Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 291

291. Everyone’s First Time

Taekyung quickly walked to the front gate and went outside. He called out the name of the person pacing back and forth.

“Junwoo? Why are you here so late?”

“Oh? Doctor, how did you get here…?”

“Hey, what kind of question is that? How can you ask that when you’re at our hospital?”

Taekyung responded with a bewildered laugh to Junwoo’s question.

“But aren’t you busy, Doctor? How did you know I was here?”

“I happened to be passing by and came out. Anyway, what brings you here so late?”

It was quite late.

Taekyung couldn’t help but be surprised to see Seo Junwoo at the hospital in his school uniform at this hour, when students who had finished school would normally be preparing to sleep.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping? It doesn’t look like you’ve gone home yet.”

“Who sleeps at this hour these days? Even middle schoolers are heading home from their cram schools [private tutoring academies].”

“So you’re studying this late?”

“Of course. Some days, I don’t finish until 1 AM. When I come out of the academy, parents’ cars are lined up on the road to pick up their kids.”

“Anyway, Junwoo, what are you doing here? Aren’t you going home?”

“I went to the police station for questioning today.”

Taekyung, who had been busy organizing posts for the doctor community and Assemblyman Gam Deokchan, now remembered the text message from Detective Kim that the kids had been questioned today.

“I received a message from Detective Kim earlier. Did the questioning go well?”

“Yes. I was only there as a witness.”

“You didn’t go home after the questioning?”

“Doctor, do you know I went straight to the academy after the questioning?”

“Academy?”

“Yes.”

Seo Junwoo, having finished his questioning at the police station, headed straight to the academy without calming his surprised heart.

With Goh Seungkyu’s incident, the club tutoring naturally fell through, so his mother took him back to the academy he used to attend.

The day before, his father had suggested asking his son’s opinion, but his mother never asked Junwoo.

She felt like she would be unsettling her son, who had been doing well so far.

With the entrance exam starting next year, she was afraid that if she asked her son for his opinion now, he might say he wanted to quit.

She knew what her husband meant, but for now, the entrance exam was the priority.

“I was in the same club as Goh Seungkyu, and I got tutoring there, but since I can’t do that anymore, I have to go back to the academy and get private tutoring. I asked my mom if I could rest just today, but she said no. So I skipped out.”

“Skipped out?”

“Yes, I didn’t want to go to the academy or do tutoring, so I skipped out.”

Seo Junwoo, having brought up the story of skipping out, hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“Doctor, do you have some time? I wanted to talk to you. You told me to come to you if I had any worries…”

“Yes, you came to the right place. Let’s go inside first.”

Taekyung took Junwoo to his office and continued the conversation.

“Aren’t you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”

“No. I went to the Han River after skipping out.”

“The Han River? Why there?”

Taekyung, who had been speaking casually, suddenly remembered something and jumped up in surprise.

“Seo Junwoo! Don’t tell me…”

“What are you thinking? It’s not like that.”

“Right? It’s not? You weren’t going to jump into the river because you’re having a hard time studying, were you?”

“Of course not. I’m afraid of water. I went to the Han River to eat ramen [instant noodles].”

“Why go all the way to the Han River to eat ramen?”

“They say ramen tastes so good at the Han River. And I wanted to clear my head.”

“Still, it’s dangerous for you to be alone at the Han River so late.”

“No, Doctor. There are so many people there, and there are many streetlights, so it’s not dark. And I stayed in bright places where there were a lot of people.”

“So did you clear your head a bit?”

“I don’t know. Doctor, I actually came to ask you something.”

“What is it? Ask me anything. I’ll answer anything I can. But first, let your parents know you’re here.”

“My parents?”

“Aren’t your parents waiting for you to finish at the academy?”

“They are.”

“Then they must be worried. You should let them know you’re here so they worry less. Right?”

“Okay. I’ll leave a message.”

“Good. Now, ask me what you’re curious about.”

“Actually, my parents… no, my mom wants me to become a doctor.”

After hesitating, Seo Junwoo revealed his inner thoughts to Taekyung.

“A doctor?”

“Yes, she’s been telling me to become a great doctor since I was young. So all my study schedules are tailored to go to medical school.”

“You’ve been through a lot, Junwoo.”

