The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

“How laughable, mere physician. Do you think taking on the grand title of ‘Divine Physician’ makes you a martial artist?”

The great sword of the Nine-Fingered Ghost King, Huk Jwa-ryang, flashed.

“Or do you think the Lightning Poison Hand will come to save you?”

“……”

I remained silent.

Judging by the fact that he had kept me alive thus far, he probably wouldn’t kill me, but there was no need to needlessly provoke the leader of an evil sect.

It had already been three days since I was kidnapped by the Nine-Fingered Ghost King.

My martial arts were sealed, and my hands and feet were bound. Even if I was beaten out of spite for a displeasing look in my eyes, I had no way to resist.

Of course, with just a smattering of street-level martial arts, I wouldn’t stand a chance against this person anyway.

‘If I had known it would come to this, I should have learned some demonic arts from the Heavenly Demon.’

It was a pointless hypothetical.

If I had accepted that offer, I wouldn’t have been able to escape alive from the Murim Alliance’s prison.

Fate, and connections, can be truly cruel.

I thought I had formed a good relationship with Tang Seo-rim of the Lightning Poison Hand, who had protected me at the Alliance back then.

Who would have thought it would turn into such misfortune?

Struggling to survive after falling into this martial arts world, I thought I hadn’t made enemies with anyone.

How did I end up in this situation, caught up in someone else’s grudge?

Judging by all his ranting about fingers, it seemed the Ghost King had lost some fingers to Tang Seo-rim long ago.

‘Will he come to save me?’

Honestly, I wasn’t sure.

I had interacted with him as a physician even before I was falsely accused of being a demonic cult member by the Murim Alliance.

And after I was released with his help, Tang Seo-rim visited me quite frequently.

But whether he would knowingly jump into this evil sect’s lair for someone he was just fairly close to, I couldn’t say.

If he doesn’t come, then I-.

BOOM!

At that moment, a thunderous noise erupted.

The iron door split in half and fell to the floor.

And Tang Seo-rim’s silhouette appeared.

“Lightning Poison Hand?”

The Nine-Fingered Ghost King was very surprised. Even though he himself had lured Tang Seo-rim here.

“There should be underlings spread out everywhere outside!”

He couldn’t believe that Tang Seo-rim had overcome the trap and reached this place.

“A sneak attack!”

You kidnap me and then accuse him of ambushing your underlings? It was truly ridiculous.

Unlike the Nine-Fingered Ghost King whose life hung in the balance, I was completely relieved the moment I saw Tang Seo-rim’s face.

The Ghost King hadn’t even sensed Tang Seo-rim’s presence until he was right in front of him.

Indeed, one of the world’s top ten masters from one of the five great families was on a different level.

“Do you think a few ants scurrying about could block a gentleman’s path?”

Tang Seo-rim smirked.

I opened my mouth, mesmerized by his chilling eyes.

“Are you alright?”

By the time I came to my senses, the Ghost King’s neck was already pierced by a flying dagger.

“Y-Yes.”

“Tsk, your qi and blood are twisted.”

Tang Seo-rim untied the ropes binding me and examined my condition.

He noticed that my qi and blood had been twisted during the process of sealing my martial arts, without even checking my pulse.

“…I’m sorry. I got the Divine Physician involved in my grudge.”

Tang Seo-rim looked down at me with incredibly sad eyes.

He held my hand and gradually channeled his energy. It was a technique I had never experienced before, having never properly learned martial arts.

As I was breathing heavily and accepting the energy.

In an instant, Tang Seo-rim’s gaze changed.

And he said.

“Come to the Tang family.”

“Pardon…?”

“I can’t protect the Divine Physician like this.”

A recruitment offer?

I had received quite a few recruitment offers for my skills as a physician. The Heavenly Demon, who had spread my fame, and various merchants and martial arts family heads I had treated, had asked me to become their personal physician.

“If you come to the Tang family, I’ll protect you from all the threats in the world.”

I shook my head as always.

“I want the power to protect myself.”

I didn’t want to belong anywhere. I disliked the idea of their enemies becoming my enemies by association.

Rather, I wanted to cut ties with Tang Seo-rim like this, erase the name of Divine Physician, and hide in a new place.

“Then I’ll give you everything I have. …Except for the poisons.”

“…You’ll teach me the martial arts of the Sichuan Tang family?”

“Gladly.”

But the offer from Tang Seo-rim, the Lightning Poison Hand, was special.

The demonic arts the Heavenly Demon offered to teach weren’t the Celestial Demon Divine Art.

The Murim Alliance Leader had only promised a few bodyguards.

But Tang Seo-rim said he would give me everything he had achieved as both a martial artist and a physician.

“Alright, I’ll go with you.”

From that day on, I became the only direct disciple of Tang Seo-rim, the Lightning Poison Hand.

“But how did you find me so quickly? As the Ghost King said, there were evil sect members spread out everywhere outside.”

“Do you think I couldn’t find one Divine Physician with my qi sense?”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“…I’ll come find you wherever you are, from now on.”

◆◇◆◇◆

Flash. My eyes opened.

Why did I dream of the past? Since opening my clinic and getting busy, I rarely had time to think about such things.

Between the memories associated with hair loss patients and talking about hair with my employees, my master appeared in my dreams after a long time.

“Ugh!”

Goosebumps rose on both my arms, and I shuddered.

Being kidnapped by an evil sect member, this was truly something that could cause PTSD.

After suffering hardship due to my master’s grudge back then, I gave up my life as a wandering physician and entered the Tang family’s medical pavilion.

