The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

‘To think I’d encounter the Nine Yin Meridian Severance here, when I’ve only seen the Three Yin Meridian Severance in Murim.’

Literally interpreted, the Nine Yin Meridian Severance (九陰絶脈) means that excessive yin energy severs one’s own blood vessels.

However, anyone who has read martial arts novels would immediately think of a sickly beauty; it has already established itself as a “Fireball”-level named condition.

It was a very troublesome trait that buffed appearance and wisdom, while simultaneously chipping away at lifespan with damage over time and generating various disease debuffs in rotation.

There are two main ways to remove this debuff.

One is to learn an extreme yin martial art, such as the Ice White Divine Skill (氷白神功) of the North Sea Ice Palace (北海冰宮), to utilize its characteristics 300%. The other is to inject extreme yang energy to restore balance.

Where does one find extreme yang energy, you ask? In ancient 19+ martial arts novels, they sometimes use certain methods with male protagonists who have mastered extreme yang martial arts, but usually it’s miraculous medicine.

“So if I take medicine full of yang energy, will I get better?”

True to her wisdom buff despite not having read martial arts novels, the clever Seol Yu-hee immediately thought of that method.

As a modern person, one might make a strange face upon hearing about the harmony of yin and yang, but since there was no known cause anyway, she nodded vaguely at the ambiguous explanation.

“Yes. We need to use medicine with very strong yang energy. We’ll have to add lots of aconite, ginseng, and astragalus, which would certainly cause adverse reactions if taken by normal people.”

Of course, that’s not the fundamental solution.

While aconite may contain the highest yang energy among currently available medicinal herbs, if that were enough, the Nine Yin Meridian Severance wouldn’t have garnered so much attention in Murim.

That world had aconite too, and their methods of processing to remove toxicity were even more advanced.

‘To remove the trait itself, something truly special is needed.’

I obviously don’t know any extreme yin martial arts. How could I? Of the 20 years I spent in Murim, half was spent wandering markets and the other half staying put in the Tang Family. I never went near dangerous places like snowy peaks.

Even miraculous medicines would be uncertain to obtain even if I mobilized all my martial arts world connections.

‘But you never know. There was the Millennium Pine Poria, so I might come across some special aconite if fate allows.’

I probably won’t go to China again, but should I look into private routes to obtain medicinal herbs without going through the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety?

Since I can’t even be certain of its existence, the possibility of not finding it is much higher for now, so I shouldn’t give false hope.

“If you keep taking the medicine to balance things out, and I use acupuncture to open the blocked meridians, your organs will gradually recover. Please follow me, even if you think you’re being fooled.”

The treatment I can provide right now is really just a temporary measure.

If we stop treatment, she won’t be able to control the resurging yin energy within a year.

But I’m also the only one who can provide even this temporary solution.

Although the Nine Yin Meridian Severance is said to sever the meridians, it’s not a physical tissue that can be cut with a knife. It’s just that yin energy is blocking the path, preventing connection.

If we drive out the yin energy to open the meridians, and push in medicine full of yang energy, she should at least return to a human-like state.

How do I know?

Because I’ve treated a boy with the Three Yin Meridian Severance before.

It’ll be at least three times more difficult than then, but my ability to handle energy has improved a lot since that time, so it should be possible.

“I’ll trust you completely, Doctor. I’ll do everything you say.”

Seol Yu-hee nodded willingly.

“You’ve made a good decision.”

◆◇◆◇◆

Honestly, I didn’t fully understand everything my newly introduced employer explained.

As a citizen of South Korea sharing East Asian culture, there’s no one who doesn’t know what qi (氣) is, or what yin and yang (陰陽) are, but at the same time, those who can explain it properly are extremely rare.

I know that cold is yin and hot is yang… but if taking medicine with yang energy will make me better, wouldn’t just basking in sunlight balance things out?

I had no idea what yin and yang energies could actually do in practice.

Then did Seol Yu-hee accept the proposal while harboring doubts, thinking she might as well give it a try?

Was it because there was no reason to refuse free medicine, and being hired alone was good enough?

That wasn’t it.

I’ve heard many explanations about why my body isn’t well for various reasons.

Mostly things like having a weak immune system or lacking muscle.

‘Logically, it’s the least understandable but…’

Emotionally, it was the most appealing.

When you’ve been to as many hospitals as Seol Yu-hee, you can tell just by looking at a doctor’s face.

I don’t know either, it’s troublesome, this patient won’t get better anyway.

Even if they speak warmly and kindly, no one tries to provide treatment beyond putting out urgent fires.

But this new employer conveyed absolute confidence through some indescribable non-verbal expression.

Han Yeowon knew exactly what Seol Yu-hee’s situation was, and knew how to treat it.

At the very least, there was absolutely no chance of her saying, “Um… it’s not working. I’m sorry,” and firing her.

That’s why she accepted Han Yeowon’s proposal, who offered her an employment contract on the spot.

“Let’s start work tomorrow. I’ll brew the medicine today and give it to you starting tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“For today, just get some acupuncture while taking a look around the treatment room.”

“Ah, yes!”

It was the first time getting treatment after going for an interview.

Seol Yu-hee followed Han Yeowon into the treatment room.

“Please take care of me starting tomorrow. I’m Seo In-ae. You can change into this.”

The senior I had glimpsed at the desk earlier spoke while bringing clothes.

Though in a different way from the Doctor, I felt a strange aura from her too.

‘Will I be able to become like that when I gain experience?’

After changing clothes and waiting a moment, Han Yeowon, who had treated a patient who came in meanwhile, entered behind the curtain.

She immediately opened an acupuncture packet and inserted a needle into the center of my head.

Having worked at Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic for a few months, even Seol Yu-hee knew this acupoint.

Baihui (百會).

