Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 272

Fifth Vitality- Episode 272

272. The Promise I Couldn’t Keep

“Ah! That crazy bastard is doing that on purpose, I think…”

The action team leader, who had been watching from the side, cursed Kim Sun-ho with a hardened expression.

“I agree. He’s getting hit on purpose, isn’t he?”

The main character, Kang Hyuk, agreed with the leader’s words.

“You think so too, Hyuk?”

“Yes.”

The entertainment industry seemed glamorous on the outside, but inside, it was incredibly dirty.

Sometimes, when filming a movie, if there were people who disliked or envied each other, they would intentionally cause NGs [no-good takes, or mistakes]. That’s what Kim Sun-ho was doing now.

Gu Min-woo didn’t care, but Kim Sun-ho was the only one getting impatient and causing NGs.

In short, he was deliberately causing NGs to mess with Gu Min-woo.

“Min-woo, are you okay?”

The leader, worried about Gu Min-woo, came up to the standby area.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Kim Sun-ho, that bastard, seems to be doing it on purpose. Should I go say something?”

“Nah! I doubt it. Just leave it.”

Gu Min-woo, the person involved, was so focused on his own filming that he didn’t have time to pay attention to anything else.

“Okay, let’s focus for now. If he does that shit again this time, I’ll go say something then.”

“Please bear with it for now, and I won’t stop you then.”

“Just a little more suffering.”

“Suffering? What suffering? It’s fun.”

With that, the break time ended, and filming resumed.

“Okay! Let’s finish this in one take. Ready, action!”

Following the director’s cue, Gu Min-woo started running, avoiding the people chasing him, and jumped accurately at the designated spot.

Fortunately, Kim Sun-ho’s acting also went smoothly without any NGs, and everything was flowing perfectly, just like in the rehearsal.

That’s when Gu Min-woo landed his first foot on the opposite building.

“……!”

His body swayed violently and instantly fell backward into the air. There was a problem with the wire.

“Oh! Mr. Min-woo, what’s wrong?”

“Pull him up quickly!”

Amidst the chaotic voices of people, they pulled the wire, but the wire that already had a problem didn’t listen.

Squeak-

With a chilling sound, one side of the wire loosened, and Gu Min-woo tried to calmly overcome the situation, but it was beyond his capabilities.

“Min-woo? Just hold on a little longer!”

People gathered around the machine connecting the wires, and Gu Min-woo tried to be as careful as possible with his movements. But it didn’t work out as he wished.

‘Damn it!’

The wire with the recoil gained force regardless of his will, and the speed gradually increased as if he were riding a swing.

“Hey! Stop the wire quickly!”

“I, it’s not listening.”

“No, shit! Why isn’t the wire listening!”

In the midst of the director and staff’s desperate radio communications, an accident happened in an instant.

Gu Min-woo’s back collided strongly with the building wall.

Thud-

Soon after, a loud noise was heard, and the screams of people covered the scene.

Only after the movement of the wire drastically decreased after colliding with the building wall, Gu Min-woo had no choice but to come down with his body hanging limply from the wire.

“Hey! Lower him carefully and slowly.”

“Oh my god!”

“What to do! Mr. Min-woo?”

“Quickly! Call 911!”

“Min-woo?”

“Mr. Min-woo, are you okay?”

Everyone around, including the action team leader, the director, and Kang Hyuk, gathered around Gu Min-woo.

“Your head! Is your head okay?”

“Don’t touch him carelessly, just look!”

The leader screamed like a madman and checked his head first.

Fortunately, Gu Min-woo instinctively covered his head with both arms when his body collided with the wall.

What he learned as a stuntman, as emphasized as various action moves, was the ability to respond in emergency situations.

Gu Min-woo was able to protect his head with quick judgment. But other places were wrecked.

No one at the scene knew what condition his organs were in from the impact of the fall.

Because it was impossible to check with the naked eye.

“Min-woo? Can you hear me?”

“Come to your senses!”

In the midst of the buzzing voices of people and the fading consciousness, one thought flashed through Gu Min-woo’s mind.

It wasn’t the famous agency representative who came to see him for the contract, nor the action team leader who was worried and shouting, nor Kim Sun-ho, who was being criticized for deliberately causing NGs at first.

