Chapter 45: A Player of Life (7)

“Director Ryu, do you have interest in running A-Gen yourself?” Yoon Dae-Sung asked a bold question.

“I have never run a company, nor have I learned to. To be honest, I am not confident that I can run a company this big,” Young-Joon replied.

“But I will do it anytime if the situation comes to it.”

“And what kind of situation is that?”

“You have probably heard, but I fought with Lab Director Kim Hyun-Taek about the case where Division Manager Ji Kwang-Man and him bought an early-stage liver cancer drug and destroyed it. That’s when I knew that our company wasn’t as healthy as I thought it was.”

“...”

“Sir, A-Gen is where the world’s best intellectuals are gathered. I have gotten scholarships, and I did my doctorate at Jungyoon University, the best university in the country, but I’m just normal here. When I line up at the cafeteria at lunch, every tenth person I see is from an Ivy League school. When I was at the Anticancer Drug Research Department, half the people in the department were people who had published a paper in

Nature

or

Science

. That’s the kind of intellectuals who are here.”

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“... That’s right.”

“I think intellectuals have a social responsibility. I’m not talking about the social responsibility of a company, I’m talking about the responsibility of an intellectual. They have the responsibility to guide the present time of humanity and explore the future. I think that they should research and study with the determination that one more person could live tomorrow if they developed a new drug today.”

“...”

“But destroying a better drug? For the profit of the company? That isn’t just abandoning responsibility to me, but it is like being a vulgar traitor in academia.”

“I understand what you are saying.”

“If management leads this company in that way and if it corrupts so much that no one raises any problems with that, I will gladly threaten management to change that culture. I’m sure you know why I chose an Alzheimer’s cure as my next target for stem cells and why I chose to develop that first.”

Yoon Dae-Sung nodded.

Yoon Chul-Joong, Yoon Dae-Sung’s father and the founder of A-Gen, suffered from Alzheimer’s before he died. From then on, he had fought for an Alzheimer’s cure for a long time. That was when his heart burned more with a scientist’s passion for research than being a businessman.

The fact that Young-Joon picked neurons and Alzheimer’s rather than other choices such as recovery of spinal nerves felt like a metaphor to Yoon Dae-Sung; it was a humble warning and a desperate prayer Young-Joon was sending him. During the last shareholders’ meeting, he had felt something deep in his heart when Young-Joon mentioned his book and Alzheimer’s.

“I am a little ashamed to look at you as a scientist and not as a businessman, Director Ryu. I guess I am much more corrupt than you thought, Director Ryu,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

“Did you do things worse than erasing Cellicure?”

“...”

Yoon Dae-Sung took a few more sips of his tea. He gathered his thoughts for a moment, then changed the subject without answering.

“It is unreasonable for you to ask for a one-to-one exchange right now, Director Ryu, but you might convince me in a year. A-Bio will grow at a tremendous speed if you succeed at curing Alzheimer’s and supply that technology internationally.”

“Yes, it will.”

“And since you have already shown us things, the shareholders will also bet on the fact that your Alzheimer’s cure will succeed. Since places like the SG Group or Berkshire don’t feel pressured by my management rights being split, they will want A-Bio to be launched as we sign the contract for the stock exchange. And if we can terminate that contract after a year, they won’t lose anything either. They will be hostile to me if I reject it.”

Yoon Dae-Sung smiled bitterly.

“You probably came to me after thinking of all that.”

“To be honest... Yes.”

“In a year, you will have the same amount of influence as me if we do this exchange. You also know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“I will bet on your conscience as a scientist, Director Ryu. Even if my management rights transfer to you in a year, I will not regret it. I will support you.”

“...”

“I am old, and I did think that managing this company was getting harder. If you can maintain that attitude you have right now, I don’t think it would be a bad thing to leave A-Gen in the hands of a capable youngster like you.”

“... Thank you.”

“Then, you may go now, sir.”

