Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 436

Fifth Vitality – Episode 437 (436/502)

437. At Most 2-3 Hours? PVS Afterwards

At that time, in Lee Jun-yeok’s restaurant, everything was just being finished up.

“Ah! Finally done.”

“I could have done it alone, but you even helped with the remaining work…”

“It’s not like the boss told me to do it, I offered to help. And Ji-sang’s mom can’t do this alone.”

“I’m a hard worker. I’m stronger than you think.”

“Oh please! No matter what, you can’t be stronger than me, who raised five children. At least to be strong, you have to maintain a figure like mine.”

The employee who stayed behind to help looked at Kim Han-sol, who had a concerned expression, and playfully wiggled her hips from side to side.

“Auntie, are you tired?”

As the employee working with her swung her arms from side to side, Kim Han-sol approached and massaged the employee’s arm.

“Let me give you a massage.”

“Oh my, oh my. It’s not like I’m the only one who worked. Ji-sang’s mom must be tired too with so many customers today. I’m okay.”

“I still move around the hall and kitchen, so it’s a little less tiring for me. Auntie, you’re in the kitchen the whole time, so it must be harder.”

“There’s no easy work in the world. And because business is good, our bosses take care of us and raise our salaries, so I don’t even feel tired. There’s nothing as fun as making money.”

“That’s true.”

The couple believed that cleanliness and taste were important in running a restaurant, but the employees they worked with were also important.

So, the two always took good care of their employees.

“It’s much easier than farming in the old days, so don’t worry about it. Oh! I got a text that my husband is here. I’ll be going now.”

“Auntie, take this with you.”

Kim Han-sol handed the employee a black bag full of apples.

“Oh my, what’s with the apples?”

“A relative who runs an orchard on the mainland [referring to mainland Korea, as opposed to the island they are on] sent them for us to eat. I gave some to all the employees, and this is for you, Auntie.”

“Okay. Thank you. I’ll enjoy them. But why isn’t Ji-sang’s dad back yet? He went to take the customers to their lodging.”

“I was just about to call him. Go quickly.”

“I should. My husband doesn’t like to be kept waiting. I should go out quickly. Boss, I’m leaving first.”

“Yes, go in carefully.”

As the last employee left the restaurant, Kim Han-sol turned off the kitchen lights and came out to the hall, sitting on a nearby table chair and taking out her cell phone.

“Mother. It’s me.”

Before calling her husband, Lee Jun-yeok, she first called her in-laws’ house, who were taking care of the children.

-Yes, you’re done with work now?

“Yes, Mother. How are the kids?”

-Our puppies are asleep.

“I’m sorry. Is it hard to watch the kids?”

-Sorry for what. Watching my grandchildren is such a joy, it’s not hard at all. Watching these little ones is our vitamin. It’s you and Jun-yeok who have it hard.”

“I’m so grateful every time you say that, Mother.”

-Grateful for what. If I don’t do this when my son and daughter-in-law are working… I just feel proud when I see you and your father running a restaurant on the island. Were there many customers today?

“Yes, it was similar to yesterday. Mother, I’ll pick up the kids when Ji-sang’s dad comes.”

-Oh, don’t bother. It’s a hassle to wake the kids up and put them back to sleep. Go home, wash up, and sleep comfortably.”

“Yes, I will.”

-Where’s your husband?

“The people Ji-sang found that I told you about during the day came to the restaurant for a meal, but they didn’t have a car, so he went to take them to their lodging.”

-Is that so? Good job. You have to live giving to others. You should have treated them to something.”

“We were going to treat them to a meal, but they paid for it first.”

-Oh my, either way, they’re really good people. If you have a chance next time, be sure to treat them then.”

“Yes, I’m going to do that. Mother, you must be tired, go to sleep quickly.”

-You must be tired too, go in carefully when your father comes. You worked hard today.”

“Yes, Mother. Good night. Please tell Father too.”

-Okay. Go in.

“Yes, go in.”

After hanging up, Kim Han-sol drank a glass of water from the water purifier and sat back in her chair.

“It’s past the time he should be here, why isn’t he coming?”

Kim Han-sol said to herself as she pressed the phone call button.

“Could it be he’s drinking with the doctors? That can’t be. Oh! Honey?”

The call connected after a few rings.

-Hello…?

But the voice heard over the phone was unfamiliar.

Kim Han-sol immediately knew that the person who answered the phone was not her husband.

“This is my husband’s cell phone, but excuse me, who are you?”

-Yes. I’m Lee Jae-hyun, one of the three people who ate at the restaurant earlier.

“Ah, yes. Are you with my husband?”

-Yes. I’m with the boss, but…

Lee Jae-hyun was at a loss as to how to tell Kim Han-sol about Lee Jun-yeok’s accident.

Lee Jae-hyun passed the medical exam but did not do the residency to specialize.

He studied well and had good grades in medical school, but he did not obtain a specialist license.

The reason was that he wanted to make money quickly.

So, he went straight into the field and learned techniques by going around skin and beauty clinics and opened his own clinic. It failed, but he had no regrets about the choice he made.

Therefore, he was not used to informing the guardian of a patient who had a major accident.

Moreover, the place he was working now was not a place where he directly faced patients, so it was even more difficult.

‘Is Tae-kyung doing this every day? This is really something I can’t do.’

He felt like he was doing something wrong even though he didn’t do anything wrong.

Even though he was conveying the message over the phone without even seeing her face, he couldn’t get the words out.

“Hello? Doctor, you’re with my husband, right?”

As he was wondering how and in what way to start talking, Kim Han-sol asked again.

