Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 367

368. The Third Variable

He was so dumbfounded that even when a small bug crawled around Yoo Hyuk-jin’s eyes, he didn’t even blink, his face blank.

For a moment, he felt dizzy and squeezed his eyes shut, wondering if he had seen it wrong, then opened them again.

His path was blocked, preventing him from moving forward.

The X-shaped iron structure was old, but it was thicker and sturdier than he had expected.

The third variable.

The last, third variable he didn’t know and hadn’t anticipated was this.

Yoo Hyuk-jin, as well as Oh Chang-gyu, who had been planning the escape route while wandering around the hospital, had no idea about this fact.

The reason they had chosen this particular ventilation shaft among the several in the hospital was that one could fall from the outside without getting hurt.

This was because there was a large recycling bin directly below.

Once inside the ventilation shaft, they thought it wouldn’t be difficult to get out, even if it took some time.

That’s why Oh Chang-gyu had been collecting recyclables from patients and colleagues whenever he had the chance, going outside and checking the exterior of the building frequently. But he had never imagined that the middle of the ventilation shaft would be blocked.

Yoo Hyuk-jin put down the phone he was holding and examined the structure. He could see it was fixed to the ceiling and the bottom with screws.

He was planning to use the box cutter he had to unscrew the screws and dismantle the structure.

Clack- Clack-

However, no matter how much force he applied, the screws embedded in the structure wouldn’t budge.

“Ah!”

Rather, while trying to force the screws with excessive force, he cut his wrist on the blade. The cut was quite deep, and red blood quickly welled up on his wrist.

“Shit!”

Bang-

Instantly, Yoo Hyuk-jin, enraged, unknowingly struck the bottom of the ventilation shaft.

The box cutter broke, his wrist was cut, and the ventilation shaft was blocked. It was a complete mental breakdown.

His mind went blank. Yoo Hyuk-jin forced himself to think, his head buried on the floor.

He couldn’t give up now, not after coming this far.

He tried pulling the structure with all his might once again, but it was no use.

‘Stay calm. Stay calm!’

Realizing that he couldn’t get out of the hospital this way, he decided to change his plan.

Yoo Hyuk-jin’s gaze turned to his phone. He had no choice but to ask Oh Chang-gyu for help.

Fortunately, there had been no contact so far.

If his escape was discovered, Oh Chang-gyu was supposed to contact him immediately.

-Chang-gyu, there’s a problem. I think I need your help.

Yoo Hyuk-jin quickly sent the text and waited anxiously for a reply.

* * *

Hospital Room-

“Are you sure it was Mr. Oh who gave you the coffee?”

“Yes, I’m sure. We both like coffee so much that we didn’t think it was strange when we drank it.”

“And that teacher was so good to us.”

Thinking about it, the prison guards hadn’t been wary or suspicious of Oh Chang-gyu, who had shown a kind smile and warmth from the first day he came to the hospital room.

“He’s a hospital employee and seemed like such a nice person that we didn’t feel anything was strange. Director, I’m really sorry.”

“I really didn’t expect that friend, of all people, would do something like this, not another inmate.”

“I feel like I’ve been robbed blind. I’m just dumbfounded. I’m really sorry.”

“What’s important now isn’t that, but finding Yoo Hyuk-jin.”

“Of course. We’ll help look too… Ugh!”

The senior prison guard, who was lying on the bed, tried to get up but felt dizzy and had to lie down again.

He was getting an IV drip, but he had taken so many sleeping pills that it was still too much for him to move his body.

“I think it would be best for both of you to finish the IV drip. And shouldn’t we inform the prison about this?”

“Well… I was wondering if we could tell them a little later. And Director, I’m really sorry, but if you haven’t informed the police yet, could we wait a little longer before doing that too?”

“I’m asking you too.”

“…!”

Taekyung was dumbfounded by the absurd request.

For a moment, he wondered if the two were accomplices with Yoo Hyuk-jin, but then the senior guard explained the reason.

