The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

Kyu Kyu, whose real name was Yoon Han-byeol, returned to an empty house.

Until yesterday, when he heard it might be cancer, he largely thought it couldn’t be true.

Cancer? Isn’t that something that only happens to grandmas and grandpas on TV?

Although worry persisted, he was more excited about the thought of eating delicious food and exploring the city with the guild leader.

“Sigh…”

Why is life doing this only to me?

He could only lament.

It seemed there were happy times when he was younger, but since coming here, his life had been nothing but misery.

Yes, he definitely used to love visiting his grandmother’s house as a child.

But how could visiting the countryside once a year compare to being abandoned by his parents and forced to live here?

This was the result of begging his parents so desperately not to divorce.

Yoon Han-byeol couldn’t bring himself to like this neighborhood, and even the middle school students born and raised in the countryside could clearly see the disdain of a city kid.

He didn’t get along with his peers at school.

He hated his grandmother’s pity too. But if he didn’t rely on even that pity, he’d have nowhere to go. It was pathetic.

So Han-byeol avoided even his grandmother, and in this rural corner, he had nothing to do but play games.

‘But these past few days were really nice.’

In the game, there were many people who played with him.

Although the relationships were built on the lie that he was a college student, there were so many people who waited for him, praised him for doing well. He too waited for updates, for the guild leader to log in, for days to raid together.

He had been looking forward to tomorrow, just a little.

‘As soon as I become happy, you have to take everything away like this?’

He couldn’t help but think the world was tormenting him.

Why, why only me?

The idiots at school live well without a care in the world.

Mom and Dad are probably making lots of money after abandoning me, having new kids and being happy?

Bzzzzt-

As he was crying hugging his pillow, his phone vibrated.

‘Is it the guild leader? Or Blue Wind Young Master? Did the guild leader tell them?’

Yoon Han-byeol checked the caller ID.

[Dad]

So the guild leader really did contact him. At least he’s calling.

Should I answer? As Han-byeol hesitated, the call ended.

‘As expected.’

He sighed and put down his phone.

But soon it rang again.

“…Hello?”

“Han-byeol?”

“Yes.”

“I heard what happened, Han-byeol. How… how hard this must be for you. I should be the one to go instead, how could this happen to you, still so young…”

“…”

“Are you at home? I’m on my way now. Surgery will make everything better, so don’t worry about anything.”

He’s coming?

“What about work?”

The words tumbled out of Yoon Han-byeol’s mouth before he knew it.

“What does work matter when you’re sick! I took the afternoon off and I’m on my way now. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. For not paying attention until it came to this…”

“You’re sorry? To me?”

“Of course I’m sorry. I feel like I could die from how sorry I am. My beloved Han-byeol, if only I had taken proper care of you. Ah…”

“You… love me?”

His father said it countless times. That he was sorry, that he loved him.

“…”

He thought his father didn’t love him at all.

He thought work was far more important.

But hearing that he was dropping everything to rush over made him feel a little good.

“I want to see you, Dad.”

Yoon Han-byeol said softly.

He clutched his stomach tightly.

So cancer cells are really growing in here…

He was scared. Terribly scared.

It was too horrifying a fear for someone so young to face.

But knowing his dad was coming made him feel like he could overcome it.

Shortly after, his dad ended the call, saying he was driving.

No sooner had he hung up than a new call came in.

[Blue Wind Young Master]

For some reason, it made him smile. The nickname momentarily made everything feel unreal.

There were people looking for him, both here and in the game.

Yoon Han-byeol answered the phone and turned on his computer.

◆◇◆◇◆

After talking with Yoon Jung-hoon, Yoon Han-byeol’s father, it became clear there were many misunderstandings between father and son.

Jung-hoon thought his son hated him so much he couldn’t bear to see his face, while Han-byeol believed his dad didn’t love him at all and had abandoned him in the countryside.

According to Yoon Jung-hoon, Yoon Han-byeol had been extremely distressed by his parents’ divorce.

His only son had begged and pleaded for them not to divorce, so Yoon Jung-hoon tried to find any possible compromise, but… the couple ultimately reached an impasse.

“Do you want to live with Dad, or with Mom?”

Faced with this terrible question at the young age of 13, Yoon Han-byeol’s answer was:

“I hate you both. Just die!”

It was quite harsh.

Yoon Jung-hoon said he was hurt, as his son didn’t hesitate to say hurtful things like wishing for them to get into an accident or fall seriously ill.

So the solution they barely came up with was to leave him with his grandmother.

There were no suitable relatives on his mother’s side, and Han-byeol was very close to his grandmother, so they made the difficult request.

His grandmother, while worried that a young child might be lonely in the countryside, gladly agreed if it was what Han-byeol wanted.

So Yoon Jung-hoon worked in Busan and sent child support.

And of course, he initially planned to visit often to see his son’s face, but… he just couldn’t muster the courage.

“How could you not contact him for over a year?!”

Yoon Jung-hoon couldn’t say a word. He said it was all his fault, that he thought his son was living well with his grandmother.

“Not visiting was wrong, but don’t blame yourself for the illness too. You need to stay strong as a father.”

“…Yes.”

