The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim

“Hehe, I knew you’d say that, Dr. Han. Ever since you helped me catch that stalker, I decided to live boldly, just like you!”

Of course, that’s how it should be. Be confident everywhere and do whatever you want.

As long as it’s not dangerous behavior.

If she had bet on a physical fight with Han-sol Lee, even I wouldn’t have been able to help, but I could easily handle a revenue showdown.

“But will it be alright? They have three doctors. That means they’re generating enough revenue to pay two Korean medicine doctors’ salaries and still have profit left over. It would have been advantageous if we’d gone with net profit after expenses, but revenue will be really tough.”

“That’s right. At that scale, their monthly revenue must be at least 60 or 70 million won? It could even exceed 100 million if they sell a lot of herbal medicine. Is there a way for a single-doctor clinic to suddenly pump up revenue like that?”

Despite Kim Chun-sik and Hwang Sang-hoon’s pessimistic opinions…

“R-really…? But they don’t have any more room to grow, while I haven’t been doing much, so I could try various things, right? I could create packages and pull in three months’ worth of revenue!”

Though taken aback by the weight of 100 million won, Chu Mi-young revealed what she had been considering. It seemed she had been strategizing.

“That’s right. Definitely create packages for both medicine and pharmacopuncture. Hwang Sang-hoon, should we introduce this too?”

“We can develop ours slowly… Dr. Chu, are you really okay with working seven days a week? I find it quite challenging even with six days.”

Despite previously insisting he was fine when told to reduce to five days, Hwang Sang-hoon now expressed great concern for Chu Mi-young’s physical condition.

That part is definitely a problem.

“It’s only for a month, so I’ll just take some tonics and power through with willpower!”

While Chu Mi-young argued for a mental approach…

In my expert judgment, it was physically impossible for Chu Mi-young to maintain top quality while working seven days a week.

“I have an even better idea.”

So then?

“I’ll go.”

Someone who won’t be physically strained even working like that should do it!

“…What?”

“Dr. Chu, you’re off on Thursdays and Sundays, right? Those are my days off too. It would work perfectly if I went to cover for you, don’t you think?”

“You’ll come all the way from Busan?”

“It’s only a two-hour drive.”

I don’t have a car yet, but I was planning to buy one soon anyway.

I’ll have to go to a used car dealership tomorrow.

Now that the bet has started, we must win at all costs.

Especially since it’s a savage challenge? We should invest all our guild resources.

I boldly declared I would cover for her.

It might be tough for Chu Mi-young’s stamina, but even with the drive, I’d be fine after one session of qi circulation.

This is why I reduced my work days to four early on!

◆◇◆◇◆

I had been meaning to buy a car for a while.

Ever since I rented one to visit Yoon Han-byeol, I kept thinking I should buy one, but forgot due to being busy.

I don’t need a car for commuting, but occasionally I need to go far, right?

Now the question is what car to buy.

“Can’t I just buy something cheap?”

Everyone I knew had something to say about my comment.

“If you’re going to drive on highways, a compact car is too dangerous! You should at least get an Avante!”

“Since you’re buying one, go for an SUV.”

“Your first car should be a new one, fully loaded. If you’re looking for value for money… hmm, go for the Seltos.”

Those were the opinions of Chu Mi-young, Hwang Sang-hoon, and Kim Chun-sik.

“Wouldn’t it be better to spend a bit more and get a Tucson?”

“I thought the Sorento looked pretty!”

Even the staff had their say.

“You’ve got plenty of money, just go all out with a Mercedes!”

“Nah, Mercedes are too common. If you want to feel like you’ve arrived, you need at least a Cayenne these days!”

As for my senior and Hwang Seo-young… let’s just ignore them.

What nonsense about feeling like you’ve arrived. If I had that kind of money, I’d invest in the clinic and buy a house.

I just went to a used car dealership and bought an Avante that was a little over 10 years old.

It’s not as expensive as I thought. Much cheaper than an ultrasound machine? I could have bought one earlier.

I immediately transferred the ownership and headed to Daegu.

There were still two weeks left until the designated bet period next month, but I went early to start operating seven days a week and accumulate patients who could only come on Sundays.

◆◇◆◇◆

They wouldn’t know my face, so I went to spy on them in an inconspicuous outfit.

As expected, the interior was luxurious, and the number of patients was slightly low for having three doctors. Of course, it wasn’t as empty as when Chu Mi-young was running the Busan branch.

Have they lost that many patients?

Maybe they have more patients getting diet pills prescribed, so there are fewer acupuncture patients.

“I’ve put up ads everywhere saying we’re open for consultations every day starting this week!”

Chu Mi-young created advertisements on the Instagram and blog she manages, announcing that they would now be open on Sundays as well.

Ah, there are two Instagram accounts – her original personal account and the Seongsu Korean Medicine Clinic account created after catching the stalker and opening the Daegu branch. She used both, including her personal account with many followers.

We considered offline flyers too, but for now, we stopped at just making banners and standing signs.

“But if we do all this, what will you do about Sunday consultations after I’m gone?”

“Ah~ I’m planning to hire another part-time doctor now that we’ve set up the staff. I have a junior living nearby who’s raising kids and looking for a part-time position working just two days a week. When she starts, please let her observe at your clinic too, Dr. Han!”

That’s not difficult at all.

I was more than willing, as expanding the scale would greatly benefit my income too.

Besides increasing business days and advertising, Chu Mi-young had enthusiastically devised several strategies.

