Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 249

249. Anemone

Working in the emergency room is unpredictable.

Just when the medical staff thinks they have a moment to breathe, it gets insanely busy again, as if nothing ever happened.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Lee, the results for the patient in bed 9 are in.”

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

Just an hour ago, the emergency room was peaceful, but now it was complete chaos.

“Damn it! This guy’s leg is screwed up.”

“Get me some alcohol here!”

From young child patients to frantic teenage high school students, and the ever-present drunks, the emergency room was a complete madhouse.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Oh, it must hurt, but you’re being so brave. Good job.”

Choi Mona comforted the crying child patient.

“You’re getting an IV now, so the fever will go down soon. Don’t worry too much.”

“Yes, doctor. Thank you.”

Choi Mona, who used to be terrified of child and elderly patients just a few months ago, had changed a lot.

Now, she knew how to soothe a crying child and understand a stubborn elderly patient.

She couldn’t claim to fully understand all of the patients’ pain, but her efforts to communicate were admirable.

“Hey! Changhyun, does it hurt? I hurt too.”

“Shut up. Stop it.”

Three or four male students in school uniforms were sitting side by side on a bed, waiting for their results.

“Hey, did you contact your parents?”

“No, if I tell my parents, I’ll definitely get scolded. I’ll tell them when I get home later. My mom said if I break my leg again playing soccer, she won’t let me play again.”

“Wow~ You won’t be able to play soccer now.”

“I have to be careful for a while.”

“Hey, but looking at this emergency room, it’s like something out of a drama, isn’t it?”

“Right. The doctors here are so cool. I have to take a picture and upload it to my Instagram story.”

“No way. This is not a place for taking pictures.”

Choi Mona, who happened to be approaching for treatment, stopped the male students from taking pictures of the emergency room.

“You’re Changhyun, right?”

“Yes.”

“I saw the X-ray, and fortunately, it’s not broken, but there’s a crack in the bone.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“You came here before with a broken leg, didn’t you?”

“Oh! You have a good memory.”

“Of course, I’m a doctor, so I must have a good memory.”

“Okay, thank you. Keep breaking or cracking it is not good, so be careful. Another doctor will come and guide you through the cast. Get a cast and get a prescription. Got it?”

“Yes, thank you. Doctor?”

“Why? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“No, not that. Can I take a picture with you?”

“No, doctors can’t just take pictures with patients.”

Clearly, Choi Mona was the one who was asked the question, but Lee Chanhee, who was passing by, suddenly chimed in.

“Kim, please put a cast on this student.”

“Yes, doctor.”

“And Choi, go see the patient in bed 3 quickly.”

“I was going to go anyway.”

After finishing the treatment of the male student, Choi Mona moved to another bed to see another patient.

* * *

Downtown Restaurant-

A man walked into a fancy restaurant with a confident air.

With a handsome face and tall stature, his name was Kwak Yongjin, and he was the chef of the restaurant.

Still in his early 30s, he was the head chef in charge of a large restaurant, living a successful life at a young age.

To taste his cooking, from someone who graduated from a top culinary school in Europe, reservations were always full, even on weekdays.

“Everyone is working hard.”

“Oh! Chef.”

When Kwak Yongjin appeared, the faces of the staff in the kitchen lit up one by one.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

The staff wondered why he came to the restaurant on his day off.

“Did you leave something behind when you left work yesterday?”

“No. I didn’t leave anything behind.”

“Then why did you come? Don’t tell me you came to see us?”

“Why else would I come? Of course, I came to see you guys.”

“Really? Why?”

The staff was abuzz with surprise at the words that he had come to see them.

“I came because of work nearby, and I thought I’d stop by to make something for you guys to eat.”

“Wow! Awesome!”

The reason Kwak Yongjin came to the restaurant on his day off was because of the staff. The day for the new menu development submissions for the staff was coming up soon.

On workdays, they were too busy with work, so the staff mainly came to the restaurant after work or on their days off to practice developing their own menus.

Kwak Yongjin came to cook for those employees.

“You’re going to cook for us?”

“That’s right. I thought you’d all be working on menu development without eating properly. I’m only doing this specially today, so don’t refuse and eat.”

“Yes, Chef.”

“Tell me if there’s anything you want to eat.”

“Pasta. I want to eat your pasta.”

“Really? What ingredients do we have?”

“We have mussels right now.”

“Then I’ll make mussel pasta.”

Shortly after, Kwak Yongjin quickly made delicious mussel pasta for the staff.

“Wow! Chef, it’s so incredibly delicious.”

“I really think this is the taste of pasta recognized by Michelin [a prestigious culinary award] and the Blue Ribbon [another culinary honor]. It’s really the best.”

“You’re overdoing it. Thank you for enjoying it. I’ll be going now, so make sure to clean up well after practice and go home.”

“Yes, thank you. Goodbye.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“Crazy! He really has it all.”

As Kwak Yongjin left the kitchen, the staff praised him one by one.

“How can a person be so perfect? He has everything from looks to personality to ability.”

“That’s right. I really like our chef. Honestly, he’s cool even when he’s angry.”

“Stop it. The chef has a girlfriend.”

“Really?”

“Of course, would he not have a girlfriend with that face and skill? I heard she’s very beautiful… Anyway, he’s taken, so don’t get any strange ideas.”

“Too bad.”

While the staff was feeling disappointed, Kwak Yongjin, who had left the restaurant, headed to the supermarket. After buying some simple ingredients, he also bought flowers for his girlfriend at a nearby flower shop.

“Hello.”

“You’re here again?”

“Yes. Do you have flowers?”

“Of course. Are you going to get the same ones today?”

