Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 403

404. A Monstrous Existence

The word ‘die’ came out in a tone so calm it was frightening, startling even Madam Ko, Lee Jae-san, and Kim Yeon-joo, who all stared at Tae-kyung with shocked expressions.

“Let me be clear about one thing. If things continue as they are, your granddaughter, whom you love so dearly, will certainly die.”

“……!”

Madam Ko’s face contorted instantly at the word ‘die’.

“Look here! Doctor, did you say die? Aren’t you going too far…?”

“No! Not at all. Do I look like I’m joking?”

Tae-kyung cut off Madam Ko and spoke clearly once more, and people could tell from his expression and eyes that he was serious.

“Why would our Jin die! Who are you to say such a thing!”

Madam Ko raised her voice again, her face twisted, which was understandable.

Who in the world could remain calm upon hearing that a beloved family member would die? But the expression ‘die’ was not an exaggeration at all.

It was a direct expression of how serious Jin’s condition was.

“Don’t you want to save Jin? Don’t you want your beloved granddaughter to be healthy and free from pain like before? The child is struggling every moment.”

“Mother, we need to listen to the director [Tae-kyung].”

“Mother! Please.”

“I would give my life for Jin! But hospitals are only after their own profit, seeing patients as a means to make money, killing perfectly healthy people.”

Madam Ko continued, still wary of Tae-kyung, as if she was upset.

“How can I send our Jin to such a place? To me, you’re all the same.”

“No. I am different.”

Before she could finish speaking, Tae-kyung retorted.

“I possess the best medical skills in Korea. If I can’t do it, you can assume no other doctor can.”

For the first time, words of confidence in his own skills came from Tae-kyung, who had always been consistent with his humility.

He wasn’t making up empty words. Nor was it arrogance or a bluff.

Just before entering the operating room, Tae-kyung had never doubted his skills for a single moment. He had that much confidence and the ability to cure the disease in the patient’s body.

Yet, outwardly, he had never shown off and was always humble. But now, there was no need for that.

He needed to show Madam Ko the conviction that he could definitely cure her granddaughter.

People often say there is a time for everything.

A suitable time for studying, working, resting, and so on.

The same goes for doctors.

There is a time to treat a patient.

If that time is missed, no matter how much one wants to save the patient, no matter what methods are employed, even if a doctor with genius skills comes, it cannot be saved by human power.

Tae-kyung had seen patients who had experienced such unfortunate events, which is why he had to raise his voice even more.

And Jin’s situation, struggling with illness on the second floor right now, was exactly like this.

Above all, if this moment is missed, the child’s treatment will become more difficult, and the family will inevitably lose the child again.

Tae-kyung didn’t want the family to feel that pain again.

And more than anything, he couldn’t bear to see a child who should be playing without worries suffering from illness.

“If the child remains in that state, she will die from the disease. If she’s going to die anyway, we must try. The reason is!”

Tae-kyung deliberately paused.

Because he wanted Madam Ko to know and emphasize it several times.

“Because we can save her now. This moment may be the last chance to treat Jin.”

“Our Jin is dying… Who’s dying! I can’t live without Jin. I can’t live…”

Fortunately, Madam Ko’s sharp reaction seemed to lessen a bit. It was a moment when the intense persuasion was not in vain.

‘Good. Grandma is reacting.’

Tae-kyung, who had dealt with countless patients and guardians, was convinced that he could turn the grandmother’s heart to some extent if he persuaded her to understand just one more time.

Of course, he didn’t know as much as a specialist in mental health. However, he had some skills from his experience.

When ordinary people behave irrationally and illogically like this, they often know to some extent that it doesn’t make sense.

It’s just that the wound is too deep, and they are turning a blind eye to it.

In such cases, if you meet certain conditions that the person absolutely refuses, you can often induce rational behavior.

Right now, Madam Ko seemed to have a stronger trauma about the place called the hospital than her dislike for the doctor or Tae-kyung.

And from Madam Ko’s reaction just now, Tae-kyung could be sure of one thing.

Although fearful and scared, Madam Ko also knew for sure that she had to treat the child.

“I know all your anxious and fearful feelings. But we can’t do anything as it is. I can save Jin.”

Just as Tae-kyung was approaching Madam Ko, offering comfort in a warm voice to drive in the wedge of persuasion, it was then.

“Mom…”

Jin, who was in the room on the second floor, came down and said to everyone with a worried expression.

“Jin? Why did you come down?”

“I think Jin came down while I went to the bathroom for a moment.”

The housekeeper, who was on the second floor, hurriedly came down the stairs and said.

“Mom?”

As the housekeeper tried to take her back up, young Jin looked up at her mother.

“It’s okay, housekeeper. Does our Jin have something to say to her mom?”

“Dad?”

“Yes.”

Jin, nodding her head, went to Lee Jae-san and Madam Ko, looking at them in turn and calling out to them.

“Grandma.”

“Yes, my puppy, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t fight.”

Jin, who had been listening to the loud voices of the adults from the second floor, came down to the first floor to stop the fighting.

“Don’t fight because of me. I’m sorry Jin is sick. I don’t want to be sick either… It’s not up to me.”

Children feel emotionally insecure and fearful when the adults they live with fight.

