Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 188

Fifth Vital Sign – Episode 188 (188/502)

188. Dirty Work

Suddenly, urgent voices from the staff, including Lim Jeong-suk, echoed from the examination room.

Clang-

“……!”

Startled by the noise, Tae-kyung rushed outside and was shocked by what he saw.

Lee Soo-jung, who had left the examination room with Hyun-woong just moments before, had collapsed and was being rushed to the emergency room.

“What happened?”

“She was at the reception desk, and she suddenly touched her head, saying she felt dizzy. Then she staggered and collapsed,” Choi Mona, who was at the reception desk, explained to Tae-kyung.

“Did she hit her head when she fell?”

“No, she didn’t.”

The two quickly moved Lee Soo-jung onto a mobile bed and hurried toward the emergency room.

“Mom?”

Hyun-woong, frightened by his mother’s sudden collapse, followed them to the emergency room.

“Why is my mom like this?”

“Hyun-woong, your mom will be okay.”

“Is Mom really okay?”

“Yes. Why don’t you stay with me while the doctors take care of your mom?”

“Please make sure Mom wakes up.”

While nurse Lim Jeong-suk comforted the startled Hyun-woong, Tae-kyung proceeded with Lee Soo-jung’s examination. Shortly after, the results came in.

“Doctor, the results are in.”

Tae-kyung quickly clicked the mouse and checked the monitor. Fortunately, there was nothing seriously wrong with Lee Soo-jung.

“Doctor, what do the results say?”

Nurse Lim Jeong-suk, who was with Hyun-woong, approached with a worried expression.

“The results show no major abnormalities; it’s vasovagal syncope [fainting due to a sudden drop in blood pressure].”

“That’s a relief.”

“She must have been very surprised by Hyun-woong’s incident earlier.”

Lee Soo-jung, having experienced both Go Gye-deuk’s situation and her son’s unexpected emergency, was experiencing extreme tension and excessive stress.

This caused a sudden drop in blood pressure, reducing blood flow to the brain, resulting in a temporary loss of consciousness, known as vasovagal syncope.

Since Lee Soo-jung’s vasovagal syncope wasn’t related to heart or brain disease, she would recover with rest and mental and physical stability.

“Hyun-woong was very surprised; I should bring him over and let him know.”

“Oh! Where is Doctor Na?”

“He’s with Hyun-woong.”

“I’ve seen everything.”

No sooner had nurse Lim Jeong-suk finished speaking than Na Go-han, the urologist in charge at our hospital, appeared.

It was his working day, but he couldn’t be called earlier because he was in surgery. However, while Lee Soo-jung collapsed and was being examined, Tae-kyung called him, thinking it would be best to have Hyun-woong’s condition accurately assessed.

“I’m sorry to call you when it’s almost time to leave.”

“What are you talking about? There’s still an hour left. And I may leave early, but the director and our surgical team are guarding the hospital all night, so I have to come quickly when called.”

“Did the surgery go well?”

“I’m on my way back from gifting another patient with art today [referring to successful surgery].”

Na Go-han was, as always, a cheerful and lively person.

“I have thoroughly checked the child’s condition.”

“How is he?”

“I was very surprised.”

“Why? Is the child sick?”

Tae-kyung was worried that Hyun-woong might be sick again at Na Go-han’s words.

“No, it’s not that. I was surprised that you performed the manual reduction [untwisting of the testicle] so accurately.”

Na Go-han was referring to the manual reduction, which is untwisting the twisted testicle by hand, which was the emergency treatment Tae-kyung had performed.

“People in urology like me know it well because we are experts in that field, but even emergency room doctors don’t always know how to do it. How did you untwist it? I was very surprised.”

“I had experience treating a middle school student in the past, so I think it went well.”

“You have a natural talent for using your hands. Anyway, since he says he has no pain now, you don’t have to worry too much. But if it twists again next time, surgical treatment will be necessary.”

