A competent doctor can cure everything

“Jin-ah, I’m going to the repair shop for a bit.”

Kim Jin-ah’s guardian grumbled as they packed their belongings from the drawer beside the bed.

“Ugh, you should just take care of things yourselves.”

“What do you mean, Dad? Someone still has to be at the shop. Take your time and get your work done.”

Kim Jin-ah waved her father off, and the guardian of the bed next to her watched enviously.

“Ah, I wish our patient would just open her eyes. How long has it been since I’ve heard her voice…”

The patient in the adjacent bed was in a coma and quadriplegic.

Kim Jin-ah awkwardly smiled at the envious guardian next to her.

But sometimes, she couldn’t help but envy patients who were unconscious.

‘A day… feels so long.’

Before she got hurt, she was always busy. She went to the flower market at dawn and ran the shop all day.

She used to think that it would be nice to just rest for a few days and do nothing.

But now, lying down and resting felt like torture.

Her soul was trapped in the prison of her body.

The most anticipated part of her day was the afternoon when her attending doctor would arrive.

She enjoyed talking to her doctor, and she was thankful for the treatments that were truly ‘the best.’

Other than when she was receiving treatment, she mostly passed the time on her phone.

She would secure her smartphone in the holder, put the stylus in her mouth, and manipulate the screen.

She had stopped using her beloved social media. Watching her friends’ everyday lives had become painful.

These days, the website she frequented most was a support forum for people with disabilities.

Today again, she read another post from a patient who had regained the ability to walk, and she put the stylus down, staring at the screen with envy.

I wish I could get better soon…

She tried to exert some strength in her arms and legs, but after a few seconds of floating in the air, she dropped back down.

She turned her gaze toward the rosemary plant by the window.

The creeping rosemary, with its vibrant green leaves, had been slowly growing day by day, bringing life to the barren hospital room.

As its name suggested, the creeping rosemary grew sideways, lying on the ground, and could root wherever its stems touched the soil.

Even if the main roots were damaged, it had so many roots sprouting from other stems, making it very resilient.

She stared at the plant and soon fell into a light sleep.

In her dream, the rosemary plant was fully in bloom with pale purple flowers.

Though its blooming season is from February to June, it was impossible for it to be in bloom at the end of July.

However, perhaps because it was a dream, it didn’t feel strange at all.

“Dad! Mrs.! The flowers bloomed!”

Kim Jin-ah, intoxicated by the color and scent of the flowers, excitedly called for her dad.

“……”

Then, she suddenly opened her eyes and stared blankly at the plant.

Why aren’t there any flowers? She thought for a moment, and only then did she realize it had all been a dream.

‘Ah… it was so beautiful.’

I want to see the flowers. Maybe next year?

Beside her bed was only the caregiver. Her dad still hadn’t returned.

It felt like black comedy that her father was the owner of a car repair shop.

The car had not only put her in this position but was also the reason she could afford the hospital bills and sustain her life.

“Ah, Jin-ah, you’re awake?”

The caregiver, who had been looking at her phone, greeted her when she saw that Jin-ah had woken up.

Jin-ah was about to respond when she suddenly stopped, feeling a strange sensation.

“What’s wrong, Jin-ah? Are you uncomfortable?”

“Ah, no, it’s just….”

Her lower body felt strangely full and uncomfortable. No, it ‘seemed’ uncomfortable.

It had been so long since she’d felt this way.

So, uncertain, she called out to the caregiver.

“Mrs.”

“Hm?”

“I think… I need to pee.”

“What? Really?”

Startled by her hesitant whisper, the caregiver quickly got up from her seat.

“Wait a moment. I’ll call your attending doctor.”

Soon, Kim Jin-ah’s attending doctor appeared with a nurse from the ward.

He was a man with a somewhat cold demeanor, wearing glasses. Dr. Seon-Joon.

Even though he was usually calm, Jin-ah secretly imagined he might run over in surprise this time.

However, the attending doctor appeared as composed as usual.

This made Jin-ah feel a little deflated. Was this not a big deal after all?

“…So, you’re feeling the urge to urinate and a sense of bladder fullness. You’ve been feeling this since earlier, correct?”

“Yes. It started right after I woke up from a nap.”

