Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 102

102. Black Dot Campaign

A foreign port, a breeding ground for envy.

The lodging village near the port bustled with people preparing for their voyages the next day.

“Hey, bro? Wanna grab a beer?”

“A beer when we’re setting sail tomorrow?”

“Hehe. Were you watching those kids’ videos again?”

“It’s the source of my strength, so I have to keep watching.”

Go Young-cheol, Se-young’s father, stopped the video he was watching when his colleague, who was sailing with him, came to visit.

“Seriously, are they that pretty?”

“Is there anyone in this world who doesn’t think their own kids are pretty? You’ll understand how I feel when you get married and have kids.”

“I’m just more comfortable living alone. By the way, we only have a year left to sail together, hyung [older brother/term of respect for an older male colleague or friend].”

“I know, right.”

“Are you really going to stop sailing?”

“I want to be a dad to my kids and worry about my wife. I have to stop.”

Go Young-cheol had been working as a deep-sea fishing boat sailor for several years, even though he’d said he would never do it for more than a year, even if he was beaten to death. It was tough, but he was able to endure it by thinking of his beloved family.

“Then are you going to go back to the Japanese restaurant?”

“A pine caterpillar eats pine needles. That’s all I know how to do. I have to open the restaurant again.”

“But how did a well-known Japanese chef like you become a sailor, hyung?”

“I expanded the restaurant without knowing my place and fell. Once self-employed people slip up and lose customers, it’s hell from then on.”

“I know. Whether it’s self-employment or a business, once you slip, there’s no bottom.”

“It’s not easy even if you struggle to do something. That’s when my wife suggested that we work hard for a few years and live happily as a family.”

“You mean your sister-in-law now?”

“Yeah. She liked exercising and was confident in physical work. I wanted to push myself to the extreme to get my act together, so I thought it was a good idea.”

“Your sister-in-law seems quite extraordinary. She even started a YouTube channel for the kids, and it’s doing well. And you moved to a nice place.”

Go Young-cheol was the object of envy, even among the people who sailed with him.

“With rabbit-like children [cute and energetic children] and a talented wife, you have no worries these days, right?”

“Honestly, no.”

The expression on Go Young-cheol’s face, who was smiling broadly while looking at a family photo on his phone, was pure happiness. But even at this moment, he didn’t know.

“I’m so happy. Hahaha!”

He had no idea how terrible each day was for Se-young while he was out at sea. He couldn’t even imagine what was about to happen to him.

* * *

“Teacher?”

“Yes, tell me. What is it? The teacher will listen to everything Se-young has to say.”

The pupils, which had always been empty and drooping, gained strength. Se-young, who had repeatedly called Tae-kyung, opened her eyes wide and blurted out something a little out of the blue.

“Good smell.”

“Huh?”

“I think I smell something good from the teacher.”

“…….”

A good smell.

Tae-kyung was momentarily taken aback by the sudden remark. It was because there was nothing about his body that would give off a good smell.

Since the fifth vital [a metaphorical concept referring to a person’s essence or life force] had appeared, he had been deliberately avoiding scented products.

He only used a mild all-in-one cosmetic with a nearly odorless scent, and the same went for soap and shampoo.

It was in case such an artificial scent would make him unable to smell the fifth vital properly.

‘I don’t smell anything.’

Tae-kyung raised his hand to smell it but soon regained his senses when he saw Se-young’s expression.

It was because the child’s expression, which had been the same as the picture in the frame on the wall, had subtly brightened.

“Se-young, does your mother make things difficult for you or not give you attention?”

Tae-kyung moved a little closer to the child and whispered. Then Se-young put her small hands together and whispered close to Tae-kyung’s ear.

“That woman is not my mother.”

“Not your mother?”

“But didn’t that person call you her daughter?”

“She’s my dad’s wife, but not my mom. My mom is in a small jar.”

“A small jar?”

“Yes, Mom lives there now. She was cremated.”

Tae-kyung learned that Se-young’s biological mother was in heaven.

“I see. So that person must be Se-young’s stepmother.”

“Neither a mother nor a stepmother.”

Se-young’s subtly brightened expression looked futile when she started talking about Do Han-yeon. She returned to that unfocused expression.

“Hey, Se-young?”

Facing that expression, Tae-kyung soon asked the question he really wanted to ask and had to ask.

“Does that person who is your dad’s wife hit you?”

Se-young lowered her head when she received the question. And instead of answering, she showed her palms.

“……!”

Tae-kyung’s pupils shook, and his shoulders trembled as he faced the child’s hands with black dots drawn on them.

“Seri’s mother?”

At that time, Nurse Im Jeong-sook’s cry, who had guided Do Han-yeon to the bathroom, was heard from the bathroom hallway.

“Is Seri okay?”

It was Im Jeong-sook’s trick to signal that Do Han-yeon had come out of the bathroom.

“Oh my, Nurse. Don’t even mention it. Our Seri has diarrhea again. Teacher?”

Do Han-yeon approached with an expression as if she was dying of pity.

“Please take a look at our Seri quickly.”

Tae-kyung quickly got up from the child’s side, and Se-young hid her expression again and pretended to be a well-behaved doll as her stepmother approached.

“Teacher, our Seri has been having diarrhea and stomachaches for several days now. She even had very watery diarrhea just now.”

“Mother, you must be very worried?”

“She gets a little better, then her stomach hurts again, and she gets a little better, then she goes to the bathroom again. She can’t eat well either. It’s so frustrating!”

“You must have been very surprised.”

“Don’t even mention it.”

“In fact, this type of diarrhea that appears in children can be transmitted to other children of the same age.”

“Oh my! Really?”

“So, before we start treatment in earnest, I’m thinking of separating our children for a while. We’re going to assign your two daughters a little distance apart. Would that be okay?”

