Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 374

375. Staining

“Hye, Hye…Hyun-jin is dead!”

Yoo Hyuk-jin thought he had misheard, unable to believe the words.

It was his sister, who had been perfectly fine at home until this morning.

She had been piling up fatigue from studying and assignments, so she said she was going on a 1-night, 2-day trip with a friend. But the idea that such a sibling had died out of the blue was incomprehensible.

‘Father, what are you talking about?’

-Huuuk!

Trying to hide his shocked heart, he asked in a calm voice, but all he heard over the receiver was his father’s sobbing.

‘Father! Don’t cry and tell me again. What happened to Hyun-jin?’

-She’s dead. Hyun-jin…is dead!

Tak-

Listening to his father’s repeated words, Yoo Hyuk-jin immediately stormed out of the office.

There was an important business meeting and a conference schedule, but none of that mattered.

He left the company like a madman and headed straight to the university hospital emergency room his parents had told him about.

‘Excuse me.’

‘Welcome. Are you here to see a doctor?’

‘No. I came because my sister is here.’

‘What’s her name?’

Even as he spoke to the emergency room receptionist, he was waiting, thinking it couldn’t be true.

‘Aigo! Hyun-jin-ah!’

His mother’s cries from inside echoed in Yoo Hyuk-jin’s ears.

Without needing to wait for the receptionist’s words, he followed the sound of his parents’ weeping.

‘Hyun-jin-ah! Why did my baby die!’

‘Hyun-jin-ah!’

Cutting through the desperate cries, his eyes landed on his younger sister lying on the bed, already cold.

‘Hye, Hyun…Hyun…!’

Yoo Hyuk-jin was so shocked that he couldn’t even speak properly and collapsed onto the emergency room floor.

Her vibrant, bright skin had lost its color, and her red lips showed no trace of blood.

She was a sister he wouldn’t trade for the world.

If they were siblings not far apart in age, they would have bickered and lived like other families.

But because there was a big age gap and he spent a lot of time taking care of his sister instead of his parents who were both working, their relationship was special.

That’s why he cherished his young sister more, and the siblings were close. Yoo Hyuk-jin was the kind of brother who would do anything for his sister.

His sister’s sudden death was beyond shocking.

‘Hey! Yoo Hyun-jin! Open your eyes!’

Unable to accept the reality that he couldn’t believe and didn’t want to believe, he shook his younger sister, who was lying still.

‘Hyun-jin-ah! Just open your eyes!’

‘Please calm down, sir,’ a staff member said.

When Yoo Hyuk-jin shook his sister, who didn’t respond even when he shook her shoulder, the medical staff next to him stopped him.

‘Excuse me. Doctor. My sister won’t wake up, why is this?’

‘……!’

‘My sister usually sleeps a lot, but she wakes up if I wake her up this much. But she’s strangely not waking up. Please help me.’

Yoo Hyuk-jin spoke in denial of his sister’s death, but the medical staff, who couldn’t do anything, were silent.

‘Wake up my sister! You’re doctors who save people!’

‘I understand how you feel, but your sister has already passed away.’

A senior doctor approached him through the troubled medical staff and told him the reality, but he denied it as if he were struggling.

‘Damn it! Who’s dead! Why is my sister dead! Bring her back. Bring her back!’

‘She was already dead when she was found.’

A police officer, who was watching the family’s difficult situation from the side, came over and explained about his sister’s death.

His sister, who said she was going on a trip with a friend, went to a pension [a type of Korean guesthouse] alone, and the only bag she brought contained xx coal briquettes and alcohol.

Nothing that could be called a suicide note was found.

The owner of the pension, who saw the smoke coming out of the window, thought it was strange and went inside using an emergency key, but it was already too late.

There were no external injuries or signs of resistance. The police said it was suicide.

‘That can’t be! My daughter is a suicide…’

‘Heueuk! Hyun-jin-ah!’

The parents who lost their child cried like people who had lost their souls, and Yoo Hyuk-jin also shed tears like a madman.

‘Hyun-jin-ah! Heuk!’

