The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 140

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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 140

The interpreter came to visit the very next day.

Her name was Min Jeong-eun.

Unlike the previous day when she was working, today I was able to hear her story about herself in detail.

She fell in love with an Italian man she met during her first trip to Europe and immigrated there for marriage.

Now she was in South Korea to celebrate her father’s 60th birthday.

“I ended up staying quite long, so I was doing interpretation part-time work, but suddenly a really big job came in and I was surprised. Did I show my nervousness a lot yesterday?”

“Not at all. Thanks to you, I communicated well with Mr. Ricci. You’re incredibly capable.”

“Ahaha, usually when people hear this story, they say it’s a romantic love story~”

“That’s true too. But continuing to work as a nurse in Italy and then working as an interpreter in South Korea… that seems like something most people couldn’t do.”

“At first it was difficult because I couldn’t communicate well, but with the power of love, I overcame both reality and language.”

Min Jeong-eun smiled broadly.

She was an amazing person. To go to a foreign country by her own choice and quickly pull her own weight.

I was forcibly dragged away and had no choice but to learn the language to survive.

“But there’s one thing I absolutely cannot overcome.”

Min Jeong-eun blushed slightly and touched her stomach.

She had made a similar gesture yesterday too.

“Do you have stomach pain? In what situations?”

Menstrual cramps? Indigestion?

“…I keep getting diarrhea whenever I’m in Italy. I don’t know if it’s the water, the flour, or if my digestive system is weak, so I wanted to consult with you about it.”

“Ah, you must have suffered a lot.”

So it was diarrhea. Since the food she ate was very different, there seemed to be aspects that couldn’t be resolved through effort alone.

“How long have you been an immigrant?”

“You mean living there, not permanent residency, right? It’s been a little over 3 years. I thought I would adapt at first, but it keeps happening, you know?”

3 years? She had the skills of someone who had lived in Italy for at least 13 years.

“How frequent is the diarrhea?”

“I think it happens about 5 or 6 times a month. Once it starts, it lasts for 2 or 3 days.”

“Wait, that means you have diarrhea for half the month?”

“…That’s right.”

“What kind of treatment have you tried?”

“I got anti-diarrheal medication prescribed at the hospital where I work. But like all anti-diarrheal drugs, it only works temporarily, and I didn’t think it was good to take them every time, so I gave up.”

Hearing that and looking at her face, she was unusually pale.

How had she been living like that?

“Well, there can be various causes for diarrhea. Is there a reason you suspect water or flour as the cause? Did you not have major problems with digestion and bowel movements when you were in South Korea?”

“Originally, if I got a little nervous or ate something wrong and got an upset stomach, I would get diarrhea. I thought it was irritable bowel syndrome. So at first I suspected stress too.”

“And now you don’t have much stress factors?”

“It would be a lie to say there’s none at all, but… now I’m familiar enough with the language to do interpretation. Most importantly, when I came to South Korea this time and ate the food my mother made, it got better like magic, you know? I can’t help but think something in Italy is the cause.”

I also didn’t think it was irritable bowel syndrome reacting to stress.

If that were the case, she would have been quite nervous yesterday too, and there should have been an immediate reaction.

“I see. Food is the most suspicious. You tried boiling the water, right?”

“Yes. Because they said there’s a lot of limestone.”

Min Jeong-eun nodded.

And she asked very seriously.

“Could my constitution be Soeumin? Flour doesn’t seem to agree with me… Can’t you change constitution with medicine? I have to keep living in Italy.”

Change her constitution.

It was not an easy request.

“It depends on how you define constitution, but categorizing into Soeumin, Soyangin and such isn’t something that can be changed. There are organs that are naturally weak.”

“Ah…”

“But having diarrhea this frequently needs to be improved.”

It seemed she had looked into constitutional medicine on her own.

Although I didn’t do a detailed constitutional examination, she did seem like a Soeumin to me too.

But the current situation didn’t seem like it would improve with a Soeumin diarrhea prescription, say Gwakhyang-jeonggi-san.

“This isn’t a situation that can be resolved with medicine. The frequency you mentioned means you have an allergic-level rejection reaction to specific foods. You need to identify and avoid those foods.”

“Allergic?”

“Yes.”

When it comes to Italian food, it would be pizza and pasta, of course.

“You mentioned suspecting flour earlier, have you tried cutting it out?”

“…I try to eat less, but honestly, I can’t eat anything without flour. It’s like telling someone in South Korea not to eat rice.”

Min Jeong-eun shook her head with a dizzy expression.

