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Chapter 44: A Player of Life (6)

Scientist Shin Young-Yeon of the Stem Cells Department partied away her Friday night at a club. She felt like all the stress she got from preparing for the clinical trials was going away. But her stamina ran out quickly.

‘I was totally fine even when I stayed up the whole night in my twenties.’

At one o’clock in the morning, she barely left the club and got a nearby taxi.

“Hello!”

She spoke in a tipsy voice, and her tongue was twisted. Climbing into the backseat and holding onto her bag, she said, “Can you go to Kunyoung Apartment in front of Sindorim stati... Huh?”

She noticed someone was in the passenger’s seat.

“I’m sorry. I thought it was empty. I must have been mistaken.”

As Shin Young-Yeon was getting out of the car, the taxi driver said, “Ma’am, this is an empty car. The person sitting in the front seat is my wife.”

The driver was an old man who looked like he was in his seventies. The wrinkles on his face weren’t just a product of time, but hardship.

“My wife has Alzheimer’s, and I’m taking her around with me because there is no one to take care of her at home. You can get off if you’re uncomfortable, but I will drive you home if it’s alright.”

“Oh... It’s fine.”

“Alright. Then should I head to Kunyoung Apartment in Sindorim?”

“Yes, please.”

As Shin Young-Yeon sat diagonally from the passenger’s seat, she could see the old woman sitting there. She had age spots over her face, and she was a little chubby. She was wrapped up in a thick coat her husband had put on her.

On the way home, the taxi driver continuously spoke to his wife and completely dismissed Shin Young-Yeon\'s presence.

“Honey, look outside the window. This is the Han River. Can you recognize it? We came here with our little Dong-Il and played,” the driver said as they passed Yanghwa Bridge.

The grandma did not respond.

“It’s pretty, right?”

“...”

“But I should have hung up the laundry before I came out. It should be done now.”

“...”

“Can you do it for me when we get home? I’ll do the dishes.”

“No,” The grandma replied in a sassy voice.

“No? Hahaha. Then do you want to do the dishes?”

“...”

“Are you hot right now? You’re sweating.”

The driver wiped the grandma’s cheek with his right arm.

“I’ll unwrap your clothes a little later after we drop off our customer. Just wait a little bit.”

“...”

The car stopped at a red light. In the meantime, the taxi driver played the National Singing Contest from YouTube on his phone.

“Do you want to watch this?” He handed her his phone.

“No.” The grandma turned away cheekily.

“Haha.” The driver laughed like he was a little embarrassed.

“It’s just like when we started dating. She was so picky when we first met. I went through a lot to make her happy,” the taxi driver said as he glanced at Shin Young-Yeon through the rearview mirror.

“Still, those were good times...”

The light turned green, and he stepped on the accelerator.

A little while later, the taxi arrived in front of Kunyoung Apartment.

“You can let me off here.”

As Shin Young-Yeon paid with her card, she pulled out a business card from her bag.

“Um...”

She handed them the business card.

“I’m a scientist working in the Stem Cells Department at A-Gen, and we’re preparing a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s treatment.”

“Clinical trials?”

“Yes. Please give me a call if you are interested. Although, the patient has to do the clinical trial suitability test, so not everyone can do it even if they volunteer, but...”

“If it’s A-Gen, is it being done by Doctor Ryu?”

“Yes,” Shin Young-Yeon replied. To be honest, she had never met a huge star like Young-Joon because she was the lowest rung on the ladder, but he was still the manager of this project.

“Actually, I was also thinking of participating in A-Gen’s clinical trials as well. And Doctor Ryu Young-Joon is famous as well.”

The taxi driver smiled, but for some reason, it felt like he was squeezing it out with all his strength.

“Thank you for the business card. We’ll call you next time.”

* * *

On Monday morning, Young-Joon was having a one-on-one meeting with Yoon Dae-Sung, the CEO, in his office.

“We succeeded in developing an Alzheimer’s cure. We confirmed results in mice experiments with confidence, and I sent a manuscript to the Science editor,” Young-Joon said.

