The Spy in the Clinic
“Wait, is he... a double agent?”
Se-hyung, who had been checking the test results, looked stunned.
“It improved this much, this suddenly?”
“Since she’s a patient who came in today, the MRI and bone scan results aren’t out yet, but the pain index the patient is reporting has dropped significantly. I asked for the infrared thermography results to be rushed, and as you can see...”
The temperature difference between her left and right legs was a mere 0.5 degrees. Compared to the past, when the temperature of her painful right leg was consistently 2 to 5 degrees lower, this was a dramatic improvement.
“Wow, at this rate, we might even be able to hope for a full recovery. What’s going on? It’s possible for a disease that appears suddenly to vanish suddenly, but... did she receive any other treatment? She refused the nerve block because she was too young and wanted to tough it out with medication.”
“I was surprised too, so I asked, and she said she received treatment from a local Oriental medicine doctor.”
“An Oriental medicine doctor? What kind of nonsense—”
At that moment, a sense of déjà vu washed over Se-hyung, and a conversation he’d had with his father not long ago flashed through his mind.
-You say you fixed facial paralysis with acupuncture? What kind of nonsense is that-
“She said that clinic provided her medical records when she mentioned she was coming to a general hospital for tests. Take a look at this.”
Se-hyung hurriedly flipped through the papers.
‘An Oriental medicine doctor... wrote a chart this professionally?’
It was a systematic chart that was hard to believe had been written at a rural clinic. It stood out for its detailed, chronological record of the patient’s basic information, the symptoms reported, and their subsequent changes. The pain thresholds before and after treatment were clearly compared using the NRS pain scale, and the temperature of the affected area and ROM (Range of Motion) were checked. Even the palpated muscles, blood vessels, and nerve pathways were precisely noted.
“The surprising part is here, look.”
Looking where Lee Hyun-soo was pointing, it was a treatment record from a specific day.
[NRS 9 -> NRS 6]
An NRS 9 is the level of pain you’d feel if you broke a bone or were fresh out of surgery. It’s agony to the point of needing narcotic painkillers. Even though they had prescribed Jia painkillers up to the limit for her age, she had always complained that it wasn’t enough.
‘This level of pain dropped to an NRS 6 right after acupuncture treatment?’
An NRS 6 is still clearly uncomfortable, but it’s a level of pain that can be managed with medication.
“Isn’t this a total lie? This is seriously impossible...”
“It’s too sincere to be a lie. It’s not like they’re treating a celebrity or a billionaire; why would they go through the trouble of faking a chart over such a long period? Jia and her mother both said there isn’t a single lie in these records.”
Se-hyung blinked. He still found it hard to accept. But then, Hyun-soo said something surprising.
“Actually, I’m a bit interested in the effects of acupuncture.”
“...What?”
“Maybe it’s because our department deals with a lot of intractable diseases, but I see cases like this from time to time. Though, this is the first time I’ve seen such a clear improvement. There’s a tendency among doctors to treat Oriental medicine as a taboo, so I don’t bring it up, but I do think it’s worth researching.”
“Hmm...”
“When we didn’t know about the existence of microorganisms, we didn’t even wash our hands before surgery. Similarly, even if it hasn’t been proven yet, the mechanism might be revealed as time passes. We don’t know everything, do we?”
Se-hyung fell silent. ‘Did Hyun-soo have thoughts like this...’
He was a friend who studied a lot. He was also tight-lipped and didn’t usually push his opinions, so this was the first time he’d heard such things. Meanwhile, he had been shouting at his own father...
-I told you not to go! Why did you go to an Oriental medicine clinic!
-Do you want your father to live the rest of his life with his face twisted because of facial paralysis? Even if my son is a doctor, he’s not as good as a doctor who fixes me up right here. You’re not going to be by my side to fix me, so why are you making such a fuss!
His father, who had always yielded to his son’s words, had lashed out in anger for the first time in a while. He, too, had been so furious that he hadn’t called home since.
“Still... I find it hard to believe.”
