Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 84

Episode 84. hCG [Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, a hormone typically associated with pregnancy]

It was past midnight.

Tae-kyung and Eui-jin, having been abruptly summoned from their meal, sat facing Kim Seo-hyun in the examination room.

“What brings you here at this hour?” Tae-kyung asked, observing Kim Seo-hyun silently toying with a paper cup for the past five minutes.

“Well… I have something to say,” Kim Seo-hyun finally spoke after a long silence.

“Something to say? So suddenly, this late at night?” Eui-jin echoed, knowing she had lied to her family about working late and had waited in her office to come at this late hour.

Kim Seo-hyun, dressed plainly and driving herself, was clearly worried about being seen.

“I came to apologize.”

“Apologize?” She had previously mentioned wanting an apology from Kim Gun-hyung, but they never expected Kim Seo-hyun to actually come and apologize.

“Kim Seo-hyun apologizing?” Eui-jin asked again, hardly believing it.

“Yes, I apologize for being rude to both of you the other day. I was so distracted by my father’s situation that I spoke rashly. And I’m sorry for raising my hand.”

Kim Seo-hyun even rose from her seat and bowed her head. It was hard to believe this was really Kim Seo-hyun.

Of course, she didn’t bow deeply, but even this gesture was significant.

“Since you’ve come to apologize like this, we won’t dwell on what happened that day any further. However, I hope you will show more respect to the medical staff in the future,” Tae-kyung said, accepting the apology and conveying his feelings from that day.

“I agree with Dr. Kim. I understand you were surprised, but treating the medical staff who were trying to help you like that was definitely wrong.”

“I understand what you’re both saying. I’m sorry again.”

Kim Seo-hyun’s pride was wounded, but she had no choice. This was the only way to stop the video from being released.

“I’m sorry for taking up your time during work. I’ll be going now.”

* * *

After Kim Seo-hyun left the examination room, Eui-jin, who had been talking with Tae-kyung, stopped by the restroom.

“Excuse me?” Kim Seo-hyun called out to Eui-jin as she was about to leave after washing her hands.

“Oh! You startled me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t left yet?”

“I’m about to. You’re Dr. Eui-jin Jung, right?”

“Yes, but why?”

“Please say good things about me regarding the video.”

“Pardon…?”

“And it would be nice if you could mention that I apologized. Well, then.”

Kim Seo-hyun, who had been feeling uneasy about not mentioning the video, was about to leave the restroom with a slightly relieved expression.

“Excuse me, Kim Seo-hyun? Just a moment,” Eui-jin hurriedly called out to her.

“What is it?”

“Actually, there was something I wanted to say in the examination room, but I just remembered it now.”

“What is it?”

“Well, you see,” Eui-jin slightly lifted the brim of Kim Seo-hyun’s deeply pressed-down hat. Then, widening her big eyes even more, she said with a crazy look in her eyes, “If you ever lay a hand on my man’s face again, it won’t end this easily. Got it?”

*Thump-*

Kim Seo-hyun was dumbfounded as she watched Eui-jin leave the restroom with a very satisfied expression.

“Is she crazy too?”

After that, Kim Seo-hyun quickly left the hospital, started her car, and pondered with a tilted head.

“Wait! Who has a more powerful family than Director Jung & Attorney Jang?”

* * *

“My sister did it?” As soon as Eui-jin arrived at the examination room, she made a phone call with a confident expression. Her sister was the only one who could pull off something like this.

-Oh, yeah, little sister. Did Kim Seo-hyun apologize?

“She apologized a little while ago. She was more polite than I expected.”

-Of course. She probably developed manners she never had before.

“What’s your secret?” Eui-jin was curious about the secret that turned Kim Seo-hyun, who used to wield her power like a sword, into this.

-It’s a secret. Anyway, I handled it without revealing our relationship at all, so don’t worry about it anymore.

“Oh, she mentioned a video. What’s that about?”

-Kim Seo-hyun talked to you about a video?

“Yeah. I ran into her in the restroom, and she mentioned it very quietly.”

-The video is important, indeed.

The video that made the witch lower her tail was a video of Kim Seo-hyun herself.

Exactly three years ago, Kim Seo-hyun had done something strange in the restroom of the department store where her husband was the CEO.

“You womanizer. You bad son of a b*tch. You’re meeting women behind my back again.”

