Chapter 38 - Book 2 Chapter 3-1 Rise of Korea!: Power of A Calm Ripple

March 1st, 2017 14:30

Seoul Kangnam-Ku Korean Pharmaceuticals Head Quarters.

2 months have passed since Korean Pharmaceuticals HQ had merged with Sin Oh pharmaceuticals, during which it was organizing the data coming from the 17th Fighter Wing underground research facility’s X-17 lab. They were busy working as fast as possible organizing this data to have it approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the U.S FDA.

The new medicine being developed in the X-17 lab were medicine would eliminate the spread of cancer cells, the disease that modern medicine could not conquer; it would also serve as a cure for AIDS and androgen baldness. Development was nearly complete and had successful results in nonclinical trials. If the approval for clinical trials was processed without any issues by the U.S FDA and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety with successful results, then it would’ve provided an opportunity to officially export the new medicine and revolutionize modern medicine worldwide. However, it required three years to conduct clinical trials for each new medicine. To remedy this, the government planned to shorten the time by publishing papers and hosting press conferences to catch the attention of the medical field worldwide and patients with cancer and AIDS.

“This is the headquarters of Korean Pharmaceuticals. Since publishing an article claiming to have made successful trials for cancer and AIDs yesterday, this building has been visited by several press agencies from within and outside the country, as well as families of patients affected by these health conditions. Our CBS reporters have also received word that more research is being conducted for other new drugs. We will now interview a family member of a cancer patient who visited the corporation.”

The reporter from CBS began interviewing the family member of a cancer patient who was waiting next to him.

“Hello, sir, could you tell us what brings you here today?”

“My father has been suffering from stage three liver cancer for five years. I heard about the journal article about a cure for various types of cancer and came to learn more about it.”

“I see. Even if the cure is complete, it will take a few years to go through clinical trials. Could you give us your opinion about that, please?”

“As a family member of a suffering patient, I beg them. My father has been suffering from drugs and radiation treatment for five years. I do not know much about the process of a cure officially hitting the market. However, if the cure truly does have no side effects then I truly wish that it will be available to the public as soon as possible so many patients and their family’s suffering would be relieved. ”

“Yes, thank you for speaking with us.”

The reporter from CBS finished the interview and spoke her closing remarks while looking into the camera.

“I also wish this cure would hit the market as soon as possible to relieve the patients and their family members. This was Yeon Woo-jin from CBS news.”

A journal article about the development of a cure with successful results nonclinical trials would not be able to catch the public’s attention. However, the journal article claimed that it had a 90% success rate; this gave it credibility which was only made possible by the use of all press agencies to report it to the word

3 months later, clinical trials were approved by the Ministry of Drug and Food Safety. The trials began with 100 patients with stage 3 cancer and 100 more with stage 4, along with 50 AIDS patients. Every stage 3 cancer patient was cured completely, 98 of the 100 stage 4 participants were cured, and all 50 AIDS patients saw a 70% improvement in their immune system. The Ministry of Drug and Food Safety gave official approval to manufacture it as a product, but the U.S FDA still had not given its approval. Thus, it first began production in Korea dubbed as “Godsend”.

As the effectiveness was being confirmed within the nation, several other countries requested to import “Godsend” despite still not being approved by the U.S FDA to be considered the world standard. In response, the Korean Pharmaceuticals ran all three of their factories day and night to manufacture their product and spread their wings of export to 100 different countries across the world.

As the discontent from cancer patients and their families escalated, the U.S FDA had no choice but to approve the “Godsend” product in October 2017. Since the U.S had approved the product, other nations that initially hesitated to import the good also began to do so, and Korean Pharmaceutical’s stock value skyrocketed along with their sales.

* * *

October 9th, 2017 14:30

Seoul Jong-ro Ku Blue House President’s office.

The Korean government held 90% of the stocks from Korean Pharmaceuticals. Since the cure for cancer was released in July of 2017, a report on sales every quarter was secretly held in the President’s office.

C.E.O Lee Sang-pil, who currently represented Korean Pharmaceuticals, and was reporting to the president with a chart on the screen.

“This graph represents the current sales we made in the third quarter from July to September. After the cure for cancer, “Godsend” was officially released, the sales for July began at 2.5 billion dollars and hit 4.4 billion in August. It is finally at 7.8 billion in September and still on the rise. Therefore, the total sale was 14 billion dollars for the third quarter with 8.4 billion in profits alone.”

Many governmental bureaucrats, including the president, were surprised by the unexpectedly high sales profits, and some even began to clap.

“This is truly amazing. Having profits this high in only a single quarter.”

“We believe sales are this way due to the current demand from cancer patients across the globe. As time passes, however, we expect demand from cancer patients to lower and sales to lower to 3 billion per quarter. Therefore, we are planning to release a cure for androgen based baldness within this month.”

