The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 297

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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 297

An Oriental Medicine Hospital. It was truly an unexpected topic.

If it’s a property for sale, it probably doesn’t mean real estate for a new opening.

Someone must be trying to transfer a hospital they’re currently operating, right?

Hmm… actually, it’s not like I’ve never thought about it.

With the distant future in mind, I had even pushed Hwang Sanghun to go observe hospital systems for no particular reason.

“Where is the location?”

“Goyang. It’s really good, and they want to transfer it with almost no key money.”

Ah, the metropolitan area.

If it were Busan, and if the conditions were really good, I might consider relocating myself.

But in the current situation, it wouldn’t be easy for me or our branch directors to suddenly acquire a hospital in Goyang.

“We haven’t discussed it at all. No one has contacted us saying they want to open a hospital either.”

“Hmm, that’s unfortunate. If Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic took it over, I think we could trust you with it.”

“Trust us with it? Is there some particular circumstance behind the transfer?”

It doesn’t seem to be a transfer due to general business difficulties.

“Well, I told you I worked as the first vice director under Director Noh, right? Actually, that director was running an Oriental Medicine Hospital and passed away last year.”

“Oh my… may the deceased rest in peace.”

Yun Heeyoung and I briefly observed a moment of silence together before continuing our conversation.

“You might have heard of him. His name was Director Ju Sanggil.”

“Ah, I know him! Didn’t he publish many books on Sa-am acupuncture? I read several of his works when I was an undergraduate. So you were his student?”

An unexpected name came up just when I was about to start calculating.

Since Sa-am acupuncture originated in Joseon, there was no opportunity to learn it in the martial arts world, but thanks to reading his books during my undergraduate years, I was able to utilize it to some extent.

He was renowned for acupuncture techniques, but he also wrote books on prescriptions, and Kim Chunsik had mentioned him once or twice during our studies.

“I learned various things from him, but… not enough to call myself his student. I worked as a vice director when he ran his clinic, and even then he often regretted not having a ward for proper management, so he eventually opened a hospital. He operated it well for a while, but after he passed away last year, there’s no one to take it over.”

“His child isn’t a Korean medicine doctor, I suppose? Or maybe he doesn’t have any?”

“He has one son, but he’s not a Korean medicine doctor and lives in the United States. So while he can’t operate it, he doesn’t want to sell it just for money, and he’s quietly looking around for someone who could carry on his father’s will.”

Medical institutions are personal assets, but to become a hospital director, you need qualifications under medical law.

For a hospital, you need to be a doctor; for an Oriental Medicine Hospital, you need to be a Korean medicine doctor.

If a non-medical heir wants to maintain management rights, it’s not impossible to convert to a corporation, become chairman, and hire a hospital director.

But medical corporation approval isn’t easy, and Ju Sanggil’s son apparently didn’t want to go that far.

In that case, the available options would be selling while receiving maximum key money, or closing down.

“So if someone is judged capable of carrying on his will, they’ll transfer it under good conditions.”

To give up almost all key money – that was quite a resolution.

“Yes, these are patients Director Ju did his best to care for, and it’s a hospital built with what he achieved living his whole life as a Korean medicine doctor, so he hopes someone will operate it with the same heart.”

“I see. That doesn’t seem like a very difficult request, but they still haven’t found anyone. Weren’t any of the existing attending physicians interested in taking it over?”

“Since it would be problematic if someone who can’t manage well quickly ruins it, he’d prefer someone with some degree of business success.”

“Ah.”

I thought pretending to be sincere wouldn’t be too difficult even if actually being sincere was hard, but the second condition was quite challenging.

If a director has business success, leaving their already successful clinic would be quite an adventure.

“How many beds and how many Korean medicine doctors are there? I can’t take it myself, but I’ll ask our branch directors and acquaintances.”

“Including Director Ju, there were 5 Korean medicine doctors, and now it’s temporarily a 4-person system. 1 doctor, and including desk staff, nursing assistants, administration, and counseling, there are just over 30 employees total. It’s a 5-story building with 40 beds used entirely.”

The scale is quite large too.

It’s definitely not a hospital you could entrust based on ambition alone.

“Could you tell me roughly about the revenue and expenses?”

“Monthly revenue is about 400-600 million won and expenses are 250-300 million won, but since the building belonged to Director Ju, rent isn’t included. If someone wants to buy the building too, he’s willing to negotiate, and if they don’t have that much capital, he’s thinking of starting with cheap rent and selling later when they’re interested.”

“Wow… hospital-level operations really are on a different scale.”

I don’t know how cheap the rent would be, but assuming about 20-30 million won would be added.

Even considering that revenue generated specifically because of Director Ju Sanggil would disappear, it was a hospital in decent business condition.

‘Of course, if things go wrong and revenue drops sharply, you could end up with hundreds of millions in debt per month…’

It was worthy of Yun Heeyoung’s confidence in calling it good information.

