Chapter 210: Laboratory Seven (8)

Young-Joon was on the phone with Jessie, the editor for

Science

.

“Are you still in Guangdong?” Young-Joon asked.

—Yes, I am. There’s something I want to look into.

“I guess

Science

isn’t interested in the Xinjiang Uygur region? There were a lot of transplant surgeries there.”

—Oh… Other reporters are there right now. I have something to do in Guangdong.

“Are you studying ecology?”

—Yes. I don’t do research right now, but I was a pretty promising aquatic ecologist seven years ago.

“Hm… Doctor Jessie, the aquatic ecologist. In your opinion, how are the wetlands in Guangdong Province?”

—Although I can’t disclose more information, but… I will tell you, Doctor Ryu. The wetlands are in very good condition right now. It would be difficult to find a better-managed wetland in the city.

“What if the wastewater from paraxylene is disposed of there?”

—There’s no telling what will happen. The plan for the wastewater treatment was released, right? The editorial board of

Science

sent it to a professor at Duke University’s chemistry department for consultation.

“What did they say?”

—They warned that the polychlorinated biphenyls (PBCs) could be unfiltered and go into the wetlands.

“I see.”

—I’m investigating the effect that PCBs have on the ecology of the wetland. The researchers from Guangdong University are sponsoring me. But I don’t have enough manpower or good equipment, so it’s pretty difficult.

Jessie expressed her concern.

—We need to look at the organisms that are most likely to be affected by the PCB leak, and it’s a bit difficult to figure that out…

“There’s an aquatic beetle called Hydrocara caraboides that live in those wetlands. Why don’t you look into those?” Young-Joon suggested.

—Caraboides?

“Yes.”

—... How did you know that?

“Because I stayed in Guangdong last time. I was taking a walk near a wetland and saw it. It’s a predator of mosquito larvae and has a pretty strong ecological impact, so you should check it out.”

—Thank you.

Young-Joon hung up.

Soon after, another guest visited his office. It was CIA agent Whittaker, and he was being escorted in by Yoo Song Mi. Of course, no one in the office knew who Whittaker was, including Yoo Song-Mi.

Young-Joon and Whittaker began talking after Yoo Song-Mi left the room.

“I was ordered by the White House to share this information with you. This is what we’ve found about Doctor Ref so far.”

“Thank you. Please brief me.”

“Doctor Ref, born in 1986, and her real name is Isaiah Franklin. She’s American.”

“You found her pretty easily.”

“She left a lot of her personal information at the camp as if she was taunting us to find her.”

“...”

“We still haven’t figured out why she used the name ‘Ref.’ It seems like the last letter stands for ‘Franklin.’”

However, Young-Joon already had an idea of what her name stood for. It was most likely for Rosalind Elsie Franklin. She was the biologist who made the most important contribution to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and a victim of sexism that was rampant in twentieth-century science.

‘Though I don’t know why she’s so obsessed with that name.’

“Her mother is an American named Elsie Franklin, and there’s no information about her father,” Whittaker said.

“There’s no information?”

“Yes. There’s no record of him even at the hospital Elsie Franklin had the baby in. Then, she took Isaiah with her to Palestine, where she raised her.”

“Why Palestine all of a sudden? I can’t imagine an American woman going to the Middle East and raising her young daughter there by herself, especially in a country that’s at war with Israel?”

“Her address is a conflict zone as well. I’m assuming she had some relatives or connections there,” Whittaker said.

“I see.”

“And Isaiah Franklin was the genius of the century. She won all kinds of awards at international math and science competitions in elementary school.”

“...”

“She went to an institution for gifted children at Cambridge University in England and received university-level education when she was in junior high.”

Whittaker gave Young-Joon a bunch of documents.

“There is only one reason we are telling you this information,” Whittaker added. “Doctor Ref has sent some kind of virus to the Xinjiang Uygur region that we don’t know about, and we want you to find out what it is.”

“Did you bring the virus?”

“Doctor Messelson packaged it himself. He told me that you should take it to the lab and open it in the hood, not the office.”

“It’s fine, just give it to me now.”

Whittaker took out a styrofoam box from his bag. The box was full of liquid nitrogen, and at the bottom was an ice block wrapped with parafilm. When Young-Joon opened the ice box, he saw a small cryovial that was also wrapped in parafilm.

Young-Joon stared at the vial.

“...”

Young-Joon’s eyes narrowed.

“Thank you. I’ll look into it.”

“The Xinjiang Uygur Region has a lot of problems due to political conflict. We don’t know what that lunatic terrorist who sent anthrax to the GSC International Conference has done,” Whittaker said. “The White House is very concerned about this situation.”

“... Alright.”

