The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 109
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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 109
It was a dizzying experience.
Watching the sight of long needles over 10cm being embroidered into her abdomen, Choi Gwi-jae swallowed a groan.
“I’ll apply electroacupuncture. Please let me know when you feel a slight sensation.”
Electroacupuncture?
Shortly after, electrical wires were connected to the needles and a strange tapping sensation began.
Unlike physical therapy machines that work on the skin surface, the stimulation went directly into the muscles, creating a very strange sensation.
“It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
After that, she received several more needles in her groin area, but having been overwhelmed by the visual shock of the long needles placed in her abdomen, she didn’t even notice them going in.
‘Whew.’
The sensation was strange every time her abdomen moved during deep breathing exercises.
Choi Gwi-jae quietly closed her eyes and did Kegel exercises while receiving acupuncture.
A moment later.
After 20 minutes, all the long needles were removed, and the treatment ended with cupping on her back, waist, and hips where she had received dozens of needles earlier.
Her body felt much more refreshed than expected.
Her legs were completely relaxed, and thanks to the cupping, her shoulders and waist felt light.
When she tried tensing her abdomen, it might have been her imagination, but it seemed like she could apply force well.
“Let’s head home for today.”
She exercised diligently even after returning home.
Not only that day, but the next day as well, she set aside time as the doctor had recommended.
Since she couldn’t yet do exercises that used her hip joints, she combined Kegel exercises with abdominal exercises.
Looking it up online, she found that Kegel exercises could be done in various positions.
She could do them while sitting still, with her legs up on an exercise ball, or lifting her pelvis while lying down.
“Grandmother, I heard you decided to go to the Oriental Medicine Clinic every other day? Are you not feeling well?”
In the evening, Park Seon-yun, who had returned from work, knocked on Choi Gwi-jae’s door.
Last time, her grandchildren had come down to celebrate her half-marathon success, and after that, her children had also come home under the ridiculous excuse of visiting the sick, but they had all returned to their own homes now.
Most companies under PK Group were located in the metropolitan area, and even those in Busan usually lived in their own homes.
Park Seon-yun was the only grandson actually living together in Choi Gwi-jae’s house.
“You don’t need to know.”
Choi Gwi-jae dismissed the conversation.
She had kept the fact that she was receiving incontinence treatment a secret, but it seemed he had heard from the housekeeper or driver about her plan to receive treatment every other day.
“Ah, yes. It’s nothing serious, right?”
“That’s right. Don’t worry about it and just do your job well.”
“…You don’t have to tell me, but please make sure to tell Doctor Han. He’ll treat you well.”
Choi Gwi-jae clicked her tongue out of habit, but she knew that her grandson was genuinely worried about her.
‘Sigh.’
He was better than those who didn’t think about building their own business and just wanted to get scraps.
But this one was problematic because he had too little ambition.
Since childhood, he had followed his grandmother and grandfather around saying he liked them and begging for old stories, so she thought he wanted a lot, but his desired career path was just joining Biologics?
Of course, she had given him rapid promotions without him even asking.
“But how did you come to know Doctor Han?”
“Ah, Driver Kim introduced him to me. He said the doctor treated his shingles well. I also had some trouble back then when I fell while taking out books from the study.”
“You’re only thirty years old and you can’t even manage your own body?”
“No, I’m already past thirty.”
“Exercise! Yes, let’s run together this weekend, this old lady and you. By then my hip joint should be fully healed!”
“I’m sorry. I’m busy with company work… Please take good care of yourself, Grandmother.”
Park Seon-yun ran away.
How pathetic.
The medicine arrived the next day.
‘Medication instructions?’
She expected it to contain the usual information about how many times a day to take the medicine and what foods to avoid.
Instead, it had detailed explanations of what specific effects it would have.
Rather than simply explaining each included herbal ingredient, the interactions and expected effects were described in great detail.
