Chapter 103
Chapter 103
103.
The Flying Arrow
In front of the study, the housekeeper, after handing over the nutritional supplement, returned to the kitchen with a subtle expression.
Watching her go, Myung In-chul was still sitting with Myung Woon-suk, each engrossed in their evening newspapers and cell phones.
Although Shinwoo had been in the study for quite some time, they showed no sign of leaving. As more time passed, Myung Woon-suk put down his phone and spoke.
“Father, do you know why Baek Shin-woo was summoned by Grandfather today?”
“If I knew, would I be sitting here like this?”
Myung In-chul was just as frustrated.
Just then, Gu Sang-ho’s loud voice echoed from inside the study.
“Chairman!”
Startled, Myung In-chul and Myung Woon-suk rushed to the study. Opening the door, they found Myung Joong-hwan collapsed on the floor, with Shinwoo standing beside him, his eyelids lowered as he checked something.
“Father!”
“Grandfather!”
As the two tried to approach, Gu Sang-ho blocked them with one hand, holding a phone in the other.
“The Chairman suddenly collapsed. We are taking emergency measures and calling an ambulance, so please wait.”
With his reply, Gu Sang-ho began to state the location and symptoms. The call was on speakerphone, and the paramedics’ voices echoed through the study.
[We suspect an acute stroke or cerebral infarction, but it’s not certain. Just in case, do not shake him or anything. We will get there as soon as possible.]
They had no choice but to wait while the call was maintained.
Seeing this, Myung In-chul looked at Gu Sang-ho and asked urgently.
“What happened?!”
“The Chairman was trying to get up when he grabbed the back of his neck and collapsed. I quickly supported him, but… he lost consciousness.”
“Was he not feeling well?”
“I heard the checkup results were fine… I think we need to go to the hospital to find out what’s wrong.”
A thought flashed through Myung In-chul’s mind as he stood there with a nervous expression.
‘Could it be… that Director Kwak made a move?’
Myung Joong-hwan had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, which made him suspicious.
Meanwhile, Myung Joong-hwan’s wife, hearing the commotion, came down from the second floor, wringing her hands in distress.
Soon, about five minutes later, an ambulance from the nearby fire station arrived, and after checking Myung Joong-hwan’s condition, they moved him.
“I will accompany him. Please go to Hansang Hospital.”
The person who boarded the ambulance with the paramedics was Shinwoo.
Myung In-chul couldn’t help but be furious at this sight.
“What right do you have to escort the Chairman!”
“I was the one who saw the Chairman’s condition from the beginning. And there’s no time to delay, so follow in your car.”
Since Shinwoo had already boarded, it was awkward to drag him out.
Eventually, the ambulance doors closed and it departed.
Gu Sang-ho looked at Myung In-chul, who was standing there dumbfounded.
“Are you not going, sir?”
“…I have to go. You and Woon-suk get in the car quickly too.”
Myung In-chul’s bodyguards also got into the car and followed.
.
.
.
Inside the ambulance, it was chaotic with the sound of the radio and the paramedics constantly checking Myung Joong-hwan’s condition.
In that situation, Shinwoo, sitting quietly in the back, simply watched their actions before speaking.
“How is he? Is there a chance he can be saved?”
“…His heart rate is weakening. We will administer a thrombolytic agent and a cardiotonic, as directed by the Hansang Hospital medical team.”
One of the paramedics prepared a syringe filled with medication.
“When were these instructions given?”
“…We just reported the initial symptoms over the phone and received confirmation.”
However, the radios attached to their shoulders were only receiving information from the local fire station.
Shinwoo’s gaze then shifted to the paramedics’ ears. He noticed round pads, like adhesive motion sickness patches, attached behind their earlobes.
Items whose purpose would be difficult for the average person to discern. But they were familiar to Shinwoo, who had carried out numerous operations in foreign lands.
“It seems paramedics these days use bone conduction earphones to talk to the hospital.”
