Chapter 204: Laboratory Seven (2)

“Wait, wait,” the minister of health interrupted.

He grabbed Governor Yang Gunyu and pulled him to the corner. After there was some distance between them at Young-Joon, the minister whispered to him, “Aside from everything else, what you just said sounds like you’re denying our party. Fortunately, the only people here are the three of us and that interpreter girl Doctor Ryu brought, but please be careful of what you say.”

“It doesn’t matter. And did I say something that was wrong?” Yang Gunyu snapped back.

Then, he walked towards Young-Joon again.

“Former Chairman Mao Zedong was a great man who created modern China, Doctor Ryu. I respect and admire him as a Chinese person and a politician,” he said. “During that period of upheaval, China was divided, and there were civil wars going on all the time. But it was definitely the work of the brilliant Former Chairman Mao Zedong that unified the country together to make China.”

“...”

“However, Chinese media does not talk about things like Former Chairman’s Mao’s Great Leap Forward, even though the majority of Chinese people say that he did more harm than good.”

“Governor!” screamed the minister, who was standing behind him.

Yang Gunyu waved his hand towards the minister like he was annoyed, then spoke to Young-Joon.

“Do you know why Former Chairman Mao Zedong experienced such a colossal failure even though he was a brilliant man?”

“Why?” Young-Joon asked.

“It was because he trusted experts too much.”

“Pardon?”

“At the time, there was a Chinese scholar who had a professorship at Caltech. He was such a skilled scientist that he participated in the United States’ nuclear weapon development. Scientists like him were rare in the world, and for China in the 1950’s, he was a human resource even more precious than gold,” said Yang Gunyu. “His name was Chen Shuxian.”

“...”

“Back then, he was a more famous scientist than He Jiankui is right now. Former Chairman Mao Zedong believed everything he said because they had to invest in science if China was to become rich and powerful, and Doctor Chen Shuxian was one of the best scientists in the world.

“I’m sorry, but you said he participated in the development of nuclear weapons. Then, was he a nuclear physicist?” Young-Joon asked.

“That’s correct.”

“... If you’re a nuclear physicist, I think it’s obvious that you won’t know anything about ecology.”

“That’s right,” Yang Gunyu said.

Then, Rosaline intervened

—What the hell is he talking about?

‘I don’t know.’

Young-Joon scratched his head in confusion. Yang Gunyu went on.

“Nevertheless, Doctor Chen Shuxian developed a method of planting rice more densely based on mathematical calculations and submitted it to Former Chairman Mao. Naturally, it was a failure. Anyone can do the simple calculation that more seeds per unit area will increase yields, but farmers knew from experience that it won’t work.”

“So the crops failed?”

“It was a huge failure. Then, it turned into a huge famine as the Four Pests campaign began as well.”

“Hm...”

“It’s not that Doctor Chen Shuxian was a bad person. In fact, he was humble, restrained, and honest, and he was well respected by the academic community and the Chinese people,” Yang Gunyu said. “He lived his whole life in a tiny house that looked like a temple dormitory, refusing when people tried to build him a house. When he made hundreds of millions from his research, he donated it all. He was a true scientist, Doctor Ryu, perhaps even more than you.”

“...”

“To be honest, I don’t know much about science. I don’t even know how different a nuclear physicist is from a biologist. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that even the most scientists can make mistakes, and when you tamper with ecosystems, the result of that mistake is fatal,” Yang Gunyu said. “Doctor Ryu, I’ll allow you to conduct the experiment in the two islands in Guangdong, but don’t be greedy beyond that. I’ve been against this project from the beginning.”

Young-Joon could see the health minister swallowing his anger, shaking his fist in the air.

There was a moment of tense silence.

“I see,” Young-Joon replied calmly. “If it’s a project you don’t want to do, then I don’t want to do it in Guangdong either. There’s no need to use the islands here, and I’ll just do it in another country. Thank you.”

Young-Joon thanked the governor and stood up. As he walked out the door, the Minister of Health hastily grabbed Yang Gunyu’s shoulders.

“What are you doing! Don’t you know who he is?”

“Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t know Doctor Young-Joon these days? Even my youngest son, who is ten years old, knows that I’m meeting with Doctor Ryu today,” Yang Gunyu replied shrugged.

“Governor! It was the Chinese who asked us to carry out the mosquito eradication project in Guangdong Province. Don’t you know how big a project this is? Don’t you know what kind of economic impact it will have if we succeed in piloting the experiment here first, the industrial and scientific mecca of China?” the minister said in frustration. “Governor Yang. When this project succeeds here and then spreads to the rest of the world, do you think the people of Guangdong will stand by? Do you think the scientists who worked on this project and learned under Doctor Ryu will stand by idly? In a few years, Guangdong’s youths and entrepreneurs will start new businesses in mosquito eradication and play on the world stage.”

