Chapter 34: Independence (1)

It was eight o’clock in the evening. Young-Joon hadn’t gone home yet and was sitting in his seat in the office.

“You’re not going home, Doctor Ryu?” Jung Hae-Rim, who was getting ready to go home after overtime, asked.

“I’ll be leaving soon.”

“You have work left? What is this? SBS Live on Youtube?”

“I’m waiting for the eight o'clock news. Since there’s only five minutes left until eight, I think I’ll miss it if I head home right now.”

“You’re waiting for the eight o’clock news?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not going home from work to see that?”

“Yes.”

“... People who usually like the news this much are from Manager Cheon’s generation or older. I guess you’re an old man on the inside. Do you watch the National Singing Contest on the weekends?”[1]

“The National Singing Contest is entertaining, okay? It’s not a program meant for the elderly.”

Doo du du.

With the opening music, the news program began on Young-Joon’s computer.

[The first clinical trial of stem cell therapy.]

“So you were waiting for this.”

Jung Hae-Rim stood behind Young-Joon and focused on the news.

“Don’t watch it.”

“Why?”

“Um...”

As Young-Joon was hesitating, the news anchor started briefing the news.

—Today, at three o’clock, the first clinical trial for optic nerve therapy derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, developed by A-Gen began. Trial patient Son lost her vision to glaucoma. A-Gen and Sunyoo Hospital created stem cells from Son’s somatic cells and differentiated them again into optic nerves to inject them into Son’s retina.

The screen changed, and an interview came up.

“Hup.”

Jung Hae-Rim smiled and covered her mouth. It was because Young-Joon came up on the screen.

[A-Gen Scientist Ryu Young-Joon.]

[The inventor of induced pluripotent stem cells.]

Watching the subtitles below and his awkward face on screen, Young-Joon buried his face into his hands.

The Young-Joon on the screen began speaking.

—We have already succeeded in recovering the retina and optic nerves of retinal degenerative mice by using induced pluripotent stem cells to create them. Personally, I predict that the clinical trials will have great results.

“Wow! You’re good,” Jung Hae-Rim exclaimed.

Young-Joon stood up from his seat with ears red from embarrassment.

“I can’t watch it because I’m so embarrassed. You can go now since it’s done.”

“Why are you embarrassed? But you should have gotten a haircut before you did the interview.”

“I had no time to go to the barbershop.”

“Those are the interviews that you’ve been doing.”

“There’s that one and another one from another channel. There was one from a newspaper and one from BRIC/[2]

“They’re not asking anymore?”

“They keep asking me a couple of times a day, but I’m rejecting them. It’s too pressuring.”

Young-Joon wasn’t very talented at this sort of thing. He was better off fighting Kim Hyun-Taek or Ji Kwang-Man. He didn’t know how to react when people exclaimed that he was a genius in interviews.

* * *

It had been four days, but Son Soo-Young, the first trial patient, hadn’t recovered her vision yet. Everything was still dark.

“I guess it doesn't work very well.”

She smiled bitterly. Even though the treatment failed, she was grateful to everyone since several people had fought to help her regain her vision.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Her husband patted her on the back.

“What about Blue?” Son Soo-Young asked.

That was the baby’s nickname.

“She’s alright. She’s holding out. Doctor Hong said that we should try whatever we can to hold onto her. He said that we don’t know when her last day will be, but the parents can’t give up first.”

“Yeah...”

Son Soo-Young buried her face in her husband’s chest.

“It will be fine. Touch her with your fingertips. I’ll help you.”

There were countless needles and tape on the really small-sized baby. Even her father, who could see clearly, had to be extremely careful when touching her, so it was much harder for Son Soo-Young. She hadn’t seen her daughter yet, and all she had touched was the tips of her toes. But now that she failed at recovering her vision, there was no way.

Her husband hugged her close, stroking her hair.

Son Soo-Young said, “It must be hard for you too. Me and Blue are both tormenting you.”

“I’m steeping in it.”

Son Soo-Young chuckled.

“I’ll turn off the lights. Let’s go to bed.”

It was the moment he let go of her.

“Huh?”

Son Soo-Young suddenly raised her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“...Come back here. Stand in front of me again.”

Son Soo-Young called her husband over again and buried her face in his chest. Then, she lifted her face and stared at the ceiling.

“It got brighter.”

“What did?”

“My eyes... It’s brighter now than when I had my face in your chest.”

