I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 39
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
I had become a physician of Eastern medicine for the Spirit Corps.
#39
Most Oriental medicine clinics accept patients primarily for pain management and musculoskeletal disorders.
But not all practitioners limit themselves to that scope.
There are quite a few specialized clinics that go deep into specific fields, and cosmetic medicine is one of them.
And Hanna worked at one such cosmetic-focused Oriental medicine clinic in Apgujeong.
The messenger notification chimed almost instantly.
Hanna
NN! I’m off today~ rolling around at home lol
Yuh Yuh why why??
Hey, could I maybe buy just a few packages of thread-lifting needles from your clinic?
Not a whole box—just want to try a little first and if it works out, I’ll stock it properly.
Before I’d even finished speaking, Hanna’s rapid-fire typing began.
Hanna
Huh??
Are you branching into cosmetics?? Opening up new markets?
Wait hold on! Don’t tell me Oroji’s clinic is doing SO well???
No, nothing like that. It’s for something else.
Hanna
Ahhh~~ right right??
There’s no way our Yuh Yuh would lose out to someone like Oroji lol
Then I gotta visit Baekmuodang soon with the thread needles!!
Thanks. I’ll make dinner when you come over.
Hanna
Oh yes!!!!
I’ll see Alfred and eat something yummy and relax~
(upbeat bear emoticon doing a happy butt dance)
And sure enough.
Hanna showed up just before the clinic’s closing time.
“Yeonhui~! I’m here!”
The woman who opened the door had chestnut-brown eyes and striking Western features—a face with an oddly compelling quality.
That was right.
Hanna was a half-Korean, half-Caucasian American, born of a Korean mother and a white American father.
With that appearance, patients sometimes did a double-take when she treated them.
She said she often fielded questions like “A foreigner practices Oriental medicine?”
“Alfred too—it’s been so long! You’ve been well?”
“Meow—”
As Hanna called out cheerfully.
Alfred immediately slipped into innocent, oblivious ordinary-cat mode.
He narrowed his eyes, purring softly as she stroked his head.
“There, there, our precious whisker-lord. You look so healthy, thank goodness. Here—a treat for you!”
“Meow!”
What’s more:
The moment the snack appeared, he flipped onto his back entirely, lavishing affection with his whole body.
I shook my head watching him.
‘That charlatan cat… pretending to be such a guileless, innocent little thing.’
In any case, after the long-overdue reunion commotion wound down.
Hanna pulled out several packages of thread-lifting needles, sorted by specification, and arranged them neatly on the director’s desk.
“There. Is this enough?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Hanna folded her arms and tilted her head curiously.
“But I’m really curious. What do you need thread-lifting needles for besides cosmetics?”
Thread-lifting needles were.
A treatment that inserted a special absorbable thread into the body, which dissolved gradually over time while providing sustained stimulation and support.
Usually they were used for improving facial wrinkles, lifting sagging skin, and contouring the abdomen, arms, and thighs.
But what use could there be for them outside of cosmetics?
“Thread-lifting is used for pain conditions too, you know.”
I lifted the corners of my mouth slightly.
“I have a patient with muscle tear damage. I want to try using thread-lifting to see if it helps.”
That was right.
Detective Jin Do-gyeong’s torn shoulder muscle—I planned to insert thread-lifting there.
The thread would support the tissue, and during the healing process, it would provide continuous stimulation to aid recovery.
And if my vital energy was added on top of that… anything was possible.
“Wow! Yeonhui, that’s amazing. How do you come up with ideas like that?”
I replied calmly to Hanna, whose eyes had widened.
“I remembered something from my student days. We learned that thread-lifting could be used for pain conditions too.”
“Usually people just use it for cosmetics, so they wouldn’t think of it! The specialists who focus on pain-condition thread-lifting are mostly acupuncture specialists, though… So that’s the difference with our valedictorian?”
Hanna exhaled with a note of admiration, then suddenly made a face of disgust.
“Oh right! I heard Oroji opened a clinic around here?”
“Yeah, she did.”
“Wow, she’s really intense. Once you graduate, everyone goes their own way, right? Why did she set up practice right near you? Looks like she still hasn’t shaken off the inferiority complex~.”
“Come on. Why would she feel inferior toward me? What could she possibly be lacking?”
As I waved my hand dismissively, Hanna sighed and suddenly pulled me into an embrace.
“Ugh, you’re too kind! That attitude is exactly what makes Oroji more obsessed.”
“Um…?”
