The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 299

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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 299

Hwangseoyeong, 7 years old.

One day, Father ended over ten years of estrangement and took his family to a relatives’ gathering.

The paternal relatives she met for the first time were incredibly dazzling people.

Someone was a hospital director of the Yongsan Branch, someone in Gwangju, someone in Ilsan, Daejeon…

The clothes and accessories they wore sparkled, but the charisma overflowing from these people looked so wonderful.

– Will Father become a hospital director too?

– No. Father can’t. He didn’t go to College of Korean Medicine.

– Why isn’t Father a hospital director!

– …I cut ties because I didn’t want to hear that story from my father, but now I’m hearing it from my daughter.

Father had said with a sigh.

It was absurd, but still, seeing Hwangseoyeong made him think it was good that he came to the relatives’ gathering.

– If you want to do it, Seoyeong should try working hard. Become a Korean medicine doctor, and if you get on Grandfather’s good side, he might give you a position.

– Wow!

That was Hwangseoyeong’s most vivid childhood memory.

Of course, as she gradually grew older, she came to understand Father too.

Why he disliked the relatives so much, and what being a hospital director meant.

While Grandfather was quite fond of Hwangseoyeong, he also tried to extend his controlling grasp to her at times.

But each time Father blocked him… she was able to step away from the center of the whirlwind-like fights and manage to take only the good things.

Even after intellectually understanding that becoming a hospital director was an enormously difficult thing, she didn’t abandon her dream.

Perhaps it was because she met such people every time she went to relatives’ gatherings.

It vaguely felt like a position she could reach if she worked hard.

So whenever she had time, Hwangseoyeong studied how to operate a hospital, what she could do for patients, how to structure staffing, and other such concerns.

When opportunities arose, she would ask various things to relatively close relatives.

She deliberately didn’t tell her classmates.

Wasn’t it obvious they would say things like ‘Wow! As expected, the Emperor’s third generation is different?’

– Hey, then instead of putting it off until someday, how about becoming a hospital director now?

But the moment she first spoke it aloud, her closest friend didn’t mock that dream.

Instead, she cheered her on, saying they should make it happen right away and that she would help.

If someone else had said that, it would have been empty words.

But Hanyewon was someone who had created a Korean medicine clinic network while Hwangseoyeong was just finishing her internship and residency.

That Hanyewon said Hwangseoyeong could do it.

Sometimes, or actually these days just constantly, that friend seemed more amazing than even Grandfather.

“…There’s such a property available, what do you think if I acquire it?”

“Huh, huh, what?”

Father was very flustered.

He vaguely knew that Hwangseoyeong dreamed of being a hospital director.

But he had only thought she harbored ambitions to get on Grandfather’s good side and receive a regional hospital.

Suddenly saying she would take initiative to acquire and operate one herself?

“Hmm, I don’t really know. It would be good to ask Father once whether it’s a decent hospital.”

Eventually this story reached Grandfather’s ears.

And within just a few days, it spread to all the relatives.

“It’s a hospital with an excellent reputation. It would have been even better if she had entered as a student to learn from Clinic Director Ju Sanggil when he was still alive, even briefly.”

“The Clinic Director should examine the expense structure carefully, but judging from the reported revenue and expenses, disclosed financial status, staff numbers and marketing situation, it appears financially healthy.”

Those were the words of Grandfather and presumably his secretary supporting that opinion.

“I was your age when I opened my first hospital too.”

Even though this was something Hwangseoyeong was doing outside of Grandfather’s plans, strangely Grandfather seemed secretly pleased.

A completely different attitude from when Hwang Sanghun had fled.

At the same time, the relatives’ atmosphere noticeably changed.

“Isn’t it too early? The situation is completely different from Father’s time, so why must she take the hard path?”

“Ha, really. She went around saying ‘I have no ambitions at all’ and giggling…”

Relatives who weren’t particularly close sent wary glances.

“Do you think running an Oriental Medicine Hospital is child’s play? A kid who can’t even take care of herself, with no skills or connections, talking about acquiring a hospital. If you want, we’ll even create a position at our hospital, so learn to treat patients properly first.”

“Too hasty when you’ve barely finished residency. Since we’re all doing it, I suppose billions seem like a joke to you… I just hope there won’t be any begging for help when things go wrong.”

“Jeongyeon, you just don’t like that she’s coming into Goyang, right?”

“I’m saying this out of concern for Seoyeong, so why are you talking like that, Older Brother?”

“Brother-in-law should focus on educating his son properly. I heard Sanghun still won’t answer calls? Like wife, like son-.”

“What did you say?!”

The aunt and uncle who ran the Ilsan Branch were vehemently opposed.

They didn’t seem to particularly intend to take Hwangseoyeong’s side, but when Uncle provoked Aunt, even crude insults and criticism flew back and forth.

“When a young woman acts up calling herself a hospital director, the subordinates will look down on her. She should be at least over 40!”

“It’s your choice to be consumed by your greed, but if news of poor management or bankruptcy comes out, it’s a disgrace to the family!”

“I hear these people have nothing they won’t say in front of the kid’s father?”

In the end, Hwangseoyeong had to restrain and lead away Father who was trying to fight with them.

‘Sigh… To think I once thought these people were wonderful.’

She just sighed.

It seemed wrong to expect help from them, didn’t it?

Grandfather seemed to want to watch her in observation and evaluation mode, while the other relatives were very hostile.

When Hwangseoyeong and Father quietly disappeared without arguing back, the relatives who had swarmed to Grandfather’s house quickly scattered.

They seemed to judge that she wouldn’t be stubborn about it.

“I was uncertain until coming here, but seeing how those people acted, I think I can do well. Father didn’t say a single word about you not being able to do it either.”

Hwangseoyeong’s Father interpreted this situation very positively.

