Super Genius DNA

At the Westin Hotel in Tokyo, Young-Joon was preparing to return home.

“Of all the trips we’ve taken, this was the lightest,” Young-Joon said.

“It was just a meeting to build the solar plant,” Young-Joon said as he packed the bags. “Still, this was the scariest trip I’ve ever taken in my entire career. I was really surprised when you collapsed.”

“Hehe.”

Rosaline sat on the bed and laughed embarrassedly.

“I didn’t know I would collapse like that either.”

“I can’t believe there’s something that Rosaline doesn’t know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, what are you talking about? Why are you sorry?”

Young-Joon zipped up their bags and sat down next to Rosaline.

“It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Young-Joon pulled Rosaline into his arms and gave her a light hug.

“Ryu Young-Joon,” Rosaline said. “Do you remember what I said before? Like how the extinction of dinosaurs ushered in the age of mammals, I am a next-generation organism that could replace all life on Earth.”

“Yeah. In hindsight, I’m kind of glad that your genes split in the first place.”

“Because everyone else is okay?”

“No, because I got to meet you.”

Rosaline leaned her head on Young-Joon’s shoulders.

“I like being human,” Rosaline said.

She stretched out her hands and studied them.

“People are mysterious creatures. There are things about them that even I don’t understand. This organism is more than just a compound of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. When you went to Japan by yourself, Ryu Ji-Won told me I looked depressed.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And then I thought about it and realized that I was really feeling depressed, and it was really strange to feel that way. I thought about giving myself a little more serotonin, but then I stopped.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Yes, now that I have you.”

“I won’t go anywhere alone now. I’m sorry,” Young-Joon said as he patted Rosaline’s shoulder.

Bzz!

His phone rang. It was from his secretary’s office.

“Hello?”

—Hello, this is Yoo Song-Mi. There’s a call from a place called Tohoku Reactor One in Japan looking for you.

“Tohoku Reactor One?”

—When I asked them what’s going on, they told me that when you visited the plant, you noticed a crack in the pressurizer and informed them. The plant is now at risk of exploding, and they want to talk to you about shutting it down.

“I’m not a nuclear power plant expert; I’m a biologist. How can I consult them?”

—That’s what I told them, and he said that he needed your help because a lot of people could die. They talked about a nuclear explosion, which sounded like a big deal, and he seemed desperate, so I called to check with you before giving them an answer.

“Hm.”

Young-Joon thought he had done his job by simply informing the head of nuclear safety that the pressurizer was broken. The rest was up to TEPCO, and he had no right or reason to interfere.

“Who contacted me?”

—Someone named Hideo. He’s the head of nuclear safety.

“Tell him he can meet me if he comes to my hotel today. I’m free in the afternoon.”

—Okay.

*

As Baek Jun-Tae, a security guard of K-Cops, escorted guests through the hotel, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. Young-Joon had a wide variety of guests, but the groups of people he met at hospitals, conferences, and hotels were different. At the hospital, it was mostly patients and doctors, scientists at conferences, and entrepreneurs and politicians at hotels.

But the man who entered the hotel now, Hideo, looked like an innocent, ordinary engineer. Instead of a suit, he wore a loose, worn out jacket, and he smelled of oil rather than cologne. He seemed a little bit intimidated by the glittering hotel, and his skin and hair looked ragged from lack of care.

“U… Um, will there be any record of my visit here?” Hideo asked.

“Only we will know,” Baek Jun-Tae replied. “This is the conference room.”

He opened the door to the small conference room they had booked in advance. Inside, Young-Joon was already seated and waiting. The little girl he had visited with was also there.

“Hello,” Young-Joon greeted.

Looking slightly nervous, Hideo greeted him back and then sat down across from Young-Joon.

“I came to ask for your help,” Hideo said.

“My help?”

“You detected an issue with the pressurizer just by listening to the sound of the water before.”

In actuality, Young-Joon had only made a random guess since he didn’t know much about nuclear plants, but now, it seemed like this person regarded him as an expert on nuclear power.

“I’m telling you this just in case you get the wrong idea, but that was just a coincidence. What I said out of worry happened to be right. I don’t know much about nuclear power,” Young-Joon said, chuckling.

“Mr. Ryu, Tohoku Reactor One is in serious trouble right now. We have to shut it down immediately. The main coolant pump has stopped. We’re using the auxiliary coolant pump, but according to our technicians, it might explode if it runs for a few more days.”

“Then why don’t you just stop it?” Young-Joon asked.

“We can’t do that on our own at the plant. Technicians from headquarters have been dispatched,” Hideo replied.

“Then aren’t they stopping it?”

“I thought they would, but they’re not.”

Hideo shook his head.

“Tohoku nuclear plant is in the middle of the anti-nuclear movement. TEPCO has already announced that it is fine, even though it has been criticized as the next Fukushima. If TEPCO shuts Tohoku down right now, it will ignite the anti-nuclear movement. There will be no way for Prime Minister Atabe to prevent other plants from being built, and TEPCO’s stock prices will plummet as solar power plants pop up all over the place.”

“What are you talking about? They’re letting it blow up instead of shutting it down?”

“Of course, not. The headquarters wants to fix it somehow while the plant is running.”

“Is that possible?”

“It’s not impossible, but it’s extremely dangerous, and there’s very little time because it might blow up before it’s repaired. In that case, the technicians will be the first to die.”

“Wait, they are risking the lives of their own employees to make a repair?”

“It’s a fact that nuclear plant technicians will lose their livelihood once solar cells become more widespread. They said we have no choice but to get through this crisis with our collective will and focus…”

“...”

“But I still think it should be stopped. It’s really bad, and I’ve got some internal reports on the explosion risk at the plant.”

