The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 291

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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 291

Seeing Grandmother Heo Sunnam’s name like this made me very happy.

That gallery was quite large. So they don’t just do pure art, but also plan exhibitions like original artwork displays?

As expected of Grandmother Heo Sunnam.

Of course, the staff probably planned it or provided the venue, but just the fact that they’re doing it is very un-MZ generation, isn’t it?

‘The Silver Mage isn’t exactly an MZ generation work… Oh, they’re running it longer than I thought.’

It’s running for two months, and during the special exhibition period, they’re even open on weekends.

In that case, there would be no problem at all going there.

[If you’re going on Tuesday or Thursday, I can go with you]

[Oh!!!!]

As soon as I sent the message, Young Master Chungpung was very happy and fired off a barrage of emoticons.

Since he’s an office worker who works five days a week on weekdays, he naturally preferred Sunday.

So when the two of us were trying to set a date, several others spoke up.

[Would Saturday work? I go to academy every Sunday]

[Oh, are you interested too, Yeo Po?]

[22 Going all the way to Seoul on Sunday and back would be tiring]

[Where are you coming from?]

[Incheon…]

[No… they’re coming from Seoul]

It seemed difficult for everyone to gather on the same day.

Excluding me, Saturday was clearly the popular choice.

[I work on Saturdays. Let’s just go on whatever day is convenient~ I don’t mind going alone.]

Even though there are Vice Directors, if I take a day off, that much more work piles up.

It wasn’t even a business trip related to the network, so I felt too sorry to leave the clinic for a personal hobby.

[Then let’s split into Saturday group and Sunday group? I’m going to see Divine Physician!!]

So it was decided that three people would visit the original artwork exhibition on Saturday, while Young Master Chungpung and I would go on Sunday.

[Is it really that interesting…? I’ll start reading it from today too]

And shortly after, along with Kkyu Kkyu’s words, a notification appeared that Junwon Online’s update was complete.

* * *

That same week, Sunday.

I came up to Seoul by train, planning to just see the original artwork exhibition and come back down the same day.

[ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Seriously such an overwhelming wave of emotion, everyone absolutely must go]

[Masterpiece of the universe, starting a complete reread from today]

[I can’t believe I even got the author’s autograph…]

The guild members who went the day before praised it so highly that I had considerable expectations.

“Divine Physician! It’s been a while!”

“Nice to see you again, Clinic Director.”

When I arrived at the gallery by taxi, Young Master Chungpung Jin Baram and Jang Jungjae, whom I had previously consulted for his Oriental Medicine Clinic, welcomed me.

Yesterday he suddenly asked if it would be okay to bring one more person, and it turned out to be Jang Jungjae.

“It’s been a while. Cheongpung, have you been in contact with Doctor Jang this whole time?”

Actually, it was hard to say we were close.

I had received his thanks separately before, and he’s been sending gifts every holiday since then… but we don’t have any private contact at all.

But I never expected Jin Baram to bring him along like this.

“What is there to contact about separately? We see each other all the time in duels.”

“Ah.”

Since they’re similar ranks, they get matched frequently.

I only do player versus player content enough to clear weekly quests unless there’s an event, so this was a fact I hadn’t been aware of.

“Thank you for asking me to come along. If Cheongpung hadn’t contacted me, I would have passed by without even knowing there was an original artwork exhibition. The Silver Mage is a work I enjoyed tremendously when I was in university. I started reading it and couldn’t sleep for four days, and for a month after that I couldn’t escape from the tsunami of emotion and almost failed my classes!”

“Failed?”

Jin Baram had also said he enjoyed the work very much, but he was surprised by Jang Jungjae’s story about almost failing.

“Haha, I eventually passed safely with a retake. It’s common at Korean Traditional Medicine University. Everyone goes through a crisis of repeating a year at least once.”

“Wow, did you go through that too, Divine Physician?”

Jin Baram looked at me with wide eyes, saying he couldn’t imagine it.

“Uh… I graduated valedictorian.”

I might have lost scholarships, but I don’t think I ever had a crisis of failing.

When I tilted my head, Jang Jungjae was startled and waved his hands dismissively.

“Ah, there are people who don’t go through that, yes.”

He was truly a peculiar director with big gestures every time we met.

