Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: How a Korean Medicine Doctor Becomes the World's Greatest Physician in the Murim World
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Choi Cheol-bo limped toward the Deokyang Medical District on his left leg again today.
A muscular warrior with darkly tanned skin and a massive build. He looked incredibly tough at first glance, but right now, he was nothing more than a pitiful patient.
'The treatment's dragging on too long.'
It had already been a full month since he'd taken leave from his escort duties for merchant caravans. Yet his injured left leg showed no signs of improvement.
The swelling and pain were still exactly the same. No, if anything, they seemed to be getting worse.
'Should I have gone to White Herb Hall or Immortal Spirit Pharmacy instead?'
But Choi Cheol-bo soon shook his head.
They were famous places, sure. But they were always packed with customers, and above all, way too expensive for a caravan escort like him.
In any case, all he could do now was keep visiting the Famous Physician Tower consistently.
As he entered through the main gate with its splendid signboard, the apprentice physicians bowed politely and greeted him.
"Welcome."
The Famous Physician Tower was a two-story building.
Its luxurious decorations clearly displayed the physicians' high status.
There were plenty of customers, but the atmosphere remained calm and serene.
A faint herbal fragrance wafted through the entire clinic, as if incense had been lit.
Choi Cheol-bo followed an apprentice and met with Physician Song Heon-ro. The man, with his graying hair and beard, spoke in a dry tone the moment Choi Cheol-bo entered.
"You're here. Lie down."
As if there was no need for further diagnosis since this was a returning patient, Song Heon-ro got straight to treatment.
Once Choi Cheol-bo lay down, Song Heon-ro inserted fire needles at several points on his left leg.
Then, standing up, he said to Choi Cheol-bo,
"Stay lying down for a bit. The needles need time to take effect."
"Physician Song."
Choi Cheol-bo called out to Song Heon-ro, who had turned away.
"The day I injured this leg..."
"I've heard it several times already. You used your internal energy to momentarily adjust your weight, steadying yourself firmly to protect the caravan, right?"
"Yes, yes. That's right."
Song Heon-ro let out a short sigh.
"You tell the same story every visit. Is it because it's not getting better?"
"It's been almost a month now. I need to get back to caravan work soon."
Song Heon-ro looked at Choi Cheol-bo's left leg and said,
"That technique put excessive strain on your left leg. No matter how I diagnose it, there's nothing more to it."
That was right. It made sense. Choi Cheol-bo acknowledged it himself.
But the problem was that it wasn't healing.
That fact tormented him endlessly.
There was nothing more Choi Cheol-bo could say when even the physician said so. He just nodded heavily.
Song Heon-ro patted the shoulder of Choi Cheol-bo, whose face had darkened.
"It's the peak of the stasis phase. The muscle swelling is at its worst right now, but it'll start subsiding bit by bit. Come for another month, and you'll be fine."
At that rate, it was basically natural recovery.
"I'll give you some decoction later with better herbs added. Oh, I'll cut you a deal considering your situation, so don't worry too much."
Choi Cheol-bo despaired.
He couldn't afford another month. His money was running out.
Besides, if he took much longer off from escort work, no one would hire him afterward.
Treatment over, Choi Cheol-bo left the Famous Physician Tower. He limped out powerlessly, just as he had limped in.
'If it comes to this, maybe I should borrow money from my battlefield comrades and go to White Herb Hall or Immortal Spirit Pharmacy.'
As he trudged along listlessly like that, something suddenly flashed in Choi Cheol-bo's mind.
- I actually suffered from back pain for a long time myself. But now I'm perfectly fine. All from a single needle.
A story from Chu Man-seok, whom he'd met at the inn a few days ago.
The tale of being cured by one needle was surprising enough, but what came next was hard to believe.
Clear Seclusion Clinic.
He'd never heard of it. He didn't even know such a place existed in the Deokyang Medical District.
So he'd forgotten about it, but with no improvement today, he decided to check it out, figuring he had nothing to lose.
Choi Cheol-bo grabbed passersby in the Deokyang Medical District and asked,
"Do you happen to know where Clear Seclusion Clinic is?"
"Clear Seclusion Clinic? Never heard of it."
Fortunately, on the third try, he found someone who knew.
"It's in a pretty out-of-the-way spot."
It matched exactly what Chu Man-seok had told him.
Ten Thousand Winds Inn office.
Na Ho-pyeong sat in his chair, listening to Chu Man-seok's report.
"Today, Choi Cheol-bo, who got treated at the Famous Physician Tower, is finally heading to Clear Seclusion Clinic."
"He hesitated quite a bit even after hearing from you."
"Wouldn't he? I was skeptical myself when I first heard about it from you, Branch Chief."
"Same here."
Na Ho-pyeong recalled the day Jang Wol had tried to needle him. He'd even been scared of what clumsy acupuncture might do to him.
Remembering that, Na Ho-pyeong opened his mouth with a good-natured smile.
"Anyway, good work."
But Chu Man-seok's face was full of worry.
"But will it be okay?"
"What?"
"Choi Cheol-bo's injury is from martial arts. Even Song Heon-ro, who practices martial arts himself, couldn't improve it. Can Jang Physician, an ordinary person, treat it?"
Na Ho-pyeong leaned deeply back in his chair. His bulging belly protruded even more.
"Then that means Jang Physician's skills only go that far. Can't be helped."
Chu Man-seok felt regretful. That a hidden gem like Jang Wol wouldn't shine brighter.
"But we have to watch and see. If it succeeds, some interesting changes will start in this Deokyang Medical District."
