The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

A few days later, as soon as the weekend arrived, I took an intercity bus to Gyeongju.

‘Was it Gumisan Mountain?’

It hadn’t seemed that far when I looked at the map at the clinic, but when I got off at the terminal and checked the navigation, there was no suitable public transportation.

‘About 10km? I’ll just walk!’

Is he training in a place difficult for ordinary people to access? Is his grandfather from the Taoist sect?

I climbed the mountain by the shortest route, avoiding the hiking trails. The abundant qi was refreshing, probably due to the lack of people.

‘At some valley, turn right…’

But the hand-drawn map was so complicated that I wandered around for quite a while after reaching the vicinity.

“Ah, here… Huh?”

After all that effort to arrive, I found a normal house with a street number, right next to a road. Why did he give such strange directions when he could have just provided the address?

Unsure if this was really the home of a hermit, I walked around the house once.

‘A BMW?’

The presence of a car hidden behind the house further amplified my doubts.

Well, since I’ve come this far, I might as well go in. I returned to the front gate and rang the doorbell.

“Hello, this is Han Yeowon. I contacted you a few days ago.”

“You must have had a hard journey coming here. I’ve prepared some cool rice tea for you to drink. Though it may have been difficult, consider it part of your training.”

An ordinary person would have been quite exhausted walking this path, but for me, it was merely a stroll.

‘I should drink it out of courtesy, though.’

Hmm, no poison.

As I received and drank the rice tea, a man in an unidentifiable outfit led me somewhere.

It wasn’t Silla-era Korean clothing, nor the common Ming or Song dynasty attire I was used to seeing.

“Do you train here…?”

“Indeed, I do.”

His manner of speaking was odd too. The interior lacked cohesion, with a mix of martial arts-themed items and decorations in Indian and Mexican styles. Did he visit some fantasy world or something?

“What kind of person was your grandfather?”

“He was a man who dedicated his life to martial arts. He spent his entire life leaving secret manuals of the martial arts he had received and developed.”

“I see.”

“I know you came all this way out of interest in the secret manuals, but I’d appreciate it if you showed proper etiquette first.”

In one corner of the house, there was something resembling a Taoist shrine set up with an impressive painting. …Isn’t that painting of Guan Yu? Where did he buy that?

The man performed a Buddhist-style bow to it. I followed his example for now.

“This is the martial arts secret manual created by my grandfather.”

Only after touring the house did he lead me to a study. Thinking I wouldn’t be able to read the Chinese characters, he slowly turned the pages, showing me the contents.

I took the book and speed-read through it.

I first opened the section marked “Qi Circulation,” but it was just… a few acupoints written down, hardly a breathing method. When I opened the external techniques section, there were dozens of pages with complicated descriptions of the Three Calamities Sword Technique.

‘No way?’

No way, perhaps. Is this just…

“Of course, it’s not easy to grasp the subtleties just by reading. I can help you for a modest fee.”

“How much?”

“The basic course to achieve enlightenment in qi circulation is 890,000 won for 3 months, and from the intermediate course onward, it’s 490,000 won per month. You’ve taken the trouble to come here today to directly experience the grace, but future sessions can be conducted remotely.”

It’s a scam!

“If you find it burdensome to spend time learning martial arts, there’s a faster method. It’s an elixir. Wild ginseng from Namsan in Gyeongju and bear gallbladder that received energy from Tohamsan Mountain. There are even people who’ve been cured of cancer.”

“This is just a bellflower root. And that’s pig bile.”

No matter how I looked at it, there was no better word than ‘scammer’ to describe this guy.

‘…Was it all lies from the start?’

All that talk about his grandfather and training?

“Blasphemy! What are you saying!”

The man slammed the desk belatedly, but I had already caught the look of dismay on his face.

“Ahahaha.”

Suddenly, I recalled what Seo In-ae had said about voice phishing scams and how anyone could fall for them.

Hmm! I came all this way falling for a much more old-fashioned scam than those modern ones.

