Chapter 297: An Ordinary Scientist (11)

“You want me to help you?” Young-Joon asked Hishijima. “Did the plant explode or something?”

“No, not yet, but it’s very dangerous. We’ve gathered more opinions from local technicians, and they say the reactor should have been shut down a month ago,” Hishijima said. “Prime Minister Atabe is adamant, so I can’t stop this on my own. We need to prepare for any possible situation. Mr. Ryu, scientists from Celljenner are currently in Japan working on radiation removal technology. We’ve already contacted Doctor Song Ji-Hyun. But, perhaps...”

Hishijima grasped Young-Joon’s hand with a desperate look.

“Is there any chance that you might have a way to treat patients if there is a radiation leak or if someone gets exposed...?”

*

Rosaline was sitting alone in her hotel room. She was overcome with anxiety, depression and a slow-burning anger that was even more intense than when Young-Joon had traveled to Japan. This intensity was unfamiliar. Emotions had never been part of Rosaline’s nature—even now, she rarely got surprised or angry.

But then, when Young-Joon was arrested by the Tokyo police as he was packing his things to leave, she felt angry. It was the first time she truly understood what anger was.

—It’s okay, Rosaline! Calm down!

If it wasn’t for Young-Joon, she might have attacked the police. She felt very confused and enraged, but she listened to Young-Joon and stopped herself. But the sight of his wrists being handcuffed stuck in Rosaline’s mind.

Sitting on the bed, Rosaline thought to herself,

‘I think it’s going to remain in my amygdala.’

The amygdala was the almond-shaped tissue in the limbic system of the brain where the trauma of Ryu Sae-Yi, Young-Joon’s youngest sister, was kept. This was where trauma was stored, and Rosaline could feel the scene of Young-Joon’s arrest trying to imprint itself there. She quickly regulated her neurons, but the anger and agitation did not die down easily.

—I’ll be back soon, Rosaline. I’m sorry. Mr. Baek, please take care of her and extend our stay here for a few more days.

Young-Joon gave a quick shout to Baek Jun-Tae and followed the police. Rosaline was left alone in the hotel room again until now.

The more she thought about it, the more her blood boiled. This reminded her of an incident that happened a year and a half ago.

Young-Joon had been attacked by thugs under Ji Kwang-Man’s command. Young-Joon was hit by a car, sent flying, and even bled profusely. But back then, Rosaline wasn’t really angry. Even if Young-Joon had lost a limb in that right, she wouldn’t have been angry.

But not now. Rosaline realized that she had changed too much.

“

Phew...

”

She took a deep breath to steady her unsteady emotions.

‘Now I don’t know what I would do if someone hurt Ryu Young-Joon like that...’

The fact that she couldn’t be certain of her actions and her intense, uncontrollable emotions was what made it more difficult.

Rosaline held her trembling hands together and tried to compose herself.

That was when she heard a commotion outside the room. She could hear Baek Jun-Tae shout something.

Rosaline sent a few cells through the door, and she saw a very unexpected person standing there.

‘Yassir!’

Rosaline jumped to her feet and concentrated on the conversation between Yassir and Baek Jun-Tae in the hallway.

“I said you can’t. I don’t know why you are, but I can’t let you in. Leave!”

Back Jun-Taek glared at Yassir menacingly.

“I’m not speaking to you,” Yassir said. “I’m speaking to Rosaline right now. Rosaline, I’m Yassir. We’ve met before at the Next Generation Hospital, you remember, right? I’m here to save Young-Joon. I know you checked in here, so I know you’re inside.”

“What the hell are you talking about? How do you know Mr. Ryu and his daughter to look for them here?” Baek Jun-Tae said, pushing Yassir’s shoulder.

But Yassir was still shouting towards the room.

“I just need a moment. Rosaline, you’re the one who took down the terrorists in the Netherlands, right? Please, just this once...”

“Excuse me, stop talking to yourself and go...”

Baek Jun-Tae suddenly paused. He first felt light-headed, then there was a sharp ringing in his head.

Thud.

His legs gave out, and he collapsed. Then, the door gently opened.

“Come in,” Rosaline said.

At that moment, Yassir realized who was in front of him: she was no longer the innocent child who was smiling brightly beside Young-Joon with ice cream in her hand. The ice-cold expression on her face said it all.

“I’ve never been this angry before, so I don’t know how to control this emotion,” Rosaline said as she pulled Yassir into the room.

