The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 91

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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 91

“What’s wrong with your face? Did you get bruised or something?”

“Say it again.”

“What?”

“Have you been waiting long! This!”

“Have you been waiting long?”

Chae Seongye didn’t understand and just repeated what his daughter said.

“The corner of your mouth just went up straight! Your cheek is moving?”

Then Chaerira got excited, saying there was a change when he pronounced the ‘i’ sound.

But Chae Seongye didn’t really feel it himself.

“Look at this.”

Frustrated, his daughter turned on the camera of the phone she had dropped and switched it to selfie mode for him.

“At least the phone is fine.”

“My phone isn’t the problem!”

But he still couldn’t tell the difference.

“Ah, this really changed though? I should have taken a photo earlier!”

“If it gets better in one session, well, how much better could it get.”

Even so, Chae Seongye tried pronouncing ‘ni’ a few more times.

Since his daughter kept saying it was moving, it did seem like the corner of his mouth was lifting a bit more.

“Haha, the thread will dissolve slowly and the effects will appear gradually~. Don’t be impatient and let’s continue treatment steadily.”

“Oh, sorry for being so loud!”

“It’s fine~. Take care on your way home!”

Chaerira had made such a fuss that the director in the treatment room even came out to the corridor for a moment.

Chae Seongye kept tilting his head in confusion, but Chaerira was certain of her father’s change.

To her, who was confident in her keen eye, his cheek had definitely changed.

* * *

“Dad, your eye seems to open a bit more today!”

“Does it.”

Chaerira had been observing Chae Seongye’s face every day since the day of treatment.

“The wrinkles seem to be similar on both sides now.”

“…Can’t they be completely eliminated.”

At first he thought his daughter was exaggerating, but after two weeks passed, he could feel the difference when opening his eyes wide or lifting the corners of his mouth.

“Even when you open your mouth wide, it doesn’t lean to one side, right?”

“Yes, yes! That’s what I’m saying!”

One month after starting treatment.

“Ah~.”

“Ee!”

“Oh~.”

During a busy morning, Chaerira flung open the restroom door to grab her forgotten phone and witnessed her father looking in the mirror practicing “a-e-i-o-u.”

“Whoa, sorry!”

Chaerira was startled and closed the restroom door.

“Ahem, no. Come in. I finished brushing my teeth earlier.”

Right after closing it, she remembered her phone again, and fortunately her father, though embarrassed, opened the door right away.

It seemed he had stopped brushing his teeth to check the changes in his face.

“Wow.”

But Chaerira forgot to take the phone her father was handing her and stared intently at his face.

“What, is there something on it?”

Chae Seongye checked the mirror again thinking toothpaste might have gotten on his face, but that wasn’t what Chaerira had seen.

“Wow, our dad looks so handsome when he smiles like this!”

“Hm?”

“Look here! Smile again!”

Usually, Chae Seongye never smiled in any situation.

Even when his daughter won the national championship and he was happy – stern expression.

Even when he was sad after accidentally scratching his beloved car – solemn expression.

Even when he was angry after a long-prepared project fell through – serious expression.

That same man had smiled simply because he was embarrassed about being caught looking in the mirror while brushing his teeth.

“Like this?”

Moreover, when he smiled, the facial asymmetry had been considerably resolved.

“Can’t you tell?”

This time, even Chae Seongye couldn’t bring himself to say he didn’t know.

“Haha.”

Even to herself, when she smiled brightly, the left and right sides of her face were more than 80% similar.

“Perfect! Smile like this from now on, even when you go to the company!”

* * *

‘Hahaha.’

‘Heh’

‘Hehe.’

‘Mmm~!’

Throughout his commute on the subway, Chae Seongye grinned while looking at his phone in selfie mode.

“…What’s with that guy?”

“Don’t stare at him for no reason.”

He was so focused on his face that he only realized he was overdoing it after receiving strange looks from strangers.

Scratching his head as he entered the company, Chae Seongye said.

“Hello everyone~ Good morning!”

He tried greeting them brightly, unlike usual.

Smiling brightly as his daughter had told him to.

“Oh, hello, Department Head?”

“Good morning…”

The office team members seemed very awkward.

Hmm, maybe I did something too out of character.

Let’s just work. I should work at the company.

“…Deputy Manager, why is Department Head Chae in such a good mood today? I took Friday off so…”

“Nothing happened. This is the first time I’ve seen him smile like that since I joined the company.”

“When he smiles, he has such a gentle impression.”

“Right, I thought he was some cold-blooded northern archduke.”

“Instead of just talking, we should quickly finish our work and submit reports while he’s in a good mood.”

Yes, you guys should work too.

He unintentionally overheard the conversation about himself in front of the break room, but he didn’t feel too bad about it.

No, not just today – Chae Seongye had rarely ever been angry at his subordinates to begin with. Executives would be a different story though!

It was a bit unfair, but it was fine anyway.

‘There’s not a single comment about my smiling face being strange.’

They only chattered about why he was smiling, but no one said anything about how he smiled.

Actually, thinking back to when he first joined the company made his heart ache.

Every time he smiled, his mentor would flinch, which became a wound he’d remember for decades.

From one particularly unpleasant superior who often made nasty comments, he’d even heard the joke that the company should receive subsidies for employing disabled people.

“Department Head, did something good happen today~? You said your daughter plays basketball, right? Did she get selected as a starter?!”

“My daughter has always been a starter. She played as captain for the school that won the national championship last year and came in second this year, and she’ll be graduating soon.”

“Oh, ah. I see!”

