I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 105

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

The Divine Beast clan’s physician.
#105
Beyond the kitchen door, the sound of his brothers’ voices drifted through.
“Father really does too much.”
It was the voice of his second brother, Hae Joong-woo.
His tone was strained, unlike his usual demeanor.
“Always Seong-woo this, Seong-woo that! What are we supposed to be?”
“Shh. What if someone hears?”
His eldest brother, Hae Il-woo, tried to quiet him, startled by the outburst, but the second brother had clearly been holding this in for a while and heaved a long sigh.
“Don’t you feel wronged, hyung? We trained just as hard since we were kids, but ever since Seong-woo suddenly started cooking, everything got turned upside down.”
…….
“Sometimes it feels like Father doesn’t even notice us.”
Silence settled over them for a moment.
Then the eldest brother’s quiet voice followed.
“I can’t say it doesn’t hurt me either. I know it’s petty of me, but honestly… sometimes I resent Seong-woo. And Father too.”
Hae Seong-woo froze where he stood.
His heart plummeted.
‘My brothers…….’
His vision blurred.
He had sensed it before, vaguely—the way both brothers’ faces hardened each time Father praised him.
But still.
Still, facing that fact so plainly was something else entirely.
His chest tightened unbearably.
‘I don’t want to drift away from them.’
Hae Seong-woo quietly turned his body.
And without letting anyone hear his footsteps, he fled to his room.
That night.
Hae Seong-woo couldn’t fall asleep.
Even with his blanket pulled over his head and his eyes shut, his brothers’ voices kept echoing in his ears.
‘Did I do something wrong?’
When he thought about it, he was the third son.
Naturally, the position of family head was meant for the eldest.
But the way he alone stood out and received praise and attention felt like he was disturbing the household’s order.
‘Maybe I was too greedy.’
He had never wanted the seat of family head.
What mattered more was living with his brothers, laughing together.
After reaching that conclusion, Hae Seong-woo was finally able to sleep.
From that day on.
Hae Seong-woo felt oddly guilty every time he stepped into the kitchen.
‘It used to be that just thinking of a new recipe would make my heart race…….’
What if he mixed this ingredient with that one? What if he tweaked the spices a little?
Ideas had bubbled up like spring water, and he’d been happy every time he cooked.
But that was no longer the case.
When creative thoughts came to him, even when he received praise, his heart felt uncomfortable.
Cooking, which should have been joyful, became increasingly painful.
‘This won’t do. I need to stop now.’
In the end, Hae Seong-woo realized that cooking no longer brought him joy.
And not long after, he set down his knife himself.
Whether it was for his brothers or for himself, he couldn’t say for certain.
The only thing he knew for sure was that doing so brought him a measure of peace, at least for the moment.
Of course, his parents—especially Father—were deeply frustrated.
“Seong-woo, why are you being like this all of a sudden? Hm?”
He tried to coax him, became angry, even tried to force the knife back into his hands.
Meanwhile, the way his brothers looked at him began to shift subtly.
Sometimes they did seem to regard him with pity for abandoning cooking altogether.
But at least they no longer bristled defensively, no longer saw him as a rival to guard against.
That alone was enough to ease his heart.
‘Yes. This is right.’
Cooking was something he could live without. His brothers’ skills were more than sufficient.
It was far better for him to be treated as an incompetent younger brother than to become a sharp stone between his siblings, inviting their resentment.
And so Hae Seong-woo drifted slowly on the periphery of family life.
But his love of food hadn’t disappeared entirely, so he began traveling to restaurants across the country.
After eating something memorable, he would photograph it and record a short video.
That habit of documenting eventually became a YouTube channel, and it became the catalyst that created who Hae Seong-woo was now.
* * *
Time passed, and all three brothers became adults.
Both the eldest and second brothers each ran restaurants and walked their own paths.
And Hae Seong-woo had become a reasonably famous YouTuber in his own right.
If it had ended there, perhaps this too could have been called a decent ending.
But.
At some point, Hae Seong-woo began to feel an inexplicable emptiness.
‘It feels like a hollow space in my chest.’
