The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 233

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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 233

Choi Eunhee seemed a bit flustered.

But I absolutely had to eat anchovy noodles today.

Since I insisted it had to be the restaurant I had chosen, Choi Eunhee had no choice but to follow me.

“Two bowls of anchovy noodles, please. Oh, Clinic Director, you’re having noodles too, right?”

“I’ll have a large portion.”

“….”

I had planned to immerse myself in old memories while eating noodles to my heart’s content, but somehow I ended up dining with Choi Eunhee.

Still, since I had to eat anyway, I ordered a large portion and sat down.

“Is there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic is doing incredibly well. I keep hearing news about it.”

Both Choi Eunhee and I spoke at the same time.

I wanted to hear her business directly, but it seemed Choi Eunhee intended to lay some groundwork first.

“Phew.”

Choi Eunhee let out a deep sigh.

“Right. You probably don’t find dining with me very pleasant.”

What does pleasant mean – satisfied without complaints or reservations? To be honest, I do have some reservations.

Starting from Daegu, we’ve never met under good circumstances, have we?

But since I was curious about her business, I gladly accepted the dinner invitation.

Does she want to get involved in the Saudi Arabia expansion? As far as I know, Haneul Clinic has only focused on domestic networks and has never undertaken anything overseas.

“I asked to meet because I’m worried. Hanyewon seems to be getting too emotionally involved with her patients.”

Ah, I was completely wrong.

It has nothing to do with business. It seems Lee Gwanhaeng earlier had rubbed Choi Eunhee the wrong way.

“Do you remember what I said last time?”

“Last time? On the phone?”

When we met in Daegu, we only created an atmosphere, so she must be talking about the phone call.

She had said I would end up like her. The gist was that since Western diet pills would be even worse anyway, it was better to sell them.

That unpleasant conversation had really upset me.

Ah! I came here to enjoy anchovy noodles, and now what is she trying to say again.

“Yes, on the phone.”

“Shin Heejoo recovered well. Her anorexia can be considered completely cured, and she no longer has any aversion to food. She naturally stopped dieting and is maintaining a normal weight.”

“…I see. That’s impressive.”

“Well, I know you didn’t want to talk about Shin Heejoo.”

I just wanted to tell her myself.

Choi Eunhee probably doesn’t even remember Shin Heejoo’s name.

“The more Hanyewon gives her heart to each patient like that, the more she’ll get badly hurt.”

Finally, Choi Eunhee got to the main point.

Sigh, I wondered what she was going to say.

“That could happen.”

I just smiled.

Even I can’t treat 100% of all patients.

I might fail, and I might receive resentment.

“Here’s your anchovy noodles.”

“Ah, the large portion goes here!”

I tasted the anchovy noodle broth with my spoon.

Wow, so refreshing. How did I live without eating this until now?

“Even with today’s patient, Hanyewon treated him with good intentions, right?”

“Yes, well.”

“Those kinds of patients are the most dangerous. They don’t listen to the doctor at all, and there’s a high chance they’ll go home and put on more patches. They absolutely refuse to spend money but throw tantrums trying to get even one more free thing. It would be truly fortunate if they actually went to the health center as instructed.”

“I see….”

“And later when things go wrong, you get calls from children who never cared their whole lives. Asking why you made their parent like this when you should have told them to go to the hospital.”

Even though it hadn’t happened yet, it was strangely specific.

It seemed she had experienced something similar before.

“Hanyewon has never been sued by a patient, right?”

“No.”

“It’ll happen soon.”

Choi Eunhee stated definitively.

“They might be swindlers from the start, but it’s more shocking when patients who you tried to treat sincerely and who followed your treatment well suddenly turn on you.”

Both were common occurrences in private practice.

The reason traditional Korean medicine clinics don’t often perform full moxibustion treatment is largely because it attracts blackmailers, beyond the actual risk of burns.

They target newly opened clinics with naive-looking directors, claiming they got burned and demanding money to avoid a lawsuit.

Of course, there are many such cases even without moxibustion, and this often happens not just at clinics or dental offices, but even at successful restaurants that aren’t medical facilities.

And the latter, well… I’ve experienced it a lot too.

When their condition is good, they say they’re lucky to have met a divine physician and that they only trust me, but if there’s any worsening in the middle, I become someone they want to kill.

That’s why I try not to get excited even when patients make a big fuss in a positive way, and I’m always prepared for attitude changes.

‘By the way, the toppings are really delicious. I used to pick them out before eating. How are the noodles like this?’

“I see.”

Does she really think of Yeowon as if she were her son’s friend by calling her “Miss Yeowon”?

It was too sincere to be sarcasm, yet too excessive to be advice given as a senior to a junior.

“No matter how you package medical practice as benevolent art or whatever, it’s nothing more than a service industry. It’s best to just do your job cleanly and take the money. Even when problems arise, just accept it and respond according to the manual.”

“Like you, Clinic Director.”

“Right, like me – hire more staff to systematize everything, and just look at numbers like new patient count, return visit rate, revenue, and such.”

Well, that’s not my style – being too afraid of maggots to make soybean paste.

“I appreciate the concern, but I think I’m handling various problems quite well. When I explain things as they are, patients tend to understand.”

Since we weren’t communicating, Choi Eunhee let out a deep sigh.

“Good intentions don’t always come back as good intentions.”

Then she threw out that meaningful statement.

Of course, she’s right.

How many positive statements can actually hold true when you add the adverb “always”?

Maybe just “there are always exceptions.”