“I already told the guardian that earlier. Thank you for looking after the child.”

“You’re welcome. Call me anytime if you need anything. Then I’ll go back in. Good work.”

“Thank you.”

After Na Go-han left the emergency room, Tae-kyung checked Lee Soo-jung’s condition one more time and was preparing to go on rounds.

“I’ll go check on the patients in the ward.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Tae-kyung, still concerned that Lee Soo-jung had fainted due to the sudden emergency with her child, left the emergency room.

“Tae, I mean, Director Kim!”

As he left the emergency room, Lee Dong-hoon, who was entering, urgently called out to Tae-kyung.

“Senior, you haven’t left yet? Did you trim the bean sprouts well?”

“Bean sprouts are not the problem right now.”

“If bean sprouts aren’t the problem, then what, are other vegetables the problem?”

“This is not the time to be joking around.”

Lee Dong-hoon, unlike his usual self, had a face without a hint of a smile at the joke.

“Are you okay?”

“What do you mean, okay?”

“I’m talking about the child’s mother who collapsed a little while ago. Is that woman okay?”

“Are you talking about patient Lee Soo-jung?”

“Her name is Lee Soo-jung? Ha! What was her husband’s name? Cha, Cha something…….”

“Do you know her, Senior?”

Tae-kyung was talking to Lee Dong-hoon without much thought and slowly walking towards the stairs to go to the ward.

“Director Kim! I think something is wrong here.”

“What do you mean wrong?”

“Cha Dae-han!!”

“Yes?”

Lee Dong-hoon, who was slowly walking after Tae-kyung, suddenly clapped his hands as if he had remembered something and looked relieved.

“I remember now. That’s right. Patient Cha Dae-han.”

Earlier, when Lee Soo-jung came out to pay with her son, Lee Dong-hoon was talking with Team Leader Choi in the waiting room. Then, he happened to see Lee Soo-jung and kept thinking that her face looked familiar, and he remembered that she was the wife of Cha Dae-han, who was hospitalized in the trauma intensive care unit [TICU].

“Cha Dae-han? What are you talking about?”

“This is just my feeling, but…….”

Lee Dong-hoon took Tae-kyung to the wall of the hallway and continued speaking secretly.

“I think this is somehow related to Shinhwa University Hospital.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about Shinhwa University Hospital?”

“I’m talking about Go Gye-deuk.”

Tae-kyung’s brow furrowed at the mention of the unwelcome name.

“What about Go Gye-deuk? Explain it so I can understand.”

“Let’s go somewhere else to talk.”

Clang-

The two moved to the examination room.

“Lee Soo-jung’s husband is Cha Dae-han, and he is currently in the trauma intensive care unit at Shinhwa University Hospital. He was a victim of a hit-and-run.”

“A hit-and-run?”

Cha Dae-han had come in after Tae-kyung left, so he didn’t know who he was at all.

“Yes. The surgery went well, but he hasn’t woken up yet. I remember because I went into the operating room at that time.”

That day, Lee Dong-hoon had entered Cha Dae-hwan’s surgery urgently in the early morning.

Moreover, his situation was so pitiful that it was a topic of conversation among the medical staff for a while, so he remembered it accurately.

“As you know, the TICU (trauma intensive care unit) costs a lot of money. But Cha Dae-han’s family isn’t very well-off. When I was at the hospital, the part-timer at the cafeteria said several times that she felt sorry for him. Besides, she is incredibly devoted to her hospitalized husband.”

“But what does this have to do with Go Gye-deuk?”

So far, it was difficult to connect Lee Soo-jung’s visit to the hospital with Go Gye-deuk.

“No, no matter how I think about it, it’s strange. Is Shinhwa University Hospital close to here?”

As Lee Dong-hoon said, the distance between Shinhwa University Hospital and Our Hospital was about an hour, so it couldn’t be said to be close.

