Chapter 184: Bacterial War (6)

The sudden appearance of Yoon Dae-Sung caused a stir at the front entrance of A-Bio. Yoon Dae-Sung hadn’t shown up throughout all the commotion, making excuses about his health.

But today, he suddenly showed up at A-Bio, not A-Gen. He was not accompanied by other executives or his entourage. He looked miserable and his body had no energy.

Through the whispering, Yoon Dae-Sung silently walked to Young-Joon’s office with heavy steps.

“Sir, Mr. Yoon Dae-Sung is here,” Yoo Song-Mi said as she knocked.

She was also slightly nervous because of Yoon Dae-Sung’s aura.

When Young-Joon opened the door, Yoon Dae-Sung walked in and sat down.

“It’s been a while. I heard you weren’t feeling well. Are you okay?” Young-Joon asked.

“To be honest, my health was in good condition, but now it’s deteriorated rapidly,” Yoon Dae-Sung said with a bitter smile.

“Because of your son?” Young-Joon replied.

“...”

Yoon Dae-Sung let out a short sigh.

“He’s a foolish bastard,” he said. “Doctor Ryu, you know what Yoon Bo-Hyun did, right?”

“Yes.”

Young-Joon nodded.

“All this time, did you just let him do all of that on purpose?”

“My priority was to deal with any terrorist attacks that might be in Korea. I couldn’t afford to take care of it.”

“I see,” Yoon Dae-Sung said. “I taught him science from an early age. I emphasized logic and reasoning, and I kept him away from emotional things.”

“...”

“Actually, he wanted to be a poet when he was younger. He liked to read poetry, which doesn’t really suit him now.”

“It really doesn’t.”

Young-Joon chuckled, and Yoon Dae-Sung smiled along with him.

“I didn’t let him read. It doesn’t make money, and I told him to do something that directly helps society.”

“...”

“It’s all my fault,” Yoon Dae-Sung said as he closed his eyes.

Back when A-Gen was weak and Yoon Dae-Sung was helping his father grow the company, he was an elite scientist who studied abroad at a prestigious university, which was very rare in Korea at the time. He brought Kim Hyun-Taek, whom he had become close with abroad, as the lab director and began working on research. They had no revenue and fought to secure funding from venture capital firms, but they failed.

“This will be a good item if we study it a little bit more. This anticancer drug is competitive in the international market as well! The cell experiments showed good results, and animal data is looking good as well.”

Yoon Dae-Sung’s father dropped to his knees in front of the venture capital investors. Young Yoon Dae-Sung watched all of it.

“But you don’t know how clinical trials will go. And you people spend too much energy on base research. What we want to see is a tangible product.”

The manager of the capital firmly refused their offer.

“How can you do science with no base experiments?”

“You should leave that to the universities. A company that should be making money shouldn’t be wasting their energy on base experiments.”

“No university in the country is this good! It hasn’t been long since Korea has started doing science properly. We don’t have enough basic research facilities and people.”

“Then we should be investing in growing that infrastructure, not companies.”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“It’ll be too late then! We can’t wait twenty or thirty years when biology is emerging as the latest trend in medicine! We have to follow pharmaceutical companies in superpowers like the United States! If we don’t have enough basic research, we have to do it ourselves!”

“Even if you say that, it’s not something that we can do. And even the government won’t give you funding for something that long-term, so how can you ask private venture capital firms to do so?”

“The government is...”

“You don’t have anything to say, right?”

“We gave up on the government a long time ago, but venture capital...”

“Stop. Go away now.”

Yoon Dae-Sung clearly remembered his father’s weak and dejected footsteps as he headed back to the company.

‘This country isn’t a country where you can do science.’

Yoon Dae-Sung and Kim Hyun-Taek felt that as well.

And when the company had financial difficulties and could not pay their executives for three months...

“I have a way to get some cash,” said Ji Kwang-Man, who gathered Yoon Dae-Sung and Kim Hyun-Taek secretly. “It’s to develop an anthrax weapon. The United States army is pursuing this business in secret.”

“That’s crazy! That’s a violation of the international convention! If we get caught, we won’t just get shut down, we’ll go to jail!” Kim Hyun-Taek shouted.

“That’s why we should do it ourselves in secret. You’re the two best scientists in the country right now, aren’t you? How many biologists in Korea do you think have studied abroad and published papers in

Nature

? We are good enough. It’s the country that doesn’t recognize us and realize the importance of base research,” Ji Kwang-Man said.

“...”

“You all know that this country isn’t capable of growing a company like A-Gen. The people and the government can’t read the trends in science, and our universities are twenty years behind developed countries.”

“...”

“But if we don’t grow A-Gen now, the health of this country’s people will be taken hostage by developed countries.”

“But... You don’t know what kind of mass destruction an anthrax weapon will cause. In a way, it’s more dangerous than a nuclear weapon,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

“I know that.”

“It’s a bacteria. It’s one of humanity’s enemies. What’s the point of us advancing science while developing something like that?”

“... Doctor Yoon, no Dae-Sung, let’s think of the children,” Ji Kwang-Man said.

“...”

“Speaking of bacteria, when I was at your house the other day, Bo-Hyun was playing a game called Bacterial War on the computer. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now,” Ji Kwang-Man said. “By making one bold move right now, we can paint all our current crises as our assets.”

