Chapter 188: Micro-dust (4)

Young-Joon’s mind was sinking into deep darkness. Rosaline’s sight was diving deep underground, about three hundred fifty meters deep. In this underground world, there were not only minerals, but also oil, natural gas, methane, and other biomass. It was a harsh environment that seemed inhabitable, but the fascinating power of life evolved microorganisms even in this environment; they lived here by eating or producing various biomass. There was nitrate-reducing bacteria from the genus Pseudomonas and fermenters that descended from Flavobacterium. These were amazing organisms that broke down aromatic hydrocarbons and produced energy by utilizing nitric acid, chloric acid, and sulfate ions as electron acceptors. They were now clearly visible to Young-Joon.

These organisms had a small storage space in their cells called a vesicle. They regulated the pH of this region to preserve nitrate or sulfate.

“Found it.”

Young-Joon began to quickly scribble in his notebook. The scientists of Cellijenner, who were listening to Lee Hyung-Min’s presentation, stared at him.

Scribble...

There was no sound in the room other than the scribbling of Young-Joon’s pen. This time with Synchronization Mode, he didn’t just look at a few genes, he looked through all the organelles of microorganisms. He had to quickly organize and write down the insight before the images in his head disappeared.

‘... What the hell is he writing?’

Kim Soo-Chul, who was sitting beside Young-Joon, glanced at his notebook out of curiosity.

—Pseudomonas nitrolis

—Flavobacterium sulfosis

—4000 rpm centrifuge

—Cell lysis w/ CodonPlus-RIL buffer

—7000 rpm centrifuge sup collect

—FPLC

—Apply the vesicle to porous carbon paper. 37?C 50min. Invert.

‘Woah. What is this?’

It was a lab protocol. The two names written above the protocol seemed to be the names of some microorganisms. However, the research was still in its planning phase; it wasn’t the time to be planning specific experiments.

‘What is this...’

“You can develop a filter like this,” Young-Joon said. “We can apply a microorganism-based vesicle on ordinary engineering porous carbon paper. Then, the vesicle will capture nitrate and sulfate without any other treatment. You’ll be able to collect nitric acid and sulfuric acid by dipping it in water once.”

He gave the note to Song Ji-Hyun, who was sitting across from him.

“...”

Song Ji-Hyun read the note in surprise, then gave it to Choi Yeon-Ho.

“There’s probably about three million sedans in Seoul, and one car will probably be able to have at least ten filters. Each filter will collect about one kilogram of nitrate and sulfate,” Young-Joon said. “The filter should collect about two kilograms if the car drives about one hundred kilometers. Then, one car driving one thousand kilometers should yield about twenty kilograms.”

“...”

“The problem is that twenty kilograms of fertilizer isn’t worth much. No driver is going to come to Cellijenner to sell that,” Young-Joon said. “So, let’s do this: let’s send these filters to gas stations.”

“Gas stations?” Choi Yeon-Ho asked.

“All cars are bound to go to gas stations, so we distribute these filters to gas stations around the country. We make the gas stations our middle-man.”

“So the gas station employees will put the filters on the customers’ cars as they get gas, and then they will buy the used filters and sell them to us?” Song Ji-Hyun asked.

“That’s right. All we have to do is dip those filters in water once to get the nitric and sulfuric acid, and then send them back to the gas station,” Young-Joon said. “Carbon paper is thin and you can adjust the color, so it won’t be very noticeable. It won’t be a burden to the driver, and it will be a business that will make the air quality better and make a lot of money for the driver, the gas station, and Cellijenner.”

“...”

“Let’s briefly model the revenue. The gas station buys twenty kilograms of filters at ten thousand won from the driver,” Young-Joon said. “Since fifty liters of gas costs about eighty thousand won, getting a discount for ten thousand won is pretty big. Most people who are drowning in gas money will be happy to do it.”

Young-Joon scribbled something in his notebook again and began calculating the revenue model.

“And let’s say Cellijenner buys that for eleven thousand won. Assuming that a gas station gets around one thousand cars a day, that’s an extra thirty million won in profit for the gas station each month.”

“Three million...!”

“Even for a gas station that doesn’t get that many cars, they will still make a few hundred thousand won in profit at least. If we do this, it’s likely that gas stations will take the initiative to promote it and offer discounts on gas for drivers who put the filter on. Then, we’ll get a lot of publicity that will attract drivers without spending a dime,” Young-Joon said. “Cellijenner can collect those filters, soak them in water to remove the nitrate and sulfate, and do a secondary purification and turn it into fertilizer. Twenty kilograms of fertilizer sells for about twenty thousand won on the market.”

Young-Joon pulled out some data he had prepared in advance from his bag.

“And the estimated amount of micro-dust in Korea ranges from a few million tons to more than ten million tons per year, right? How much fertilizer do you think the entire domestic agriculture industry uses annually?” Young-Joon said. “It’s only half a million tons.”

It wasn’t that the agricultural industry was using too little, it was that there was too much micro-dust. Micro-dust was so fine that it couldn’t be seen, but it added up to an unimaginable amount when it was combined.

