The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 219

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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 219

I took out 100 needles and held them, but I didn’t throw them all at once.

No matter what, with so many eyes watching, I couldn’t perform such a conspicuous trick.

I inserted the needles one by one.

So roughly, about 5 per second?

Swish swish swish swish swish swish.

I inserted the needles like planting rice seedlings.

First was the Du Meridian. The meridian that governs the entire body, rising from the perineum along the central line of the spine.

Starting with Jinsuo in the middle of the back, then Zhongshu, Jizhong, Xuanshu, Mingmen, and Yaoyangguan.

Then I placed needles along the Bladder 1 line, 1.5 cun away from the Du Meridian on each side.

From Ganshu and Danshu to Xiaochangshu and Pangguangshu.

And from Bladder 1 line, another 1.5 cun to both sides, up to Bladder 2 line, I inserted needles even in positions without acupoints.

“I’ll also place a few around the tailbone and pelvis area.”

For a lower back pain patient of this age, treating just the waist wouldn’t be enough.

I thoroughly treated not only the Baliao points in the sacral foramina but also the pelvis.

“Ohhhh.”

Before the patient could finish his exclamation, about 60 needles had been inserted.

Kim Kilyeong lay on his side with his mouth wide open.

“Incredibly fast…”

At the same time as those words, I began needling the knees.

20 needles in each knee.

Starting with both Xiyan points, then Zusanli, Yanglingquan, Yinlingquan, Weizhong, Xuehai, Fengshi, and others, I turned the front, back, and sides of both knees into porcupines.

“Are there any other uncomfortable areas?”

“Uh, no.”

Kim Kilyeong, who had been scratching his head in an awkward position, belatedly offered his thanks.

“Thank you. How can you insert them so quickly without any pain?”

“Haha, it’s technique. If you’re comfortable, please lie still for a moment. Let me know if the position becomes difficult.”

After finishing the treatment and raising my head, I saw a student who had been bringing a patient from the preliminary examination area staring at me in amazement.

“Wow…”

“Is the next patient ready?”

“Oh, no. Sorry! It was just so amazing!”

Since they had started from the opposite end, it wasn’t my turn for the next patient yet.

The first two who started treatment had finished, and several in the middle were still in the midst of treatment.

Baek Suji next to me hadn’t even laid her patient down yet and was still examining.

So soon my second patient came.

The students flexibly assigned patients to the Korean medicine doctors who finished treatment first.

“Hello, Ms. Myeongyeongsun. You’ve had dizziness for a long time. Do you feel dizzy all day continuously? Are there any factors that worsen it?”

“When I eat a bit too much, my stomach feels bad and I get dizzy. This happens once or twice a week.”

“Ah, it’s related to the digestive system. After acupuncture treatment today, please get medicine from the herbal pharmacy over there. Take it whenever you have symptoms, and if you need more later, you can purchase it at a nearby oriental medicine clinic.”

“Thank you. Please give me plenty~.”

I wrote on the chart to prescribe Banhabaekchulcheonma-tang and immediately had the patient lie down.

“Please come this way.”

I needed to treat from the head to the digestive system and limbs, but if I could just relieve the food stagnation, the symptoms would improve immediately even without many needles.

I opened two packages of 20 needles each.

Swish swish swish swish.

I poured in all the needles in just 1 minute.

“Hello~!”

The third patient was again a lower back case.

Probably most of the patients who came here had lower back and knee problems? These are the typical areas where elderly patients suffer from degenerative diseases.

“It all hurts from here to here.”

“Do you also have numbness?”

“Yes.”

“It looks like a disc problem, so it won’t heal in one session. I’ll treat you as gently as possible today. Can you lie face down on the floor? Would you like to wait for a bed?”

“Oh, I sleep on a blanket on the floor at home anyway.”

Since both bed spots were full, I had the third patient lie face down on a blanket.

I knelt on one knee and prepared to treat.

“Um, by any chance.”

“Please go ahead.”

The patient glanced at the needles and asked me.

“Could you also treat my shoulders? It’s not as old a problem as my back, but they’re always stiff.”

“Of course.”

I smiled gently.

And the moment the patient put his head into the neck pillow and adjusted his position.

Swiiiiiiish.

I instantly inserted needles again.

