The Terminally Ill Youngest Daughter of a Medical Dynasty Is a Genius Physician - Chapter 36

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 36
“What do you mean, wait any longer! The man looks like he’s dying!”
A middle-aged man strode in, breathing heavily.
His face was flushed and his breath came in ragged gasps.
“You can’t just barge in like this! I told you the clinic hours are finished for the day!”
An attendant hurried after him, his face flustered as he tried to stop him.
“Let go of me! The man is dying — what does it matter if the hours are over?”
The middle-aged man shook off the attendant’s restraining hand roughly.
“My family must be examined by the Head himself! How long have we been waiting?”
I tensed instinctively.
In my past life, when I saw patients in the Separate Quarters clinic, I had rarely encountered someone so obstinate and unreasonable.
In particular, those consumed by pain or anxiety often showed a side of themselves utterly unlike their normal nature.
Dealing with such patients was always delicate work.
‘Grandfather…?’
I glanced sideways at him.
But Grandfather remained unruffled. Instead, he rose slowly from his seat and approached the man.
“It seems your family member is quite unwell.”
His voice was composed.
The moment the Head of Yak-ryeong-ga himself addressed him, the man’s blustering confidence evaporated.
“Ah…”
“Where is the discomfort?”
“Well, that is…”
The man’s ragged breathing gradually steadied.
“I apologize. I was so anxious… my family member is very ill.”
“I understand.”
Grandfather nodded.
“There is no suffering quite like waiting at the bedside of someone in pain.”
He did not scold him for his intrusion, nor did he show anger at the man’s rough entrance.
He simply first observed why the man had become so desperate.
I watched in silence. My own words from moments before came back to me.
A physician who sees the person before the illness.
After listening to the man’s account, Grandfather spoke calmly.
“However, proper examination requires preparation. Please wait a moment.”
Then he turned to the attendant at his side.
“Bring him some warm tea inside.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let your mind settle first. I will examine him shortly.”
With those words alone, the tension visibly drained from the man’s shoulders.
“…Thank you.”
The man bowed deeply and followed the attendant out.
I watched him go, and found myself murmuring without thinking.
“…Remarkable.”
Only after the words left my lips did I come to my senses.
‘Oh.’
I quickly covered my mouth with both hands.
Grandfather glanced at me, then let out a soft laugh.
“Hm.”

“And what did you find so remarkable?”
It sounded like a light remark, but his eyes told a different story.
I felt my face warm. I hesitated a moment, then spoke.
“Just that…”
“Mm?”
“He was angry, yet you didn’t respond with anger first.”
I recalled what had just happened.
“You saw why he was so upset before anything else.”
Grandfather’s eyes deepened slightly.
I paused to think, then spoke.
“I think that is what a true physician really is.”
“A true physician.”
“Yes.”
This time, I didn’t hesitate.
“Someone who treats patients as people, no matter the circumstances.”
A physician faces sick people every day.
And in time, it’s easy to stop seeing the person in front of you—to see only their illness.
I’d lived my entire life as a patient, so I understood that feeling better than anyone.
“Take this medicine and go straight to bed.”
“A patient wandering about? I told you to stay quietly in your room.”
To disappear simply because you’re sick. To become nothing but a disease that needs treating.
It was truly terrible.
That’s why I’d decided long ago. I would never become that kind of physician.
I would see my patients as people, all the way through.
Just as the old man before me does.
“But what is that cloth wrapping?”
As I was lost in thought, Grandfather suddenly asked.
His gaze had been fixed on the cloth wrapping I’d been holding so carefully in my arms all this time.
“Oh.”
I hesitated for a moment, then held out the cloth wrapping.
“Actually… I wanted to give it to you, Grandfather.”
“To me?”
“Yes.”
I carefully untied the knot.
A small acupuncture needle case emerged from within the wrapping.
At that moment.
Grandfather’s gaze fixed on the needle case.
“…An acupuncture needle case?”
“Yes.”
Grandfather, who had been silent, suddenly looked at me.
“Don’t tell me….”
“Yes?”
“That time you went to the Marketplace and said you’d buy a gift for me… was it this?”
My eyes widened.
Quite some time had passed, yet I was amazed he still remembered.
“You… you remembered that?”
