The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 287

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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 287

Four times a day.

I managed my expression that was about to gape open and smiled gently.

In traditional Korean medicine, essence is the foundation of life activities.

It’s one of the three treasures – essence , qi , and spirit – responsible for growth, development, and reproduction, and is stored in the kidneys .

Overwork, excessive sexual activity, and chronic illness deplete essence.

Just as the word “semen ” contains the character for essence , it’s deeply connected to sexual activity in various ways.

‘But if I tell him to moderate it because he needs to preserve his essence, he won’t understand.’

How should I explain this?

“Masturbation itself is a normal physiological phenomenon. In moderation, it helps with qi and blood circulation, and dopamine and oxytocin improve mood and relieve tension. But when excessive, it ultimately burdens both body and mind.”

Excessive sexual activity not only causes the fatigue and lethargy he’s currently experiencing but also puts continuous strain on the prostate.

Over time, sexual sensitivity decreases, and dopamine fatigue in the developing adolescent brain can reduce everyday pleasures.

I first presented the orthodox view while observing Kim Jinggyu’s facial expression.

“You’re feeling that it’s interfering with your daily life now, aren’t you, Jinggyu? Finding balance within a reasonable range is important.”

“Yes…”

Kim Jinggyu blushed red and nodded his head.

Well, since it had reached the point where even his father could see he looked listless, it would be hard to deny.

“I absolutely won’t tell your family, so speak comfortably. When did the frequency become this high? Do you constantly feel urges?”

“Not really urges… I do it habitually whenever I have time. When I’m alone at home and don’t do it, it feels wasteful, so I do it two or three times… After entering high school, when I’m in my room studying or pretending to rest, my parents don’t really bother me, so I just keep…”

“Have you tried to reduce it but couldn’t? Or have you never thought the frequency was high?”

“I thought it was a lot, but I’ve never really tried to reduce it.”

It’s probably not quite an addiction situation.

“It doesn’t constantly come to mind when you’re doing other things, or make you anxious when you don’t do it?”

“Not really. …I’ll reduce it.”

Kim Jinggyu, who had initially been embarrassed and trailing off his words, soon made a firm resolution.

He seemed like he could reduce it anytime if he just made up his mind.

“Good thinking! If you just reduce it a little and take your medicine properly, you’ll recover quickly.”

“How many times would be normal?”

“Hmm, there’s no medically established definition of what’s normal. As long as it doesn’t interfere with daily life.”

Essence is divided into congenital essence inherited from parents and acquired essence obtained from food and breathing.

Acquired essence supplements and protects congenital essence.

How abundant one’s essence is and how well one recovers through daily life inevitably varies by individual.

Still, I should set some guidelines.

“Generally, 2-5 times per week is considered an appropriate range. In terms of keeping it within a range you can control yourself, let’s try not to exceed twice a day.”

“Yes, understood.”

Is this my first time directly counseling a teenage male student about such issues?

In the Martial Arts World, kids that age would be the Tang Family’s junior disciples, but those guys tended to be somewhat intimidated by me.

Though I had given advice when other students at the Medical Institute were wondering how to counsel such matters.

Actually, I’d counseled quite a few maidservants and noble ladies about related concerns.

“If it doesn’t work right away, you can gradually reduce it, so you don’t need to feel guilty if it doesn’t work once. Think of it as working to build good lifestyle habits.”

“Yes. The internet says to exercise… would exercise really help?”

Since I was speaking matter-of-factly, Kim Jinggyu seemed more comfortable now and started asking various questions he’d been curious about.

“Of course it helps. But if you suddenly try to use all that energy for exercise, it won’t work well, so let’s start by gradually increasing time spent with family and friends. Like playing soccer once after school before going home alone, that sort of thing.”

“Yes. I should follow Dad to the gym in the evenings too. Um, and…”

I waited a moment for the hesitating Kim Jinggyu.

“They say doing it a lot weakens your bones – I should still be okay, right?”

“Ah, there is that saying. But it doesn’t actually weaken them structurally. In traditional Korean medicine, we assign different body parts to the five organs Gan-Xin-Pi-Fei-Shen, and among Jīn-Mài-Ròu-Pí-Gǔ, bones belong to kidneys , so when kidneys are deficient, bones weaken – that’s how the connection was made.”

Of course, typical kidney deficiency patients – elderly patients – often do have osteoporosis.

But there’s no need to worry about bones at a young age just from frequent masturbation.

Kim Jinggyu’s expression brightened somewhat.

“Then the pain in my arms, waist, and knees…”

“It’s not a bone problem. The waist and knees are part of kidney deficiency symptoms as I mentioned, and the arms… well, probably just from using them a lot?”

I had Kim Jinggyu extend his arm and palpated his forearm muscles like when checking for elbow or wrist pain.

“Very stiff. Just a few hours ago, a patient who works with drills at a factory had arms exactly like this.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

At this completely honest assessment, Kim Jinggyu pulled back his arm and covered his face with both hands.

“Since it’s muscle pain, let’s treat it with acupuncture. If you have questions while doing this, or if control isn’t going well, request counseling anytime. If you’d be more comfortable with a male director, it’s fine to change your attending physician. I’ll relay today’s consultation well.”

“Ah! No no no. I’ll only consult with you, Clinic Director.”

Has he gotten more comfortable with me?

Kim Jinggyu shook his head, saying there was absolutely no need for that.

“Then let’s go to the treatment room.”

I sent Kim Jinggyu out, telling him to start with physical therapy for his waist and arms.

I was about to see the next patient, but perhaps because the consultation had gone longer than expected, I noticed Kim Jinggyu’s guardian looking quite restless.

