The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 286

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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 286

“Oh my, you need to be careful.”

I grabbed the arm of the student who was startled and almost fell.

The floor wasn’t even slippery, so was she that surprised?

“Ah, uh, ah…”

Thanks to catching her right away, I prevented her from falling badly.

Nevertheless, it seemed like she slightly sprained her ankle when she first stumbled.

“Are you okay? Let me take a look.”

“I’m so sorry… I was just going to look at the photos and leave quickly, ah, no, I was going to register for treatment…”

No wonder her presence seemed suspicious.

She was a student who came after seeing that post on the internet.

“Ah, I really didn’t just come here for nothing, I really wanted to register! While studying, my arm has been a bit sore… numb… I think… uh, but right now, my ankle hurts more… it hurts a little when I step on it.”

This was the first time I’d seen a child lie so obviously.

It was almost written on her face that she came up with an excuse because she wanted to see Ha Dohyeon’s photos.

I smiled gently while reassuring the student.

“You were quite startled, weren’t you? Let’s get your ankle treated before you go. If you leave it alone, it might hurt tomorrow. I’ll take good care of it early on.”

“Ah, yes yes yes. Thank you!”

The student went to the desk while limping slightly, and after completing registration, was guided to the treatment room.

I instructed cold compress treatment before acupuncture.

It didn’t seem like a severe sprain, but it might swell up later.

“Kim Jina, I’m coming in. Have you ever received acupuncture before?”

“Yes, when I was little…!”

Kim Jina. She was a second-year middle school student.

She should have calmed down after the compress and physical therapy, but she was still unable to make eye contact with me and seemed anxious.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt. Is that okay?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Are you a fan of Ha Dohyeon?”

But when Ha Dohyeon’s story came up, Kim Jina’s eyes lit up as if nothing had happened and she asked back.

“Yes! Did Dohyun oppa really receive treatment here?”

“Of course. He came here for a while to recover from a knee ligament injury.”

“What was it like when Dohyun oppa came for treatment? Can I ask which spot he received acupuncture in…?”

“He was a friend overflowing with passion for the stage. He received treatment for over two months, so he probably used every bed at least once.”

“Gasp!”

She seemed to have forgotten that the acupuncture hurt.

Kim Jina’s eyes sparkled as she thought about Ha Dohyeon, almost as much as Ha Dohyeon’s did when he danced.

“Can I take photos?”

“Of what? The acupuncture?”

“Yes!”

“That’s fine.”

If she takes these photos, does she have somewhere to show them off?

When I gave permission saying she could do as she pleased, Kim Jina took tons of photos with her camera.

She photographed the acupuncture she received, and took selfies showing the clinic beds.

After the treatment ended and she moved her ankle, fortunately the ligament mobility was very good.

Thanks to immediate treatment, it would recover without any particular problems.

“Even if it doesn’t hurt, the ligament is in a weakened state, so don’t run or overexert yourself. If it hurts, come back once or twice more.”

“Yes, thank you, Clinic Director!”

Kim Jina left the clinic with an extremely bright smile.

Since I treat idols, there are patients who visit like this too.

* * *

Kim Jina’s days were enjoyable and happy lately.

It was because she had started fangirling for the first time in her life.

She had listened to K-pop following her friends before, but having her heart race like this was completely new.

Even when her friends said they wanted to see idols from afar and wanted to go to concerts or fan meetings, she couldn’t understand them well.

But this time, while watching an audition program with her family, she fell for one trainee at first sight.

“Ahhhhh! He’s so handsome!”

Ha Dohyeon was really handsome.

Cute, cool, and insanely adorable.

Just looking at his face made her happy.

The story about how he missed his debut due to injury broke her heart.

How earnest he looked, wanting to show even a little more of all the effort he had put in.

She felt like she was going crazy wanting to do something for him.

“But since he’s just starting as a pro, there’s too little content. Your oppa’s former agency wasn’t the type to release trainee information either…”

Her friend, a senior in fangirling, was frustrated, but Kim Jina was happy just looking at the photos she had seen over and over again.

She frantically saved photos that other fans had captured and edited from various angles, and watched the second episode and Ha Dohyeon’s full version uploaded on YouTube repeatedly.

She refreshed not only fan cafes but also SNS and every site where the program was mentioned, reading every post where someone mentioned Ha Dohyeon.

‘Huh? This is near my house, isn’t it?’

That’s when Kim Jina discovered that the clinic where Ha Dohyeon had received treatment was actually near her house.

A patient who originally went to that clinic had posted photos of Ha Dohyeon’s pictures and autograph.

‘…The image quality, is this the best you can do?’

It was one of the few new photos of Ha Dohyeon that existed, but the image quality was so disappointing that she wondered what ancient phone he was using.

She wanted to see him in person.

‘Let’s go…!’

So Kim Jina rushed to Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic as soon as school ended.

‘The Clinic Director is so kind…! So cool…! And she’s good at treatment too…!’

She fell for the Clinic Director at first sight too.

The way she coolly caught her when she almost fell, how she immediately knelt down and rolled up her pants to examine her ankle.