“To be honest, I’m up for a promotion soon. I’m already late for promotion compared to others, and this is my last chance, so if I miss this opportunity, it will be difficult for me to get promoted anymore.”

“My youngest child is entering college this year, so I really need to get promoted.”

“I understand how you feel, but as the person in charge of our hospital, the safety of the patients is my top priority.”

The two had expressions full of embarrassment and apology, but that didn’t mean Taekyung could promise to do as they said.

“Let me ask you something. If patients or staff get hurt because of Yoo Hyuk-jin, will you two take responsibility then?”

“…”

The two couldn’t answer readily.

“I have to take responsibility if someone gets hurt inside the hospital. That’s my job. If I determine that Yoo Hyuk-jin is a threat to patients or staff, I will not hesitate to get help from the police. I hope you two will think again about why you came to the hospital with Yoo Hyuk-jin.”

* * *

Emergency Room-

“Thank you.”

“It’s my job.”

“Mr. Oh helped the patient receive treatment comfortably.”

Oh Chang-gyu, who had helped Lee Chan-hee, was smiling warmly on the outside, but he was anxious on the inside.

He needed to find out why the hospital atmosphere had suddenly changed, and more than anything, he was curious about whether Yoo Hyuk-jin in the ventilation shaft was okay.

“…Excuse me, Dr. Lee?”

“Yes.”

“Is something going on at the hospital?”

Oh Chang-gyu asked, trying to find out if the strange atmosphere at the hospital was related to Yoo Hyuk-jin.

He thought that Lee Chan-hee, who was usually a nice person, would tell him without hiding anything.

“The atmosphere is a bit different than usual, isn’t it? But I don’t know either.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I’m just another employee, so how would I know? Oh! There’s Nurse Soo over there. I should ask Nurse Soo.”

Lee Chan-hee was also curious about the situation since he didn’t know about it yet.

Just then, nurse Im Jung-sook, who had come down from the ward, was at the station, so he thought he should ask her.

“Nurse Soo? What’s going on?”

Nurse Im Jung-sook’s gaze went to Oh Chang-gyu behind Lee Chan-hee, then back to Lee Chan-hee, acting as naturally as usual.

“It is a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“Very.”

“The thing is, we received a call that there’s someone going around causing trouble at nearby emergency rooms, so it’s for safety reasons. Someone got seriously hurt at the hospital because of it.”

Of course, it wasn’t true, and it was an unavoidable lie to deceive Oh Chang-gyu. Because of that, all the other medical staff also believed it was true.

“Causing trouble? Why would someone cause trouble at a hospital?”

“I don’t know the details, but I heard that they have a grudge against hospitals and go into any hospital with the lights on at night. They’ve hurt people in the emergency room before, and they seem to have some issues.”

“Wow? Sometimes you see news about medical staff getting hurt in the emergency room. I can’t believe there’s someone like that in this neighborhood. It’s scary.”

“It’s not just in this neighborhood; there are people like that everywhere.”

“Yeah. There are so many crazy people these days.”

“No, wouldn’t that person have some mental issues?”

The nurses who were listening together from the side turned around with surprised expressions and said a word each.

“I heard they used to be in a mental ward.”

“No wonder. I hope they get caught soon.”

Oh Chang-gyu, who was listening to the story, felt relieved inside. At least the strange atmosphere at the hospital wasn’t because of Yoo Hyuk-jin.

That meant that the hospital staff didn’t know that Yoo Hyuk-jin had escaped from the hospital room yet.

Of course, the fact that the prison guards hadn’t woken up from the sleeping pills played the biggest role. And because it was early morning, it wasn’t the medical staff’s rounds time, and there were hardly any people going back and forth in the ward because the patients were sleeping.

In any case, the later the escape was known, the better, so Oh Chang-gyu was sincerely relieved.

“Still, it’s a relief, isn’t it?”

Lee Chan-hee came up to Oh Chang-gyu, who was thinking about this and that, and whispered softly.

“Yes?”

“I honestly thought it was because of that patient.”

