I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 101

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

A physician for Divine Beasts
#101
Over dinner earlier, I’d already mentioned to Ma Yun-sang that I’d visited the eldest son’s Korean restaurant.
So he seemed curious about my assessment of the second son’s cooking.
I hesitated for a moment before opening my mouth.
“It was delicious. Really.”
“But there seems to be more to it than that, doesn’t there?”
Yun-sang picked up the hesitation in my trailing words with sharp perception.
This one’s got quick instincts too.
I decided to be honest.
“Yeah. But I’m not quite sure what this ‘signature flavor’ is supposed to be.”
Yun-sang tilted his head.
“You mean the Hae Clan Ability?”
“Right. The taste is definitely there, but afterward there’s nothing that sticks in memory, oddly enough.”
“Hmm… now that you mention it, I think I feel the same way.”
“See? It didn’t touch the emotions either.”
That’s when it happened.
Yun-sang, who’d been stroking his chin in thought, suddenly burst out laughing.
I blinked in confusion.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“You know, right now you’re like the wolf from that Three Little Pigs story.”
“…What?”
I stared at Yun-sang with a bewildered expression.
He giggled.
“Think about it. You’ve been to the eldest’s place, then the second’s place. You’re going through one by one, eliminating them like you’re testing stamps.”
“Oh… now that you say it that way, it does sound strange.”
“Haha.”
Yun-sang laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
“So the third son’s turn comes next?”
“If the fairy tale’s logic holds, I suppose so.”
I myself ended up laughing, then fell silent in thought.
“But in reality, that won’t happen.”
“Why not?”
“In the fairy tale, the third brother saves everyone with his brick house at the end. But the Hae Clan’s third son doesn’t cook at all.”
“Oh. Wasn’t he a YouTuber?”
Yun-sang nodded quickly.
Hae Sung-woo.
Also known as the mukbang YouTuber “Honey Swallower.”
Once the family’s bright prospect, he was now treated as the household’s black sheep.
“The eldest is ambiguous, the second is ambiguous. The third doesn’t look like he’s interested in building anything at all.”
I shook my head slightly.
“The clan mistress must have a headache.”
As I walked through the glittering nightscape of Cheongdam-dong, I found myself remembering the Hae Clan Mistress’s pale face.
And that sagging energy I’d felt when taking her pulse.
I muttered absently.
“I feel like I’m still missing something.”
“Pardon?”
Yun-sang blinked.
I cast my gaze into the distance.
“I think… I need to have a conversation with the third son too.”
Why had the youngest, Hae Sung-woo, suddenly stopped cooking?
Perhaps the Hae Clan Mistress’s illness began at that very point.
* * *
After finishing dinner with Yun-sang.
Instead of returning to Baek Myodang, I headed to Saelbit Orphanage.
I was planning to stay there every night for the time being.
Of course, Baek Eun-ho’s reaction to this plan hadn’t been very favorable.
— “You have a gift for making me wonder if I’m a person or a talisman, don’t you?”
When I carefully asked for permission, he had furrowed his brow deeply.
— “So now you’re setting up Barriers both day at Baek Myodang and night at the orphanage, keeping watch everywhere.”
— “…I’m sorry. But Dong-su’s situation breaks my heart. I’ll treat him quickly.”
— “Tch.”
Eun-ho clicked his tongue.
— “Then fix it fast.”
It was grumbling, but he’d given permission in the end.
Even though Baek Eun-ho looks sharp, he’s actually quite soft-hearted, isn’t he?
Thinking such thoughts, I unpacked my belongings in one corner of the orphanage’s duty room.
It was a small space with only a folding cot, a desk, and an old wardrobe.
‘It’s only for sleeping anyway, so this is plenty.’
After organizing my things, I slipped out into the hallway.
The orphanage in darkness felt completely different from daytime.
The hallway without children’s laughter. Amber lights flickering here and there. A quiet, eerie silence…
But in the next moment, my shoulders stiffened.
“Huh…?”
Something felt off.
This scenery felt strangely familiar.
My heart sank.
‘Wait.’
This place—I was certain I’d seen it in my Precognitive Dream.
I moved forward as if entranced.
Soft, soft.
My feet carried me toward the end of the hallway.
One step, then another, and finally I stopped before a door at the far end of the corridor.
