Chapter 16: TPMR

Chapter 16 

Examination in the consultation room was just as important as treatment itself.

Not only did an accurate diagnosis form the foundation of treatment, but the patient also had to trust the physician enough to follow their guidance.

Since Kim Yijin had mentioned her cruciate ligament, I began by checking for injuries to both the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments.

“Bend your knee a little for me. I’m going to push and pull on it. If it hurts too much, let me know.”

“Okay.”

I performed a Posterior Drawer Test, an Anterior Drawer Test, and finally a Lachman Test.

The names sounded complicated, but in simple terms, I was pulling the shinbone backward and forward.

“Ugh.”

Unfortunately, when I pulled forward, the ligament failed to hold the bone firmly in place and gave way.

“As you suspected, there’s definitely an issue with the cruciate ligament.”

“I knew it...”

“I’d also like to do a Pivot Shift Test to determine the extent of the damage.”

I performed one final physical examination.

With my left hand, I pressed against the outside of her knee while fully extending her leg. Then, holding her ankle with my right hand, I lifted her leg from the examination table and slowly bent the knee while maintaining internal rotation.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. It feels a little strange, but it doesn’t hurt.”

“So it just feels unnatural?”

“Yes.”

Based on the test, I classified it as Grade 1.

“Do you feel significant instability when you walk?”

“Hmm... honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve always been someone who doesn’t feel pain very strongly.”

“When you walked in earlier, your movements were a little awkward. Could you walk to the door and back for me?”

Kim Yijin did as instructed and walked to the consultation room door before returning.

“I was wearing a brace, and the previous hospital told me not to use it too much. I think I got into the habit of keeping my leg straight while walking.”

As she said, once I observed her walking without the brace, the instability wasn’t particularly severe.

“Does it hurt when I press here?”

“A little. Ah, that spot hurts.”

I completed a thorough palpation of the front of her knee around the patella and the back of the knee.

Based on what I could see.

What my fingertips had felt during the examination.

And everything Kim Yijin had told me.

“It’s reasonable to conclude, just as the previous hospitals did, that this is a partial cruciate ligament tear.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Please sit over here and take a look at this diagram. The cruciate ligament is located here. But the area that hurts for you is the front of the knee, right? The ligament itself doesn’t have sensory nerves. When it’s damaged, other structures are forced to compensate, and that’s why the areas that hurt when I pressed on them are causing your pain.”

I displayed an anatomical illustration of the knee joint, muscles, and ligaments on the computer screen as I explained.

“The pain should improve within a week. But we need to treat the root cause all the way through. Especially because you’re an athlete.”

“Ah, so that’s why the pain kept coming and going.”

Kim Yijin nodded as if everything finally made sense.

Even when I told her I could improve the pain quickly—a pain that hadn’t responded to treatment elsewhere—there wasn’t a trace of doubt in her eyes.

“So until I tell you it’s safe to train again, you need to rest. And you’ll need treatment every day. Even if the pain improves, absolutely do not overdo it.”

“Yes! How long will it take?”

“It won’t take that long.”

Cruciate ligaments were located deep enough that acupuncture treatment was far more difficult than treating the medial or lateral collateral ligaments.

Normally, it would be wiser to avoid making promises and simply say we’d have to observe how her body responded.

But in Kim Yijin’s case...

“I’ll have you fully recovered within a month. You’ll be able to train and compete in the National Sports Festival.”

For her, at least, I was confident.

I’m skilled, sure, but this girl’s body is practically at martial artist level. Someone like her recovers unbelievably fast!

Some patients recovered from a month-long treatment plan in a week or two.

Others needed more than three months.

Acupuncture ultimately relied on the body’s own righteous qi—its natural healing ability. Unless the treatment was extremely minor, recovery times varied greatly.

And patients like Kim Yijin were the equivalent of a triple reputation bonus for a physician.

When you successfully treated a difficult case like this, people started comparing you to Hua Tuo himself.

“I’m counting on you, Director.”

Kim Yijin spoke with renewed hope.

Her eyes shone with determination.

She intended to recover—no matter what.

“Then let’s head to the treatment room.”

* * *

“Hm?”

When Kim Yijin entered the treatment room, she tilted her head.

Unlike the clinics she had visited before, there wasn’t a single other patient present.

Maybe they treat everyone one at a time?

Having no understanding of how clinics normally operated, she naturally interpreted it positively.

“We’ll start with some physical therapy.”

An expressionless staff member attached a machine to her knee.

A little while later, after physical therapy and heat treatment similar to what she’d received at orthopedic clinics, the director finally arrived.

“Have you ever had acupuncture before?”

“No. This is my first time.”

“Really? What an honor. When you become a national athlete someday, make sure to tell people I treated you.”

Kim Yijin burst into laughter.

A national athlete...

For some reason, she was reminded of the senior who had first suggested she try basketball.

Maybe it was because they both possessed a similar charisma.

Almost hypnotized, she nodded.

“When you bend your knee like this, the hollow on the inside is called Naeseulan, and the one on the outside is Oeseulan. They literally mean the Inner and Outer Eyes of the Knee. Interesting names, right? The needles will go fairly deep, all the way toward the joint capsule. Once they’re in, things should start feeling smoother.”

“Okay.”

The hollows really did look as though they had been made specifically for needles.

If a needle entered there and touched the problematic area inside her knee...

It felt like everything would immediately get better.

“Ah!”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. It’s just... strange.”

She could only describe it vaguely.

But the uncomfortable sensation that had lingered deep inside her knee suddenly felt as if it had been pierced straight through.

The inflammation.

The torn ligament.

The tangled muscles.

Perhaps the needle had touched exactly those places.

“It feels like cutting through the Gordian Knot with a sword.”

