Park Sehui’s hand trembled, and she dropped her pen.
The sound of the pen hitting the floor echoed through the silent conference room.
Jeong Minsu stared blankly at his laptop screen.
Job postings. Salary, benefits, research environment.
Everything he had been comparing so meticulously, everything he had been agonizing over, suddenly felt so trivial, so utterly meaningless.
If Director Kang Taeho’s words were all true, then wasn’t this a matter of whether they lived or died right now?
They had made it through COVID-19 safely, but this virus was on an entirely different level. One after another, the faces of his wife and children, his elderly parents, and his acquaintances came to mind. How many of them would survive?
Taeho continued.
“Their objective is still unclear. But judging from the pattern, we believe they are planning a pandemic on a global scale, beyond any specific individual or organization.”
“When will that be?”
Dr. Jo Sang-o asked.
Taeho answered calmly.
“We expect it to begin within six months to a year at the latest.”
“······.”
A suffocating silence.
Dr. Lee Dongjin spoke.
“Director. Shouldn’t we report this information to the WHO, to the UN?”
“It has already been reported. However······.”
“However?”
Taeho gave a bitter smile.
“The WHO says it is difficult for them to move officially. There is a lack of clear physical evidence, and above all, political interests are entangled. If this becomes public, the entire world will fall into panic.”
“Then what can we do? We’re only a small research institute.”
Park Sehui asked in a trembling voice.
Taeho looked each researcher straight in the eye, one by one.
“We prepare.”
“Prepare?”
“Vaccines, treatments, quarantine systems. Before they attack, we build a defensive barrier first.”
“Is that possible?”
“It has to be. Because we have five billion dollars, the Geumsan Research Institute, and all of you.”
This time, Jeong Minsu raised his hand.
“We don’t know who the opponent is, but······ they’re an organization that has already created three weapon-grade viruses. Can we develop a vaccine faster than they can?”
“We cannot. But we have one advantage.”
“What is it?”
“We know their pattern.”
Taeho brought up the common sequences of the three viruses again.
“With this common genetic sequence, this CRISPR signature, we can develop a universal vaccine. No matter what virus they create, this signature will remain.”
Sophie’s eyes gleamed.
“A universal antiviral platform······.”
“Exactly. That is our strategy.”
Taeho nodded.
***
There was a knock.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Jeong Minsu entered. He had a laptop in his hand.
“Director, do you have a moment?”
“Yes, have a seat.” Taeho gestured to a chair.
Jeong Minsu sat down and placed the laptop on the table. For a while, he could not bring himself to speak, and only fiddled with the corner of the laptop with his fingers.
“Director.”
“Yes, Dr. Jeong.”
Jeong Minsu took a deep breath and lowered his head.
“I’m sorry. I······ doubted you, Director.”
Taeho looked at him quietly.
“I thought you had fallen into delusions of grandeur. From the five-billion-dollar investment to building three BSL-4 laboratories, I thought it was all too unrealistic.”
“Under ordinary circumstances, it would be only natural for you to think that.”
Jeong Minsu laughed self-deprecatingly.
“So I wrote a résumé. Until I saw the virus data at yesterday’s meeting. When I saw the data, I realized it. This is real. The Director wasn’t insane; he was seeing six months ahead of the rest of us. You were carrying all of this alone, and I was grumbling that this institute had no future while writing résumés. Truly······.”
Jeong Minsu lowered his head, then lifted it again.
“I’m ashamed.”
“Doubt is a scientist’s instinct. If anything, it’s only natural. Telling someone to believe without data is not science, but religion.”
“······Director. From now on, I will stake everything I have on this place.”
“Thank you, Dr. Jeong.”
“So I stayed up all night thinking. About what I could do.”
When Jeong Minsu turned on his laptop, RNA sequences and protein structures appeared on the screen.
“It’s a universal vaccine platform. An mRNA vaccine approach targeting the CRISPR signature you mentioned yesterday, Director.”
He enlarged the structural diagram.
“A common PAM sequence remains in CRISPR-Cas9 editing patterns. The 5’-NGG-3’ pattern. No matter what virus they make, this sequence is bound to remain. It’s inherent to the nature of CRISPR.”
Taeho looked into the screen.
“So I designed an mRNA vaccine targeting the conserved regions around this PAM sequence. No matter what the virus is, as long as this signature is present, it will trigger an immune response.”
“Interesting.”
Taeho took the mouse and rotated the structure.
“But the PAM sequence is only three bases. Wouldn’t it lack specificity?”
“So I expanded it.”
Jeong Minsu moved on to the next slide.
“I included the conserved regions within 50 bp on both sides of the PAM sequence. In all three viruses, this region matched by more than 95%.”
Taeho’s eyes shone.
“Then theoretically······.”
“Yes.”
Jeong Minsu nodded.
“Even if they create a fourth or fifth virus, as long as they use the same CRISPR system, this vaccine should be effective.”
“What’s the predicted efficacy?”