At that moment, the paramedics’ expressions turned cold, and the man sitting next to Shinwoo swung his elbow at him.
Shinwoo easily deflected the elbow and, with a palm strike, shook the man’s jaw in one swift motion. At the same time, the sound of something breaking quietly echoed through the ambulance.
Thwack—Crack!
Meanwhile, the other man, who had been sitting behind the driver, grabbed a scalpel that was lying beside him and stabbed.
But Shinwoo pushed the man he had just knocked out in front of him, forcing the attack to stop. As an opening appeared, Shinwoo kicked the scalpel out of the man’s hand while pushing the man he was holding.
“Kuh—!”
The position was awkward, so it wasn’t a decisive blow. Of course, the attack didn’t end there. Shinwoo immediately climbed on top of the man and began hammering his face with his fists.
Thud—Thud—Thud—
“Pass out! Pass out! Just pass out!”
Blood gushed from the crushed nose of the man whose face was being pounded.
“Kuh! Cough—! Cough! You, you crazy! Crazy bastard!”
“You’re not losing consciousness! Just pass out already!”
Thud—Whack—
After a few more blows, the man finally lost consciousness.
“Hoo……”
Shinwoo looked at Myung Joong-hwan, who was still lying unconscious. Meanwhile, a voice came from the driver’s seat.
“Hey! What’s going on back there?”
Unable to turn around because he was driving, he could only ask.
Shinwoo picked up the scalpel that had fallen to the floor and opened the small window connecting to the driver’s seat.
Stab—
“What are you people, anyway? Why are you so desperate to kill a man who’s already down?”
The scalpel was immediately aimed at the man’s neck.
The man felt a sudden sting but couldn’t move while gripping the steering wheel.
“……”
“That’s exactly the carotid artery. You know what happens if I cut it, right?”
“Why… are you doing this?”
Shinwoo laughed at the voice feigning ignorance.
“The guys in the back were trying to kill the Chairman. You’re telling me you didn’t know about that?”
“…Huh? What are you talking about……”
The car came to a quiet stop as the traffic light turned red. Meanwhile, the man cautiously lowered his left hand, which had been on the steering wheel.
“Uh-uh. I don’t know what that hand is hiding in your waistband, but are you sure you want to go all the way?”
At that moment, Shinwoo’s grip on the scalpel tightened.
With that warning, the man had no choice but to raise his hand again.
“I, I really don’t know why you’re doing this.”
“We’re going to Hansang Hospital as fast as possible, just like this.”
The paramedic who was driving gritted his teeth and sped off.
Before long, they arrived near the emergency room of Hansang Hospital.
“Stop here.”
“Why… are you doing this?”
They still had to go about 30 meters further to reach the emergency room.
With that question, Shinwoo plunged the scalpel into the man’s right lower chest.
“That’s why.”
“Kuh-uh-uh-ack—!”
A wheezing groan, as if air was escaping, burst from the man’s mouth as his lung was punctured.
“Tsk… I didn’t want to do this.”
Shinwoo sighed as he pulled the scalpel from his chest.
Soon, the cars from the mansion, which had been following behind, arrived at the ambulance, which was stopped on the road within the hospital grounds.
They thought it was strange that the ambulance hadn’t gone to the emergency room and immediately got out.
When the back door of the ambulance opened, they found Shinwoo, stabbed in the forearm and waist, along with the men collapsed in the corner.
“Representative Baek! Are you alright?”
“Hoo… These people weren’t paramedics.”
“What?!”
“First, move the Chairman… and call the police too……”
“Ah, understood!”
The other bodyguards pulled out a lying stretcher and dragged it towards the emergency room. Meanwhile, Gu Sang-ho looked back and forth between the wrecked ambulance and Shinwoo.
“We will take you to the hospital as well, Representative.”
“Check the person in the driver’s seat first. The fight got too violent, and I stabbed him in the chest.”
Gu Sang-ho immediately checked the driver’s seat. There, one of the paramedics was barely breathing, only letting out short groans.
