The Management Strategy of Our Clinic

Early March. The interior construction was finally complete.

"You've worked hard, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Director."

"Yes, I suppose I have. Haha."

It was something to be proud of.

The spacious waiting room, spanning over 50 pyeong (approx. 1,780 sq ft), was flooded with natural light from large windows, and the warm-toned wood interior created a sense of luxury.

Connected to the waiting area were two director's offices side by side. Currently, only Kyungwoo was there, but it had been designed with extra space in mind for future expansion.

The consultation room was perfectly soundproofed, furnished with soft sofas and a table, and featured green curtains that helped put patients at ease.

And the most distinctive feature was that all the treatment rooms were separated into individual, private spaces.

'I emphasized this part in particular.'

In a typical Korean medicine clinic, beds are lined up in a single open space, with curtains between them to protect privacy.

However, Kyungwoo, having experience at Daeo Korean Medicine Hospital, judged that a separated space was essential for his treatments.

'For one thing, patients often scream...'

Because he didn't hesitate to use strong stimulation if it was necessary to help a patient recover quickly, his treatments were sometimes accompanied by screams.

If a patient heard those sounds leaking from the next bed, they might tense up before their own turn even arrived.

'Actually, it's bearable...'

Well, pain thresholds vary from person to person.

His own standard, which was so accustomed to pain that he was practically soaked in it, couldn't be the same as that of an average person.

Another problem was when famous people visited.

'At Daeo, there was a separate VIP treatment room, but...'

It wasn't that he was worried about having to charge high fees like he did at Daeo.

It was the realistic problem of whether a famous person with a recognizable face could go through the same treatment process while mixed in with ordinary people.

But he had no intention of giving famous people special treatment by moving up their appointments or creating a separate process...

'Then I'll just give everyone special treatment.'

It was a problem that would be solved if everyone used a private room.

Thus, a hotel-style structure was completed, with single and double rooms lined up along a long hallway.

He was just finishing up checking the pantry and storage room when Shin Nakhyun strolled in.

"Hello, Director."

"Hello, Mr. Nakhyun. Thanks to you, the interior work finished well."

"What did I even do? When are you planning to open?"

"In a week. I need to get the health center inspection and have the staff get in sync before we start."

"Oh, one week! Understood. I'm promoting it diligently."

"Thank you."

Of course, Kyungwoo was completely unaware that Shin Nakhyun was strategically promoting the clinic by utilizing the "free monthly rent" episode and the neighborhood's rumor mill.

"Director, you aren't planning on doing any opening gifts, are you? You have such skill, haha. Still, older folks are a bit susceptible to that kind of thing."

"Why wouldn't I? I should do everything I can."

Oh, Shin Nakhyun's eyes sparkled, thinking this was unexpected.

"What are you planning to give?"

"Carts. I've already ordered them."

There is such a thing as an "opening boom."

When a clinic first opens, there is a crowd that stops by just to see what kind of place it is and what the director is like.

That population doubles if there is a decent opening gift.

Usually, once they take the gift and finish looking around, that population drops off sharply after the first week of opening...

'What if they come and see a definite effect?'

Shin Nakhyun wasn't mobilizing real estate agents for nothing.

Last time, the immediate effect after receiving just two needles was amazing, but the lasting power was also impressive enough to make one gasp.

Shin Nakhyun trusted Kyungwoo's skill, and that's why he wanted him to do every promotion possible.

Because this was a strategy that could only be used as a short-term special during the opening.

He thought Kyungwoo was a high-minded master who wouldn't be interested in such things, but...

'Surprisingly, he has a competitive mindset?'

This made it even easier to support him.

He left the clinic in a good mood, planning to add "They're giving away carts as an opening gift!" to the neighborhood rumors he was spreading.

'Finally, opening next week!'

* * *

Two days later, Kyungwoo went to the clinic and held his first meeting with his two employees.

