The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 97

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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 97

“A mere physician dares to be so presumptuous. Do you think taking on such an excessive title as Divine Physician makes you a martial artist?”

Gujigwiwang Heuk Jwa-ryang’s great sword flashed.

“Or do you think Seomjeon Doksu will come all the way here to save you?”

“….”

I did not answer.

Seeing that he had kept me alive until now, he probably wouldn’t kill me, but there was no need to go against the whims of a Sapa leader.

It had already been three days since I was kidnapped and imprisoned by Gujigwiwang.

My martial arts were sealed and my hands and feet were bound. Even when he vented his anger on me for not liking the look in my eyes, I had no way to resist.

Of course, with only street-level martial arts skills I had picked up here and there, I wouldn’t stand a chance against him anyway.

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have learned some demonic arts from Cheonma.’

It was a meaningless assumption.

If I had accepted that proposal, I wouldn’t have been able to survive the Martial Arts Alliance Prison.

Fate and destiny are truly harsh.

At the time, I thought I had formed a good connection with Seomjeon Doksu Tang Seo-rim, who protected me in the Guild.

Who would have thought that good fortune would bring such misfortune.

Having fallen into the martial arts world and struggling desperately to survive, I thought I hadn’t earned anyone’s resentment.

How did I end up in this situation, entangled in someone else’s grudge?

From all his ranting about fingers, it seemed Tang Seo-rim had cut off his fingers long ago.

‘Will he come to save me?’

Honestly, I wasn’t certain.

I had interacted with him as a physician even before being falsely accused of being a Makyodo by the Martial Arts Alliance.

Also, after being released with his help, Tang Seo-rim visited me very frequently.

But whether he would jump into a Sapa lair knowing full well it was a trap for someone like me, who was merely somewhat close to him, was uncertain.

If he doesn’t come, then I—

CRASH!

At that moment, a thunderous sound erupted.

The iron door split in half and fell to the floor.

And Tang Seo-rim’s silhouette was revealed.

“Seomjeon Doksu?”

Gujigwiwang was greatly shocked. Even though he himself had lured Tang Seo-rim here.

“There should be subordinates stationed outside!”

He couldn’t believe that Tang Seo-rim had overcome the trap and reached this place.

“A sneak attack!”

After kidnapping me, was he now blaming him for ambushing his subordinates? It was truly ridiculous.

Unlike Gujigwiwang whose life hung by a thread, I was completely relieved the moment I saw Tang Seo-rim’s face.

Someone like Gujigwiwang couldn’t even sense his presence until Tang Seo-rim approached within arm’s reach.

Indeed, one of the Ten Greatest Masters Under Heaven from the Five Great Families seemed to be on a different level.

“Would a few ants scurrying about block a gentleman’s path?”

Tang Seo-rim chuckled softly.

I opened my mouth as if entranced by his chilling eyes.

“Are you alright?”

The moment I came to my senses, Gujigwiwang’s throat was already pierced by a hidden blade.

“Y-yes.”

“Tsk, your qi and blood are twisted.”

Tang Seo-rim untied the ropes that had bound me and examined my condition.

Without even checking my pulse, he noticed that my qi and blood had been twisted during Gujigwiwang’s process of sealing my martial arts.

“…I’m sorry. I dragged the Divine Physician into my personal grudge.”

Tang Seo-rim looked down at me with very sad eyes.

He took my hand and slowly channeled his energy into me. For someone like me who hadn’t learned proper martial arts, this was my first experience with such technique.

As I was breathing heavily and accepting his energy,

Tang Seo-rim’s eyes suddenly changed.

And he said:

“Come to the Tang Family.”

“Pardon…?”

“I cannot protect the Divine Physician this way.”

A recruitment offer?

I had received quite many recruitment offers wanting me as a physician. Starting with Cheonma who spread my fame, various merchants and martial family heads I had treated requested me to become their personal physician.

“If you come to the Tang Family, I will protect you from all threats in the world.”

I shook my head as always.

“I want the power to protect myself.”

I didn’t want to belong anywhere. I hated the idea of the enemies of the place I belonged to becoming my enemies.

Rather, I wanted to sever ties with Tang Seo-rim, erase the name of Divine Physician, and hide in a new place.

“Then I will give you everything I have. …Except for poison.”

“…You’re saying you’ll teach me the martial arts of the Sichuan Dang Family?”

“Gladly.”

But Seomjeon Seongsu Dang Seorim’s proposal was special.

The demonic arts Cheonma had offered to teach weren’t the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

The Martial Arts Alliance Leader had only promised a few escorts.

But Dang Seorim said he would give everything he had achieved as a martial artist and as a physician.

“Alright, I’ll follow you.”

That day, I became Seomjeon Seongsu Dang Seorim’s only direct disciple.

“But how did you find me right away? Just as Gujigwiwang said, those demonic sect bastards were spread out everywhere.”

“With my qi sense, couldn’t I find one Divine Physician?”

“That’s true.”

“…No matter where you are, I’ll come find you from now on.”

* * *

Flash. My eyes opened.

Why did I dream of the past? Since opening the clinic and getting busy, I’ve been too hectic to think about such things.

With memories related to hair loss patients and even talking about hair with the staff, Master appeared in my dreams after a long time.

“Ugh!”

Goosebumps rose on both arms as I shuddered.

Being kidnapped by demonic sect bastards – it wouldn’t be strange to develop PTSD from something like that.

After suffering hardships due to Master’s grudges back then, I stopped my wandering physician life and entered the Dang Family’s Medical Institute.

