The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 368

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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 368

Sandro had a really hard time writing his graduation thesis.

Even though Sandro had been busy attending classes, preparing for exams, and following Lee Minseok and Kim Chunsik around to learn clinical practice separately.

Once he started writing his graduation thesis in earnest, he couldn’t do anything else.

I heard that his dissertation defense was conducted by five people including his advisor, with all five examining it.

His advisor happened to be Professor Lee Minseok.

And the other professors that Lee Minseok brought in… where did he find such picky people like himself, because Sandro got criticized tremendously?

As a result, he passed around the same time as other people getting their Traditional Chinese Medicine doctorates, but it seemed like he suffered three times as much.

“My goodness, why have you gotten so haggard?”

“Hahaha. I thought I might not pass for a moment there. I worried too much.”

What kind of hardship is this in a foreign land.

Sandro’s face had become half its size compared to when I last saw him.

When I asked if I should prepare some tonic medicine for him, he answered that he had been able to endure until now thanks to Kim Chunsik taking care of him.

Since the day his graduation thesis passed, he’s been eating well, so I don’t need to worry.

“Because it was difficult to obtain, it’s more valuable. I think overseas journals will find it interesting too.”

In complete contrast to the haggard Sandro, Professor Lee Minseok with his neat appearance looked proud.

Since the clinic opening preparations were progressing rapidly, he requested to observe at Our Oriental Medicine Clinic for a few more days before returning to Italy, so I told him to come to Busan anytime.

But this person came along unexpectedly.

“I’m sorry for recommending that person as your advisor.”

I thought it was something I could say as a joke since he passed in the end.

But Sandro was startled and waved his hands.

“No! I learned so much thanks to this professor. Considering my career path, how much clinical knowledge did he teach me outside the regular curriculum!”

“That’s right. I put a tremendous amount of effort into it.”

Isn’t self-promotion a strength of Westerners? Why is it the opposite here?

Well, he can’t badmouth his advisor right next to him immediately after his graduation thesis passed.

“In that sense, Teacher Han Yewon, don’t you have any thoughts about getting a degree?”

…This person, it’s been several years since I graduated and he still hasn’t given up?

“Not at all.”

“Part-time degrees aren’t that demanding. Classes are only once a week.”

“How can I go to Seoul once a week… You have many students to guide now, so why are you doing this?”

When I first met him, he had just been appointed as a professor and was overflowing with enthusiasm to nurture students.

According to Sandro, he’s quite popular among students.

Well… rough on the outside but warm on the inside?

Anyway, it seems like he has many junior colleagues in the lab now, so why is he still obsessing over this?

“There’s no student like Teacher Han Yewon that I could guide.”

“Stop saying disgusting things.”

“I heard that clinic doctors usually fall into a rut around their 10th year and then pursue degree programs. If you change your mind, feel free to contact me anytime. Our school’s part-time program is really well-established.”

I just saw Sandro suffering right next to me, do you think I’d do it?

“I like clinical practice.”

I firmly refused this time as well.

Even Liu Bei only visited three times.

Anything more than this is a ghost story!

“Well, you must be busy doing clinical work and business. Will you go to Rome to directly help with Alessandro’s clinic opening preparations?”

“Of course I have to help. As for Rome… I don’t know how much the person sponsoring Teacher Sandro wants to be involved, so I’ll discuss it, and if necessary.”

President Rich had even bought paintings for interior decoration in advance, but it took quite a while to get the degree.

Is he still as passionate as he was back then?

If so, since the president is a much bigger businessman than me, I could probably leave the non-clinical aspects to him.

But if I tell him to handle it himself, there will be many things to worry about.

Either way, I’ll probably have to visit at least once.

“My advisor is also very interested in Alessandro’s Rome branch. He suggested overseas expansion to Director Choi Eunhee several times starting 20 years ago, but was flatly rejected, right? He’s very curious whether it will succeed.”