“The whole world is upset about this, so you’re probably even more so,” Yassir said.

“So how are you going to rescue Ryu Young-Joon?” Rosaline asked.

“... Before we talk about that, Rosaline, I want to know what you think.”

“What do I think?”

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“Ryu Young-Joon has been fighting for two years to save the world, and you’ve been using your power for the greater good, but the result of that is prison bars. What do you think about this situation?”

“...”

Rosaline was silent. Yassir sat on the chair beside the bed.

“I’m sure you have seen a lot by Doctor Ryu’s side, whether it’s Schumatix trying to create tumors in a patient’s eye to stunt the growth of Ryu Young-Joon and A-Bio, anti-vaxxers blindly opposing the development of a cure for AIDS, terrorists trying to use anthracis and Ebola as biological weapons, or powerful people kidnapping and forcibly harvesting their organs,” Yassir said.

“Or... corrupt political and business forces arresting and detaining Doctor Ryu, who is warning about a nuclear plant explosion.”

“...”

“Even if you could overlook everything else, can you forgive these idiots who arrested and detained Ryu Young-Joon without any sense of gratitude? Someone as brilliant as you, doesn’t their stupidity frustrate you?” Yassir asked.

“I want to hear how you honestly feel, Rosaline. If you don’t want to, I will let it go and give up. But do you think that it is okay for humans—ordinary scientists—to study and possess science? What do you think, as someone who embodies science itself?”

“Isaiah Franklin asked me the same thing, and I told her that I had no interest in ruling over science.”

“Do you still feel that way?”

“... Tell me how to save Ryu Young-Joon.”

Yassir nodded.

“Well, that’s simple. I can make the Tohoku plant explode by disguising myself as a technician and tampering with a few control rods. Ryu Young-Joon would be released immediately.”

“No, you can’t do that.”

“Why? Then what about a scientist like me, who is considering something like that, actually having the knowledge to do it? If I were to go and blow up the plant to rescue Ryu Young-Joon, would you stop me?”

“...”

“Rosaline, Ryu Young-Joon can’t stop all the side effects that science makes,” Yassir said. “There is a shortcut to making the ideal world he pictures. Come with me.”

“No.”

A woman’s voice echoed through the room.

Startled, Yassir turned his head to the door.

“Doctor Song?” he said, eyes narrowing.

“What are you saying to a child? Come with you? Are you a kidnapper?”

“Wait...”

“Doctor Ryu told me from the police department to come here, saying he was worried about Rosaline and that Yassir might come and try to lure her. I see it was true.”

Yassir smirked.

“Did Doctor Ryu tell you what Rosaline was, Doctor Song?” he asked.

“No.”

“Well, I do, because I worked with Isaiah for a very long time. I also know quite a bit about Elsie, too. I can tell from Rosaline’s strange emergence, her sudden adoption, and what happened at the Hoofddorp Hotel: she is...”

“Enough,” Song Ji-Hyun said, cutting Yassir off. “Rosaline is just Rosaline. She’s Doctor Ryu’s daughter—a smart, pretty nine-year-old girl who likes hot cocoa and can recite anything she watches on television.”

Song Ji-Hyun walked towards them.

“You still think so? Seriously?” Yassir asked, chuckling.

“That’s what I know. If there’s more I need to know and something I should know, Doctor Ryu or Rosaline will tell me. I don’t need your help.”

Song Ji-Hyun stepped between Yassir and Rosaline, facing Yassir, and crossed her arms.

“Stop trying to lure her while she has no guardian. I’ll protect her until Doctor Ryu comes out. That’s what Doctor Ryu asked.”

“...”

Song Ji-Hyun and Yassir glared at each other for a moment.

It was Rosaline who broke the silence.

“Ryu Young-Joon will come out on his own,” she said. “And the plant will explode, even if you don’t tamper with it.”

“Really?”

“Is that true?”

In surprise, Yassir and Song Ji-Hyun both glanced at Rosaline simultaneously.

“Yes. I only asked Yassir how he was going to rescue Ryu Young-Joon because I was curious. We don’t need his help,” Rosaline said.

“... I see. But I still didn’t get an answer for what I asked,” Yassir said to Rosaline.

“I’ll think about it, so go for now.”

“Alright.”

Yassir bowed toward Rosaline and left. After making sure he left, Song Ji-Hyun turned to Rosaline.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No... I’m okay,” Rosaline said.

With a sad face, she buried her face in Song Ji-Hyun’s arms.