As Young-Joon left the CEO’s office, his thoughts were a little complicated. Yoon Dae-Sung said that he was ashamed as a scientist and not as a businessman, and he said that he would support Young-Joon. To be honest, it was a little unexpected. It was just a few days ago that Ji Kwang-Man, someone who was like family to Yoon Dae-Sung, tried everything to get rid of him, including extreme measures that led to his demise.

But all of a sudden, Yoon Dae-Sung was saying that he would grant all his requests, help him launch A-Bio, and support him? And even give him the management rights of A-Gen?

‘Liar.’

All he did was gloss over the situation with some nice words. All he did was soften the hostile mood as Young-Joon was gaining a lot of ground. Yoon Dae-Sung was going to try to defend his management rights by increasing his shares however he can and getting more friendly shares. He might be thinking of a way to get rid of Young-Joon, but he had to keep in mind that he could be stabbed in the back at any time.

But this was good. It would be best if Yoon Dae-Sung sincerely supported Young-Joon, but even if Yoon Dae-Sung didn’t, all he had to do was be careful.

But there was one thing that Young-Joon found confusing.

‘Was I always this skeptical?’

As he climbed up the ladder, he felt like he was changing. He felt that when he was destroying Ji Kwang-Man. He manipulated politicians who came to see him as he slowly got treated at the hospital for injuries he could recover quickly by using Rosaline. It was actually a power fight for management rights, but he drove Ji Kwang-Man to the ground by keeping his innocent scientist image and stance as the victim. Doing something this calculated and political was strange for him.

But how was the world reacting? A crowd of one hundred thirty thousand people held a rally for him, and a twenty-year-old young man he had never seen before was hoping they would work together in the future. People liked the current Young-Joon better and not the innocent and righteous scientist he was when he took on Kim Hyun-Taek as a Scientist who had nothing. The bigger he became, the more burdening his changing environment became.

‘Can I really keep going like this?’

Perhaps something had been wrong for a long time.

* * *

Young-Joon, who returned to Lab Six with a bunch of concerns, went into the Life Creation Department office.

“I’m back from headquarters.”

Young-Joon greeted Park Dong-Hyun, who was walking around the office entrance with a cup of coffee.

“Did it go well?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.

“Yes. I’m going to launch A-Bio. He also granted all my requests.”

“Damn! You’re the best, Doctor Ryu. You’re going to take me there, right?”

“Of course. If someone was as talented as you, I would scout them for my company, Dong-Hyun sunbae.”

“Is my salary increasing too?”

“I’ll have to think about that.”

“I see that business is business.”

“But I’ll give you a stock option. I am thinking of giving all the scientists a little bit, although it will be way below the decimal mark.”

“I think I’ll be able to buy a house with that share if I work with you, Doctor Ryu.”

“I hope you can.”

“Oh right, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor? Who?”

“I’m not gonna tell you~”

Young-Joon tilted his head in confusion as Park Dong-Hyun said in a playful attitude. He smiled and said, “They’re in the snack room. Go inside. You’ll be happy to see them.”

Even if they were someone he would be happy to see, people Young-Joon knew personally could not come into the company since it was difficult for outside personnel to enter the lab due to security.

So what this meant was that they were probably someone from the company, which made him wonder who it could be.

Young-Joon opened the door with a confused look, then froze when he saw who was waiting for him in the room.

“Doctor Ryu...”

Participants in clinical trials could visit the company for a report and a consultation on the progress of the trial. They could enter the lab by getting a temporary pass at the entrance in order to meet Young-Joon. They couldn’t come inside the lab due to security reasons, but they could meet the supervisor in the snack or conference room.

Son Soo-Young and her husband were standing there, and they were holding a small baby wearing white pajamas in their arms.

“I heard that you recommended Veratex. I heard that you convinced the doctor and asked for it to be given to Blue...”

A tear suddenly ran down her face. She couldn’t think about the many things she thought about to express her gratitude while waiting for him. Son Soo-Young dropped her head; all she could say was thank you.

“... Thank you so much,” she said. Her voice was trembling.

“Doctor Ryu. Thank... Thank you so much. Really... Our baby... is healthy now.”

