Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 285

285. Terminally Ill Cancer Patient?

“We’re here.”

“What are you doing? You have to pay the fare.”

As the taxi stopped in front of our hospital, the old man nudged Seo Jun-woo, who was sitting next to him.

“Ah, yes. Here you go, driver.”

“Keep the change. Take care.”

“Thank you.”

Clack-

“Is this it?”

“That’s right, this is our hospital.”

“The hospital is bigger than I thought.”

“Well, when you go around, there are big hospitals and small hospitals. This one’s about in the middle.”

“But how did you end up doing this job, Grandpa?”

“Hey, rookie! That tall friend won’t like it if you ask things like that… Let’s just do our job.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And just a moment!”

Before entering the hospital, the old man gave Seo Jun-woo a word of caution.

“Not that many people will care too much, but still, try to talk more naturally.”

“Yes?”

“Right now, our role is a grandson and grandfather living hard without money, but you’re being too polite. Speak more casually.”

“Yes, I will.”

“And this face is a problem… Even wearing shabby clothes, you still look noble. Just a moment.”

The homeless man, not liking the neat face, deliberately ruffled Seo Jun-woo’s hair.

“Okay, that’s better. Let’s go in.”

The two entered the hospital and headed to the reception desk.

“Welcome. How can I help you?”

“Cough! I’ve come to see the emergency room for treatment.”

As expected, the old man, for whom this was not the first time, acted like a sick person, with slightly unfocused eyes, occasional coughs, and slow speech.

“Is this your first time at our hospital?”

“Yes, it is.”

“What’s wrong that brings you here?”

“Actually, I’m a terminally ill cancer patient, and I’m trying to get some painkillers prescribed.”

“I see. I’ll help you with the registration. What’s your name?”

“Gu Ho… Cough! Cough! I’m sorry. I keep coughing.”

“It’s okay. Take your time.”

“You’re very kind. My name is Gu Ho-jae.”

“You’re registered. You can go to the emergency room and have a seat.”

“Thank you.”

Having completed the registration with a fake ID, the old man headed to the emergency room with his fake grandson.

“Oh my! I feel bad for that old man.”

“Me too. If he’s terminal, he won’t be able to live long… I feel sorry for both the grandson and the grandfather.”

The reception staff felt sorry for the two as they entered the emergency room.

* * *

Intensive Care Unit-

Tae-kyung, having finished the emergency surgery for a multiple collision, came to see stuntman Gu Min-woo, who had been in an accident due to a wire malfunction.

He had survived the dangerous situation in the emergency room, but because the injury was so severe, Gu Min-woo’s condition could worsen at any time.

Therefore, Tae-kyung meticulously checked Gu Min-woo’s condition whenever he had a moment, day and night, doing everything he could as the attending physician.

‘Min-woo, you have to hang in there. So-ri and Haeng-un are waiting. Let’s hang in there a little longer.’

These were the words he always said to Gu Min-woo with a desperate heart whenever he came to the intensive care unit.

As a doctor, he was someone who believed in medicine, but when speaking to unconscious patients in the intensive care unit, he often spoke as if they could hear him.

The same was true for Gu Min-woo.

Although he was lying unconscious, it felt like he could hear his wife’s voice visiting him and his own voice cheering him on.

He hoped that he would find strength, even thinking about Haeng-un, who was building a home in his mother’s belly, and Tae-kyung wanted to save Gu Min-woo even more.

Thanks to everyone’s efforts, Gu Min-woo, who had been enduring with narcotic painkillers, gradually regained spontaneous breathing over the course of a week, and finally underwent spinal surgery yesterday.

Fortunately, he endured the surgery well and it was successful.

“How are you feeling?”

He still had to be monitored in the intensive care unit, but Gu Min-woo’s face looked better than before.

“I’m okay.”

Although it was still a little difficult to speak, he replied with a smiling face.

“Are you in a lot of pain?”

“It’s bearable because I’m getting painkillers. Every time I see you, Doctor, I feel like I’ve become a problem student.”

“A problem student?”

