Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 154

Episode 154. Same, Yet Completely Different Person

The couple still held Lee Hyun-woong’s hand tightly, their faces filled with shock.

“……!”

However, Lee Hyun-woong, who had been staring intently at the couple’s faces, abruptly pulled his hand away and asked them a puzzling question.

“Who are you people?”

He asked the couple without batting an eye, wearing a rather perplexed expression.

“Hyun-woong! It’s Mom and Dad.”

“…….”

“Hyun-woong?”

Unlike the couple who desperately called out his name, Lee Hyun-woong blinked his eyes, still staring at them without saying a word.

“Son, let’s go with Mom. Okay?”

*Thwack*-

The middle-aged woman tried to grab Lee Hyun-woong’s dirty hand again with a pleading look. Lee Hyun-woong coldly brushed her hand away.

‘See! I was right, wasn’t I? That’s why I told you to leave earlier. Serves you right.’

“I told you to shut up. Ha!”

Lee Hyun-woong muttered to himself again in a harsh tone, then let out a deep sigh.

“Hyun-woong, don’t be like this.”

“Let’s go quickly.”

“Excuse me? Why are you doing this to me? Huh!”

Lee Hyun-woong, seemingly frustrated, sighed repeatedly and then turned serious towards the couple.

“Why do you keep calling me your son? Why am I your son? I don’t know. How many times do I have to say I don’t know you for you to understand me? Huh?”

It was truly an ironic situation.

The couple’s expressions and behavior towards Lee Hyun-woong clearly showed the *manner* of parents treating their child.

Especially the middle-aged woman’s eyes, which seemed ready to shed tears at any moment, were the eyes that only a mother could have.

However, Lee Hyun-woong’s *demeanor* was no different from the couple’s. His attitude towards them was as if he were dealing with complete strangers.

He seemed genuinely frantic and bewildered, as if they were complete strangers, and it didn’t seem like a lie. And Lee Hyun-woong’s current *state* didn’t seem like a symptom of schizophrenia.

‘What on earth is going on? Is it dementia? Or is it related to schizophrenia?’

Tae-kyung tilted his head.

Lim Jung-sook, the nurse beside him, Jang Deuk-chil, and even the other medical staff who were attending to patients nearby were all confused by the absurd *scene*.

At this point, it seemed as if one side, either the couple or Lee Hyun-woong, was lying.

*Swish*-

“Doctor?”

Suddenly, Lee Hyun-woong closed the curtains around the bed, called Tae-kyung in a low voice, and asked with wary eyes.

“Did you bring those people here?”

“No. But Hyun-woong, aren’t those people outside your parents?”

“Parents? Absolutely not. Didn’t I tell you earlier? That there are people chasing me.”

Come to think of it, Lee Hyun-woong had been saying since earlier that someone was constantly chasing him.

“Those people are the ones. If they catch me, I’ll be locked up again.”

“Oh dear, is that so? But Hyun-woong, the people outside keep saying they’re your parents…….”

“That’s why I’m going crazy. I almost fell for it at first. But it’s not them. They look the same, but inside they’re completely different.”

“What? Then where are Hyun-woong’s parents?”

“I don’t know either. One day, they were just gone. They suddenly disappeared, and those people appeared instead.”

Disappeared? What is this all about? Tae-kyung thought he couldn’t let things continue like this and decided to listen to the middle-aged couple outside.

“Doctor, please help me.”

“Okay. Hyun-woong, I said I’d do more treatment on your arm, right? Shall we move to another room and get treatment first?”

“Yes, let’s do that. It’s better to get away from here.”

It seemed best to separate the couple and Lee Hyun-woong for now.

“Nurse Lim?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Hyun-woong, would you like to get your arm treated in my office?”

“Of course.”

After that, Tae-kyung moved to the office with Lee Hyun-woong, Lim Jung-sook, and Jang Deuk-chil.

“Hyun-woong, I’ll be back in a moment. The nurse here will treat you, okay?”

“This nurse is also an excellent healer.”

Jang Deuk-chil, who was next to him, cleverly brought up the game term that Lee Hyun-woong had mentioned earlier.

“Really? Then it’s okay.”

“Agent Jang, please take good care of him.”

“Yes, Director.”

Tae-kyung entrusted the two to Jang Deuk-chil and left the office to go to the couple.

“Are you the guardians? As you just saw, Lee Hyun-woong has moved to the office for a while.”

“Yes, I saw. Thank you for taking good care of our Hyun-woong.”

“Excuse me, but may I ask what your relationship with Lee Hyun-woong is?”

“We’re his parents.”

The couple still said that Lee Hyun-woong was their son. There was no wavering in their tone or eyes.

“But Lee Hyun-woong keeps saying you’re not his parents.”

“Did Hyun-woong perhaps ask you for help?”

“He probably said that we’re chasing him.”

The wife and husband said exactly what Lee Hyun-woong had said, as if they already knew.

“That’s right. He said that.”

“Doctor, could you take a look at this?”

The woman showed him a piece of paper and a phone screen she was holding. Surprisingly, what the woman showed was a family relationship certificate and a family photo of Lee Hyun-woong and the couple together.

This confirmed that the three were indeed a family.

“As you can see, Hyun-woong doesn’t recognize my husband and me as family, so we’re often suspected. That’s why we always carry these with us.”

“Then why does Lee Hyun-woong keep saying you’re not his parents?”

“That’s…… it’s both true and false.”

“Pardon?”

“You may have guessed, but our child has schizophrenia.”

