The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 6

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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 6

Murim . The society of those who have learned martial arts.

There were many who had staked everything on martial arts and transcended humanity.

And the common people who dreamed of the path of martial artists were countless.

‘People who would stupidly lift rocks even when more than half of their supraspinatus was torn.’

The supraspinatus is located above the scapular spine and is the most easily torn part of the four rotator cuff muscles that firmly hold the shoulder blade and humerus together. When it’s completely torn, the arm becomes limp, and even partial tears make it difficult to lift or support the arm.

If they were martial artists who had built internal energy through proper qigong training, they could handle some strain. Those who had reached a certain level had learned to control their own energy and use their recovery power efficiently, so they would quickly heal even minor injuries.

However, the bodies of those who hadn’t reached that level were no different from people here.

People are the same.

That’s why I, who was born there, could also learn martial arts and treat people with the medicine of that place.

There were physicians in the martial arts world too.

In any world, someone with exceptional curiosity wanted to dissect the human body and recorded it.

Intellectuals knew that the human body had bones, muscles, organs, ligaments and tendons, and blood vessels. Without microscopes, they couldn’t know down to the tissue and cellular level though.

Even very young children from prestigious martial sects knew this.

Even if they couldn’t distinguish between ligaments and tendons, it was common knowledge that using your body too much would damage it, and continuing to strain it when injured would tear it completely and make it unusable.

The problem was that there was no mandatory education over there.

Those who would pick up martial arts manuals circulating in the marketplace as if they were secret techniques and repeatedly practice them.

– You need to rest now! I’m saying I’ll treat you! Is it such a difficult request to rest for just one month?

Those insanely diligent bastards would swing their swords ten thousand times every day, whether their arms fell off or not.

They wouldn’t listen to the physician right in front of them, yet they trusted martial arts manuals written by who knows whom.

– Extend both arms. Make fists and point your thumbs downward. I’ll press on your arms, so try to resist.

– Ahhh!

– You can’t even resist my strength right now! Don’t you realize how serious this is?

I would demonstrate the severity through the empty can test, which easily confirms supraspinatus inflammation or tears, and explain by drawing the human body structure on paper.

– This bone shaped like this is the scapula, and what you can feel now is the scapular spine. The muscle connects from here to the humerus, the upper arm bone, okay? Now try lifting your arm.

– Ugh, ahhh…

– It doesn’t go up well unless you support it with your left arm, right? That’s because the supporting muscle is torn.

Did they understand when I explained it like that?

– But he said to swing it ten thousand times every day without missing a single day. Master Flying Dragon wouldn’t give me an impossible task!

As if that could be true.

– Just tie him up.

When I was wandering around acting as a physician, I had to earnestly persuade patients.

But after gaining something like authority at the Tang Family’s Medical Clinic and learning martial arts, I solved things simply.

Communicating with patients as equals and explaining treatment plans? That kind of thing only exists in textbook theory.

Tap tap tap. Tap-a-tap-.

I completed the assignment while recalling my experience treating countless shoulder patients. I didn’t forget to write in detail about the textbook-like theoretical diagnosis, treatment, and management methods that I had initially tried and failed with.

“Okay~ Done!”

Once I organized the content in my head, it didn’t take long to complete it in writing.

I proudly pressed the save button and immediately submitted it. Whether they graded it or made me present it, there would be no problem.

‘Should I go to the library now?’

I had stayed in the classroom briefly after class to finish the assignment. Since most of my classmates had gone straight home, the classroom was quiet.

“You finished already? That’s impressive.”

Hwang Sanghun, the only other person remaining in the classroom besides me, spoke to me.

“Yes. Are you working on the assignment too, oppa?”

Cho Haneul’s close friend and last semester’s runner-up.

“Yeah.”

“Seoyeong left early saying it was her grandfather’s birthday, but why are you still here, oppa?”

He was the grandson of the director of Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital, which has the most famous Korean medicine hospital network in our country, and also the cousin of Hwangseoyeong, who had left early today saying there was something at home.

Since he got in after taking the exam three times, he was two years older.

This guy didn’t pick fights first like Cho Haneul, but… anyway, we weren’t particularly close.