‘Safety is the most important thing! Got it? Film carefully without getting hurt. I love you, honey!’

Only the thought of his wife, Lee So-ri, who wanted him to finish filming safely and return home, filled his mind.

‘So-ri, I’m sorry…….’

It felt like he was going to die.

No, instinctively, he was dominated by the thought that he was dying.

He was scared and wanted to see his wife.

‘I’m sorry for not keeping my promise. So-ri…….’

Even in this moment of overwhelming pain, Gu Min-woo was only worried about his pregnant wife.

‘So-ri, I love you. Haengun-ah, protect Mom. I’m sorry, honey.’

He tried to hold on with all his might, but his eyes closed regardless of his strong will. Eventually, Gu Min-woo lost consciousness.

* * *

Our Hospital-

“It’s strange. Really! It’s strange.”

“What’s so strange?”

When Lee Chan-hee tilted his head, nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who was looking at the monitor, responded.

“Ms. Soo? Isn’t this really strange? I feel like the number of trauma patients has been increasing lately.”

“I agree with Mr. Lee on that.”

One of the nurses passing by the station agreed with Lee Chan-hee’s words.

“Ms. Soo, don’t you think so?”

“Come to think of it, it seems like that’s the case, just like Mr. Lee said.”

“But that’s not all.”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who was looking at the monitor, raised her head and stared at Lee Chan-hee.

“We haven’t had this many traumas before. Of course, patients don’t come in saying, ‘I’m sick today. I’m going to the hospital.’ But it wasn’t this bad.”

For a while, there weren’t many patients with severe trauma. At most, there were fractures or patients cut by knives, that was it.

“That’s right. Even just two or three months ago, there weren’t that many, I think.”

“That’s what I’m saying. But look. Since a while ago, patients with head injuries, organ damage, and vital signs going off have been coming in about once a week. Isn’t that a problem?”

“Is it because of the season?”

“Oh, Ms. Soo. Trauma isn’t like farming, it doesn’t depend on the season.”

“It does depend on the season.”

Tae-kyung, who had been seeing a patient, retorted while sipping coffee from a paper cup.

“Doctor, you’re here? But what do you mean it depends on the season?”

“It literally depends on the season.”

“Yes?”

“Trauma isn’t farming, but it does depend on the season.”

“Uh……. Why is that?”

“There are two things that are absolutely proportional to the increase in trauma patients: traffic volume and frequency of drinking.”

“Are you talking about peak and off-peak travel seasons?”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who was a hospital life expert, immediately understood Tae-kyung’s meaning.

“That’s right. Unlike foreign countries, most traumas in Korea are car accidents or factory accidents. So, of course, if that frequency increases, the number of patients will increase as well.”

“Ah! So that’s why the number of patients increases during the peak travel season?”

“That’s right. But even so, this is a bit much.”

“Are you talking about the number of patients?”

“Yeah. No matter how much it is the peak travel season, the number of patients has increased too much lately. Moreover, as Mr. Lee said earlier, the severity of the patients has suddenly increased.”

“That’s why I said it’s strange.”

“And if you look closely, most of the people who come are drunk.”

“That patient who came five days ago was also drunk.”

“It’s strange. Did a good bar open nearby these days? I feel like the number of drunken patients is constantly increasing. If this happens, it doesn’t really depend on the season anymore…….”

“It’s because of the nightclub.”

Choi Mona, who had been seeing a patient in the bed, approached and said.

“Nightclub?”

“Yes, a patient said that a large nightclub opened in the downtown area near the big intersection.”

“But when I look at the patients, there are also older people?”

“He said that a cabaret [a restaurant or nightclub with performances] also opened near the nightclub for older people.”

“Mr. Choi is right. The owner of a pub came to see me for treatment earlier, and he said that place is a hot spot for older people.”

A nurse with considerable experience continued while taking out an IV fluid bag.

“So he was regretting that his regular customers have been scarce lately.”

“Is that so? Whatever the reason, it seems like the trend will be like that for a while, so let’s all pay special attention.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Understood.”

“And I’ll change the composition of the supplies a little differently.”

“Supply composition?”

