Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 387

Five Vital Signs – Episode 388 (387/502)

388. Step on Me and Jump

“I had a feeling something was off, but seriously… Sir! Is this why you came to this bridge?”

“That’s right. I actually came here to jump off this bridge.”

“Oh, come on! Really, sir. So you’re saying you’re going to jump off this bridge and die?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously!”

“What?”

The middle-aged man retorted bluntly, watching the driver scan him up and down, speechless.

“Did you come to stop me because you were surprised to see me jump? No matter how much you try to stop me, it’s no use. I’ve already made up my mind.”

“No, I didn’t?”

The man’s confident words were met with an unexpected answer that was almost embarrassing.

“Huh?!”

“I’m saying I didn’t come to stop you from jumping.”

“……!”

Usually, in this kind of situation, especially from someone who used to be a firefighter, this wasn’t the kind of thing you’d expect to hear, so the man looked blank for a moment.

“And you’re going to jump anyway, even if I try to stop you.”

“Ah, yes… well, that’s right.”

“See? I can’t change the mind of someone who’s already made it up.”

“No, then why did you come?”

“I came to help.”

“H-Help?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t mean you’re going to help me jump off here, do you?”

“That’s right. You put one leg on the bridge railing earlier, right?”

“Yes. I did. So what?”

“But the bridge was higher than you thought, so you couldn’t get your leg up properly, right?”

“So?”

“I came to help with that. As you can see, it’s quite high here.”

The taxi driver touched the bridge railing with one hand as he spoke, then suddenly got down on his hands and knees, bracing his back.

“Okay! Step on me and jump.”

“What? What are you doing?”

“What do you mean? I’m telling you to step on me and jump off comfortably.”

“Huh!? Are you kidding me?”

Encouraging someone who’s about to jump to step on you and jump off. What a ridiculous thing to say.

“Kidding? I left my car parked on the bridge. Does this look like a joke to you?”

Tap- Tap-

The taxi driver, who had been crouching on all fours like an animal, dusted off his hands and stood up.

“Oh! Aren’t you going to jump?”

“I am. I’m going to jump, but I’m just catching my breath because you’re rushing me.”

“But do you know what, sir?”

“What now?”

“Look down there… can you see that?”

“What?”

“You can’t see it from there. Come closer.”

The driver pointed to the river below the railing and gestured for the man to come closer.

The man hesitated for a moment, then stepped closer and leaned over the bridge like the driver, and just then…

“Boo!”

“Ah! You scared me!”

The driver tapped the middle-aged man on the shoulder, and the man was so startled that he collapsed to the ground.

“Ah! Seriously, why are you scaring people like that? What if I had fallen? Huh?”

“You won’t fall from a light tap. And you said you were going to fall anyway. Right?”

“W-Well…”

The man couldn’t easily continue, his words and actions completely different. The driver sat down next to the man and called out to him.

“Sir? Can you look up for a second?”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Just look up once.”

At the driver’s words, the man reluctantly looked up.

“Can you see the sky over there? The fine dust [particulate matter pollution] has been bad lately, but this is the first time in days that it’s been so clear and sunny. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, well, I guess so.”

The cloudless blue sky was so clear that it seemed a shame to die, but the man’s reaction was indifferent.

“Why die on such a beautiful day?”

“Oh, geez! You’re telling me. I’m a guy who doesn’t deserve to live, driver!”

“This world is hard enough as it is, do you have to have the right to live?”

“That’s true, but… I’ve made a big mistake.”

“Yeah? You’re not talking about someone wanted by the police or something, are you?”

Surprised by the middle-aged man’s words about making a mistake, the driver asked, gesturing as if to report to 112 [South Korean emergency telephone number] on his phone.

“Of course not. It’s not that, it’s that I messed up with my wife and kids.”

“You cheated on her?”

“What are you talking about? I can look up to the heavens my whole life and not be ashamed of my wife.”

“Then what kind of accident did you cause that you’re thinking about dying?”

“That’s… ha!”

The man, unable to get the words out, took a pack of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] from his jacket pocket.

“Are you going to drink here?”

“I can’t handle it sober. I’ll just take one sip.”

“You already smell like alcohol, what are you talking about? This guy is really going to cause trouble.”

The driver snatched the pack of soju from the man, scolding him.

The reason the driver stopped and approached the man was also because of the smell of alcohol he had noticed since he got in the taxi.

The man didn’t seem drunk, but he kept smelling like he had already had a drink.

“What are you going to do if you fall off the bridge while drinking? Huh?”

“It’s the same whether I fall sober or drunk. And you told me to fall earlier, so why are you doing this? Just ignore me and go your way.”

“I wouldn’t have come if I was going to ignore you.”

“Do what you want and give me my soju.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Ah! Give me the soju.”

“Instead, I’ll take you home. Tell me your address.”

“Aren’t you going to drive a taxi? Give me my soju quickly.”

“I can’t give it to you until you tell me your address.”

That’s how the two people’s argument continued for a long time on the bridge.

“Ah! Ah!”

Suddenly, the middle-aged man bent over and started groaning.

“Oh, I’m dying…”

“Sir? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“Ah! Aaaah… Driver, my s… stomach, my stomach hurts so much.”

“No, why does your stomach hurt all of a sudden?”

“It’s been hurting since last night, but not this much… Oh, I’m dying.”

“It looks like it hurts a lot. Sir, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

The taxi driver was surprised, but he tried to help the man calmly, as he had worked at the fire station.

“Can you get up?”

“Ah! Aaaah! Driver, I can’t get up.”

The man, who suddenly said his stomach hurt, couldn’t even stand up and bent forward, clutching his stomach in pain.

“Can you get up if I hold you?”

“No. I can’t get up because it hurts too much.”

