The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 43

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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 43

“Doctor, I think we really need to hire a new staff member now.”

“Yes. That’s a good idea.”

It seemed like Seo Inae had reached her limit too. Unlike last time when she nagged me to save more on expenses, this time she nodded without any complaints.

‘All the tremendous expense savings we’ve had so far were thanks to Teacher Inae.’

I resolved to give her an especially large bonus this month as I spoke.

“Do you have any preferences for what kind of staff member you’d like?”

“Hmm…”

“Feel free to speak your mind. You’ll be spending time with them continuously, and there will be many things you’ll need to teach them.”

Seo Inae thought for a moment.

What kind of person would she prefer? Someone experienced who wouldn’t need much teaching? Or a gentle, young staff member who would listen well?

“I think it would be fine as long as they’re just a reasonable person.”

But Seo Inae gave a somewhat enlightened answer with a benevolent smile.

Why is she like that? Did her former workplace colleague have a really bad personality?

“I hope someone good comes.”

Was that why she had deliberately refused when I offered to hire one more person? She didn’t seem to have any major social problems though.

Anyway, since Seo Inae didn’t present any special opinions, I could just hire someone I liked.

‘Oh, maybe there won’t be many applicants because we’re in a somewhat remote location? Maybe we’re not in a position to be picky?’

Nah, it’s still a metropolitan area. It shouldn’t be that bad.

I referenced job postings from nearby Traditional Korean Medicine Clinics to set the work days and basic salary, then posted a job listing.

And three days later.

A whopping 30 resumes had arrived in my email.

“More came in than I expected. Is the economy bad these days?”

I printed out all the resumes and carefully read through the applicants’ careers and self-introductions.

First, I filtered out those who put non-standard selfie photos in the ID photo section. I also eliminated resumes from people whose spelling made me doubt they had received mandatory education.

Getting the clinic name wrong… let’s overlook this much. Since each person probably applied to 20 places, that’s why 30 applications came in.

Excluding a few noticeably strange ones, the resumes were generally excellent. I read through them three times, carefully selecting 5 people to call for interviews.

“Doctor, has Geum Yeonhwa, who was supposed to come for the 1 o’clock interview, contacted us?”

“No, she hasn’t.”

“Please give her a call.”

“Understood. But she probably won’t answer.”

“Excuse me?”

…The first batter was a no-show for the interview.

Fortunately, the applicant scheduled 30 minutes later attended the interview normally.

“Oh my~ Sorry, Clinic Director! I’m a little late, aren’t I~?”

She was 5 minutes late, but this much was understandable. There’s a slight incline on the way from the station to our Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic, so it takes a bit longer than the time shown on apps.

“It’s fine. Please come this way. Would you like some tea?”

“Oh my, that would be wonderful! I’ll drink it well.”

“You have quite a bit of previous experience, so your reason for applying to our Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic is…”

“I got fired! They probably want to hire pretty young girls! Having to gradually raise my salary would be burdensome too! Ugh, and now when I try to get hired again, nowhere will take me because I’m an older woman!”

But the second batter was quite… quite a character.

She cut off my words and very chattily cursed the head director of her previous workplace.

“Ah, well that’s…”

“But how old are you, Clinic Director? Twenties? Thirties?”

“I’m twenty-six.”

“Oh my! You’re completely a baby! Only half my age?”

She had even started using informal speech at some point.

Being friendly was an advantage, but crossing the line was quite troublesome.

I asked only a few basic questions before sending her away.

“Thank you for coming. It’s not much, but here’s an interview fee. I’ll let you know the results within this week.”

And the third interviewee.

“You’re Kim Yunhye, here for the interview, right?”

“Yes. Are we starting right away?”

“Do you have any schedule after this?”

“Ah, I have plans to go to a club.”

Good heavens. I naturally assumed she was a patient.

How could she think to wear a crop top to come for an interview?

‘I must be old-fashioned.’

Living in the martial arts world for 20 years must have made me unable to understand 21st century openness.

Do I really have to hire someone from among these people? Really?

“Ah, hello. I’m Jeong Euna.”

Contrary to my worries, the fourth batter was a very reasonable person.

Navy casual suit, with neatly tied hair.

