The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 5

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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 5

The spots where acupuncture needles or moxibustion are applied are called acupoints.

Among these, the acupoints located on the 14 meridians—the twelve primary meridians that form the foundation, plus the Conception Vessel that penetrates the front of the body and the Governing Vessel that passes through the back—are called regular meridian points.

They were set to exactly 365 points to correspond with the number of days in a year, so it’s not really that many.

[You memorize all of them?]

Hwangseoyeong, who had been typing a message, suddenly looked up and stared at me.

[We learned them all in our second year during Meridian and Acupoint Studies, didn’t we?]

[I forgot everything right after the exam.]

Did she? Now that I think about it, I had forced myself to memorize them by making up mnemonics. In an environment where you can’t learn by actually using them, that’s inevitable.

[I roughly remember them. I’d just need to review them once.]

In my case, I had countless experiences directly applying acupuncture and communicating with physicians in the Martial Arts World.

[Ugh, so annoying.]

Actually… if I concentrated just a little, I could feel where energy gathered.

Academics debate whether meridians or acupoints came first, and modern medicine doesn’t assign much meaning to it.

But when you can actually move qi through breathing techniques, being able to sense it was possible even when I had just started training.

[If you forgot, hurry up and memorize them. You need to know them before taking the national exam.]

[I’ll memorize them a week before the test.]

Well, whatever.

I put down my phone and took out my book.

Rather than putting it off unnecessarily, it seemed better to check all the acupoints now.

There were slight discrepancies between where I actually felt the strongest flow of qi on the anterior forearm and the Neiguan point defined in modern medical terms as “between the Palmaris Longus Tendon and Flexor Carpi Radialis Tendon, 2 cun above the Palmar Wrist Crease.”

When I buried my head in the book, Hwangseoyeong, who had been about to type more messages, stopped bothering me.

Instead, she rummaged through the bookshelf and pulled out a fantasy novel from somewhere.

“Hey, want to go get coffee?”

Less than an hour later, she tapped my shoulder and asked in a small voice.

Since I hadn’t even memorized half yet, I shook my head.

“What should we eat for dinner?”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it when it’s six o’clock. If there’s something you want to eat, go ahead.”

“Aaaaargh!”

“Shh.”

I couldn’t break my concentration here. I returned to my book.

Four hours passed like that.

Judging that the first round of memorization was sufficient, I raised my head.

‘I’m getting a bit stiff, so I should drink something and continue.’

But wasn’t Hwangseoyeong putting away the fantasy novel she had been reading and about to open a martial arts novel?

“That’s boring, so read Romance of the Three Kingdoms instead.”

“What? Were you watching me?”

She asked in surprise.

“I just saw it now. This is a library, so shh. I was about to get up anyway.”

“How can you sit still for four hours without moving? Are you even human?”

“It’s the power of the core. If you do horse stance for 1 hour, 3 sets a day for 100 days, you can sit all day.”

Hwangseoyeong’s face became strangely clouded.

“Does that book mention such things? Have you read this?”

“I read pretty much all the martial arts novels that came out around high school. I don’t remember which novel it was, but I actually practiced it too.”

Her eyes looked puzzled, as if she couldn’t tell whether it was true or false.

“Let’s go. I’m done preparing for the acupuncture exam.”

I chuckled and stood up. While I could study without eating, I couldn’t let my friend who had waited this long go hungry.

* * *

Three days later, Friday.

The class time I had been confidently waiting for arrived.

“Hello. I’m Lee Minseok, and I’ll be teaching the acupuncture course for the second semester clinical special lecture.”

But something unexpected happened.

A professor I’d never seen before introduced himself with a different name than what was written on the schedule.

“Oh, hyung!”

Moreover, Cho Haneul suddenly stood up and waved at him.

“It’s been a while, Haneul.”

“Wow, you became a professor at our school? You should have contacted me in advance!”

“Professor Kim Sungchul suddenly took parental leave, so the position opened up unexpectedly.”

The professor named Lee Minseok spoke calmly, but it was news that couldn’t help but stir up the students.

“What? Professor Kim?”

“I heard his wife gave birth to their youngest daughter.”

The unusual news that a middle-aged male professor had taken parental leave. Everyone expressed their surprise to the student sitting next to them.

“Professor Kim Sungchul is taking parental leave? Wasn’t he in his 60s? That’s… possible?”

“There’s nothing stopping him from taking leave.”

“That’s not what I meant… never mind, sorry.”

“Ah, his hair loss is severe, but he’s actually in his late 40s!”

“No way!”

I quickly grasped the situation. Professor Kim Sungchul, who gave the same type of exam every year and even used identical acupoint questions, had submitted his leave application, and a completely new part-time lecturer had been assigned to take over the course.

– Graduate of Umyeong University Department of Korean Medicine

– Specialist in Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion

Moreover, looking at Professor Lee Minseok’s profile written on the PPT, he was a graduate of Umyeong University where Cho Haneul’s father worked as a professor. He definitely had considerable connections with Cho Haneul.

“That’s my introduction. Now let me tell you about the course plan.”

The professor moved to the next slide. The chattering students instantly fell silent.

“You’ll be entering clinical practice in just six months. However, not many students are adequately prepared. So rather than following Professor Kim’s lecture notes, I plan to conduct classes that will be more practically helpful.”

“Wow, that sounds great!”

Cho Haneul responded loudly.

Since students who responded well were rare, it was an excellent condition for becoming the professor’s favorite student.

“Haneul, come up here for a moment.”

Of course, most students didn’t particularly want to become the favorite.

“Yes.”

