Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 198

Five Vital Signs – Episode 198 (198/502)

198. Fanta

Besides the two people excited by the tempting title, there was one more person who was excited: Ko Gye-deuk, sitting on the toilet in the restroom.

‘Exposing the culprit?’

He was startled by the residents’ conversation from inside the stall and couldn’t concentrate on his business.

A moment ago, Ko Gye-deuk had come to the restroom to take a big dump.

Ever since the broadcast, he had been on edge, and his irritable bowel syndrome started acting up again.

‘Could it be that Soo-jung was originally hooking up with Kim Tae-kyung?’

While focusing on his business, he blamed Tae-kyung again for the mess he was in when the residents’ conversation reached his ears.

‘Instead of this, let’s find out.’

Ko Gye-deuk thought he had to check the post on the community forum directly with his phone.

‘Damn it!’

He took out his phone from the gown pocket hanging on the door hook in an awkward position with his pants down. But the battery was low, and the screen went off.

‘Damn it!’

Ko Gye-deuk didn’t even realize the battery was low because he had been searching for posts about himself on his phone all day. He had no choice but to focus on the residents’ conversation outside.

‘Ugh!’

Thunder rumbled in his intestines, but the conversation between the two was much more important than his stomachache.

“What does it say? Huh? What’s written? Read it quickly.”

“I’ll expose the culprit. But I can’t reveal who it is directly, so I’ll give you a hint instead. If you think carefully, you’ll know who it is. Note that this post will be deleted exactly 15 minutes from now. So, if you clicked on it by chance, it’s best to read it to the end.

I work in the medical field, so I know this industry well. That doctor who appeared on that program after school and caused a stir, you know? I know who that doctor is.”

“What? Is this post real?”

“If you keep talking, I won’t read it?”

When his colleague gave advice, the resident who was reading the post told him to be quiet.

“Sorry. Continue.”

“Since I said I know, it seems like I wrote this to get attention, right? To be honest, I wrote it because I wanted attention.

Why? Because I hate that doctor. That doctor doesn’t value patients and only sucks up to the rich and well-off, and his actions are disgusting.

By the way, when that person passes by me, I frown because of the stench. Here’s a hint.

Some of you might have guessed, but he’s a high-ranking person in a pretty big hospital. Well, he works at one of the top ten major hospitals in Korea that everyone talks about.

I want to narrow down the scope further, but I’m afraid people will find out too quickly.

I think that doctor will 100% see this post. So, I’m giving a vague hint to make him sweat. If you don’t know after reading this, I’ll leave another one.

Ah! I’ll give you one more hint. I don’t personally believe in physiognomy [the art of judging character from facial features], but when I see that doctor’s face, these words come out automatically. What is it? Guys, ‘Physiognomy is science!’ I’m out. Good luck.”

After reading all the posts on the community forum, the two looked at each other as if amazed.

“Is this real?”

“The way it’s written, it feels like a targeted attack, so it seems real? It seems like they know exactly who the target is.”

“I think so too. But if it’s one of the top 10 major hospitals in Korea, that’s Taeseon University, Juseon University, our hospital, New Hope Hospital, and…….”

“Hey! I have a call. Let’s talk again later.”

“Oh! I’m screwed. My professor is calling me too.”

The two, who were seriously narrowing down the hospitals, hurriedly left the restroom at the sound of their rapidly ringing cell phones.

Bang! Bang!

As soon as the two left the restroom, Ko Gye-deuk pounded on the stall wall with his fists, enraged.

‘What crazy bastard wrote such a post!’

From Ko Gye-deuk’s perspective, it was clear to anyone that the post was referring to him.

‘Who wrote it? Lee Hyun-woo or Choi Pan-seok? Or Park Jin-man? Lee Go-cheok? Gu Si-kyung? Could it be Kim Tae-kyung again?’

Ko Gye-deuk, who was about to list all the medical staff in the hospital’s opposition, shook his head when Tae-kyung was mentioned.

‘No? That’s a place where only hospital employees can post, right? Is it someone in the hospital? Ha!’

No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t find a clear answer.

Eventually, after sitting on the toilet for a long time, he hurriedly left the restroom and headed to the director’s office.

Click-

“Director? Have you seen the anonymous bulletin board?”

“Why?”

“There’s a post about the doctor from the broadcast on the hospital employees’ anonymous bulletin board, and it’s a mess right now.”

Ko Gye-deuk was grateful to the secretary for bringing up the story first, as he was wondering how to delete the post naturally.

“Really! Everyone is wasting time on useless things. Tell the administrator to delete that post immediately.”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“If you leave such posts, rumors will only increase in the hospital, and the atmosphere will become chaotic.”

“It’s not that, it’s already been deleted. The person who wrote it said they would delete it right away, and it seems they really did.”

“Really? Anyway, if such posts come up again, tell the administrator to delete them right away.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Ah! And…….”

“Yes, Director.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Ko Gye-deuk was about to ask if he had been contacted by the chairman, who was staying in the United States, but he kept his mouth shut.

It was awkward to bring up the chairman’s story out of the blue.