“Ha ha ha, yes I have been waiting for that.”

Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Yoo Seung-woo spoke as he stroked his bald head in a comedic manner. Many of the other bureaucrats seemed to have found it amusing and laughed as well.

“This must be the cure that you have been waiting for the most then, Minister Yoo?”

Minister of Economy and Finance Yoo Won-jin looked at Minister Yoo Seung-woo next to him, laughed and spoke.

“I have been waiting to purchase it as soon as it came out, haha.”

“C.E.O Oh Sang-pil, please release it already. For Minister Yoo’s sake, at least.”

“The official release date is expected to be October 20th. To see results that will completely cure the issue, one must continue taking the medicine for at least 6 months. We have set the price for 30 capsules at 300 dollars, so it will cost about 1800 dollars to see complete results.”

Chief Secretary Na Sung-tae appeared surprised at the price for the cure being higher than expected and said, “1800 dollars? Isn’t that too expensive?”

“Secretary Na, is 1800 dollars that expensive when you can no longer be bald? I am sure other people are willing to pay 18,000 dollars. You just don’t understand the struggle of being bald.”

Being bald, Minister Yoo Seung-woo supported the argument that the set price of 1800 dollars was reasonable.

“The current price has been set from an in-depth survey from and comparisons from products both in and outside the country, so it appears reasonable.”

“If that is the case, then there’s no problem in increasing in. How about 5000 dollars?”

“My, that’s too much. Don’t you think so, Chief Secretary Oh Jang-soo?”

“Ha ha ha, Minister Yoo, I only jest.”

The newly appointed Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport No Jin-sun, who replaced the arrested Minister Ahn Sang-tae, asked, “Speaking of which, has the price been set for the AIDS cure?”

“Yes, the AIDs cure is now reaching its final stages in clinical trials. The 50 participants each have individual differences, but 38 have been cured completely and the other 12 are at a stage where 90% of their illness has been cured. We will organize the research data and request for official approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the U.S FDA by next month.”

The president, who was listening to the conversation silently, spoke.

“C.E.O Ahn Sang-pil.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“How about we give out the AIDs cure for free for humanitarian reasons?”

National Security Director Oh Jang-soo also supported the President’s idea to freely offer the cure for AIDS made from the organization planning increase profits for the national budget.

“Mr.President, I think that is a splendid idea. It’s not some other cure, but offering a cure for AIDs for free will improve our national image drastically.”

“It’s not just about our national image; most nations with high infection rates are in developing nations, namely those in the continent of Africa. Those nations would not be able to afford the cure even if it came out. As the President has said, offering the cure for free with humanitarian reasons will also increase the pride our citizens have towards the nation.”

All the government bureaucrats listening to Minister of National Welfare Kim Hee-sun’s words all nodded in agreement.

“Yes. I also think Minister Kim’s opinion is important. Currently, the phrase ‘Hell Josun’ is a trend. For those who don’t already know, ‘Hell Josun’ is a compound word made by adding hell with Josun, the old name for Korea to sarcastically point out the flaws within the nation. This dubs the country as being like a living hell. I would like everyone here to think deeply about why such a term came to be, and let’s all work hard so that our citizens no longer use that term to describe our nation.”

“Great words, Mr. President. Then we will push to have the cure for AIDS be offered for free.”

“Yes, push forward with that. Let’s also make using 50% of the profits towards welfare for citizens.”

* * *

October 10th, 2017 10:20

Choongbook Chungju-si 17th Fighter Wing underground research facility X-2 lab (Namgoong-won’s lab).

Namgoong-won finished the morning meeting with the other researchers and was virtually testing a new generator through Hocula to prepare for an actual test run this afternoon.

A year had passed since the underground research facility was built. The facility had expanded to 8 levels since then, and they have hired up to 800 researchers now.

During that time, Namgoong-won became a key member of the lab. As the sole person collecting data about alien science technology, other researchers received new findings from him.

“This runs better than expected, doesn’t it? Hocula, you haven’t found any internal flaws yet have you?”

“It is running normally for now.”

“Let’s let it run for another hour and make the final decision then.”

“Affirmative.”

Namgoong-won was now virtually testing a ‘plasma superprotonic generator’.

It was a next-generation generator being developed with the aid of alien technology. This high power generator could replace nuclear powerplants that had the risk of radiation. With 30,000 units, it could satisfy all of Korea’s power needs. The cost of manufacture was also a third of a nuclear powerplant.

With 24 nuclear plants running in Korea, one plasma superprotonic generator could replace eight of them. The super protonic generator also had many application capabilities. For instance, if the generator could be reduced in size and turned to a form of an engine, then it could replace the current ones in cars, airplanes, ships and rocket engines; this would bring about a second industrial revolution.