The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 245
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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 245
Since modern society is so full of noise, I usually don’t keep my spiritual senses particularly open during daily life.
But to think I didn’t even notice Cheongsori had come this close.
I must have been too focused on writing.
“What’s the matter?”
I switched my computer to sleep mode and asked Cheongsori.
– Kyuuuuk!
Of course, it’s not like the little guy would say ‘Hello, Clinic Director. I apologize for the intrusion, but I have urgent business.’
Some neighborhood spirit I know can even talk, but this one… No, just understanding is good enough.
It’s cute, good at finding spiritually charged plants, and being cute is enough.
Cheongsori tapped the window as if telling me to follow.
Sorry, but this is the 2nd floor, you know?
It’s not that I can’t get out that way, but climbing down a tree through the window is a bit much.
“Alright, I’ll go there!”
Like a modern person, I went around through the front door to head in the direction Cheongsori was pointing.
“Huh?”
But as soon as I stepped out the front door, I spotted an unfamiliar creature in the middle of the garden.
Of course, there were plenty of living things at my house.
For plants, I roughly knew what was there since I’d added a few more to what the previous owner had maintained.
As for animals… well, there are quite a few that come in without permission besides Cheongsori.
But most are arthropods, reptiles at best, right?
“This is my first avian friend?”
It was quite unusual to see a falcon sitting majestically in the middle of the garden.
‘Do hawks normally fly around Busan…?’
I often saw hawks flying in Sichuan, but in Busan… Hmm, I’m not the type to look up at the sky often, but it feels like it’s been ages since I’ve seen one.
Even if they’re around, they usually sit on tree branches or building rooftops, don’t they?
Why in the middle of my garden?
– Kyap kyuuuk!
“Is it Cheongsori’s friend?”
Did you call me to introduce this friend?
I approached very carefully.
The hawks I know fly away immediately when you get within 100 meters, maintaining a safe distance.
But this one seemed accustomed to humans and sat still in place.
“Nice to meet… huh?”
The closer I got, the stranger the energy I felt became.
Normally, ordinary people or animals without internal cultivation have very weak energy.
Of course, you can sense their presence if you try.
But this one clearly possessed spiritual energy, though not as much as Cheongsori.
Right now its condition was just too poor, making it unstable.
“Are you hurt?”
Did it injure a wing or leg?
Oh my, it came to ask me for treatment.
“I don’t know if you understand words either. I’m getting close to treat you, so don’t run away.”
Whether it understood my words or had already communicated with Cheongsori, I couldn’t tell.
But the creature showed no resistance to me closing the distance.
Rather, when I got within arm’s reach, the hawk smoothly extended its front talon.
“Let me take a look.”
I examined the creature to see if it had any injuries.
“…”
But everything was fine.
Both wings and legs.
At least visually, there were no wounds anywhere.
Being a spiritual creature, it probably wouldn’t seek out humans for just a minor strain…
– Kiiing…
I suddenly realized its breathing sounded strange.
Not being familiar with birds, I hadn’t noticed, but there seemed to be head trembling too.
It couldn’t maintain balance well either.
-Kyap! Kyap kyuuk!
It looked between Cheongsori and me as if asking for treatment, but it was difficult to figure out what was happening.
Well, veterinary medicine isn’t my specialty!
I couldn’t ask when this started or why it was happening, so I was frustrated too.
All I could do was observe.
– Fwuddeuk!
When it flapped its wings, the feathers were disheveled.
Its reaction speed seemed slow too.
There was mucus in its nose too… Ah?
Runny nose? A cold? Some similar infectious disease?
But this guy is also a spiritual creature, so it wouldn’t be this droopy from just a common cold, right?
“…Avian flu?”
– Kiiiii… Kik!
– Kyuuuk!
It seemed like I was right.
If I had to guess… it’s a spiritual creature that’s friends with Cheongsori, or somehow acquainted with him.
Whether it came into contact with other infected birds, or ate something wrong.
It seems like it got infected through some route and its condition rapidly deteriorated.
Seeing it staggering, Cheongsori brought it to me.
‘What should I do about this?’
This was quite a troublesome situation.
If a person had avian flu, I would recommend antiviral medication first and provide supportive herbal treatment.
But as far as I know, when birds get avian flu….
Preventing the spread of infection would be the top priority.
Basically, it meant culling and quarantine measures would be implemented rather than treatment.
In the case of poultry, news of culling thousands of birds including suspected cases when avian flu tries to spread is commonplace.
Of course, since falcons are a protected species, different measures might be taken, and if someone insists on taking it for treatment, they wouldn’t do that, but.
Since it came to me trusting Cheongsori, I couldn’t really imagine this guy would quietly endure the process of being taken to an animal hospital that treats birds and being put in a cage for treatment.
“Just wait a moment. I’ll look for something good among the medicines I have.”
I’ll make persuading it to go to the hospital or knocking it out Plan B.
I looked for medicine I could give right away.
Still, since it has some internal energy, if I could just suppress the virus a bit and boost its energy, maybe it could overcome it on its own?
-Kii.
The two spiritual creatures waited quietly in the garden while I looked for medicine.
I could feel the heat, so there was significant initial fever and inflammatory response.
The physical weakness was extremely severe.
It would be impossible to customize medicine for a hawk that I couldn’t even interview anyway.
