The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 313
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 313
Choi Gwi-jae’s personal relationships were extremely limited.
If it were people he knew through business achievements, they would fill the garden and then some, but those he could call personally close could be counted on one hand.
Though he looked relatively young for his age, he was actually in his late eighties, nearly ninety when rounded up.
Wouldn’t most of those who had built friendships with him since his youth have already passed away?
Of course, he had unexpectedly met new connections recently.
His interactions with the Korean medicine doctor his grandson had brought, and the friend he met at that clinic.
But they couldn’t replace the acquaintances who had been connected to Choi Gwi-jae for a long time.
“You old fool, acting so foolish in your old age. Even my grandchildren don’t dress like that.”
“What then, should I go around wearing funeral clothes? You have to dress young to live young!”
“Why don’t you just re-enter the fashion business while you’re at it?”
With old friends, there was a shared understanding from spending long years together in the same industry.
Comrades and competitors, you could say.
“Damn it… How long are you going to keep harping on this? Should I really tell you to start over again right now?”
“Bah! Stop tormenting the young folks and cut it out!”
Lee Mansu from Mungyeong Group, who visited today, was a businessman of the same generation as Choi Gwi-jae.
Since Mungyeong Electronics boasted world-class semiconductor technology, PK had to yield to them in terms of overall group size.
Choi Gwi-jae often used the fashion business that Lee Mansu had ruined as material for teasing like this.
When they were actively expanding their businesses, they would clash from time to time… but now they were all retired.
“Ahem! Enough of that talk. President Choi, I hear you’ve suddenly become very interested in health management?”
“Suddenly? I’m different from you who used to drink alcohol all day long. I even completed a half marathon recently.”
“Huh, come to think of it, that was always like you. These days there are so many rumors about you taking medicinal tonics… I should make an effort too if I want to place funeral flowers at your service.”
Choi Gwi-jae snorted.
He didn’t know where Lee Mansu had heard it, but as Lee Mansu said, his physical condition had been the picture of health since taking medicine from Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic.
He could live another twenty years, so how could someone like Lee Mansu talk about attending his funeral?
“Secretary Jeong, bring that thing.”
Then, Lee Mansu had his secretary bring something.
Had bringing up the health topic been a setup from the beginning to show off that item?
If it had been small, he might have thought it was some superstitious accessory bought somewhere, but the large box looked like an ice box.
“What is it?”
At Lee Mansu’s gesture, the secretary opened the box.
As expected, the inside of the ice box was full of ice, and in the center sat a vacuum-packed chunk of meat.
No, wasn’t it a chunk of meat?
“Ugh”
When Lee Mansu opened the packaging, a musty smell wafted up.
It was an alien yet intense smell he had never encountered before.
Spoiled meat broth? Wet leather fishy smell? Even trying to find something similar, he couldn’t readily think of anything.
What on earth had he brought to someone else’s house?
Just as Choi Gwi-jae was about to scold him, Lee Mansu triumphantly revealed what it was.
“It’s bear gallbladder.”
“Bear gallbladder? This?”
Bear gallbladder meant a bear’s gallbladder, didn’t it?
Since he had brought the organ raw, it gave off that strange smell.
Decades ago when bear gallbladder was all the rage, he had seen extracts, but this was Choi Gwi-jae’s first time seeing the raw thing like this.
“That’s right. I had it shipped with great difficulty from Russia.”
“Did you poach wild bears or something?”
“How could that be? Our Secretary Jeong obtained it through perfectly legal channels!”
When Choi Gwi-jae glanced at Lee Mansu’s secretary, he added a comment.
Russia apparently permits some hunting for bear population management.
…Well, that aside.
“So, what’s your intention in showing this off?”
He understood it was difficult to obtain, but Choi Gwi-jae could get bear gallbladder anytime if he set his mind to it.
He just wouldn’t take unnecessary risks when he had a personal physician who managed his health perfectly.
When she frowned, Lee Mansu finally got to the point.
“I’ll share some with you, so please introduce me, President Choi.”
“Huh?”