“It’s okay. Learning something is fun in itself. But I wonder if someone like me can become a doctor.”

“What kind of person is someone like you?”

“I actually wanted to become a fashion designer. I thought only people with grand and solemn intentions become doctors. I’m not that kind of person.”

“But Junwoo? Not everyone who goes to medical school has that kind of mindset.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Some people come with that kind of mindset, but others don’t. Some people come because their parents or family are doctors, and some come because their grades are good enough. And some come because they like professional jobs. There are many different reasons.”

Seo Junwoo listened to Taekyung’s story with a serious face.

“And among those with such solemn intentions, some choose a different path because medical school doesn’t suit them. Conversely, some people come without any thoughts and develop such a mindset while studying and training. I don’t think there’s a right answer.”

Listening to Taekyung’s story, Seo Junwoo thought.

He had never thought much about the profession of a doctor because of his mother’s constant pressure.

Until now, he had thought that doctors were great people, but somewhat authoritarian, cynical, and difficult for patients to approach.

Junwoo had also gone to local hospitals when he wasn’t feeling well and to university hospitals when his grandfather had major surgery.

‘Junwoo, did you see the professor who was treating your grandfather earlier? Our son should become such a great doctor.’

On the day he visited his grandfather, his mother sang about becoming such a doctor, mentioning the university hospital professor until he went to bed.

But the doctors he saw there all looked similar.

It wasn’t that the image of those doctors was wrong or strange. He thought that maybe that was the reality of doctors.

But he was disappointed that the image of doctors in dramas, who poured all their passion into each and every patient and cried and laughed with them, was a fabricated character.

After that, Junwoo had been taken to several large hospitals by his mother as if on a field trip.

It was to motivate him to go to medical school and stimulate his studies.

The more he did, the more Junwoo’s thoughts became firm.

If he went to medical school and became a doctor, he would end up being a similar doctor, and he wondered what that would mean.

But Doctor Kim Taekyung was different.

Experiencing the recent Penxx incident, the way Taekyung showed himself as a doctor touched young Junwoo’s heart.

Goh Seungkyu and the other club members said that no doctors would pay much attention if they asked for a prescription.

So don’t worry, don’t be intimidated, and go. But Taekyung told them what was wrong, told them why they shouldn’t do it, and corrected them.

Perhaps if he had received a prescription without any problems at our hospital that day, Junwoo might have naturally done Penxx someday. And he thought that such brazen thoughts might have grown like Goh Seungkyu.

He and his other friends were prevented from going down the wrong path because of Taekyung.

He was very grateful. And he was amazed by the doctor Kim Taekyung. He wondered what kind of mindset he had to have to become such a doctor.

“Then Doctor, what kind of mindset did you have when you decided to become a doctor?”

“Me…”

In fact, this question was what Seo Junwoo wanted to know most. But just as Taekyung was about to answer the question,

Clang-

“Doctor, I think you need to go to the emergency room.”

Nurse Lim Jungsook came into the office.

“Okay. I understand. Junwoo, wait here for a moment.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Taekyung, having received the call, headed to the emergency room, and Seo Junwoo, who was waiting inside, headed to the emergency room out of curiosity.

“You bastard, don’t touch my body.”

Junwoo, who was curious about how Taekyung worked, was shocked by the terrible scene in the emergency room.

The emergency room was a complete mess, with patients swearing, patients dripping blood from their faces, and patients screaming and crying.

People who had been drinking at a nearby bar had gotten into a fight and came to the hospital. One person had a laceration on their head.

From the medical staff’s point of view, it wasn’t a major injury, but the sight of blood dripping from his face was shocking to Seo Junwoo.

“Hey! Who are you? Huh! Do you want to die? Huh!”

“Sir, this is a hospital. You have a laceration on your head and need to be stitched up.”

“Don’t talk nonsense, bring my wife. If you touch my body, you’ll die.”

“We’ve contacted your guardian, and you can’t just stay like this.”

“Shut up. You! Do you want to die?”

“Of course not. I’ll anesthetize you and stitch you up.”

Moreover, Taekyung’s calm and smiling face as he dealt with the unreasonable patient was amazing.

He looked like a trainer taming a dangerous beast.

After the treatment of the chaotic patients was over, Taekyung headed back to the office.

Clang-

“Did you wait long?”

