The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 158

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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 158

After finishing the consultation, I brought Park Haru and Kang Jaekyung to the treatment room.

I instructed Kang Jaekyung to start with wrist hot compress therapy, and decided to begin with acupuncture for Park Haru to stop his hiccups as quickly as possible.

Press.

When I first stimulated several trigger points where pathogenic qi had gathered with my hands, Park Haru squeezed his eyes shut tight.

“Starting with the infraspinatus muscle I mentioned earlier, I’ll also work on the back-shu points like Feishu (BL13) and Weishu (BL21).”

“Hic, yes!”

Back-shu points are acupoints where the qi of organs is transported and infused, arranged along the Bladder meridian that runs on both sides of the spine, each named after its corresponding organ.

Weishu (BL21) is located roughly at the level where the stomach is positioned, and when there’s a problem with the stomach, that area becomes sensitive or shows reactions like pain when pressed.

Of course, placing needles there also provides treatment.

In traditional Korean medicine, hiccups are viewed as the stomach’s qi flowing upward in reverse, so I occasionally placed needles on the back when chronic hiccup patients came to see me.

There had never been any martial artists with this condition, and they were usually frail elderly patients, I think?

“Is this your first time receiving acupuncture?”

“Yes.”

“It only hurts briefly when the needle goes in. I’ll treat you now~ A little prick.”

Fortunately, Park Haru handled the acupuncture quite well.

Well, usually people just squeeze their eyes shut like this even when they’re scared.

Perhaps because I’d recently encountered an unusual patient like Lee Jungsub, he seemed like an absolute angel.

Since he was handling it so well, it wouldn’t hurt to place a few more needles.

I inserted additional needles not only in his shoulders and back, but also in areas where pathogenic qi had accumulated in his sides due to stress, and several acupoints on his arms and legs that could calm the mind.

“No discomfort from the needles, right?”

“No! It feels like breathing has become easier somehow! Thank you!”

“Please stay like this for just a moment. The muscles will gradually relax, and the diaphragm tension will release sequentially. According to research papers, patients improved on the evening of treatment, and in my experience, it stops immediately at the fastest, or within 2-3 days at most.”

“Thank you!”

Since he’s young, his recovery should be good, so maybe the hiccups will stop before he even leaves the clinic?

After confirming that Park Haru was lying comfortably face down, I closed the curtain.

“Who’s the next patient?”

“Please see beds 10, 9, 8, and 4 in that order~.”

I placed needles on the waiting follow-up patients in order, then went to Kang Jaekyung.

“How have you been doing?”

“Yes, thanks to you, I’ve been mostly fine. It only felt a bit stiff on days when I used it a lot.”

When I pressed the area where the ligament had been inflamed before, there was no reaction at all.

Perhaps thanks to Kim Taeyun’s zealous care, the wrist ligament was perfectly fine.

It would be troublesome if it relapsed after he even fed him and bought paraffin treatment.

When I pressed a bit higher on the trigger points of the forearm muscles, only then did he say it hurt slightly.

“The muscles are just a bit stiff. It’ll get better once I work on it today. Come right away next time if you feel even a little discomfort.”

“Yes.”

Unlike ligaments, slightly stiff muscles weren’t a major problem.

I finished the treatment lightly and entered the examination room.

Since I had seen five patients in that short time, it was time to organize the medical records.

Patients tend to rush in after 6 PM, so it would be good to hand everything over to billing before then.

Tap tap tap tap tap.

I typed quickly and finished the charting.

Then I leaned back in my chair.

Since there were no patients waiting now, should I rest for a moment?

“The hiccups stopped!”

But just as I was about to stretch, I heard a voice from the treatment room.

Park Haru had quite a good voice.

Oh, they stopped right away?

“Wow, really?”

“Yes yes yes! Now that I think about it, they seem to have stopped a while ago. It’s been 30 minutes since the first needle went in until now with physical therapy, and I haven’t hiccupped once during that time. Wow, this is crazy! I had no idea acupuncture would be effective so immediately! I should have listened to my older brothers and come sooner!”

Park Haru exclaimed loudly in amazement.

“Wow…! You said it had been going on for a long time, right? This is amazing to me too. I knew our Clinic Director was incredible, but…!”

“This is insane! Really! Wow, now I don’t have to get scolded anymore! No more crying while drinking water in my sleep!”

It was good that he was cured, but there were three other patients besides Kang Jaekyung.

What if even Gong Nari, who I needed to keep quiet, joined in the cheering?

“Haru~.”

To congratulate him as well, I got up from my seat and headed to the bed where Park Haru was.

“Clinic Director, thank you so much! I thought I’d have to live with these hiccups for the rest of my life!”

Then he suddenly stood up and knelt down.

And he bowed his head with the face of a martial artist performing a formal bow.

“Haha, I’m glad to see such a quick response.”

However, I wasn’t greatly surprised.

As I usually do with patients expressing gratitude, I responded calmly.

“Wait a moment!”

But Park Haru’s next action was quite extraordinary.

“Yes?”

“Mi do re… si… Cm…”

“Huh?”

“Keyboard, no, guitar!”

“Haru?”

“A musical idea came to me. Wait, just a moment, really just a moment?”

He played piano in the air with his fingers, then rushed out to the waiting room just like that.

“Haru, put on your clothes before you go!”

The cupping treatment had just finished.

Since I had instructed to do cupping overall along the back-shu points from neck to waist, he had completely taken off his upper garment.

Gong Nari chased after him carrying the basket of personal belongings, but he ran to the waiting room without putting on clothes or shoes.

“I need to record this… Taeyun, let me borrow your guitar for a moment!”