“Nice to meet you. You don’t need to be so nervous.”

“Thank you for calling me! I, I don’t really have relevant experience though.”

“But you really wrote your personal statement so neatly. That’s impressive. You even do volunteer work.”

“Oh, yes, yes. Thank you for looking at it favorably!”

She stuttered a bit from nervousness, but she seemed like a good person.

She was 21 years old, having just graduated high school and gotten her certification, so she had no experience, but just looking at her personal statement, she seemed to have lived diligently.

Unlike other applicants who sent copy-paste resumes (not that I particularly think that’s a problem), I could see traces of her trying to somehow connect herself with our clinic’s blog, which had no real content.

‘At least there’s one decent person. That’s a relief.’

Since I only needed to hire one person anyway, it wasn’t bad that some unusual people applied.

I also understood Seo Inae’s point about just needing someone with common sense. There were more people in the world with different common sense than one might think.

“Thank you so much for applying! I’ll finish the remaining interviews and contact you right away!”

I was planning to hire Jeong Euna if possible.

There was one more person I had scheduled to meet, but how amazing could the people applying to our clinic be?

Seo Inae was an ace beyond specifications. After experiencing the first three people, I leaned toward thinking everything except character didn’t really matter. I could teach the work!

But in less than five minutes, my expectations were shattered.

“Hello! I’m Euna’s mother!”

“…Hello?”

“Director, please take good care of her! Our child is a bit shy with strangers, but she talks well once she gets close. She might be clumsy since we haven’t made her do difficult work…”

“Oh, Mom~! What are you saying!”

Why is her mother here?

That personal statement that seemed too well-written… was it her mother’s work?

“Clinic Director, fighting.”

Seo Inae, uncharacteristically, handed me a drink she bought with her own money to comfort me. Fortunately or unfortunately, the fifth person I had scheduled for an interview was also a no-show.

“…I’ll have to call five more people. This isn’t easy.”

“Yes. I’ll schedule the appointments.”

If the five people with the best resumes were in this state, I felt daunted about what the others would be like.

Please, just one person, just one person with common sense!

* * *

“Hello. I’m Kim Ayeon, starting work from today.”

Still, after all the twists and turns, I hired someone.

It took more time and interview expenses than expected to contact a total of 15 people, but I was satisfied that I succeeded in hiring someone.

She had both a nursing assistant certification and experience working at an oriental medicine clinic.

A decent resume and an extremely ordinary interview.

She was exactly the talent I was looking for.

In Ae and I didn’t assign Kim Ayeon much work since it was her first day.

I delegated full authority for training and handover to Seo Inae, but her opinion was the same.

Seo Inae handled all the desk work, patient assignments, and time management that required considerable know-how by herself, while only instructing her on tasks like attaching physical therapy devices and needle removal.

“Clinic Director, room 1 needs acupuncture.”

“Yes~”

“Teacher Ayeon, please do physical therapy for room 5.”

“Yes!”

“Clinic Director, a new patient is waiting. I’ll go in for consultation.”

“Please bring them in after 5 minutes.”

“Teacher Ayeon, please remove the needles from bed 7.”

Under Seo Inae’s command, everything ran smoothly.

Fortunately, today we had fewer patients than usual, so Seo Inae could explain various things whenever she had time.

“For lunch, you can eat whatever you want with the Clinic Director’s card. You can order delivery or go out to eat, it doesn’t matter.”

“Yes.”

“What else is there? Garbage sorting is done back there…”

There were only 15 patients in the morning, but time passed faster than usual because we were so busy.

Normally, I would eat separately so Seo Inae could use her lunch break freely, but today we ate together since a new employee had joined.

The restaurant was Yongho Restaurant.

I told her to order whatever she wanted, but Kim Ayeon barely touched even one bowl of jajangmyeon.

It would have been fine to order sweet and sour pork or chili shrimp.

“How’s the work? Any difficulties?”

“Ah… there are more patients than I expected. The place I worked before was leisurely…”

“Really? You said you worked in the countryside before?”

“Yes. It was so leisurely there that we sometimes had tea time together.”

If she had come a few months ago, it would have been leisurely, but now it was quite busy for two staff members to handle.