Introduce? He didn’t particularly have smuggling routes or anything…
“Ah, I mean the head director of Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic. You introduced them to LS, but you’re hiding it from me?”
Lee Mansu struck his knee in frustration.
If he meant the head director of Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic, he must be talking about Director Hanyewon, but when had she ever introduced her to LS? He couldn’t even remember when he last met the LS president.
“Did you hear it from Team Leader Jeon Yu-ri, no, Director Jeon Yu-ri? Those people came to my birthday party, so that’s when I met them. When did I ever hide anything?”
“Oh my! That’s exactly why I came all this way carrying bear gallbladder to ask you!”
Choi Gwi-jae snorted in disbelief.
“It’s a properly operating oriental medicine clinic, so you could just go in and get treatment.”
Lee Mansu glared at Choi Gwi-jae without saying anything.
Was it that he didn’t like that either, given Lee Mansu of Mungyeong Electronics’ dignity? Did he want to receive treatment in a private space?
For Lee Mansu, this was quite a polite way of asking. He probably prepared a substantial reward too.
Though he felt somewhat inclined to tell him to get lost… since Director Han might not mind it much, it would be awkward to refuse first.
“Making one phone call isn’t too difficult, but I don’t know if he’ll come.”
* * *
After finishing the call, I immediately set off for President Choi Gwi-jae’s house.
So, he wants to see a Korean medicine doctor before taking the bear bile?
To check his constitution to see if it’s okay to take, confirm the bear bile’s condition. And decide on a prescription to brew it with?
‘I wonder what kind of incredible person this is…’
The fact that he’s calling me separately – could it be an intention to connect me through his network like at the birthday party?
Getting to know such people might only increase the chances of getting involved in troublesome matters like with the Saudi Arabian prince… but it was awkward to refuse his goodwill.
“Ah~ If it’s that kind of work, I’m an expert! I’ll come right away!”
Besides, no one is as knowledgeable as me about medicinal herbs obtained through suspicious channels.
Problems that others would need to run all sorts of machines to analyze components for, I could recognize at a glance.
Whether the medicinal properties are strong or weak, or if there’s any unexpected toxicity.
‘Ah, Teacher Juhui could do it too though…’
Even if it’s someone who shouldn’t take bear bile, it would be better for me to personally dissuade them.
Bear bile was once known as a fatigue recovery tonic, but rather than being a universal tonic, it’s a medicine specialized for liver function. Since it also has strong heat-cooling effects, if someone with a cold constitution takes it, their health could deteriorate.
“Thank you for coming.”
What’s with the formality all of a sudden. I shrugged my shoulders.
Choi Gwi-jae’s tone when asking for favors looked quite troubled too. And PK isn’t a stranger either. Even now, aren’t I receiving real-time profits through the company she built?
“Oh ho, so you’re the director of Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic. I’ve really wanted to meet you.”
I thought President Choi Gwi-jae had arranged this meeting.
Unexpectedly, the old man’s face was full of goodwill as he smiled and offered a handshake.
By the way, this old man, I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere.
“Director, this is President Lee Mansu of Mungyeong Group. This is the director of Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic you wanted to see.”
“Ah?”
Mungyeong Group?
Even though I had expected someone very wealthy or famous, something stupid came out of my mouth.
“Wow, I never thought I’d get to meet you. I use your phones and refrigerators well.”
“Hahaha! You’re too kind.”
“It’s been ages since I retired. I’m just a senile old man, nothing more…”
Who would have thought I’d meet the head of a company that makes phones as a patient?
After exchanging hearty handshakes with Lee Mansu, we began the consultation in a bright atmosphere.
“Do you have any discomfort? Is there a particular reason you want to take bear bile?”
“Ah! Lately, my fatigue has been too severe, you know? Around my sixtieth birthday, I had exactly this feeling, but back then I took bear bile and the fatigue completely disappeared. So I got some to try again this time… No, I heard rumors that President Choi has an amazing personal physician? So I asked to receive an examination once.”
“I see. Have you had any recent health checkups?”
The causes of fatigue are very diverse.
