The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 58

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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 58

1 Korean medicine doctor and 2 nursing assistants. 5-day work week. No night shifts.

Until now, I had been operating the clinic in a way that minimized costs by taking all weekends off.

This format is actually suitable for pursuing work-life balance, but for maximum profit, you absolutely need to operate 7 days a week with night shifts included.

And to run the clinic 7 days a week, hiring additional Korean medicine doctors and nursing assistants becomes essential.

Should I settle for the current approach, or take risks and grow further?

A crossroads of choice.

My choice was naturally the latter.

“Everyone, I think it’s time to improve our system. I’m planning to hire more Korean medicine doctors and staff to operate the clinic 7 days a week.”

I called Seo Inae and Seol Yuhui together and made the announcement.

“Oh, that sounds good.”

Seo Inae said.

When I first mentioned hiring more staff, she had discouraged me, telling me to think about profit and loss, but now the number of patients I saw daily was at a level that would be difficult for an ordinary Korean medicine doctor to handle.

On average it was 60-70 patients, but there were occasionally days when it exceeded 100.

“Wow, what kind of person will be joining us?”

Seol Yuhui said cheerfully. Perhaps because this was her first job where she’d been working long-term, fortunately she didn’t seem to have any complaints about working weekends.

“I haven’t hired anyone yet. I want to set your work schedules first, then find people to fill the remaining time slots.”

“Ah, I see.”

Seol Yuhui said she preferred to come in early as she had been doing, and if possible, she’d rather work Saturdays than Sundays.

I could arrange the schedule taking that into consideration.

And Seo Inae was…

“I’ll quit the convenience store. Please let me work full-time.”

“…I said we’re doing 7 days a week. How can you work full-time?”

Weekdays 7 to 8, weekends 9 to 3.

Even excluding weekday lunch breaks, that’s 72 hours per week. Does it make sense to do all of that without any days off?

Even I… no, I could actually do it. But regardless of whether it’s physically possible, I don’t want to.

“Anyway, if I quit the convenience store and switch to part-time here, the total working hours will be similar.”

“It won’t be legal.”

“We can just handle that appropriately under the table…”

“No way!”

Seo Inae pouted and chose a schedule that would allow her to work the maximum hours and collect overtime pay within legal limits. She even volunteered to take the early morning 7-9 AM shift and the afternoon and evening hours, saying she could do other work in between.

“If I do this, it’ll be easier for you to hire staff too, Director. It would have been hard to recruit because no one wants to work starting at 7 AM.”

Seo Inae… you really are…

I’ve seen many tough martial artists who were obsessed with martial arts and trained all day long, but I’d never been this amazed.

“Understood. Let’s go with that then.”

I gratefully accepted the schedule she had outlined.

As Seo Inae said, since the two of them took the early morning shifts, the difficulty of additional hiring became much lower.

Just by starting work at 9 AM instead of 7 AM, we received several times more resumes.

“Phew.”

Now what remained was hiring a Korean medicine doctor.

Since a Korean medicine doctor’s treatment style would have a bigger impact on patient numbers and revenue changes, I had to be careful.

Where should I find one? Post on a community forum? Or would it be better to ask my Senior Student to introduce a junior graduating this year?

While I was pondering this, a message came from Hwang Sanghun.

[Yeowon, how are you doing?]

What’s this about? I hadn’t seen him at all since we happened to meet at that wedding.

He had contacted me once saying the medicine was very effective, but that was it.

[I’m doing well. How about you? Now that you’re a first-year resident, it’s better than being an intern, right?]

[Oh, didn’t you hear from Seoyeong? I only completed my internship and left the hospital.]

Since there was no news, I assumed he was adapting well to the hospital and working hard on his training.

But Hwang Sanghun suddenly dropped a bombshell.

[What? All of a sudden?]

[Haha, thanks to you I had the courage to quit.]

…He quit? Really?

I thought he was just talking and would definitely finish his residency at least.

Only then did I remember what I had confidently told Hwang Sanghun.

[So are you looking for an associate director position now?]

[Yeah haha, that’s right. That’s why I contacted you. Of course, if you’re not in a situation to hire an associate director right away, I could work somewhere else for a year or two and then come, but I wanted to check before job hunting.]

He’s coming? Really?

And he’d even wait 1-2 years if I’m not in a position to hire an associate director right now?

I thought Hwangseoyeong might really come. She’s close to me and has a somewhat rebellious streak.

And I had secretly made plans to get Jeong Inseong hired too and use him for automatic grinding.

But I never thought Hwang Sanghun would throw away the red carpet that his Old Man and Father had laid out for him to come here.

[I was just about to start recruiting. Will you come?]

[Yes.]

Hwang Sanghun gave a short answer.

I asked him for more specific details.

[When can you start working?]

[Um… tomorrow? I’m still in Seoul, so I need to come down.]

Tomorrow? Let’s say he already quit the hospital, but what about his home?

I couldn’t understand what he was thinking at all.

[Then come down first. Let’s meet once when it’s convenient, whether tomorrow or the day after.]

[I’ll take the earliest train.]

* * *

The next morning, Hwang Sanghun came down to Busan on the first train.

Since it was a weekend with no schedule, I went out to Busan Station to meet him.

Even though I called it an interview and wouldn’t reject him, shouldn’t I at least hear how he ended up quitting and whether he really intended to take the job?

“Hello.”

Hwang Sanghun’s hair was disheveled as he got off the train, and his white dress shirt and black slacks were wrinkled.

He waved his hand with what seemed like the happiest smile I’d ever seen from him.

“Hello. But… you came empty-handed?”

