The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

Kim Jinsang-ssi, who arrived with just five minutes left before closing time, complained of shoulder and arm pain.

He said it used to be a slight stiffness when sitting for long periods, but since last night, it had suddenly worsened severely without any apparent cause, preventing him from sleeping.

After a brief medical history and physical examination, I reached a conclusion.

“Feeling the muscles, it doesn’t seem like an acute case of phlegm stagnation. Even though you felt it came on suddenly, it could be accumulated micro-injuries from prolonged overuse manifesting as pain, or it might be a disc issue.”

“I see.”

“It doesn’t appear to be frozen shoulder or a rotator cuff tear, so don’t worry too much. Let’s treat it and monitor the progress. I’ll use acupuncture to alleviate it a bit today, so please come back early tomorrow morning. We open at 7, so you can come before work. If it’s too painful at night, don’t endure it; take some Western pain medication.”

“Okay.”

His curt responses had a knack for making the conversation partner uncomfortable.

“Since we’re short on time, I’ll just get the acupuncture right away.”

I immediately had him remove his upper garment and applied needles to the painful areas.

Though I felt a constant unpleasantness, fortunately, he didn’t get angry about not receiving physical therapy.

“It feels a bit better. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Kim Jinsang-ssi must have been busy too; he threw down the money and left the clinic just four minutes after entering.

“Whew, if he had made a fuss about not getting better, I would have gone crazy. Thank you, Doctor.”

“It’s nothing. You were startled when he suddenly shouted, weren’t you?”

“Oh, it used to happen occasionally before. I thought we should kick him out for being difficult, but it was resolved well thanks to your excellent skills, Doctor.”

Seo In-ae said with a grin.

I should respect the employee’s work hours even if I work overtime.

“Good work today. Rest well and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes~ Have a good evening!”

She finished processing the payment for the last patient and shut down the computer.

Seo In-ae left for her night part-time job, and I dispersed to spy on Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic.

“Oh, this is it.”

Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic’s Busan branch was located in a prime location right by the station, with a sign that caught the eye from afar. This must be what they mean by a good location?

Looking at the website earlier, I saw they had diversified their treatment areas.

In my memory, Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic used to be a franchise specializing in skin conditions like atopic dermatitis, but now that field was just one of many tabs.

It had transformed into a network that did anything profitable, with diet as the main focus, along with skin beauty, chronic fatigue, pain patients, and more.

“…Hello? Are you a… patient?”

As I entered, the desk staff cautiously asked.

Why look at patients so suspiciously? Even at our clinic, plenty of people come in wearing masks.

“Of course. I twisted my ankle on the way here. Can I register?”

“Ah… yes! Is this your first visit? Please fill out this registration form and wait a moment!”

Surprisingly, the waiting room was completely empty.

It’s at least three times larger than our clinic and even has four massage chairs, but not a single person.

Offering night treatments until 9 PM means they’re targeting office workers who finish at 6 or 7, so shouldn’t this be their busiest time? Seeing only one staff member at the desk, it seems today isn’t exceptionally quiet.

‘Oh, a case study book.’

Even to my untrained eye, the interior was very neat, and various materials were attractively displayed on the desk.

Among them, I had already read Director Choi Eunhee’s books long ago, so I picked up the case study book.

‘It says psoriasis improved with a combination of UV treatment and herbal medicine… Looks like they even bought a UV machine. Wow, atopic dermatitis reduced this much?’

Monthly photos taken over several months of treatment programs, and handwritten thank-you notes from patients at the end. It was enough to instill confidence.

‘Ooh, so this is in-clinic advertising.’

As I quickly read through the case studies, turning the pages, I caught a sentence in a letter from a patient whose facial flushing had improved.

– Thank you so much! Thanks to you, Doctor, I’m finally free from my boss’s nagging about whether I drank before coming to work. I’m so fortunate to have such a great doctor like you in Cheonan.

Cheonan? Cheonan City in Chungcheongnam-do?

Searching the internet, I found that Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic had a branch in Cheonan, and looking at the Place reviews, it was a clinic with as many reviews as the Gangnam main branch.

‘Did they collect cases from all over the country?’

If they have academic exchanges and use the same treatment methods, it might not matter in the end. But inserting handwritten notes instead of printed ones makes it perfect for thinking these are the local doctor’s achievements.

So this is how they promote.

“Han Yeowon, please come to the consultation room~”

A moment later, they called me from the desk. I closed the book, got up, and followed the staff.

– Korean Medicine Doctor Chu Miyoung

Perhaps because the commercial building itself was large, the consultation room and desk were twice the size of mine, and the nameplate was as large and fancy as a conglomerate chairman’s.

“Wow…, you’re so beautiful.”

I sat down with mixed feelings, but as soon as I saw the director’s face, the words spilled out involuntarily.

What is this, Miss Korea?

While the case study book I thought would surely be genuine turned out to be from other branches, the beauty I was certain had been photoshopped was not a bit inferior to the photo on the website.

A small face with distinct features, and full makeup. She could appear on TV right away without looking out of place.

“Oh my~ Thank you!”

Chu Miyoung greeted me with a radiant smile.

“You twisted your ankle?”

“Ah, yes. I slightly twisted it coming down the mountain, and thought acupuncture might help.”

“You came to the right place~!”

She conducts consultations with a slightly excessive tension. She examined my ankle with a bright smile.

“Does it hurt when I press here?”

“No, a bit more towards the front.”

“Here?”

“Ah, yes.”

I nodded when Chu Miyoung pressed the Qiuxu point. It’s the slightly concave area just below and in front of the outer ankle bone, the most common painful spot when twisting an ankle.

