Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 481

Fifth Vitality – Episode 482 (481/502)

482. Dopamine

Whump- Whump- Whump-

Inside the suite, which felt like a vast playground, a hazy smoke and ear-splitting beats continued to reverberate.

“Woo-hoo! This is awesome!”

Shouts of elation echoed from people scattered haphazardly throughout the rooms, living room, and even the bathroom.

“Fucking great. Seriously killer. Shit!”

“Today’s mood is totally insane.”

Some held liquor in their hands, others had cigarettes emitting smoke from their mouths, and some even held lollipops.

The expressions of those gathered here were beyond just feeling good; they were ecstatic.

It was late in the evening when some should have been heading to bed for tomorrow, but here, a frenzy continued, cut off from the world.

“The world revolves around me!”

Occasionally, there were people who made noises that were hard to understand.

Also, quite a few had glazed-over eyes.

“Yo! This is seriously crazy.”

Immajun, in the largest room, also looked happy, as if he had thrown himself into the wild party.

“How is it? Do you like it?”

When his friend asked, he nodded as if there was no need to answer.

“How on earth did you get this? I heard it’s hard to find these days.”

Immajun swirled a cocktail glass containing small granules and asked his friend.

“Majun, this older brother can get anything.”

“So, how the fuck did you get it?”

“When I went to study abroad, an acquaintance of a friend I became close with does business in this area, so I asked him.”

“They do this business in America?”

“It seems they supply products not only to America but also to Southeast Asia and Asia.”

“Really? What a movie! They must have made a shit ton of money.”

“What’s there to say? We don’t get intimidated by money anywhere, but that bastard is seriously rich.”

“What an enviable guy.”

“There are many things to envy about a *chaebol* [family-owned conglomerate].”

“We have to run our companies until our heads explode later.”

“By the way, Majun, you’re not going home tonight, are you? We should go for a second round with some hot girls later.”

“I can’t. I have to go home today. Oh!”

While talking to his friend, Immajun suddenly got up and checked his vibrating phone.

“Just a moment! My mom’s calling.”

Immajun, not caring about his friends’ teasing, went into the inner bathroom where the music was quieter and closed the door.

“Hello?”

-Son, Majun?

“Yeah, Mom.”

-What are you doing not coming home yet? Are you still with your friends?

Kim Mi-hye had been sending messages and calling since earlier because her son hadn’t come home yet.

“I’m with my friends after a long time.”

-It’s enough to see their faces. What are you doing sticking together until now? You haven’t even looked at the calls and texts since earlier… You’re not drinking and drunk again, are you?

“Our Kim Madam worries too much. I didn’t drink.”

-Are you sure?

Her husband had favorably evaluated their son at today’s event, and she knew he would be displeased if he came home drunk and was caught at the main residence.

Because of that, Kim Mi-hye was sensitive about her son’s drinking.

“I really didn’t drink. My pronunciation is perfect.”

-Okay, stop it and come home.

“Mom? Is Father asleep?”

-Your father wakes up at 5 AM every day, so he’s asleep at this hour. Mom told him earlier that you’d be a bit late because of your friends’ gathering.

“As expected, you’re the only one for me, Kim Madam.”

-Stop flattering me and stop playing around and come home quickly. If your father wakes up for his midnight snack and looks for you, Mom will be in trouble.

“I was about to get up anyway. I’ll go in.”

-Then, Mom will send a driver for you; wait there.

“No need. I didn’t drink, so what driver? I’ll just take my car. That’s more comfortable.”

-Okay, I understand. Be careful, and when you get home, don’t ring the bell; call me.

“Okay.”

After hanging up, Immajun urinated, washed his hands, and was about to leave the bathroom when it happened.

“……!”

Suddenly, he felt a momentary dizziness in his head, stopped walking, and leaned his hand against the wall.

“Phew! That was close.”

After stopping for about a minute or two, Immajun, feeling better, came out of the bathroom.

“Majun, let’s go for the second round.”

“Second round, my ass. I just came out of the bathroom, and my head suddenly spun. What is this?”

“What else? It looks like it’s starting to kick in. Is it still happening now?”

“No, I’m fine now.”

“That’s the most popular thing these days, so the feeling will be a bit different.”

“It is different. Anyway, I’m going to head out. Let’s get together separately with the guys later.”

“What! You’re going home?”

When Immajun said he was going home, his friend stood up from his seat with a disappointed expression.

“Hey, what are you going to do if you leave? We have to keep going until the second and third rounds.”

“I want to, but my mom is making a fuss about me coming home quickly.”

“This bastard is a real mama’s boy. Why are you bringing up your mom all the time when you’re old enough?”

“It’s not that, but I got recognized by my father for the first time in my life, and if I get on his bad side, I won’t have another chance. Please understand.”

“Okay, let Majun go.”

“Alright. Go ahead.”

“Sorry. I’ll treat you guys properly next time.”

“Okay. Get home safe.”

“I’ll contact you.”

“Wait! Majun?”

As Immajun was about to leave the room, his friend, who had been talking to him, quickly approached Immajun as if something had come to mind.

“Why?”

“Are you going to drive?”

“Of course. I brought my car today.”

“Without a driver?”

At the words of going alone, his friend showed a slightly worried expression.

“Are you crazy? If I bring a driver and it gets to my father’s ears, that day will be the day my legs get broken. Did you tell your father you were coming here?”

