The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 164

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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 164

 

“President, why are you asking something like that here?”

 

Kang Jaekyung was slightly flustered.

 

It wasn’t typically the kind of question you’d ask at a live club.

 

…Though I’m not sure if your song lyrics are the kind that should come out of a live club either!

 

“It’s fine. You said your legs feel burning? Where exactly are you uncomfortable?”

 

I had always been tolerant of such things, so I asked the President comfortably.

 

“From here on my thigh to the back of my knee is mainly bad, and some days it goes down to my heel.”

 

“So it hurts more in the back of your leg than the front?”

 

The President said yes and pointed to the back of his thigh and calf.

 

“It’s sciatica. You have symptoms exactly along the sciatic nerve to the back of your knee, and the peroneal nerve that connects below there. It’s being compressed from your lower back.”

 

I traced the shape of the sciatic nerve from the President’s lower back to the back of his knee and leg.

 

“Ah, so my leg hurts because of my back?”

 

“Yes. Burning, tingling sensations – you can think of all that as nerve problems. When the leg muscles and ligaments themselves are bad, people usually express it as hurting or aching.”

 

“…It definitely seems different from muscle pain.”

 

“How long has this been going on?”

 

At that question, the President thought for a moment.

 

“It doesn’t have to be exact. Roughly like within a week, within a month, around a year, over ten years – that kind of timeframe.”

 

“I’ve had it on and off before. So since about 4 or 5 years ago. But then about 3 weeks ago I fell here and it’s been severe all day.”

 

He said this while tapping the stage.

 

It wasn’t very high, but it was still about the height of four or five steps.

 

“What?”

 

“You fell? Don’t tell me you fell off the stage?”

 

“No, President! How could you not mention that until now?”

 

Except for Kang Jaekyung’s initial rebuke that it was rude to have a health consultation in such a setting, all the members had kept their mouths shut until now.

 

But everyone was shocked to hear that the President had fallen.

 

“I stepped wrong and fell off the stage. Ugh, my time is coming too.”

 

“What are you saying when you’re asking because it hurts like hell!”

 

There it was. Elderly people’s number one repertoire.

 

Park Haru pointed this out to him instead of me.

 

“Did you get an X-ray?”

 

“It’s not that serious, you know? They said the bones are fine. I got medicine but it’s just not getting better.”

 

“If there’s been no natural improvement for 3 weeks, it doesn’t seem like a minor sprain…”

 

“The bruising and aching from hitting my butt is mostly better. It’s just that my leg burning is driving me crazy.”

 

So is the pain mild or severe?

 

He was saying things that contradicted the previous sentence, which was a common speech pattern among elderly people.

 

I let it slide and examined the medicine the President had brought out.

 

“Muscle relaxants and painkillers. Fortunately there was no fracture, but when you fell, the impact from the bruising was severe and you might not have realized it, but you probably strained your back too.”

 

Fortunately, he didn’t insist otherwise.

 

“I mentioned sciatica earlier, right? This term can be applied as long as it originates from the sciatic nerve. What’s compressing the nerve can vary. In chronic cases, discs, stenosis, lumbar lordosis can be causes, and if it appeared acutely within days to weeks, we can suspect injury or muscle tension like in your case, President.”

 

“Ah, so there’s also disc problems.”

 

“The occasional pain you had before was disc-related, and this time when you fell, the ligaments were also damaged and the muscles swelled up, severely compressing the nerve.”

 

“Ah… so that’s why it’s all day.”

 

The members who understood what had happened nodded their heads.

 

“If you come to the clinic, I’ll take an ultrasound look, do pharmacopuncture, then acupuncture treatment. I didn’t bring the equipment with me now.”

 

“Ah, I wasn’t asking you to treat me here. I was just curious if it could be cured.”

 

“Let’s go tomorrow right away. I’ll take you there! No, President! How can you go on like this for 3 weeks!”

 

Kang Jaekyung was frustrated with him and fidgeted anxiously.

 

“You don’t have to come to our place, you could get treatment near your home…”

 

“If you say that, he won’t go. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow!”

 

Kang Jaekyung was very firm.

 

“Um, Jaegyeong.”

 

By the time the sciatica consultation was wrapping up, the fans who had been talking with the other members had all left the live club.

 

Gong Nari had also taken photos with everyone and was satisfied.

 

I carefully asked Kang Jaekyung, the most normal person in this band.

 

“The new song you made, it’s the finished version, right?”

 

From how pleased he looked earlier, it seemed that way, but I held onto a sliver of hope.

 

“Yes. It came out so well, didn’t it? Kim Taeyun really delivered this time too.”

 

“I like it too! The way it beautifully expressed the touching healing through the Clinic Director’s transcendent abilities and agape love was wonderful, right?”

