Chapter 142: Cultured Meat (8)

Young-Joon received a call right after the press release was published. It was Tanya Manker.

“Hello?”

—What happened, Mr. Ryu?

“What do you mean?”

—Your prediction about the spread of the disease.

“The artificial intelligence program you gave me already had a function that can track that.”

—There is, but it’s not usually used... Since it’s difficult to get data on how a disease will spread.

“I see.”

—Red mold is especially hard to detect because it can’t be observed during the incubation period. The Department of Agriculture did an inspection just last week, but they didn’t find any signs of an infection...

Tanya said in confusion.

“The way we found the red mold is related to A-Bio’s new technology, so I can’t tell you now. I will reveal it when the time is right,” Young-Joon said.

Rosaline chuckled.

~

Young-Joon used Rosaline’s Simulation Mode to find the red mold and modeled the spread of the disease. After collecting the data, he used Rosaline to predict how the fungus would spread, and it was exactly what Tanya Manker’s artificial intelligence program predicted. The red mold would produce large quantities of spores starting on the fifth day, which would travel with the Foehn wind and take over the cornfield in the central region. After about five days of incubation, the outbreak would begin on the tenth day and cause massive crop damage.

—But people don’t know that. Like how difficult it is to get data on red mold.

Tanya said.

—Mr. Ryu, the only thing people understood was that my artificial intelligence program predicted the spread of red mold. If it’s not right, my prediction of the food crisis will take a hit, too.

“Are you nervous that you’ll be wrong?”

—I am confident in my program. But I am scared because I don’t know how you got the data and used it as a variable in the program.

“Don’t worry too much. There is definitely red mold in the wheat field, and if the program is right, there will be a major outbreak in the cornfields ten days from now.

—The timing coincides with the legislative hearing. If we fail to predict it, we will take a huge hit at the hearing.

“It will succeed, and it will become the weapon of the cultured meat advocacy group,” Young-Joon said.

—It’s easier said than done.

“It will be fine. Don’t worry too much and just wait.

—

Sigh

. Okay, then.

After the call ended, Young-Joon got a call from A-Gen. It was Nicholas, the CTO.

—Doctor Ryu, you asked to increase the production of Fungcide, the drug for red mold, by ten thousand percent in the request you sent to the production line. Is this a mistake?”

“No, it’s not. The weekly production is only about twenty thousand liters right now, right? Soon, the central and western United States is going to be using five hundred thousand liters a day. We need to supply them. Even if we increase the production a hundred times more, it won't be enough.”

—To be honest, even I’m scared to trust that AI program. If you change the production line by that much and if red mold doesn’t spread, it’s going to be difficult to get rid of the leftover inventory. It’s going to be a pretty big loss.

“I understand. But it’s really necessary, so trust me and do it. If anything, the sales will skyrocket and you’ll make a lot of money.”

—Doctor Ryu, is this really okay?

“Of course. There will be mold.”

—No, not this, but you. The things you are doing are a little different from pharmaceuticals, Doctor Ryu. And for the first time, you’re being attacked by people, right? I’m asking if you are okay. Isn’t it too much to predict red mold?

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m really fine. Please make sure to increase the production of the red mold drug.”

—I will trust you this time since we are close. But I have to convince the executives with something this big. I can’t guarantee it, but I will try.

“Thank you.”

* * *

Mckinney was also surprised by the press release, but Steven, the CEO of Red Meat, was even more shocked. People were starting to be swayed, and the political sphere was getting nervous as well.

The criticism of the farmers was directed to the Department of Agriculture. Just a week earlier, they had conducted a large-scale investigation on diseases, but they hadn’t mentioned anything about red mold. The farmers wanted the Department of Agriculture to give them some sort of explanation about Young-Joon’s announcement.

At last, the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture held a press conference.

—The recent large-scale investigation included the wheat production area in the western region, which Doctor Ryu claims is the origin of the red mold outbreak. However, the Department of Agriculture did not find any signs of a red mold infestation. During the red mold outbreak crisis last year, the Department of Agriculture dried and disposed of all the infected lips and contained the outbreak. Through this, we confirmed the complete eradication of red mold in the western region of the United States. There cannot be red mold in the region. This is why we did not mention it.

