The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 222
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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 222
Fai… what was that? I couldn’t even memorize the entire name.
But I could roughly tell he was a prince from Saudi Arabia.
The “Al Saud” at the end gave it away, and an ambassador had visited before too.
‘But why would a prince come here?’
Even in the martial arts world, I had never been officially involved with royalty.
Coming all the way back to South Korea only to be asked to treat a foreign prince?
“Wait a moment, I’m sorry. Let me check the clinic situation.”
There was no time to leisurely be surprised.
Though there were still 20 minutes until the clinic’s opening hours, the staff were contractually obligated to arrive 30 minutes early.
Occasionally like this… though never as noisily as a prince, but we needed to open the doors for patients who came early to wait, and handle heating, cooling, and cleaning.
‘How are they handling this?’
Since no phone call had come yet, it seemed they had just arrived, but I needed to sort out the situation as quickly as possible.
“Excuse me.”
From the building entrance to the elevator, people in black suits were lined up everywhere.
There were foreigners, and some Koreans mixed in, possibly hired locally.
“Are you the patient visiting Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic?”
“I’m the clinic director.”
“My apologies!”
As the black suits parted left and right, I felt like some kind of gangster.
The man standing right next to the elevator even pressed the button for me.
‘What are they doing in someone else’s building!’
I asked the person standing in front of the elevator buttons again.
“Where is His Highness?”
“He’s waiting on the 4th floor!”
“Let’s go there.”
Soon we arrived at the 4th floor and the doors opened.
“■■■■! ■■■■■■■■■!! ■■■■! ■■■■■■!”
I could immediately spot the prince.
Unlike everyone else wearing suits, he was alone wearing clothes that screamed ‘I am a prince of Saudi Arabia’ while giving an interview.
He was speaking in a completely incomprehensible language, with very grand gestures as he moved his body.
What is he saying right now?
The bodyguards probably wouldn’t know, but someone I could ask…
“Ahmed?”
I spotted a familiar face in one corner of the waiting room.
Ambassador Ahmed.
“Jeon Yu-ri, you’re here too? …You’re probably not here for treatment by coincidence, so what’s going on?”
And next to him was Jeon Yu-ri.
Did these two bring the prince?
I asked Jeon Yu-ri first, since I felt closer to her.
“As soon as His Highness arrived in Busan, he said he absolutely had to meet you, Director.”
Jeon Yu-ri looked at Ahmed.
“I’m sorry. I did brag about you, Director, but I didn’t know he would move up his visit to Korea.”
Ahmed bowed his head briefly and explained the situation.
“But even before I mentioned you, he already knew about you, Director.”
Jeon Yu-ri had brought up my story at a gathering of several Saudi corporate executives, and the ambassador had come to find me after hearing that story.
And one of those executives had told the prince about me.
With the ambassador also bragging about me, he had appeared in person like this.
‘How do rumors spread so fast?’
Was this a different prince from the one I briefly mentioned who received skin treatment from a Korean medicine doctor?
From the circumstances, that person would be around Ahmed’s age, but this prince before me was quite young.
‘So he just came for travel then.’
He could have come quietly like Ahmed, so why did he bring all these people?
Maybe he’s the type who enjoys attention.
I felt a headache coming on and sighed.
But what could I do about something that had already happened.
“First, it’s too noisy for other patients to come in. Please have the bodyguards step back from the 4th floor so we can see regular patients, and let’s go to the 3rd floor. My examination room is downstairs.”
“■■■! ■■!”
“What is he saying?”
“He came early to avoid being a disturbance, and he’s apologizing.”
The prince was giving his interview so enthusiastically that I spoke to someone next to him, but he answered directly.
Eventually the camera turned toward me too.
“Oh, hello. I’m Hanyewon.”
We introduced ourselves with an interpreter between us.
The prince’s name was Prince Faisal bin Amir Al Saud. He too had come seeking treatment for frequent headaches and rhinitis.
