Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 502

503. Why are you asking about him?

BEEP——–

Only the sound of the machine announcing the patient’s death echoed in the treatment room.

The medical staff, who had been desperately performing CPR to save the patient, abruptly stopped.

The medical staff already knew.

That it would be difficult for patient Fujiwara Kana to survive medically.

That she had arrived at the emergency room long after the golden hour [the critical time window for effective treatment] had passed.

However, such medical knowledge and thoughts were not important to our hospital’s medical staff.

They knew very well, thanks to their leader, Tae-kyung, that if they could save the patient, they had to keep trying, trying, and trying.

So, they continued to work hard to rekindle the extinguishing flame of life.

In those repeated CPR attempts, the patient’s heart had returned, even if it wasn’t self-sustaining.

As if acknowledging their hard work. As if knowing Oh Si-won’s heart was breaking.

Kana’s heart flickered and then stopped again as if it were the last time. But this time it was different.

Her heart did not return anymore.

It did not return despite any effort or desperate wishes.

Ah!

A short sigh of lament escaped from Tae-kyung’s mouth.

The treatment room was filled with a terrible Fifth Vital [a term likely referring to the presence of death or a life force leaving the body].

It was a wicked smell that made the eyes sting and the head feel dazed.

The door was open, but the horribly cruel smell did not seem to want to leave the patient’s side.

Tae-kyung had only smelled such a smell while sensing the Fifth Vital a handful of times.

The cruel smell seemed to be telling him once again that the already stopped heart would never return.

Tae-kyung and the medical staff all wore the same expression. Everyone was solemn, regretful, and felt bad.

It was always happening while living as medical staff in a hospital, but even so, they were also human, so the patient’s death always hurt.

“……It’s me! Kana!!”

“Sisterrrrr!!”

Oh Si-won and Kyoko’s tragically tearing screams echoed, as if pushing away the terrible smell that filled the treatment room.

“Kana!! Wake up!!”

“Sister!! Sister!! Wake up!!”

The two people kept calling their wife and their sister like crazy people.

The two people did not want to let go of Kana, who closed her eyes and did not move at all.

“Doctor!! Please save our sister……please save our sister.”

Kyoko’s appearance, not wanting to let go of her sister, was truly like a person possessed.

A kind person who had never raised her voice even once was screaming like a different person, as if this situation was so absurd.

“Our sister!! Isn’t!! Isn’t breathing!! Save her!!!”

“Guardian, please, calm down….”

Nurse Im Jeong-sook and other medical staff were worried and tried to soothe her, but it was not easy. It was natural because she had lost her family.

“Our sist……!”

In the end, Kyoko, unable to accept this situation, fainted again.

“Guardian!”

“Here, quickly.”

Choi Mona, Lee Chan-hee, and other medical staff moved Kyoko onto a mobile bed and wheeled her out of the treatment room.

Meanwhile, Tae-kyung turned his gaze to Oh Si-won.

Kyoko’s fainting was not due to other medical causes, but rather vasovagal syncope [fainting due to a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure] due to mental stress, so there was no great concern.

Rather, Tae-kyung was more concerned about Oh Si-won, who had been shouting the patient’s name a moment ago, suddenly closing his mouth and becoming quiet.

“Guardian?”

In response to the voice calling him with concern, his gaze, which had been blankly fixed on Kana, raised his head and turned to Tae-kyung.

“Director…….”

Tae-kyung was about to say something, but Oh Si-won spoke first.

“Guardian?”

Then, all of a sudden, he knelt down on the treatment room floor, specifically in front of Tae-kyung.

“……Please.”

Oh Si-won, who had been clenching his teeth tightly, swallowed hard and barely opened his trembling lips.

“……Don’t declare. Please don’t declare the death.”

When a patient dies in a hospital, the doctor checks the time and then declares the death, stating the time.

This was a natural procedure without exception, the same for any patient who died.

Oh Si-won was asking not to declare Kana’s death, which was such a natural procedure.

“Patient, please get up first.”

“No. Please listen to me first.”

Tae-kyung tried to lift Oh Si-won, who was kneeling on the floor, but he waved his hand and continued to speak.

“Director, you have to declare the death now, right? No, you will, right?”

“……Yes, that’s right.”

“I’m sorry, but please don’t. No, I’m not saying don’t do it completely. Just a little bit…… I’m saying this because I wish you would do it a little later…… I’m saying this because I wish you would do it a little later.”

Tae-kyung, who had been worried that Oh Si-won might have been shocked by Kana’s death, soon realized why he was saying this.

“Soon……no, in a few hours, my father-in-law and mother-in-law will……that is, Kana’s parents will come to the hospital.”

Around the time Kana was taken to the emergency room and was receiving repeated CPR treatments, Oh Si-won urgently contacted Kana’s parents in Japan.

The parents booked the fastest plane ticket and headed straight to the airport to board the plane after receiving the ticket.

And in a little while, my father-in-law and mother-in-law will arrive at our hospital to see their daughter.

