The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 36

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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 36

“That’s charging!”

Jeong Inseong shouted angrily.

I didn’t know the rules well, but wouldn’t anyone consider that kind of body contact a foul?

As Jeong Inseong expected, the foul was called, and the ball possession switched to our team.

Our number 1 player who had gotten up quickly took the ball and threw it from outside the court.

“Huh?”

But something seemed off about her throwing posture.

“…That girl seems to have hurt her wrist or elbow?”

Come to think of it, she had braced herself with her hands when she fell earlier, right?

“What?”

I had been watching number 1’s eye movements and hand gestures quite closely since it was fascinating how she was controlling the game, but her wrist was trembling unlike before.

I had a bad feeling.

Beep!

At first, only I had noticed, but it wasn’t long before the whistle blew.

The moment number 1 failed to catch the pass from Kim Ijin and lost the ball, Coach Kang Chulkyu seemed to notice something and jumped up.

“I wonder if she’s okay?”

He immediately substituted number 1 with another player.

“Well~ even without Rira, Ijin is super strong!”

Min Juyeon smiled brightly and gave a thumbs up.

No… it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about that girl’s wrist.

Was it severely twisted? Hopefully it’s not fractured?

I could see Kang Chulkyu applying ice to number 1’s wrist, and the game somehow continued.

“Let’s go, let’s go~ Kim Ijin~!”

Kim Ijin was still playing well.

There was no room for argument on that point.

But with number 1 out and three players sticking to mark Kim Ijin, she was getting less than half the passes she had before.

The remaining players, excluding her, seemed to be weaker than their opponents on average.

The flow had changed.

Another timeout from our team.

The director and coach lined up the players and went on about something.

The players listened to the talk obediently.

But Kim Ijin suddenly looked up.

Our eyes met.

She was looking directly at me.

Unlike her confident demeanor before the game started, she looked like she desperately had something to say.

* * *

Despite scoring overwhelmingly in the first quarter, they had caught up tremendously during the second quarter.

The atmosphere during Jungun High’s second timeout was utterly gloomy.

“I’m sorry, captain. If only I hadn’t shown off. No. If only I hadn’t braced myself with my hands…”

“It’s not your fault. That was their foul.”

No one thought it was Chaerira’s fault.

Choosing to dribble instead of pass at that moment was quite a surprising choice that could have led to a score.

And the wrist… it wasn’t uncommon to hurt your hands while trying to avoid injuring your ankle when falling.

Kang Chulkyu didn’t scold Chaerira either. What would be the point of saying something meaningless like “be careful”?

“That bastard Myeong Seonju, didn’t she do that on purpose?”

But the other players grumbling were different.

Bang!

Kang Chulkyu slammed the bench.

With one person out, the other players were making too many mistakes.

Was it because the strategy was too centered around Kim Ijin and Chaerira?

There had been quite a few plans considering injuries or Chaerira’s stamina depletion, but they weren’t able to regain the flow at all.

“Yeonwoo, mark their number 3 properly. Do you know how many times you’ve missed? Huimin, don’t just pass to Ijin unconditionally and look at the whole game properly! At times like this, the team needs to work together!”

The coach pointed out each player’s shortcomings, including those on the bench, and gave instructions.

But.

Kim Ijin’s judgment was different.

“We can’t win that way.”

Working together would solve it? No.

Setting aside underestimating Hwayeong High, it was impossible for them to work together without Chaerira.

Hwayeong High had thoroughly studied Jungun High and was blocking Kim Ijin, but the other players who had only continued to play supporting roles, relying on Kim Ijin and Chaerira, were no match for Hwayeong High.

“What are you trying to say?”

Coach Kang Chulkyu asked grimly.

Even though it was quite a rude remark, he seriously listened to Kim Ijin’s opinion.

As he said, giving a pep talk was good, but it didn’t seem like the teammates would snap out of it in just a few minutes.

“Please put Rira back in from the second half.”

Kim Ijin stated the only way they could win this match.

“Are you asking me to make a choice that could ruin Player Rira’s athletic career just to win this one game?”

“I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt that much. This kind of minor twist happens all the time. I just suddenly lost strength earlier…”

“That’s exactly the problem! Jini also kept saying she was fine, and then suffered for months!”

Kang Chulkyu burst out angrily, but Kim Ijin raised her head to look up at the audience stands.

“Director Hanyewon is here in the audience stands. With the remaining 2 minutes and 15-minute halftime, she’ll treat her.”

The manager and coach also looked up in the same direction as Kim Ijin.

Hanyewon was looking down with an expression as if she wanted to rush down immediately.

“…Timeout’s over. Go back in for now.”

Coach Kang Chulkyu quickly persuaded the manager.

And ran up to the audience stands.

* * *

Just before halftime.

Following Kang Chulkyu, I hurriedly came down from the audience stands and was guided to the players’ waiting room.

As expected, the patient was player Chaerira wearing jersey number 1.

“This is the Korean medicine doctor who treated Jini’s knee.”

“Hello!”

She had been anxiously massaging her wrist, but immediately stood up upon hearing Kang Chulkyu’s introduction.

It was indeed a greeting befitting an athlete.

“Could you take a quick look at this child’s wrist? Normally we should of course take her to the clinic after the game ends, but…”

“Please, I beg you. I really want to go in for the second half.”

“Rira and Jini earnestly wanted this, so we brought you here to ask. Please check if she’s in a condition to be put back in.”

I naturally intended to accept their request.

