The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 259
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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 259
Ah, what truly beneficial content!
I nodded enthusiastically and listened attentively to the speakers’ presentations.
…I had studied English quite diligently, but my listening and speaking skills were at best at a conversational level.
I wasn’t good enough to clearly understand academic presentations and discussions filled with technical terms.
Of course, the interpreter could translate sentence by sentence for me… but honestly, I wasn’t that eager to know.
Of course, at first I tried to focus and listen to the forum.
And in less than 30 minutes.
‘Is that person American? His voice lacks power. His muscles and bones are weak too. Looking at his different left and right stride lengths, his pelvis is slightly twisted… it might be good for him to try learning left-handed swordsmanship?’
‘Ah, that man is tall but his spinal lordosis is unfortunate. Whatever he wants to do, it would be better to start with correction.’
‘This person was Korean, right? Oh, we made eye contact again. Among all the presenters so far, his balance is the best, but he’s too thin. Some horse stance training…’
I found myself having to act like someone very interested in the presentations.
‘Finally it’s over!’
It felt like returning to my student days after a long time.
I mean, when I was a really ordinary college student. Not after returning from the Martial Arts World.
Back then… I was busy playing the role of a hidden powerhouse loser. Compared to my training days at the Tang Family, experiencing clinical work and attending classes wasn’t particularly boring.
But even until my third year of medical school, I too had quite a hard time pretending to focus on boring professors’ lectures.
So happily, as soon as the closing ceremony ended, I was about to leave the conference room faster than anyone else.
“Director Han Yewon!”
Professor Shin Yubeen, who had been making eye contact with me continuously, called out to me.
It felt like being called by a professor when you’ve been spacing out for an entire hour and don’t know any of the lesson content.
“Oh, hello?”
I exchanged greetings with an anxious heart.
Actually, it would have been strange if he hadn’t spoken to me.
Whether by mistake or intentionally, we had made eye contact more than 10 times throughout the forum.
At this point, wouldn’t we recognize each other even if we met by chance on the streets of Seoul?
“You’re going to eat, right? Let’s go together!”
I was confused whether he was being wary of me or found me interesting, but it seemed closer to favorable for now.
What’s this. Does he know me?
“I was so curious about you after seeing you on the news. I looked for you from the airport since you were on this forum’s invitation list, but I’m only meeting you now. Did you arrive early to do some sightseeing?”
“That’s… about right.”
He does know me.
Right, a Korean University medical school professor I don’t know could know about me.
Come to think of it, if you search for Prince Faisal’s name on domestic search portals, I come up.
To be precise, photos and stories of Faisal miraculously getting his headache treated and offering prayers of gratitude to God.
“Are these your companions? Nice to meet you, I’m Shin Yubeen.”
The middle-aged professor with a gentle impression showed goodwill even to my companions, shaking hands with each person in turn.
“Oh, you two were together? Professor Shin, thank you for your hard work! I listened with great admiration. Doctor Han, you must have worked hard too? We’ve prepared the best party, so please enjoy it!”
While we were delayed in the corridor exchanging introductions, Faisal, who had been talking with other VIPs, also came out.
Actually, I had been enjoying myself comfortably wandering around without the prince until now.
Still, fortunately, I had heard from the interpreter beforehand that today wouldn’t be a burdensome banquet like the first day.
Since it was a party including participants and various VIPs, Faisal wouldn’t focus only on me.
So I was planning to just blend in.
“Thank you. Let’s go, Doctor Han.”
It seemed I would have to sit with Professor Shin Yubeen.
* * *
“Wow, it’s huge.”
“It’s like a party venue you’d only see in dramas.”
The banquet hall was very spacious and grand.
Maybe it felt like an expanded version of Grandmother Choi Gwi-jae’s birthday party.
If that one was a small (?) party in the garden with only a select few invited, this one was much more magnificent with many more invited guests.
The attendees seemed to be impressive people… well, I didn’t come here to socialize with all of them anyway.
“What are you curious about regarding me? The story of treating Prince Faisal?”
I asked Professor Shin Yubeen in front of me.
My story might be a topic that reporters would like, but it’s not something a medical school professor would be curious about, right?
“Ah, I think your medical skills are also very impressive. My mother enjoys watching patriotic YouTube videos, so I learned about you through that, and… you’re truly amazing in many ways. Really, incredibly so.”
“Um, ah, yes.”
“Haha, actually, although I have a medical license, I’m closer to being a health policy researcher. I’m more interested in how you transplanted Korean traditional medicine overseas in such a short time.”
Hm?
That wasn’t something I did, but something Park Seon-yun and the prince did.
I tilted my head and tried to explain, but Kim Chunsik interrupted.
“Doctor Han is indeed amazing. It didn’t end with just handing over the license, but from the day of arrival, he went around all the royal hospitals checking whether the system was running well.”
“Ah, so that’s why you arrived early?”
“That’s…”
“Everywhere he went, he treated staff and patients while also doing promotion.”