When the statement finally came out, it was met with a flurry of questions about whether the red mold was just dormant in the western region.

—It is impossible to find red mold when it is dormant, and it cannot be predicted with an artificial intelligence program. However, if it is dormant, there should have already been an outbreak in the West. Since it is already twenty days later than last year's initial outbreak, we think it is highly unlikely that we’ll see red mold this year.

* * *

Steven, the CEO of Red Meat, borrowed the announcement from the Department of Agriculture exactly.

“That artificial intelligence was talking about the food crisis ten years later, and now it’s saying that red mold, which doesn’t even exist, is going to take over the cornfield,” Steven said. “Don’t believe that, people. The reason that I can be sincere as the CEO of a livestock company is because the livestock industry consumes half of the corn production in the country. Corn is the most common feed of livestock. Please believe me. There is no red mold.”

Steven firmly refuted Young-Joon’s claims.

“People, this year’s crops in the central regions were not planted with red mold-resistant seeds. Not many farmers used resistant seeds even though we had that mess last year. Do you know why? Because red mold was completely eliminated last year. There is a very low chance that it will spread this year. This is evidence that the artificial intelligence is wrong. It is giving a completely wrong prediction, isn’t it?” Steven said. “No one will take this seriously. In fact, no one has confirmed what Doctor Ryu said. Who would bet on such a wild claim? Didn’t Tanya Maker, Mckinney, and Diego all stay silent?”

Like Steven said, people who were in favor of cultured meat and emphasized the food crisis all stayed quiet about this issue; they were afraid they would give the other side a bigger weakness if they tried something.

As Steven’s attacks became stronger, the situation actually became worse. The major agricultural companies in corn-producing areas began to issue statements attacking Young-Joon.

“A third-rate artificial intelligence robot and a fortune-telling scientist cannot have more credibility than the Department of Agriculture,” the representative of the union of the Agriculture Corporation of the Central Region announced. “Our corporations are already being hurt by the cultured meat technology. It is because more than half of our corn production is being used in livestock feed. Our stock prices have dropped significantly since that false prediction of a food crisis and the introduction of this unsafe junk food called cultured meat. And now red mold? I don’t know what kind of bridges Doctor Ryu Young-Joon has burned with the agriculture corporations in the central region of the United States to say something as ridiculous as this, but there is no way!”

On top of that, they stormed to the United States National Institute of Health, where the A-Bio Cancer Laboratory was, and held a rally.

“Ryu Young-Joon starves American farmers! He must go!”

“Ryu Young-Joon is the tumor of the food products industry!”

As the atmosphere was getting riled up, David, the CEO of Conson & Colson, was lost in thought.

“Doctor Ryu Young-Joon is not wrong. Would someone like him announce something like that just based on an artificial intelligence program? He probably has other evidence.”

His sharp business intuition was focused on the cultured meat issue and waiting for the right time to get rich. And this was one of those times. However, it looked too dangerous. Even if that artificial intelligence program was incredible, would things really go as Young-Joon said?

“We have a treatment for red mold, right?” David asked the CTO.

“We do. A-Gen copied our treatment to make their’s.”

“Let’s increase production by fifty percent. But let’s keep it a secret since it might fail.”

“Are you sure?”

“Fifty percent is not too bad. We will suffer a loss if there is leftover inventory, but there was a huge mess last year because there wasn’t enough treatment. It’s better than that,” David ordered.

The public was polarized. Racist and conservative organizations, led by traditional livestock companies and agriculture corporations from the central region, all criticized Ryu Young-Joon. And environmentalists, people who saw great benefits from Young-Joon’s drugs, and his supporters fought against them.

—Red mold cannot spread. The Department of Agriculture completely eradicated it last year. Fungus usually produces spores when the temperature drops below eleven degrees Celsius, but we already passed that temperature twenty days ago.

—But after that, it was pretty warm due to high atmospheric pressure. The lowest temperature drops to eight degrees this Saturday. That is when the artificial intelligence predicted that red mold spores would occur.