Hmm, Professor Lee Minseok’s advisor was Choi Eunhee’s husband.

It seems Haneul Clinic also considered it.

While Professor Jo, being a scholar, might have fantasies about overseas expansion, when a businesswoman like Choi Eunhee runs the numbers, it probably doesn’t add up easily.

Sandro is a special case.

“We have no choice but to succeed. Even though we haven’t opened yet, there are so many people waiting.”

The musicians who are Park Miseun’s friends also want to receive treatment, and there will be President Rich’s friends who love Eastern culture.

And though I can’t say it here, won’t a certain coptis enthusiast bring some subordinates too?

Since the skills are good, once a little word-of-mouth gets started through these people, rumors will spread quickly.

“Ah, with so many people helping, I’m worried I might be inadequate.”

“Hey, you’ve been in South Korea too long and learned too much modesty.”

“That’s right. Confidence is most important when treating patients.”

So I had a meal and chatted with the two of them.

“Can’t I observe too?”

“Of course not!”

I kicked out Professor Lee Minseok who was saying ridiculous things.

Actually, if it were just me, it wouldn’t matter much.

But Sandro would be uncomfortable too, and especially Hwang Sanghun and Lee Ahreum would find it terribly unpleasant.

In fact, I had asked those two if they wanted to come to this gathering, but they showed tremendous reluctance.

“Let’s meet at the clinic tomorrow.”

Anyway, thanks to this, I was able to hear news about the school and seniors and juniors that I hadn’t heard in a while.

Professor Lee Minseok disappeared, saying he would go meet his relatives according to his original schedule.

Sandro decided to stay at the hotel where he had stayed when he first entered the country for a while and commute to our Oriental Medicine Clinic.

* * *

The next day.

“Could you turn your neck to the right once?”

“Ugh, it hurts.”

“Then let’s try turning it with your shoulders shrugged up like this.”

“Oh? This is fine!”

“It’s an infraspinatus problem. It hurts when I press here, right?”

“Ah, ahhh!”

Gong Nari happened to complain of neck stiffness, so I had Sandro treat her, and he did very well, following proper procedure.

“Oh, you check the scapula well and your bone touch is good too.”

“Haha, I practiced a lot.”

While I was at it, I asked the other staff about any discomfort they had.

He treated Jin Minjeong’s back pain and also treated Seol Yuhui’s symptoms of head heaviness from studying.

Since Sandro graduated from Korean Medicine Graduate School and earned an academic master’s and doctorate rather than a professional master’s degree.

In Italy, he can do anything with a medical license.

But in South Korea, he doesn’t have a Korean medicine doctor license, so he couldn’t actually treat real patients.

So within what he could do, I supervised him giving acupuncture to myself, the directors, and staff.

I also had him observe patients and asked what he would have done if he were Sandro.

“Hmm… there’s really nothing more to teach.”

Actually, 90% of the patients seen in Oriental Medicine Clinic practice have similar symptoms.

He would have already seen a lot while observing at Korea University Korean Medicine Hospital and Kim Chunsik’s Korean Medicine Clinic.

There are unusual 10% of patients.

But Sandro probably has more Western medical knowledge about diseases.

And prescriptions for difficult conditions requiring good use of herbal medicine have been studied almost apprentice-style with Kim Chunsik until now.

It’s not something I can level up for him in a short time.

“You’re too kind. Just letting me observe is enough for me. Just feeling the Clinic Director’s charisma gives me so much to take away.”

Sandro said there was no need to force doing something for him.

But still, he came all the way to Busan, shouldn’t I teach him something more?

‘Ah, that’s right.’

While thinking between treating patients, an idea came to mind.

But it was something I couldn’t do while patients were coming and going.

After closing hours, I sent the staff home and borrowed Hwang Sanghun’s gown.

“What are you trying to do? Can I watch too?”

Hwang Sanghun poked his head out and insisted on watching instead of going home.