A small nameplate on the door read “Prayer Room.”
“…It’s really here.”
I couldn’t help but catch my breath.
The place I’d seen in the dream was indeed this place.
A chill ran down my spine.
‘Then the man praying in that dream was the priest here?’
A man weeping in prayer beneath dim light.
And I had felt an inexplicable ache in my chest watching him.
‘Now that I think about it, something was strange when I first met that young priest.’
The Miao Eye Stone had reacted, and for no reason my chest had tightened and my eyes had nearly welled with tears.
What on earth was all this? Who exactly was he?
Before the empty Prayer Room, I swallowed hard.
At the time, he’d seemed like nothing more than a kind-hearted priest. A bit clumsy, fond of the children.
The Jade Bracelet Eun-ho gave me hadn’t reacted either, so I was certain he wasn’t a Fallen One.
‘Still, something’s odd.’
I came to a conclusion.
I’d need to look into this man’s background too.
‘I can ask Baek Eun-ho for that.’
I went back to the duty room and lay down on the cot.
I tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep.
* * *
How much time had passed?
“Mommy! Mommy!”
My eyes flew open at a scream-like wail.
I reflexively sat up.
The clock showed just past two in the morning.
‘That voice… Dong-su!’
I rushed out and threw open the door.
Then I headed straight for the room where the child slept.
“Dong-su!”
The moment I opened the door, I could see the situation at a glance.
The child was writhing on his bed, crying out.
His eyes were open but unfocused, his breathing ragged. His face was drenched in cold sweat.
“No! I’m scared!”
His small body trembled uncontrollably.
The children in the neighboring beds had already woken, huddled in the corner with frightened faces.
Dong-su suddenly leaped from his bed and tried to run toward the hallway.
I quickly caught the child.
“Dong-su.”
“No! No, no!”
Dong-su’s hands thrashed wildly through the air.
I didn’t forcibly shake him awake or scold him harshly.
‘Children with Night Terror aren’t fully conscious.’
Forcing them awake or restraining them too firmly can actually worsen the symptoms.
I wrapped the child tightly in my arms and gently stroked his back.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“Mommy…”
Taking advantage of that moment, I took hold of his wrist; his pulse was rapid and unstable.
Opening my Spirit Eyes, I could see the Meridians were also flowing irregularly.
‘The Heart Meridian related to emotion and the Liver Meridian related to stress are both rough.’
Normally Night Terror appears during growth and naturally improves in most cases.
But Dong-su’s situation was different.
Long-standing anxiety, the fear of abandonment, waiting, loss.
Those emotions were feeding the illness.
Press.
I carefully pressed an acupuncture point on the inner side of the child’s wrist with my thumb.
‘I can’t place needles on a child thrashing like this, so let me apply pressure to the Spirit Gate and Inner Gate points.’
Placing needles on a child in this state would be dangerous.
Instead, I stimulated acupressure points that would help in this situation.
The Spirit Gate calms an alarmed mind and settles anxiety, while the Inner Gate eases the heart and body and releases stagnant energy.
As I did this, I gently infused the points with my Spiritual Energy.
“…Sob.”
Dong-su’s body began to lose tension bit by bit.
His ragged breathing gradually calmed.
That’s when it happened.
“Headmistress! Dong-su!”
The Reverend Mother came rushing in breathlessly.
The young priest followed behind her.
But the situation was already largely settled. Dong-su was already asleep peacefully in my arms.
“Goodness!”
The nun opened her mouth in surprise.
The priest spoke with an admiring look.
“I’ve never seen Dong-su calm down this quickly.”
“I know. Usually he cries out for ten, twenty minutes straight.”
As I carefully brushed back the child’s damp hair, the Reverend Mother bowed deeply.
“Headmistress, thank you so much.”
“Thank you. Dong-su looks so peaceful because of you.”
The priest’s eyes softened gently behind his round glasses.
He still had that harmless, kind expression I’d felt at first meeting.
“I’m glad he calmed down so quickly.”
I smiled slightly, but one corner of my heart felt tight.
The child’s small hand, unconsciously, was clutching my sleeve firmly.
I gently held that hand.
‘Don’t worry, Dong-su.’
And I murmured in my heart.
‘I’ll make sure to heal you.’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————