Chapter 244: Brain Death (9)

“Unfortunately, I’m only here to renew the agreement today,” Yassir said. “Doctor Lee can send you a bottle once the next shipment comes in. You can see it then.”

“... Alright,” Young-Joon replied.

“You’re not trying to make a small business like us go out of business, right?” Yassir asked playfully.

“I was just curious,” Young-Joon said.

“Haha, that’s a relief. The botulinum toxin market is nothing compared to the anticancer drug market. It’s too small for a big shot like A-GenBio or you to enter.”

“...”

“Then, I’ll be on my way. See you.”

Yassir respectfully bowed to them, picked up his briefcase and headed out.

“He’s an incredible person.”

Lee In-Ju complimented him.

“Yassir, he’s not just a salesman, he’s also a scientist. He did his PhD research in botulinum toxin at Stanford or something, and he and his colleagues started a company in Egypt.”

“So, they are co-founders?”

“Yeah, but he’s not involved in the business aspect; he just handles the big contracts and the research, just like how you left the Next Generation Hospital in my hands, Doctor Ryu.”

“... What kind of company is Philistines?” Young-Joon asked.

“I think they’re as good as Cellijenner in terms of innovation and growth, but not as good as A-GenBio,” Lee In-Ju replied.

“Really?”

“They’ve only been around for a few years. They’re a really young company, but they’ve grown so fast in a short period of time. Now, they’re a pretty prominent company in the Middle East.”

“And Medivoto is their only product?”

“Yes. They said they’re developing other drugs, but they have a long way to go because it’s still in the discovery phase. But their technology for Medivoto is amazing. It’s not easy to produce botulinum toxin in such purity and dosage at such a low cost, though I don’t know much about drug production.”

“Director Lee, botulinum toxin is such a toxic substance that they don’t give research permits to just anyone. It wouldn’t have been easy for a start-up company to take it on.”

“Maybe the regulations are different in Egypt,” Lee In-Ju said, not thinking much of it. “Anyways, the company is trying to take over the botulinum market in two years with Medivoto. It’s really amazing that such an innovative company has come out of Egypt. As you know, medicine is not just about the hard work of scientists.”

“You always need money,” Young-Joon replied.

“That’s right. I didn’t know that the Egyptian government invested so much in science. But seeing a venture company boom like that, the rosy outlook about the Middle East or Africa is quite plausible.”

Lee In-Ju approached Ryu Young-Joon with a friendly chuckle.

“Anyway, did the surgery go well?”

“Yes... I think so,” Young-Joon replied dryly.

*

Botulinum toxin was extracted from a bacteria called

Clostridium botulinum

. It was the most powerful toxin in the world, almost a million times more potent than the infamous cyanide. Just nanograms of it could kill someone. It was fascinating that such an insane toxin could be used in medicine.

Botulinum toxin could be diluted to a very low concentration and then injected to paralyze only certain nerves and localized tissues. Nowadays, it was used in dermatology or neurology for hyperhidrosis, chronic migraines, and pinched nerves, but the biggest market for it was anti-aging.

“Allergon was the first company to redevelop botulinum toxin into a pharmaceutical product, and it was called Botox,” Young-Joon said to Rosaline.

Young-Joon took a separate car from his security team. Rosaline was in the passenger seat, and he was driving. On the way back, they were talking about Yassir and Philistines.

“Allergon worked really hard to make that drug since it’s pretty revolutionary and high-quality. It succeeded because the quality control was good enough to handle a poison like that safely,” Young-Joon said.

“That’s why Botox has replaced the name of the original ingredient and become synonymous with botulinum toxin formulation even though it’s just a single drug. It’s like how Tylenol’s image took over all acetaminophen-based painkillers. Botox’s position in that market is crazy.”

“It’s surprising that it lost half its market share in just a few years, though,” Rosaline said.

“Right? It’s hard to push out a company that has already dominated the market, especially for drugs. This means that Philistines’s technology is incredible in terms of quality and price... Am I overreacting? Why do I think that Doctor Ref might be behind their technology?”

“She might be. The methods for purifying botulinum toxin from bacteria are probably all pretty similar. The best that a pharmaceutical venture company could do to revolutionize the technology would be to manipulate the bacteria to increase the production itself.

“Considering the virus she released in the Xinjiang camps and the anthrax weapon she used at the GSC conference, Doctor Ref seems to be quite adept at genome engineering and metabolic engineering of microbes by human standards.”

“A new start-up pharmaceutical company in Egypt came out of nowhere and grew at an incredible pace, and the drug they’re dealing with is one of the most potent toxins on the plant. On top of that, the conflict zone between Israel and Palestine is right beside Egypt. It’s strange.”

“She might still try to use them even if she doesn’t actually have anything to do with starting and growing the company because they can mass-produce botulinum toxin.”

“... I need to see how Korea does QC[1] when importing pharmaceuticals,” Young-Joon said.

*

Young-Joon stopped by Lab Six on his way to A-GenBio. As people were slowly preparing to leave for the day, Young-Joon and Rosaline went to the Life Creation lab.

“It’s what I expected,” Rosaline said as she took out the culture plates. “The gene set I manipulated was correct. All my genes only died on this side of the plate.”

Rosaline felt a little strange.

“These two hundred morality genes are in all humans, but you have variants of them that have higher expression. That was the final key to creating me. Your obsession with ethics created me, and now it’s biologically proven,” Rosaline said. “Should we call this group of genes the Ryu Young-Joon genes?”