“There’s a tear in the anterior talofibular ligament. The swelling… isn’t severe, but it could become serious if left untreated, so you need proper treatment.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Come every day until I say it’s okay. You’ll need about a month of treatment.”

I pretended to have appropriate tenderness in my perfectly fine ankle, but Chu Miyoung immediately set a treatment period of one month.

Of course, ankle sprains can sometimes take a month to treat. When there’s severe ligament rupture, burst blood vessels, lots of bruising and swelling.

“I see. It seems worse than I thought.”

I didn’t come to argue, so I nodded with a smile.

How would a normal patient react? Would they just say okay and not come back once it feels better? They might go to another hospital with diagnostic equipment.

Maybe they’d keep coming just to see the pretty doctor’s face.

“I’ll guide you to the treatment room~”

Without any further medical history taking, I moved to the treatment room.

Twenty beds? That’s a lot. Though only two patients were lying down.

Glancing around, I saw a separate skin care room, but there was no sign of activity there at all.

‘Treating three patients at once isn’t bad, but it’s oddly lukewarm for such excessive treatment. The rent here must be at least twice that of our clinic.’

Two types of physical therapy, no less. They performed ICT (Interferential Current Therapy) and TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) in order, then applied over ten cupping glasses tightly to the leg.

‘They installed this on every bed? They must just have a lot of money.’

While I was secretly searching for the machine prices, Chu Miyoung entered.

“Oh my, are you interested in skin care or diet?”

On the wall by the bed I had turned towards, there were explanations about skin beauty and diet packages. I was actually looking at my phone, but curious about how they conducted package consultations, I nodded as if that was the case.

“Ah, yes. I’m a bit concerned about my pores.”

I recited what my senior classmate often muttered while looking in the mirror.

“Aw~ There’s nothing more we can do for your skin here.”

Ugh. Did I overdo it? Is it too obvious that I came to spy?

In truth, since opening the Ren and Du meridians, my skin has been flawless without a single blemish.

“Haha, is that so?”

“How about dieting? Many celebrities use our program, you know.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Just earlier, we had patients who lost 20kg in 3 months and are now maintaining to prevent rebound! If you’re interested, let’s do an InBody check before you go.”

“Thank you. I’ll think about it next time.”

Ohhh. So this is how they make money.

‘Actually, it’s not an exaggeration to say that diet and skin are concerns for all women. Did they push diet because it’s easier than pore management?’

Dropping hints like that once in a while might spark interest even where there was none.

Honestly, suggesting diet to me, who anyone could see had an athletic build from exercise, was a bit much, but how would they know if I might bring a friend?

Casually mentioning it once like that, in a way that’s not unpleasant, wasn’t a bad marketing strategy.

“I’ll treat your ankle well first~. Have you had acupuncture before?”

“Yes.”

The acupuncture treatment was unremarkable.

I listened in on conversations with other patients, but there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy.

Just speaking with a bit more enthusiasm than I do.

‘Hmm, is putting in-clinic advertisements on the beds the only thing to learn?’

Thinking the gains were less than expected, I finished the treatment and left the room.

Someone was complaining in the consultation room at one end of the waiting area.

“Nothing has improved at all so far!”

Wow, complaint handling!

Isn’t this exactly what one should learn from a franchise?

Since the only staff member who should be handling payments was responding to the complaint there, I could eavesdrop on the conversation while sitting in the waiting room.

‘I thought it might be too much to observe a diet package consultation, but this worked out well.’

They wouldn’t leave complaint handling to a regular employee, so was this a manager-level person?

I was very curious about the expert’s technique.

“We took photos at the beginning, didn’t we? I’ve been taking herbal medicine for a month and a half, but nothing has changed at all. My son’s forehead area has even gotten worse, and you’re telling me to take it for two more months?”

“The doctor initially set a treatment period of about 6 months, and you paid for 3 months first. It’s common not to see immediate results in such a short time.”

Ah?

“But it should improve a little at least. Sigh, what’s done is done, but please refund at least the remaining 1 month.”

“Since you paid for the 3-month package at a discount, if you cancel, it will be calculated at the regular price, and the refund amount will be 40,000 won.”

“What?!”

Ah…

I’ve experienced that at a gym before…

“I explained this to you at the beginning, and you agreed to the terms.”

I could roughly guess what was happening.

Inserting such terms in tiny print and refusing all refund requests. It was a method used in all industries that sell packages.

“Ha, haah…!”

“If you want, I can refund the 40,000 won. Please decide quickly as other patients are waiting outside.”

That would make anyone angry.

In my case, after failing to get a refund even after filing a mediation request with the Consumer Protection Agency at age 20, I never bought package deals again.

The patient ultimately gave up on the refund, and I finished paying and left Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic.

“Tsk, not much to learn.”

There’s no need to go that far anyway; most people feel grateful when they see results, rather than thinking about wasted money.

If they don’t see results but it truly needs more time, just explain it well. If I can’t convince them, that’s my own lack of ability.

Of course, there are occasionally lunatics who demand refunds after taking all the prescribed medicine and receiving treatment.

‘In those cases, use force… ah, that would be a big problem here?’

Well, maybe just exuding a bit of killing intent would do?

Setting such policies and creating those terms wasn’t to my taste.

“Let’s take it slow~. There are people who appreciate us!”

In my experience, there are far more people who try hard to repay kindness somehow than trash who make unreasonable demands.

Of course, most bring patients not for my sake, but for acquaintances who could be treated by me.

Anyway, if you put your heart into it, it will eventually get through.

“I should keep doing consultations and treatments as I have been.”

I finished my reconnaissance of Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic and returned home.

And three days later.

That patient I saw at Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic came to my clinic, accompanied by none other than my first devotee, Grandma Heo Soon-nam.