Chapter 263: Grand Slam (1)

The Israel Electricity Corporation (IEC) had been sitting on a chunk of new technology gifted by A-GenBio for days.

“We took it because they gave it to us, but what are we supposed to do with this?” wondered Simon, the CEO of the IEC, as he looked at the two hundred solar cell modules that had arrived at the company warehouse.

Israel had recently completed the construction of a new four-hundred-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in the Mishor Rotem area. The total cost amounted to two billion shekels, approximately six hundred million dollars, which was a significant expense considering Israel’s GDP.

The huge power plant, which used fossil fuels, could produce more than enough power for the entire country. Now was the time to recoup the investment cost.

However, it was at this time that A-GenBio publicly unveiled their solar cells and distributed prototypes worldwide. Now, as the future was set to change to a solar cell system globally, they couldn’t ignore it.

‘But if we switch back to solar cells, it would be like burning six hundred million dollars of taxpayers’ money on useless fossil fuel power plants, and we’ll face massive backlash from the public.’

Simon decided not to place any additional orders, as these were just prototypes, and he chose to try solar power generation with the two hundred units he had received.

Just as he had reached this conclusion, Young-Joon appeared.

“Please give me all the solar cells. Afula will soon have no power.”

“What?”

“The terrorists are going to destroy all the transmission towers in Afula. Please give us all the solar cells and ESS units you have!” shouted Young-Joon.

It was bizarre to give a gift, then come back the next day and demand it all back. However, Simon knew that if what Young-Joon was saying was true, it would be the biggest blow to him as the CEO of a power company. And Young-Joon was not the kind of person to lie.

“Take everything. I’ll give you everything we have. Is there anything else I can assist you with?” Simon asked.

*

The timely arrival of solar cells and ESS units saved the hospitals and research facilities. In the meantime, most of the terrorists were arrested, killed, or fled, as Young-Joon almost precisely pinpointed the locations of the terrorists.

‘We succeeded in defending Afula.’

With seven hours of backup power, the medical hub in Afula survived the night. The next day, technicians succeeded in temporarily fixing a few transmission towers, and solar cells were sent in from Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, there was something quite astonishing: those countries also sent primary relief items such as food and medicine. It was a shocking gesture of support from the Arab League, which had historically been hostile to Israel.

“Even though we’ve currently established peace agreements and diplomatic relations, Egypt and Jordan have very poor relations with our country. How did you manage to receive these solar cells?” asked Felus, looking at the additional items that had arrived.

“We have promised medical investments to the Arab League countries. We’re going to work on several agreements here,” Young-Joon said.

“Agreements?”

“Yes. And I need some help from you for this, Mr. Prime Minister.”

“What is it?”

“We’re going to build next-generation hospitals in sixteen major cities, including Afula and sixteen major cities in the Arab League.”

Felus’ eyes widened.

“You’re going to build next-generation hospitals?”

“After A-GenBio established the first Next Generation Hospital, developed countries have already built hundreds of them by either remodeling existing ones or establishing new hospitals,” Young-Joon said. “But there aren’t any in the Middle East. Personally, I believe that next-generation hospitals are most urgently needed in this region.”

“Is that why you are building them here?” Felus asked.

“A-GenBio doesn’t intend to make money from it, but we also don’t intend to become a charity organization. You need to get funding from the Middle Eastern governments for the establishment costs,” Young-Joon said.

“However, the next-generation hospitals coming into this region will be franchises of A-GenBio’s Next Generation Hospital, unlike the imitations from other developed countries. Therefore, they will directly receive medical technology developed in our research labs and become the most advanced and cutting-edge hospitals.”

“...”

“It’s not often that A-GenBio makes an investment of this magnitude,” Young-Joon said.

“Thank you.”

“But there are conditions,” Young-Joon said. “I am going to donate the land where the hospitals will be built to the United Nations to make them a part of it. As you know, UN agency offices are extraterritorial in any country in the world.”

“You mean you’re going to create extraterritorial jurisdictions in the Middle East?” Felus asked.

“Yes. We’re going to establish hospitals in sixteen cities in the Arab League and two cities in Israel, Afula and Jerusalem. Of course, the Gaza Strip in Palestine is also included in the Arab League.”

“...”

“And the hospitals will be run by A-GenBio. In accordance with international medical law, it will receive and treat patients without discrimination, whether they are part of the Arab League or Israeli, Jewish or Arab.”

“... Alright.”

“Israel has bombed schools set up by the United Nations, hasn’t it?”

“...”

“That must never happen again. If there is ever another conflict on this land, those hospitals must not be touched. I’m saying that we should have at least one international agreed-upon, humanitarian, and fair safe zone following international law.”

Felus smiled bitterly.

“It’s a little embarrassing to see a civilian pushing for something that should be done by leaders of a country.”

“And I have one more request for you, Mr. Prime Minister.”

“What is it?”

“Please supply power to the Gaza Strip. I’m going to send solar cells there.”

“... Alright.”

“I know that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is too deeply entangled to unravel. I’m neither a politician nor a revolutionary, so I don’t know how to approach it. In fact, I actually don’t want to,” Young-Joon said. “But science should be about liberating people, not persecuting them.”

