Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 244

244. Oil Money Big Shot

“Then, Japan?”

“No, a country right next to Japan. Korea.”

“Korea?”

Hamad raised his voice and asked again at the mention of Korea.

“What’s so surprising? Korean medical technology is quite advanced. There’s a doctor in that country with incredibly skilled hands.”

“It’s not that, I have to go to Korea for some business anyway…”

“Really? That’s great then. While you’re there, just schedule the surgery and get it done.”

“Is it that good?”

“Yes. Actually, I happened to have surgery with that doctor, and I was very satisfied. Not only is the surgical skill excellent, but they are also sincere and not authoritarian with all patients.”

Richard didn’t hold back in praising the doctor who operated on him.

“Who on earth is the doctor who operated on you?”

“Curious?”

“Of course, I’m curious. If someone as notoriously picky as you from Johns Hopkins is praising them this much, anyone would be curious, wouldn’t they?”

“Hold on. Should I show you something? Just wait a moment.”

“What are you talking about out of the blue?”

Richard, seeing Hamad’s curiosity, returned to his desk, searched for something, and then clicked on a video, turning the monitor around.

“Hamad? Take a look at this.”

“What is this? This! It’s a surgery video?”

The video that Richard suddenly showed was a surgery video. And it was his own stomach cancer surgery video.

“This is my stomach cancer surgery video.”

“What? This is your surgery video?”

“Yes.”

As Hamad watched the video intently, his eyes gradually widened.

“No, this person is amazing!”

“Right? Now you know why I praised them so much, don’t you?”

“No, I mean, tell me who the person who operated on you is.”

Richard handed Hamad, who looked like he was dying of curiosity, a piece of paper with something written on it.

“Here! Take this. This is the doctor’s name.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Hamad stared intently at the name written on the memo, a satisfied expression on his face.

* * *

A few days later, Tae-kyung was discussing the repair of the hospital hallway, which he had been considering for some time.

“So, you’re saying that the patients’ flow of movement is a bit inconvenient here.”

“Director, I understand, but don’t you think this corner is okay?”

“Well… I guess the facilities team leader might think so. How about you try riding one here?”

Tae-kyung pointed to a wheelchair parked on one side.

“Me? In a wheelchair?”

“Yes. Try riding it and going around this corner yourself.”

The facilities team leader gave a look that questioned the necessity of going this far, but overwhelmed by Tae-kyung’s gaze, he eventually decided to ride the wheelchair.

“Oh! Ouch!”

The facilities team leader, who reluctantly got into the wheelchair, felt firsthand that it wasn’t easy, as it kept getting caught on the inside wall of the corner even with effort.

“This is really not easy.”

“That’s what I’m saying, right? There’s a limit to understanding someone different from you just with your head. That’s why you have to experience it yourself. Only then can you know the difficulties and improve things. It won’t be easy, but please do as I said.”

“Yes, Director. I was careless. I will fix it.”

“Thank you. And one more thing. From this door to the rehabilitation room…”

It was right then, as he was moving on to the next topic with the facilities team leader.

“D-Director!!”

Team Leader Choi, the hospital’s news source, was running down the stairs in a hurry.

“Director?! This isn’t the problem right now. Let’s talk about this later and focus on what I have to say.”

“What’s going on?”

“They’ve arrived. They’ve arrived.”

“Arrived? What has?”

“Don’t be surprised.”

“That congressman…”

“Congressman?”

“Yes, Congressman Gam Deok-chan and… they’ve arrived.”

“Congressman Gam can come to the hospital.”

Gam Deok-chan’s daughter, who had surgery due to the department store accident, recovered well and was safely discharged.

After that, Gam Deok-chan occasionally visited the hospital to express his gratitude to Tae-kyung and was doing well.

So, the fact that he came to the hospital was not surprising.

“More than that, Team Leader, you’re going to run out of breath. Calm down.”

Tae-kyung handed Team Leader Choi, who was gasping for breath, a can of drink he was holding, wondering where he had run from.

“Yes? Ah, thank you.”

Team Leader Choi, out of breath, drank the beverage in one go.

“Director, so…”

As Team Leader Choi, who had finished drinking, was about to continue the story, Tae-kyung had already left his spot and was walking far away.

“Huh! You can’t just leave! Director?”

“Yes. Do you have something to say?”

“I always have a lot to say. No, more than that, this isn’t the time to be doing this. First, go to the main entrance quickly. A guest has arrived.”

“A guest?”

“Yes, and it’s a huge oil money, I tell you.”

“Oil money?”

“Ah! Please go quickly.”

“…!”

Puzzled by the words, Tae-kyung moved towards the main entrance as Team Leader Choi had said.

As he headed to the lobby, he saw Congressman Gam Deok-chan. And next to him was a man in traditional clothing, and besides Gam Deok-chan’s aides, there were also foreign aides dressed in suits and wearing sunglasses.

“Director!”

“Hello, Congressman. What brings you here today?”

“Our Director Kim, nice to see you. Nice to see you.”

As Tae-kyung greeted him, Kim Deok-chan approached quickly and responded happily. But something was very different from his usual self.

It wasn’t the usual Gam Deok-chan, who always maintained a sense of gravitas and was cautious in every action.

He seemed a bit excited and somewhat nervous. And he even seemed a bit polite.

“Director Kim, this way for a moment.”

Gam Deok-chan led Tae-kyung to one side and continued to speak.

