Chapter 12: Treating the Flu (4)

Young-Joon and Park Joo-Hyuk ordered a rice set meal from a restaurant nearby. Even as they were eating, Young-Joon was looking through his contacts to see if there were people whom he could borrow money from.

Watching him, Park Joo-Hyuk asked, “Can you really buy a building if you have ten million won?”

“Yep.”

“What’s the drug you’re making?”

“It’s a new medicine for the flu. It’s like Tamiflu, but more effective. Plus, storage and production will be much easier, too.”

“And you’re going to develop it on your own by commissioning the experiments to another company to make it unrelated to A-Gen? Then, you’re going to patent it?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it makes legal sense, but can you make that much money if you develop and patent it yourself?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“Do you know how much Tamiflu makes in a year?”

“How much?”

“Three trillion won.”

Park Joo-Hyuk squinted his eyes in disbelief.

“Three... Trillion?”

“A pharmaceutical company called Roche is selling that right now, and their annual international sales is three trillion won. And about five percent goes to the patentee in royalties according to the contract.”

“...”

Park Joo-Hyuk was lost in thought. Looking at him, Young-Joon said, “Hey. If you can lend me the money, just trust me and invest. I’ll give you five times what you lent me.”

“If you develop a drug, you’re going to have to do years of clinical trials before commercializing it. How are you going to earn anything in a year?”

“I’m going to show its effectiveness with animal testing, then sell it to a pharmaceutical company as a prototype. I don’t want to live poor for a few years while developing it, no matter how successful it might be. I’m thinking I’ll get about ten billion won if I sell it as a prototype.”

Park Joo-Hyuk had some seaweed soup, then sighed.

“Man~ I still think this guy is shitting me right now.”

“Joo-Hyuk, I told you everything because it’s you. I already know the structure of the new drug, and I have a sense of its effectiveness. I just need to experiment with it and prove it.”

“Hm... Alright. I’ll lend it to you,” Park Joo-Hyuk replied.

“I thought you had no money?”

“I only have five million won. I’ll borrow the other five million and lend it to you.”

“Are you crazy? That’s not what I meant. Let it go if you don’t have the money to. I’m not going to pretend I don’t know you after I succeed just because you don’t lend me it. You don’t have to get a loan.”

“What are you going to do if I don’t give it to you? You have a terrible personality and anger issues, so you don’t have many friends other than me. Where are you going to borrow it from? Loan sharks? Again?”

Young-Joon flinched. Park Joo-Hyuk scoffed as Young-Joon lowered his head.

“This bastard was really going to go to loan sharks again. It’s fine. I’ll get it for you.”

Park Joo-Hyuk grabbed his phone and called someone right away.

“Hello? Yes, Big Bro! It’s me, Joo-Hyuk. Yes.”

Park Joo-Hyuk then made some small talk, explained that he needed five million won urgently, read him his bank account number and hung up.

“Who was that?” Young-Joon asked.

“A colleague from law school. He’s rich.”

“How rich is he that he can just lend you five million won on the spot?”

“He’s a third generation chaebol.”[1]

“Wow...”

“But just because they are a chaebol doesn’t mean that they spend and lend money thoughtlessly. Rich people are actually more picky when it comes to spending. But I’m a lawyer now, and unlike Ryu Young-Joon, the loner from Jungyoon University, I have a huge network of people and great credit because I was always popular. I can get five million won.”

Ring!

There was a message on Park Joo-Hyuk’s phone.

“The money came in. I’ll send it to you.”

“Thanks.”

“I added one hundred thousand won. Don’t starve to death.”

“Are you done? Let’s go, I’ll buy you coffee with the hundred thousand won you just sent me.”

Young-Joon and Park Joo-Hyuk left the restaurant together and ordered some coffee from a nearby coffee shop.

“For here or to go?” The worker asked.

“To go, please.”

Hearing Young-Joon's words, Park Joo-Hyuk tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Are you going somewhere?”

“The pharmacy. Sorry, I need to call someone.”

Young-Joon called Manager Kim Ji-Chul of Reaction Chemistry.

“Hello, sir.”

—Hello! It’s been a while, Doctor!

Kim Ji-Chul greeted him with a cheery voice.

—Have you been well? Is there something you need to synthesize?”

“Yes, I’ll send over an email with the structural formula of the chemical to be synthesized right now.”

Young-Joon sent an email with the structural formula of the flu cure that was saved in his cloud.

—Yes, I got it. Hm... I’m going to have to think about how to synthesize this.

“The synthesis mechanism is there, too. I attached a PDF file as well, right? That’s the synthesis mechanism.”

—The synthesis mechanism?

“Yes.”

There was no way a biologist like Young-Joon knew the synthesis mechanism of organic molecules; the two were as different as painting and music.

Young-Joon had requested for synthesis a few times at A-Gen, but he had never commissioned it like this.

But he was confident as it was the synthesis mechanism that Rosaline gave him.

‘This is what I should get for spending 0.9 fitness.’

* * *

Organic synthesis was kind of like a game of Go; just like how the flow of the game changed depending on where the next stone was placed, the chemical structure changed as well.

Like herding sheep, they had to protect against the undesirable mechanisms using defense mechanisms and induce the reactions wanted. Of course, it wasn’t simple, and even experienced chemists had to carefully design the synthesis with the final structure in mind.

It cost quite a lot of time and money. However, it was much easier if they had the synthesis mechanism. It was easier than that if they had the starting materials.

“I also have the starting materials for the synthesis mechanism I sent you. I’ll ship it to you,” Young-Joon said.