It’s just unfortunate that there probably isn’t anyone suitable on our side either.

“Thank you for letting me know. I’ll ask around once, and if anyone’s interested, I’ll contact you.”

“Yes, yes, if you contact them and visit the hospital, they’ll show you 5 years’ worth of accurate books.”

I recorded all the information Yun Heeyoung gave me on my phone.

“Director, your meal is here.”

Just as our conversation was wrapping up, the food arrived.

“Yes, thank you. Yujun, come out and eat~”

The three of us, including the child, had our meal in the examination room.

Was it because I was there? Or because he always just studied whenever he came here?

Even though it was his mother’s clinic, Hong Yujun seemed quite uncomfortable.

I could have talked endlessly about the child too, but it would be rude for me to interfere too much with educational philosophies.

Yun Heeyoung also said she would try to have a good talk with him.

Since she showed intention to change both at work and at home, things should be able to improve going forward.

“Have a safe trip home, Director! Thank you for coming!”

After finishing lunch and leaving, I informed the branch directors about the Oriental Medicine Hospital story I had heard.

[Oh my, Director Ju Sanggil…]

[Wow. Hospitals are really intimidating.]

[But doesn’t Doctor Han have higher net profit?]

They seemed interested, but as expected, no one readily volunteered to do it.

[You’re all seeing patients right now, aren’t you? Think it over and if anyone’s interested, let’s discuss it together later]

While moving to the meeting place, the numbers indicating unread messages all disappeared.

The group chat remained quiet.

[I’ve arrived in Hongdae]

I should take care of business first and look into it more when I get back.

I wonder if Hwangseoyeong arrived first?

* * *

After seeing off Director Hanyewon, Yun Heeyoung sat properly in her examination room chair.

When you gain enlightenment, it’s human nature to put it into practice immediately. I need to focus on the afternoon appointments.

“Mom, what should I do?”

So she didn’t give her son specific homework in response to his question.

If she made him solve four or five pages of problems and checked them, she’d have to keep paying attention to him.

“Just do whatever you want to do.”

Her son seemed quite confused by this.

He glanced at the writing practice problems and vocabulary book on the desk.

“Can I do listening? I want to listen to Magical History Journey.”

He subtly pointed to the phone he had put in the drawer.

Normally she would have scolded him, saying “You’re just going to turn that on and do other things, aren’t you?”

But after hearing Doctor Han’s story today and taking a step back, her child’s request sounded quite different.

It seemed he had found it very burdensome when she constantly checked how much he had solved in short periods and whether he had properly memorized vocabulary.

Yet since he had an English test coming up, he had tried to choose something related.

“Sure. If you get tired of listening, it’s okay to play a little too.”

Yun Heeyoung readily handed over the phone and let him read fairy tales.

‘This patient came three months ago and it’s been a while since then. Last time they said they sprained their ankle and asked me to fix it as much as possible before going to Europe… Today it’s their back? I should ask if they had a good trip and if their ankle was okay.’

Then she left her son alone and focused on work.

Just like when she had just graduated from Korean Traditional Medicine University and started working, she thoroughly checked before seeing every patient and recorded everything the patients said.

“My shoulder isn’t getting better.”

“I’ll take a look in the examination room after we’re done. There seems to be some change in range of motion, so let’s check it.”

When there were patients who weren’t healing well, she paid extra attention to help them get even a little better.

“Isn’t there anything more we can do?”

“If we do pharmacopuncture together, it helps a lot with pain. Considering range of motion, chuna therapy would be good too.”

“Please do it. I can’t live with this frustration.”

In doing so, she discovered demand from patients who she had assumed would refuse expensive treatments.

Of course, just because she made a resolution didn’t mean she suddenly had more patients.

But even with just 6 patients, she put all her effort into them and searched through related books wondering if she had missed anything, and the appointment time disappeared in an instant.

“Did you study hard… I mean, did you rest well?”

“I read this much!”

Even though Yun Heeyoung had clearly said it was okay to play, Hong Yujun held up the thick English fairy tale book and watched Yun Heeyoung’s expression.

I really need to have a talk with him.

“Honey, you worked hard again today.”

“You too.”

Since they both worked, when both the couple worked on the same day, they often ate out.

Her husband had arrived first, and as soon as her son entered the restaurant, he ran over and sat next to his dad.

Had he always done this…?

“Yujun.”

“Yeah.”

Yun Heeyoung had only called his name, but he flinched and tensed his shoulders.

“Honey. When we’re eating, let’s just eat…”

Thinking she was going to make him study, even her husband was on guard.

“No, I wasn’t going to talk about studying. Um… I wanted to hear what you and Yujun think about the English academy entrance exam he’s preparing for.”

“Huh?”

She was slightly displeased, but it was all seeds she had sown.

