Chapter 103: Laboratory One (5)

Chapter 103: Laboratory One (5)

Burning with global humiliation and anger, the public swept over A-Gen. The worlds interest in this drug called Cellicure was huge right now. It was the only cure that had succeeded in curing end-stage liver cancer. Additionally, it had no side effects, it was precisely delivered to the liver, and it didnt even cause problems in cancer cells that had metastasized to the bone. Of course, it had to be monitored carefully as only data from Phase Two of the clinical trial had been released, but it seemed clear that Cellicure was going to save countless liver patients in the future as it was safe enough to be used on a nine-year-old child lacking immunity and strength.

It was one of the top items among the drugs that A-Bio conducted clinical trials on, but A-Gen tried to get rid of it. It was none other than a scientist who worked in the pharmaceutical industry who tried to get rid of a great drug with that much potential.

Remove Kim Hyun-Taek!

Remove him!

Remove him!

Investigate the research ethics violations!

Investigate it!

People had already gathered outside A-Gen and Lab One to start protesting. There was a signature campaign criticizing Yoon Dae-Sung, and the petition to the Blue House to start an investigation was instantly signed by three hundred thousand people. Foreign media like Fox News also covered this huge scandal in depth.

Simultaneously, another issue blew up as well. It was about the legendary thirty-year-old Scientist who had fought against the lab director alone when everyone at Lab One stayed quiet after it happened.

Is that actually possible? Hes the CEO of A-Bio and the top scientist in the world now, but he was just a Scientist at the time, and he criticized the lab director to not do something like that?

This story came up in the fan club from time to time. It was the backstory of how CEO Ryu Young-Joon left Lab One at A-Gen. It was just like hearsay, but I cant believe it was real.

That seems even more amazing than curing incurable diseases. How can a thirty-year-old young man who just graduated from school and got a job have such courage?

Was he able to make a company like A-Bio because he had that kind of courage, or was he able to act that bravely because he was a genius smart enough to found a company like A-Bio?

Anyway, the one thing for sure is that we have to destroy Kim Hyun-Taek. They have to arrest him and investigate.

Seriously, Cellicure wouldnt have been able to come out into the world if it wasnt for Ryu Young-Joon.

Thoroughly investigate how high up this incident goes. If the CEO approved it, they have to cut off his head, too. How could scientists who make medicine try to erase a drug like Cellicure to keep their livelihoods?

I thought Schumatix were crazy bastards when they tried to attack Ryu Young-Joon by planting a tumor in a glaucoma patients eye, but Korea is the same fuck lololol the CEO of A-Gen should just go die.

This is how the public is reacting, Kim Young-Hoon said.

A-Gen was having an emergency board meeting. Rain was dripping down the window. The heavy, depressed atmosphere was the worst.

Key shareholders from Berkshire and SG Group glared at Yoon Dae-Sung like they were going to chew him up.

Mr. CEO, please explain, Kim Young-Joon said.

I dont know anything about this, Yoon Dae-Sung denied.

The CEO didnt know about purchasing all the rights of a new drug that completed Phase One?

Lab Director Kim Hyun-Taek had the final approval.

What Yoon Dae-Sung said wasnt wrong. Kim Hyun-Taek discussed it a lot with Yoon Dae-Sung when purchasing Cellicure, but Kim Hyun-Taek had the final approval. That was how Yoon Dae-Sung did business; it was a defense strategy to keep him from being blamed in the future. This was also the reason why he threatened Celligener and lowered the price; it was to lower it enough so that Yoon Dae-Sungs approval was not required under company policy and it could be taken care of with Kim Hyun-Taeks budget.

This isnt something that you can get away with by just saying that you didnt know. As the CEO, you have the final responsibility, Kim Young-Hoon argued.

I know. Should I resign? Yoon Dae-Sung said.

... Eh.

Sigh.

The directors grunted disapprovingly.

It will be a problem if you suddenly let go of the CEO position. You have led this company for decades, so it will be difficult for people to get used to the new system and there will be quite a lot of knock-back, Alex said.

What if Director Ryu Young-Joon fills the CEO position? Kim Young-Hoon asked.

Yoon Dae-Sung flinched. However, Alex was against the idea.

I believe someone like Doctor Ryu would do a good job, but he cannot be the CEO of two companies at the same time.

