Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 316

Fifth Vital Sign – Episode 317 (316/502)

317. Real Name

“Director, who is this person that you’re being so discreet about, using such a small team?”

One of the staff members couldn’t resist asking what they had all been wondering since the surgery began.

“Curious?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Actually, I’m curious too.”

“Probably everyone in the operating room is curious.”

The staff members all chimed in, expressing their curiosity as if they had been waiting for the opportunity.

“Well… knowing could be dangerous.”

“Oh! Director, that’s a bit much.”

“Don’t joke around.”

“I’m not joking. Anyway, everyone, good work.”

Heightening the curiosity of the expectant staff, Tae-kyung left the operating room to meet Lee Hu-rak.

“Manager, have you been waiting long?”

“Not at all. The director and Assistant Manager Park have been working hard.”

Lee Hu-rak, who had been waiting in a separate room instead of the waiting room for guardians, jumped up from his seat when Tae-kyung entered.

“How did Assistant Manager Park’s surgery go?”

“The surgery went well. To prevent compartment syndrome [a painful condition that occurs when pressure within the muscles builds to dangerous levels], some parts were intentionally not fully sutured. We’ll finish that tomorrow before discharge, after checking Assistant Manager Park’s condition.”

“I don’t know how to thank you enough…”

Tae-kyung explained the surgery in detail, and Lee Hu-rak expressed his sincere gratitude.

“Because my workplace is so often shrouded in secrecy, I was quite perplexed when Assistant Manager Park was injured. But I’m so grateful to have met such a great director, and that the surgery went well.”

“You’re welcome. I just did what I had to do. Assistant Manager Park endured it well. You’ve worked hard too, Manager.”

“What did I do?”

“But Manager, you should get some sleep… Would you like to use the hospital on-call room if you’re okay with it?”

“No, I plan to stay by Assistant Manager Park’s side. He’ll be returning to the unit tomorrow, so I need to take care of him until then.”

“You care a lot about your staff.”

“I’m strict with them usually, but when they’re sick or struggling, I take care of them as if they were my own children.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Not at all. That’s how our staff gains the strength to persevere; I have to do at least this much.”

“I’ll stop by again after Assistant Manager Park wakes up from anesthesia. If there’s anything uncomfortable, please let me know immediately.”

“Right now, there’s nothing uncomfortable at all. Thank you for your concern in many ways.”

After finishing the conversation, Lee Hu-rak headed to the ward where Assistant Manager Park was, and Tae-kyung headed to his office.

* * *

“Ah, my arm!”

“Are you okay?”

Choi Mona, who had been seeing patients, approached Lee Chan-hee, who was rubbing his arm in the corner of the emergency room station.

“No. Choi, aren’t my arms going to fall off at this rate?”

Seeing Choi Mona, Lee Chan-hee, who had been quietly touching his arm, deliberately made more groaning noises.

“Human arms aren’t like wooden blocks; they don’t come off that easily.”

“No, you didn’t see it, but that person’s legs were so different from a normal person’s; it wasn’t a joke. Seriously, my arms were really about to be pulled out.”

“But who was the patient? Earlier, I saw that the surgery preparations were proceeding quickly, and I heard that the director was paying special attention to the patient…”

Even Choi Mona, who wasn’t usually curious about the patient themselves, even if she was curious about the patient’s diagnosis, was curious about who the patient was, given the unusual atmosphere.

“I don’t know. The director didn’t mention the patient separately, so I and the other staff members all want to ask, but it feels like a game of reading each other’s minds.”

“Then you didn’t say anything in the operating room either?”

“I was so busy until I came out that I didn’t even think about asking.”

“Is it a celebrity?”

“Well… I only saw his face briefly, so I’m not sure. Anyway, that’s not important; I’m telling you, I suffered so much that my arms were about to fall off.”

Lee Chan-hee looked at Choi Mona and openly expressed his exhaustion again.

“Okay, you worked hard.”

“I’m telling you, I really worked hard. I have to do rounds in the ward later too…”

“I’ll do the rounds later. Take a break for a bit then.”

“What! You’ll do them?”

“Yeah. You said you were tired, Lee.”

“It’s okay. Am I the only one who’s tired? You’re tired too. You must have been busy seeing emergency room patients while I was assisting, so it’s okay.”

“As you can see, the emergency room isn’t that hectic, so it was fine.”

“Just hearing that is appreciated.”

“It’s not just words; I mean it. And put this on.”