Next, she inserted 9 more needles into unnamed acupoints on my arms and legs.

Just when I thought she was finished, lastly, a rather long needle was inserted into my lower abdomen.

“Ugh.”

At the Korean medicine clinics where Seol Yu-hee had worked before, the Korean medicine doctor would leave after inserting the needles. The routine was to wait about 20 minutes with the needles in, then have a nursing assistant remove them.

Normally, Seongsu Korean Medicine Clinic does the same, but today Han Yeowon placed her hand on the needle inserted at Baihui.

“Think about inhaling warm energy through your nose.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I’ll count to two. One. Two.”

Though I didn’t know what it was, it wasn’t a particularly difficult instruction.

Seol Yu-hee inhaled as Han Yeowon directed.

“Think about exhaling cold energy through your mouth. I’ll count to four. One, two, three, four.”

I exhaled much longer than I had inhaled.

Is this like meditation? I had briefly learned meditation at my mother’s recommendation. Didn’t they tell me to imagine a warm meadow then too?

“Inhale again, thinking about the energy you’ve taken in spreading down to the bottom. One. Two.”

“Think about drawing up the cold energy from your whole body to cool your head, and also expelling some through your breath. One. Two. Three. Four.”

“Let’s inhale again. Past your lower abdomen to your feet. One… Two…”

“Exhale. Cool your chest, your head. One… Two… Three… Four.”

Seol Yu-hee followed Han Yeowon’s instructions without much thought.

As she breathed as instructed, her mind truly emptied.

Only breathing. Nothing remained except that one thing.

Focusing on the breath, she felt it.

It felt like something was being sucked out from her head where Han Yeowon had placed her hand, and the needle in her lower abdomen seemed to vibrate on its own though untouched.

It was as if “qi” was really moving.

‘Is this what yang qi and yin qi are… Ah!’

Just as I thought I might be able to distinguish them, something suddenly opened up in my forearm, where unlike other parts of my body, “qi” had been particularly immobile.

“Oh, something… What was that? It felt like electricity passed through my arm.”

“You felt that?”

“Yes. The needle sites other than my head and abdomen felt particularly blocked. Did I do something wrong when you intentionally blocked them?”

Han Yeowon’s eyes widened in great surprise.

“You felt that far. It wasn’t me blocking it, but your yin qi blocking the meridians. It’s very good that they opened. We need to recover the other 8 spots in a similar way.”

“Ah…?”

“Let’s stop here for today. If you repeat this breathing before bed at home, it will work better when I assist you.”

Han Yeowon said this and removed all the needles.

It was like a fantasy story, but now I couldn’t help but believe it.

Because I truly felt the yin qi that filled my body.

On the way home with the employment contract, I felt like I could even sense the energy of heaven and earth.

“Why is this bus never on time?!”

Even when someone at the bus stop complained irritably, Seol Yu-hee wasn’t bothered at all.

Rather, she assumed a meditation posture and followed the breathing she had learned earlier.

I had jokingly thought that I should be able to absorb yang energy just by basking in the sun, but it really seemed to work.

Though it was already November, the sun felt incredibly warm.

◆◇◆◇◆

Seol Yu-hee quickly adapted to the treatment.

Even if it’s the most basic Three Realms Qigong, how could she learn energy circulation and breathing so quickly?

She expelled yin energy as I received it while simultaneously taking in yang energy from heaven and earth.

Though the internal energy gained through energy circulation and breathing was very slight, with the help of medicine, she gradually found balance.

She also performed her work flawlessly.

I was still worried about entrusting her with the treatment room, but she excellently handled the desk work.

Originally, an experienced veteran would handle people at the desk while a newcomer would do the physical work in the treatment room, but that’s only possible when there are many staff in the treatment room.

In our clinic, even when over ten patients come at once, the treatment room staff must appropriately provide hot packs, physical therapy, moxibustion, cupping, and so on alone, while simultaneously placing me most efficiently.

Where did she develop such social skills when she couldn’t even attend school properly?

She was surprisingly good at dealing with people.

Ambiguous troublemakers backed down in the face of Seol Yu-hee’s beauty, and even extreme malice that wasn’t swayed by that crumbled before her elegance and innocence.

Indeed, Seol Yu-hee was a flawless employee except for her health.

“Hello. It’s Kim Jin-sang.”

While Seol Yu-hee was doing her job splendidly like this, I couldn’t leave her alone to deal with Kim Jin-sang, the biggest troublemaker since our clinic’s founding who nearly caused a violent incident.

Both Seo In-ae and I paused what we were doing and perked up our senses.

‘Why is he here so early?’

He had been quite docile lately, so neither of us intervened directly.

However, the pattern was different from usual. Until now, he had always appeared right before closing, saying he was busy and had no time, skipping all other treatments and only getting bee venom acupuncture.

“I’m Park Seon-yun. It’s my first time here. Should I fill out this form?”

Hm? Opening my qi sensitivity to sense presences and sounds, I realized he had a companion.

I quickly finished treating the patient I was with and poked my head out to look in that direction.

Normally, referred patients are very welcome, but since this person was brought by Kim Jin-sang, Park Seon-yun immediately became a person of interest.

“Yes. Since it’s your first visit, you’ll need to see the Doctor, so please fill that out and wait a moment. I’ll show Kim Jin-sang-ssi to the treatment room first.”

“I’ll go in for the consultation with the young master too.”

…?

Young master?

For a moment, I thought I had tripped back to Murim.

Fortunately, the “young master” Kim Jin-sang referred to wasn’t wearing green martial arts robes like the young masters of the Tang Family. Of course, he wasn’t dressed in silk clothes like the young masters of merchant guilds either.

Park Seon-yun was simply wearing a very expensive-looking suit and smiling gently.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t Kim Jin-sang-ssi say his job was a driver?’