When he left home, he heard much harsher words, and thanks to that, things worked out very well.

‘Right. The fact that I was trying to decide on something like this by listening to someone else’s opinion was proof that I was immature.’

Hwangseoyeong’s thoughts flowed in a completely different direction from her relatives’ expectations.

She realized that their opinions were not important at all.

‘It was the same when Hanyewon opened her clinic. She decided on her own, put in her own money that she had saved throughout university, and took responsibility herself.’

It was the same when Father left home, and when Old Man opened his first Oriental Medicine Clinic and first hospital.

When dreams are big, the burden to carry is heavy, and it’s natural to bear responsibility.

What could be accomplished by trying to lean on others with a weak heart from the start?

‘I will go my own way.’

Hwangseoyeong thought deeply alone.

And reached a conclusion.

…Of course, it wasn’t that she would shoulder everything alone.

She planned to go together with the friend who had told her to try it, who would gladly share the burden, and who would even invest.

Tap. Tap tap.

Hwangseoyeong typed a message.

* * *

I’ve been coming to Seoul too often lately.

If you think about it, I frequently traveled to other cities not only during the opening of the Gwangju Branch, but also during the expansion of Seoul and Daejeon Branch.

While it was natural to have many business trips whenever starting something new, since it wasn’t planned from the beginning, it felt like I was moving around unusually often.

“You thought well, Seoyeong. Anyway, when you turn 40, they’ll tell you to do it when you’re 50. Just because you work a few more years as a clinic director doesn’t mean ‘that’ uncle-in-law will teach you management step by step.”

Oh, now that I think about it, Hwang Jihun had taken Hwang Sanghun to Changwon and taught him everything from A to Z.

Did Hwang Jihun also learn something like that from Doctor Han?

…Someone marked as a successor would be different, hmm.

Anyway, after hearing the story of her conflict with relatives, it seemed difficult to expect Hwangseoyeong to receive such kindness under other relatives.

“Right. In terms of systems and management, being a clinic director doesn’t seem like you’d learn much more than what you saw and heard as a resident. Rather, residents unintentionally interact with various staff members, but directors only focus on treatment.”

“Right, right.”

“It’s regrettable that I still lack clinical experience… but there won’t necessarily be an opportunity when I’m ready.”

I’ll have to do my best to supplement that part.

Either way, starting in a perfectly prepared state is impossible.

In fact, cases of learning step by step under someone kind and then opening a practice are one thing.

But people like Director Ju Sanggil who experience all hardships before opening a hospital are very rare.

Don’t people become complacent with what they’ve achieved as they get older?

Among our seniors, there are several who opened hospitals, but most were in their mid-30s to 40s.

When I asked out of curiosity about what money they used to open them… I heard they mortgaged even their parents’ and in-laws’ apartments and took out 3 billion won in loans.

Of course, there’s no need to be this bold, but ultimately experience comes from going through it.

“If you’ve made up your mind, that’s enough. Now it depends on how the people at this hospital will respond.”

Well, that’s Hwangseoyeong’s position.

In fact, whether the contract would proceed smoothly was still completely unknown.

Yun Heeyoung was the one who viewed me favorably, but she’s just an intermediary, not the contracting party, right?

I couldn’t know what attitude Director Ju Sanggil’s son or the existing hospital members would take.

The concerns that Hwangseoyeong’s relatives expressed weren’t entirely unfounded criticism, as established stones naturally guard against rolling stones, and this isn’t particularly unfair prejudice.

Companies ruined by people who don’t know the actual work coming in as presidents are quite common too.

‘I’ll have to discuss it step by step first.’

I would try my best to resolve things as amicably as possible.

But if Director Ju Sanggil’s son didn’t find us trustworthy at all, or if severe opposition from existing staff and mass resignations were expected, we might have to give up the acquisition.

‘It’s been over ten days, so there’s no guarantee there are no competitors yet!’

They probably asked us to come look because the contract wasn’t finalized yet, but someone might have come to see it through connections other than Yun Heeyoung, right?

If so, it might become a competition rather than first-come-first-served.

Still keeping many possibilities in mind.

I visited Goyang with Hwangseoyeong.

“Doctor Han!”

“Doctor Yun, we meet again so soon.”

Yun Heeyoung, who had agreed to accompany us, welcomed us in front of the hospital.

She thanked me, saying her family relationships had worked out well thanks to me, and warmly greeted Hwangseoyeong.

She said she would introduce us in the middle, and she would probably gild me and help the acquisition proceed smoothly, right?

If this matter worked out well, it would be equivalent to receiving something much bigger than a few hundred in consultation fees.

“As you know, usually we keep it secret from staff until the transfer is complete, but since the hospital is running on its own with the Hospital Director position vacant… we’ve already informed the Director of the 2nd Department and the Administrative Manager who are handling a significant portion of the work.”

“Of course you should tell them. Actually, that worked out well. It would be good to talk with both of them before making a decision.”

Since they’re veterans who have worked with Director Ju Sanggil from the very beginning of the hospital’s opening, they’re key figures who would play the biggest role in adaptation if Hwangseoyeong becomes Hospital Director.

I wonder if we can handle this smoothly.

“You can go straight to the administration department. This way.”

We followed Yun Heeyoung and found the Administration Department Office.

We arrived exactly 10 minutes early.

When Yun Heeyoung knocked on the door, an immediate response came from inside telling them to come in.

“Hello, I’m Hwangseoyeong who contacted you… Huh!?”

“Hello! We’ve been waiting for you!”

Just as Hwangseoyeong was about to greet them brightly first to make a good impression.

[Welcome Director Hwangseoyeong]

[We welcome the visit of Director Hanyewon from Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic!]

An awkwardly hung banner on the ceiling caught her eye.

…What is this place, this is weird.

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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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