Chapter 23
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Lancet Needle Therapy
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"A lancet needle?"
Jin Yongho furrowed his brow as he examined the lancet needle I handed him.
"What's this? The Korean medicine clinic I used to go to never mentioned anything like it."
Yeah, that figures.
Unlike the old days when they used all sorts of needles like pricking needles and round needles, modern Korea pretty much only uses filiform needles.
I'd heard there were still quite a few clinics that used lancet needles, but apparently not the one Jin Yongho went to.
As for me... honestly, these are way more convenient.
The martial world didn't have the technology to mass-produce needles as thin as modern filiform ones.
"Regular needles are made of mild steel—they bend but don't break. This one's forged from hardened steel with a sharpened tip for making incisions, like a scalpel or syringe needle."
Safety-wise, filiform needles are obviously better. You can just insert them slowly and avoid blood vessels or nerves.
But there was no way they'd pierce through Jin Yongho's rigidly frozen shoulder.
"So, it's like slicing with a knife?"
"It's just making small holes in the adhered soft tissues. Way less invasive than surgery, though. Seeing is believing—want to give it a try?"
He glanced back and forth between the frozen tendons on the computer screen and the lancet needle in my hand.
His interest piqued by this new treatment, a spark of life returned to his deadened eyes.
"Let's do it, Dad. Come on?"
"Alright, let's give it a shot."
Pretending to relent to his son's urging, Jin Yongho nodded.
He shrugged off his short-sleeved shirt and turned his shoulder toward me.
I marked the spot where I could go straight to the tendons without hitting any dangerous structures, then lightly disinfected it with an alcohol swab.
"Here we go."
Slice. Slice.
I could clearly feel the sensation of the lancet needle piercing through skin and fascia.
Healthy tendons have elasticity; inflamed ones feel sticky. Jin Yongho's shoulder was frozen solid, just like the alternative name for frozen shoulder suggested.
In this state, there was no need to target specific acupoints.
I briskly severed the tissues in the most adhered areas.
"That doesn't hurt as much as I thought. Feels kinda refreshing, actually."
"Right? Give it a try."
"It's over already?"
I declared the treatment done in under a minute.
Jin Yongho looked utterly bewildered.
Expecting the same pain stop at around 90 degrees as before, he cautiously moved his shoulder.
"...?"
But contrary to his assumption,
just as I'd predicted.
"A-are you a divine physician?"
His arm shot straight up.
All the way to 180 degrees, toward the ceiling.
"Wh-what's going on? Why won't it...?"
"Whoaaa!"
His son let out a pure shout of joy, but Jin Yongho seemed overwhelmed by emotions beyond mere happiness.
"Heh, surprised?"
His face was indescribable. "Surprised" didn't even cover it.
"Uh, uh... you called this a lancet needle?"
"Yes."
"It's too anticlimactic—no, miraculous. It could only get worse, never better. This arm hasn't gone higher than this in two years...?"
He couldn't believe it.
Was he dreaming?
He blinked and pinched his cheek, but his senses were sharp as ever.
"Once we loosen it up like this, stretching will be much easier now. Get back to exercising and come in for more treatments."
"Y-yes, of course."
He'd come in resigned to being scammed, never expecting instant results.
If you want quick results, lancet needle; for slow and gentle, moxibustion sliding—both great, but why isn't this more well-known? Well, hearing "divine physician" has its perks, I guess?
"I'll note the angles. Forward to 180 degrees now, about 150 sideways. Backward rotations are still tough."
"I... see."
"The front joint capsule loosens last. Since it responded to the lancet needle, consistent treatments like this will have you cooking again in no time."
I emphasized it wasn't 100% cured and more visits were needed, but Jin Yongho was still out of it.
Amazed that his shoulder could move at all, he kept raising and lowering his arm nonstop.
"Is this for real?"
"Of course. You can run the restaurant, play with your energetic son—all of it."
At the confident Korean medicine doctor's words, years of past daily life flashed before Jin Yongho like a montage.
Running the shop all day, strolling with his son on days off—ordinary, happy days.
Reading books together, play-fighting with toy swords, trips to amusement parks—joyful times.
All shattered when he lost the use of his arm.
At first, he toughed it out through the pain. It'll get better. Any day now.
But mercilessly, his shoulder stiffened more. He had to hire a head chef. He hated letting outsiders into his kitchen of decades, but no choice.
Then customers complained the taste changed and left. Deficits piled up.
Jin Yongho thought that was hell.
But it wasn't the end.
A month after deciding with his wife to close shop, he learned you couldn't just shut down on a whim.
He realized how lucky and happy he'd been, but there was no road back.
"See, Dad? Told you coming here was the right call."
Yunho poked out his belly as he spoke.
Truth be told, Jin Yongho had been a bad dad these past months, snapping at his son for just talking.
Even yesterday... hadn't he freaked out and yelled when his son mentioned treating stomach pain for a thousand won?
Walking into this clinic, he'd been seething with irritation.
"Yeah... you're right."
Now, it was touching.
"Head to the treatment room for physical therapy and regular acupuncture. Wait outside, and the staff will guide you."
He barely registered what the director said next,
or the staff's instructions after.
Jin Yongho just soaked and underwent the rest of the treatment.
"Your arm moves now? For real?"
"I told him to go. Good call, right, Mom?"
"Thank goodness... such a relief...!"