I instructed him not to help and just sit in the guardian’s chair.

Since I had recently revised the manual, I thought I’d give him practical experience in a different sense.

“I’ll act as a patient, so sit at my desk and play the role of doctor.”

“Oh, are you really going to act realistically?”

“Yes.”

Don’t they practice in medical school too for preparing for the national exam practicals?

Sandro sat down looking very embarrassed.

“Ahem, I’m nervous.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask about medically difficult diseases. I’m not evaluating either, so just act naturally.”

I reassured Sandro like that.

“Hey! I got acupuncture and now blisters came up like this! What are you going to do about it? Originally only my shoulder hurt, but now blisters are a mess from my armpit to my arm! Until yesterday my skin was definitely fine!!”

I shouted loudly enough to shake the hospital.

“Yes, yes?”

This is why I waited for everyone to leave.

I banged on the desk and showed him photos of blisters on my phone.

“Ah, this is shingles. It didn’t happen because you got acupuncture.”

Sandro immediately recognized the shingles.

“What did you say? Yesterday you said it was shoulder muscle pain! Are you saying you misdiagnosed?”

“No, that’s… I’m sorry. If the blisters came up today, yesterday I couldn’t have known…”

“Does being sorry solve it? The blisters are this severe right now? What are you going to do! Pay for the treatment costs!”

Since I was shouting unreasonably and angrily, he couldn’t collect himself.

“I’ll prescribe shingles medication, and we can continue the acupuncture treatment…”

I heard Italian people are quite fiery too.

He needs to prepare for this kind of thing in advance.

The first patient was modeled after Kim Jinsang, who was really a difficult customer when he first appeared.

“You said the right things, but with unreasonable people like this, be firm and businesslike.”

Still, it wasn’t too bad.

I praised Sandro and gave him simple feedback.

“Yes…”

I then showed him several more cases.

I excluded the recent incident at the Gwangju branch since Sandro had also watched the situation unfold in real-time through the group chat.

But aside from that, there were various types of human characters.

“I suddenly got diarrhea after taking the medicine…”

A side effect complaint that could easily happen.

“I have a headache, so why are you putting needles in my arms and legs?”

“Why are you placing this needle here?”

“Huh, a spot where energy gathers? How can you feel energy?”

A patient with many questions.

“What? That’s ridiculous. 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10km running is the training regimen I’ve done daily to become strong. I can’t stop just because my ankle ligament is torn!”

“If you want to continue exercising, you need to focus on treatment right now…”

“You’re telling me to stop a routine I’ve maintained for 10 years just because of some ligament tear?”

And a martial artist who absolutely refuses to listen.

“What, why are you so good at acting?”

Hwang Sanghun was also impressed by my excellent acting skills.

Especially the martial artist was overflowing with realism.

“Do people like this really exist?”

“They do.”

“There are many.”

Sandro was astonished, but Hwang Sanghun couldn’t deny it and nodded his head.

Well, these were cases based 100% on true stories.

“Aha… Thank you for letting me prepare in advance.”

Of course, since he had observed Kim Chunsik’s Korean Medicine Clinic for a long period, he probably knew that there weren’t really that many cases to worry about.

It seems he didn’t get unnecessarily scared.

Sandro was flustered but also found it interesting.

Then shall we move on to the next case.

This was also a case that Sandro would likely encounter in practice.

…It would be good to prepare in advance.

“Phew. I have a lot of work stress, so my chest feels tight.”

“Ah, you must be having a hard time.”

“Yes. Work is difficult in many ways…”

“May I ask what kind of work you do?”

I presented chest tightness as the main complaint and naturally guided him to ask about occupation.

And when the question finally came.

I made a very serious expression while crossing my legs.

I pretended to pull down a hat.

“I lead a mafia family.”

“…”

A brief silence fell over the examination room.

“Hanyewon, that’s going too far.”

Hwang Sanghun made a brief comment.

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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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