I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 37

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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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He became the herbal physician for Shin’s clinic.
#37
When I finished the acupuncture treatment for Jo Mi-so and left the hospital room,
morning sunlight was streaming brilliantly through the window.
……
Detective Jin Do-gyeong and I walked down the corridor without speaking.
On the elevator ride back toward the Parking Lot,
Do-gyeong spoke first.
“Director. You said you saw the victim’s past just now, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
I hadn’t been able to explain in detail earlier because the caregiver was there,
but I’d mentioned it briefly to Do-gyeong after placing the needles.
“Yes. It’s one of my abilities. Sometimes I see a patient’s past like a vision.”
Until now, that phenomenon had appeared when I treated Jung Ra-bit and Ma Yoon-sang.
I’d been hoping for it today as well.
‘If I could somehow see the faces of the perpetrators that Ms. Jo saw at the end, instead of her.’
Then I might be able to give Detective Jin a clue.
Do-gyeong’s eyes sharpened.
“Did you see what the perpetrators looked like?”
I let out a short sigh.
“No. But something was off.”
“What do you mean?”
“Normally, the narrative flows naturally, like a scene from a movie.”
But this time was completely different.
I searched my memory, choosing my words carefully.
“This time it was like a crudely edited presentation video. Images just flashing up without any coherent story.”
“What kind of images?”
Do-gyeong asked as she descended the stairs toward the underground parking garage.
“A Strawberry Cake, a Stag Beetle, a Rainbow… Oh, and an album by the girl group Lunar too! And lots of other things floating around. Objects without any obvious connection.”
“Hmm… It’s hard to make sense of it just from hearing about it.”
Do-gyeong murmured, her brow furrowed.
Then she pulled out her phone from her pocket and turned on the voice memo function.
“I’ll record it anyway. Even if it seems meaningless now, it could become a clue later.”
I nodded and bit my lip gently.
Ms. Jo’s memories were certainly real, but I couldn’t make any sense of them at all.
Could it be because the patient was in a coma?
……Or was I still not skilled enough?
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I was much help.”
Disappointment slipped into my voice without my meaning it to.
Do-gyeong shook her head firmly as we walked toward the parked car.
“That’s not true. You can’t expect results all at once. Especially given how serious the patient’s condition is.”
Then she smiled briefly.
“But I noticed earlier that the attending physician seems to have taken a real interest in you.”
“Really? Why?”
“At first there was a clear smell of contempt—something cold like metal. But when you asked a few questions, it shifted to a mint scent of surprise and admiration.”
Ah, right.
She reads emotions through scent, doesn’t she.
‘I can’t tell a lie in front of this detective, that’s for sure.’
I laughed softly.
For now, all I can do is continue with the treatment.
Whether to see the visions more clearly,
or for Ms. Jo to wake up and testify directly.
That’s when it happened.
“Here we are!”
The partner detective who’d driven us earlier was waiting outside the car.
As we got in, he immediately pulled away and asked,
“So, Director, how was the victim doing?”
“……I placed the needles, but her condition really is quite serious.”
I answered in a dark voice.
He glanced at my expression in the rearview mirror, then suddenly laughed warmly.
“Still, I’m sure the victim was genuinely happy that you came to see her.”
“Pardon?”
“We heard she has no family and no close acquaintances she regularly sees. When we found that out, we were a bit taken aback. Seeing her lying there alone like that… it didn’t sit right with us.”
He continued gently as he drove.
“I heard she was a regular patient of yours. For someone lying in a hospital room with no visitors, having a familiar face suddenly appear—how much strength that must have given her.”
“Ah……”
“I’m not a doctor myself, but surely that kind of positive emotion has to work in a good way, right? So even just by visiting today, you’ve already accomplished the purpose of your trip.”
At those unexpectedly warm words, I blinked uncertainly.
Then a faint smile spread across my lips.
Yes.
Maybe those strange visions
were fragments of her life that the patient wanted to show me.
‘Perhaps she’s working hard too, not just me.’
Thinking that way gave me new strength.
I answered deliberately, with renewed determination.
“Thank you. I’ll continue treating Ms. Jo hard. Oh, and Detective, I’ll work equally hard on your precious Detective Do-gyeong.”
“Huh?!”
The partner detective was startled by the remark I’d tacked on thoughtlessly.
His face even flushed.
I tilted my head.
“I need to get her arm fixed so you two can run the field together again.”
“Ah, yes! Right!”
He laughed sheepishly and suddenly became chatty.
“Please do. You don’t know how capable this one is. Sharp instincts, physical stamina that outmatches most men. With her arm out of commission, work’s doubled. I’m dying here, honestly.”
Jin Do-gyeong shook her head firmly.
“Please stop that, Senior.”
In the lightened atmosphere, the car soon arrived in front of Baek Myo-dang.
As I stepped out of the car, I steeled my resolve once more.
For Ms. Jo, for Detective Jin—
‘I’m definitely going to heal you both.’