He said he could start working immediately, so wouldn’t common sense dictate bringing some luggage? Hwang Sanghun didn’t even have a carry-on or handbag, just holding his phone.

“Yeah. I was kicked out with nothing.”

“…What?”

Suddenly? Kicked out? From where?

“I was resting a bit after finishing my internship, but I guess he heard about it later through the Professor. He got furious and told me to return the house, car, clothes, everything and get out.”

“When you said you quit, you meant you left without saying anything?”

“There was no need to say anything. I had already decided to quit anyway, and Father would have opposed it.”

Well, that’s true, but.

That’s something a kid like me who lives as he pleases would do! It’s not behavior model student Hwang Sanghun would commit, right?

My prediction was that he’d drag it out for years, unable to leave the hospital or cut ties with his family, but Hwang Sanghun had resolved all of that in one stroke.

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday. I ignored the call to come to a family event and just stayed home, so Father came to find me.”

“So you contacted me right after that?!”

“That’s right.”

“Where did you sleep yesterday?”

“Seoul Station.”

I was dumbfounded.

He could have slept at Seoyoung’s house or another friend’s place for a night and come down slowly, right? Was there any need to show up with just his phone like this?

I could roughly picture the situation.

Hwang Sanghun’s parents must have been extremely angry when their well-behaved son suddenly went astray, and they probably thought he’d give in when told to leave the house they bought him… but he had something to rely on.

“When should I start working?”

The absurd thing was that it was me.

I had to hold my throbbing head and think calmly.

“We need to advertise the change in clinic hours and time to train other staff, so at the earliest, a week from now.”

“Okay, good.”

Hwang Sanghun said with an incredibly bright expression.

“Let’s at least have breakfast while we talk.”

Still, we couldn’t keep standing at the station. I pointed to a brunch cafe in sight.

His next words shocked me again.

“Oh, I don’t have any money at all.”

“…I’ll buy it for you.”

“Haha, thanks.”

Did he hand over all his saved money when told to pay back even tuition? If it were me, I would never have paid that back and would have played dumb.

Hwang Sanghun’s current bank balance was 0 won. He said he even bought the KTX ticket with a credit card.

Is it okay to be this unprepared?

‘Come to think of it, this is a very good situation for me.’

While Hwang Sanghun devoured his sandwich, I finished my calculations.

As I thought before, this guy was worthy of being called S-grade as an assistant director.

He’s handsome, so he makes a good first impression.

He’s tall with broad shoulders, which is advantageous for chuna therapy.

His social skills seem fine.

He studied well throughout his 6 years of university, so unlike Chu Miyoung, he probably didn’t forget all his knowledge, and having completed an internship at a university hospital we collaborate with, he likely knows more about Western medicine than I do.

But on top of that, he has no money and nowhere to go?

This is a perfect slave—oops, I mean employee, with extra benefits!

“I was actually working on a revised schedule, planning to implement evening and weekend clinic hours.”

I showed him the Excel sheet I had created for scheduling nursing assistants on my smartphone.

“Oh, you were really looking for someone? That’s a relief. I was worried you were forcing yourself to create a position because of me.”

“Of course not.”

“With this schedule… I’d only need to work from 7 to 8 on weekdays, and 9 to 3 on weekends?”

Those are the total operating hours, but now we’d need to divide the clinic hours between the two of us.

Monday is the busiest, so we definitely need both people there, and I hear Saturday clinics, though I haven’t tried them yet, apparently get quite a lot of patients.

‘Since Tuesday and Thursday have fewer patients, I’ll take Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and give him Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.’

In that brief moment, I hatched a devious scheme.

This was my chance to reduce my working days to 4 days a week and make Hwang Sanghun work 5 days instead.

“Yes. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday – I’d appreciate it if you could work those days. Would that be okay?”

“Ah… 5 days?”

Hwang Sanghun stared intently at the schedule and asked back.

Don’t tell me he’s complaining about working more days than me? If so, I’ll just have to gaslight him into thinking that’s how it normally is!

“You don’t need to be so considerate. I wouldn’t mind working 7 days either.”

“…?”

What’s with this guy? Seo Inae ver.2? Does he really want to work that much?

“Oh, but legally I have to give you one day off, right? 6 days would be fine too.”

“Then let’s make it 6 days. Just take Wednesdays off.”

I said with a bright smile.

A diligent employee who rolled right in… it’s only natural to make them work even harder to help them grow.

Before he could change his mind, I took him to the clinic as soon as we finished brunch to get the contract stamped.

* * *

About an hour later, we completed the employment contract.

Thud!

I stamped my seal, and Hwang Sanghun, who came empty-handed without one, signed instead.

“Please take care of me, Director.”

Perhaps because we now had an employment relationship, Hwang Sanghun suddenly started speaking formally to me.

Hmm, after hearing casual speech for 7 years, this feels too awkward?

“I should be the one asking you to take care of me. How about we only use formal speech during work hours and speak casually… no wait, would it be okay if I speak casually?”

“Oh, of course.”

Hwang Sanghun nodded readily.

Then he rolled his eyes around hesitantly for a moment before opening his mouth again.

“Um, and I have one favor to ask.”

Hm? A favor right after the contract is settled?

I frowned slightly.

“I don’t have a single penny, so could you advance me a week’s pay? I think I’ll need money to sleep at the jjimjilbang…”

Then I smiled brightly and pointed to the treatment room.

“Just sleep here. There are 10 beds.”

Wow, where else can you find a workplace that provides room and board like this?

“The clinic beds?”

I threw out the comment like a joke.

But Hwang Sanghun’s reaction was unexpected.

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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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