Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 134

Episode 134. Secondary Explosion

Arriving at the scene, Doh Seung-won saw the flames leaping from the building, along with vehicles from other fire stations, and felt a renewed surge of tension.

It wasn’t the fear or tension of the fire itself this time.

It was because of his girlfriend.

He had tried to contact her several times on the way, but she wasn’t answering her phone.

“Everyone, stay focused. We’re going inside the building.”

Fortunately, the fire was being brought under control quickly by the firefighters from the other stations who had arrived earlier.

‘What if Seung-hee is in there? Is her workplace on the first or second floor?’

He was already anxious, and the thought that his girlfriend might be inside the building was driving him crazy.

“…do. Everyone got that?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

“Seung-won? Doh Seung-won?”

The team leader called out loudly to Doh Seung-won, who was unusually unfocused. He was always calm and cautious at the scene, so his junior’s behavior seemed strange.

“What’s wrong with you? Is it because of what happened earlier?”

The team leader, unaware that Lee Seung-hee’s workplace was here, thought Doh Seung-won was upset because of the marriage opposition.

“No, sir. I’m sorry, Team Leader.”

“Doh Seung-won, this is a fire scene. Focus.”

“Understood.”

No matter how many times you go to a fire scene, you never know what might happen. That’s why you always had to be careful and cautious.

Especially at a laboratory site like today, there was a risk of a secondary explosion, so you couldn’t afford to let your guard down.

“Everyone! Focus and let’s go in.”

Doh Seung-won steeled himself and entered the building with his team members. If Seung-hee was in there, he was prepared to risk his life to save her.

* * *

“Oh my, look over there, Unnie [Korean term for older sister or female friend]?”

“Why?”

“Isn’t that our laboratory building? Oh my gosh. It looks like there’s a fire.”

Lee Seung-hee, getting out of the car, turned her head at the words of her fellow researcher and was startled.

“……!”

Her workplace was emitting a huge amount of smoke.

“There are so many fire trucks too. I hope no one got hurt.”

The word ‘fire truck’ snapped Lee Seung-hee back to her senses, and Doh Seung-won came to her mind as she started running towards the building.

“Oh my gosh, what happened……”

In front of the laboratory building, there was chaos with fire trucks and ambulances, as well as people being carried out injured.

“What happened here?”

Lee Seung-hee stood outside the safety line and asked the person next to her.

“They said there was an explosion while disposing of waste. Ha! They kept putting off waste management, and it looks like an accident happened.”

She had guessed it the moment she saw the smoke from the building, and she was right. An explosion occurred while moving waste in the laboratory, which turned into a fire.

Lee Seung-hee took out her cell phone from her bag and checked it.

‘Oppa [Korean term for older brother or boyfriend] called.’

Lee Seung-hee, who had already finished her experiment and was doing external work in the afternoon, had her phone on vibrate mode. That’s why she didn’t know Doh Seung-won had called.

‘I hope everything’s okay……’

Due to the distance, Yeoul Fire Station was likely to come. As Lee Seung-hee looked around, a familiar person caught her eye.

“Dong, Dong-ho ssi [Korean polite suffix]?”

The person Lee Seung-hee called from outside the safety line was a paramedic from Team 1 of Yeoul Fire Station, in charge of driving.

“Oh, Seung-hee ssi, what are you doing here?”

“My workplace is here. Did Oppa…… Did my oppa come too? Did he go in?”

“He went inside the building with the team members to suppress the fire.”

“Dong-ho ssi, no one got hurt, right?”

Since it was a fire caused by an explosion, it was unlikely that no one would be hurt.

Several researchers who were close to the explosives were severely burned. Fortunately, they were quickly transferred to a burn center by the 119 [Korean emergency services number] who were the first to arrive from the vicinity.

But the injured person Lee Seung-hee was talking about here referred to the crew members.

“Yes, so far, none of the crew members have been seriously injured……”

Just as the paramedic was continuing his words,

Bang-

The feared secondary explosion occurred inside the building.

“Oh my, what should we do!”

“It looks like there was another explosion.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the location of the secondary explosion.

“Seung-hee ssi, everything will be alright, so don’t worry too much.”

-A crew member injured inside the building……

Before his words were even finished, the colleague received a radio message and rushed into the building with his team members.

‘It’s okay. It’ll be okay.’

Lee Seung-hee’s anxiety grew, and after a while, she paled and collapsed to the ground.

“……!”

Because she saw Doh Seung-won being carried out of the building by his colleagues.

Lee Seung-hee always prayed that her firefighter boyfriend would be safe.

Whenever she went to work or went out, if a fire broke out nearby, she desperately hoped that it would be a small spark and that no one would get hurt.

She was worried about Doh Seung-won running through the fire scene, but she couldn’t show it. Because she was sure he would be heartbroken to see that.

She just silently supported him by telling him to be careful and come back safely.

As if responding to that support, her boyfriend always came back from the scene healthy. But now, he was injured.

‘Oppa.’

Lee Seung-hee, who was sitting outside the safety line, was so shocked that she couldn’t move her feet. Her heart was pounding with the desire to run to him right away, but she couldn’t muster the strength.

‘Please, let it not be a serious injury……’

She didn’t know where, how much, or how he was hurt, or if his life was in danger.

‘Please just save my oppa. Just save him.’

Lee Seung-hee just prayed and prayed that his life would not be in danger.

* * *

Tae-kyung was seeing outpatients after coming to work.

