The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 167

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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 167

 

“The most important thing is location! Jobs and transportation infrastructure can’t be easily replaced!”

 

Seo Inae explained the overview and history of South Korea’s real estate market.

 

“Land share… building age… large complexes, brands, super premium apartments… So this world existed?”

 

I also gained basic knowledge through the books she recommended.

 

And since she told me about several complexes she wanted to buy but gave up on, I even went to inspect them on holidays.

 

‘Now I understand why she recommended ocean view.’

 

I wasn’t particularly moved by the ocean, but for investment, you have to buy what others like.

 

Seo Inae said that’s why she bought an apartment near an elementary school even though she has no plans for childbirth.

 

But good things are good things.

 

“Teacher Inae will definitely succeed in real estate investment.”

 

In the end, I

 

went with romance alone.

 

I set my heart on a picturesque countryside house.

 

“I thought the Clinic Director might do that.”

 

Despite listening to all the advice and reading books,

 

I alternated between visiting apartment complexes and suburban housing areas once each, and discovered an incredibly beautiful house.

 

I had decided to see everything I planned to and make a careful decision, but even while working, whenever I had a moment, I kept thinking about that house.

 

What? Houses are hard to sell?

 

Since I’ve already bought the clinic building, I’ll be staying in Busan anyway, right?

 

Heating and cooling don’t work well?

 

While I haven’t reached the level of being impervious to cold and heat, if I circulate my energy a little, climate has no effect on me.

 

Cleaning is difficult?

 

That does seem like it would be a bit difficult!

 

“If you like it that much, just buy it? I think the Clinic Director could afford to buy a house purely as a consumer good.”

 

Before making the final decision, I asked Im Suchul, who also runs a rental business.

 

“Ah, is that so…?”

 

“Well, I don’t pursue efficiency that much either. We make money to be happy.”

 

I expected him to discourage me, but he actually gave positive signals.

 

Come to think of it, regardless of being knowledgeable about investments, this person had also closed his business to run a clinic.

 

“If it’s not a completely isolated house in the mountains but a suburban housing area, it’s not too bad. If land prices go up, they go up together, and if they don’t… well, can’t help it.”

 

“I see.”

 

“You barely leave any profit for headquarters from the external herbal medicine business while supplying expensive medicinal herbs, right? Just do what you want to do.”

 

True, when have I ever chosen only the good things?

 

I suddenly remembered the enormous amount of gold I spent on researching the Soul Return Technique.

 

Efficiency? Possibility of failure?

 

I didn’t consider anything.

 

If I could just roll the gacha buried in microfiber blankets, I could sacrifice everything.

 

Having already achieved that dream, why would I suddenly regret missing out on market gains?

 

When I opened the clinic too, huh?

 

When I opened the clinic… when I took over the failed clinic…

 

I didn’t really think back then either.

 

Finally, I should practice energy circulation in a place with good energy and then decide.

 

With that thought, I climbed the mountain as soon as the sun rose.

 

– Squeak?

 

As soon as I reached a secluded spot, the chipmunk appeared.

 

“I haven’t sensed your presence lately, so I thought you’d gone somewhere else!”

 

I’d been absent recently while contemplating where to move, and even when I climbed the mountain a few times, I hadn’t met the chipmunk.

 

I opened the nuts I’d bought and carried around in case I met the little guy, placing them on my palm.

 

– Squeak!

 

Munch munch.

 

Munch munch.

 

The chipmunk stuffed several nuts into its mouth, then suddenly raised its head.

 

– Squeak!

 

There was something this delicious in the world?

 

It had a shocked expression.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Since it remained frozen for several seconds, I gently poked the little guy’s cheek.

 

– Squeeeeak

 

Then the chipmunk staggered as if drunk.

 

Ah, is it intoxicated by energy like last time?

 

It’s not just that the nuts are delicious?

 

“Even after looking around other places, I’m still the best, right?”

 

When I threw out the joke, the chipmunk snuggled right into my arms.

 

‘So cute!’

 

Setting aside how adorable it looked.

 

This was the first spiritual creature that followed me so well.