 

But there was no such hope.

 

Kang Jaekyung smiled proudly once again, and Park Haru also nodded, saying he liked the rewritten lyrics.

 

Kim Taeyun grinned.

 

…What did you do well!

 

“If they have us do original songs in the semifinals or finals, I’d like to perform this once, but I don’t know if we’ll get the chance.”

 

“Right? It’s popular and good.”

 

Excuse me? Unknown guitarist?

 

Hymns don’t become popular just because you sing them every Sunday, you know?

 

Is it just me hearing it this way? It sounds way too holy though?

 

“I’ll be looking forward to it! It was really so good!”

 

Seeing even Gong Nari agree, I guess I must have misunderstood the meaning of the word “popular,” yeah.

 

Everyone says they like it, so what can I do.

 

Still… I deleted ‘Clinic Director,’ so the clinic name won’t appear, so it should be fine.

 

* * *

 

Kang Jaekyung brought the president the next day as promised.

 

71 years old, Mr. Yoo Jaedong.

 

I thought he was in his late fifties dressing like someone in their thirties, but he was older than I expected.

 

At this age, he could throw out his back just getting dressed, yet he insisted he was fine after falling off the stage.

 

“As you can see, the nerve root area is compressed with accompanying inflammation, and burning sensations are appearing in the innervated region. We’ll do pharmacopuncture on the lower back and acupuncture treatment down to the legs.”

 

I had given a rough explanation at the live club, but I put up a diagram of the sciatic nerve innervation area and explained in more detail.

 

“I understand. I’ll do as you say, so please cure me well!”

 

“Please give him all the treatment you can. With the best pharmacopuncture.”

 

It seemed they had agreed that he would handle the payment, as Kang Jaekyung added a word.

 

“He’s, well, like a benefactor to us. He was the first to recognize us and also proposed a regular weekly lineup spot.”

 

He turned his head slightly embarrassed, but his concern came through clearly.

 

“I’ll cure him well, so don’t worry. The pain is severe, but he should respond quite well to pharmacopuncture treatment. I’m even preparing a case study paper on it.”

 

And I brought up the paper topic to indicate I’d treated many such cases.

 

“A paper? Will I be included in it?”

 

“I’d be grateful if you’d consent to it?”

 

“I’ll do it!”

 

I was lucky to collect one more case.

 

* * *

 

After finishing the consultation, he moved to the treatment room.

 

I prepared the pharmacopuncture to coincide with when the physical therapy would end.

 

“I’ll start with the pharmacopuncture first. The needle is a bit long, so it might throb.”

 

I planned to directly target the sprain area with a 6cm needle syringe.

 

“Ooh, that’s quite something.”

 

It was the process of releasing the swollen and hardened muscle that was pressing on the nerve.

 

As the liquid entered, space was created while the herbal components in the pharmacopuncture provided anti-inflammatory effects.

 

“All done. Now I’ll do the acupuncture. You’ve had it before, right?”

 

“Of course I have.”

 

Similarly with the acupuncture, I first targeted the sprain area and right next to the spine, where the sciatic nerve gets trapped.

 

Since it involved long-standing disc problems, I routinely needled all the acupoints for loosening the lower back.

 

I didn’t forget the legs either.

 

Even though the root cause was in the lower back, acupuncture treatment on the painful areas significantly helps improve the burning sensation.

 

I instructed the staff on where to place the cupping and left the treatment room.

 

The pharmacopuncture had gone in well, and since he was someone overflowing with energy for his age, I expected a favorable response.

 

And some time later.

 

Had about 20 minutes passed?

 

I was busy organizing charts when I heard Yoo Jaedong’s voice from the corridor outside the examination room.

 

“Treatment’s finished~.”

 

It seemed he was calling out to Kang Jaekyung in the waiting room as he came out.

 

At first, of course, I let the voice go in one ear and continued typing.

 

The sound of footsteps gradually faded, and I was about to return to the computer to finish the charting when…

 

“Oh my!”

 

Yoo Jaedong’s voice broke my concentration once again.

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

Though he had energy, given his advanced age, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of needle shock occurring.

 

If he suddenly felt dizzy, I needed to respond.

 

I hurriedly opened the examination room door.

 

“The burning sensation is gone!”

 

…What did I think it was.

 

“I treated you to make it go away.”

 

Seeing him holding his thigh instead of his head, I felt relieved.

 

“I didn’t expect it to disappear so quickly!”

 

“See, I told you our clinic director here is Hua Tuo.”

 

“You were right. Isn’t this really a miracle?”

 

“Oh, what are you saying!”

 

“No, this is really unbelievable? A rapturous moment of healing…”

 

The president was extremely impressed.