Tap tap tap, even the way she inserted the needles in an instant – everything was just so wonderful.

“Mother! I went to the oriental medicine clinic!”

The Clinic Director had definitely told her not to run… With that thought, Kim Jina entered the house with quick steps.

She wanted to tell her mother about it right away.

“Where have you been to come home only now?”

But the person who greeted Kim Jina at the dining table was

not her mother who would listen with interest even if she talked about Ha Dohyeon all day long, but her father who seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason.

It wasn’t even dinner time yet!

Mother, Father, and even her older brother were all sitting at the dining table, just about to eat.

“I hurt my ankle so I went to the oriental medicine clinic nearby. They treated me really well.”

“When did you hurt your ankle?”

“Uh, just while walking.”

Kim Jina flinched and fidgeted with her fingers.

I could have just gone! Why does Father always have to say something like that?

“Jina, when you lie, you always fidget with your phone like that and can’t make eye contact, don’t you? Tell me the truth.”

Kim Jina sat at the dining table with pursed lips.

She was dissatisfied, but Father was scary when he got angry.

Moreover, he had such a rich imagination.

She didn’t want him to misunderstand and think she was hanging out with strange kids, so Kim Jina just confessed the truth.

“I went to the nearby oriental medicine clinic because I heard Dohyun went there… and I stepped wrong so I got my ankle treated.”

“You shouldn’t carelessly go in and out of other people’s businesses for such reasons.”

“Oh, I was going to get my pinky finger numbness treated.”

“That’s probably because you always support your phone with your pinky finger, Jina. Anyway, you did well to get your ankle treated right away.”

Phew, fortunately he let it slide.

Talking more with Father would only be tiring.

“I’m going to my room to sleep. I’m tired.”

“Alright, sleep well.”

Her brother, who knew this well, quickly finished his meal and escaped from the scene.

Kim Jina also quickly changed the subject while eating, then slipped into her room.

Tsk, I’ll have to tell Mother tomorrow when Father isn’t around.

“Geez, what does she think she’ll become when she grows up acting like that!”

“She’s still a middle schooler, what’s the big deal? It’s good if she tries everything she likes and grows up bright. You should speak more gently~.”

After the siblings went to their respective rooms, Kim Jina’s Father let out a deep sigh.

He was always trying to maintain a harmonious family.

But he was extremely worried about his adolescent children.

“Well, at least Jina is bright. What should I do about that boy Jinggyu? Does he act like that even when I’m not around?”

“Jinggyu… Well. Jina comes home early, but Jinggyu has evening study sessions and comes home around the same time as you. He must be tired from studying at school.”

“Even so, how can he stay in his room all the time even on weekends and be so listless all day long? He’s not sick, is he?”

“Just leave him be. If he studies at school, he must be tired. Let him rest at home.”

“I’ve never said a word to the kids about studying!”

Kim Jina’s Father didn’t want his children to excel at studying.

Isn’t it genetic anyway? If he couldn’t get above average, how well could his children do?

He just wanted them to do their best in both studies and sports during their once-in-a-lifetime school days, and create many memories as a family.

Setting aside his daughter who was obsessed with idols, his son seemed to have less energy than himself, who was approaching fifty.

“A kid who acts like that at home doesn’t seem like he’d study hard at school either… I wish he’d have more energy. Should I get him some tonic medicine?”

The Man, muttering to himself, suddenly recalled memories from his childhood.

Come to think of it, he had been quite frail when he was young too.

He had regained his energy after taking deer antler that his mother had worried about for months before getting for him.

“Should we? I am a bit worried. He eats well but somehow keeps getting thinner.”

His Wife agreed too.

When they were young, both children were healthy so they didn’t feel the need, but perhaps now was the right time.

“Jina, what was the name of the oriental medicine clinic you went to earlier?”

“Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic!”

He should make a prescription with plenty of deer antler.

Kim Jinggyu and Kim Jina’s Father nodded his head, prepared for a big expense.

* * *

On the weekend of the week after Kim Jina’s visit, I met her father and older brother.

“Wow, as expected of our Clinic Director. It’s not an injured swallow, but a patient who came to visit brought a medicine patient.”

“It’s just a coincidence. Even if she didn’t bring a medicine patient, I still had to treat her leg.”

“Wow, that’s sound logic.”

If someone is injured, they must be treated.

If an injured animal is there too, you should help if you can.

However, you shouldn’t carelessly expect gifts just because you treated a bird. That creature might not just bring back seeds, but possess the strength to fight and defeat a bear.

“Hello, Mr. Kim Jinggyu. You came for a tonic consultation. Are there any discomforts you’re experiencing?”

The patient’s name was Kim Jinggyu, Kim Jina’s older brother.

Unlike the energetic Kim Jina, just looking at his complexion showed he lacked vitality.

“There’s nowhere that hurts, but he seems to have no energy and finds it hard to attend school. He wasn’t this gaunt around the beginning of this year, really.”

“What grade is he in?”

“He just finished his first year of high school, and will be a sophomore next year.”

“Has he actually lost weight?”

“About 1-2kg… it’s similar.”

