Chapter 18: Year-End Seminar (5)

A-Gen’s standing ovation continued for about three minutes. The clapping did not stop for a while even after Nicholas put his hands down.

After it calmed down a little, Nicholas sat back down in his seat. It didn’t really matter to him whether he stayed standing or not, but it was to let the other scientists who were worn out from presenting to sit.

Nicholas asked, “This is a completely different project than what the Life Creation Department has done in the past. Be honest. You started this by yourself, didn’t you, Doctor Ryu? Did you achieve this on your own?”

“Yes, I did start this alone, but my department members were incredibly helpful. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I was alone,” Young-Joon replied.

Young-Joon wasn’t wrong; it would have been impossible to create high-quality data such as this in that short amount of time even with Rosaline’s power. To evaluate the members of the Life Creation Department, Park Dong-Hyun, Jung Hae-Rim, and Koh Soon-Yeol were all incredibly skilled. They already knew what kind of data they needed in order to make the presentation logical even before Young-Joon asked them, and they gave it to Young-Joon in two or three days, perfectly organized. Even the Anticancer Drug Research Department, which was supposed to have the best scientists in the company, did not have people who were as good as them.

Nicholas flashed a smile of satisfaction.

“I didn’t know that A-Gen had such a talented individual like you. The bravery and insightfulness to start a project like this... Truly amazing. You look young, Doctor Ryu Young-Joon. May I ask how old you are?”

“I am thirty.”

“I look forward to your progress more because you are younger. Did you know this? Most of the Nobel Prize recipients started their work that got them their prize in their forties.”

Young-Joon smiled like he was embarrassed when Nicholas mentioned the Nobel Prize. Park Dong-Hyun did mention that this was Nobel Prize-worthy.

Of course, they wouldn’t give a young scientist like Young-Joon a Nobel Prize since the years of experience were taken into account as well. However, someone may nominate him for the prize when he had more research experience. In that case, his induced pluripotent stem cells would become a powerful achievement that would support him later on.

To be honest, it was something that made him so happy even just thinking about it in his head. Considering Young-Joon’s young age, his chances weren’t

that

slim; he was the most likely to receive it among people in his age group, was he not? Nicholas also mentioned the Nobel Prize because he could see it happen.

“Usually, I would have to discuss it with the lab directors, but to be honest, there is nothing to talk about. The Award for Exceptional Performance for this year goes to the Life Creation Department. Doctor Ryu Young-Joon, it is because of you.”

“Wait.” Kim Hyun-Taek objected as Nicholas finished his sentence. “I’m sorry, but this is something that Doctor Ryu Young-Joon, who was only transferred there about two weeks ago, started on his own. And it seems like Cheon Ji-Myung, their department head, doesn’t even know about this project.”

“How do you know that he doesn’t know?” Nicholas Kim asked.

“He didn’t even know about the original projects either,” Kim Hyun-Taek replied in a sneering tone.

He glared at Young-Joon, then glanced at Nicholas again.

“This has to be seen as an individual’s work. We should recognize Doctor Ryu’s contributions, of course. However, the Award for Exceptional Performance is given to an entire department. I do not think the Life Creation Department deserves the award. Yes, the other scientists would have contributed to getting that data, but a scientist must do more than get data,” Kim Hyun-Taek said.

“Hm.”

“We have the Revolutionary Scientist Award that can be given to the individual. I think that we should give that to Doctor Ryu and award the Award for Exceptional Performance to another department.”

“Is that so?”

“Why don’t you ask Doctor Cheon Ji-Myung yourself? Whether he thinks he deserves the award as the department head,” Kim Hyun-Taek said.

Nicholas rested his chin on his hand and stared at Cheon Ji-Myung with interest.

“What do you think, Doctor Cheon Ji-Myung? As the head of the department, do you think you deserve the honor and privileges of being the leader of a department displaying exceptional performance?”

Young-Joon secretly glanced at Cheon Ji-Myung like he was worried. Cheon Ji-Myung had no idea about this project until today before the presentation. However, because he was the executive manager, he automatically became the interim head of the project on paper, as the position was vacant at the time they submitted the project proposal. Young-Joon couldn’t even select his name as his position rank was too low for the system to have it.

Cheon Ji-Myung could reject the award because of the pressure that he was the head of a stem cell project that he knew nothing about and the guilt from not being of any help to his members. That was also what Kim Hyun-Taek was going for.

“...Respected executives, I believe that you all know how greatly Doctor Ryu has contributed to this achievement. Therefore, his individual contributions must be highly appreciated. You should give him the Revolutionary Scientist Award,” Cheon Ji-Hyung replied.