“... Is her pulmonary blood pressure stable now?”

“Yes...” Son Soo-Young smiled while wiping her eyes.

“I can see well now, too. It’s the same as before I got sick. Blue was discharged yesterday as well. Yesterday, our entire family slept together in the same room for the first time.”

“...”

“I had my daughter in my arms as she slept, and I stared at her for a long time. I was so tired, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off her... so I kept myself from sleeping and watched her. She... She was so pretty...”

Son Soo-Young felt something deep in her chest.

“You are our family’s savior, Doctor Ryu,” Son Soo-Young’s husband said.

“How could we repay this debt? We should have come to see you sooner, but... I didn’t have time since I was taking care of my wife and baby. I’m sorry. I couldn’t even come see you after you got in an accident. And I didn’t have a good way of contacting you either...”

“No, it’s alright.”

Young-Joon bit his lip. He felt like he was going to cry if he let go a little.

“I’m really relieved that you both recovered.”

Creak...

As the door opened, Hong Ju-Hee, Blue’s doctor, entered the room. She visited Lab Six as part of Son Soo-Young’s group, and she had just come back from the washroom.

“Doctor Ryu.”

There were a lot of emotions on Hong Ju-Hee’s face that could not be described with words. She hesitated for a long time, then said, “Thank you, Doctor Ryu, for giving me courage... Thank you so much for convincing me to use Veratex.”

“... No. The baby got healthier because you did a good job, Doctor Hong. What did I do?”

“I’m ashamed to say this as a doctor, but to be honest, I had given up. And I would have lived in guilt for the rest of my life if I let Blue go like that. It’s all thanks to you.”

Young-Joon laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.

“But did you not give Blue a name? I thought that Blue was just a baby nickname.”

“We had a name, but we changed it,” Son Soo-Young’s husband replied.

“To what?”

“Lim Si-Ah. Si for seeing, and Ah for righteous. We gave her that name so that she could grow as brave and good like you, and only see righteous and beautiful things like her mother.”[1]

“... I see.”

“Doctor Ryu,” Hong Ju-Hee said. “I saw the news that someone tried to kill you. I couldn’t believe it, but I guess there are people who are jealous of you and hate you.”

“...”

“If it’s too hard and scary, no one is going to blame you even if you stop. We will be on your side in any situation. Just remember that you rescued a family from despair. You also prevented me from doing something that I would have regretted for the rest of my life.”

As Hong Ju-Hee said that, Son Soo-Young hugged her baby.

“Thank you, Doctor Ryu. We will raise Si-Ah to be someone who helps other people like you. Thank you so much.”

* * *

Young-Joon returned to the lab. On the white lab table, there was a huge centrifuge, a clean bench, an incubator, a live cell imager, an ICSI, a set of pipettes, and a box of tips. Everything he needed was here.

He felt like he had returned after a long journey. There was a lot of confusion, but now the situation was stable. After he made A-Bio, no one would be able to stand in the path of medicine that he was going to pave. It didn't matter what Yoon Dae-Sung’s real intentions were.

‘Nothing is wrong with me.’

He was no longer wavering anymore; he felt that after meeting Son Soo-Young’s family. That was the kind of thing Young-Joon had dreamed of.

His personality changing to a calculated and clever one? Rosaline taking over his brain? What did that matter?

Young-Joon thought about Ryu Sae-Yi, his youngest sibling who died of liver cancer seven years ago. Everything he was experiencing right now was just power and measures to achieve the things he had dreamt of since then.

No matter how strong and big Rosaline became, Young-Joon was not going to lose his mind to her. His confidence was solid now.

[Rosaline Lv. 8]

Young-Joon opened the status window. He was thinking of starting another research as the clinical trial for the Alzheimer’s cure was happening. He did not want to waste any more time or fitness.

“Turn on Synchronization Mode.”

—Yes. What disease would you like to analyze?

Rosaline asked.

1. Si is hanja for “to see”, and Ah and hanja for “righteous”. ?