The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

TN: There will be minor changes to the character names from now on.

Who would play the role of Chu Mi-young’s boyfriend? Naturally, it would be me.

Who else could guarantee their own safety?

Chu Mi-young initially opposed, saying it was too dangerous, but I easily persuaded her.

“Come at me, in any way you like. If even a fingertip touches me, we’ll forget this ever happened.”

Whoosh. Whooosh.

Of course, dodging her as she lunged at me, flailing her arms, was child’s play.

Eventually, Chu Mi-young reluctantly accepted my proposal.

“Let’s give it a try.”

We set the date to lure out the stalker for that very Saturday.

Chu Mi-young posted a photo on her Instagram of us holding hands, taken just after lunch.

[I’ve been lonely since coming to Busan, but I’ve made a good friend.]

Despite being neglected for nearly a year, her follower count was still in the tens of thousands, so quite a few comments were left.

[How could you do this? I came all this way for you.]

We easily found the stalker’s comment.

“They saw it quickly.”

“Yes. Sigh, if only they had sent a DM that would warrant outside assistance.”

Chu Mi-young was disappointed, but I preferred them coming to us directly rather than waiting an eternity for tracking.

After all, she had said she often felt their presence lurking around.

Since they might break into the clinic, I planted myself in Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic’s waiting room from the afternoon, waiting for the stalker.

“They didn’t come during consultation hours.”

“There are too many eyes around—staff, patients. To be honest, I’m not sure if they’ll reveal themselves like this.”

“Even if they don’t show themselves openly, they’ll come to look. After following you all the way to Busan, they’ll at least try to confirm things.”

Chu Mi-young said from the beginning that they wouldn’t appear during consultation hours. I had come early just in case, but I also expected it to be after work hours.

“By the way, you look really handsome. I thought some flower boy had come. If you were a man, I might have really fallen for you!”

“Hehe.”

I glanced at the full-length mirror.

As she said, I seemed to have coordinated quite a stylish look.

I had twisted my hair up and tucked it into a beanie, and wore a loose shirt with a coat to hide my figure. Being naturally tall, I added some insoles and put on sunglasses to complete a plausible street fashion look.

While not an overly masculine build, if one thought of me as a man, it wouldn’t raise any particular suspicion.

“Shall we go, princess?”

“Ahaha.”

The current time after weekend consultations was 5 PM. There was still no sign of the sun setting.

We went to a nearby Western restaurant for dinner, and Chu Mi-young posted a photo of pasta on Instagram.

[Thank you for your support. It feels so good to interact with you all after so long ♡]

This time, she subtly showed a finger with a ring on it.

Comments asking if she was getting married flooded in, but the stalker showed no reaction.

“They’ve read it. One hundred percent.”

“Mm… We should be careful.”

Chu Mi-young nodded, tensing up.

“I’ll take care of everything, so don’t worry too much.”

I gently relaxed Chu Mi-young’s tense shoulders and even gave her a temporomandibular joint massage.

Afterwards, we left the restaurant and went to a café, chatting while waiting for the sun to set completely. We figured they wouldn’t come out where there were people around.

In the full darkness of night, I held Chu Mi-young’s hand and went to the park.

It was the very park where I had embarrassed myself in front of Seo In-ae while drunk last time.

Located at the entrance of a hiking trail rather than right by the station, it wasn’t crowded even on weekends.

The optimal place to immediately notice anyone approaching within range.

“Let’s try to lure them out. I’ll pretend to go to the restroom for a moment.”

“Okay.”

I left Chu Mi-young on a secluded bench and turned towards the restrooms. I didn’t forget to brush back my hair for the benefit of whoever might be watching.

“…!”

I sensed killing intent from behind.

If they had been watching at the restaurant or café, I wouldn’t have failed to notice. Did they follow belatedly after seeing the Instagram photo?

I moved as if completely unaware of their presence.

Of course, I was within a distance where I could close the gap in one second if the stalker approached Chu Mi-young.

Whoosh!

I opened my qi sensitivity wide enough to cover the entire park.

Usually, hypersensitive hearing would only cause discomfort, but it was absolutely necessary now.

“I… kept letting her know I was by her side…”

Behind the fountain! A voice was heard from not too far away.

It was a man with an unusually faint presence.

“How, how…”

Hearing his muttering, I was conflicted.

Come out. Come out and threaten. Only then could we definitively call the police.

‘Surely he’s not going to just keep watching like that?’

If that’s how it turned out, I’d have to catch him and give him quite a scare.

But I couldn’t show that sight to Chu Mi-young. Wouldn’t she continue to be anxious?

Perhaps it would be better if he jumped out at Chu Mi-young alone and expressed his emotions somehow…

“How could you leave me for! Some gigolo-esque thing!”

“Huh?”

Thudthudthudthud!

As if having made up his mind, the man ran.

But his target wasn’t Chu Mi-young.

‘He’s coming this way?’

I was ready to turn back and subdue him immediately if he threatened Chu Mi-young, but the sound of his footsteps was directed at me.

I moved further away from Chu Mi-young, pretending to look for the restroom, towards a spot I had noticed earlier with CCTV.

Tadadadak.

Thudthudthudthud!

For about 20 seconds, a chase that wasn’t quite a chase unfolded.

While I walked slightly faster, the other ran at full speed, so he naturally caught up to me.

