The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 321

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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 321

– See you in Riyadh!

This was the caption Sasha Rian left when she posted a photo taken with a soccer player on social media.

Although she hadn’t revealed her specific schedule, Rick Banon immediately caught on.

She’s planning to go to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to watch the Olympics in person.

Sasha Rian always left traces like this, as if telling people to follow her.

She would post a fantasy novel cover and then appear at a theme park shortly after, or suddenly link a Korean singer’s concert and then go on a trip to South Korea.

Unfortunately, he had missed the timing back then.

By the time he chased after her travel photos, she had already returned to the United States. He had wasted his plane ticket money for nothing.

But this time was different.

The Olympic schedule was obvious, wasn’t it?

‘Hehe. No one in this game is as persistent as me.’

There probably wasn’t anyone else in the industry who would deduce this far and decide to go to Riyadh.

Most of them stayed domestic, rarely venturing outside their sphere of activity like LA or New York.

Even when they went on overseas expeditions, wouldn’t it be at most to accessible places like Europe for highly newsworthy situations?

This was exactly when the big fish got caught.

With tight security, celebrities would let their guard down, and he could catch a scoop by taking advantage of their relaxed vigilance.

Paparazzi, no… celebrity ecosystem close observer Rick Banon successfully entered Saudi Arabia as a long-term visitor for Olympic viewing.

‘Found her.’

After waiting at Riyadh airport every day from the end of Sasha Rian’s last official schedule, he finally captured the moment she got off the plane.

As expected, she was completely unguarded, wearing only sunglasses, with almost none of the managers or bodyguards who constantly bothered her in the United States.

Rick immediately tailed Sasha.

Nothing special happened on the first day.

She went restaurant hopping alone, then went to her hotel to sleep.

The second day was nothing but shopping indulgence as well.

‘Oh, finally!’

Then she finally met someone.

It was a woman… presumably Saudi Arabian.

‘Who is she?’

Far from the person he expected, he couldn’t even identify who she was.

Even comparing her to known Middle Eastern women, her identity remained a mystery.

Could it really be that she just came to watch the Olympics with a regular friend?

Photos like this wouldn’t even make proper news material and would only get him criticized.

But shortly after.

Sasha Rian and the unidentified woman headed to a luxury residential area and finally entered a house.

The location was not too far from the Olympic Stadium and Athletes’ Village.

‘A secret meeting at a villa…!’

A picture formed in Rick Banon’s mind.

Who was waiting in that house? Sasha Rian’s lover? Maybe the soccer player she had posted a photo with on social media?

‘Damn…’

The villa was large, and the wall was awkwardly high.

He tried to peek inside by setting up and removing a foldable step stool he had prepared in advance, but he couldn’t get a good angle.

Since it wasn’t completely deserted, he had to be mindful of people’s gazes and CCTV cameras too.

Should he climb over and go in? The area inside the wall was too open for that. If he got caught, there would be no way to escape.

‘The other person must be a celebrity too.’

Rick was anxious.

Seeing several drivers and attendants waiting in the parking lot, the owner of this house must be a celebrity or high-ranking official.

If Sasha Rian had arrived first, he could have at least figured out who came in after her, but the order got mixed up and he had no choice but to wait for the two to come out.

How much time had passed like that?

As he kept waiting with his lens aimed at the building entrance, five people including Sasha Rian came out simultaneously.

‘…It’s not a secret meeting?’

Rick Banon was momentarily disappointed.

But when he saw the face of the Middle-Eastern man walking while waving to his attendants, he immediately recognized who it was.

It was one of the people whose faces he had memorized before entering the country.

‘Prince Faisal bin Amir!’

Although not in line for the throne, he was one of the major young royals in the Crown Prince’s faction.

He was a big-spending investor known to pour money like a waterfall whenever he appeared, so he was somewhat known in the United States too.

‘It might be slightly dangerous, but… if I play this right, it’ll be a complete jackpot.’

Rick Banon bit his lips hard.

Why had he followed Sasha Rian all the way here?

Her romantic scandals erupted just when you’d forget about them, and each time they generated tremendous impact.