“Don’t. It’s embarrassing,” Young-Joon replied, laughing.

“...”

Rosaline stared at the petri dish. Young-Joon stared at the side of her face.

Rosaline had found the secret of her creation. She obtained the missing fragment of her DNA, and she got a body, although it was a temporary one.

Young-Joon thought back to the time when Rosaline only sent him system messages because she didn’t have a sense of self. Thinking about her now, she had changed and grown so much. She was transcendent yet human. She was omniscient and like science itself, yet still innocent.

“What do you want to do now?” Young-Joon asked.

“Do what?” Rosaline replied.

“You still have about a day left, right?”

“I think it’s going to wear out by next morning.”

“Is there anything you want to do?”

“I don’t know, let’s see...”

Rosaline shrugged. She was a genius that had the answers to everything but her own tastes and preferences. Young-Joon felt a little bad and sorry for her.

“Come here.”

“Oh.”

Young-Joon pulled Rosaline and hugged her gently.

“Sae-Yi always used to say she wanted to go to the amusement park when she got better,” Young-Joon said. “In the end, she never left the hospital room and passed away, but...What about you? Do you want to go?”

“Can I?” Rosaline asked.

“Of course. It’s the evening right now, so we can go to the night opening at Everland[2].”

“Hm... I do want to go, but I don’t feel the thrill from roller coasters or anything, so...”

“Then let’s just go. It’ll be fun. What do you think?”

Rosaline grinned.

“Alright.”

Young-Joon took her and got back in the car.

*

They entered the amusement park during the night opening, but the sun hadn’t set yet. Rosaline didn’t seem too interested at first, but once they got to the park, she was jumping in joy.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“The T Express!”[3]

Rosaline yanked Young-Joon in front of the roller coaster that was notorious for being the most terrifying one at the amusement park.

“Didn’t you say you won’t get much of a thrill from these rides?”

“That’s why we have to ride the scariest one!”

“Wa... Wait. You can’t ride it anyway because you’re not tall enough.”

“I see. Give me a few seconds to rearrange my cells.”

“What are you doing?!”

Rosaline took some of her fat and lengthened her legs and waist, making herself about five centimeters taller.

Then, she took Young-Joon, who was frozen in shock, and ran towards the line.

‘Damn it.’

To be honest, Young-Joon didn’t want to ride the T Express.

After riding a few of the rides, Rosaline and Young-Joon walked towards the food court in the amusement park.

“I’m hungry,” Rosaline said.

“You already had a hot dog, churros, and ice cream in the past two hours, didn’t you?”

“But I can’t eat starting tomorrow. Should we have that?”

Rosaline pointed at the roasted turkey leg that was being sold in front of the dinosaur-themed escape room.

[T-Rex Legs]

Rosaline smirked at the name.

“They named it like that because it’s dinosaur-themed. Well, the myofibrillar collagen tissue of the Tyrannosaurus rex is similar to that of a chicken, so turkey, a close relative, will also taste like T-Rex meat.”

“...”

After a quick meal, they bought coffee and orange juice for dessert. With their drinks in their hands, they headed to the observation deck. There, something happened that made

the

Rosaline marvel. The fireworks had begun.

“Wow...”

Rosaline watched the fireworks as if she was mesmerized by something mystical.

“I’ve gone out a couple times before and watched the fireworks near the Han River, but this is what it looks like to the human eye.”

“You like it?”

“...”

Young-Joon glanced over when Rosaline didn’t answer, but saw that she was completely absorbed in the fireworks.

The clothes she was wearing looked a little thin for the cold night air. Young-Joon took off his coat and put it on Rosaline, just like the first time he saw her.

“It’s really pretty,” Rosaline said without taking her eyes off the flames of the fireworks.

“Let’s come to places like this more often when we collect enough ATP for you to become human,” Young-Joon said.

“Let’s come with Doctor Song, too.”

“Why Doctor Song?”

“Mom?”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m kidding. I was just afraid you might die old and lonely doing nothing but research. If I become a person and become independent...” Rosaline said playfully.

Young-Joon ruffled her hair.

*

It was the next morning.

Young-Joon woke up at the sound of his alarm. It was the motel near the amusement park where he’d checked in for the night. The bed next to him, which Rosaline was sleeping in, was now empty. Instead, Rosaline’s clothes were lying in the shape of a person on Young-Joon’s bed.

‘Does she have separation anxiety...? She must have crawled into my bed in the middle of the night because she couldn’t sleep alone.’

Young-Joon thought in his head as he picked up the clothes.

—It’s nice and warm and comfy when I’m snuggled up next to you.

Rosaline sent him a message.

—The past three days were like a dream. I’m going to diligently save my fitness from now on.

‘Okay. I won’t use fitness unless I have to.’

—Thank you.

Bzz!

Young-Joon’s phone rang. It was Professor Miguel.

“Hello?”

Young-Joon put the phone on speakerphone and took the call while getting dressed.

—Doctor Ryu!

Miguel was shouting in an excited voice.

—We succeeded... It succeeded!

“Did you remove the ventilator? Today is the day, right?”

—Yes. We took him off all life support. And...

Miguel paused.

—He is breathing on his own... The brain death has been reversed, and he is now in a persistent vegetative state. It’s the same trend as the beagle from the preclinical trials!

Miguel was shouting into the phone.

—Brain death is not death anymore. We’ve revived the first brain-dead patient!

1. quality control ☜

2. Everland is one of the famous amusement parks in Korea ☜

3. The T Express is a famous wooden roller coaster at Everland. ☜