Chapter 187: Micro-dust (3)

“How?” Young-Joon asked. “How are you going to catch micro-dust?”

“The dust collectors used in factories like thermal power plants used centrifugal force. If you spin the cylindrical filter quickly, the dust inside the collector separates out of the cylinder because of the centrifugal force.”

“So it’s like a centrifuge.”

“Yes, it’s similar to that machine in biology because they both centrifuge. In mechanical engineering, they call it a cyclone,” He Jiankui said. “The reason why factories in China don’t use this cyclone dust collector is because too much energy is lost. And the Chinese government doesn’t really regulate it because they need those factories to do well for tax revenue.”

“Probably.”

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“But the large amount of micro-dust generated is not only damaging to Korea, but it’s also heavily damaging mainland China from a public health perspective. And it’s a big headache for the Chinese government authorities,” He Jiankui said. “So when China gets a red alert, which is equivalent to an unhealthy level in Korea, the government immediately issues emergency reduction measures, forcing civilians to use an alternate no-driving system[1] and restricting the operation of diesel trucks.

“Then, the Chinese government is already working to decrease it. What do you mean you’re going to convince them?”

“The things that the Chinese government is doing don’t really have much effect on reducing micro-dust emissions. For example, the government is advertising that Beijing’s micro-dust concentration has decreased by forty percent, but does that mean that emissions have decreased?”

He Jiankui waved his hand in denial.

“Absolutely not. Simply raising the stacks will reduce the micro-dust in the city where the factories are located. It’s obvious. If micro-dust occurs higher up in the sky, wouldn’t it be more likely for it to be blown away by the wind before it reaches people?”

“...”

“Actually, England and Sweden have had conflict because of micro-dust in the past. London advertised that they reduced a lot of their micro-dust emissions, but Swedish scientists were successful in scientifically proving that the level of micro-dust coming from England hadn’t changed,” He Jiankui said. “Doctor Ryu, I believe the scientists of Korea are lacking compared to Swedish scientists; they are lacking patriotism, responsibility for conflicts in the international community, and aggressiveness. If Korean scientists had found all the evidence, they would have already filed an international lawsuit against the Chinese government.”

He Jiankui was not wrong, but it wasn’t solely their fault either. The scientific community was usually uninterested in social issues, but why would they be indifferent to micro-dust, which caused inflammation in their respiratory systems?

The reason for the lack of evidence for an international lawsuit or a complaint was a much simpler one: it was because most scientists weren’t that rich, and research was expensive. They needed funding from somewhere, and for these kinds of problems, the government had to start a national program to provide the funding. It meant that instead of opening contests for ideas to reduce micro-dust, they should be funding brilliant scientists and asking them to create models, experiments, and data that could prove the effects of Chinese micro-dust. What scientist in the world would use their own money to prove all that and then hand over the data to the government so that they could complain to China?

“It’s not just the scientists’ fault,” Young-Joon said. “There are scientist-based companies who are passionate about solving the micro-dust problem, even though they don’t have money.”

“They are great people,” He Jiankui complimented.

Young-Joon agreed with him. Cellijenner was extremely talented but also had a good mindset.

“Anyways, go on, Doctor He Jiankui. How are you going to convince the Chinese government?” Young-Joon asked.

“To be honest, regardless of complaints and whatnot, the micro-dust problem in China remains unsolved. Even if the micro-dust levels are reduced by forty percent, it still means that sixty percent remains. The current policy is ineffective,” He Jiankui said. “Eventually, we’re going to have to put dust collectors on the smokestacks. We’re going to have to attach cyclones to catch the dust. That’s the surest way to do it.”

“So you’re going to convince the Chinese government to do that?”

“Exactly,” He Jiankui said as he snapped his fingers. “If we can prove that the graph of micro-dust damage in China exceeds the graph of energy loss from cyclone dust collectors, the Chinese government will mandate the installation of dust collectors.”

“But it won’t be easy to quantify the damage to people’s health caused by micro-dust. There are a lot of factors other than micro-dust that can affect respiratory diseases.”