“A-GenBio will be at the forefront anyway.”

“Of course they will be the best, but damn it, there’s a lot of merit to being second! Is mosquito eradication! It’s wiping out a whole bunch of mosquito-borne diseases that kill a million people each year!”

“I know, and I’m only saying this because it’s such a big deal, alright? I am a governor who has a duty to protect the citizens of Guangdong,” Yang Gunyu replied firmly.

“...”

“...”

“The two glared at each other for a moment.

* * *

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Meanwhile, Young-Joon was getting ready to return home. The goal of today’s meeting was to just check in to see where the project was headed, but there was no reason for him to stay here anymore now that he knew the governor didn’t want the project at all.

While he was packing his bags, he got a call from the Minister of Health.

—Doctor Ryu, are you still at the hotel?

“Yes. I’m getting ready to return home. I have three days until my flight, so I guess I’ll travel for a bit.”

—...I’m really sorry, Doctor Ryu. This isn’t supposed to happen...

“It’s alright, and I haven’t ruled out Guangdong yet. If I hear from you before I find a new country for the project, I might do it there.”

—Really?

“Yes.”

—Um... Is there a reason why you’re so sympathetic to our situation?

“Guangdong is a very vulnerable area for mosquito-borne diseases. It has a very large population, and if an epidemic breaks out, it will be very difficult to control.”

—... It’s for humanitarian reasons.

“That’s right, but there’s no reason to change A-GenBio’s schedule in order to do it here. Once we decide on a new country, it’ll be hard to change it. You don’t have much time to convince the minister.”

—... Phew. Alright, thank you.

Young-Joon, who was done packing, sat down on the bed. His trip to China was over. He had sent He Jiankui to jail, fought a lawsuit against Atmox, cured a genetically modified baby, and gathered the world’s top biologists and declared a moratorium. It was hard to fathom how he’d accomplished so much in just a few short weeks.

Rosaline bounced out of Young-Joon and flopped down on the bed.

—Are we going home now?

“Yeah.”

—That’s a relief. China isn’t really for me.

“Really?”

—Do you know that every country has a distinct smell? China has a very strong smell of some spices, and it’s a bit... It’s not for me.

Young-Joon smiled.

“Good work. But I have something to ask you.”

—What is it?

“We have to do it before we leave Guangdong. But it’s a bit difficult.”

—When do you not give me something that is difficult?

Rosaline rolled her feet while lying on the bed.

Knock knock! As Young-Joon was about to answer Rosaline, there was a knock at the door. When he opened, he saw Anthony, the editor for Nature, standing there.

“Hello, Doctor Ryu,” Anthony greeted Young-Joon, then looked around his room. “If you don’t have any guests, may I come in?”

“Sure, come in.”

Rosaline was lying on the bed, but she was invisible to Anthony. He walked inside, and they sat down at the table.

“What’s the matter?”

“I am a scientist before I am an editor for Nature or a reporter. Well, most of our editors probably feel the same way,” Anthony said. “We were astonished at how you handled the research ethics scandal of genetic modification in China.”

“It was a relief that we were able to correct it after the fact,” Young-Joon replied humbly.

“I am telling you this because of your sense of justice and the research ability and power of A-GenBio,” Anthony said. “Recently, a paper was submitted to Nature.”

A submission referred to a paper being sent to the journal: a scientist would write a manuscript in the journal’s format and send it with a letter.

“What paper is it?”

“It’s a medical paper, and it’s tracking data on rejection and more in patients who have received organ transplants in China.”

“There are a lot of papers like that coming out of China. It’s a big country, so there are a lot of people donating organs and getting transplants. It’s relatively easy to get data...”

“There’s talk about that being illegal harvesting of organs from executed prisoners,” Anthony said.

Young-Joon flinched.

“What are you talking about?”

“When we were editing the paper that was submitted to Nature, we received a letter from a Doctor Ref.”

“Doctor Ref?”

“You know them?”

“...”

“We actually don’t know this person, but they told us that there was a serious research ethics violation in this Nature paper and that we should take a closer look at the data,” Anthony said. “The Chinese government says there are about ten thousand organ transplants per year that are legally performed, but the Chinese medical community says that they do anywhere from about sixty thousand to as many as one hundred thousand organ transplants per year.”

“...”

“And we believe that the huge gap in those numbers may have been filled by the executions and organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China...”

“My god...”

Prisoners of conscience referred to those who were imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs rather than because of crimes. In China, members of religious minorities, especially those part of the Falun Gong and Tibetan Buddhism, are imprisoned due to pressure from the government.

“This is confidential information at Nature. It’s not supposed to be told, and only a few people know about it,” Anthony said.

“...”

“But you’re the hope of the scientific community, and I’m also a fan of yours.”