“The fragrance is lovely. What did you say it was called?”
“Karak. It’s milk tea brewed with cardamom and saffron. When I was little and fell ill, my mother used to make it for me herself.”
Taeho accepted the small teacup Amira offered him and took a sip. The sweet, rich taste of the milk tea blended with the crisp freshness of cardamom and the delicate aroma of saffron, creating a distinctive flavor.
“It’s delicious. How are you feeling today?”
“It feels like a miracle. Just a few days ago, I never imagined I’d be able to sit here and drink tea like this. It’s all thanks to you, Dr. Kang.”
Amira smiled shyly.
Taeho studied Amira’s face closely. She was clearly different from when she had been hovering between life and death a few days earlier. At that moment, Bio Vision activated automatically.
A pale golden light was beating rhythmically around her heart, though it had not regained its full brightness. The blue light flowing along her blood vessels had also grown brighter than before, but it was still faint.
‘She’s recovering, but she’s not fully healed yet.’
Green light was active around her lymph nodes and bone marrow, but hazy patches remained here and there. Her immune system, exhausted from fighting the virus, was slowly rebuilding itself. The pale green aurora, not yet a complete emerald hue, still showed her vulnerability.
What stood out the most was the brightness of the aurora enveloping her entire body. It was not the bright, vivid light seen in a healthy person, but a soft yet weak glow, like the faint aurora of a dawn sky.
‘Huh? But that light is…’
Every time Amira met Taeho’s eyes, a faint rose-colored aurora bloomed around her face. Glittering golden particles danced in her pupils. Each time, a rainbow-colored spiral that began at her heart spread throughout her body.
Dopamine and phenylethylamine.
Hormones that appeared in someone who had fallen in love.
‘A sign of affection, then.’
Taeho smiled without realizing it. Through Bio Vision, he had even discovered Amira’s emotions.
His heart began to beat a little faster.
“But…”
Amira seemed to hesitate for a moment before carefully speaking.
“I heard something from my brother. He said what happened this time wasn’t a simple coincidence.”
“That seems to be the case. Judging from the circumstances, there’s a strong possibility it was intentional.”
Amira turned her teacup in her hands as she spoke.
“Last night, I had a dream from a very long time ago.”
“What kind of dream?”
“A dream about my father. I think I was about ten years old. There was a time when my father became truly angry. He wasn’t someone who usually showed his emotions, so it was extremely shocking to me as a child.”
“What made him so angry?”
Taeho asked with a smile.
Amira spoke as though searching through her memories.
“Bio… what was it? Biosynergy? I think that was the name. I don’t know the exact reason, but he was furious, saying they weren’t keeping their promise.”
Taeho’s expression hardened.
Biosynergy.
It was a name he had heard somewhere before.
“Do you remember what your father did after that?”
“He said he would withdraw his investment. At the time, I didn’t even know what that meant. In any case, after that incident, my father changed a lot. He became more cautious… and stopped trusting people easily.”
Amira set down her teacup and let out a small sigh.
“Now that I think about it, I think his health began declining around then too. I’m sorry. I brought up something too heavy.”
Taeho smiled gently.
“It’s all right. Thank you for sharing such a precious memory with me.”
Just then, Taeho’s phone rang.
It was Gihwan.
***
Taeho opened the laboratory door and stepped inside. Gihwan was sitting in front of several monitors, absorbed in analyzing DNA sequences.
“Mr. Gihwan.”
“Director, look at this.”
Excited, Gihwan pointed at the main monitor. A complex DNA sequence was displayed on the screen.
“I analyzed Ms. Amira’s viral DNA in more detail, and I found a strange pattern.”
Gihwan enlarged the screen as he explained.
“Look here. This section has nothing to do with viral function. It’s like a watermark.”
Taeho pulled over a chair and sat down.
“A watermark?”
“Yes. Just like hiding copyright information in software or digital content, this virus has something like its creator’s signature hidden inside it.”
Taeho stared closely at the screen.
“Can you decode it?”
Gihwan looked at Taeho as if the question had come out of nowhere.
“Who do you think I am?”
Gihwan tapped the keyboard a few times, and the hidden code appeared, decoded.
BS-PROMETHEUS-HV
Taeho’s eyes flashed.
The word PROMETHEUS stood out clearly.
Gihwan tilted his head.
“But I still can’t decode the BS at the front or the HV at the end. They definitely mean something…”
“BS is Biosynergy. The predecessor of the current Global Pharmaco.”
“What? No, how did you know that?”
Gihwan practically jumped out of his seat.
On the way to the laboratory, Taeho had used Rema to investigate the company called Biosynergy.
“I heard that King Zayed, the president of the UAE, withdrew his investment fifteen years ago.”
“My God!”
Gihwan’s mouth fell open.
Taeho continued.
“The company staggered after that investment was withdrawn. That must have been the greatest hardship they faced before growing into the Global Pharmaco of today. They probably held a grudge and attacked the king’s children.”
“Global Pharmaco? Those guys really are ill-fated with us. Then have you figured out what HV means too?”
“Not yet. We’ll have to look for that from now on.”
Gihwan showed him the additional analysis results and said,
“But the strange thing is, this watermark seems to have been designed to be found on purpose. It’s too easy to locate. Almost as if someone wanted us to discover it. Could it be a trap?”
Taeho thought for a moment before answering.
“Or it could be a warning from an insider.”
