.”

“You’re just filming a drama by yourself.”

While the receptionists were talking about Oh Changgyu, he was walking down a quiet hallway and stopped in front of the pharmacy door.

Squeak-

He turned his head left and right to look around, then carefully opened the door slowly and went inside.

Rustle- Thud-

He put the coffee he was holding on one of the shelves and walked around the pharmacy looking for something.

“It should be around here…”

Rustle- Thud-

He opened and closed each of the transparent drawers, which were organized by drug type, and continued to check until he finally found what he wanted.

“It was here.”

Oh Changgyu kept his ears close to the door and took the medicine. The medicines he took were narcotic painkillers and strong sleeping pills.

“This should be enough.”

With the medicine, Oh Changgyu went to the shelf where he had put the coffee and crushed the sleeping pills into three cups of coffee in turn.

In the first coffee, he added a little more than the amount a person could take at once.

Then, in the second and third coffees, he crushed and poured in much larger amounts of sleeping pills.

Soon after, he brushed off the sleeping pill powder that had fallen on the shelf with his hand, right then.

Clang-

“Oh! Oh?”

Suddenly, the pharmacy door opened and a female nurse came in, and Oh Changgyu was slightly embarrassed.

He was so focused on putting the medicine in the coffee that he didn’t hear the nurse coming.

“What are you doing here?”

“Me? I came to get medicine.”

Hiding his embarrassment, Oh Changgyu continued in his usual calm tone.

“I’m on my way to deliver coffee to the ward, but the station teacher asked me to.”

Oh Changgyu turned his body toward the nurse standing at the front of the door and pretended to touch the coffee, quickly sweeping the powder left on the shelf floor with his hand.

“I see. I came to get some IV fluid. There are quite a few people coming to get IV fluid today.”

“Oh, really? You must be busy.”

“This isn’t even busy.”

“I’ll go first. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, Oh?”

As Oh Changgyu opened the door and was about to leave with the coffee, the nurse who was packing the IV fluid called out urgently.

“Yes?”

“Did you leave this behind?”

The nurse handed him the cell phone he had left on the shelf.

“Thank you. Then thank you for your hard work.”

“You too.”

Clang-

Oh Changgyu, who quickly left the pharmacy, headed to the CCTV control room in the hospital.

“Are you busy?”

“Oh, Doctor, what’s going on?”

“I stopped by to have a cup of coffee.”

“You came to give me coffee?”

“Yes.”

The control room employee continued, showing his empty tumbler.

“I need to cut down on caffeine, but it’s not easy. I can’t work if I don’t have a coffee transfusion.”

“So I brought you decaffeinated coffee.”

“Really? This is really touching? Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

Oh Changgyu handed the first coffee with a straw directly to the employee, but the employee put the takeout cup he received on one side of his desk.

At that moment, the corners of his eyes twitched slightly. It was because his expectation that he would drink the coffee right away was wrong.