The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 181

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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 181

 

There were countless patients who came to me seeking bone-setting decoction.

 

– Divine Physician! Do you happen to have any medicine good for fractures?

 

– Of course. You came after hearing about the Sichuan Dang Family’s secret bone-setting decoction, right?

 

– Yes.

 

– I’ll prescribe it for you. But how did this happen?

 

– We had a sparring match…

 

– Haha.

 

There were those who came with broken bones after sparring matches between close friends.

 

– Ugh! This family’s Young Master cannot be indebted to a physician over such a trivial matter!

 

– It’s completely shattered, isn’t it? To the fracture repair room immediately!

 

There were also patients who were brought in barely alive after going on adventures.

 

I had to tie down patients who insisted on self-healing through qi circulation therapy, then perform surgery and give them medicine.

 

– Divine Physician! My son’s bone is broken…! Please save him!

 

– Waaaah!

 

– Wait, how did this happen? Did he bump into something? Did he fall from somewhere high?

 

When someone brought a five or six-year-old child, I wondered what kind of accident it was.

 

– We were having an instructional sparring match with wooden swords and…

 

– So you were the one who broke it, father.

 

– Sob! I didn’t know a young child’s bones were this fragile!

 

– Just die!

 

– Dear, that’s too harsh!

 

– Waaaah!

 

– It’s very swollen and bruised. For this, we need to start with Danggui Susan before the bone-setting decoction.

 

There were cases where a martial artist misjudged his strength while playing with his son.

 

Fracture patients were really numerous and varied.

 

Too many… way too many.

 

Unlike those days, since opening my clinic, I only see fracture patients two or three times a year.

 

Cases requiring surgical alignment are handled at orthopedic clinics, and when unnecessary, immobilization followed by waiting for union is the standard treatment.

 

“The healing process of fractures consists of the inflammatory phase, reparative phase, and remodeling phase in that order.”

 

First, I explained fracture healing to Lee Sora.

 

“In traditional Korean medicine, we treat based on the principles of activating blood and removing stasis, connecting bones and tendons, and supplementing qi and nourishing blood to strengthen muscles and bones, respectively. Simply put, you can think of it as the sequence of reducing inflammation and bruising, connecting bones, and using tonics to enhance recovery.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

“The swelling and inflammation have subsided considerably now. Delayed union… actually, we don’t consider 4 weeks as delayed union, but anyway, since the goal is to speed up the union, we can use bone-setting decoction.”

 

“Yes, please go with that. I hope it heals even a little faster!”

 

I nodded.

 

The composition of bone-setting decoction wasn’t difficult at all.

 

“There’s a commonly known prescription called bone-setting decoction. Angelica promotes osteoblast activation, Cnidium relieves blood stasis, and deer antler, ginseng, astragalus supplement qi.”

 

Research papers generally use known prescriptions, and each clinic creates their own empirical formulas by adding or removing herbs slightly.

 

Of course, I would use the secret technique passed down from my Master, having treated thousands of broken bones.

 

“If the additional cost is okay with you, I’d like to add a bit more deer horn to the medicine.”

 

Deer horn uses deer antlers as raw material like deer antler velvet, but when used as herbal medicine, the purpose is different.

 

Deer antlers grow every year and naturally fall off over time.

 

Deer antler velvet is harvested when the antlers are still growing and in a soft state before ossification.

 

Deer horn is what naturally falls off after the antlers have completely ossified and hardened.

 

Naturally, deer horn is much easier to obtain and cheaper.

 

While it’s far inferior to deer antler velvet in hormones, nutrients, and other elements helpful for yang supplementation and cannot replace it,

 

In cases like this where we’re specifically targeting muscle and bone treatment, adding large amounts of deer horn is meaningful.

 

“By all means! Please add the best stuff generously!”

 

Lee Sora readily accepted the recommended prescription.

 

“Really! Please! I want to get better even just a week faster!”

 

She earnestly pleaded, saying she wanted to play properly on the team even if it was just at the end of the season.

 

“That’s what will happen. Take your medicine well, and you have a half-cast on, right? Let’s proceed with acupuncture treatment as well.”

