The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 193

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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 193

Seol Yuhui really did come to work normally the day after taking the college entrance exam.

“Clinic Director!”

Usually when you meet a test-taker who just took a big exam, it’s ambiguous whether you should ask about the results or not.

But Seol Yuhui opened her mouth first with a bright smile.

“I don’t know my grade yet, but my raw scores came out the best they’ve ever been!”

“Oh my goodness, congratulations!”

“That’s so amazing!”

“Wow, I knew Teacher Yu Hee would do well.”

“You worked so hard!”

Everyone who had arrived at work earlier congratulated her together.

Gong Nari and Jin Minjeong couldn’t hide their admiration either, and Hwang Sanghun also looked very surprised.

“Everyone, thank you so much for being considerate all this time. Thanks to all of you, I was able to work, study, and go to college, go to college…!”

“You’ll go now, as a result of Teacher Yu Hee’s hard work.”

Seol Yuhui, who had been pouring out her joy without hiding it, teared up at the mention of college.

She must have really dreamed a lot about college life.

“I, I really thought I was someone who couldn’t fulfill a person’s role in society until I met the Clinic Director. Even working a little at the hospital, I’d always collapse and get fired… I thought I’d have to live always being a burden to my parents, but sob!”

When the story about her parents came up, tears burst out completely.

“Thank you, Clinic Director.”

I hugged the trembling Seol Yuhui and patted her back.

How heartbreaking must the severed pulse have been?

While others found school life tiresome, she held it as a dream, but even that ordinary dream had been held back by her health.

“It worked out well because Teacher Yu Hee worked hard.”

As soon as her shackles were released, Seol Yuhui soared high.

Not only did she fulfill several people’s roles at the clinic, but didn’t she study admirably enough for anyone to see?

“I’ll study hard so I can treat many people like the Clinic Director!”

“Please do.”

“Teacher Jeong Inseong checked for me yesterday, and he said I can definitely get in.”

Don’t you have to get almost everything right for liberal arts Korean medicine programs?

The liberal arts graduates in our class were friends who got one wrong on the entrance exam, and there were even perfect scorers among the seniors.

I didn’t say a word about it being difficult because I was afraid she’d be disappointed, but she actually pulled it off.

“I only got 2 wrong in math. I said I’d really work hard, but catching up in just one year was probably too much. Fortunately, it must have been really difficult because the expected grade cutoff came out low.”

So that means… 11111…?

“That’s crazy.”

Gong Nari broke the silence with a quiet murmur.

“Congratulations!”

“Amazing~! Will you come back later as a director?”

Only then did we cheer once again.

“Wow, let’s have a party after work today!”

“Yes. I’ll contact Director Lee and Teacher Inae to see if they’re available! We should have a company dinner at times like this!”

Seol Yuhui smiled brightly.

“Teacher, but aren’t you a little disappointed? If you got a perfect score, you’d be doing interviews…!”

“Ugh, I hate being on TV!”

Gong Nari and Seol Yuhui exchanged jokes while preparing to start treatment.

Right. That’s why she firmly rejected the business card that Melon Soda Horizon’s manager gave her last time.

If she had appeared on the news with a perfect entrance exam score, it would have caused quite a stir.

Actually, even without a perfect score, it would be enough to become an issue thanks to her looks…

‘Even the governor of Pyongyang can quit if he doesn’t like it.’

I hope she gets to fully enjoy the ordinary school life she wanted.

“Clinic Director, I…”

Seol Yuhui, who had changed clothes, requested a meeting with me with one minute left before treatment started.

“I’m going to apply to a Korean medicine university in Busan for my first choice.”

“What? Apply to the best place!”

“Korean University will probably be difficult anyway. I could try applying, but it overlaps with the place I want to go most.”

Ah, were Korean University and Seobusan University in the same group?

If it’s Seobusan University, it would be close to both the clinic and Seol Yuhui’s home, and since Jeong Inseong, who was her tutor, is there as a senior, it would be comfortable in many ways.

“If I get accepted to either one, I’ll come and continue working night or weekend shifts! Though I can’t help it if I only get into my third choice.”

“No, don’t overdo it! Pre-med isn’t that busy, but you should enjoy it! Join clubs, go on group dates!”

I didn’t do either because I was working, but isn’t that what college life dreams are about?

You should do club activities and drink all night, right?

“Being at the clinic is what I like most, hehe.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

…She’s probably saying that because she hasn’t experienced it yet.

Once she actually starts having fun, she’ll ask me to adjust her schedule, right?

I should hire more nursing assistants soon and revise the schedule too.

“That’s right. We’ll look at the schedule then and adjust accordingly. If you change your mind, feel free to say so anytime. You’ve really worked hard.”

Seol Yuhui bowed deeply as she left the examination room.

“Thank you so much. You’re my benefactor. Being able to study is natural, but even during this exam, thinking of you made my heart feel at ease right away.”

Oh my, I didn’t do much, so why all this embarrassing praise!

* * *

University entrance is in March.

I was trying to adjust my schedule only until Seol Yuhui’s enrollment.

But something came up that required urgent schedule adjustments.

“Please save me.”

Hwang Sanghun’s Older Brother, Hwang Jihun, who is currently serving as Hospital Director at Hwang Je Oriental Hospital Changwon Branch, suddenly came and bowed 90 degrees at the waist.

‘This person… he uses his body well.’

Bending at a right angle requires good core and leg muscles.

He really did exercise hard.

No, that’s not what’s important here.

“What’s the matter?”

For a moment, I was so dumbfounded that my mind wandered elsewhere.

Every time he comes, the impact is quite something?