“Yes. When I was in school, if there were kids who didn’t listen, the teachers would come to the classroom every break to see if they were causing trouble. You come so often that I feel embarrassed every time I see you.”

He expressed that he was embarrassed, but in fact, Gu Min-woo felt that way because he was sorry.

He had heard everything from his wife, who had visited him, about how much effort Tae-kyung had put in to save him.

He felt grateful and sorry that he might be preventing him from resting, even though he was seeing so many patients.

“By my standards, Min-woo, you’re not a problem student, but a model student.”

“I’m a model student?”

“That’s why I come to see you so often.”

“I think meeting you, Doctor, is like winning the lottery in my life.”

“That’s too much praise. I guess I should buy a lottery ticket this week.”

“If you win first prize, are you going to give me something too?”

“No. That would be a little difficult.”

“I’m disappointed.”

Just a week ago, he couldn’t have imagined exchanging such jokes with Gu Min-woo. Perhaps that’s why Tae-kyung was so happy with these small conversations with the patient.

“If the pain is severe, don’t hold back and tell me.”

“Yes, Doctor. Thank you always.”

“You’re welcome. Then rest.”

As Tae-kyung came out of the intensive care unit and passed the reception desk to go to the emergency room, nurse Im Jeong-suk approached him.

“Doctor, we have an outpatient?”

“Outpatient? Did we have a scheduled patient at this hour?”

“No. It’s not a scheduled patient, but someone who came since you went into surgery for the TA [traffic accident] earlier and insisted on seeing you for treatment.”

“Really? Then they must have waited a long time.”

Clack-

“Patient, you’ve waited a long time, haven’t you? Where does it hurt…”

Clack-

Tae-kyung, feeling rushed by the words that they had been waiting since before the surgery, suddenly stopped speaking as soon as he opened the door to the examination room and came back out into the hallway.

“What’s going on? You said it was an outpatient?”

“Yes, it’s an outpatient. That’s…”

Clack-

“Director! Aren’t you going too far?”

Just as nurse Im Jeong-suk was about to explain the situation, the patient inside the examination room couldn’t stand it and came out.

“Director, I didn’t think you were like this. I’m disappointed. Where is there a doctor who runs away from a patient?”

Unlike his disappointed tone, the patient’s identity was none other than Detective Kim, whose eyes showed that he was happy and didn’t know what to do.

Detective Kim was the police officer in charge of the Se-young case, who was a victim of child abuse, and he was still in contact with Se-young and her father and doing well.

“It’s because Detective Kim isn’t a patient, right? Why did you come again?”

Unlike Detective Kim, who showed disappointment and joy at the same time, Tae-kyung’s expression showed annoyance.

“Director! I was actually joking earlier, but now I’m really, sincerely disappointed. I really came as a patient.”

“That’s right. Detective Kim really came as a patient. Look here.”

Detective Kim, saying that he was a patient, looked quite wronged as he showed nurse Im Jeong-suk, who was looking at Tae-kyung with disbelieving eyes, his injured palm.

“I’m here to get treatment.”

“Come in.”

Tae-kyung, who came into the examination room, examined Detective Kim’s palm.

“This is a contusion. Were you stabbed with a knife?”

“Wow! As expected, Director, your eye for detail is extraordinary. I was slightly grazed in the process of catching a criminal.”

It could have been a life-threatening situation, but Detective Kim said it casually, as if it were nothing.

“This much is a joke while working as a police officer. You can’t be a detective if you’re afraid of knives.”

“Still, always be careful. You were lucky. If you had been stabbed just a little deeper here, you could have damaged important nerves.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“But didn’t you say today was your day off?”

“It’s my day off, but another team was short on staff, so I went out to support them.”

“The police officers are going through a lot.”

“Right? I even got stabbed with a knife today, so if you grant me my request in that sense…”

“Okay! Detective, I’m going to anesthetize you. It’ll sting.”

“Agh!”

Detective Kim screamed as the anesthetic injection went in.

“Someone who isn’t afraid of knives, why are you so afraid of anesthetic injections?”

“I’m not afraid of knives, but I’m afraid of anesthetic injections!”