“Enough of that. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Sure. I’ll make that tomato pasta you like.”
“Kyaaang! Yeonhui’s the best!”
* * *
A short while later.
Hanna and I sat side by side on a veranda in the Baekmuodang courtyard, looking up at the evening sky while eating pasta.
Summer leaves rustled softly in the gentle evening breeze.
“Wow, Yeonhui’s pasta really is legendary. That’s why I can’t quit this place.”
Hanna had just cleared her plate, exclaiming in wonder, when.
“…Yeonhui?”
A low, gentle voice accompanied a figure appearing at the courtyard entrance.
I looked up, fork still in hand.
“Oh, Siheon?”
It was Yang Siheon.
He wore jeans and a thin gray cardigan.
His profile seemed sharper than usual, perhaps from the shadow cast by the setting sun.
“Ah, I see you’re in the middle of dinner.”
Sensing the situation, he tilted his head apologetically.
“I finished filming nearby and stopped by for a moment, but my timing seems off. Should I come back next time?”
Before I could object, Hanna’s eyes widened belatedly.
And in the next instant.
“Wait, hold on. Is that… Actor Yang Siheon?!”
An enormous reaction shook the courtyard.
“Oh my god, he’s way more handsome in person!! The aura is so much better than on screen?!”
Siheon, as if accustomed to such reactions, curved a faint smile at his lips.
“Thank you for recognizing me.”
His composed response only made Hanna more excited.
“No, Go Yeonhui, this is seriously crazy! I heard you get a lot of celebrity patients, but I had no idea it’d be like this? You’re close with Actor Yang Siheon? How did you even build that kind of rapport?”
Then Siheon looked at me and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“I’m the one who benefits more. If it wasn’t for Yeonhui’s treatment, I wouldn’t recover well.”
“Wow, that’s it!”
Hanna practically clapped her hands.
“She’s had such talent since student days! All the professors had their eye on her. And with that aloof cat-like face, she’s unexpectedly straightforward and kind, with a real twist to her charm!”
“Lee Hanna, stop.”
I gazed at her without real displeasure while absently twirling noodles with my fork.
After Hanna had babbled enthusiastically for a while, she suddenly looked at Siheon and asked.
“By the way, did you have dinner?”
“No, I’m fine. I don’t usually eat every meal.”
Skip meals?
That wouldn’t do.
I was startled and sat him down on the veranda with a stern expression.
“That’s not acceptable. You need to eat your meals properly.”
Siheon looked up at me with surprised eyes, then smiled and nodded.
“Then… thank you.”
And so the three of us ended up sitting in a row on the veranda.
I’d expected it to be awkward, but surprisingly the mood wasn’t bad at all.
Hanna chattered away at Siheon.
“Actor, it’s truly an honor. I really enjoy your work. Especially that historical drama you’re in now—your acting was incredible.”
“Thank you.”
“Could I maybe get an autograph?”
“Of course.”
She drew a happy breath and called out.
“Yeonhui! Do you have paper? Paper?”
“Jeez, okay. Just a sec.”
I went inside Baekmuodang and returned with memo paper and a pen.
Siheon placed the paper on his lap and took the pen.
As he signed, he added in a casual tone.
“Next time, get Jeong Rabit’s autograph too. Rabit stops by here often.”
Hanna’s eyes went wide at that.
“Really?! Oh man, then next time I gotta get Lunar’s autograph for my cousin!”
“Huh?”
I interjected absently.
“But your cousin’s still in elementary school, isn’t she? She’s already into idols?”
Hanna looked at me and laughed as if I’d said something ridiculous.
“Seriously, you don’t know anything.”
“What?”
“Lunar is literally the president of elementary school girls right now—literally.”
Hanna drove the point home with gestures to match her words.
“The girls collect Lunar stickers, photocard, merchandise. There are tons of kids who hang keychains on their school bags.”
I blinked.
“Really…? I thought idol fandom usually started in middle or high school.”
“That’s old news. Of course Lunar is loved by everyone, but especially she’s irreplaceable with the girls.”
The moment I heard that.
For some reason, the face of Ms. Jo Mi-so flashed through my mind.
The phantoms floating about.
It must be because of the Lunar album that was among them.
‘Ms. Mi-so was a Lunar fan, huh?’
From elementary school girls to adult women.
Lunar really had broad appeal, didn’t she?
…….
“Hmm….”
I let out a small exhale.
It felt like more than mere coincidence.
‘I should mention this to Detective Jin later.’
I made that resolve while curling the remaining pasta onto my fork.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————