Heat Stroke
Heat Stroke
He remembered that what had been streaming down wasn't just sweat, but cold sweat.
What on earth had he been doing?
A frail guy, out in this weather in the middle of summer, trying to work up a sweat...
"Woof woof!"
"Lil' One?"
He was barely conscious, but Lil' One barked at him.
Lil' One must have been startled when he suddenly collapsed.
"I just got dizzy for a moment, don't worry."
"Woof! Woof woof woof!"
"Ugh... my head..."
Why was Lil' One acting like this all of a sudden?
He clutched his throbbing head and turned around to see what was going on.
When he looked back, Lil' One was holding something flat and black in her mouth.
Why was Lil' One holding that in her mouth?
"My phone?"
"Woof!"
Seeing how hard she was struggling to hold it in her mouth, she must have gone to the room and brought the phone when he collapsed.
Did Lil' One even know what a phone was for?
"Thank you..."
"Woof!"
Lil' One climbed onto his legs where he'd collapsed and flopped down, sprawling out.
He stroked Lil' One's head and dialed 1-1-9.
*
Had about six minutes passed?
He heard the front door open with a rattle.
The first person to enter was a staff member from the apartment facility management team, and somehow she already knew he was on the terrace.
"Seong-hwan-ssi?! Are you okay?! Oh my, all this sweat...!"
"Ugh... I think it's heat exhaustion."
"You called the 119 Emergency Center directly, right?"
"Yes... that's right."
He saw that firefighters were standing behind her with a stretcher.
Was this a fire rescue ambulance?
He had often heard that they handle 70% of private rescue operations.
"Alright, staff member, if you're all done, could you step aside for a moment?"
"Ah, I'm sorry."
The staff member moved aside to make way for the person wearing a vest labeled Fire Emergency Rescue Squad.
They were young women, which made them feel even more reliable.
"Patient? It's fortunate you're conscious. How many fingers do you see?"
"Three...?"
"Your focus is fine too. What are your symptoms?"
"I've been sweating a lot... dizzy, a bit of a headache... and I suddenly collapsed like I had low blood pressure."
"It matches the symptoms of heat exhaustion. We'll transport you to the ER for now."
The people beside him slowly lifted him up.
Then he was placed onto a stretcher he hadn't even noticed they'd set up.
It was the kind of ambulance stretcher you often see in movies or dramas.
To think he'd be carried away on something like that.
And at the age of 21...
***
The hospital he arrived at was one he'd been hospitalized at before.
When was that?
That time he'd been hospitalized after a minor collision while taking a taxi home.
Back then, A-ra had been covered in tears, and today she'd be covered in tears too.
Since things had turned out this way, before the hospital or the emergency center called A-ra,
he should call A-ra himself first.
It wasn't like he'd been in an accident; if he said he just collapsed while exercising, A-ra wouldn't be too shocked.
It wasn't like this was the first time he'd collapsed.
"Haah..."
When he said he'd collapsed while exercising on the terrace, she said she'd leave work early and come home quickly.
Fortunately, it wasn't serious enough for hospitalization, so he was sitting in a chair in the first-floor administration office.
"It's cool..."
The air-conditioning breeze felt pleasant, neither too cold nor too hot.
Was it around 22 degrees?
Unlike his house, which turned into a freezer at 18 degrees, hospitals really did set their temperatures to something reasonable.
"I wonder if Lil' One and Pipsqueak are doing okay."
It hadn't even been 30 minutes since he left the house, but he was already worried.
The staff member had locked up properly and left the air conditioner on, so they wouldn't be too hot.
"Still, I guess I'm lucky it's heat exhaustion and not heatstroke."
Heatstroke was a condition caused by the failure of the body's temperature regulation system,
and it was incomparably more dangerous than heat exhaustion.
It was a condition where body temperature rises above 40 degrees, and unlike heat exhaustion where sweat pours out,
it was said that the body stays dry without sweating.
To put it simply, it was a condition where you can't expel sweat, so the heat just keeps rising.
"They say heat exhaustion just needs water and salt... euracha..."
He was starting to want to go home and lie down, so he got up from his seat.
Thank goodness he'd brought his phone.
*
He finished paying the hospital bill and stepped outside.
Since he'd come by ambulance, he had no car, so taking a taxi was his only option.
Seriously, what would he have done without his phone?
He took out his phone and launched the taxi-hailing app.
But as if fate was playing tricks on him, it kept saying there were no available taxis nearby and wouldn't connect.
"Ah, it's already rush hour."
The clock on his phone read 5 o'clock.
Trying to catch a taxi at this hour in Seoul was practically impossible.
"Ugh... then how am I supposed to get home?"
Should he call Jeong Hwan-yi or Lee Min-ho?
Since those two used to get rides from him, he believed they'd come get him with a smile.
If they didn't show up smiling, that would be nothing short of betrayal...
While he was thinking about how to get back, the hospital entrance suddenly grew a little noisy.
