I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 97

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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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I had become a doctor of Korean medicine for Divine Beasts.
#97
The Hae Clan Patriarch nodded heavily in response to my question.
“Yes. That’s why we were shocked as well.”
“I see….”
“It’s said that food from the Hae Clan can make even someone who’s lost their appetite pick up a spoon again. And yet my wife hasn’t been able to eat properly at all.”
A brief silence fell.
I smoothly changed the subject.
“So, Patriarch, what happened with that story about your three sons that you mentioned earlier?”
“Ah. The conversation drifted away for a moment.”
The Patriarch pressed his forehead and let out a small, fake cough.
“Let me see… yes. When choosing my successor, I decided to place the greatest importance on culinary skill.”
“I understand.”
“So I declared that I would pass the position of Patriarch to whichever of my three sons possessed the finest touch in cooking.”
“Then are the three brothers competing right now?”
“They are.”
The Patriarch smiled bitterly.
“I told them to bring the most delicious food they could make, but none of them has satisfied me yet.”
Hmm. For some reason, the atmosphere had suddenly become like a parent-teacher conference.
“The youngest one is the greatest headache.”
The Patriarch’s brow furrowed as he spoke of his youngest son, Hae Seong-u.
“When he was young, he seemed to be the most promising. Everyone had the highest expectations for him.”
The Patriarch clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“But as he grew older, instead of caring about cooking, he became interested only in eating.”
“Ah… I see….”
“And now he says cooking isn’t his calling—that eating is more suited to him—and he’s gone off doing some kind of food mukbang YouTube channel!”
His voice grew increasingly louder. It was an exclamation filled with anger.
“There’s nothing more shameful for the family!”
Ah. Now I understood.
In this household, you were only recognized if you could cook well.
‘But the third son wasn’t cooking at all—instead, he was just eating what others made.’
By the family’s standards, he was walking the exact opposite path.
So the youngest was essentially treated as a dropout.
Now I understood why the Patriarch and his older sons had shown such a sour reaction when the mukbang YouTuber comment came up earlier.
The Patriarch heaved another sigh.
“In any case, the competition between the first and second sons grows fiercer by the day, the youngest has gone off in a completely different direction, and I still haven’t found a successor who satisfies me.”
He gazed out the window with a look of emptiness.
“My wife grieves over it more than anyone.”
The Patriarch continued speaking slowly.
“I was already worried about her when I made my sons compete for the succession. She’s always been delicate by nature.”
“…….”
“But could she really have lost her appetite because of that?”
I fell silent in thought for a moment, then spoke.
“It’s possible, depending on the person. The body is affected by the mind far more than most people realize. And if the lady of the house loves her children as deeply as she does, it’s all the more likely.”
“Good heavens. I never thought it could really be because of that….”
“Don’t worry too much. Since I’m here, let me start the treatment right away.”
At my words, a faint glimmer of hope appeared in the Patriarch’s expression, which had grown serious.
“I entrust her care to you, Doctor Go.”
* * *
I returned to the inner chambers and stood beside the lady’s bedside, tearing open a sterile needle packet.
“I’ll begin with acupuncture.”
“Yes.”
The patient nodded obediently.
Her diagnosis was anorexia and functional dyspepsia. My initial goal was to restore the function of her spleen and stomach.
‘Even if the root cause lies in psychological factors, it’s right to handle the urgent problem first.’
I first inserted a needle at Neiguan on the inner side of her wrist.
‘The primary acupoint for alleviating nausea and bloating.’
Next came Zusanli below the knee, a fundamental acupoint for regulating the digestive system.
Then Sanyinjiao on the inner ankle, which tonifies the spleen and stomach.
Qihai below the navel, which boosts Qi and Blood.
And finally Shenmen on the inner wrist near the pinky-finger crease, which stabilizes the heart and spirit.
‘And if I channel purifying force through the needle tips….’
Warm light spread through the patient’s meridians.
With each needle finding its proper place, she exhaled in comfort.
“My body feels like it’s warming up.”
The lady closed her eyes slowly.
Looking at the patient through Spirit Vision, her Qi was still weak, but the flow through her stomach and spleen meridians had become far more fluid than before.
