Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 180

180. I Need It. A Lot.

“What kind of test did you have?”

“The nurse took blood for a blood test. How long will it take? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

Lee Chan-hee hadn’t received any information about Lee Min-hwi because he was busy with other patients.

“What’s the patient’s name?”

“Lee Min-hwi. I’m not feeling well, so it’s hard for me to wait.”

“It should be out by now…….”

“Really?”

“I’ll check right away and let you know.”

“Oh, would you?”

“Yes, just a moment…….”

Just as Lee Chan-hee was about to tell her to wait,

“Lee Teacher?”

“Lee, Doctor!”

Choi Mona and Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who had entered the emergency room, called out simultaneously.

“Ah! You scared me. What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Lee, Doctor, I think we need to see that patient whose results you were looking at earlier again.”

“……?”

“I know I’m surprising you, but let’s hurry since the patient comes first.”

When Lee Chan-hee looked completely clueless, Choi Mona naturally put her hand on his shoulder and guided him toward the station.

“Lee Min-hwi?”

And Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who was next to her, smoothly caught Lee Min-hwi’s attention.

“The results are out.”

“Really? I was just about to ask that doctor when they would be out. So, am I getting an endoscopy?”

“First, shall we move to another location for the examination?”

“Of course. I can’t get an endoscopy here.”

“I’ll guide you.”

“Okay.”

Fortunately, Lee Min-hwi followed Nurse Lim Jeong-sook without any suspicion, gathering her bag and clothes.

“So, that’s what happened just now.”

Choi Mona explained to Lee Chan-hee what had happened while watching Nurse Lim Jeong-sook and the patient leave the emergency room.

“Really? Wow! I didn’t notice at all. So, is that patient—no, that woman—going to see the Director now?”

“The Director said he would stay with her until the police arrive, so I guess so.”

“Will he try to persuade her?”

“Hey! Persuade her?”

A nurse who was listening to their conversation inside the station chimed in.

“If she could be persuaded, she wouldn’t have become an addict in the first place.”

The two nodded in agreement with the nurse’s words.

* * *

“Just a moment?”

Lee Min-hwi, who had come out of the emergency room, called out to Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who was about to knock on the door.

“Weren’t we going for an endoscopy?”

“That’s right.”

“But this is a doctor’s office.”

“Before the examination, the Director will explain the test results, the anesthesia, and the endoscopy. Just think of it as a standard procedure.”

“Ah. Okay. I understand.”

Knock knock-

“Director, Lee Min-hwi is here.”

“Yes, come in.”

“Please go in.”

“Thank you.”

Clang-

“Please sit here.”

“Doctor, how did the results come out?”

“The test results came back normal.”

“Yes! Normal?”

A normal person would have been happy to hear that the results were normal, but Lee Min-hwi’s face clearly showed disappointment and bewilderment.

“So, I can’t get an endoscopy?”

“Actually, the results are so good that I don’t think you need an endoscopy right now.”

“Oh, Doctor, no. I’m really sick. You saw the picture of me vomiting blood, didn’t you?”

To Tae-kyung, it seemed like her heart was hurting, not her body.

“So, I’ve been thinking, and I believe I can help you in another way.”

“What do you mean……?”

“I mean, I can give you what you want right now.”

“What I want?”

“Something like this, perhaps.”

Thud-

Before he could finish speaking, Tae-kyung took out a pre-prepared propofol vial from the drawer and placed it on the desk.

“……!”

As soon as she saw the vial, Lee Min-hwi’s pupils rapidly contracted and dilated, betraying her wariness.

“Don’t you need this drug more than an endoscopy?”

Gulp-

Lee Min-hwi swallowed hard as she looked at the propofol.

She looked like a beast that had been starving for days and had finally spotted its prey. It was the look of an addict.

“I’ve been to over ten hospitals today.”

Lee Min-hwi, still unable to take her eyes off the propofol, began to ramble without being asked.

“I’ve been going around from 9 a.m., when most hospitals open, until just a little while ago. But most of them said it’s hard to get an endoscopy on the same day without an appointment. So, from the evening, I only went to emergency rooms. But as luck would have it, there were so many patients everywhere I went. While waiting, I searched online and found this hospital. I had a good feeling about it, and I’m glad I came.”