It didn’t really matter whether it was real or not.

Just capturing one plausible photo would be a huge hit. And the other party was a Middle Eastern prince? Even without Rick, there were countless gossip enthusiasts who would write terrifying stories.

Rick Banon pressed the silent shutter like crazy.

‘Just a little, just a little closer. Don’t let other people come out… Ugh, the angle! Damn, this way the Prince’s face…!’

Though he was anxious, they wouldn’t move as he wished.

Sasha Rian stood far away with her arms crossed, only waving her hand.

Only one Asian woman approached closely and escorted the Prince to the car door.

‘I feel like I’ve seen that woman somewhere before?’

Could she be an Asian celebrity?

Two East Asians, two Saudi Arabians, and Sasha Rian.

Though Rick had no interest in the truth, he felt some inexplicable sense of unease from the woman’s face and atmosphere.

‘I can just look into it later.’

As Rick was clearing his distracting thoughts and focusing on recording visual evidence.

The Asian woman suddenly bent down as if picking up something that had fallen on the ground…

“Huh?”

Before Rick could make any judgment, something blocked his vision.

And soon, an impact that seemed to split his skull in half struck him.

Was he shot?

‘Am I going out like this?’

Rick, who had been standing on a foldable two-step stool, lost his balance.

‘My end is like this…!’

Thud!

He collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.

* * *

His life flashed before his eyes.

[Exclusive Scoop! Jason Casey’s Secret Lover!]

That was the beginning.

Rick, who had once tracked illegal drugs as a society reporter, accidentally broke an exclusive story about a Hollywood star’s affair scandal and got his hands on a considerable amount of money.

After quitting journalism and going independent as a freelance paparazzi, he became the target of intense hatred from countless celebrities.

– Catch him! Catch that bastard!

The time he was arrested for trespassing in a restricted area of a wedding venue.

– From now on, please only sell photos to our magazine. We’ll spare no support and give you the best treatment in the industry.

His heyday when he secretly signed an exclusive contract.

– What? What’s happening?

– Who threw water at that man…? Oh my God! That’s Aaron Graham!

– A stalker? He’s paparazzi!

Up to the day he was doused with cold water while photographing an actor’s secret date from outside a restaurant window.

His most brilliant moments and his most humiliating and painful days alternated before his eyes.

And finally, as all the scenes flowed away.

Rick Banon was sucked into endless darkness.

* * *

I gently pricked the man’s Shixuan acupoints.

Though I had lightly inserted thin needles, since it was a location with many sensory nerves concentrated, the stimulation would be quite strong.

“Do, do we really need to torture him?”

Hasha covered her mouth with both hands in horror.

Even though it was just fingertips, I had clearly pierced flesh – did she mistake it for stabbing under the nails?

“Haha, torture? These are acupoints located at the fingertips. This is strictly a medical procedure to wake up an unconscious person.”

I lifted up the man’s hand to show her, but Hasha, apparently weak-stomached, became even more frightened and stepped back.

“Ohhh!”

“Will he wake up soon?”

In contrast, Faisal and Park Seon-yun watched my treatment with great curiosity.

Sasha Rian looked down at the patient quietly while radiating displeasure toward the paparazzi.

“Uh…”

Before I could even prick all ten fingers, the man blinked his eyes and opened his mouth.

He had already regained consciousness.

See, this is effective, isn’t it?

I had used it once at Seol Yuhui’s university festival to treat someone feeling dizzy, but originally these were acupoints meant for people who had completely fainted like this.

“Are you conscious? Do you know where you are?”

I paused the treatment and waved my left hand in front of the paparazzi’s eyes.

“Uh… uhh…”

“Clinic Director, prick him some more.”

“Hmm, should I?”

The man made incoherent sounds without fully regaining consciousness.

I continued the treatment as Sasha suggested.

I inserted needles into the Shixuan acupoints on his right ring finger and pinky that hadn’t been pricked yet.

“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”

Then a loud sound burst out.

Did his voice clear up?

But his subsequent behavior was somewhat strange.

