Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 287

Five Vital Signs – Episode 287

287. 100 Times, 50 Times More Powerful Fentanyl

Seeing the child’s expression, Tae-kyung was certain that Seo Jun-woo knew nothing about the drug. So, he decided to reveal the truth.

“Get up!”

“Yes?”

“Get up and sit over here.”

Tae-kyung gestured for Seo Jun-woo to sit in the desk chair.

“What are you doing! Hurry up and come here.”

After hesitating for a moment, Seo Jun-woo reluctantly got up and sat in the desk chair.

“As you said, it’s a painkiller, but it’s not just any painkiller.”

“Then what is it?”

“First, take a look at this.”

Thump-

Tae-kyung quickly searched for something online, clicked on a short video posted by a foreign reporter, and turned on the subtitles.

The screen showed a foreign city and people. But the people on the screen looked strange.

Some were kneeling, some were leaning over as if they were about to fall, and some were slumped on the ground with their arms dangling.

Their appearance was strange and even bizarre, as if they were performing some kind of performance art.

It was like something out of a monster or zombie movie.

Soon after, a reporter with a microphone appeared on the screen and delivered the news.

-Those of you watching this video may think that the screen has paused for a moment.

Let me tell you in advance, the screen has not paused.

All the people here are addicted to synthetic drugs and are acting like zombies.

The number of people addicted to fentanyl [a powerful synthetic opioid painkiller], an easily accessible narcotic painkiller, has become so large that it is difficult for the police and authorities to handle the situation.

Thump-

Tae-kyung stopped the video as it was ending.

Seo Jun-woo, who had been watching the screen silently, was shocked by the terrible appearance of the people in the video.

“Do you understand why I’m showing you this?”

“…No. To be honest, I don’t really know why you’re showing me this.”

“Is that so?”

Tae-kyung quickly picked up the phone on the desk and made a call.

“Mr. Im, it’s me. Could you bring me some fentanyl?”

A moment later-

“Can you see this?”

Tae-kyung took out the painkiller that Nurse Im Jung-sook had given him and showed it directly to Seo Jun-woo.

“This is the painkiller you asked that grandfather to get a prescription for earlier. And this painkiller is the narcotic painkiller called fentanyl that was on the screen earlier. Do you understand now?”

“……!”

Seo Jun-woo’s eyes were glued to the narcotic painkiller fentanyl on the desk.

The truth of what Tae-kyung had said was beginning to sink in.

“It’s the same. They’re exactly the same…”

Seo Jun-woo took out the sticker and candy that Go Seung-kyu had given him from his bag and compared them to what Tae-kyung had shown him.

No matter how hard he looked, they were exactly the same.

The packaging was different, but the transparent sticker and the small lollipop were exactly the same as the painkillers that the club members had.

Above all, the word ‘Drug’ was clearly visible, stamped in red on the outside of the package, which was scary just to look at.

What he had thought was a simple painkiller until now was a narcotic painkiller.

He had thought it was unusual after hearing Go Seung-kyu’s explanation, but he had never expected it to be such a terrible drug.

“Where did you get this?”

Tae-kyung frowned as he looked at the narcotic painkiller that Seo Jun-woo had taken out.

“Did you do this? Did you do it?”

He had thought it was a problem that the old man who had run away earlier was being prescribed and taking fentanyl without any pain.

Tae-kyung was shocked to see the drug, which was a problem even for the old man, coming out of a young student’s bag.

“This is a drug used by patients who are really in pain because they are seriously ill. Do you know how scary this is? Didn’t you see the screen earlier! Do you want me to tell you more about what this is?”

Fentanyl is a drug that relieves pain for patients with severe pain in the form of a transparent patch and a small lollipop, but it is a dangerous drug that causes terrible addiction if used by a healthy person.

In addition to chills, vomiting, and dizziness, there were several side effects, and it was 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

Also, you could become addicted after only a few uses. Therefore, to use it, a person who needs it must consult with an expert and get a prescription.

In foreign countries, they were struggling with the problem of fentanyl addiction, and other countries had even declared a state of emergency.

“N, no! I didn’t do it. I really thought it was a painkiller…”

Seo Jun-woo, flustered by the sudden situation, said with a trembling voice.

He felt like he was losing sight of what to do, and tears slowly began to well up in his eyes as he felt fear.

“It’s okay!”

Tae-kyung, who had been surprised by the unexpected situation, calmed down as he looked at the frightened Seo Jun-woo.

“Can you tell me your name now?”

“…Seo Jun-woo.”

“Okay, Jun-woo, calm down and drink some water. It’s okay.”

Tae-kyung poured warm water, placed it in front of Seo Jun-woo, and patted the child’s shoulder to soothe him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jang Deuk-chil, the security guard at our hospital, was looking for the old man who had run away from the hospital like a rat.

“Ha! That’s strange.”

He searched around the parking lot connected to the back door, but the old man was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m sure I followed him right away…”

“Agent Jang?”

Just in time, Team Leader Choi, who had heard the news, came out the back door and joined the search for the old man.

“Couldn’t you find the old man?”

“Team Leader, that’s a bit strange.”

“Strange? What’s strange?”

“I came out almost immediately, but I can’t see this old man anywhere, as if he disappeared into the ground or soared into the sky.”

