The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 80

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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 80

– Hehe, I knew Director Han would say that. Ever since the day you caught that stalker for me, I decided to live boldly and refreshingly like you!

Of course you should. Be confident wherever you go, do whatever you want to do.

As long as it’s not dangerous behavior.

If she had made a bet with Lee Hansol in martial arts, even I wouldn’t have been able to help, but a sales competition was something I could easily handle for her.

– But will it be okay? They have three directors over there. That means they’re making enough sales to pay two Korean medicine doctors’ salaries and still have profit left. If it were net profit after expenses, you’d have an advantage, but sales will really be difficult.

– That’s right. At that level, their monthly sales must be at least 60-70 million won, right? If they sell a lot of herbal medicine, it could exceed 100 million. Is there a way for a single-doctor clinic to suddenly pump up sales like that?

Kim Chunsik and Hwang Sanghun offered pessimistic opinions, but.

– R-really…? Still, they don’t have any way to boost their sales further, but since I haven’t been doing much, I can try various things, right? I could create packages and pull in three months’ worth of sales!

While flustered by the weight of 100 million won, Chu Miyoung revealed what she had been thinking about. It seemed she had come up with her own strategy.

“That’s right. We’ll definitely create packages for both medicine and pharmacopuncture. Sanghun oppa, should we introduce them too?”

– We can take our time creating them… Director Chu, are you really okay with working seven days a week? Even working six days is harder than I thought.

When I told him to reduce to five days, he insisted he was fine, but now Hwang Sanghun was deeply concerned about Chu Miyoung’s stamina.

That part is definitely a problem.

– It’s only for one month, so I’ll have to endure it with mental strength while taking tonics!

Chu Miyoung advocated willpower, but.

Even by my judgment, having the most expertise in this field, it was physically impossible for Chu Miyoung to work seven days a week while maintaining top quality.

“I have an even better idea.”

Then what?

“I’ll go.”

Someone who wouldn’t strain their stamina at all even working like that should do it!

– …What?

“Director Chu, you rest on Thursdays and Sundays, right? Those are my days off too. If I go and substitute, it would work perfectly, right?”

– You’re coming all the way from Busan here?

“It’s only two hours by car.”

I don’t have a car yet, but I was planning to buy one soon anyway.

I should go to a used car lot tomorrow.

Once the bet has started, we absolutely have to win.

A sales competition, even? We need to invest all our guild resources.

I boldly declared my substitution.

It might be difficult with Chu Miyoung’s stamina, but even if I drive, one session of energy circulation breathing would make me perfectly fine.

This is why I reduced my working days to four per week early on!

* * *

Buying a car itself was something I had been planning for a while.

Ever since I rented a car to meet Yun Hanbyeol last time, I kept thinking I should buy one, but forgot about it due to busy work.

I don’t need a car for commuting, but sometimes I need to go far like this, right?

Now the problem is what kind of car to buy.

“Can’t I just buy something cheap?”

At my words, everyone I knew added their opinion.

“If you’re driving on highways, you can’t get a compact car! It’s too dangerous in accidents. You should at least get an Avante!”

“If you’re buying one anyway, go with an SUV.”

“For your first car, get a new one fully loaded. If you’re considering cost-effectiveness… hmm, go with Seltos.”

Those were Chu Miyoung, Hwang Sanghun, and Kim Chunsik’s opinions.

“Wouldn’t Tucson be better if you add just a little more?”

“I think Sorento looks prettier!”

The staff also chimed in.

“You have plenty of money, just go big with a Benz!”

“Nah, Benz is too common. If you want to feel luxury these days, you need at least a Cayenne!”

Senior Student and Hwangseoyeong… let’s just ignore them.

Talking about luxury feel. If I had that kind of money, I should invest in the clinic and buy a house.

I just went to a used car lot and bought an Avante that was a little over 10 years old.

It’s cheaper than I thought. It’s much cheaper than an ultrasound machine? I could have bought it earlier.

I immediately completed the title transfer and drove to Daegu.

Although there were still two weeks left until next month when the bet was scheduled, I wanted to start operating seven days a week early to build up patients who could only come on Sundays.

* * *

They wouldn’t know my face, so I went to scout them out dressed inconspicuously.

As expected, the interior was ultra-luxurious, and the number of patients was somewhat low for having three doctors. Of course, it wasn’t completely empty like when Chu Miyoung was running the Busan branch.

Maybe because they’ve lost a lot of patients?

Perhaps they have many patients getting diet medicine, so fewer acupuncture patients.

“I’ve posted ads everywhere saying we’re treating patients daily starting this week!”

Chu Miyoung created advertisements on her managed Instagram and blog announcing that she would now treat patients on Sundays too.

Ah, for Instagram, there are two accounts – the personal account I originally operated and the Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic account I created when I caught the stalker and opened the Daegu branch. I utilized both the latter and the former account with many followers.

I considered offline flyers a bit, but for now I just settled on making banners and standing signs.

“But if you go this far, what about Sunday treatments after I leave?”

“Ah~ While setting up staff, I’m planning to use another friend as a substitute director. There’s a junior who lives nearby who’s raising children and looking for a substitute position working only 2 days a week, right? When she comes later, please let her observe Director Han’s clinic too!”

That wouldn’t be difficult.

Scale expansion would be a great help to my income too, so it was more than welcome.

Besides increasing business days and advertising, Chu Miyoung had enthusiastically planned various other strategies.

“Wow, that Mom Cafe post is finally down.”

