The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 134

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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 134

Until just now when Seol Yuhui requested to reduce her working hours.

Jin Minjeong was the staff member with the shortest working hours at our clinic.

She had made it clear when she joined that she couldn’t work night shifts because she had to take care of her children in the evenings.

“It must be really hard juggling work and childcare, right? Teacher Minjeong can’t even join the PT sessions together… You must be lacking in stamina.”

Gong Nari said.

Then Jin Minjeong’s eyes widened as if asking what she was talking about.

Hmm, I don’t know what she wants to do, but it’s probably not because of stamina issues.

If we’re talking about natural stamina alone, even including myself here, Jin Minjeong would be the best.

“That’s not really the case. Actually… I’ve been wanting to increase my working hours a bit for a while now. But since someone would have to reduce theirs for me to work more, I couldn’t bring it up.”

“Oh my, you should have said so earlier! It would be great to have one more person during busy times!”

Jin Minjeong scratched her head.

“Are you okay with night shifts too? Did you figure out the issue with picking up your child?”

“Yes. Since both kids enrolled in taekwondo together, it works out perfectly when my husband picks them up after work. Now that things turned out this way, and my incentives are more than I expected… my husband brought it up first. He said he’d cook dinner if needed.”

“Ah.”

Wasn’t her husband a civil servant?

If she significantly increases her working hours like Seo Inae and receives night shift allowances, she might earn more than her husband.

While we posted the basic salary in job listings, the patient-based incentives rarely have days where the threshold isn’t met.

“It’s all thanks to you, Clinic Director. My son became really much more active after taking the Gyeongokgo. When he first said he wanted to try taekwondo, I thought he’d quit within a week.”

“That’s fortunate. Now that he’s found enjoyment in exercise, he’ll become even more mature.”

“Oh my! I hope so.”

Then, Seol Yuhui, who had been listening anxiously to my conversation with Jin Minjeong, chimed in.

“Then Teacher Minjeong can fill in the hours I’m reducing, right?”

“If the Clinic Director permits it, I’d like to do that.”

“I have no reason to refuse. It would be much better to have Teacher Minjeong, who’s already doing great work, rather than having a new person come and adapt.”

“Thank you!”

“I should be the one thanking you.”

And so, in a harmonious atmosphere, the staff’s working hour adjustments were finalized.

* * *

The beginning of the new system.

To avoid confusion, I attached a paper to the elevator explaining the expansion and instructing patients to go to different floors depending on their treating doctor.

I also guided Hwang Sanghun, Lee Ahreum, and the staff on the new flow, taking every precaution to prevent mistakes.

But since unexpected situations could always arise.

I decided to come to work even on holidays for the time being.

Especially since Lee Ahreum, who was treating patients for the first time, might have urgent questions for me.

“Hmm, she seemed to find deep ligament acupuncture difficult… I wonder if I could explain it more simply?”

I had planned to casually turn on a game and rest, but once I actually came to the company, that didn’t happen.

Since Jeon Minji and Lee Ahreum had recently received feedback while learning the manual, I wanted to supplement the parts where my explanations weren’t sufficient.

Since we have more people now, it would be good to summarize the parts we’ve studied so far.

Oh, it was my turn to present again next week, wasn’t it?

“Should I try writing a book?”

It would be better to have many people read it together rather than just among ourselves.

Other networks occasionally published books from educational materials they had organized.

Sometimes targeting Korean medicine doctors unfamiliar with specific conditions, and sometimes targeting patients.

“Oh.”

While I was at it, creating a table of contents made it look quite decent.

I should try pursuing this.

Since Chu Miyoung and Kim Chunsik contributed significantly, I should ask them next time if it would be okay to register them as co-authors and publish a book.

Time flew by quickly as I worked a little.

I went upstairs and quietly poked my head in.

Hwang Sanghun, well, no worries there.

Is Lee Ahreum doing well?

“Huh?”

But there were too many female patients in the waiting room.

While clinics usually have many grandmothers, seeing about 10 women in their 30s and 40s lined up sitting was a rare sight.

“Where did they come from?”

I quietly asked Jin Minjeong, who was sitting at the desk.

“You know Jeong Jiwhan? He runs a soccer academy, and these are members from the women’s soccer club there.”

Jeong Jiwhan? The patient with a ruptured ankle ligament, right?

“Oh, did Jeong Jiwhan bring all of them? Was there some game today?”

