The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 251

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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 251

When I gently massaged Lee Dajeong’s shoulders, she released the tension from her muscles and let them droop down.

“I got excited… didn’t I.”

To say she wasn’t angry or excited, wasn’t there too much tension throughout her entire body?

Realizing this fact, Lee Dajeong was startled once again.

“I really hate people who yell angrily over the phone… but I…”

Lee Dajeong muttered quietly and tapped her chest.

“I’m sorry, Clinic Director. You’re right that I got excited. I was searching online and saw a phrase saying it’s used in neuropsychiatric medicine, so I thought you were deceiving me.”

“It’s understandable that you’d be surprised. Shall we take a look together?”

Fortunately, she quickly came to her senses.

Her heart was beating a bit fast, but she succeeded in controlling her anger.

Had her excitement not fully subsided? Was she intimidated by my show of force?

What Lee Dajeong showed me was an advertisement from another traditional Korean medicine clinic.

The effects of Eokgansan!

Neuropsychiatric problems – excitement, restlessness, anxiety symptoms!

Patients who get excited easily and use abusive language!

People with hypersensitive nerves and much irritation due to stress!

‘…That’s correct, isn’t it?’

In Japan, it’s used extensively for dementia and even broadly for epilepsy and hemiplegia, so I wondered if she had seen some research papers of that kind.

The effects of Eokgansan that Lee Dajeong showed me weren’t far from my goal.

“Oh, um, I don’t usually get excited this easily.”

She seemed to have the same thought as me.

Behavior exactly as described!

Having gained this realization, Lee Dajeong stammered with a face even redder than before.

“Of course I know you’re a cultured person. We’ve been having a smooth conversation so far, haven’t we?”

“Yes, yes… That’s right.”

I smiled and pointed to her smartphone screen.

“Getting angry easily. Or getting excited. It’s a translation of the Chinese characters ‘ino’ . Please think of this part in a slightly broader sense. Since you’re a working adult, you don’t express it because you shouldn’t, but didn’t you really get angry inside?”

“Hmm…”

“You might not feel it. But the nervous excitement did affect your muscles, didn’t it?”

Lee Dajeong avoided my eyes.

And then she was startled by that too.

Her gaze, which had been wandering around in circles, fixed on me.

Finally, she admitted it.

“It’s not anger, but there are quite a few things that bother me. There are so many people who get on my nerves.”

I nodded in understanding.

“But I’ve been good at resolving it each time. I’ve worked hard not to become like those inconsiderate people.”

“How did you cope with it?”

“Since there are inevitably many annoying people at work, I just think of them as dust and ignore them. When I drink with acquaintances and criticize their character, I feel better. For people outside of work who annoy me, I say everything I need to say right away.”

Hmm.

Hmm.

Hmmmmm.

I usually try to side with my patients whenever possible.

“Do you really think there’s no problem with that stress relief method?”

I swallowed hard.

But Lee Dajeong blinked with a face that showed she had no idea.

“What problem could there be?”

Her voice was so gentle, and her blinking eyes were utterly innocent.

To have such poor metacognition.

Since I couldn’t relay the gossip Park Sihwa had shared, I returned to a more general discussion.

“You might think that saying everything you need to say right away is a way to avoid accumulating stress. But actually, it’s not. You’re constantly keeping your nerves sharp in order to say everything you need to say in that moment.”

“…?”

“You’re always concentrating on who’s saying something that gets on your nerves, then elegantly striking back, right? While secretly researching the optimal timing and words.”

“Gasp, how did you know?”

During the initial consultation, I had heard this several times at the moments when she realized things about her jaw joint symptoms.

But she looked more surprised than ever before.

“That’s bad for you, Dajeong, and bad for the people listening too.”

There were quite a few people like this in the martial arts world too.

Those who fought with their tongues instead of swords.

The characteristic of such people… they’re extremely good at sarcasm.

They gently scratch at people to make many angry, manipulating situations the way they want while being unaware of it.

And their endings all converge to one thing.

They die at the hands of those who don’t engage in verbal sparring at all and draw their swords without question.

“I thought I was being considerate of the listener by speaking nicely in my own way…”

Which is more infuriating – an arrogant troublemaker who yells and shouts?

Or someone like Lee Dajeong who argues point by point?

While there might be differing opinions on which is worse, probably no one likes either type.

“Just because your voice doesn’t get louder doesn’t make it pleasant to hear. Do you think the listeners felt good?”

“I’m giving you a chance to fix it.”

“Opportunities are something you seize yourself. I’m talking about how it makes you feel.”

“It wouldn’t feel good. That’s why I’m pointing it out.”

“Right. You’re relieving stress by making the other person uncomfortable. But does that really relieve your stress?”

“….”

I asked each question carefully, making sure it didn’t feel like I was attacking her.

Lee Dajeong hesitated again, seeming to think about something.

I gave her plenty of time to have a conversation with herself.

“Sometimes I say things and forget about them, but often I don’t. I keep worrying about what I said to the doctor too… I don’t regret that, but I have made mistakes.”

“Mistakes?”

“Siha said she had her period twice a month, and I thought she was lying and said something about it. Ha, I was so angry about being misunderstood as having a mental illness because of my TMJ. …Right. I was angry then too.”

“So you had that kind of incident with Siha.”

I nodded as if I knew nothing about it.

“Siha was the mature one for letting it slide gracefully, and I was petty for lashing out.”

…Actually, she didn’t let it slide gracefully, but I didn’t bother to point that out.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t just endure things that cause you great harm, but sometimes taking a small loss is the most beneficial thing to do. How about trying to change your stress relief methods from now on?”

