The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 296

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 296

It wasn’t a difficult problem.

Even though it was subjective, aren’t the places that could hurt in the knee pretty much the same?

Medial knee pain, knee ligaments, quadriceps, medial ligament, lateral ligament, pes anserinus… Moreover, the first patient had pain in the most common area – the medial knee.

“Uh…”

Yet Yun Heeyoung was flustered and her mouth gaped open.

“Lateral knee pain, no, it was medial knee pain, right?”

Her pupils trembled.

She got it right, but she wasn’t confident.

I didn’t tell her whether she was wrong or right and moved on to the next question.

“Question 2. How many years has Lee Jinseun’s insomnia lasted?”

This might be a bit more difficult. This wasn’t something the patient mentioned today.

I saw it in the chart.

“15 years?”

“You said let’s try acupuncture first for insomnia that’s lasted 15 years because it hasn’t been going on for long?”

“Ah! 3 months? 2 months? Around that time. 15 years was for the tailbone fracture.”

“Question 3. What was the grilled clam restaurant recommended by the patient from Yeongjongdo?”

“…Um, I heard it but forgot.”

I smiled gently.

Of course, the last question had nothing to do with treatment, but it might be more important for building rapport with patients.

“I should have taken notes, but I was negligent. I was especially scattered today…”

“Of course today would have been particularly hectic. Your son was also at the clinic, and I was coming and going, so you must have been distracted.”

“I wasn’t trying to make excuses.”

Yun Heeyoung’s face turned slightly red.

She seemed very embarrassed that she couldn’t answer questions that weren’t that difficult.

“Director Yun, you’re confident in your communication skills, aren’t you?”

Yun Heeyoung thought for a moment then nodded.

“Honestly, I am. I’ve always been told that I speak well in a gentle manner.”

As expected.

“That’s probably why you and Director Jang didn’t notice the problem when he came before. When you couldn’t remember which part of the knee hurt, when you were vague about whether you heard about the tailbone surgery, when you forgot the patient lived in Yeongjongdo, etc. Actually, an inexperienced young director might have panicked and blamed themselves, right? But you handled it smoothly without any concern.”

“Ah…?”

A subtle expression as if she understood, yet didn’t quite understand.

“You weren’t originally like this, were you?”

I was almost certain.

Both during the phone call and after coming here, Yun Heeyoung had mentioned her past glory several times.

That kind of revenue from a general Korean medicine clinic focused on acupuncture patients absolutely doesn’t come from treating patients carelessly.

Of course, it’s a different story if you use Choi Eunhee’s method of specializing in certain areas, advertising heavily, and making patients pay for 3 months upfront after just focusing on the initial consultation.

To see 60 acupuncture patients a day, you need a considerable number of regulars who come daily.

“That’s right! I used to listen very carefully and remember these details extremely well. That’s why I rarely took notes. …Actually, until you just pointed it out, I thought I was still like that.”

The shock must have been great, as Yun Heeyoung’s lips trembled.

Since this was something she considered her strength, she couldn’t see the essence and kept trying to fix the wrong things.

“Actually, there isn’t a huge problem with your current practice. If there are no alternatives, patients will still come even while thinking ‘what’s with this person?’ when they’re in pain.”

“Alternatives…”

“You said this location is good. With so much foot traffic, I saw several clinics and Korean medicine clinics. There are many competitors too. Originally, you had your own strengths that could compete with and beat them, but at some point, that disappeared.”

“I see.”

In the martial arts world, unless it’s at the level of our Medical Institute, it doesn’t really matter whether a doctor remembers a patient’s pain location or not.

Actually, even if their character is completely ruined or they constantly curse, it doesn’t matter much.

If patients want to find another doctor, they’d have to cross mountains and rivers – what choice do they have? They have to go when they’re sick.

But the modern medical system has somewhat standardized treatment skills through university education.

In metropolitan cities, it’s common to have another Korean medicine clinic right in the next building.

From the patient’s perspective, when they feel subtle displeasure and their heart grows distant, they naturally think, “Should I try somewhere else this time?”

“Sigh, I always nag my son to do his best even when solving a single problem, but I… You’re right. I was seeing patients while my mind was elsewhere, and I was always lenient with my own mistakes. Jungjae said he couldn’t keep up with the times, but I was actually regressing as a Korean medicine doctor.”

Yun Heeyoung clutched her chest.

Perhaps other moments of mistakes came to mind besides what I saw today, as she looked clearly remorseful.

Even though this wasn’t easy to accept.

Fortunately, she nodded with a pained expression, saying it was all true.

“It’s fine now that you’ve realized it. Let’s think together about how you can change from now on. What do you think has been the reason you haven’t been able to properly focus on patients these past few years?”

I softened my voice and took Yun Heeyoung’s hand.

Of course, there was a set answer here too, but I judged it would be better to have her say it directly.

“The child… I suppose.”

Correct.

“Director, this is difficult for me to comment on since I haven’t raised a child. But couldn’t a 7-year-old stay home alone? Even if not continuously, at least during kindergarten vacation periods?”

“…You’re right. Yujun would actually like it if I told him to stay alone. It’s only 2 weeks at most, and he’s not a child who would do dangerous things. Actually, it’s fine. If I was worried about leaving him alone, I could have called a babysitter or asked my in-laws.”

“If you were an employee, you would have done that, right?”

“Yes. If I were a vice director, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of it, and even if our staff brought their child, I definitely wouldn’t have allowed it. But since I’m the president, I was lenient only with myself. My desire to make my child study more came before my professional consciousness.”

