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Chapter: 23
That afternoon, I returned to the clinic and spent the gaps between afternoon appointments deep in thought.
There were two major concerns on my mind.
‘First, what pattern identification should I use for Mr. Yang Si-heon’s insomnia?’
‘Second, Aunt Soon-mi’s arthritis has to show clear improvement within three treatments. What approach would be the most effective?’
No, there was one more thing.
I glanced sideways at the drawer of my office desk.
Inside it was my mother’s diary that I’d received from Aunt Soon-mi.
‘And this blasted diary. Just what is inside it?’
To get straight to the point, my worry that my aunt had already read it had been unnecessary.
The diary had a small lock attached to it.
‘The problem is… I can’t open it either…!’
It looked like an ordinary, flimsy little lock, but it seemed this was another special item infused with spiritual energy.
Crack!
“Ow! My hand!”
I’d tried cutting it with a pair of nippers, but blue light flashed like electricity, sending a painful jolt through my hand.
Meanwhile, the lock itself didn’t even have a scratch.
If I wanted to read the diary, I’d ultimately have to find the key.
“Sigh… Now where am I supposed to find the key?”
I’d already searched through every one of my mother’s keepsake boxes and even inspected every jar hidden around the courtyard of Baekmyodang, but there wasn’t a trace of it.
Letting out a long sigh, I called for the cat.
“Alfred, do you know anything?”
Alfred, who had been dozing on the sofa in my office, twitched his ears.
[Actually, there is one possibility that comes to mind.]
“What is it?”
[During the period when Miss disappeared… perhaps she hid the key somewhere before she died.]
“…!”
I jumped to my feet.
“That’s possible. If that’s the case, then the mountain where Rabit said she saw my mother would be the most likely place.”
Baek Eun-ho had already said he was tracking down traces of my mother.
I’d have to ask him to investigate this as well.
Nodding to myself, I turned my attention back to the monitor.
For now, I planned to read every research paper I could find on osteoarthritis of the fingers.
By the time the afternoon consultations ended, I’d roughly finished planning Aunt Soon-mi’s treatment.
In Korean medicine, degenerative arthritis falls under the category of Bi Syndrome (痹證), a condition involving pain and stiffness in the joints.
If symptoms worsen significantly in cold, damp weather, it’s considered an invasion of Wind-Cold-Damp pathogenic factors (風寒濕邪).
If it develops gradually over many years with aging, it’s usually attributed to Liver and Kidney Deficiency (肝腎虛).
‘Aunt’s case is probably Liver and Kidney Deficiency combined with Qi and Blood Stagnation caused by years of overusing her hands.’
I closed the printed research papers that were covered in fluorescent highlights and exhaled.
“Whew… Besides acupuncture and herbal medicine, I think I should add a few special treatment methods for Aunt.”
The real problem was Mr. Yang.
His insomnia wasn’t simple.
There still wasn’t enough evidence to determine whether it was a deficiency syndrome, a stagnation syndrome, or something else entirely.
Just as my thoughts grew deeper, a familiar voice came from outside the office door.
“Unnie~ We’re here~!”
“Noona! I’m here for treatment!”
Once again, Jung Rabit and Ma Yoon-sang had come to see me together.
“No, seriously… Is it okay for you two to come this often? Aren’t you both superstars?”
As I invited the two of them—or rather, the two divine beasts—to sit on the sofa, I asked with a smile.
“Hehe, my promotion period is over!”
“My coach said I could come get acupuncture from you as much as I wanted. While we’re at it, he even wants to ask you to be our team’s doctor.”
Rabit smiled brightly, while Yoon-sang shrugged.
Just then, Rabit, who had been lightly swinging her feet while sitting on the sofa, narrowed her eyes.
“Yeon-hee unnie… are you worried about something?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
Was it really that obvious?
As I raised my eyebrows in surprise, Yoon-sang cut in.
“Your eyes look darker than usual.”
Watching the two of them, I let out a sigh.
“Well… I’ve got a particularly difficult patient lately. I need to decide what herbal medicine to prescribe, but I still can’t decide on the correct pattern diagnosis.”
“Wow, pattern diagnosis? What’s that?”
Rabit’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“It’s a concept from Korean medicine. Simply put, you can think of it as identifying a patient’s ‘type.’ It’s the process of classifying the cause and characteristics of an illness.”
“Oh! So illnesses have different types too?”
“Exactly, Rabit. But depending on that diagnosis, the herbal prescription changes a lot… and that’s what’s giving me a headache.”
As my voice trailed off, Rabit rested a finger against her chin and murmured.
“Hmm… When we’re deciding on the concept for a new album, if we can’t choose, we sometimes release both an ‘A Version’ and a ‘B Version.’ Couldn’t you do the same thing with herbal medicine and give two different versions?”
An A Version… and a B Version?
