Chapter 186: Micro-dust (2)

“Me?”

Song Ji-Hyun’s eyes widened.

“Yes. We worked together for Cellicure, right? From what I can tell, you’re almost as good as scientists who received Nobel Prizes or have GSC membership,” Young-Joon said. “You were the one who developed Cellicure, and you proposed a lot of important ideas to upgrade it, right? On top of that, you were the one who thought of how to promote immune cells that bypass dendritic cells.”

“W-wait. There are some things I did, but...”

Song Ji-Hyun blushed.

“Most of it was only possible because you helped me through it, Doctor Ryu. I’m not that great. The dendritic cell technology was like a delusion at the time, but you realized it.”

“I think the most important quality in scientists is creativity, and you have that, Doctor Song. There are some famous scientists who don’t have that.”

“...”

“If you come to our company, I’ll give you twice your salary and a stock option.”

“Hm.”

Young-Joon was serious. Song Ji-Hyun put down her fork and calmly replied as respectfully and humbly as possible.

“I’m so grateful, but I’ll have to decline.”

“That’s insane!” Song Jong-Ho shouted. “Are you insane? Do you know how competitive it will be when A-GenBio starts their recruitment?”

Song Ji-Hyun covered her mouth and chuckled.

“Really? I thought you liked working with me, Doctor Song,” Young-Joon said.

“Of course I do. And it will definitely be a powerful company if you and A-Bio join a company as big as A-Gen. It’s a flattering offer, and I’m grateful, but...” Song Ji-Hyun said. “I like my company now.”

“You’re crazy, seriously... Why do you want to stay at that small company?” Song Jong-Ho said grumpily.

“Our company is a nice company. Although my salary and benefits aren’t as good as a big company, we’re all very passionate. I joined the company because I liked that, and that’s why I’m still here,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“It seems like you’re pretty attached to Cellijenner[1],” Young-Joon said.

“Of course. And the executives are all good people. They were very accommodating when I took a lot of time off last year.”

“... Then there’s nothing I can do.”

Young-Joon chuckled lightly.

“What kind of research is Cellijenner doing nowadays?”

“You’ll be shocked if I tell you,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“Surprise me,” Young-Joon said.

Young-Joon didn’t expect much and was just curious about what they were doing, but it was actually shocking.

“We’re doing research on getting rid of micro-dust.”

“Micro-dust?”

“Collecting and recycling micro-dust to be exact.”

“...”

“Our CEO has had a change of mind after working with A-Bio a few times.”

“How?”

“Doctor Ryu, you went outside of the traditional research methods in the pharmaceutical industry. That’s what other scientists are saying about you,” Song Ji-Hyun said. “In the past, most drug development was chemical, but most of what you did was biological.”

“That’s true.”

“Things like curing cancer through the dendritic cell bypass method, or curing glaucoma with stem cells. They both came from thinking outside the box and fusing new technologies together. Our CEO’s mindset is to now do trend-setting science.”

“Hm... But I feel like micro-dust is way too far off from the pharmaceutical industry. Isn’t that a little different from the purpose of your company?”

“It’s not for Cellijenner,” Song Ji-Hyun said firmly. “Cellijenner was named after Edward Jenner, the scientist who developed inoculation.”

Inoculation was the first ever vaccine, and it was an invention that was critical to the eradication of smallpox. However, Edward Jenner didn’t patent it. Even when the Royal Society of Medicine pressured him to receive royalties, he refused. He did this so that smallpox could be eradicated sooner and people could stay healthy.

“Other people might laugh if I tell them this, but we’re serious. Sure, Cellijenner’s goal is to make money, but it’s actually to keep humanity healthy, that’s all. And the easiest way to do that was pharmaceuticals,” Song Ji-Hyuk said. “But now, we changed our minds after you, Doctor Ryu. Did you know that respiratory disease recently entered the top ten causes of death?”

“Really?”

