Chapter 24: The First Author (2)

Gil Hyung-Joon was about to press the phone number for the Life Creation Department, but his finger wandered in front of his phone screen. He had memorized all the department phone numbers in Lab Six, but it was a little difficult to remember their number since he had only called that garbage department a few times.

He asked his assistant, “What was the number for the Life Creation Department?”

“437...”

“Oh, wait.”

‘Let’s think about this.’

This bastard Young-Joon was one of the hottest celebrities within the entire A-Gen lab right now, and most of all, Nicholas embraced him as if he were his own. Nicholas liked Young-Joon so much that it looked like he wanted to adopt him.

After the seminar, CTO Nicholas Kim had a company dinner with only the lab directors, and he had complimented Young-Joon so much that his lips almost fell off.

“But how did a scientist as talented as him go to the Life Creation Department? Did he apply to go?” Nicholas asked.

“He had some conflict with me. I had a talk with HR and transferred him there,” Kim Hyun-Taek answered.

“That’s unfortunate. To have trouble with you out of all people... What happened?” Nicholas asked.

“Well, there were just some things that we didn’t agree on work-wise. He was talented, but also arrogant, so he didn’t get along with others that well. I was going to fire him, but I didn’t think he would make something like that.”

“Hm.”

Nicholas took a sip of his drink. After some thought, he said, “Director Gil Hyung-Joon, I assume you are going to leave them be for a year since they got the Award for Exceptional Performance?”

Gil Hyung-Joon really hated that he had to do that, but he had no other choice.

“Yes, of course.”

“Director. I really want to observe Doctor Ryu for a long time. Please try to go easy on them and look after them no matter what happens. Science is completed by one genius putting the last piece in a puzzle that ninety-nine gifted scientists put together.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The whole world will laugh at us if we lose a genius like that. Hold onto him and keep him at the company at all costs unless he swears at your face or something.”

Kim Hyun-Taek, whom Young-Joon already swore at, flinched.

“Alright,” Gil Hyung-Joon replied.

Nicholas smiled with excitement.

In the seven years they had Nicholas on as the CTO, they had never seen him this happy. A world-famous scientist like Nicholas Kim was swooning over Young-Joon right now.

Gil Hyung-Joon put down his phone. He thought it wouldn’t be right for him to break his promise right on Monday morning after getting a request like that during his Friday company dinner. So, Gil Hyung-Joon read through the patent again.

‘Fuck. Still, this isn’t right.’

It was more ridiculous the more Gil Hyung-Joon thought about it. He could kill him or let it pass. He thought about it for a while until a good idea popped into his head. He could get someone else to do it if he couldn’t handle it himself. Someone who could keep Nicholas in check and an executive who had power in another way.

As Gil Hyung-Joon signed off on Young-Joon’s document, he wrote down Ji Kwang-Man for the next approval.

“Take this to management.” Gil Hyung-Joon said as he gave the assistant the papers.

Ji Kwang-Man was the division manager of management at A-Gen headquarters. The management division was where patent-related documents were finalized anyway. Usually, they were taken care of by employees lower than executive managers, but Young-Joon could put the division manager’s name down since it was important. He felt like this patent was worthy of a division manager’s approval since it was a patent for a technology that held tremendous value.

‘Ji Kwang-Man.’

“Hehehe...”

Gil Hyung-Joon couldn’t help but chuckle thinking about how he was going to berate Young-Joon.

Ji Kwang-Man was called the Mad Hound at the headquarters. He was huge, including his head, and he also looked vicious, making him look like a gangster. But his personality was respectable enough that he could be treated as the gang boss.

One time, Illsung Hospital only prescribed a certain drug after getting a rebate from Roche Korea. When Ji Kwang-Man found out, he reported this to the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission. Of course, this was the appropriate response.

But he didn’t stop there.

He hired a bunch of actors and sent them to Illsung Hospital. They caused a scene in the lobby in front of the administration desk and exposed the hospital and their rebates. They screamed about simple and provocative stories, such as how their kid died from the hospital taking bribes and using worse drugs, in front of the patients. It was extremely impactful. Ji Kwang-Man even had reporters waiting there so that they could report that. It ended up making the front page of the morning news.

From the next day, Illsung Hospital began prescribing A-Gen products. The funny part about it was that for the product in question, Roche’s product was actually a little bit better than A-Gen’s. However, the image of the rebate that was put on Roche made their product look worse, and A-Gen gained rebound profits. For a while, even other university hospitals used more of A-Gen’s products compared to Roche’s.

That was the kind of person Ji Kwang-Man was. The government was slow, and it took a long time to sort things out legally. If Ji Kwang-Man took this path and Illsung Hospital received punishment, what kind of gains would there be for A-Gen?

‘Take the surest, largest, and fastest way when taking profit.’

This was Ji Kwang-Man’s philosophy.