—Everything that Ryu Young-Joon has ever said was right. I think red mold will spread this time.

Time flew by as chaos spread across the United States. On top of the cultured meat issue, debate shows on TV and the news began talking about the red mold crisis as well.

* * *

On the fifth day, Young-Joon came to the wheat fields in the West with Rosaline and sat down on a hill as the sun went down. The ripe ears of the whelmed seemed ablaze with a gold flame against the setting sun.

—It’s beautiful.

Rosaline said as she watched the beautiful scenery.

“It is beautiful.”

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

—I think I’ve really been influenced by you. I can feel this way, and I don’t even find it awkward.

“Yeah. You were a psychopath when we first met. Talking about how we would pass the breakeven point in a few years if we kill some people and eradicate the flu.”

—I am glad you are an ethical person.

Rosaline said.

“Even within the arts, the most boring studies are things like philosophy and ethics, so it seems like it’s unrelated to science. It seems like people who are used to scientific thinking won’t really consider morals,” Young-Joon said as he looked down at the wheat leaves. “But we shouldn’t do that. Science is a science that tells us what can we do, but ethics tell us what we should do. The advancement of technology should be able to answer both questions.”

—Did you find a definite answer about cultured meat?

“Moving to cultured meat is necessary. I trust Mckinney and President Campbell to handle the fuss in that process. Since there’s already a case of a successful transformation, it will go well.”

—I see.

Rosaline came closer to Young-Joon. She climbed onto his knees and sat down. However, she had no weight.

Young-Joon quietly observed Rosaline’s face. Rosaline, who had come from his trauma, looked exactly like Ryu Sae-Yi. And in fact, there was something innocent about her, like a child her age, marveling at her newfound senses and feelings. If something looked interesting, she would pop out of Young-Joon’s body from time to time to look at it and touch it, and it really felt like Ryu Sae-Yi had come back to life.

However, she had no weight. What Young-Joon saw in front of his eyes was nothing but a fantasy, since her real body was just a cell floating in the air.

And as a cell organism, she also had some unusual perspectives.

—I feel pity for the livestock.

She said.

“The livestock? Not the livestock industry?”

—Yes.

It had been a while since he had felt this kind of confusion from his conversation with Rosaline.

“Why?” Young-Joon asked.

—Because once the cultured meat industry is fully established, the number of livestock will decrease exponentially.

“Is it the number of animals that is the problem, or is it the fact that they are crammed into small spaces, abused, and forced-fed in factory farming conditions?”

—I can definitely feel compassion and sadness for that.

Rosaline said.

—But when you look at it from the perspective of a single-cell organism, it’s a little different. The chicken, for example, has exploded in population compared to its ancestor, the red fowl, and the population now is about thirty-five billion.

“...”

—African black rhinos went extinct as homo sapiens appeared on Earth and competed with other species, but chickens grew in population.

Rosaline said.

—From my perspective, the domestication of animals is an adaptation that is a huge merit to the reproduction of that species.

“I didn’t know you could think of it that way.”

—But their species will face a huge crisis as cultured meat gets set up. Maybe, they will become extinct. In maybe fifty years, chickens will become an endangered species.

Rosaline said.

—From now on, animals that use cuteness as a weapon, like cats, will be the only animals that will be able to adapt and survive in the age of humans.

“...”

—We’re going to wipe out HIV, and we’re planning to make mosquitoes go extinct. We’re getting rid of everything that does not help and bothers humans.

“HIV too?”

—Of course. That is also an organism.

“...”

—I’m not saying it is wrong. You are also a human, and your world is still important to me. Tell me if you want something after livestock.

Rosaline said.

—I will get rid of that species forever.

Young-Joon felt a little scared. He was going to say that she was still a psychopath but paused.

‘Compared to Rosaline, who perceives the eradication of HIV in terms of species extinction, maybe I’m the psychopath.’

As Young-Joon was a little confused, Rosaline spoke.

—Oh, it is starting.

“What is?”

—The spores are forming. Do you want me to turn on Synchronization Mode?

Rosaline said as she pointed at the wheat field.