Instead of calmly introducing himself, the paparazzi clasped his hands with the needles stuck in them as if praying, and muttered with tears in his eyes.

“Lord, Lord… I was wrong. I have sinned! I had no intention of ruining their marriage. That was, I was just trying to earn two months’ living expenses… Ahhh! Was, was, was it a sin worthy of falling to hell? I can’t, I can’t breathe!”

His small voice gradually grew louder and clearer.

His arms trembled violently, and blood dripped from his fingers.

“Hey there.”

When I lightly tapped his shoulder, the man prostrated himself flat on the ground.

“Huk, heok! I will repent. I gave up being human myself. It’s all my fault. I will never hold a camera again… Just spare me, no, I’m already dead… just the needles…! Hell… please!”

“Oh my.”

“What a pathetic human being.”

Sasha chuckled and sighed, while Faisal shook his head.

What kind of courage did such a cowardly guy have to invade my villa?

‘Ah, this isn’t the inner quarters of the Sichuan Dang Family, but an ordinary villa.’

On behalf of the others who had no intention of explaining, I calmly guided him through the situation.

“This is not hell, but Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The patient was hit by a date and fainted. Acupuncture treatment was administered to resolve the temporary loss of consciousness.”

This is absolutely not torture, but acupuncture treatment for medical purposes.

I even explained to him in detail that Oriental medicine originally uses acupuncture treatment for various diseases.

“Ah… I was alive.”

“That’s right. Do you remember your name and how you came to be here?”

And now I was trying to check the man’s orientation, that is, whether he properly recognized who he was and the time and place, as he seemed to have come to his senses a little.

“Who did you follow here?”

“State your name and identity.”

The bodyguards thought the treatment was over and pressured the patient.

“I had no idea the Prince was here! I followed Sasha Rian, an American singer!”

“So you knew His Highness the Prince’s identity?”

“Huk!”

“How dare you point that impious camera knowing that!”

In the midst of that, he made the mistake of mentioning the identity first.

“Absolutely not! I was just wondering if Sasha Rian and the soccer player might be lovers…!”

The man’s words no longer carried any weight.

“Send him straight to prison.”

“Do so. The Olympics are over, and we must judge his crimes.”

Could this really escalate into a diplomatic issue?

The man trembled and pleaded with the bodyguards, the prince, and Sasha Rian, but they had no interest in the paparazzi’s treatment.

“Wait a moment.”

When I spoke up, the paparazzi looked at me with extremely earnest eyes.

It was a gaze full of hope, the complete opposite of how he had feared the needles just moments before.

But I was interested in a different aspect, not his trip to prison.

“Even if you’re going to detain him, you should provide proper treatment.”

As a doctor, I should at least treat the injured person.

“…Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“He’s alone and had no weapons. He doesn’t exceed the level of force of an ordinary adult… citizen.”

One of the bodyguards tried to dissuade me with concern.

“Director Hanyewon would be able to handle any unexpected situations that might arise.”

Surprisingly, Faisal took my side.

“Ah, that’s right. Of course.”

Then that bodyguard looked at the date and smiled gently.

All the others nodded as well.

The atmosphere relaxed considerably.

The man, who had been gripped by fear and unable to feel pain, finally touched his forehead.

“Ugh… Are you going to treat me?”

“Yes.”

The skin wasn’t torn, but a bruise about 3cm in diameter was visible from subcutaneous bleeding.

It had been less than 10 minutes since the impact, so there wasn’t much swelling or blood pooling yet, but a small lump was forming.

The head already has a lot of blood flow, making it prone to lumps, and if left untreated, this would last quite a long time.

“Do you feel any heat? There should be throbbing or sharp pain.”

“Ah, yes. A little.”

Oh dear.

Indeed, it was a situation that required quick treatment to prevent excessive blood stagnation.

I kindly explained the treatment approach.

“I plan to stimulate the forehead area with acupuncture to improve blood circulation. And I’ll prescribe a medicine called Danggwisussan that helps dissolve blood stasis… Huh.”

But for some reason, the man who I thought had completely regained consciousness started moving his mouth strangely.

He looked like he was about to foam at the mouth and collapse at any moment.

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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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