Chapter 19: Year-End Seminar (6)
“Yeah.”
Young-Joon turned around and faced Park So-Yeon. Seeing her face again roused a myriad of emotions within him at once, like the scum of love, betrayal, and anger. To his surprise, he wasn’t glad to see her, nor did he miss her. Young-Joon pushed those feelings down in his heart like he was compressing a full garbage bag.
“It’s been a while,” Young-Joon said.
“Yeah. I think it’s been about a month... How have you been?” Park So-Yeon asked.
“You think I would have been well?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“Whatever.”
“I feel like you changed a little.”
“What?”
“Before, you were sweet and kind, sort of like a puppy.”
“Really? I was?” Young-Joon reacted like he was surprised. “I was like a puppy when I was the one who cursed at Lab Director Kim Hyun-Taek?”
“Well, that was when you were really mad. You’re not usually like that. You were wagging your tail and running around when you first heard that A-Gen bought that liver cancer drug from that venture company.”
Park So-Yeon faintly smiled.
“Then maybe I am mad right now,” Young-Joon said.
“Yeah, you’re kinda acting the same as when you swore at Director Kim,” Park So-Yeon said.
“Really?” Emerging from n0v@lbin☆, this material harbors clandestine details.
“Are you still mad? At me?” Park So-Yeon asked.
“What do you want?”
“It was hard for me after we broke up, too.”
“...”
“You did really succeed this time, but you will have to make peace with Director Kim if you want to succeed in the company.”
“Maybe.”
“My seniors and I can help mitigate things between you and him.”
“So?”
“I’ll help you out a lot. Oppa, let’s date again.”
“...”
Young-Joon silently stared at Park So-Yeon. She was clinging to him like she was hung up on him, but there wasn’t a hint of nerves or fear in her face. She was confident, and it was because Young-Joon really loved her. Park So-Yeon was someone who had always been on the receiving end of love. As foreign as this situation was to her, she did not think that she would be rejected.
“If you want to do something like a joint departmental project with your iPSCs, talk to our executive manager.”[1]
“It’s nothing like that!” Young-Joon shouted.
Park So-Yeon was startled.
“It’s true. I regretted it a lot after we broke up like that,” Park So-Yeon said.
“Then why did you break up with me like that? Without even coming to see me?”
“...I thought it would be harder for me if I saw you. I have a dream at this company, but I had a lot of things to think about when you went against the lab director and had to leave Lab One.”
Young-Joon stared at her without a word. Park So-Yeon could not look him in the eye. She lowered her head and fiddled with her clasped fingers behind her back.
“I can’t trust you anymore,” Young-Joon said.
“...”
“And you told me to control my temper, right? It’s not that I need to control my temper, but you need to have one.” Young-Joon added, “Be moral and have a temper. You’re a scientist too, aren’t you?”
“...”
“The ceremony is going to start soon. I’ll see you inside.”
Young-Joon passed Park So-Yeon and went back into the seminar hall.
* * *
There were five awards given during the year-end seminar.
The first prize was the Award for Exceptional Performance, which was only given to one department. The second prize was the Award for Excellent Performance, which was given to three departments. Finally, the third prize was the Research Award, which was given to five departments. These three awards were given departmentally; they were given a tremendous amount of research funding and a bonus depending on their position.
The next two were given to individuals. One of them was called the A-Gen Scientist Award, and it was given to a total of ten scientists along with a small bonus. It was usually given to young scientists, mostly to encourage them to work hard.
The final award was the Revolutionary Scientist Award. It was given to one scientist who produced the most innovative results. It was the most honorable award for an individual in the A-Gen seminar. It was usually given to executives at a higher position than lead scientists, but not this time since there was someone who produced unbelievable results.
“The recipient of the Revolutionary Scientist Award is...”
Nicholas spoke into the mic. The winners of the other trivial prizes had already been announced, and the only two that remained were this one and the Award for Exceptional Performance.
“They looked down on our entire team,” Jung Hae-Rim added, and Park Dong-Hyun agreed.
“To be honest, Soon-Yeol-ssi, I wanted to throw that shirt out for you. But the way they were talking was just so outrageous.”
