The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

“What about my face? Did I get a bruise?”

“Say it again.”

“Say what?”

“‘Did you wait long?’ That!”

“Did you wait long?”

Chae Seong-gye repeated his daughter’s words, not understanding the significance.

“Your mouth corner just lifted straight up! Your cheek is moving!”

Chae Ri-ra exclaimed excitedly, noting the change when he pronounced “ee.”

But Chae Seong-gye couldn’t really feel the difference.

“Look at this.”

Frustrated, his daughter turned on her dropped phone’s camera and switched it to selfie mode.

“At least your phone is fine.”

“My phone isn’t the issue here!”

But he still couldn’t quite see it.

“Ah, it really is different here! I should’ve taken a picture earlier!”

“How much could it have improved after just one treatment?”

Nevertheless, Chae Seong-gye repeated the “ni” sound a few more times.

With his daughter insisting it was moving, he thought his mouth corner might be lifting a bit more.

“Haha, the effect will appear gradually as the thread dissolves~. Let’s keep treating it steadily without getting impatient.”

“Ah, I’m sorry for the noise!”

“It’s no problem~. Take care on your way home!”

Chae Ri-ra’s fuss was so loud that the director even stepped out of the treatment room into the hallway for a moment.

Chae Seong-gye kept tilting his head in bewilderment, but Chae Ri-ra was certain of her father’s change.

To her keen eye, his cheek was definitely different.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Dad, I think your eye is opening a bit more today!”

“Is that so?”

Chae Ri-ra scrutinized her father’s face every day after the treatment.

“The wrinkles seem more symmetrical now.”

“…Can’t they eliminate them completely?”

At first, he thought his daughter was exaggerating, but after two weeks, he could feel the difference when opening his eyes wide or lifting his mouth corners.

“Your mouth doesn’t lean to one side when you open it wide, right?”

“Yeah, yeah! That’s what I’m saying!”

A month after starting treatment…

“Ah~”

“Ee!”

“Oh~”

On a busy morning, Chae Ri-ra, who had flung open the bathroom door to retrieve her forgotten phone, witnessed her father making vowel sounds in front of the mirror.

“Woah, sorry!”

Chae Ri-ra quickly closed the bathroom door, startled.

“Ahem, it’s fine. Come in. I’ve already finished brushing my teeth.”

Fortunately, though embarrassed, her father immediately reopened the door as she was about to close it, remembering her phone.

He seemed to have been checking the changes in his face while brushing his teeth.

“Wow.”

Chae Ri-ra stared intently at her father’s face, forgetting to take the phone he was offering.

“What? Is there something on my face?”

Chae Seong-gye checked the mirror again, wondering if he had toothpaste on his face, but that wasn’t what Chae Ri-ra saw.

“Wow, Dad, you look so handsome when you smile like that!”

“Hm?”

“Look here! Smile again!”

Typically, Chae Seong-gye never smiled in any situation.

Even when delighted by his daughter’s national sports festival victory, he maintained a stern expression.

When sad about accidentally scratching his beloved car, he kept a solemn face.

When angry about a long-prepared project falling through, he wore a serious expression.

Yet here he was, smiling out of embarrassment at being caught looking in the mirror while brushing his teeth.

“Like this?”

Moreover, when smiling, the facial asymmetry had significantly improved.

“Can’t you tell?”

This time, even Chae Seong-gye couldn’t bring himself to say he couldn’t see it.

“Haha.”

Even to his own eyes, when smiling brightly, his face was over 80% symmetrical.

“That’s perfect! Smile like that from now on, even at work!”

◆◇◆◇◆

‘Hahaha.’

‘Heh.’

‘Hee hee.’

‘Hmm~!’

Throughout his subway commute, Chae Seong-gye kept grinning at his phone in selfie mode.

“…What’s with that guy?”

“Don’t stare at him.”

He was so focused on his face that he only realized he’d gone too far when he noticed strange looks from strangers.

Scratching his head as he entered his company…

“Good morning, everyone~ Have a great day!”

Unlike usual, he greeted everyone brightly.

With a radiant smile, just as his daughter had suggested.

“Oh, good morning, Department Head?”

“Good morning…”

His team members looked extremely awkward.

Hmm, perhaps I did something too out of character.

Let’s just focus on work. At the company, one should work.

“…Team leader, why is Department Head Chae in such a good mood today? I used my day off on Friday…”

“Nothing happened. It’s the first time I’ve seen him smile like that since I started working here.”

“He looks quite approachable when he smiles.”

“Yeah, I thought he was the cold-blooded Northern Duke.”

“Instead of standing around, we should quickly finish our work and submit the report while he’s in a good mood.”

Right, you all should work too.

He unintentionally overheard them gossiping about him near the pantry, but he didn’t feel particularly bad about it.

No, Chae Seong-gye had rarely ever been angry with his subordinates in the first place. Unless they were executives!

He felt a bit wronged, but it was fine nonetheless.

‘Not a single comment about my smile looking strange.’

They only discussed why he was smiling, not how he was smiling.

In fact, thinking back to when he first joined the company, it made his heart ache.

The way his mentor flinched every time he smiled became a decades-long painful memory.

He even heard a particularly unpleasant superior joke that the company should receive disability employment subsidies for him.

“Department Head, did something good happen today~? You mentioned your daughter plays basketball, right? Did she make the starting lineup?!”

“My daughter has always been a starter. She played as the captain of the school that won the national sports festival last year and came second this year. She’s about to graduate.”

“Ah, I see!”

So questions like this weren’t unpleasant at all.

