Chapter 98
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: The Newspaper Club Interview
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“Sorry for barging in on your day off! I figured you'd turn me down if I asked ahead of time, so I just showed up unannounced!”
“Ahh...”
So that's why she came without any warning.
She wasn't some kid who didn't know better—prior notice was basic courtesy. And if she was in the newspaper club, she'd have done plenty of interviews by now.
“It's fine. These things happen. Actually, this worked out better. If you'd come on a workday, I'd have been swamped.”
“Thank you so much for saying that. I just really, really wanted to see you.”
I averted my eyes from Yi Areum's intense gaze and asked the front desk for two cups of tea.
“Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. Let's chat over some tea.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
What was she thanking me for? I hadn't done anything yet.
Yi Areum's eyes sparkled as she pulled out her notebook.
She looked like she had a ton to say, her mouth practically twitching with excitement, but I went ahead and scratched my own itch first.
“By the way, what exactly did Professor Lee Minseok tell you about me?”
What on earth did he say to make a student drop everything and rush down to Busan?
“I heard all sorts of things! He said you've been exceptional since your student days! He told me about how you treated a tinnitus patient thanks to a senior's referral, and how you diagnosed a digestive issue on a plane. He even said you're the kind of doctor who writes opinion pieces on chest pain treatment... Oh, and the recent incident with actress Hyun Jumi! Plus, he mentioned this director he introduced you to just opened their third branch and it's doing amazingly well!”
Yi Areum unleashed a torrent of words, like she'd been holding them back just for this moment.
It didn't even feel like an interview was her real goal—her mouth wouldn't stop.
“I... see.”
A few of those tidbits were things Professor Lee Minseok didn't need to know about.
The plane story must've come from another professor. And Mom's chest pain as an orthopedic surgeon? Did he deliberately search for our clinic's name or something?
“He said you're destined for great things, and the other professors are always singing your praises too!”
“Cough!”
I nearly choked on my tea.
Great things? All I wanted was to line my own pockets!
“So, what did you want to ask me?”
I quickly wrapped up the professor talk and steered the conversation back on track.
This was getting embarrassing. Better to just get the interview over with.
“Um, well.”
Only then did Yi Areum flip through her notebook.
Wait... this wasn't an official newspaper club interview?
I didn't have close contacts in the club, but most fourth-year students prepping for nationals had dropped extracurriculars.
...Did she use the club as an excuse just to see me?
“How did you study back in school? It's only been two years since you graduated, right? How did you build skills that surpass all that experience?”
But beyond just wanting to see me, she clearly had real questions lined up.
She'd probably done other interviews before.
Hmm, straight for the jugular on the first question.
Surpass two years of experience?
I hadn't. In reality, it was twenty-two years of triumphs and failures stacked up solidly.
“I don't think I've surpassed anything. I admit where my experience lacks, and I do my absolute best in what I can handle. There's no royal road to studying either.”
“Ah, got it! Makes sense. What prescriptions do you mainly use? Classical formulas? Later prescriptions? Sasang formulas?”
My textbook answer opened the floodgates, and Yi Areum dove into specifics.
Classical formulas—literally "ancient prescriptions"—refer to those from the foundational texts Treatise on Cold Damage and Essential Prescriptions from the Golden Cabinet.
Everything developed over the next 1,800 years falls under later prescriptions.
Sasang formulas come from the Joseon-era physician Lee Je-ma's Longevity and Life Preservation in Eastern Medicine.
“Personally, I don't like drawing those lines. If I had to pick, it'd be later prescriptions, but I'll use whatever's needed. For studying, I'd say start with classical, then later, then Sasang.”
My baseline was later prescriptions.
Wasn't it weird to lump all post-Treatise prescriptions—whether straight from doctors' records or modified by symptoms—under "later prescriptions"?
Some doctors stuck rigidly to classical formulas, but blindly following a book from around 220 AD... I didn't buy it.
They endured because they were exceptional, but old martial arts manuals weren't automatically the strongest.
Still, they had their merits.
For instance, the Gardenia Decoction I'd used on Mun Young-hee, Park Young-gil's mother, was classical—and it outperformed later formulas with just a handful of herbs.
And Sasang... I didn't use it much myself.
Dividing people into Taeyang, Taeeum, Soyang, and Soeum types was a relatively modern theory.
Longevity and Life Preservation came out in 1894, late Joseon.
The murim world had no Sasang constitution concepts.
But I'd felt it plenty: some patients unresponsive to standard prescriptions fit Sasang types perfectly, and Taeyang formulas worked wonders.