Kim Seo-hyun, thinking there was no one in the restroom, used lipstick to cover the walls with vulgar insults against her husband that she couldn’t even bring herself to say out loud.

It was an impulsive act by Kim Seo-hyun, who was furious that her husband was cheating on her again and tried to damage his image.

The husband, who had been cultivating an image as a devoted family man, suffered for a while as the incident became the talk of the employees.

The problem was that if the video was released to the world, it would cause a completely different kind of damage than before.

Kim Seo-hyun was maintaining a facade of a loving couple with her husband. But if that video was released, the stock price, which had risen ahead of the resort’s opening, would obviously plummet.

Moreover, her husband, who was still seeing women regularly, would likely use this as an excuse to divorce her.

Kim Seo-hyun could never agree to a divorce because it would put a stop to her inheritance. That’s why she swallowed her pride and apologized to Tae-kyung and Eui-jin.

At the time, an executive from a certain company who was in a lawsuit with Kim Seo-hyun happened to encounter her in the restroom and filmed the video.

Jung Hae-jin, who received the video, opposed its use.

She didn’t want to engage in dirty play that involved personal matters. But now it was different. Kim Seo-hyun had touched her family, so Jung Hae-jin had no choice but to use the video she had.

“What kind of video is it?”

-I don’t really know either?

Jung Hae-jin, who was always calculating, didn’t even tell Eui-jin about the video.

-I just guessed, but the thief was caught with his own stolen goods [an idiom meaning someone is caught in their own trap].

“Seriously, Kim Seo-hyun isn’t stupid enough to believe that, is she?”

-Hey, little sister? Unfortunately, the chaebols [large family-owned business conglomerates] of Korea aren’t that clean. So, she was caught with her own stolen goods.

“Now that I hear it, that makes sense. Thanks. I got through this thanks to you.”

-We’re family, no need to thank me. By the way, when can I see our brother-in-law? Tomorrow? The day after? The day after that?

“It’s not like that. Go to sleep now.”

-Then can I see him if I go to the hospital?

“What are you saying! Don’t say such a thing. Attorney Jung, I’m hanging up now.”

-Hey, Eui-jin? Jung Eui-jin?

Eui-jin quickly hung up the phone when her sister brought up Tae-kyung again.

* * *

“Doctor, the patient in bed 3’s temperature has dropped. It’s 36.7 degrees [Celsius].”

“That’s good. About half of the IV fluid is left, right?”

“Yes, about that much is left.”

“Discharge them when it’s all done.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Tae-kyung, who had sent Lee Chan-hee and Choi Mona to rest for a while, was looking after the emergency room patients and turned his attention to the papers on the station.

He was quite serious as he looked at the A4-sized papers placed side by side.

“Jang Hyun-soo is 46 years old, and Kim Gun-hoon is 31 years old. Both have security guard experience, and their fitness levels are similar.”

Tae-kyung was meticulously reviewing the resumes of the security guard applicants.

Originally, there was only one applicant introduced by Kim Chul-gi, but another person applied after seeing the job posting, bringing the total to two.

“Who is it?” He was happy that there was another applicant, but there was a slight problem.

He didn’t know which of the two was the one introduced by Kim Chul-gi.

“Is it this one?” Kim Chul-gi didn’t tell him the name, and both of them applied on the same day, making it even more ambiguous. Of course, he wasn’t going to hire someone just because Kim Chul-gi introduced them.

He was planning to hire the most suitable person through a fair interview.

“Or is it this one?” But he was curious. It wasn’t just because the person was introduced by someone who was like a benefactor to him.

Kim Chul-gi had a remarkable eye for people. He wondered what kind of person he had introduced.

“Doctor? Director?” Team Leader Choi came into the emergency room almost at a sprint and stood next to Tae-kyung.

“You know that the security guard interview is tomorrow, right?”

“Of course. I was just looking at the resumes. But Team Leader, the resumes are a bit strange.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“It’s not that, but there are no photos.”

Resumes usually include a photo of the applicant.

A photo that highlights their unique bright and healthy smile and a blue background. But neither of the applicants had a photo.

“Ah! The photos. I must apologize for that.”

“Why are you apologizing, Team Leader?”

“I uploaded the wrong form when I first posted it on Job Korea [a popular job search website in Korea]. It’s all my fault.”