In fact, there are hardly any couples who have never had a fight while living together, no matter how much they love each other. But the most important thing when fighting is that if there are children in the house, you should never fight in front of them.

Experts advise that couples should fight when the children are not around.

Not only couples but also if other adults such as grandparents live in the house, they should not fight in front of the children.

While adults are fighting, children receive those emotions as they are and experience considerable emotional stress.

Jin was like that too.

These days, when her dad and mom talked, it was more serious than before, and whenever she talked to her grandmother, loud noises could be heard from the first floor, making her flinch several times.

Jin hated it when adults fought. She really hated it.

Even when she covered herself with a blanket and played with her singing toys, she could still hear the noise, so she would cover her ears with her fingers.

But today was the first time the voices were so loud.

Jin was worried that her mom would cry secretly again, and that her grandma and dad wouldn’t talk to each other for days again.

So, despite being sick, she came down to the first floor to stop the fighting.

She hated being sick, but she hated the adults’ fighting even more.

“Everyone, don’t fight. Don’t hate Grandma, Dad, and Mom.”

“Hate Dad and Mom… Grandma doesn’t hate Dad and Mom.”

“Then why are you fighting? Fighting is what people who hate each other do. The book said that people who love each other don’t fight. Are you fighting because I’m sick?”

“No, honey. It’s not like that.”

“I wish I wouldn’t be sick soon.”

“Our Jin will be well soon.”

“…What if I keep being sick?”

Madam Ko and the couple seemed quite surprised by Jin’s words, which she hesitated and worried about before saying.

“Why does Jin keep being sick?”

“Yes, our daughter will be well soon.”

“Of course. Our puppy will be healthy now, just like Mom, Dad, and Grandma said.”

“Dad, Mom, and Grandma have been trying so hard to keep me from being sick, but I keep being sick.”

Madam Ko, who had been listening to Jin’s words, looked even more surprised than before and showed a blank expression.

In fact, young Jin knew it too.

She knew that Dad, Mom, and Grandma were working so hard to cure her sick body. But despite that, her body was still sick.

“Grandma. I want to stop being sick.”

“Jin, Grandma is sorry.”

Looking at her granddaughter, who was speaking with an expression as if she was about to cry, Madam Ko realized how futile the fights she had with her son and daughter-in-law had been.

In the end, her son and daughter-in-law were right. Even with so many methods, Jin had not improved much.

She had not properly seen or understood Jin’s position because of the fear in her heart.

“Jin, Grandma promises. We will make our Jin well.”

Madam Ko, whose stubbornness had been cracked by Tae-kyung’s strong persuasion, finally began to open the door of her heart, which had been firmly closed, with a single word from her granddaughter.

“Really…”

The pitiful gaze that had been looking at her granddaughter turned to Tae-kyung, and then Madam Ko said as if she had made up her mind.

“Can you really save our granddaughter?”

“I can save her.”

“I still hate hospitals to the point of shuddering. Since the director is so confident, please cure her without fail.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

“Let’s just think about Jin now.”

Kim Yeon-joo, expressing her gratitude to her mother-in-law, who had changed her mind, took her daughter’s hand.

“Jin, we can cure Jin’s sickness. You remember the man who greeted you earlier, right?”

“Yes. I remember.”

Jin glanced at Tae-kyung while answering.

“That man will cure our Jin’s sickness.”

“The man will?”

“Yes.”

“Jin, that man is doing a job to cure sick people.”

Tae-kyung answered softly, looking at Jin.

“Then is that man a doctor?”

“That’s right, that man’s job is a doctor. The doctor will treat Jin’s sickness well and make her well.”

“Did you hear what the doctor said? Tomorrow, Mom and the doctor here will go to the hospital where he works to examine where and how our Jin is sick and treat the sick parts.”

“Do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Yes. Jin, Dad, Mom, and Grandma will all go together.”

“…….”

The daughter, who had been answering well, was silent.

“Jin?”

When Kim Yeon-joo called her daughter’s name again, Jin said in a small voice.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“Jin. It’s okay. The doctor here is a good person.”

The family, thinking that they should soothe their daughter, who was surprised by the sudden mention of going to the hospital, were shocked by the child’s words and actions that followed.

“He killed our healthy San. San would not have died if we hadn’t gone to the hospital. He died because he went to the hospital. Jin, you must never go to the hospital in the future. The hospital is a scary place. My brother died because he went to the hospital.”

Surprisingly, all the words that came out of Jin’s mouth were words that her grandmother had said to the child indirectly.

Having heard those words repeatedly, Jin memorized them without even realizing it.

For a child who already had a fear of hospitals after witnessing the death of her beloved brother in the hospital, her grandmother’s words were enough to amplify that fear.

In the end, the existence of the hospital had become a monstrous being that devoured people in the child’s mind.

“Hospital! I don’t want to go… Hic! I’m scared. Jin doesn’t want to go to the hospital. Grandma said I would die like my brother if I went to the hospital. I don’t want to go to the hospital… Sob! Mom!”

Overcome with fear beyond terror, the child’s body suddenly leaked urine, and hematuria [blood in the urine] that had slightly leaked out from the diaper ran down the child’s legs.