Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 497

Fifth Vital Sign – Episode 498 (497/502)

498. The Drug’s Influence

The person who turned pale with shock was none other than Im Ma-jun.

‘They said it was like a hit-and-run?’

‘A hit-and-run?’

Hit-and-run, hit-and-run, hit-and-run!

The words echoed in Im Ma-jun’s head and ears like tinnitus as he scratched his arm and listened to the nurses’ conversation.

Then, fixing his gaze in one direction, he slowly sank into thought, replaying his actions from a few hours ago.

He had taken a hefty dose of drugs with his friends at the hotel and then driven home with the drug’s effects still lingering.

He received a safe route without cameras from a friend and sped along, the drug’s influence reaching its peak.

The road shimmered, the trees seemed to run like people, and insects flew around, giving him the sensation that everything was distorted.

Having done drugs more than once or twice, Im Ma-jun knew better than anyone that these bizarre phenomena he was experiencing were due to the drugs.

Amidst these strange occurrences, he felt a mad rush of pleasure that no normal person could experience, and then he caused an accident.

His expression shifted across his face like a gradient as Im Ma-jun, who had been staring blankly ahead as if caught in a spiderweb, was struck by a sudden realization.

‘Wait a minute! Sh*t.’

Escaping the hallucinations and pleasure that had dominated his mind, Im Ma-jun now remembered that the person he had hit in the traffic accident was not just one person.

‘The crosswalk!!!’

The scene of him speeding down the road and hitting someone crossing the crosswalk flashed before his eyes.

‘I’m screwed! Sh*t!!!! Crazy!! Ha!!’

Im Ma-jun was in complete mental breakdown as he recalled all the details of the accident.

‘His heart was barely revived with CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation], but frankly, it doesn’t look good.’

The words the nurses had spoken a moment ago suddenly came back to him.

‘Sh*t! Doesn’t look good means he’s going to die? The delivery guy had a successful surgery, but the woman didn’t? What’s going on? Then isn’t it the hospital’s fault, not mine?’

Lost in these thoughts, Im Ma-jun suddenly sat up in the bed and looked around the curtain.

Then he left his spot.

‘Excuse me, are you a patient?’

An emergency room nurse, seeing Im Ma-jun walking calmly between the beds, followed him and called out to him.

‘Are you a patient?’

‘Yes!? Are you talking to me?’

Im Ma-jun, not expecting to be followed, turned around and responded.

‘Yes, since you’re up and walking, you must be feeling better.’

The nurse clearly remembered Im Ma-jun, who had refused basic tests due to his fear of needles.

The nurses had taken turns checking on him twice, but each time he had avoided the situation by saying he was scared and wanted to lie down.

‘If you’re feeling better, should we proceed with the tests now?’

‘Well, I’m actually not feeling so good yet…….’

Im Ma-jun replied, planning to find another way out of the nurse’s question about the tests.

‘How can you be walking around if you’re not feeling well? You seem fine now. You look okay.’

‘Ah……. Well, the truth is, I really need to use the restroom. I was actually getting out of bed to ask where the restroom is. My stomach suddenly feels weird, and I usually get a slight stomachache when I’m nervous.’

‘Is that so? Then we’ll proceed with the tests after you come back from the restroom.’

‘Well, I’ll see how I feel first. Which way is the restroom?’

‘Go out that way and straight ahead, and you’ll see it after you pass the reception desk.’

‘Okay, thank you.’

Im Ma-jun asked the nurse for directions to the restroom and immediately left the emergency room without looking back. He passed the reception desk and went to the ATM machine down the hallway where people couldn’t see him and sat down.

Im Ma-jun came here to call his mother.

He desperately needed his mother’s help because there was no way he could handle this situation alone.

‘Hello? Mom!’

-Ma-jun?

‘Mom, why aren’t you answering your phone? I sent you a message earlier.’

Im Ma-jun focused on the call, keeping his voice as low as possible.

-Aren’t you in the hospital right now? Is it okay to be on the phone like this? You shouldn’t be on the phone when there are people around.

‘That’s not the issue right now.’

-Why isn’t it the issue! You said you were in the emergency room. Everyone can hear you if you’re on the phone like that.

‘I said I was going to the restroom and came out here separately.’

-Good job. I was just about to call you. I was a little late because I was contacting Attorney Lee.

Im Ma-jun’s mother, Kim Mi-hye, was in contact with a lawyer she knew personally regarding her son’s problem.

It was clear that her son had done something terribly wrong.

Not only had he caused a traffic accident, but he had also done drugs and caused the accident, which was no small matter.

If this were to become widely known, it could potentially affect her husband’s company, making it a very serious issue.

Therefore, she had to quietly cover up this problem at all costs.

Frankly, she was worried about the company and family being the subject of gossip, but Kim Mi-hye didn’t care much about that.

Her son Im Ma-jun, whom she loved more than anything, was the most important thing.

The people injured in the accident were already injured, and there was nothing she could do about it, so she didn’t have time to think about their injured bodies.

For Kim Mi-hye, her son came first, no matter what.

-Ma-jun, listen carefully to what I’m about to say.

‘No, Mom? Before that, I have something to say first. Listen to me first.’