“We’re the GSC for a reason, aren’t we?” He Jiankui said proudly. “What do you think, Doctor Ryu? If I push for this, can you save the CCR5-engineered baby?”

“As I said before, I was already planning to protect the baby’s health,” Young-Joon said. “But I have no intention of defending you in this matter, Doctor He Jiankui. It’s true that you received illegal funding, ignored the regulations of the ethics committee, and recklessly conducted human experiments while infringing on my patent rights as the developer of Cas9.”

“Hm...”

“I will only protect the babies. Beyond that, you are on your own.”

“Haha... You’re just like what I heard. Alright, Doctor Ryu. That is all I need,” He Jiankui said. “I have no way to survive if those babies’ health is at risk, but if they are healthy, I can defend against other problems to some extent.”

HIV could be transmitted to the fetus, which meant that it was risky to have a baby if the mother had HIV. This was where He Jiankui could defend himself.

‘The mother of the CCR5-engineered baby had HIV.’

That’s what He Jiankui was going to say.

‘The modification of CCR5 was not just simply not just out of curiosity. This fulfilled a woman’s wish to have a child. Who could infringe on her right to happiness? When everyone was cowering in fear of condemnation, I bravely sacrificed myself and saved her.’

If He Jiankui targeted that well, the most severe punishment he would get would be probation as long as the baby was healthy. And since He Jiankui had GSC membership and was a valuable asset, the Chinese government wasn’t going to punish him too harshly.

‘But there’s a new drug called a CCR5 Blocker.’

Young-Joon thought for a while. This drug allowed mothers with HIV to give birth to healthy babies. This meant that genetic engineering was not necessary, though it was controversial because there have been reports of the drug failing.

“Let’s try it,” Young-Joon said.

* * *

Kim Soo-Chul, a scientist at Cellijenner, was tense. He used to always cut it close, coming into the office two minutes before his start time, but he showed up at eight thirty today. He couldn’t sleep the day before, and his eyes just opened this morning.

“Good morning.”

As Kim Soo Chul went into the office with a greeting, he saw that most people were already at work.

“Doctor Song?”

Kim Soo-Chul was surprised when he saw Song Ji-Hyun.

“You usually wear sweats to work, but you have makeup on today...”

“We have a guest today, right?” Song Ji-Hyun replied, slightly embarrassed.

“Huh?” Kim Soo-Chul exclaimed as he walked past her. “Wow, Doctor Song has perfume on today, too! I’ve never seen you put perfume on.”

“I had perfume on when we had a booth at the IUBMB, too,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“Oh, I see.”

“Soo-Chul, you’re more overdressed than her,” said Principal Scientist Lee Hyung-Min, who was tapping away at his laptop near the window. “Why are you wearing a suit? Are you a salesperson? Are you going to run experiments in a suit?”

“Because he’s a big name in our business. And I’m meeting him for the first time, so I have to make a good first impression. You never know, maybe he’ll hire me at A-GenBio.”

“Are you going to go if they ask?” asked Lead Scientist Kang Joo-Tae.

“Well, I don’t know. I’m not a big corporate guy, and I really like our company.”

“What if they offer you ten times your salary right now?”

“Ten times my salary is a bit tempting. But who’s going to offer a mere Scientist ten times their salary?”

“Even if you get ten times more, the National Tax Service is going to take half of it,” Lee Hyung-Min said.

“Really?”

“Of course. It doesn’t matter how much you make. If you make ten times, you’ll probably actually only get five.”

“If it’s five times, I’m not going. I have a lot of shares in our company,” Kim Soo-Chul said, shaking his head.

Choi Yeon-Ho, the CEO of Cellijenner, popped out from management’s office.

“I’m hearing something strange. Are you going to go to A-GenBio?”

“It’s just wishful thinking. We were just talking about Soo-Chul going to A-GenBio and getting ten times his salary,” Kang Joo-Tae said.

The scientists lightly chuckled.

“Even I’m tempted by that,” Choi Yeon-Ho said jokingly.