 

Up to that point, it was fine.

 

It was fine!

 

“This treatment is like a miracle….”

 

Do you really have to express it while humming that song?

 

“Amazing, right? Haru didn’t write the song like this for nothing. Taeyun and I took some time, but Haru and the president got better as soon as the needles were removed.”

 

“It’s a difference in the conditions themselves.”

 

Come to think of it, Kang Jaekyung wasn’t in a position to scold Yoo Jaedong for neglecting it until now.

 

Yoo Jaedong had neglected his fall for 3 weeks, but at least he got an X-ray.

 

Kang Jaekyung only came after his wrist became chronic, didn’t he?

 

He wasn’t in a position to say anything about Kim Taeyun or Park Haru’s madness either.

 

As expected, there are no normal people in this band.

 

“Haha, I’m quite good at treatment.”

 

I just spoke carelessly, having reached enlightenment.

 

“Still, you’ll need to come a few more times for complete recovery. Given your age, you inevitably lack the recovery power you once had.”

 

“Oh, thank you.”

 

Regardless, Yoo Jaedong bowed his head in gratitude.

 

Wait, when did he start using formal speech?

 

“I’ll spread the word to many people around me. There are many guys like me.”

 

It was something any ordinary patient could say, but it sounded like a newly converted believer vowing to spread the gospel.

 

Yes, yes, do as you please.

 

* * *

 

Somehow it seemed like the clinic became noisy every time the Melon Soda Horizon people visited.

 

Do they have some celebrity fortune or something, attracting crowds of people?

 

I only felt relieved and returned to the examination room after seeing them leave the clinic.

 

After letting one round of commotion pass by, I finished charting and caught my breath.

 

“Clinic Director, have you been well?”

 

Jeong Inseong entered politely with his girlfriend.

 

“Oh? I actually had something to discuss with you, Inseong. How did you know to come?”

 

“Yes, with me?”

 

I was going to ask for tutoring through Grandmother Heo Sunnam, but this morning the grandmother didn’t come and Jeong Inseong showed up out of nowhere.

 

This guy was young and healthy, so he might show his face once a year at most.

 

“Huuuuh!”

 

Upon hearing that story, Jeong Inseong reacted twice as intensely as Yoo Jaedong had earlier.

 

“It’s extremely fortunate I came today. For such matters, please never go through grandmother and speak to me directly!”

 

“Eh? Is there a reason to be so surprised?”

 

“If grandmother had heard, she would have immediately understood your feelings and scolded me for an hour, asking why I made you ask her when I should have come myself.”

 

“How did you know to come so precisely… Would she really be that unreasonable?”

 

“Don’t underestimate the Clinic Director’s number one believer.”

 

Well, that could be possible.

 

Grandmother Heo Sunnam is the acknowledged number one believer after all.

 

I said I couldn’t use personal information for private purposes, but he earnestly requested that I contact him directly in the future since he didn’t mind at all.

 

“I’ll teach math well. Teacher Jongsu might have better teaching skills, but he’d be too busy with academy lectures… Given the situation you described, it would be much better for Teacher Seol Yuhui to have personalized instruction rather than group study.”

 

Fortunately, Jeong Inseong immediately accepted the tutoring request.

 

He seemed quite confident.

 

“Alright, I’ll tell her to contact you. And you came today because of your girlfriend?”

 

The name that appeared on the computer was Min Juyeon.

 

She was a girl I hadn’t seen since meeting her once when all three of them came together during high school, including Lee Jini.

 

‘It’s been a while since they came together? They must have been dating well all along.’

 

When I called for her, Min Juyeon made a tearful expression, distorting her youthful face.

 

“Clinic Directoooor!”

 

She pointed to her face and said.

 

“What should I do about my face? It’s completely messed up and I’m going crazy!”

 

Looking at the records, folliculitis was the problem when she came last time too.

 

Back then it appeared small like pimples, and got better quickly with Hwangryeonhaedokgo application.

 

“It’s spread quite a bit.”

 

But now the symptoms were much worse.

 

Dozens of folliculitis spots had spread across her face.

 

Red hives were visible from her chin down to her neck.

 

“How did it get this bad?”

 

“Well, you see. I had a night shift convenience store part-time job during vacation and planned to do it for just a few months.”

 

“Yes, yes.”

 

“But I don’t know if the problem was my day-night cycle being reversed… or constantly eating ice cream, ramen, and tteokbokki at the convenience store at night.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“Or maybe I thought the night part-time job would be easy money, but drunk middle-aged men kept coming in and stressing me out! Anyway, I keep getting hives and they’re itchy, you know? So I kept scratching and it ended up like this!”

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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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