The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 288

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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 288

Father was right. It really was Kim Jooho and Ha Dohyeon.

How were they in Busan? Weren’t they filming? Had their knees gotten bad enough that they had to rush out?

Questions arose for a moment, but it would be rude to ask about their private lives in a hospital of all places.

Kim Jinggyu immediately cleared the useless curiosity from his head.

More importantly, he needed to get their autographs.

‘This is crazy. How envious will Jin-a be!’

Kim Jinggyu reflexively searched his pockets, but as always, all he had was his phone.

What high school boy would carry around a notebook? Even if by chance he had brought his school bag, it was uncertain whether there would be a notepad inside.

“Father, do you have any paper I could get an autograph on…!”

“Oh, here. That really is those guys, right?”

“Yes!”

It was really fortunate that Father had a notepad in his bag.

“Excuse me, um, I’m a fan… If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask for your autographs?”

Kim Jinggyu immediately ran over to the two of them.

“Oh, of course!”

The two idol trainees turned to look at him with bright smiles.

With their small faces, pale white skin, and distinct eyes, nose, and lips standing side by side like that.

…He felt like a squid for no reason.

“I watch your shows well. I’m rooting for you. My younger sibling is a huge fan.”

“Oh, really? That’s an honor.”

“Should we take a photo together too?”

“Wow, if that’s okay with you…!”

Thanks to Kim Jooho suggesting it first, Kim Jinggyu was able to capture all four of them including Father in one shot.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you. My daughter will be really happy about this.”

The two seemed to have already finished their treatment and were paying.

They smiled brightly just like on TV, greeted Kim Jinggyu and his father, then immediately left the Oriental Medicine Clinic.

“It would have been nice if Jin-a had come too. What a shame.”

Father felt regretful.

Kim Jinggyu was so happy he didn’t know what to do with himself.

While Father was registering Kim Jinggyu’s name, he immediately sent the photo to his younger sibling.

What would she say? She’d be insanely jealous, right? He could probably tease her about this for at least a year, couldn’t he?

“Kim Jinggyu~”

There wasn’t much of a wait today, so his name was called before the ‘unread’ indicator on Kim Jina’s message disappeared.

“Clinic Director, hello.”

“Hello. Have you been well? Your complexion looks much better?”

“Thanks to you.”

“That’s right. This kid’s face used to be the color of dirt, but lately he’s been full of life.”

The color of dirt? It didn’t seem like it was quite that bad.

“Are you managing your health well?”

The Clinic Director asked casually.

Understanding what she meant, his face heated up slightly, but since Father was next to him, he answered as if it was nothing.

“Yes. I’ve been reducing strenuous activities as planned, and I’ve been taking my medicine without missing any.”

“This kid has been coming to exercise regularly too.”

Father added a comment as well.

“That’s good. Seeing you get healthier makes me feel good too.”

Then the Clinic Director went through all the things she had asked about during the first examination – digestion, sleep, and so on.

“How’s the lethargy when you wake up in the morning?”

“I don’t really have any. I definitely feel more energetic.”

“How about urination frequency?”

“Oh, that’s right. I had forgotten about that, but it’s decreased to about five or six times a day.”

“Good. There’s nothing to worry about now.”

Father, who had snapped at him during the previous treatment asking if he was just going in and out because he didn’t want to study, looked back and forth between Kim Jinggyu and the Clinic Director with a slightly apologetic expression.

“Should he take it for another month? Or would it be okay to stop?”

“It’s not stopping treatment but ending it. It’s fine not to take it anymore. At this point, it’s safe to say he’s found homeostasis in a healthy state. If his condition worsens later when he becomes a senior in high school due to severe stress or something, come back for treatment then.”

“We’ll do that.”

The Clinic Director firmly declared the end of treatment.

Even by Kim Jinggyu’s own assessment, there were no particular problems with his body now.

“Is there a separate consultation just for your son today too?”

“Yes, it’ll be over quickly.”

And saying he would wait outside if there was nothing to pay for, Father left his seat.

Father seemed to think that Kim Jinggyu was getting counseling about his concerns from the Clinic Director.

“Are you doing well?”

I was embarrassed about what story might come out, but the Clinic Director just smiled gently.

“Yes. Since I’m not doing it, there are many other fun things to do… Thank you for firmly telling me to reduce it.”

Kim Jinggyu rambled on, saying whatever came out of his mouth without knowing what he was talking about.

Ugh, this happened a month ago too.

“I’m glad you found many other pleasures. Let me also check your arm.”

She also checked his arm, which she hadn’t mentioned when Father was present.

The arm he said was like a factory worker’s… an arm that had been used extensively.

Just receiving acupuncture on the first day had loosened it considerably, and after several more treatments, he had completely forgotten about it.

“It never hurt once.”

“Yes. When I feel it, all the abnormal stiffness has been released too. It’s completely healed.”

As expected, his arm also received a complete recovery diagnosis.

“You don’t have any other questions or uncomfortable areas, do you?”

The atmosphere was such that she would end the consultation without bothering to ask about his current masturbation frequency.

Was it really just about not interfering with daily life?

As Kim Jinggyu was about to say no and get up, something suddenly came to mind.

“Um, actually, from some point on, it seems like there’s a bit more strength down there… It’s not uncomfortable though…”

The corner of the Clinic Director’s mouth, who had been maintaining a gentle smile, trembled slightly.

“I thought that might happen, so I told you to stop. Before Viagra was developed, kidney deficiency treatment medicine was often prescribed for aphrodisiac purposes.”

“Ah…!”

Finally, the mystery was solved.

Then, once he stopped the medicine, his lower body wouldn’t be healthier than necessary.

Kim Jinggyu politely thanked her for the good treatment and left the examination room.

Then, when he habitually turned on his phone.

