Super Genius DNA

揟hank you for letting me know. It helped me a lot, Young-Joon said.

Anthony had a proud smile on his face.

揑f we asked the Minister of Health directly, he'd probably say no, right? Young-Joon asked.

揙f course. We抳e already checked this with the Chinese health authorities, and they dismissed it as a rumor.

揙f course they did.

揟hey said they could make up for those numbers even if only a tiny fraction of the critically ill people who die in China donate their organs.

揂lright. I抣l look into this on my own at A-GenBio, but could you let me know if you have any more information?

揙f course.

揟hank you.

* * *

Young-Joon had originally booked a return flight at Beijing, but he had canceled it as he was in Guangzhou when he was finished with his work. He didn抰 blame anyone because it was his fault for roaming around.

Anyway, his secretary抯 office had canceled the flight from Beijing and rebooked a flight directly from Guangzhou to Incheon. Young-Joon, who arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, met Yoo Song Mi.

揌ello, greeted Yoo Song-Mi.

揧ou didn抰 have to come meet me here. I know you抮e busy with the merger, Young-Joon said, still happy to see her.

揑t抯 almost over, and I came to stop any more schedule changes. If I抦 not with you, you might cancel your returning flight and go to Tibet or Nepal or something.

揌aha, I抦 sorry.

Yoo Song-Mi smiled as Young-Joon apologized.

揑t was probably because it was that important. I know how busy you were from seeing your schedule in Korea, Yoo Song-Mi said as she escorted Young-Joon to his first-class seat. 揃ut next time you抮e away for such a long period of time, I think it would be a good idea for you to bring an entourage from the office.

揃ut I抦 comfortable traveling alone with just my bodyguards, Young-Joon said.

揟hat was fine when you were just running A-Bio, but not anymore. You抮e now the owner of one of the largest companies in the world.

揂lright.

揟here are only a few companies as big as A-GenBio, and most of their CEOs have a whole army of assistants.

揑抦 going to hire a CEO soon. I抦 going to leave most of the management stuff to them and just focus on research, Young-Joon said.

揑 know you said you抣l only focus on research, but you抮e going to fight if someone like He Jiankui shows up again, right?

揢h Of course. There抯 nothing I can do about that, right?

Yoo Song-Mi grinned.

揧ou are a scientist, inside and out. Honestly, the secretarial staff like me follow you because we like that side of you as much as your ingenuity.

Yoo Song-Mi nodded as if she had an idea of what Young-Joon would be like from now on.

揈ven if you hire a professional CEO, it won抰 change your position as the board of directors will still revolve around you, the largest shareholder. Even if you hire someone, you抣l just have one more employee to oversee the business side of things.

揟rue.

揧ou抣l be just as busy, so I would like you to have assistants with you when you go somewhere from now on. It抣l make your life a lot easier if we move with you and take care of things for you.

揂lright. The office must have had a lot of trouble chasing me around. I抣l be careful next time.

Young-Joon went to the reserved seat with Kim Chul-Kwon and the security team.

揑抦 sorry it抯 not a great seat. This was the best one available on the flight from Guangzhou, Yoo Song-Mi said.

揘o, it抯 fine, thank you.

A little while after they took their seats, the plane began to move.

揑t抣l take about three hours, so it抣l be around one o抍lock when we arrive at Incheon. There will probably be a bunch of reporters at the airport, Yoo Song-Mi said.

揜eally?

揙f course, sir. There抯 been a lot of buzz about what you抳e done in China.

揝peaking of which, let抯 check in on what抯 going on right now. How is it all going?

揊irst of all, we completed the consolidation of our management headquarters while you were away. Most of the people from A-Gen抯 management came on board with their titles intact. We抳e got a new secretarial staff as well, which is a relief for me since I have seven people to do the work I used to do alone.

揋ood. What about the labs?

揗ost of A-Bio抯 scientists have been reassigned to six of the labs according to their suitable positions. And the people who will be part of Lab Seven are still waiting at A-Bio headquarters. We抮e in the process of setting up desks and creating departments.

揥hat happened to the lawsuit with Atmox?

揥e won the trial in South Korea. The finalized damages were a little more than ten billion dollars, but Atmox has appealed. Our legal team will be holding a trial in Beijing soon, Young-Joon nodded.

揂nd after you declared the moratorium, we抳e seen follow-up declarations from around the world. A total of seven hundred seventy two scientists have declared the moratorium in eleven countries, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Austria, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland.

揑抦 glad.

揂nd the micro-dust in Korea has remained at good levels every day even though it抯 springtime, when micro-dust usually increases.

揅ellijenner will love that.

揟here抯 a frenzy in the stock market right now about Cellijenner being the next big thing. Their stocks have been up four days in a row, and it fell just a little on the fifth day, Young-Joon said.

揌onestly, it抯 not that big of a deal, Kim Chul-Kwon said.