“Huh? That really could be it. But, Director, how do you come up with all these things?”
Gihwan nodded, impressed.
Taeho shook his head.
“We need to find out what HV is first. Only then will the missing piece of the puzzle fall into place.”
***
On his way home, a new thought suddenly occurred to Taeho.
“Rema, HV might be a person, not a company. Search for virologists whose names start with HV. Limit it to people connected to Biosynergy around fifteen years ago.”
—Searching. Please wait a moment.
The hologram screen flickered as data flowed across it.
Taeho unconsciously held his breath.
—Search complete. One matching result found.
Taeho’s eyes flashed.
“Found it.”
His voice echoed softly in the quiet director’s office. The information that appeared on the screen was far more specific than he had expected.
Helena Voss. Born in Berlin in 1965.
She had earned a doctorate in virology from Humboldt University of Berlin and worked for thirteen years as a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology.
And she had been Biosynergy’s chief virologist.
Her fields of expertise were personalized viral engineering and HLA-specific pathogen design.
“Personalized. HLA-specific…”
Taeho muttered. He had an ominous feeling.
“Rema, show me Helena Voss’s major research papers.”
The titles of papers appeared on the screen one after another. With each title Taeho read, his expression grew increasingly rigid.
—Targeted Viral Engineering for Personalized Gene Therapy (2007)
—HLA-Specific Pathogen Design and Immunological Applications (2008)
—Advanced Viral Vector Systems for Ethnicity-Specific Medical Applications (2009)
“Ethnicity-specific…”
Taeho read the last title again. The true purpose hidden beneath the noble name of treatment had now become clear.
“This wasn’t for treatment.”
When he clicked the first paper, the list of authors appeared. The lead author was Helena Voss, with Marcus Webb, Sarah Chen, and Yuki Yamamoto as co-authors. All of them were affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology.
The Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology was one of Germany’s most prestigious research institutions.
Taeho spoke again.
“What is Helena Voss’s current status?”
A moment later, new information appeared.
—Abruptly resigned from Biosynergy fifteen years ago. Reported missing in Berlin in November of the same year.
—German police investigation closed, concluded as a simple missing-person case. Whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
Taeho leaned deeply back into his chair.
“That’s exactly when the UAE withdrew its investment.”
It was far too precise to be dismissed as coincidence.
“Rema, can you find a connection between Helena Voss and Middle Eastern royal families?”
A warning message appeared on the screen. It stated that some information was highly classified and only limited access was possible. However, fragments of information soon appeared.
—Participated in medical advisory teams for Middle Eastern royal families from 2005 to 2010.
—Served as personal physician to a specific royal family.
Taeho’s fist clenched on its own.
“That’s when she collected blood from Amira and the royal family.”
Taeho turned the car toward Geumsan Samcheok Hospital. He had to find Amira and confirm it.
Late at night, when even the corridor lights had dimmed, Taeho knocked on the door to Amira’s hospital room.
“May I come in?”
“Yes, come in.”
Amira was sitting propped up in bed. Faisal was sleeping lightly on the sofa beside her.
Holding a tablet, Taeho sat down in the chair next to the bed.
“I’m sorry, at this late hour. But there’s something important I wanted to confirm.”
“What is it?”
Taeho turned on the tablet screen and spoke carefully.
“Do you happen to remember this person? Take your time. This is what she looked like fifteen years ago.”
The photo on the screen showed a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties. She was blonde, with sharp features, but she wore an elegant smile.
The moment Amira saw the photo, her expression hardened.
“Helena Voss. She was our royal family’s physician.”
Amira bit her lip and nodded.
Taeho asked again.
“That was about fifteen years ago, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. From when I was seven until I was ten. She was the royal physician for almost four years.”
Amira looked at the photo, searching through her memories.
“At first, I thought she was a truly good doctor. My father and mother trusted her too.”
“And then?”
“From some point on, things became strange. She tried to conduct blood tests far too often, and she prescribed odd medications. That was when my father began to grow suspicious.”
Taeho lowered his voice.
“So he dismissed her?”
Amira shook her head.
“She disappeared before my father could fire Helena. Now that I think about it, not long after that, he withdrew his investment from Biosynergy too. Was that connected?”
“It was probably to study your family’s genetic traits. I think it was data collection for the development of a biochemical weapon.”
Amira’s face grew even paler.
“Then does that mean I was a test subject since I was a child?”
“You’re safe now. And now that we know who they are, we can respond.”
“If Helena had stayed…”
“Don’t think about that. What matters now is that you recover completely.”
Just then, Faisal stirred on the sofa and mumbled in his sleep.
A brief silence flowed between them.
“Dr. Kang…”
Amira spoke carefully.
“When all of this is over… will we be able to meet again?”
Taeho looked at Amira.
Her long eyelashes cast shadows over her face. Though illness had left her thin, her still-beautiful face held both anxiety and hope.
Amira spoke bashfully.
“To be honest, I didn’t trust you at first. I even looked down on you as a country doctor from Korea. But while watching you all this time, my heart changed.”
“Amira…”
“I’ve met many doctors until now, but I’ve never met one like you. Ah, I don’t mean only as a doctor…”
Amira’s slender hand lightly touched Taeho’s. He felt a tingling sensation, as if electricity had passed through him.
“I want to recover quickly and return to my country, but on the other hand, I don’t want to get better too quickly.”
Amira’s face flushed red.