Lee Min-hwi, who had been staring intently at the vial, looked up at Tae-kyung.

“That’s right. Doctor, I need this drug. A lot of it.”

Lee Min-hwi, who was heavily addicted to propofol, had already injected the drug into her body several times today.

At home, in the car, she didn’t care about the location.

Some days, she injected small amounts directly from morning to night without even eating. She couldn’t feel hunger, but her thirst for the drug was always intense.

She first encountered propofol at a plastic surgery clinic.

Due to the nature of her job, she couldn’t avoid taking care of her appearance, so she had various procedures done.

Each time, she used anesthesia, and each time, she was surprised by her clear mind.

For Lee Min-hwi, who had insomnia and couldn’t sleep deeply, the moment she woke up from anesthesia was like a new world.

‘Maybe it’s just me, but every time I wake up from anesthesia, I feel so refreshed? It feels like I’ve slept all day even though it hasn’t even been 30 minutes, and I feel great.’

‘Right? That’s why more people come to get it than you think.’

‘Really? Just for the injection?’

‘Of course. Are you interested?’

From that moment on, Lee Min-hwi fell into the path of addiction. According to the manager, there were quite a few people who came to the hospital to get propofol.

Not only ordinary people but also famous people. Lee Min-hwi could easily see them coming to get the injections.

For a while, she got injections at the hospital, and later she paid the manager to inject her directly. Then, the hospital’s frequent propofol injections were caught, and they received a business suspension.

Lee Min-hwi, already addicted, began to illegally obtain the drug from then on. But when she could no longer get it, she was going around hospitals under the pretext of getting an endoscopy to get the injections.

“Doctor, so I can just get the injection without the endoscopy, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But I heard you had blood drawn from your leg because of a skin condition?”

“Ah, that’s because I thought they might misunderstand if I showed them my arm.”

“So, I can get it in my arm?”

“Of course. There are some marks, but…….”

In response to the leading question she asked just in case, Lee Min-hwi stopped talking and showed her arm by rolling up her sleeve.

“What do you think, Doctor? Can I still get it?”

As Tae-kyung expected, her arm was full of injection marks.

‘Ha! She’s had too many injections.’

There were so many injection marks that she couldn’t even count them.

She was sure that the other arm was probably full of injection marks as well.

“Yes, it’s possible.”

Tae-kyung felt a pang of bitterness. He even felt sorry for Lee Min-hwi, who was so obsessed with the drug that she didn’t even realize her body was breaking down.

He wanted to persuade her to stop right away, but he didn’t.

Because if she was already in that state, it would be useless no matter what anyone said.

An addict cannot find a breakthrough on their own. They need their own efforts as well as the help of experts.

Although it wasn’t a drug addiction, Tae-kyung knew because his brother had lived as an addict for a long time.

“And I have a favor to ask?”

“A favor?”

“Yes. Can you give me more drugs?”

“……!”

“Of course, I’m not asking for it for free. I have a lot of money. You see this, right?”

When Tae-kyung was silent for a moment, Lee Min-hwi, mistaking that it was because of the money, took out cash from her bag. And at that moment, a syringe that came with the money fell to the floor with a thud.

“Everyone who’s into this trades in cash, so I always carry it around.”

“Do you know how to inject yourself?”

“Of course. There are quite a few people who are hooked on this, like me, who inject themselves.”

“How much do you need?”

“Doctor, you’re more understanding than I thought. A lot. The more, the better. It’s getting harder and harder to get.”

Rrrrrrrrrrr

While Lee Min-hwi was laughing and talking, the phone on the desk rang.

“Yes, really? Okay. I’ll be right there.”

Tae-kyung, hearing that the police had arrived, naturally got up from his chair and continued.

“I’ll give you the injection, so let’s get up now? Let’s move to the injection room.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Creak-

Lee Min-hwi got up from her seat without any suspicion and headed for the door of the examination room. And Tae-kyung grabbed the doorknob and opened the door so that Lee Min-hwi could go out first.

Clang-

“Lee Min-hwi?”

As soon as he opened the door, two police officers who had arrived after receiving the report were standing right in front of the examination room door.

“Who are you?”