“Respiratory diseases used to be far down the list, but it suddenly entered the top ten...” Song Ji-Hyun said. “Because of India and China. The development of industries in these two countries, which account for a third of the world’s population, has produced a huge amount of micro-dust, which has caused serious adverse effects on the health of the people in these countries.”

“But the micro-dust from China hurts us too.”

“That’s right!” Song Ji-Hyun exclaimed. “That's why we set that as our goal and began thinking about it like you. If micro-dust is the problem, we should stop wasting our energy on developing new drugs and just get rid of micro-dust itself.”

Song Ji-Hyun went on.

“Like how the best-case scenario was to capture airborne anthracis with Thermoplasma and kill it although you developed an anthrax cure for emergency use.”

Young-Joon smiled.

“So, is it going well?”

“To be honest, it’s not going very well. The start of this idea was that micro-dust is mostly made up of sulfate, nitrate, and carbon, which are all great agricultural fertilizers,” Song Ji-Hyun said. “So just capturing and collecting the micro-dust in the air can create an item that can be used right away as a fertilizer.”

“It sounds plausible.”

“There have been a lot of ideas for collecting it, and we’re working on it with a lot of engineers, but... Well, it’s not that easy.”

Song scratched her head.

“Still, it’s good to discover the solution to the problem. Recycling it as fertiliz... Ah!” Young-Joon flinched.

“What is it?” Song Ji-Hyun asked.

“No, it’s nothing.”

It was because Rosaline popped out and jumped up onto the table.

—What Doctor Song is interesting.

‘Come down from the table. You shouldn’t step on places where people eat.’

—I’m an invisible cell anyway.

‘But I can see you. You’re stepping on my steak right now.’

—Hmph.

Rosaline hopped down from the table.

‘Is there a way to collect micro-dust?’

—Of course there is. The fact that carbons can be used as fertilizer means that there are organisms that can feed off of it.

Rosaline said.

—Naturally, it’s a matter that can be easily solved by coding for a few genes related to enzymes involved in the breakdown of those substances. But the question is, which organisms?

‘Let’s think about it.’

—But if we do it, aren’t we taking away Cellijenner’s job? Doctor Song won’t like that.

“What are you thinking?” Song Ji-Hyun asked Young-Joon, who suddenly became quiet.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about something else.”

“You’re not planning a micro-dust project right now, right...?” Song Ji-Hyun asked, squinting her eyes. “It won’t be good if you become our competitor.”

Young-Joon grinned.

“I told you we needed a lot of people. The reason for that was because we’re reforming A-Bio’s building into Lab Seven, which will deal with environment and energy problems.”

“Environmental problems?”

Song Ji-Hyun froze a little. She seemed worried that she would have to compete with Young-Joon in this field, too.

“Micro-dust is in our plan, but we haven’t fleshed out any projects in detail. We haven’t even organized a team yet. And since I’m not in a position to direct the research myself, it’s difficult for us to do it at our company right now,” Young-Joon said. “Besides, if we, a pharmaceutical company, say we’re going to start combating environmental problems, some shareholders might be worried that we’re not doing what we do best. Maybe we will be able to collaborate with Cellijenner.”

“Are you saying you will support us?” Song Ji-Hyun asked in surprise like she didn’t expect this at all.

“It’s more of a win-win deal than support. I would like to invest in Cellijenner’s micro-dust removal project. In return, I would like to participate in the meeting.”

Realistically, it was difficult to begin this project in A-Gen’s labs, which were hectic with the launch of A-GenBio. But with Cellijenner’s help, things could be different.

Song Ji-Hyun’s eyes widened.

“... I didn’t come see you to talk about work, but... I guess it’s come to this.”

She played with her hair like she was a little embarrassed.

“It’s not up to me to decide, so I’ll ask the CEO. Oh, and...” Song Ji-Hyun said. “You said you needed a lot of people, right? There are pharmacists who are studying bio and trying to join the pharmaceutical industry.”

