Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 253

Fifth Vital Sign – Episode 253

Episode 253. It wasn’t me who got the treatment…

‘That’s right! Isn’t there CCTV footage?’

‘There is CCTV, but it’s useless.’

‘Useless? Why?’

‘He just rushed in, beat me up, and ran away. Plus, he was wearing a hat and a mask, so you can’t see his face. And it was raining, so it’s even harder to identify him. Do you want to see?’

‘Can I see it here?’

The fellow model showed the CCTV footage from the phone he received from the police.

In the video, the colleague was about to get into a car parked in an alley. Then, suddenly, a man covered in black from head to toe appeared and mercilessly struck his shin with a large hammer before running away.

It was an absurd and ridiculous incident that happened in just five minutes.

‘He’s a real psycho. How can someone suddenly attack a perfectly normal person and run away?’

‘That’s why they call it a random crime. The police say that kind of thing happens quite often these days. But why did it have to happen to me?’

‘I can’t believe this. We prepared so much for this shoot. I’m so upset.’

The brand that Shin Ji-ae and her colleague were supposed to shoot for was a luxury company’s jewelry line.

The products were developed with the motif of an old couple, and the concept was the enduring love of an old couple.

The products were created with the theme of comfortable but still passionate and constant love, and the shoot included some semi-nude scenes.

So, both Shin Ji-ae and her colleague worked hard to get in shape and dieted a month before the shoot.

Because the photoshoot itself was for a highly anticipated brand, both of them were incredibly disappointed.

‘I’m upset about being hurt, but honestly, I’m more pissed off that the photoshoot is delayed. If their schedule doesn’t work out, they might replace the model.’

‘I know. Because of this bastard….’

Shin Ji-ae, agreeing with her colleague and watching the CCTV footage again, suddenly found herself speechless.

‘……!’

That was because the man who assaulted her colleague in the CCTV footage looked like her boyfriend, Kwak Yong-jin.

Although his face was unidentifiable, what surprised her were his shoes. They were common sneakers, but there was something unique about them.

They were custom-made sneakers just for Kwak Yong-jin on their anniversary. She had drawn on the side of the shoes herself.

It wasn’t a fancy pattern, but it was a meaningful mark for the two of them, so Shin Ji-ae could recognize it.

Come to think of it, Kwak Yong-jin’s reaction before the photoshoot flashed through her mind.

‘Ji-ae, do you really have to do that shoot?’

‘It’s work, of course, I have to. Why?’

‘No… I’m just a little jealous that you’re shooting affectionately with another man. That male model is handsome, isn’t he?’

‘What are you talking about? It’s just work. That person is just a colleague, and you’re the one I like.’

After hearing about the concept of the shoot, Kwak Yong-jin subtly expressed his discomfort and hoped she wouldn’t do it.

Shin Ji-ae quickly finished her hospital visit and came straight home because she needed to confirm something.

If it wasn’t just a suspicion but the truth, she thought it was right to break up with Kwak Yong-jin and report him to the police.

So, she searched the shoe cabinet, but the sneakers in question were nowhere to be seen.

‘They should be here. Where did they go?’

As the sneakers that should always be in their place were not visible, her suspicion grew.

‘Could it be….’

Suddenly, she thought they might be in the dressing room, so she went straight into the room and started searching. And she found the sneakers with traces of rainwater. What was even more surprising was the camera she found with them.

Shin Ji-ae, who found a small camera while searching the room for the sneakers, couldn’t help but be shocked.

She learned after searching the internet that Kwak Yong-jin was using the camera to secretly film her.

‘Yong-jin, what is this?’

Finding the camera, she couldn’t stand it and confronted Kwak Yong-jin that evening.

‘Don’t tell me you used this to spy on me? Is that right?’

‘Ji, Ji-ae. It’s not like that….’

‘Why did you do that? I can’t date you like this. Let’s break up.’

Having learned all the facts, Shin Ji-ae broke up with Kwak Yong-jin. She could no longer live or meet with him.

She tried to break up without mentioning her colleague’s incident, but his reaction gave her goosebumps.

‘Break up? Who says so? You know I broke that bastard’s leg, right?’

‘……!’

To Shin Ji-ae, who already knew everything, Kwak Yong-jin no longer pretended to be a nice boyfriend.

‘I know everything you do: what you eat, what you like and dislike, and where you go.’

He knew everything about her.

‘Ji-ae, how can we break up? You can’t escape me. Break up? If you say that one more time, I might go crazy. So, stay still.’

Kwak Yong-jin was even more insane than Shin Ji-ae thought.

He was obsessed with everything about her and tried to possess everything.

She tried to run away several times, but it wasn’t easy to escape his grasp.

Shin Ji-ae, who was even threatened with her life, had no choice but to quit her job and stay at home as his doll.

She couldn’t even dream of contacting the outside world because he put passwords on the house phone, her cell phone, and even the internet, and monitored her with cameras.

But she felt herself becoming increasingly exhausted and felt like she would die if she continued like this.

‘Ji-ae, don’t get sick.’

The words Kwak Yong-jin always said like a mantra came to her mind as she thought of ways to escape for days.

‘I don’t want you to have even a scratch on your body. I hate it even more when you’re sick.’

As she remembered his words of not getting sick, which he had repeated not just once or twice, she thought of one way.

It was to overwork her body.

She usually had a sensitive colon, so she would get diarrhea right away if the food didn’t suit her. So, Kwak Yong-jin also paid attention to her diet.

‘Ji-ae, I prepared fresh broccoli soup today.’