“It’s burdensome.”

“I see.”

Since he unusually started a conversation, I attempted small talk, but we didn’t even exchange three rounds of dialogue.

“There’s quite a lot to organize.”

Hwang Sanghun looked down and scratched his head.

Unlike me, who had poured out the contents of my mind, he was working on the assignment with textbooks and printouts spread out everywhere.

‘He’s probably not asking for help.’

Hmm, that probably wasn’t it. What kind of relationship did we have anyway?

“Well then, good luck…”

“That was cool.”

I was about to leave the classroom since there wasn’t much to talk about, when Hwang Sanghun suddenly said something strange.

“What? What is it?”

Could he be abandoning his taciturn concept to pick a fight like Cho Haneul?

“What you presented. …The airplane, it would have been nice if we went together.”

“Ah…?”

The words that followed were even stranger.

What nonsense is this? Why would Hwang Sanghun go to China together?

I was the one who sent a cold email directly to the Traditional Chinese Medicine University and got permission from the professor for the internship, and when they said they’d accept up to two people, I took Hwangseoyeong with me.

I even refused when the Senior Student asked to go together later, so what’s this all about.

“Wait a minute.”

My face contorted quite grotesquely, but Hwang Sanghun, who had already bowed his head deeply, didn’t see it.

He took out an L-shaped file from his bag and handed it to me.

“What is this?”

Inside the file were several printed pages.

“Since the professor changed, it might not be necessary, but the exam questions might come out similarly.”

He left out the main point and said something irrelevant, but after skimming through it, I could quickly identify what it was.

Surprisingly, it was the test bank that had been passed down through generations in the Orchestra Club.

‘Hmm.’

Occasionally, there are lazy professors who find it bothersome to create exam questions and repeat problems from previous years. New professors sometimes refer to their predecessors’ questions too.

But Professor Lee Minseok, who had completely changed the teaching method and created all new materials, didn’t seem like he would do that.

“You came here to give this to me?”

From the circumstances, it seemed he had deliberately stayed in the classroom, going home late just to give this to me.

He apparently waited until I finished my assignment before approaching me.

“Why?”

I asked directly.

“Because I want to intern with you. …It’s a secret from Haneul hyung.”

Ah….

‘They weren’t as close as they appeared?’

Come to think of it, just because people hang out together doesn’t necessarily mean they truly consider each other friends. Unlike Hwang Sanghun, who at least listened attentively in class, Cho Haneul was frequently absent even during class time… Perhaps resentment had built up from constantly having to provide club materials and class notes.

He might be fine as a drinking buddy to hang out with occasionally, but dislike him as a work colleague.

That was probably exactly the kind of feeling it was.

But the fact that he went out of his way to give me this.

‘Why do I feel a sense of déjà vu?’

A chill suddenly washed over me.

– Divine Physician, couldn’t I also study the Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion with you?

I remembered immediately.

The thirteenth young master of the Tang Family!

He was a kid who practiced ignorantly, unbecoming of a noble family’s child.

In fact, ignorant training methods were the exclusive domain of street martial artist wannabes.

Orthodox prestigious families had considerable systems in place, and unorthodox martial artists got their hands bloody before going through such diligent training.

That child, perhaps because he was an illegitimate son, couldn’t properly serve a master and was ostracized within the family.

After I treated him, he admired me and wanted to study medicine, saying he wouldn’t become the young family head anyway.

– That is not permitted.

My master didn’t allow it though. He said the boy had talent in martial arts and found him a secret master, so it worked out well.

The fact that I momentarily glimpsed the same kind of admiring gaze from Hwang Sanghun that I felt from that child….

No, it must be my imagination.

‘Why is he acting like this when they’ve been sharing it among themselves for years?’

The exam format and questions would definitely change.

Even if they remained the same, it would be completely meaningless since I had already memorized all the standard acupoints anyway.

It might even be Cho Haneul’s scheme to put a useless test bank in my hands for no reason.

“I’ll just accept the thought. I don’t want to get in trouble for nothing.”

I politely declined and returned the L-shaped file to Hwang Sanghun.

* * *

The next day.