The family, who was always happy, was no more.

The beautiful and brilliant younger sister, who bloomed like a flower, left her family.

Since that day, the family lost the word ‘happiness’.

“Director, I still wake up in the morning and see my sister’s…”

Yoo Hyuk-jin couldn’t continue speaking for a moment, biting his lower lip tightly as if he was overwhelmed with emotion.

“My sister’s face is vivid. She was a sister I wouldn’t trade my life for. That sister… Ha!”

It had already been ten years, but everything was tattooed on Yoo Hyuk-jin’s mind like a tattoo on every nerve, and he couldn’t forget it. It was something that would be remembered even after death.

“It must have been hard.”

Tae-kyung quietly got up from his seat, brought a tissue, and placed it in Yoo Hyuk-jin’s hand.

The sadness of losing a beloved family member cannot be expressed in any words.

Of course, not all families are happy and full of love.

Some families may be worse than strangers, and some families may feel hurt and pain just by facing each other. However, Yoo Hyuk-jin’s family, who had been happy without envy, would have suffered the death of their beloved sister as pain itself.

“Director, you know what it means to have your heart sink, right? My heart has been sinking and sinking again since that day.”

Yoo Hyuk-jin, who barely managed to control his emotions, spoke again.

“Even the veteran police said it was definitely suicide, but I couldn’t believe my sister’s sudden suicide.”

Even if the relationship is good and the family is harmonious, saying that you know everything may be arrogant. But no matter how much he thought about it, there was no reason for his sister to commit suicide.

“She dyed her hair.”

“Yes?”

“A few days before my sister committed suicide, before she was tired and exhausted from her assignments, she dyed her hair at a hair salon. A person who is going to commit suicide doesn’t dye their hair and spend a lot of time and effort perming and decorating themselves.”

Yoo Hyuk-jin’s words were convincing.

Whether a person chooses suicide impulsively or deliberately, they are usually in a difficult mental state, so they don’t bother to decorate themselves by spending time and money. Of course, it cannot be said that everyone is like that, but that is usually the case.

It is not easy for someone who is mentally driven to the edge. Especially if you are a person who has chosen to say goodbye to the world, it will be even more so.

“I found out some time after the funeral. That my sister’s death was not a suicide, but a murder.”

“……!”

Tae-kyung, who was stunned by the words suicide but murder, soon heard all the hidden truths from Yoo Hyuk-jin.

“It’s true that she took her own life, but she had no choice. After my sister’s funeral, my parents couldn’t work because of the shock. At that time, the madam was a great comfort to them. The madam and the chairman’s family came to the funeral hall to express their condolences, and their children comforted me a lot.”

After the funeral procedure was over, Yoo Hyuk-jin, who had doubts about his sister’s death, submitted his resignation to the company.

Because he was such a talented employee, the higher-ups said they would give him as much vacation as he wanted, but he had no intention of returning.

From then on, he followed in his sister’s footsteps during her lifetime.

He also went to the art academy where he worked part-time, and he also went to the school to meet professors and close friends. Then, he heard something strange from his best friend.

‘Thank you so much for coming to the funeral.’

‘No. Of course, it’s my duty. Are your aunt and uncle okay?’

‘Not yet. Actually, I wanted to see you because I was curious about something.’

‘Yes, ask me anything. My family is more like that, but I can’t believe Hyun-jin committed suicide. I’ll answer everything I know.’

‘I heard that Hyun-jin was having a hard time with schoolwork and preparing her thesis, but I was wondering if there were any problems with her friends or other problems…’

‘Oh! No? I think you’re mistaken. Hyun-jin never had a hard time with school.’

His family was convinced that his sister’s unfamiliar appearance was due to schoolwork because his sister had said it several times, but it wasn’t.

‘Hyun-jin has a good personality, studies well, and helps people around her, so professors and friends all like her. Graduate school is difficult, but that’s about the same for everyone, so I don’t think that’s the reason why Hyun-jin is having a hard time.’

‘Really? Then what on earth… Did Hyun-jin have anyone she was dating? A boyfriend or someone who liked Hyun-jin.’