Gil Hyung-Joon put his feet up on his desk with a smile on his face. Young-Joon, A-Gen’s famous scientist with intermittent explosive disorder who cursed at Kim Hyun-Taek, against Ji Kwang-Man, the Mad Hound of Management. They were incomparable in terms of their rank in the company, but Young-Joon was a rising star that Nicholas embraced.

What if—although it wouldn’t happen—Nicholas accepted this insane patent application? If Nicholas supported him that much, this could become a battle between Nicholas and Ji Kwang-Man.

Of course, whatever it was, Gil Hyung-Joon just had to sit back and watch.

* * *

There were a lot of ideas about how Gil Hyung-Joon should screw Young-Joon up, but surprisingly, no action was actually taken against him.

“I can’t believe it. Do you think Gil Hyung-Joon really accepted it?” Jung Hae-Rim asked during lunch.

“But if he did, management would call him, saying that there was something wrong with the patent application that someone named Ryu Young-Joon from your lab submitted,” Cheon Ji-Myung replied.

“They will call us during the afternoon,” Park Dong-Hyun added. “You know management people start their work after eating lunch. They take such a long time with something they can get done by just submitting one document. It’s frustrating.”

However, Park Dong-Hyun’s prediction was wrong; instead of a phone call, someone came all the way down to the lab. It was Manager Yoon Bo-Hyun from management.

At one o’clock in the afternoon, he went straight to the Life Creation Department as soon as he got his visitor pass from the lab entrance.

“Hello,” Yoon Bo-Hyun said, standing in front of the office entrance.

“Who are you?” Park Dong-Hyun asked as he was about to enter the lab.

“I’m Manager Yoon Bo-Hyun from management.”

“Ah, yes. Hello.”

“Is Scientist Ryu Young-Joon here by chance?”

“Young-Joon.”

Park Dong-Hyun called him over. Young-Joon was sitting in front of his computer with an academic paper file opened, pretending to read it. He was actually tapping on Rosaline’s status window, designing his next experiment with stem cells.

“Did you call for me?” Young-Joon looked up over the partition and asked.

“Here. Manager Yoon Bo-Hyun is here to see you.”

Young-Joon shook hands with Yoon Bo-Hyun and moved to the small conference room.

“Doctor Ryu, how have you been? We’ve seen each other before, right?”

Yoon Bo-Hyun made small talk with Young-Joon as they walked to the conference room.

Yoon Bo-Hyun was right; he and Young-Joon had seen each other before. They saw each other once, and it was a nightmare of a memory for Young-Joon. Yoon Bo-Hyun was the person who asked him to buy Illoa, Celligener’s liver cancer treatment, and conduct a comparative experiment. He was an assistant manager then, but he had already become a manager. Young-Joon didn’t get a good vibe from him for some reason.

Yoon Bo-Hyun reached into his bag and gave something to him when they arrived at the small conference room. It was a can of coffee from the convenience store.

“Have it. I bought it at the GS25 near here,” Yoon Bo-Hyun said to Young-Joon.[1]

“There’s a coffee machine in here and a cafe downstairs as well.”

“But canned coffee is so much better, don’t you think? Do I just have cheap taste? Haha.”

Young-Joon opened his canned coffee and took a sip. It had gotten a little cold, and it was now lukewarm.

“There’s a rumor going around that you killed it at the seminar, Doctor Ryu,” Yoon Bo-Hyun said as he took a sip of his coffee.

“I did.”

“A scientist interrupted a presentation with all the lab directors present and showed astonishing data, then bam! I heard you received a standing ovation from the CTO?”

“Well, I guess so.”

“Wow, amazing. I thought it was some TV show, you know? If you get a call to shoot something here, call me. I want to see what goes on.”

“Do you mind getting to the point? I have an experiment to run. What do you have for me?” Young-Joon asked.

“Oh right. We wouldn’t want to keep our most expensive employee here. I’m sorry.”

Yoon Bo-Hyun pulled out a bundle of papers from his briefcase.

[Patent Application]

[Inventor: Ryu Young-Joon, Park Dong-Hyun, Jung Hae-Rim, Koh Soon-Yeol. This includes the stem cell technology that dedifferentiated a normal somatic cell into an embryonic stem cell.]

Yoon Bo-Hyun grinned.

“I don’t know why someone as smart as you made this kind of mistake. The share ratio is especially weird.” Yoon Bo-Hyun asked.

“Everything written there is right. I am taking ten percent, Seniors Koh Soon-Yeol, Park Dong-Hyun, and Jung Hae-Rim get three percent each. The headquarters and Lab Six both get 0.5 percent, and the rest go to the Life Creation Department. I am thinking of having the final approval of those funds with a separate contract.”

Yoon Bo-Hyun glared at Young-Joon for a little bit.

“Doctor Ryu, share ratios like this are unheard of. They don’t exist.”

“We would be setting a good example.”

“Why do you want the Life Creation Department to have a share?” Yoon Bo-Hyun asked.