“Is there bullying at school, or is academic stress too severe? If it’s a situation requiring intervention, please let me know.”

…He was very serious.

I brought him briefly into the examination room, then answered with equal seriousness.

“It’s not that kind of issue. I can’t tell you exactly what it is since I promised your son, but it’s something that can happen during adolescence and doesn’t require your intervention as a father.”

“Phew, I see. I’m relieved that he at least talked to you about it, Clinic Director… I want to become closer and be someone he can rely on, but it seems like the children don’t consider me very close to them.”

Unfortunately, this problem would be difficult for a father to discuss openly with his son, no matter how close they were.

Actually, wouldn’t it be okay to have some secrets in matters like this?

Even between parents and children, it’s impossible to share every aspect of private life.

“You’re doing well enough. You even came together like this to get medicine made for him, and your son knows that you care about him a lot. Since we’ve decided to try exercising to recover his energy, let’s praise him and spend more time together.”

He seemed to have no clue about the truth, so it would be better to act naturally rather than prying unnecessarily.

“Is that so… Thank you for saying that.”

“He’ll regain his energy soon, so please don’t worry.”

“Still, deer antler…”

“It’s truly unnecessary.”

Based on the Yukmijihwang-tang I mentioned initially, I prescribed only a small amount of qi-tonifying medicine to directly boost his energy.

Since he was eating well, if he just moderately reduced his energy consumption, he would recover without any problems.

Probably within a month, his energy would noticeably return, wouldn’t it?

I finished the consultation and even performed acupuncture treatment on the areas where Kim Jinggyu said he felt pain.

* * *

As he left the Oriental Medicine Clinic, Kim Jinggyu calmed his flushed face.

He had followed along without much thought when his father said he’d get him some tonic medicine.

He never expected his problem to be seen through so immediately.

He had already been thinking he should reduce the frequency anyway.

It only took up a lot of time, and doing it four times wasn’t four times better than doing it once a day.

He had also been anxious that his family might notice, so he wanted to quit.

He should take this opportunity to steel his resolve and return to a normal life.

“Dad, starting today, can I come with you when you go to the gym after dinner?”

To solidify his determination, he brought it up as soon as they left the Oriental Medicine Clinic.

“Of course you can! Let’s register you today!”

His father was really, truly delighted.

“Huff, huff…”

“Oh my, what are you going to do if you can’t keep up with your dad who’s almost fifty?”

His stamina really seemed to have weakened.

Less than 30 minutes after running on the treadmill, Kim Jinggyu was gasping for breath.

“Hey, you guys, how many times a day do you…”

The next day.

Kim Jinggyu went to school and casually asked his friends about frequency.

Surprisingly, there was one guy who said he only did it on weekends.

But most of them said they did it about once a day, and up to twice when they felt like it.

“I do it seven times a day though?”

Excluding one crazy guy, Kim Jinggyu was second place.

The thought that he couldn’t live like that guy motivated him a bit more.

“How does the medicine taste?”

“It’s a bit sour.”

Then in the evening when he went home, the herbal medicine had arrived.

He thought it would taste terrible, but it was more tolerable than expected.

‘I definitely feel more energetic…?’

Changes appeared much faster than expected.

In just 3-4 days, the symptom of having no energy in his arms and legs from the moment he woke up in the morning disappeared.

About a week after that, the discomfort in his back and knees also decreased.

It wasn’t exactly a dull ache or pain, so the feeling had been strange, but apparently there had been a problem after all.

“No! Why is Dohyun’s screen time so short this week?”

“What’s so good about that guy? Kang Juho? That guy is the most handsome and sings well too, doesn’t he?”

“Ugh, he’s popular too, but… there’s no trainee who works as hard as Dohyun!”

Since he tried to stay in the living room all the time to avoid being alone in his room, he ended up watching the program his younger sibling turned on every day.

“Oppa, please vote.”

“I’m going to vote for Juho though.”

“Ah, Oppa!”

It was fun to tease his younger sibling, so he would praise other trainees for no reason, and before he knew it, Kim Jinggyu was watching the entire program from start to finish.

“Huh?”

Then he applied for audience tickets to the first team battle just for fun.

“Dad, I applied just in case, and I actually won? Jina really wants to go.”

Was it beginner’s luck?

Kim Jina had even created a bunch of her friends’ IDs to apply for audience tickets, but they all failed, while Kim Jinggyu’s application was selected.

“Then we should go. Dad will take you to Seoul!”

He thought his parents might not allow it since they had to go all the way to Seoul.

Contrary to his concerns, his father readily agreed, and even their mother joined them for a group trip to Seoul.

“It’s a relief that you’ve regained so much energy. Even though your father pretended otherwise, he was extremely worried.”

During the few hours driving up, I had various conversations with my mother and father.

It really wasn’t anything serious, but I felt embarrassed that I had caused them so much worry.

“The medicine helped me get better quickly. Exercise is good too…”

Lately, it even seemed like my lower body was gaining more strength.

Kim Jinggyu succeeded in enduring with unwavering determination and correcting his habits.

Going all the way to Seoul for my first-ever studio audience experience was unexpectedly very entertaining.

All the teams performed so well that I didn’t know where to cast my vote.

‘I’ve been living too miserably all this time.’

Being among the energy of the broadcasters and audience made me think, “This is what life is about.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to take one more course?”

“I think I’m fine for now. Let’s hear the clinic director’s opinion.”

After finishing a month’s worth of medicine, I went to the oriental medicine clinic to consult about the results.

“Huh?”

People I had seen countless times on TV and even saw directly, albeit from a distance, in the studio audience.

Kim Juho and Ha Dohyeon were standing at the clinic’s front desk.

“…Isn’t that the friend Jina likes?”

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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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