"Introduce yourselves. This is Kang Sera, a staff member I worked with when I was at Daeo Korean Medicine Hospital. And this is Park Miyoung, who handled both the desk and the treatment room in Goesan."

"Hello, I'm Kang Sera."

"I'm Park Miyoung."

The two were different from their attire. Kang Sera wore a neat dress suit with her hair tied up, while Park Miyoung came to work in jeans and a hoodie with her hair tied back loosely.

'Coming to work for the first time in clothes like that...'

'How is she going to clean wearing that?'

The two scanned each other with probing eyes. It was understandable, as they were completely opposite styles.

"From now on, Sera will handle the desk, and Miyoung will handle the treatment room. But since both of you have nursing assistant certifications and experience in both fields, I'd like you to help each other out when it's busy."

"Yes, understood, Director."

"Yep!"

After their replies, Kyungwoo moved on to the next topic.

"And regarding reservations, our clinic will operate on an appointment-only basis, and we will take up to twenty reservations a day."

The reactions of the two to this were completely different.

"Twenty people? Whoa, it increased?"

"Only twenty people...?"

Kang Sera tilted her head. She had heard that Kyungwoo was struggling a lot around the time she quit, but that his health had improved. That must be why he was pushing for this opening.

He was a director who used to easily see 30 or 40 people a day... shouldn't he see more if he's doing it alone?

Kyungwoo had recently finished his time in Yongdeok-ri, bringing even Jia and other intractable patients to a state of equilibrium, which increased the number of patients he could see to a total of 20.

In other words, this was a significant increase, but from the perspective of Kang Sera, who didn't know the history, it was bound to be baffling.

"Yes. It's the number of patients where I can achieve the best treatment efficiency, so please operate it that way. And so, I'd like Miyoung to handle reservation management."

"Yes, understood!"

"Yes??"

Kang Sera objected.

"Director, reservation management is clearly a desk task. Why is this in the treatment room..."

"Hmm, this is something Miyoung is good at."

Her pride was hurt by that remark. Kang Sera had been paying attention to this anyway.

No matter how much longer she had worked with him, Park Miyoung had been in sync with Kyungwoo until just recently and was a staff member he cherished enough to bring to Seoul.

It was a sense of wariness that if she didn't grasp her duties quickly from the start, she might lose the director's favor.

'Why the reservation task, the flower of the desk...!'

"I'm good at inducing patients to visit. I can make them come as often as possible and manage it well to minimize no-shows-"

"Ah, Sera is good at that. That's not why I'm leaving it to Miyoung."

"Yes?"

But Kyungwoo was saying something strange.

"Hmm... the core of our clinic's reservation system is to make patients come as little as possible."

"I'm good at that!"

"Right. Miyoung has a knack for figuring out the minimum number of visits a patient needs and scheduling exactly that many."

'What is this nonsense...?'

As Kang Sera blinked, her elegant and chic impression turned blank.

"Then the revenue..."

"That is our clinic's management strategy. Maximizing initial visits."

"Maximizing... initial visits?"

"Between initial visits and follow-up visits, which one has higher treatment fees?"

"Well, initial visits... are higher, right?"

"So, if we finish treating patients as quickly as possible and reduce the number of follow-up visits, the number of reservation slots available for initial visits will increase by that much."

That may be true... but.

"Doesn't that only work if a lot of initial visits come in?"

"That's a matter of time."

"That's right. It's a matter of time."

The two chimed in together. Kang Sera felt like she was the only normal person in a country of abnormal people, acting like a fool.

'The director's skills are excellent, but... isn't inducing follow-up visits the absolute basic of hospital management?'

"And when reservations become difficult, most initial patients will start taking herbal medicine, so the average revenue per patient will go up."

"Most of them take medicine?"

"I don't intend to recommend it to people who don't need it, but my medicine is cost-effective. Anyway, that's how it will be."

Park Miyoung nodded diligently again.