 

“Yes, Clinic Director. Please take good care of me!”

 

Lee Sora clasped her hands together as if praying.

 

Then she picked up her crutches again and moved to the treatment room.

 

“Lee Jin, wait a moment?”

 

I briefly stopped Kim Ijin, who was about to help Lee Sora out.

 

The prescription could be done as usual, but Kim Ijin looked too dejected.

 

“Go talk! You came all this way!”

 

Lee Sora patted Kim Ijin’s shoulder, saying she could walk by herself.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

I asked as soon as she sat back down in the chair.

 

While she had been sulky once or twice, wasn’t she basically someone who always looked at me with eyes full of respect and affection?

 

Her basic expression might look indifferent, but she wasn’t really someone who hid her feelings well, so her gloominess was clearly visible.

 

“Well… I think the Captain got hurt because of me.”

 

“What?”

 

Lee Sora had just explained in great detail how she happened to fall and get injured.

 

It wasn’t even like she collided with Kim Ijin?

 

“I’m worried that I might be disrupting the team balance.”

 

When I asked, Kim Ijin answered immediately.

 

With a rigidly hardened face, she brought up an unexpected topic.

 

“Ever since high school basketball, I haven’t been confident in teamwork and leadership. I heard a lot that I stood out too much alone and couldn’t lead the overall flow.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Back then, since I was the best at our school, everyone accommodated me, and with Lira there too, the balance was somehow maintained. Now that can’t happen, so after joining BUK I’ve been trying hard to adapt… but this kind of thing ended up happening.”

 

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying Lee Sora made a mistake trying to keep up with your pace?”

 

“If I had just provided support like usual, the captain wouldn’t have had to overexert herself.”

 

“That’s not Lee Jin’s fault.”

 

I flatly denied Kim Ijin’s anguish.

 

“That’s… true, but.”

 

“It’s not like you went wild when told not to. You said the Captain, Director, and Coach all agreed on the position, right? Going on the offensive was the best strategy for the game that everyone devised together. The injury was just bad luck.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Kim Ijin nodded, but her face didn’t look convinced.

 

Hmm, they say geniuses are naturally lonely, but she’s feeling too much responsibility?

 

If Captain Lee Sora knew, she might actually get angry instead.

 

“It was bad luck. Let it go.”

 

“Luck…”

 

“If Lee Jin plays really well, can you win every game in the season?”

 

“That’s not possible.”

 

“You can’t prevent all injuries either. It’s just natural. …Of course, you should take every precaution possible to avoid getting hurt, but as long as you’ve chosen to be an athlete as your profession, it’s a path you can’t completely avoid.”

 

As warriors came in injured from all sorts of accidents, there were times when I felt frustrated as a physician.

 

There were many ridiculous injuries where I thought, ‘If only they’d been a little more careful!’

 

But no matter what flowery words you attach to it, martial arts is ultimately the act of wielding blades and attacking.

 

Getting cut, stabbed, broken – these things happen anytime during training or in real combat.

 

Honestly speaking, injuries are not variables but constants.

 

I too have been injured countless times during training.

 

If you’re afraid of that, you can’t practice martial arts at all.

 

Of course, since sports aren’t actual martial combat, you should make efforts not to get hurt as much as possible.

 

But they’re similar in that risks are always present everywhere.

 

“When Lee Jin injured her ligament, did you regret starting sports, or resent the Coach who gave the training instructions?”

 

“Absolutely not!”

 

“Does matching pace with a skilled player create situations where you overexert yourself every game? Do you fall every time you change direction? Do you get fractures every time you fall?”

 

“No…”

 

“Even if there’s a slight possibility of that happening, can you avoid doing it?”

 

When games get heated, rushing in without sparing your body happens all the time.

 

And probably Kim Ijin would know the exhilaration that moment brings.

 

As a warrior who had fallen into a trance while throwing throwing knives, I could dare to say this.

 

And in the past, I couldn’t bring myself to tell warriors who came in injured to spare their bodies. …Of course, except for cases where they were brought in ridiculously and wouldn’t listen to the physician.

