The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 106

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

Chapter 106

It might have been a somewhat rude request.

It wasn’t like some major corporation conducting a coding test, but a hole-in-the-wall Oriental Medicine Clinic doing a medicinal herb quality assessment test during hiring.

If this got posted online, it would be the kind of thing that would get cursed out with “what kind of place does that?”

“This is my first time with this kind of interview.”

But An Juhui grinned as if she had been waiting for this.

Unlike just moments before when she had been acting sulky, she now puffed out her chest.

Her attitude showed she was confident about any test related to medicinal herbs.

“Let’s go to the Herbal Medicine Preparation Room together.”

The medicinal herb I had prepared for verification was ginseng.

Korean ginseng has been the world’s best since ancient times. It appears multiple times in Chinese medical texts, and it’s actually the most effective when used.

I laid out 2 types of Chinese ginseng I had separately obtained, along with American ginseng and 3 types of domestic ginseng.

“Based on the fragrance you mentioned earlier, could you select the finest one?”

Foreign ginseng looked quite different, so it wasn’t difficult to distinguish.

American ginseng has short lateral roots and an unsmooth body, while among Chinese ginseng, the Panax notoginseng produced in Yunnan Province has a dark color and is round. And the Changbai ginseng from Jilin Province is somewhat chubby?

“Oh, do you also use American ginseng? The pharmacologically proven ginsenoside content is higher in this one. Its nature is cool, so its uses are somewhat different from regular ginseng.”

An Juhui picked up the American ginseng on the far left as she spoke.

I had simply wanted her to select the best domestic ginseng, but she began explaining each one.

“Isn’t it a bit odd to group Sanqi (another name for Chinese Panax notoginseng) here? It’s a medicinal herb with definite advantages in blood tonification and hemostasis, but comparing it with Korean ginseng and saying this and that… you should compare it with this one. Among these 6 types, the one with the weakest fragrance is Changbai ginseng.”

As An Juhui said, Panax notoginseng was a medicinal herb with distinctly different effects from the others.

Somehow in Korea, even Panax notoginseng gets grouped and compared as Chinese ginseng, but this is an essential item on battlefields with immediate effects on all bleeding symptoms inside and outside the body, and was also called “Jinbuhuan” (more valuable than gold) because it wouldn’t be traded even for gold.

What the Chinese used as ginseng was Changbai ginseng from Jilin Province, which was part of the old Goguryeo territory.

This isn’t bad either. Of course, I prefer ginseng grown on the Korean Peninsula.

“This one is the best. It’s Geumsan ginseng, right?”

An Juhui unhesitatingly selected the ginseng I liked most.

“Origin and quality don’t always correlate, but this one is definitely top grade. The middle one is from Yeongju, and the right one is from Hongcheon?”

She evaluated and ranked each of the 3 types of domestic ginseng one by one.

No way… how does she know the cultivation sites?

“Are they all correct?”

“Yes. As you said, our Oriental Medicine Clinic uses Geumsan ginseng. We don’t use foreign ginseng very frequently.”

“Ooh, good. What’s the next question?”

An Juhui’s eyes sparkled.

…Would she get angry if I said this was the end?

I really just wanted to see how she knew, just a quick look…

Looking at An Juhui’s face reminded me of my old students.

They studied hard and wanted to show their abilities, but would actually get sulky if I suggested postponing the exam.

I reluctantly took out deer antler.

“Distinguishing deer antler wax piece, upper section, middle section… is that too easy?”

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

An Juhui arranged the deer antler parts in order from highest grade.

Deer antler refers to deer horns, and since the parts close to the head and the tip parts have quite different components, they’re named from the tip as wax piece, upper section, middle section, and lower section.

The wax piece is the highest grade and most expensive, followed by upper, middle, and lower sections in that order.

Of course, An Juhui unhesitatingly picked up the wax piece.

“This is the wax piece, and it has the most nutrients and cell growth points distributed. It’s especially good for herbal medicine for growing children, and we also recommend wax pieces for elderly people who need significant energy supplementation.”

“Yes.”

“The upper section has many vascular tissues distributed, so the cross-section is dark red. It has excellent blood circulation effects, so it’s useful for women who need blood stasis resolved.”

Perhaps thinking the distinction itself was too easy, she recited the effects as well.

