The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 47

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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 47

Director of PK Biologics?

I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw the business card.

Although bio wasn’t their main focus, PK Group was a major corporation that everyone in our country knew about.

Just seeing that he had a chauffeur made me expect he was some rich family’s young master, but this was beyond imagination.

For a young guy in his early thirties to sit in a director position, he must be at least the chairman’s son. He was quite a big shot.

‘He came to the hospital and got better, that should be enough. Why does he want to have a meal?’

Naturally, it’s rare for the professional relationship of receiving treatment at a hospital to continue into a private one.

Hmm, the only wealthy people I know in modern South Korea are classmates whose parents own dozens of hospitals, but in the martial arts world, I had quite a few dealings with influential trading guild masters.

If they wanted to maintain connections after treatment with excessive praise?

From experience, most of them wanted to scout me to become their personal physician, and occasionally there were proposals to mass-produce and sell the amazing medicine I used to treat them.

Ah, there was one special exception. An eccentric who wanted to leave me his entire fortune because he didn’t want to give a single penny to his children who were already fighting over his inheritance while waiting for the old man to die.

‘But he wouldn’t be trying to make a business proposal just because I fixed a minor back injury.’

Well, it might have just been something he said casually.

There were often people who had no immediate purpose but sent New Year’s gifts every year just in case.

Maybe this guy also wanted to add me to his contact list just in case? In such cases, the dinner invitation usually doesn’t materialize.

Having made my judgment, I casually brushed off Park Seon-yun’s dinner proposal.

“Please refer to my clinic hours and contact me when you need to.”

I handed him a business card that was stuck in the desk.

It was a business card that only had my name, clinic hours, and the traditional Korean medicine clinic’s phone number.

It meant that since I was generally free outside of clinic hours, anytime would be fine.

“When I need to… I understand.”

But Park Seon-yun, who received it, seemed somewhat flustered. He put the business card in his wallet with an awkward smile.

“Take your medicine properly, and come for treatment tomorrow as well. You work at a desk, right? Sitting for long periods puts strain on you, so get up and stretch from time to time.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Clinic Director!”

Park Seon-yun quickly composed his expression and bowed politely.

Next to him, Kim Jinsang bent his waist at a full 90 degrees.

“Where’s this young master from?”

Right after the two left, Seo Inae, who had been listening from the treatment room, came running over to look at the business card.

Seol Yuhui was also secretly curious, her eyes sparkling brightly.

“PK.”

I flipped the business card to show them and answered briefly.

“Gasp.”

“Amazing! That’s crazy! His name was Park Seon-yun, right?”

Seol Yuhui immediately searched his name on the internet. With a group like PK Group, it wouldn’t be difficult to find their family tree.

“That was quite a surprise.”

“Clinic Director, you didn’t seem surprised at all though.”

Really? Actually, I was more surprised that Kim Jinsang was a chaebol family’s chauffeur than that a chaebol came.

“Wow… Do chaebols or celebrities often come to traditional Korean medicine clinics?”

“No. Today was the first time.”

“Wow, wow.”

As a result of Seol Yuhui’s diligent internet searching, Park Seon-yun was the youngest of three sons and one daughter of the chairman of PK Construction, the group’s core company.

As expected, he was from the direct line. Unless they showed special abilities, even the Sichuan Tang Family only placed direct descendants in branch head positions.

For me, meeting Cheonma in person was much more amazing than meeting some trading guild master’s son, but I didn’t dampen their excitement.

Beep beep beep beep beep.

Oh no.

I had tried to wait long enough, but the alarm indicating the end of acupuncture time rang from the treatment room.

“Alright~ Let’s get back to work”

As long as there were still patients, we had no choice but to postpone the chatter for later.

Seo Inae, Seol Yuhui, and I scattered to our respective duties.

* * *

Even after being unintentionally given the cold shoulder, Park Seon-yun consistently showed up at the traditional Korean medicine clinic.