Yun Heeyoung immediately clarified and brought up the main point.

She had thought she was somewhat dogmatic, but was it to this extent?

“Yujun, do you want to study English with smart kids at a big academy? Or would you rather not go to academy?”

“Mom, you said that elementary school doesn’t show because there are no tests, but to do well in middle school and high school, I have to prepare in advance.”

She was clearly eating rolled omelet, but strangely it tasted bitter.

“That’s mom’s opinion. I’m asking what you want to do. Do you hate taking tests?”

“I don’t mind just going and taking the test, but I don’t want to change to a different academy. I want to keep learning from Teacher Jeongmi. All my close friends are there too.”

Hong Yujun glanced around cautiously before mentioning the academy in front of their apartment. While she sent him to Daechi-dong for math to do 4th grade advanced coursework, she was still sending him to nearby academies for English and essay writing.

“I see. How about the math academy?”

“I don’t like it there. The academy is so big that I can’t really hear what they’re saying in front… The kids are already all friends with each other. When I have to stay for extra study, Dad has to keep waiting downstairs. Oh, I wouldn’t have to stay if I did well on tests, but sometimes they test us on things we haven’t learned.”

When she brought up the math academy, her son’s eyes trembled greatly.

It was very unsettling that excuses came pouring out even before Yun Heeyoung scolded him.

In the past, she would have nagged him to approach others first and make friends.

She would have even thought about moving to the Gangnam area and commuting herself.

“Actually, I’d prefer not to send you to large private academies either. Your intention to get him used to competition is good, but Yujun gets too stressed from taking tests every day and having to do extra study. It’s not that difficult for me to wait in the car, but… I wish we could spend that time building family memories that we can only make now.”

Perhaps because she had set the stage, her husband spoke up first.

Both her husband and son had been silently following Yun Heeyoung’s opinions all this time.

So she thought everyone had no particular complaints.

“Why didn’t you tell me this until now?”

When Yun Heeyoung asked, her son stared intently at his father.

After hesitating for a moment, her husband said carefully.

“I thought you’d do whatever you decided anyway, so I didn’t want to fight.”

Her son remained silent, but he probably felt the same way.

He must have thought that speaking up wouldn’t change anything and would only get him scolded.

She suddenly felt a sense of crisis that she had made a really big mistake.

“Sigh.”

When she let out a deep sigh, both her husband and son tensed up.

There had been no real communication happening all this time.

“I’m sorry. Even though it concerns both of you, I decided everything on my own. Thank you for talking to me like this today.”

She had been arbitrarily deciding even her family’s schedules, yet she couldn’t handle her own work at the oriental medicine clinic.

If Director Hanyewon hadn’t made her realize this, she might never have understood and their relationships could have been severed forever.

“Tell me more about the academies you’re attending. If you don’t want to go or want to transfer somewhere else, Mom will seriously consider it too. You can also share your opinions comfortably.”

When Yun Heeyoung smiled kindly as she did with patients, her husband’s expression brightened considerably.

“Ah! Honestly, I didn’t want him to take that 7-year-old civil service exam thing! Even though it’s different from our time, kids whose parents push them this hard always go astray in high school!”

Unlike him, Hong Yujun hesitated and couldn’t easily express his thoughts.

And the story her husband coaxed out of him was quite shocking.

“Going to academy is better than having Mom constantly nagging me from the side.”

With deep regret and reflection… Yun Heeyoung spent time having conversations with her family.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the gelato shop in Hongdae.

With its charmingly decorated interior and a handsome Italian man as the owner.

“This tastes even better than what I had in Rome?”

Since it was even delicious, the shop was quite bustling with customers who had come after hearing rumors.

The number of menu items was simpler than the shop she had visited in Rome, but each one was incredibly tasty.

“Right? It’s really delicious, isn’t it? The taste was so moving that I really wanted you to try it!”

“Hey, that’s too much praise. It’s not that good.”

“It’s absolutely the best.”

He must have been in Korea for quite some time now. Roberto now spoke Korean quite fluently.

“Thank you. It’s going well thanks to Seoyeong helping me a lot.”

As she quickly devoured the gelato and listened to the story.

Roberto had put all his energy into menu development, and Hwangseoyeong, despite being busy with her residency, had helped with miscellaneous tasks like looking at commercial buildings together and creating social media.

She’d be busy enough just with the specialist exam in her final year, but the power of love…

“Come to think of it, your residency is almost over now. Are you staying to become an attending physician? Or going somewhere else?”

If she finishes by the end of February this year, her residency training will be complete.

Even if they say there are no positions available, she’s family, so she’ll go somewhere, right?

“That’s right. Isn’t there a vice director position at your oriental medicine clinic? Is Sanghun going to stay?”

But Hwangseoyeong shrugged, saying she had no plans, and then asked me seriously.

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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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