Chapter 99
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Professor Reunions
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"Ugh! Yeowon, it's been forever! Ever since graduation, it's been so hard to see your face. How've you been?"
"I've been great. You finally at a point where the hospital life's bearable?"
"Yeah, yeah. Second year as a resident, and it's definitely livable now. Intern year was the real killer, just like everyone says."
Sure enough, better than her intern days or first-year residency, Hwang Seoyeong's face looked brighter every time they met.
"Sanghoon oppa might've been fine sticking it out at the hospital too. I wonder if I dragged away someone valuable for no good reason."
"Pfft, what are you talking about? Oppa was thrilled to go there—he was over the moon!"
"Over the moon... I still feel grateful and guilty for working him so hard."
"Aigoo! Every time we talked, he said he was loving it! Once I get my specialist certification, hire me at your clinic too!"
Now the job pleas were lining up.
Next year, Lee Areum as deputy director, and the year after, specialist-certified Hwang Seoyeong?
But what could she do? Hwang Sanghoon had no plans to leave, so there were no spots open.
"We should go see Professor Shin first, right?"
Chatting away in Hwang Seoyeong's car, they arrived at Korea University in no time. She was getting pretty good at driving now.
Today, they were meeting four professors from Korea University.
Their advising professors, Lee Minseok, and the homeroom professor from their first year of regular undergrad who had always looked out for their class in various ways.
They had meals planned with the advisors, so they met Professor Shin first.
"Heh heh, I knew you'd make it big as a student. Keep pushing forward."
"Thank you for introducing me to those great seniors and writing that recommendation letter for China. It's nothing compared to your kindness, but I prepared something simple."
"Heh heh heh, what's this!"
They gave Professor Shin a bottle of yangju and some flowers, exchanging light well-wishes.
Her advisor was still in class, so they grabbed drinks from the lounge vending machine.
"Han Yeowon? Hwang Seoyeong?"
And just like that, they ran into Professor Lee Minseok.
They'd planned to meet him in the afternoon, and were going to head over after lunch anyway.
"You're early. Have you eaten?"
"We have lunch with Professors An Min and Park Suyoung."
"Ah, you should've said so earlier. I'll join you."
"...?"
What?
She'd deliberately scheduled around the older professors to avoid any awkwardness.
'Is he secretly a social butterfly despite appearances?'
A little later, they ended up at a Korean set-menu restaurant: three professors and two graduates.
Fortunately or not, the place happily expanded their four-person reservation to five.
Chalara...
Among the professors, the youngest, Lee Minseok, swiftly set the tableware.
An Min, Hwang Seoyeong's advisor, was a professor of materia medica and the department chair of Korean Medicine.
Park Suyoung, her advisor, specialized in phlegm-stasis internal medicine and was the director of Korea University's affiliated Korean medicine hospital.
Both were veteran professors and power players in their own right at the school.
"Thank you for squeezing us in on such short notice."
"Haha, no trouble at all! We need young folks like Professor Lee to liven things up!"
Even so, Lee Minseok showed no sign of discomfort. If anything, he tossed out flattery as naturally as breathing.
He didn't look the type, but maybe that's how he became a professor so young?
"Isn't Han Yeowon swamped with your business right now? Huhu, why bother visiting old fogeys like us in the back room?"
Park Suyoung's words left her dumbfounded.
Humility has its limits, Professor. The hospital director with over ten years until retirement calling himself a back-room old-timer?
"The more patients I see, the more I realize how amazing you professors are. I'm always grateful!"
Hwang Seoyeong chimed in.
"Thanks to Professor Park, I never worry about digestive patients."
She gave the professors their due praise too.
"Haha, what'd I say? Treat digestive issues well, and you're set for life!"
Just like with Professor Shin, they swapped well-wishes and caught up.
It had been over twenty years since her advisor meetings, so she barely remembered how to handle them, but following Hwang Seoyeong's lead made it easy to chime in.
"By the way, how's Professor Kim Chunsik doing?"
In the flow of conversation, Lee Minseok brought up Kim Chunsik.
"Oh, right. He said he's working with your network, didn't he?"
Professors An Min and Park Suyoung knew him too.
"Yes. Thanks to Professor Lee Minseok, it's an honor to have such an excellent person on board."
"Modest much? He said his income jumped tenfold after meeting you—he even threw a huge spread last time."
"Oh, really?"
"I heard from Professor Kim you're preparing to run an external decoction room. Is that true?"
On top of that, Lee Minseok even brought up the real reason for her visit.
"Yes. In-house decoction is a bit overwhelming to sustain, but outsourcing doesn't sit right with me."
"Fair enough. You know it'll be fine, but it still nags at you. Even our hospital had a mix-up with baek-su-o once."
"Really?! How does your school hospital check herbal quality?"
"Professor An Min inspects it once, and the working pharmacists double-check. It's only happened once in our hospital's history. Professor An caught it before it went to a patient."
That worry was exactly why she wanted her own decoction room in sight.
Decades ago, patients decocted packaged herbs at home, but hardly any modern Korean homes had decoction pots anymore.
In practice, decoction came down to in-house or external. In-house was like what she did now—brewing right in the clinic.
External was overwhelmingly convenient: upload the prescription online, and they'd deliver the decoction to the patient's door.
It cost a bit more than in-house, but factoring in decoction room and herb management fees, it wasn't bad.