Determining whether she could play wasn’t that difficult either.

“There’s no visible swelling or bruising. Could you try moving your wrist back and forth?”

“It’s fine.”

Chaerira performed flexion, extension, and rotation movements with her wrist, but there was no abnormality in the range of motion. The pain she complained of was also minimal.

“I’ll press on it once. Please tell me if there’s any painful spot.”

I palpated the areas where tendons like the extensor pollicis brevis, extensor digitorum, and extensor indicis pass through the wrist at the Yangxi, Yangchi, and Yanggu acupoints respectively.

“A little? Hmm. That area seems fine.”

“You have to tell the truth for her to treat you!”

“It really doesn’t hurt.”

Kang Chulkyu shouted anxiously, but it seemed fine to my palpation as well.

I also felt the radius and ulna, and palpated the medial side of the wrist in the same way, but no major problems were found. At most, the extensor pollicis brevis tendon was slightly stretched.

“The wrist sprain isn’t serious. In that case, there’s also a possibility that a nerve is compressed in the elbow or neck.”

I checked the medial and lateral sides of Chaerira’s elbow, around the Sohai and Quchi points near the ulnar and radial heads.

“Ah.”

This time, I noticed the problem without needing to ask Chaerira about tenderness.

“Doctor, don’t tell me…”

The bone was slightly displaced from the joint surface.

Chaerira also noticed that the sensation was different from usual when I pressed on her elbow.

She turned pale and looked at me with eyes pleading for me to say it wasn’t so.

When I extended her arm fully to confirm,

there was a clicking sound from the joint.

“It’s a radial head subluxation. There seems to be damage to the annular ligament. This kind of impact can occur when falling with the arm extended.”

“Dislocation? Oh, then…”

“She should rest for the second half, right? Should she also rest for all the upcoming competitions?”

Chaerira was too afraid to hear the answer and covered her face with her palms.

Kang Chulkyu urgently asked me on her behalf.

How should I respond?

Originally, without question, resting would be better.

‘But Jini…’

She looked at me so desperately, so earnestly.

Kim Ijin had said the competition was crucial to her since treating her knee months ago.

Chaerira, being just one year younger, wouldn’t have any less desperation.

I couldn’t bring myself to give her a textbook answer.

“Do you really want to go in?”

At my question, Chaerira bit her lips tightly and nodded.

“I must. I absolutely must go in. I’ve been waiting all year for today. If not today, Senior Jini will graduate and…”

“I’ll fix it for you. With proper taping, finish the game while avoiding maximum impact.”

I immediately embraced Chaerira’s arm.

There was no need to persuade her about various treatments like with regular patients, and there was no time.

“Can you fix it right away?”

“Yes.”

I supported Chaerira’s elbow with my left hand and gently pressed the radial head with my thumb.

Then with my right hand, I lightly pulled her forearm while…

I gave it external rotation and suddenly flexed it.

Click!

“…!”

Chaerira immediately felt her elbow return to its proper place. Kang Chulkyu also heard the clicking sound.

Both of them stared at me blankly, blinking their eyes.

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll explain while disinfecting first.”

I disinfected her elbow, wrist, and neck with alcohol swabs that I always carry in my bag.

“Does it feel okay when I press here?”

“Yes!”

“Phew. Fortunately, it seems like the blood vessels and nerves were just compressed without any damage. I’ll insert the needles right away.”

Rather than palpating each area to identify problems, it was faster to treat everything at once.

I rapidly inserted needles into all the muscle-tendon attachment sites that could potentially be damaged and loosened the muscle bellies.

“I’ve repositioned the annular ligament and radial head subluxation, but you need to be careful considering there’s some damage. I can eliminate the pain, but the ligaments and tendons aren’t 100% recovered yet, so come for treatment every day starting Monday.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Halftime is until 48 minutes, right? I’ll try to reduce the inflammatory response as much as possible and help with the damage recovery by then.”

Tap tap tap tap!

I inserted the needles like dotting with a ballpoint pen.

“Your ankle was also shocked.”

After such a big fall and even an elbow subluxation, other parts of the body couldn’t be fine. Surely when the tension releases and tomorrow morning comes, she’ll complain about pain in her shoulders and back too.

After finishing the wrist and elbow treatment, I loosened the stiff parts of her neck and then held her hand.

“Thank you, thank you.”

Chaerira bowed her head without even knowing what I was doing.

Since she exercised regularly, perhaps like Kim Ijin, she was sensitive to energy and could feel the qi being infused?

In fleeting moments, ligament recovery that would normally take weeks was accomplished.

“Director!”

Just before halftime ended, Kim Ijin rushed into the waiting room.

“You should be sitting on the bench recovering your stamina! What are you doing here?”

“I’m not tired at all.”

Kang Chulkyu scolded her, but Kim Ijin didn’t care.

She spoke with eyes several times brighter than when she had asked if her own treatment was possible.

“Is Rira okay? Can she play? I, I…”

I smiled brightly at her.

“I already treated her.”

47 minutes.

One minute left until the end of halftime.

I pulled out the inserted needles as quickly as I had put them in.

The needle retention time was a bit short, but it couldn’t be helped.

“How is it?”

“I’m completely fine. It’s exactly like before I fell!”

“Still, you need to be careful.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Kang Chulkyu wrapped taping around Chaerira’s arm.

From now on, the players would have to demonstrate their skills again.

I finished my duties as a physician and returned to the audience stands.

The third quarter began.

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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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