“... I will keep that in mind.”

“The procedure to cure Lagba will be done in a week,” Young-Joon said.

“A week? Wasn’t it originally scheduled to be done four days later?”

“There’s a possibility that the stem cells were contaminated, so we have to remove that.”

“Contamination?”

Felus’ eyes widened/

“Yes. But don’t worry. Now that I’m here, your son won’t die,” Young-Joon said.

There probably wasn’t anyone else in the world who could make such a confident statement about reviving a brain-dead patient with a central nervous system infection. He only had one successful clinical case, but Felus felt a great deal of confidence in Young-Joon’s words. It would work if Young-Joon said so, and whatever Young-Joon wanted to do felt like something that had to be done.

“... Thank you so much,” Felus said.

*

Within days, the details of why Felus left Jerusalem to go to Afula were revealed. There was no hiding it now, as Felus was in the intensive care unit with the other patients’ families in tears. He just went through the legal formalities and officially adopted his son.

[Prime Minister Felus adopts Palestinian boy.]

[What happened to a boy after the Israeli bombing and Palestine’s terrorist attack.]

With the unfortunate story of the child, rumors about the founding of the Philistines and the polyomavirus also began to spread.

“Wow, those assholes!” exclaimed Hong Myung-Woon, the CEO of LifeToxin, when he received a call from Young-Joon.

—Are you going to sue them?

“Of course! I’m going to destroy Philistines and Asham. Watch me!”

It was a good match for LifeToxin, whose ego and finances had taken a big hit from the fight with Woongdam Pharmaceuticals. Hong Myung-Woon immediately prepared for an international lawsuit and went around claiming Philistines’ connection to terrorist organizations.

At the same time, it became known throughout the Middle East how much Felus had done to protect the Palestinian child: how he had brought him from Gaza and took great care of him long before he became prime minister; how Felus raised him in Afula, far from Jerusalem, instead of formally adopting him because he didn’t want him to be politically framed; how he refused to give up on life-sustaining treatment even after he became brain-dead.

And at the end of that sad story, an Asian man suddenly appeared as a savior.

After stopping the terrorist attack in Afula and defending against the city-wide blackout, and while Arab governments and the Israeli government were planning the establishment of hospitals that would become the cornerstone of Middle East peace, Lagba, who had garnered the world’s attention, opened his eyes. It was the second week of treatment. In front of him stood Young-Joon, Felus, and the medical staff of A-GenBio.

*

“He was a scientist, then he became a prophet, and now he’s almost a messiah,” said Garfield, the CEO of Clarivate Analytics.

“What do you think?”

A reporter from CNN had come to see Garfield to get what would be the most interesting piece of information about Young-Joon.

Clarivate Analytics was famous for predicting Nobel Prize recipients.

“Today is the day that Clarivate’s list of predictions for this year’s Nobel Prize comes out. How many places does Doctor Ryu appear?” the reporter asked.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

“You’ll see when we make the official announcement.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” the reporter said playfully.

However, Garfield just shrugged.

“I’ll give you a hint. To be nominated for the Nobel Prize this year, you have to have been nominated last year,” Garfield said. “So this year’s work can be evaluated, but you can’t nominate someone who’s not on the list.”

“Oh, so you’re saying that even if Doctor Ryu does something crazy in the Middle East, like building a peace zone centered around Next Generation Hospitals, he can’t win the Nobel Peace Prize?”

Garfield grinned.

“But you have to remember that Doctor Ryu made a tremendous contribution last year to the elimination of Kamathipura, the infamous HIV and human trafficking den in India.”

“Oh...”

“He would have been nominated one hundred percent. There’s a statue of him in Kamathipura now. And if he had been nominated, think about it... What did he do this year?”

“In the Middle East...”

“Before that, he went into the Uyghur camps in Xinjiang, China, investigated an infectious virus, and developed artificial organs to pressure the Chinese president into a regime change. Ultimately, he liberated Xinjiang. The rumor that Doctor Ryu was the informant who helped the CIA find the organ harvesting sites is now a given. The competition is already over.”

“I see.”

“But this time, he ran around in an area that was being attacked by terrorists, trying to end war in the Middle East. Who’s going to win against him?”

*

[Clarivate Analytics’ Nobel Prize Predictions]

Shocking news came out.

“... As such, they announced that Doctor Ryu Young-Joon of A-GenBio is the most likely to win the Nobel Peace Prize among the fifteen candidates.”

Korean news outlets excitedly repeated the information released by Clarivate.

“In addition, Doctor Ryu Young-Joon is also the most likely to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of Cas9, gene scissors, for developing a highly precise method of correcting the structure of DNA molecules and a rapid and accurate diagnostic method,” the news anchor said.

“Additionally, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was predicted to be Doctor Ryu Young-Joon for developing a method of producing induced pluripotent stem cells and using them to treat various neurological diseases, including brain death.”

But there was more.

“And based on the information that he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics last year, Doctor Ryu Young-Joon was ranked as the number one candidate for the Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of the chlorophyll solar cell, which can replace all power plants, and for his significant contributions to the distribution industry, space development, and environment improvement.”