“He’ll be scared before the surgery, and anxious for a while after. Worried about what side effects might occur, whether they’ll say he needs chemotherapy… If he has a total gastrectomy, there’s a possibility of dumping syndrome too.”

“Yes. I’ll pull myself together. Thank you.”

Fortunately, Yoon Jung-hoon visited Yoon Han-byeol that very day, and it seemed the two had cleared up their misunderstandings.

Yoon Han-byeol’s voice was quite cheerful when he logged in the next day.

“I’m moving to Busan! I’ll be living with Dad from now on!”

“Really? That’s wonderful!”

“Hehehe. Now if anything hurts, I’ll come straight to you, guild leader!”

“That’s right. Come anytime.”

Considering they would be moving and transferring schools, they made surgery reservations at a hospital in Busan for follow-up care.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t at a stage where just removing the mucosa would suffice.

If the cancer is 2cm or smaller and only in the mucosal layer, it can be ended with a simple procedure to remove it, but if it has spread widely within the stomach along the submucosal layer and is invading towards the serosal layer, there’s no choice but to resect the stomach.

“Aaaargh!”

Up until the day of surgery, Yoon Han-byeol periodically fell into panic.

He would play games all day to forget his fear, then suddenly scream and pull at his hair.

I couldn’t watch over him 24 hours a day, but all the other raid members prayed for Yoon Han-byeol’s surgery to go well.

Thankfully, the surgery went smoothly.

He woke up safely, and the pain and physical weakness weren’t as severe as he had worried.

“Hehe, it wasn’t a big deal after all. I’m sorry for worrying everyone. I think it was treated well because we found it early thanks to you, guild leader!”

Yoon Han-byeol was discharged in less than a week and quickly returned to his daily life.

He seemed even more cheerful than before the surgery.

His game time decreased, but it seemed to be because he made friends at his new school, so I wasn’t worried.

◆◇◆◇◆

However, a month after the surgery, Yoon Jung-hoon and Yoon Han-byeol came to visit the clinic.

“Hello, Doctor. It’s nice to finally meet you in person. Thank you so much for all your advice over the phone last time.”

“It’s nothing. I’m so glad you two reconciled. Have you been well, Kyu Kyu?”

“…Don’t call me that!”

Yoon Han-byeol turned his head away, covering his reddened face.

“Haha, I’m just teasing. You should have called ahead! We could have had lunch together. Are you here just to say hello? Or is there a problem?”

I smiled as I asked them.

The surgery went well, and I knew he wasn’t doing chemotherapy. If so, the possible issues narrow down to a few.

“…It’s not serious, but…”

“What do you mean it’s not serious! Didn’t you ignore your heartburn before, saying it was nothing!”

Yoon Jung-hoon said, hugging his son.

“He’s developed dumping syndrome. Just as you were concerned about before, Doctor.”

“Ah… So that’s why you’ve come.”

“Yes. I vaguely remembered you mentioning it. We came to thank you and also to see if there might be any solution.”

Dumping Syndrome.

It’s one of the most common complications that can occur after stomach resection.

If you translate the word “Dumping” directly, it would mean something like “pouring out.”

Originally, food that passes through the esophagus is gradually moved to the small intestine while being digested in the stomach.

But when part or all of the stomach is removed, this regulatory function disappears, and a large amount of food is dumped from the esophagus into the small intestine, increasing osmotic pressure, which can lead to various symptoms.

Symptoms that appear 10-30 minutes after the initial food dumping are called early dumping syndrome.

And symptoms that occur when blood sugar, which spiked momentarily, drops rapidly due to a large secretion of insulin are called late dumping syndrome. Late dumping occurs 2 to 4 hours after eating.

“Which symptoms are predominant? Do you feel like vomiting or have stomach pain? Do you also feel dizzy or have trouble seeing?”

“The pain is occasional? It’s not as severely burning as before the surgery, just a bit of discomfort. The most uncomfortable part is feeling like something’s about to come up, and sometimes I get dizzy and break out in a cold sweat, but it gets better quickly if I rest.”

Yoon Han-byeol shrugged as if it were nothing.

Of course, Yoon Jung-hoon’s thoughts were completely different.

“That’s not true. Han-byeol is just taking it too lightly. You understand, don’t you, Doctor? How insensitive he is… He collapsed during PE class and caused a commotion.”

“That was just the other kids overreacting.”

Of course, my thoughts were closer to Jung-hoon’s.

“If you’re collapsing from hypoglycemic shock, it shouldn’t be ignored. Dumping syndrome itself usually improves with dietary therapy and as time passes, but if you collapse and hit your head before then, it could be serious.”

“Ah, I just wasn’t careful. Usually it only happens briefly after eating, but I suddenly got dizzy during 6th period.”

“You need to be more careful since you have both early and late dumping! We need to treat the dizziness and abdominal bloating too!”

Why suffer through the discomfort when treatment can make it better?

I saw quite a few cases at the university-affiliated Korean medicine hospital during my student days. Both in Korea and China.

Korean medicine and acupuncture have significant effects on symptoms like abdominal bloating, dizziness, sweating, and palpitations, and it’s the same for patients with dumping syndrome.

“You’ve come to the right place. I’ll help you from now on, so don’t worry.”