Chapter 42: A Player of Life (4)

Kim Joo-Chul was a young politician who was successfully re-elected. He was building up his support and getting better at what he was doing. He was thirsty for prestige, so he did whatever he could if it meant that he could make his name. And since he happened to be in Daejeon, he was able to come see Young-Joon first. It would be quite helpful for him to make a name for himself if he could put his face on a provocative incident like a superstar being attacked. That was the only reason Kim Joo-Chul visited Young-Joon’s hospital room. As it was late in the evening, he was thinking of getting a picture with the new rising scientist and advertising it on social media rather than bringing in a reporter and making a fuss.

“Hello.”

With a bright smile, Kim Joo-Chul walked into Young-Joon’s room.

“Hello,” Young-Joon replied dryly.

He was talking to Rosaline in his head. He consumed one fitness point as it was not an everyday conversation.

‘What do you think?’

—He has stomach cancer. Stage one.

‘If they resect it?’

—It would have to be a total gastrectomy.

Young-Joon thought that someone his age would have some sort of minor illness, but it was a big one right off the bat. Did Kim Joo-Chul know that he had stomach cancer?

“Doctor Ryu, how are you feeling?” Kim Joo-Chul asked.

“I am good.”

“How could an accident like this happen to someone who works day and night for the advancement of science in our country? It really breaks my heart.”

With a look of pity, Kim Joo-Chul came over and sat beside Young-Joon.

“I am alright. I had a thorough examination, and it wasn’t that serious. I am doing an endoscopy tomorrow,” Young-Joon replied. He was throwing bait at Kim Joo-Chul as politicians used anything in order to form a bond.

“Oh, is that so? I also got an endoscopy recently,” Kim Joo-Chul said.

“What kind of endoscopy?”

“An upper endoscopy.”

‘Bingo.’

If he did an endoscopy, they would have found a severe stomach ulcer.

“Were there any problems?” Young-Joon asked.

“Haha, they told me to get it checked out, so I did, and I was diagnosed with stage one stomach cancer. But you can treat it with an endoscopy since it’s only stage one, right?” Kim Joo-Chul said, chuckling.

“I can’t get surgery right away since I was re-elected and it’s a busy time for me, but I am going to go in soon and get it treated.”

“With an endoscopy?” Young-Joon asked.

“Yes.”

“Did your doctor say that?”

“No, but it’s stage one, right?”

“So did you not ask how much of your stomach needs to be resected?”

“Yes...”

Kim Joo-Chul looked a little nervous as Young-Joon kept asking.

“I think it would be best if you asked him. Not all stage one stomach cancers can be treated with an endoscopy.”

“Is that so?”

“Sometimes, you may have to do a total gastrectomy. Normally, people think that you have to resect more of the stomach as the stages progress, but the amount that needs to be resected is actually dependent on where the cancer is located.”

Kim Joo-Chul went a little stiff.

“Congressman, where did they say the cancer was?”

“T-The upper side...”

“I cannot be certain as I did not see your chart, but they usually do a gastrectomy if the tumor is located in the first third of the stomach. It is a surgery where the entire stomach is taken out and the esophagus is connected to the small intestine.”

Kim Joo-Chul froze right away. This was devastating news.

Kim Joo-Chul thought,

‘I have to take out my entire stomach?’

“What... It’s only stage one, but I have to take out my entire stomach? It’s only stage one? Why?”

“If only the upper part of the stomach that has cancer cells is removed, side effects such as severe reflux esophagitis would occur. Then, you would not be able to eat anything. That’s why the entire stomach is taken out.”

“B-But the doctor did not say anything like that.”

“I do not know about the doctor’s situation. They might be thinking about it because it is in a tricky location. It may have not been communicated well since the doctor and you both have very busy jobs. Anyway, I’m just saying that it is generally like that.”

“...”

When Kim Joo-Chul was getting his examination, he was already late to the re-elected congressmen meeting. He left the office after hearing that stage one stomach cancer had a recovery rate of almost one hundred percent. He said that it was because he was busy and that he would hear the rest by phone afterward.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about it at all, but he had just put off calling the doctor for a few days. But after hearing it now, he thought it could be much more serious than he thought.