“No, an old man wouldn’t have run like an athlete in the meantime… Agent Jang, didn’t you miss him?”

“What are you talking about? I may look a bit clumsy because of my size, but I’m a fast runner. By the way, the director’s expression didn’t look good earlier. Did something bad happen?”

“Something serious seems to have happened. So, we need to find that old man quickly.”

“Ha! He couldn’t have gone far, he must be somewhere around here…”

“Did you check the recycling bins over there?”

“Of course, I checked them a long time ago.”

Clang!-

“Ah! Oh my!”

Jang Deuk-chil, who was looking left and right at the entrance of the parking lot, was startled by a stray cat that suddenly jumped out of a parked car.

“How can a man of your size be startled by a cat?”

“What does size have to do with it? And I was scratched by a cat in my neighborhood when I was a kid, so I’m afraid of cats.”

“Nabi [Korean word for butterfly, often used as a cat name], you’ll get hurt if you’re under the car! Don’t stay there, go play somewhere else.”

Mew! Mew!

“You can’t go in the car…”

Team Leader Choi, who was watching the cat hesitating and crying under the car, suddenly had an idea.

“The stray cat must be hungry.”

“That cat isn’t crying because it’s hungry.”

“How do you know that, Team Leader?”

“Agent Jang? You know I was a man in a hexagonal hat [slang for a Marine] who ruled the seas off Pohang, right?”

“Of course. Everyone at our hospital knows that Team Leader is a Marine Corps veteran, even the patients who have only been here once.”

“The Marine Corps catches ghosts, so can’t we catch people?”

“…?”

Team Leader Choi raised his hand and pointed to the car near the cat. Then, he smiled at Jang Deuk-chil and signaled.

The meaning of the smile was that he had found the old man.

‘The old man is under there. Underneath!!’

“…!”

Team Leader Choi opened his mouth wide and said silently, but Jang Deuk-chil didn’t understand at all.

Eventually, Team Leader Choi took out his cell phone and sent a KakaoTalk [Korean messaging app] message to Jang Deuk-chil.

-That old man is under this car right now!!!

-Yes! You mean on the floor?

-That’s right.

When Jang Deuk-chil looked up with a surprised face after seeing the message, Team Leader Choi signaled to count to three with his fingers and check on the old man.

One, two, three!

In response to the finger sign, the two men crouched down at the same time. And soon after, the old man’s voice was heard.

“Ah! It’s blinding!”

Team Leader Choi shined the light from his cell phone under the car as he lowered his head, and the old man, who was hiding on the floor, was surprised.

The old man, who had run away through the back door a little while ago, couldn’t go far and crawled under a car parked in the parking lot to hide.

He was going to run away when Jang Deuk-chil, who was wandering around, went back into the hospital, but he was caught because of an unexpected stray cat.

“Hey! Grandpa. It’s dangerous for you to be there. Come out quickly.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know, so come out.”

“If I come out?”

“Yes?”

“You’re going to hand me over to the police, right? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The old man, who didn’t want to be dragged away by the police, had no intention of coming out easily despite the two men’s persuasion.

“Look here. Grandpa? Even children know that if you do something bad, you get punished.”

“I won’t hand you over. And I haven’t reported it to the police yet.”

Unlike the firm Jang Deuk-chil, Team Leader Choi was planning to coax the old man out.

“Really?”

“Of course. Grandpa, come out first. It’s dangerous for you to keep doing that. Huh? Come out and talk to me slowly.”

After that, the two men continued to persuade the old man, who didn’t listen to them, while lying on the floor for a while, and finally got him out by coaxing him with the promise of buying him soju [Korean rice wine].

* * *

Tae-kyung waited for Seo Jun-woo to calm down and then approached him.

“Jun-woo, have you calmed down a bit?”

“…Yes. Teacher?”

“Yeah. Okay. Tell me if you have anything to say.”

“I… I really didn’t do that drug.”

Seo Jun-woo said in an aggrieved tone.

On the day he received the painkiller from Go Seung-kyu, Seo Jun-woo was severely stressed by his parents’ nagging and thought about actually taking the drug, but he didn’t.

He just didn’t have the courage. Go Seung-kyu and the kids said it was okay, but he didn’t feel like it.

“Okay. I believe Jun-woo. I’ll believe you.”

Tae-kyung didn’t think that Seo Jun-woo was lying to him, at least. Judging from the child’s reaction so far, he didn’t seem to be lying.

“Jun-woo, but how did you find out about this drug?”

“A friend said it was a painkiller, so I thought it was. Really… I’m sorry.”

“Friend! Did you just say friend? Your friend gave this to you?”

“Yes, a club friend told me it was a painkiller that relieves stress.”

“Why do you need this? Is that friend in a lot of pain?”

“No. He doesn’t have any pain. That’s…”

After hesitating for a moment, Seo Jun-woo began to tell Tae-kyung everything.

“The homeless grandfather and the club members take turns getting prescriptions, and that friend sells them to kids at nearby schools, saying they’re painkillers that relieve stress.”

“What, what! You’re saying your friend is selling painkillers to his peers?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Tae-kyung was shocked beyond words when he heard all the facts, to the point that his fingertips were trembling.

He couldn’t believe that a mere 18-year-old high school student was systematically selling narcotic painkillers.

He couldn’t believe that such an absurd thing was happening so casually in Korea.