The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 191
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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 191
In the end, Kim Ijin really did come to my house.
Her eyes were sparkling brightly as she waited for me at the clinic’s closing time.
“Am I the first one to come to the Clinic Director’s house?”
Kim Ijin was extremely happy.
Really, really really extremely happy.
If I had known she would be this pleased, I would have invited her sooner.
“That’s right. The staff came once for a housewarming party, but Lee Jini is the first friend I met as a patient, right?”
“Friend…!”
Zing.
Was I having the illusion of seeing letters floating above my head?
Kim Ijin was moved.
‘What is this, this romance drama-like dialogue?’
I suddenly got goosebumps and scratched my arm.
Hmm, this is already the second time we’re meeting outside, so it should be okay to call each other friends, right?
“I happened to buy shabu-shabu ingredients, so please wait in the living room for a moment.”
Anyway, since she came all the way to my house, I should treat her well.
Usually I would just make do with meal kits, but I had properly gone grocery shopping for once.
I moved the pot to the dining table and quickly sliced the vegetables to put in.
“Wow, it smells delicious.”
Even after arriving at the house and while the water was boiling, Kim Ijin’s face still held traces of emotion.
“I’m the only one who gets to eat food prepared by the Clinic Director, right?”
“Of course.”
Let’s go with that.
The meat at company dinners was grilled by everyone together anyway.
“How is the Captain doing? Is his rehabilitation going well?”
“Oh, yes! He says he feels like he could even play in games if it were up to him.”
We shared updates on our recent situations while eating.
“What about you, Lee Jini? That thing I recorded for you last time… it seems like you’re working hard on it.”
I asked carefully.
I thought she would occasionally practice breathing exercises and very slowly build up her internal energy, but every time we meet, her entire aura seems different, which keeps surprising me.
Why is her internal energy building up so well?
The power of the Heavenly Martial Body? Or is Kim Ijin spending more time on breathing exercises than I expected?
“Yes. Whenever I have time alone, I’m always paying attention to my breathing. At first there wasn’t much change, but as it accumulates, I feel like my body is being reconstructed… I feel like I might be able to move to the next stage if I do well.”
What did she say?
I only gave her the most basic mental cultivation method, and she’s going to advance to the next stage on her own?
Are you trying to create an ascending martial art or something?
No way!
“Ha, haha. I’ll let you know when the time comes, so don’t try to advance on your own.”
I stopped Kim Ijin for now.
Sword techniques are fine even if you just create them by slashing and cutting here and there, but trying to modify mental cultivation methods can cause big accidents.
You could fall into qi deviation!
And actually, it would be a problem even if she succeeded.
Right now, her internal energy is unknowingly building up and improving her cardiopulmonary endurance and muscular endurance to some degree.
But it would be troublesome if she became a grandmaster!
“Yes, Clinic Director.”
Fortunately, Kim Ijin believed my words without suspicion.
Phew, I protected the ecosystem of the professional basketball world.
Tap! Tadadatat!
As we were finishing our meal, I sensed the presence of the chipmunk outside the window.
“Clinic Director, someone outside is knocking…? I think?”
Kim Ijin asked with confusion.
It was different from typical knocking, and the sound wasn’t coming from the foyer either.
“You don’t dislike animals, do you? It’s a chipmunk. It won’t bite.”
“I like them. I even have a dog. Though I’ve only seen chipmunks in the mountains.”
I asked for her understanding and opened the window.
Then the chipmunk.
Whoooosh!
With incredible jumping power, it flew up and snuggled right into Kim Ijin’s arms.
“…”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at Kim Ijin.
What’s this, it clung to me so tightly before, but now it likes Lee Jini’s internal energy better?
The chipmunk nestled in Kim Ijin’s arms with dreamy, blissful eyes.
“Did it eat something wrong?”
No. I think it’s enjoying a special delicacy.
The texture of internal energy was slightly different, like getting drunk on cocktails after being intoxicated by Sichuan’s strong liquor.
“It’s a chipmunk that comes to play often. I’d say it practically lives here? Originally it lived in the rear mountain over there, but these days it just rolls around in our yard all the time.”
“Oh, what’s its name?”