Foolishly, Ko Gye-deuk still thought that people’s interest would fade away in a few days. But unlike his expectations, if this spark didn’t go out and reached the chairman’s ears, then troublesome things could happen.

Moreover, the chairman would be coming to Korea soon. Therefore, a definite safety net was needed.

‘Donations! Yes, I must get donations.’

He had to show the chairman that he was still a capable director. To do so, he was planning to receive donations from the political and business figures he was scheduled to meet soon.

* * *

Our Hospital-

Tae-kyung was operating with Euijin, and Lee Chan-hee and Choi Mona were seeing patients in the emergency room.

“Dr. Lee, Dr. Choi? Have you heard the news?”

A nurse who had been to the ward came into the emergency room station and urgently called the two.

“Why?”

“Did something happen to a patient?”

“No, it’s not that. That director, the doctor he mentioned on the broadcast? A post revealing who that doctor is has been uploaded to the Shinhwa University Hospital bulletin board.”

The emergency room nurse told them the latest news she had just heard from the ward nurse.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Then is it someone from Shinhwa University Hospital?”

“I’m not sure, but the writer said they’re at a major hospital in Korea.”

“Really? The bad guy should be revealed quickly.”

Unlike Choi Mona, who was usually calm, Lee Chan-hee replied quite leisurely. In fact, both of them knew who wrote the post.

Not only the two of them but also Tae-kyung, Euijin, and nurse Lim Jeong-sook knew who the writer was.

It was Lee Dong-hoon.

Lee Dong-hoon, who had quit Shinhwa University Hospital not long ago, could still write on the bulletin board, and he thought it was the perfect opportunity to upload the post. He even showed a meticulous side by finding and mixing in internet slang that young people use these days.

‘I gave people hints.’

Lee Dong-hoon, who came to the hospital as usual today, told Tae-kyung and some of the medical staff about this fact after posting the article.

“Who could it really be? Who do you think it is, Dr. Lee?”

“That would be Go…….”

At the moment when Lee Chan-hee was about to say ‘Go Gye-deuk,’ he quickly swallowed his words at Choi Mona’s glance.

“I don’t really know about Go either. You need to know high-ranking people at major hospitals to know who it is.”

“Would they tell us if we subtly asked the director?”

Not only the nurse but also all the staff at Our Hospital were dying of curiosity, but no one directly asked Tae-kyung.

“But isn’t the director not the type to tell us such things?”

“Dr. Choi is right.”

“That’s right. But if it were me, I would immediately mention the real name, but the director is really amazing.”

“Same here. I’ll go do rounds in the ward for a while.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Dr. Lee, call me if patients rush in.”

“Don’t worry and go.”

Choi Mona left the emergency room, and a nurse who had seen an emergency patient came into the station.

“Dressing for patient 14 is done.”

“Good job.”

“It seems like there are fewer emergency room patients today.”

Perhaps because of the broadcast’s influence, there were a lot of outpatients than usual, but the emergency room patients were doing better.

That didn’t mean there were few patients.

Originally, Friday evenings were usually chaotic with patients like a market, but not today. It was the first time the emergency room had been this quiet recently.

“Oh my! You can’t say such things, honey.”

The 9-year senior nurse smiled and scolded the new nurse who had just started working in the emergency room.

“That’s taboo here. Taboo!”

“Yes!? Taboo? Why is that?”

The youngest nurse, who was still full of curiosity, asked with wide eyes as if she was embarrassed.

“No, it’s just a kind of superstition. There’s a rumor that if you say that, patients will flock in like clouds.”

“Oh, come on. What do you mean flock in like clouds again.”

Lee Chan-hee checked the time while looking at the posts related to Ko Gye-deuk on the medical community forum with his phone.

It was already past midnight.

Originally, at this time on Friday, there would be various patients such as drunk patients, traffic accident patients, patients with stomachaches, patients who had been fighting, and patients who had been fighting with their spouses. But today, as the youngest nurse said, it was really quiet.

Of the many beds lined up in the emergency room, only seven had patients lying on them.

Those patients were also relatively easy patients who could either go home or just be monitored.

Even if it wasn’t a white bed with no patients, the emergency room was definitely strangely quiet today.

“But it’s really quiet today, like the youngest nurse said.”

“Right? It’s the first time I’ve seen it this quiet since I started working. There were so many people in the outpatient clinic earlier.”

“Again! Again, you’re saying that. No matter how quiet it is, you can’t say that. It’s not just once or twice that patients have rushed in after I said that.”

The 9-year senior nurse stroked the new nurse’s head and continued.

“Our youngest, be careful what you say in the future. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“It’s been a long time since the emergency room has been this quiet.”

“Dr. Chan-hee, that word is forbidden too. But do you dislike it being quiet, Doctor?”

“Of course not. Who in the hospital would dislike it being quiet? I’m human too, so of course, I like it.”

“But why do you have that expression? You look uneasy?”

The youngest nurse, who had been listening to the two’s conversation from the side, also looked at Lee Chan-hee’s face and added a word.

“Oh! Dr. Lee really doesn’t look good.”

“Is that so?”

“Dr. Lee, is something wrong?”

“Me? No, it’s not that, but I don’t really believe in that superstition that patients come when you say it’s quiet.”