 

I could count on one hand the ones I’d seen in the martial arts world, but even those would sense our presence and flee like mad when they encountered Master and me.

 

“I was actually thinking of moving to a house where you can come play. Apartments are stuffy, aren’t they?”

 

It might be able to enter if I moved to the first floor, but it would probably be burdensome to avoid the eyes of residents constantly coming and going in a complex.

 

– !

 

Understanding my words, the chipmunk bounced up and down on the spot.

 

Then it tapped the ground and ran off in one direction.

 

“Huh? Are you leaving?”

 

The creature tapped the ground again.

 

Was it telling me to follow?

 

When I chased after the chipmunk, it suddenly used its internal energy to dramatically increase its speed.

 

It was similar to the speed when I first met it in Gyeongju, when it led me to where the Heavenly Pine Poria was.

 

Of course, I had eaten that too, and had done plenty of energy circulation since then, so following it with lightness skills wasn’t too difficult.

 

If only this weren’t a mountain where hikers could appear at any moment!

 

“Go slowly!”

 

The chipmunk was very frustrated, clearly knowing I could follow but wondering why I wasn’t coming.

 

Hey, you can just run away if people see you!

 

Humans have human circumstances!

 

What if I get immortalized on YouTube as a person faster than cars and broadcasting stations come looking for me?

 

– Squeak!

 

Fortunately, since it was early morning, I was able to chase the chipmunk without encountering anyone.

 

After running like that for quite a while, the place we arrived at was.

 

“Right… I was thinking about this neighborhood too.”

 

Where good energy flowed down from the mountain.

 

A suburban housing area with pretty houses lined up like something out of a painting.

 

– Squeeeeeak!

 

It was exactly the neighborhood I had fallen in love with at first sight.

 

‘This isn’t some founding myth, what kind of animal picks out a house for you?’

 

Well, I had already seen all the places I wanted to see anyway.

 

I had almost made up my mind already.

 

Instead of energy circulation, I might as well trust the chipmunk’s judgment.

 

Since I was here anyway, I headed to the real estate office I had visited last time.

 

* * *

 

“Wow… it’s really amazing…”

 

When I told them I had decided on a house, the staff asked me to definitely invite them over once I moved.

 

I was slightly suspicious that I might have tactlessly chosen my house as the company dinner location when they were just being polite.

 

But seeing their genuine reactions of admiration when they actually saw the garden put my mind at ease.

 

“It’s like a house from an American drama!”

 

“I wanted to live in a house like this when I was young too. I wonder if I’ll be able to afford one when I retire someday?”

 

Gong Nari and Jin Minjeong couldn’t close their mouths as they wandered around the garden.

 

Beautiful, isn’t it? Enough to make your eyes spin?

 

“The garden trees are incredible. How did they plant and maintain all this?”

 

“The previous owner must have been really serious about landscaping.”

 

Even in this suburban housing area where each house showed off its own splendor, this house’s garden trees were breathtaking.

 

Even I, who had spent ten years at the Sichuan Dang Family that paid considerable attention to the mansion’s aesthetics, was amazed.

 

“Come on, we need to prepare the meal before it gets too late. I’ll handle grilling the barbecue.”

 

“Yes! Should I go buy some alcohol too?”

 

“I bought plenty of different kinds. Teacher Nari, you like soju, right?”

 

“I’m good with anything~! It feels like we came to a pension for a workshop!”

 

Since convenience stores and marts were quite far away, I had bought all the tools and food in advance.

 

The furniture wasn’t fully arranged yet, but the preparations for the barbecue party were perfect.

 

– Squeak. Squeeak.

 

I had told the chipmunk to come play often and put nuts in the garden for it.

 

The creature came every day to eat the nuts and even knocked on the gate.

 

“So cute. When you live in a house, squirrels come to play like this.”

 

– Squeeak!

 

“Haha, it’s a chipmunk. It comes to play often.”

 

And today, despite there being people around, it didn’t care and joined the party.

 

They come because they’re close to me, but normally it seems like not-so-cute animal friends would come.

 

I didn’t bring up unromantic stories.

 

“To the infinite glory of Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic, cheers!”