Kim Hyun-Taek scoffed. “Then, the Award for Exceptional Performance should...”

“And I believe the Life Creation Department has the right to receive the Award for Exceptional Performance,” Cheon Ji-Myung said firmly.

Young-Joon barely held in his laughter as he saw Kim Hyun-Taek scowl. Now that Young-Joon thought about it, Cheon Ji-Myung has been the head of the Life Creation Department, which was where the troublemakers of A-Gen went, for sixteen years.

Right now, the debate about which department received the Award for Exceptional Performance was not about evaluating the magnitude of the contribution and its appropriateness—that had already been decided. Right now, he was engaging in political warfare with Kim Hyun-Taek, and Cheon Ji-Myung knew this, too.

Cheon Ji-Myung also knew that in this situation, the executive manager’s job was not to back down for not knowing about the project and not being able to manage it but to win the award for his department members. And Cheon Ji-Myung had a strong enough backbone to be bold and declared that they deserved the award when Kim Hyun-Taek was pressuring them.

Nicholas was also chuckling with his head down.

“Doctor Cheon Ji-Myung, do you know anything about that embryonic stem cell project?” Kim Hyun-Taek attacked him fiercely.

“Yes, of course,” Cheon Ji-Myung replied respectfully. “As the project manager, I am guiding the future direction of this project. If we improve this technology, we will be able to cut out the stomach and implant an embryonic stem cell in its place to regrow it to treat advanced stomach cancer instead of using an anticancer drug to selectively destroy cancer cells. I imagine that will be easier and more effective. I am thinking of allocating the special research budget with an emphasis on developing this technology, and I am also considering creating a task force that will use the privileges from the award to cooperate with various departments in Lab Six.”

Although there wasn’t much substance to what Cheon Ji-Myung was saying, he still kept talking. As he did, Kim Hyun-Taek's face became red. The best accomplishment of the Anticancer Drug Research Department—the star of Lab One—this year was a treatment for stomach cancer that selectively worked on cancer cells. Cheon Ji-Myung had covertly attacked Kim Hyun-Taek, saying that the Life Creation Department’s creation was much better than his.

“Ahem.” Nicholas cleared his throat and interrupted. He already really liked Young-Joon and wanted to give him a bunch of things; he wanted to see what kind of things that young, ingenious scientist would be able to achieve if he had the privileges that came with the Award for Exceptional Performance.

“Surely, an executive manager’s job isn’t to use a pipette to grow a cell. Doctor Cheon Ji-Myung, please allocate the department’s budget like you said, and I hope you guide the project in the right direction,” Nicholas said to Cheon Ji-Myung.

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Cheon Ji-Myung bowed towards Nicholas.

“Does anyone else have any objections?” Nicholas asked as he looked at the lab directors.

They were quiet.

After a bit of time, Nicholas opened his mouth.

“Well, the Award for Exceptional Performance has been decided. Now, we should choose what departments will get the other awards.”

Nicholas smiled and went up to the podium.

“Ah, ah.” Nicholas tested the mic and said, “Scientists of A-Gen, good work. We have reached the end of the seminar. We will take a thirty-minute break and then continue the award ceremony here.”

* * *

“Oh my god! This is insane! What should we do! Ahh! We’re really going to get an award!” Jung Hae-Rim was jumping up and down, unable to control her excitement and joy.

“Good work, Doctor Ryu.”

Park Dong-Hyun patted Young-Joon on the back.

“Thank you everyone.”

Young-Joon ran into Bae Sun-Mi as he thanked the other members.

Like Cheon Ji-Myung, he had also never seen Lead Scientist Bae Sun-Mi before. She looked like a middle-aged woman in her forties, and she had a warm, soft vibe to her.

“Hello, Young-Joon. My name is Bae Sun-Mi. I’m a lead scientist.”

“Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Soon after, Principal Scientist Cheon Ji-Myung, who was greeting the heads of other departments, returned.

“Where is he? Our youngest?” He looked around for Young-Joon.

“Doctor Ryu!”

When Cheon Ji-Myung found Young-Joon, he spread his arms wide and ran toward the young scientist.

“Such great work!”

He hugged Young-Joon hard, then asked while letting go, “Seriously, where did this lucky charm come from? What department are you from?”

“I’m from the Anticancer Drug Research department.”

“I see that Kim Hyun-Taek made a huge mistake! Losing a scientist like you! Haha! Just amazing work~”

“Haha, you as well, sir.”

