Chapter 255: Cold Chain (7)

“So Philistines entered the botulinum toxin market similar to when Woongdam Pharmaceuticals did?” Young-Joon asked.

“Are you suspicious of Philistines?” Hong Myung-Woon asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s not them. We’ve already looked into that.”

“How do you know it wasn’t them?”

“Because there’s no connection between us. Most of the employees there are Arab, and they only have a few people who speak English, even at this point,” Hong Myung-Woon said. “When they first started out four years ago, they probably only had around ten employees. So to fly all the way from there to Korea and come to LifeToxin, one of the biggest pharma...”

Hong Myung-Woon paused. He glanced at Young-Joon timidly, then continued.

“Um... A mid-sized pharma company, and steal a stock of the botulinum strain? It’s impossible. I admit that our company’s security isn’t that great, but it’s not completely flawed.”

“You said Asham, the delivery company, goes in and out of there?” Young-Joon asked.

“No, Asham is...”

Hong Myung-Woon opened his mouth to say something but stopped.

Hesitantly, he said, “It can’t be. The head of Asham basically runs his company almost as a hobby.”

“As a hobby?” Young-Joon asked.

“He’s a Saudi prince. He wasn’t just born with a silver spoon; he was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth... That’s who Abdul Asham, the CEO of Asham, is,” Hong Myung-Woon replied.

“I see.”

“There’s no way someone like that would have ordered his employees to steal a strain from someone else’s company in Korea.”

“Maybe the delivery person just stole it because they got money from Philistines.”

“No way. It’s too big of a crime for an ordinary person to commit. Most of the delivery people are simple people who don’t have a high school education and are just trying to feed their families by making deliveries. What would those people have to gain by doing something crazy like that? Philistines probably didn’t have the money to do that when they founded the company.”

Hong Myung-Woon waved his hand in doubt.

“Was the strain that was stolen stored in liquid nitrogen?” Young-Joon asked.

“Yes.”

“...”

It definitely wasn’t a crime that just anyone could pull off. It wasn’t even about getting through security; it was difficult because they had to find and take out an extremely toxic bacterial strain in a liquid nitrogen tank, store it so that there was no infection or bacterial death, and then take it back to the Middle East. It definitely wasn't something that an ordinary person could do, but it seemed pretty likely that the strain had made its way to Philistines.

‘Then maybe...’

“Asham is an international transport company, so they probably have a lot of different ethnicities, right?” Young-Joon asked.

“Yes, they do,” Hong Myung-Woon said.

Young-Joon nodded.

“Alright. Thank you, Mr. Hong.”

“But this strain’s DNA data... Did you send it to Woongdam Pharmaceuticals already?” Hong Myung-Woon asked. “If you haven’t, I would like to contact them now so that we can finalize the lawsuit and wrap it up...”

“I already sent it.”

“... I see.”

“Yeah. It’s going to break your bank a little, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

* * *

After Hong Myung-Woon left, Young-Joon received Prime Minister Felus’ contact information from Kim Young-Hoon and called him himself.

—Hello?

“Hello, this is Ryu Young-Joon.”

—Mr. Ryu!

“I heard from Mr. Kim that he asked you to look into a scientist named Isaiah Franklin in and around Egypt.”

—Yes.

“Have you found anything?”

“He’s a biologist, you idiot.”

Harrington, his fellow scientist, scoffed at the absurdity of his recommendation.

“But there aren’t any other good people, so there’s nothing I can do,” Piviroba replied, laughing.

“What did you write as the reason for the nomination?” Harrington asked.

“For figuring out how to track glucose protons with the MRI.”

It was the method Young-Joon used to find cancer cells that had metastasized in Lee Yoon-Ah, the liver cancer patient.

“Do you honestly think that’s an item worthy of winning the Nobel Prize in Physics?”

“Not really, but... Ah, I don’t know. The nineteenth century was the age of physics, the twentieth century was the age of chemistry, and the twenty-first century is the age of biology. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has already been taken over by biology a long time ago. It’s time for physics to join forces with biology now,” Piviroba said. “This could be the start of that. There aren’t any other good candidates, do we?”

This conversation was held on a snowy morning in January. Up until this point, Piviroba didn’t think Young-Joon could actually win the Nobel Prize in Physics. His nomination was a playful rebellion and warning to the physics community, which was slowly falling into a mannerism.

But now, Piviroba didn’t know anymore.

Piviroba, who stopped by the coffee shop on the ground floor of CERN on his way to work in the morning, saw a shocking news report on the TV.

[A-GenBio invents chlorophyll solar cells]

‘Is that the chlorophyll I know?’

Piviroba took out his phone, his eyes narrowed. His hands were trembling. He hadn’t even taken a look at it properly, but he felt like he already knew what kind of crazy invention this was. The scientists in the break all had a look of horror on their faces.

Piviroba checked the news on his phone.

[CEO Ryu Young-Joon promises to make electricity a public good as common as air.]

[It will be possible to replace all power plants with solar cells if ESS systems are widely deployed and the generated power is stored.]

[The power generation efficiency relative to land consumption of chlorophyll solar cells is twelve times that of existing technology. At one hundred square meters per 1 MW, it is the highest efficiency of any power plant in existence.]

[A-GenBio succeeds in making chlorophyll, which replaces silicon, lightweight so that it can be loaded into a vehicle and used as a mobile solar cell.]

[Unlike conventional solar cells, it absorbs light at almost all wavelengths, with nearly one hundred percent energy conversion and no heat island effect.]

[It is highly likely that chlorophyll solar cells will permanently phase out fossil fuels from power plants.]

[Once installed, they are semi-permanent, requiring no further expenditure...]

“... What the hell is this...?” Piviroba muttered, looking dumbfounded.

Clang!

A sharp noise came from behind Piviroba. Harrington dropped the jar of jam he was holding to spread jam on his toast. He was also watching the news on his phone, which was in his hand.

“They made a solar cell? A pharmaceutical company? And the efficiency... What is...”

* * *

Electricity generation was the backbone of many other industries. As such, it was often run directly by governments or managed by state-owned enterprises in most countries.

A-GenBio mass-produced the chlorophyll solar cells and distributed them to governments around the world. It was a promotion for prototype testing targeting governments.

Compared to thermal power plants, these solar cells produced zero pollution and required less land area; compared to hydro or wind power, it was less location-specific than hydro or wind power; compared to nuclear power, it was completely risk-free.

It had the highest energy conversion efficiency of any power plant; it was the cheapest to install and maintain; it was semi-permanent and required no additional resources; it could be installed, dismantled, and moved; it could be used on a smaller scale depending on the number of modules; it could be personalized; and it was lightweight and stable...

“Simply put, it’s superior in every way for every power plant.”

David, the CEO of Conson & Colson, was astounded as he read the newspaper.

“Ha. Is he Pikachu or something? He just pulled electricity out of his pocket like it was nothing.”

David folded the newspaper and threw it aside.

“Our neighborhood monster is taking over the neighborhood next door,” said Benter, the CTO.

“No. Doctor Ryu is focused on biology. This is going to be something medical,” David said. “If he were to do something with this...”

As a representative in the pharmaceutical industry, David knew what it meant to make solar cells lightweight and maximize their efficiency so they were portable.

“They’ll probably use it to make a cold chain,” David said. “Will he sell the solar cells to a company like Asham, or will they monopolize them and start their own cold chain transportation business... I wonder how they will use their power.”