“...”

“I feel terrible that this is the only way, but we have no choice. Are you going to bankrupt the company and live on the streets with your wife and Bo-Hyun?”

“Alright, I changed my mind. I’m in,” said Kim Hyun-Taek.

Yoon Dae-Sung stared at him in surprise.

“You’re right about bacterial war. We have more than just a venture company on our shoulders now: we have the health of the nation. We need a big pharma in Korea or at least the infrastructure to make replica drugs, because you know how companies like Schumatix rip off underdeveloped countries. Anthrax should be fine with enough safety mechanisms, like splitting up the sexes.”

“...”

Yoon Dae-Sung thought for a while, but he couldn’t give them a definitive answer.

“I’ll give you an answer by tomorrow.”

*

Yoon Dae-Sung, who headed back home, watched Yoon Bo-Hyun play the game. It was a pixel game where the player placed their bacteria like Gomoku[1] , but the player could make the opponent’s bacteria into theirs if they blocked each end of the opponent’s bacteria. Even if the player had one bacteria on the board and the opponent had three, the player could place one of their bacteria on the other end and take all five; they could turn the situation around instantly.

[LOSE]

“Hmph.”

Yoon Bo-Hyun, who was eight years old, turned off the computer after he lost. He buried his face into Yoon Dae-Sung’s arms, who was sitting behind him.

“Was it fun?” Yoon Dae-Sung asked.

“Not really. I just do it because I’m bored,” Yoon Bo-Hyun grumbled. “Dad, I heard from Mom that we might have to move.”

“...”

“She said that I might not have my own room when we move. Is that true?”

Yoon Dae-Sung stared into his son’s eyes.

“You don’t want to move?” Yoon Dae-Sung asked.

“No...”

“Did Mom say anything else?”

“She said that if we move, I might have to move schools...”

“Dad might have to go to a different company, too.”

“Why?” Yoon Bo-Hyun asked.

“People don’t know how important Dad’s company is right now.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know either.”

Yoon Dae-Sung thought that his company would grow successfully after he finished studying abroad, became an elite scientist, and honed his research skills.

“The world is only interested in what’s proven. They don’t invest in potential.”

Yoon Dae-Sung hugged his son tightly.

“And they only look at the money in front of them instead of what is really needed.”

Yoon Bo-Hyun stared like he didn’t understand. Yoon Dae-Sung chuckled.

“Bo-Hyun, no matter what you do, always show people how good you are so that people don’t dare to doubt you or argue with you. Don’t let people who are more foolish than you judge you and dictate your life.”

“...?”

“If anyone tries to take what’s yours, fight them off and defend it with everything you have.”

“Okay...”

“And we’re not moving,” Yoon Dae-Sung said with a bitter smile.

*

Yoon Dae-Sung took a sip of his tea.

“I saw your data that the WHO published. The information about the anthracis in Africa is all on there.”

“That’s right.”

“And it’s different from the one Director Kim and I developed.”

“Yes.”

“Did you know that Bo-Hyun went to Director Kim’s hospital room?”

“I do.”

“... He dropped a needle there, and I heard that the National Forensic Service is going to investigate it.”

“But there isn’t going to be any anthracis DNA there. It’s all been destroyed.”

“Do you think they will ask you to investigate it if they can’t find out what it is?”

“Maybe.”

“And you can use new methods to detect anthracis there, right?”

“Yes.”

“...”

Yoon Dae-Sung smiled.

“I see.”

He took a sip of tea.

“Everything is my fault,” he said. “Bo-Hyun ended up like that because I wasn’t good enough. But I think it’s all thanks to you that the stuff we made didn’t hurt anyone.”

“That’s because you sterilized it well.”

“Because it could have been blamed as the real terrorist weapon.”

“...”

“And you saved Bo-Hyun from the hospital. I feel like we’re always indebted to you.”

“When I was butting heads with Jamie Anderson at the conference in the U.S., you and Nicholas came and supported me,” Young-Joon said. “I’m grateful for that.”

“...”

“And I don’t resent or hate you or Yoon Bo-Hyun, but...” Young-Joon said. “Research ethics is a different matter. Forgiveness and friendship aside, the development of that biological weapon is something that needs to be revealed. If the U.S. military is responsible, they should also be held accountable.”

“Like always, you are airtight.”

Yoon Dae-Sung smiled.

“I think the goodwill you have extended to me has reached its limit. You’ve waited so long,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

“...”

“We owe you a lot,” Yoon Dae-sung said. “Thank you, and I’m sorry. I will put my faith in you and leave A-Gen. Bo-Hyun and I will receive our punishments.”

“... Thank you for your hard work.”

Yoon Dae-Sung bid farewell to Young-Joon and stood up. His footsteps seemed to have regained some energy as he left.

“Let’s go,” said Nicholas, who arrived at the front entrance a little after Yoon Dae-Sung and was waiting for him.

He patted Yoon Dae-Sung on the shoulder. Kim Hyun-Taek and Ji Kwang-Man had disappeared, and his one and only son had collapsed after taking a huge blow to his body and heart. Yoon Dae-Sung, who was getting into the limousine with Nicholas, was relaxed as he had made up his mind, but he also looked lonely.

1. Gomoku is where each player takes turns to put their pieces on a board to form five-in-a-row ☜