A nightclub in Sanlitun, Beijing.
A man in a luxury suit entered a private room and quietly asked the manager.
“Do you have Ascend?”
“Of course we do. How many would you like?”
“Oh—seriously? You really have it? It’s been insanely hard to get lately.”
“We pulled some strings for our VIP customers.”
“Oh, I like you. Good. How many can you give me?”
“Up to twenty.”
“Twenty? You can get twenty of them? That’s huge. Bring them to the room later.”
“Yes, sir.”
In high spirits, the man in luxury brands took out his wallet and slipped the manager a generous tip.
A short while later,
the manager entered the room with the drinks and the Ascend.
As he set the liquor and snacks on the table, he discreetly handed the Ascend to the man.
The man accepted the candy with a satisfied expression.
A moment later, he shared one Ascend with his friends.
The packaging seemed a little different from the Ascend he had eaten before, but, well, that kind of thing could happen during production, he thought, and tore open the wrapper.
He put it straight into his mouth.
Along with the sweet taste, that thrilling sensation…
didn’t come.
Something was off.
It was just incredibly sweet, and instead of that electrifying feeling, there was some other unpleasant sensation.
At the same time, the voices of the people around him grew distant.
The world became quiet, his senses vanished, and his mind clouded over.
It felt as if his body were melting and turning into slime.
Everything was opaque and muffled, as though he were submerged underwater.
Here, there seemed to be no sadness, no anxiety, no fear.
He existed, yet at the same time, it felt as if he were disappearing.
This was not Ascend.
It was completely different.
It was not the feeling he knew.
He wanted to spit it out.
But he couldn’t.
Strangely, it drew him in.
This had its own addictive taste.
It was oddly alluring.
If Ascend was refreshing, crisp, cool, clear, clean, and pleasantly uplifting,
then this was seductive, decadent, sensual, and luscious.
It was Ascend’s bad taste, its spicy taste, its harsh taste, its fatal taste—the taste of corruption.
If Ascend had the energetic feel of a twenty-year-old college student,
then this was the taste of a back alley, damp, gloomy, and depraved.
If Ascend was brightness, this was darkness.
Both light and darkness had their own charms.
The man’s body went limp.
He sat on the sofa as if dead.
Only the breaths he occasionally exhaled confirmed that he was still alive.
.
.
.
The large Beijing organization, the Black Stone Gang.
They had wanted to distribute Ascend, but because they couldn’t obtain it, they manufactured it themselves.
As a result.
“Boss!!! Boss!!!! This is huge!!!!!”
“What is? What’s huge?”
“Yes. Just today, we sold over three million units.”
“What? What did you sell?”
“The fake Ascend candy we made last time. We sold three million of them.”
“Wha… what? Three million? Is it even possible to sell that many?”
“It is. The market is completely dry of Ascend right now, so when we released ours, people sucked it up like rainwater in a drought. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about sales for a while. Even now, we can’t keep selling because we’re short on supply.”
“Is that so? That’s great. Good work.”
“The timing was absolutely perfect.”
“Even timing is helping us. So how much did we make?”
“We sold them wholesale at twenty yuan each. Since we sold three million, we made sixty million yuan.”
“Sixty million yuan? Really? You worked damn hard. Good job. From now on, we’ll be walking a flower-strewn path.”
“Yes. Our hardships are over now.”
“Good. I’m in the mood. Pay the members incentives today, and let’s have a company dinner too.”
“Yes. I’ll get it done right away.”
“Good. I’m in an excellent mood today. By the way, how did we make Ascend? Did we have the technology?”
“That’s a long story too… but to summarize.”
“Yeah. Tell me.”
“Well… we brought in experts and told them to make it exactly like Ascend, but they said it couldn’t be done. They said they couldn’t figure out how Ascend was made, that they didn’t really know.”
“Really? So?”
“So we just mixed fentanyl into the candy ingredients.”
“What?”
“The experts said the effects were similar too. There are some differences… and since fentanyl was apparently detected in Ascend as well, it probably isn’t wrong.”