Son Soo-Young gulped.

“I can feel the lights.”

107 hours after the procedure, the optic nerves began establishing themselves as the retinal tissue healed. Although it was very weak, Son Soo-Young’s eyes were able to distinguish light.

Afterward, her eyesight improved by the day. After a week, she could detect something moving in front of her eyes. She could see the faint movement of light. On the tenth day, the light focused on the retina became an object she could recognize.

“Okay, open your eyes,” Her husband said. He put something near her foot.

“Can you tell what it is?”

“...A phone?”

“...”

“Did I get it wrong?”

“...No, you’re right.”

Son Soo-Young could see her husband hugging her. It seemed like he was letting out tears that he had suppressed for a long period of time from how he was shaking.

‘Not steeping.’

The light on the retina became clearer as time passed. Her vision was recovering quite quickly as the optic nerves were recovered since her optic cells did not have much damage in the first place. Although the resolution was low and they would have to observe her progress, they could have a report on the clinical trial.

Sung Yo-Han, the primary doctor of the clinical trial at Sunyoo Hospital submitted a report to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Institutional Review Board, and A-Gen.

“It was successful.”

It was shocking. Even though Sung Yo-Han did this procedure with the optic nerves A-Gen created for him himself, he was doubtful.

Blindness caused by glaucoma was incurable. Blindness could be prevented if it was taken care of during the early stages, but it was impossible to cure someone who was already blind.

But not anymore. Medicine had found a solution. The results some genius scientist made brought light to a patient’s eyes.

Sung Yo-Han could feel that he was in the midst of the advancement of human medicine.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Sung Yo-Han didn’t believe in a religion, but he offered a prayer of gratitude to someone.

The next morning, every news channel and newspaper came out with a provocatively titled report.

[Success in clinical trials using optic nerves derived from induced pluripotent stem cells]

[Plans created to add five additional glaucoma patients to clinical trials]

[Glaucoma-caused blindness now curable]

[A-Gen, developer of glaucoma cure]

[A-Gen stocks reach a high along with the pharmaceutical industry. Analysis of the stem cell concept]

[How are stem cells changing the future of medicine?]

[The advancement of medicine created by a thirty-year-old scientist]

[Ryu Young Joon: the scientist who conquered glaucoma]

* * *

As Young-Joon was heading to Lab Six for work, he received a call from Park Dong-Hyun.

—Young-Joon! Where are you right now?

“I’m almost at the entrance. I’m getting off the bus now.”

—You can’t come in through the main entrance! No!

“Pardon?”

—There are reporters lined up there, waiting for an interview. Soon-Yeol and Hae-Rim are stuck there right now.

“Why are Soon-Yeol-sunbae and Hae-Rim-sunbae stuck there?”

—I think they are asking about what kind of person you are because they know that they are in the same department as you... Anyway, don’t come in through the main entrance!

“I’m already at the main entrance. I got off the bus right now. How many reporters can there be...”

“It’s Ryu Young-Joon!”

Someone screamed from the entrance of the lab. Then, about thirty reporters with cameras and microphones began running over to him. Startled, Young-Joon almost ran the other way.

“Doctor Ryu! This is Yoo Su-Min from the Chosun Ilbo[3]. I heard that you...”

“Doctor Ryu! Sunyoo Hospital has stated that they have successfully treated patients with optic nerve cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells in clinical trials! Did you know that?”

“How do you feel as the first person who developed a treatment for glaucoma?”

“Do you think this can be recreated in other patients?”

“What do you think the profits will be for this technology?”

“Did you know that A-Gen stocks have reached an all-time high today?”

“Can induced pluripotent stem cells be used to create other nerve cells?”

“What do you predict for the future of stem cell therapy?”

Cameras flashed from all over and microphones flew into his face from every direction.

“Oh...”

Young-Joon did consider the possibility that reporters would come to cover this story after he received the email saying that the clinical trial had succeeded.

‘But I didn’t think it would be this huge...’

Since he already said everything in his interview with

Science

and CNN and since a lot of reporters had come by and already covered the story, Young-Joon didn’t think it would be that crazy this time. He just thought a few reporters would call him to request an interview and politicians would ask to have a meal together sometime.

Even though

Science

was the world’s best journal, it was still a journal; the people who read it were usually limited to scientists. Even if CNN did a huge broadcast about stem cell therapy and its vision, it was still just a possibility.

