The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 20

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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 20

My connection with Seo Inae began when I took over the current traditional Korean medicine clinic.

Of the two nursing assistants who worked under the previous clinic director, one quit, and Seo Inae said she would stay alone.

– You want me to come to work by 6:30 AM? That’s wonderful. I always felt like morning time was precious.

Come to think of it, wasn’t she unusual from the beginning?

When I first opened the clinic, I was burning with extremely abnormal enthusiasm, and I thought she was just someone who lived with ordinary passion.

‘The words “ordinary” and “passion” couldn’t really go together.’

Seo Inae worked very diligently.

She would arrive at exactly 6:29:59, change into her uniform, finish cleaning, and greet me.

After preparing in advance, she would leave like the wind at exactly 5:00:01 PM.

‘Up to this point, she was just a typical Gen Z worker.’

When I spoke to her about non-work matters, she would respond very formally, but in the work domain, from daily settlements to managing toilet paper inventory, there was nothing lacking.

Since she clearly showed that she didn’t want to become close with me, her employer, I didn’t make any effort to close the distance either.

Senior Student was smoking cigarettes with her colleagues at the oriental medicine clinic where she got a job, and Hwangseoyeong seemed to get along very well with her coworkers too.

But I wasn’t as sociable as them, and I was someone who didn’t mind working with people I wasn’t close to.

I have more than 10 college classmates whose faces and names I can’t match!

Until now, we had maintained an appropriately distant relationship with no complaints from either side.

“Think of it as unlimited refills and order whatever you want! What do you like? Tenderloin? Sirloin?”

However, once I became interested, the story changed completely.

Master said my competitive spirit was somewhat excessive. It was good to treat patients persistently, but if my obsession went in strange directions, it would be uncontrollable.

But regardless of what anyone said, once I made up my mind, I would act on it.

I mean, I brought the Martial Arts Alliance Leader and Cheonma together in one place and held a summit meeting!

How could I not manage to become friends with one person?

“Really? Then I’ll have the ribeye cap.”

I used any means necessary -the power and money of an employer- to win Seo Inae’s favor.

First, I brought her to a beef restaurant and fed her lots of delicious food to lower her guard.

“Is the work difficult? I’m sorry I haven’t been able to pay much attention.”

“Not at all. You don’t pressure me at all, and it’s comfortable working alone. There haven’t been any difficult customers yet either.”

“This traditional Korean medicine clinic was your first job after I took it over, right?”

“As a nursing assistant, yes. Before that, I worked at a factory for a few months.”

“Oh~.”

“Should I order a beer? Do you like alcohol?”

“I drink pretty well.”

I didn’t hesitate to engage in drinking and entertainment that I usually didn’t enjoy.

“Karaoke? I’d prefer a place with more variety of alcohol.”

“What do you like? Whiskey? Wine? Sake? Let’s order everything!”

The company dinner proceeded very harmoniously. Somehow the dinner continued to a third round, and I followed Seo Inae’s lead into a quiet bar.

And then came the natural progression.

We drank a lot. A whole lot.

Drinking. Feeding her. Drinking more.

I could have secretly used my internal energy to neutralize the alcohol, but we both needed to get red-faced and slur our words for her guard to come down.

“Actually, I’m working two jobs…”

“Oh my, do you have debts?”

I drank about the same amount of soju as Seo Inae, or actually a bit more.

“No, *hic* that’s not it.”

“Then. You just want to make a lot of money?”

This is getting a bit dangerous? My tongue was starting to get twisted.

Seo Inae shook her head back and forth.

After pausing for a moment, she banged on the table.

“Huuuung. Clinic Director, you’re from a wealthy family, right? You’ll never understand my feelings!”

“I’m all in debt too~. I barely paid tuition by tutoring throughout school!”

“Eh… Really?”

Honestly, from around here, things went beyond my original plan.

Somehow I ended up rambling about how I lost both parents early, grew up being mistreated at my aunt’s house, and left home empty-handed as soon as I got into university.

“*Sob*, I was, really. In university. So miserable. Someone’s grandfather owned several hospitals, and someone else would bring out ten-million-won bottles of alcohol!”

Her reaction to my detailed sob story was.

“But how can you manage the business like this?!”

She got angry.

Did she think I was running the traditional Korean medicine clinic as a hobby until now? I’m completely 100% doing this to make a living!

If I had money! Huh? …I would have practiced medicine. In the mountains, much deeper than here.

“You’re barely avoiding losses, aren’t you? Paying rent, paying my salary, and even though acupuncture needles don’t cost much, you use the highest quality medicinal herbs!”

“Come on, the number of patients is increasing. It’ll be bustling soon.”

“I know you’re an incredible physician. That’s exactly why you should have taken out more loans and opened near the station – you would have made over 100 million won in monthly sales!”

“You’re absolutely right.”

Seeing how she hid the smart store management screen, she must be running a business, right?

Having lived for 20 years outside the capitalist system, she had a much more solid grasp of economics than I did.

“But Teacher, what kind of work do you do for your second job?”

I downed another shot and asked again.

I was itching to ask about the vending machine, but I started by subtly steering the conversation back.

“Ah, well, you see…”

“It’s not like our contract has a clause prohibiting side jobs, so what’s the big deal?”

“Actually, to be precise, it’s not a second job but a… no wait, it’s a fifth job now.”

“…What?”

For a moment, my jaw dropped and I was speechless.

“Ah, honestly, you did raise my salary quite a bit, but there’s a limit to what a nursing assistant can earn. I need to buy a house, buy a car, and prepare for retirement.”

Even without me adding any more responses, the sufficiently drunk Seo Inae continued her story smoothly.