“Even if we don’t get money, we should at least get an apology,” Young-Joon added.
“Alright, then I’ll...”
As Cheon Ji-Myung was about to go there, Park Dong-Hyun quickly stopped him.
“It’s going to get weird if manager-level personnel go there. We’ll take care of it ourselves.”
“But they have an executive manager too. Shouldn’t I go fight?” Cheon Ji-Myung asked as he pointed at Choi Myung-Joon.
“All of us have fought against manager-level personnel during our prime time. We also have someone who fought against a lab director who is said to be the next CTO.”
Park Dong-Hyun glanced at Young-Joon.
“Ah... Right. I forgot that all my members were Saiyan.”
Cheon Ji-Myung nodded in understanding.
“Oh, over there.” Koh Soon-Yeol suddenly pointed. “Haha, I saw that woman in front of the washroom before the ceremony.”
“Seo Yoon-Ju-ssi? What did she say?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.
“That is...” Koh Soon-Yeol scratched his head.
It was about three hours ago when Young-Joon was talking on the phone with Cell Bio regarding his experiment that he had commissioned them. Seo Yoon-Ju had called Koh Soon-Yeol at the entrance of the washroom as he was about to go in.
“Koh Soon-Yeol-ssi!”
“Eh? Ore?” Koh Soon-Yeol asked as he pointed to himself.
“Are you really going to ask for four hundred thousand won if your department wins the Award for Exceptional Performance?”
“Um...”
“To be honest, it was all Doctor Ryu Young-Joon! You guys didn’t do anything, so why should you get that award and rip me off?”
“Etto... The data at the end of the presentation that showed the cell differentiating into a heart muscle cell was from me.”[3]
As Koh Soon-Yeol propped up his glasses, Seo Yoon-Ju frowned.
“Still, this is wrong. How is that rag that you’re wearing Comme Des Gar?ons!”
“Yare yare, the pointo is that you promised.”[4]
“No, whatever. Play the CCTV tape or whatever, I don’t care. Sue me if I was the one who bumped into you. Even if it’s my fault and destruction of property, I won’t be ordered to pay that much. No way that the rag that you are wearing costs four hundred thousand won. This is fraud. Just sue me because I can’t just give that to you.”
Park Dong-Hyun and Jung Hae-Rim were shocked.
“She said that?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.
“Without even apologizing?” Jung Hae-Rim added.
Bae Sun-Mi covered her mouth like she was in shock as well.
“She should first be apologizing, but she’s telling you to sue her?” Cheon Ji-Myung frowned.
“I don’t understand. Still, we got the Award for Exceptional Performance...,” Bae Sun-Mi murmured.
“They think we’re the same old Life Creation Department that’s beneath them even if we get the award,” Cheon Ji-Myung replied like this was a headache.
Crack. Crack.
Park Dong-Hyun cracked his neck and warmed up his body.
“Ah, man... They’re making my temper from my prime time come up again...”
As Park Dong-Hyun walked toward them like he was about to destroy them, Young-Joon stood in front of him.
“I will take care of it.”
“What are you going to do?” Jung Hae-Rim asked.
“We can’t be fighting them on a departmental scale right now. Probiotics is a field I want to study next year, so we have to use the Health Food Department a lot.”
“Hm...”
“But we can’t just let this slide. I will get them here and make them apologize, so just wait.”
Young-Joon calmed the four people down and walked over to Choi Myung-Joon and Seo Yoon-Ju.
‘It’s actually better when they apologize to me on their own like Park So-Yeon.’
[Rosaline Lv.2]
Young-Joon pulled up the status window. He pressed on the message window and opened the data on probiotics. It had the analysis of Roche’s probiotic product, Active Lactobacillin.
1. iPSC is short for induced pluripotent stem cells. ?
2. Kkanpunggi is a Korean-Chinese dish that consists of deep fried chicken pieces in a spicy and sweet garlic oil sauce. ?
3. Etto is a filler word in Japanese, and it essentially means “uhh” or “umm”. ?
4. Yare yare means “well well” in Japanese, and pointo is the Japanese pronunciation for “point”. ?