“We’re the police.”

“Police? Wh, why are the police here?”

Lee Min-hwi, surprised to hear the word police, stuttered slightly.

“We received a report of illegal drug use. Let’s go to the police station together?”

“What? I’ve never used drugs illegally. Who says so? Who reported me……!”

Lee Min-hwi, who was denying it, made eye contact with Tae-kyung, who was standing next to her, and realized that Tae-kyung was the one who had reported her.

“Oh my god! Hey! Did you report me?”

Lee Min-hwi, who had been acting so kindly until just before the police arrived, reacted sharply as if she had never done so.

“Yes, I reported Lee Min-hwi.”

“What? Did you see me using drugs illegally? Did you see it!”

“Lee Min-hwi, you’re a propofol addict. You’re in a state where treatment is more urgent than anything else. If you keep getting injections, you could have serious side effects.”

“What did you say to me earlier? You said you’d let me get the injection? Huh! You said you’d give me what I needed.”

Lee Min-hwi couldn’t hear the words of concern at all.

She was just annoyed and angry at the current situation where she couldn’t get the drug.

“Is it okay for a doctor to lie! You said you’d give me the injection!”

“Please calm down and let’s go?”

The police officers, judging that it wouldn’t work any longer, grabbed Lee Min-hwi’s arms from both sides.

“What, you guys! Aren’t you going to let me go? Why are you treating me like a criminal?”

Lee Min-hwi shook her body violently from side to side, and the items in her bag fell to the floor one by one as a result.

Thud- Thud-

In addition to her cell phone and wallet, there were dozens of 50,000 won bills [Korean currency, approximately $40 USD each], used syringes, and empty vials that contained propofol.

“See this? Lee Min-hwi, are you still going to say you didn’t do it? Huh!”

“No. I didn’t do this. I don’t know about this. I’m really sick. Please, just this once.”

In the end, Lee Min-hwi had to leave the hospital while being dragged away by the police.

“Sigh! How did a young and pretty person become like that……. It’s a pity.”

“I know, right? It’s a shame.”

As Nurse Lim Jeong-sook and Team Leader Choi, who were watching the scene, said, Tae-kyung also felt sorry for her. He felt a sense of unease and bitterness.

“Hello?”

About an hour after Lee Min-hwi was taken away, another police officer visited the hospital.

“I’m from the OO Police Station.”

It was to collect evidence such as vials and syringes from the car.

“Are you the Director?”

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

“Could you give us a detailed explanation?”

“Yes, of course.”

After explaining what had happened at the hospital, Tae-kyung heard some surprising facts from the police.

“Detective? Is Lee Min-hwi going to a treatment facility?”

“No. She’ll be handed over to the prosecution and go to trial, but it won’t be easy this time. It’s not her first time.”

This wasn’t the first time Lee Min-hwi had been caught by the police. Moreover, it was said that it would not be easy to avoid punishment because she had been involved in illegal distribution as well as illegal propofol use.

In addition to using someone else’s name and personal information that she had recorded at the hospital, she was also said to be a well-known figure in the entertainment industry. That’s why she always had a lot of cash.

Above all, Tae-kyung was most surprised by the fact that she had spent nearly 100 million won [approximately $75,000 USD] on propofol so far.

“I hope she pays the price for her crimes, gets rid of her addiction, and lives a normal life.”

“It probably won’t be easy. In cases like that, they actually go back to drugs even after they’re released. People don’t change easily. The car will be towed away tomorrow.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Oh, and thank you for reporting it today. Actually, as a doctor, you probably know this, but it’s quite rare for hospitals to report it directly.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I wish there were more people like you. Thank you for your help today.”

“You’re welcome.”

Tae-kyung felt bad after hearing the police’s last words.

There must be people like Lee Min-hwi somewhere right now.

Even if money is important, he hoped that this kind of thing, which turns healthy people into addicts, would not happen again.

A doctor is someone who treats sick people, not someone who makes them sick.

At least, he hoped that there would be many medical professionals who would not change the heart they felt for patients when they took the Hippocratic Oath and took their first steps as doctors.

“Ha!”

Tae-kyung let out his frustrated feelings into the early morning air and headed back to the emergency room.