“The middle section is hard and has more mineral components than growth factors. It has a price advantage, so it’s sometimes used in tonics. If the goal is bone setting or osteoporosis treatment, you might deliberately choose the middle section.”

“Correct.”

I mainly use wax pieces, but I stock each part since I utilize upper and middle sections as needed.

The Oriental Medicine Clinic doesn’t have lower sections.

This is the lowest part of deer antlers, the part connected to the head, and while it’s rich in minerals due to hard ossification, it has almost no value as the medicinal herb called ‘deer antler.’

“May I look at other medicinal herbs too?”

“Of course.”

Now I really had no more questions to give.

An Juhui began taking out and examining various medicinal herbs on her own.

“Ah! This is how astragalus should be. You use good quality ones.”

She also smelled the fragrance.

“You use aconite too? Huh? It’s raw aconite? Don’t tell me you use it as is without processing?”

She also expressed doubts upon seeing unusual medicinal herbs.

Aconite is the lateral root of a plant called Aconitum in the buttercup family, and it has an extremely hot nature and is poisonous.

Among plants that can be used as herbal medicine, it’s closest to extreme yang.

Processing is a method of processing herbal medicines to change their characteristics, and it can be considered essential for poisonous cases like aconite.

The methods vary slightly, but most commonly it’s soaked in salt water then boiled, and sometimes raw aconite is decocted under pressure and used as is.

“Ah, I process it myself. If you buy the processed kind, all the toxicity is gone, but the effectiveness drops accordingly.”

Of course, I also prioritize safety for regular patients and process herbs to the maximum extent possible.

However, I have one patient who truly needs extremely yang energy.

Regular processed aconite wasn’t enough to suppress Seol Yuhui’s yin energy, so I deliberately stocked raw aconite to control the toxicity myself.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to go that far. I have one patient I need to personally attend to, so I keep it separately.”

“I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to do it. Actually, it sounds interesting.”

An Juhui looked very intrigued as she continued touring the herbal medicine preparation room.

“It’s quite spacious, and in good condition too. Have you been managing it personally until now?”

“Yes. It’s just as important as diagnosis and prescription.”

“If I work here, would I only handle preparation duties? No other miscellaneous tasks?”

An Juhui asked, tilting her chin up.

“No miscellaneous tasks unrelated to herbal medicine. The basics would be preparing prescriptions from me and the directors of the other two branches. You’d also need to handle ordering. Of course, if you find a better pharmaceutical company than what we’re currently using, feel free to switch.”

“…!”

“The items we contracted for at the place we met before haven’t arrived yet, so you can start by slowly organizing the inventory.”

“You’re giving me full authority?”

“Of course.”

To delegate my work and responsibility, I naturally have to delegate authority too.

I nodded.

“We’ll soon move the preparation room to the 2nd floor to use the entire space. Oh, if you have any preferred equipment, please let me know. I’m thinking of purchasing one or two additional machines.”

“…Is there enough volume to run an external herbal pharmacy for three branches?”

It was a reasonable question from An Juhui.

Of course, each branch does produce quite a lot of medicine, but considering the opportunity cost of renting space and a herbal pharmacist’s salary at this point, it’s operating at a loss.

However, sometimes there are times when you need to invest even if it means accepting temporary losses.

“To provide the best medicine, I’m willing to sacrifice some profit.”

“Ah!”

“The number of network member branches will gradually increase, so the facilities need to be prepared in advance.”

Right now I’m close with all the branch directors, so I can ask them to use our external herbal pharmacy and make the switch, but who knows what will happen later?

Before the branches grow to 10 or 20 and escape my control, I wanted to make sure the contract clearly specified that herbal preparation would be done here.

“You’re drawing quite a big dream.”

I chuckled at An Juhui’s words.

“Will you join me in my dream?”

It’s not that grand, but… maybe I’ve gotten used to this kind of speech after talking with Lee Ahreum recently.

It’s not grandiose enough to call a dream, but An Juhui was essential for the future I was envisioning.

She was someone who could handle the preparation department as well as me, or perhaps even better than me.

“When should I start work?”

An Juhui willingly agreed to become my colleague.

“The sooner the better.”

“Give me a week to find a place in Busan.”

Since our goals aligned, the subsequent negotiations proceeded smoothly.

Her desired salary didn’t differ much from what I had in mind, and the only thing An Juhui specifically wanted was to have the job duties specified in detail in the contract.