He also noticed people taking out their phones and filming a specific spot.
"Is it a celebrity?"
Celebrities frequented university hospitals like this, so this kind of thing happened from time to time.
That worked out well.
If it was someone he knew, he'd ask for a ride home.
"Excuse me... coming through."
"Oh, it's Yoo Seong-hwan."
Even though he was wearing a mask, someone recognized him.
But it must have been a quiet voice, because the people around didn't seem to hear.
He slipped through the crowd and slowly made his way to the very front.
That aside, it felt a bit strange that people seemed to recognize him even with a mask on.
He hadn't even done anything to stand out.
"Wait... that car looks really familiar..."
A car where blue and white went so well together.
It was that car famous for being the only one of its kind in the Republic of Korea.
Naturally, that meant only one person could own it.
"A-ra Noona?"
She said she'd go straight home after work, so why was she here?
He thought this as he headed toward the driver's side door.
And he tapped lightly on the window, tinted so dark you couldn't see inside well.
Was he not supposed to knock?
She'd forgive him, right?
"Noona?"
When he knocked, the door opened with a click.
At the same time, A-ra's face appeared.
Wearing sunglasses, A-ra was deliberately putting on an aloof, haughty look.
Every single thing she did was so cute it was killing him.
No, this wasn't the time for that.
"Didn't you say you were going straight home?"
"You have no way to get home, right? So I came."
"Ah-ha..."
"What are you doing? Get in, quick."
Yata-jok Song A-ra...
A rich person driving a luxury sedan to pick up a guy — how could he possibly refuse to get in?
He immediately ran to the passenger seat, opened the door, and sat down.
"....."
"....."
And then a quiet silence followed.
She seemed like she wanted to say something, but was debating whether to say it or not.
"I'm okay."
"Yeah..."
"They said it's heat exhaustion. I guess I exercised too much on the terrace."
"Yeah..."
A-ra just quietly answered "yeah" without saying anything else.
That actually made it scarier.
"Noona?"
"Seong-hwan-a, from now on, don't exercise without Noona's permission."
"Huh... that's a bit..."
"At least don't exercise when it's hot. I'll buy you a treadmill, so do it in the living room with the AC on."
"Uh...."
What was he supposed to say to that?
Was he supposed to thank her for at least letting him do it at home?
Was he supposed to say okay?
He couldn't tell if he was being restricted or restrained...
"Why aren't you answering?"
"Ah... okay..."
"Hoo... I'll take care of Lil' One's walks for a while."
"But the walks are still..."
"Tsk!"
"Okay..."
He ended up having even his Lil' One walking privileges taken away.
This was a violation of his sovereignty...
***
"Lil' One, eat a lot."
"Woof!"
Thanks to Lil' One, today he'd been able to get to the hospital safely.
So he'd bought a ton of tender rib meat, sous-vide cooked it to make it easy to eat, and given it to Lil' One.
"If it weren't for our daughter, Daddy might have died."
"Kkiing...."
When he said he might have died, Lil' One put down the meat she was eating and looked at him sadly.
Tears started welling up in her eyes.
"It's a joke, a joke. Hurry up and eat."
Only then did Lil' One bring her mouth back to the meat.
Pipsqueak also came over, wondering what her big sister was eating, but meat was still too early for Pipsqueak.
Instead of meat, he poured some puppy weaning food he'd bought at the mart earlier into a bowl and held it out.
They said it was better to feed weaning food when they're young since it has more nutrients than soaked kibble.
"Hoo... maybe I'll get some sleep then."
He'd prepared A-ra's dinner too, but since it didn't seem like any food would go down his stomach, he decided to skip it.
He could just eat later if he got hungry.
He went into the master bedroom and immediately lay down on the soft bed.
Wasn't it always the case that when you try to sleep, you can't fall asleep right away and end up taking out your phone to watch Qtube?
Now that he was lying down, his fatigue had lifted a little, so he turned on a video to watch some Qtube before sleeping.
Just then, he heard the soft pitter-patter of small footsteps, and the sound gradually grew louder.
He looked toward the side of the bed and saw his two baby dogs struggling with all their might to climb up.
"Aigoo... shall we sleep together with Daddy?"
"Woof!"
"Kkiing."
He picked up one in each hand and placed them right on top of where he'd been lying.
Putting them on top was safe because there was no risk of crushing them.
Pipsqueak settled into her spot and closed her eyes already, but Lil' One came up right next to him and started diligently licking his cheek.
Where else in the world could you find a dog that poured out affection like this?
"Seong-hwan-a?"
"Hm? Noona, aren't you going to eat?"
"Let's eat together."
A-ra must have felt lonely eating alone, so she came into the master bedroom.
She saw Pipsqueak sleeping and scooped her up with both hands, holding her.
"Okay. Please scoop out some of my rice too."
"Yeah! Come quickly!"
She slowly placed the Pipsqueak she'd been hugging back down.
So Pipsqueak got to use this huge bed all by herself.