Chapter 185: Micro-dust (1)

After a company merger was approved by a shareholder meeting, there was a grace period. During this time, shareholders who opposed the merger could sell their shares to their respective companies. If there were too many shareholders who rejected the merger, or if the company had problems buying the shares, the merger was canceled. Of course, there was no reason for shareholders to oppose the merger between A-Gen and A-Bio.

The shareholders of A-Gen expected the combination of A-Bio and Young-Joon to boost the stock price and improve the company. Yoon Dae-Sung, Nicholas, and the six directors were good, but the shareholders were happy just thinking about what would happen if they put Young-Joon at the top.

The shareholders of A-Bio felt the same way. Considering what Young-Joon had done at A-Bio, which was worth twenty billion won, imagine what he could do if he directed all the research at a huge company like A-Gen?

There were barely any shareholders who tried to sell their shares, and Yoon Dae-Sung did everything he had to do. The merger was finalized, and it was time to appoint a new CEO. Yoon Dae-Sung suddenly withdrew as a candidate and went to the police with Yoon Bo-Hyun.

[Shocking confession from Yoon Dae-Sung, former A-Gen CEO: Development of the anthrax bioweapon.]

[The criminal who tried to use the anthrax weapon was not Ryu Young-Joon, but Yoon Bo-Hyun, the person who condemned him.]

The public’s horrified reaction was directed at them.

—That bastard orchestrated the anthrax attack, but he accused Ryu Young-Joon of developing it?

—What an asshole.

—It’s a relief that all the samples for development were destroyed. We don’t know what would have happened.

└Nothing will happen. Our savior Ryu Young-Joon would have stopped that, too.

—Even if it was a long time ago, the United States military also knew about this, right? What happens now?

—This could turn into a diplomatic issue...

The Korean government launched an investigation, and the U.S. government expressed their regret.

—The development of the anthrax weapon was part of the Jupiter program that the United States Forces Korea began thirty-one years ago. The weapon was developed as a part of the development of a strategic plan to counter biological warfare on the Korean Peninsula.

—The Korean government will investigate the officials who were present at the U.S. military base in Osan, Gyeonggi-do at the time about whether the anthrax weapon research process was illegal.

The situation had already come to an end, but this issue evoked a strong reaction from the public. However, this was soon drowned out by another news item.

—This afternoon, the merger between A-Gen and A-Bio was finalized. Ryu Young-Joon, who was appointed as the CEO, changed the company name to A-GenBio.

—A-GenBio will integrate the management of the merged companies and reorganize existing roles and personnel.

“So this is it.”

David, the head of Conson & Colson, was slightly nervous as he read the industry news.

“It’s as expected,” said David’s secretary.

“There won’t be a company that can compete with them for the next one hundred years.”

“I don’t think so, either.”

“Conson & Colson was a little bit bigger than A-Gen and A-Bio, but not anymore. Now, they’re the top predators in the pharmaceutical industry. A-Bio has done all kinds of adventurous research while supporting Ryu Young-Joons ingenuity. You can’t ignore the skills and experience of those researchers. On top of that, if A-Bio got all the power of A-Gen...”

“And Ryu Young-Joon is the one who’s running it.”

“Yeah. Conson & Colson will always be in second place.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What can we do? Maybe there will be an opportunity to reclaim first place someday. Let’s just go with it for now. Besides all that...” David said. “Send a gift to Doctor Ryu to congratulate him on the merger. I’ll write the letter.”

* * *

In the A-Bio CEO’s office, Park Joo-Hyuk, who came to see Ryu Young-Joon, gasped at the sight of the office.

“Wow... What is all this?”

An astonishing amount of flowers and presents filled the room.

“Things people sent me to congratulate me.”

“Man, people are trying so hard to get on your good side.”

Park Joo-Hyuk looked through the mountain of envelopes on Young-Joon’s desk.

“Congressman Shim Sung-Yeol?”

“He sent something, too? What does it say?” Young-Joon asked with a frown.

Park Joo-Hyuk opened the envelope.

“Talking about the weather... Blah blah blah... And... Doctor Ryu, thank you for your hard work. This is a travel voucher so that you can relax while you’re so busy. This is a small token of my appreciation as a politician and as a citizen of South Korea,” Park Joo-Hyuk said.

“He never stops, does he?” Young-Joon replied.

“It’s still a ticket to Hawaii,” said Park Joo-Hyuk as he read the voucher inside.

“You can have it.”

“Really?”

“I’m going to give these presents out to the employees. It’s not like I can keep all of them.”

“Then can I have the laptop?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked, pointing at the laptop box beside him.

“Doctor Cheon already called dibs on that one. He’s taking it with him to the U.S.''

“Why is he going?”

“Some business to do.”

“You’re going to do something weird again.”

Park Joo-Hyuk put the travel voucher that was in Shim Sung-Yeol’s envelope in his pocket.

“Anyway, you’re going to have a hard time organizing management for a while,” Park Joo-Hyuk said.

“Yeah. I’ll be really busy reorganizing the six labs and integrating A-Gen into A-Bio’s management system, so I need you to take care of the legal stuff.”

“What would you do without me?”

“I’m really glad you’re my friend. Anyway, once the company is stabilized, I’m going to hire someone to run it, and I’m going to stay on as the CTO and just do research since Nicholas is leaving as well. It should be fine, right?” Young-Joon said as he leaned back in his chair.

“Of course. You’re the owner, so you can do whatever you want,” Park Joo-Hyuk said.

