Chapter 265: Grand Slam (3)

Chapter 265: Grand Slam (3)

At the height of his schizophrenia, Song Jong-Ho had difficulty distinguishing between reality and delusion. This was the biggest obstacle to treating schizophrenia patients. Because they believed their delusions to be real, they refused to accept that they were hallucinating or hearing things. It’s been said that admitting one had the illness was half the battle in treating schizophrenia.

However, regularly taking dopamine antagonists helped control the symptoms to some extent and allowed the patient to differentiate between hallucinations and reality. And to Song Jong-Ho, who was cured, the fantasies of his delusional days have faded like old film camera photos. He could clearly recognize that they were not real.

“But when I saw her, it was completely real. I saw some kind of holographic screen that said Rosaline...”

“...”

Young-Joon stared at Song Jong-Ho calmly, but inside, he was slightly panicking.

—What are you going to do?

‘What do you mean? Of course, I have to deny it.’ Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

Song Ji-Hyun was a trusted colleague, and he didn’t think there would be any problems if she found out about Rosaline, but explaining it would be too tricky.

“Especially this red hair...”

Song Jong-Ho pointed to the photo.

“This was so impressive that I still remember it. She turned around to face me, snapped her fingers and disappeared...”

“But realistically, it doesn’t make sense,” Young-Joon said. “Perhaps you saw some unusual hallucinations as a side effect of the treatment and mistaking them for her?”

“...”

Song Jong-Ho tilted his head in confusion.

“Have you seen her after that?”

“No... I haven’t seen her since that.”

“Then, it’s probably fine. Don’t worry too much,” Young-Joon said.

“Okay.”

Song Jong-Ho nodded. It was strange, but like Young-Joon said, it was realistically impossible.

“But why are you here with my sister, Doctor Ryu?” he asked.

“Um...”

Song Ji-Hyun fiddled with her hair.

“I asked to meet for some advice,” she replied.

“What advice?”

“Operating the running microdust reduction device, Doctor Song’s company, Cellijenner, became the most famous company in environmental pollution issues right now, along with Laboratory Seven of A-GenBio,” Young-Joon said. “She wants to extend their microdust reduction device technology to develop a radiation removal technique.”

“Radiation?” Song Jong-Ho asked.

“Yeah. There was a massive radiation leak in Japan after the nuclear power plant in the Fukushima area exploded,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

This accident occurred in 2011 in the Tohoku region of Fukushima, Japan. The largest earthquake in Japanese history triggered a tsunami that reached ten meters in height, which took over the nuclear plant.

The reason this disaster was man-made and not natural was that the emergency power system, which was supposed to shut down the reactors in preparation for the tsunami, was damaged by flooding. The plant lost power, and without electricity, the reactor cores could not be cooled, so the core temperature continued to rise. Eventually, three reactors suffered core meltdowns[1], and hydrogen gas was released from the fuel rods.

“C... Can you say it in Korean?” Song Jong-Ho said in pain as he listened to Song Ji-Hyun’s explanation.

“Basically, the power was cut off at the nuclear power plant, so they couldn’t run the coolant. The internal temperature rose, and the fuel rods burned, releasing tons of hydrogen gas,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“And that hydrogen gas caused four buildings in the nuclear power plant to explode, sending radiation everywhere,” Young-Joon added.

“If you’re free, Doctor Song, you should come with me. Since you’re the one who’s planning this project, it would be better for you to talk to NASA if we have a meeting.”

Song Ji-Hyun nodded.

“I’ll talk to my company.”

*

“You’re offering me the position of CEO?” Kim Young-Hoon said, baffled.

“As you know, I’m often away from the company, traveling back and forth from one country to another. I’m tired of dealing with mountains of paperwork every time I come back...”

“But you’re back now, right?” Kim Young-Hoon asked.

“I’m going to the United States again next week or so.”

“... What are you going for this time?”

“I said before that we caught that famous terrorist in the Middle East, right? It’s about that,” Young-Joon said. “And I’m already too busy with just research... You know that. I’ll be the CTO of the company. I’ll be the managing director and attend board meetings when I can, but you’ll be in charge of the overall management tasks.”

“This is a promotion, but why am I not happy about it?”

“You had a tough time when I was in China and the Middle East, right?”

“It was crazy,” Kim Young-Hoon chuckled.

“But thanks to you, I was much more comfortable. Before, people often called me about business matters even when I was overseas, but this time, there were fewer calls.”

“I tried to solve everything within my power because I knew you were busy.”

“And I really appreciated it. Please continue to do so in the future. I will provide you with the treatment and compensation befitting a CEO, so please bear with it a little longer.”

“Hm.”

Kim Young-Hoon crossed his arms.

“Alright. With a business of this size and this many innovations, your hands will be full running the show. Leave it to me to support you behind the scenes.”

“Thank you.”

“When are you leaving?” Kim Young-Hoon asked.

“Next Monday,” Young-Joon said.

*

Doctor Ref, or Isaiah Franklin, was the terrorist who attacked the GSC, created the anthrax weapon, the lentivirus that caused encephalomyelitis in organ transplants, and the highly infectious polyomavirus, and helped found the Philistines by stealing a botulinum strain from South Korea. After being captured in Saudi Arabia, she was labeled as a level-one security risk and kept in an investigation room in the basement of the CIA headquarters in Virginia.

The CIA investigators were having a lot of trouble for two reasons. One was that Isaiah Franklin was unwilling to talk about the use of the polyomavirus or the botulinum toxin. As this could easily lead to a terrorist attack with mass casualties, it was imperative that they quickly identified the purpose and the co-conspirators to defend against it.

The second reason was that Isaiah Franklin didn’t have long to live. They hadn’t gotten any information from this wanted terrorist, who they barely managed to capture, and she was about to die.

“But you’re not going to be able to die so easily,” said Robert, who was interrogating Doctor Ref. “Criminals these days aren’t allowed to die when they want.”

“You even revive the brain-dead ones,” Doctor Ref said.

“You’re aware.”

“I know more about Ryu Young-Joon than anyone in the world.”

She leaned back in her chair with a troubled expression.

1. The temperature inside the pressure vessel containing the reactor rising and melting the nuclear fuel rods at the core ☜