The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 3

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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 3

How did this happen, you ask?

The truth is, last night I went to a world like a martial arts novel, where I became the disciple of a master called the Supreme Poison Physician.

There I gained experience treating various patients— but I can’t tell them the truth.

“You can do it too. Basic digestive acupoints, just like we learned in school.”

My only option was to play it off.

“But the pulse reading!”

Of course, she wouldn’t let it slide easily.

In fact, hardly any students can diagnose by pulse alone when they graduate from Korean medicine school. Even in clinical practice, except for a few Korean medicine doctors, they prioritize questioning much more, and pulse reading is just for reference.

I originally had no particular expertise in pulse studies either.

“My roommate gets indigestion a lot. After checking her pulse several times, I got to know the pulse for digestive problems. It felt exactly the same.”

“You didn’t study it separately?”

“I was stuck with you all day, when would I have had time for that?”

I shrugged my shoulders somewhat exaggeratedly. She seemed to believe me, but also seemed suspicious.

“Her complexion was exactly the same pale white as when my roommate gets indigestion, and I’ve treated it several times.”

In truth, she had no choice but to believe it.

“Oh, over there.”

Just then, someone was approaching from the front, so I quickly changed the subject.

Hwangseoyeong turned her head following my gaze. It was the young stewardess from earlier who had been running around.

“That was truly amazing. Thank you for your help.”

Unlike before, she wore a very professional smile and bowed at the waist.

In the hands of the woman who had genuinely worried about Kim Youngho was a bottle of wine.

“This is a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy it until we arrive in Incheon.”

“Oh, is this from you?”

She smiled gently as if she had heard an amusing joke.

“This is a gift from the co-pilot. He said we almost had to turn the plane around over something trivial, and you don’t know how relieved we all were.”

“Ah.”

That made sense then.

“Wow, thank you!”

Hwangseoyeong, who was sitting on the aisle side, quickly accepted the wine.

“We’ll gratefully accept it.”

I didn’t refuse either. Compared to the enormous losses that would have occurred from turning back, this wasn’t excessive.

Clink!

I clinked glasses with Hwangseoyeong.

Whether it was because I was drinking wine inside an airplane, a marvel of modern technology, for the first time in over 20 years,

or because it was a gift received for doing good, I don’t know, but it tasted very sweet.

* * *

A few hours later.

The airplane safely landed at Incheon Airport.

After a small incident where Kim Youngho bowed once more while we were getting our luggage, I immediately caught a taxi.

“Hooray! I’m home!”

South Korea, the land of my dreams.

As soon as I arrived at the dormitory, I ordered chicken.

‘I’ll check my bank balance tomorrow!’

For now, I ate all the food I had wanted to eat. Then I turned on my computer.

The internet world was as vast and beautiful as it had been before I left.

My room, with its heating and humidification, was small but no different from paradise.

I ate, slept, and played some more.

When I came to my senses… a week had passed.

* * *

What? Why am I sitting in school?

Fourth year, second semester of the main course. Classes began, signaling the start of the new term.

“Did you study hard for the national exam during vacation?”

The professor asked the students as soon as he entered the lecture hall.

Talking about exams right after vacation ends, really professor.

National exam studying? Of course!

“To check your skills and give you a sense of urgency, I’ve prepared a simple test.”

“Boooo!”

…I forgot everything.

Twenty years, a whole twenty years.

Wouldn’t it be strange if I remembered what I studied? The fact that I can read and write Korean properly is only possible because I’m very smart!

“Before that, wait a moment. Hanyewon, please stand up.”

He was contorting his face and joining in the jeering when the professor suddenly called my name.

“…Yes?”

Was he planning to ask me a surprise question?

Even though I’d experienced all sorts of things, my heart still pounded when my name was called during class.

“As you all know, students Hanyewon and Hwangseoyeong went for practical training at the Traditional Chinese Medicine University during this vacation. But there was an emergency patient on the airplane returning home.”

“Huh? No, it wasn’t really an emergency…”

“I heard you showed quick thinking to diagnose and treat a patient with indigestion. We can’t not hear this story before the exam, can we?”

“Yesssss!”

Students who didn’t want to take the exam right away responded loudly.

I quickly turned my head toward Hwangseoyeong.

Only one person witnessed it, so how did it reach the professor’s ears?

I sent her a reproachful look, but she just winked.

I was called up by the professor and had to present how the diagnosis and treatment were carried out.