And when the distance narrowed enough that even an ordinary person could hear the footsteps.

Swoosh!

As I turned around, a sharp object flashed before my eyes.

‘A knife?’

I thought he would at most follow and secretly watch or threaten, since he hadn’t been able to reveal himself until now.

The stalker held a 20cm kitchen knife in his hand.

“How dare you, with Mi-young!”

He was a far more dangerous man than I had anticipated. He truly intended to kill, thrusting with all his might, putting his weight behind it.

“My, my.”

Of course, I easily avoided the man’s attack by leaning my upper body back.

Though there was no hesitation, he lacked even the courage to look at his opponent directly.

Someone who hadn’t learned martial arts, let alone internal energy techniques, had no chance of reaching me with an arm thrust out with eyes tightly shut.

Tap.

As I moved out of the man’s trajectory, I simultaneously pressed the anesthetic points behind his neck, the left and right Tianzhu points.

“Urk…!”

Generally, these are treatment points good for expelling pathogenic qi from the head for symptoms like headaches, insomnia, and neck stiffness, but simultaneously pushing energy into them could temporarily paralyze the mind.

The energy I injected through these two acupoints traveled down the Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian.

Thud.

His legs gave out, and he collapsed.

If seen on CCTV, it would look like he injured himself while recklessly swinging the knife and falling, right?

“It’s dangerous to carry a weapon around carelessly.”

I retrieved the knife the man had dropped and immediately dialed 112.

“Hello, there’s a man here threatening people with a knife…”

“Aaaargh!”

“Yes, yes. It’s a bit west of the park restrooms.”

Though he tried his best to resist, moving his body was impossible.

Throughout my detailed explanation of the location, he was unable to offer any resistance.

“You, you! What is this! What did you do to me!”

“Who knows?”

The stalker heard me talking to the police for quite a while right next to him. Only then did he realize that I wasn’t Chu Mi-young’s boyfriend.

There was no need to hide anymore.

The moment I took off my sunglasses and hat, my hidden long hair cascaded down.

“Hmm. Let’s say I’m a chivalrous hero helping a beauty troubled by a villain.”

“Mi-young… Mi-young is my woman.”

Yes, yes. Let’s hear what nonsense you spout until the police arrive.

I looked down at the man crawling on the ground with my arms crossed.

“From the beginning, only I truly loved her!”

“The beginning being when you created your Instagram account, I suppose.”

He kept growling, revealing his possessiveness based on delusions.

Should I have pressed his mute point too? It’s better for him to shout like this so the police can find us, though.

There was nothing good about conversing with someone out of their mind.

“I’m different from those bastards who just drool over her pretty pictures.”

“I see.”

“I… I know everything about her. Mi-young at work. Mi-young exhausted after work. Her smiling as she thinks of me cheering her on by her side…!”

This man, who seemed to have never properly raised his voice in his life, shouted at the top of his lungs until his throat was raw.

‘He’s not actually suffering from hallucinations.’

He knew better than anyone that he would never be loved by Chu Mi-young.

Since he said he had been watching for a long time, was he initially just happy leaving comments and getting reactions from Chu Mi-young? After her followers increased, he must have wanted to become special.

The likes of him couldn’t see everything just because he wanted to.

He continued stalking, digging into Chu Mi-young’s private life, following her to Cheonan and then to Busan.

‘There’s no cure for this.’

As I listened to the man’s words while monitoring his behavior, it wasn’t long before two police officers arrived.

Chu Mi-young, who had been sitting alone on the bench nervously, was with them.

I withdrew the energy I had injected and handed the kitchen knife to the police officer.

The officer looked at me somewhat suspiciously, but when I pointed out the CCTV for them to check, they arrested the man without further comment.

“Mi-young, Mi-young.”

Even while being restrained and handcuffed behind his back, he called out to Chu Mi-young.

Chu Mi-young frowned. Since the stalker had been shouting so loudly, she must have heard some of what he said.

“…Fuck.”

Still seemingly afraid, Chu Mi-young, who had been sticking close to the police officer not in charge of restraining the stalker, muttered a curse under her breath.

She took a step towards the restrained stalker.

“Please don’t get too close.”

“Fuck. So it was you.”

“Mi-young! I was just trying to protect you, staying by your side…!”

Though one police officer was holding his arms properly, he shook his head, desperate to reach her somehow.

“Aaaaargh!”

Chu Mi-young stared at his pathetic state, then let out a scream.

“This is fucking shit, really fucking shit. I want to kill you. What? You know everything about me? Fuck, if I could, I’d want to smash your fucking head in!”

“Mi-Mi-young…”

“Ha, haha. Because of this bastard. I couldn’t even use Instagram. Trembling every time I left work.”

“Ma’am, please stay back.”

Not only the stalker but even the police officers were greatly flustered by her reaction.

“Fuck, this won’t do. I don’t want to send this bastard to jail nicely. Can’t I at least burst his balls?”

Of course, they weren’t going to say that was allowed.

Before the police officer could answer, Chu Mi-young was already charging towards the man.

“Dr. Chu, please calm…”

Wham!

An upward kick as fierce as the moment the stalker had lunged at me.

“Gyaaaaaah!”

I could have blocked it, but I deliberately didn’t.

Well… the police officer restraining him probably felt the same way?

Shortly after, the stalker was taken to the police station with some minor damage to his lower body.