His habitually stiff response seemed to have scared them unnecessarily.

“That daughter recently introduced me to a good Korean medicine clinic. I’ve been receiving thread embedding treatment there, and my facial asymmetry has improved a lot.”

“Oh? Really? You mentioned it was a sequela of facial paralysis, right?”

Chae Seong-gye felt slightly uncomfortable with the employee’s gaze, but instead of covering his mouth with his hand, he smiled gently.

Just as he had practiced on the subway.

“Please don’t look too closely. I’ve been told my smiling expression has improved with treatment, so I’m practicing. Is it not good?”

Hearing this, the employees who had been listening in began to speak up one by one.

“No, it’s great!”

“The office feels brighter when you smile, Department Head!”

…Tone down the exaggeration a bit.

“Well, even knowing it’s flattery, it’s not too bad.”

Chae Seong-gye smirked, bewildered by his employees’ reactions.

◆◇◆◇◆

“I heard you’ve been treating Ri-ra’s father well? Thank you so much.”

Kim Yijin bowed politely.

How did she become so dignified in just a few months?

“I should be thanking you for the referral. Her father is still undergoing treatment. It’s not a condition that can be resolved quickly.”

Is the pro team’s training that rigorous?

After graduating high school with a national sports festival victory, she joined a professional basketball team.

I thought she was going to college, but apparently going straight to a pro team is better?

Anyway, it was cause for celebration that she was on an elite track.

“Have you been well, Yijin?”

“I’m always the same.”

I often mentioned it had been a while whenever Kim Yijin visited.

Although her team was in Busan, it was hard to see her as often as when she attended the school right in front.

“You brought a friend today. The number 5 player from Hwayoung High, right?”

“You remember me?”

Myung Seon-ju, who had been standing silently while Kim Yijin and I exchanged greetings, was startled.

“Of course. You’re Myung Seon-ju, aren’t you?”

Is it surprising?

After all, it’s not often you see a woman over 180cm tall outside of a basketball court, right?

Even the Heavenly Demon was tall, but not quite 180cm.

“Oh~ As expected of a director, you have a good memory!”

“Stop being cheeky.”

I only complimented her, why is Yijin reacting like that? Should she be directing killing intent at her friend?

“How did you come to visit us today, Myung Seon-ju-nim?”

I got to the point and asked Myung Seon-ju.

Usually, we do a preliminary examination at the front desk, but the chart only said “consultation,” as if she hadn’t answered properly.

“Chae Ri-ra told me to come.”

“You must have been quite uncomfortable to come all the way from Ulsan.”

“She’s in Busan now. We’re on the same team~.”

“…They only recruited two people, and I ended up being teammates with her.”

Ah, so that’s why they came together.

I finally understood why they came together, even though they didn’t seem to get along well.

Rivals becoming teammates, how romantic, like a sports manga?

It was somehow intriguing that Chae Ri-ra’s father came on Kim Yijin’s recommendation…

And Kim Yijin’s teammate came on Chae Ri-ra’s recommendation.

“I see. Where are you uncomfortable? Did you get injured while playing?”

Anyway, where does it hurt?

I asked more directly.

“Umm, there’s no specific painful area. I’m not injured either.”

An even more bizarre answer came out.

“Pardon?”

Kim Yijin glared at Myung Seon-ju once before starting to explain herself.

“She was pretty nervous last summer.”

“Did something happen in the summer?”

“The national team selection. Well, I didn’t have the skills to be selected anyway.”

“Ah… that would certainly make one nervous.”

Is she saying she wants to relieve the tension from being so nervous?

“What were your specific symptoms? Just a bit of heart palpitation? Did you experience cold sweats or a feeling of your mind going blank?”

I’ve had quite a few patients with such needs.

Patients wanting to buy Cheongsimhwan before important events like the college entrance exam or other crucial occasions.

“Suddenly my heart started pounding fast, and my vision became shaky. I lost my balance and collapsed for a moment. I felt better after sitting for about 5 minutes… but they wouldn’t let me play in the game.”

But Myung Seon-ju’s symptoms were more complex.

“Syncope? Did you lose consciousness?”

“My vision went white for a moment, but I didn’t lose my memory.”

“Oh dear, you must have been really scared. Did you hit your head when you fell?”

And it wasn’t a situation where one could simply insist there was nothing wrong.

I understood why Chae Ri-ra had made such a fuss about going to the Korean medicine clinic, and why Kim Yijin, who didn’t seem particularly close, had brought Myung Seon-ju along.

“She caught me, so I was fine.”

Myung Seon-ju’s face contorted as she pointed at Kim Yijin.

“I couldn’t just let her fall.”

Kim Yijin smirked.

I continued my questioning, leaving them be.

“Did you experience shortness of breath, fear, numbness, or anxiety during or after the episode?”

Given the rapid heartbeat and fainting, I needed to rule out panic disorder first.

“None of that. Just the symptoms I mentioned earlier.”

“It was an indoor gymnasium, right? Not an extremely hot environment?”

“Yes. It was before the game started, so it couldn’t have been heat stroke.”

“And no dizziness either.”

“No.”

Panic disorder ruled out. Heat stroke ruled out. BPPV ruled out.

The diagnosis was narrowing down.

“You haven’t had any symptoms since that selection event in the summer?”

“Well, there was one more time. Recently.”

“Are there important competitions in winter too?”

“Not at all. It wasn’t even a particularly stressful situation. I just suddenly staggered while hanging out with Ri-ra.”

…Still, I felt I needed to hear more about this.