* * *

After Go Yeon-hee left the hospital room,
residents and nurses at the ICU Station began conversing in low voices.
“Sigh. Jo Mi-so’s case. It’s really unfortunate.”
“She’ll have a hard time recovering, won’t she?”
“Realistically, it’ll be very difficult. Head trauma plus repeated impacts.”
They all nodded gravely.
The longer you work in the ICU, the sooner you learn to distinguish between ideals and reality.
Then one nurse suddenly recalled something and spoke up.
“By the way, did you see that young female herbalist who came earlier and placed needles?”
For a moment, silence fell,
“Oh! So that young woman was a herbalist?”
“Needles? What good is that going to do?”
Soon scoffing broke out from various directions.
“If anything, they should’ve sent at least a professor. What does some green young herbalist know?”
“Who even allowed that? It’s absurd, really.”
It was just as they were all chiming in—
“I allowed it. So what?”
A sharp voice came from behind them.
Everyone went rigid simultaneously.
“……Gasp.”
“P-Professor Choi Jin-wook!”
Jo Mi-so’s attending physician, a middle-aged man, was standing at the Station.
He wore a crisp white coat and neat shirt, but his tired eyes carried an unmistakable charisma.
He set down his chart with a sharp slap and fired at them,
“Is this a place for chatting? Are you all so idle? Work faster.”
“S-Sorry, sir!”
The attending physician let out a short sigh.
Then he glanced toward Jo Mi-so’s room.
“And don’t just scoff and dismiss without knowing. That herbalist’s questions were of a different caliber.”
Several residents looked up, surprised.
“Really……?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I’m not sure if acupuncture will help with a coma either. But separate from that, that herbalist has better clinical instincts than you lot.”
One resident’s face flushed.
The attending physician paused thoughtfully, then lowered his voice a bit more.
“Moreover… this isn’t confirmed, and I only just heard this rumor myself, but—”
Everyone leaned in to listen.
“When the Baek Ho Group chairman had a stroke sometime back, the rumor is that the very same herbalist was the one who administered emergency treatment and brought about his recovery.”
“……!”
The Station fell silent in an instant.
The Baek Ho Group chairman.
The de facto owner of this hospital and a VIP among VIPs.
His treatment had proceeded under strict confidentiality, and only department heads and above had been called in.
So ordinary professors, residents, and nurses couldn’t easily know the details.
“Really?”
“A herbalist that young……?”
The attending physician shrugged.
“That’s why you shouldn’t scoff carelessly. In medicine, what we know is never everything.”
That was when—
Tap-tap-tap—!
A caregiver came rushing toward the Station with hurried footsteps.
“H-Excuse me! Patient Jo Mi-so…!”
The medical staff all looked up at once.
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
“Just now while I was wiping her arm, her fingers moved! She responded to the stimulus!”
In an instant, the air around the Station shifted entirely.
The attending physician’s eyes widened.
“She responded to stimulus?”
“Yes, definitely. I wasn’t even pinching—just barely brushed her skin and she moved.”
“……!”
The medical staff’s expressions changed rapidly.
The attending physician turned first and shouted,
“What are you all doing? Let’s go!”
Soon urgent footsteps filled the corridor as they poured out of the Station.
A nurse who remained behind murmured softly,
“Could that acupuncture treatment actually have worked……?”

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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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