“That’s not it… It seems Dr. Lee Ahreum became friends with patient Jeong Jiwhan and registered for that club. They’re all waiting after specifically requesting Dr. Lee Ahreum.”

“Wow.”

“It’s not just an E, is it?”

“You’re right…”

I really! had no intention of giving her many patients from the start.

Once you get used to it, you can conduct consultations getting just the necessary information efficiently, but at first, don’t you get swept up by patients who talk about all sorts of things?

And acupuncture treatment takes 2-3 times longer as a basic rule.

So to allow her to get sufficiently accustomed, I planned to only pass first-time patients who came in after seeing the sign to Lee Ahreum, slowly building up her patient base.

If he brings this many people on his own, what can you do about it.

Even with Hwang Sanghun, I was amazed when he brought just one person from the gym, but a whole ten people.

‘Should I have joined an early morning soccer club too…’

Thinking back to the early days when I was wracking my brains due to lack of patients because of our geographical location, my jaw dropped.

“Oh my, Ms. Jiseon has back pain! How did you manage to run like that today in this condition? I’ll treat you properly!”

Hmm, she’s doing well, so I shouldn’t interfere unnecessarily.

I just quietly went downstairs and focused on organizing materials.

If needed, she’ll surely call me!

* * *

Wednesday of the week after next.

On a day when Lee Ahreum and I were working together, patient Jeong Jiwhan came.

[Since Mr. Jeong Jiwhan has been receiving treatment from Dr. Lee all this time, please change his attending physician.]

They said they’d become close enough to register for soccer together, and looking at the records, it seemed he wanted to receive treatment from Lee Ahreum, so I instructed the change of attending physician.

[He says he’ll receive treatment from Dr. Han today, and from Dr. Lee starting next time.]

But Jeong Jiwhan came down to the 3rd floor.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Somehow the timing worked out this way. My ankle has really improved a lot thanks to you, Doctor. I wanted to tell you separately today.”

“Ah~ I see. I’ll treat you well today. Your ankle seems ready to wrap up, and next time if you have any problems, don’t hesitate at all and receive treatment from whichever doctor you’re comfortable with! Dr. Lee is also extremely skilled.”

“Yes, yes. Thank you.”

He said he wanted to greet me once, and left after receiving treatment along with a muffin gift.

During lunch break, I shared the muffins with other staff members and told them this story.

“Ah… I chatted a bit and now he comes on days when I’m here! I’m sorry!”

“What’s there to be sorry about. I’m happy if you take returning patients with you. Take many, many with you and build up your patient base~. I heard you’re also playing soccer?”

“Yes! While treating her, I mentioned there’s a women’s soccer club, and she said the older sisters would really like it and told me to come visit once, so I went and ended up registering somehow!”

“That’s great. You must have been bored since you have no connections in Busan.”

“Meeting patients outside separately…”

“It’s completely fine. Feel comfortable about it.”

I heard some workplaces prohibit such things, but at our clinic, starting with me, I wasn’t in a position to talk about others.

“It’s fortunate you have Mondays and Fridays off. It happens that they play soccer on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

Going to soccer academy every day off, and hanging out with those people…

“Looking at the records, the patients’ problem areas are quite diverse, aren’t they? It’s a good opportunity, so treat them well. If there are any treatments that aren’t going well, let me know anytime.”

“Yes!”

Even without my specific request, Lee Ahreum treated the patients from the soccer academy with full passion.

Naturally, several patients were moved beyond gratitude by Lee Ahreum, and some of them brought acquaintances.

[Dr. Lee Ahreum takes very good care of you. Even when I went during busy times, she wasn’t annoyed at all and empathized with my concerns. Until now, when I went to dermatology, they’d just give me medicine and make me sign up for 10 management sessions, but here she even recommended shampoo for seborrheic scalp inflammation. While taking the medicine, my acne also subsided a lot…]

And one of them even left a lengthy blog review.

Thanks to this, patients increased rapidly.

Lee Ahreum settled into Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic much faster than I expected.

“Um, Doctor.”

But separately from that, things she didn’t know kept coming up.

“Yes, what is it?”

One day, Lee Ahreum came to find me during a lull in patients.

“Could you teach me psoas muscle deep needling?”

I was a bit disappointed because she was handling everything so well on her own, but indeed there was something she couldn’t do well!

“Of course! But why the psoas muscle? Do you have a patient who isn’t getting better?”

