Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 424

Five Vital Signs – Episode 425 (424/502)

425. Voice Phishing? Friends?

Jung Mu-seok put down his glass with a serious expression.

*Clunk!*

“What you just said is quite misleading…”

“Pardon?”

“It’s not your fault. The fact that a skilled person kept failing means you lived honestly and steadfastly in that kind of organization, so don’t think like that.”

Because of the occasion, Jung Mu-seok was surrounded by many people, including some from the medical field.

He had asked a few professors at Shinhwa University Hospital, whom he knew, about Tae-kyung.

It wasn’t for any other reason than curiosity about the kind of person his daughter was seeing. He thought he could judge Tae-kyung’s character by listening to the opinions of those who had worked with him.

But everyone said similar things about Tae-kyung.

‘Kim Tae-kyung is a real doctor. He was kicked out for honestly treating patients. He was just incredibly unlucky.’

They described him as an unfortunate genius who was ousted for prioritizing patients over hospital politics.

“Everyone I asked praised you and criticized Ko Gye-deuk for missing out on talent. He must not have had an eye for talent since he did such bad things.”

Jung Mu-seok knew everything that had transpired between Tae-kyung and Ko Gye-deuk.

“In the past, they said dragons were born from streams [a metaphor for humble origins leading to great success], but these days, that’s impossible. They keep creating a structure where it’s hard to rise high without connections or networks, so talented people like you who work really hard end up in unfair situations. Dr. Kim?”

Jung Mu-seok, who had been speaking seriously, looked at Tae-kyung, who was sitting next to him, and continued.

“Yes, Father.”

“Was it hard coming here? You’ve suffered a lot on your own.”

That one warm word reminded Tae-kyung of his own father, who had passed away a long time ago, for a fleeting moment.

His father had made things difficult for himself with alcohol and passed away, but there were also good memories.

His father would pat Tae-kyung and his brother on the back and tell them to cheer up when they were having a hard time.

There were days when he missed his father’s sincere, unflashy comfort, and Jung Mu-seok’s words unexpectedly evoked those memories.

“Dr. Kim?”

“Yes, Father.”

“It’s hard for me to say this myself, but I’m still a pretty decent adult. Feel free to contact me anytime you need a drinking buddy or life advice.”

“Yes, I will.”

Jung Mu-seok was sincere.

He had been fond of Tae-kyung as a prospective son-in-law since he first saw him at the early morning clinic a few months ago.

He was planning to be Tae-kyung’s strong supporter in the future.

“Um, Father?”

Tae-kyung suddenly had a question while they were talking.

“By any chance, did you donate to our hospital back then?”

That day, after Jung Mu-seok had received treatment at the hospital, an anonymous donation had been made.

The amount was also a large sum of several tens of millions of won [equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars].

Now that he thought about it, he had a feeling that Jung Mu-seok was the one who had made the donation.

“Well. I don’t know about that…”

Watching Jung Mu-seok smile and take a sip of whiskey, Tae-kyung was convinced that he was the donor.

“Thank you, Father. I will make sure the donation you gave is used for good purposes.”

“I told you I don’t know anything about it. Well, you’re the director, so take care of it. The ice is melting. Hurry up and empty your glass.”

That’s how the sincere drinking session between the two men ended, and Tae-kyung came out of the gate with the side dishes that Mrs. Jang had packed.

Unlike when he first entered the gate with a nervous heart, he was able to leave with a warm feeling.

“Where’s the designated driver?”

“He should be here soon.”

“Sunbae [term for a senior colleague], you’re going on vacation tomorrow, how can you drink? Are you okay?”

“I only had one drink.”

“Wasn’t today hard?”

“No, your father and mother were so nice. I was grateful that they treated me so comfortably.”

“I’m glad you felt that way. Forget about the hospital while you’re on vacation tomorrow and have a good time.”

“Okay. You worked hard today.”

“Sunbae worked hard, not me. You have to put these side dishes in the refrigerator as soon as you get home.”

“Yes, I will. The driver is here. Euijin, I’m leaving.”

“Okay, go in carefully and have a good vacation.”

“Yeah. I’ll call you when I get home.”

Tae-kyung gave Euijin a light kiss and headed home in a good mood in the car driven by the designated driver.

* * *

The next day, at a convenience store near Our Hospital-

“Welcome.”

“Excuse me, where’s the honey water?”

At 6 a.m., another man who came into the convenience store with a middle-aged man who looked to be about the same age approached the counter and asked.

“Turn right around and go to the left, it’s in the warmer behind the microwave.”

“Thank you.”

The man who asked about the honey water took out a drink from the warmer and said to his companion.

“Hyung [term for older brother or close male friend] ?”

“…….”

“Hey, Hyung?”

“…….”

“Why aren’t you answering? What are you doing?”

The man holding the honey water looked frustrated when his companion didn’t answer even though he kept calling him.

“Hey? Can’t you hear me?”

“Did you call me? I was concentrating so I didn’t hear you. Why?”

“Are you going to drink honey water too?”

“Are you a grandpa? Looking for honey water?”

“What about you? Are you a kid? How old are you and you’re still eating this stuff?”

Park Jun-seok, a man with a bear-like, plump belly, wandered in front of the convenience foods and said to Lee Jae-hyun, who was holding the honey water.

“Spicy Fish Cake Gimbap [Korean seaweed rice roll], Kimchi Tuna Gimbap, Jeonju Bibimbap Triangle Gimbap [triangular rice ball], Tuna Mayo Triangle Gimbap. What should I eat? I can’t decide.”

“Is that such a big deal?”

“Yes. It’s a big deal. I don’t think I can decide, so can you recommend something?”

“Oh, geez. You’re such a pain. Just eat anything.”