Since we had made reservations in advance, we continued our conversation and went straight into the gallery.

“I was really into it in middle school. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it that the content is actually hazy… Ah!”

By my standards, it was a work I had seen over 30 years ago, so I was going to say something like only nostalgic feelings remained and I couldn’t even remember the plot.

But as soon as we entered, a full-color illustration that filled an entire wall greeted us.

“This! I was completely mesmerized seeing this… The collapsed magic circle… Was it near the end of volume 1? It’s incredibly overwhelming.”

And the original artwork, that is, the comic pages, were hanging in frames in rows.

Seeing those scenes, memories buried deep inside began to resurface.

Right, I only read the early part of volume 1 and thought it was a fantasy about an overpowered protagonist going on adventures.

The shock was tremendous right at this scene when the protagonist destroyed his entire hometown village.

“If this were a modern webtoon, people would be screaming about frustration.”

“That’s true… Ah, but it’s different from here on, isn’t it.”

“There’s even the original artwork for the staff scene.”

The backlit scene where the protagonist stands on the river, raising his staff wrapped in silver-white mana.

It was the moment when Leon, who had sworn not to use magic after destroying the village, resolved to stand against the Empire’s tyranny.

Right, the Empire was the enemy and the Emperor was the villain, wasn’t he?

The Emperor was holding the Grimoire of Time, and was raving about recreating the world.

Since it was a work with such a solid world-building, I used to imagine a lot while reading this manga, like whether I would have joined the anti-Empire forces if I were born in this world.

I thought the direction of chanting spells while opening grimoires was really cool.

But now that I think about it, couldn’t you just throw a hidden blade before the spell finishes?

“I loved this scene the most. Calling himself the successor of Silver! Isn’t that cool?”

“The way his eyes sparkled here gave me chills.”

“Everyone has different emotional points. My favorite character is the Emperor, so I loved when ‘Time’ was finally revealed.”

What? Jang Jungjae, was he Sama Oedo? How could he like the Emperor?

Anyway, talking with people who shared the same memories was endless.

“The author must have had a hard time drawing those tentacles coming out of the void.”

Since each framed original artwork had the author’s comments written beside it, it was fun to look around.

I was worried whether I’d remember, but almost all the important scenes from the manga were hung up, so there was no problem at all.

“I guess this is the end.”

After touring the entire special exhibition hall, a gift shop and collaboration cafe awaited us.

I usually don’t buy offline merchandise, but somehow my heart was swelling with emotion.

“I should buy one of these.”

I deliberated between a poster and a mug cup, then decided on the mug cup.

Something I can use in daily life would be better after all.

“Whoa, you’re buying all of that?”

Unlike me, Jin Baram had already picked up five or six pieces of merchandise.

Jang Jungjae had brought a basket and was loading it up as if he was going to buy every single product available.

“The art book and acrylic stands are one thing… but even the cloak? Wouldn’t a t-shirt with a magic circle drawn on it be better?”

“I have to buy that too, of course. I’m really grateful that I’m earning enough thanks to the Clinic Director.”

No, money aside, where exactly would he use a cloak and staff?

Jang Jungjae collects figures at his clinic, so he could display acrylic stands and such, but he can’t work wearing a cloak, can he?

But I couldn’t voice that thought.

There was a branch director in our network who actually did that very thing.

“Yes… that’s fortunate…”

I just mumbled and finished paying first.

“I’ll buy the drinks. Let’s sit for a moment.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Since it felt too soon to leave right away, we each ordered a menu item at the collaboration cafe.

“Your sales are staying stable, right? You’re coexisting reasonably well with the neighboring clinic?”

I asked about Jang Jungjae’s current situation.

Well, seeing how freely he was spending, it seemed like things were going well.

“Yes. We even surpassed our peak high point last month. Our neighborhood regulars doubled, and a pro gamer even visited. I’m not sure if it’s true, but they said our clinic is famous in the industry?”

“Oh, really? That’s amazing.”

“So that’s why you got all the new update equipment right away. Tsk.”

Jin Baram added that he hadn’t been able to beat Jang Jungjae even once since the update.

Most of our guild members only spent small amounts and farmed directly, so we couldn’t match wallet warriors in the early stages of updates.