“How can you be tempted, Mr. CEO?”

“I’m kidding. We’re not going to be tempted by money. People who are doing research to make money have already been sold out to Conson & Colson and military shops. All that’s left here is the weirdos,” said Lee Hyung-Min.

“Yeah. We’re not going to go just because of some salary negotiation. Maybe if Mr. Ryu gives us an offer himself, right, Doctor Song?” Kim Soo-Chul asked as he faced Song Ji-Hyun.

Song Ji-Hyun, who had rejected the offer that Mr. Ryu gave her, laughed awkwardly.

“It’s already past nine o’clock while you guys have been chatting and joking around, so why don’t we start working?” Choi Yeon-Ho said as he patted Kim Soo-Chul on the shoulder.

“Oh, I’ll get started right now.”

“Even if Soo-Chul comes early, he still starts at the same time,” Kang Joo-Tae jokingly said.

“That’s because I’m consistent,” Kim Soo-Chul said, shrugging it off like it was nothing, and turned on his computer.

All forty scientists in the lab were tapping away at their computers. This was quite strange, since most of a scientist’s work was done in the lab, weaning lab coats and gloves and touching pipettes. It was because what they were working on right now was the data that Young-Joon was going to see. There couldn’t be a single typo. Everyone was reading and rereading their data.

‘Doctor Ryu isn’t that picky. They don’t have to do that...’

Song Ji-Hyun went to the lab. It had been a while since she had worked alone in a lab this big. They had weathered a lot of hard times, from when they were a small venture company to the commercialization of Cellicure. And now, everyone who had stayed were oddballs who had dedicated their lives to science. People like Kim Soo-Chul came to work on a weekend afternoon, saying that his house was too hot because the air conditioning unit was broken. Seeing the lab, which was home to people like this, so empty, Song Ji-Hyun realized how big an event Young-Joon’s visit was for them.

Of course, it wasn’t for her. She took the DNA she extracted yesterday, loaded it onto agarose gel to check the band size, then subcultured the cells.

And when it was almost ten o’clock, Young-Joon’s car had arrived at the underground parking lot.

Choi Yeon-Ho, who had gone to escort him in, calmed his nerves and shook his hand. He led Young-Joon to the conference room.

“Nice to meet you,” said Young-Joon.

After exchanging greetings with the researchers, Young-Joon sat down in the chair that had been prepared in advance.

* * *

“There are millions of tons of micro-dust in Korea each year. As eighty percent of it can be used as fertilizer, it is a very good resource,” Lee Hyung-Min began his presentation. “We are planning to capture that micro-dust and recycle it as fertilizer, thus improving the environment and generating revenue.”

The scientists listened to the presentation while secretly glancing at Young-Joon. Lee Hyung-Min’s voice was a little shakier than usual.

“This is the diagram of our idea. We want to attach a micro-dust collection filter to cars and develop a running micro-dust reduction device,” he said as he went to the next slide. “We will distribute the filters to the public for free, and we’re going to buy back the filters from the vehicles that have driven a certain distance. The public will take the filters because it can help with their gas money.”

“And you’re going to separate the micro-dust from those filters and recycle it as fertilizer?” Young-Joon asked.

“That’s right. We are going to generate revenue, the environment will improve, and car owners will also make money. If a lot of cars in the city drive around with our filters, it can become a marketing tool for the company. It’s a win-win strategy in a number of ways,” Lee Hyung-Min said, concluding his presentation.

“But is it difficult to develop the running micro-dust reduction device?” Young-Joon asked.

“That’s right. It costs about one million won to scrape the micro-dust from a thousand filters, and the value of the fertilizer from the removed micro-dust is about two thousand won. When you add in the cost of paying the driver for the filters, we have to adjust the unit price a lot more.”

“I see.”

They were much further along than Young-Joon thought. It wasn’t hard to find a way where there was a clear goal.

—You’re going to turn on Synchronization Mode, right?

Rosaline asked.

1. A system where odd and even license plates drive on different days. It is implemented when micro-dust levels are high. ☜