“How many people have you sold these secret manuals to so far?”

I asked with a gentle smile.

Did he buy that car outside with money from this one-in-a-million type of business?

If this were Murim, there’d already be a knife in his face… No, I’m not my master. At least a fist would have connected by now.

He should be grateful to have been born in a law-abiding country that severely punishes violence.

Whoosh!

Instead of hitting the scammer, I threw a punch into the air.

In simple terms, palm wind. No, fist wind?

Boom!

With a thunderous noise, one of the three bookshelves lining the study collapsed.

“Uh, uh?”

The man turned around, startled.

“If that was a real martial arts secret manual, you should be able to block this level of attack, right?”

This time, I spread my hand wide, preparing to launch a palm strike. I moved my hand very slowly towards his forehead.

“P-p-please spare me!”

“Try to deflect it. If you succeed, I’ll buy everything at your asking price.”

“Uwaaaaah!”

Whoosh!

Once again, the wind I released was aimed at the wall.

It merely grazed past the man, trimming a bit of his hair, but he trembled uncontrollably, unable to regain his composure.

“Don’t overreact. I can sense a bit of inner force in you, but did it never occur to you that doing this scam, you might one day run into someone real?”

I could sense a faint energy from the man that was different from ordinary people. It’s unlikely to have come from learning some third-rate martial arts technique floating around the streets.

His qi sense must be above average, and he must have keenly felt my killing intent.

He opened and closed his mouth, his face pale.

At first, he twisted his body trying to escape my grasp, but soon his legs gave out completely and he collapsed.

“You can’t move, can you? I’ve won, so bring out the ledger.”

“W-what?”

“Bring out the list of people you’ve sold this to and the account books.”

Though he never agreed to the bet, I demanded relentlessly.

This is absolutely not about venting my anger. It’s about justice, or something like that.

“Huh, huaaah…”

I snatched his smartphone and used his fingerprint to unlock it. He had organized things quite well, as a few searches were enough to find the list of people he had sold this garbage to.

“Sigh.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, there weren’t that many victims who had purchased the sham training courses or elixirs. Well, who would be interested in this stuff in the first place?

“Is this all correct? Can you buy a Mercedes with this?”

“It’s, it’s a lease.”

…Oh, I see. Right.

I nodded with an extremely contemptuous look, then opened KakaoTalk.

“The roots are just picked from the mountain, but it’s not all lies!”

“Huh?”

As I was checking the numbers one by one to create a group chat, the man shouted at me.

What’s this? Judging by his nonsense, he hasn’t been taught enough of a lesson?

“Grandfather really gained martial arts abilities after eating wild ginseng! He trained here his whole life and could even launch palm strikes like you!”

You think I won’t report you just because you insist on this now? It doesn’t change the fact that the secret manuals and medicinal ingredients are completely worthless.

I invited all the victims to the group chat and informed them about the scam method. I didn’t forget to mention that I would send evidence to anyone who wanted to press charges.

“Yeah, yeah~. Just live your life properly.”

Ugh!

Even after leaving the scammer’s house, I stomped my feet, still feeling angry.

Han Yeowon, how far you’ve fallen?

I, I… didn’t fall for my master’s temptation to change my surname in exchange for the Tang family’s secret techniques! Yet I fell for this cheap scam manual!

“I should report this to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety too.”

Come to think of it, I learned during my medical law studies that manufacturing and selling unlicensed herbal medicines is illegal.

I can tell at a glance, but someone might die from mistakenly eating such unmanaged weeds thinking they’re medicinal herbs. This is all for public health.

While I was at it, I left a comment on his NewTube channel calling him a scammer to prevent others from falling victim.

‘Hehe… heh.’

Having lost all sense of reason, I climbed the mountain, chuckling to myself.

Why am I going up, you ask?

It’d be a waste to have come all this way!

Since I’ve taken the time to come here, I might as well practice some qi circulation before leaving.

