The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 221

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 221

Coincidentally, Baek Suji, Lee Dongwon, and I arrived at our destination almost simultaneously.

The restaurant Lee Dongwon mentioned was located on a large plot of land, slightly uphill along the slope from the market entrance.

Seeing the elderly bustling about in the market, it seemed like a five-day market was being held, but there were only a few cars in the parking lot.

We parked our three cars side by side in the parking lot located behind the restaurant and got out.

“Clinic Director, how did you get here so fast? Did you step on it hard…?”

“Traffic wasn’t bad since it’s morning.”

“Mine wasn’t bad either…?”

“Wow, if you park wrong here, you’d die a horrible death.”

Baek Suji, who had started from the closest location, seemed somewhat puzzled.

Lee Dongwon was trembling at the parking lot’s location. There was no fence toward the cliff side, just a single rope stretched across.

“Let’s go right in.”

Postponing small talk for later, we moved to the restaurant’s front entrance.

Elderly people who had finished their early meal were coming out, so we had to wait by the door for a moment.

But several of them glanced at us sideways.

“Why are there so many young people here today~?”

Some even struck up conversation.

Was it because we were unfamiliar faces? Seeing that the market wasn’t small, it didn’t seem like a village where everyone knew each other.

Well, there probably weren’t many young people around anyway.

“Hello~.”

Lee Dongwon greeted them politely, but I immediately pushed open the restaurant door.

The swindler might run away after hearing that commotion.

‘…!’

Sure enough, a very suspicious-looking man was gathering up his belongings at the far end of the restaurant hall.

“Where do you think you’re running?”

At my words, the man simultaneously ran toward the kitchen and started smashing dishes wildly.

“Wow, he’s going hard?”

The chase began.

“Ah, there must have been a door over there too!”

“We should have surrounded the back door first!”

Lee Dongwon and Baek Suji were very flustered.

But surrounding him wouldn’t have worked anyway.

With him breaking things and running like there was no tomorrow, would it have been possible to catch him if one of them had been guarding the back door? It would be fortunate if they didn’t get hurt.

“It’s fine. We can just chase him.”

I’d already seen his face and identified his unique energy anyway.

I hadn’t attached a tracking scent, but I could find him anywhere nearby.

“He’s not here?”

“Did he already go down this way?”

Below the parking lot was a cliff. There was only one road leading up to the restaurant. If he had gone down the road, we would have spotted him when we came around from the front entrance.

So it was natural for them to be confused, but.

“No, he’s over there!”

No matter how much they racked their brains, it was clear as day to my eyes.

“I noticed earlier that it’s not that high of a cliff.”

Less than 2 jang. About 4 or 5 meters?

“Gasp!”

“No matter how much you jump, you’re just a flea!”

I shouted provocatively toward the bottom, but the two seemed very surprised.

Baek Suji quickly devised a strategy.

Lee Dongwon would continue the chase, Baek Suji would return to her car and go toward the road connection, and I should go to the bus stop.

This clinic director, has she played a lot of chase games?

But there was no need to move so complicatedly. Using my body was more convenient than using my head.

Tap! Ta-tap!

I stepped on two spots on the rocky cliff

Thud!

And landed below.

Actually, jumping down wouldn’t have mattered much, but I was worried they’d be too shocked.

“Caught you.”

There was brief resistance, but I easily subdued him.

“Wait, what did you just do?”

“Clinic Director! Did you learn judo?”

“Haha, I learned a bit of this and that!”

It went smoothly, and since it was soft dirt, he probably wasn’t hurt much.

While they were shocked and amazed from above, I was planning to tuck the swindler I’d thrown down lightly under my arm and climb the cliff again.

“Let, let me walk up on my own.”

“Hmm?”

“Please, please! I won’t run away…!”

It would be safer for me to carry him up than for him to climb directly.

The swindler trembled and begged, as if worried I might drop him.

Hmm, it’ll be quick anyway.

“Uh, ah, ah…”

The swindler seemed to be panicking, and since there were people watching, I did as he wanted.

Tch, if I had come alone, I would have just knocked him out and taken him to the police station.

“He was a swindler?”

“Pay for the dishes, you bastard!”

“Wow, we’re seeing quite a show today~.”

After climbing up the cliff, several people who had come out from the restaurant gathered in the parking lot.

The victim grandfather and restaurant owner, who belatedly grasped the situation, were furious.

Other people also whispered among themselves in small groups.

We took them back inside again.

“First, cough up all the money you scammed today!”

We intimidated him into opening his backpack, and I also greeted the person who had helped catch the swindler.

“Oh my, I thought I messed up and let him escape, but you came right away. What a relief.”

“Thank you. The timing was perfect.”

“My parents also get fooled by people like this and keep buying jade cutting boards. It’s really disgusting! Oh, look at me. I’ll call the police now.”

She said she was a welfare center staff member. She couldn’t bring herself to kick the swindler, so she stomped her feet hard instead.

She also contacted the local police station.

“Does it feel good to prey on old people!”

“That was almost a disaster!”

“Did someone report this from here?”

While helping clean up the dishes and calming people’s fierce criticism and violent attempts, the police soon arrived.

They came faster than I thought?

“Everyone who made purchases, please come closer. Everyone else, please step back for a moment!”

We helped the fraud victims retrieve their respective money.

The police confiscated the herbal medicine the swindler was carrying as evidence.

“Let’s go to the station and finish talking there.”

Perhaps because we were surrounding them, all the police officers actively worked to resolve the incident.

Roughly speaking, the swindler’s arrest was concluded.

‘…Huh?’

