Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 295

Five Vital Signs – Episode 295 (295/502)

295. Room 307

“Hey! What’s wrong with you? Why are you calling the director?”

Lee Chan-hee, flustered, grabbed his friend’s arm and whispered in his ear, but Kim Il-sang ignored him and approached Tae-kyung.

“Excuse me, Director. I wanted to ask you something. Do you have a moment?”

“Sure. Go ahead and ask.”

“This bastard… I mean, Chan-hee here removed a lump on my butt. Could you check if it was properly taken care of? He’s my friend, but he seems like a quack to me.”

“You think Doctor Lee is a quack?”

“Yes, I don’t trust him at all.”

“Hey! Kim Il-sang?”

Lee Chan-hee raised his voice in anger, and Tae-kyung chuckled, looking at his friend.

“Alright. I’ll take a look.”

“Really? Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s an honor to receive treatment from someone so famous.”

At those words, Kim Il-sang quickly pulled down his pants and lay down, and Tae-kyung carefully examined the area Lee Chan-hee had treated.

“Director, how is it?”

“Hmm…”

“Did Chan-hee treat it well?”

While Tae-kyung was examining, Lee Chan-hee was inwardly expecting to be praised for his clean treatment.

“This is currently…”

However, Tae-kyung’s expression was subtly strange.

“Huh!”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“Is something wrong?”

Seeing Tae-kyung’s increasingly serious expression, Lee Chan-hee and Kim Il-sang, their faces losing their playful demeanor, asked simultaneously.

“Doctor, did I mess up the treatment?”

“Yeah. You messed up.”

“Huh?”

“Ha! I knew it, Chan-hee. I knew that quack was unreliable… I’m sorry, but could you please take another look, Director?”

“Taking another look isn’t a problem, but it seems like we’ll have to do surgery…”

“Excuse me!? S, surgery? Did you just say surgery?”

“This isn’t just a problem with the cyst. There’s something else. Doctor Lee? Can you see the area above the affected area?”

With a serious expression and conversation, Lee Chan-hee quickly approached his friend and shifted his gaze to where Tae-kyung was pointing.

“Ah!”

In an instant, Lee Chan-hee also realized the situation and nodded.

“I see. That was the problem.”

“How could you miss this? I always told you to observe more carefully when examining patients.”

“I’m sorry. I was so focused on the affected area that I didn’t pay attention to that part. Should I prepare for surgery right away?”

“I think that would be best. Hurry!”

“No, w-wait a minute, Director? Can you explain what’s going on and why you’re suddenly talking about surgery…”

Kim Il-sang, lying face down with his pants down, became increasingly worried by the conversation between the two, who were mixing in medical terms.

“Patient, have you had headaches or occasional indigestion?”

“Yes! That’s right. How did you know? Even two days ago, I had indigestion after dinner and then a headache. Director, is it so bad that I need surgery?”

Kim Il-sang stared intently at Tae-kyung and asked cautiously.

“There is another way, but…”

“What is it? I’ll do anything. Please tell me.”

“Then come in for disinfection [a minor antiseptic procedure] every other day and take the medicine that Doctor Lee prescribes. Oh! And stay away from alcohol for a while.”

“Yes. I’ll get disinfected… Huh?”

Kim Il-sang, quietly pondering what Tae-kyung was saying, suddenly felt something was off.

“Director, is there really something wrong with me?”

“No. There’s nothing wrong at all. Doctor Lee treated you well, so there’s nothing more to see. The affected area is clean.”

“Huh?!”

Tae-kyung, who had been looking serious just a moment ago, was now smiling with a gentle expression, and Lee Chan-hee next to him was forcibly holding back his laughter.

“Our Doctor Lee Chan-hee is a skilled and good doctor.”

“Yes?”

“I overheard you calling him a quack outside, so I played a little prank. Doctor Lee? I’ll be going now. Make sure to give your friend a prescription when he leaves.”

“Yes, Director. Thank you.”

Clang-

“See? I’m not a quack. The director said something because you kept calling me a quack.”

“No, he doesn’t seem like the type to play pranks, but he played one so seriously?”

“Our director has a humorous side. But your expression earlier was really funny.”

“I was so scared when you said surgery that I thought my heart was going to jump out.”

“The human skin layer is thicker than you think, so your heart won’t jump out that easily.”

“But, your director must be a real master. I was so amazed earlier.”

Kim Il-sang praised Tae-kyung, raising his thumb.

“Why?”

“No, I sometimes have indigestion and headaches. He figured it out right away after just a brief look. His skills are no joke.”

“His skills are no joke, but that’s just what he said. Who doesn’t have occasional indigestion and headaches?”

“Is that so? I was so impressed. How embarrassing.”

“What’s embarrassing? Oh! Il-sang, I have a call. I’ll go to the emergency room.”

“No. I’m just going to go home and sleep.”

“Why? You said you were going to stay over.”

Kim Il-sang, who had said he would stay over, got up from his seat and packed his bag.

“Seeing your director, he’s no ordinary person. I feel an aura and force, so I don’t think I should sleep here tonight. Give me my prescription quickly.”

“Just stay over.”

“No. It’s okay.”

Kim Il-sang, completely shaken by Tae-kyung’s prank, received his prescription and headed straight home.

“Come back in two days for disinfection.”

“Alright. Thanks for today.”

* * *

“It’s really not here.”

A woman said to an employee while looking around a table in the corner of the restaurant, which was being cleaned up after closing time.

“I looked everywhere after receiving the call, but it wasn’t there. If it shows up later, I’ll contact you right away at the number you gave me.”

“Yes, please.”

With an uneasy expression, she got into the car where her boyfriend was waiting and sighed.

