Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 43

43. Stomach, Stomach…

“How is Teacher Choi Seon-hae doing? The director wanted to visit you in person to express his apologies, but he couldn’t due to a pre-scheduled urgent matter. We will actively cover the hospital expenses on the company’s side.”

“Ha!”

Choi Seon-hae felt frustrated as he read the text message from the secretary at the accident site.

“Secretary, didn’t I text you earlier? I don’t need hospital expenses. I earnestly request that you settle my overdue payment. And stop changing the subject and give me Director Oh Beol-gu’s contact information.”

The reply that came after several hours was a repetition of the same words.

“Honey, I’m going to have dinner with Miri and look at dresses. I’ll take pictures. Stay strong.”

Choi Seon-hae was at a loss as to how long he could hide this fact from his wife and daughter who knew nothing.

“What kind of money is that…”

Even when the steel skewer pierced his stomach, he didn’t even feel the pain because of the fact that he couldn’t get the money. Even in his unhealthy condition, Choi Seon-hae was only worried about his only daughter.

“Hello?”

After texting and calling back and forth for 30 minutes, the secretary finally answered the phone.

“Ah, yes. Teacher Choi. This is Director Oh Beol-gu’s secretary. I’m really sorry.”

“Secretary, you know I’m not calling to receive an apology, right?”

“How is your body? Did you have surgery…”

“My body is not important right now. Secretary, I didn’t want to say this, but that money is for my daughter’s wedding fund. Please, let me talk to the director. Please, save me.”

“I will tell the director and contact you.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Choi Seon-hae thought it was fortunate that he would be able to talk to the director. But the director, who had lost his mind, was brazen until the end.

“Teacher Choi, I’m really sorry. The director is attending a meeting and it is difficult to talk on the phone. Please think about your body first.”

Several hours later, while Choi Seon-hae was in despair after receiving the secretary’s text message,

KakaoTalk- KakaoTalk-

“Dad, how does your daughter look?”

He stifled his sobs as he looked at the text message he received from his daughter who was about to get married.

“Does it look good on me? I wish Dad could have come with me.”

“Sniff!”

The daughter, who always wore sneakers and tied her hair up, was wearing a pure white dress and had a radiant smile brighter than the sunlight.

‘My daughter looks like an angel.’

Choi Seon-hae’s heart felt like it was tearing apart at the fact that he couldn’t do anything for his child as a father.

‘Miri, I’m sorry, Dad.’

With an expression of resignation, Choi Seon-hae stared at his daughter’s picture for a long time before shifting his gaze to the liquor bottle on the shelf.

‘I’m sorry for being a bad dad.’

And there was a small sign that said ‘No Food’ on his bed.

* * *

“It’s already this late.”

At 9 p.m., Tae-kyung finished his rounds and naturally headed to the ward station. He opened the EMA [Electronic Medical Assistant] window and updated the information of each patient who was hospitalized.

‘Choi Gi-chang will be discharged tomorrow morning, and Choi Seon-hae is also doing well.’

Most people would consider working until this late to be overtime and tiring. But for Tae-kyung, who had been a GS [General Surgery resident] for a long time, the boundary between work and leaving work had long disappeared. In fact, Tae-kyung had become so insensitive to such things that he didn’t even think he was working.

Being in the ward at this time, sleeping in the hospital’s cot, and staying up all night for emergency surgery were all natural.

“I’m more comfortable in the hospital than at home, so I’m not normal either.”

After that, Tae-kyung came down from the ward and headed to the emergency room.

After seeing patients for more than two hours, Choi Mona, who happened to make eye contact with him as he was about to go out to the examination room, said emphatically.

“I don’t know.”

“Teacher Choi, are you talking to me right now?”

“Yes. I’m talking to you, sir.”

“I didn’t say anything?”

“Weren’t you going to ask me again if I remember the Geneva Declaration?”

Tae-kyung held back his laughter for a moment. In fact, he didn’t really have any intention of asking right now, but Choi Mona herself felt guilty because he had asked her so many times for two days.

“No? I’m not going to ask.”

“Oh, is that so? Then I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’ll be in the examination room, so call me if an emergency patient comes.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As he left the emergency room, leaving behind the embarrassed Choi Mona, he saw Team Leader Choi struggling at the reception desk.

“What’s going on?”

Upon closer inspection, the elderly couple who were hospitalized side by side in room 308 with diverticulitis [inflammation of pouches in the digestive tract] were arguing several times a day.

“It looks like the grandfather and grandmother are bickering again.”

The grandmother, who was weak, was frustrated that the grandfather was following her around even in the hospital, not just at home.

“I’m just trying to get some fresh air alone, so why do you keep sticking to me?”

“That’s because I want to be with you, honey.”

“Stop following me around like a dog. Leave me alone for a while.”

“Oh! My favorite ‘Tomorrow is Trot King’ is being replayed tomorrow.”

Team Leader Choi, who knew the daily lives of the hospitalized patients inside and out, drew the grandfather’s attention to the TV in the waiting room.

“It’s already time for the replay. Honey, I’m the same…”

“No. Grandpa, watch it here with me and let Grandma rest alone. Okay?”

“Okay. Honey? I’ll just watch this and go up.”

“Whether you come up or not.”

With Team Leader Choi’s mediation, the couple’s fight was ended, and Tae-kyung went up the central stairs with the grandmother, who had weak joints.

“Grandma, aren’t your legs hurting?”

“I’m okay with this much. Teacher, aren’t you busy? I can go up alone.”

“But it’ll be easier if you hold on to my arm.”