So this kind of question wasn’t unpleasant at all.

But speaking stiffly out of habit seemed to have scared them unnecessarily.

“That daughter introduced me to a good traditional Korean medicine clinic this time. While receiving thread lifting treatment there, my facial asymmetry improved a lot.”

“Oh? Really? That was the aftereffects of facial paralysis, right?”

Chae Seongye found the questioning employee’s gaze a bit burdensome, but instead of covering his mouth with his hand, he smiled gently.

Just as he had practiced throughout the subway ride.

“Please don’t stare so intently. I’m practicing because they said my smiling expression improved with treatment, but is it that bad?”

At those words, the employees who had been listening opened their mouths one by one.

“Not at all. It’s wonderful!”

“Department Head, when you smile, the office becomes so bright!”

…Tone down the exaggeration a bit.

“Well, even knowing it’s flattery, it’s not too bad.”

Chae Seongye smiled wryly, bewildered by his employees’ reactions.

* * *

“I heard you treated Lira’s father well? Thank you so much.”

Kim Ijin bowed politely.

How did this kid become so dignified in the few months I haven’t seen her?

“I should be thanking you for the introduction. Father is still undergoing treatment. It’s not a condition that can be finished simply.”

Is the professional team’s training very tough?

After graduating high school with a national championship victory, she joined a professional basketball team.

I thought she’d go to college, but apparently going straight to a pro team is better?

Anyway, it was something to celebrate that she was on an elite track.

“How have you been, Lee Jin?”

“I’m always about the same.”

I would always say “it’s been a while” whenever Kim Ijin came by.

Even though it was a team in Busan, it was harder to see her as often as when she attended the school right in front.

“You brought your friend today too. You were Player 5 from Hwayeong High School, right?”

“You remember me?”

While Kim Ijin and I exchanged greetings, Myeong Seonju, who had been standing there stoically, looked surprised.

“Of course. You’re Player Myeong Seonju.”

Is that surprising?

After all, you don’t really see women over 180cm tall anywhere except basketball courts, right?

Cheonma was also tall, but she wasn’t 180cm.

“Oh~. As expected of the clinic director, you have a good memory!”

“Don’t be so cheeky.”

I only gave compliments, so why is Lee Jin acting like that? There’s no need to shoot killing intent at your friend.

“What brings you here today, Ms. Myeong Seonju?”

I got to the point and asked Myeong Seonju.

Usually the front desk does preliminary examinations, but either she didn’t answer properly or the chart only said ‘consultation.’

“Chaeri told me to come check it out.”

“If you came all the way here from Ulsan, you must be quite uncomfortable.”

“I’m in Busan now. I’m on the same team as her~.”

“…They only picked two people, and I had to become teammates with her.”

Ah, so that’s why they came together.

They don’t seem to get along well, so I finally understood why they came together.

Rivals becoming teammates – it’s like something out of a sports manga, isn’t it?

Chaerira’s father came on Kim Ijin’s recommendation.

It was also somehow strange that Kim Ijin’s teammate came on Chaerira’s recommendation.

“I see. Where are you uncomfortable? Did you get injured while exercising?”

That aside, where does it hurt?

Let me ask in more direct terms.

“Hmm, there’s nowhere that particularly hurts. No injuries either.”

An even more bizarre answer came out.

“Excuse me?”

Kim Ijin glared at Myeong Seonju once, then started explaining herself.

“She was really nervous last summer.”

“What happened in the summer?”

“National team tryouts. Well, she didn’t have the skills to make it anyway.”

“Ah… that’s definitely something to be nervous about.”

So she was very nervous and wants to resolve that?

“What were the specific symptoms? Just a little heart palpitation? Did you break out in cold sweats or feel like your mind went blank?”

I’ve had quite a few patients with those kinds of needs.

Patients who want to buy Cheongshim pills before the college entrance exam or other important events.

“My heart suddenly started pounding and beating fast, then everything in front of me started shaking like this. I lost my balance and collapsed for a moment. I sat for about 5 minutes and felt better, but… tsk, they wouldn’t let me enter the game.”

But Myeong Seonju’s symptoms were more complex.

“Fainting? You lost consciousness?”

“Everything went white for a moment, but my memory didn’t cut out.”

“Oh my, you must have been really frightened. You didn’t hit your head when you collapsed, did you?”

And this wasn’t a situation where she could insist there was nothing wrong.

I could understand why Chaerira made a fuss about going to the Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic, and why Kim Ijin, who didn’t seem very close to her, bothered to bring Myeong Seonju.

“She caught me, so I was fine.”

Myeong Seonju grimaced and pointed at Kim Ijin.

“I couldn’t just let her fall.”

Kim Ijin chuckled.

I left them alone and continued with the medical interview.

“Did you experience difficulty breathing, fear, paralysis, or anxiety at the time or after the episode?”

Since she said her heart was racing and she fainted, I need to rule out panic disorder first.

“Nothing like that. The symptoms I mentioned earlier were everything.”

“It was an indoor gym, right? Not a very hot environment?”

“Yes. The game hadn’t even started yet, so it probably wasn’t heat stroke.”

“No dizziness either.”

“Right.”

Panic disorder ruled out. Heat stroke ruled out. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo ruled out.

The diagnosis was narrowing down.

“You haven’t had symptoms since that summer tryout?”

“I did have it one more time. Recently.”

“Is there some important competition in winter too?”

“Not at all. It wasn’t a particularly nerve-wracking situation either. I was just hanging out with Lira when I suddenly felt dizzy.”

…But I think I need to hear more of the story.

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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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