A story she had once heard in history class about Alexander the Great suddenly surfaced in her mind.

That stubborn, unpleasant feeling she had never been able to resolve.

Something that had resisted every attempt to fix it.

And now, a single needle from the director had scattered it apart.

“Heh. That went in perfectly.”

The director smiled as though he’d just heard an amusing joke.

After the needle in the Inner Knee Eye came another in the Outer Knee Eye.

Maybe it was her imagination, but the two needles felt as though they were passing through her entire knee, cutting apart all the tightly knotted mess inside.

“You’re responding really well. Let’s do a little more. We’re going deeper—toward the ligament itself.”

“Yes. Please fix everything.”

Kim Yijin nodded vigorously.

Her eyes were solemn.

Resolute.

“...!”

Several more needles entered from both front and back without hesitation.

They didn’t hurt much, but every time a needle tip touched something, her body trembled involuntarily.

“We’re releasing adhesions in the soft tissues and improving blood flow in the surrounding area. By stimulating these points, we help gather your body’s healing capacity. Even the partially torn ligament should recover.”

A cool sensation gradually spread through her knee.

It felt as though all the inflammation she imagined lurking there was being washed away.

“We’ll leave them in for twenty minutes.”

With those words, the director left the treatment room.

“...Okay.”

Whether it was imagination or not, it truly felt as though all the energy in her body was being drawn toward her knee.

Before she knew it, Kim Yijin drifted into sleep.

* * *

Ten full days passed after Kim Yijin began treatment at the clinic.

“You’re really healed?”

Her coach stared in disbelief as she freely bent and moved the knee that previously refused to cooperate.

“Yes. Honestly, I should’ve tried an oriental medicine clinic from the beginning.”

Though he had firmly forbidden her from participating in training, the coach had worried constantly.

After all, more than a month had passed without any improvement whatsoever.

Had surgery become necessary, he would have struggled to bear the guilt of failing to recognize his student’s injury sooner.

“The doctor said it’s okay for you to play basketball again?”

“Yes. The pain disappeared the very first day I got acupuncture. After a few more days of treatment, it was completely fine. He said I could exercise as much as I wanted.”

She didn’t appear to be lying.

The coach finally gave permission for her to rejoin practice.

Still, just in case, he watched her carefully throughout the entire session.

Warm-ups.

Running drills.

Training exercises.

Even the final scrimmage.

The instability he’d noticed before was nowhere to be seen.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Dribbling the basketball, Kim Yijin sprinted from one end of the court to the other.

Ten seconds remained in the game.

She drove forward aggressively, weaving past defenders and changing direction repeatedly.

Her knee showed no sign of weakness.

Whoosh!

Three seconds.

Kim Yijin exploded upward as though she were taking flight.

Hah!

The coach couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Two seconds.

Her arm snapped forward.

She shot.

One second.

The basketball left her fingertips and sliced through the air.

Zero.

The ball dropped cleanly through the hoop.

“Wooooo!”

“As expected from our captain! She’s completely back!”

“This is insane! At this rate, she’ll be dunking next!”

The buzzer-beater announced her spectacular return.

Even her landing was flawless.

Her vertical jump actually improved?

He hadn’t imagined it.

After resting for over a month, her legs somehow looked stronger than before.

The vice-captain had joked about dunking.

But honestly...

Maybe it really was possible.

“You guys helped me get through it.”

After exchanging high-fives with her teammates, practice finally ended.

“Yijin, are you heading to treatment again today?”

The coach stopped her as she prepared to leave.

“Yes. The director said I only need maintenance visits once every two weeks now. But honestly, I feel better every time I go.”

“What was the name of that clinic?”

Then he asked.

“Coach, are you hurt somewhere?”

“Not me. My wife.”

“It’s Seongsu Korean Medicine Clinic. Up the hill behind our apartment complex.”

“Thank you.”

Truthfully, there was another patient worrying him almost as much as Kim Yijin.

Someone in his own family.

Seongsu Korean Medicine Clinic.

The coach immediately saved the clinic’s name.

* * *

Seriously, is this even possible?

What is she, some kind of Heavenly Martial Physique?

She recovered far too quickly.

Watching Kim Yijin’s knee improve with each passing day, I couldn’t help but marvel.

If I taught her even the basics of martial arts...

No.

Absolutely not.

I had no desire whatsoever to end up on some television program called The World’s Strangest People.

Suppressing the temptation that rose every time I saw her, I completed her treatment.

After all, opening her acupuncture channels had probably made her stronger than before.

Heh.

“Now I can finally train again!”

Two days after declaring her fully recovered—

Ding!

At the usual time, someone opened the clinic door.

Back for maintenance treatment already?

But the energy I sensed felt slightly different.

“Good afternoon.”

A strange male voice.

Someone whose vitality was just a little stronger than Kim Yijin’s.

A martial artist...? No, obviously not. Probably another athlete.

His next words confirmed the connection.

“I was referred by student Kim Yijin. Is Doctor Han Yeowon seeing patients today?”

Eureka!

That adorable girl actually brought me a referral patient.

Delighted, I quietly extended my spiritual senses and listened in on the reception desk conversation.

“That’s correct. Which of you is registering?”

The receptionist asked.

The man answered.

“Both of us. My back’s been feeling stiff lately, and my wife suffers from severe menstrual pain. We’d like a consultation.”

Two patients.

Not just one.

And menstrual pain?

Wasn’t that practically my specialty?

Back in the Tang Clan, I’d treated hundreds of maids suffering from menstrual disorders.

Many of them had endured pain for years.

Decades, even.

“I’m fine... You should be the one getting treated, dear.”

Women who arrived saying exactly that—dragged along by a friend or family member—had all ended up becoming my devoted followers.

Remembering those days, I smiled like a man already holding a guaranteed victory.