揂lright, thank you for letting me know, Secretary Yoo, Young-Joon said.

揑s there anything you would like me to go into detail about?

揑抣l see the rest for myself.

揅ould I also ask you something? Yoo Song-Mi said.

揝ure.

揥hat happened to the Asian tiger mosquito eradication project? The latest news we have is that you told us you were having a meeting with the governor of Guangdong in Guangzhou.

揢m It didn抰 go well, Young-Joon said. 揥e might end up doing it somewhere other than Guangdong.

揥hy?

揌e said he can抰 allow something that causes such a big change in the ecosystem because they don抰 know how it will end up.

揙h厰

揑 have a way, so don抰 worry about that. But when I get back, could you and the office look into something else?

揥hat is it?

揑 have information that organs from executed prisoners of conscience in China have been harvested without authorization and transplanted into patients. I抎 like to know more about that.

?.. Alright.

Yoo Song-Mi was a little surprised at the unexpected news, but she soon nodded.

揌ello.

A flight attendant walked up to them and greeted them.

揈xcuse me, are you Mr. Ryu Young-Joon, the CEO of A-Bio?

揧es, well, the CEO of A-GenBio now.

揥ow.

The flight attendant covered her mouth and smiled brightly.

揝orry It抯 just that my nephew has something called homocystinosis or something.

揌omocystinuria? Young-Joon asked.

揧es! That抯 right.

The flight attendant laughed awkwardly.

揗y sister and brother-in-law had a lot of trouble because of that.

揑t is a treatable disease though. Is he okay now?

揧eah. They抳e been taking care of him since he was born, so he抯 still okay for now.

揑f he抯 still young, they抣l have to keep taking care of it well.

揧es. But my sister and brother-in-law were very impressed by what you did in China this time, treating a genetically modified baby.

?..

揑t抯 at least a relief that it抯 a manageable disease, but they said it抯 sad that they have to give a little kid a bunch of pills every day and not be able to even give him a spoonful of stew without worrying. But they were excited that maybe this genetic disease could be cured in the future.

揑 see.

揧es. We抮e always rooting for you, she said with a smile.

* * *

As soon as Young-Joon landed in Korea, he quickly caught up on a few things, then went to A-Bio抯 old headquarters before holding his first board meeting. There were about seven team leader-level scientists in the conference room. Young-Joon greeted them and took a seat.

揥hat about Doctor Cheon Ji-Myung? Young-Joon asked.

揌e left for the United States a few days ago on your instructions, so I came in his place.

揙h, I remember now.

Cheon Ji-Myung said she would travel to the United States to contact Elsie himself.

揕et抯 start the meeting, then. You all know what the Seventh Laboratory that we抮e going to set up here is going to do, Young-Joon said. 揢p until now, A-GenBio has been focusing on producing new drugs, but I think it抯 time for a company as capable as us to try and do more than that. Let抯 do things for public health, like create devices to reduce fine dust, not just develop drugs to treat specific diseases.

Young-Joon stood up and went to the next slide.

揟here are nine hundred twenty-seven diseases on this page. You抮e probably not familiar with most of them because this is a list of rare diseases created by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. These diseases affect less than twenty thousand people, or so little that we can抰 even figure out the prevalence, Young-Joon said. 揗ost of them are immune system abnormalities or genetic diseases. A small prevalence means that even if we develop a drug, it抯 not marketable, so no pharmaceutical company wants to develop a cure.

Young-Joon looked straight at the scientists, slightly raising his voice.

揃ut not us, he said. 揕ab Seven抯 goal will be to conquer all these genetic diseases in the next ten years.

揟en years厰

The scientists were taken aback.

揑t won抰 be difficult if we use Cas9, stem cells, and GWAS with one hundred million people抯 genomic data, Young-Joon said. 揂nd there is one more responsibility of Lab seven.

Young-Joon went to the next slide. On it was a Gantt chart and a strategy mockup of the mosquito extinction project.

揥e抮e going to be dealing with environmental issues, and micro-dust is just the beginning. There are much bigger issues that threaten humanity, such as climate change and other things; this caused an unprecedented heat wave in Delhi, with the temperature hitting forty-eight degrees Celsius and killing people. Or the threat of radiation from a nuclear explosion.

揥梂ait. Can we do something like radiation?

揙f course, Young-Joon said confidently.

?..

揥e抮e going to study and take measures against these environmental problems as well, and our first project will be the extinction of mosquitoes, Young-Joon said. 揂nd we抮e going to come up with a new system for that. It will be used along with large-scale GWAS that we built based on decoding the genes of one hundred million people. We抣l create artificial intelligence that predicts changes in the ecosystem.

?..

揥hen we treated Mimi this time, the reason we were able to succeed in predicting the conditions for the clinical trial without much preclinical data was because of in silico experiments.

In silico experiments were virtual experiments using computers and biological information.

揥e抮e thinking of inviting an in silico expert to join Lab Seven.

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