“It’ll be proven in three months anyway. I was wondering why they sent such a carefully copied chart, and it turns out this note was included.”
The note Hyun-soo showed him contained a short letter along with the name Hyun Kyungwoo, the director of Gyeongwoo Oriental Clinic.
[Patient Im Jia’s condition has improved somewhat.
As she is a child whose growth is not yet complete, I thought it would be best to reduce the medication dosage if possible, so I advised her mother to move up the appointment.
I am attaching the chart as I thought you might be concerned about reducing the medication without having seen the progress yourself.
I am predicting a recovery of over 90% in three months, so a re-examination will likely be necessary around that time.
I leave her in your good care.]
It was an extremely polite letter. What he could feel from it was the heart of a doctor who worried even about the future of a young patient. Se-hyung’s heart wavered once more after reading it, but his long-held prejudices didn’t crumble all at once. He simply said:
“Fine. In three months... I hope to God she’s better.”
A doctor’s heart, worrying for a patient, is the same whether it’s Western or Oriental medicine. He didn’t want them to fail either.
“...They said after the tests that she’s better. A lot better.”
Jia’s mother said in a trembling voice. She had known. When Jia was suffering from pain, the director would come and perform acupuncture, and she would always feel better, so she couldn’t deny that acupuncture was effective. But... she hadn’t been able to believe that this terrible disease, which had driven her daughter into hell and wiped the smiles from the faces of her family, could really be cured with herbal medicine and acupuncture...
“It’s all my fault...”
“Mother, what are you saying—”
“The director told me to have her take the herbal medicine from the start, but I was stubborn... If I had listened back then, Jia could have suffered for half a year less...”
A shadowed face. A trembling voice. While she was overjoyed and happy that her child was getting better, there was the regret of a mother who blamed herself every single day for delaying that choice.
Kyungwoo saw the moisture gathering in her eyes and firmly denied it.
“That’s not true. I told you that was the perfect time for Jia’s medicine to be introduced. Because her body was finding its balance through acupuncture, the medicine worked well. Before that, it wouldn’t have been this effective.”
In truth, it would have been better to use it sooner. It was true that the effectiveness had increased because he had infused the herbs with his polarity, but since the prescription itself hadn’t changed, it would have had some effect.
‘But... what if I hadn’t gained this ability?’
It wouldn’t have been as effective as it was now, so the patient would likely have given up in the middle of treatment. Also, it was true that he had become more confident in treating patients after gaining the ability, but...
There are no guarantees in medicine. Just because he had this ability didn’t mean he could cure every case of CRPS. So, it was just that Jia and he were lucky.
Jia’s mother had simply made the best choice she could at that moment, in a situation where her child was sick and their family finances were collapsing.
“It is not your fault, Mother. There is a time for everything in treatment, so please, never think that way.”
“...Thank you.”
Even as she bowed her head, her expression remained depressed. Kyungwoo carefully took in that sight.
That day, Jia, who had received her treatment well, left with her newly brewed herbal medicine... and Gong Chayoung, who had been called by Kyungwoo and ended up observing Jia’s treatment, trembled.
‘Treating CRPS with acupuncture and herbal medicine...!’
She had seen such papers before. But why were those cases published as papers? Because they were that rare! Witnessing Kyungwoo treating CRPS right before her eyes, a romanticized vision of being a highly skilled clinical Oriental doctor blossomed in Chayoung’s heart.
‘Someday, I want to be like that too...!’
Just then, Kyungwoo asked.
“I’m thinking of writing a case report on this. Would you like to write it with me?”
Chayoung looked around in confusion.
“You’re talking to me, right? Writing it together means...”
“It means you’ll be the second author.”
“Gasp!”
She gasped. She knew he had been treating her quite well, perhaps because she was his junior, despite the rudeness she had shown on the first day. He had reviewed the materials she had researched and even trusted her with the treatment of the village head, Park Chunsik. But to put her as the second author on such an important and high-profile paper?
“Why would you offer that to me...”