Should I hire one more person? If the number of patients increased further, I’d have to consider it, but I didn’t have the confidence to go through this process again right now.

“You’ll get used to it as you work. Feel free to ask if you don’t know anything.”

“…Yes.”

Unlike me, who was worried enough to consider additional hiring, Seo Inae spoke matter-of-factly.

The new employee nodded reluctantly with a forced smile.

After finishing lunch, we briefly stopped by a coffee shop. Since this was an occasional occurrence, Seo Inae comfortably ordered a frappuccino and cookie set, but Kim Ayeon hesitated greatly before choosing an americano.

“I won’t judge you for what you eat, so feel free to choose.”

“I like coffee. Thank you. Um, and… would it be okay if I stopped by the bank for a moment?”

Seo Inae often left during lunch break anyway.

It was a bit strange that someone who had been reading the room until just now suddenly had business to take care of, but I gladly let her go.

* * *

And shortly after, 2 PM.

Kim Ayeon didn’t return.

“It’s already time, why isn’t she coming? Did she get lost?”

I tried calling her, but strangely her phone was turned off.

Lunch break ended and we resumed work, but even after 10 minutes, even after 30 minutes, it was the same.

“She ran away.”

“What?”

“I’ve seen people quit after working a week, but quitting during lunch break is legendary.”

“You mean she just disappeared like this without even saying she was quitting?”

“You underestimated Gen MZ. In a little while, you’ll get a text with her account number asking you to send her hourly wage for this morning’s work.”

…Really?

I couldn’t believe it, but there was no other way to explain it.

Really, in this world, people who resign like this actually exist?

* * *

A few days later, Seo Inae’s prophecy came true.

At first I was worried something might have happened to her, but she wouldn’t answer calls no matter what, yet she changed her profile picture?

And less than a week later, a text really arrived asking for money.

“Arghhhhhh!”

I was giving Chu Miyoung a prescription lecture when I exploded in anger the moment I saw the message.

She was ignoring the Haneul Clinic protocol of Medicine 1, Medicine 2, etc., and learning by consulting with me about every herbal medicine patient.

“Ah… she ran away?”

Chu Miyoung shook her head as if this was something that happened occasionally. Unlike me, who had comfortable days thanks to hiring an SSS-grade employee first, she had experienced various types of staff.

“There are all kinds of people! There was someone who worked well for about 3 months, then suddenly quit saying they didn’t want to wake up in the morning after drinking. When I said they had to return the 50,000 won uniform and submit a resignation letter to get their salary calculated, they made a fuss about reporting to the labor office.”

“So what did you do?”

“I just ignored it. The labor office probably advised them that they had to write a resignation letter too, right? They must have hated seeing my face because a few days ago the uniform and resignation letter came by cash-on-delivery courier.”

I see. That must have been really tough.

But what should I do now?

After Kim Ayeon’s escape, I posted another job listing, but there weren’t many more resumes coming in.

There probably aren’t that many nursing assistants willing to come to our clinic at 7 AM to work.

“I guess I have no choice but to call someone from the people I interviewed before…?”

Chu Miyoung, who heard my muttering, also offered various opinions.

“The salary seems to be set high… How about splitting it into part-time? Like morning-afternoon or Monday-Wednesday-Friday, Tuesday-Thursday. The working hours are quite burdensome after all.”

“I’ll try making it like Option 1, Option 2.”

“Try posting on other sites too… Ah!”

Suddenly Chu Miyoung clapped her hands as if she had a brilliant idea.

“Do you have a good idea?”

Then when I asked back, she pursed her lips.

It felt like she was hesitating about something.

“What is it?”

“Actually… there’s someone I could recommend.”

It seemed she was trying to introduce someone directly rather than give job hunting advice.

Someone who had worked at Haneul Clinic before?

“Oh, they have a nursing assistant certificate, right?”

“Yes. Plus she’s pretty, kind, smart, hardworking, and lives not far away.”

Perfect, right? But would someone like that come work at our clinic?

“Is she currently looking for work?”

“Probably. Everything’s good but there’s just one fatal problem.”

“A fatal problem?”

I tilted my head.

If she’s smart and even hardworking, what problem could there be?

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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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