“There’s one more left. I’ll put it in so it doesn’t hurt.”

“Ah! It hurts so much. Director, are you really not going to grant my request?”

“As I said earlier today, my answer is the same.”

Taking Detective Kim’s earnest words lightly, Tae-kyung focused on the sutures.

“It’s not a difficult task, please think of it as a talent donation and do it just once. Is it that difficult to go to high school and give a lecture?”

“Yes, that lecture is difficult.”

Detective Kim’s words to his niece while talking to her at a family gathering after watching a YouTube video of Tae-kyung became the start of the problem.

‘Isn’t that director cool? I know him well.’

‘Wow! Really?’

‘Of course. We’re close.’

‘Uncle, can you do me a favor?’

The niece’s request was to ask him to give a lecture.

It was his only niece’s request, so he wanted to grant it somehow. However, Detective Kim, who had come to ask earlier in the day, had been rejected by Tae-kyung.

“Director!”

“No, Detective Kim, how can I do sex education? Huh?”

That’s right. The reason Tae-kyung finally refused was because he was being asked to go to an all-girls high school and give sex education to female high school students.

It would be one thing if it were an all-boys high school, but there were sensitive aspects to doing sex education in front of female high school students who were at a very sensitive age.

“Why can’t you do it? You can do it, can’t you?”

“Then why sex education of all things?”

“My niece said that everything they do at school is useless, so if someone like you, Director, does it, it would be of direct help.”

“And I don’t major in obstetrics and gynecology. Okay! The sutures are done, so please go now.”

“I’ll be back again.”

“You have to come for disinfection anyway. Be careful not to get water on it and goodbye.”

“Director, I won’t give up.”

Detective Kim followed Tae-kyung out of the examination room and shouted from behind him.

“Wow! Detective Kim is amazing.”

“Who says he isn’t? Looking at his determination, being a detective is the perfect job for him. Please get the prescription.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Tae-kyung shook his head and headed to the emergency room after talking to the nurse.

“Let’s see… What’s number 12?”

Tae-kyung, looking at the list of patients on the emergency room station monitor, asked nurse Im Jeong-suk.

“Number 12, isn’t this patient going to get a checkup?”

“Yes. They said they only came to get a prescription.”

‘Wait a minute…!’

“Who saw this patient?”

Tae-kyung, who was thinking to himself while looking at the monitor, turned his head and asked.

“Did Doctor Choi see them?”

“No. Doctor Choi went to do an endoscopy and Doctor Lee…”

“I’m on my way back from seeing them now.”

Lee Chan-hee answered as he walked to the station before nurse Im Jeong-suk could finish speaking.

“Doctor Lee?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“This patient only wants to get painkillers?”

“Yes, the grandfather is a terminally ill cancer patient, and I felt bad for him. He was wearing shabby clothes and seemed to be living with his grandson, so I felt a little bad.”

“Terminally ill cancer patient?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of painkillers did they ask for?”

“They asked for fxxx…”

“Chan-hee? I’ll see this patient.”

“Yes!?”

Lee Chan-hee, who had been fine until now, asked nervously at Tae-kyung’s words that he would see the patient again after already seeing them.

“Did I make a mistake or something…”

“No, what mistake? It’s nothing like that. I just want to check something. There’s nothing too urgent right now, so Doctor Lee, sit down. I’ll see number 12.”

Lee Chan-hee didn’t make any mistakes. He just wanted to check something, literally.

“Doctor! Aren’t you going to take the painkillers?”

Lee Chan-hee asked, seeing Tae-kyung going empty-handed.

“Oh. It’s okay for now. I’ll check it out.”

“…”

Leaving behind Lee Chan-hee and the nurses, who were bewildered by what was going on, Tae-kyung headed directly to bed 12.

Charyuk-

“Hello, patient.”

Tae-kyung opened the bed curtain with a cheerful voice and greeted him.

“The doctor who came earlier had an emergency patient, so I came to help you.”

“Oh, is that so. I was wondering why a different doctor suddenly came.”

“When you’re in the emergency room, urgent patients can come up, so I’m sorry for making you wait.”