Lee Dajeong accepted it without further argument.

“Yes…”

“As I said earlier, you’re not a candidate for diagnosis and medication. While it might help somewhat with the symptoms written on the screen, you’ll need to correct your habitual personality traits yourself.”

I tapped the already darkened screen.

Taking medication might reduce her hypersensitivity a little, but it would be meaningless if she kept her radar up all the time.

“I’ll do that. I’m not sure how exactly, but… I’ll try my best.”

“Good. You’ve thought it through well. When something happens, try to step back and view the situation from a distance.”

After saying it, I realized it was too abstract.

Think twice before speaking? That would be good from a consideration-for-others perspective, but it would only heighten her own sensitivity.

“Try various things slowly. You could try counseling, or even tai chi…”

“Tai chi?”

It was something that suddenly came to mind.

Unlike Lee Dajeong, I had two patients who expressed their anger directly.

Those hypertensive patients who exploded with anger. Kim Jaegyu and Kim Jinsang saw pretty good results.

I briefly mentioned that such cases existed.

“Well, it’s not a place for personality correction, but I think trying any kind of exercise is good.”

“That sounds interesting. I’ll look into it.”

Lee Dajeong showed interest and smiled brightly.

She’s probably just being polite. Like the “thank you” call center workers say when hanging up the phone.

If I told her the location right now and urged her to go immediately, she’d probably feel burdened.

“Right. Let’s try things one by one. Starting with apologizing to Park Siha?”

“Yes, yes, I was thinking of doing that too. Even if she doesn’t accept it, apologizing would put my mind at ease. …I’ll try to become a magnanimous person like you, Clinic Director.”

Why am I being brought up here?

“I’m really grateful that you examined even the parts I wasn’t aware of like this. You kindly explained things even though I had strange misunderstandings… Really, compared to that dental clinic! No, no. I’ll just magnanimously forget about this too. I’m still angry even though I’ve said everything I wanted to say.”

“That’s right. Just acknowledge your emotions and let them flow away.”

Anyway, it was fortunate that she seemed pleased.

I encouraged her future and patted her shoulder to cheer her up.

“Since you’re here, why don’t you get acupuncture treatment before you go?”

“Yes!”

It wasn’t her usual TMJ treatment schedule, but frequent treatment wouldn’t hurt.

I wrapped up the consultation and sent Lee Dajeong to the treatment room.

* * *

After finishing treatment and coming out, Lee Dajeong let out a sigh of relief.

It was scary.

But also somehow reassuring.

…Her presence was incredible.

With Lee Dajeong’s level of call center experience, she couldn’t help but become quite skilled at reading people.

Just from hearing “Hello” over the phone, she could tell whether the other person was normal or a troublemaker.

Just by watching how new employees bowed, she could tell whether they’d work long or run away today.

But this clinic director’s demeanor was very new to her.

Just until yesterday, she had thought of her as kind and someone who listened well.

As Lee Dajeong, just a company employee, she felt a charisma she had never encountered before.

‘My heart is still pounding.’

Was it that scary?

Looking back, she hadn’t said anything threatening. Rather, she had been extremely considerate.

Though she did seem like she’d be scary if she really got angry.

As if possessed by something, Lee Dajeong walked.

‘It should be okay to go in, right?’

She had a destination in mind.

She had been drawn to it from the moment she first heard about it.

Perhaps because it was such an unsuitable activity for her, it made her want to try it even more.

‘This would be my first martial art since I briefly learned taekwondo when I was 7…’

Since I’ve arrived, I should at least have a consultation with the dojang master before leaving.

Lee Dajeong felt very awkward as she slightly opened the door.

“Jinsang! What are you doing after we finish today?”

Ugh, this kind of atmosphere was indeed burdensome.

The middle-aged men were talking loudly, having just finished their training.

“Ah, Kim Hyeong. My head has been quite foggy lately, so I’m planning to stop by the oriental medicine clinic.”

“Hehe. Are you going straight there after we finish? I was going to ask you to give me a ride home. Should I go to the clinic with you? My back feels a bit stiff today.”

“Would you like to do that?”

But somehow the conversation topic felt familiar.

She had a feeling that these people might be the patients the clinic director had mentioned.

People with such loud voices. Normally, she really, really disliked this type.

Their voices were loud, but she didn’t find them unpleasant at all.

Rather, they even seemed like some kind of sages.

Was it because they were wearing taichi uniforms?

“You two are always praising that oriental medicine clinic. Is it really that good?”

“Ah! Of course!”

“It’s amazing. They fix everything perfectly, and the clinic director is incredibly cool too. Haha. Would you like to come with us, hyung?”

Eavesdropping on the conversation of strangers, she felt an inexplicable fondness.

Fondness? No, camaraderie?

She wanted to have a conversation with those people…

‘Cool.’

Lee Dajeong’s heart was still pounding.

It had been like this continuously since the clinic, so it couldn’t be because the taichi dojang was unfamiliar.

‘Ah!’

Suddenly Lee Dajeong gained an insight.

Today had been a day full of realizations.

‘It wasn’t scary but cool.’

Just as it had happened several times during the treatment, she felt heat rising to her face again.

“Oh, there’s a customer over there?”

“Ah, hello. Are you visiting for the first time?”

Then someone noticed Lee Dajeong standing there hesitantly.

“Ah, hello. I came for a registration consultation.”

She greeted the dojang master and people with her usual gentle tone.

And when she came to her senses.

She had registered for 3 months at the taichi dojang.

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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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