It was overwhelming from the entryway alone.
The high ceiling, the marble floor, and above all, the sweeping view beyond the enormous window straight ahead.
“Central Park!”
Sophie stood there in a daze, her mouth hanging open.
Outside the window, Central Park spread out before them. Green trees, a lake, and beyond them, the Manhattan skyline.
“Th-this is the view from the entryway?”
Gihwan stepped inside, looking as if he couldn’t believe it.
The living room was even more overwhelming.
The ceiling looked to be at least five meters high. Floor-to-ceiling windows occupied an entire wall.
Jeong Minsu ran over to the window.
“Wow! This is insane. Is this a dream or reality?”
Central Park lay spread out beneath their feet. The view from the eighty-ninth floor made him feel as if he had become a bird.
Sophie excitedly looked around the living room.
White marble floors, modern furniture, and an abstract painting hanging on one wall. Beside the work was a small nameplate.
“Huh, wait, this is… George Condo?”
She moved closer and read it.
“George Condo? Is he famous?”
When Gihwan asked, Sophie widened her eyes and said,
“He’s an artist whose works have been getting more and more expensive lately. His pieces go for at least seven hundred thousand dollars, and this is just hanging on the wall…”
“So in our money, that’s about a billion won? This painting?”
Jeong Minsu, who had been listening from the side, looked over the artwork once more.
Even Taeho couldn’t help but be impressed. He had made a great deal of money by now, but he hadn’t expected Catherine to give him a gift on this kind of scale.
‘This is a bit too much. Though considering the Tisch family’s wealth, I suppose it’s possible…
I’ll have to talk to her about it again later.’
Jeong Minsu’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Huh? This place is full of food!”
At the word “food,” the group, only then realizing how hungry they were, all headed into the kitchen at once.
A marble island, top-of-the-line appliances, even a wine refrigerator—the kitchen was magnificent.
Inside the refrigerator that filled one entire wall were fresh fruits and vegetables, beef, high-end cheeses, champagne, and all kinds of fresh food.
“It looks like Senator Catherine prepared this.”
A note was placed on the table.
Taeho picked it up and read it.
—Dear Dr. Kang,
Welcome. I stocked the refrigerator with food. By the time you read this note, you’ll probably be very tired, so please rest comfortably. If you need anything, contact the concierge.
Your friend, Catherine—
“Wow, we’re getting full VIP treatment, aren’t we?”
Jeong Minsu grinned with his mouth open.
Sophie walked down the hallway, opening the doors one by one.
“One, two, three, four. There are five bedrooms!”
Each bedroom had a king-size bed, a private bathroom, and a dressing room.
Sophie peered into the master bedroom.
“This looks like your room, Director. Look at the bathroom!”
There was a marble bathtub, a rain shower, and, once again, a view of Central Park through the floor-to-ceiling window.
“You can take a bath while looking at Central Park from the tub!”
“It’s the kind of scene you’d only see in a dream. I’m seriously jealous.”
Jeong Minsu shook his head.
Taeho gave a wry smile.
“This is my first time in a place like this too.”
“I find that hard to believe, coming from the son-in-law of the UAE royal family who lives in a five-star hotel.”
“Even so, this is…”
Taeho smiled awkwardly.
A short while later, the four of them washed up in their respective rooms and gathered on the living room sofa.
After her shower, Sophie was drying her wet hair with a towel. Gihwan and Jeong Minsu were buried deep in the sofa.
Jeong Minsu looked out at Central Park and said,
“I still don’t know if this is a dream or reality. Until yesterday, we were in Seoul, and now we’re looking at Central Park from a luxury penthouse in New York.”
“And synthesized a new drug in ten hours.”
Gihwan added with a chuckle.
“If we told other researchers about this, they’d tell us to stop bluffing.”
“It’s dynamic. There’s not a single ordinary thing about it.”
Sophie smiled as she sipped her coffee.
Taeho looked out the window.
The sun was setting. The trees of Central Park were being dyed gold.
Taeho quietly spoke.
“You all worked hard. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Jeong Minsu answered,
“We should be the ones saying that. Working under you, Director, amazing things keep happening. At first, it was a little scary, but now… I guess it’s fun.”
“Fun?”
“Yes. We’re saving the world, aren’t we? Isn’t that cool?”
Jeong Minsu laughed heartily.
Sophie nodded.
“That’s right. If we’d just written papers and stayed in the lab, it would have been safe, but we never would have had experiences like this. Making a new drug in New York, even resting in a penthouse. This has been the best business trip of my life.”
When Sophie laughed, it was as if her laughter infected everyone else, and they all laughed together. As the tension that had been drawn taut finally loosened, it only made them laugh more.
Taeho laughed as well. After smiling for a moment, he soon said with a serious expression,
“Still, it isn’t over yet. This is where it really begins.”
“I know. But we can rest a little, at least for today, right? We haven’t slept for over twenty hours.”
Jeong Minsu said as he looked at Central Park.
Taeho nodded.
“Of course. Everyone, get plenty of rest. I’ll prepare dinner.”
“You’re going to cook too, Director?”
When Sophie asked playfully, Taeho waved his hand.
“We can cook later. For now, let’s just order some New York pizza.”
A short while later, two pizzas were placed on the table. The four of them sat around the sofa, eating pizza as they gazed at Central Park’s night view.