“Hmm, what were you planning to do if the pulse wasn’t clear? Abdominal muscle tension can also appear in myocardial infarction.”

“Even so, I thought there was no harm in trying.”

The professor and a few classmates listened to the case with interest, while most flipped through their books half-listening to the presentation. It was natural since the exam had just been announced.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

As soon as I finished speaking, someone clapped.

It was a male classmate I wasn’t particularly close with. Following him, the indifferent applause of my classmates filled the classroom.

“…Thank you.”

Overwhelming embarrassment washed over me. I pressed my forehead and bowed my head.

“Let’s take a short break and then take the exam right away.”

Rustle rustle rustle.

The moment the professor left the lecture hall, dozens of pages were turned. They must be reviewing last semester’s notes.

I couldn’t even remember what subject this professor taught, so I left without regret.

“Ugh, what kind of exam on the first day.”

“Still, thanks to you we gained an hour. I heard Herbal Medicine is notoriously difficult.”

Hwangseoyeong approached and spoke to me.

So it was Herbal Prescription Studies?

It was the study of the characteristics and effects of medicinal herbs, and how to combine them to prepare herbal medicines.

‘Instead of spreading around what happened on the airplane, you should have told me about those rumors first!’

If I had known there would be an exam on the first day, I would have studied for a week instead of playing games.

“Does this count toward grades?”

I gulped down cold water and asked Hwangseoyeong. My face was hot with embarrassment, making my insides burn.

“Of course it counts. Even the confident Ms. Hanyewon is curious about such things?”

But the answer came from an unexpected place. It was the male student who had clapped as soon as my presentation ended.

“Why are you picking a fight the moment you see us, Haneul oppa?”

Hwangseoyeong said.

Hearing the name “Haneul oppa” brought back another long-buried memory.

Cho Haneul, 31 years old.

He was an older classmate who graduated from another university, studied for the college entrance exam during military service, and entered medical school at a relatively late age.

“Picking a fight? I was so moved by your story. You could graduate right now.”

He said with his arms crossed.

Cho Haneul always found fault with trivial things like this. What bothered him so much was completely beyond my understanding.

Since he seemed to dislike me, I just disliked him back.

“Yes, well…”

“You were lucky this time and it worked out well, but what if it had really been a myocardial infarction? Were you trying to disgrace Korean medicine and the school without even having a license?”

Actually, he wasn’t wrong.

I had faintly sensed that the man’s digestive system had stagnant energy before even checking his pulse, but if that hadn’t been the case, I wouldn’t have been 100% confident.

“Oh, but it became the school’s pride, didn’t it?”

Regardless, I responded to his provocation with a grin.

“That’s right. Didn’t you hear the professor praising?”

It wasn’t surprising that Hwangseoyeong took my side, but Cho Haneul glared at me with jealous eyes.

Does he have feelings for Seoyeong?

“…I guess treating one indigestion patient makes you think you’re a great physician?”

“Please call me Divine Physician.”

I just shrugged my shoulders.

I used to get annoyed and argue back when he picked fights out of jealousy over my circumstances, but now with experience, it made me laugh.

‘Now that I look at it, it’s incredibly childish.’

In many ways, we had good reason to be on bad terms.

Except for competing for top grades with the goal of hospital training, he was the complete opposite of me in every way.

First of all, I was among the youngest since I entered at 20 as a regular admission student, while Cho Haneul was the oldest among our cohort, being 6 years older than me.

While my hobby was playing games alone in my room, he would hang around with various classmates, constantly organizing drinking sessions, and even enjoyed calling professors to join and buying them expensive drinks.

Ah, we similarly competed back and forth within the top 3, but unlike me who gave my all in every exam, this bastard was smart enough to maintain good grades while fooling around, right?

Most importantly, unlike me who had neither money nor connections, Cho Haneul’s father was a professor at another Korean medicine university, and his mother was the CEO of the Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic Network, named after her beloved eldest son…

Ah, the more I think about it, the more annoying it gets!

“If you’re done talking, go study. You’re the one who seems to have too much free time, oppa.”

“Ah.”

I tried to wrap up the conversation appropriately, but Cho Haneul suddenly closed the distance.

He whispered to me at a distance where Hwangseoyeong couldn’t hear.

“I’m just worried that someone without proper background might tarnish the school’s reputation.”

Hmm… would I have fallen for such a low-level provocation?

Maybe I would have.

I wasn’t skilled at all in cleverly picking fights and retorting, and deep down I envied his intelligence.

Cho Haneul knew this fact very well.