“How could I forget when you spoke so confidently?”
Grandfather answered as though it were nothing.
But at his words, I felt my mood lift, and my lips curved upward of their own accord.
“Yes, that’s right. I bought it for you back then. I couldn’t give it to you right away because of one thing and another, but I wanted to give it to you now.”
I held out the acupuncture needle case with both hands.
“Of course, I’m not sure if you’ll like it….”
Grandfather didn’t take it immediately. Instead, he gazed down at the needle case for a long moment.
“…Why did you choose an acupuncture needle case among so many things?”
“Pardon?”
It was an unexpected question.
I blinked a few times before answering honestly.
“…It seemed to suit you best, Grandfather.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
I paused to think, then added more.
“Before being head of this household, you’re a physician… and you always look after your patients with true sincerity.”
“….”
“That’s why I wanted to give you something that would be most useful and most fitting for a physician like you.”
An acupuncture needle case is something a physician always keeps close and uses.
It felt like an object in which the years of meeting countless patients and practicing acupuncture had soaked through entirely.
I looked down at the needle case and spoke quietly.
“And now that I’ve become a medical practitioner too—”
Grandfather’s gaze turned toward me.
“I want to learn so much from such a wonderful grandfather going forward.”
I lifted my head and looked at him.
“Someday… I want to become as fine a physician as you are.”
His pupils trembled ever so slightly.
“…Like you?”
“Yes!”
This time, without hesitation, I nodded firmly.
“A Physician who sees the person before the illness when facing a patient.”
The voice I’d heard from the Clinic moments ago came back to me.
Soothing an anxious patient, calmly explaining to the family what needed to be done.
Grandfather’s figure, reassuring them until the very end.
“That’s why I respect you so much, Grandfather.”
Grandfather said nothing for a long time.
I felt a belated embarrassment creeping in.
‘Did I speak too grandly? It might be too much for him.’
I stole a glance at his face.
But Grandfather’s expression had changed somehow.
The face that had always been firmly set was trembling just slightly.
Surprise and joy…
And something deeper flickered in his gaze.
“…So this is what you were thinking.”
“Sir?”
“When you said you wanted to become a Medical Practitioner, I worried it was only the whim of a child.”
Grandfather’s gaze turned back to the Acupuncture Needle Case.
“But I see now that wasn’t the case at all.”
He slowly reached out and took the case in his hands, his fingertips brushing carefully across its surface.
“An Acupuncture Needle Case is one of the things a Physician keeps closest throughout their life.”
I listened quietly to his words.
“Having good needles doesn’t make you a good Physician.”
Grandfather looked at me.
“But the heart with which you draw those needles from within can shape the entire path of a Physician’s life.”
His voice grew softer.
“Every time I remove a needle from this case, I will think of you. I will remind myself to become a Physician worthy of my granddaughter. That resolve—I believe I will not forget it, even as I grow old.”
Grandfather smiled gently.
“And so, the fact that you chose to give me this among so many things…
He paused for a moment, then let out a very small laugh.
“…makes me very happy.”
“…!”
My eyes widened.
I never expected Grandfather to express his joy so openly.
My chest swelled with a peculiar warmth.
Then Grandfather slowly rose from his seat.
“Wait here a moment.”
“Yes?”
He offered no further explanation, merely walking toward the Medicine Cabinet in the back.
After a brief moment.
Click.
As the Medicine Cabinet door closed, he returned carrying a wooden box.
A small Acupuncture Needle Case.
Its body, crafted from deep crimson sandalwood, gleamed softly from years of being held in hand, and not a speck of dust clung to its brass fittings.
“That’s…”
As my lips parted, Grandfather gazed down at the case.
His eyes held the warmth of someone regarding an old friend.
“This is the Acupuncture Needle Case I’ve carried since my youth.”
“…!”
I caught my breath.
Grandfather opened the lid himself to show me inside.
Needles of varying length and thickness lay arranged with perfect precision.
The handle bore the faint luster of countless cleanings, and the Medical Cotton along with needles large and small were organized with no wasted space.
‘Despite all these years of use…’
One might believe it was new.
How carefully he had tended it was evident at a glance.
Grandfather closed the case.
And held it out before me.
“Take it. I’m giving it to you.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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