The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 92

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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 92

The rookie selection for Korean professional basketball is conducted through a draft system.

First, the 6 women’s professional basketball teams nationwide receive balls according to their previous regular league standings. The 1st place team gets 6 balls, the 2nd place team gets 5… and the 6th place team gets 1.

Then all those balls are put into a machine and spun.

The team written on the first ball that comes out receives the 1st overall pick.

The team that acquired the 1st overall pick this year was Busan BUK, who finished 3rd in last year’s league.

“Player Kim Ijin, welcome!”

They selected Kim Ijin, who was evaluated as the biggest prospect in high school basketball.

Incheon IKB, who acquired the 2nd overall pick, selected a player from a high school in Suwon, and the 3rd pick selected a player who had entered university without registering for last year’s draft.

After one round like that, picks 7 through 12 overall are selected in reverse order. The team that made the 6th pick selects the 7th pick player.

Going backwards like that for one round.

“We select player Myeong Seonju.”

Myeong Seonju joined the professional basketball team as the 12th overall pick, Busan BUK’s 2nd pick.

“The 13th pick also belongs to Busan BUK.”

“We will pass on the next pick.”

From the third round onward, while some teams made selections, more teams passed, and not a single team took more than 4 players this year.

Only 15 players were selected in this rookie draft. Just being included in that was an incredible achievement.

Myeong Seonju was happy, of course. Extremely happy.

“Haha, we’re really fortunate that player Myeong Seonju was still available. Both players were very impressive during the national sports festival.”

“Thank you! Lee Jin, please take care of me from now on.”

“Sure.”

But she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.

Not only was she joining as teammates with Kim Ijin of all people.

But unlike Kim Ijin, who was the player BUK desperately wanted with their top pick, she couldn’t shake the impression that she was chosen from whoever was left.

Anyway, regardless of their own intentions, they became teammates.

* * *

The national team selection.

People around her made a big fuss, but Myeong Seonju thought what happened that day was just a coincidence.

It wasn’t particularly hot, and she wasn’t particularly nervous.

She hadn’t run hard, nor had she been standing for a long time.

It wasn’t even during a game.

It was just while standing briefly for a strategy meeting.

‘Hmm, somehow my stomach feels a bit…’

Stuffy. Her heart seemed to be beating a little faster too.

Just as her chest and stomach began to tighten.

Sway.

Her vision shook.

Her legs gave out.

‘…?’

By the time she realized what had happened, her upper body was already supported by Kim Ijin’s arms.

“Myeong Seonju, are you okay?!”

“I’m perfectly fine!”

She immediately jumped up, but her vision was still shaking.

She was forced to sit in a chair and agonized over why this had to happen today of all days.

The symptoms got better in less than 5 minutes.

Blood pressure normal. EKG normal. Slightly fast. Blood test normal. Cerebral blood flow test normal.

“There’s no need to do an echocardiogram or brain MRI.”

The doctor also said she was fine, and Myeong Seonju really! wasn’t bothered in the slightest.

Fortunately, the same symptoms didn’t appear after the selection.

And she was able to finish the season safely.

…So when did it recur, you ask?

“Going to the Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic again this weekend?”

“No, to my old school. A junior asked me to visit.”

It was the day when Kim Ijin, who would go to the clinic whenever she had time even during training camp, unusually gave a different reason for going out.

“Then is Lira coming too?”

“Should I say she’s coming? Since she’s the one who called, she’ll obviously be there. She’s the captain too.”

Chaerira! She was happy to hear that girl’s name.

So she became the captain of Jungwun High School after all.

The player who had taken on the substantial captain role for Jungwun High School since last year, replacing Kim Ijin who focused on individual skills. A junior she had encountered frequently since middle school, and her unusual name made her memorable. She always caught attention for being at the center of the team.

And suddenly she felt sorry again.

Hadn’t her arm gotten injured because of her during last year’s national sports festival?

“Is her arm okay now? Ask about it and give her my regards too.”

“…? If I give her your regards, even a healthy arm would get worse.”

“Get lost!”

“Just kidding.”

I was just planning to exchange greetings through Kim Ijin and leave it at that.

“What should we do?”

“Hmm… Should I buy you basketball shoes?”

Somehow, the two ended up meeting in Nampo-dong.

As they exchanged messages with Chaerira telling her not to worry about her arm at all, they learned that Chaerira was planning to go to college without participating in the draft.

And so the suggestion came up to meet once while she was in Busan.

“Should we do that?”

But when they actually met, it was extremely awkward.

What were they supposed to do with a junior from a rival school who used to pick fights whenever they ran into each other?

After the two awkwardly went shopping on the street.

“I’ve never been to Yongdusan Park~.”

They took the endless escalator up to Yongdusan Park.

“I’ve never been to the tower either?”

What was this, like a couple of lifelong singles on their first date?

Fine! Honestly, I was a bit nervous!

I regretted suggesting we meet!

But even so.

“Kyaaaah! What do I do, hey! Myeong Seonju! You’re just joking, right?”

What was with suddenly collapsing there?

“Ah, I’m fine~. This happened once before and I was okay within 5 minutes!”

“Shouldn’t we call 119? I forgot how to do CPR. I should have learned it properly!”

“I’m telling you I’m fine?”

Chaerira made a huge fuss about everything.

She regained her balance even faster than the 5 minutes it took to recover during the national team selection.

“Don’t move and stay right there. What if you fall while going down the park stairs?”

The escalator at Yongdusan Park only goes one way. When going down, you have no choice but to use the stairs.

Of course, it wasn’t difficult at all for the healthy Myeong Seonju, but Chaerira made a fuss about whether they should call a helicopter or find someone to carry her down.

“You collapsed again, didn’t you?”

