Chapter 4
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Slippery Start and Exam Blues
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The moment Jo Haneul stepped onto the podium, he stepped on a coin that had flown in from somewhere.
"Whoa-aaah!"
And with a refreshingly loud thud, he slid across the floor.
He slipped about fifty centimeters before landing flat on his butt.
"Oof~."
I followed him through the open front door of the lecture hall, brushing right past him.
I couldn't resist tossing a line down at Jo Haneul as he sat there clutching his back.
"Why pull out that outdated slapstick routine?"
Jo Haneul whipped his head up to glare at me, so I instinctively reached out with Void Grasping to retrieve the coin but quickly hid my hand and flashed a grin instead.
"Haneul hyung, you okay?"
Jo Haneul's friend rushed over to help him up, but that only made his face turn even redder.
"Of c-course I'm fine."
"Who drops a coin on the floor like that? You didn't twist your ankle, did you?"
"I'm good. Doesn't hurt at all. How'd you even clean during break?"
He got up, huffing unnecessarily, but the more he blustered, the funnier it got.
"So, what's going on here?"
Not long after, the professor returned to the lecture hall with my senior, their hands full of exam papers.
"Nothing... at all."
Jo Haneul slunk back to his seat without another word.
"Put all your books away. Just your usual skills—take it easy."
I chuckled and twirled my pen.
Usual skills, huh?
Flip.
I flipped to the first page with a flourish.
'......'
Less than five minutes in, I was already tearing my hair out.
If they'd lined up every patient from the dozens or hundreds described on the exam right in front of me, it wouldn't have been a problem at all.
Spot-on diagnosis, meticulous treatment, even follow-up advice—what could go wrong? I was confident in delivering perfect care.
But picking from five choices?
'The chief complaint is insomnia, but why are these the options? Do they want pulse diagnosis and pattern differentiation? Since it's deficiency, skip the Dragon Bone and Oyster Shell Decoction.'
Without free rein for questioning, the given info was woefully inadequate.
'There's a better way in real life.' 'Tang formulas aren't even that meaningful for this condition.' Once those thoughts started nagging, it never ended.
'Only twenty minutes left?!'
By the time I barely grasped how to approach the problems, time had vanished. Elimination was the only way for every question.
I frantically scratched out answers, flipping pages.
At least the ones asking to pick a herbal prescription based on symptoms were tolerable.
- Among the following, the one dried from the heartwood of Caesalpinia Sappan L. for invigorating blood and dispelling stasis?
Questions demanding rote knowledge like that...
'How am I supposed to know the plant's origin? They put this on an exam?'
There was nothing for it.
'No clue—number four!'
In the end, stacking the least-picked numbers was my best bet.
"Handing back the exams~."
I could outshine my classmates or even the professors with hands-on experience, but textbook knowledge was a whole different beast.
Sure, I'd devoured medical texts back there until I was sick of them, but Korea had its own exam style. Classical texts and test prep were hardly the same discipline.
"Ugh......"
I barely finished marking and turned it in. I was confident in maybe a third of the answers.
My vision swam.
After all that showing off earlier, if I had to retake it?
I'd never be able to hold my head up.
"Easier than I thought, right? Not too different from the national exam format."
"Yeah...... sure."
This was on the national licensing exam too?
'No way... I don't have to worry about passing, do I?'
Just swallowing brought on heartburn.
"Anyway, total payback."
Hwang Seoyeong whispered in my ear, clearly not thinking I'd bombed it. I turned to where she nodded, and there was Jo Haneul.
"Hmph."
Seoyeong looked satisfied, but disappointingly, Jo Haneul wasn't the least bit deflated.
As expected, after the professor showed up and forced him back to his seat, he was drawing attention from the back corner anyway.
Hwang Sanghun, Jo Haneul's best friend and runner-up last semester, dragged over a chair, sat him down, and rolled up his pant leg.
"Does it hurt here? The anterior talofibular ligament?"
"Y-yeah."
Hwang Sanghun pressed the ankle, and Jo Haneul nodded vigorously. He pulled out some needles from somewhere on the desk, drawing sly glances from a few classmates.
"Starting with Qiuxu point."
He was putting on quite the show for basic ankle treatment.
'It's obviously fine.'
I'd clearly seen him slip without twisting and just fall on his butt.
If anything hurt, it'd be his back or tailbone, but he couldn't very well drop trou in class, so this was his excuse.
"What a clown."
Hwang Seoyeong voiced exactly what I was thinking.
Did he think strutting around with the decent-looking Hwang Sanghun and their two lackeys made them some F4?
'Looking at him now, he's nothing special.'
Maybe it was because I was used to my master's Sichuan Beauty face or the Heavenly Demon's before she became cult leader, back when she was called Flower-Faced Asura?