“That wasn’t really promotion…”
I didn’t even have a chance to say anything.
As if doing a patriotic YouTube broadcast, he spoke about my achievements with a beaming smile.
“The first hospital we visited was one that didn’t have many patients yet since it targeted the general public, but after treating nurses from various countries around the world, the number of Korean medicine first-time patients doubled starting the very next day. At the military hospital we visited the following day, I made a patient who couldn’t get up for a week due to a back injury walk again, and yesterday I even consulted on another prince’s skin condition besides Prince Faisal.”
“That’s just coincidentally finding patients everywhere you went.”
“….”
Why are Seo Inae, who was with me at all those places, and even Hasha looking at me with distrustful eyes?
It hasn’t even been three full days yet, why are you remembering distorted truths?
Ms. Lee Mijeong was standing in an uncomfortable position right in front of me.
At the military hospital, the Korean medicine doctor there said that patient wasn’t showing much improvement and asked if I had any effective methods.
And the other prince was someone who had a Korean medicine doctor as his personal physician years ago, so he had been waiting to consult with me when I came.
“….”
Despite my protests, Seo Inae remained cold.
Hasha just smiled brightly but didn’t agree with me either.
How unfair this is!
“If Doctor Han hadn’t stepped forward so actively like this, it would have been difficult to settle in quickly. I truly respect you.
I don’t know anymore either.
“Even without me, everyone is excellent and has outstanding treatment skills, so you would have settled in well eventually.”
“Ah, of course that would have been the case!”
It seemed like the more I denied it, the more extreme things they said, so I nodded my head appropriately.
“Do you view Korean medicine’s overseas expansion positively, Professor Shin?”
“Of course. Setting aside national influence, isn’t it natural when overseas patients can benefit from it?”
Shin Yubin rambled on about various topics from public healthcare and economic perspectives.
Actually, even though he was speaking in Korean, I didn’t understand 100% of it.
“Oh, that aspect….”
He communicated better with Kim Chunsik than with me, and Seo Inae and I listened while adding a few interjections.
Listening to their old-timer talk.
‘He really is an incredible person.’
Shin Yubin was a person with an amazing career who graduated from Korean University Medical School with a bachelor’s degree, earned his master’s and doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University, and even worked in an important position at WHO.
“Actually, foreigners find our country’s situation very fascinating. There aren’t many countries where alternative medicine has established itself in the mainstream like this, and on top of that, the fact that doctors and Korean medicine doctors don’t get along is quite peculiar, isn’t it?”
“I see…?”
He was very knowledgeable about cases like European homeopathy, American osteopathic medicine, and Indian Ayurveda.
We…though I’m not sure if I can say ‘we,’ had an in-depth conversation about medicine around the world.
“I’d like to introduce Doctor Han and Professor Kim to a WHO public health expert on this occasion.”
By the time we finished eating, we had completely hit it off.
“WHO?”
“…The person who gave the very first presentation?”
“Yes. That person is very interested in integrating scientifically verified traditional medicine and alternative medicine into public healthcare. It would be even more interesting if we could talk together.”
…I find treating patients the most fun though.
Unlike me, whose mind had flown off to space at some point, Seo Inae was taking notes trying to follow the conversation somehow.
I made eye contact and formed a bond of sympathy with Hasha, who was listening to the conversation through an interpreter but had just given up and was focusing on poking at her cake.
“Are we going right now?”
“Yes! Since we’ve made this connection, I’ll contact them right away.”
Still, we decided to meet for now.
A mere private practice doctor meeting someone who works at WHO probably wouldn’t bring any particular benefits….
Well, there wouldn’t be any harm either, would there?
We could just greet each other appropriately and exchange business cards.
“Oh, aren’t they staying in the same palace?”
“They’re staying at a separate hotel in the outskirts. That person has visited Saudi Arabia several times, but tends to find the royal family’s excessive protocol burdensome. They didn’t attend the party separately either and left as soon as the forum ended.”
Huh, it was possible to refuse the protocol?
…No. That person refused because the forum was their main purpose.
I’m a case who was invited because they wanted to provide hospitality, so my refusal might have been refused.
“Interpreter, please come with us too. Teacher Inae and… Hasha, do you want to go in and rest?”
I remembered that person didn’t speak as clearly as an English listening test when giving the presentation earlier.
It seemed like we’d need an interpreter, so I brought them along.
“I’ll accompany you as well.”
“I want to go too!”
In the end, both Seo Inae and Hasha ended up following along.
Well, since the princess wants to experience various things and follows me around, there’s no need to separate her.
Eventually, our group with Shin Yubin added moved to the hotel in a crowd.
And not long after arriving at the hotel.
I came to slightly regret bringing Hasha along.
“Apostate who abandoned Allah and rotted away in the land of heathens! As long as this corrupt regime rules, true divine law cannot exist in this land!”
…What on earth are these people surrounding the hotel?
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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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