“Yes? That patient?”

“That inmate patient, you know.”

“Ah! I was thinking the same thing too.”

“Anyway, I’m relieved. Then, take care.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

As Lee Chan-hee moved towards Choi Mona, Oh Chang-gyu moved his head slightly from side to side, rolling his eyes quickly.

‘I don’t see him?’

Come to think of it, something was a bit strange. It wasn’t about the hospital atmosphere.

‘I didn’t see him earlier either…’

He couldn’t see the director, Taekyung.

He was always in the examination room, emergency room, or operating room, so there was no way he wouldn’t be seen, but strangely, he hadn’t been seen since earlier.

The heart that had been relieved until just now began to feel anxious again.

‘Is he in the examination room? He’s not in the ward, is he?’

He was someone who made rounds in the ward more often than anyone else, so Oh Chang-gyu couldn’t shake off the thought of ‘what if’.

It seemed like he would feel more comfortable contacting Yoo Hyuk-jin after going up to the ward and checking the hospital room himself.

As he was moving away from the station, someone quickly called out to him.

“Mr. Oh?”

When he turned around, it was nurse Im Jung-sook. Seeing her gesturing to him, Oh Chang-gyu headed back to the station.

“Just a moment.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“I was just wondering how you were feeling.”

“I’m still okay.”

“That’s good. But where were you going? Were you going up to the ward?”

“Ah, yes. The ward teacher asked me to help.”

“Then, on your way, could you put this in the director’s examination room?”

Nurse Im Jung-sook handed him a meaningless piece of paper, calling it a document.

“Of course. But Teacher, where did the director go?”

“Director?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen him since earlier, so I was asking.”

“The director is in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) after receiving a call… What, do you have something to say to the director?”

“No. I was just asking because I couldn’t see the director. Then, I’ll stop by the examination room and then go to the ward.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Oh Chang-gyu, who came out of the emergency room, felt relieved that Taekyung was in the intensive care unit, knocked in front of the examination room, and opened the door to go inside.

Knock knock-

Clang-

As Nurse Im Jung-sook had said, Taekyung was not to be seen, as he was supposedly in the intensive care unit.

Oh Chang-gyu, who had placed the document he had brought on the desk, felt the vibration of his cell phone ringing in his pocket as he was about to leave the examination room.

He hadn’t realized that Yoo Hyuk-jin had texted him because he had been helping patients in the emergency room all along.

Oh Chang-gyu quickly checked the text messages and saw that two messages had arrived.

-Chang-gyu?

-There’s a problem here. I need your help.

‘Hyung-nim has a problem? What kind of problem is it?’

As soon as he saw the message that there was a problem, Oh Chang-gyu was about to send a reply when the examination room door burst open.

Clang-

“W-Director?”

Oh Chang-gyu was momentarily taken aback when Taekyung, who was supposed to be in the intensive care unit, suddenly entered the examination room. And he quickly put the cell phone he was holding back into his pocket.

“Mr. Oh is coming to my examination room, do you have anything to say to me?”

“No, it’s not that, but Teacher Im told me to put some documents in the examination room because the director was in the ICU.”

“Is that so? Thank you.”

“No problem. Then, I’ll be on my way.”

“Mr. Oh?”

Taekyung called out to him as Oh Chang-gyu bowed and left.

“Yes?”

“Would you like to sit here for a moment? I have something to ask Mr. Oh… Are you busy?”

“No, it’s okay. What is it that you want to ask…?”

“Mr. Oh also knows, right? That there’s an inmate patient hospitalized on the second floor ward right now?”

“Of course. I know.”

“But there’s a problem in that hospital room right now.”

“A problem?”

Oh Chang-gyu, hiding his embarrassment, asked back as he looked straight at Taekyung, who was speaking.

“Yoo Hyuk-jin, the inmate who should be in the hospital room, has suddenly disappeared. Mr. Oh, or rather, Mr. Oh Chang-gyu? Where is Yoo Hyuk-jin right now?”