“But if flour really is the cause and you get diarrhea every time you eat it, you have no choice but to block it. If it were just a little sensitive, I’d try to solve it by improving digestive function.”

“Ah…”

“For now, there’s also a possibility it’s not flour. There are many flour-based foods in South Korea too, so if you got diarrhea every time you ate them, you would have known before going to Italy.”

She rolled her eyes as if recalling the past.

“It’s not sensitive enough to cause diarrhea immediately after eating, but maybe it overlapped with weakened digestive system? Come to think of it, I was fine eating bread or rice cakes when I came to South Korea!”

Min Jeong-eun presented a hopeful possibility.

But my thoughts were a little different.

“The problematic food might not be flour.”

“Then…?”

“Usually, the foods that cause problems in situations like this are, first, flour products, and second, dairy products.”

“Ah?”

I listed several other foods that could be problematic besides flour.

“And third, greasy foods. You’d probably use a lot of oil and eat much more meat than in Korean cuisine.”

“That’s true.”

“It could also be red pepper powder. Korean food is spicy too, but if you’ve been eating more spicy food there in connection with your husband’s eating habits.”

“Hmm… not particularly, but the types of peppers are different…”

Her face brightened a little, perhaps thinking the other foods were manageable to give up.

“How long are you planning to stay in South Korea?”

“I think I’ll be here for about two more months.”

I spoke firmly.

“If you’re having persistent diarrhea, we find the problem food by completely cutting it out for two weeks at a time. But since you say you’re okay now, try cutting out the other suspicious foods and eating them for a few days each. There’s no other way to deal with these symptoms except cutting out the foods.”

“…Yes.”

“You’re still young so it’s okay for now, but if you keep having diarrhea like this, you’ll lose all your energy and need hemorrhoid surgery too.”

“…”

Min Jeong-eun’s face contorted.

“Have you already had it done?”

“Yes. I came to South Korea partly for that too. Really… never mind.”

Perhaps recalling the hemorrhoid surgery, Min Jeong-eun squeezed her eyes shut.

It seemed like an unpleasant memory, so I didn’t ask for details.

“Since you’ve come all the way to our Oriental Medicine Clinic, let’s definitely find it and fix it. I’ll give you a week’s worth of diarrhea prescription. Take it if you get diarrhea while finding the culprit food.”

“…Yes.”

“You can do it, right?”

Instead, I strengthened our resolve together.

“Of course. Who do you think I am! Fine, I’ll try cutting out flour!”

“Fighting. Let me know when you figure it out, and come by again if you need additional prescriptions.”

“Yes, thank you, Clinic Director! …Thank you for speaking so firmly – it helped me make up my mind. I’ll cut it out completely and live happily ever after with my husband in Italy!”

Min Jeong-eun bowed her head as she left the examination room.

Though she looked upset about having to give up foods she liked, I was confident she would succeed.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Rome, Italy.

Paolo Richi was taking the mysterious Eastern herbs daily that were supposed to strengthen his fire energy.

“Oh, Cyperus rotundus! This releases blocked ki, right?”

Father had printed out the dosage instructions from the Oriental Medicine Clinic and posted them in his study.

“Sigh…”

Unfortunately, tiger-like energy didn’t surge forth the moment he took the medicine as Father had hoped.

Maybe sleeping had become a little more comfortable.

Being diagnosed with a tic disorder had been truly dizzying.

He had always tried to act with dignity so as not to tarnish the reputation of his famous businessman parents.

Wouldn’t it be terrible if he twitched his nose or nodded his head at important occasions, looking like a problematic child?

He felt like he could suppress it if he tried, but the constant urge to nod was torturous.

Why did he have to get such a troublesome disease of all things?

In fact, if Chairman Richi or his friends and business partners had heard Paolo’s thoughts, they would have absolutely shaken their heads in disagreement.

There was no dignity to be found in his father, who praised the newly purchased Oriental paintings and Chinese liquor.

‘At least it’s good that I don’t have to go swimming.’

Everything was better than before the trip to South Korea.

Right after receiving the tic disorder diagnosis, Father had asked not to stress him and distributed gifts to all the teachers and students at school.

That was the most stressful part.

And the second stress was swimming.

Father had gone to the trouble of finding a famous former Olympic National Team athlete as his teacher, but he simply couldn’t keep up with the pace.

When Father suddenly suggested taking time off school and going on a trip, he was scared about what unknown world might be waiting, but.

The trip to South Korea was more enjoyable than expected.

They toured the palaces in Seoul and went up very tall buildings to admire the exotic night views.