There wasn’t much time either.
I took out the herbal medicine formulation prototype I had received during the recent meeting with PK.
‘Eungyo-san, Eungyo-san… Found it!’
Herbal medicine containing medicinal ingredients like honeysuckle and forsythia that are good for treating inflammation.
I fed the soft extract to the falcon’s beak.
“This will defeat the evil energy.”
Fortunately, the guy didn’t run away and took the medicine well.
“This medicine is a tonic. It will build up your strength to overcome this.”
While it was eating well, I should quickly give it one more.
I administered Bojungikki-tang, which contains astragalus, ginseng, and atractylodes to supplement energy and strengthen immunity.
“The medicine will help to some extent, but you have to overcome this with your own strength. Rest well and recover.”
Sigh, if it had just injured its leg or wing, I could have treated it without difficulty.
Treating a bird suspected of having avian flu was completely new for me too.
‘Is it too weak? No, since it weighs less than a person, one packet should be enough.’
The hawk flapped its wings as if it understood.
“Could you also receive acupuncture?”
It didn’t answer, but it didn’t run away when I took out the needles either.
I earnestly soothed the hawk while inserting minimal acupuncture.
I channeled energy through the acupoints with full force.
– Kiii. Kiing.
– Kyu! Kyuuu!
Good. I had done everything I could do here.
All that was left was prayer.
After nodding to their grateful gestures, I opened the window of the unused first floor room.
“The nights are still cold, so don’t wander around unnecessarily and rest here. I’ll feed you morning and evening.”
It might infect other birds if it wandered around carelessly.
Resting in a warm place would be better for the hawk too.
I was glad I bought a house. If it had been an apartment, I couldn’t have brought it inside.
After giving one room to my animal friends like that, I came back up to the second floor.
I was careful about droplets and saliva contact, but just in case, I washed all the clothes I was wearing and took another shower.
What kind of situation is this in the middle of the night?
Swoosh, when I moved the computer mouse, the email I had been writing earlier came into view.
I was… definitely replying to Sasha’s greeting and trying to recommend a few restaurants in Seoul.
‘Ah, I should tell her about this too.’
Since we decided to be like secret friends, this much should be okay, right?
[Sasha, listen to this. While I was sending this email, something happened….]
I added the miraculous story of treating the falcon just moments ago to the email.
Typing away as if speaking, my writing flowed without hesitation.
Sasha Rian would be surprised by this story, wouldn’t she?
She wouldn’t not believe it… no, she’s a pop star who likes Dangeon and Naegong, so she wouldn’t disbelieve it.
I finished writing the entire email with a grin.
It was a moment when I slightly understood why Sasha had giggled and whispered to me like that.
Treatment was done for now. Email sent successfully.
I fell asleep with my ki sense slightly open, feeling the presence of the hawk and Cheongsori on the first floor.
* * *
The next day.
When I went down to the room I had prepared, the hawk and Cheongsori were sleeping comfortably in the warm spot.
Sensing my presence, they immediately opened their eyes and approached me.
“Come on, let’s take medicine and get acupuncture today too~.”
It felt like I had a patient hospitalized at home.
I didn’t know how to take a bird’s pulse, but I could tell their breathing had changed.
Their breathing had clearly recovered compared to the previous day.
“Let’s eat first. Can you manage to eat?”
I used chicken breast from the refrigerator to make simple porridge for them.
It was hard to read the bird’s expression, but it didn’t seem to like it much.
However, perhaps thinking of this as medicine too, the creature somehow managed to swallow the porridge I fed it.
Just like yesterday, I prepared medicine and administered acupuncture.
Having experienced it once before, this time it accepted the treatment without any resistance.
Fortunately, the dosage seemed appropriate, and the hawk’s strength appeared sufficient.
Today happened to be a holiday.
I started studying English while occasionally checking if the two spiritual creatures were resting well.
I chose an 8-week grammar completion course, and the instructor’s teaching skills were excellent.
‘Following the curriculum to attend lectures, memorizing vocabulary… I even got a pen pal, so it’s perfect for reading and writing. Should I try phone English too?’
In the afternoon, another reply came from Sasha.
While the first email took some time perhaps due to awkwardness, since I replied quickly, Sasha seemed to have opened up too.
She might be bored since she’s traveling alone in South Korea.
‘Oh.’
Unlike the first email which was mostly a list of health conditions, this one had much more everyday content.
And in the quite long email, one part particularly caught my eye.
[You treated a hawk??? Oh my goodness! That’s so cool! A hawk! Isn’t that the fastest bird in the world?! Wow, when that friend recovers, will it try to repay the Clinic Director’s kindness? Are you planning to keep it? Could we exchange letters all the way to the United States using it as a carrier pigeon?]
I pressed my forehead.
…Certainly, even in the Martial Arts World, there were occasionally those who raised and tamed hawks.
They would train them for hunting, and places like Haowen also used them for information delivery.
Moreover, since this creature possessed spiritual energy, its intelligence and physical abilities would be far superior to ordinary hawks.
But even so, there are limits.
Asking it to fly across the Pacific Ocean was too much, wasn’t it?
I immediately sent a reply to Sasha.
[That’s a really wonderful idea. But no matter how fast this hawk is, it won’t be faster than the internet.]
Talking about carrier pigeons and such. Feel the preciousness of modern civilization, you guys!
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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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