His wife, who'd been solely supporting the family for nearly a year at another restaurant, was overjoyed at the news of his shoulder improving.
"When can you start working again? How?"
"Not sure... I'll ask tomorrow."
"Okay. Focus on treatment for now."
"I'll massage your shoulder!"
He hugged his grateful, loving family tight.
Maybe it was a blessing the lease hadn't been snapped up. Would the regulars come back if he reopened?
Dreaming of a bright future, Jin Yongho enjoyed his son's massage.
"Ah!"
Suddenly snapping out of his reverie, Jin Yongho clapped his hands as something hit him.
"What's up, Dad?"
It wasn't a big deal.
He'd just realized, in his overwhelming emotion, he hadn't even said thank you.
"You said you found it from NewTube, right? I should at least leave a comment."
He'd bring fruit tomorrow for a proper thank-you, but first, he wanted to do something now.
"Yeah, hold on."
His son opened the NewTube app and searched "acupuncture Korean medicine doctor."
The title's too plain. Acupuncture sounds ASMR?
"...?"
But the video before his eyes was light-years from ASMR or clinic promo.
"Wh-what is this? Amidst a thousand flowers?"
"You hear what I said yesterday? Learned to hurl thunderbolts from the director!"
"...From the martial world?"
"It's all composited!"
"Obviously. But this is... what?"
Thus, Jin Yongho took one step toward the truth, then turned right back around.
After treating Jin Yongho, patients noticeably increased.
Yi Jin brought three; one, Grandma Heo Sunnam, referred five. Jin Yongho brought a whopping nine.
Some were his acquaintances, others from NewTube.
[Got frozen shoulder treated at this clinic—arm that wouldn't lift for 2 years now goes up!]
I checked the local fountain statue. No doubt it's this clinic.
Like Jin Yunho, locals who knew the neighborhood fountain, or anyone watching a few of Seo In-a's videos, could easily guess the clinic.
"Isn't Seo In-a's info too exposed? Is that okay?"
"Nah, my vlogs already show all the nearby restaurants. Don't worry! More importantly, let's make a blog! Strike while the iron's hot!"
We quickly set up a bare-bones blog with just hours and location.
Maybe serialize some treatment cases from the martial world later?
Once we added the link, comments popped up scoffing if it was clinic promo.
But the negatives got buried under foreigners' gasps of awe and heated debates.
No way this is real. That fountain statue's clearly stone—how does a needle pierce stone?
Composite, obviously.
Green lightning? Total graphics. But how do you fake the needle actually penetrating?
Magnets? Do they have special rigid needles for insertion?
People arguing physics, impossibility, what-have-you.
'...Yeah. Without internal energy, it'd bend and drop right off.'
Did I tell her to film without thinking because I was drunk...? Luckily, Seo In-a, who'd seen it live, didn't care, but there are always folks who get fired up debating everything.
Hmm, editing the video now would look even more suspicious. Big broadcasts do this stuff all the time, and NewTube couldn't care less!
You've amassed fine internal energy. May I ask which sect's disciple you are?
Amused by the chatter, I scrolled down the comments.
One odd one caught my eye.
lololol
Concept faker.
Thunderbolt, so Tang family—threw in green CG lololol
Everyone treated it as a joke, spamming "lol" in replies, but it bugged me a bit.
[With no training partner to share my cultivation, loneliness is my only companion. I leave these words in faint hope of reaching you. I yearn to discuss martial arts. Please, send me an email.]
Hmm, hmm~! Hmmm.
I clicked his profile. His channel even had demos of Four-Direction Swordsmanship and Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms.
'Way different from the Jeonmaeng and Hwasan styles I know.'
Other videos claimed his sect's forms... something felt off.
Infused with internal energy? Or not?
Hard to tell from video.
What is this? Modern people still training martial arts?
Internet has danjeon breathing methods, so not impossible. But ambient qi is way lower than the murim world—proper meditation yields less than 1/3 efficiency.
With online methods... maybe feel a hint after a decade?
[Hello. Saw your comment on the video and emailing you.]
Eh, nothing to lose!
I decided to reach out, figuring what the hell.
[A mere physician who stayed as a guest at the Sichuan Tang Family Estate and learned martial arts by peeking. If my humble knowledge can help...]
Reviewing my email—5,500 characters. A bit much?
If he's not a real martial artist, he'll think I'm nuts. Scratching my head, I hit send.
The next day.
"Good morning. Whoa, you look down. Something wrong?"
"Ah, got a scammer call first thing. Same voice phishing trick third time. No idea where my number got leaked. As if anyone's falling for it."
"That sounds frustrating."
I exchanged morning greetings with Seo In-a and entered the exam room, booting up the computer.
Logged in habitually, and there was a reply to yesterday's email.
A martial artist trained by his grandfather in Gyeongju, spilling his long tale.
Compared to this, my email was barely TMI.
One line jumped out amid the wall of text:
[I have a real martial arts manual.]
Scenarios swirled in my head.
Grandpa went to a murim world like me? What's "real manual" mean? Modern training method?
[I'll come to Gyeongju.]
Couldn't hold back curiosity, so I replied.
Until the accidental upload, I'd hidden my martial world origins. Just seem crazy otherwise.
But this made my heart race—maybe others had learned martial arts too.
Nothing would change, but I wanted to talk.
'Whatever! If his manual works well... yeah, teach Yi Jin too!'
I swapped contacts with the mysterious man and set a meetup right away.