They went to a place called Gyeongju to see Buddhist temples, and saw the ocean in Busan, which had a different feel from the Mediterranean.

Not to mention all the shopping they did.

And they went to a Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic, a hospital that practiced Eastern medicine.

…At first, he was a little scared about being poked with needles.

When they actually went, he was embarrassed that Father might pester them to sell him paintings.

But fortunately, everything went well.

Though they explained again according to the five elements theory because of Father, he understood how the tics developed.

And he learned what he needed to do.

The needles didn’t hurt at all, and the herbs weren’t very bitter.

They gladly told him where he could buy Oriental paintings, so they even stopped by a gallery before returning home.

“Ah, I never thought swimming was causing you more stress!”

And as soon as they returned to Italy, Father let him quit swimming.

Replacing it with walks in the park was so much more comfortable.

He distributed souvenirs himself rather than Father doing it, and became friends with several classmates.

Most importantly, when his parents went on another business trip to England right after returning home, no one talked to Paolo about his tics anymore.

‘…!’

Even while attending classes or taking walks.

He still often found himself overwhelmed by the urge to nod his head.

This was what they called premonitory sensory urges.

In the past, he would hold back tears and try to endure it, only nodding when he absolutely couldn’t bear it anymore.

Nod.

But now he just went ahead and did it.

They had said that trying to suppress it and getting overly tense wasn’t good either.

He would scrunch his nose and blink his eyes to relieve the discomfort.

After all, you can’t help but scratch when something itches right away.

Instead of forcibly trying to endure and thinking about the tics, he would do them cleanly and then turn his attention to things he enjoyed.

He read books and meditated.

As his fire energy grew, he even imagined working magnificently like his father.

Then, three weeks later.

His parents, who had gone on a business trip to England, returned.

“Oh, Paolo…!”

“Shh!”

Mother and Father looked extremely happy.

Since both of them were the type to clearly show their emotions on their faces, they had never succeeded in throwing Paolo a surprise party.

After Paolo grew up a bit, he would just pretend not to know.

But now it wasn’t anywhere near his birthday, nor was it their wedding anniversary.

Had things gone very well in England?

Or had they acquired some good collectibles?

“Father, did you find some good Oriental paintings or ceramics?”

“Oh, not yet! The painting we ordered separately from South Korea hasn’t arrived yet!”

Then what could it be?

There wasn’t anything else that would make them this happy.

Paolo tilted his head in confusion.

“More importantly….”

Father couldn’t contain himself any longer and his mouth twitched.

“Honey, just tell him!”

“What’s going on?”

Urged by Mother and him, Father pretended to give in and opened his mouth.

“Paolo, it seems like your tics have completely healed while we were away on the business trip!”

“Huh?”

Only then did he realize.

When the urges came, he would just go ahead and do them while trying to think about other things.

…Come to think of it, when was the last time he had an urge? A week ago?

“We were holding back because we didn’t want to stress you, but since we came home yesterday until now, you haven’t nodded your head even once!”

Hearing those words, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to nod.

Nod.

So he tried nodding as he usually did.

…But it didn’t feel as refreshing as before.

“Is that so? Am I really completely healed…?”

“Paolo, how much mental anguish you must have suffered all this time!”

“I heard that it must have been even harder because of this father, and I deeply reflected on that…!”

Mother and Father hugged him tightly.

“Oh, of course it’s okay even if you’re not completely healed right now! Even if treatment takes a little more time, keep your mind at ease.”

“Mother and Father always love our son!”

The two of them showed all kinds of reactions, but Paolo just smiled quietly.

Really, it seemed like he was almost completely healed.

Now he wouldn’t do things that troubled his parents regardless of his will, and he wouldn’t cause them worry either.

“Thank you for getting me good medicine, Father.”

“Oh, not at all!”

“I want to thank the Doctor as well. And I’ll cultivate my fire energy more to become a magnificent man like Father.”

Father was deeply moved.

Mother also said she would participate in the next scheduled video conference.

“Shouldn’t we send a gift or something?”

“That’s right, I should tell my secretary. I heard that in the East they exchange gifts every holiday, so tell them to send something every year without fail!”

“Holidays are holidays, but we should send desserts that we can send right away first!”

“Yes, and if he ever comes to Europe, we should make sure he can stay at our hotel anytime!”

Paolo’s parents were extremely delighted as they discussed gifts to send to the Doctor.

“Um, and there’s something I personally want to do… Could you arrange a meeting with the Interpreter first?”

Paolo made one request to Father.

Although it would be difficult to prepare a good gift with his allowance, there was something he definitely wanted to say directly.

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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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