"So I think it's efficient for the treatment room, where I can see the treatment right next to me and predict the treatment period more easily, to handle reservation management... If Sera really wants to do it, watch how it's done for a month or two, then take it over."

"...Yes."

Her pride was still hurt, but Kang Sera accepted it for now. Honestly, she had no idea how to do it anyway!

"But, who is the senior between the two of us?"

However, she had to clarify this. It would be troublesome if the chain of command got messy when it was busy.

"That would be Sera."

Kyungwoo made that part clear.

"Sera is senior in both age and experience. Miyoung, when I'm here, my orders take priority, but when the two of you are working, please follow Sera's instructions."

"Yes, Director!"

After settling it that way, Kyungwoo went into his office, saying he would organize his things. And Sera decided to firmly establish the hierarchy.

"Please start cleaning before the herbs arrive at the dispensary. I'll set up the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠desk."

She was slightly nervous. She was a veteran of power games among staff, having drifted through dermatology and plastic surgery clinics.

'I was even instructed to be in charge of reservations, so if I tell her to clean while I set up the desk, how will she react?'

She was thinking about how to seize the initiative if she didn't follow obediently, but the opponent replied.

"Yes!"

As if she were very happy...? And Park Miyoung scanned the surroundings, grabbed a few old towels and a basin that Kang Sera had brought from home with the eyes of a hawk, and slipped into the dispensary.

'She's going that willingly?'

Could she be trying to kill time in a space where she wouldn't run into her? Kang Sera couldn't help but have such suspicions. She had seen a staff member or two like that.

But the dispensary she entered an hour later was...

'What is this, this brilliance!'

The tiles were sparkling. She had done a move-in cleaning, but it wasn't like this before...?

The answer lay in the artistic hand movements of Park Miyoung, who was working diligently without even realizing she had entered. Kang Sera's mouth hung open.

'What on earth... is the identity of that staff member?'

Today, her perfect moment was crumbling in many ways.

* * *

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

While Kyungwoo was busy submitting necessary documents to the health center, applying for the internet, having the chart program representative come to install the software, and having the washing machine and refrigerator installation technicians visit, the Gamshin-tongmaek-rok remained quietly on the shelf in the director's office.

A few days later,

FLASH—

Kyungwoo was organizing Korean medicine books on the bookshelf in the director's office when he was blinded by a sudden burst of light.

"Ugh, what are you doing!"

A light so dazzling he couldn't see ahead for a moment! Kyungwoo pulled out the Gamshin-tongmaek-rok and opened it.

"Why are you picking a fight?"

But the Gamshin-tongmaek-rok generated text very urgently.

A strangely wistful tone. Kyungwoo reacted coldly, wondering why it was acting like this.

"What?"

"......"

'Look at this...?'

Kyungwoo smiled. He had realized why this thing was acting like this.

'Come to think of it, it doesn't know why I haven't been treating ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠patients lately, does it?'

What kind of opening procedures or concept of "relocation" would have existed in ancient times? Looking at its behavior so far, there were two ways the book accepted information.

One was by resonating with the body condition of the patient being seen by the practitioner (Kyungwoo) connected to it, and the other was by talking directly to it or eavesdropping on conversations in the space where it was located (the director's office).

In other words, it had absolutely no understanding of why Kyungwoo was taking a break from medical practice these days.

That meant...

A situation... perfect for swindling the book?

"Sigh..."

Kyungwoo let out a deep sigh first.

"I'm... going to quit."

"I was having a mid-life crisis about whether I should continue the medical profession even while suffering, so I was going to quit anyway. But I met Jia, and while trying to treat her, I ended up seeing other patients too, but now Jia is better."

"Yeah, I've accumulated enough virtue, so I'm thinking of just going around and having fun now."

Perhaps the book was genuinely flustered, as it couldn't even manage its archaic tone and let out a groan.

A moment later, the book began to beg.

"It's super comfortable to give up..."

Then, one corner of Kyungwoo's mouth curled up suggestively.

"Hmm... is that so?"