“You should call your doctor and ask how much of your stomach needs to be resected.”

“Please give me a moment.”

Kim Joo-Chul, who had turned completely pale, quickly pulled out his phone and called the doctor’s phone. The doctors probably weren’t working anymore as the time was late, but he couldn’t think about that right now as he was too in shock.

“Hello? Doctor? Yes, I am Congressman Kim Joo-Chul. I went to see you before... Yes, that’s right. Yes. I just wanted to ask if I would have to resect my entire stomach?” Kim Joo-Chul asked.

And a little while later, his hand fell helplessly along with his phone. His breathing was a little rough out of shock.

Watching him, Young-Joon cautiously interrupted.

“Did he say that you will have to do a total gastrectomy?”

“Yes... He said... that will be best...”

“Well, what can you do? Don’t worry too much about it. However, your quality of life will decrease.” Young-Joon said,.

“After you resect your entire stomach, you will have to chew your food at least thirty times and eat slowly for at least twenty minutes. You have to chew your food more since your stomach can’t digest it. And since you will lack the ability to store food, you will have to eat five or six times a day in relatively small amounts.”

“...”

“And if you don’t be careful, you might start dumping, which is when high concentrations of undigested food pour into your intestines and cause abdominal distension, stomach cramps, vomiting, or diarrhea. And if you’re unlucky, you could get dizzy or fall into a coma. So you must follow your diet carefully.”

“...”

“And you must lay down slightly after thirty minutes of eating since you have to slow the passage of food. You can’t get up right away and move. There are a few kinds of food you have to restrict, such as dairy, but the hospital will tell you that. You have to take care of yourself.”

Kim Joo-Chul urgently turned his face toward Young-Joon.

“S-Sir, is there any way?”

“Any way?”

“You cured glaucoma too, right? You said you are going to cure Alzheimer’s as well...”

Young-Joon stroked his chin as if he was contemplating for a bit. Kim Joo-Chul gulped in nervousness.

“Sir...?”

“There is a biomaterial called CD44 on the surface of cancer cells. It’s on normal cells as well, but there is specifically more on cancer cells. If there’s about one on normal cells, there’s about one hundred on the surface of cancer cells. So, a lot of scientists tried to target that and create an anticancer drug since it would only kill cancer cells with one hundred times more efficiency.”

Young-Joon went on.

“But the scientists discovered while developing it that a small subset of stem cells in the body had as many CD44 as cancer cells. Maybe not one hundred of them, but about eighty. So, all those cells died when the anticancer drug was used, and that was quite fatal. That’s why the pharmaceutical industry hasn’t been able to create an anticancer drug that targets CD44 even though it is one of the most efficient targets.”

“...”

“But strangely, stomach cancer cells have a variant of CD44 on the surface.”

“A variant?”

“It is a material called CD44v8. There are a lot of them since it is derived from CD44, but it doesn't exist on other cells because it is a variant.”

“Then...”

Kim Joo-Chul could barely follow Young-Joon’s explanation.

“Then can you make a drug with that?”

“That’s right. Then, stage one stomach cancers will not need any resection at all. It will be cured by just putting the medicine on the tumor since it is highly toxic to cancer cells,” Young-Joon replied.

He added, “But it is very tricky to develop. It’s difficult to make a unique antibody just for CD44v8, and that’s why the scientific community has not been able to develop it into a pharmaceutical yet. I had a few ideas, which I think would have a pretty high success rate. But I haven’t been able to even start developing it. As you can see.”

Young-Joon lifted his arm that had an intravenous line in it.

“Because I’m in this situation.”

Suddenly, sparks flew from Kim Joo-Chul’s eyes. Young-Joon smiled bitterly.

“I should have been born earlier... I’m sorry,” Young-Joon said in a half-joking voice.

“No...”

“But I also have stem cell technology, Congressman. It’s okay even if you resect your entire stomach. If you hold out a little bit, I can make you a new stomach.”

Young-Joon added, “If I am still alive by then. Since someone seems to be after my life.”

“...”

Kim Joo-Chul grit his teeth.

“Doctor Ryu, did you do anything to make someone resent you?”

“I made some enemies while trying to live the right way.”

“If you have anyone you suspect, please tell me.”