Cho Haneul jumped up at the professor’s call and walked to the front of the classroom. Professor Lee Minseok called him all the way up to the platform and had him face the direction where the students were standing.

Crack.

The professor pressed down hard on Cho Haneul’s shoulder.

“Agh!”

He let out a scream.

“You’re quite stiff. Did you drink too much yesterday?”

“Gasp, how did you know?”

The two exchanged friendly jokes as the lecture continued.

“Try tilting your neck back. All the way. Now bend it forward.”

The professor instructed Cho Haneul to perform cervical extension and flexion, followed by left and right rotation, and left and right lateral bending.

“When does it hurt?”

“When I bend forward and when I turn to the right.”

Cho Haneul answered while pointing to the right side of his neck.

“In cases like this, where would you treat?”

Then he threw out a surprise question. It was professors’ specialty.

“Uh…”

Wondering if they might also be questioned, dozens of students simultaneously lowered their gazes. It was a main characteristic of students who had excelled in rote learning education.

“It shouldn’t be a difficult question.”

But Cho Haneul couldn’t escape. He had to give some answer.

“Uh, here? The painful area.”

He pointed to the location where he had felt pain when turning his head. Actually, it wasn’t a wrong answer.

“You should specify the acupoint or muscle.”

“Trapezius?”

But it probably wasn’t the correct answer the professor wanted.

Professor Lee Minseok frowned deeply.

“We do insert needles into the trapezius for basic neck and shoulder pain, but it’s not the core muscle that’s stiff right now.”

Having declared it incorrect, he waited for a moment. But Cho Haneul seemed to have nothing more to say and just blinked his eyes.

“This is the most common type we see in patients who come to Korean medicine clinics complaining of a stiff neck or inability to turn their neck. It’s a muscle that connects from the transverse processes of cervical vertebrae 1-4 to the medial border of the scapula and gets twisted.”

The professor sighed and gave a hint. It was practically giving away the answer. Even the students who had initially been nervous and looking down seemed to figure out the answer and tried their best to mouth it to Cho Haneul.

“Uh… ah.”

Among them, Hwang Sanghun tried the hardest, but surprisingly, Cho Haneul didn’t catch on. The more he sent pleading looks toward Professor Lee Minseok, the more rigid the professor’s face became.

“It’s the levator scapulae.”

Unable to watch any longer, I answered. I didn’t particularly intend to embarrass him.

It was better for someone to say it than to keep going like that.

“Correct.”

Professor Lee Minseok nodded.

“I’ve heard Professor Cho praise his brilliant son so much my ears are tired of it, but how can you not know this?”

“Ha, haha. I couldn’t think of it.”

Cho Haneul scratched his head, not knowing what to do. He didn’t even have the composure to glare at me.

What? I thought he’d treat me well since I’m his mentor’s son. Could this be a case where he holds a grudge against his supervising professor?

I tilted my head and watched the situation unfold.

“Return to your seat. What’s the name of the student who answered?”

“It’s Hanyewon.”

“Ah, Miss Yewon. If Haneul came as a patient, how would you treat him?”

The professor’s attention shifted to me. Since I naturally expected follow-up questions, I recited the treatment method without hesitation.

“I would perform acupuncture on Pungji (Wind Pool) and Gokowon (Curved Wall) located around the origin and insertion points of the levator scapulae you mentioned earlier, as well as Gyeonoesu (Shoulder Outer Transport) and Gyeonjungsu (Shoulder Middle Transport) to release the levator scapulae. After checking for tenderness, I would also treat the trapezius, sternocleidomastoid, supraspinatus, and infraspinatus muscles.”

When treating muscles, I don’t really focus much on acupoints, but thanks to reviewing all the acupoint locations yesterday, it wasn’t too difficult.

“Good. What about patient education?”

“It might resolve in one session, but in case it doesn’t, I’d tell them to come back 2-3 times. Oh, I could also teach them stretching exercises where they turn their head 45 degrees and pull it forward.”

I demonstrated by pressing on Hwangseoyeong’s neck, who was sitting next to me.

Is this the answer he wants? Should I mention more diagnostic examination methods?

“Excellent. There was at least one student who studied properly.”

Fortunately, Professor Lee Minseok was satisfied with my answer.

“You should all be able to do this much. Graduation is right around the corner, yet you can’t identify the muscles of a patient with a stiff neck? Are you just going to use Ashi points? If that’s the case, why did you study anatomy and meridian point theory for six years?”

A relentless lecture from the very first day.

The students once again lowered their heads and avoided eye contact at his old-fashioned attitude, unbefitting a young professor.

“I’ll assume that not just Hanyewon, but most of you knew the answer but were too embarrassed to respond.”

Still, most of them probably figured it out after hearing the hints. Maybe… right?

“From now on, I’ll conduct lectures in this manner, focusing on the patients who visit oriental medicine clinics most frequently. I’ll present case studies and you’ll provide treatment methods. While there’s no single correct answer for acupuncture and moxibustion prescriptions, I’ll thoroughly explain my approach as well.”

Wow.

A class full of surprise questions from a newly appointed young professor with no previous exams or materials to reference.

It seemed like it would be quite thrilling.

“Here’s your assignment. Briefly summarize how you would treat a young male patient with a partial rotator cuff tear from repeatedly lifting heavy objects. Include patient education methods like what Hanyewon mentioned.”

Oh, I’ve seen plenty of patients like that.

There were countless martial artists who trained recklessly by lifting stones.

“We have class tomorrow. Please submit it by midnight today.”

As soon as the professor left, my classmates let out pained groans.

And I excitedly began working on the assignment.

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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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