That’s why Oh Si-won wanted to stop the death declaration.

He wanted to delay it only until Kana’s parents saw their daughter and said hello, only until then.

Of course, Oh Si-won also knew.

He knew very well that Kana’s heart had stopped. And he also knew that the stopped heart would not beat again even if the death declaration was delayed, and that Kana would not open her eyes.

However, he wanted his father-in-law and mother-in-law to see their daughter’s appearance before the death declaration was made.

If the death declaration was made now, he felt like he was showing them their dead daughter.

It was clear that she would be moved to the funeral room once the death declaration was made, but he couldn’t let them see Kana in such a cold place.

So, even though he knew it was a difficult and absurd thing, he made this request because he didn’t want to be rude to the two people who had entrusted their daughter to him.

“Director……just a few hours. Please delay the death declaration for just a few hours. Please don’t move her to the funeral room yet. Please do it after my father-in-law and mother-in-law see Kana’s appearance. I’m begging you like this.”

Oh Si-won begged and begged with both hands and feet.

“Director, please consider it my wish…….”

“I will.”

Oh Si-won, who was bowing his head and begging, was speechless at the unwavering answer that echoed above him.

It was because a cheerful permission had been given, making his worries pale in comparison.

“……!”

“I will delay the death declaration until the patient’s parents arrive. So please get up now.”

Tae-kyung raised Oh Si-won, who was still kneeling and staring blankly.

Tae-kyung’s decision to delay the death declaration was not an easy one at all.

As a doctor, he was more careful than anyone else and thought about the patient more than anyone else, so he was not someone who would easily make such a decision.

However, because he knew the heart of that guardian who had lost his most beloved wife in the world, he could not bring himself to say no to that heart.

“Director, thank you so much……thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Tae-kyung, who came out of the treatment room, headed straight to the nurses’ station.

“Nurse Im?”

“Yes, Director.”

“Leave patient Kana in the treatment room for now.”

“Not moving her to the funeral room?”

At Tae-kyung’s words, not only Nurse Im Jeong-sook but also other medical staff nearby showed surprised expressions.

This was because this usually didn’t happen. When a patient died in a hospital, they proceeded according to the procedure.

Above all, the treatment room had to provide emergency treatment immediately when a critical emergency patient came, so they showed an even more surprised reaction.

“Yes.”

“Director, is there a reason?”

When Nurse Im Jeong-sook asked, Tae-kyung explained the reason.

“Ah……I see.”

After hearing the reason, Nurse Im Jeong-sook also nodded and sympathized with Oh Si-won and Kana’s situation, feeling sorry for them.

“To have an accident on the day they registered their marriage after being in love for so long……. I can only imagine how he must feel. Losing a loved one, no matter how much you explain it, it’s hard to understand with your heart unless you’ve experienced it.”

Nurse Im Jeong-sook, who had lost her husband a long time ago, knew Oh Si-won’s heart better than anyone else.

It was a desolate feeling as if the sky was falling and the world was all wrapped in pitch-black darkness, and she wanted to let go of everything.

She thought that Oh Si-won’s heart, who had lost his wife, would probably feel the same way.

“That’s right. You don’t know that feeling unless you’re the person involved. I’ll tell Nurse Lee too, but please check on Oh Si-won from time to time.”

“Yes, Director. I will.”

She felt sorry and angry about the story of the deceased Kana, but right now she was more worried about Oh Si-won than the deceased patient.

Unlike just a moment ago, she had a strong feeling that his emotions, actions, and tone of voice had calmed down as if flipping a coin.

It wasn’t obviously different, but she definitely felt that there was a subtle change.

Even if a spouse has been battling an illness for a long time and is already preparing their heart, the sadness is indescribable when the spouse actually dies.

However, if you lose a perfectly healthy spouse in an accident overnight like Oh Si-won, the sadness washes over you to an unbearable degree.

As a result, there were occasional cases where people could not bear the sadness and had bad thoughts.

That’s why Tae-kyung told her to keep an eye on Oh Si-won in case something happened.

It may have been unnecessary worry or deep meddling, but he was concerned about Oh Si-won, who was heartbroken, because the living must go on.

“Even if an emergency patient call comes, we can move the bed then, so let’s leave it for now.”

“Yes, Director. I understand what you mean. And I think you should go see Nurse Lee. I think she’s not feeling well because of patient Kana.”

While Kana was receiving obstetrics and gynecology treatment, Nurse Lee, who was in charge of her, was not feeling well due to the patient’s death.

Tae-kyung also saw Nurse Lee struggling to save the patient in the CT room a little while ago, so he knew how she felt.

“Yes. I’ll go after I go to the ward.”

“Um, Director. And there’s one more thing I need to tell you, the man who came with patient Lee Jeong-bon at the time of the accident.”

“Ah, you mean the young man who reported patient Lee Jeong-bon to 119 [the emergency telephone number in South Korea]?”

“Yes, that’s right.”