Although I had told him to come every day, I hadn’t expected such a high attendance rate.

Unlike the common people of the martial arts world who generally listened well to physicians’ advice (excluding martial artists), modern people often postponed treatment with the excuse of being busy with work.

If it were a fatal disease it might be different, but for something like a minor back injury, ordinary office workers would put it off thinking it would heal on its own, only showing up at a traditional Korean medicine clinic after the pain worsened.

But the director of PK Biologics, who should be busier than any ordinary office worker, received treatment at the traditional Korean medicine clinic punctually at 7 AM every day.

Moreover, he even brought small gifts despite my saying it was unnecessary. Although his secretary or chauffeur probably prepared them, it was unnecessary consideration.

Why doesn’t he buy the meal he offered but only makes the break room more abundant?

If he wanted to build a private relationship, he should contact me outside clinic hours using the business card I gave him…

‘Wait, my cell phone number isn’t written on the business card?’

I belatedly realized why Park Seon-yun had been flustered on the first day.

Had I missed an opportunity to get a free meal at a high-end restaurant?

Either way, I would have rejected whatever unknown proposal it was, so I wasn’t particularly disappointed.

“Um, Clinic Director. If you have time, could you let me treat you to dinner this evening?”

The person who suddenly requested dinner with me was a completely unexpected figure.

It was none other than Jeong Inseong.

After his skin had improved so much, he’d been dating his girlfriend every single day and barely came for treatment anymore, so what was this about?

“What’s this about?”

“I wanted to express my gratitude, and there’s something I’d like to consult about.”

“If it’s health consultation, it would be better to do it at the oriental medicine clinic.”

What was this? He didn’t seem to have anything wrong with him. Today too, he came without even making an appointment.

“It’s not health consultation…”

Then what? Don’t tell me he needs relationship advice?

This guy seems much better at it than me, someone who’s been single for nearly half a century.

“It’s about career path.”

“Ah?”

This was another unexpected matter.

And it wasn’t exactly an area I was confident in either. Even when I used to tutor, I rarely took on high school seniors, so I’d never consulted about career paths.

“Well, sure. If I can be of help…”

“Thank you for accepting this troublesome request. When would be convenient for you? My mother would also like to meet you, would that be okay?”

Well, there was no reason to refuse the request either.

I was probably the only oriental medicine doctor he knew.

Inseong coordinated with my schedule and made a reservation at a restaurant for Friday evening.

* * *

Jeong Inseong was good at studying.

He had slightly better comprehension and memorization skills than others, and he didn’t particularly dislike sitting and studying for long periods. Since his relationship with his mother wasn’t too bad, he didn’t have any teenage rebellion either.

I don’t understand what his mother would gain from him studying well, but he was a model student who just worked hard because he was told to.

“Inseong was aiming for engineering, right? Looking at last year’s admission scores, mechanical and electrical information, and liberal arts are close calls, but the rest are appropriate or safe zones.”

In other words, he didn’t have any particular target university or department.

If anything, it was more like the highest university he could get into with a department that had good job prospects?

“I don’t necessarily want to do engineering.”

“Really? Your college entrance exam scores came out much better than your usual practice tests. You could even go into medical fields, so think about it.”

So it was only after the college entrance exam ended that he first began to worry about his career path.

‘I can go into medical fields? Medicine, dentistry, oriental medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine?’

After finishing consultation with his homeroom teacher, he fell into thought.

He had thought it was a story from a distant land. During the final month before the college entrance exam, while making a last-minute sprint, he did think his mind was working particularly well, but to that extent.

‘If I become an oriental medicine doctor, could I live like the Clinic Director?’

He imagined himself wearing a white coat and sitting in an examination room.

This is such and such disease. I’ll cure you! Coolly inserting acupuncture needles, preparing medicine… That sounds good?

He was confident in dealing with people and had stamina, and he was prepared to study hard, so it seemed to suit his aptitude.