Only then did Hwang Jihun straighten up.

This time, at least he came after asking Hwang Sanghun for permission.

He asked for just a moment after we finished, saying his older brother was coming, so I thought he was just going to say hello.

What is this about?

Hwang Sanghun crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, giving off a very displeased atmosphere.

“Please lend me that guy for just 3 months. I can’t find anyone to hire.”

“What?”

Moreover, the request was something I never expected.

“What do you mean? It’s Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital…? Aren’t there people lining up wanting to be directors? Oh, as a ward attending physician?”

“We’ve never had ward attending physicians. I can’t find directors.”

Generally, doctors you see when going to hospitals for outpatient treatment are called directors or internal medicine chiefs. Of course, if it’s a university hospital, they’re professors.

And ward attending physicians are doctors who manage wards in inpatient units. In training hospitals with interns and residents, residents from the relevant department become ward attending physicians.

In the latter case, since they must stay in the ward, work night shifts, and manage patients 24 hours a day, it’s not a position doctors particularly prefer.

“I didn’t think Changwon Branch was that big…”

“That’s right. It’s small-scale with 6 Korean Medicine Doctor directors, and it’s not a training hospital either.”

Since Oriental Medicine Hospitals can operate with 3-4 Korean Medicine Doctors, it’s not that small among all Oriental Medicine Hospitals.

However, Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital has several branches that use entire buildings. Generally, they have more than 10 directors and 3-4 residents, so it made sense for him to say that.

Since resident positions pay little and involve hardship, it’s common for them to be understaffed outside the metropolitan area.

But among specialists who finished such training, quite many Korean Medicine Doctors want to be directors at Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital.

When the Emperor director was actively expanding branches, there were plenty of positions, but nowadays they don’t open new branches and existing directors don’t quit, so there’s continuous backlog.

So I understood the previous story about difficulty hiring good nursing directors or administrative managers…

“Actually, this is an embarrassing story that shouldn’t be told outside, but rumors have spread widely within the hospital that one shouldn’t go to Changwon Branch.”

…How could that be?

When I tilted my head in confusion, Hwang Jihun tapped his chin while choosing words to explain.

“Um, well.”

“There are factions.”

Then Hwang Sanghun bluntly spoke the unvarnished truth.

“Including Old Man, about half support my older brother as the next Hospital Director, and the other half support someone called Director Jeong Suhwan.”

“Different surname?”

This is the first I’m hearing of this.

Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital has a large position in the Korean medicine field and employs many Korean Medicine Doctors.

So even I, who’s not well-informed about rumors, hear all sorts of stories, but this seemed to be hushed-up content.

“He’s like an uncle-in-law. He’s a son-in-law to Old Man. He said none of his children were quite to his liking, so he was weighing that person against our Father, but now it’s beyond help. Actually, at this point, it’s not just Old Man’s hospital anymore.”

“Ah, so that person is interfering with what Director Hwang Jihun is doing because Old Man is belatedly trying to push his grandson?”

Hwang Jihun nodded somewhat gloomily.

“Yes. It seems like he’s pressuring me saying I won’t be able to take responsibility since I won’t stay in Changwon forever. Oh, even though there are factions, there are far more directors who don’t belong to either side. They probably don’t want to get on the bad side of either faction. Sigh… But to recruit from outside…”

“There hasn’t been precedent for a while.”

Ah.

Now I think I understand.

I too naturally thought Korean Medicine Doctors wanting to enter Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital would be lining up.

But if they post external job openings, that prestige would be broken.

‘Might be a bit childish.’

The uncle-in-law’s side seems to want Hwang Jihun to break that.

“Ridiculous, right? But Old Man originally obsesses over such strange things. If we post job openings, he’ll throw a fit asking how lacking in personal connections we must be to not solve that.”

“Would it be okay if you go, older brother?”

“Well… I figured they’d just brush it off, thinking it was like that performance-building proposal from before.”

“And it’ll change after 3 months?”

“There’s a Clinic Director from Changwon among this year’s third-year residents. I got confirmation that he’ll come.”

Since Hwang Sanghun had already spilled everything anyway, Hwang Jihun openly explained the situation.

Originally, two people from that faction in Changwon had quit, so Hwang Jihun was seeing twice as many patients, but even though his workload was higher than usual, the other directors’ complaints were rising.

The other directors were neutral, but rather than getting caught in the crossfire there, it might be better to go to another Oriental Medicine Hospital.

“I see.”

It made sense that Hwang Jihun needed Hwang Sanghun.

As for me, well…

‘If it’s about 3 months, seeing twice as many patients shouldn’t be much of a problem. The Clinic Director wanted to increase patients too.’

If a typical Vice Director left for 3 months and then returned, patient numbers would drop quite a bit.

But Hwang Sanghun’s patients had such high loyalty that it wouldn’t be a big problem.

“So, what do you want to do, Older Brother?”

In the end, his own opinion was the most important, wasn’t it?

“Do you want to go help your older brother out?”

I could guess the answer.

If he was going to flatly refuse like last time, he wouldn’t have brought him here like this, right?

“Helping my older brother… the connection between subject and predicate feels a bit disgusting.”

Perhaps because he was in front of his older brother, he muttered a joke unlike when it was just me and the staff.

“You also said last time that it would be good for me to gain hospital experience, and it’s not for long…”

“I’ll definitely send him back. Please.”

Hwang Jihun bowed 90 degrees again.

“I don’t want to get involved in that factional fighting, but honestly, I also don’t like the idea of my great-uncle’s influence growing when he’s the one who made Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital into this state.”

This state?

…It’s not like I don’t have some idea what he means.

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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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