After reporting it for business interference and sending a certified letter, all the comments disappeared at once. At this point, it was more beneficial to prevent those things from being exposed rather than making them pay tens of thousands of won in fines.

And we also created non-covered package programs.

While there was already a basic system of giving slight discounts for paying for 3 months of medicine in advance, herbal injections had been paid for per session until now.

We created a system where patients who needed long-term treatment anyway could pay for 10 or 20 sessions and receive discounts, with the purpose of pulling next month’s sales forward.

During those 2 weeks of preparation, we established the system.

And I also made my mark with the patients in Daegu.

Finally, the month of our bet had arrived.

“I heard this place is really good at Chuna therapy. Could my disc be cured too?”

“Of course. But for your condition, combining herbal injections would be much better for pain management.”

“Ah, I came after seeing the herbal injections on Instagram too. I heard there’s a discount if you do packages… My condition would need about 20 sessions to get better, right?”

“We don’t approach disc problems with a complete cure concept. Expressions like ‘you’ll be cured after 10 or 20 sessions’ are nonsensical. While treating, sometimes the disc goes back in on imaging tests, but often there’s no visible change. However, if you proceed with 20 sessions of Chuna therapy and herbal injections, your pain will definitely improve.”

Chuna therapy is covered by health insurance so treatment fee discounts aren’t possible, but advance payment is possible. So if you bundle Chuna therapy and herbal injections and pay for 20 sessions in advance, you get a discount on the herbal injections which are non-covered items.

Patients’ reactions were much better than expected.

Some came after seeing Instagram or blogs, and existing patients receiving Chuna treatment from Chu Miyoung also requested retroactive application.

After one week like that.

Sales doubled compared to when Chu Miyoung was working alone.

Considering increased labor costs, the net profit increase wouldn’t match that, but sales, which was the bet item, had inflated tremendously.

There were patients who came to see me, but Chu Miyoung also did very well, and it was thanks to the prepared strategies working effectively.

“Hehe, at this rate we should win easily, right?”

Chu Miyoung laughed triumphantly while looking at the sharply rising graph on the chart.

It was a very good start.

“That’s right. It seems like they actually lost patients instead. Are they not doing anything?”

It was strangely quiet considering they had even posted manipulated malicious comments.

I expected them to at least distribute flyers in front of the clinic or put ads in nearby apartments.

There was nothing special on their blog either, and on the Mom Cafe where they used to post ads… huh?

“What’s this?”

An event had been posted.

Worried they might plot something again, I had joined all local cafes including the previous Mom Cafe, and identical posts had appeared in three of them.

In addition to the coffee gift certificates they usually gave, first-time patients would receive a frying pan just for consultation.

“It’s like a real estate sales office, what is this? Even restaurants wouldn’t do this!”

“…They’re taking such losses?”

Certainly, I never said not to do it. The only restriction was prohibiting defamation.

Unlike last time which was blatantly illegal, it was ambiguous whether this would be punished as patient solicitation. They just gave gifts, they didn’t discount the patient’s copayment.

“Since they’ll have no tomorrow if they lose anyway, they’re probably going hard. Sigh, what should we do? Should we do something like that too?”

Chu Miyoung looked ready to bulk order tableware right away.

But looking long-term, it’s ultimately cutting into your own flesh. Wouldn’t it just ruin the hospital’s image for nothing?

“It’s too much of a chicken game. Let’s just watch for now.”

Anyway, patients drawn in that way come once and don’t return.

Even if you give coins and ask people to read novels or comics, they only keep paying if it’s interesting, so how much more so for getting poked with needles.

In the end, you need skill and the treatment has to work.

After a few days like that.

Fortunately, Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic’s patients didn’t decrease.

“Doctor, do you know? That clinic next door is doing something weird.”

“If you mean the frying pan, I heard about it.”

“That’s only for first-time visitors. There’s something else too. Receipt reviews? If you do that or tag them on Instagram, they let you spin a roulette wheel.”

“…What comes out of the roulette?”

“I didn’t go, but they say there’s various things. Pain patches win most often, but there’s also Gyeongokgo.”

“They give out Gyeongokgo like that?”

“Yes! I told them it was weird and not to go, but they went anyway saying they wanted to try winning Gyeongokgo!”

Isn’t this really crazy? What do they think Gyeongokgo is?

Many people do think of the most famous herbal medicines Gongjindan and Gyeongokgo like health functional foods.

It’s because they’re versatile medicines that are fine to take long-term and most people with deficiency can see effects, plus they’ve had a lot of media exposure.

Products with slightly changed names are actually being sold everywhere too.

But what if an oriental medicine doctor puts that in gacha prizes?!

It’s common sense to consult and prescribe according to need. When even selling them as holiday gifts is outrageous, roulette? Roulette?

If oriental medicine doctors step forward and do such things, how will people perceive Gyeongokgo as medicine?

“This can’t continue.”

“Right? They seem prepared for losses, so we should also do some kind of event…”

Chu Miyoung fidgeted and was about to grit her teeth, then suddenly came to her senses and shook her head.

Trouble is trouble, but she shouldn’t damage her jaw joint that was finally fixed.

And I had absolutely no intention of dealing with Haneul Clinic using the same method.

Setting aside not wanting to deal with people whose purpose wasn’t treatment, using the same method wouldn’t produce an overwhelming effect.

“Sigh… I didn’t want to go this far.”

I pulled out my secret weapon.

“Ms. Jumi, would it be alright to give you a call for a moment?”

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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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