After hearing about her previous workplaces, I readily agreed.

“Then, I’ll see you next week!”

She had entered with a sullen expression and crossed arms, but left the clinic with a bright smile.

Having gained a valuable person, I was also in a very good mood.

* * *

With An Juhui’s arrival, the workload for me and the staff was greatly reduced.

After treatment ended, preparing 4-5 additional prescriptions would easily take an hour.

Our work routine was that if I ran the decoction machine before leaving work, the staff would package and ship the medicine as soon as they arrived for work.

Sometimes we also had to place orders when herbal materials ran out.

But now I only need to write prescriptions, and An Juhui handles everything from preparation to writing usage instructions and shipping, so I’ve completely delegated all herbal medicine-related tasks.

“How do you directors feel about us doing the herbal preparation? Is it okay?”

I casually asked during a video conference day with the other branch directors.

“Oh, yes!”

Chu Miyoung had originally used another external herbal pharmacy, so the process wouldn’t have changed much, but maybe there was a reaction from patients?

“There’s an atopic dermatitis patient whose treatment was stagnating, but they’ve improved remarkably. Of course, it’s subtle whether it’s from accumulated effects over time or because the herbal materials changed!”

“What medicine did you use?”

“White Tiger Decoction with Ginseng plus additional gypsum!”

White Tiger Decoction with Ginseng plus even more gypsum?

White Tiger Decoction alone already contains 20g of gypsum per packet, and she added even more to that.

Gypsum is an herbal material with low usage frequency for the same reason as aconite.

If aconite is extreme yang, then gypsum is extreme yin. If she prescribed it with additional extremely cold herbal material, it must have been a patient with severe excess heat.

“Then there might have been some difference in the gypsum. I don’t know much about mineral-based herbs either, but our herbal pharmacist changed suppliers.”

“Ooh, interesting. I hope I get a patient I can use gypsum on too.”

Kim Chunsik also added a comment to mine and Chu Miyoung’s conversation.

“Haha, everything else is good too, so please use our services often.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Well then, let’s end the small talk here… Shall we start studying? Sang-hun oppa seems bored.”

“Huh? No, I’m not. I was just looking at when to use Baekho Ginseng Decoction.”

“Everyone’s so enthusiastic. Since we mentioned gypsum, let’s study Baekho-tang syndrome.”

Good, the user feedback results are also positive.

I took out a book from the bookshelf.

I thought someone would escape, but surprisingly our academic exchange meetings are continuing regularly?

These days Kim Chunsik gives lectures on classical prescriptions, and honestly his perspective, which differs from Master’s, is quite interesting.

* * *

A few days later.

[Clinic Director, how are you doing? This is Park Seon-yun. I have a favor to ask, would it be okay to call you for a moment?]

A message came from Park Seon-yun.

I got nervous.

I’ve become close with Park Seseun so we occasionally call to check on each other, but this one never contacts me without business.

The last time was when I asked her for a favor.

‘Come to think of it, I made an empty promise back then.’

She already has something for me to do this quickly? What could it be.

“Hello? A favor, you say, what’s the matter? Is there anything I can help you with?”

– Oh, yes! You contacted me right away. It’s just that Grandmother suddenly got injured. I was asking if I could request medical treatment.

But it didn’t seem like a difficult matter.

I was momentarily nervous thinking she might talk about company-related business, but if it’s treatment, it’s not even really a favor since it’s my job, right?

“Of course. I should treat her to the best of my ability. Please come to the Oriental Medicine Clinic!”

Then Park Seon-yun expressed some difficulty.

“The thing is, she somehow injured her hip joint and has trouble getting up. …Could you possibly make a house call?”

Ah, a home visit?

“How far do I need to go?”

“She’s in Busan! It’s in the Haeundae area.”

This would definitely be something to feel awkward about asking as a favor.

But Park Seon-yun has done things for me.

Even if the connection with An Juhui was coincidental, one or two house calls would be dirt cheap for receiving the connection to get medicinal herbs at wholesale prices from China.

“Then that’s close by. I’ll go right away this evening.”

I accepted the request.

But after hanging up the phone, I thought about it.

‘If it’s Park Seon-yun’s grandmother, she must be almost 90?’

Wait, PK Honorary Chairman Choi Gwi-jae…?

That’s an incredible big shot, isn’t it?

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