Lights began to turn on one by one in the park. In the distance, the lights of the skyscrapers glittered like Christmas trees.
Gihwan muttered as if dumbfounded,
“How many people in the world get to eat pizza while looking at a scene like this?”
“Probably just us.”
Jeong Minsu laughed out loud.
Sophie picked up a bottle of champagne.
“Shall we each have a glass? Senator Catherine prepared this.”
“Oh, it’s champagne?”
When Gihwan asked, Sophie checked the label.
“Dom Pérignon 2008. Wow, this is over five hundred thousand won a bottle.”
“Then we should drink even more. When else are we going to get to try something like this?”
Jeong Minsu held out his glass.
With a pop, the cork flew out.
Sophie poured champagne into four glasses.
Taeho raised his glass.
“Cheers.”
“Cheers!”
The four glasses clinked together.
Outside the window, New York’s nightscape sparkled. Beyond Central Park, the Empire State Building could be seen.
Jeong Minsu set down his glass and said,
“Director!”
“Yes?”
“I’m really jealous. Anyway, thank you for letting us rest in a place like this, even if it’s only for a few days.”
“If you’re grateful, you should thank Senator Catherine.”
Taeho smiled.
After eating their fill of pizza, the exhausted researchers went to their rooms.
Taeho also went into the master bedroom and lay down.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Amira.
—I’m at the place Senator Catherine gave me. The Central Park view is really beautiful. I think you’d like it if you saw it. I love you.
A reply came a short while later.
—Send me a picture!
Taeho smiled and took a photo of the view outside the window, then sent it.
—Wow. It’s so pretty. Take me with you next time.
—I will. I promise.
—I miss you. Be careful, and don’t push yourself too hard. I love you.
Taeho set down his phone and closed his eyes.
Starting tomorrow, the war would begin again.
***
A video conference connected Brooklyn Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins, and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Senator Catherine Tisch, chair of the U.S. Senate HELP Committee’s Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, was also in attendance.
Professor Michael Osterholm of Harvard Medical School spoke first.
“Dr. Kang, what you warned about at the unofficial WHO meeting three weeks ago was true.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“You accurately predicted this New York outbreak seventy-two hours in advance?”
“It was through analysis of viral concentrations in the sewage system.”
Taeho brought up a real-time chart on the screen.
“We administered a customized antiviral cocktail and immunomodulators to 104 patients at Brooklyn Medical Center. Professor David and twenty medical staff members are monitoring them around the clock.”
Professor David nodded from the screen and showed a chart.
“These are the results from treating patients with the new drug developed this time, NYV-001. The first patient’s temperature dropped from 39.8 degrees to 37.5. Oxygen saturation also improved from 88% to 94%. Thirty-six hours after treatment began, 94 out of 100 patients showed improvement.”
“I can’t believe it.”
Professor Jennifer Nuzzo of Johns Hopkins widened her eyes.
“What about the remaining six?”
“They’re still in critical condition, but they are no longer worsening.”
Taeho took over.
“The most important thing is that there are zero new infections. Through epidemiological investigation and contact tracing, we have completely blocked secondary transmission.”
CDC Director Robert Redfield cut in.
“Wait a moment, Dr. Kang. I heard your team arrived in New York fifty hours ago. How were you able to develop a treatment in such a short time? Developing a new drug usually takes months to years.”
As if he had expected the question, Taeho shared the analysis data for the three viruses discovered in France, Geumsan, and Abu Dhabi.
“As you can see, these viruses are all artificial viruses created by the same maker. I had already been analyzing the France and Geumsan viruses for several months. I had grasped the genetic structures and mutation patterns of both viruses.”
“Even so, isn’t the New York virus another variant?”
“That’s correct. But the core is the same.”
Taeho displayed a genetic sequence comparison graph on the screen.
“All three viruses share the same framework. Like the platform of a car. The engine and exterior may look different, but the basic frame is the same.”
Professor Michael nodded as he looked at the graph.
“An adaptive platform strategy.”
“Exactly. I had already designed a basic treatment protocol targeting this platform. What we did in New York was simply make seventeen fine adjustments to match the local variant.”
“How long did it take to make those seventeen adjustments?”
“Ten hours.”
“Wait. Ten hours? You accomplished it in ten hours?”
Not only Professor Jennifer, but everyone in attendance looked as if they found it hard to believe.
Only Professor David, who had already been astonished once before, looked at the participants with a proud expression, as if it were his own achievement.
Director Robert slowly nodded.
“In the end, you’re saying you had been preparing for this pandemic in advance.”
“Yes. Our team identified the optimal antiviral combination through computer simulations and synthesized it through an all-night effort. And we can also predict the next outbreak locations.”
Professor Jennifer Nuzzo of Johns Hopkins asked,
“Then where is next?”
“London is the most likely next location. After that, Tokyo, Delhi, and São Paulo, in that order.”
The conference participants groaned when they saw the sewage viral load data Taeho provided.
Senator Catherine asked,
“Dr. Kang, I heard you have a treatment protocol.”
“Yes. And we also have a rapid diagnostic kit.”
“Can you share them with the United States?”
“Of course. But I have a condition.”
“A condition?”
“Please join the international cooperation system proposed by the Korean government.”
Catherine thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I agree. I will persuade the White House and the Senate.”