“I don’t know about A-Bio, but I don’t think I can run a company as big as A-Gen while doing research.”

“You have someone in mind?”

“No. You want to do it?”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m kidding.”

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Park Joo-Hyuk was a really good friend. Park Joo-Hyuk’s occasional pranks and jokes were a great comfort as Young-Joon busily ran the company and did research.

“Young-Joon, you now have A-Gen, A-Bio, A-Gen Life, and the A-Bio Cancer Laboratory all lined up under you.”

“Yeah.”

“And if you leave the management of A-Gen to someone else, does that mean you’re now the president of a business group?”

“Eek...” Young-Joon groaned like he disliked that title. “That’s horrible. President? That’s so old-fashioned.”

“But you are the head of a group called A-GenBio.”

“To be honest, I’m most comfortable with Doctor Ryu,” Young-Joon said.

“You’re going to move management and finance to A-Gen, right?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“Yeah. And we’re going to be moving a lot of research teams to each of the six labs because A-Gen has better infrastructure than A-Bio. We’ve been using Lab One or the Research Support Department, but now we’ll be able to go there and do our experiments without having to go back and forth.”

“So what are you going to do with all the empty space in this building?”

“We’re going to reform it as A-GenBio’s seventh laboratory, where we’re going to do different kinds of research.”

“Different kinds of research?”

“Two kinds. One research is about rare diseases to give back to society,” Young-Joon said. “These diseases only affect a few thousand patients in the world, so it’s economically unprofitable for pharmaceutical companies to develop a cure.”

“And you’re going to just target those?”

“Yeah. And another one is...” Young-Joon said. “Environmental energy research.”

Park Joo-Hyuk tilted his head like he was puzzled.

“Sounds a little far off from the pharmaceutical industry.”

“Dealing with Ebola and anthrax has made me a little more concerned about environmental issues,” Young-Joon said.

“If it’s about environmental energy, is it like microorganisms that break down plastic?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“We can also develop that. Or, we can develop technology to capture micro-dust from China or ways to kill mosquitoes. We can also create bacteria that produce oil, or find new ways to maintain a cold chain.”

“What’s a cold chain?”

“Some medical products need to be stored and transported at around four degrees. And if you go deep into Africa, half of those products get destroyed in transit.

“Because they can’t stay at four degrees?”

“Yeah. There’s no way to get electricity to lower the temperature, and the roads are a mess. Completing the transit route while keeping the temperature low is called a cold chain. The Gates Foundation once held a contest for a solution to this.”

“Hm.”

Park Joo-Hyuk tapped his chin.

“I actually entered the contest when I was in university, but I failed.”

“What was your idea?’ “To generate electricity from solar energy and maintain a cold chain.”

“They said it won’t work?”

“I didn’t win because they said it wasn't realistic. And frankly, it lacked strategy.”

Now, Young-Joon was able to fill in the gaps to his strategy, but he didn’t say anything.

“If you’re expanding the business like that, we need a lot of manpower after we reorganize. You should post a job listing,” Park Joo-Hyuk advised.

“Yeah. I need to post a job listing and do some headhunting.”

* * *

Two men and one woman were having a meal together at a restaurant near Yongsan. It was Young-Joon, Song Ji-Hyun and Song Jong-Ho. They had come here because Song Jong-Ho wanted to treat Young-Joon to a meal because he had basically saved his life.

Song Jong-Ho, who Young-Joon hadn’t seen in three months, was almost a completely different person. He gained a jawline after losing a lot of weight, and he had clear skin. Most of all, his eyes were clear like Song Ji-Hyun’s.

Song Jong-Ho, who met Young-Joon, jumped up and down with excitement.

“I feel like I’m living a new life thanks to you! I don’t have any hallucinations anymore,” Song Jong-Ho shouted excitedly. “It’s all thanks to you, Doctor Ryu! Thank you so much. You’re the best!”

Song Jong-Ho kept bowing to Young-Joon with a smile on his face.

“He feels so good nowadays that he studies and works out, too,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“That’s nice.”

“He’s become so bright that I’m worried he’s in a state of mania.”

“Hahaha.”

Soon, the server came out with their meal. They put a huge steak on the table.

“Do you eat meat now, Doctor Song?” Young-Joon asked.

“No, but this is cultured meat.”

Song Ji-Hyun grinned and cut the steak.

“Doctor Ryu, I’m going to go to university,” Song Jong-Ho said.

“Really?” Young-Joon replied.

“Yes. It’s a little late... but my goal is biological engineering at Jungyoon University.”

“I don’t want to flatter myself, but it’s a prestigious university. It might be difficult to get in with just a year of studying for the entrance exam.”

“And their cutoff drastically increased because of Doctor Ryu. Did you know that?”

“No... It’s the first I’m hearing of it.”

“It’s an engineering major, but their cutoff is higher than medicine,” Song Jong-Ho said. “But I’m still going to do it. Then, I’m going to graduate and go to A-GenBio.”

“You can’t ask me for a job though.”

“Of course! I’m going to join through the recruitment period!”

Song Jong-Ho laughed.

“But depending on the person, I may be able to give a special offer. Someone like Doctor Song...”

Young-Joon looked at Song Ji-Hyun. She tilted her head in confusion.

“Doctor Song, A-Bio is starting a lot of new projects as we merge with A-Gen, and we need a lot of people. Are you interested?” Young-Joon asked. “I’m not asking because we just need someone, but I’m asking because you’re a skilled scientist who is capable of developing an outstanding anticancer drug like Cellicure. I’m scouting you because I want to work with you.”