“No proper background? What do you mean by that?”

I deliberately spoke loudly.

Trembling alone and swallowing my anger was something that couldn’t happen to the current me.

“That’s…”

It was obvious he was mocking the fact that I didn’t have parents, but now I wasn’t shaken at all.

Cho Haneul was rather flustered by this pattern that was different from usual.

“…Well, your human relationships are narrow-minded. Treatment is ultimately about understanding people, right? People are fundamental, something like that…”

I narrowed my eyes at his nonsensical rambling.

“No one worries about my human relationships as much as you do, oppa. After going to the Continent and seeing the wider world, I also thought people were more important than reading a few more books.”

I also rambled whatever came to mind while nodding my head.

Hwangseoyeong had a face that said ‘what nonsense are you two talking about?’

“So, did you give up on being valedictorian because of that realization?”

Cho Haneul said while putting his arm on my shoulder.

Even in the midst of this, Cho Haneul didn’t stop picking fights. Whether he didn’t waste his years or was particularly talented at mockery.

“Well…”

“It’s fortunate that you’ve realized your place, I mean, your position even now.”

Until just a moment ago he was at least conscious of Hwangseoyeong. Now he was just openly provoking me.

Valedictorian, that damn valedictorian.

Until I was dragged to the Martial Arts World, grades were my sore spot.

‘Back then, tuition felt like an enormous amount of money.’

It was actually because of scholarships.

Since both my parents had passed away, I lived with relatives and graduated high school.

It wasn’t that the relatives mistreated me, but… it was the kind of relationship where I wouldn’t particularly want to meet them after returning after 20 years?

Naturally, there was no one to pay my tuition.

‘Pride, what was that worth anyway.’

When asked why I studied so hard, I was mortally reluctant to say that I desperately needed academic scholarships.

So I used to say that I wanted to train as an intern and resident at my university’s hospital after graduation.

Korean University Affiliated Korean Medicine Hospital, my alma mater, was the hospital with the most intern applicants nationwide, and since they emphasized grades in hiring, those words sounded very plausible.

Of course, I actually intended to receive training if possible.

In my class, three of us – me, Cho Haneul, and one other person – were competing for those positions.

‘Right, that bastard has been valedictorian until now.’

I clearly remembered those days when I was beside myself with frustration.

After completely bombing the final exams of the first semester of my senior year, I had fallen to third place.

‘I can pay back the tuition, and I wonder if training has any meaning at this point, but…’

That was one thing and this was another.

I couldn’t stand to see myself being beaten by that bastard.

Even if I said I’d given up on the hospital idea here, it would only look like I was giving up and running away.

“No way. Surely I can catch up to a GPA difference that’s tiny as an eye booger?”

It seemed like he wanted to have a go at it, and there was absolutely no reason to avoid it.

Since the grades weren’t that far apart, wouldn’t it be enough to just do a little better this semester?

Even though I said I’d forgotten everything, it was September now, and graduation exams were in November, so I had over two months.

It wasn’t like being asked to win first place in the junior martial arts tournament – it was a paper exam, after all.

In terms of stamina, I wouldn’t lose to Cho Haneul or anyone else, so I just needed to study 16 hours a day.

“Oh, a declaration of war? You seem confident?”

Cho Haneul’s eyes widened with delight. Even so, with his personality, unless he’d been clubbing all vacation, there was no way he’d been secretly studying.

I simply nodded. Provocation, whatever – I’ll take it on.

“Of course.”

Cho Haneul ran into the lecture hall as if he’d been waiting for this.

“Hey hey, Hanyewon and I…”

The classmates preparing for exams were staring intently at their books, but he paid no attention and opened the front door.

“Wow, what’s gotten into you to speak so well? I couldn’t even get a word in. But will you be okay? You always said it’s best to just ignore them.”

Hwangseoyeong grabbed my arm worriedly, but I wasn’t concerned at all.

At most, what more could get hurt besides my pride? It’s not like I’m going to hang myself.

“Hm?”

When someone caused a commotion at the front door, the classmates quietly lifted their heads.

Some eyes held curiosity, while annoyance was written across other faces.

The moment all that attention focused on Cho Haneul.

Ting-.

I flicked a coin into the lecture hall.

‘Ah, as expected, this is annoying.’

What? Fundamentals? Bringing shame to the school?

Why don’t you try getting humiliated yourself.

Though I may not be a peerless master, I did learn a thing or two about handling Tang Sect coins from my teacher.

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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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