“Ooh, I see.”
Yi Areum nodded vigorously, like my take on prescriptions was revelatory.
Nothing special there—just what most later-prescription users thought.
“How about acupuncture?”
“Pretty standard. For musculoskeletal issues, I base it on anatomy, targeting the affected muscles and ligaments. For internal medicine, I hit the relevant meridians and pain points directly.”
“Yep. Nothing too different from the usual! So what's the secret to your success?”
Hm.
Tricky question.
Being able to read qi sped up acupuncture recovery, sure.
But even plain needles healed patients who were going to recover anyway.
And referrals weren't about speed either. People often dragged friends in right after their first visit, before full recovery.
“Hmm, maybe it's the sincerity reaching them? I study everything I can in advance, give my all to each patient, explain the treatment thoroughly. And I obsess over the treatments themselves too.”
“Ooooh! That's so cool!”
“Oh, and you need stamina. Other doctors care just as much, but past a certain patient load, your mental and physical limits hit hard.”
My old disciples from the clinic popped into mind.
I hadn't met many modern Korean doctors, but back then, once those guys saw 50 or 60 patients a day... their eyes turned glassy.
Your daily capacity for attentive care was capped by stamina.
For the record, after a hundred days off patients and pure external martial training, their eyes cleared right up.
“Got it! I'll work on my stamina too!”
“Exercise, exercise. I even put all my staff through personal training. Nag the branch directors to train whenever I get the chance.”
“Whoaaa...”
Still, scribbling "stamina" with five stars was a bit much.
“What sparked the second and third branches? What are you aiming for with this network model?”
...Money?
Casual work with auto-farming?
Only fun patients?
Something like that, but the last two bombed.
Getting tangled in the second branch mess—no, jumping in myself—only ramped up the patient flood.
“Hmm, something like focusing on treatment essentials and academic exchange to fill the gaps. I figured I could cover the needs of like-minded folks who wanted to team up.”
“Ooh! So, expansion plans after the fourth branch?”
“Anyone fate brings my way is welcome.”
Too honest?
Couldn't help it. Never had some grand business philosophy.
I braced for disappointment, but...
“Wow! A network centered on treatment... so cool! If amazing directors like you build this for better care, tons of patients could get top treatment anywhere.”
The girl flung exclamations at everything I said.
Was she picturing Haneul Clinics blanketing Korea? Her eyes took on a dreamy glaze.
They say the seat shapes the person. That adoring gaze made even I sound profound.
“How can I build that connection with you to run the fourth branch someday?”
Pfft!
I nearly spat my tea for real.
She had ambitions there too?
“Coming here and talking like this? I'd say we've connected already.”
“Kyaaa!”
Yi Areum lit up.
I liked her too.
Introductions like Kim Chun-sik's were great, but I lacked those networks—had to hunt people down myself.
If you needed connections, you had to make them boldly, right?
“Me! I'll come back right after graduation! If there's an opening, make me deputy director! If not, I'll get experience elsewhere and aim for the fourth... or maybe fifth or sixth branch!”
“Sure. If you still feel that way post-graduation, you're in.”
Yi Areum kept firing questions after that.
How I became a Korean doctor, recommended student studies for the paper, even personal stuff like bonding with Hyun Jumi.
“If you're free tomorrow, stick around and observe some treatments!”
Feeling good, I offered clinic observation too.
Yi Areum canceled her train and booked a motel on the spot.
“Thank you so much!”
Wait, wasn't she in the middle of the semester? Tomorrow was Monday—skipping classes okay?
She was as impulsive as me.
What if I hadn't met her? No appointment, just showed up in Busan.
Guess her gambit banked on sincerity winning out.
“Speaking of which, it's already May.”
Even hearing she'd graduated two years ago had given me pause.
The clinic was just shy of two years open, but my Busan ties went way back.
“May means... Teacher's Day.”
Parents? Gone. Kids? None.
Teacher's Day was my one shot. Was that why Master appeared in my dream?
Visiting him in the murim world was impossible, sadly.
Getting back here had taken everything—total lunar eclipse for peak yin energy, pouring peak-expert inner power into Soul Return Great Law.
How could I gather that much here without thirty Heavenly Spirit Rejuvenation herbs or that old man who tossed me there?
[Seoyeong-ah, wanna hang at school?]
Fine, I'd settle for other teachers.
Professors counted too, right?
Thinking of school sparked a great idea.
Confront Professor Lee Minseok on what he was blabbing to students.
And meet Hwang Seoyeong's advisor too.
If that herbology professor knew who I was after, they might hook me up.