Chapter 291: Symptoms (5)
“What do you an, ‘Is that all’…?”
The professor stared at Ha Si-heon with an incredulous look. He had just finished explaining one obstacle after another in detail. Yet this man still carried himself as if asking, “Is that the only problem?”
As though everything he had just heard was nothing more than a checklist to be ticked off…
“Do you have anything else you’d like to add?”
In the end, the professor barely managed to regain his composure and asked again.
“Did you actually understand everything I just explained?”
“Yes, I’ve taken it all in.”
“No, it seems like you haven’t understood at all. I’m telling you this problem is sothing current technology can never solve. It’s simply impossible.”
The professor’s voice rose, but Ha Si-heon answered with a faint smile.
“If it’s a matter of technological limits, the solution is simple. Technology always ends up moving at the speed of capital.”
What he ant was, he would solve it with money. But the professor shook his head in frustration.
“No, you really don’t get it. This isn’t the kind of problem money can solve!”
Even so, Ha Si-heon replied without the slightest hesitation.
“There’s no such thing in this world. If money can’t solve it, that only ans the amount isn’t enough.”
It was a statent quintessentially Ha Si-heon. Veins began to bulge on the professor’s forehead.
Yet the mont Rachel heard those words… A faint smile unknowingly curved her lips. A familiar scene. A sense of déjà vu washed over her.
‘Ah, right… that’s the kind of man Sean is.’
She rembered the day she had first followed Ha Si-heon to Philadelphia. The day she t David and first listened to the overwhelming despair of Castleman’s patients. Ha Si-heon had said the exact sa words then.
— I intend to solve this problem with money.
‘Back then, I honestly didn’t believe him…’
But now, doubting those words felt laughable. For the past two and a half years, Ha Si-heon had proved it with actions. One by one, he had shattered every obstacle that everyone else had sworn was impossible, never once failing. It was thanks to him that David and Rachel could devote themselves entirely to the patients.
Ha Si-heon had always cleared the path ahead—so swiftly that they would forget obstacles even existed, before they themselves had ti to recognize them.
‘For Sean, this mont is no different.’
What the pharmaceutical authority declared “impossible” was, to Ha Si-heon, just another mountain to climb—no more, no less. And in Rachel’s eyes… there was nothing more reassuring.
But while Rachel felt moved, the professor finally lost the temper he had been suppressing.
“This is exactly why Wall Street types…! Do you really believe every problem in the world can be solved with money?”
He spoke through clenched teeth, barely holding back harsher words.
“Look. On potential alone, this is a gold mine. Cancer, Alzheir’s, Parkinson’s… the market potential is limitless. And yet, why do you think the big pharmaceutical companies don’t touch it? Yes, Sean, I know you have money. But you don’t have as much capital as Big Pharma. And not a single global pharmaceutical company has stepped into this field. Do you know what that ans?”
A drug that expressed the WFOXO3A gene was a completely different story from the Castleman’s treatnt. They weren’t staying away because it “wasn’t profitable.”
“It’s because the project is impossible from the very start!”
“Well, I’d say it’s less about being ‘unworkable’ and more about its risk profile. Big Pharma won’t develop a drug that carries a potentially fatal side effect. One bad incident, and their stock prices will plumt.”
That was true as well. From a pharmaceutical company’s perspective, developing such a drug was far too dangerous. Drugs had to undergo countless trials before reaching completion. And with a drug that manipulated such a chanism, the chance of patients dying in clinical stages was simply too high. The mont a company was branded as one that “sacrificed patients for profit,” it would et its end.
“I understand your point, Professor. This is… quite a thorny problem.”
Ha Si-heon rested his chin on his hand, as though mulling it over. Then he calmly reached a conclusion. But his conclusion veered in a very different direction than the professor’s advice.
“Yes, you’re right. Big Pharma won’t do. So we’ll have to develop it through smaller biotech ventures. That’s what you’re saying, correct?”
“No! You haven’t understood at all! That’s not it! Large or small, it doesn’t matter—it’s impossible, so no one should touch it! And why would a small biotech firm take such a risk?”
The professor’s forehead pulsed with veins. But once again, Ha Si-heon nodded.
“Hmm, that’s true as well. Even as a major shareholder, there are limits… so I’ll just have to buy out the company outright.”
“No! That’s not what I’m saying at all!”
The professor pounded his chest, his face now flushed red.
“Have you ever seen a small biotech company make it to the final stage? In the end, they all join hands with Big Pharma. Why? Because for the final stages of developnt—clinical trials, distribution, approvals—they need infrastructure. And only Big Pharma has that! But Big Pharma won’t do it, don’t you see?!”
“Ah! So what you an is, I’ll need to prepare that infrastructure myself. That’s an excellent point as well.”
“For heaven’s sake, open your ears and listen properly!”
At last, the professor slamd his fist on the desk, losing all self-control. The conversation was going nowhere. No matter how much he tried to explain, Ha Si-heon twisted everything into convenient advice, as though running his words through a translator.
“This is not about money! No matter how much money you have, this cannot be solved!”
But. While the professor was losing his grip, Ha Si-heon remained unshaken.
“Capital is my concern. Professor, I only need you to advise within the bounds of your expertise.”
And so the conversation repeated itself. Every ti the professor tried to build a “wall” of reality, Ha Si-heon treated it as nothing more than another “puzzle” to be solved, and moved on.