“Ah…”
In that instant, fear, worry, and a chill passed across the face of the organization’s boss, Ma Xueling, all at once.
It had been perfectly concealed by the colorful packaging, the convenient candy form, and the name Ascend.
But the moment he heard the word fentanyl, he remembered.
What the Black Stone Gang was selling right now was not candy, but drugs.
If they got caught, they would be finished in one blow.
It meant execution.
For a moment, Ma Xueling thought perhaps they should stop even now, but he could not stop.
His mind had already been pickled in dopamine.
The pleasure money gave him was too electrifying.
Money could be earned this easily?
Just today alone, sixty million yuan.
They had spent quite a bit of money renting the factory, bringing in experts, and buying materials.
At the very least, shouldn’t they recover their costs?
It wouldn’t take very long.
Sixty million yuan a day.
Ten days would be six hundred million yuan.
He did not want to give up this honey pot.
Even so, life was precious.
Right. Let’s do it for only ten days and quit.
No, let’s do it for ten days, then sell the factory and the recipe.
And sell them at an extremely high price.
In Ma Xueling’s mind, it was the perfect exit.
.
.
.
But the Black Stone Gang was not the only one thinking that way.
As Ascend gained popularity, dozens, hundreds of organizations across the country tried to obtain it,
and when they couldn’t, they began making counterfeits.
People thought alike.
They did the exact same thing the Black Stone Gang had done.
They called in people who claimed to be experts, handed them Ascend, and told them to make the same thing. When that failed, they brought in fentanyl and simply mixed it in.
Where did China get fentanyl, you ask?
Isn’t China a country that cracks down on drugs extremely strictly?
That’s right.
Even so, China had been the world’s largest producer of fentanyl until not long ago.
Under the name of medical use, it manufactured and exported fentanyl.
We know fentanyl as a drug, but
when fentanyl was first created, and even now, it has served as a painkiller.
As a painkiller, it was a drug that could be mass-produced through pharmaceutical companies.
Unable to fully identify Ascend’s ingredients, they decided to add fentanyl when they heard there seemed to be fentanyl components inside Ascend.
When they couldn’t obtain fentanyl, they brought in people who had once made it.
It would have been nice to set up a pharmaceutical company and mass-produce it, but even when fentanyl had been officially manufactured, distribution within China had been strictly controlled.
Let alone now, when the manufacture of fentanyl was banned; a pharmaceutical company could not make fentanyl.
In dark back rooms, they made fentanyl roughly, relying on instinct.
They made the drug by depending on memories from when they had made it before.
Without proper equipment, they made fentanyl in a slapdash manner.
They could not even distinguish whether it was a completed drug or a failed one.
Naturally, they did not even consider clinical trials, nor did they conduct toxicity tests or allergy tests.
China’s organizations brought in imperfect fentanyl, put it into candy ingredients, and began churning out Ascend.
They began making candy with fentanyl that no one knew who had made, how, or from what.
They were supposed to put fentanyl into the candy ingredients, but there was no fixed recipe for that either.
Depending on the person mixing it, some put in too much, some put in too little, and disasters occurred.
Depending on the maker, the region, and the organization, candies whose taste, effects, and duration were all completely different began entering the market.
At tremendous speed.
*******
“Oppa! What’s wrong with that person over there?”
“Where?”
While they were driving through downtown Beijing, the woman in the passenger seat witnessed a strange sight and pointed in that direction.
“He’s standing still in a weird posture. Look over there.”
In a small park, a man was bent at the waist, standing as still as a statue.
The way he occasionally staggered or swayed seemed to prove that he was not, in fact, a statue.
“Why is he doing that?”
“How would I know? Is it some kind of performance?”
“I don’t know. But there are a few more people like that behind him. Is it really a performance?”
“Huh? You’re right. There really are.”
“But for a performance, it feels kind of unpleasant. Oppa, let’s go somewhere else instead of here.”
