I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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She had become a Korean medicine doctor to the gods.
#25
Near noon.
Kim Sun-mi paused for a moment in front of the glass door of the White Cat Hall Oriental Medicine Clinic.
During today’s lunch hour, she had left the café in the hands of another employee and stepped out.
‘Just try the treatment three times, she said?’
She hesitated, unable to bring herself to enter.
The pain in her hands was growing worse by the day, and she could no longer put off treatment.
Just then, through the glass door, she caught sight of Yeon-hee in a white coat greeting a patient.
Once a tomboy racing through the neighborhood, and now a full-fledged clinic director.
‘But Yeon-hee is still so young…….’
She shook her head briefly.
Of course, Yeon-hee was a remarkable niece—always at the top of her class in Korean medicine school.
But no matter how talented she was, the fact remained: she was still a young practitioner who’d only recently earned her license.
Besides, the condition afflicting Sun-mi was degenerative joint arthritis—something hospitals across the city had offered no answers for.
‘Could hands like mine possibly heal in just three visits?’
With such doubts lingering, she pushed open the clinic door.
“Auntie, you’re here!”
Yeon-hee approached with a bright smile.
Her neatly tied hair and clear, intelligent eyes.
The resemblance to her mother sometimes made Sun-mi’s heart ache.
“Come in and lie down on the bed. I’ll start right away.”
“All right.”
So I’m about to have needles in my fingers, then?
Thinking as much, Sun-mi was lowering herself onto the treatment bed when her eyes went wide.
It was because of something unexpected on the medical tray Yeon-hee had brought.
“Yeon-hee, what is that? That’s not a needle—that’s a syringe!”
Yeon-hee tapped her finger along the syringe barrel, expelling air, and smiled slightly.
“This is herbal acupuncture, Auntie.”
“Herbal acupuncture?”
“We extract the active compounds from medicinal herbs and inject them directly into acupoints. It gives you the benefits of both needling and herbal medicine at once.”
“I had regular acupuncture from your mother often enough, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Herbal acupuncture has developed quite a bit lately, and many clinics use this kind of treatment now.”
Yeon-hee explained patiently to Sun-mi, whose gaze shifted between curiosity and unease as she studied the syringe.
“This is a placenta herbal acupuncture injection. It strengthens immunity and promotes tissue regeneration, so it’s commonly used for degenerative conditions. Your fingers are sensitive, so it will sting a bit, but please bear with it.”
Soon Yeon-hee’s hands moved with delicate precision.
Each time the needle touched her finger joints, a sharp electric sensation flowed through them.
Sun-mi drew in her breath.
“Ugh……!”
“You’re doing well—just a bit more.”
Yeon-hee’s voice was quiet but carried absolute conviction.
Yet something strange was happening.
Behind the pain came an oddly soothing sensation.
‘What would you even call it? Like the injection fluid is gently warming my worn-down finger joints?’
Sun-mi glanced up at Yeon-hee’s face.
Focused eyes, clean profile.
The niece she had thought of as a child suddenly seemed trustworthy in a way she’d never been before.
‘She’s grown up so much…….’
Sun-mi was lost in thought when Yeon-hee spoke.
“Auntie, we’ll stop here today. Your hand will feel heavy and achy for about a day—that’s normal, so don’t worry. If there’s heat, use cold compresses; if it’s just achiness, use heat. I’ll do the next treatment in two days.”
Sun-mi looked down at her own hands with lingering doubt.
“Come back in two days? Will my hand really heal?”
Yeon-hee smiled softly.
“I promised, didn’t I? Just come three times. It’ll definitely get better within that.”
Her tone carried absolute certainty.
Kim Sun-mi nodded and rose from the bed.
“All right, I’ll trust you. I’ve got nothing to lose anyway.”
Still, healing in three visits seemed impossible…….
Her head told her as much, but somewhere deep in her heart, hope began to blossom quietly.
The hope that maybe, just maybe, this relentless pain would finally disappear.
* * *
That day too, Yang Si-heon arrived home late after filming ended.
The entryway sensor light switched on, flooding the space with sudden brightness.
After spending all day under camera lights, even this glow now triggered exhaustion.
Click.
Once he’d changed, he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a package of herbal medicine.
It was what Ko Yeon-hee had sent by courier—his manager had arranged it in the fridge.