Her unexpected suggestion made my eyes widen.
At that moment, Yoon-sang chuckled and shook his head.
“Give both? The medicines would all get mixed together. How would that work?”
“Hehe. I guess you’re right.”
“If that worked, patients would just take every medicine they could whenever they got sick instead of worrying about which one they needed.”
The two friends sat side by side, earnestly exchanging opinions.
From a common-sense perspective, Yoon-sang was absolutely right.
But for some reason…
Something inside me tingled.
I had a feeling I shouldn’t dismiss Rabit’s suggestion so casually.
“…”
I absentmindedly rubbed the Mysterious Eye Stone with a serious expression.
Several seconds passed.
“…Wait.”
Right.
There was a way!
For a moment, it felt as though lightning had struck my brain.
“Rabit!!”
I immediately threw my arms around her with a radiant smile.
“My smart little bunny! Thanks to you, I just came up with a fantastic idea!”
“Huh? Really? I don’t even know what I did… but I’m glad!”
As I cheered, Jung Rabit’s cheeks turned peach-pink, and she covered her face with both hands.
Meanwhile, Ma Yoon-sang looked as though he’d just been smacked in the back of the head.
“No way! Noona, can’t I be your smart little colt too…?”
“Hm? Yoon-sang, what did you say?”
“Ah… nothing.”
When I tilted my head in confusion, Yoon-sang muttered with a disappointed expression.
He looked exactly like a puppy—or rather, a little colt—that had just been caught in the rain.
Watching the two of us, Rabit giggled quietly.
Main residence of the Tiger Clan.
The Baek family estate.
Though the night had grown deep, the lights in the study remained on.
A large map of Seoul lay spread across the table, covered with the names of mountains marked all over it.
“Young Master, I have a report.”
As Baek Eun-ho scanned the report with sharp eyes, several subordinates in suits bowed before him.
“There are no traces on Suraksan.”
“The same goes for Umyeonsan, Young Master. We found no lingering barrier energy or spiritual energy reactions whatsoever.”
Eun-ho let out a low sigh and rubbed between his brows.
“Hmm… I see. We’ve continued searching without any results. That’s enough for now. You may all leave.”
Unable to raise their heads in shame, the subordinates hurriedly left the room.
“…”
Left alone, Baek Eun-ho returned his attention to the map.
At that moment, the study door quietly opened, and Chairman Baek Ho-jung entered.
“Eun-ho, have you received the reports?”
“Yes, Father. We’ve searched nearly half of Seoul’s major mountains, but we’ve found no clues.”
Eun-ho lightly bit his lip before continuing.
“According to Jung Rabit’s memories, Dr. Go Yeon-hee’s mother was last seen near the foot of a mountain. But there are over forty mountains in Seoul, so it won’t be easy.”
“Hmm. Naturally.”
“Dr. Go also believes there’s a possibility her mother hid the diary’s key there.”
The chairman slowly walked over and looked down at the map with a quiet groan.
“Is there no way to destroy the lock?”
“No. It seems the only way to open it is to find the key.”
“Hah… It’s like searching for a needle in the desert. Judging from the spell placed on it, that diary must contain something important, so we can’t simply give up.”
After a heavy silence, Baek Eun-ho turned toward his father.
“By the way, Father. Wasn’t it a bit excessive to introduce Yang Si-heon to Dr. Go?”
“Excessive?”
“Yang Si-heon… is a wolf wearing a sheep’s skin, isn’t he? Every time I speak with him, I can’t read what he’s truly thinking. Even for a Purifier, treating him won’t be easy.”
Eun-ho frowned in dissatisfaction.
Chairman Baek smiled leisurely.
“So, you’re worried about that girl.”
“Worried?”
Eun-ho immediately turned his head away coldly.
“I was only concerned that it might be a waste for a Purifier to expend her power on someone like him.”
Watching his son, the chairman smiled knowingly before speaking in a solemn tone.
“Among all the divine beasts of the Sheep Clan, Yang Si-heon possesses the greatest ability to receive prophetic dreams. Of course, that was before he became plagued by severe insomnia.”
The chairman clasped his hands behind his back as he gazed into the distance.
“If his ability is fully restored, the balance of the coming Divine Beast War will change completely. At the moment, Dr. Go is our only hope. Why? Do you think treating him will be too difficult?”
Silence lingered for a moment.
Finally, after a brief hesitation, Eun-ho answered bluntly.
“…No. If it’s Dr. Go, she’ll definitely succeed. She never hesitates when it comes to saving her patients.”
His tone was somewhat curt, and his lips remained stiffly set.
Yet because of that, his words sounded all the more sincere.
Seeing the subtle expression on his son’s face, the chairman chuckled softly.
“Good. We’ll leave that matter to Dr. Go, and we’ll focus on doing what we must.”