 

When I raised my glass and said a word, the others each shouted out something too.

 

“Let’s stay together until our clinic director buys a Cheongdam-dong… no, an LA mansion!”

 

“What?”

 

“Like Mr. Ricci, you’ll open 20 branches each in America and Europe, right?”

 

“Whaaaat?”

 

“When you buy a castle in Europe, you must invite us~!”

 

What are these people talking about right now?

 

Starting with Lee Ahreum, one by one they gradually escalated the scale with increasingly outrageous stories.

 

“Until the day we surpass Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital and become the world’s best global Oriental Medicine Clinic network.”

 

Even Hwang Sanghun, who wasn’t skilled at such jokes.

 

…Is he already drunk?

 

It seemed like he was copying Lee Ahreum, but it was quite amusing to see someone who didn’t usually do this making jokes.

 

Haneul Clinic might be one thing, but I’ve never even thought of Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital with its dozens of hospitals as a rival!

 

“Right, let’s build about 100 hospitals worldwide and when I buy a castle, we’ll all take a private jet on vacation together.”

 

I also answered carelessly with an unrealistic story.

 

A European castle, what kind of talk is that.

 

Does the internet work well there? Won’t it disconnect during raids?

 

* * *

 

After I moved to the house like that, the apartment was vacated shortly after.

 

I immediately cleared out the few belongings I had left behind while getting my deposit back.

 

I never saw the landlord’s face even once from the time of contract.

 

But precisely because of that, they were the most impressive person among all the apartment landlords I’d had since my college days.

 

I sent a simple text to the landlord saying I was grateful for everything.

 

[Yes~ I was grateful too~]

 

They must have delegated the entire contract to a real estate agent because they live far away, right?

 

During college, when I had to move apartments against my will, I think the landlords came out in person.

 

While organizing the contract I used when I first moved in, I looked at the address written on it.

 

“Huh? That’s not right?”

 

Surprisingly, it was a very familiar place.

 

It was the apartment right next to the one that houses our clinic.

 

“Have they perhaps visited our Oriental Medicine Clinic before?”

 

The next day when I accessed the clinic charts and searched the name, three people with the same name came up.

 

And when I clicked on those names one by one, there was someone whose address and phone number matched.

 

“Ah, they were Sanghun oppa’s patient?”

 

The monthly rent was automatically transferred with push notifications, and I would have occasionally passed by in the chart program.

 

Since it was a common name, I hadn’t been conscious that it was the same person until now.

 

They had their first consultation with Hwang Sanghun a whole year ago, came sporadically, then started coming quite frequently from 2 months ago.

 

They even got medicine prescribed once last month.

 

‘Hmm, it’s better to pretend I don’t know!’

 

Even when I was living there, asking “Are you the landlord?” would have been strange, but having a conversation after moving out would be even stranger.

 

Seeing how they deliberately delegated the contract despite living nearby, and only came on days when Hwang Sanghun, their attending physician, was there, they seem to be quite shy.

 

I thought that way and completely forgot about discovering my former landlord in the charts.

 

“Hanyewon, could you spare some time for a moment?”

 

But surprisingly, shortly after, I heard concerns about that very patient from Hwang Sanghun.

 

“Ah, I read the chart. The prescription didn’t work well?”

 

I sat him down in the examination room and searched the name to bring up the chart.

 

It was still common for the vice directors to request consultations when they were unsure about how to prescribe medicine.

 

“Let me see, seems like a patient with hwabyeong.”

 

“That’s not it…”

 

Hwang Sanghun had summarized the records, but said he had heard quite a lot about the patient’s personal life while treating them from the first consultation until now.

 

“I’m not sure how much I should advise about non-medical personal life matters.”

 

That was quite a difficult problem.

 

Most chronic diseases that come to Oriental Medicine Clinics are occupational diseases, but we can’t tell everyone to quit their jobs for treatment, can we?

 

We would inform them it wasn’t good, but unless it was a state just before permanent damage occurred, we tended to treat within possible circumstances.

 

“Actually”

 

“Mm.”

 

“I want to tell them to get a divorce… but is it okay to say something like that?”

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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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