Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 469

470. Who Are You Calling Sick?

“Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

“Unwell? What is it, Director Oh? Are you seriously asking me if I’m not sick anywhere?”

Goo Dae-chun looked at Tae-kyung, who suddenly asked if he was feeling unwell, and retorted with a dumbfounded expression.

“Are you sure you’re asking Mr. Goo Dae-chun?”

It’s quite strange.

Just a moment ago, Tae-kyung was afraid of the man in front of him, a gangster with a criminal record who carried a knife to kill people.

But after confirming that the fifth vital [In Korean traditional medicine, the fifth vital refers to the spleen, which is considered essential for overall health and vitality] belonged to this man, Tae-kyung was no longer afraid of Goo Dae-chun.

Rather, he felt sorry for him.

“Does the director think I look like a sick person? How strong do you think I am? Right?”

“Little Boss is not just strong, he’s a monster.”

“Hyung-nim [term for older brother or respected male figure] Dae-chun, you used to work out when you were young, so your strength is no joke.”

Goo Dae-chun emphasized and showed off his health as if he were someone important.

The surrounding gang members gave him strength, raising their thumbs as if trying to please him.

It was like watching a chimpanzee acting like a king among a troop of monkeys.

Tae-kyung, who was watching the scene, was momentarily speechless.

If he had to pick one of the most foolish people in the world, he would choose someone who boasts about their health without hesitation.

Because there is nothing more foolish than boasting about one’s health.

“I’ve never been sick in my life except for a cold, so I don’t know what it’s like to be sick.”

Watching Goo Dae-chun continue to brag about his health, Tae-kyung thought, ‘I guess that’s possible.’

If he had been sick or had something wrong with his body, he would have gone to the hospital, but since there were no symptoms, he thought that was why he was so confident in his health.

“Mr. Goo Dae-chun, have you ever had a health checkup in your life?”

“Health checkup? No. Why would I get something like that when I’m healthy?”

“Even healthy people get health checkups when it’s time. And you shouldn’t be so confident about your health.”

“That kind of talk is what doctors say to make money. I don’t need to listen to it.”

As Goo Dae-chun said, he really didn’t seem to be paying any attention to what Tae-kyung was saying.

“Do you eat well? Do you have any indigestion or discomfort? Any abnormalities in your stool or urine, or anything different about your body compared to usual?”

“Hey, who are you calling sick? What’s wrong with this guy?”

With Tae-kyung’s persistent questions, Goo Dae-chun’s face was gradually showing irritation.

“Hey! Director Oh, I’m healthy. Huh! Why are you bothering a perfectly fine person? I thought you were a skilled doctor, but you’re just a quack.”

“I think he’s right, Hyung-nim.”

“That’s right. I wonder if our Big Boss is okay.”

Eventually, Goo Dae-chun called Tae-kyung a quack and laughed loudly.

Some gang members laughed along and sneered, but Tae-kyung didn’t care about their words at all.

If a doctor said this much, ordinary people would still think about their health and get a checkup, even if they felt uneasy.

However, Goo Dae-chun didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that at all.

It was probably because his mind was solely focused on the plan to kill Lee Deuk-hyun.

If he could smell this terrible odor himself, he wouldn’t be able to laugh like that.

‘What could it be?’

Tae-kyung wondered what Goo Dae-chun’s illness could be.

Since he had no information about the man in front of him, he couldn’t be 100 percent sure, but he thought it was probably cancer.

‘Pancreas? Gallbladder? Or bile duct?’

He thought of organs that usually have no symptoms and have a poor prognosis even when discovered.

Of course, even if it wasn’t the organs listed above, symptoms vary from person to person, so he couldn’t conclude that Goo Dae-chun had such a disease.

It’s just that he said he was healthy and had no pain, so the worst place for a disease to occur came to mind first.

“Mr. Goo Dae-chun, you can think of me as a quack or whatever you want, but please go to a hospital, even if it’s not our hospital.”

“Hey, why are you trying to make a perfectly healthy person sick? Huh! Don’t you know this is all overdiagnosis? If you’re a hospital director, then all…”

Just as Goo Dae-chun, who was finally upset by the continued persuasion, was about to burst out in anger, someone shouted.

“Hey!”

With a concise shout that echoed throughout the waiting room, someone called out.

“Hey! Goo Dae-chun?”

The person raising his right hand and greeting him was the team leader of the Gwangsu Unit [a special investigation unit in the police force] who had been dispatched from the police station earlier.

“……!”

There was a joke that gangsters never forget a police officer they’ve seen. Perhaps that’s why Goo Dae-chun recognized the team leader immediately.

‘Shit! Why is that team leader here? Surely not.’

Goo Dae-chun concealed his anxiety and acted confidently on the outside.

“Oh, who is this? Isn’t it Team Leader Oh from the Gwangsu Unit? What brings you here at this hour? Don’t tell me you got stabbed while catching a criminal? Or were you shot?”

“Really? Ha! These bastards are laughing and chatting. Say whatever you want.”

The team leader, who had been laughing with Goo Dae-chun and his gang members, erased his smile and continued.

“Why do you think I came to this hospital, among all the hospitals in Seoul, at this hour? Huh!”

“Hey, Team Leader? Korea is a small country where you can find out who lives just one bridge away. Aren’t you overreacting to a chance encounter at the hospital?”

“Chance? Hey! Goo Dae-chun? Why are you here at the hospital with all your gang members at this hour?”

“Our Big Boss is so sick he’s about to die, so we brought him here. Is that so wrong? Are people like us not allowed to go to the hospital? If you don’t believe me, you can ask this person here, the hospital director.”

“Are you the hospital director?”

The Gwangsu Unit team leader looked at Tae-kyung and asked.