No matter how delicious the food, there was a hunger that wouldn’t be filled.
At some point, he began to overeat.
By the time he came to himself, all the food on the table was gone.
‘But whether fortunate or unfortunate, the world is a strange place.’
An age had arrived where even eating excessively became content.
People called it a Mukbang, and they watched, fascinated, praising it.
So on the days Hae Seong-woo filmed a Mukbang, he kept shouting how delicious it was in front of the camera, pretending to be happy.
But once filming ended and he was alone, he felt a strange hollowness.
His stomach was ready to burst, his insides were churning, and his heart grew heavier still.
In the end, he’d vomit it all up in the bathroom, or he wouldn’t eat anything until the next day—a cycle that repeated.
But he didn’t realize it was a kind of illness.
Hae Seong-woo, who had been wandering aimlessly through the streets of Jeonju, slowly dragged a hand across his face.
“Wei Yin Deficiency…….”
The words Go Yeon-hee had spoken came back to him.
A state where the stomach’s protective fluids had dried up from repeated vomiting.
Suddenly, he felt that the words described his own life.
From endlessly running away and turning a blind eye, it wasn’t just his stomach that had withered.
‘Family bonds had been crumbling all along without me realizing it.’
He’d thought it was enough as long as his brothers didn’t hate him.
He’d accepted being treated as the family’s problem child.
He’d believed that if he just did that, everyone would be comfortable.
But.
‘And all this time, Mother was worrying herself sick over all three of us.’
Seong-woo asked himself a question for the first time in a long while.
Did I really do the right thing?
This time, he couldn’t answer readily.
* * *
The Decoction Room at Baek Myodang.
In the air thick with the subtle scent of medicinal herbs, the gentle bubbling of the Herbal Decoction Machine hummed softly.
I checked the temperature on the machine and let out a small sigh.
“Sigh…….”
Who knew I’d end up treating not just the Hae Family Mistress but her youngest son, Hae Seong-woo, as well.
For the Mistress, Gwibee-tang.
And for Hae Seong-woo, I was preparing to send Sasam Maengmun-dong-tang.
I held the Miao Eye Stone and slowly breathed Purification Energy into it.
Golden light unfurled like threads, seeping thin and fine into the Herbal Decoction Machine.
‘Honestly, I can’t guarantee the results with these patients.’
I was confident in fixing bodies with acupuncture and medicine.
But.
I couldn’t undo the wounds between family members or untangle the knots buried deep in the heart on their behalf.
In the end, that was their burden to carry.
‘I can only show the way.’
They had to decide themselves whether to walk that path.
After finishing the decoction, cooling the herbal medicine, packaging it carefully, and attaching shipping labels, the sun had already begun to set.
“Time’s already gotten away from me.”
I quickly gathered my bag and climbed into my car.
My destination was Saelbit Orphanage.
Lately, it was a place I visited every night.
Lee Dong-su’s Night Crying Disorder was still severe.
When I stayed at the orphanage and watched over him, his symptoms definitely eased more quickly.
‘But the problem is, the child still hasn’t opened his heart to me.’
Without properly beginning treatment, progress was naturally slow.
‘Establishing Rapport Formation is harder than I thought…….’
I’d taken on the treatment with confidence, but I was beginning to worry—would I end up abandoning Dong-su too in the end?
When I arrived at the orphanage, I exchanged brief greetings with the director nun and headed toward the on-call room.
Then in the hallway, I encountered a familiar face.
“Oh? Director Go.”
“Father. Hello.”
Seon Yo-han smiled brightly as he greeted me.
Perhaps because of his soft eyes and round glasses, he gave off an air of gentleness and innocence.
The very picture of what people call a “church oppa.”
“You came again today.”
“Yes. I was worried about Dong-su’s condition.”
“That’s truly remarkable of you.”
Seon Yo-han continued with genuine warmth in his expression.
“Where else would you find someone like you? To care so much for a child you’d just met……. I’m always grateful.”
“Oh, please.”
I waved my hand modestly.
“I’m doing it because I want to.”
“I heard you even personally looked into Dong-su’s parents’ whereabouts. Thank you for that.”
As Seon Yo-han said this, his words trailed off.
He wore his usual gentle smile, but his eyes had darkened slightly.
I asked carefully.
“Um, Dong-su still… doesn’t know, right?”

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