“There are a lot of things I want to study. The reason I have the final approval is to not let others use it. I trust our department members, but HR could transfer other people to our team, right? Since I am the one who invented it, I think I have that right. Well, it’s not like I’m going to use it for personal use. I will write a proposal and leave it for evaluation as well.”

“...

Sigh,

this isn’t going to be easy. This is just a completely personal question, but why did you put the one percent for the headquarters and the labs? Surely, you didn’t seriously consider the company’s sake when you wrote this insane patent application.”

“I did genuinely consider the company’s sake. I got help from the headquarters’ patent team in developing the technology and writing the application, and I used Lab Six’s facilities too. To be honest, I thought it was like a 0.3 percent contribution, but I was easy on you. Consider it on the house.”

“Are you going to fight the company or something?”

“To be honest, I don’t even understand why I have to fight. It was my idea, my results from experimentation, and the scientists at our department found the data to prove it. Didn’t I give the company a lot more than it actually deserves?”

“Management is hitting the roof over this right now. If this doesn’t get taken care of here with me, you’ll be summoned to the headquarters. And you must put Lab Director Gil Hyung-Joon’s name on it.”

“The first time I saw his face after transferring here was at the seminar. And do you think he would have allowed me to do this experiment if I told him that I was working on induced pluripotent stem cells before meeting him? No, he would have stopped me. He has no share.”

“... You have a unique way of thinking.”

“Including them because they are your superiors or supervisors. Putting them as the first author even though they didn’t do anything just because they oversaw the project. I cannot allow those kinds of things. This is correct according to research ethics.”

“You’re not going to listen even if I keep talking, are you?” Yoon Bo-Hyun asked.

“Of course not,” Young-Joon replied.

“Then you will be summoned to the management headquarters.”

“Alright. I’ll finish up the experiment I was doing and head there right away. Please make an appointment for me.”

As Young-Joon was about to get up, Yoon Bo-Hyun frowned.

“Doctor Ryu, sit.”

“Do you have more to say?”

“Thanks to you, the Life Creation Department is finally starting to have a better image. But are you going to piss off the superiors again like this?”

“... Manager Yoon.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think I’d be in this department if I was scared of that?”

“Hm...”

“Please tell that to the superiors and let the patent pass as is. That’s the best decision.”

“Why don’t you just come with me? Finish up your experiment and come back,” Yoon Bo-Hyun said with a smirk on his face.

A-Gen Headquarters was in Yeoksam. The headquarters did not have a lab; they only took care of the business aspect. Departments like the management division and the finance division were all there. Low-ranking scientists didn’t really have any reason to go visit the headquarters.

However, at four o’clock in the afternoon, Young-Joon was there. The atmosphere in the building was tense.

As Young-Joon went into the division manager’s office, Yoon Bo-Hyun, who returned without any results, began chatting with Executive Manager Lee Hyun-Woo.

“I failed. He’s a complete lunatic.”

“But our manager is also very...” Lee Hyun-Woo said in a worried voice.

“Well yes, but our manager is predictable since he only works for profit. But Young-Joon... He kind of feels like a lunatic who has strong beliefs. He is devout to research ethics. From what I can tell, I bet he bows at Kant’s grave three times before going to bed.

* * *

Ji Kwang-Man gave Young-Joon a bottle of cold water.

“I heard that Yoon Bo-Hyun was unsuccessful in persuading you,” Ji Kwang-Man said.

“Yes.”

“What is it that you want, Doctor Ryu?”

“It’s to get this patent application finished.”

“No,” Ji Kwang-Man said as he shook his head. “I’m asking what you want to do in the future after getting this patent approved.”

“I will further develop iPSCs and create a good drug.”

Ji Kwang-Man just silently stared at Young-Joon. Ji Kwang-Man’s face was twice the size of Park So-Yeon’s. His protruding eyes had an overwhelming weight to them.

“This is a direct defiance of orders, and you’re interfering with management. What are you going to do if I refuse?” Ji Kwang-Man asked.

“Then I will give up patenting the current item, quit, and then go to the US. I will file the patent there again, and I will go to Pfizer with that same condition.”

“...Do you think that will work? That patent is ours, according to regulations regarding employee inventions. What will you do if we sue you?”

“It’s going to be hard to prove that part. My job responsibilities are about life creation, not stem cells. And actually, A-Gen’s facilities had a trivial effect. This is worth having a legal dispute over.”

“...”

“Since Pfizer is money-mad too, they are going to protect me to take the patent worth hundreds of trillions of dollars. If so, you will be making this an international battle. It doesn’t matter if I don’t win; A-Gen would lose a tremendous amount of time,” Young-Joon said. He added, “And in the meantime, I will finish the follow-up research with these stem cells at Pfizer and finish treating nerve damage in clinical trials. A-Gen would lose priority in this entire field.”

1. GS25 is a famous convenience store chain in Korea. ?