In fact, as a physician, there were quite a few things I taught my master. We exchanged our different strengths, you could say?

But since I learned martial arts and became the only direct disciple of the Tang family’s top expert, I respectfully addressed him as my master to avoid unnecessary gossip.

Swish.

I twisted my green-dyed hair.

Unfortunately, it’s not dye. Even if I dye it black, the brilliant green color soon sprouts from the roots again.

Was it some kind of poison that remained when my master’s internal energy mixed in while unsealing my martial arts?

Since I couldn’t handle poison arts, I had no choice but to leave it as my master had arranged it.

Well, thanks to the abundance of internal energy he transferred, not only did I recover quickly, but I also learned martial arts relatively easily, so the hair color was no big deal. It’s not like it’s turning white, is it?

Although I didn’t learn poison arts, I learned all the flying dagger and hidden weapon techniques. Except for the secret techniques passed down only to the family head, which even my master hadn’t received.

And in about ten years, I reached the level of a master, becoming someone who couldn’t be threatened by anyone except for… inhuman beings like the Heavenly Demon or the Murim Alliance Leader.

…Though I lost it all with the Great Soul Return Technique.

“Ah~! You said you’d come find me wherever I am! What are you doing?”

Come to think of it, is there anything to do in the medical pavilion anyway? All the patients would be seen by the disciples I’ve trained.

Tang Seo-rim, called the Lightning Poison Hand by others, and the Lightning Saint Hand by himself.

Well, although I say he called himself that, it was actually a title I gave him.

He was a peculiar person, a genius in poison arts and the Tang family’s top expert, yet he despised poisons and wanted to live as a physician.

But when I started taking responsibility for everything in the medical pavilion, he made no comments and spent his days idly.

It’s quite a shame, isn’t it?

He would be so useful if I could bring him here now when I’m this busy!

I couldn’t let him treat patients due to licensing issues… but he could help out, manage the decoction room, wouldn’t that be great?

Well, considering he didn’t even see me off when I left, sulking, it’s not likely.

In fact, decoction in modern times just involves weighing herbs and putting them in a machine, so it doesn’t really matter who does it.

But having inherited a strange stubbornness about the importance of sincerity from my master, I was reluctant to hire part-timers.

Even when I was in the medical pavilion, I never let others do it, either doing it myself or only letting disciples who wanted to become physicians do it.

I want to set up an external decoction room like I mentioned to Park Seon-yun before, but I don’t have time to personally inspect the herbs.

It would be nice if someone fell from the sky to take care of that…

I expanded the clinic network to reduce my consultations, yet I couldn’t understand why more and more people were seeking me out.

“Ah, whatever! Let’s just play games!”

I’ll think about being busy with consultations tomorrow.

Today is a day off, so I should have fun.

The morning had already passed due to that unsettling dream.

I hurriedly turned on the computer and logged into Central Plains Online.

Although I had been distant from the game for a while after handing over the Guild Leader position, I’ve been quite diligent in raising an alternate character since the Sichuan Tang family job was updated.

Whoosh! Whoooosh!

Throwing flying daggers.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Breaking treasure chests.

Urrrgh!

Time flew by as I beat up demonic cult members.

As evening approached.

“Yeowon, can you talk?”

Suddenly, I received a call from Hwang Sang-hoon.

This was a very rare occurrence.

Hwang Sang-hoon had been handling all matters, big and small, on days when I was absent.

He wouldn’t contact me for trivial matters, trying to ensure I could rest sufficiently on my days off.

“Yeah. I was just resting. What’s up?”

I answered the phone urgently.

“There’s a junior who wants to interview you, but there’s nothing about this in the manual. Should I tell them to come back tomorrow? Or just refuse?”

…Interview? What’s this about?

“When you say junior, you mean from our school?”

“Yeah. A fourth-year student from Korea University’s College of Korean Medicine.”

Who comes for an interview without making an appointment?

I’ve pestered seniors for observation opportunities when I was in school, but I always made appointments in advance.

Junior? Juuunior? I wish I had manpower I could put to work right away, but what use is a student?

Where did they hear about me? Is it about Hyun Joo-mi?

Although I was bewildered… honestly, I didn’t feel too bad about it.

Rather, I had to hide the slight upturn of my lips.

“I’ll just go now. Tell them to wait. If they came tomorrow, I wouldn’t have time due to consultations.”

“Alright. Take your time.”

I turned off the game and changed my clothes.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Hello! I’m Lee Ah-reum, active in the school newspaper club!”

The student who introduced herself as Lee Ah-reum bowed at a 90-degree angle.

This is… refreshing? No, it’s so cliché that it’s refreshing.

A bob-cut, bespectacled character from the newspaper club, like I’ve seen in many manga.

Until I came to work on my day off, I was half annoyed, half curious.

But seeing this cute student exuding such an innocent aura, my annoyance melted away.

“Haha, yes. You want to interview me? Is it for the school newspaper?”

“If you’ll allow it, I’d love to. I came on the off chance, and I’m so grateful you made time for me right away!”

I nodded.

“How did you come to know about me?”

“I heard so much about you from Professor Lee Min-seok. I really, really wanted to meet you in person! He said you’re an all-rounder senior who’s great at acupuncture, herbal medicine, counseling, and management!”

Lee Ah-reum’s face flushed as she clasped her hands together.

“How on earth does Professor Lee Min-seok know all that…?”

What on earth is this person going around telling clueless students?

I think I need to do an in-depth interview with this friend instead.