“I’m grateful for that. By the way, you must be wondering why I’m being so hard on my husband, right?”

In fact, Tae-kyung was also curious, so he didn’t say no.

“I’m taking revenge on my husband.”

“Re, revenge?”

“Yes. I married that man early, and he was so patriarchal that I had to fetch him water for nearly 30 years.”

The grandmother, who had a timid personality, said that it was not easy to even express her opinion because of the grandfather’s strong personality.

“It must have been hard.”

“It was hard. So, I threatened to divorce him three years ago, and since then, he’s been following me around, saying he was wrong.”

“Are you going to get a divorce?”

“No. My husband is like a deflated balloon now, but he was quite a figure when he was young. I’m just teasing him now. Isn’t he cute?”

Tae-kyung found the grandmother’s petty revenge, who had devoted herself to her grandfather for a long time, to be cute.

“By the way, aren’t you getting married, handsome teacher?”

“Am I handsome?”

“Of course. Your features are so wonderful.”

“I appreciate you looking at me so favorably…”

That’s when he was about to climb the stairs to the 3rd floor after passing the 2nd floor stairs.

“……!”

Tae-kyung stopped talking and stopped walking.

‘What is it?’

He felt a strange feeling running down his spine, and the fifth vital sign was detected.

“Teacher?”

The grandmother called him, but Tae-kyung, who was hyper-focused on the smell, didn’t hear her.

‘The smells are mixed.’

Along with the extreme smell of feces, he felt the smell of formalin [a preservative] at the end. It was like a pattern going from stage 3 to stage 4 [referring to the stages of decomposition].

‘The patients on the 2nd floor… Could it be!’

In a flash, Tae-kyung’s eyebrows twitched severely as he recalled the patients who were hospitalized on the 2nd floor one by one.

“Teacher, what’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry. Please take this grandmother to her room.”

“Yes, teacher.”

Tae-kyung shouted at the nurse in the 2nd floor station and started running towards the ward.

‘It’s not here either. Not here either…’

There was a place he could guess, but he quickly poked his head into each ward, just in case.

Unlike the bright hallway, all the wards that had already started turning off the lights were all turned off.

As he checked the wards and moved to the most likely ward,

Thud-

The sound of something falling made his heart even more urgent.

‘It’s here.’

As soon as he entered room 209, he felt the stagnant air rushing towards him as if it were spewing out.

Swish-

Tae-kyung opened the curtains and checked the patients, and found that Choi Seon-hae’s bed was empty.

The smell was so strong on the bed that he must have been on the bed until just now.

“……!”

Then, suddenly remembering the smell that had spread when he came in, he headed to the bathroom next to the ward door.

Clunk- Clunk-

“Mr. Choi Seon-hae?”

When he lowered the handle, the door wouldn’t open because it was locked from the inside.

“Patient!?”

The patients who had been sleeping woke up at the sound of knocking, and Tae-kyung instinctively felt that something was wrong.

“Are you in there?”

“What’s that sound?”

“Did someone fall?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see well because it’s dark.”

“Shouldn’t we go out and see?”

“The teacher came, so we’re helping by staying still.”

The patient and guardian who had been sleeping in the front bed were surprised and exchanged words.

“Mr. Choi Seon-hae… Damn it!”

“Teacher, what’s wrong?”

“Bring me the bathroom key here. Quickly!”

“I understand.”

Tae-kyung asked the nurse who came after hearing the sound for the key. And once again, to open the door, he put strength in his shoulder and moved one foot right in front of the bathroom door. But,

Splatter-

At that moment, he clearly felt a familiar but unfamiliar liquid touching the bottom of his shoe.

“This is……”

It was not water that was in close contact with the floor and falling cleanly, but something that was more concentrated and felt heavier, there was only one thing.

“It’s blood.”

It was blood, a liquid that he knew so well because it was dark but so familiar.

Splatter- Splatter-

With the feeling of getting more and more creepy, Tae-kyung, who was out of his mind, hurriedly turned on the ward light.

Click-

As expected, red blood was flowing out of the bathroom.

“Teacher, here’s the key……!”

Nurse Lim Jeong-sook, who had heard the news and ran over, looked slightly surprised when she ran into the ward and saw the blood flowing on the floor.

“I brought the key.”

But like a professional who was used to emergency situations, she handed over the key in a calm voice. They could be surprised and flustered by the blood on the floor, but that was not their story.

“Give it to me.”

“But the key was rusty because it wasn’t used, so what if it doesn’t open?”

“Then we have to break the door.”

Without anyone saying anything, they were doing their jobs as medical staff.

Click-

Fortunately, the door opened with the key, but it wouldn’t open any further because something was stuck inside. When Tae-kyung put his weight on the door, the blocked bathroom door finally opened wide.

Clatter-

“Mr. Choi Seon-hae?”

With the smell spreading as he opened the door, Choi Seon-hae, who had a penetrating wound in his abdomen with a steel skewer, was lying face down.

“Patient?”

Just as Tae-kyung was about to examine Choi Seon-hae and approached him closely, he smelled a strange alcohol smell.

“Kyaa!”

“Oh my gosh. Why are you screaming?”

The ward nurse behind Lim Jeong-sook screamed suddenly. The nurse, who was not surprised even when she saw blood, looked quite surprised and didn’t know what to do.

“Teacher, Soo-ssam [nurse]? Th, there in the corner. That……”

The ward nurse was pointing to the corner with a trembling fingertip.

“Stomach, stomach… Ugh. I can’t look.”

Surprisingly, behind the toilet bowl that the trembling fingertip was pointing to, there was a dead snake among the broken pieces of a liquor bottle.