“Based on computer simulations, 75 to 85%. Though animal testing will be necessary.”
Taeho sat in his chair, propped his chin on his hand, and thought.
“Good. There will be a meeting with all researchers tomorrow at nine in the morning. Please present it then. I’ll form a project team with Dr. Sophie and the deputy director.”
“Thank you.”
Jeong Minsu’s face brightened. He bowed and stood up.
***
President Min Yeongsu was looking down at the report placed on his desk. On the cover, written in red letters, were the words “Class 1 Confidential.”
-Title: Analysis of Biological Threats and Response Measures
-Author: Director Kang Taeho, Geumsan Samcheok Hospital/Geumsan Research Institute/Geumsan Clinic
The report had come up through the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency forty-eight hours ago. He looked at the memo the commissioner had personally attached.
-Immediate report required.
There was urgency in the handwriting.
The chief of staff, standing beside him, spoke cautiously.
“Mr. President, Director Kang Taeho and the commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency have arrived.”
“Have them come in together.”
The door opened, and two people entered.
Director Kang Taeho, dressed in a black suit, was holding a tablet in his hand. Park Seonyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, was holding a thick file.
“Good day, Mr. President. I’m Kang Taeho.”
“Welcome, Director Kang. I’ve wanted to meet you for some time, but only today do I finally see you in person.”
President Min Yeongsu smiled and extended his hand to shake Taeho’s. Then he nodded to Commissioner Park Seonyeong and gestured toward the sofa.
“Please sit.”
The three of them sat facing one another.
The president looked at Taeho first.
“I’ve often heard news of your activities both at home and abroad, Director Kang. Recently, I heard you achieved great success in the United Arab Emirates and even got married. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“I read the report carefully.”
The president tapped the forty-eight-page report with his finger.
“But to be honest······ the contents are somewhat hard to believe.”
“I also found it hard to believe at first.”
Taeho answered calmly, as if he had expected this.
The president opened the key section of the report, which had been marked with stickers.
“An acute infectious disease outbreak in fifty cities around the world within six months to a year······. The basis for that is a sewage microbiological survey. Commissioner Park, is this scientifically valid?”
Commissioner Park Seonyeong nodded.
“Yes, Mr. President. Wastewater epidemiological surveillance is already an internationally verified method. It was also actively used by the WHO and the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“But isn’t this different from COVID?”
“The principle is the same.”
Commissioner Park brought out a graph and showed it to him.
“This is the case of New York in 2020. The point at which coronavirus concentrations in sewage spiked was March 8, and the actual surge in confirmed cases occurred on March 15. It was possible to predict it with exactly a seven-day difference.”
“But that was a virus already in circulation, wasn’t it? Right now, there hasn’t even been an outbreak yet. And aren’t bacteria and viruses naturally found in large numbers in sewage?”
“That is······.”
As Commissioner Park hesitated, Taeho answered in her place.
“That is the key point. This time, it can be seen as someone having intentionally used a virus.”
The president’s eyebrows rose.
“Intentionally?”
“That’s right. In general, sewage virus concentrations fluctuate according to the season. They are high in summer and low in winter. But these fifty cities are the exact opposite. Over the past six months, they have been steadily increasing regardless of season.”
When the president looked at Commissioner Park, she nodded.
“After receiving Director Kang’s report, our agency also conducted an independent emergency verification. As a result of analyzing five sewage treatment plants in Seoul, the results matched Director Kang’s data by 98.7%.”
The president folded his arms and furrowed his brow.
“Commissioner Park, what do you think about this matter?”
“Mr. President, I have been in the field of infectious diseases for thirty years. I have experienced SARS, swine flu, MERS, and COVID. And I can say with certainty that this is the most dangerous thing I have ever seen.”
“Why?”
“Because it is not naturally occurring.”
Commissioner Park opened the virus analysis materials Taeho had prepared.
“All three cases—France, Geumsan, and Abu Dhabi—are clearly artificially engineered viruses. And the same creator’s signature remains in them. This is close to biological terrorism.”
The president’s eyes widened at the extreme term.
“Biological terrorism?”
“Yes.”
To Commissioner Park’s answer, Taeho added,
“It is more than that. Terrorism is a one-time act. But this is a system. You can think of it as having been planted simultaneously in fifty cities and designed to activate when the conditions are right.”
“Conditions?”
“The virus begins to multiply when all conditions—temperature, humidity, pH concentration, and so on—are optimized. Like a time bomb.”
The president looked at the chief of staff standing behind him.
“Has the National Intelligence Service confirmed this information?”
“They are still checking.”
The president spoke with a grave expression.
“But we need clearer, public evidence. Most of the evidence you’ve presented is classified, isn’t it? Without public evidence, the opposition party will say the president has fallen for a conspiracy theory. The ruling party may also say the basis is weak.”
Taeho answered calmly, as if he had expected this.
“I understand. That is why I have a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“Please verify my prediction. We should be able to turn it into undeniable evidence.”
The president narrowed his eyes.
“What prediction is that?”