“So, what’s happening is…”

Gam Deok-chan suddenly put his hand on Tae-kyung’s shoulder and began to speak in a quiet voice, solemnly.

“When you greeted me just now, you saw that person over there in traditional clothes, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

In fact, Tae-kyung had been watching the man in traditional clothing ever since he came to the lobby.

To be precise, it was a man wearing a real traditional outfit, a Kandora [a traditional white robe worn by men in the Arab world], the traditional clothing of men in the United Arab Emirates, with a headdress called a Shemagh [a traditional headdress] and a ring called an Egal [a black cord used to secure the headdress] on top of it.

But it wasn’t just because he was wearing clothes that were not easily seen that he was looking at the man.

It was because he sensed the fifth vital [an extraordinary sense or aura] from him that he couldn’t help but look at the man.

“That person is a very powerful person from the Middle East. That is, the United Arab Emirates. Not just an important person, but a really important person. I can’t say exactly who it is because it’s a confidential matter, but you can think of him as very important, at least as important as our president.”

“Ah, yes…”

“I wasn’t going to say this much, but that man is a member of the royal family. A royal!”

“A royal, I see.”

“Yes. I was going to contact you in advance, but he’s very strict about personal protection. So, he came suddenly. Anyway, he’s a very important person.”

“Ah… I see. He’s really a great person.”

Despite Gam Deok-chan’s enthusiastic explanation, Tae-kyung was indifferent to the point of feeling empty.

In fact, it didn’t matter much to him whether that person was a royal or a VIP.

It just felt like strange people were appearing again from somewhere when he had to do hospital work.

Given Tae-kyung’s personality, he had no interest in high-ranking people in the first place.

The moment they entered the hospital, everyone was an equal patient, nothing more and nothing less.

He would just treat them well to the extent that they didn’t harm our hospital, just like he would treat other patients.

“But why would such a person come to our hospital?”

“That’s because…”

“Excuse me.”

A handsome middle-aged man with tanned skin suddenly poked his head between the two people who were having a secret conversation.

“Oh my, you startled me!”

Tae-kyung and Gam Deok-chan were startled by the sudden appearance.

Gam Deok-chan, regaining his composure, adjusted his clothes and exchanged words in Arabic.

“Nice to meet you. Dr. Kim.”

Then, the man in Kandora grabbed Tae-kyung’s hands with both hands and briefly introduced himself in English.

“My name is Hamad.”

The man introduced himself as Hamad.

“Congressman, shall we move to my office together for now?”

“Yes. That would be good.”

Guided by Tae-kyung, Hamad and his party, along with Gam Deok-chan, headed to the office.

Several people were together in the office.

Tae-kyung and Congressman Gam sat at the table, and Hamad and his direct interpreter sat across from them.

“So, that person is a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates?”

“That’s right. But he’s not just any royal; he’s a powerful figure in an organization related to oil exports.”

As soon as he heard Gam Deok-chan’s words, Team Leader Choi’s earlier mention of oil money made sense.

“And that person is currently suffering from stomach cancer. But why would such a great person come to me?”

“Of course, it’s to meet the director.”

Tae-kyung, who now seemed to have grasped the situation, thought quietly about why such a great person would come to him.

He roughly knew that he was not in good health. But he wondered why such a great person, with a royal family member and Congressman Gam Deok-chan personally guiding him, would come to him.

Of course, major hospitals in Korea were also putting a lot of effort into attracting foreign patients and were making decent profits from them.

It was also true that as Korean medical technology became increasingly known to the world, more and more patients from various countries were visiting each year.

But that was only the story of large hospitals, not the story of a small hospital on the outskirts of Seoul.

“I will now translate what the VIP has said.”

Reading Tae-kyung’s expression, Hamad conveyed his story through an interpreter.

“Dr. Kim Tae-kyung. I am glad to meet you like this. I studied astronomy at Harvard and medicine in graduate school, so I know everything about medicine.”

Hamad continued to convey what he wanted to say to the interpreter.

“In particular, I am well aware that the surgical outcomes of Korea and Japan in laparoscopic surgery related to stomach cancer are absolutely unmatched by the West or the Middle East.”

“Please tell him I appreciate his kind words.”

The interpreter, having conveyed Tae-kyung’s words to Hamad, relayed his story again.

“However, I also know that Japan tends to perform obsessive lymph node resections, and that Korea’s overall medical technology and equipment are better invested in. And above all, I have heard about the director’s brilliant and almost miraculous laparoscopic surgery when he was at Shinhwa University Hospital in the past.”

“I’m not such a famous person, but if you don’t mind me asking, who told you about it?”

“In the past, Richard, a professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University, had surgery with you for stomach cancer, right?”

“Ah! Yes, that’s right. I remember.”

Tae-kyung remembered most of the patients he had operated on. But since Richard was a professor at Johns Hopkins, he couldn’t help but remember him more.

“But at that time, the professor you wanted had personal matters, so I did it instead…”

“I know that too. Actually, Richard, who was operated on by the director, is my friend.”

The man who had revealed his name as Hamad a little while ago was the very man who had visited his friend Professor Richard at Johns Hopkins Hospital a few days ago.

After talking with his friend, he even moved up his existing Korean schedule and flew on a private plane to meet Tae-kyung.

It was because he could no longer delay meeting the doctor to whom he would entrust his life.

“I wanted to see you as soon as possible while flying on the plane. Actually, according to my friend…”