As expected of a famous mountain, the thousand-year capital of Silla, the flow of qi was indeed good. It’s saying something that it’s even better than the mountain behind our neighborhood that surprised me at first glance.

If the scammer’s last words were true, even those who don’t know qi cultivation methods might be able to build up a bit of inner force just by being here.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Take a step, punch the air.

Climb another step, needlessly throw some fine needles at a tree, repeating this as I moved to an area without people.

“Oh, this spot is nice.”

After walking a bit following the mountain’s energy, I found a suitable rock.

I leapt onto the rock and sat in a lotus position.

First, I opened the meridians to receive external qi.

As the energy that had been knotted up from all sorts of stress dispersed and flowed along the Ren and Du meridians.

The unobstructed qi circulated and vibrated like a whirlwind, seeking stability in the lower dantian…

“Quack! Quack! Quaaaack!”

…just as I was about to find stability, I heard some kind of animal cry.

“There’s no water, why is there a duck?”

Why on earth is this happening? My luck was terrible, but this was too much.

If I had been fully concentrated, I might not have heard it, but without a dharma protector, I couldn’t completely lose myself in meditation.

I had come all this way to find a place without people. Should I try again? Or just get up since it’s clearly not my day?

“Huh?”

I took a step closer to identify the animal.

It retreated exactly the same distance I had approached.

“A Siberian chipmunk?”

Whoosh!

Having barely confirmed its appearance, I closed the distance using lightness skill.

‘There’s no way I can’t catch up, right?’

Strangely, it escaped again to just out of reach.

“Something… I’ve experienced this before, haven’t I?”

I felt a sense of déjà vu.

I’m sure I was interrupted during qi circulation just like this, and followed an animal… Ah!

I remembered.

In the martial arts world, of course, we had to gather medicinal ingredients ourselves.

Now I buy herbal medicines verified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and while staying with the Tang family, I selected from what the herb gatherers brought, but at first, I had no choice.

Back then, I chased a rabbit in exactly this way.

“Spirit Grass.”

What I discovered after following that rabbit was wild ginseng with an incredibly concentrated spiritual energy.

It revived an old man whose vitality was fading, and became the power that protected me until I learned martial arts.

Without the Spirit Grass, it would have been difficult to treat patients without cowering among the thuggish martial artists.

Could it be the same this time?

Was all of today’s bad luck just to clear the way for this moment?

Maybe? Please!

If I’m right, coming here wasn’t foolish but a windfall.

I chased after the chipmunk, my heart brimming with expectations that felt like they might burst out of my chest.

“My goodness!”

And finally, reaching the destination.

I gaped at the sight before me.

Deep in the foothills of Gumisan Mountain.

A massive pine tree, seemingly over a thousand years old, cast its shadow, having withered and died.

“How…”

There hadn’t been any particular disasters recently, so why?

The tree that had endured the passage of time unimaginable to humans had lost all its vitality, becoming a lifeless dead pine.

The elegant branches and green leaves that once reached for the sky were now bearing the full brunt of a death that had occurred who knows how many years ago.

Anyone who saw this sight would have sighed deeply.

Scurry-

But the chipmunk had no regrets for the ancient tree.

It nonchalantly crawled between the roots of the pine tree, which had once been thick and strong enough to pierce rock.

Snap.

The chipmunk plucked a mushroom growing on the tree root, then emerged with it in its mouth.

“Huh?”

Something was odd.

In the instant before it entered the chipmunk’s stomach, I sensed a subtle energy.

I quickly brushed away the soil and examined the pine tree’s roots.

Thud, thud!

I stomped vigorously, but it wasn’t enough, so I used my inner force to dig up the ground.

The death energy cast over the ground had been so strong that I hadn’t noticed what was underneath.

The more I dug, the more an ominous energy began to shine.

“…I won’t have to worry about lacking inner force anymore.”

If the pine tree had been alive, the most I could have done was practice qi circulation beneath it.

This was beyond that.

An enormous fungal body of Poria cocos, having absorbed all the spiritual energy of the dead pine tree, had formed underground.