“Did you see Kim Hyun-Taek scowl? Did you see him get angry because Lab One didn’t get it? Ahahaha!” Cheon Ji-Myung laughed.

“I think that’s because you talked about the stomach cancer drug,” Park Dong-Hyun said as he smirked.

“But what kind of actual benefit do we get for the Award for Exceptional Performance?” Young-Joon asked.

“The benefit is huge! That’s why Kim Hyun-Taek was trying to do everything to stop us from getting it,” Cheon Ji-Myung replied.

Jung Hae-Rim explained, “First of all, the department that wins the award gets an extra 1.5 billion won added to their budget. And the superiors usually don’t interfere no matter what kind of project the department chooses to do. They become sort of like an independent department that can work individually as well. On top of that, other departments can’t refuse if the winning department asks for support.”

“Really?” Young-Joon exclaimed.

“The last two aren’t actual company policy like the 1.5 billion won, but it’s kind of like a longstanding tradition.”

“Of course, we don’t know what it will be like for our department. We might keep getting ignored because our image was so shit in the past.” Park Dong-Hyun smiled bitterly.

“I see,” Young-Joon replied.

Now that Young-Joon thought about it, there was one person who wasn’t here.

“What happened to Soon-Yeol-sunbae? We have to go and get money for dry cleaning. The Comme Des Gar?ons...”

Bae Sun-Mi stared at Jung Hae-Rim with squinted eyes. She looked at her as if it was awkward having Koh Soon-Yeol and Comme Des Gar?ons in the same sentence.

Jung Hae-Rim burst into laughter and explained to Bae Sun-Mi what had happened.

“He left for the washroom a little while ago,” Park Dong-Hyun said.

“Oh really? I also have to go to the washroom.”

As Young-Joon left the seminar hall, he pulled out his phone. Going to the washroom was just an excuse for him to make a phone call. He read the message he had gotten earlier.

[This is Cell Bio. We got the reagent that came in your name from Reaction Chemistry. We want to call you beforehand to confirm the experiment before we begin. Please give us a call when you have about ten minutes.]

Young-Joon pressed their number and called.

—Hello, this is Cell Bio.

“Hello. My name Is Ryu Young-Joon. I requested the experiment.”

—Oh, yes! Hello, doctor. You emailed us the experimental design before, but we wanted to confirm it before we began.

“Yes, thank you.”

—This is a new drug for the flu, correct?

“Yes.”

—We use the bird flu virus H9N2 to infect MDCK cells, and then treat it with your candidate drug to see whether the virus stops multiplying, correct?

“Yes, that’s correct. Please dissolve the candidate drug in DMSO when you treat the cells. Ten milligrams of the drug should melt at room temperature for one milliliter of DMSO.”

—Alright.

“When can I get the experiment results?”

—We were already doing a base experiment of infecting the multiplied cells with the virus before your candidate drug arrived, so we can treat it right away. You should be able to get data in about a week or so.

‘Next week.’

This was why Young-Joon liked Cell Bio; if he had commissioned it to a company that wasn’t very capable, they would have started multiplying the cells and infecting them after Young-Joon’s drug had arrived. If so, it would have taken at least three weeks. It was a good choice that he commissioned it to Cell Bio.

“Thank you. Please tell me when you get the results.”

Young-Joon ended the call.

That was it; all that he needed to do now was add the experimental data on the patent Attorney Lee Hae-Won would have filed and get it published after evaluations. Then, he was going to sell the new drug to a pharmaceutical company. He could also sell it to A-Gen, but he would need to think about it. If he got to that point, he could escape this damn poverty for good.

‘Let’s think about what to do next with Rosaline’s power after this.’

His father, who was working as security at an apartment, and his mother, who had hurt her knee tendon but was still working at a restaurant with a limp, would never have to work again. Young-Joon could also tell Ryu Ji-Won to stop tutoring part-time and focus on studying. Young-Joon could pay off all his debt, give Park Joo-Hyuk the money he owed him, and move out of a basement unit.

‘Should I buy a car?’

Just thinking about it made him happy.

“...”

When Young-Joon usually thought about a great future like this, there was one woman who was always in the picture.

‘Park So-Yeon.’

Young-Joon had seen her during his presentation at the seminar, and she had gotten even prettier in a month.

‘I got worse because I was drinking all that time.’

Of course, Rosaline fixed it all, but he felt that it was a little unfair for some reason.

Tap tap.

Someone tapped on Young-Joon’s shoulder from behind.

“Hey.”

It was Park So-Yeon.