Still, not seeing the herbs' condition through to the finished product bugged her, so she'd insisted on doing it herself.
...Even if problems were rare in modern Korea, it was trauma from all the scammers in the wuxia world.
"Sigh, I'd prefer to oversee it myself. But checking not just mine but other branches too—time just doesn't allow it. I was going to ask if you knew anyone masterful in this area."
Thanks to Lee Minseok raising the topic, she stated her business naturally.
At her phrasing of "masterful expert," Professor An Min quickly grasped the purpose of the lunch.
"Ho ho, so that's why you dragged me out and treated us?"
"Not just that! I've always respected Professor An so much."
"Hmmm."
Professor An Min chuckled softly.
It was a two-birds-one-stone deal, but that was still one of the main goals.
"Professor An, got anyone good in your lab?"
Park Suyoung probed gently, but An Min frowned.
"Hmm. These days, it's mostly degree-washers... To fully trust with that, they'd need to be a Korean doctor or pharmacist, right?"
"Yes. Licensed, and capable of true quality control and decoction."
She nodded. They needed to distinguish raw and processed herbs, top-grade from low-grade.
"Not easy. My lab's full of folks verifying specific herbs or formulas via animal tests. No one deeply versed in the herbs themselves."
"That bad?"
"Kids these days don't touch raw herbs post-grad. Hwang Seoyeong, can you distinguish mubanggi, bunbanggi, and gwangbanggi?"
"Pardon? Uh, no."
Hwang Seoyeong, listening quietly, panicked at the sudden spotlight.
Sorry, friend.
But.
"Mubanggi's color is much darker, right? Gwangbanggi has that fan-shaped pattern. Of course, gwangbanggi's toxic, so relying on looks alone could be disastrous. Anyway, none are used in Korea—only cheongpungdeung, yeah?"
Isn't this basic?
They weren't asking to identify from decoctions—just look with your eyes?
Especially among fangji variants, gwangbanggi caused kidney toxicity and needed extreme caution.
"...So how'd a student who knows that flunk the materia medica exam?"
"Pardon?"
It took her a moment to process what Professor An Min meant.
Then it clicked: sophomore year second semester, right after classes started, she bombed the materia medica exam.
"Ah, haha. I suck at scientific names. That's how it went down..."
Remembering a student's grades from over two years post-graduation...?
She'd graduated top of her class, but that one flop must've left a grudge.
"Anyway, same with Hwang here—modern Korean docs drop herbs after the exam. They trust external rooms or in-house pharmacists for quality. Leave decoction to staff."
"I see..."
"The old-timers who packaged herbs back in the day are retired private practitioners now. Tough to poach."
"Yeah."
"Heh heh, if I were retiring like Professor Kim Chunsik, I'd raise my hand."
No thanks.
Kim Chunsik was fine since she'd never taken his class, but hiring a former teacher-turned-employee? Too awkward.
"Better scout pharmacists. Sorry I couldn't help much."
She nodded.
"Any connections there?"
"I guest lecture at the pharmacy department, but don't get hopes up."
Grateful just for offering to ask.
Professors Park Suyoung and Lee Minseok promised intros if they found fits in their networks.
"Thank you. No rush anyway—no space yet for an external room."
The seed was planted; fate would bring someone if it was meant to be.
If not, she'd post a formal ad or handle it herself.
"Speaking of, no need for a deputy director besides pharmacists?"
Feeling the topic wrapped, Lee Minseok shifted gears.
"Got someone to recommend?"
"No way! Once I'm certified, I'm coming!"
"Hwang's only second-year, right? Borrow her next year."
Go ahead and decide among yourselves.
"Lee Areum wants in next year too. No room anyway."
"Ah! That's who I was gonna recommend. Excellent student—told me herself."
"Exactly. What do you tell the students about me?!"
"Just the facts, and to emulate you."
Even grilling Lee Minseok got nowhere.
He started listing perks of hiring Lee Areum as deputy: smart, teach one and she gets ten... Enough.
"Sanghoon oppa's staying put. No room even if we wanted another."
"Over a hundred patients a day, right? Expand."
Where'd that come from? Director Kim Chunsik?
"Only at peak. And expansion needs space—we're maxed on one floor of a small building."
She shook her head.
If it were a game map, she'd add rooms next door, hire doctor units, bump beds to ten.
But rent and payroll aside, space was the issue.
Site picked purely on feng shui, not scalability.
Chit-chat flew by, and lunch ended.
After she footed the hearty Korean bill, eldest Park Suyoung bought coffee.
All showed keen interest in her business, so talks stretched late.
Lee Minseok perking his ears like that... Wonder what Lee Areum would hear.
Like her last Seoul trip, she took the first flight to Busan.
Busy clinic routine as always.
Then Professor Lee Minseok's words hit her.
Expansion—she'd love to if possible. Double the waiting room at least.
So she dug out the lease for the landlord's contact.
Never met him; broker handled it.
She sent a brief intro and request.
[Any tenants leaving soon on other floors? I'd like first dibs on vacancies.]
No reply.
Next day, same. And the next.
'...Ghosted?'
What? Just say if none.
Bad feeling brewing.
A week later.
Court papers arrived.
Auction upcoming; notice to stakeholders, file dividend claims, etc.
"...What the hell?"
The building was up for auction?!
Landlord bankrupt or something?