“Are you crazy! If I did, I’d be kicked out of the family register right away.”

“That’s what I’m saying. You, me, all our friends are the same.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Why suddenly ‘are you going to be okay’? What does that mean?”

“Are you going to be able to drive? You said you were dizzy earlier?”

“I thought it was something else. I’m fine.”

“If you’re okay, that’s a relief. And I’ll send you something via KakaoTalk. Go that way when you go home today.”

The friend took out his phone and sent something to Immajun.

What the friend sent was a kind of image file with something marked on the roads in Seoul.

“What is this?”

“See that blue line there?”

“Yeah.”

“If you go that way, there are no cameras or enforcement, so go that way.”

“Oh! As expected of the son of a police executive. Thanks. Let’s see each other separately next week.”

“Okay, get home safe.”

After saying goodbye to his friend, Immajun came out of the thumping suite and went down to the lobby. Then, he took the car that the valet had prepared for him and left the hotel.

“That’s right. Cheongwon told me to go the way he told me to, right? Got it.”

Immajun set the navigation according to the route his friend had told him and started the car.

“……!”

After driving for a while with music on, Immajun suddenly moved his head quickly from side to side and twitched, slightly shaking his upper body.

“Oh! That was close.”

Blinking his eyes, he checked the time in the vehicle.

The current time was well past midnight.

After checking the time, he increased the speed of the vehicle more than before.

The car that came out of the hotel in the bustling downtown of Seoul passed through an eight-lane road, drove on a six-lane road, and entered a quiet four-lane road.

“Ha! Fuck! Why is it doing this? Again.”

Immajun, who was driving while holding the steering wheel, suddenly frowned and spat out annoyance.

Because the skin that had been fine was itchy again.

“This is driving me crazy.”

That wasn’t all.

It was fine when he started the car, but his head was slightly dizzy.

It wasn’t to the extent of what he felt in the suite hotel bathroom, but there was definitely dizziness.

“Ha! I’m going crazy. Why is this happening?”

There was another problem. Strangely, he could hear sounds in his ears, and it felt like his vision was blurring.

“Shit, what’s with the bugs!”

And bugs that hadn’t been visible until just now were flying in front of his eyes, and bugs were crawling on the windshield in front of the steering wheel.

Thwack!

“Damn it! Die!”

When a bug that was flying landed on the steering wheel, Immajun struck it hard with his hand.

“Got it. Oh! What!”

However, his face, which had been satisfied with catching the bug, was instantly covered with annoyance.

He had clearly caught and killed the bug on the steering wheel, but another bug, from who knows where, was flying around the steering wheel again.

“Crazy! Where are these bugs coming from?”

Strange. The bugs that had been visible one or two at a time were gradually increasing, and now they were increasing to the point where he couldn’t count them with his eyes.

That wasn’t all.

For some reason, the scenery outside the car window, which had been fine until just now, was strange.

The streetlights illuminating the road seemed to be moving, and the roadside trees seemed to have legs and arms and were walking like people.

“What’s going on right now?”

-Majun!

Moreover, a voice that seemed to be from someone he didn’t know and from who knows where was ringing in his ears, calling him repeatedly.

-Majun? Feeling great, right?

Immajun shook his head quickly from side to side, repeatedly closing and opening his eyes, and held the steering wheel tightly.

“What the hell is going on!! Fuck. Shit! I’m going crazy.”

Immajun spat out curses, but strangely, his mood was getting better and better, and it felt like he was flying in the sky.

He couldn’t explain why the bugs, the dizziness, and the situations in front of him where the trees were chasing him were happening. But one thing was clear.

“Fucking great!”

Feeling! His mood was incredibly good. He had never felt so good in his life.

He could definitely feel dopamine being released from his brain in an unbelievable way.

He wondered how he could keep this incredible feeling going and thought that he wanted it to last forever until he died without waking up from this feeling.

It was just then, as Immajun stared ahead with glazed eyes and gradually increased his speed.

Bang-

The car shook slightly with a loud noise.

“Woo-hoo!”

Immajun, who had been slightly startled, shouted in the car, thinking that this was also an inexplicable event in a series of good feelings.

And he continued to increase his speed and drove quickly on the quiet road.

After driving like that for about five minutes,

Bang- Screech-

Another loud noise was heard, and the car spun half a circle, hit a car parked on the road, crashed into a roadside tree, and stopped.

Pop- Pop-

The airbags exploded from the steering wheel and next to the driver’s seat.

He lost consciousness for a moment but woke up, and thanks to the airbags that exploded at the right time, he was unharmed.

“Ah! Ah! What a surprise!”

He touched the side of his temple with his hand and regained his senses.

“Did I have an accident……?”

Still not grasping the situation, he unbuckled his seatbelt and went outside.

There was no difficulty in getting out because the side that collided with the roadside tree was the passenger seat, not the driver’s seat.

“Oh!”

Immajun, who came out, raised his head and looked around.

The roadside trees that had been running with arms and legs, the bugs that had been flying in front of his eyes, and the dopamine that had been pouring out of his brain were neither visible nor felt.

The ecstatic feeling that seemed like he was flying in the sky had disappeared like a mirage.

However, he could only see a motorcycle overturned on the road and a man screaming in pain on the ground, far away.

“Shit! I had an accident.”