“Yes, I’m Kim Tae-kyung, the director of our hospital.”

“Is there a patient named Lee Deuk-hyun receiving treatment here, as that man says?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

At that moment, Tae-kyung’s phone rang.

-Director, this is Detective Kim.

The caller was Detective Kim.

Detective Kim, who came to the hospital with the Gwangsu Unit, quickly called Tae-kyung when he heard that he was in the waiting room.

-We can only move in after the director comes out. Act like you’re naturally receiving a call from a patient and come outside.

“A patient? I’ll be right there.”

Tae-kyung answered the phone very naturally as Detective Kim instructed and went out of the waiting room.

“Goo Dae-chun? Do you think I don’t know why you’re here?”

As soon as Tae-kyung left the waiting room, the team leader got straight to the point.

“I said we came because our Big Boss is sick. Why do you keep doing this?”

“Yes, I know you came because of Lee Deuk-hyun, but I didn’t come because I was worried about you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? You came to kill Lee Deuk-hyun. Am I wrong?”

“……!”

A moment of silence followed, and no one spoke, along with a surprised Goo Dae-chun.

“Damn it!”

Just as Goo Dae-chun was about to take out a sashimi knife from his jacket, suddenly-

Thud-

At that moment, a dozen Gwangsu Unit team members, the detectives, rushed in, and a team member who quickly jumped in kicked him. Then, he hit the knife that Goo Dae-chun had taken out, causing it to fall to the floor.

The detectives quickly collected the fallen knife.

“Everyone! Stay still!”

The Gwangsu Unit team leader shouted loudly, and the gang members who saw the rushing detectives couldn’t do anything.

“These bastards are trying to turn a hospital where patients are treated into a murder scene! Huh! These sons of bitches are crazy. Guys, let’s take these guys away quickly.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

The detectives handcuffed the gang members’ wrists in an orderly manner and escorted them one by one to the van waiting outside the hospital.

“A murder scene? I don’t know anything about that.”

“Me neither. I just came with Big Boss because he was sick.”

The gang members shouted that they were being wronged as they were dragged out, hearing it for the first time.

“Tell it to the police station. The innocent will be released, and the guilty will be punished, so let’s go out quietly.”

“Detective, we didn’t know anything.”

“Shut up, you bastard! Get out of here quickly!”

After the subordinates left, Kim Min-kyo and Goo Dae-chun remained in the waiting room.

“Damn it! This doesn’t make sense! How did you know?”

Goo Dae-chun, who was handcuffed, couldn’t understand no matter how much he thought about it.

He didn’t tell the gang members until right before he was about to kill Lee Deuk-hyun for fear that the word would leak out, but he couldn’t understand how the plan went wrong.

“I told them.”

Kim Min-kyo, who was about to leave with the detective, said instead of the team leader.

“What!? Min-kyo, you told the detectives?”

“Yes, I did.”

Lee Deuk-hyun, who had been leading the 65-year-old Hongdom faction, told them to live quietly after being released from prison.

He met a kind pastor in prison, repented of his sins, reflected on his past life, and vowed to liquidate this life.

He wanted Goo Dae-chun and the gang members to stop doing bad things. So, he was planning a reasonable job for the gang members, telling them to liquidate this life and work hard.

However, Goo Dae-chun was dissatisfied with this and continued to do bad things behind the scenes.

Lee Deuk-hyun stopped him every time, and Goo Dae-chun, who was angry, went to his house to kill him.

Seeing Lee Deuk-hyun, who was not feeling well and was about to go to the hospital, Goo Dae-chun told his family that he and his younger brothers would take care of him and brought him to the hospital.

Lee Deuk-hyun instinctively felt that Goo Dae-chun was going to kill him, but he couldn’t do anything because his family would get hurt.

That’s why he sent a signal to Tae-kyung and Lee Chan-hee in the treatment room earlier to help him.

“By now, Kim Jong-gu and his gang, who were guarding Big Boss’s house, will have been arrested.”

Kim Jong-gu was the person Goo Dae-chun had been talking to outside the hospital, and he had been holding Lee Deuk-hyun’s family hostage until he was arrested by the police.

“This friend is saying everything we have to say.”

The team leader looked at Goo Dae-chun mockingly and said.

“Why! Did you do that? How much did he cherish you?”

“Big Boss cherished you more. The reason is the same as Big Boss. I want to live like a human being, and I don’t want to see you doing bad things anymore. We’re old enough now, so we need to come to our senses.”

“Hey! You son of a bitch!! You betrayed me! I’ll kill you.”

“Kill who? Don’t make a fuss and get out of here quickly!”

Goo Dae-chun, who heard Kim Min-kyo’s words, shouted with a vein in his neck before being led out of the hospital by the team leader.

“Director? Are you okay?”

After the chaotic situation was resolved, Detective Kim approached Tae-kyung.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for coming in person at this late hour.”

“Don’t mention it. We, the police, should be thanking you for preventing a murder thanks to the director.”

“What will happen to Goo Dae-chun?”

“First, we’ll take him to the police station for investigation, and if the charges are revealed, he’ll be punished accordingly.”

“What if he gets sick during the investigation?”

“We ignore the guys who pretend to be sick as an excuse, and the police accompany the really sick people to the hospital.”

“Detective Kim. I’m sorry, but can I say one word to Goo Dae-chun? Please.”

He had been talking to Goo Dae-chun earlier, but Tae-kyung couldn’t let him go like this. He really wanted to say just one word.

“To Goo Dae-chun?”

“Yes, it’ll only take a moment.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Detective Kim knew Tae-kyung’s personality well and also knew that he wasn’t someone who said unnecessary things, so he headed to the parking lot with him.