“Ha! Where did it go?”

“They don’t have it?”

“No, they don’t. It has our team’s design draft, so I have to find it. I’m going crazy.”

“Should we call the motel?”

“Motel?”

“Yeah. We went to the motel after the restaurant.”

“Oh! That’s right!”

At the word motel, the woman clapped her hands and said with a confident tone.

“Honey, it’s the motel. I was so out of it that I just remembered. I left it at the motel. Let’s go quickly.”

At the woman’s words, the man started the car and headed to the motel.

Seoul, at a motel-

“But are you sure you left it here?”

“I’m sure. Before we watched a movie with the laptop, I took out the USB and put it in the drawer.”

The couple, with irritated faces, were entering the motel.

“Honey, didn’t you see me put it in the drawer?”

“How would I see that? You should have taken better care of it. Why are you making me come back at this hour?”

“Hey! Why are you talking like that? Did I ask to come to the motel? You wanted to come, right? I’ll go find it myself, so you can just leave.”

“No, honey, that’s not what I meant…”

“Welcome.”

While the boyfriend was fidgeting, the girlfriend approached the front desk employee who greeted them.

“Excuse me, I’m the person who checked into room 307 yesterday and checked out this morning.”

“Ah! Yes. From the next room, I heard… Never mind. I know.”

The employee nodded, reacting as if he remembered the two couples.

“I’m sorry, but can I go into that room?”

“Are you going to rent it again?”

“No. It’s not that, but I left something important behind when I left in a hurry.”

“Something important?”

“Yes, a chocolate-shaped, finger-sized USB. It contains important work data, so I have to find it… Please.”

The boyfriend, feeling sorry for his girlfriend, actively explained to the employee and asked for understanding.

“Then leave your number, and I’ll find it and…”

“No. I’m really sorry, but I have to take it with me when I go to work tomorrow. Can I look for it now? I’ll just take 5 minutes and come out.”

“No. It’s not that, but there are guests in room 307 right now. So, it would be rude to go in right now.”

“I understand what you’re saying. I’m really in a hurry, so is there anything you can do?”

“I’d like to go in and check for you, but as you both know, this is a motel, and it’s late, so I don’t think that’s possible.”

The employee understood that the woman was in a hurry, but he refused, worried that knocking on the door would cause trouble.

“Then, can you at least call and check? Please.”

“Alright. I’ll call.”

“Thank you.”

The employee made a call to room 307 using the phone inside the front desk.

“Are they sleeping?”

But no one answered the phone.

He called again and again and again and again, but only the ringing tone was heard.

“Usually, they would answer after this many calls, but it seems like they’re sleeping?”

“Oh no.”

Despite making several calls, the guest in room 307 did not answer.

“What’s going on?”

In a situation where he couldn’t do anything, the motel owner came in to relieve the employee for the night shift.

“Boss, you’re here? These two are the ones who checked out of room 307 during the day…”

The employee explained what happened.

“Room 307? One person went in there.”

“One person?”

“Yeah. A young woman checked in alone for a short stay.”

The owner had personally given her the key when he was working during the day, and he remembered it clearly because she came alone to this place where couples usually come.

“She must be in a hurry.”

“Yes. She said it contains company data.”

“It’s company data, so she has to take it. Wait here. I’ll go up and check.”

“Thank you.”

After hearing the woman’s situation, the owner took the elevator to room 307.

Ding-dong- Ding-dong-

Knock-knock-

He pressed the doorbell button next to the guest room door repeatedly, but there was no response. So, the owner knocked on the door directly and said.

Knock-knock-

“Guest, this is the motel owner. I’m really sorry, but can you open the door for a moment? A guest who stayed here during the day left something behind.”

Knock-knock-

“Guest?”

Ding-dong- Knock-knock-

He continued to knock with his hand along with the doorbell, but no sound was heard from inside the door.

“Did she drink and fall asleep?”

There were often people who came to the motel alone and drank.

He had seen quite a few people who were soothing the pain of separation, people whose lives were difficult, lonely people, and the owner thought that this was the case again.

“If she drank and fell asleep, it would be hard to wake her up. What should I do? Wait! Did the person in room 307 buy alcohol?”

The owner muttered to himself and quickly scrolled through the motel’s hallway CCTV footage recorded on his phone.

“Oh! Her hands are empty.”

However, alcohol was not visible when the guest in room 307 checked in, and she did not go out in the middle. Of course, the woman may have had alcohol in her bag, but it was difficult to confirm on the screen.

With that, the owner turned his back on the firmly closed room 307 and headed to the elevator.

“If there’s no response even after doing this much, I’ll just tell her to come back tomorrow…!”

However, the owner, who was muttering to himself while pressing the down button, suddenly stopped talking, and his face turned sharply dark.

‘Oh no!’

The owner ran back the way he came and banged on the door of room 307.

Bang- Bang-

“Guest? Guest!”

The owner, with his ear pressed close to the thick door, was doing something incomprehensible, then ran madly down the hallway.

‘Please! It can’t be…’

He didn’t wait for the elevator that had gone up to the upper floor again, and he headed to the first floor front desk, muttering to himself as he ran down the emergency stairs several steps at a time.

Clang-

“Hey! Ki-jung? The key, give me the key!”

“Yes? What key?”

“What happened? Is my USB there?”

The employee asked back, and the woman asked about her belongings, but the owner didn’t hear anything.

“What are you standing there looking at? Hurry up and give me the key!”

“What key?”

“The room key for 307. The key!”

“Ah, yes, here it is.”

“Excuse me, boss, if we go up together…”

“No.”

The large owner frowned and said firmly, and the woman couldn’t say anything more.