“You know, food is one of the most important things in life. Why are you telling me to eat anything? I’m a ‘meokjinman.’ [a person who is serious about eating]”

“What’s a ‘meokjinman’?”

“Should I say it’s an abbreviation for a man who is serious about eating?”

“Well, you’ve always been serious about eating.”

“I’m always serious about eating. And I have a blog where I review food. People leave a lot of comments, especially saying it’s funny. So choose seriously.”

“Go with the Spicy Fish Cake Gimbap. You like spicy stuff.”

“Okay. I’ve decided on Kimchi Tuna.”

“I knew it. You haven’t changed at all. Amazing.”

“You have to live the way you always have. People die if they change easily.”

Lee Jae-hyun and Park Jun-seok. The two men bickered like middle and high school friends, which didn’t suit their age, and then headed to the counter after choosing drinks and sausages.

“By the way, Hyung, you need to lose some weight. What’s with that belly?”

“Jae-hyun, don’t you know that a middle-aged belly is a symbol of wealth and leisure?”

“What, you’re saying you’ve made a lot of money?”

“What’s the point of making money? You know where all that money goes. Anyway, this belly is middle-aged leisure.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“And you have a belly too, so you can’t say that to me.”

“It’s not as big as yours. Doesn’t your wife say anything?”

“She does. She always teases me and calls me ‘Bethlehem’ [referring to the shape of his belly]. She said she’ll throw away my golf clubs if I don’t lose my belly this year.”

“Yeah, work out and lose some weight.”

“I have to. Hey, but when I was parking earlier, I saw that the hospital was bigger than I thought.”

“That’s pretty big.”

“There must be a lot of patients, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe.”

“Are you talking about Our Hospital?”

The convenience store owner, who was scanning the barcodes of the food the two men had brought, quietly joined the conversation.

“Yes, that’s right. Do a lot of patients from Our Hospital come here?”

“Of course. The doctors there are so kind, so a lot of people come. Even when there are a lot of people, they don’t rush the treatment and take their time, so there’s no choice but for there to be a lot of people. And the director is a real gem. He takes care of patients like they’re his own family.”

“The director?”

“Yes. He’s a really good person. And he’s so handsome.”

“Well, Director Kim is handsome.”

“Huh? Do you know our hospital director?”

The convenience store owner asked, looking curious at Lee Jae-hyun’s words.

“Of course.”

“Of course we know him.”

The two men answered at the same time.

“You both seem to know him well.”

“Do we just know him well? Our Director Kim is our friend.”

“A friend? Really? You’re really friends with the director?”

“Of course.”

“Oh… really?”

The convenience store owner asked again, as if he couldn’t quite believe the two men’s answer that they were friends with Tae-kyung.

He shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but no matter how he looked at it, the two men, who seemed like they would only brag about their ‘Bethlehem’ and hang out at neighborhood pubs, didn’t seem like they would get along with Tae-kyung.

“All done. Do you need a receipt?”

“No. And can I get a cigarette?”

“Which one would you like?”

“The one at the very end, please.”

“All done.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, you said you were going to quit smoking years ago, but you still haven’t quit?”

“I still smoke e-cigarettes.”

“Aren’t e-cigarettes cigarettes?”

“I’ll smoke e-cigarettes and then quit smoking. You have to do it in stages like this to quit smoking more effectively.”

“Hurry up and eat your gimbap.”

The two men, who had finished paying, sat down at a table and began to eat the food they had purchased.

*Ding-dong-*

“Welcome.”

“Excuse me, can I get some hangover cure?”

“Looks like you’re having a company dinner again today.”

“Yes, my husband has to have this when he drinks. I went all the way home after swimming to buy this and came back.”

“He’s my husband, so what can I do but take care of him.”

“That’s right. Who else would take care of my husband if I didn’t? Oh! Did you hear about it?”

The person who had finished paying asked the convenience store owner.

“Why? What happened?”

“The repair shop building, Minsang’s family got scammed by voice phishing [a type of phone scam].”

“Really? Minsang’s grandmother?”

“No, the uncle did.”

“Not the grandmother, the uncle got scammed? No way. Minsang’s uncle is a researcher at a big company. How can someone that smart get scammed by voice phishing?”

The convenience store owner seemed genuinely surprised to hear that a local resident had been scammed by voice phishing.

“Maybe you heard wrong?”

“What are you talking about? Haven’t you seen the news? Voice phishing these days is on a different level than before. Professors, doctors, public officials, etc., are getting scammed regardless of their profession. They say that if scammers are determined to deceive, they’ll scam anyone no matter what their job is.”

“I’ve heard about it, but I never thought it would happen around here. How much money did they lose?”

“I think they lost a little over three hundred [million won, equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars].”

“Three hundred is not a small amount, Minsang’s family must be upset.”

“They are. Apparently, these guys move in teams of two and approach people pretending to be old friends and acting all friendly.”

“Even though they’re not friends?”

“Of course they’re not friends. The guys who scam people with voice phishing learn how to deceive people with their words, and they get systematically trained to steal other people’s money, so almost everyone gets scammed.”

“It’s hard enough to make a living these days, but there are all kinds of bad guys running around.”

“Anyway, I’ve been going around the market and stores these days telling people to be careful. You be careful too.”

“Okay. Thanks for telling me. Go in.”

After the neighbor, who had a heated conversation, left the convenience store, the owner’s gaze naturally turned to one side.

The owner, who shifted his gaze to the table, recalled what the neighbor had said while looking at Park Jun-seok and Lee Jae-hyun.

‘They approached him pretending to be friends.’

Perhaps because of the voice phishing he had just heard about, the owner began to suspect that they might be bad people.

‘Wait! Why are they here instead of going to the hospital if they’re friends? Are those people also voice phishing?’

Just as his suspicion was becoming more certain, the convenience store door opened with an alarm.