“That’s it. You should wear the cast for about two weeks.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Don’t overdo it and be careful with your leg.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Still, it’s really fortunate that it wasn’t broken. Thank you for your hard work, Doctor.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

Tae-kyung, who had finished treating a student who had fractured a bone while playing soccer, got up to go to the emergency room.

“How’s the preparation for the conference going?”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook asked as she headed to the emergency room with him.

“I’ve finished everything, and now I just have to do well with the presentation.”

“When I see it, you’re really amazing, Doctor.”

“Excuse me, doctors……”

Someone called out to the two people who were talking and heading to the emergency room.

“Hello.”

“Is my husband here?”

The middle-aged woman, embarrassed as she asked about her husband’s whereabouts, was the owner of a nearby pub.

“Yes, he’s in the emergency room.”

The woman’s husband was a regular patient in the emergency room. Her husband liked to drink to the point of running a pub, but the problem was that he was weak at drinking but liked to drink.

As a result, he easily got drunk even with a little alcohol and often got minor injuries.

Fortunately, when he got hurt while drunk, he came to the emergency room on his own. However, the woman was always sorry and embarrassed to see our hospital staff because of her husband, who was acting out every time he came to the hospital.

“Where did he get hurt again today? Was he hurt a lot?”

“He fell and slightly tore the inside of his palm, so we sutured it.”

“If it’s the palm, it’s 100% because he drank alcohol…… Ugh! I’m getting excited, so my words are coming out roughly. That’s right, he fell. I’m sorry every time.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s okay.”

“Please come to our pub sometime. I’ll treat you to delicious chicken and beer. Then I’ll go pick up my husband.”

“Excuse me, guardian?”

“Yes?”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook called out to the pub owner woman who was turning around and handed her a five-thousand-won bill from her pocket.

“Please take this.”

“I have it too.”

Soon after, Tae-kyung also handed over a bill, which was a ten-thousand-won bill.

“Did my husband give you money again?”

“Yes. I treated him, and he gave me ten thousand won.”

“This is really embarrassing. He didn’t give it with bad intentions.”

“I know. Don’t worry because I and all the staff laugh it off.”

“I’m sorry. If he does it again next time, don’t give it back. I’ll go.”

The woman quickly headed to the emergency room as if embarrassed, and the two followed behind.

Clatter-

“Ugh! Human, human!”

The pub woman opened the curtain on the bed at the very end with familiar steps and woke up her husband.

“I told you not to drink, right? When did you drink it?”

“Oh! Oh, honey, you came. My madam [term of endearment for wife]. My beloved Young-soon ssi.”

The husband, who still had a slight buzz, still looked happy.

“Stop talking nonsense and get up quickly because it’s embarrassing. When are you going to grow up?”

“Ah, I got it. I’ll get up. I love you.”

“Love or whatever, get up quickly!”

Whack-

“It hurts.”

The husband, who was slapped on the back, was led out by his wife.

“Thank you to our director and doctors who saved my life again today. Please come to our store sometime. I love you.”

“Stop it. I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

“Young-soon ssi, I love you.”

“I hate you. Wake up.”

Seeing the bickering of the same-age couple, the emergency room staff burst into laughter.

“Still, those two seem to be living happily, so it’s good to see.”

“The husband is only like that when he drinks, but the two have such a good relationship. They dated for 10 years and got married, and they say they were each other’s first love.”

“Really? That’s amazing.”

“Why? Our Teacher Lee seems envious.”

“I’m envious. It’s possible to marry your first love. Now that we’re talking about it, I’m curious when our respected teacher’s first love was.”

When Tae-kyung frowned slightly at the childish question, Lee Chan-hee, who read his mind, immediately changed the subject.

“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go on rounds.”

“Yeah, go quickly.”

Rrrrrrrrrrrr

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who burst into laughter at Lee Chan-hee’s nonchalance, quickly answered the ringing station phone.

“Yes, this is our hospital’s emergency room. Yes? Yes, yes. Just a moment. Doctor?”

The smile disappeared from Nurse Lim Jeong-sook’s face the moment she answered the phone.

“It’s 119. They’re asking if we can transfer a 30-year-old male patient with a leg amputation.”

“Yes, tell them to come and ask about the patient’s vitals and bleeding amount, and what underlying diseases they have.”

“Yes, officer. You can come. Please tell me the patient’s vitals, bleeding amount, and past history. Yes, yes. I understand. How long will it take you to get here? I understand.”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who finished talking to the paramedic, immediately conveyed what she heard to Tae-kyung.

“They said they’ll arrive within 15 minutes, the vitals are stable, and the bleeding amount is currently not accurate. And the cause is an explosion, and the patient is a firefighter.”

“If he’s a firefighter, he must have been doing rescue work, which is unfortunate.”

“I know. I felt a bit that way when I just answered the phone.”

Who in this world is not precious and valuable?

Especially for medical staff who work on the front lines of life and death, in that dizzying boundary between life and death, all patients are precious.

But sometimes there were patients who caught their attention.

One of those groups is firefighters.

Since they are people who throw their lives away at the scene to save the lives of others, it couldn’t be helped that they felt sorry when firefighters got hurt and came to the hospital.

“Alright! Let’s get ready.”

Tae-kyung’s eyes filled with seriousness in an instant, as if a switch had been turned on.

Correspondingly, the expressions of the medical staff also changed seriously. And based on the information of the injured firefighter, Tae-kyung’s orderly orders began to be heard.

“The vitals are stable, but let’s prepare for the worst just in case. Don’t open the intubation [insertion of a tube into the trachea] and CV cath [central venous catheter], just take them out and put them next to you.”