“So after the clinic, I started a second job working night shifts at a convenience store. But even with 1.5 times the salary, it was still nowhere near enough. So I was thinking, isn’t there a way to make more money? I was watching YouTube, and smart stores were trending. I started right away.”

Oh… oh… Her execution skills are no joke?

“I also started a blog for promotion, and as I was doing that, I got greedy for ad revenue so I grew it a bit. Now that I’ve saved up some money, I started studying real estate auctions, and the people I met there were also running share houses and vending machines.”

“Yes…”

“There happened to be a public auction for the high school right in front of my workplace, so I thought, should I try installing a vending machine? I bid and ended up winning it.”

What story am I hearing right now?

I never thought she was someone who lived this diligently.

She’s not an ordinary MZ generation, but what do you call it, an N-jobber?

“I thought I just had to change the products every few days after work, but the students eat more snacks than I expected. Hehe…”

“So the five jobs are the clinic, convenience store, blog, share house, and vending machine?”

“I’m not doing the share house yet. I’m still looking into it!”

“Then what’s the last one?”

“YouTube. I have 500 subscribers now! Just need to accumulate a bit more watch time to meet the monetization requirements!”

Seo Inae jumped up from her seat and turned on a video.

YouTube was still small-time.

The YouTubers that appeared in my algorithm during my unemployed days had at least 100,000 subscribers as a baseline.

“There’s nothing that really grabs attention. I have many subscribers on my blog who are also doing multiple jobs, but just having them watch a little bit isn’t enough.”

Something that grabs attention.

Before I knew it, I was thinking about YouTube content ideas together with Seo Inae.

She had videos about daily vlogs of an N-jobber, reviews of part-time jobs and workplaces she’d done so far, nursing assistant exams, and how to start a vending machine business, but most had view counts in the double or triple digits. Even the ones that did well barely exceeded a thousand.

“Hmm.”

Was I too drunk?

“Should I show you something interesting? Hold up the camera.”

I just wanted to be of a little help to Seo Inae.

She’s not far from reaching 3,000 hours of watch time in a year, right?

“What? Are you going to show me magic?”

“Something like that.”

From end to end of the bar, that would be about 3 meters… maybe 10 meters? Too small.

“Let’s go outside.”

Anyway, right outside was a park, and there were hardly any people.

“That’s it!”

There was a statue of a peeing boy at a fountain that hadn’t been used in a long time.

I ran in the opposite direction, moving busily.

“Film from over there~”

First, I tore open all the acupuncture needle packets I had and stuffed them into my sleeve.

It would have been better if I had thick needles, but… if I burn a little internal energy, it should be fine, right? Hehe.

“Zoom out! So you can barely see my hands! Okay?”

“Yesss~!”

Even though she didn’t know what I was trying to do, she obediently held up her smartphone.

No people, good target.

Good thing I always carry a handful of needles in my bag!

Excitedly, I threw one needle toward the center of the fountain.

“Waaah!”

It stuck precisely in the center of the statue’s forehead.

Before Seo Inae’s exclamation even ended, I held 10 needles between my fingers on both hands.

“Amazing!”

The thoroughly drunk Seo Inae cheered me on. Encouraged by her enthusiasm, I threw all 10 at once.

The projectiles I threw… no, the needles drew a perfect circle in a parabolic arc.

They stuck in order along the Conception Vessel that runs through the center of the body.

Thwack!

Not a single one missed. All at the same time.

After that, various types of needles of different specifications were mixed in. With one long needle in the center, dozens of needles scattered to form a flower pattern.

“Uh, uh uh, uh uh…!?”

Swoooooosh!

A speed that Seo Inae’s eyes couldn’t follow.

“How is this… possible…?!”

Worried that the excessively thin needles wouldn’t show up on camera, my inner energy blazed with a green light.

Using the Shadowless Blood Poison Step, I circled around the fountain and scattered dozens, hundreds of needles that shattered the laws of physics. The needles flew in impossible trajectories.

The flowers blooming from my hands danced to their own rhythms as they ascended, then fell like rain with perfect timing.

“…Amazing! What is this? The Ten Thousand Heavenly Flower Rain from webtoons?”

You read martial arts webtoons while being so busy with work?

Hehe, how could she not be amazed seeing needles pierce all 365 acupoints of the human body?

Seo Inae clapped her hands in delight.

“Hey now, you can’t teach secret techniques to outsiders. Maybe like 20% Ten Thousand Heavenly Flower Rain?”

“I see!”

Amazing, cool, where did you learn that? How can needles pierce through stone?

Seo Inae showered me with praise, chattering away about this and that.

What did I answer to all that?

Strangely enough, I couldn’t remember.

“We’re friends now, right? Starting tomorrow, we can chat casually?”

“Of course! Total besties! Boss, you’re the best!”

All that remained in my head were blurry shapes and voices.

* * *

“Ugh, I drank way too much…”

Seo Inae, who lived in a gosiwon to save on expenses, woke up with her upper body draped over the toilet.

How did I get home?

Did the Clinic Director bring me back? Oh no, did I tell the Clinic Director everything about living here and doing delivery work?

“You’re crazy, Seo Inae!”

She slapped both her cheeks with her hands and cried out in despair.

Even if I was drunk, how could I have told her all of that? What boss in the world would be happy to hear their employee has a side job?

‘I won’t get fired, will I? There’s no other job as sweet as this one.’

Where else could she find a place with long working hours that paid well, yet gave her so much free time for other work in between?

Seo Inae washed her face while worrying about what to say on Monday.

‘I need to say something…’

Apologizing felt a bit awkward. Make excuses? Hmm…

Tapping her fingers while thinking of what to say, she unconsciously pressed the ‘+’ symbol in the bottom left.

“Huh?”

And she discovered something strange.

“What’s this video?”

There was a video on her phone that she had no memory of recording.

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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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