“Wow, they finally took down that post on the mom cafe.”

After reporting it for business interference and sending a content-certified mail, all the comments disappeared at once. At this point, it was more beneficial to prevent those comments from being exposed than to fine them a few hundred thousand won.

She also created non-covered package programs.

There was already a system for slightly discounting medicine when paid for three months in advance, but until now, pharmacopuncture was paid for on a per-session basis.

She created a system where patients who needed long-term treatment could pay for 10 or 20 sessions at once for a discount, aiming to pull in next month’s revenue in advance.

We established these systems during the two-week preparation period.

I also made my presence known to the patients in Daegu.

Finally, the month of the bet arrived.

“I heard this place is really good at Chuna. Can it help my disc problem too?”

“Of course. But for your condition, combining it with pharmacopuncture would be much better for pain management.”

“Ah, I saw about pharmacopuncture on Instagram too. I heard there’s a discount for package deals… I guess I’d need about 20 sessions to get better, right?”

“We don’t approach disc issues with the concept of complete cure. It’s nonsense to say you’ll get better after 10 or 20 sessions. Sometimes the disc retracts on imaging tests during treatment, but often there’s no visible change. However, after 20 sessions of Chuna and pharmacopuncture, your pain will definitely improve.”

Chuna is covered by health insurance, so we can’t discount the treatment fee, but prepayment is possible. If you prepay for 20 sessions of combined Chuna and pharmacopuncture, you get a discount on the non-covered pharmacopuncture.

The patient response was much better than expected.

Some came after seeing Instagram or blog posts, and existing patients receiving Chuna treatment from Chu Mi-young requested retroactive application.

After a week like this…

Revenue doubled compared to when Chu Mi-young was working alone.

Although the net profit increase wouldn’t be as high considering increased labor costs and such, the revenue, which was the bet item, was greatly inflated.

Some patients came to see me, but Chu Mi-young did an excellent job too, and our prepared strategies were effective.

“Hehe, at this rate, we’ll win easily, right?”

Chu Mi-young grinned proudly, looking at the sharply rising graph on the chart.

It was an excellent start.

“Indeed. It seems like their patient numbers have decreased instead. Are they not doing anything?”

It was strangely quiet, considering they had even posted malicious comments before.

I thought they might at least hand out flyers in front of the clinic or put up ads in nearby apartments.

There was nothing special on their blog, and on the mom cafe where they used to post ads… Huh?

“What’s this?”

An event was posted.

I had joined all the local cafes, including the previous mom cafe, in case they plotted something again, and the same post appeared on three of them.

In addition to the usual coffee gift cards, they were offering a frying pan just for a consultation to first-time patients.

“Is this a real estate office or what? Even restaurants don’t do this!”

“…They’re willing to bleed this much?”

To be fair, we never explicitly forbade this. The only restriction was prohibiting defamation.

Unlike their previous blatantly illegal actions, it was ambiguous whether this patient solicitation would be punishable. They were just giving gifts, not discounting the patient’s share of the cost.

“I guess they’re going all out since they have nothing to lose if they fail. Sigh, what should we do? Should we do something like this too?”

Chu Mi-young looked ready to order a bulk shipment of kitchenware right away.

But in the long run, it’s just cutting into their own flesh. Wouldn’t it just ruin the clinic’s image for nothing?

“This is too much of a chicken game. Let’s wait and see for now.”

Patients attracted this way usually come once and never return.

Even if you offer coins to read novels or comics, people only keep paying if it’s interesting. How much worse would it be for getting stuck with needles?

In the end, you need skill and effective treatment.

A few days passed like this.

Fortunately, Seongsu Korean Medicine Clinic’s patient numbers didn’t decrease.

“Doctor, did you know? That clinic next door is doing something weird.”

“If you mean the frying pans, I’ve heard about that.”

“That’s only for first-time visitors. There’s something else. Receipt review? Apparently, if you do that or tag them on Instagram, they let you spin a roulette wheel?”

“…What’s on the roulette?”

“I didn’t go myself, but I heard there are various things. Pain relief patches are the most common prize, but there’s even Gyeongokgo.”

“They’re giving away Gyeongokgo like that?”

“Yes! I told them it’s strange and not to go, but they went anyway, saying they wanted to try their luck at winning Gyeongokgo.”

This is truly insane, isn’t it? What do they think Gyeongokgo is?

Many people think of Gongjindan and Gyeongokgo, the most famous Korean medicines, as health supplements.

It’s because they can be taken for a long time, are widely applicable to most people with deficiency conditions, and have been frequently featured in media.

In fact, slightly renamed products are sold in various places.

But how can a Korean medicine doctor put it in a gacha product?!

It’s common sense to prescribe it after consultation as needed. It’s already ridiculous that it’s sold as a holiday gift, and now a roulette? Roulette?

How will people recognize Gyeongokgo as medicine if Korean medicine doctors themselves do this?

“This can’t go on.”

“Right? It seems they’re prepared to take a loss, so should we also have some kind of event…”

Chu Mi-young was about to grind her teeth anxiously but quickly caught herself and shook her head.

Troublesome things are troublesome, but we shouldn’t damage the temporomandibular joint we’ve just fixed.

And I had no intention of facing Haneul Korean Medicine Clinic with the same methods.

Aside from not wanting to deal with people who aren’t seeking treatment, using the same methods won’t produce overwhelming results.

“Hah… I didn’t want to resort to this.”

I pulled out my secret weapon.

“Ju-mi-nim, do you have a moment to talk?”