“It’s thanks to the Clinic Director. I never thought of appealing in that direction. My blog views are hitting quite high numbers these days too… and there’s surprisingly fun in exchanging comments with fellow clinic director blog neighbors.”

“That’s good. You need to keep interacting with people to keep up with the times.”

“Exactly. I was too far behind.”

That was probably true.

Until I talked to him, he had insisted on Saengjim Oriental Medicine Clinic, which made it very difficult to be competitive in the heart of Seoul.

“I’m also learning a lot from interacting within the network. The continuing education too.”

“Ah, I heard you opened an additional branch. Congratulations.”

Huh? He knew about the Daejeon branch?

Would he have reason to search for other Oriental Medicine Clinic network branches?

“Are you interested in our network?”

“Haha… I actually thought about it quite seriously, but when I looked into it, everyone seemed so dedicated that I don’t think I could keep up.”

I see.

As Jang Jungjae said, it wouldn’t be easy for him to adapt among people like Kim Chunsik or Ryu Jinseong.

“Ah, I’m not particularly recommending it. Congratulations on establishing your own territory.”

“Thank you. I barely recovered thanks to you taking the time. So about that… Clinic Director, this might be shameless of me, but.”

“Yes?”

Does he have another favor to ask?

“Go ahead and tell me. I’m good at saying no.”

“Actually, my coworker is also worried because her oriental medicine clinic isn’t doing well. I went to take a look but couldn’t really tell what was wrong, so she asked me to ask if you could take a look when you have time. She said she would definitely pay a consultation fee…”

“Ah.”

If she’s offering to pay a consultation fee, then it’s not really a favor.

“Just give her my contact information for now. We’ll talk about it later.”

Since it would be awkward to discuss the details with Jin Baram sitting right there, I decided to talk directly with the person involved later.

“Shall we get going?”

We had just finished our drinks anyway.

Planning to move to a restaurant, the three of us returned our cups and left the cafe.

“Whoa!”

But what I thought was the end wasn’t actually the end.

On our way out, magic suddenly appeared on the wall again and the lighting changed.

“The world begins anew from white light…”

Baekeun’s magic spread, and the ending scene where peace descended upon the world after the war ended.

It was an incredible production.

Was this the production that caused the guild members to go crazy when they left the gallery yesterday?

“Waaaaah! I could have met the author!”

While we were immersed in the touching moment, Jin Baram started sobbing.

“What? The author?”

“She came by yesterday. They said she held something like a guerrilla signing event.”

“R-really?”

I nodded.

The guild members who had visited the gallery yesterday said they met author Kawasaki Yumi in person.

The author had briefly held a signing event while she was there?

Even after hearing that story, I actually didn’t feel much about it.

I just liked the work, but what would I do with the author’s autograph? If it were a famous person who came as a patient, I’d hang it in the clinic, but still.

…That’s what I thought at the time, since my memories of The Silver Mage were hazy, so I just accepted it. But now that I had toured the entire gallery and was coming out, I felt a wave of regret.

“Tsk, Cheongpung could have seen her, but you missed it because of me.”

“*sob*, *sniff sniff sob*, no. I prefer seeing Divine Physician.”

She’s saying things she doesn’t mean.

Of course, even if I had known, I probably wouldn’t have given up my Saturday for this… but it was truly disappointing to have missed it by just one day.

‘Is Grandmother not around?’

As I left the gallery building, I looked around for no particular reason.

Of course, even if Grandmother Heo Sunnam were here, I couldn’t meet the author who might have already returned to Japan.

And even if she were in South Korea, I wouldn’t make such a request anyway.

‘Well, she’s mostly in Busan anyway.’

Next time she comes to the clinic, I should tell her that I enjoyed the gallery thanks to her.

I left the gallery with great emotion and a bit of regret.

* * *

And the next day.

Monday morning, I went to work at the clinic as always and started an exciting new week.

“Clinic Director, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been busy with work in Seoul lately so I couldn’t come.”

Today, Grandmother Heo Sunnam greeted me from early morning after a long time.

“This is a manga artist teacher from Japan, and she says her wrist hurts, so I brought her right over.”

The very person I had been so disappointed not to meet the day before was somehow sitting in my examination room.

—————
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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