“It’s okay. We’re having interviews tomorrow anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Why doesn’t it matter? You should have reviewed it carefully before uploading it, Team Leader,” Nurse Lim Jung-sook, who had returned from the ward, lightly scolded him on Tae-kyung’s behalf.

“Wow! That’s a very Lim Jung-sook-like statement, the backbone of our hospital. I’m in my 50s, so my eyesight is failing…”

“Oh, Team Leader, you got 1.0 [20/20 vision] on both eyes in your health checkup this year. You’re wearing glasses without lenses, come on.”

Tae-kyung was quite surprised by Nurse Lim Jung-sook’s words and looked at Team Leader Choi. He didn’t know they were glasses without lenses.

“They don’t have lenses?”

“Yes. He wears them for show. Team Leader, just say you dozed off for a moment.”

“As expected, Nurse Lim should set up a fortune-telling mat. How did you know that?”

“Have I only known you for a year or two, Team Leader? By the way, do you find one of the resumes more appealing just by looking at them?”

“Well, it still seems 50/50 to me. What about you two?”

“Us?”

“Me?”

“Yes, I’m curious to know which person you’re more interested in just by looking at the resumes.”

“Hmm.”

At Tae-kyung’s words, the two quickly scanned the resumes.

“I…”

“No. Team Leader, shall we point to them simultaneously when our director counts to three?”

“That’s a good idea. Then our director will count for us.”

“One, two, three.”

“This person.”

“Me too.”

The two people’s index fingers pointed to the same person at the same time.

“Kim Gun-hoon?”

“He has more security guard experience than Jang Hyun-soo, so he probably has more experience.”

“I agree. And I feel the vigor of a 30-year-old more than a 40-year-old.”

“I see. Let’s judge after seeing them tomorrow.”

“Doctor, new patient in bed 9.”

At the nurse’s shout, Tae-kyung left the resumes he was looking at and headed to the bed.

* * *

“Hello, patient.”

“Yes, hello.”

When he opened the curtain, a woman in her mid-30s was lying in bed, and her elderly mother was standing next to her.

“You’re having abdominal pain?”

“Yes, I have abdominal pain.”

The woman lying in bed said, raising her upper body.

“How long have you been in pain?”

“Well, about 2 weeks? Something like that.”

“Which side do you mainly feel the pain, patient?”

“It hurts all over. What should I say… I also feel something wriggling.”

“Then I’ll palpate your abdomen. Can you lie down for a moment?”

“Yes.”

Tae-kyung palpated her abdomen.

“How about this side?”

“How about this side?”

“Lift your legs slightly.”

He palpated her abdomen meticulously, but he couldn’t confirm any clear abnormalities in the patient. In addition, the fifth vital sign was also a mild ammonia smell at stage 2, so based on the indicators so far, he didn’t think it was a serious illness.

“Doctor, I really have abdominal pain.”

But since the patient was complaining of pain, he had to find the cause.

“Patient, I’m going to run some tests.”

After that, he performed the basic tests and blood tests that are always performed in the emergency room.

‘It’s ambiguous.’

When a patient comes to the hospital, doctors have a suspected illness based on their experience as a doctor, looking at the patient’s condition and symptoms before performing tests. But this patient was a little different.

‘What is it?’

He couldn’t guess what the patient’s illness was at all. But one thing was certain.

The patient was not in critical condition.

One of the most important abilities of a doctor is to quickly assess the patient’s critical situation and whether emergency treatment is possible.

Tae-kyung was already at his peak in that area, so he was faster than anyone else in understanding the patient. So, even if he couldn’t figure out the cause like this patient, he wasn’t too worried because he was sure it wasn’t a health problem.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Doctor, the results for patient 9 are out.”

While he was thinking, Nurse Lim Jung-sook informed him that the test results were out.

“Yes.”

Tae-kyung quickly clicked the mouse and slowly checked the patient’s information one by one on the monitor at the station.

“The numbers are normal too.”

As expected, the inflammation levels were all normal. There was nothing particularly strange. It was just as he had guessed.

“Okay, then what’s the problem?”

As he moved his gaze through the results on the monitor, his gaze stopped at one place.

“……!”

One unexpected result caught Tae-kyung’s attention.

“This hCG level is too high.”