“Have you ever had this sensation since the accident?”

“No, this is the first time.”

The doctor confirmed a few things before giving instructions to both the nurse and the caregiver.

“Yuna, please remove Kim Jin-ah’s Foley catheter (urinary catheter). We’ll check if she can urinate on her own. And do we have a bladder scan in the ward? If not, please borrow one from another ward. After she urinates, please check for post-void residual urine.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Mrs. Once Jin-ah successfully urinates, please inform the medical staff immediately. And collect the urine in a urinal, not a diaper, and check how many milliliters it is.”

The attending physician wrote something on the chart and then turned toward Kim Jin-ah.

“Are the family members not here today?”

“Ah, yes… my dad went to work for a bit.”

“That’s unfortunate. At such a historic moment.”

A faint smile appeared on the attending physician’s face, which had been calm enough to seem cold.

Seeing that smile, Kim Jin-ah’s heart began to race.

“Doctor…! Is this a good thing? Right?”

“We’ll have to observe, but it looks like the nerve function in your bladder is recovering.”

“……!!”

When the doctor and nurse entered together, everyone in the room focused their attention on Kim Jin-ah.

Even those who pretended not to care could no longer hold back after hearing the doctor’s words.

“Oh my, what’s happening?”

“Jin-ah, congratulations!”

“At this rate, if the nerves keep recovering, you’ll be walking soon!”

Tears welled up in Kim Jin-ah’s eyes.

“Ah….”

She made a choked sound and began to laugh through her tears.

The caregiver, who had been watching, wiped away her own tears.

“Jin-ah, why are you crying over something so good?”

The attending physician stood quietly, watching with a smile, without saying a word.

* * *

In the early morning, Shim Ji-seob opened the front door and, hearing footsteps, turned around.

His younger sister was rubbing her eyes while still in her pajamas.

Ji-seob turned his body, knelt down, and met his sister at eye level.

“Jong-dal, why are you up so early?”

“I wanted to say goodbye to you, oppa…”

“Jong-dal, does your chest still hurt?”

“No, I’m okay.”

Shim Ji-ah, his younger sister, yawned loudly and then hugged Ji-seob.

“Oppa, when will mom and dad come back to Korea?”

“They’re busy with research, so they won’t be able to come for a while.”

Their parents, who were researchers, often traveled abroad for work.

Because of that, Ji-seob and their grandparents had mostly raised their youngest daughter, who was a late child.

“Then can’t I just take a plane and go?”

“Jong-dal, you had a lung injury, remember? If you take a plane, it might hurt again, so you can’t.”

“Hurt again? Do you still think I’m a little kid? I’m in 4th grade now.”

Ji-ah pouted and glared playfully at her older brother before muttering.

“Hmph… If we hadn’t moved to a different hospital back then, would it have been okay?”

“Well…”

Hearing Ji-ah’s gloomy words, Ji-seob’s heart sank.

As if she sensed his feelings, Ji-ah quickly started whining.

“Oppa, are you coming home late again today?”

“No, today I’m not on call.”

“Before, even when you weren’t on call, you were always at the hospital and came back late at night.”

Patting Ji-ah’s head, Ji-seob thought that she was quick to catch on and very clever.

“I don’t do those useless things anymore.”

“Really?”

Ji-seob had spoken without thinking, and when Ji-ah tilted her head in confusion, he quickly picked her up and took her to her room.

“Jong-dal, let’s sleep a bit more. You need to go to school later, okay? Listen to Grandma and Grandpa.”

“Okay!”

Even when he wasn’t on call, there were many nights he stayed late at the hospital.

He was busy organizing patient data or writing papers.

Maybe it was in his blood from his parents, who were researchers, but Ji-seob found research and analysis fascinating. That’s how it was back then.

After graduating with a degree in biomedical engineering, Ji-seob came across traditional Korean medicine by chance. It was an intriguing field.

From Ji-seob’s perspective, traditional Korean medicine had the potential to evolve into a forward-looking science, rather than something that would be preserved in a museum.

However, there were certainly some shortcomings in the field.

For the discipline to grow, active communication with other sciences was essential.

And for communication to happen, there needed to be good interaction.

To achieve that, traditional Korean medicine needed to undergo what’s known as “scientification.”