‘Good. I’ve handled the urgent matter.’
After the acupuncture was complete, I also determined a herbal prescription.
“I’ll prescribe Korean Herbal Medicine in the Guibi Decoction formula.”
“Guibi Decoction? What kind of medicine is that?”
The Patriarch asked with interest.
“The patient’s loss of appetite is partly due to spleen and stomach deficiency, but more fundamentally, her Qi and Blood have been depleted throughout her entire body from prolonged worry and anxiety. In Korean medicine, this is called Heart-Spleen Dual Deficiency.”
I explained calmly.
“Guibi Decoction tonifies the spleen and stomach while also stabilizing the heart and spirit, so it should suit her condition well. I’ll have it decocted and sent by courier.”
The lady nodded quietly.
“Thank you so much. I look forward to your care.”
The first treatment concluded that way.
And the results appeared faster than expected.
Around the time I was contacting Baek Eun-ho to say the treatment was finished and preparing to leave.
“Doctor Go. My wife says she feels much more comfortable than before.”
The Patriarch came back to the reception room with the lady, and his three sons were with them.
“Thank you, Doctor. My stomach feels so much lighter.”
The lady also smiled softly. She tapped lightly at her solar plexus.
“It always felt like there was a stone stuck here, and that heaviness has mostly lifted.”
I nodded.
As expected, the flow through the stomach and spleen meridians had recovered to some degree with just the acupuncture treatment.
However, when I opened Spirit Vision and examined her again, the Qi of her heart meridian still felt weak, like a bird drenched in rain.
‘Just as I thought—the body can be healed to some extent, but the heart remains unchanged.’
Then the Patriarch asked carefully.
“Doctor Go, will she be alright from now on?”
“I don’t think so yet.”
I answered honestly.
A look of disappointment crossed the faces of the three sons listening intently.
The Patriarch too had apparently had high hopes, for he let his eyebrows drop.
“I see… is that so?”
“Yes. Her digestive capacity itself has improved. With continued treatment, symptoms like indigestion and bloating will gradually diminish. But the patient—her appetite still hasn’t returned, has it?”
At my question, the lady hesitated and lowered her eyes.
“No. To be honest, my stomach feels better, but I still don’t feel hungry.”
Appetite is never merely a matter of the stomach.
It encompasses the energy toward life, joy, and hope—things like that.
Right now, the lady was lacking precisely in that area.
“I think more time is needed. This isn’t an illness that can be cured in one go.”
“I see.”
The Patriarch nodded with a regretful expression at my words.
The three sons were also sending worried glances toward their mother.
“But it’s not incurable, so she will recover with treatment.”
I offered gentle reassurance to the Hae Clan members.
However….
I swallowed the rest silently.
‘The problem isn’t the body—it’s the heart. And the real cause probably lies within this family itself.’
That’s when it happened.
The door opened and a familiar face entered.
It was Baek Eun-ho.
“Doctor Go, is the consultation finished?”
“Yes, I just wrapped up.”
“Then let’s head back.”
As Eun-ho spoke naturally, the Patriarch raised his hand to stop him.
“Wait, Young Patriarch. It’s already evening.”
The Patriarch smiled broadly.
“It would be a shame to send off such distinguished guests without offering proper hospitality.”
Then he looked at his eldest son.
“Il-u. Show our guests the way.”
“Yes, Father.”
The eldest bowed immediately at the waist.
I blinked.
“Show us the way? Where to?”
The Patriarch spoke as if it were obvious.
“To our eldest son’s restaurant. You’ve come all the way to Jeonju—wouldn’t it be a shame to leave without tasting Hae Clan cuisine?”
Then he continued with a meaningful look in his eyes.
“I’d like you two to taste firsthand the cooking of the ‘Patriarch’s successor.'”
Patriarch’s successor.
At those words, tension flashed simultaneously across the faces of the first and second sons.
And the youngest, Hae Seong-u, standing off to the side, scratched the back of his neck with an awkward expression.
‘Huh…?’
I, who had been in a light mood, was caught slightly off guard.
Why is the atmosphere like this?
This makes me feel like I’ve suddenly become some kind of food critic!

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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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