Choi Mona looked around, turning her head left and right, hesitated for a moment, then put her hand in her gown pocket and tossed something in front of Lee Chan-hee.

“What’s this?”

“What do you think it is? Can’t you tell by looking? It’s a patch.”

“I know. It says ‘patch’ in Korean here. I mean, why suddenly a patch?”

“You said your arm hurt.”

“You prepared this because I said my arm hurt? Then what is this medicine?”

Lee Chan-hee, his cheeks growing increasingly flushed, held up a small pill that came with the patch.

“You said you didn’t feel like your dinner was digesting well. It’s a digestive medicine.”

“Choi, why are you so sweet? I only mentioned it in passing, but you remembered all of that?”

“What! Remember? You were talking about it so much that I heard it and gave it to you. Don’t exaggerate it.”

“Choi Mona’s concern for me is this much…”

Lee Chan-hee, infinitely moved by Choi Mona’s unexpected actions, clutched the pill and patch with both hands, not knowing what to do.

“Choi Mona gave me medicine and a patch. Is this the power of love?”

“Ha! Seriously! What love? Don’t overdo it.”

“No, this isn’t overdoing it. It’s true love, and it can be said to be the sincerity that comes from my heart. Mona~?”

“What, are you crazy? You’re being cheesy.”

“I only said your name; what’s cheesy about that? Our Choi Mona has this kind of true love… I’m really touched.”

Just as a smile was about to spread across Choi Mona’s lips, who didn’t dislike Lee Chan-hee’s exaggerated playfulness, Tae-kyung approached without a sound, looking back and forth between the two with a playful expression.

“What?”

“What is it, true love?”

“……!”

Tae-kyung, who had been reviewing data in his office and came over to the emergency room, saw the two talking in the corner and approached them.

The two, who had been blossoming in a sweet atmosphere, were startled by Tae-kyung’s sudden appearance and were momentarily speechless.

“I definitely heard something about true love?”

“Ah! That’s…”

“Sesame oil!”

While Lee Chan-hee was briefly racking his brain, Choi Mona hurriedly blurted out a word that came to her mind.

“He didn’t say ‘true person,’ he said ‘sesame oil.'”

“Sesame oil?”

“Yes. You misheard, Director. We were just saying that the sesame oil smelled good in the mung bean jelly that came out for dinner.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Choi is right.”

Lee Chan-hee quickly took his girlfriend’s side as Tae-kyung gave him a look that said he didn’t believe it at all.

“Ms. Oh’s cooking skills are really amazing. The sesame oil smell kept poking at my nose; I wondered if she squeezed it herself…”

“Oh! Sesame oil is good. I think I smell sesame oil here… What do you two think?”

“New patient.”

“A patient has arrived. Soo, I’ll go.”

While the two were slightly embarrassed by Tae-kyung’s continued teasing, nurse Im Jung-sook announced that a patient had arrived in the emergency room.

“Then I’ll go to the patient.”

Hearing that, Choi Mona seized the opportunity and quickly headed to the patient.

“Why are you constantly smiling?”

Lee Chan-hee asked with an uneasy look as Tae-kyung stared at him intently and continued to smile silently.

“I don’t know. Strangely, I keep smiling when I see you two.”

“I’m not that funny of a person.”

“Chan-hee, you’re funny enough right now. Anyway, is your arm okay?”

“Yes, it’s okay except for the severe shaking in my arm.”

Lee Chan-hee playfully drooped his arm and made a pitiful expression.

“I told you to rest; why are you working?”

“I rested enough after coming out of the operating room.”

“Lee, you worked hard today.”

“Not at all. Um, Director?”

“Why? Are you perhaps going to ask who the patient is?”

“Oh! How did you know? That’s right.”

Lee Chan-hee, who came out of the operating room first, was also curious about Assistant Manager Park’s identity.

“I said this in the operating room earlier, but don’t try to find out.”

“Why? Is he that important of a person? Is he more important than our oil money patient [referring to wealthy patients from oil-rich countries]?”

“Chan-hee?”

“Yes, Director.”

“The moment I open my mouth here, we could both get hurt.”

“Yes?!”

“So, don’t be curious anymore.”

Watching Tae-kyung head towards the patients, Lee Chan-hee quietly muttered to himself with a still curious expression.

‘What is it? Are they perhaps members of an organization?’

* * *

The next day-

After a hectic dawn, morning came again to our hospital.