“That’s nice,” Yoon Dae-Sung responded dryly. He was not in the least bit happy as he knew what Young-Joon would request now.

Young-Joon said, “The Stem Cells Department and the Clinical Trial Management Center from headquarters are gathering participants right now.”

“Do you think it will succeed in trials?” Yoon Dae-Sung asked.

“In my personal opinion, yes. One hundred percent.”

Yoon Dae-Sung wiped his face with his hand multiple times as if this was causing him a headache.

“Director Ryu, you are going to create an affiliate company with your Alzheimer’s treatment and become independent, right?” Yoon Dae-Sung asked.

“Yes. Also, I am going to transfer the shares A-Gen and the Life Creation Department has of the iPSCs to A-Bio. Of course, with the glaucoma treatment as well.”

“...”

“And I need your support, sir. There’s a research ward that Lab One listed for sale, and I am considering buying it and setting up A-Bio there. It’s fourteen billion won, but could you lower the price?”

“By how much?”

“I heard that Lab One bought it for nine billion won. I will buy it for ten billion.”

“I will deliver the message to Lab Director Kim Hyun-Taek.

“Thank you. And I would like to take a few more things from A-Gen.”

“What is it?”

“First of all, please give us access to all of A-Gen’s facilities.”

Yoon Dae-Sung closed his eyes. It was time.

Young-Joon added, “A-Bio will not only use stem cell therapy for nerve differentiation but for growing artificial organs as well. In this process, I will need the Experiment Animal Resource Center and access to the Clinical Trial Management Center that I was using at A-Gen before. I will also need the help of the three-dimensional incubator and technicians.”

“...”

“The research that A-Bio will conduct in the future will absolutely require A-Gen’s infrastructure. As such, I would like the same access rights as the other labs. Please allow me to pay a usage fee and use the entire main system.”

This system was like the core of A-Gen’s research and development. One of the biggest reasons that other pharmaceutical companies in the country could not match up to A-Gen was because they failed at setting up this system. It took an astronomical amount of money and a huge amount of time. It was the research support main system that had been built for sixty years, all the way from Yoon Dae-Sung’s father’s generation.

But Yoon Dae-Sung had no way to deny Young-Joon’s requests anymore.

“... Alright,” he replied.

“Thank you.”

“What is your next request?”

“There is a new probiotics product being developed in the Health Food Department at Lab Six. I am overseeing the development. It’s a big project that we are collaborating with a venture company called Celligener, but I think there will be confusion in delivering the instructions for the company if I move to A-Bio.”

Young-Joon added, “So, I was thinking of moving it all to A-Bio. We don’t have to move the entire probiotics team, but just that one new product. Even if we do, we’ll still study it at A-Gen like before since all the equipment is here.”

“...”

Yoon Dae-Sung thought for a moment. He couldn’t understand why Young-Joon wanted it when it was nothing but probiotics. Of course, the healthcare industry was an important field and probiotics was an emerging item. But all he was taking was not the entire field, but just the pipeline of one new product. Then, it was true that there was less of an impact compared to stem cells. He was suspicious that Young-Joon was hiding something huge in that new probiotic drug.

Yoon Dae-Sung would have screamed in shock if he knew that it was a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

But Young-Joon did not tell anyone about that. Even Choi Myung-Joon and Song Ji-Hyun from Celligener who were both working on probiotics did not know.

“I will deliver the message to transfer the pipeline,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

“Thank you. And furthermore, we will have to use A-Gen’s GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) later. Please include A-Gen’s manufacturing part along with the infrastructure and research development.”

GMP was a set of rules created by the American FDA, and it was a guideline on how to produce drugs and medicine. If A-Gen was a sock company, the GMP would determine the quality of nylon, or how to care for polyester and things like that. A sock company would not be monitored that strictly, but for new drugs that would be given to the human body, evaluation was mandatory; they had to be manufactured in a facility that passed GMP’s due diligence.