“No.”

“Where were we… Right. You asked me what kind of mindset I had when I became a doctor? But I didn’t have any grand reasons like Junwoo said.”

“Really?”

“I just wanted to be a good doctor. Actually, I was so busy studying that I didn’t have time to think about anything else.”

“But Doctor, what do you think about when you’re taking care of patients?”

“Huh?”

“Actually, when you went to the emergency room earlier, I was curious, so I went to see. But people were swearing and getting angry, but how can you all treat them so calmly? I don’t think I could do that.”

“In the case of that patient earlier, he was a drunk patient. I know it’s not his true feelings because he said it under the influence of alcohol. Of course, there are rude patients even when they’re sober, but I just think they’re annoyed and having a hard time because they’re in pain. And in my case, I look at the patient with earnestness.”

“With earnestness?”

“Since I see a lot of surgery patients, I wonder how earnest this patient is right now. So I treat the patient earnestly so that he can get better or recover from his illness through me. Junwoo, haven’t you ever studied earnestly to get good grades? It’s that kind of feeling.”

“Ah…”

“Junwoo?”

“Yes?”

“There’s no need to think too deeply and be afraid first. Both the doctor and Junwoo are experiencing the world for the first time. So there’s no need to think about this and that in advance and put too much energy into things you haven’t even experienced. Even people who have worked hard, thinking that it’s their path for life, realize that it’s not their path and turn away. If you work hard and it doesn’t feel right, you can make another choice then. It’s not a failure. Rather, you can think of it as a good foundation built on experience. Until you directly face and experience it, there is no right answer for people or work.”

Seo Junwoo nodded slowly.

“I don’t know if what I said helped.”

“Yes, it helped a lot. You’re a very cool person, Doctor.”

“Really? I feel good to hear compliments from Junwoo? Thank you.”

Taekyung answered young Junwoo’s concerns as seriously as possible and spared no advice.

After that, they went around the hospital together and learned about what doctors do, and Seo Junwoo returned to his parents who were waiting in the parking lot.

Clang-

“Seo Junwoo!”

As soon as her son got into the car, his mother raised her voice out of worry.

“Do you know how surprised Mom was when I got a call saying you didn’t come to the academy? Why did you contact me so late?”

“Honey! That’s not it. Let’s go home and listen to Junwoo’s story first. Okay?”

“Okay.”

His mother, who had talked a lot with her husband while coming to the hospital, held back her momentary anger and kept quiet.

Junwoo’s skipping the academy made her seriously think about whether she had been too demanding of her son.

“Mom and Dad, I’m sorry. I felt frustrated thinking about whether I had to go to the academy and get tutoring even on a day like this. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance. And Mom, I’m going to try to go to medical school.”

“What!?”

His mother, who had been determined to stay calm, widened her eyes and asked back at her son’s words.

She was planning to seriously discuss his career path at home and actively reflect Junwoo’s opinions. But his mother was quite surprised when her son said something she had never expected.

“No. Mom is sorry too. I think I was greedy, saying I was doing it for Junwoo. You don’t have to go to medical school because of Mom.”

“Yes, Junwoo. Dad agrees with Mom’s opinion.”

“It’s not because of Mom. I met a real doctor. That doctor was so cool. He’s so cool that I thought I wanted to be like him if I became a doctor. So I’m going to try it.”

“Junwoo… Son!”

“No, Mom. I’m not going with grand intentions. I’m just going to go to medical school for now. If I study and it doesn’t suit me, I’ll go another way then.”

“No, why would you go to medical school that you entered with difficulty…”

“Honey! You said you’d listen to Junwoo. Dad is in favor. Good.”

“Okay, if it doesn’t feel right even after you get in, then Mom won’t force you anymore.”

“Really?”

“I promise. Really.”

“Thank you. Mom.”

“Instead, don’t skip the academy without saying anything in the future. If it’s hard, tell me instead. Okay?”

“Yes, I will.”

This time, he experienced an unexpected big event, but this event was not remembered as a bad thing for Junwoo.

Rather, it was a good experience.

He knew for sure what was right and wrong, and he met Taekyung, who deserved the title of a real teacher, and got answers to his career path.

Junwoo pledged to become a cool person like Taekyung in the future and headed home with his parents with a bright expression.