Chapter 17: Year-End Seminar (4)

“Why do you get paid if you’re not capable?” Kim Hyun-Taek complained.

“Haha, I’m sorry. Instead, I didn’t get a bonus for sixteen years.”

“How can you laugh in this situation?”

“I’m sorry.”

The lab directors sighed. This was how Cheon Ji-Myung acted every time; he was always like this. Even if hurtful words were thrown at him, he just laughed it off and said everything he needed to while still being respectful. He did random assignments like harvesting winter spinach, which was meant to humiliate him, without complaining. No matter how much the lab directors belittled him, berated him, and pushed him away, Cheon Ji-Myung just endured it.

“Doctor Cheon Ji-Myung.” Gil Hyung-Joon, the lab director of Laboratory Six, called him. “What kind of progress have you made in the Life Creation Department in sixteen years?”

“We gave you a report every monthly meeting. In this case, one of our advancements was stabilizing the organelles in the artificial cell, and we think that it has potential if we are able to stabilize the cell membrane from breaking.”

“Shouldn’t you bring some tangible data instead of speculations?”

“We will work harder next time.”

“You say that every year! That’s what’s wrong with you people. Everyone in your team is an idiot. How many doctors do you have there?”

“Five... No, we have six now.”

“You have six people with doctorates, but you can’t do this one thing in sixteen years?”

“To be honest, it’s not that easy. It’s something only the creator can do, right?”

“You think that is something a scientist should be saying?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, just look at your data! You found nothing. For sixteen years. Can’t you see how it is frustrating for us!?”

“Science is about finding that bright light in a dark room, so we might not get results if we’re unlucky.”

Cheon Ji-Myung borrowed CTO Nicholas Kim’s words.

“Ha!” Kim Hyun-Taek scoffed. “Stop talking about those principles. We are the ones paying you. You are a doctor and have been a scientist for over twenty years, but doesn’t it embarrass you to bring that kind of data every year?”

“I really am sorry. But the thing about research is that...”

“Just! Shut your mouth!” Gil Hyung-Joon slammed his fist on the table.

“You’re being criticized by executives because of how crappy your data is. Stop talking so much and making excuses!”

“That is...”

Click!

The doors of the seminar hall opened, and a young man entered. His hair was a mess from running, but he wasn’t out of breath at all.

[Activating Rosaline, who has been metastasized to the lung.]

[Rosaline is beginning to optimize breathing.]

“Oh geez!”

However, the man who followed him inside was about to die. He was on the chubbier side.

“Manager Cheon's on the stage. I think that he is still presenting,” The chubby man said to Young-Joon as he propped up his glasses.

“Thank you.”

Young-Joon stared right at the podium. His eyes met Cheon Ji-Myung’s eyes. He had only seen him in pictures.

Cheon Ji-Myung grinned, and then gave him an okay sign with his hand; he was telling Young-Joon to come up to the stage. Young-Joon walked down the stairs and headed to the stage.

“What?”

“Who is that?”

The scientists murmured.

“What do you think you’re doing!” Gil Hyung-Joon shouted.

“Who are you?!” Koh Yoo-Sung also shouted.

However, Young-Joon ignored them and went up to the podium.

“My part is done. Doctor Ryu, it’s your turn now.” Cheon Ji-Myung whispered into Young-Joon’s ear.

Young-Joon bowed slightly and grabbed the mic.

“I'm Scientist Ryu Young-Joon.” Young-Joon introduced himself to the crowd.

“Scientist?” Koh Yoo-Sung tilted his head in confusion. “Just a scientist? Isn’t that basically an associate manager?”

The crowd whispered noisily.

“I have come up to the stage because I had something to present. I apologize for causing confusion with the abrupt interruption, but I had no choice but to do this in order to present important data from the Life Creation Department,” Young-Joon stood on the podium and spoke into the mic.

“What are you doing?” Kim Hyun-Tae asked.

“Come down from there, Doctor Ryu. It’s not a podium for someone of low rank like you, and we’re in a meeting about the Life Creation Department’s progress.”

“The data that I brought is also our team’s progress.”

“How dare you interrupt when the lab directors are speaking!” Oh Jun-Tae shouted.

“...”

Young-Joon slowly looked down and stared at Nicholas, the CTO. He crossed his legs and made himself comfortable in his chair.

“Let’s hear it,” Nicholas said.

The CTO’s words were absolute. The lab directors still looked irritated but soon calmed down.

“Thank you.”

Young-Joon inserted his USB, and as he opened the file, a picture of embryonic stem cells appeared on the screen.

“What is that?” Kim Hyun-Taek asked.

“They are embryonic stem cells,” Young-Joon replied.

“Why is that here?”

“It’s because we made it.”

“Ha?”

The lab directors tilted their heads in confusion while sitting in a cocky manner.

“He’s crazy. They are really crazy now. Everyone in that department is crazy.” Koh Yoo-Sung drew circles with his finger beside his head.

Young-Joon ignored him and began explaining.

“The reason behind why we began this life creation project was because if we create an artificial cell this way, we would be able to transplant it into a patient or grow it into an artificial organ to fix faulty organs or tissue.”

Young-Joon added, “And the competitive technology of life creation is embryonic stem cell technology. It is much better and rewarding than our project. If we were to use embryonic stem cell technology, we wouldn’t have to take the difficult route of creating life.”

Kim Hyun-Taek raised his hand.

“So, you’re saying that you studied embryonic stem cells? You really are insane. Where did you get the embryo? You better have a good explanation. Unless it was donated, you used your budget at your disposal for another purpose that was not previously discussed. And if you bought it, you will not be able to avoid criticism of your ethics. The company’s position on the issue has not been decided yet. As such, you should not have acted on your own. This is grounds for severe punishment.”