‘Other than people who hang out often, not really… You know that Senior Tae-cheol helped me with my work, right?’

‘How do you know Tae-cheol?’

‘Hyun-jin and I were helping each other.’

‘I see. I’ve been seeing Tae-cheol all the time.’

Cha Tae-cheol, the eldest son of the madam, was in the same school as his sister Hyun-jin.

Although they were in different departments, they had known each other since they were young, so the two exchanged greetings when they met at school.

Cha Tae-cheol was also attending graduate school and heard that he was preparing a small business with a friend while studying.

He was planning a small business with the permission of his parents, who told him to do what he wanted until he had to enter his father’s company and take management classes in a few years. And Hyun-jin and her friend sometimes helped Cha Tae-cheol with design-related work at his request.

Yoo Hyuk-jin already knew about that, so he didn’t think it was strange.

‘I have to go now. Thank you for coming out when you’re busy. Thank you for studying hard and being close to our Hyun-jin.’

‘No. I’m sorry I couldn’t help.’

It was then that he thought that his concern that his sister’s death might be related to people around him was unnecessary.

‘Ah! That’s right! Wait a minute, oppa [older brother – a Korean term of endearment used by women].’

Yoo Hyuk-jin, who was about to say goodbye, was stopped by his sister’s friend.

‘There’s one more person.’

‘There’s one more person?’

‘Yes, Chang-gyu.’

‘Who?’

‘Oh Chang-gyu is in a different department, but they were in the same club in college, so they knew each other and he liked Hyun-jin.’

‘He liked Hyun-jin?’

‘He’s not the type to be loud or anything, he’s gentle, quiet, and kind. But he’s active in helping Hyun-jin and tried to get close to her. I think he was looking for an opportunity to confess. Friends were joking about when he would confess.’

‘Hyun-jin knew about it too?’

‘Of course. When someone likes someone, it shows even if they try to hide it. Hyun-jin, the person involved, would have known first. And now that I think about it, Hyun-jin became a little strange and stopped coming to school after that.’

‘Did that friend come to the funeral?’

‘No. He didn’t come. I thought he would come, even if no one else did, so I was a little surprised.’

‘Do you know Oh Chang-gyu’s phone number?’

‘I know the number, but he’s not answering the phone.’

‘Do you know where he lives?’

‘I think he lives in an officetel [a multi-purpose building containing both office and residential units] village near the school, but I don’t know the details… Wait a minute. I’ll find out.’

He didn’t make a hasty judgment that Oh Chang-gyu was directly related to his sister’s death, but he thought it was necessary to check.

Yoo Hyuk-jin received the address and immediately went to Oh Chang-gyu’s house.

He didn’t think he would get an answer even if he rang the bell for someone who didn’t come to school and didn’t answer the phone.

-Ding-dong

After thinking about all sorts of things for over an hour, he rang the bell.

‘Hello? I’m from the house below, water is leaking from the ceiling.’

Ding-dong-

‘The water from your house is dripping into my house and I can’t sleep. My house is flooded. Please fix the water above.’

Bang-bang-

‘Hello!’

Clank-

When he knocked hard on the front door along with the story that water was leaking, the closed front door opened and a man with a gaunt appearance appeared.

He opened the door only about an inch and was sticking only his face out of the door.

‘Are you Oh Chang-gyu?’

‘Who…are you?’

‘Yoo Hyun-jin. You know who I am, right?’

‘……!’

‘I’m Hyun-jin’s brother, and I have something to ask you…’

‘I have nothing to say.’

Oh Chang-gyu, who flinched at the name of Yoo Hyun-jin, became agitated when Yoo Hyuk-jin revealed that he was his brother and tried to close the door.

‘I have something to ask you.’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything.’

‘It’ll only take a moment.’

A battle of wits was going on between the person trying to close the door and the person trying to open the door.

‘……!’

At that moment, Yoo Hyuk-jin’s eyes began to distort sharply as he looked at the wall behind Oh Chang-gyu.