Eventually, the professor’s frustration and fury gave way to resignation. He let out a hollow laugh, drained of energy.
“You… you’re insane.”
It was the label that always followed Ha Si-heon. But as Rachel watched, she suddenly recalled her phone call with Gerard the night before.
— That bastard isn’t sane. He’s completely crazy, so stay away from him.
And it wasn’t just Gerard. Her father had repeated a similar warning every ti they t.
— That man has no concept of common sense. Never get close to him.
And yet… To Rachel, Ha Si-heon’s “abnormality” never felt like a flaw. In fact, it was the opposite. The more people called him “mad,” the more her mind echoed with an entirely different phrase.
— The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
The ones who believe they can change the world. Because only they truly can.
‘And this ti as well…?’
The world always insists sothing is impossible. Professors, science, corporations, common sense—everything rational speaks in unison: “It can’t be done.” They build a wall too high for human effort to ever overco, and tell you to lower your head and accept it.
But. Ha Si-heon… never bows his head. Instead, he declares he will change the world itself. It felt utterly natural, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. That sight made her feel indescribably reassuring. No—“reassuring” didn’t even cover it.
Her heart pounded and her chest swelled so tight she could hardly breathe, and for so reason she felt like she might cry. So she couldn’t understand it. How could anyone ask her to stay away from soone like this…?
***
“Thank you for today. Your advice was very helpful. Until next ti—”
“I’m busy!”
The professor cut us off coldly and ushered us out. His attitude was sowhat unfriendly, but…
‘Glad we ca.’
The professor’s frosty deanor didn’t matter at all. What mattered was that today I’d secured several truly decisive clues. My steps felt as light as air. I almost found myself humming.
‘A rough roadmap is drawn.’
I now knew what to do next and where to head. The direction was clear. So… there was no ti to waste.
“Rachel, sorry, but would it be okay if I returned to New York first? Sothing urgent has co up.”
David and Jessie wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. Normally Rachel and I would have taken turns covering for their absence until then, which ant I’d be asking Rachel to be on duty alone for the whole day. But Rachel answered without a trace of reluctance.
“That’s fine. Go ahead.”
So I left Rachel behind and boarded a flight to New York imdiately. It was so urgent I couldn’t avoid using a private jet this ti.
As expected, the enormous expense ca with it—along with the “symptoms,” a twisting discomfort in my stomach that crept up slowly. But…
‘This much I can endure.’
I bit my lip and bore the pain. I’d experienced these symptoms in a past life too, yet back then I had still chosen the private jet and simply endured the suffering.
‘Better a little discomfort than taking first class or the train.’
If I could just get through this mont, the convenience of the private jet would render other transport options incomparable; choosing comrcial flights my whole life to avoid a brief discomfort would be a fate worse than death. Above all, it was only a temporary symptom. If I could endure the pain for a short while, it would pass—an acceptable price to pay.
Of course, the real problem with these “symptoms” wasn’t re pain. The true trouble was the shadowing anxiety about death, and the grim fear that ca with it. Yet now I felt none of that fear.
‘I can’t die.’
I could already see the path to survival clearly. So the body’s pain and its ominous warning siren were nothing more than noisy, aningless alarms.
—That’s impossible!
Of course, the angry professor’s critique today had its own logic. With current technology in 2016 and 2017, the drug I needed couldn’t be developed.
But…
‘What if I could pull technology forward again?’
Just as I had in the AI field. What if I could bring future innovation a little closer in healthcare as well? I couldn’t guarantee this thod would definitely work. Nor did I yet know how to apply that principle to Castleman’s.
But…
‘It’s worth trying.’
Though his tone had been aggressive, the information the professor provided wasn’t bad. He’d given the blueprint for pulling the trigger on a ga of Russian roulette. Now that the picture was drawn, all I had to do was follow the blueprint and build it.
Of course it wouldn’t be easy. It might even turn into a far bigger commotion than I imagined.
But—
‘Well, that’s not my problem.’
The important thing was that a roadmap for drug developnt had appeared before my eyes. Difficulty had increased, but compared to a past when nothing was visible, this was incomparably better.
Now, the task was clear. Only one challenge remained. I had to scale up the size of the capital.
To execute the new plan, I needed vastly greater capital than I currently had. Overwhelmingly more funds. For most people, gathering a huge sum of money overnight is near-impossible, but… My situation was different. One phone call would be enough.
I picked up the phone and contacted COO Crane.
“Prepare a capital raise.”
— Pardon? Right now… you an?
Surprise was audible in Crane’s voice. Launching a capital raise ant reopening the hedge fund doors I’d kept tightly shut. In other words, it ant taking money from more investors. In other words, it ant using more other people’s money.
Primarily, the capital raise was for the massive budget required for drug developnt, but another calculation flashed through my mind.
‘If I gather more money… these ‘symptoms’ might ease.’
After all, the essence of my symptom was a signal that money was lacking. So the answer was simple. This was not the ti to be frugal. It was more certain to attract more capital and erase the shortage itself.
In any case, the conclusion always converged to one place. Money.
“Yes, I’ll prepare it. What scale should we aim for?”
I smiled as I answered Crane’s question.
“Well then, let’s start with about one hundred billion dollars.”
— $100 billion?!!!!
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