Chapter 162: Ebola (5)

Chapter 162: Ebola (5)

The Democratic Republic of Congo was one of Belgium’s colonies during the early 1880’s. At the time, they were ruthlessly exploited and oppressed by King Leopold II of Belgium. Congo finally succeeded in gaining independence from Belgium in 1960, but the country wasn’t stable.

“There were constant dictatorships, civil wars, terrors, coups, and assassinations,” Michelle said. “There were people in ethnic conflicts already, and a military government that controls them by force can’t last very long. When civil wars and dictatorships are prolonged, assassinations follow naturally. A total of four million people died in the civil wars before 2003.”

“Four million?”

Young-Joon was absolutely shocked.

“It’s a common number of casualties in Africa. The president was assassinated during the war, and Joseph Kibli, his son, became the president. He was a dictator for eighteen years.”

“...”

“The people are tired of the military government and dictators fighting. They want peace and democracy,” Michelle said. “A lot of people wanted to vote for the president. We had an election, but there was a problem.”

“The vote count manipulation you talked about?”

“Yes. Plus, there were two candidates from the opposition party in the first place. One was Phillip, who is now the president, and the other was Commissioner Paulo. There was an election, and Paulo won,” Michelle said. “Then, Phillip left the party and ran as an independent. The presidential election was a three-way race, including the candidate from the ruling party.”

“If there was a candidate from the ruling party and the former President manipulated the voting, wouldn’t the ruling party candidate have won?”

“That was never going to happen because the public’s heart had turned away from President Kablie already. It was basically just a battle between Phillip and Paulo.”

“And you’re saying that Commissioner Phillip became the president?”

“Yes.”

Michelle nodded.

“Paulo was someone who was trying to destroy the government officials of the dictatorship, including President Kabilie. Phillip was more about bringing everyone together.”

“Oh... So, he helped the person who was the least threatening?”

“Yes. In fact, Phillip had a private meeting with President Kabilie before the election. After that, they prevented Maibi, a city of two million people, from voting.”

“...”

“The support for Commissioner Paulo at Maibi was close to eighty percent.”

“And they said the reason they prevented them from voting was because of Ebola.”

“That’s right. But there is another problem, Doctor Ryu.”

“What is it?”

“There aren’t a lot of people who have Ebola in Congo right now. There were four people in Maibi.”

“It’s a relief that there aren't a lot of patients. But it might be in its incubation period.”

“That’s right. However, you have to understand what this means.”

“What do you mean?”

“To the people of Congo, Ebola is an evil excuse, something that is nothing but a legend.”

“...”

“The Congolese people can’t accept that Ebola is back because they don’t actually see anyone dying from it.”

“Then...”

“What will people think if we go around saying that we will provide Ebola vaccines and Ebola treatments?”

“No...”

Young-Joon’s jaw dropped. VIsit n0(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

“Yes, it’s exactly what you think. They will think we are President Phillip’s minions. They might mistake us as a force trying to defend the voting disruption that happened in Maibi.”

“...”

This was trouble. Congo already had problems with religion, anti-science, and low education levels. But now, another problem had popped up.

“Is it true that the government manipulated the election by disrupting voting? Please be honest,” Young-Joon said.

“I don’t know,” Michelle said calmly. “Doctor Ryu, I am a scientist. I am not good enough to focus on anything other than that.”

* * *

There was an unexpected guest at the Protein Purification Research Department’s entrance at Lab Three.

“Senior Jung Hae-Rim.”

The scientists who were at the department approached her.

Jung Hae-Rim fought Song Pan-Sup in court after accusing of sexual harassment, then was shunned by the rest of the department. She was banished to the Life Creation Department, and she never thought that she would have to see them ever again except at the year-end seminar.

But then, Jung Hae-Rim received a huge award with Young-Joon at the year-end seminar and went to A-Bio. Now, she was back here as an employee of Young-Joon, a director.

“D–Director?”

“Hm. It’s been a while, Senior Jung.”

Oh Jun-Tae came into the room clenching his jaw. Now that she saw, there were a few more people standing outside.

“Someone may contact you soon,” Oh Jun-Tae said.

“What do you mean?”

“It was a long time ago, but... Doctor Ryu reported it to the internal audit team.”

“...”

“Principal Song!” Oh Jun-Tae shouted.

“Come out here. Let’s have a chat with the audit team.”

Oh Jun-Tae called Song Pan-Sup irritatedly. Then, in a softer voice, “You can go now, Senior Jung. And please let him know... Ugh.”

* * *

Young-Joon borrowed a lab at the University of Kinshasa, which was affiliated with the Congolese government’s Ministry of Public Health. Nicholas Kim had sent him the data on anthracis. Young-Joon was reviewing it with Rosaline.

—The genome of anthracis is much larger than the Ebola virus, but it isn’t difficult to analyze.

Rosaline said.

—However, this research will be very different from taking a few receptors from viruses. The cilia of anthracis is a complex of much more diverse cells and extracellular matrix.

“Probably.”

The extracellular matrix was a messy tangle of mucus membranes and the cell skeleton secreted outside the membrane. Now, Young-Joon and Rosaline were trying to rip off a part of it.

—It’s a good thing we have this much data. It would have consumed a lot of fitness if we went into this blindly.

Rosaline picked out a few genes while slowly analyzing the data. There were seven in total.

—Put these in a cloning vector, recombine them, and express them. Send them back to Doctor Jung for purification.

Rosaline said.

—Then, you just have to attach the DNase to it.[ref]DNase is a DNA-destroying substance.

“Great.”

Young-Joon gathered some more genome information.

“Doctor Ryu!”

One of the employees at the Ministry of Public Health showed up to the lab with a huge package. It was big enough to fit a mini refrigerator.

“It came for you. What is this?”

Young-Joon smiled when he read the name. It was from Jung Hae-Rim.

The box was the definition of overpackaging. There was a large styrofoam box when he opened it, and it was full of dry ice. The actual sample was a small sterile tube the size of a finger. The rest of it was dry ice to keep the sample at negative twenty degrees Celsius during the international shipping.

“This is the weapon to make the vaccine. Please call all the scientists here, and Michelle, too,” Young-Joon said.

As people were crowding in, Young-Joon called Jung Hae-Rim.

“We got the antibody. It would have been a pretty difficult experiment, but you did well. Thank you,” Young-Joon said.

—I just did what you told me to do.

“If the recipe is hard, it all depends on the cook, no matter how well-written the recipe is. Good work.”

—Thank you. Did you report Song Pan-Sup to A-Gen’s internal audit team?”

“Yes. He harassed you, right?”

—Well... Yes. But it’s been so long...

“I can’t stand something like that happening in the lab. Go ask our legal team for help regarding the legal stuff. You can talk to our attorney, Park Joo-Hyuk. You can file an appeal or do anything you want, but just make sure to let out all your frustration. The company will support you.”

—...

“Of course, you don’t have to do it right now if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. It’s up to you.”

—Thank you.

Jung Hae-Rim said.

—I am so lucky to have met you at the Life Creation Department, Doctor Ryu.

“I am grateful for you. I received the antibodies. I think we will make a lot of progress thanks to you. I’ve got to go back to work,” Young-Joon said.

Michelle and other scientists were coming in.