“Yeah. It’s a little creepy. Let’s go somewhere else. Where do you want to go?”
“Should we go to Wudaoying Hutong today?”
“Shall we? Then we’ll head there right away.”
They changed their destination and headed toward Wudaoying Hutong,
but even on the way there, they could frequently see people standing blankly, like statues, like zombies.
******
I received a call from Han Lin, the general manager of Yeonggyeseon.
Last time, he had thrown a damn fit asking me to take him in, and ever since then, whenever something happened, he called to report and inform me of the situation.
I kept telling him it was fine and that he didn’t have to, but he kept doing it.
I didn’t want to say this, but he was more useful than I expected.
Restaurant owners who have run restaurants before tend to work better than other employees even when they enter a restaurant as staff.
Their experience working in restaurants plays a big role, of course, but more than that, their perspective is different.
When you look at the same restaurant not as an employee but as an owner, the things that need to be done appear differently.
Employees who used to be owners are astonishingly good at catching that.
Because they had once been owners themselves.
They know exactly what needs to be done without being told.
Han Lin was the same.
Because he had run an organization, he knew what was needed.
He knew very well what kind of information was necessary right now, and passed it on.
He scratched exactly where it itched.
After ending the call with Han Lin, I went to the laboratory where Edward was doing his research.
“Edward, did you hear?”
“About the counterfeits?”
“Huh? You already heard?”
“Yes. It’s famous. They say it’s chaos.”
“You must feel pretty bad.”
“Why?”
“I mean, the drug you made is being copied and circulated on the market without your permission. Of course you’d feel bad.”
“No? I feel really good, actually. I even feel a bit of pride.”
“Huh? Why?”
“First of all, it means the drug I made is popular enough that people have to make counterfeits just to sell it. That’s clear proof that its effects have been verified.”
“Th-that’s true.”
“It makes me proud that I created a drug that incredible. Like, I really did make something amazing… that kind of thought.”
“Ascend really is that incredible.”
“And on top of that, none of the counterfeit drugs they’ve made are anywhere close to my Ascend. They look similar on the outside, but inside, they’re completely different. Those are just cheap drugs. They aren’t noble like Ascend.”
“That’s right. Ascend is overwhelmingly superior.”
“So I feel proud. Like, I really am amazing. That sort of thing?”
Edward’s tone was overflowing with confidence.
Well, there really was no drug like Ascend.
“Since we’re talking about Ascend, how is the automation going?”
At my words, Edward’s confident expression collapsed at once.
I hadn’t brought it up to take a jab at him; I was genuinely curious.
“No. It’s a complete failure. It’s not going well.”
“Really? It would be nice if it lined up with the factory’s completion. Is Shin Junggi no help?”
“Junggi? I’m just having him run errands.”
“He’s supposedly pretty smart. Try to make use of him somehow.”
“Yes. About that.”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think about suspending Ascend sales for the time being?”
“You want to stop sales?”
“With the market unable to distinguish between fakes and the real thing anyway, I don’t think there’s any need to release the Ascend we worked so hard to make. When a downpour comes, you take shelter; there’s no need for us to get mixed into this mud pit. Why don’t we use this opportunity to stockpile Ascend, then release it later when things improve? In the meantime, I can focus a little more on development. Since I have to make Ascend every day and work on development too, I don’t think I can properly concentrate.”
“Should we? Then let’s do that.”
*******
A Beijing back alley.
Buyers were purchasing Ascend in the alley.
“What? Ten yuan? Does that make any sense?”
“If it doesn’t work, then we can’t buy.”
“No, it was twenty yuan until yesterday. Who cuts the price in half in a single day?”
“Right. I was surprised too. The price got smashed in a single day. Now it’s not just you—Ascend is pouring in from all over the place.”
“Ours is a different quality.”
“Everyone says that. They all claim their goods are top-grade.”
“I’m telling you, ours really is different.”
“So I’ll acknowledge that. But the price is different too. You know that as well as I do. Do you have any idea how many fakes are flooding the market? The price has to reflect the market.”