Sweat ran down Young-Joon’s back. Now he was worried, too.

***

“I’m really excited to have three companies working on this project together,” said Kin Young-Hoon. “A-GenBio has done a lot of great things, but this project will be especially big. I’ve been working on the responsibilities of each team. First of all…”

“Wait.”

Min Byung-Jin, the lab director of SG Electronics, intervened.

“Like you said, this is a big project. But I feel that SG Electronics isn’t getting enough. A-GenBio is providing the biological data, and Ms. Tanya Manker is providing GRO’s algorithm, but the ones who are actually doing the coding are SG Electronics’ software department, right?”

“I was under the impression that the legal teams of three companies have already agreed on the division of profits and had it approved by the CEOs. We are to pay one hundred billion won to you, aren’t we?” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“Give it to us in stocks, please,” said Min Byung-Jin.

“…”

Kim Young-Hoon stared at him quietly.

”Do you want to write a new contract?”

”That’s right. Wouldn’t having stocks make SG Electronics more passionate about this project?”

”What about you, Ms. Manker?” Kim Young-Hoon asked Tanya.

“I’m satisfied with the compensation now. And speaking as a scientist, not as the CEO of a company, I really want to do this project because I want to see if GRO can handle that much data. I would even do it for no compensation.”

“… I will ask Mr. Ryu about your proposition, Director Min,” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“I thought he would be here today,” Min Byung-Jin said,

“He has more important things to do. I will be leading the project for a while.”

The meeting proceeded swiftly. They were going to restructure the program according to GRO’s algorithm at SG Electronics’ software lab; GRO’s environmental analysis algorithm was added to the thirty thousand species and habitats on the program.

And about three hours later, during the break, Kim Young-Hoon took Min Byung-Jin to his office.

“Why are you interested in stocks?” he asked.

“Director Kim, A-GenBio is now the greatest pharmaceutical company in the world, and it’s a huge gold mine. Of course, it’s in SG Electronics’ best interest to expand our influence in this company.”

“You’re expanding your influence?”

”Doctor Ryu is in charge of the research, right? But he doesn’t have experience running a large company like this. A-Bio had a lot of money and was valuable, but it wasn’t big.”

“…”

“SG Electronics is planning to increase its share in the company and take control of A-GenBio with you at the forefront.”

“

Sigh…

”

Kim Young-Hoon let out a quiet sigh.

“What are you going to do after you take control?” he asked.

“What do you mean? There are countless things we can gain with a company this big…”

“Stop. That’s enough. I am not interested in running this company,” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“Director?”

“I have already benefited from A-Bio’s technology. A-Bio’s diagnostic kit and the pancreatic cancer treatment saved my mother’s life, and my wife is on Amuc for her diabetes.”

“...”

“I know because I was an executive at SG Electronics who climbed pretty high on the ladder but ended up getting kicked out. Director, let’s not turn A-GenBio into another ordinary chaebol group,” Kim Young-Hoon said. “Maybe it would have been okay if A-GenBio made cell phones or home appliances like SG Electronics, but the products developed here are directly related to people’s lives. I don’t want to bully Mr. Ryu with capital when it comes to management rights.”

“...”

Min Byung-Jin scratched his head like he was a little embarrassed.

Kim Young-Hoon added, “If you are not satisfied with this, Director Min, or if you want SG Electronics to influence A-GenBio’s management rights, then we can’t work together. I’ll find another development team, so tell me now.”

“No,” Min Byung-Jin said. “Let’s keep working together… I’ll deliver it to the superiors.”

“Thank you. Mr. Ryu’s attention is focused on something right now. I don’t know the details, but I don’t want to bother him with something as trivial as this.”

‘How can he call this trivial when SG Electronics is trying to gain control of a company like A-GenBio? What the hell is Doctor Ryu doing right now?’

Min Byung-Jin gulped in uneasiness.

* * *

Young-Joon was away from the office for twenty-four hours every day. Instead, he was locked away in his lab at Lab Seven for the entire day. Even the executives who reported to him came to Lab Seven instead of the main office.

“What are you working on that you can’t come to the headquarters?” asked Yoo Song-Mi, who had come to deliver a report to Young-Joon, in frustration.

“The labs in Lab Seven are the most familiar to me, and there are fewer people here than the other labs, so it’s easier to run the equipment,” Young-Joon said.

“Why don’t you just have the researchers from Lab Seven do the work?”

“They’re already working on their research. But they’re mostly working on mosquito repellents… I’m working on something different.”

“Something different?”

“It’s a cure for subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy.”

“What language is that?” Yoo Song-Mi asked.

“It’s medicine. It’s something that affects the central nervous system.”