“And why would the guardian of a husband hospitalized in the TICU come all the way here to get a breast ultrasound instead of going to that hospital? I’ve been saying this all along, right?”

There was something Tae-kyung had often heard from Lee Dong-hoon.

‘You have to be careful of Go Gye-deuk. That man is not someone who will just take it. He’s furious.’

A person who became the hospital director by climbing up from the edge of a cliff without any connections or support, that was Go Gye-deuk.

He had maintained his position by only seeking the hospital’s profit and flattering the chairman as if he would lick his boots.

After that, Go Gye-deuk flaunted his position by making sure that anyone who ignored him or didn’t like him in the hospital paid the price.

Lee Dong-hoon thought that Go Gye-deuk would not stay still after being humiliated by Tae-kyung.

“I was worried that I might be writing a novel by myself, so I called the part-timer to ask how she was doing. When I asked her if she was doing well these days, she said there was nothing special, but she was annoyed because the director had been coming to the TICU so often for a while.”

Tae-kyung was lost in thought with a serious expression. Come to think of it, Lee Soo-jung seemed sensitive and quite nervous in the examination room.

Connecting it with the story Lee Dong-hoon had poured out as if he were giving a passionate speech, it seemed strange enough.

‘Go Gye-deuk, the guardian, and the patient…….’

Tae-kyung also didn’t like Go Gye-deuk.

Unlike himself, whose focus was on the patient, he also disliked Go Gye-deuk’s values, which were solely about profit and discriminating against patients. But he couldn’t recklessly associate Lee Soo-jung and Go Gye-deuk.

If Lee Dong-hoon’s words were true, it was a bigger deal than he thought, so a proper confirmation was needed.

“Tae-kyung, I’m sure of it. Go Gye-deuk is plotting something dirty by involving the patient.”

“If that’s the case, we shouldn’t be doing this; we need to check it out.”

“Check it out how? We can’t directly ask Go Gye-deuk.”

“Not Go Gye-deuk.”

“If not Go Gye-deuk, then could it be……? Ms. Lee Soo-jung?”

“Yes. Asking Ms. Lee Soo-jung directly is the most certain way.”

Instead of just thinking about it, he decided to ask the person involved.

“But will Ms. Lee Soo-jung talk? It won’t be easy for her to talk when her husband is even hospitalized at Shinhwa University Hospital.”

“We still have to try.”

Just as the serious conversation with Lee Dong-hoon was coming to an end, Lee Soo-jung, who had collapsed, fortunately woke up.

“Are you feeling better?”

Tae-kyung was in the examination room with Lee Soo-jung and Hyun-woong.

“Yes, I’m fine now. I felt a little dizzy earlier, so I think that’s why I collapsed.”

“We did a test after you collapsed, and the results are fine. It seems you fainted due to vasovagal syncope from excessive tension or stress.”

Lee Soo-jung didn’t make any particular gestures at Tae-kyung’s words, but she was aware that she had collapsed due to extreme stress.

In fact, her head was about to explode due to her husband’s situation, Go Gye-deuk, and Hyun-woong’s situation.

She just felt frustrated about where things had gone wrong and how she should act from now on.

She desperately wanted someone, anyone, to help her.

“I heard that while I was passed out, you called a urologist to look at our Hyun-woong.”

Although her mind was complicated, Lee Soo-jung wanted to thank Tae-kyung for taking care of Hyun-woong.

“Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. By the way, Ms. Lee? I have something to ask you; is this a good time?”

“……To me?”

Lee Soo-jung seemed slightly nervous at Tae-kyung’s question.

“Yes, is your husband’s name Cha Dae-han?”

“……!”

As Lee Soo-jung, who showed a rapid increase in tension at the mention of her husband’s name, hesitated to speak,

“That’s right! My dad’s name is Cha Dae-han.”

Hyun-woong, who was playing with a toy airplane, answered with a bright expression instead of his mother.