*

“Okay, that’s it. It’s the most overwhelmingly insane thing our CEO has ever done: treating exposure to radiation,” Cheon Ji-Myung said.

Bae Sun-Mi, Park Dong-Hyun, Jung Hae-Rim, and Koh Soon-Yeol chuckled in disbelief.

“So, you’re saying we have to finish the preclinical phase of that crazy task by next week?”

“Yeah. Mr. Choi Yeon-Ho from Cellijenner brought the bacteria himself this morning.”

“Because he also knows the situation is urgent...”

Bae Sun-Mi nodded.

“Cellijenner has grown so much; they’re now giving A-GenBio projects,” Park Dong-Hyun said.

“That’s how it works in science,” Jung Hae-Rim replied.

“Anyways, that bacteria is a relative of

Deinococcus radiodurans

?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“Yeah. It’s a bacterium that’s related to the species that became famous at Chernobyl. And here’s the PCR target that we need to amplify, given to us by the genius brain of our CEO.”

Cheon Ji-Myung pointed to a single ORF[1] in the genomic sequence made of A, T, G, and C.

“It’s about a thousand mer of DNA. It contains the information for an enzyme that has the remarkable ability to piece together fragmented DNA.”

“That’s what Doctor Ryu is saying, right?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.

“The problem is we need to be able to send this to cells throughout the body.”

“...”

“Didn’t Doctor Ryu give you any ideas on that part?” Bae Sun-Mi asked.

“That’s where he hung up because the police needed to investigate him.”

“...”

“Is there any way of contacting him again?” Jung Hae-Rim asked.

“I called, but I couldn’t get through.”

“Should we keep trying?” Jung Hae-Rim said, picking up her phone.

Park Dong-Hyun scratched his head.

“It’s frustrating not knowing the local situation.”

Cheon Ji-Myung frowned as he listened to them.

“What are you two talking about?” he said. “You guys seem to have forgotten, but this is what science is supposed to be like. Are we a bunch of greenhorns who can’t do anything without Doctor Ryu? Normal scientists have normal ways of doing things.”

“Then why don’t we go back to the old-fashioned way and brainstorm?” Bae Sun-Mi asked.

“Personally, I don’t think we have to send the treatment to all the cells in the body,” Koh Soon-Yeol started off the brainstorming session.

“Then?”

“Since it’s a treatment for radiation exposure, we just have to send it to cells that were damaged by radiation.”

“How can we do that?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Apoptosis[2] would be induced if the radiation damages the DNA,” Park Dong-Hyun chimed in. “There are cytokines that are released by the cells when apoptosis occurs. We can make antibodies that go after that and attach it to the treatment.”

“No. It will take too long to produce and attach those antibodies,” Jung Hae-Rim pointed out.

“There’s another way. When apoptosis occurs, caspases will be released. If we make it work by becoming active when cut by caspases and inject it in high concentrations...” Bae Sun-Mi said.

“It could have an immune reaction,” Koh Soon-Yeol pointed out.

“We can use it with immunosuppressors.”

“Or what if we administer this protein in a bone marrow transplant? Then when apoptosis occurs, immune cells will head there. We can ship the treatment through them,” Park Dong-Hyun pitched another idea.

“That would take too long. Patients with high levels of radiation exposure are likely to die before new immune cells can be made,” Cheon Ji-Myung replied.

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the conference room. Koh Soon-Yeol opened the door.

“Hello. Is everything going well?”

Carpentier, the director of Lab Seven, walked inside.

“Mr. Director?”

“Rumor has it that you’re one of the main players in the Ryu Young-Joon rescue team. Do you want to include a director?” Carpentier asked.

“Are you participating in this project, Mr. Director?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.

“Not just me, but all seven labs. You can order whatever experiments you need. It was decided by the board this morning,” Carpentier said.

“Then let’s just try all the ideas that have come up. We’re running out of time,” Cheon Ji-Myung said.

“Alright. We have Mr. Ryu’s back this time,” Carpentier said as he put on latex gloves.

*

Hideo, head of nuclear safety, noticed something strange on his way to work at the Tohoku Nuclear Power Plant. The radiation levels were unusually high compared to yesterday.

“What is it?”

He rubbed his eyes and checked his handheld meter again.

[0.7 mSv][3]

The value had doubled overnight.

1. open reading frame; an uninterrupted nucleotide sequence that is responsible for producing a protein ☜

2. self-induced cell death ☜

3. millisieverts ☜