Chapter 27
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Banxia Xiexin Decoction
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
"...?"
Where am I? I was at the wedding hall just a moment ago?
Hwang Sanghun's eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright.
Thankfully, while the ceiling was unfamiliar, the walls looked familiar. His cousin's graduation photo was prominently hung there.
"Seoyeong's place?"
Right, he'd definitely gone to the wedding.
He'd collapsed ridiculously in the parking lot, run into Han Yeowon unexpectedly, and with her and Hwang Seoyeong's help, he'd woken up and made it to the ceremony unscathed.
And then, and then...
"I passed out again?"
Was there really something seriously wrong with his body? A flicker of worry hit him, but Hwang Sanghun quickly assessed his condition.
He felt better than ever. Like he'd slept a solid twelve hours.
"Ah!"
No way it was already Monday, right? Hwang Sanghun hurriedly checked his phone.
Fortunately, it was still Sunday at 6 p.m. He had a full twelve hours before work.
Relieved, he slowly got out of bed.
"How did I even get here..."
He racked his brain while grabbing a bottle of mineral water from the kitchen and chugging it, but that part just wouldn't come back to him.
Everything after getting a knuckle rap from Han Yeowon had vanished from his memory.
*Ding-dong.*
As he was alone in the empty house, trying to piece things together, the sound of the door lock disengaging echoed through.
He headed straight for the entrance.
"Oh, you're up, bro? You okay?"
Hwang Seoyeong kicked off her shoes haphazardly as she entered. She tossed the paper bag she'd been carrying from the department store onto the floor and checked Hwang Sanghun's complexion.
'Much better.'
It had been worth channeling energy into him in the car so he could sleep soundly. This was supposed to be a special skill reserved for patients on the brink of death, right?
"Yeah. You two brought me here?"
"Yep. Yeowon worked really hard."
"I'm sorry!"
I bowed ninety degrees toward Hwang Sanghun.
The first faint was one thing, but the second one was at least... no, about a third my fault, so I had to treat him!
"No, what are you doing? I was the one who caused trouble."
Hwang Sanghun waved his hands in panic, but I stubbornly apologized.
"I didn't realize your health was so fragile and was rude. Not all men in their twenties are healthy—I was narrow-minded."
"No, it wasn't that bad..."
"It's all my fault. I should have handled you like a delicate child."
Hwang Sanghun floundered, trying to stop me. Only after seeing his snickering cousin did he pat his chest in relief.
"Ah... you were joking."
"One hundred percent serious. I'm just relieved you woke up looking so refreshed."
The expression was a bit exaggerated, but it was entirely sincere.
I guess I'd had a bias about young people's health.
In the murim, men in their twenties were usually later-generation disciples of martial clans or folks who spent their days in farm labor.
And the guys in their twenties who came to our clinic were at least seventy percent athletes nursing injuries somewhere, so I hadn't seen many like Hwang Sanghun who wilted so easily.
People these days, men and women alike, don't get much physical activity, so maybe a knuckle rap could make them wobble.
"I really... passed out like that again?"
"Yeah! My lifespan shortened by twenty years yesterday because of you!"
"Haha... sorry."
"You were the one joking. You slept so soundly."
At a loss for words, Hwang Sanghun scratched his head.
"Maybe I should've just waited in the car like you said. Probably caused a scene at Eugene-sunbae's wedding. Oh, who carried me here?"
"Yeowon did."
Come to think of it, that was another lack of caution on my part.
"...?"
"She must've been tired~ she said, then just princess-carried you right up like whoosh. Everyone was shocked and flipped out—you missed it!"
Since I got away with posting a blatant martial arts video on NewTube without getting caught, I'd let my guard down too much. I should've at least pretended to struggle.
Hwang Sanghun rolled his eyes in confusion.
"I'm a bit strong."
His face blurred oddly. He clearly didn't buy it.
Hmm... I'd always thought he was annoyingly impassive, but maybe because it had been a while or he was exhausted, I could read his expression a little.
"Want me to carry you again?"
"No thanks. I'll pass."
"You overcame three near-death crises while you slept. Seoyeong drove us here."
I gave a suitable answer and changed the subject. Chatting about getting my license right after returning to Busan, I quickly unpacked the food.
It was sushi we'd bought in the basement food court after shopping ran late into dinner time.
"Let's eat and talk."
"Ah, sure."
I'd never eaten like this combo back in school, but life really was unpredictable.
I ripped open all the packaging and laid it out on the table. Hwang Seoyeong aggressively snatched the tasty pieces.
"Aren't you eating, bro?"
In contrast, Hwang Sanghun seemed to lack appetite, just poking at it.
"I'll eat slowly. My stomach's been burning a lot lately."
As expected, there was an issue.
"Bro, did you try treating it and it didn't work? Or have you just been ignoring it?"
"Ah, heartburn's just occasional..."
"Your insomnia seems really chronic."
"...Yeah."
"I'm not scolding you! If it's the former, I can help—or rather, wouldn't it be good to figure it out together?"
"Ah."
Hwang Sanghun's eyes widened a bit, like a kid caught skipping meals for sweets.
"You gonna prescribe something?"
"Yes. Of course, you probably have great directors around you too."
"Nah, not really. I'd be so grateful if you did. I've been thinking I should do something but just toughed it out. Can't quit work anyway—what would change?"