Being able to treat people who were suffering like Inseong himself or his grandmother would be very rewarding work.

“Juyeon, what do you think about me going to oriental medicine school?”

“That would be so great! When you learn to read pulses, tell me if there’s anything wrong with me!”

His girlfriend readily nodded her head.

It happened to be his grandmother’s birthday, so his father had come down to Busan.

Inseong casually brought up the topic when the whole family was gathered.

“Dad, I actually have a university I want to go to.”

“What? Suddenly?”

His mother, who had been telling everyone that her son would probably go to Korean University, asked in surprise.

“Where is it that you’re saying this?”

“Oriental medicine school. I looked into it, and except for Korean University, there are places worth applying to. If I apply to oriental medicine schools for all three application periods, I think I’ll get into one of the three.”

“You want to become an oriental medicine doctor? You, Inseong?”

“Yes, Grandmother. What do you think?”

“I think it’s wonderful! Then this old lady will get free herbal medicine for life!”

“Haha, of course I’d have to do that for you.”

“Dad supports whatever you want to do.”

Grandmother and Father didn’t object as expected. Father himself was enjoying doing work that didn’t make money for life, so there was no way he would interfere with his son’s career path now.

“You…!”

When Mother glared at such a father, he avoided her eyes and turned his head. From the beginning, the only family member who might possibly object was Mother.

“Mom, do you want me to go to Korean University?”

She fell into thought without answering.

If he had said he wanted to do pure arts like Father, she might have overturned the dining table, but it wasn’t a career path she could oppose outright.

“If you really want to do it, I won’t stop you… but you never talked about anything like that before.”

“Yes. I’m thinking about it seriously for the first time now too.”

“If it weren’t for the acne treatment, you would never have thought about it at all. Isn’t this too sudden a decision?”

“Maybe it’s fate? Having an interest arise right when it’s time to decide on a career path.”

“I thought the same way when I first met your father. I thought I’d become the wife of an artist who would leave his name in history!”

Father, who had nothing to say, hung his head low, and Grandmother giggled.

Was that right? Was it too impulsive a thought? In fact, all I knew about oriental medicine doctors was what I’d seen at the two clinics.

“If you could do it like that Clinic Director who treated you, what would there be to worry about? She seems to know everything in the world and makes tons of money too. But these days, even hospitals have incredibly fierce competition.”

“Companies are the same way. I just need to study hard.”

Father, who had been listening to our conversation, suddenly asked.

“Is it enough to just study hard at school? Don’t you need to inherit some secret techniques passed down for three generations since the Joseon Dynasty or something?”

Hearing those words reminded me of the clinic I’d visited before.

The medicine I took at Haneul Clinic had no effect… and there weren’t many patients either, right? I guess not everyone succeeds.

“That’s probably not it? When Inseong was consulting, he was talking about berberine being an alkaloid and such.”

“Ah… when I went in separately for treatment, he did talk about qi though.”

“Hmm…”

The three of them fell into contemplation. Until this recent treatment, they had associated oriental medicine clinics with something mystical. Suddenly trying to decide on a career path, there were many concerning aspects.

“Why are you all worrying so much? I’ll go ask my Clinic Director if the kid seems like he’d do well! If studying at school isn’t enough, please take him as a disciple! We can ask for favors too!”

Then, Grandmother came up with what seemed like a reasonable answer.

“Ah, Grandmother. Being a disciple is a bit…”

“Right. That’s a good idea. Let’s ask the Clinic Director how much you can earn if you open a practice. Honey, you go ask your friend Chanjin how much corporate engineers make.”

“No, Mother. That would be too rude.”

“What’s wrong with that? We can ask that much before submitting applications!”

But this wouldn’t do. The thought of Grandmother or Mother suddenly barging into the examination room to ask those questions was terrifying.

I probably would never be able to receive treatment at Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic again.

“I’ll go and speak to her directly myself. I should treat her to a meal and ease into the conversation.”

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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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