“...Still, half is too much. You have to give us 15 yuan.”
“Another place came by telling me to buy at 8 yuan. Even so, because of the trust from our previous dealings, I’m offering 10 yuan. Because I know your goods are the best.”
After listening to the buyer, the organization member thought for a moment.
“Ah— I don’t think I can decide this myself. I’ll ask and get back to you.”
The organization member called his superior.
“They say they can only give us 10 yuan here. Sell it even at that? Yes. Understood.”
After ending the call, the man went to the buyer.
“We’ll do 10 yuan this time.”
“Sorry. 10 yuan is too expensive.”
“What are you talking about? You were the one saying 10 yuan just a moment ago.”
“I did. But the world has changed. It’s a different world from two minutes ago. We just got an offer for 5 yuan. When an offer for 5 yuan has come in, wouldn’t we be idiots to buy at 10 yuan?”
“...So how much do you want?”
“6 yuan. And that’s me taking good care of you.”
Unlike Ascend, which was produced in small quantities, every organization began mass-producing fakes in an instant.
At first, once or twice, people thought it was Ascend and bought it mindlessly, but now they knew. They knew it was fake.
Of course, there were still people who bought the fake Ascend, saying it was fine,
but on the other hand, there were also more and more people demanding refunds because its effects were different from Ascend’s, and the side effects people suffered were severe.
The biggest problem was that once too many goods poured out all at once, the price began dropping in real time.
Demand had fallen, but the volume of goods had increased hundreds of times over.
The sellers had no choice but to sell their goods at that fallen price.
Even so, it was still a profitable business.
*******
MSS headquarters office.
The director of the Drug Administration came to find Minister Zhou Qiming.
“Minister. We have a serious problem. Fake Ascend has been released into the market.”
“I’ve heard as well.”
“What should we do about this?”
“We’re also looking for various methods. We expected copies to appear, but we didn’t expect them to appear this quickly.”
“The ingredients are too dangerous to leave alone like Ascend. This is just a drug.”
“We’ve confirmed the ingredients as well. We’ll have to take action somehow.”
“People acting like zombies are already being sighted frequently in major cities. It will probably be reported through the media soon.”
“The media can be blocked, so that isn’t a major concern. What I’m worried about is the lives and health of the people.”
“It seems we’ll have to begin a crackdown on our end.”
The director of the Drug Administration spoke with an apologetic and awkward expression.
“You should. We’ll help as well. The State Council has also said it will actively cooperate, so you should be able to receive assistance from public security.”
At the unexpected answer, the director of the Drug Administration stared at Zhou Qiming in surprise.
It was not the reaction he had expected.
The director of the Drug Administration had thought that, if only briefly, he had formed a bond with Zhou Qiming through Ascend.
But he had thought that once fake Ascend appeared, if he said the Drug Administration would crack down on it, Zhou Qiming would be disappointed.
Once the crackdown began, Ascend would naturally be cracked down on as well.
Then they might never find out who the distributors of Ascend were, or who the producer was.
They might vanish completely into hiding.
Conversely, they might be caught along with the drug addicts, treated as petty criminals, and executed.
It would be best if they could separate Ascend out, but this was not a situation where that was possible.
In a situation like this, they could not distinguish by ingredients.
Anything that looked like candy would be seized first, and decisions would be made later.
There were no warrants or anything of the sort.
They would seize them first, then think of the charges afterward.
In this situation, he had thought Zhou Qiming would see him as a traitor if he said they would begin a crackdown,
but not only had he said he understood, he had even said he would help. Why?
He had thought Zhou Qiming would be disappointed in the director of the Drug Administration for slipping out first after they had agreed to protect Ascend together. Why?
So he asked.
“Then what about Ascend?”
“For now, it seems the crackdown comes first. We can worry about that afterward. Or...”
“Or...?”
“Why don’t we use this opportunity to look for a way to officially distribute Ascend?”