“First, I’ll set up an emergency room ultrasound separately. We’ll put the one we use in the outpatient clinic in the emergency room first, and non-urgent tests in the outpatient clinic will be done in the radiology department as much as possible. Only until we buy an ultrasound.”

“Yes, I’ll let them know.”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook concentrated, typing Tae-kyung’s words.

“And let’s double all the supplies needed for tracheal intubation [inserting a tube into the trachea for breathing]. Do you know what a neck catheter is?”

“I think I’ve heard of it.”

“It’s a catheter that allows you to literally pour blood in when the bleeding is extreme. It’s thick, like 12gage and 9gage [gauge, a unit of measurement], so rapid infusion is possible. This will be quite expensive.”

“But Doctor, isn’t blood too viscous to be injected through such a wide tube at a certain speed?”

“Oh my, Mr. Lee is studying?”

“Oh, come on! You’re saying the obvious. What are you doing with this?”

Lee Chan-hee waved his hand, embarrassed by Tae-kyung’s compliment.

“You have to add water.”

“Yes? Water?”

“Mr. Lee is right. Blood is too viscous to go in at a certain speed, so you have to mix it with N/S (normal saline) at a 1:1 ratio and inject it. And you need a machine related to that.”

“Doesn’t that cost hundreds of millions?”

“What hundreds of millions? It’s thousands, hundreds of millions [of Korean won, a significant sum].”

“Wow……. That’s amazing.”

“The ultrasound we use alone costs 50 million won [approximately $37,000 USD].”

“Oh, 50 million? Are you talking about the one in our outpatient clinic?”

“Yeah. The chairman bought it willingly, but if a university hospital wants to buy something like that, they have to go through several stages of review.”

“Chairman……. Ah! Director Kim Cheol-gi?”

“Who else would it be besides him? He signed a purchase contract for supplies and machines related to trauma before I even said anything.”

Although his body was in a nursing home, Kim Cheol-gi was always listening and sincere about our hospital.

“We only found out that the number of trauma patients has increased now, but seeing this even though he’s not at the hospital, he’s like a ghost.”

“I think he’s been thinking about it for a long time.”

“He’s a really amazing person. So is the chairman buying it this time too?”

“No! We have to buy it with donations.”

“Oh! Donations. After all, Mr. Hamad’s oil money is the best.”

Tae-kyung was thinking of purchasing the expensive equipment he needed with Hamad’s donation.

“Ms. Lim, please update the list of supplies and make a list of assets for the ones coming in this time.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“And set it up so that it can be used right away, and we’ll do a simulation together tomorrow or the day after.”

“Yes, I’ll let the staff know.”

“New patient. Bed number 9.”

“I’ll go.”

“Mr. Choi, the patient’s results are out.”

“I’m going.”

In the meantime, Choi Mona went to the patient she was in charge of, and Lee Chan-hee heard the news of the new patient and ran.

“I’ll go to the ward for a bit. Call me if there’s an emergency.”

“Doctor!”

Just as Tae-kyung was about to leave the emergency room, a nurse in the station urgently called out to him.

“They called to ask if they can bring a trauma patient?”

“Trauma patient? I’ll take it.”

Tae-kyung, who had returned urgently, put the receiver to his ear.

“Yes, this is Kim Tae-kyung from Our Hospital.”

-Doctor, this is OO Fire Station.

“Yes, please speak.”

-Can we treat a trauma patient now?

“What kind of patient is it?”

-Yes, it’s a movie…… nearby.”

At that moment, the sound of a horn blared loudly over the receiver, and the paramedic’s voice was drowned out.

“I can’t hear you well.”

-The patient is currently being transported.

“No. Not that. I didn’t hear what kind of patient you said just now.”

-The patient’s systolic blood pressure is currently in the 70s. The pulse rate is 120.”

“Where are you? How long will it take you to get here?”

-We’ll arrive in 5 minutes.”

“Was the blood pressure low from the first discovery? What about the patient’s consciousness?”

-He is currently in a semi-coma and has been since the discovery.”

“Officer, what’s the accident history?”

-Doctor, we’re at the hospital crossroads now. You need to tell us quickly if we can transport him.”

“Okay. Come quickly. Come quickly.”

-Yes, we’ll be there soon.”

Even at this time, Tae-kyung had no idea that the patient in a semi-coma would be Gu Min-woo.