Chapter 31: Now, Another Place (3)

Thud.

Thud.

Suhyeok, with great difficulty, climbed to the first floor, leaning on his cane.

Even before, he wasn't particularly agile and didn't move quickly, but it was nothing compared to now, with his left leg being so inconvenient.

'Ah, I really want this to get better soon.'

[Based on the data collected so far, there is no method.]

'I know. But still...'

[Medical advancements are very rapid, and the development of assistive devices is even faster, so I think it will be possible before you die.]

'That's not very comforting.'

[That wasn't meant to be comforting.]

'Oh, fuck.'

Suhyeok muttered a curse while looking for a bread roll and entered the emergency room.

Unlike before, security has been strengthened, and now you need to swipe a card to enter the interior.

Beep.

As soon as Suhyeok opened the door, a long corridor came into view.

On both sides of the corridor were storage rooms for various medical equipment and supplies used in the emergency room.

Thud.

Thud.

He had to walk a long way down the corridor to reach the emergency room station.

"Ah, Dr. Suhyeok."

In the hospital, Suhyeok was the only doctor who walked with a cane, so the intern who had notified him could immediately recognize him.

Even though he wasn't from TaeHwa University Medical School, he could still do so.

"Intern?"

"Yes. I'm the one who notified you, No Yeongtae."

No Yeongtae, the intern, looked much older than an intern should. Suhyeok almost called him "brother."

He looked about 5 or 6 years older than Suhyeok.

'Did he come from another place?'

[There's a high possibility. Among the internal medicine residents, there's one who is over forty.]

'He was held back, went to the military, and then re-enrolled.'

[Wow.]

Suhyeok, leaving Baruda's deflating sound behind, followed the intern briskly.

The patient was not in the general emergency ward but in the treatment room.

'That's strange? This isn't a trauma patient, so why...'

The treatment room is usually assigned to patients who are in real emergencies. It's also where the hospital's personnel and equipment are concentrated.

"Ugh!"

As soon as Suhyeok entered the treatment room, he understood why this patient was assigned to it.

The patient was yelling, grabbing the collar of a psychiatrist who had just been consulting with him.

"You bastards! I'm not sick! I just need to receive a divine revelation!"

"Hey, let go, sir!"

The intern in front of Suhyeok quickly ran over and separated the patient. The patient and the psychiatrist were both in a mess, especially the psychiatrist's face.

Thanks to this, the psychiatrist, who had just been released from the patient's grip, picked up his glasses that had fallen to the floor.

Looking closely at his face, Suhyeok recognized him.

"Dr. Oh Jinseung?"

"Ah, Suhyeok. You're on endocrinology duty today."

Despite just being grabbed by the patient, Oh Jinseung looked very calm. He even had a warm, dimpled smile.

Indeed, he was the kind of person who could be called "a man born for psychiatry."

"Yes, sir. But what just happened..."

"The patient is a bit delirious. He believes this isn't a hospital but some other place."

"Is it a delusion?"

"Delusion... Yes. But it's... different."

Oh Jinseung tilted his head and looked back at the patient.

In the meantime, the patient had been restrained and laid down by other medical staff.

Especially, No Yeongtae, the intern, seemed to have incredible strength. His skill in quickly separating the patient was impressive.

Suhyeok thought that leaving it like this would be fine for a while and looked back at Jinseung.

"Different?"

"Yes. The medical history and such... are different from a delusion. It seems he was taking medication at his previous hospital, but it's not really working. He only responds to acute phase medications."

"Acute phase? Sedatives?"

"Yes. The sedatives only calm the seizures, but they've never actually reduced the frequency of the seizures."

Sedatives work on all seizures regardless of the reason, so they should be considered separately.

So, in summary, Jinseung's words mean that the psychiatric medication for his psychiatric symptoms is not very effective.

[That's a bit strange. Recent psychiatric medications have made remarkable progress.]

In the past, what was called a mental illness was a psychiatric disorder.

However, recent research has revealed that there are actual physical abnormalities, not just mental issues.

It's about symptoms caused by too little or too much of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.

This means that if you adjust these neurotransmitters with medication, the symptoms will improve, and indeed, such effects have been reported.

'So... the medication doesn't work at all.'

Suhyeok nodded in agreement with Baruda's words.

While doing so, he quickly skimmed through the chart of the patient, Yang Jae-won, who had been brought from another hospital.

He read it in reverse order.

From recent to past.

'He was in a coma... His blood sugar was below 50 at that time.'

[He recovered due to the glucose response.]

'The doctor who treated him at the time thought it was due to malnutrition caused by a manic episode or schizophrenia symptoms.'