Normally, manufacturing facilities of new biodrugs went through the process of producing and purifying biomaterials in hundreds of liters of liquid culture media. In A-Gen’s case, they had the biggest system in the world. It was unbelievable, but the GMP here had liquid culture media in tanks.

Employees walked through hundreds of incubators and tanks after changing into uniforms and sterilization. The biggest culture media tank was so big that it had a boat. People usually took a sterile wherry and crossed to the other side. It was unbelievable, but that was what they were doing because it was hard to go around since it was such a big tank.

Since it was so big and the capital they managed was astronomically high, A-Gen’s GMP factory had as much independence as its own company.

And it was the facility that Young-Joon wanted the most from A-Gen.

“Alright. Is there anything more?”

“There was an early liver cancer treatment called Cellicure that Celligener sold to A-Gen about six months ago. I would like the rights of that drug to be transferred to me. I am thinking of developing it with Celligener at A-Bio.”

“...Alright.”

Actually, the Cellicure case wasn’t even reported to Yoon Dae-Sung as it was taken care of by Ji Kwang-Man and Kim Hyun-Taek. But after Young-Joon’s fame skyrocketed, he had also heard about what had happened.

“That is all. I was thinking that I would have to convince you, but you granted all my requests. Thank you.”

“That way, you will consider my situation when I exchange shares with you, Doctor Ryu.”

“Haha, alright. I will try my best.”

“So, what do you have in mind for the ratio?”

“Let’s exchange ten percent of shares in the company’s name. The ratio will be one-to-one. A-Gen will take ten percent of A-Bio, and A-Bio will take ten percent of A-Gen.”

“...”

Yoon Dae-Sung froze.

“Doctor Ryu.”

“Yes.”

“You invested twenty billion won into A-Bio, yes?”

“Yes.”

“The market capitalization of A-Gen is over two hundred trillion won.”

“I am aware of that.”

“But one-to-one? Do you think that will be possible?”

“The government said they would invest in me. They are going to give me three hundred billion won with no strings attached in the name of a small and medium-sized business support policy.”

“But do you think that is comparable to the stock of a company worth two hundred trillion won?”

“We can talk about the shares later. Let’s just write a contract for transfer rights for ten percent and work out the details later. You can terminate the contract if you think the prices don’t match.”

“What is the time limit?”

“I just need one year. A-Bio will grow massively in that time. None of the shareholders will be able to criticize you for a one-to-one exchange.”

Yoon Dae-Sung took a sip of his tea.

Young-Joon already had four percent. If A-Bio took ten percent of A-Gen’s shares, it was the same thing as him having fourteen percent since he would own ninety percent of A-Bio.

On the other hand, it was difficult for Yoon Dae-Sung to do what he wanted with the ten percent of A-Bio that A-Gen would have as although he was the CEO, he and his family only held fourteen percent of A-Gen. As a result, the amount that Young-Joon would have in A-Gen was the same amount that the Yoon family held. Yoon Dae-Sung had a lot of friendly shares, but would that be maintained even after A-Bio grows?

‘The management rights are shaking.’

Ji Kwang-Man moved hastily, but he was probably worried about this situation. He would have thought they would have no choice after the creation of A-Bio.

‘Ji Kwang-Man... Why didn’t you do a better job?’

After the Ji Kwang-Man incident, all eyes were now on A-Gen. And they were putting the blame of Ji Kwang-man’s crimes on the Yoon family as well since they were part of the same management.

If Yoon Dae-Sung rejected Young-Joon’s one-to-one request? How would the public’s anger and the condemnation of the shareholders on A-Gen change?

The stocks of A-Gen that plummeted after Ji Kwang-Man’s incident could be restored after the launch of A-Bio. Most of the small shareholders, SG Group, Berkshire, and others didn’t really have an interest in Yoon Dae-Sung’s management rights; it didn’t matter to them whether the CEO changed. They could actually like it more if Young-Joon took the job.

The moment Yoon Dae-Sung denied Young-Joon’s request to exchange shares, his management rights would disappear.

‘I was mistaken.’

The management rights were already partly out of reach now. He would just get one year of probation if he agreed to the exchange.