Na Ho-pyeong grinned continuously, as if painting an amusing picture in his mind.
All the front and back doors and windows of Clear Seclusion Clinic were flung wide open to air out the interior.
'Perfect weather for it.'
Sichuan was in the southern part of the Murim world. It hardly ever got cold.
And right now, it was peak summer heat.
'It's been so hot and humid lately, but today's weather is fantastic.'
Times like this called for sun-drying.
"Let's gather all the bedding from the treatment beds and dry it in the sun outside."
"Yes!"
Dang Seol-yeong had grown accustomed to sun-drying now. She moved briskly, hanging everything out in the Clear Seclusion Clinic courtyard.
As she shook out the blankets and such, she glanced my way and said,
"Still no patients, huh."
I wanted to argue against "still," but I held back.
It was the plain truth.
Then she sidled up to me and asked in a sly tone,
"Shall we do some poison research then?"
"Poison research?"
"I'll make poisons, and you detoxify them. Sound fun?"
I didn't answer.
Honestly, it did sound fun. Poisons were scary in themselves, but my intellectual curiosity as a medical professional was piqued.
But not now. Only after Clear Seclusion Clinic was properly up and running.
No time to spare on that.
I had to focus solely on growing this clinic, awake or asleep.
"No."
"Tch. No patients anyway."
Yeah. She was right.
Why no patients?
The first Murim Alliance warrior was a fluke visitor.
'And all the patients after that were Hao Gate-related.'
In other words, connected to Na Ho-pyeong.
In a way, it meant Na Ho-pyeong had sent them here.
'No more Hao Gate patients coming?'
Whatever his intentions, I was grateful he'd sent patients my way.
At least with some traffic, people wouldn't think the clinic was failing.
'Guess it's time to plan a promotional event soon.'
Time to get serious.
In my past life, I'd held tons of events to promote our Korean medicine clinic.
I'd lured in local elders with free health consultations and given free acupuncture during volunteer work.
'Even distributed free decoctions.'
It was massive spending. Betting it'd all turn into paying customers later.
But the result was just excessive bleeding.
The neighborhood's established Korean medicine clinics were too solidly entrenched.
'But here, I have these abilities.'
Here, I could pull off promotional events a bit differently.
As I pondered promotion ideas,
"Hello?"
Dang Seol-yeong's eyes widened as she looked at me, then she scurried out.
"Welcome. This is Clear Seclusion Clinic."
She bustled about welcoming the guest, grabbing one of the sun-drying bedding sets and laying it back on the treatment bed.
A moment later, I sat facing the patient in the Clear Seclusion Clinic consultation room.
Looking at the medical record he'd filled out, his name was Choi Cheol-bo, a warrior who mainly did caravan escort work.
Bronze skin packed with enormous muscles.
He had a truly rugged look, but at a glance, his left leg was in bad shape.
As I opened my mouth to speak,
Treat Choi Cheol-bo's left leg.
🎁 Reward: Acquire one Insight
Oh.
It'd been a while since I'd seen a mission, and it felt almost welcoming.
'Come to think of it, I have one Insight right now.'
Treating Choi Cheol-bo this time would give me two Insights.
Then I could upgrade the fire needle from proficient to the next level.
'But first, treating the patient comes before that.'
I quickly organized my thoughts and asked Choi Cheol-bo with a relaxed smile,
"Your left leg's in pretty rough shape."
"That's right."
Before a full pulse diagnosis, I needed to hear the progression of the symptoms first.
"How did this happen?"
"About a month ago, on a caravan escort mission. We were heading north along the road when we entered a mountain path."
Choi Cheol-bo continued explaining, recalling that day.
His expression was dark, likely from mental strain over the injury, and his voice heavy.
Even so, he described the details precisely to convey the exact progression to me.
"Then, to protect the caravan from the bandits we ran into, I used my martial arts. I channeled internal energy to increase my weight, standing firm and repelling the bandits. The escort succeeded, but..."
Choi Cheol-bo glanced at his left leg and added bitterly,
"As you can see, my left leg ended up like this."
"No improvement at other clinics, I take it."
Choi Cheol-bo's eyes widened in surprise.
"How did you know?"
"Simple. You wouldn't have left it untreated for a month, there are faint needle marks here and there, and given the timeline, the swelling isn't as bad as it could be, so you must've been taking decoctions steadily."
Choi Cheol-bo's mouth fell open. Then, in a trembling voice, he said,
"...I doubted you at first because you're so young. But seeing your diagnosis, your skills are no joke. Truth be told, I came here after hearing from a guy named Chu that he fixed his back here."
Chu would be Chu Man-seok.
From the Hao Gate, huh?
I'm racking up debts to the Hao Gate left and right.
Choi Cheol-bo's voice grew urgent.
"Can this left leg be healed?"
Then I felt eyes on me.
Glancing aside, Dang Seol-yeong was watching me with a strange look. A "martial arts injury—you sure?" kind of gaze.
And soon it shifted to bright, eager eyes brimming with enthusiasm.
The kind that screamed, "Shall I step in then?" to anyone watching.
I subtly shook my head no, and she looked a bit surprised. But she soon nodded with a face full of firm belief.
'Hold on. He said he used internal energy to increase his weight and stood firm to fight.'
A martial art that popped into my head easily from all the wuxia novels I'd read.
"It's an injury caused by the intricacies of the Thousand Catties Drop technique. Don't worry. It can be cured."
Dang Seol-yeong and Choi Cheol-bo both stared at me in shock.