1-2kg over the course of a year wasn’t a dangerous level.

But I understood why his father was worried.

He looked much more gaunt than his actual weight suggested, and his face even had a dark tinge to it.

“Do you experience a lot of stress from studying?”

Kim Jinggyu rolled his eyes around, then nodded his head.

“I think I get about as much stress as other kids do.”

“When you’re stressed, do you have emotional fluctuations? Getting angry or anxious?”

“Not really. I don’t have much mood swings… I just have no energy.”

So it’s more on the side of lethargy.

Even when I pressed on his shoulders, chest, and side areas, there wasn’t any prominent stagnant qi.

I asked a few more things, but there were no signs of liver qi stagnation that most commonly appears in exam students.

“Do you eat well?”

“He eats everything we give him. This kid eats incredibly fast every time and goes straight to his room.”

“Your digestive ability hasn’t declined, right?”

“No.”

From his father’s perspective, and the patient himself answered that digestion wasn’t a problem.

Usually when someone’s energy is low, their appetite and digestion decline so energy synthesis itself doesn’t work well.

But it’s not spleen deficiency either?

“Do you sleep well? Without waking up in the middle?”

“I sleep deeply like I’m unconscious.”

“No particular respiratory symptoms.”

“Yes. I had slight rhinitis in elementary school… but it’s fine now.”

He sleeps well too.

No particular problems with heart or lungs either.

Among the five organ pattern identification, liver, heart, spleen, and lungs were all ruled out.

“Do you urinate frequently, or conversely, very little?”

“I urinate a bit frequently.”

“How much?”

“About 7 or 8 times a day…”

“You’re not just going in and out because you don’t want to study, are you?”

“…”

If nothing else applied, I was going to use a general tonic.

“Do your lower back or knees ache by any chance?”

“Ah, yes. Come to think of it, they have since about three or four months ago.”

“Your knees ache at your age?”

“Uh… maybe because I sit too much?”

“You’re not even standing, you’re sitting, so why would your knees ache! You should have mentioned it. Get medicine made and receive acupuncture too!”

Unusually, signs of kidney deficiency were showing in a young male student.

“No headaches or dizziness.”

“I get slightly dizzy when I’m weak. It’s not that my head hurts, but it feels like heat is rising.”

“Is it severe at night?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Do you get cold sweats while just sitting still? When you wake up from sleep?”

“Ah… when I wake up from sleep, my forehead is slightly damp and I thought it was strange.”

At Kim Jinggyu’s casual words, his father became greatly flustered.

“Oh, what should we do. It’s not a serious illness, right? Before his mother passed away, she kept saying deficiency heat was rising…!”

I only opened my mouth after checking his pulse as well.

A floating yet deficient pulse. It was a typical kidney deficiency pattern.

“In Korean medicine, this is called kidney deficiency syndrome. It mainly appears in elderly people due to accumulated fatigue over long periods, but it can also occur from feeling a lot of fatigue from things like study stress. If you take medicine and don’t overexert yourself, it will improve, so there’s nothing to worry about greatly.”

I calmly explained about kidney deficiency.

In Korean medicine, the kidney encompasses not only the kidney organ but also the functions of the reproductive system and endocrine system.

Usually, as one ages, energy naturally declines and one becomes gaunt, developing kidney deficiency, so his mother had the same symptoms.

The explanation was that kidney deficiency syndrome can occur even at a young age if the kidneys are congenitally weak or if certain activities are done excessively.

“Ah, I see.”

Finally, Kim Jinggyu’s father was convinced.

“Please take good care of him. Make it with the best ingredients. With deer antler…!”

“No, deer antler isn’t necessary for this situation. Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Decoction with modifications should be sufficient for recovery. Try taking it as treatment medicine first, and if there’s no recovery, let’s consider deer antler.”

I also stopped him from making expensive deer antler medicine.

Even with the same kidney deficiency syndrome, if it were an older patient, adding deer antler to maximally boost vitality would have been meaningful, but what Kim Jinggyu needed was something different.

“I’ll prepare it well for you, so don’t worry. Let me talk with the child for a moment, could you wait outside?”

After completely reassuring the guardian, I sent him out to the waiting room.

“Uh…?”

Not expecting his father to be suddenly kicked out, Kim Jinggyu seemed quite flustered.

Like Kim Jina a few days ago, he couldn’t make proper eye contact and fidgeted with his hands.

“How many times?”

I smiled at him and asked directly.

Most kidney deficiency syndromes occur from depleting essence over a long period.

Of course, some children are born weak, but such children are frail and sickly from a young age.

If these symptoms appear during adolescence.

“Uh, uh… what do you mean?”

He must be pouring his essence into something other than studying.

“You know what’s making you tired. I sent your father out, so speak comfortably.”

In fact, over 90% of the causes should be attributed to excessive sexual activity.

Kim Jinggyu lowered his head, fidgeted, then raised his right hand.

And folded his thumb.

“Four times a week?”

Hmm, for an adult, that’s not exactly a small amount.

But considering he’s always been a vigorous high school student, it doesn’t seem like enough to make him this gaunt.

“Per day…”

Ah.

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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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