The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

One Korean medicine doctor and two nursing assistants. Five-day workweek. No night shifts.

Until now, I’ve been running the clinic by minimizing costs and taking weekends off completely.

While this arrangement is suitable for pursuing work-life balance, maximizing profits undoubtedly requires operating seven days a week with night consultations.

And to run the clinic seven days a week, it’s essential to hire additional Korean medicine doctors and nursing assistants.

Should I settle for the current method, or take on risks to grow further?

A crossroads of choice.

My decision was, of course, the latter.

“Everyone, I think it’s time we improve our system. I’m planning to hire more Korean medicine doctors and staff to operate the clinic seven days a week.”

I summoned Seo In-ae and Seol Yu-hee to make this declaration.

“Oh, that’s good.”

Seo In-ae said.

Although she had initially discouraged me from hiring more staff, citing profit considerations, the number of patients I was seeing daily now was beyond what an average Korean medicine doctor could easily handle.

While the average was 60-70 patients, there were occasional days when it exceeded 100.

“Wow, who’s coming to join us?”

Seol Yu-hee spoke with pure cheerfulness. Perhaps because this was her first job with long-term employment, she fortunately didn’t seem to mind working weekends.

“I haven’t hired anyone yet. I want to set your work schedules first and then find people to fill the remaining time slots.”

“Ah, I see.”

Seol Yu-hee said she preferred to keep coming in early as she had been, and if possible, working Saturdays rather than Sundays.

I could factor that into the schedule.

And as for Seo In-ae…

“I’ll quit the convenience store. Let me work full-time.”

“…But we’re going to be open seven days a week? How can you work full-time?”

Weekdays 7 to 8, weekends 9 to 3.

Even excluding weekday lunch breaks, that’s 72 hours a week. Does it make sense to do all of this without any days off?

Even I… no, actually, I could do it. But regardless of physical possibility, I don’t want to.

“Anyway, if I quit the convenience store and switch to multiple jobs, my total working hours will be similar.”

“It won’t be legal.”

“We can just handle that with some flexibility…”

“No way!”

Seo In-ae chose a schedule that would allow her to work the most hours within legal limits while earning overtime pay, pouting her lips. She even volunteered to take the early morning 7-9 AM shift and afternoon to evening shifts, saying she could do other work in between anyway.

“If I do this, it’ll be easier for you to hire staff too, Doctor. It would have been hard to find someone willing to work from 7 AM.”

Seo In-ae… you really…

I’ve seen many hardcore martial artists obsessed with Wu, training all day long, but I’ve never been this dumbfounded.

“Alright. Let’s go with that then.”

I gratefully accepted the timetable she had marked.

As Seo In-ae said, with the two of them taking the early morning shifts, the difficulty of additional hiring was significantly reduced.

Just by starting work at 9 AM instead of 7 AM, the number of resumes increased several fold.

“Whew.”

Now all that’s left is hiring a Korean medicine doctor.

I had to be cautious, as a Korean medicine doctor’s consultation style would have a greater impact on patient numbers and revenue fluctuations.

Where should I look? Should I post on community boards? Or would it be better to ask my senior from university to introduce a junior graduating this year?

While I was pondering this, I received a message from Hwang Sang-hoon.

[Yeowon, how have you been?]

What’s this about? I hadn’t seen him at all since we accidentally met at the wedding last time.

He had contacted me just once, saying the medicine was very effective, but that was it.

[I’m doing well. How about you? Now that you’re a first-year resident, it must be better than being an intern, right?]

[Ah, didn’t you hear from Seo-young? I left the hospital after completing my internship.]

I had assumed he was adapting to the hospital and focusing on his training since there was no news, but.

Hwang Sang-hoon dropped a bombshell declaration out of the blue.

[What? So suddenly?]

[Haha, thanks to you, I was able to muster the courage to quit.]

…Quit? For real?

I thought he was just saying that and would definitely finish his residency at least.

Only then did I remember the confident words I had said to Hwang Sang-hoon.

[So are you looking for an associate director position now?]

[Yeah haha, that’s right. That’s why I contacted you. Of course, if you’re not in a position to hire an associate director right away, I’m fine with working somewhere else for 1-2 years, but I wanted to check before job hunting.]

He’s coming? Really?

And he’s even willing to wait 1-2 years if I’m not in a position to hire an associate director right away?

I thought Hwang Seo-young might really come because she’s close to me and has a bit of a rebellious streak.

And I had secretly planned to have Jung In-sung employed too, setting up an automatic hunting system.

But I never thought Hwang Sang-hoon would sweep away the red carpet laid out by his grandfather and father to come here.

[I was actually about to start recruiting soon. Do you want to come?]

[Yes.]

Hwang Sang-hoon answered briefly.

I asked him for more details.

[When can you start working?]

[Hmm… tomorrow? I’m still in Seoul, so I need to come down.]

Tomorrow? I get that he might have quit the hospital in advance, but what about his home?

I couldn’t understand what he was thinking at all.

[Then come down first. Let’s meet tomorrow or the day after, whenever you’re comfortable.]

[I’ll take the earliest train.]

◆◇◆◇◆

The next morning, Hwang Sang-hoon came down to Busan on the first train.

As it was a weekend with no schedule, I went out to Busan Station to greet him.

Even though it’s an interview, I won’t reject him, but I should at least hear how he ended up quitting and if he really intends to take the job, right?

“Hi.”

Hwang Sang-hoon’s hair was disheveled as he got off the train, and his white shirt and black slacks were wrinkled.

He waved his hand with the happiest smile I’d ever seen on him.

“Hello. But… you’re empty-handed?”