"Your ability to endure stress would improve!"
With the patient's consent, we three quickly polished off the sushi and gathered again.
At the clinic, we used computers for prescriptions and compounding, but spreading out paper felt just like studying back in the academy.
"Got a prescription in mind?"
"Sort of, but I need to do a proper inquiry first."
"Right, right."
Hwang Seoyeong picked up the pen and wrote "Chief Complaint" at the top.
"Chief complaint's insomnia, right? What time do you go to bed and wake up?"
"Bedtime varies... but I have to be at work by 5, so 4 a.m. if I wake up at home, 4:30 from the on-call room."
"Eek! What kind of hospital starts that early?"
"Yours doesn't?"
"Ours is 6!"
Even Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital seemed tough.
Hospitals were hospitals. Worlds apart from private practice schedules.
"So about four hours of sleep? You sleep by midnight?"
"Fall asleep around 2... adding naps, maybe 3 or 4 hours."
"Hard to fall asleep?"
"Takes an hour to nod off... wake up once midway, day or night. Lots of times I'm not sure if I'm sleeping or just eyes closed."
"Since when?"
"Always took a while to fall asleep. Got this bad after starting at the hospital. On-calls so frequent—drowsy days, wiped nights."
Hmm, as suspected from the collapse, symptoms were severe. Extreme sleep deprivation left no room to recover from daily physical and mental stress.
"Ever collapsed into sleep like this before?"
"No. This week was especially... busy with work. Swapped shifts for the wedding, pulled all-nighters handling prof's tasks."
"All-nighter yesterday?"
"About a week."
Correction. Way worse environment than Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital. How do they even function on no sleep for a week?
'Good thing I didn't go.'
If I'd fallen for Professor Lee Minseok's temptation... Chilling. Private practice wasn't easy, but at least meals and sleep were on my terms.
"Appetite looks poor too."
"Yeah. Always eat fast and clear anyway, so didn't notice."
"Digestion bad?"
"Yeah. Anything stimulating burns right up. Some diarrhea too."
Hwang Sanghun pressed below his xiphoid.
"Epigastric fullness?"
I zeroed in and asked back.
Epigastric fullness literally meant blockage below the heart—stuffed under the xiphoid, not super hard to the touch.
"...Ah, so this is epigastric fullness."
Hwang Sanghun pressed his own and said.
For reference, if it felt hard on palpation, it was hardened epigastric fullness—more severe than basic fullness.
"Had it long?"
"Hmm, stomach wasn't great even as a student. But Haneul-hyung kept dragging me to drinks..."
"Aigoo."
As expected, illnesses don't appear overnight. He'd never properly detoxed the alcohol damage.
"Face a bit flushed, so some upper heat too. Insomnia, poor appetite, heartburn, indigestion, diarrhea, epigastric fullness. Crystal clear."
I tapped the paper with my finger. Nailed the key differentiations and the core issue.
"Gui Pi Tang?"
But Hwang Seoyeong threw out a curveball.
"Not every insomnia or appetite loss is Gui Pi Tang."
"Must be tons of stress~ Overthinking, right? Then epigastric fullness is phlegm-damp, so Wen Dan Tang?"
"Insomnia formulas aren't just those two! Wen Dan's better of the pair, though."
"Whoa, you sound like Professor Lee Minseok!"
The two she mentioned, Gui Pi Tang and Wen Dan Tang, were classic insomnia remedies.
Gui Pi Tang (Spleen-Restoring Decoction) was for overthinking or stress-related symptoms, great for deficient types like scholars... or rather, exam-takers and office workers. Best if poor appetite plus palpitations.
Wen Dan Tang was for more excess patterns—phlegm-heat, startling easily, restless dreams.
Neither was wrong, really.
Phlegm accumulation and long-term insomnia could lead to deficiency, so either would help organs self-regulate.
Couldn't help a broken body one way or another?
'No need to take the Gyeongbu Expressway when the coastal route to Busan works fine.'
The right formula was the fastest, most efficient recovery. A practitioner's skill was selecting meds that fit perfectly.
"Appetite loss threw you off, but that's secondary. Core is epigastric fullness. Must unblock first."
"Heh, so what's Director Han Yeowon's pick?"
Hwang Seoyeong offered the pen with both hands. Hwang Sanghun watched with interest too.
"No need to overthink."
I took the pen, drew a human figure on the paper, and marked the epigastric fullness spot.
"Scenario clear, right? Chronic stress since school, stomach issues—maybe booze, not sure."
"Yeah."
"Initially recovered with rest and food, but hospital restricted sleep externally. Builds up, blocks flow?"
"Uh-huh."
"Core's epigastric fullness. Lump here disrupts upper-lower heat communication—upper hot, lower cold. Heat to head kills sleep, cold lower belly causes diarrhea."
So, resolve in same order.
If body too weak for purging—like frail elderly—pair with tonics, but... Hwang Sanghun wasn't there yet.
I listed herbs below the drawing.
Pinellia, Scutellaria, Coptis, Ginseng, Atractylodes, Jujube, and Licorice.
Banxia Xiexin Tang.
"Ah!"
Hwang Seoyeong clapped as realization dawned.
"Xiexin... right. Purge before tonify."
Hwang Sanghun got it too upon seeing the answer.
If it were multiple choice, he'd have nailed it—but real prescriptions weren't that easy.