Kim Taeyun was alone in the waiting room.

He had his guitar standing beside him, earphones plugged in, legs crossed while looking at his phone.

“Huh?”

Just now noticing Park Haru, he had his guitar snatched away before he could even be surprised.

“What are you doing? How can you play guitar here?”

Although only Kim Taeyun was in the waiting room at the moment, how much soundproofing could a traditional Korean medicine clinic have?

It would naturally be a nuisance to the patients in the treatment rooms.

“But I just had an incredibly amazing musical idea.”

“Go outside and roughly hum it for recording.”

Kim Taeyun pointed to the clinic entrance.

Although the clinic occupied an entire floor, it had a structure where you had to open the automatic door and enter from where the elevator and stairs were located to reach the clinic.

As Kim Taeyun said, if he recorded outside with a quiet voice, it probably wouldn’t be heard inside.

‘That person is saying something sensible?’

I had believed without doubt that Kim Taeyun was the most abnormal among the members of that band called Melon Soda Horizon.

Kang Jaekyung was ordinary, and Park Haru, though his energy was a bit high, that level was common for artists.

“Ah, I can’t express it with my voice. I’ll go outside and play it!”

But in this situation where Park Haru was stubbornly opening the guitar case and taking it away, he had become the reasonable one.

‘Come to think of it, Taeyun brought several pages of sketchbooks to suit the situation…’

Could I think of it as consideration so that the treatment wouldn’t be delayed?

“Clinic Director, I’m really sorry. That guy is so stubborn when he gets like this.”

Kim Taeyun frowned and apologized to me.

I had been watching because it was interesting, but he seemed to think I was standing there dumbfounded, unable to stop him.

“It’s fine. Well, if he had a great musical idea, it can’t be helped.”

I readily permitted the guitar playing in the stairwell.

“I’m sorry, we’re a band and that friend does the composing…”

And while trying to ask for understanding from the patients in the treatment rooms, Kang Jaekyung hurriedly put on his clothes and came out to apologize to people.

“It’s okay.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Ah~ If a genius composer got inspiration, it can’t be helped! What’s his name?”

As the last old man said, inspiration doesn’t always come, right?

Though I’m ignorant about art, even for people walking the path of martial arts, there are moments of enlightenment like suddenly blooming sword energy and overcoming barriers.

At such times, you shouldn’t disturb someone who has fallen into a state of selflessness.

Park Haru’s eyes were exactly in that state.

“Was that person’s position guitar?”

Wasn’t it not?

I was confused since I had only seen their performance once on TV during lunch.

“No, he’s keyboard. But he can play all instruments. He’s a music major.”

Kang Jaekyung, who had asked for understanding in front of every occupied bed, also came out to the door and glared at Park Haru.

“…Except vocals.”

Kim Taeyun looked somewhat proud.

“Yeah, except vocals. He’s also tone-deaf when it comes to singing, strange guy.”

And Kang Jaekyung’s agreeing voice overlapped with Park Haru’s performance.

He had finished his conception and started an impromptu piece.

To a broken heart, a weary body

Comes a warm, gentle touch

The hellish hiccups stop

Unable to say a word, I was lonely

Now I sing freely

But the song lyrics were strange.

Strange, very strange indeed.

“Excuse me? What is that…?”

The melody itself seemed pretty.

It’s understandable that his voice would crack occasionally while singing.

He might have composed a song that he couldn’t sing himself, trying to match Kim Taeyun’s vocal range that could hit clear high notes.

…But the lyrics?

No matter how many times I called it strange, it wouldn’t be enough…

“Ah, Haru handles composition in our band, and we all work on lyrics together. He brings songs with random lyrics attached, then we all work on the lyrics together, with Taeyun doing over 80% of it. What he’s doing is like a prototype, so please just ignore it.”

Kang Jaekyung spoke rapidly like he was rapping.

His face was bright red, as if he was extremely embarrassed.

“I see.”

He struggled desperately, insisting that their actual songs were never like this.

Kim Taeyun was also trembling with mortification.

“Amazing! To improvise a song like that right away…!”

Gong Nari expressed admiration, but Kim Taeyun and Kang Jaekyung gritted their teeth and turned their heads away.

“You don’t need to force compliments. We’re getting goosebumps and going crazy too. Ha, even though it starts like that, the finished version is pretty cool.”

Ah- the brilliant touch of the Clinic Director

Those shining moments

Your healing is like a miracle

Although the lyrics were quite bewildering, the melody was building to a climax.

Half of me wanted to cover my ears and escape into the examination room, while the other half wanted to hear more.

– 3rd Floor.

But right at that moment, the mechanical voice interrupted Park Haru’s performance.

The elevator opened.

Ah- the brilliant touch of the Clinic Director

Those shining moments

Your healing is like a miracle

Was it the chorus? Park Haru repeated the cringeworthy lyrics once more.

It was the strangest part of that bizarre song from beginning to end.

Unfortunately, the elevator and stairs faced each other.

The five people who got off the elevator came face to face with Park Haru.

“Huh?”

Was it fortunate or unfortunate?

The person standing in front was someone I knew.

“Um… this is the right place.”

Lee Jungsub looked at Park Haru playing guitar.

Looked at our Oriental Medicine Clinic sign.

Looked at Park Haru again.

Then spotted me standing behind the door.

“Hello, Clinic Director?”

“…Hello.”

We exchanged awkward greetings.

The group that came with him consisted of three men and one woman.

The three men, like Lee Jungsub, looked back and forth between Park Haru and the clinic in bewilderment, glancing around nervously.

“A, a hymn?”

The woman covered her mouth with both hands in shock.

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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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