We can merge.

Then it becomes a very slow response. Merging a big company like this doesnt happen overnight. The stocks of A-Gen will plummet while were doing it.

The directors were all torn about what to do.

Yoon Dae-Sung lowered his head. To be honest, he wanted to let it all go. He was tired in a lot of ways. He felt doubtful about everything he had done in the past as he watched Young-Joon, who was growing rapidly. All the dirty things that were hidden in the shadow of the old A-Gen; it had festered for a while, and it was now like a huge infection that was difficult to fix. Yoon Dae-Sung wanted to let Young-Joon destroy it all and take control of the company, but Yoon Bo-Hyun, his son, always weighed on his mind whenever he thought of that.

Lets hold Lab Director Kim Hyun-Taek responsible and dismiss him. And appoint Director Ryu Young-Joon as the Lab Director for Lab One. We can calm down the public if we move fast, Yoon Dae-Sung said.

Can Director Ryu be the CEO of A-Bio and the director of Lab One? Kim Min-Hyung asked.

Its not a problem according to company policy.

I was asking whether the amount of work would be too much for him.

He has already used many of A-Gens facilities at his disposal. And as A-Bios office building was originally purchased for Lab Ones expansion, Lab One and A-Bio are close to each other.

[You can eject a portion of Rosalines cells that exist in your body and gather information about the environment. They can move at the speed of sound and observe the microworld to identify biological phenomena.]

[Fitness consumption is extreme, and you will lose Rosalines cells if you consume more than your fitness limit.]

[In the case that you lose Rosalines cells, there may be losses to your metastatic status or synchronization, and Rosalines level may decrease.]

Theres quite a risk.

But since the mother cell will not disappear even if you really overuse it, you can still increase the level and recover your current condition with time.

Rosaline said.

Of course, I wont be able to leave until I grow that much

Ill be careful.

Reassuring Rosaline, who was dejected, Young-Joon pressed the button from the status window.

[Activate Simulation Mode.]

What are you going to look for?

The most dangerous infectious disease in the world right now.

This proximity cannot be analyzed with your current fitness. Please reset it in the Seoul and Gyeonggi[1] region.

Thats it? Even though I built my fitness to ten?

Thats right.

Didnt you say something about observing the number of possibilities globally and whatnot?

Then, you will have to level up a lot.

Alright. Lets focus on checking that this simulation works well, Young-Joon said. Activate it in the Seoul Capital Area. A-Bio will probably come up, right? Since we have HIV that we used for experimental purposes.

Pssh!

His vision completely faded out into black. Young-Joon could feel millions of Rosalines cells being ejected from his body. The topology information and senses they were obtaining in real-time came into his head one by one.

There were thousands of research institutes in the Seoul Capital Area. Rosaline searched for biological elements throughout them.

Shrrr

A big map formed in front of Young-Joons eyes. It was a circular map that included half of Yangpyeong-gun in Gyeonggi-do based on the current location of Young-Joon, which was A-Bio.

For the level of danger, I will comprehensively consider the infectiousness, and the individual and societal burden it could cause. Please individually set the weight of each element afterwards.

Bleep!

Gray dots began popping up one by one.

Each dot represents a pathogen that can cause disease in a person.

Rosaline said.

The dot increases in size as the amount of pathogens increases, and the color gets darker the more dangerous the pathogen is. And I wont mark diseases weaker than the common cold.

Dozens of dots showed up, but they were mostly very light gray.

Bleep!

This ones pretty dark, said Young-Joon as he looked at the brick-colored dot on A-Bio.

This is HIV.

Its not that big of a deal if you look at it like this.

It is because the virus here is for experimental purposes. If you go to Africa, the Sub-Saharan region will be completely gray.

Bleep!

A much darker gray popped out from A-Gens headquarters.

What is that? Young-Joons eyes widened.

There isnt a lab at A-Gens headquarters. Why is there such a dangerous pathogen over there? What species is that? Why isnt the name showing up?

I have never seen that pathogen either. And it is already dead. The corpses are preserved in a liquid nitrogen container.

Even if youve never seen it before, it must have a relationship with other organisms, right? What is it most closely related to?

The most closely related organism is Bacillus anthracis.

1. a province near Seoul in Korea