When I requested to move and clear the 4th floor, he immediately withdrew his entire entourage.
“He says the paintings are very beautiful. He’s curious about which artist painted them.”
“Tell him it’s Artist Seong Myeongin, an emerging artist who paints Oriental paintings.”
Even so, he constantly spoke to me.
“The Prince also loves paintings very much. He says if you visit Saudi Arabia next time, he’ll introduce you to artists from his homeland.”
…That was information I really wasn’t curious about.
Hearing about art, I noticed that the prince’s attire was quite extravagant.
Much more so than ‘that crown prince’ often seen on the news.
While that one needs to look dignified, this prince might be all dressed up.
The bags carried by the three secretaries following behind were all luxury brands, and the cloth wrapped around his head was probably designer too, though I couldn’t tell for sure.
“Thank you, Clinic Director… I was really so surprised.”
Once the entourage was completely gone, the staff who had been huddled together breathed sighs of relief.
They didn’t even know an ambassador had come, but suddenly a prince burst in – how flustered must they have been.
“Working here, we get to experience all sorts of amazing things!”
“Ah, but one person needs to come down with us.”
But one person had to come along.
Since the prince would likely need treatment, we needed to handle registration, and someone had to ask the 3rd floor reception desk for understanding that today he’d be seeing a different director on the 4th floor.
“Eek!”
“…!”
“I’ll go down.”
Fortunately, the most experienced Seo Inae volunteered.
I was truly grateful. I should give her a bonus.
What kind of natural disaster is this?
“Please make sure other patients don’t feel uncomfortable.”
Move the limousine to the underground parking lot too!
The security personnel who have to stay outside can’t be helped… but the reporters and cameramen are all coming up to the 3rd floor!
“Yes. I’ll try to see patients quickly so as not to cause disruption.”
Then the secretary held out a box.
“We’ve prepared something that exceeds a day’s revenue. This is a gift the Prince is sending.”
It wasn’t about money, but about ensuring the patients who came to see me could receive treatment, but I don’t refuse gifts that are offered.
I accepted it for now.
The box wasn’t large, and it had a Louis Vuitton logo embossed on the surface.
At this size, is it a wallet?
It would be interesting if the box was full of 50,000 won bills.
It would be rude to check right away though.
“Please write your name and date of birth here.”
Seo Inae handled everything smoothly without changing her expression at all.
She transferred the prince’s personal information to the chart and even printed and attached a paper explaining the situation.
“Clinic Director, could we possibly have an interview…!”
“Ah, yes. I was also very surprised that the Prince would visit like this.”
Only after doing interviews with the reporters who came up as instructed could I finally see patients.
“Are you two coming in together as well?”
Many more people accompanied him than just those two.
The prince sat right next to me, with the interpreter and secretary beside him.
Ahmed and Jeon Yu-ri sat on the sofa by the wall. And bodyguards stood inside and outside the door.
“Prince Faisal, do you also have chronic headaches like Ahmed?”
“I’ll add the formalities when I interpret, so please speak comfortably. He says it hurts on both sides whenever he’s stressed.”
The prince, hearing the interpretation, held his head with both hands.
“Does it feel like a band tightening around your head?”
“■■■■■■!”
“He says that’s right.”
“How long have you…”
“■■! ■■■? ■■■■!”
Since the conversation got tangled, I listened to the prince’s story first.
“Please interpret first.”
“He’s asking if it’s because his head is heavy, and says the traditional attire is difficult to remove at official occasions. He’s had headaches for 4 or 5 years.”
“Ah, it’s not without influence, but it’s also an unavoidable aspect.”
“■■■?”
“Will acupuncture cure it immediately?”
“I can make it better today… but if it’s chronic pain that’s lasted 4 or 5 years, it could recur. If stressful situations continue, consistent management will be necessary.”
I gave standard explanations and briefly described headaches.