“There’s another patient here! Someone come quickly!”
Fortunately, one of the bodyguards who had handed over Myung Joong-hwan brought doctors and nurses. In the meantime, Gu Sang-ho discovered a pistol in the paramedic’s arms after pulling him out of the driver's seat.
“These bastards……”
What kind of paramedic carries a pistol, especially not in some other country, but in Korea… He checked the other paramedic’s arms as well, and it was the same.
Gu Sang-ho collected them, trying not to leave any fingerprints, and made sure Shinwoo was also taken to the emergency room.
The emergency room was thrown into chaos in an instant.
The arrival of the ambulance had turned not only the original patient but also the three paramedics and the accompanying guardian into patients.
Hospital Director Han Young-hoon, who had come down to the emergency room after receiving a call in advance, had no idea what was going on.
First, he had to check the condition of his dedicated patient, Myung Joong-hwan.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Originally, all he had to do was examine Myung Joong-hwan when he was brought to the emergency room, and then admit him to the intensive care unit with a suitable (?) diagnosis.
As he checked Myung Joong-hwan’s pupils with a penlight, it was clear that he was unconscious, though he didn’t know what drug had been used.
“Director! What should we do?”
At the other doctors’ questions, Han Young-hoon bit his lip, hesitated for a moment, and then answered.
“Let’s start with a brain CT scan.”
Myung Joong-hwan was carried away lying on a stretcher.
Meanwhile, Myung In-chul, who had been standing next to him, approached Han Young-hoon as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“Director! Is my father alright? Is there a chance he can be saved?”
In fact, Myung In-chul was also confused after belatedly seeing what had happened in the ambulance.
But right now, Shinwoo and the unidentified paramedics were not the problem. If things were proceeding according to the plan set by TSF, Myung Joong-hwan’s life would end today, so he had to put on a sad face like a son as much as possible.
“I think we’ll have to wait for the test results to know for sure.”
“He seemed so healthy… Why did he collapse?”
“Please calm down.”
Myung In-chul’s sorrowful voice echoed loudly through the emergency room.
In response, Jo Mi-hyun, the eldest daughter-in-law, and her son Myung Woon-suk were in tears, overwhelmed by the sudden situation.
Meanwhile, Shinwoo was being treated for the stab wounds on one of the beds, quietly observing the situation.
‘What a show. What a damn show. He’s putting on a real performance.’
The stab wounds were self-inflicted. Unless he created a situation where his life was threatened, it would be difficult to have the beating of the paramedics recognized as self-defense.
In the meantime, Gu Sang-ho came closer to Shinwoo, who had begun to be disinfected and stitched up.
“Representative Baek, are you alright with your injuries?”
“It’s just a little painful. More importantly, is the Chairman’s security secure?”
“The placement is complete, from the examination room corridor to the intensive care unit entrance and the VIP ward.”
“What about the police?”
“They will be arriving soon.”
The situation was rapidly unfolding.
Meanwhile, Director Han Young-hoon, Myung Joong-hwan’s attending physician, quietly slipped out of the emergency room. Before long, he arrived at the brain CT room.
As he watched the examination process, he massaged the shoulders of the male doctor operating the CT machine.
He was Jo Myung-gwon, a third-year fellow in neurosurgery.
“…You’ve doctored it as I told you, right?”
Jo Myung-gwon couldn’t hide his uneasy expression.
“Is it really okay to do this…?”
“There won’t be any problems at all. If you finish this well, the next department head position will be yours. Of course, our relationship won’t end so easily with that.”
No matter how much of a director Han Young-hoon was, it was impossible for him to manipulate the ongoing examination records alone.
Of course, he could change the diagnosis and records in front with the director’s authority, but since Myung Joong-hwan was being examined directly, he had to manipulate it in real time.
Woo-oong—Woo-oong—
Just then, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Han Young-hoon, who had been extremely nervous, was startled and almost had a heart attack.