“Yes.”

“Please wait a moment. But why do you only buy anemone flowers?”

“I personally like anemones [a type of flower]. They also suit my girlfriend well.”

“Oh, I see. Here, the packaging is all done. Have a good day.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Kwak Yongjin headed home with the beautifully packaged anemones.

Beep- Beep- Beep- Beep-

After entering the password for the front door lock, he arrived home and placed the groceries and flowers he bought from the supermarket on the dining table.

Currently, Kwak Yongjin was living with his beloved girlfriend.

“Jiae? I’m home. Jiae?”

Clang-

As Kwak Yongjin opened the doors here and there, his smile gradually disappeared from his face.

“I’m here…!”

“Jiae?”

Just then, his girlfriend Shin Jiae came out of the bathroom staggering, and Kwak Yongjin grabbed her with a surprised look.

“Honey, are you okay? Is it still bad?”

“Yeah. The medicine doesn’t work. I have no energy. Yongjin, I… I feel like I’m going to collapse.”

Shin Jiae, who was in Kwak Yongjin’s arms, staggered once again as if she had no strength.

“Jiae, this won’t do. Let’s go to the hospital.”

He was worried about Shin Jiae, who had been having diarrhea for days and was not feeling well.

“Ho, hospital…?”

At the word hospital, Shin Jiae’s eyes, which had been listless, flickered for a moment.

“But… would that be okay?”

“Of course, it’s okay when you’re this sick, what are you talking about? Put on some clothes and let’s go quickly.”

“Okay. I’m sorry for ruining your day off.”

“Don’t say that. You are the most important thing in this world to me.”

Kwak Yongjin carefully took care of the sick Shin Jiae and left the house to go to the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital, the two parked their car in the parking lot and headed to the hospital building.

“Why? Are you just coming out? Didn’t you check in?”

As the two were about to enter the building, a woman said to another woman who came out of the building.

“There are a lot of patients today. Should we come back later?”

“That many?”

“A lot.”

While Lee Chanhee and Choi Mona were seeing patients in the emergency room, Taekyung was in emergency surgery.

Due to the sudden transfer of a TA (traffic accident) patient, he had to urgently perform surgery while seeing outpatients.

Because of this, there were quite a few patients waiting for outpatient treatment in the waiting room.

“Then let’s come back later.”

“Excuse me?”

Kwak Yongjin called out to the middle-aged woman who was coming out of the hospital.

“Yes?”

“Are there many people inside right now?”

“There were a lot of patients waiting, so we’re going to come back later.”

“Ah, okay. Thank you.”

Kwak Yongjin bowed to the woman and, with a still worried expression, wrapped his arm around Shin Jiae’s shoulder and supported her as he asked.

“Honey, are you going to be okay with so many people?”

He looked at his girlfriend with eyes that seemed like the sky was about to fall.

The two looked like they were very much in love at first glance.

“Should we go somewhere else?”

“No… Let’s just wait and see. I’m so tired.”

Shin Jiae replied with a listless face to Kwak Yongjin’s words.

“Okay. Let’s do that. It will take more time to go to another hospital from here, so let’s get treatment here. Let’s go and register first.”

“Okay.”

“Hello. What brings you here?”

“I came because of diarrhea. It seems like I have severe enteritis [inflammation of the small intestine].”

Shin Jiae replied weakly to the receptionist’s words.

“The director is currently in surgery for outpatient treatment, so you’ll have to wait. Is that okay?”

“How long will we have to wait?”

“It’s an emergency surgery. And we see patients in the order they came, so it will take some time.”

“Um… Will it take long in the emergency room too?”

Shin Jiae, who was listening to the staff’s explanation, looked at the emergency room and asked again.

“The emergency room is also the same, you have to wait because there are many patients right now, but it might be a little faster. But I can’t guarantee it exactly.”

“Then I’ll get treatment in the emergency room.”

“Why? Are you going to get emergency room treatment?”

Kwak Yongjin, who was listening to Shin Jiae’s words, asked.

“Yeah. I think it’s better to see it as soon as possible. I’m a little tired.”

“Okay, let’s do that. That would be better than you being tired.”

“You’re registered. You can go to the emergency room entrance over there.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Kwak Yongjin treated Shin Jiae very carefully, as if she would fly away if he blew on her, and slowly moved to the emergency room.

“Those two looked good just now.”

As the receptionist said, looking at the two, a fellow employee agreed.

“I know, did you see the honey dripping from the man’s eyes?”

“That’s what I’m saying. He couldn’t take his eyes off his girlfriend. They’re both good-looking, a match made in heaven. I’m jealous. So jealous.”

“The man was really handsome. If I had a boyfriend like that, I’d feel energized even when I’m sick.”

“Even if your body is sick, your heart will be strong.”

The two, a visual couple who were envied by the receptionist, were in the emergency room.

“Excuse me, I came to see a doctor.”

“Have you registered?”

“Yes.”

“Please measure your blood pressure, give us the paper, and wait, and we’ll call your name in order.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Yongjin, just a moment…”

Shin Jiae, who was heading to the blood pressure monitor after listening to the nurse’s explanation, suddenly stopped.

“Why? Do you feel like you’re going to collapse? Are you feeling much worse?”

“No, not that, I’m going to the bathroom. I think I’m going to have diarrhea again.”

“Okay. Excuse me, where is the bathroom here?”

“It’s around the corner over there.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The two, guided by a passing nurse, moved to the bathroom.

“Jiae, I’ll be here, go quickly.”

“Okay, I got it.”

Clang-

Shin Jiae entered the bathroom, leaving Kwak Yongjin waiting outside. But somehow, her appearance was strange.