“In Jeon Yu-ri’s case, it was mainly migraine with aura, and Ambassador Ahmed had gallbladder headaches caused by greasy food. In Prince Faisal’s case, it can be seen as tension headache in Western medical terms, or in Traditional Korean Medicine terms, as true headache or qi stagnation .”
“He’s been diagnosed with tension headaches before.”
“Yes. It’s a situation where stress causes qi to rise upward, and the scalp and muscles outside the skull continuously contract, causing headaches.”
The prince nodded after hearing the interpretation.
Immediate treatment isn’t too difficult. I just need to calm the contracting and spasming muscles with acupuncture.
But to maintain the results, it’s best to release the chronic tension throughout the entire torso and even use medicine so he doesn’t react easily to stress.
“May I press on your shoulders a bit?”
I asked for permission, wanting to first check the tension in his upper trapezius muscles.
I usually ask routinely before any physical contact, but I was being extra careful since he was wearing traditional clothing.
“I’m the same way, but Prince Faisal studied in the United States for a long time, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
What? Then he must speak English well? Of course, having an interpreter is more convenient than English anyway.
In any case, following Ahmed’s words, I proceeded to palpate his head, neck, and shoulders without concern.
“The back of your neck is quite stiff?”
“Ohhhhh!”
When I pressed a few spots, he seemed very relieved.
“Let me check your pulse briefly.”
“■■■!”
“You must be under quite a bit of stress? Your liver qi is completely blocked up.”
I took his pulse for reference, and it was unexpected.
It wasn’t simply a constitution where muscles frequently stiffened, but the flow of qi itself was considerably tangled.
The prince shook his head, saying he was under too much stress and couldn’t live like this.
“You must be extremely busy. Even today, you barely managed to make time during your official duties to stop by.”
Official duties?
…Wasn’t he here for leisure?
“I was going to prescribe Galgeun-tang for posterior neck tension, but Soyosan would probably be better. Let’s do acupuncture treatment today, plus cervical chuna therapy. Would you like to do physical therapy first too?”
After explaining the medicine and treatment plan, I quickly sent Faisal to the treatment room.
The attendants and bodyguards all followed him as they moved locations.
“Clinic Director, would it be possible to film the treatment session?”
Hmm, hmm. They want to put photos of him getting acupuncture in his head in an article?
“As long as the patient is okay with it, I don’t mind.”
“Ah, it’s Prince’s request! Thank you!”
What? The prince’s request?
Of course there’s nothing bad for me, but what benefit would there be for the prince?
I could only imagine elderly people who love national pride leaving comments like ‘Even the Middle East recognizes the greatness of Korean medicine.’
Does he really enjoy the attention?
“Excuse me, Ahmed.”
After sending the people out, I kept Ahmed and Jeon Yu-ri in the examination room for a moment.
There were too many listeners so I couldn’t ask properly and just made assumptions, but I wanted to know his exact identity.
“What kind of person is Prince Faisal?”
Seeing that he came on official business, he seems like someone with some kind of position.
Ahmed, being a diplomat, picked up on my hint and answered.
“He is a close associate of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”
“….”
The Crown Prince was scheduled to visit for diplomatic purposes next year, and he was someone who came to discuss in advance the various MOUs and contracts to be concluded then.
“Then are you two perhaps….”
“We accompanied him to formally request importing the medicine we couldn’t purchase in large quantities last time.”
“…Ah.”
“Haha, we’re also personally close friends.”
Right. They’re both busy people, so they wouldn’t have bothered to accompany a prince who was just here for leisure.
“Let’s discuss it slowly after the treatment is finished. Oh, while I’m here, may I also receive treatment?”
“Of course.”
After Ahmed and Jeon Yu-ri left the examination room.
I suddenly remembered and opened the box I had received earlier.
The contents were indeed a wallet.
It was an expensive brand, but not enough to exceed a day’s sales.
‘Perhaps.’
When I opened the wallet, there was a check inside.
The zeros were, let’s see, one, two, three, four….
I recounted the numbers several times.
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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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