Moreover, it included content expressing sincere wishes for her recovery and hopes that she could return to a daily life of enjoying running… Did he write this anew each time?
Of course, it might have been written because she was a special patient, but somehow she felt that doctor wouldn’t be like that.
‘Yes, a businessman should know how to move customers like this.’
Choi Gwi-jae smiled contentedly and downed the prescribed medicine.
* * *
Treatment continued for several days using the same method.
At first, she felt dizzy when her back was pricked, but gradually it began to feel refreshing.
The fear that the long needles might pierce through her intestines if inserted incorrectly had completely disappeared.
After receiving them, it didn’t bother her at all, and by combining exercise with treatment, the sensation in her lower abdomen definitely improved.
“You said electroacupuncture strengthens the rectus abdominis, does it also provide muscle pumping?”
When Choi Gwi-jae asked out of curiosity, the doctor looked troubled and scratched his head.
“Hmm… I don’t think so. The best we can do is restore someone whose function has severely declined back to normal. To build muscle, you need to tear it much more severely through exercise and then consume protein.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“To be honest, at your current age, your joints would have difficulty handling high-intensity exercise. The level of exercise you’re doing now is just right.”
“Ah, I was just asking out of curiosity. Don’t mind it.”
“Yes, Chairman. How is your incontinence condition?”
At the question about her condition, Choi Gwi-jae recalled the past few days.
Come to think of it, during this time…
“I haven’t leaked at all.”
Choi Gwi-jae was a little surprised.
“Originally you only had incontinence when running, right? Your legs are completely healed now, so it should be fine to try running once.”
“No. When running, it would leak continuously, and even when still, about one or two drops… I don’t know what it is structurally, but there would be a few drops remaining at the end of the urethra that would trickle out. But that’s gone now.”
“The residual urine sensation has disappeared? There was some kind of response anyway, so that’s fortunate for now.”
Residual urine sensation. That expression was exactly right.
Even after urinating, she definitely felt refreshed.
Since her hip adductor muscles received a complete recovery diagnosis, Choi Gwi-jae returned home and ran a lap around the garden.
‘It’s not leaking!’
And she confirmed definite improvement.
He had said effects would definitely appear within a month at most, but to see results this quickly?
“Achoo!”
“Aachoo!”
Let’s test if it’s okay even when sneezing.
“Chairman, are you alright?”
She only received unnecessary worry from the housekeeper.
“Don’t worry about it. I just choked slightly.”
“I’ll bring you some water.”
Anyway, this was fine too.
She hadn’t tried running long distances yet, but she could definitely withstand moderate abdominal pressure now.
“Running was fine! I should have found the Clinic Director sooner, but I was foolish.”
Choi Gwi-jae, who visited the clinic the next day, expressed high praise to the director.
“Haha, since this isn’t really painful but just slightly inconvenient, many people neglect it. Even if you’ve improved, please continue coming for treatment at the current pace until one month. After that, reduce it to once a week.”
“Understood. I should continue taking the medicine, right?”
“Yes. It’s best to take it long-term if possible. It will also help with your marathon running. I always took tonic medicine when I exercised intensively too.”
Exercise?
Choi Gwi-jae’s eyes lit up during the consultation.
“What kind of exercise did you do, Clinic Director?”
“Hmm.”
For the first time among all the questions Choi Gwi-jae had asked so far, the director hesitated.
From absurd stories like whether muscles could be built with electroacupuncture, to why joints hurt, to whether her friend’s grandson’s ADHD could be treated with herbal medicine – no matter what she asked, answers had flowed like water, but now?
“Originally it was martial arts, and I did some heavy weight training too, but these days I only go hiking.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Did she hesitate because she had done many different exercises?
Hiking!
Choi Gwi-jae loved hiking very much too.
Personally, she ranked running, especially marathons, as the best for two reasons.
The first was getting breathless during cardio, and the second was the sense of achievement from reaching a goal – whether 42.195km or half that distance for a half marathon – because there was an end point.