“By giving me these, are you asking me to blow the whistle?”

“I want to do it myself, but honestly… I’m too scared,” Hideo said. “I’m not a distinguished person like you, Doctor Ryu; I’m just a typical nuclear power plant technician and nuclear physics major. I’m just an ordinary scientist who’s scared.”

“So, is that why you’re asking me to blow this up>”

“Please. You were the one who figured out the problem just by listening to the sound of the coolant flowing, right?”

“No, I’m not a nuclear power expert…”

Young-Joon scratched his head. He was in a predicament.

Hideo bowed his head and said, “Please. A lot of people could get hurt by this.”

“Um…”

“And if you announce this, and it ignites the anti-nuclear movement, it’s good for you since you can export solar cells,” Hideo said.

“I hear what you’re saying. I guess Japan isn’t the only one who will suffer if the reactor blows up.”

Young-Joon put the papers in his bag.

*

“Where did you get this information?” Masumoto asked.

“It’s a secret. The person who provided me with the information wanted to remain anonymous,” Young-Joon replied.

In the CEO’s office at TEPCO headquarters, Masumoto was facing a man hailed as one of the greatest minds in the history of science. He had brought shocking data and recommended shutting down the Tohoku nuclear plant.

But the first thing that came to Masumoto’s mind was the cure for aging. A-GenBio had denied it, but that was not true. The anonymous email detailed what had happened to Isaiah’s body. When he personally checked the information, it seemed almost certain that this rumor was circulating in the U.S. regenerative medicine community. And then, by a stroke of luck, the person responsible came to see him in person.

“Anyway, the consensus seems to be that the plant should be shut down, not only among the dispatched technicians, but also among the internal technicians there. Wouldn’t it be better to shut it down?” Young-Joon asked.

“That would be nice for you, because then you can sell your solar cells.”

“That’s not why I am telling you this, but I don’t care what you think. If you do not shut down the plant, Mr. Masumoto, I’ll release these documents to the press. Apart from the health of the Japanese people, it’s a given that a nuclear explosion here will have a negative effect on Korea as well.”

“I will shut it down,” Masumoto said. “In turn, I would like to ask you for something.”

“The aging cure?” Young-Joon asked.

He had already heard about this from Kim Young-Hoon.

“You already know. My mother is quite old and has a difficult time moving around, and I would really like her to undergo that clinical trial.”

“No,” Young-Joon said firmly.

“Excuse me?”

“Isaiah Franklin’s aging was not natural or normal; it was progeria caused by embryonic cloning and genetic engineering. Treating it was highly experimental. There wasn’t enough preclinical data, so I had to rely on my own existing knowledge and instincts while doing the treatment,” Young-Joon said.

“That trial was an exceptional situation where the patient had a tremendous depth of understanding of the experimental treatment, and that was why I was able to proceed based on her consent alone. But I’m not willing to run such an unprepared trial on someone else.”

“That’s why I’m asking you to do it. Nothing fails in your hands, right?”

“Don’t have such blind faith. Science is about understanding knowledge, not trusting certain people.”

“...”

Masumoto dropped his head.

“My father was working as a quartermaster when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and died,” he said. “I was just a baby, and I lived with my mother’s family. From then on, I grew up as a fatherless son. My mother went through all kinds of hardships to raise me alone as a woman.”

“...”

“Some people tried to arrange a remarriage for her because she was still young, but she refused them all. She lived a tough life selling fruit, between married men trying to flirt with a widow living alone and old women coming to grab her by the hair. Now she’s ninety years old. I don’t know how many days she has left, but I don’t want her to spend them helplessly, especially when she’s having trouble getting around like she is now,” Masumoto pleaded.

“Please, I’m begging you. Help me just once. I’m not asking for her to be in her twenties or thirties; I just want her to be able to walk around. You can treat her, right? You can treat her, just like you did Isaiah Franklin.”

“Curing aging is not that simple. We don’t have the experimental data to do it.”

“That’s why I am personally asking you, Mr. Ryu. You have four Nobel Prizes.”

“I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I can’t,” Young-Joon said, his voice firm.

“...”

Masumoto bit his lip.

“Then I’ll do what I want with the Tohoku nuclear plant, Doctor Ryu,” he said.

“... Then I will release this to the media.”

Young-Joon picked up the technical report of the Tohoku Nuclear Power Plant.

“Do as you please. This country cannot be dictated by you, Doctor Ryu. You are a medical expert, not a nuclear power plant expert. The Tohoku nuclear plant will not blow up!”

*

The Asahi Shimbun[1], Yomiuri Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, and others announced the news one after another.[2]

[Possibility of Explosion at Tohoku Nuclear Plant]

Although this topic had been incessantly mentioned over the past two weeks, this time it was different. The whistleblower, who revealed insider information and targeted TEPCO, was someone predicted to be a candidate for four Nobel Prizes simultaneously.

TEPCO’s stock prices plummeted almost instantly, and Japanese public opinion began to heat up, becoming sharply divided.

—No matter how talented Ryu Young-Joon is, how can a biologist know about nuclear power plants? He’s overstopping.

—He said he happened to get insider information.

—Considering the Nicaragua incident, Ryu Young-Joon is a skilled businessman. I think this is another scheme to sell solar cells.

—What would Ryu Young-Joon gain from selling solar cells in Japan? A-GenBio’s main focus is new drugs, not solar cells.

In the midst of this confusion, Masumoto directly attacked Young-Joon.

[A-GenBio CEO Ryu Young-Joon criminally sued by TEPCO]

[Accused of damaging corporate value by spreading false information.]

1. Japanese for newspaper ☜

2. All three newspapers are famous newspapers in Japan. ☜