The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 107

PK Group Honorary Chairman Choi Gwi-jae.

She was a legend in the business world who built PK from the ground up together with her husband Park Jangjin.

From a factory worker operating sewing machines at a textile factory to becoming the head of a major corporation, her entire journey was one of challenge and achievement.

Of course, she had finished most of her work now.

The period when she was actively building her business while weathering rough storms, and the days when she had to endure alone after losing her husband, had all passed.

Though her life’s compass was entering its sunset, her challenges never ceased.

Half marathon.

This event was precisely the challenge that Choi Gwi-jae was obsessed with these days.

After her husband died of illness in his young(?) early sixties, she had devoted tremendous effort to health management.

She strictly followed a diabetic diet even for her not-so-severe blood sugar levels, and mastered various exercises that were said to be good for the body.

But what truly stimulates the human spirit of challenge is running, and among that, marathons, isn’t it?

The pleasure of enduring gasping breaths and a heart ready to burst with stamina and mental strength that transcends limits. Those who haven’t experienced it could never have its appeal explained to them.

“Mother, you’re so amazing!”

“Congratulations!”

“Tsk, don’t overdo it. You’re just making people pay attention for no reason.”

Pathetic children and grandchildren.

Even though Choi Gwi-jae had declared retirement upon stepping down from her chairman position, she still held most of the stock shares in her hands, so those blinded by inheritance would sometimes follow her even to her hobbies like this, trying to draw her attention.

“Get lost!”

In any case, Choi Gwi-jae had completed the half marathon.

She drove away all her children and returned home to sleep comfortably.

Her whole body ached, but muscle pain was nothing more than the reward that naturally followed after a marathon.

She had an old dream for the first time in a while.

From her very early childhood… a dream from when she lived in a tile-roofed house.

Though her uncle had poured all his wealth into the independence movement leaving nothing behind, they had once been treated as local gentry.

An extended family where four generations lived together. A healthy body and mind that never tired no matter how much she ran around the yard.

Choi Gwi-jae, who had built great wealth herself, bought all the land near the old tile-roofed house where she used to live and built her current mansion.

But those times never returned.

Her children and grandchildren only knew how to force themselves to please her, and her body, no longer what it used to be, screamed even after running just a little.

“Damn it!”

The dream made her even angrier.

What the hell were those children and grandchildren doing?

When they should be burning their shining youth, they were following an old grandmother to marathon events and groveling.

She really needed to discipline them more.

Now that the sun was up, she should gather all the sleeping family members and give them a good scolding.

So Choi Gwi-jae shot up.

“Aaaahhh”

The moment she roughly took her first step, her legs gave out.

She had twisted her hip joint.

“Grandmother, are you okay?”

“Where are you hurt? Here, how many do you see?”

“Should we take you to the emergency room?!”

Family members and servants came running hastily upon hearing the scream.

“Get lost! Everyone get out!”

Choi Gwi-jae shouted angrily while sitting collapsed on the floor.

Emergency room? Are they crazy? Would this Choi Gwi-jae give reporters something to gossip about regarding her mortality?

* * *

I visited his house together with Park Seon-yun.

Though it didn’t have the massive gardens and party halls like chaebol family mansions in animations, it was a glamorous three-story detached house more luxurious than the rich Cheongdam-dong houses in dramas.

“I’ll apologize in advance. Please overlook it if our grandmother acts a bit rudely.”

Her personality seemed quite eccentric, as Park Seon-yun warned me several times asking for understanding.

“Don’t worry. I get along really well with elderly people.”

“Haha, it did seem that way. All the grandmothers and grandfathers at the clinic like the Clinic Director too.”

Park Seon-yun let out a deep sigh.

“She was someone overflowing with confidence in health management, but suddenly getting seriously injured seems to have been a big shock. She keeps trying to get out of bed saying she can get up, so family members are taking turns watching her.”

“Oh my.”

I think I knew what that felt like.

Those who were usually arrogant with overflowing pride as warriors would invariably come in injured and not listen to the doctor’s words.

I’d like to press their pressure points and tie them up with iron chains if I could.

“She’s nearly ninety years old, so no matter how well she manages herself, there are unavoidable aspects.”

“Yes. It’s unfortunate that this happened right after the marathon.”

“A marathon at that age, the chairman is certainly something different.”

It wasn’t unfortunate that it happened right after the marathon, but rather her strength gave out because it was right after the marathon.