If he said he could start working immediately, wouldn’t it be common sense to come down with some luggage? Hwang Sang-hoon had neither a suitcase nor even a handbag, just dangling his phone.

“Yeah. I was kicked out with nothing.”

“…What?”

Suddenly? Kicked out? From where?

“I was resting a bit after completing my internship, but I think they heard about it belatedly through a professor. They were furious and told me to return the house, car, clothes, everything and leave.”

“When you said you quit, you meant you left without saying anything?”

“There was no need to say anything. I had already decided to quit, and my father would oppose it anyway.”

Well, that’s true, but.

That’s something only someone like me who lives as they please would do! It’s not something the model student Hwang Sang-hoon would do, right?

My expectation was that he would drag it out for years, unable to leave the hospital or cut ties with his family, but Hwang Sang-hoon had accomplished all of that in one go.

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday. I ignored their call to come to a family event and just stayed home, so my father came to find me.”

“So you contacted me right after that?!”

“That’s right.”

“Where did you sleep last night?”

“Seoul Station.”

I was flabbergasted.

Couldn’t you have stayed at Seo-young’s place or another friend’s house for a night and come leisurely? Is there any reason to show up with just a phone like this?

I could roughly picture the situation.

Hwang Sang-hoon’s parents must have been furious when their obedient son suddenly went off track, and they probably thought he would submit when told to leave the house they bought him… but he had something he was counting on.

“When can I start working?”

The ridiculous thing is that it was me.

I had to hold my throbbing head and think calmly.

“We need time to promote the changed consultation hours and train other staff, so at the earliest, it would be a week from now.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

Hwang Sang-hoon said with the utmost cheerfulness.

“Let’s talk over breakfast first.”

We couldn’t just keep standing at the station. I pointed to a brunch cafe visible nearby.

His next words shocked me again.

“Oh, I don’t have any money at all.”

“…I’ll treat you.”

“Haha, thanks.”

He said he spat out all the money he had saved when they told him to hand over even his tuition? This is a part where I would absolutely refuse to hand over and keep my mouth shut.

Hwang Sang-hoon’s current bank balance is 0 won. He says he even bought the KTX ticket with a credit card.

Can you be this unprepared?

‘Come to think of it, this is a very good situation for me.’

While Hwang Sang-hoon was wolfing down his sandwich, I finished my calculations.

As I had thought before, this guy was flawless as an S-class associate director.

He’s good-looking, so he makes a good first impression.

He’s tall and broad-shouldered, which is advantageous for Chuna.

His social skills seem fine enough.

He studied well throughout six years of university, so he probably hasn’t forgotten all his knowledge like Chu Mi-young, and having completed his internship at a university hospital with cooperative practice, he likely knows more about Western medicine than I do.

And on top of that, he has no money and nowhere to go?

This is the perfect sla- oops, I mean employee, isn’t it?

“I was already working on revising the schedule, planning to start night consultations and weekend consultations.”

I showed him the Excel sheet I had created to make the nursing assistant schedule on my smartphone as I spoke.

“Ah, you really were looking for someone? That’s a relief. I was worried you were forcibly creating a position because of me.”

“Of course not.”

“So if the schedule is like this… on weekdays, work from 7 AM to 8 PM, and on weekends from 9 AM to 3 PM?”

Those are the total business hours, and now we need to divide the consultation hours between the two of us.

Mondays are the busiest, so we definitely need both people, and I haven’t done Saturday consultations yet, but I hear there are quite a lot of patients.

‘Tuesdays and Thursdays are relatively less busy, so I’ll take Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and assign this guy Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.’

I plotted a scheme in a brief moment.

It was to reduce my working days to 4 per week and make Hwang Sang-hoon work 5 days a week with this opportunity.

“Yes. I’d appreciate it if you could work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday like this. Is that okay?”

“Ah… 5 days?”

Hwang Sang-hoon stared intently at the schedule and asked.

Is he dissatisfied that he has more working days than me? If so, I’ll have to resort to gaslighting him that this is how it usually is!

“You don’t need to be so considerate. 7 days is fine too.”

“…?”

What’s with this human? Seo In-ae ver.2? Does he want to work that much?

“Ah, legally we have to give one day off, right? 6 days is good too.”

“Then let’s make it 6 days. Take just Wednesday off.”

I said with a bright smile.

It’s only natural to work a diligent employee who’s rolled in even harder and help them grow.

Before he could change his mind, I took him to the clinic to stamp the contract as soon as we finished brunch.

◆◇◆◇◆

About an hour later, we completed the employment contract.

Thump!

I stamped the seal, and Hwang Sang-hoon, who had come empty-handed without even such a thing, substituted with his signature.

“I look forward to working with you, Chief Director.”

Having become an employer-employee relationship, Hwang Sang-hoon suddenly started speaking formally to me.

Hmm, it feels too awkward after hearing informal speech for 7 years.

“Likewise, I look forward to working with you. Just speak formally during work hours and casually… no, would it be okay if I speak casually to you?”

“Ah, of course.”

Hwang Sang-hoon nodded readily.

And after hesitating for a moment, rolling his eyes around, he opened his mouth again.

“Um, and I have one favor to ask.”

Hm? A favor right after the contract is set?

I frowned slightly.

“I don’t have a single penny, so I was wondering if you could advance me a week’s pay? I think I’ll need money to stay at a jjimjilbang…”

And soon I pointed to the treatment room with a bright smile.

“Just sleep here. We have 10 beds.”

Ha, what workplace provides room and board like this?

“The clinic beds?”

Words thrown out like a joke.

But Hwang Sang-hoon’s reaction was unexpected.