“I do, but it is only a suspicion. I want to take care of this based on evidence and the law. I’m worried that they will suffer more damage than their share if I thoughtlessly tell you their name.”

“They are going to be people with power if they messed with someone like you, Doctor Ryu. They are going to try to cover it up if you let them be, no?” Kim Joo-Chul said. “I will do it according to the law as you wish. I will investigate it thoroughly and find them.”

* * *

About ten people had come to see Young-Joon in the span of about ten days. There was a pretty scary energy going around the political community. The public’s request to thoroughly investigate was nothing but a cliché stimulus for the old snakes who had seeped in politics for a long time, but what Young-Joon gave them was a much stronger motivation. Everyone who had met him once were all caught up in a roaring anger.

In the meantime, Young-Joon met some more close people he missed.

As soon as Ryu Ji-Won heard the news, she skipped all her afternoon classes and got on a train right away. She was usually playful and fun, but it seemed like something like attempted murder was too much of a shock. She began crying by his bedside with her face buried in his bed.

“I knew things were going too well for you!”

Wiping the tears off her face, she sobbed and said, “Hey, just don’t do research anymore. That’s why this happened, right? Some strange people are after you because you’re famous?”

“It’s not because I’m famous, but I do have more enemies now...”

“More enemies? You?”

“Yeah.”

“... Yeah, you have a pretty bad temper. You should bring a bodyguard with you when you go places now. I heard that Einstein also had a bodyguard with him.”

“Well, he, a German Jew, criticized the Nazi in Europe when Hitler was ruling. He really lived like there was no tomorrow.”

“You’re not that different, either!”

“And Einstein didn’t have a bodyguard after he sought asylum in America.”

“Anyway.”

“Whatever. Einstein was racist, and he had a pretty bad personal life as well. Don’t compare me to him.”

“Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“They came here the day I came to the hospital, and they’re here almost every day. They went out to eat right now, but you should take them for some coffee later.”

“Young-Joon!”

The door swung open and Park Joo-Hyuk entered. Patent Attorney Lee Hae-Won followed him in.

“You lunatic. What are you doing here? What happened?”

As Park Joo-Hyuk was making a fuss and walking toward Young-Joon, he saw Ryu Ji-Won sitting beside him.

“Long time no see, Ji-Won. How is school?”

“It’s fine. Hehe.”

“It’s nice that you’re here, even though you’re probably really busy with school. Coming all the way here because of your stupid brother.

Sigh

,” Park Joo-Hyuk said.

“Are you Kim Jong-Nam or something? You can’t control yourself now that you’re famous, huh? Are you some chaebol who is secretly fighting for power or something? This is going overboard, man.”[1]

“I didn’t know they would act like this, too. That’s why I was hit. Why did you bring Attorney Lee?”

“You’re her best customer and her income. What is she going to live off of if you’re gone?”

Lee Hae-Won chuckled like she was embarrassed by what Park Joo-Hyuk was saying.

“But I am glad you’re okay.”

“You should rest a lot now since I’ll be giving you more work once I get discharged.”

“Ugh...”

Lee Hae-Won looked sad.

That was when Park Joo-Hyuk interrupted.

“Hey, Young-Joon. I looked into some private security firms. About a hundred of them show up when you search it up on Naver, but half of them are ghost companies, and the other half are worthless. A lot of them just use part-time workers instead of actually trained guards. I made a list for you just in case you spend money on bad ones like an idiot and get stabbed in an alley or something.”

“So which did you choose?”

“K-Cops.”

“... The Robot Police?”[2]

“Ji-Won doesn’t understand that joke. Be careful; it makes you look old.”

Ryu Ji-Won actually looked like she didn’t know what they were talking about.

‘Holy...’

“Anyway, ask them for security since K-Cops are trustworthy. Or ask for protection from the government.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Take care of yourself.

Sigh

, you always worry me, little bro,” Park Joo-Hyuk said, clicking his tongue.

1. Kim Jong-Nam was the firstborn son of Kim Jong-Il of North Korea who was assassinated by a nerve poison in 2017. ?

2. Robot Police K-Cops, or Brave Police J-Decker, was an animation that aired in Korea in 1994. ?