Did she injure her hip joint as her muscles relaxed?

Perhaps she had an underlying condition from the beginning.

I’d have to examine her to know the details.

Knock knock.

Park Seon-yun knocked, and we entered Chairman Choi Gwi-jae’s room.

“Ugh, nothing’s going right!”

Thwack!

Chairman Choi Gwi-jae was tapping the middle-aged man’s head with her cane.

…That must be her son, right? Park Seon-yun’s father or uncle? He’s probably a president or vice president of some subsidiary company.

Suddenly witnessing an assault scene left me quite flustered.

“Grandmother, the clinic director is here!”

Even though she was a chaebol grandmother, seeing her scold her son made her seem not much different from the regular grandmothers at our Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic.

Well, even if she displayed authority, I’d be familiar with that too.

I had managed to interact with the elders of Daesacheondang who would never bow down before my Master or me, his disciple.

There was no need to get nervous just because a patient happened to be quite wealthy.

“Hello, Chairman. I came to check on your condition at Director Park’s request. Would it be alright if I examine you?”

She’s a retired honorary chairman, but I suppose calling her Chairman would be fine, right?

I maintained an appropriate distance and greeted her politely.

“Ah, you’re the Korean Medicine Doctor that Seon-yun mentioned earlier. Please come in.”

Unlike the middle-aged man beside her who still seemed at a loss, she greeted me courteously.

“It’s been a while since I’ve received acupuncture. When my husband was alive, a Korean Medicine Doctor we were close with would often treat me.”

She waved one hand dismissively, shooing her son away.

Park Seon-yun glanced to see if she should leave too, but the Chairman allowed him to stay by her side.

“It’s fortunate that acupuncture doesn’t feel awkward to you. You must have been quite shocked by this sudden injury, right? I’ll treat you well.”

“Yes. It’s not too severe, but I’m a bit worried I might have trouble walking continuously.”

I approached her and pulled back the blanket.

I had brought various treatment tools like acupuncture needles, knife needles, and herbal injections by type, but unfortunately I only had a console-type ultrasound machine, so I had to rely on physical examination.

If I had known I’d need to make house calls, I should have bought a portable one.

“I’ll have you bend your knee while moving it outward. In a figure-4 position.”

“Yes.”

I first performed a light Patrick test.

This was an examination where, in a supine position with the leg in a figure-4 position—hip flexed, abducted, and externally rotated—I would fix the ASIS (anterior superior iliac spine) of the opposite pelvis and apply gentle pressure by pressing down on the knee of the leg being tested.

If this test caused pain in the sacroiliac joint, it could suggest sacroiliitis, sacral inflammation, or ankylosing spondylitis; if there was pain in the groin area, it could indicate iliopsoas or hip joint disorders.

Ugh.

As I pressed on her knee, Chairman Choi Gwi-jae frowned as expected.

“Where does it hurt? Could you point to it?”

Chairman Choi pointed to the inner side of her right thigh with her hand.

It was close to the groin area… but it was slightly lower than where it usually hurts when there’s a hip joint sprain.

“Not here.”

“Hmm.”

When I pressed the greater trochanter attachment site where hip joint inflammation commonly occurs, she just nodded quietly.

“Is it here?”

“Ugh!”

When I compressed the ligament slightly below that area where the gracilis muscle attaches, she complained of severe pain.

“So it hurts here and on the inner thigh, right?”

When I pressed along the adductor muscles on the medial thigh for confirmation, she nodded vigorously.

“That’s right. It hurts in the groin and inner thigh.”

Just confirming the tender points seemed to have tired her out. Chairman Choi Gwi-jae wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“This isn’t the usual location that’s problematic in typical hip joint sprains. The main issue seems to be the gracilis muscle that hurt when I just pressed it. While running the marathon, your adductor muscles became overactive and are all tense now, and when the pelvis becomes unstable in this state, it’s easy to get injured.”

I opened an anatomy app on my phone to show her the location of the muscle.

“This is exactly where the gracilis muscle is.”

“I see. How long will the treatment take? When will I be able to walk?”

After asking for permission, I pressed firmly on the pectineus, one of the hip adductor muscles.

It was a location where I could feel severely knotted energy.

“Ugh!”

“Your inability to walk seems to be because the pectineus muscle is severely contracted, making it hard to put strength in your leg. If I just release this area, walking shouldn’t be difficult for you. Though you’ll need to rest from running a bit longer.”