“Yes, I heard about it during the police verification process earlier.”

“At first, the symptoms weren’t severe, but at some point, they gradually worsened. Then, one day, he completely stopped recognizing his family and started denying us.”

“When he looks at my wife and me, he asks where our mom and dad went and tells us to bring them back. We were going crazy at first.”

“We had all sorts of thoughts, like, ‘Is it just temporary? Or is it a side effect of the medication?’ But then we realized something was wrong. So we had him tested, and Hyun-woong was diagnosed with a new condition.”

“A new condition? Is it perhaps dementia?”

Looking only at the symptoms of not recognizing and denying family, it was similar to dementia.

“No. It was Capgras syndrome.”

“Capgras syndrome?”

“Yes. You may not be familiar with it. Capgras syndrome is, to put it simply, a type of mental disorder in which people believe that their family or close acquaintances look the same but are completely different people.”

“Oh, how…….”

Tae-kyung was speechless for a moment at the story that seemed straight out of a movie.

It was truly heartbreaking that he saw his closest family as strangers.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much mental anguish the person and their family must be going through.

“Is it related to schizophrenia?”

“Yes, it can be caused by other conditions, but it often occurs in people with schizophrenia. Doctor, actually…….”

The woman paused for a moment before continuing.

“I’m a doctor too.”

“Ah, yes. I see.”

“I majored in psychiatry. I chose it because I wanted to help people who are struggling emotionally. I was so happy to meet patients and listen to their stories. But when my own son became a patient, it was really hard.”

Most doctors struggle when dealing with family members as patients. It’s not easy to maintain composure as they would with regular patients.

“Visible wounds can be treated, and over time they heal and new flesh grows. But the illness our son has is not visible, and it doesn’t heal well over time. I’m a professional, but I can’t even cure my own son. I wonder if I even deserve to be a doctor.”

The woman blamed herself as if her son’s illness was her fault.

“Every morning when I open my eyes, my son is startled when he sees my husband and me, and he doesn’t even budge from his room.”

The two told him in detail about how Lee Hyun-woong had left home.

The woman said that because she was an expert in that field, she thought she would be able to provide treatment and observation, but the reality was different.

Her son’s symptoms, including the new condition, were getting worse and worse.

Eventually, the couple was seriously considering the issue of hospitalizing him in a psychiatric ward.

Today, as they continued to struggle with that decision, Lee Hyun-woong left home while they were momentarily distracted, thinking he was asleep.

“Even though I know we need to hospitalize him, it’s not an easy decision to make because he’s my own child.”

“Honey……. Doctor, you must be surprised. Stop it.”

“I’m sorry. I was so frustrated that I ended up venting without realizing it.”

“No, it’s okay. But you need to take Hyun-woong with you. Are you two going to be okay?”

Tae-kyung wondered if the couple would be okay, as Lee Hyun-woong’s attitude was so firm.

“Compared to what Hyun-woong is going through, what we’re experiencing is nothing.”

“Yes, Doctor, we’re okay. And the police have agreed to help us.”

“That’s a relief.”

After that, Tae-kyung headed to the office with the two of them.

“Doctor, the police have arrived.”

“Hello? I’m from the OO Police Station.”

Just in time, the police arrived, and Tae-kyung first entered the office with the police.

“Hyun-woong, did you get good treatment?”

“Doctor? Is my treatment over now?”

Lee Hyun-woong, who was talking to Nurse Lim Jung-sook, jumped up from his seat when Tae-kyung entered the office.

“Thank you for your hard work with the treatment.”

“This is nothing. Can I go now?”

“Before that, there’s someone who came to see Hyun-woong. Would you like to meet them for a moment?”

“Me?”

“Hello. I’m a police officer.”

As soon as Tae-kyung finished speaking, the police officer standing in the back approached Lee Hyun-woong.

“Lee Hyun-woong, did you go into the OO Restaurant earlier?”

“Yes, that’s right. I went there to ask for help.”

The police were conducting an investigation following a report from the restaurant. He was worried that Lee Hyun-woong might get agitated, but he responded calmly.

“The investigation is complete.”

After completing the investigation, the police officer went to the back with Tae-kyung and continued the conversation for a while.

“When I showed him the CCTV footage, Lee Hyun-woong said it was him.”

“Does Lee Hyun-woong have to go to the police station?”

“No. The charges have been dropped, so there’s no need to go to the police station.”

After hearing the news from the police about the report from the restaurant, the couple immediately headed to the restaurant. When the couple apologized and compensated for the broken dishes, the owner dropped the charges against Lee Hyun-woong.

“Guardians, please come in.”

In preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, the police officer remained at the scene while the couple entered the office to face their son again.

“Hyun-woong, let’s go home now.”

“No, are these people still here?”

As expected, Lee Hyun-woong raised his voice again when he saw his parents.

“Doctor, please kick these people out. Huh?”

Despite Lee Hyun-woong’s request for help, Tae-kyung couldn’t easily step in. He just felt sorry for the situation the three were in.

“Police officer? Please help me. Those people aren’t my parents. Arrest those people. I’m begging you.”

“Lee Hyun-woong, please calm down.”

The police, who knew all the circumstances, couldn’t grant Lee Hyun-woong’s request either.

“Hyun-woong, I’m sorry. I misspoke.”

As her son’s voice grew louder, Lee Hyun-woong’s mother began to speak as if she were a stranger. She didn’t want to provoke her son.

“I’ll just take you home. Let’s go with us.”

“Ha, damn it! Why are you people taking me home! What trick are you trying to pull again.”