As he carefully opened the double-boiled package, a subtle fragrance of medicinal herbs rose gently into the air.
“Will drinking this even do anything…….”
A skeptical murmur escaped his lips.
He poured the medicine into a mug, took a sip, and found a strangely soft sweetness following the bitterness.
Pad, pad.
Si-heon carried the mug to his bedroom.
After finishing the rest of the herbal medicine while perched on the edge of the bed, he leaned back against the headboard and stared at the ceiling.
The enclosed note had instructed him to take the sleeping pill thirty minutes later, so he had to wait.
“…….”
Sleep would not come tonight either.
Since his insomnia began, every night had been a living hell.
The ticking of the second hand scrapes against his eardrums all night long. He tosses over ten times, checks the clock again, and despairs to find less than thirty minutes have passed.
‘By now, everyone I know is sleeping.’
Such thoughts always made him feel abandoned, alone in the world.
Eventually, he gives up on sleep and stares vacantly at the ceiling until dawn light seeps weakly across the wallpaper.
Only then does he sigh and go to the bathroom to splash his face with cold water.
The fatigue from the sleepless night never lifts, and the morning sun feels full of malice.
It was the same exhausting cycle, every single day.
‘Tonight will be no different.’
He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
……But.
Thirty minutes later, Si-heon did not take the sleeping pill.
* * *
“Yang Si-heon! Didn’t you understand today’s commercial concept? A happy child running about brightly!”
Strong lights bore painfully into both eyes.
The air on the set was hot and suffocating.
His father—young in this memory—sprang from the director’s chair, shouting.
The script in his hand was hurled to the ground, pages scattering like confetti.
“This is your last chance! If you mess up again, I’m replacing you! There are plenty of kids lining up who’d kill for your spot!”
His father’s stern gaze bore down on him.
A trembling, childish voice spilled from Si-heon’s lips.
“I’m… I’m sorry. But today I really can’t…….”
He was already on the verge of tears.
Then his mother rushed over urgently, her eyes gleaming with obsessive fervor.
“Honey, absolutely no one else will do! Let me coach him again.”
She gripped Si-heon’s shoulder roughly.
“Si-heon, you can’t cry! If you can’t smile right now, you’re causing trouble for all these staff members! If you want to be an actor, you have to endure at least this much.”
His father shouted just as harshly.
“Yang Si-heon. Do you think you’re here on vacation? This is work. If you want to cry, go home and cry! Now you have to smile. I’ve told you—you always have to smile in front of the camera!”
Both adults stared at their son with cutting intensity.
Young Si-heon flinched at their gaze, his small, fragile shoulders trembling.
The two adults’ eyes pressed down on him like blades.
His father signaled toward the camera.
“Turn the lights back on! One more take!”
The stage lights flared back to life.
Hot light stabbed through the child’s pupils.
The camera lens trained on Si-heon felt dark and sinister, like the barrel of a cannon.
Squeeze.
Si-heon stared into the lens, clenched his small fists, and forced his lips upward.
A clumsy, painful smile—like a torn wound.
That day.
Was the day his most beloved dog, Choco, died.
…….
…….
Bright light pierced his eyelids.
Morning sunlight seeped through the window.
“……Ah.”
Yang Si-heon opened his eyes slowly.
His mind was clear.
He steadied his breath in surprise and found his hand moving to his cheek.
His fingertips met something damp.
Tear stains.
“…….”
He stared vacantly at his palm.
The dream from the night still lingered like an echo.
Slowly.
He turned his head toward the mug on the nightstand beside his bed.
The careful handwriting on the note enclosed with the package came to mind.
‘I hope you sleep peacefully tonight.’
True to her words, Si-heon had fallen into deep sleep.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken feeling this refreshed.
His surprise lasted only a moment.
Soon a smile crossed his lips.
Si-heon leaned his head back against the pillow.
A gentle warmth was spreading through his chest.
* * *
The morning after being treated by Ko Yeon-hee.
Kim Sun-mi lifted herself from the bed.
And as habit dictated, she reached out toward the thermos sitting on the nightstand.
‘Oops.’
The moment she reached to pick up the cup, her face instinctively tightened.
Her finger joints would throb in just a moment.
But the next instant.
“……Huh?”
Kim Sun-mi’s eyes widened in surprise.
The weight of the ceramic cup bore fully on her finger joints, yet the pain she had anticipated never came.

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