[67 unread messages]

[2 missed calls]

The contact he had been waiting for had come in droves.

He hadn’t known because he had it on silent in the examination room, but his younger sibling had sent an incredible number of messages alone.

[Jealous? lol]

Kim Jinggyu briefly replied to the 67 messages and went home with Father.

“No way, you really saw Father and Oppa and Dohyun oppa?!”

“Yes. Father even brought back a photo of Dohyun!”

Father tore out a page from his notebook and gave it as a gift to Kim Jina, who had chased them out to the foyer and was stamping her feet.

Father waited for his daughter’s admiration, or gratitude, as if saying ‘I did well, right?’

“Why, why, why only me…! When I wasn’t there…! Why only me! Waaaaah!”

But Kim Jina screamed.

Kim Jinggyu’s dopamine exploded like never before at his younger sibling’s pain.

A complete recovery diagnosis for the symptoms that had consumed Kim Jinggyu for months.

And his despairing younger sibling.

It was the most pleasant day in the past year.

* * *

About 1 hour before Kim Jinggyu came to Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic.

There were other patients who recognized Ha Dohyeon and Kim Jooho.

“Uh…?”

“By any chance…?”

A completely different reaction from when they used to come to the Oriental Medicine Clinic for knee treatment. I knew they would become famous quickly, right?

“Oh my, sorry for causing a commotion.”

The two patients, who had finished a brief autograph session in the waiting room, kept bowing their heads as they entered the examination room.

“Not at all. You two must have had a hard time. Next time, if you contact us in advance, I’ll give the staff a heads up so you can come right in.”

“Oh, no. You don’t need to give us any special treatment.”

“Hehe, sorry for troubling the Clinic Director, but actually I don’t mind it.”

Kim Jooho, whom I had only occasionally seen on TV, waved his hands and felt honored, while Ha Dohyeon shyly confessed that he didn’t mind it.

He must be just starting to feel his popularity.

“But weren’t you still filming? How did you come all the way to Busan?”

“Even during the retreat, we have days off. They said fans put up advertisements at Seomyeon Station too, so we came down to see them.”

I wondered if there would be any particular reason to come to Busan during audition program filming, but as expected, it wasn’t an official schedule.

Treatment urgent enough to use a precious day off.

“How’s your knee?”

“Perfect. These days I’m flying around as if it never hurt at all. But juuust in case, because it’s scary. I’m getting acupuncture once every two weeks as maintenance.”

“Since it’s a job where your knee ligaments and muscles inevitably overwork, it’s good to manage them before they accumulate.”

If Ha Dohyeon’s knee is fine.

“What’s bothering you, Kim Jooho?”

Kim Jooho must be the urgent patient.

The front desk hadn’t mentioned his symptoms, only noting it as a herbal medicine consultation.

“Ahem.”

When I looked at Kim Jooho, he swallowed his saliva and hesitated for a moment before answering.

“When I get nervous, my stomach hurts a lot, so I came here.”

While general functional dyspepsia can be related to stress,

if it was urgent enough to come all the way here…

“Irritable bowel syndrome?”

When I mentioned the condition I suspected, Kim Jooho stopped beating around the bush and nodded.

“Yes… It’s embarrassing, but that’s right.”

What’s there to be embarrassed about?

It’s ultimately a physiological phenomenon… well, actually a pathological phenomenon.

“Unlike my knee, I’d be grateful if you could keep his condition confidential. He has this prince concept? Mysterious image? Something like that, so if it gets out, it would really break his image…”

“…It wasn’t an intentional concept.”

As a viewer who had been watching the show from episode one, I was well aware of the image the production team was pushing.

Ha Dohyeon had established himself as earnest and genuinely passionate about being an idol from his first appearance.

Kim Jooho, being devastatingly handsome and the best singer, seemed to be pushed with a naturally perfect prince image.

“Of course I should do that. I never promoted the knee thing first either.”

“Haha, I really took full advantage of it.”

I smiled at Ha Dohyeon who was scratching his head and made eye contact with Kim Jooho.

“Did the irritable bowel syndrome develop after this program started and you moved into the dorms?”

Being a survival show, it was an unavoidably stressful environment.

On top of that, having to eat only predetermined foods made it perfect for developing any kind of condition.

“I already had poor digestion. When I got a little nervous, I’d feel gassy and bloated. But it wasn’t enough to prevent me from focusing on stage, and once I got through the nervous moments, I was generally okay.”

“It got worse this time.”

“Yes… Actually, since the team battles started, there have been some opinion conflicts during practice. Every time that happened, my intestines would hurt as if they were twisting. I thought some snake was stirring around inside me. And as the performance date approached, it got worse, and I even developed diarrhea…”

Kim Jooho’s face contorted as he trailed off.

Irritable bowel syndrome is typically classified into constipation-type, diarrhea-type, abdominal pain-type, gas-type, and mixed-type, and it seemed his mild gas-type or abdominal pain-type had worsened to include diarrhea-type as well.

“Every day was torture. I’d be fine during practice, but the moment I was being evaluated, everything would go yellow before my eyes… I tried to hide it somehow, but Dohyun discovered it and said if we came here, you’d treat me, so that’s how I ended up coming.”

Perhaps just thinking about it was terrible, because Kim Jooho’s face turned pale white in real-time as he spoke.

“Jooho was trembling in the waiting room, and I could tell something was definitely wrong. He’s usually much better than this, but he can’t even properly show his skills. I thought the Clinic Director might be able to save him, so I convinced him and brought him here.”

“Can you… save me…?”

The two trainees made their plea for rescue with extremely serious faces.

For them, this program was a life-or-death opportunity. There was no sign they were exaggerating as a joke.

“I’ll do my absolute best.”

I nodded gravely.

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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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