“But sometimes they do come back as good intentions.”

I was trying to just listen, but I couldn’t help but refute this point.

“Just because some people repay kindness with malice, does that mean the people who genuinely rejoice in their recovery and feel grateful cease to exist?”

I wish I could expect nothing when practicing medicine… but I do have expectations of patients.

When I treat them wholeheartedly, I hope they’ll recover.

I also hope that recovered patients will be happy and live slightly better lives.

If they’re even grateful to me, I’m incredibly happy.

But even in medical dramas, that doesn’t always happen.

Sometimes expectations are met, sometimes they’re exceeded, and sometimes there are disappointing days.

Perhaps it’s human nature, but we’re often more affected by one person who turns on us than by a hundred who are grateful and happy.

“I have no intention of giving up treating patients as human beings just to get hurt a little less.”

That doesn’t mean I’ll classify patients like Shin Heejoo into a difficult patient folder, respond by getting written agreements, and focus on increasing revenue.

I have no intention of responding that way.

People do recover.

Good intentions do come back as good intentions.

Those hundred people don’t disappear.

With Choi Eunhee’s attitude, she might miss a thousand patients, or maybe just ten.

I didn’t want to miss even one.

“Ha, I figured you wouldn’t listen even if I told you.”

Clack.

Choi Eunhee put down her chopsticks.

She hadn’t even eaten half her food.

It seemed she had reluctantly followed me here despite not even liking anchovy noodles.

“That’s right. How could everything in human affairs go according to plan? Some things don’t work out, and there are things you want to do even knowing they might not work. Just as you really wanted to say this to me today, Clinic Director, I feel I must show affection to difficult patients.”

“….”

“Clinic Director Choi.”

Choi Eunhee gulped down cold water.

“I don’t think you’re overflowing with affection for me and advising me not to get hurt. Are these words you wanted to say to your past self?”

She says she’s worried and wanted to see me, but how could those words really be for my sake?

Just as I don’t particularly like Choi Eunhee, she probably doesn’t find me very welcome either.

“…That might be true.”

She’s probably projecting her past self onto me.

She thinks I’ll eventually become like her… no, it seemed like she hopes I will.

“I am not you, Clinic Director. And experiences of being betrayed and hurt by patients – all doctors probably have several such experiences. Even non-doctors, like teachers or, well, anyone in professions that involve relationships with people probably go through this. Not all of them become like you, Clinic Director.”

“I am.”

“I don’t need advice, so I hope you’ll reflect on yourself, Clinic Director. Seeing how you consistently come to volunteer here, it seems like there’s some thread you want to hold onto.”

Having listened this much, I should be allowed to lecture a bit too.

Choi Eunhee didn’t particularly get angry.

She just chuckled.

“There’s no grand meaning behind coming here. I’m satisfied with my systematized clinic, and I continue volunteering simply because it’s something I used to do.”

Of course, I knew it wouldn’t get through.

If she were someone who would change from a few words from a young junior, she wouldn’t have let Haneul Clinic reach this state.

“I see. If you’re satisfied, Clinic Director, and the patients are satisfied, then the system will always remain solid.”

Nevertheless, I sincerely hoped she would change her mind.

Problems were erupting at the Busan branch where Chu Miyoung had withdrawn, and at the Daegu branch where conflicts had occurred.

Choi Eunhee might truly be satisfied, but the branch directors and vice directors who make up that system are creaking.

And patients inevitably know how they’re being treated.

If she doesn’t turn back, it will eventually collapse.

“Thank you for your concern. But what you’re worried about probably won’t happen, Clinic Director Choi.”

As if sharing a secret, I leaned toward Choi Eunhee and whispered in her ear.

“This is a secret, but I have quite a lot of various experiences. I’m confident I won’t lose in a fight with a patient.”

Startled by the sudden whisper, Choi Eunhee flinched and pulled back.

I looked into her extremely flustered eyes and smiled brightly.

“W-well, the food was delicious. I don’t think there’s anything more to talk about.”

Choi Eunhee got up from her seat.

I didn’t try to stop her and just waved my hand.

‘Why wouldn’t I have been betrayed before.’

I haven’t fought any legal battles since coming to modern times, but I’ve encountered countless people who tried to resolve things through force rather than law.

There were all sorts of incidents – bastards who would pull knives on me right after treatment, threatening to take me hostage, or those who would stalk me saying they wouldn’t let it slide if their child didn’t get better.

Of course, I don’t try to embrace even those kinds of bastards. I’m not actually a god or anything.

‘I’ve developed something like convictions through all this. Wouldn’t they be more solid than Director Choi Eunhee’s?’

I scraped up the remaining noodles and drank all the broth.

Ah, refreshing. I’m glad I came to the noodle restaurant.

“The customer you came with already paid. She left most of her food though…”

As I got up from my seat, the restaurant owner grandmother came to collect the bowls, looking disappointed.

As she said, Choi Eunhee had left more than half of her food.

“She was probably full. She only followed me here because she wanted to talk. Sorry for leaving so much.”

When I spoke to cheer her up, grandmother smiled broadly.

“Thank you. You ate everything cleanly, young lady. Take some candy too.”

“Thank you~.”

Grandmother handed me a whole handful of candy.

In the past, she used to scold people to take only one piece each, but her generosity seems to have improved while I wasn’t looking.

Just as I was about to leave after thanking her.

“But by any chance… didn’t you live here when you were young?”

Grandmother called out to me.

Oh my, I didn’t expect her to remember my face.

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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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