“Pharmacists?”

“Yes. For example, stem cell therapy is a therapy done at the hospital, not dispensed by a pharmacy like traditional medicine. Ever since you came along, traditional medicine has been shrinking, so pharmacists are trying to adapt to the new world.”

“Hm...’

“And I’m pretty famous among them.”

It made sense that Song Ji-Hyun was famous as she was a licensed pharmacist herself. The first time they met was in a pharmacy. She had also tried to use the power of the pharmacist’s association back when A-Gen was trying to steal Cellijenner, meaning that she also knew how the pharmacist community worked. Also, she was a successful biopharmaceutical scientist as she was the most famous young scientist in Korea after Young-Joon.

“I have a group of people who are studying biopharmaceuticals with me, and they’re all pretty talented. I don’t think they want to leave their companies because they're all currently working at large military shops, but I can try to convince them,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“I would be grateful if you did that. Even on a big project, having a couple of good scientists can make a big difference in the progress speed.”

* * *

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“You never stop, do you...”

Park Joo-Hyuk, who heard the news, clicked his tongue.

“You’re going to pay another company to do more research in this situation? Are you some kind of worker bee from hell?”

“I’m just funding them and participating in the occasional meetings.”

Young-Joon shook his hand in front of him like he was tired of Park Joo-Hyuk’s nagging.

“The occasional meeting? Do you know that the new rich who are willing to spend millions of won are contacting the company to have lunch with you?”

“And you’re turning them down, right?”

“Of course I am. But you’re donating all that expensive time to a small business? Are you a charity organization?”

“Well, I’m not doing environmental research to make money in the first place. If I can help a small business grow while doing the research I want, that’s great. And after it works out, I can use it for marketing, right? It’s not like it’s a loss or anything.”

“Erm...”

Park Joo-Hyuk didn’t seem to like it, but he agreed. Around that time, someone came to visit Young-Joon in his office. It was someone very unexpected.

“Doctor He Jiankui?”

Young-Joon tilted his head in puzzlement as he received the call from his secretary, Yoo Song Mi.

—Should I tell him to make an appointment and come back?

Yoo Song-Mi asked over the phone.

“No, I’m free right now, so please send him to my room,” Young-Joon said.

* * *

Park Joo-Hyuk left and He Jiankui came up to the office. He saw Young-Joon and smiled brightly.

“Nice to see you, Doctor Ryu,” he said.

“I thought you returned to China after the GSC conference.”

“I was going to, but something came up.”

“What is it?”

“Um... To be honest, the genetically engineered baby was illegally funded by Yoon Bo-Hyun.”

“Really?”

“The investigation into Yoon Bo-Hyun showed a record of him sending funds to a paper company in China, and it seems like they requested the Chinese government to investigate it. Simply put, I’m sort of in trouble.”

He Jiankui chuckled.

“...”

“Haha, but hey, I’m the GSC of China, so what is the Chinese government do, punish me? And Doctor Ryu, what’s wrong with a scientist’s curiosity, right? Isn’t this the kind of thing that advances civilization? You should know since you’re also a scientist,” He Jiankui said jokingly.

Young-Joon put his hand on his forehead as if this was giving him a headache.

“You are wrong,” Young-Joon said.

“Let’s make a deal. You said that the CCR5-edited baby might die early, so I want you to help me find a solution,” He Jiankui said.

Young-Joon glared at him in disappointment.

“I was going to do that myself, even if you didn’t ask me to. I was planning on working on treatments for rare diseases here at A-Bio, and part of that was to clean up this mess you made.”

“Wow! You are a true scientist.”

“You said something about a deal. What are you going to give me if I do that?”

“You’re probably not interested in money because you already have more than enough, right?” He Jiankui said. “I will convince the Chinese government to stop the Chinese micro-dust from reaching Korea.”

1. It was previously called Celligener, but it has been changed to Cellijener from this chapter onwards. The reason for this change will be later on the chapter. ☜