To treat the shoulders, back, and lower back all together, I used about 100 needles, but it didn’t take very long.

Including finding the pressure points, it took at most about 2 minutes.

“I’ll see the next patient.”

At the point when I had finished placing needles on all 5 patients.

Other patients who should have been waiting were surrounding me and watching.

“Wow, this Clinic Director is amazing.”

“Student, can I also get treatment from this Clinic Director?”

“I’m sorry! We have to go in order! And it might make the patient being treated feel burdened, so please step back a little!”

The student’s eyes trembled as she responded to the excessive reaction.

Even the President’s eyes, who was trying to control the situation, couldn’t hide her amazement.

‘Huh?’

It was understandable that the patients would be surprised.

After all, there aren’t many opportunities to see someone else getting acupuncture.

But was it something for even the club President to be surprised about?

“Hehe, I’m surprised too. In my fifty years of life, this is the first time I’ve seen someone perform acupuncture like this.”

“Really…?”

Even the Professor who had been making rounds was amazed.

“How did you do that? You’re inserting needles at the speed of just moving your hand? How do you take them out one by one?”

The Young Korean Medicine Doctor nearby even tried to imitate my hand movements.

…It wasn’t really that amazing though?

Isn’t it just about inserting them quickly? I didn’t even use internal energy, it was just at a speed perfectly possible with normal human movement.

‘It’s just about six or seven per second, but to react this much… Ah.’

Or maybe not.

Is it normally not possible?

Since Korean Medicine Doctors these days are used to tapping against needle tubes, they might not have practiced enough to hold them with fingers and insert them quickly.

“…Haha.”

Suddenly, cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

“Wow! My knee doesn’t hurt at all.”

Right at that timing, Kim Kilyeong, who had received the first treatment, finished his treatment and jumped up.

He praised me while hopping around the Auditorium.

“My back feels refreshed too!”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie about something like this!”

Moreover, Myeongyeongsun, who had received the second treatment, also spoke up.

“Come to think of it, my stomach already feels comfortable and the dizziness has completely gone away?”

“Th-Student. How can I also get treatment from that Clinic Director…”

Things were getting worse.

An Old Man took out crumpled ten-thousand-won bills from his pocket and tried to press them into the President’s hand.

“Elders, please take your seats! You have to go in order!”

…I tried to help as inconspicuously as possible, so why did it turn out like this?

“Now, now, everyone go back to your seats.”

“Everyone needs to hurry if we want to finish treatment before lunch!”

In the end, even the Professor and I had to step in to send the patients back to the waiting chairs.

“I’m sorry. From now on, I’ll treat at a moderate pace.”

I sighed deeply and apologized.

“Oh no, not at all. We’re grateful if you take on many patients. Please continue to help us.”

Of course, the Professor, President, and even the surrounding students tried to dissuade me.

“I’ll see the next patient.”

“As expected of our Clinic Director. Fighting.”

Seol Yuhui’s face was full of proud smiles as she brought me the next patient.

I shook my head and continued seeing patients.

Consultation, treatment. Then consultation, treatment again.

When a little over two hours had passed like that, Baek Suji spoke to me.

“Clinic Director, let’s take a little break.”

“I’m fine.”

“Everyone else is taking turns resting… Don’t you get tired from the floor?”

I was perfectly fine.

Of course, since I had gathered the blankets that were spread here and there next to the consultation desk, I did have to treat quite a few patients on the floor.

“Haha, my back is quite sturdy.”

Korean Medicine Doctors these days who only perform acupuncture while standing would find it difficult.

But I had done this for several years.

Only after becoming somewhat famous and saving money could I decorate my Treatment Room as I wanted.

I placed beds at appropriate intervals, hung curtains to ensure privacy, and could make patients wait if there were no available spots.

But in the beginning, I had no money to buy such furniture and didn’t know how to make it, so I just had patients lie on the floor as they came and treated them there.

So it actually brought back memories?

“Still, thank you for the suggestion.”

I thanked Baek Suji, who had brought me water in amazement, and did some light stretching.

Even if other doctors examined patients more thoroughly, I treated all the patients who insisted on seeing me specifically.

Wouldn’t it be faster to just go along with it rather than fight with stubborn patients?

That way, I ended up handling about a quarter of the morning patients by myself.