The taxi driver, unable to know exactly where it hurt other than the abdominal pain, eventually reported to 119 [South Korean emergency telephone number] and stayed by the man’s side until the paramedics arrived.

And after a while, the ambulance arrived.

“Driver, these people are here, so go and do your work.”

“Are you really okay?”

“I can call my family, so don’t worry about me and go.”

The middle-aged man strongly dissuaded the driver from going with him, saying he was okay, as the paramedics arrived.

He already felt sorry for the driver for not being able to drive a taxi because of him, and he didn’t want him to go to the hospital with him.

“Officer, please take good care of this person.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

Eventually, the middle-aged man got into the ambulance with the 119 paramedics and headed to the hospital alone, without the taxi driver.

* * *

Our Hospital Emergency Room-

“It’s difficult! It’s too difficult!”

Lee Chan-hee, who was looking at data on a tablet at the station, shook his head from side to side.

“No, I don’t understand it even when I look at it. No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t sink into my head.”

Lee Chan-hee raised the tablet close to his eyes, then put it to his head, expressing his frustration.

“LT (Liver Transplant)?”

“Yes, the data is not ordinary.”

“It must be even more so because the director gave it to you. Our Teacher Lee is lucky with his studies.”

“That’s what I’m saying. It feels like I’ve gone back to being a student when it hasn’t been that long since I took off the student tag.”

Lee Chan-hee confided in Lim Jeong-sook, the nurse.

“Doctors are supposed to study for the rest of their lives.”

Tae-kyung, who came out of the treatment room, sat down next to him and said as if it were natural.

“That’s true, but it’s hard to treat patients and study at the same time…”

“So you’re saying it’s hard?”

“Yes, Teacher. The data is almost like an encyclopedia, with a little exaggeration.”

“Then Teacher Lee should drop out of the liver transplant.”

“Yes?!”

“If it’s that hard, you have to drop out. I can’t force you to study. Is Teacher Choi having a hard time too?”

“No. I’m still okay.”

Choi Mona, who happened to be passing by the station, answered calmly to Tae-kyung’s question and went on her way.

“How about it, Teacher Lee? If it’s too hard, do you want to drop out of the surgery?”

“Oh, what are you talking about? Who’s dropping out? I’m not dropping out.”

“Wasn’t it hard?”

“Where in this world is there a job that isn’t hard? It’s especially true for saving lives, it shouldn’t be easy.”

Lee Chan-hee, who had finished figuring out the situation, showed a quick change of attitude as if nothing had happened.

“By the way, you’re going to do LDLT (living donor liver transplantation, a surgery to transplant part of the liver from a living person), right?”

“The best case is to transplant from a matching family member. If you put your name on the waiting list, you have to wait indefinitely. First, the patient said he would discuss it with his family, so we have to wait.”

“Didn’t he say anything special when he came for treatment a few days ago?”

“He said he was still talking, so I hope it goes well with his family.”

“It will go well.”

“It has to. Teacher Lee, even if it’s hard, look at the data I give you carefully.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Excuse me…”

As Tae-kyung, who had finished talking, walked inside the emergency room, a guardian and a patient who had just come out from between the beds called out to him.

“Director?”

“Are you going home now?”

“Yes, thanks to our director’s good care today, I’m not dying.”

“Mom, please stop saying that.”

The daughter next to her frowned at the old woman’s playful words.

“Stop it, everyone dies eventually if they get old and live a long time.”

“I know, but this is a hospital that treats sick people. Other patients might hear you.”

“That’s right. This old woman is ignorant. You have to choose the time and place for jokes, don’t you, Director?”

“Yes, that’s right. Our grandmother has to live a long time.”

“Then I’m going to live a long life.”

“Of course. You have to live a long life. But instead, you have to be careful about what you eat from now on.”

The cheerful grandmother was one of the people who came to the hospital often, and she often came because she had eaten spoiled food, like today.

She should throw away food if it smells or something is wrong, but the grandmother, who used to be desperately poor, couldn’t throw away food because of those memories.

“Director, you’re right. Mom? Did you hear what the director said? Throw away the food right away if it’s bad.”

“I won’t die from eating some stale food. And you’ll be punished if you throw away food carelessly.”

“Grandmother, you have to throw away stale food and spoiled food.”

“Throw away food?”

“Yes. Throw it away. Our grandmother is old, so it could really cause a big problem if you’re not careful. So you really have to be careful from now on.”

“It’s a waste.”

“Spoiled food is no longer food, so don’t waste it.”

“I understand. That’s what the director said. You’re so smart.”

“Thank you. And don’t forget to take your blood pressure medicine.”

“My daughter sets an alarm so I don’t forget to take it. Jae-yeon, bring that quickly.”

“Yes, Teacher. Here you go.”

At the grandmother’s words, the daughter handed Tae-kyung the black bag she was holding.

The bag was full of old-fashioned candies and caramels that old people would like, and the grandmother always brought a bag like this when she came to the hospital.

Tae-kyung knew that the grandmother would be very upset if he didn’t accept the bag of candy, so he didn’t refuse because he was grateful for the thought.

“If you’re tired and your sugar level drops while you’re working, put one in your mouth with the other teachers.”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

“You’re welcome. Then take care.”

Tae-kyung, who had finished greeting the grandmother, came out of the emergency room and gave the bag of candy to the receptionist, then was about to open the door to the examination room when…

“Director!!”

Lim Jeong-sook, the nurse who had followed him out in a hurry, called out urgently.

“Emergency patient.”

At that sound, Tae-kyung ran back into the emergency room.

“When did he come?”

“Right after you left, Director. The paramedics say he’s a 55-year-old man complaining of upper abdominal pain. Bed number 3.”