But I felt a strange killing intent from one corner of the restaurant.

Of course, it wasn’t particularly strange for the swindler, Yeom Yeongi, to harbor killing intent toward me.

If it weren’t for me, he would have escaped safely, but now he’s facing prison time.

But the direction was different.

Yeom Yeongi himself was just scared…

“Excuse me?”

One of the fraud victims was glaring at me.

The money was returned and the swindler was caught, so why was this grandmother doing this?

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have some relationship with Mr. Yeom Yeongi?”

I still presumed innocence and asked politely, but the grandmother suspiciously avoided my eyes.

“Weren’t you the first person to purchase the soybean royal fist?”

The police officer who was about to go outside was puzzled by my sudden action.

“…Could she be a shill?”

Finally, Baek Suji’s deductive skills shone.

“That’s right! When we came in earlier, the grandmother shouted asking why young people like us came, didn’t she?”

My intuition and her speculation matched perfectly.

Baek Suji pressed her, but the grandmother said nothing and kept her mouth tightly shut.

“Do any of you know this person?”

“She’s a grandmother I haven’t seen before.”

At my question, the village people chattered and looked for someone who knew her.

But no one came forward.

“Could you please show us your ID?”

“…”

The police officer also seemed to judge that there was a high possibility she was an accomplice.

Wow, I almost missed this. To sell such expensive medicine so easily, it’s natural to have a shill or two, hmm.

I looked around to see if there were any other suspicious people.

“Please accompany us as a witness for a moment.”

When the police officer stopped waiting and grabbed the grandmother’s arm.

“Hey!”

A rough voice burst out from her.

“Wow, that voice…”

“You can’t even escape properly from one thing and cause all this trouble?”

“Uh, at least Mom should go alone…”

“You bastard! Who do you think is your mom!”

…Wow.

Well, it would all come out during the investigation anyway…

“Th-that, Mom just bought some stuff.”

“Shut up, you bastard! Ah, that restaurant owner also got money from this guy!”

“What? You said you were just selling herbs for a bit!”

So it was his mother. A mother-son fraud team.

Huh. It’s the end times, the end times.

The murderous intent shifted from me to Yeom Yeongi.

The grandmother was furious and hurled curses at her son.

“We almost missed the accomplice. Thank you. Even helping us catch him… I’ll try to push for a brave citizen award.”

“Oh, it’s nothing special. Please handle it well.”

I waved my hand at the police officer making empty promises.

They eventually used force to escort the mother-son swindlers away.

“Everyone worked hard.”

“What hard work? Director, you did everything yourself!”

“I was really shocked when you jumped down.”

Perhaps because they chased all the way to Miryang but didn’t get to do much, the two seemed a bit disappointed.

“Thanks to Director Baek, we caught the decoy too.”

“No, Director Han caught that one too! How did you know?”

“I didn’t really know anything, just his eyes looked suspicious.”

I consoled their disappointment while praising Baek Suji.

“…You’re really not an ordinary person. I wanted to become friends with you, Director, but your walking technique is different.”

“Ah, the walking technique is different indeed.”

“…?”

“…?”

What’s this atmosphere?

“Ah, is that some trendy expression?”

“…No. Your walking technique going down the cliff was really, different, yes.”

Since we gathered at the restaurant, we also ordered food.

It wasn’t crowded for no reason – it was quite a good restaurant.

“What kind of director are you?”

I also gave some health consultations to the local people and got promises that they’d visit our Oriental Medicine Clinic or Baek Suji’s clinic.

Though given the distance, it would probably be hard for them to actually come.

“I’ll really come visit sometime soon!”

Thus ending the short Miryang outing.

The three people each got in their cars and returned to Busan and Gimhae.

* * *

Before long, news came about how the case was being handled.

Even the grandmother who had first shown me the soybean sovereignty pills was able to get her money back.

– Thank you for persuading me to report it. When I reported a used goods scammer before, even though they caught him, he had spent everything and had nothing left, so I couldn’t get anything back. So there are cases like this where you get it back.

“That’s fortunate.”

When they searched the arrested swindler’s mother, they found bank accounts and cash piled up at home.

It was really fortunate that we caught the decoy too.

The trial should be starting soon, right? Returning money is one thing, but I hope they definitely go to prison too.

– The brave citizen award is only for arresting violent criminals… But Teacher, would it be possible to do a local newspaper interview?

The police officer who had taken my contact information also called once.

Wasn’t that citizen award just a joke? I was belatedly horrified and told him absolutely not to pursue it.

“An interview shouldn’t be too difficult.”

I accepted the request without much consideration.

It seemed the reporter wanted to interview everyone from the police to me, Lee Dongwon, Baek Suji, and even the welfare center staff.

If it’s in the newspaper, it should help reduce fraud damage, right?

A few days later.

“Are you Director Han Yewon of Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic?”

I was going to work when some reporter and cameraman grabbed me.

“…That’s right?”

“Hello! I’m reporter Kim Hyeongjin from KNS!”

Didn’t they say local newspaper?

Why a broadcasting station?

And these two weren’t all.

In front of the clinic building, three shiny black limousines were lined up.

And around them were lots of cars and people in suits.

“What on earth is this situation?”

Just for catching one swindler, interview requests come like this?

No matter how much I thought about it, that didn’t seem likely.

But what other reason would there be for people to gather in front of the clinic like this?

Even though some fairly famous people came and went occasionally, they had all just come as ordinary patients…

“Prince Faisal bin Amir Al Saud has come to visit!”

The reporter immediately solved my question.

And soon, shock dozens of times greater hit me.

What?

What prince?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————