Until now, she’d asked once in a while how to treat specific conditions, but suddenly asking me to teach deep muscle needling? It was a bit out of the blue.

“Ah, yes! There’s a patient named Kim Jiseon who plays soccer with me. Looking at her positive Thomas test, it seems like a psoas muscle problem, right? But whether I’m not hitting the right spot or not, she’s not getting better even after several treatments. …Ah, should I transfer her to you?”

“No. If she’s someone you play soccer with, does she know that Dr. Lee is a new graduate?”

“Yes. I did mention that this is my first job…”

Lee Ahreum nodded.

If she already knows about the short experience, it shouldn’t matter to show her learning.

“Then just tell her to come around closing time today. I’ll teach you while treating the patient.”

“Is that okay?”

“If the patient says it’s fine! If she’s uncomfortable, you can just transfer her to me.”

“Yes! Thank you! I’ll ask her about it!”

* * *

Kim Jiseon.

She was a 34-year-old woman who married at a relatively young age and was raising two kindergarten-aged sons.

Her sons were active without giving her a moment’s rest.

During vacation, they were so serious about soccer that they’d attend morning soccer intensive classes and then participate in regular classes in the afternoon.

Boys that age are naturally crazy about soccer, so Kim Jiseon didn’t pay much attention to it.

Rather, she was grateful that they came back having expended all their energy.

“Mom, let’s play soccer together!”

“Tae-yeong’s Mother and Jin-su’s Mother are doing it together! When you go to the morning special class, there’s a mothers’ class!”

But from one day on, her sons started pestering her to play soccer with them too.

“No throwing tantrums!”

“Ah, but still! I wish Mom would join us too!”

“If you win a prize at the English speaking contest at kindergarten, I’ll do it with you!”

She had never done any sports before.

At first, she naturally said no.

“….”

“Since it’s come to this, honey, why don’t you try it too? Wouldn’t it be nice to exercise with the other mothers?”

Her second son actually won a prize.

So she ended up starting soccer somewhat unexpectedly.

“Pass!”

“Hey, hey! Over here!”

“Wow, is this really Ji-hun’s Mother’s first time? You’re so good at this!”

Wasn’t this surprisingly fun?

Her son was also very good at soccer, so maybe soccer blood was flowing in her veins too?

Running and sweating while receiving people’s cheers made her feel very good.

She not only attended every class but also frequently showed up at the after-parties they held regularly.

“Ah, is Jin-su’s Mother on maternity leave?”

“Yes~ I’m returning to work next year!”

“Did Tae-yeong’s Mother originally work too?”

“Should I say originally? I don’t have a solid career like Jin-su’s Mother~ I just work at a mart!”

“Oh my, that’s amazing too, taking care of two kids while doing that!”

“It’s part-time so it’s manageable. Why don’t you try it too, Ji-hun’s Mother?”

“Me?”

The only work Kim Jiseon had ever done was a brief convenience store part-time job in her early twenties.

Would a mart be similar? If it’s cashier work, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult….

“Should I?”

Intrigued, she followed Tae-yeong’s Mother and started part-time work at the mart too.

About 3 hours a day wouldn’t be too hard!

It was a complete miscalculation.

“That’s 37,900 won.”

“You missed this razor.”

“Oh no, I’m sorry! Please wait just a moment!”

“Why is this line moving so slowly?”

“I’m sorry! There are self-checkout machines available too, please use those~!”

“Who are you to tell me to use self-checkout or not?”

She thought it was great that she only had to work 3 hours a day, but those hours were the busiest time of day.

For the entire 3 hours, there was barely any time to sit, so Kim Jiseon had to work frantically.

“Ugh…there!”

Was stocking shelves any easier?

It was better than being a cashier where she had to deal with people constantly, but since she had to keep lifting things, her back gradually started hurting.

The items weren’t that heavy, but was it because she was getting older?

When she worked part-time at a convenience store in her early twenties, it hadn’t bothered her at all!

“Ow ow ow….”

“Is work really hard?”

“I’ll get used to it. Ugh, honey. Please massage my back.”

It would get better in a few days. She’d get used to it.

That’s what she thought.

But every time she lifted something, not only her back but now even her groin started throbbing?

Should she go to the hospital now, she was wondering.

“Hello~ I’m Lee Ahreum, and I’ll be joining you on Mondays and Fridays starting today!”

A newcomer joined the soccer academy.

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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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