The most common are lack of sleep and overwork.
But fatigue can also be caused by conditions like hypothyroidism, depression, and liver dysfunction.
If there are no such problems, I could treat it as functional qi deficiency and use tonic herbs.
“I have diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, but they’re controlled with medication. They said I need to manage my liver levels, but didn’t give me medicine for that. Maybe because I drank a lot when I was young…”
“The numbers aren’t three or four digits, are they?”
“Hahaha! When I was young, there were times like that. Not three digits though.”
So not now.
Past history of alcohol use, occasionally elevated liver levels.
Seeing that he got bear bile expecting liver dysfunction, he was already a patient who knew something about bear bile.
“Do you sleep well?”
“I sleep too much, that’s the problem.”
“Your appetite is fine too.”
“Yes. I eat well and sleep well, but I’m strangely tired. If I don’t get better after taking this, it must be time to die.”
“Your face seems slightly swollen today – is it just today?”
“Ah, no. As I’ve gotten older, my legs swell too, it’s always like this.”
I asked a few more questions and took his pulse.
Certainly, the pattern of liver-gallbladder damp-heat was more prominent than fatigue from poor digestion or sleep quality.
“It’s not far from what you suspected. But your liver is definitely not good. Bear bile will help you a lot. I think the fatigue will improve considerably, and if you want, I can prescribe other herbs together to cover the edema and urination problems too.”
“Oh, that’s exactly what I was going to ask for!”
Lee Mansu snapped his fingers and lifted a box from under the table.
Ah, that ice box was the bear bile.
“Is it fresh? Should I process it and even brew the decoction for you?”
“I’d be grateful if you would! I’ll compensate you generously.”
“May I take a look at its condition?”
In that case, it would actually be better for judging the quality.
Being the head of a major corporation, he probably got good quality… but bear bile is a medicinal herb where ‘good quality’ itself is extremely rare.
Even the pharmaceutical company that dealt with Park Seon-yun couldn’t immediately recognize some herbs with weak medicinal properties, and this was an aspect easily missed by clinics that only write prescriptions.
If the medicine isn’t good enough and the illness doesn’t heal, wouldn’t it be troublesome if they misunderstand that the diagnosis or prescription was wrong?
“Ugh.”
President Choi Gwi-jae frowned, as if it had been opened once before.
Bear bile smell is quite terrible.
In contrast, President Lee Mansu raised his shoulders with a triumphant expression.
Let’s see, is it better than the bear bile Songgol brought?
Thump thump… As I drummed on the table, President Lee Mansu excitedly opened the ice box.
Along with a pungent stench that assaulted the nose, a bear gallbladder about the size of a thumb revealed itself.
“Well, what do you think?”
President Lee Mansu asked, but.
I couldn’t answer immediately.
“Just a moment, let me take a closer look.”
Of course, the smell of real bear gallbladder isn’t particularly pleasant either.
It’s raw animal bile – how could it possibly be fragrant?
“…You’re saying this is bear gallbladder?”
But the problem was that it was different from what I knew.
If Songgol hadn’t brought me bear gallbladder recently, I wouldn’t have noticed at a glance.
But it hadn’t been long since I’d seen fresh bear gallbladder, and I had directly handled it while enduring its terrible smell.
“Is this your first time seeing fresh bear gallbladder, Clinic Director?”
It was completely the opposite.
I had often seen bear gallbladder in the Martial Arts World.
More importantly, this was something much easier to identify.
“No… this isn’t bear gallbladder.”
I checked several times to be certain, but I could state it definitively.
I opened my mouth with a serious expression.
“Where did you get the component analysis done? This is pig gallbladder.”
What kind of bastard scammed President Lee Mansu?
“What?”
“…Pig gallbladder, you say?”
Choi Gwi-jae asked me back as if dumbfounded.
Lee Mansu, who had been grinning triumphantly, now stared helplessly at what he had thought was bear gallbladder with an expression as if he’d lost everything in the world.
And after a moment, Lee Mansu’s gaze turned toward his secretary.
“I-It was certified as authentic on-site in Russia…!”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