Yun Heeyoung readily admitted it.

That was exactly right.

While there might be truly unavoidable situations when raising a child, fundamentally, the examination room should be a space for patients.

“I thought I was handling both work and childcare well, but I was completely wrong.”

She let out a deep sigh and turned on her computer.

She opened an internet browser and showed me her bookmarks list.

“You’ve searched for a lot of academy information.”

It was all education-related. English kindergarten, large private academies, 7-year-old civil service examination, academic competitions, special high school admissions…

She had been searching for this kind of information in her spare time after seeing patients.

Strike while the iron is hot, as they say – Yun Heeyoung deleted the entire list.

“From now on, I’ll only focus on work at the clinic. I’ll have plenty of time, so I’ll check everything from the initial consultation to the entire chart before starting treatment, and I’ll record every single word the patients say. If I still have time left after that, I should study more myself.”

“That’s a good decision.”

It was an excellent resolution. Korean medicine doctors never stop having things to study.

If Yun Heeyoung actually follows through on what she just said, the patient will probably recover without any problems.

Since she’s someone who has done well before, she’ll quickly find her direction once she gets her head straight.

But there was one more thing I wanted to say.

“This is a bit of a different topic, but let me give you one more piece of advice.”

“I’ll gratefully listen to anything.”

It’s not related to the medical consultation she asked for, but… now that I’ve seen it, I just can’t let it pass.

“Communication isn’t excellent just because the conversation flows smoothly. You need to exchange thoughts, and literally have ‘ideas’ ‘communicated.’ You need to listen to what the other person wants.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. From now on, I’ll never carelessly brush off what patients say and will listen carefully.”

“I’m not talking only about patients.”

The son is too well-behaved.

Some children are naturally born with that kind of personality, but… his energy feels a bit weak, and if I check his pulse, he probably has a weak heart.

“Pardon?”

Yun Heeyoung blinked her eyes.

“What I saw was very brief, but it seems like communication with Yujun is also necessary. Whether he wants to do well on this test, whether he wants to go to academy.”

“Wouldn’t a child naturally dislike studying?”

“Does he dislike it?”

“…”

Multiple choice question.

Option 1: He doesn’t dislike it. My child likes studying and doing well on tests.

Option 2: He dislikes it. But thinking about the future, I still need to make him study.

Yun Heeyoung hesitated and couldn’t answer easily.

“I know that letting a child do whatever they want isn’t good education. But I think we need to listen to what they want to do, and then discuss why I, as a mother, think studying is necessary despite that. Even if it’s to develop the strength to set goals for themselves and work hard to achieve something.”

“Ah…”

She momentarily frowned, then blinked several times.

“Yujun never says he doesn’t want to do something when I tell him to do it.”

“That could be some kind of signal.”

Yun Heeyoung fell into thought for a moment, but soon accepted this advice as well.

“Thank you for telling me. I think… I’ve been somewhat dogmatic at home too. I’ll have an open conversation with Yujun and my husband together.”

“It was advice that might have been somewhat rude, but thank you for listening with an open mind.”

“I can tell that you gave me this advice because you genuinely care about me and Yujun. Hearing this makes me feel more clearly what I was lacking, or rather, what I had lost.”

Her expression brightened as she accepted the advice.

It might have been unnecessary meddling, but I couldn’t just let it pass, and I’m glad she understood it positively.

Since she has the motivation to improve, she’ll be able to progress well both as a Korean medicine doctor and as a parent.

“Fighting. Um, I couldn’t give you specific conclusions like I did with Director Jang, but I’m glad it was still helpful.”

“If it weren’t for you, I might never have realized this. I’m deeply grateful.”

Since she’s satisfied too, all’s well that ends well.

“Contact me if you have any more concerns.”

I finished the consultation in a good mood.

“It doesn’t seem like any more morning patients will come. How do you usually handle lunch?”

“There’s a nearby Korean buffet that delivers, so we get regular delivery… If there’s something specific you’d like to eat, let’s go there.”

“Oh, no. I like Korean food too.”

Yun Heeyoung instructed the staff to add portions for me and Hong Yujun to the order.

Then she soon returned to the examination room.

She took out an envelope from the drawer.

“It’s modest compared to you coming here and helping us, but I prepared this with sincerity.”

It was an envelope containing department store gift certificates.

Judging by the thickness I could feel, about ten cards? Probably 100,000 won denominations.

“Your sentiment alone is enough. It’s okay.”

“It’s not much. I’d feel more comfortable if you accepted it.”

“I didn’t receive any separate payment from Director Jang either.”

“That’s because that guy has no shame.”

“Ah… Still, please take care of holiday gifts for him.”

We made a small commotion for a while, going back and forth about the gift certificates.

In the end, I pretended to be unable to resist Yun Heeyoung forcibly putting them in my pocket and accepted them.

Ugh, it’s probably not a burdensome amount, right? I think I’ve earned my worth…

“And it’s awkward to call this a substitute for insufficient consultation fees. Should I call it information? There’s something I’d like to tell you.”

“Oh, what is it?”

That wasn’t the end of it, as Yun Heeyoung threw out a new topic.

What kind of information could there be in this field? Does she know any good pharmaceutical companies or interior contractors?

“By any chance, is there talk of opening an Oriental Medicine Hospital within the Seongsuhaneui-won Network? I know of a really good property.”

“An Oriental Medicine Hospital?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————