In fact, it was Tae-kyung’s lie to separate Se-young, who was suspected of child abuse, from Do Han-yeon.

“I knew it… It was strange that only Seri had these symptoms.”

Do Han-yeon, who had been calm until just now, reacted differently when she came out of the bathroom.

“Listening to the teacher, Sera may be the cause.”

She became sensitive because her own daughter, Seri, had severe diarrhea.

She reacted as if her heart was breaking even if her precious daughter, who she was afraid would fly away if she breathed on her and break if she held her, was just a little sick.

“Please do that. Teacher. I think it would be better for Sera and Seri to be apart.”

“I’ll assign them first. Seri, who has a stomachache from diarrhea, will move to bed 3, and Sera will go to bed 25. Nurse Im?”

“Yes, Teacher. Mother, please follow Seri and me.”

Before Tae-kyung could finish speaking, Do Han-yeon followed Im Jeong-sook into the emergency room with Seri.

“Se-young, shall we move too?”

As the object of fear disappeared before her eyes, Se-young got up from her seat and took Tae-kyung’s hand first.

She held it very tightly.

This little child knew instinctively. She knew that Tae-kyung was the person she could trust and rely on right now, and the person who would save her.

“The teacher smells good. I like this smell.”

“You said that earlier too. What do I smell like?”

“Yes.”

“What smell?”

“I don’t know. Just a good smell, a strange smell that warms my heart.”

“Really? I’m glad you say I smell good.”

Charyeok-

Tae-kyung came into the bed farthest from the bed where Do Han-yeon and her daughter were and drew the curtains.

“Se-young?”

Then he knelt on the floor and matched his eye level with the child and asked about the black dots.

“You deliberately showed the teacher the black dots on your palm earlier, right?”

“Yes, I showed you the black dots because you asked.”

“Did Se-young show the teacher to ask for help?”

“That’s right.”

“Is Seri’s mother bothering you?”

“Yes.”

With a short answer, Se-young nodded.

The black dots on Se-young’s palm were a kind of distress signal.

Known as the Black Dot Campaign, drawing black dots on the palm started in the UK in 2015.

It is a signal for victims of domestic violence to send a request for help and is now used in many countries as a signal for requests for help other than domestic violence.

Tae-kyung learned about this campaign from a fellow doctor when he was at his previous job.

He didn’t know how the child knew about this campaign, but it became clear that Se-young was being abused because of this Black Dot Campaign.

“Se-young? I’m going to put you on this bed, is that okay?”

“Yes, it’s okay.”

“Okay, then I’ll lift you up.”

Tae-kyung lifted Se-young and laid her on bed 25.

“……!”

But the child was strangely light.

“Can I see inside your clothes for a second?”

Se-young nodded and silently raised her top. Her small hands slowly grabbed the end of her long top and lifted it, revealing the child’s abdomen.

And at that moment,

‘No way!’

Tae-kyung doubted his own eyes at the unbelievable and miserable sight.

‘How could this happen…’

It wasn’t the first time he had seen an abused child patient, but it was the worst child abuse he had ever encountered.

The stench of the fifth vital coming from Se-young was the saddest it had ever been today.

Tae-kyung’s fingertips trembled without him knowing it due to the rising anger.

‘Ha! Let’s calm down.’

He was calming himself down when it happened.

Charyeok-

Suddenly, the curtains of the bed were opened with hurried footsteps.

* * *

5 minutes ago-

“Thanks to the teacher, my husband slept well without pain. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. Please call me anytime if the patient is having a hard time.”

“Yes, thank you, teacher.”

Choi Mo-na, who was coming down from the 3rd floor ward, looked at Ui-jin, who was talking to a guardian in the 2nd floor hallway.

‘Should I ask the teacher?’

The black dot on her palm had been on her mind since earlier, and she was going crazy with frustration.

If she had just seen the black dot on her hand, it wouldn’t have been this bad, but Woo-jin’s smiling face and the child’s face, as if she had given up on the world, overlapped, and she couldn’t just stand by.

“Teacher?”

She thought that Ui-jin, who had seen patients overseas, might know something.

“Oh, Choi-ssam [term of respect for a colleague], are you going to the ER?”

“Yes, but teacher, can I ask you something?”

“No, you can ask me a lot, not just one. What is it?”

“This.”

Choi Mo-na held out her palm to Ui-jin.

“Palm? Why, does your hand hurt?”

“No. Is there any meaning to having a black dot on your palm?”

“A black dot on your palm?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, that’s the Black Dot Campaign.”

“What is that?”

“Choi-ssam, you don’t know? It’s a request for help. You can just think of it as an SOS. Dating violence, domestic violence, or child abuse…”

Child abuse!

As soon as those words came out of Ui-jin’s mouth, Choi Mo-na started running down the stairs.

“Choi-ssam, what’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later. Thank you, teacher.”

She could have figured it out if she had thought about it a little, but she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it then.

“Did you see a small girl who was in the waiting room a little while ago? She had big eyes and white skin.”

Choi Mo-na, who had come to the reception desk on the first floor in one breath, asked the staff.

“Ah, Sera? The director is in bed 25? Is that right?”

“Oh, right. Choi-ssam, that child will be in bed 25.”

“Thank you.”

Choi Mo-na hurried to bed 25, thinking that she had to tell Tae-kyung quickly.

Charyeok-

“Teacher, that child is cha…”

And when she quickly opened the curtains, she was speechless at the terrible sight she faced.

The child’s abdomen was covered with burn marks from something.

And in the middle, there were traces of something sharp cutting into her, and all the places covered by her clothes, except for her face, neck, hands, and legs, were covered in bruises.

“……!”