Kim Ijin didn’t remove the chipmunk.
Rather, seeming pleased with the creature following her, she smiled warmly and stroked its fur.
Oh, how cute!
“It doesn’t really have a name. I just call it Chipmunk.”
“Huh.”
“I tried to give it one, but it didn’t like it.”
Maybe it has a separate true name since it’s a spiritual creature?
Anyway, it’s probably lived much longer than me, and it might have a name given by someone it formed a bond with before I was born.
I tried several options, but when I called it by a new name, the chipmunk would never respond.
This creature that acts all cute when I just call it Chipmunk.
“Oh, really?”
Kim Ijin seemed a little disappointed.
“Hmm, Chipmunk. That’s strange.”
But what could I do? The party in question didn’t like it.
Squeak!
But then, the chipmunk tugged at Kim Ijin’s sleeve.
“Hm?”
“It seems like… it’s asking you to give it a name?”
That can’t be right!
This creature does understand human speech and uses non-verbal expressions similar to humans because it understands characteristics well.
But even so, surely not?
“You want me to give you a name, right?”
When Kim Ijin asked the chipmunk, it…
nodded its head.
‘Hey!’
That was too much!
Nodding its head in front of Kim Ijin without even thinking to hide that it was a spiritual creature was too much.
And rejecting the names I gave while requesting one from Kim Ijin was even worse.
“Maybe it didn’t like the names the Clinic Director came up with?”
“No way!”
“What did you call it?”
“Little Divine Dragon, Black Blood Divine Fist, Heavenly Secret Divine Scholar…”
When I mentioned the three candidates, Kim Ijin’s face contorted greatly.
“Why on earth would you… no, are you serious?”
“Why? They’re cool, aren’t they?”
“…So there are things even you can’t do, Clinic Director.”
What?
It really didn’t like the names I gave?
I was trying to match the divine character in my title, and I…
How hard did I work, even searching through dictionaries?
“Black Blood Divine Fist is really not bad, right? This guy beats up snakes and even does boxing.”
“How about Cheongsolie?”
Kim Ijin lightly ignored my words and asked the chipmunk.
Cheongsolie? What’s that!
I’d rather just call it Cheongseolie or Seolmo.
-Squeak! Squeak squeak!
But surprisingly, the chipmunk nodded its head vigorously.
“…It likes it? Really?”
No, this isn’t right!
Honestly, wouldn’t anyone think Little Divine Dragon or Black Blood Divine Fist are cooler?
Even the spiritual creature that the Huashan Sect elder kept was named Supreme Unity Immortal.
– Squeeeak!
The chipmunk seemed to be getting angry at me, but that must be my imagination.
“Alright, Cheongsolie… I understand. If that’s your opinion, then I can’t help it.”
I humbly accepted the name Kim Ijin had given.
* * *
Thanks to Cheongsolie not wanting to leave Kim Ijin’s side, Kim Ijin stayed at our house until quite late.
“Can’t I just sleep over?”
She tried to clear visiting our house, eating meals, and now sleeping over, but.
“You said you have to go in early tomorrow. You should stop by home too, right?”
“I already went during the day though…”
“Still. They’ll worry if you stay out overnight.”
It was still mid-season, and although she had come out saying she would go to the clinic on the weekend, she had to go back in tomorrow.
She should spend time with her parents too, so having her stay over would be a bit much.
“Next time, I’ll invite you again after we win the season.”
I promised to meet again later and helped Kim Ijin into the car.
She also stopped being stubborn and decided to go home.
‘It’s strange to come back to the clinic area after getting off work.’
Kim Ijin’s home was very close to the clinic.
“Hmm….”
Should I have just stopped at the clinic instead?
Since it was evening, there didn’t seem to be any suitable parking spots in the apartment complex.
Going underground would probably be complicated.
“I’ll stop briefly, so do you want to get out here?”
“Huh?”
But Kim Ijin, who had been looking for a parking spot like me, was startled.
“Is something wrong outside?”
“My mom seems to be in some kind of trouble?”
Looking in the direction she pointed, there was a dog sitting there.
And the middle-aged woman holding its leash was standing beside it, not knowing what to do.