And releasing the muscle wasn’t particularly difficult.

“I’ll treat you right away. Please relax and lie down comfortably.”

I took out a 6cm needle long enough to reach the pubic bone.

I inserted needles with direct insertion at the locations where I felt knotted energy and where the patient complained of pain, without missing any spots.

“Oh!”

“Mm!”

“Mmm~.”

When severely contracted muscles are released with a single needle, it would certainly feel refreshing.

“Haha, Grandmother. Is the treatment bearable?”

“Yes, you brought someone good. Hmph!”

But seeing her make similar sounds to Park Seon-yun beside her was unavoidably amusing.

Is it hereditary? There probably isn’t a family rule about not holding back groans.

Since I had performed short needling (a technique where needles are inserted and immediately withdrawn rather than left in place) while infusing sufficient energy, the muscles should have loosened to some degree.

After disinfecting, I pressed the adductor muscles again and confirmed that the tense muscle fibers had softened.

“Please try standing up.”

“Is it okay to get up right away?”

At my words, Park Seon-yun was startled and prepared to support Grandmother.

However, Chairman Choe Gwije pushed away her grandson with her cane and stood up briskly on her own.

“Oh! It’s much more manageable to walk now.”

She had been groaning all day unable to walk, but just from receiving about ten needles, she could walk right away?

She found it extremely fascinating and walked around the room here and there.

The Chairman’s room was easily more than twice the size of an ordinary house’s living room, so it was sufficient for testing pain while walking.

“If I don’t spread my legs apart, it doesn’t hurt much at all!”

“That’s fortunate.”

“Indeed, it really is fortunate. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to walk for several days, but thank you for coming.”

“You must have been quite frightened. Since the weakness in your legs was a muscle problem, it was treated quickly, but it would be good to fully treat the ligament sprain as well. You’ll need to continue running in the future.”

Chairman Choe Gwije kept marveling as she rubbed the area that had hurt just moments before.

“Much better than that old man friend of mine…?”

“Grandmother!”

Understanding who she was comparing me to, I smiled slightly, making Park Seon-yun’s face turn red for no reason.

“Haha, but you still need to rest. If you want to exercise again.”

I recommended that she lie back down on the bed so she wouldn’t overexert herself already.

Unlike someone who had supposedly ignored all her children’s pleas, she listened to my words very well.

“Ah, that’s right. I need to participate in the next marathon too.”

I almost felt sorry for comparing her to the martial artists who couldn’t understand anything at all.

I pointed to the most problematic pectineus and pubis muscles once more and said.

“Massage them a bit more with your hands, and when you’re able, please come to the clinic to finish the treatment. If our clinic is too far, it’s fine to go to another nearby place.”

“Oh no, not at all. It’s quick by car anyway. Since walking isn’t difficult now, I’ll make sure to visit. Thank you so much.”

I thought I’d have to make house calls for several days, but Chairman Choe Gwije declared she would come to the clinic starting tomorrow.

Well, it would be quick by chauffeur car.

“How unusual that you did something useful for once?”

The Chairman turned her head sharply toward Park Seon-yun.

Though her tone and expression suddenly changed, he wasn’t flustered at all.

“Thank you for the compliment, Grandmother. And thank you so much for coming, Clinic Director.”

“Oh, not at all. It’s nothing compared to the help I received from Director Park.”

I waved my hand dismissively while praising Park Seon-yun.

So this is how he lived being scolded at home.

…Though all the children and grandchildren probably get scolded equally, right?

“Are there any other uncomfortable areas? Since I’m here, I’ll treat you thoroughly.”

If she ran a marathon, her knees, ankles, or back might hurt too.

Having been promised a hefty house call fee, it felt awkward to leave like this, so I asked one last time.

“Other places, you mean? Ah, actually there is something.”

Chairman Choe Gwije frowned.

Sensing she had something she wanted to say, I bent my waist slightly toward her and listened carefully.

But after a moment, her gaze turned toward Park Seon-yun.

“…”

Her mouth clamped shut.

Ah, is it an illness she wants to hide from her grandson…?

“If you have any concerns, please feel free to tell me next time at the clinic.”

I didn’t pry and quietly stepped back.

Since she shook her head saying everything was fine, I bowed politely and left Park Seon-yun’s house.

Hmm~ One case resolved like this.

I declined the dinner invitation and returned home with my now-heavier pockets.

And three days later.

Chairman Choe Gwije graced our clinic with her presence.

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