To the public, science depended on results. No matter how much scientists talked about the bright potential of something and its surprising mechanism, the public didn’t really care at all. To them, the middle part wasn’t necessary; the only thing that was important was whether someone was cured or not.

That was why Young-Joon thought that the Korean news reporters who came to see him after the CNN broadcast were probably just here to cover another boring story. He didn’t expect this to be this huge. But now that he thought of it, those reporters were lucky since they could reuse their article because they already had an interview.

“Wait!”

“Please move!”

Suddenly, a few men wearing black suits came running through the reporters and reached him. Young-Joon thought they were A-Gen’s security guards, but they weren’t. He looked carefully, but he didn’t see the symbol for ATCaps, the security firm, on their chest.

The men protected Young-Joon and got him out of the crowd of reporters.

“Let’s go, Doctor Ryu. We will escort you to the lab.”

“Who are you?”

“We will explain along the way.”

Young-Joon was a little flustered, but he followed them since they were heading in the direction of Lab Six. He was going to work anyway. As he got closer, he could see the ATCaps guards on edge.

‘They are going to have a long day today.’

* * *

The people who dug Young-Joon out of the crowd of reporters were the security guards of Congressman Shim Sung-Yeol.

Even Young-Joon, who wasn’t interested in politics any more than the average person, knew who Shim Sung-Yeol was. He was the former leader of the ruling party, and he was also the next presidential candidate. He was in the office of the director of Lab Six, Gil Hyung-Joon.

“Oh, our national hero, Doctor Ryu. You’re here!”

Shim Sung-Yeol put on a greasy smile and walked toward Young-Joon with wide arms. He lightly hugged him and said to Gil Hyung-Joon, “You must feel so assured having such a great scientist like him, Director!”

Gil Hyung-Joon’s expression soured instantly, as if he just chewed a bug or something.

“Yes... So assured...” Gil Hyung-Joon said with his teeth clenched.

“Director, Doctor Ryu. How about this? I think it will be good for all of us to go to the hospital and visit the patient. Get a picture, too. It looks good, right? The government supported A-Gen a lot all this time, right? The congressman of the ruling party, Doctor Ryu, the project manager, Director Gil, and the patient all in one picture...”

Shim Sung-Yeol made the shape of a camera with his hands and laughed.

“If we do that, other scientists will also trust the government more and be more motivated, right? Doctor Ryu, you will become the greatest star scientist of this government. You can get famous and become the lab director. Director Gil can become the CTO. Hahaha!”

“Haha... Great. Yes, let’s go,” Gil Hyung-Joon replied as he snuck a glance at Young-Joon.

“I should get back to my experiments,” Young-Joon said firmly.

Gil Hyung-Joon’s expression soured even more.

“Hahaha!” Shim Sung-Yeol laughed out loud.

“Experiments? Of course. Our national hero is full of passion. But surely, you can take a day off, right? The smarter you are, the more important it is to get fresh air and rest. Isn’t that right, Director?” Shim Sung-Yeol asked as he stared at Gil Hyung-Joon.

Sighing on the inside, Gil Hyung-Joon wrapped his arm around Young-Joon’s shoulders. He pulled him over to one side and whispered into his ear.

“Hey, Doctor Ryu, are you that slow? He’s the next presidential candidate. Suck up a little. That way, we can get more government funding and it will be easier to get approval for clinical trials when you do something with stem cells in the future...”

That was when Young-Joon pushed Gil Hyung-Joon away and stared right at Shim Sung-Yeol.

“Congressman, scientists and politics must be independent of each other. I do not like scientists who go out to drink and play golf to get funding instead of researching and reading papers. I dislike becoming the face of the government as a science hero even more. Science is the study of objectivity and proof, and it must be an independent field that one can only prove themselves through papers.”

“Fuck...” Gil Hyung-Joon whispered under his breath behind Young-Joon.

Young-Joon added, “I do not want any other kinds of power to be mixed with my research. I had many other politicians request meetings, but I have declined all of them. I ask you to please not use my findings for politics.”

Gil Hyung-Joon cracked open the ice-cold water bottle he got from the fridge and gulped it down.

1. The National Singing Contest is a TV program that has been going on since 1980. It is usually watched by the older generation. ?

2. BRIC stands for Biological Research Information Center, and it is a collection of biology discoveries. It is based in Korea. ?

3. The Chosun Ilbo is the oldest daily newspaper in the country. ?