After all the commotion, when she returned to the dormitory, that’s what Kim Ijin said.

“Collapsed, my foot. I just sat down and rested for a moment.”

“Same difference. Lira said you should definitely go see a Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic.”

“I’m perfectly fine, what’s the…”

“Should I tell the director then?”

“…”

And so, Myeong Seonju had no choice but to come to Kim Ijin’s regular Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic.

* * *

So she went out with a slightly awkward friend and the symptoms recurred again.

Certainly, it’s hard to consider this level of trigger a serious psychological shock.

“You don’t have acrophobia originally, right?”

“Not at all~. My house is on the 40th floor!”

“So there were absolutely no triggering factors except for the situation being slightly more tense than usual.”

After hearing Myeong Seonju’s story, I became even more confident in my diagnosis.

“It’s Vasovagal Syncope.”

“Vaso… what?”

At the unfamiliar diagnosis name, Myeong Seonju asked back with a bewildered expression.

“It must be some kind of nerve.”

“Well, of course! Um, Clinic Director. I don’t really know about that stuff because I don’t study much since I do sports. I’ve heard of cranial nerves, sympathetic nerves, parasympathetic nerves and such.”

But when Kim Ijin acted like she knew, Myeong Seonju also showed off her abundant scientific knowledge by mentioning the nerves she knew.

“It’s a type of parasympathetic nerve. Have you heard that sympathetic nerves get excited during urgent and tense situations, while parasympathetic nerves work in stable states?”

“Yes!”

“Yes.”

Myeong Seonju nodded confidently. Rather, Kim Ijin seemed to not know well.

Since I wasn’t planning to give a science lecture anyway, I only talked about the mechanism of vasovagal syncope.

“Both during the selection and this time, even though you said you were fine, your body would have been somewhat tense. Then your sympathetic nerves would have been excited.”

“Yes.”

“Your heart beating too fast and suddenly not being able to digest food, even your stomach tightening – those are the symptoms. But if this state of excessive sympathetic nerve excitement continues, your body thinks something terrible will happen, right?”

“Right?”

“So when sympathetic nerves get excited beyond a certain degree, the vagus nerve activates as a reaction and completely drains your strength. It slows down the accelerated heartbeat and lowers blood pressure.”

When I explained it this way, both of them nodded as if they understood.

“The heart is a pump that supplies blood, so what happens when it slows down?”

“Blood doesn’t reach the arms and legs so you lose strength, and blood doesn’t reach the head so you can’t maintain balance!”

“Exactly. In severe cases, you could lose consciousness and faint completely, but because you lay down and rested right away, blood was supplied to your brain and you regained consciousness.”

This kid is really smart.

When I praised her, Myeong Seonju smiled with satisfaction. For some reason, Kim Ijin glanced at Myeong Seonju as if jealous.

It was natural that she would understand much faster since she had experienced it firsthand.

“Ah~ Lira was right that I should rest.”

Myeong Seonju scratched her head.

And soon her face became worried.

“But what if this happens again next time? It’s fortunate that it’s not a serious problem, but… this level of stressful situation could happen anytime.”

“You need to lie down and rest as quickly as possible, and loosen any tight clothing.”

“What if it’s during a match.”

That’s the problem.

If an ordinary person who isn’t exposed to major stress occasionally experiences vasovagal syncope, it’s hard to say that treatment is absolutely necessary.

Just last month, there was a patient who complained of similar symptoms, but I sent her home without prescribing anything.

That patient was also a young woman who said she briefly fainted from being too nervous about singing at her friend’s wedding.

But Myeong Seonju’s case was a bit different.

National team selection, a date with an awkward junior.

Certainly these are all situations worth being nervous about, but…

“If you want to continue your athletic career, you must get treatment. This is already the second time, and the threshold for syncope is low compared to the level of tension you experience daily as an athlete.”

“Is treatment possible?”

“Yes. The condition is called vasovagal syncope, but the problem is overexcitation of the sympathetic nervous system. We use medication to reduce sensitivity.”

“By medication, you mean taking herbal medicine, right?”

“That’s right.”

Myeong Seonju’s worry deepened even more upon hearing that treatment was possible.

“Um… it won’t cause doping issues, will it?”

Oh, what am I saying again.

“That won’t happen. There are indeed some herbal ingredients that could potentially cause doping issues, but those are all ingredients that excite and stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. They do the opposite of what I’ll prescribe for you.”

I brought up the herbal ingredients that could potentially cause doping issues on the computer screen and showed them to Myeong Seonju.

The most representative one is ephedra. It’s an herb mainly used to dry up runny nose and phlegm or for dieting, and since it’s an ingredient that activates body metabolism, it naturally affects the sympathetic nervous system.

Besides that, there are several others like pinellia, cannabis seeds, and tortoise shell, but these also have nothing to do with Myeong Seonju’s symptoms.

“The Clinic Director will obviously prescribe something that won’t cause issues.”

“Ah, I was just wondering. Then I’ll take whatever you prescribe. I managed to get through it the first time, but if I faint again during practice or a match, it would be hard to stay on the team.”

I nodded.

“You’re thinking wisely. The occurrence of vasovagal syncope means your body is under a lot of tension even in daily life. If we relieve that, you’ll feel much more comfortable mentally, and overall indicators like digestion and sleep will all improve.”

Ulsan Hwayeong High School was a traditional powerhouse, right?

Being the captain of such a school, she must have suffered a lot from pressure, and after graduation, going to the same team as Kim Ijin must have been quite burdensome too.

Though not as much as Lee Jini, her physical condition is very good, but she must have been receiving a lot of debuffs from tension all this time.

Hoping I could help resolve much of that.

I began the medical consultation.

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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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