Young-Joon stared directly at Kim Hyun-Taek.

“We did not use an embryo.”

The lab directors frowned.

“Did you use magic or something?” Oh Jun-Tae mocked him.

“These cells were originally human liver cells. We inserted four genes into the cells and reverted them into embryonic stem cells,” Young-Joon replied and went on to the next slide.

[SOX2, cMyc, OCT4, KTF4]

With the names of the four genes, a picture of the initial liver cells appeared. Then, morphological pictures of the cells taken in one-hour intervals after the injection of the four genes appeared on the screen. As time went on, they started looking more and more like embryonic stem cells.

Silence. The crowd was dead silent like they had frozen. It was like they weren’t even breathing. Scientists who knew a little bit about stem cells already had a look of extreme shock on their faces.

‘The advancement of science was sometimes a huge leap in knowledge.’

Sometimes, a discovery transformed the world so greatly that a world without it was completely different from the world after it: for example, the invention of the phone, internet, and airplanes, or the establishment of the theory of evolution, proof that the Earth is round, and the establishment of heliocentrism.

All the scientists in the seminar room knew what the information Young-Joon was presenting meant.

Clang!

One of the people in the Stem Cells Department broke the silence as they dropped their tumbler on the floor from their trembling hands.

Stammering, Oh Jun-Tae asked, “W-Wait. So that... Are you telling us to believe that? You made a normal cell into embryonic stem cells?”

“We are certain,” Young-Joon replied.

“Surely, the morphological pictures look similar to embryonic stem cells. But I think we need more detailed evidence,” Kim Hyun-Taek said.

“We have DNA methylation data and gene expression data as well. Please take a look,” Young-Joon replied.

A comparative analysis of the data was shown on the next slide. The data from the real embryonic stem cells from actual embryos and Young-Joon’s embryonic stem cells matched perfectly.

“...”

“Hm!”

The lab directors were imagining the kind of impact this would have on future medicine.

Of course, it still had a long way to go before it could go through clinical trials. Things like creating an artificial organ or transplanting a lesion and letting it multiply weren’t simple things to do. However, those were things that time would solve; the important thing was that they had overcome a huge obstacle.

This was a trendsetter for future medicine. The lab directors could already draw a huge blueprint for the new procedures large hospitals would be performing in the near future.

Young-Joon stated, “Embryonic stem cell technology has been forgotten for too long because of the huge con that it required an embryo, but we have broken through that limit.”

“...”

“From next year, we are thinking of studying embryonic stem cells as a side project while keeping the life creation project as our main focus.”

“Is there any evidence that it can differentiate into different tissues?” Kim Hyun-Taek criticized.

“There is. That’s why we were late.”

Young-Joon went to the next slide. Now, the embryonic stem cells were differentiating into muscle cells.

“These are cardiac muscle fiber cells.” Young-Joon added, “We can make cardiac muscle if we grow these cells. There is still a long way to go, but it means that theoretically, we can make an artificial heart. Because the embryonic stem cell we made is exactly the same as regular embryonic stem cells made from real embryos, it can differentiate into any type of cell.”

“Can you explain?” Nicholas asked Young-Joon; it was the first time he had spoken after his opening address. The scientists who were sitting near him glanced over.

“Can you explain why it turns into embryonic stem cells if you inject those four genes?”

“Of course,” Young-Joon replied.

It was a question Young-Joon had predicted. He moved on to the next slides, and descriptions of the four genes began to appear one after another.

“The cMyc gene acts to promote cell proliferation and phenotypic change, and binds to histone acetyltransferase...”

Suddenly, Young-Joon began lecturing in the middle of the seminar. Among the technical terms that he was using, some of them were foreign to scientists in the same field as Young-Joon. Even the lab directors could barely follow along.

All one thousand scientists in the room were staring at Young-Joon. He scanned through all of them and continued his lecture.

‘Park So-Yeon...’

Young-Joon’s eyes met her’s. She had long hair before, but it was short now.

Park So-Yeon looked quite confused. Young-Joon looked away.

“...Like this, the undifferentiation of the cell is controlled and completed by the endogenously expressed Nanog and Oct4 and is reverted into an embryonic stem cell state like an embryo. That is all.”

“...”

There was nothing but silence in the seminar room. All the scientists were frozen. The shock was stronger because they were fellow scientists; the more one knew, the more they understood. The members of the Stem Cells Department were just in awe. Even the hot-tempered lab directors could not say anything.

The excellent achievements of the Anticancer Drug Research Department made everyone’s jaw drop, but the Life Creation Department’s overwhelmingly incredible and almost magical results made everyone shut up.

In the silence...

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Someone began clapping slowly. It was Nicholas, the CTO. Everyone’s attention was drawn to him.

“It is truly a technology of the future,” Nicholas commented. “This is what revolutionary means. This is the advancement of technology and what science is about. I didn’t think that I would see studies as exceptional as this at our company in my life. What did you say your name was?”

“My name is Ryu Young-Joon, a Scientist,” Young-Joon replied.

Nicholas got up from his seat.

“Scientist Ryu Young-Joon, I guess things like this have disappeared nowadays, but when I was younger, attendees used to give a standing ovation if there was an amazing presentation at a conference or lecture.”

Nicholas added, “As a fellow scientist who studies biology, regardless of the hierarchical relationship between CTO and Scientist, I sincerely thank you.”

Nicholas began clapping. Surprised, other scientists quickly stood up and began clapping.