Im Ma-jun hurriedly interrupted Kim Mi-hye, acting urgently.

-Why? Did something happen to you at the hospital? Did you cause another problem? I’m working so hard to find out about things behind your father’s back at this early hour, and you can’t even wait and cause trouble? What are you going to do? Huh! Im Ma-jun! Do you have any sense?

Although he was her beloved son, Kim Mi-hye was also stressed by this unexpected situation.

She was already struggling with this issue, and the thought that he might have caused another problem in the meantime made her lose her temper.

‘What problem? Nothing happened at the hospital.’

-Then? What is it you want to say?

‘Mom! I think I caused another accident besides the delivery driver accident earlier.’

-What!?

Im Ma-jun told Kim Mi-hye in detail about what he had done.

-So, you’re saying that the woman you hit is in critical condition? Did I understand that correctly?

‘Yeah! I’m sorry. But the drug’s influence was too strong at the time. It wasn’t me doing it.’

He was saying that he had been drinking, but he hadn’t been driving.

That’s right. Im Ma-jun was spouting nonsense.

‘The drug controlled me, so I unknowingly sped up and caused the accident. It definitely wasn’t my intention to cause the accident. Yes! Another self controlled me.’

-Ha!

‘Mom?’

-I feel like I’m going to get sick and die young because of you.

‘Mom, it really wasn’t my intention…….’

-Stop talking nonsense and be quiet!

Kim Mi-hye cut off her son’s words and started thinking.

She pondered for a moment and came up with various countermeasures, but nothing really came to mind.

Simply causing an accident and injuring someone was worlds apart from someone dying.

If someone was injured, she could compensate them with the money she had, and it would be over. But the issue of someone dying was something that could turn her precious youngest son into a criminal.

-Ma-jun?

‘Yeah, Mom.’

-Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. Got it?

‘Yeah. Got it.’

-It’s only a matter of time before it’s known that you caused the accident anyway.

‘Sh*t! Then what do I do!’

-Don’t swear, don’t get excited, and listen to me!

‘Okay, I got it.’

-You didn’t get tested, did you?

‘Of course not.’

Kim Mi-hye had told her son not to get any tests, thinking about the possibility of something going wrong.

She was worried that if he got tested, the drug use would be revealed.

If that happened, he would have no excuse to escape, so it was best not to get tested at all costs.

‘I said I had a fear of needles. I remembered that the kids used to say they had a fear of needles when they went to the hospital after doing drugs, and it just popped into my head.’

-Stop talking nonsense. Ma-jun, you have to pretend to be a patient from now on. Got it?

‘A patient?’

Im Ma-jun wondered why she was suddenly talking about being a patient.

-There are more loopholes in the law than you think. Attorney Lee said you should pretend to be a schizophrenic patient.

‘Schizophrenic!?’

-Yes. Say that you’ve been taking medication for it, and your judgment was temporarily clouded, so it wasn’t an intentional accident but an accidental one. You’ll get a not guilty verdict even if you go to court.

Kim Mi-hye had heard that there was a precedent where someone had been found not guilty for killing someone because they had a disease, so she was trying to make her son a fake patient.

‘Really? That’s awesome. But Mom? What if they ask for a prescription at the hospital? Won’t that expose me?’

-I’ll take care of that, so don’t worry about it. I’ll send you the information via text, so keep looking at it and memorize it. And then delete it immediately.

Kim Mi-hye, who had prepared more thoroughly than expected, was preparing to send Im Ma-jun the text about the disease she had mentioned earlier.

The text contained a story about how he had been suffering from the disease since he was a child and had been fine while taking medication. However, it was the first time he had symptoms even while taking the medication, and unfortunately, he had an accident with a passerby and a delivery driver at that time, creating a story for the accident.

-Ma-jun? Did you understand what I said?

‘Of course. I understood 100 percent.’

-Don’t act like an idiot and act well. Never let them draw your blood. Your father might wake up, so I can’t go right now. I’ll go in the morning.

‘Father still doesn’t know, does he?’

-Of course not. If your father hears about this before anyone else, you’ll be disowned, and I’ll be divorced. Don’t you know your father’s personality? Do well!

‘Okay.’

-If the police come, act like you don’t know anything and say you’re not feeling well. Avoid blood tests if possible.

‘Okay. Mom. I understand everything you’re saying.’

-Oh! What about the black box footage? [dashcam footage]

Kim Mi-hye suddenly thought of the black box. She thought she had to get rid of the footage of her son’s accident quickly.

-You didn’t leave it in the car, did you?

‘Come on, Mom, I’m not that clueless. I took out the memory card.’

-Keep it safe and give it to me when I go later.

‘Okay. This is like my lifeline right now, so I have to be careful.’

Although his appearance wasn’t captured in the black box footage, she wanted to discard the memory card because experts would know he was on drugs just by hearing his voice in the video.

-Call me if anything happens in the meantime. If the police come, act like a kind person no matter what. Be gentle and kind in your tone.

‘Don’t worry. I’m great at that. Mom! I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble. If this is resolved well, I’ll only meet the people you want me to meet and become a son who is recognized by my father.’

-Okay, take care of yourself and watch what you say.

Im Ma-jun firmly believed that he would be okay.