[That's different from the patient's statement.]

The patient had clearly stated that he had been eating.

But since he lived alone and was talking incoherently at the time of the consultation, it didn't seem to be taken seriously.

'He also said he saw things double... and he had actual convulsions, foaming at the mouth.'

[From the admission records... It seems he was a very problematic patient. There are too many neurological symptoms.]

'Sure enough, as Dr. Oh said, it's not typical. It looks like he's taking almost all the medications?'

[Yes. There are cases of drug-resistant psychiatric disorders, but this is severe.]

And when the patient is normal, he appears to be completely normal.

Not just able to manage daily life, but even capable of simple tasks.

Everything is very different from a typical psychiatric disorder.

'The medication doesn't work... and yet, he recovers like this?'

[It's strange. The only medication the hospital he was in used, besides sedatives, was...]

'So he thought of a shamanistic method like a divine revelation?'

As Suhyeok continued to flip through the chart, Oh Jinseung spoke again.

"Suhyeok, do you see anything?"

"Huh? No, I'm not sure yet. But..."

"But?"

"I'm thinking it might not be a psychiatric disorder."

"Yes. I think so too. But first... the patient's blood sugar is quite low. Can you handle that?"

"Oh, yes."

Only then did Suhyeok realize that the notification he received was not to look at the patient overall but to check his low blood sugar.

"Can I see all the blood test results?"

"Yeah, they should be floating around there."

"Thanks, bro."

"Don't mention it."

Oh Jinseung, known as the most gentlemanly person in the entire university, not just the hospital, pointed to an empty computer with a gentle smile.

'Such a person, when we drink together...'

He vividly remembered Oh Jinseung turning into Ronaldo and leading the drinking session.

If he had turned into a dog or something, it would have been more understandable.

It was the first time he had seen such a person.

Such a gentle person actually leading a drinking session.

[Get back to work. Stop daydreaming.]

'I know, I know.'

Suhyeok, agreeing with Baruda, looked at the patient's test results in front of him, breaking away from the old memories with Jinseung.

'Low blood sugar... Hmm. It's quite severe.'

He had heard it was 66 when the notification came.

Now it was 40.

Turning his head, he saw the patient still talking incoherently.

Considering that this would normally cause a change in consciousness, it was quite impressive.

[Compared to that, the other test results are quite good.]

'Oh... That's true.'

With a long-standing psychiatric disorder, even if it's not due to the disorder itself, the symptoms often lead to poor lifestyle habits.

And poor lifestyle habits often result in abnormal blood test results.

But this patient's test results were almost clean.

At least, there were no abnormal findings in the tests commonly performed in the emergency room.

'It's definitely strange.'

[Let's worry about that later. First, give him glucose. It's dangerous if it drops further.]

'Right, I should.'

[Yes.]

Suhyeok followed Baruda's advice and gave the patient glucose.

As soon as the glucose was administered, the patient stopped talking nonsense.

"Um."

Instead, he looked around to figure out where he was.

"A hospital...?"

"Yes, that's right."

At this, Oh Jinseung, who had been waiting, quickly approached.

Since interviews are most effective when the patient is fully conscious.

Suhyeok, watching this, tilted his head again.

'It's strange. Giving him glucose... not only did his consciousness return, but...'

[It seems his mind has also cleared.]

'Let me... look at the chart again. Something's off.'

[Yes.]

So, Suhyeok started flipping through the chart he had put down.

He found something strange.

'Look at this. The patient's symptoms change over time.'

[That's right. It's very regular.]

The symptoms varied, but according to the nursing records, the times when the patient acted out were almost the same.

11 AM, 4 PM, 9 PM.

'What does this mean...?'

[I don't know. We need more information.]

'Hmm... Oh, no. This time... has changed.'

[Yes. Now it's 9 AM, 2 PM, and 7 PM.]

'What is this?'

Suhyeok, looking completely puzzled, tapped the chart.

"Hey! Sir! Let go!"

"Where the hell are we, you bastards!"

In the meantime, the patient was having another seizure.

Exactly 30 minutes after receiving glucose and regaining consciousness.

"Sir!"

No Yeongtae, the intern, quickly ran over and laid the patient down again. His movements suggested he could have been a wrestler.

Meanwhile, Suhyeok, leaning on his cane, approached the patient.

"Can we check the patient's blood sugar right away?"

He then gave a verbal prescription to the nurse next to him.

Since blood sugar needs to be monitored continuously, the nurse performed the test using the patient's finger blood without a word.

"48."

"What?"

"48... That's correct."

"Just now... we gave him glucose, and it's 48 again?"

"Yes."

"Hmm...?"