And hiking satisfied both conditions too… Unfortunately, after her husband died, she hadn’t had many opportunities to climb mountains.
Somehow, none of her friends enjoyed mountains.
Golf? Why do they do that stick-swinging that’s not even a speck of real exercise?
It felt awkward to join a new hiking group at this point, and going alone was difficult to handle in case of a slip accident.
Of course, there was the option of bringing an employee, but it felt like making them do something they disliked.
Until now, running had the comparative advantage since she could just call a car when needed.
But hearing that this director’s hobby was hiking made her heart flutter.
“Then shall we go up together sometime?”
Choi Gwi-jae ended up suggesting they go hiking together.
“Oh my, shall we?”
The director also readily accepted her suggestion.
“Seon Yun!”
Returning home, Choi Gwi-jae called her grandson whom she used like a secretary.
“Yes, Grandmother?”
“What brands do young people like these days? Get the best hiking clothes, full sets for both me and the Clinic Director.”
It was to express gratitude for the treatment and prepare a simple gift for the Clinic Director.
* * *
Somehow I ended up accepting Chairman Choi Gwi-jae’s hiking proposal.
I belatedly thought it might be inappropriate to do hobby activities with a patient, but the very next day Park Seon-yun brought hiking clothes.
“I’d like to accompany you too, but I have a really important meeting that day… It’s such a shame.”
So I ended up unable to back out.
…Ah, whatever.
I even went on a tour of a medicinal herb export company with Park Seon-yun, so what.
When Chairman Choi Gwi-jae asked about what exercise I do, I was flustered.
Every morning I practice basic training routines, reviewing sword forms while reflecting on my master’s grace.
On weekends I climb mountains to practice breathing techniques, but it feels odd to call that ‘exercise.’
Anyway, since things turned out this way, I decided to skip my breathing practice this week and climb the mountain together with Chairman Choi Gwi-jae.
Still, it would be better to choose a familiar place.
I asked Chairman Choi Gwi-jae if it would be alright to climb the backhill of the Oriental Medicine Clinic.
It was because this mountain would be helpful not just for me, but for her as well.
This world lacks spiritual energy in both heaven and earth compared to the martial arts world.
When I use up energy bit by bit while treating patients, breathing techniques that absorb energy from all things in heaven and earth become essential, but even when I practice them, the efficiency isn’t as good as in that other world.
Still, there are places where energy gathers… namely the backhill of our Oriental Medicine Clinic. I didn’t insist on treating patients in this neighborhood for nothing.
I can’t tell anyone, but the earth’s energy here is really good!
Fortunately, even without me giving any special explanation, Chairman Choi Gwi-jae said she would gladly come this way.
And so, a few days later, the promised Sunday arrived.
I arrived at the parking lot that leads to the hiking trail and waited briefly, when Chairman Choi Gwi-jae’s car arrived 10 minutes before the appointed time.
“Is the driver coming with us too?”
I asked since he got out with her, but she shook her head.
“No. Everyone hates hiking. It’s really hard to understand – if you don’t exercise, where do you feel alive?”
Chairman Choi Gwi-jae made an expression that said she truly didn’t understand.
“Right.”
I nodded, but honestly, I didn’t used to love exercise that much either.
I just did what I was told because it helped with martial arts training.
“Thank you for coming with me. I don’t know how long it’s been since I last went hiking. I can’t go alone either, really.”
But wouldn’t someone like Chairman Choi Gwi-jae have people lining up to go hiking with her?
I heard people spend 5 billion won just to have one meal with the world’s top-tier wealthy.
“Oh no, not at all. It’s an honor that you suggested it, and thank you for the gift too.”
“Then let’s head up.”
We entered the hiking trail.
I followed her up, staying exactly one step behind Chairman Choi Gwi-jae.
Just in case she misstepped, I’d need to catch her, but I couldn’t display lightness skills in front of people.
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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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