Hwang Sanghun, who I'd thought was pretty handsome, now just looked like a squid to me.
Though he'd popped up plenty on community boards with titles like "Does the Korean medicine hottie at Korea Uni have a girlfriend?"
"Whoa, that's some solid needling~."
But regardless of my take, my senior's tone rose unmistakably.
Yeah, they were pretty popular.
Jo Haneul was the son of the head of a well-known network clinic, Hwang Sanghun's grandpa ran a major Korean medicine hospital, and they alternated top scores—what did you expect?
Jo Haneul, Hwang Sanghun, and their two tag-alongs. The classmates who saw them as thorns were pretty much just me and Seoyeong.
"Let them have their fun. Let's grab some food."
"Sure. What're we eating?"
We turned away like we'd seen enough and headed out of school.
"Kimchi jjigae."
"Kimchi stew again?"
"I really missed it in China."
"Even if you went two months without it, that's gotta be five times this week!"
I scratched my head but led the way, while Hwang Seoyeong grumbled behind me.
"No afternoon classes, so it feels weird. Last semester we wrapped at almost six."
"Tell me about it."
The food came quick.
"Ahh, so refreshing!"
"You've got it down pat, uncle."
I let out an inadvertent moan like the Heavenly Demon's and caught myself.
Truth be told, my real age was probably closer to those uncles knocking back soju over there than Seoyeong's.
"Café?"
Right after eating, Hwang Seoyeong asked. Normally, meal then café was the routine.
"Nah, heading to the library. Café next time."
I passed today.
I wasn't even in the running for top score, and I might be that 1% dragging down Korea University's 99% national exam pass rate.
Couldn't embarrass myself right after getting back to Korea.
"Library?"
"Yup."
"Studying on the first day? For real?"
Hwang Seoyeong blinked in disbelief.
"Dead serious."
I nodded.
No exaggeration—I really needed to study sixteen hours a day.
"Dude, the midterms are over two months away!"
That's what I'd thought until just now too.
Unlike other classmates just reviewing last semester, I had six years' worth to cram—and hadn't even realized it.
I left a stunned Hwang Seoyeong behind and headed to the central library.
As expected, on opening day at 2 p.m., not many students were settled in.
"Nice and spacious. Not a single classmate."
Not just classmates—hardly any from other departments either. Just a few prepping for certs or exams scribbling in the reading rooms.
"You think?"
Seoyeong whispered but followed me anyway. She could've gone home, so maybe she wanted to study too?
I plopped down in a corner and checked the school homepage and group chat.
I'd said I'd study, but first I needed to know what subjects we had.
[That's all the exams.]
A notification popped up on my phone.
As I scanned the academic calendar, Seoyeong sent a file compiling exams and assignments for fourth-year second semester.
Sure enough, unlike last semester's packed schedule from nine to six, class hours were drastically reduced.
Up through fourth-year first semester, coursework and hospital rotations were basically done. Final semester left plenty of time to prep for the January national exam.
There were lectures like [Medical Law] and [Clinical Seminar], but the former was pure memorization, the latter just profs sharing clinical stories—light stuff.
'Only the Herbology and Acupuncture profs who tested us today are known to exam [Clinical Seminar] separately... ugh, rotten luck.'
Anyway, the biggest chunk of grades came from the graduation exam.
'Hmm.'
Graduation exam was a mock national exam—same subjects and question count, just a tad harder.
School's way of weeding out anyone who might tank their 100% pass rate banner?
Not easy for someone who might be that 1%, of course.
'Start with first-period subject.'
I thanked Seoyeong for the file and was about to dive in.
[Thanks.]
[Wait up]
But she stopped me.
[Heard Acupuncture [Clinical Seminar] is tricky without past papers.]
[?]
I sent a question mark and rechecked the file. The exam format looked straightforward.
- Acupuncture Medicine Exam (Prof. Kim Seongcheol) - Draw a slip with 4 random acupoints listed and needle them
Just needle and done. What, check to 0.1cm?
[Only certain points come up.]
[??]
Two question marks.
So "random" wasn't really random—same points every year?
[So seniors who've taken it all know?]
[Yup. But grads over six months out won't remember. That one club keeps records.]
[Ah......]
The old tradition of hoarding past questions to pass down.
Hwang Sanghun, club president, probably had them—and shared with bestie and club member Jo Haneul, naturally.
Memories flickered of getting burned in classes solved that way before.
[No big deal.]
Western med subjects could nitpick obscure details. With vast material and impossible PPT memorization, past papers made or broke you.
But an acupuncture exam like that?
[There are only 365 principal meridian acupoints. Can't memorize 'em and need past papers?]
Shouldn't every Korean doctor know them cold?