“The number of registered vehicles in Korea is about twenty-three million, and even if less than half of them are actually driven, Cellijenner alone will produce five hundred thousand tons, and you’ll have to sell the rest overseas,” Young-Joon said. “If anything, we might have to watch out for a collapse in the fertilizer market in agriculture or this business destroying itself because there’s not enough micro-dust. We will have to consider the danger and curb the supply of the technology or the number of vehicles that benefit from the filter.”

“...”

“The revenue model I’ve just laid out for you is a simple calculation, so you will have to consider this and take a safer approach.”

Young-Joon finished talking and looked at the scientists.

“...”

All the people from Cellijener were frozen in shock. Kim Soo-Chul was ecstatic. In his mind, Young-Joon had just created something from nothing. The driver would save more than ten percent on gas, gas stations would make tens of millions of won a year in additional revenue, and Celijenner would have an output that exceeded the existing market for agricultural fertilizer. When Choi Yeon-Ho first talked about the idea to collect micro-dust and make it into fertilizer, Kim Soo-Chul thought he was crazy.

‘But we met someone who realized it, and the result is just something straight out of a fantasy novel...’

Kim Soo-Chul was not the only one who was shocked. Song Ji-Hyun, who had worked with Young-Joon for a long time, was shocked, and so was Choi Yeon-Ho, the one who first proposed the idea.

With a gulp, Choi Yeon-Ho asked Young-Joon, “W... What are these two microorganisms here?”

“They are bacteria that use nitrate and sulfate. We’re not using the bacteria, but just isolating the organelle called the vesicle. The process of doing that is written on that note,” Young-Joon said. “If you soak it in water and then dry it, the carbon vesicle paper will go back to normal. It can be used almost semi-permanently, so it’s not going to cost you a lot of money after the initial investment.”

“That... We haven’t finalized the distribution of profits with A-GenBio yet...” said Choi Yeon-Ho. “Is it okay for you to give us such an important item before signing a contract?”

“Well, it’s not that much money for me since it’s just fertilizer, and it’s not like I did that much work here,” Young-Joon said. “You don’t have to share the profits with A-Gen. Cellijenner should do this on their own.”

“You’re not taking any profits?”

Choi Yeon-Ho was shocked. The other scientists gasped as well.

“Think of it as my gift to a partner company that we’ve worked with for so long. I’ve gotten a lot of help from Cellijenner... Well, Doctor Song to be exact, and I will continue to do so. But let me add one thing,” Young-Joon said. “I want you to put the logo of A-GenBio’s Lab Seven on the filter.”

“Lab Seven? Does A-Gen have a seventh lab?”

“No, we’re going to make one. We don’t even have a logo yet, but we’ll make one soon and send it to you. You can use Cellijenner’s logo as well,” Young-Joon said. “I’m going to use this business to promote the launch of Lab Seven. We’re going to make a lot of world-changing items there.”

* * *

The production for a running micro-dust filter was not very complicated. It was a protocol that could be easily accomplished by a skilled scientist with experience.

The process of building the filter at Cellijenner quickly came along. The prototype was ready in just a few days, and it was installed on a vehicle and tested on the road.

In the meantime, Young-Joon was running a simple experiment in the lab of A-Bio’s old building.

‘Our CEO is seriously a workaholic...’

The scientists all shook their heads.

It was a chaotic time due to the merger and the reorganization, as well as moving labs. Young-Joon had told scientists that it was okay if they didn't publish any experimental progress for two weeks. This was to prevent problems such as missing data and loss of important experimental samples while moving to new labs and positions.

But Young-Joon, who was the CEO of a company that was going through a merger, still found time in his busy day to do experiments.

“Don’t mind me, it’s a personal project.”

Young-Joon told everyone he met in the lab just in case they felt pressured to work. But everyone knew that his actions were not to pressure them to work. Young-Joon was the type of person who just directly told people what to do, as he would be too lazy to beat around the bush and silently pressure them.

But this company was full of oddballs like Young-Joon.

“Oh, Jacob, you don’t have to do any experiments this week,” Young-Joon said to Jacob, who was purifying DNA, while he was running the centrifuge.

“This is a personal project as well. There’s an idea I want to try out.”

“...”

As Young-Joon squinted in doubt, Jacob added, “Really. You don’t have to pay me for this. I did this last weekend, too.”

“Really?”

“And I’m not the only one. Since it’s low-stakes even if something goes wrong, other people are taking this opportunity to test out things they’ve been curious about and things like that.”

“I see.”

“Please forgive us for wasting some materials. But we’re moving anyway, and we’ll buy a lot of new supplies.”

—You and your employees are exactly the same. They say that birds of a feather flock together.

Rosaline said.

Young-Joon scratched his head and patted Jacob’s shoulder. Then, he went back to his work. It was to find the solution to the genetic engineering of CCR5.

Bzzz.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

His phone buzzed. It was Park Joo-Hyuk.

[This is the data you asked me for. It’s an attached file. -Litigation material for the clinical failure of the CCR5 blocker drug-]