“Moving away from the terminology used only by traditional Korean medicine practitioners, the goal is to clarify the mechanisms using internationally recognized terms.”

With that ambition in mind, he had dedicated himself to research since his days as a student at the College of Korean Medicine.

The “Osartjeong” study, which he participated in at Hoyeon University Hospital, was also part of this effort.

“The herbal medicine is really effective and good, but in order to develop and expand, I think we need a change in the formulation.”

A professor at Hoyeon University had said this.

“There’s a limit to the decoction form. It’s hard to mass-produce in factories, and it’s not as convenient for storage or consumption. But if we make it into a capsule or tablet form, the cost becomes cheaper, and distribution and storage become much easier. Let’s create a convenient form of herbal medicine that doesn’t fall behind the decoction in terms of effectiveness.”

Shim Ji-seob agreed with this idea, so he took on night shifts and worked hard.

However, no one on the Hoyeon University research team expected the conclusion of the study to turn out this way.

“What? The Osartjeong is classified as a herbal product and not a traditional Korean medicine formulation, so Korean medicine doctors can’t prescribe it? But that’s a prescription you, Professor, personally developed, right?”

The research team was struck with a shock that felt like the ground had collapsed when they heard the bad news from the drug approval review process.

The lead researcher, the professor, was dumbfounded and began tearing his hair out in frustration.

“Yeah. The more I look into it, the more ambiguous and contradictory the relevant regulations seem. This doesn’t seem like an issue that can be easily solved. In short, herbal products have a broader concept than traditional Korean medicine products, so our herbal formulation ended up being absorbed into that category.”

“So that means…”

“Yeah. All the research on modernizing and scientificizing traditional Korean medicine will be treated as ‘herbal products’—just like our study.”

The painful conclusion of their research was the beginning of a long administrative lawsuit.

Shim Ji-seob was deeply hurt by this outcome.

It felt as though the road he was heading toward had been blocked by a huge wall.

After this incident, Shim Ji-seob left Hoyeon University Hospital.

He wanted to start anew at a new place.

Although his dream of modernizing traditional Korean medicine had been shattered, he still had an interest in clinical work.

However, during his first year at Hanbit University’s Department of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation, the “Shim Ji-ah incident” occurred.

Currently, there is no law regulating medical devices based on specific categories and directly regulating their users.

However, X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs are separately regulated by medical law, but Korean medicine doctors are excluded from these regulations.

The authority over medical devices belongs solely to doctors and dentists.

When Shim Ji-seob mentioned that Ji-ah’s X-ray showed a possible rib fracture, the doctor dismissed him angrily.

“Do Korean medicine doctors even know how to read X-rays? This is offensive.”

“I’m not saying that I have prescribing rights or authority. But we do have subjects like radiology and diagnostic medicine in Korean medicine school.”

In the end, the emergency medicine resident had indeed misread the X-ray, and Ji-ah developed a pneumothorax. However, no apology was ever received.

That incident left Shim Ji-seob feeling deeply frustrated.

He felt powerless, as if his arms and legs had been cut off.

‘No matter how much I study, I couldn’t even protect my own sister…’

The modern Korean medicine he had dreamed of seemed far out of reach.

He no longer wanted to continue his research or study anything new.

The time he spent treating patients while reading the latest papers felt futile.

Shim Ji-seob fell into a deep state of malaise.

To him, the intern, Seon-Joon, eagerly throwing himself into treatment appeared ridiculous.

It seemed like the foolishness of someone who couldn’t wake up from a dream.

So, one morning during rounds, when he overheard Seon-Joon briefing the professor, he was a bit surprised, but he didn’t place much significance on it.

“The patient, Kim Jin-ah, felt the urge to urinate around 1 PM yesterday and successfully self-urinated about 80 ml around 3 PM. Since then, she has self-urinated a total of four times between 100-300 ml each, with the most recent occurrence this morning. Although she still feels urgency and a sense of residual urine, when we checked the residual urine (RU), it was under 50 ml, which is within the normal range.”

Well, it seems like her urinary condition has slightly improved.

However, the changes that appeared in Kim Jin-ah after that would make a huge impact on Shim Ji-seob’s heart.