—You have the starting materials?

Kim Ji-Chul asked like he was excited.

Starting materials referred to the chemical molecules that were present at the beginning of the organic synthesis. In terms of Go, it was like letting a novice place a few stones beforehand; synthesis was generally much easier to do if they started at defined points in the mechanism.

“Yes. I’ll also send over the structure of the starting materials by email right now. Please look over it.”

—Alright.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The starting material Young-Joon was talking about was Cozel, a regular cold medicine that was sold at the pharmacy. He saw that the structure was very similar, so he thought it could be the starting material.

—Oh. If this is the starting material, it should be fairly simple to make.

Kim Ji-Chul spoke in a slightly delighted voice.

“How much of it do you need?”

—About ten grams to be safe?

“Alright. How much would it be?”

—It would have been around three million won if it was just the synthesis, but since you gave us the synthesis mechanism and the starting material, it will probably be around two million won.

One bottle of the cold medicine cost four thousand won. Even if he bought ten grams, it was probably within forty thousand won. Young-Joon had actually profited from this.

“Alright. I will send over the money to the company’s account. I will send the starting material within this week.”

—Okay. I’ll send over the final product to your company after synthesis. Ward B1 of Lab 1...

“No.” Young-Joon stopped him.

“I’ll give you another address.”

—Okay, I’ll write it down.

“Um...”

Young-Joon was about to read him 77-14, Jungyun-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, but stopped. Maybe his address up to this point was fine, but the other part was Hyundai One-Room Suite B101. Nothing was wrong with it, but he was worried they would think it was weird. What kind of scientist sent the results of a chemical experiment to his own house?

‘Wait. I’m going to send it to Cell Bio anyway for cell experiments.’

“Can you just send it to Cell Bio?”

—Cell Bio?

“Yes. That drug isn’t going to be tested at A-Gen. The cell experiments will be commissioned to Cell Bio.”

—Alright, I’ll send it there. Should I put the package in your name?

“Yes, please do.”

It didn’t really matter as Young-Joon would just have to tell Cell Bio that a package in his name would be arriving.

“When will the synthesis be done?”

—It will take about a week from the day we receive the starting materials.

“Alright. Thank you.”

Young-Joon hung up and turned to look at Park Joo-Hyuk. Their order had come out as he ended the call.

Holding his americano, Young-Joon said, “Well then, let’s go and get the starting materials, shall we?”

There were eight tablets in one small paper box. Since one tablet was five hundred milligrams, he would need at least three boxes to get ten grams. He was a little uncomfortable with meeting that woman who worked at Celligener, but there was nothing he could do.

A little while later, Young-Joon and Park Joon-Hyuk arrived at the pharmacy Song Ji-Hyun was running.

Ring.

As they entered with the bell ringing, Song Ji-Hyun greeted them.

“Hello.”

Park Joo-Hyuk suddenly gasped. There were a few customers in the pharmacy, and they were lined up at the back and waiting.

“Hey, did you see?” Park Joon-Hyuk whispered, nudging Young-Joon’s waist. “I went to law school at Jungyoon University, but to be honest, everyone at our school just studied. Everyone was so boring like you that there was an eighty percent chance a pub would shut down within three years of opening. But I didn’t know a fairy like that existed in our town.”

“She’s the niece of the old lady that used to run this pharmacy. She went on vacation and she’s just running it in the meantime.”

“How do you know?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“Because I asked her before,” Young-Joon replied.

“Do you know her name as well?”

“She has a name tag. Song Ji-Hyun.”

“My god. You already hit on her? Do you have her number?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Have some manners. You already hit on her when I was reading those stupid cases?”

“I think you’re even crazier now that you’ve become a lawyer. You were pretty high before, but do you guys all do drugs at law school?”

“You’re not interested in that pharmacist, right?”

“I can barely take care of myself right now. I don’t have the money or desire to.”

“Okay, then I’m getting her number,” Park Joo-Hyuk declared.

“Woohoo. I’m cheering for you.”

The number of customers in front of them quickly decreased as they were having a meaningless conversation.

“How can I help you?” Song Ji-Hyun asked.

“Could I have three bottles of Cozel?”

Song Ji-Hyun grinned.

“You’re here pretty often. With probiotics and vitamins, now cold medicine?”

She grabbed three bottles of Cozel from under the counter and pushed them toward Young-Joon on the counter.

“It’s twelve thousand won.”

Swipe.

After swiping Young-Joon’s card in the machine, Song Ji-Hyun gave it back to him along with the receipt.

“Are you working on a new drug based on Cozel?” Song Ji-yun asked Young-Joon as he put the Cozel in a bag.

“Ah, well, it’s something like that.”

“Then I can find out where you work when a company releases a new cold medicine for clearing your sinuses, right?”

“Haha, maybe.”

Young-Joon glanced at Park Joo-Hyuk.

‘I thought he was going to get her number. He’s just frozen.’

Since they couldn’t just stand there and block the counter, Young-Joon grabbed Park Joo-Hyuk and left.

“I thought you were going to get her number?”

“I can’t say anything.”

Young-Joon nodded his head. Park Joo-Hyuk had no talent in getting girl’s numbers and things like that.

Young-Joon went to the convenience store with Park Joo-Hyuk. He bought a zipper bag and put all three bottles of Cozel in it. He bought a box and shipped it to Reaction Chemistry right away.

However, he still had things to do.

“Hey, can you also file patents, Joo-Hyuk?” Young-Joon asked.

1. A chaebol refers to a very wealthy family in Korea. ?