“Because you’re a junior who works hard and tries to do well, so I thought you were worth teaching?”
“...!”
Chayoung clenched her fists tightly, but Kyungwoo was thinking about something else. The Gamshin-tongmaek-rok had told him that it would only lift the restrictions on other disciples after Chayoung had grown well. That was why he had come up with this idea. Working with Chayoung had the advantage of having a laborer to do the research, but more than that...
‘What is the most visible act in “raising a disciple”?’
Writing a medical text together. Wasn’t that the highest form of recognition as a fellow practitioner of medicine?
‘If a single clinical case report is recognized as a medical text and read by over ten thousand people, then Gong Chayoung will have written such a great medical text under my guidance...’
Kyungwoo, who was predicting that this would meet the requirement of “growing well,” heard her say:
“I would love to! And Senior, please speak comfortably to me from now on!”
Chayoung, moved, bowed her head.
“Sure, shall I?”
Kyungwoo accepted it as if he had been waiting for those words. And he began to assign work as comfortably as he spoke!
“Alright, then first, Teacher Gong, let’s get fully acquainted with Jia’s chart. Jia comes in during this time on Tuesdays and Fridays, and since it’s after you get off work, it would be best to observe the treatment as much as possible. And for the basic materials for the paper, you’ll need to list all the Oriental medicine papers related to CRPS and the relevant Western medical papers, and extract all the original text contents regarding Tongbi (painful obstruction) and Zhuobi (fixed obstruction). I have some that I’ve collected, so you just need to supplement them, and also...”
Chayoung’s expression went blank.
‘Wait, did I... make an irreversible choice?’
She was beginning to realize that the easy days of her public health doctor life had ended on this day.
Go Myung-ho, the director of Myung-ho Oriental Clinic, had a lot on his mind these days.
‘The average number of patients... 54 the month before last, 52 last month, and this month... 49?’
His hand, holding the mouse, trembled.
‘I definitely spent more money on keyword advertising, so why!’
Moreover, there was something very strange. The number of patients from a specific area was decreasing. Half a year ago, the patients from Yongdeok-ri had suddenly stopped coming, and recently, it was Baejae-ri. Even when he asked the occasional patient from Baejae-ri, they didn’t give a clear answer, and they seemed to be hiding something.
‘Did someone spread bad rumors? Or maybe...!’
Suddenly, something from a few months ago came to mind. Chief Jin had heard a rumor that there was an Oriental medicine clinic in Yongdeok-ri and had gone to spy on it. He had come back and said it was a clinic where a retired doctor saw two or three patients as a hobby, so he didn’t need to worry about it, but could it be...?
At that moment, the chart program blinked.
A dementia patient living in Baejae-ri. It seemed he had stopped by after coming to the internal medicine clinic in Goesan-eup to get a prescription. Director Go Myung-ho had a good idea.
‘His son, the guardian... is on his phone in the waiting room.’
He could see the back of the old man walking into the physical therapy room. He followed Hwang Chil-hyun.
“Hello, sir.”
“Director... hehe. Hell-o.”
He lowered his voice and asked.
“Sir, do you happen to know about the Oriental medicine clinic in Yongdeok-ri?”
“Hmm. I was thinking of going there... but they said the reservation was a month away. So I came here today. What were you asking about earlier? Ah, the clinic... right.”
He spoke incoherently, but one sentence struck him.
‘The reservations are backed up by a month?!’
He saw 50 patients a day. Usually, you couldn’t see more because there weren’t enough patients, but there were Oriental medicine doctors who saw 100 patients a day if they were good and had the stamina. But to be backed up by a month...
How many patients were leaving for that place!
‘But why did Chief Jin tell me not to worry? Could it be... a double agent?’
Go Myung-ho stomped back to his office and called for Jin Se-young at the top of his lungs.
“Chief Jin! Chief Jin!!”
“Yes, Director. Did you call me?”
He glared at the chief who had come running and asked.
“When you went to the Yongdeok-ri clinic last time, you lied to me, didn’t you?!”