 

“Clinic Director, you’re right.”

 

“The Captain knows, so she doesn’t blame anyone. She probably won’t blame herself much either, thinking she shouldn’t have done that then?”

 

“Yes. She said the judgment wasn’t wrong.”

 

Kim Ijin’s face finally looked a little more comfortable.

 

I felt relieved and took her hand.

 

“The fracture has occurred, and now we just need to do what we can. Since you brought her to me, just trust me when it comes to treatment.”

 

Kim Ijin smiled brightly.

 

“Yes, I will. Thank you.”

 

“It’ll be difficult until the season starts, but basketball goes until spring, right? She’ll be able to join in the middle. Until then, Lee Jin should record the best win rate. That’s what you can do for the team, for the Captain, and for Lee Jin herself.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Kim Ijin bowed 90 degrees at the waist, then left the examination room.

 

When I looked outside briefly to see if she was okay, she stopped in the corridor for a moment and clenched her fist.

 

“…I’ll do it.”

 

The Busan BUK team doctor nameplate hanging in the waiting room.

 

Kim Ijin stroked it while making some unknown resolution.

 

* * *

 

Lee Sora diligently took her medicine and received treatment for a month.

 

And with a pounding heart, she went to get an X-ray.

 

“Oh, it’s healed a lot.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

At the doctor’s words, completely different from last time, Lee Sora almost let out a cheer.

 

“This is from 8 weeks ago and 4 weeks ago respectively. And if you look at today’s image, you can’t see the hairline fracture from the front view, right?”

 

Indeed, the line had disappeared.

 

“Looking at the lateral view, there’s still a little remaining toward the back, but it’s progressing well.”

 

“Ah, so it’s not 100% healed yet?”

 

The doctor flinched at Lee Sora’s words and waved his hand.

 

“When 3 out of 4 surfaces are healed, we say radiologically that bone union has occurred, but intense exercise is still not allowed.”

 

No, just because it was Lee Sora didn’t mean she was thinking of jumping straight into a match…!

 

“You can start with rehabilitation for now.”

 

“Wow!”

 

“When we examined you at 4 weeks last time, it looked exactly the same so I was worried, but fortunately it’s improved. I did say minimum 8 weeks, but it usually takes 12-16 weeks on average, so this is quite fast.”

 

Lee Sora smiled brightly.

 

Though they said it was just joint stretching for now, she was overjoyed that there was something she could do.

 

She immediately rushed to the Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic.

 

Of course, that’s just how she felt – she didn’t actually run there on foot but took a car.

 

“That recovery-boosting tonic you mentioned before? Please continue prescribing that too! And just in case – just in case I might be able to play in matches, please exclude any ingredients that could cause doping issues.”

 

“Don’t worry. Those are things like ephedra and pinellia, which wouldn’t be included in tonics anyway. And playing within a month is also…”

 

“I’m not hoping for that much!”

 

She was getting a bit impatient, but what do these doctors think of me?

 

Lee Sora grumbled as she received treatment.

 

“It will continue to improve smoothly.”

 

“Yes, I’ll trust only you, Clinic Director.”

 

She consistently received treatment and took her medicine.

 

Though she’d need another scan to be sure, she felt confident it was healing well.

 

The feeling of the ligament when walking was also improving.

 

Some time after that.

 

With hopes that she could play at least a few times before the season ended, she watched the first match from the audience stands.

 

And the moment the first match ended.

 

“Kim Ijin! Kim Ijin! Kim Ijin! Kim Ijin!!!”

 

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

 

From every seat in the audience stands – front, back, left, right – the name of her junior who had appeared like a comet echoed throughout.

 

Bow.

 

She bowed her head toward the fans who had cheered for her.

 

Wow, she’s even naturally gifted with star quality?

 

Soon, the broadcasting station naturally requested an interview with Kim Ijin, today’s match MVP.

 

Kim Ijin didn’t look particularly tired.

 

Rather, she had an excited expression as if she had been waiting for this very moment.

 

Of course, it was a face any player who had won their first match decisively could show, but Lee Sora suddenly felt something was off.

 

‘What is she trying to say?’

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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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