“I’ll stop for now, so get out and take a look. I’ll park underground and come back up.”
I cleanly gave up on surface parking and let Kim Ijin out.
And when I came back up.
“What happened?”
Kim Ijin was holding the dog in her arms with a troubled expression.
“Oh, hello. Clinic Director! I’m Lee Jini’s mother. I haven’t been able to greet you properly.”
“My mother brought Choco out for a walk, but something seems to be wrong with him – he suddenly sat down here and wouldn’t move.”
I exchanged greetings with Kim Ijin’s Mother and took the dog.
“Is that so? Let me take a look.”
He was walking fine during the walk but then sat down?
Is there a reason why it’s difficult for him to walk?
“Clinic Director, do you know how to treat animals too? What about chipmunks….”
I didn’t treat it, but I saved its life through other methods.
“I only know about visible injuries. I don’t know much about internal diseases.”
Since the dog that had refused to walk was calm while being held, I first suspected a leg problem.
For instance, if there was a thorn stuck in the paw pad, I could just remove it right away, couldn’t I?
I carefully examined the dog’s legs.
– Woof woof!
When I touched the hind leg, the quiet dog barked roughly.
The patella of the right hind leg was slightly swollen.
“Here it is.”
It wasn’t very severe, but comparing the right and left sides, both Kim Ijin and her mother could see it.
“Oh my, the day before yesterday he jumped down from the sofa and whimpered for a bit – he must have gotten hurt then. What should we do? It’s not broken, is it?”
“If it were broken, he probably couldn’t have been walking around like this for two days.”
The same goes for dislocation. They would have noticed something was wrong that very day.
From the energy I could sense, the bone seemed fine too.
“It would be good to get an X-ray tomorrow, but for now it looks like a sprain. It wasn’t severe, but maybe it got irritated during today’s walk?”
“Oh, he was so excited and ran so much. I thought my knees would start hurting… Oh dear, I should have noticed earlier.”
“Did his knee ligament get damaged just like mine?”
Kim Ijin’s Mother blamed herself, and Kim Ijin looked at Choco with pitying eyes.
– Whine.
“Yes. There seems to be a cruciate ligament problem too. Oh dear, it must hurt a lot.”
“Ah….”
“Clinic Director, could you possibly treat him?”
Kim Ijin asked me.
Though not as bad as when he was sitting on the ground, Choco’s condition was still not good.
Unless it was a 24-hour clinic, all animal hospitals would be closed at this time.
There was a very high chance he wouldn’t be able to sleep properly and would whimper.
“I can do it.”
Of course, the Sichuan Dang Family had a separate veterinarian.
While his main job was caring for the horses owned by the family, he was actually knowledgeable about all kinds of animals including snakes and venomous insects.
Therefore, neither Master nor I needed to step into veterinary medicine.
But when I was wandering outside, I had treated cows and horses here and there.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t treated dogs very often.’
However, a dog’s knee structure is quite similar to that of humans.
The area was somewhat visible, and acupoints could be placed where energy gathers, so a temporary measure was possible.
“Do dogs also receive acupuncture?”
Kim Ijin’s Mother asked with curiosity.
“Yes. Dogs also have acupoints like this, and there are quite a few animal hospitals that provide acupuncture treatment even now.”
I had searched to check the ligament structure, and it happened to be a blog run by a veterinarian who performs acupuncture.
When I showed them the acupoint distribution chart for dogs right below, both of them nodded.
“Then could we ask you to help? Right now, going to the hospital is a bit…”
“Yes, yes, then I’ll take a quick look. Legally, a veterinarian should do this, so don’t mention that you received treatment from a Korean Medicine Doctor when you go to the hospital tomorrow.”
“Oh, of course.”
Korean Traditional Medicine University doesn’t teach acupuncture for animals at all.
Veterinary schools seemed to teach it somewhat, but not in earnest. Veterinarians who practice Korean traditional veterinary medicine in clinical settings probably study additionally to do it, right?
“Then in the car for a moment…”
“Please come into our house for a bit. What can you see in the dark?”
When I accepted, Kim Ijin’s worried expression relaxed slightly.
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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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