‘Today is our anniversary, so it’s beef steak.’

‘It’s organic vegetables, so eat with confidence.’

It was full of all kinds of expensive ingredients and things that were good for her body, so it wasn’t easy to upset her stomach.

‘That’s right, there was that way!’

Eventually, Shin Ji-ae secretly hid the food little by little to reduce its freshness without Kwak Yong-jin knowing. And she secretly consumed the food in the blind spot of the camera and, as planned, got severe enteritis [inflammation of the small intestine] and even came to the hospital.

“Ha! Amazing.”

“We need to investigate thoroughly, but that guy is really strange.”

The police, who heard all the circumstances from Shin Ji-ae, were speechless, to say the least. Not only the police but also Tae-kyung was just as dumbfounded.

“So, you couldn’t even get out of the house and were confined all the time?”

“Yes, I was constantly monitored and confined.”

“First, we’ll investigate Kwak Yong-jin. And more than anything, we need accurate evidence of what the victim has said.”

That was obvious.

Especially in cases of dating violence between men and women, if there is no evidence, it could simply be concluded as a lovers’ quarrel.

“Please search the house. If you search the house, you’ll be able to find the camera.”

Shin Ji-ae told them to search the house. Because it was her original house, it was easy to investigate because she was the contract holder [leaseholder].

If it was Kwak Yong-jin’s house, he would have refused, and it wouldn’t have been easy to investigate right away.

The male police officer immediately left the hospital room and headed to Shin Ji-ae’s house with another colleague from the police station.

“Are you feeling okay, patient?”

Tae-kyung, who was watching the situation from the side, asked Shin Ji-ae with concern.

“Yes, doctor… Because I’m getting treatment, and just being away from that person makes me feel much better. I’m grateful to that female doctor earlier and to you, doctor.”

“You’re welcome. But don’t you have any family to contact? It would be helpful to have family or friends with you rather than being alone.”

“Well, my family is abroad, so I contacted a friend for now.”

“Okay. Good job.”

Tae-kyung called nurse Im Jeong-suk and asked her to stay with Shin Ji-ae until her friend arrived, and headed to the guardian waiting room with the female police officer.

“Doctors are amazing.”

“No, I just helped report it. That’s all.”

“Reporting it is a big deal. Sometimes we get reports from the hospital, but the doctors are so busy taking care of many patients that I’ve never seen doctors who care this much.”

The two, who came to the guardian waiting room while talking, moved to Tae-kyung’s office for now.

“Um… Doctor, did something happen to our Ji-ae? Did the surgery go wrong?”

Perhaps because he saw Shin Ji-ae enter the operating room perfectly, Kwak Yong-jin didn’t seem to notice the sudden appearance of the police yet.

“Is Ji-ae okay? Huh?”

The police officer opened her mouth to him, who was still only asking if Shin Ji-ae’s surgery went well and if everything was okay.

“Are you Kwak Yong-jin?”

“Yes, I’m Kwak Yong-jin.”

“You know Shin Ji-ae, right?”

“Yes, I’m her boyfriend.”

“Well, that’s what you think. Shin Ji-ae reported Kwak Yong-jin to the police.”

“Me, me? Ji-ae did? That can’t be. My girlfriend is in surgery right now….”

What on earth is going on? Kwak Yong-jin trailed off and naturally turned his gaze to Tae-kyung.

“The patient asked for help earlier. The patient is not currently in surgery.”

“You heard what the doctor said just now, right? Shin Ji-ae explained everything: that she has been continuously confined, monitored, and threatened by Kwak Yong-jin.”

The police told Kwak Yong-jin, who still couldn’t grasp the situation, what had happened.

“The victim said she wanted to break up, but you made her quit her job and wouldn’t let her leave the house. You even installed cameras in the house to monitor her. Kwak Yong-jin, that’s dating violence and stalking.”

“Ha!”

Kwak Yong-jin, who was listening to the story, suddenly collapsed to the floor. Then he lowered his head and suddenly started apologizing.

“I, I’m sorry. Really… I’m sorry.”

“No, this is not something that can be solved with an apology, so I think you’ll have to come to the police station with us.”

“I loved Ji-ae… I loved Ji-ae too much, so I did that.”

Kwak Yong-jin continued to apologize and began to tell his own story, which he had not been asked about, as if he did not care about the police’s words.

“It’s embarrassing to say, but I actually have separation anxiety. I feel anxious and nervous when Ji-ae is not by my side.”

“Have you ever received psychiatric treatment?”

“Pardon? No. I’ve never had that.”

“Hey! Kwak Yong-jin, that’s not love.”

“It’s not love? How much do I love Ji-ae? I don’t like the police officer putting down my love like that.”

He answered no to Tae-kyung’s question and retorted, getting angry at the police’s words.

“Rather, it happened because I loved her too much. I met someone I loved so much for the first time in my life, and so my feelings for Ji-ae were clumsy and wrong. But I never stalked or confined her.”

Kwak Yong-jin, who was telling his story in detail, suddenly said that he had never stalked her.

“It was for Ji-ae.”

He even made the absurd statement that it was to protect his girlfriend.

“Hey! Kwak Yong-jin? Everything will come out if you investigate. It’s better to stop now if you’re lying.”

“I’m very jealous. But wouldn’t anyone who loves someone be like that? I hated even Ji-ae looking at another man, but I never confined or stalked her. Rather, it was to protect Ji-ae. I’m not lying.”

As if proving his innocence, an unbelievable word flowed from his tearful mouth.

“And it’s not me who received psychiatric treatment, it’s Ji-ae.”