-Yes. That’s right. I am with him, but the truth is that the boss is in the hospital right now.”

“Hospital?”

Kim Han-sol’s voice changed subtly at the word hospital.

-What do you mean hospital? Why is that person in the hospital?

Lee Jun-yeok was a healthy person who exercised every day even while running the restaurant and rarely caught a cold even in the middle of winter.

Above all, she couldn’t understand how a person who had left the restaurant perfectly fine was suddenly in the hospital.

-Earlier, the boss had an accident while taking me and my friends to our lodging.

Lee Jae-hyun explained the situation Lee Jun-yeok was in calmly and carefully.

-So, he took a CT scan at the hospital and checked the results, and to put it simply, he was hit in the head and there was blood inside.”

“……!”

Kim Han-sol, who heard the explanation, felt her heart sink for a moment and couldn’t speak.

“Ha!”

A short sigh was heard over the phone.

-Madam? Are you okay?

“This can’t be. My husband is at OO Medical Center, right?”

-Yes.

“I understand. I’ll go now. Please take good care of my husband.”

Kim Han-sol hung up the phone in a hurry and quickly closed the store door. She barely regained her trembling composure and grabbed the steering wheel.

“It’ll be okay. My Jun-yeok will be okay.”

Kim Han-sol started driving to the hospital, repeating the words to herself like a spell.

* * *

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

Tae-kyung, cutting off Park Jun-seok’s words, called out to him as if he had made a decision, piercing through the now-overpowering smell of formalin [a preservative used in medical settings].

“Lee Jun-yeok, how much time is left now?”

The time Tae-kyung is talking about here is the golden window to save the patient.

“Time left? At most 2-3 hours? After that, at best, he’ll be in a vegetable PVS (persistent vegetative state). The brain may already be compressed…”

“…Did you see it?”

Tae-kyung, who didn’t even listen to Park Jun-seok’s words about being a vegetable, asked quickly.

“What?”

Park Jun-seok asked again because he couldn’t hear Tae-kyung’s words properly because they overlapped with his own.

“Hyung, have you ever done SDH surgery [Subdural Hematoma surgery]?”

“Su, surgery?”

Park Jun-seok, who saw Tae-kyung’s eyes, which seemed to have made a firm decision, took a step back and continued.

“No.”

“Have you seen it? You must have seen it.”

“Well, I have because it’s so common…”

“Then that’s enough.”

“Tae-kyung, what do you mean enough? Huh? Hey!”

Tae-kyung, who gave a simple answer, left the spot for a while. He kept asking what he meant by enough, but Tae-kyung didn’t answer.

“What? Where is he going?”

In the meantime, Lee Jae-hyun, who had finished talking with Kim Han-sol, came back to the hospital.

“I don’t know. He asked me if I had ever done surgery, and I said no, and then he asked me if I had ever seen it, and I said yes?”

“And?”

“When I said yes, he said that’s enough and left. You? Did you talk to his wife? She must have been very surprised.”

“You think? She said she was coming to the hospital.”

“Hey, Jae-hyun. Tae-kyung, I mean…”

“Why Tae-kyung… !”

The two people who made eye contact at the moment stopped talking and had the same thought in their heads.

“Ha! No way!”

“Yeah, no way. It can’t be.”

“Of course not. Tae-kyung probably went to call 119 [emergency services number in Korea]. He originally doesn’t care about anything when it comes to saving patients.”

“That’s right. There’s no way he’d do it.”

Lee Jae-hyun and Park Jun-seok tilted their heads, looking at Tae-kyung’s back as he walked away.

While the two were wondering about Tae-kyung’s intentions, Tae-kyung, who came out of the hospital door, took out his cell phone from his pocket.

After searching for a contact for a while, he pressed the call button without hesitation.

The current time was when people were going to bed, and it was a time when Tae-kyung would never have called.

Moreover, the person he was calling now was even more so. But now there was no time to worry about that.

‘Is he sleeping?’

Tae-kyung’s heart was getting impatient with the repeated ringing sound.

-Hello.

Fortunately, the call was connected while he was worried that the other person wouldn’t answer the phone.

“Assemblyman [Korean term for a member of the National Assembly], I’m really sorry for calling you so late. This is Kim Tae-kyung.”

The person Tae-kyung urgently called was Gam Deok-chan, a four-term assemblyman.

He had built a friendship with Gam Deok-chan through several events, from his daughter Gam Ji-yeon, who had surgery due to a department store accident, to Hamad, a Middle Eastern patient who had made a large donation.

Above all, Gam Deok-chan thought of Tae-kyung, who saved his daughter, as his benefactor and told him to contact him anytime he needed help.

Of course, given Tae-kyung’s personality, he wouldn’t contact him even if he heard those words. But this time, he needed his help.

He couldn’t let Lee Jun-yeok’s golden time pass and become a vegetable.

The power of a gold badge [symbolizing a member of the National Assembly] in Korea is more amazing and powerful than you think.

Tae-kyung decided to use that great power to save the patient.

Fortunately, this hospital was a public medical center, not a private hospital.

In other words, Gam Deok-chan’s one word would mean that he could use the hospital facilities.

Tae-kyung was planning to save Lee Jun-yeok at this hospital.

-No, what’s wrong, Dr. Kim, calling at this hour?

“I’m calling you urgently because I have a personal request for you when you’re busy. Assemblyman, is it okay to talk for a moment?”

-If it’s a call from Dr. Kim, I have to make time even if I don’t have it. Wait, is it a patient’s matter?

Gam Deok-chan was 100% sure that Tae-kyung, who was polite, was calling at this hour because it was a patient’s matter.