“I have read all of your assignments. Every single person submitted theirs without exception.”

Despite it being a first-period class, Professor Lee Minseok said he had checked the assignments of over a hundred students.

Indeed, such a remarkable person would have more than enough capacity to create entirely new exam questions.

“Student Hwang Sanghun, Student Seong Jieun. Please come forward.”

As soon as class began, he called out two students.

Hwang Sanghun went up to the platform calmly, while the Senior Student went up clutching her head.

“I called you here specifically because you did the assignment the best, excluding the two people who presented yesterday.”

At those words, the Senior Student’s face brightened, then.

“Give it a try.”

Immediately hardened.

“You’re making us do practicum so suddenly? It’s not even practicum time?”

“So what?”

“Ugh, Yeowon, you’ll be fine though.”

Hwangseoyeong grumbled while hurriedly searching for the assignment she had submitted.

Practicum had always been done in the acupuncture practice room, but there was no particular reason it couldn’t be done in the classroom. The Professor was watching, and there were needles and alcohol available, so what was the problem?

“Student Seong Jieun, you go first.”

“Yes.”

It meant to place acupuncture needles on each other’s shoulders.

Hwang Sanghun unbuttoned a few buttons and exposed his left shoulder.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The Senior Student tore open the needle package and placed the needles as instructed.

Fengchi (Wind Pool), Jianjing (Shoulder Well), Quyuan (Crooked Wall), Jianyu (Shoulder Bone), Naoshu (Upper Arm Shu)…

“Well done. Just place Jianyu a bit lower. Check the acromion (the bony prominence at the outer edge of the shoulder blade) precisely.”

“Yes.”

The Professor checked the ten needles placed on the shoulder and rotator cuff. She had placed the needles at the correct acupoints and received praise.

But the Senior Student’s expression was quite anxious.

“And? Aren’t you doing distal point selection?”

“…Um, may I check my assignment for a moment?”

Selecting which acupoints to choose according to the condition is called point selection. Point selection is broadly divided into distal point selection and proximal point selection around the painful area.

Proximal point selection usually chooses acupoints on the problematic muscle or its surroundings.

Distal point selection is… a concept of helping recovery by stimulating acupoints on the hands and feet even when the shoulder hurts, and there are various theories.

“Don’t you remember what you wrote yourself?”

Seeing that she couldn’t answer, it didn’t seem like she had written the answer based on theory. She probably referenced books or asked seniors.

“I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t an assignment you submit once and put away. If you were only going to do proximal point selection, you should have written it that way. You should be able to actually perform treatment, shouldn’t you.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I expected most would be like this. Everyone’s checking their assignments only now, right?”

Hwangseoyeong, who had opened her file earlier and was muttering while memorizing, flinched.

“Review now, and do the practicum right away. Student Seong Jieun won’t forget since she’s been pointed out like this once.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Whew. It’s Spartan-style.

The classmates each paired up with students sitting next to them and began the practicum.

“Some students copied the textbook directly, and some scraped from blogs. It doesn’t matter. There’s no correct answer in acupuncture prescriptions. You can treat based on muscle studies, use Saam acupuncture method or Dong’s acupuncture method freely. Still, you should compose your own prescriptions for major diseases.”

The Professor walked around the classroom while lecturing.

Since he was a young professor, they expected friendly and comfortable classes, but with his harshly hardened face and nagging no less than any old-fashioned teacher, the students were thoroughly intimidated.

“Are you placing this on the teres minor now?”

“Yes… uh, is it the supraspinatus?”

“Are you going to ask patients like that 6 months from now? Get your head straight!”

He would point out and lecture the students.

“Haneul, I got a call from Professor Jo. A personal greeting would be sufficient.”

He also made some small talk.

Since I had memorized everything I wrote in my assignment, I placed needles on Hwangseoyeong without difficulty.

“Hmm.”

The person who had been harshly grilling the students stood next to me and quietly crossed his arms.

‘What, why isn’t he saying anything?’

I wasn’t someone who would make mistakes just because I was a little nervous, but I couldn’t help being concerned.

Professor Lee Minseok watched what I was doing very intently, then spoke.

“What are you, student?”

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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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