“Amazing! This is the first time I’ve eaten lunch on time since coming here!”

Moreover, I was able to finish all the patients who registered 10 minutes before lunch break.

The chronic problem of inevitable delays after preliminary examinations and before consultations was finally resolved.

“The number of patients was also record-breaking.”

“Doctor Han’s reputation spread in that short time, so another crowd came around 11 o’clock.”

“Ahaha.”

While eating lunch boxes, I had a brief opportunity to talk with the students.

“I saw the YouTube video!”

“Thank you~.”

“Doctor, could I come to your clinic for treatment next time?”

“Of course. Just come by!”

“I was worried it might be bothersome!”

“Oh, not at all.”

Baek Suji also slipped into the students’ conversation and asked me.

She said she was curious about how I normally conduct consultations.

“I see at most 20 to 30 patients a day and I’m always busy. When I hear stories about doctors seeing over 100 patients a day, I wondered if it was even possible… You saw over 100 just this morning, right?”

“Oh, at the clinic I ask much more detailed questions. We have a vice director too, so I rarely see more than 70 patients per person.”

“But you still checked everything you needed to, right? Even 70 is incredible!”

The students didn’t quite grasp it, but the doctors sitting nearby listening to the conversation were jaw-dropped.

I wasn’t trying to brag, but this was embarrassing.

“Do all the doctors at Seongsuhaneui Clinic perform acupuncture like that? Do they teach you how to do it quickly when you join the network…?”

“Only I do it this way. And anyone can do it with practice.”

Probably…?

I dismissed the young Korean medicine doctor’s joke from earlier about trying to copy my hand movements.

And made future plans with Baek Suji for the afternoon consultation.

“…”

“Wow.”

After finishing our meal on the 2nd floor and going down to the waiting room.

The waiting room that had been completely empty just an hour ago was packed full again.

“Didn’t you say the elderly usually come early in the morning, so afternoons are quiet?”

Someone asked the president, but the gathered people didn’t disappear.

“That was the case until last year…”

“They must have come after hearing rumors.”

“Yes. There were many people who left happy saying they were all better.”

“Hehe, it’s good to have many patients. Everyone, let’s keep our energy up until the end.”

The professor organized the murmuring crowd, and everyone headed to their respective positions.

Right, let’s keep our spirits up.

* * *

“Everyone worked hard!”

After treating the last registered patient, we were barely able to finish our volunteer work at the scheduled time.

“Doctor, just a moment.”

The president and the welfare center staff called Baek Suji and me.

It was to discuss the soybean astragalus incident from this morning.

“We also asked the patients who came after lunch if anyone had recently purchased soybean astragalus or other medicinal herbs.”

The total number of victims secured this way was 8. There were even more witnesses who saw the scammer, though they couldn’t afford to buy because it was too expensive.

There was also a patient who bought other medicinal herbs besides soybean astragalus, so when I looked at the photo.

“This is perilla leaf.”

“That’s right. Ah… they’re specifically scamming with cheap raw materials.”

“This person is furious and demanding a refund. I think they’ll file a report tomorrow too.”

“That’s fortunate at least.”

It seemed they were carrying several medicinal herbs besides soybean astragalus.

And thanks to the patients who came from the neighboring village for treatment this time, we learned some information.

Four days ago, that scammer had appeared at the neighboring village community center.

“It seems they’re going around this area these days.”

“Can’t we find out where their next schedule is?”

“This is serious. Not just the money, but we don’t even know if the medicinal herbs are proper.”

Baek Suji frowned.

Fortunately, the condition of the soybean astragalus we saw earlier and the perilla leaf in the photo weren’t bad enough to cause problems if consumed, but we couldn’t be sure about all the medicinal herbs they sold.

They obviously would have imported large quantities of unverified products to keep costs as low as possible.

“I’ll contact all the surrounding community centers tomorrow to check.”

The president clenched his fist and swallowed hard.

He was saying he would call nearby community centers to confirm events where the suspected scammer was scheduled to appear.

“Will that be okay though?”

“You doctors are busy, so I should handle this kind of thing.”

“Thank you. Please let us know immediately if you find anything out.”

I was planning to contact the grandmother’s child, whose number I had received earlier, to persuade them to file a report.

And if the scammer’s tracks could be traced.

‘We need to catch them in the act.’

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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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