As usual, Lee Chan-hee and Choi Mona left work, and Tae-kyung went back and forth between the ward and the emergency room, taking care of patients. And around lunchtime, he visited Assistant Manager Park again, who was about to be discharged.

“It’s all done.”

Tae-kyung meticulously checked Assistant Manager Park’s condition, confirmed the parts that were not completely closed during the surgery, and neatly sutured them.

He paid attention to it as meticulously as possible. With this, Tae-kyung perfectly finished all the treatments he could do.

The fifth vital sign, the smell of feces, that had been coming from Assistant Manager Park was also no longer present as his body recovered.

“You endured well yesterday, and you’re enduring well today too.”

“Yesterday, I really thought I was going to die, but today, I don’t feel any pain because of the anesthesia.”

“Assistant Manager Park endured so well that I was able to do the treatment well, and the surgery went well too. You really worked hard.”

“Not at all. It’s because the director treated me so well that I got better right away…”

Assistant Manager Park suddenly stopped speaking and paused for a moment.

He had endured the pain of tearing flesh, and he seemed like someone who wouldn’t bleed a single drop even if stabbed, but suddenly, he seemed overwhelmed, forcibly suppressing his emotions.

“Ah! I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? Assistant Manager Park, are you okay?”

“I think the tension has eased a bit.”

“Were you nervous about the suturing?”

“That’s not it. Actually, I’ve always lived in constant tension inside the unit, where I never know what might happen. When I wake up in the morning, I do strenuous training, and when a mission is given, I carry it out accordingly. Emotions that come to mind are excluded, and thorough orders and obedience are prioritized.”

Assistant Manager Park calmly conveyed his feelings in a simple manner.

“Then, during this mission, I was injured, and since this is my first major injury, I couldn’t show it outwardly, but I was very disheartened and struggling inside. But as I watched the director give me emergency treatment and treat me, good memories from when I was a member of society came to mind, and I was overwhelmed. Back then, I was ordinary too, and I was someone who knew how to express emotions like others.”

Assistant Manager Park was grateful that Tae-kyung, whom he had never met before, raised his voice and handled the emergency situation well for his injury.

“You might laugh if I say this, but in a short time, I was able to feel warmth because of the director, and even my wounded heart was comforted. Thanks to the director, I think I can pull myself together and return well. Thank you so much.”

“I only did the treatment, but I’m even more grateful that Assistant Manager Park thinks that way. I hope it never happens again, but if you ever need my help, come find me anytime.”

“I’ll definitely visit you sometime when I have time.”

“Okay. If you come as a regular person, not as a patient, I’ll buy you a delicious meal.”

“Instead of a meal, could you buy me a drink?”

“Drinks are good. Let’s have a drink.”

“Lee Kwon-seung. My name is Lee Kwon-seung.”

Assistant Manager Park, who had to thoroughly conceal his identity, said his real name for the first time since entering the unit.

He wanted to let Tae-kyung, who had saved his life, know his real name, not Assistant Manager Park.

“Lee Kwon-seung. It’s a good name. I’ll definitely remember it.”

Lee Kwon-seung, who had told Tae-kyung his inner thoughts, looked much lighter.

After their conversation ended, Lee Hu-rak came in with the unit’s staff and moved Assistant Manager Park to the car that would transport him.

As when they came to the hospital in the early morning, they used the emergency door and elevator prepared for infected patients to go outside.

“Director, thank you so much for your hard work.”

“Manager, you’ve worked hard too. And don’t forget the promise you made with me.”

“Of course. Assistant Manager Park is like my own child. I’ll take good care of him until he recovers, so don’t worry.”

“Yes, please go in safely.”

“Ah! And if my wife and I visit the hospital, you have to pretend you don’t know us.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll be going.”

After saying goodbye to Lee Hu-rak, Assistant Manager Park, carried on a stretcher, waved briefly, and the car carrying them quickly left the hospital.

“Director, did the VIP leave?”

“Yes, they all left. Now, reopen the CCTV.”

“But, just between us, could you tell me who the VIP was?”

“They’re very scary people, so it’ll be a big problem.”

Team Leader Choi asked as he watched Tae-kyung come in after seeing off Lee Hu-rak and Assistant Manager Park, but he didn’t reveal who they were until the end.

Tae-kyung headed to his office, once again thinking of Assistant Manager Park.

In his 20s, he was still at an age where he wanted to dream, play with friends, and do many things.

He sincerely hoped that Assistant Manager Park and the other staff members, who were working for the country at such a young age, would always be safe.