Actually, as a physician, I taught Master quite a bit too. We exchanged each other’s different strengths, you could say?

But since I learned martial arts and became the only direct disciple of the Dang Family’s greatest, I respectfully treated him as my master to avoid unnecessary gossip.

Swish.

I twisted my green-tinted hair.

Unfortunately, it’s not dyed. Even if I dye it black, the lustrous green color quickly sprouts from the roots again.

During the process of removing the prohibition back then, Master’s internal energy mixed in and some poison remained?

Since I couldn’t handle poison arts, I had no choice but to leave it as Master had arranged.

Well, thanks to all that internal energy he transferred, not only did I recover quickly, but I also learned martial arts relatively easily, so something like hair color was nothing. At least it wasn’t turning white, right?

Though I didn’t learn poison arts, I learned all the hidden weapons and assassination techniques. Except for the secret arts passed down only to the Young Master that even Master himself hadn’t received.

And I rose to the ranks of masters in just over ten years, becoming someone who couldn’t be threatened by anyone except for non-human beings like Cheonma or the Martial Arts Alliance Leader.

…Though I lost it all with the Soul Return Technique.

“Ah~! You said you’d come find me wherever I was! What are you doing?”

Come to think of it, isn’t there nothing for him to do at the Medical Institute anyway? The disciples I trained would see all the patients.

Called Seomjeon Doksu by others, self-proclaimed Seomjeon Seongsu, Dang Seorim.

Well, even though it’s self-proclaimed, the latter was a nickname I gave him.

He was a genius of poison arts and the greatest of the Dang Family, yet he was a peculiar person who detested poison and wanted to live as a physician.

But once I started taking responsibility for everything at the Medical Institute, his daily routine was lounging around without any interference.

It’s really disappointing, you know?

He’d be so useful if I could bring him here when it’s this busy!

I couldn’t let him treat patients due to licensing issues, but… how nice would it be if he helped out and took care of decoctions?

Well, he’s the type who got sulky when I said I was leaving and didn’t even see me off, so fat chance.

Actually, modern decoction preparation just involves weighing medicinal ingredients and putting them in a machine, so it doesn’t matter much who does it.

But I inherited a strange obsession from Master about the importance of sincerity, so I really didn’t want to hire part-timers.

Even at the Medical Institute, I never made servants do it and only did it myself or had disciples who wanted to become physicians do it.

I want to create that external decoction room I mentioned to Park Seon-yun before, but I don’t have time to personally inspect the medicinal ingredients.

I wish someone would just drop from somewhere to take over that work…

I reduced treatments and increased branches, but I couldn’t understand why more and more people kept looking for me.

“Ah, forget it! Let’s just play games!”

I’ll think about being busy during treatment hours tomorrow.

Today’s a holiday, so I should play.

The whole morning was wasted because of that unsettling dream.

I hurriedly turned on the computer and logged into Junwon Online.

Though I’d been distant from the game for a while after passing on the guild leader position, I’d been quite diligent raising an alt character since the Sichuan Dang Family class was updated.

Swoosh! Swooooosh!

Throwing hidden weapons.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Smashing treasure chests.

Kreeeeek!

Time flew by in an instant as I beat up Makyeo members.

It must have been around evening time.

“Hanyewon, can you talk?”

Suddenly Hwang Sanghun called me.

It was very unusual.

Hwang Sanghun was handling all the big and small matters that occurred on days I wasn’t there.

He was considerate enough to let me rest fully on holidays, so he wouldn’t contact me over just anything, right?

“Yeah. I was just resting. What’s up?”

I answered the phone urgently.

“A junior colleague who wants to interview you came by, but there’s no manual for this kind of thing. Should I tell them to come back tomorrow? Or just refuse?”

…Interview? What’s this about now?

“A junior from our school?”

“Yeah. A 4th year student from Korean University’s Department of Korean Medicine.”

Coming for an interview without even making an appointment?

When I was in school, I used to pester seniors to let me observe, but I always made appointments in advance.

A junior? A juuunior? I wish I had manpower I could put to work right away, but what use is a student.

Where did they hear about this? Is it about Hyeon Jumi?

Even though I was bewildered… honestly, I didn’t feel too bad about it.

Rather, I had to hide the corners of my mouth that were slightly rising.

“I’ll just go now. Tell them to wait. If they had come tomorrow, I wouldn’t have had time because of patient consultations.”

“Got it. Take your time coming.”

I turned off the game and changed my clothes.

* * *

“Hello! I’m Lee Ahreum from the School Newspaper Club!”

The student who introduced herself as Lee Ahreum bowed 90 degrees at the waist.

Something… refreshing? No, refreshing because it’s so cliché.

A short-haired, glasses-wearing newspaper club character I’ve seen a lot in manga somewhere.

Even when I came to work on a holiday, I was half annoyed, half curious.

But seeing this cute student who exuded pure feelings, my annoyed mood smoothly disappeared.

“Haha, yes. You want to interview me? Is this for the school newspaper?”

“If you’ll allow it, I’d like to do that. I came here hoping against hope, and I’m really grateful that you made time for me right away!”

I nodded.

“How did you come to know about me?”

“I heard so many stories about you from Professor Lee Minseok. I really, really wanted to meet you in person! Acupuncture, medicine, counseling! Management! You’re an all-around senior who can do everything!”

Lee Ahreum’s face, with her hands clasped together, flushed red.

“How on earth does Professor Lee Minseok know all that…?”

What kind of stories is this guy going around telling students who know nothing?

I think I need to conduct an in-depth interview with this friend.

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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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