New Drug Development (2)
JH Research.
The large TV mounted on the wall glowed to life.
A television is supposed to emit light, of course—but this was a different kind of radiance altogether.
Filling the entire screen was Illys, beaming with a dazzling smile.
Had a person's face always been able to shine like that?
The moment he taught her about cancer, she lit up as if she had just received knowledge from a Constellation itself.
"Constellation, so cancer cells are cells that proliferate without limit?"
And Illys was sharp. Like a sponge, almost. Feed her knowledge and she drank it in without a drop left behind.
He had spent enough time in hospitals to see cancer patients often, and lately he had been studying medicine for investment purposes—but Illys absorbed an entirely alien world's concepts and knowledge in a single gulp.
"It's fascinating that cancer has this whole relationship of deceiving and being deceived."
"Right? I found it fascinating too."
The Nano AI-based treatment development project.
The first disease chosen for it was cancer.
That was why he had started studying cancer himself—and why he was teaching it to Illys now.
Cancer had originally been the body's own cells. Nothing that invaded from outside; simply one's own cells that had begun replicating endlessly.
Traditional cancer treatment amounted to dosing a poison that killed both cancerous and healthy cells, then hoping the cancer died first so the normal cells could recover.
And if the healthy cells looked like they would die first?
Then treatment was abandoned.
Surgery isn't feasible. Go home.
That was the last thing they ever said.
"Illys, shall we stop studying here for today?"
"Understood."
"By the way, Illys—is there anything you'd like to eat?"
She had worked hard. She deserved something good.
On the screen, Illys smiled.
"Hmm. Everything the Constellation has sent… has been delicious, every single one."
He always felt a little guilty.
Building semiconductors, feeding AI training data, analyzing protein structures, running drug experiments—Illys and the Nano World were handling all of it.
He was responsible for their food supply, yes, but in the end it was little more than bread crumbs. Compensation so small he sometimes wondered if it was even acceptable.
Once the goods crossed over they puffed up into something enormous, of course, but he still kept wanting to do more for them.
Illys propped her chin on her fingers and asked from the screen,
"What does the Constellation eat? What did you have today?"
He had asked her what she wanted, and she was asking about his meals instead.
"Me?"
"Yes. I'm curious about the food the Constellation eats."
"This morning it was Buldak bokkeum—fire chicken stir-fry."
Illys looked puzzled.
"You eat food that's on fire?"
"No, not actual fire. It's just a way of saying it's spicy. Leftovers from last night that I had for breakfast."
He turned the question back on her.
"Then… do you like noodle dishes, by any chance?"
At those words, the tiny pupils on the screen wavered just a little—almost as if her face had flushed.
"Noodle dishes… I've had them a few times when I visited the capital."
"Hmm. I'd like to cook for you, but anything I make here is going to turn enormous once it crosses over, right?"
Even if he wanted to treat her to a single meal, all he could really send were the raw ingredients.
Then an idea struck him.
"Ah—how about this? Illys, can you cook?"
"Of course. I don't cook now that I'm a lord, but back at the Magic Tower I had to prepare meals for the seniors too."
"Oh, so the Magic Tower is like the military. In that case, why don't we each make something and eat at the same time? That way… it might feel like we're eating together, at least."
"Hehehe. You're right."
He was in his office—the CEO's suite. A fairly spacious room he used alone.
And in that room sat three large refrigerators.
Over time, ingredients had steadily piled up. Sorting through things to send to the Nano World had led to this.
Once you started stockpiling ingredients, you naturally began prepping and trimming them, and then basic cookware found its way onto the counters.
He opened a refrigerator.
"Hmm. What should I pick…"
He wanted to send a variety of ingredients, but they had to stay as simple as possible. Anything that crossed over would become gigantic.
"Pasta sounds good."
Not tomato spaghetti in the usual sense—if he sent an actual tomato it would become the size of a building. That kind of tomato spaghetti was out of the question.
"We'll need noodles, sauce, and cheese. I'll send them over."
"Yes!"
He transmitted the three ingredients.
Sponsorship. Sponsorship. Sponsorship.
Pasta noodles 0.1 g transmitted.
Tomato sauce 0.1 g transmitted.
Parmesan cheese 0.1 g transmitted.
"Illys, go outside and summon them. The sauce is liquid, so be careful."
Sponsored materials were never to be summoned indoors.
Illys stepped outside at once and called them forth.
Giant pasta. Sauce. Cheese.
There was a dedicated space for receiving liquids—a sunken, pool-like structure. A pond of tomato sauce formed there.
"Slice the pasta noodles thin."
"Wind Cutter! Like this?"
Illys used magic to cut the pasta to the thickness of a finger.
"Hmm… a little thinner."
She nodded.
"Wind Cutter."
Ssshk-ssshk.
The pasta was sliced into proper thin strands.
"Ooh. Perfect."
Illys prepared the noodles, sauce, and cheese.
Back in the CEO's office, he lit a portable burner.
Making tomato spaghetti at the company might have looked strange, but he was the CEO. No one was going to say a word.
And this was, strictly speaking, business development.
Illys was the absolute core of JH Research—its most critical asset. What better form of relationship-building existed than sharing a meal with someone that important?
Of course, neither of them thought of it as business.
He explained to Illys through the screen.
"Put water in a pot and boil the noodles."
"Drain the water, add the sauce, and simmer."
"Finish by topping it with cheese."
"Done. Simple, right?"
Illys was not the only one cooking. He made pasta as well.
"There—I'm cooking on this side too."
"Aqua Ball, Fire!"
And so Illys finished her dish with magic while he finished his with a burner in the CEO's office.
"Looks like we're both done."
"Has the Constellation finished cooking as well?"
"Yes. Shall we eat together?"
"Yes."
Illys took a bite of pasta.
"Mm! …It's delicious!"
"Is it all right?"
"Tangy and soft. It looks good and tastes good. The recipe is easy too. This is really wonderful."
In truth, it would have been hard for it to taste bad. The process was nothing more than boiling noodles, draining them, and simmering them with store-bought sauce. Topping: cheese, applied generously. Difficulty level: roughly the same as instant black-bean noodles.
Making the sauce from scratch would have been complicated, but buying it ready-made solved that.
"I'll dig in as well."
He took a bite.
"It's been so long since I had noodles."
Illys took a bite.
He took a bite.
It felt as if they were sitting at the same table.
"Eating like this… it really does feel like we're sharing a meal. I like it."
Illys glanced at the screen and asked quietly,
"Constellation. Could we… eat together like this sometimes?"
"I'd love that. Just sending ingredients and teaching you the recipe is nice. Next time, I'll learn one of the Nano World's recipes."
"Eheh, understood!"
After the meal, Illys on the TV screen thrust her hand high into the air.
"Constellation!"
"Yes?"
She grinned.
"I'm going to work really hard!"
He let out a soft laugh.
Illys always tried so hard.
"Work is good. What are you planning to do today?"
"Let's visit the cancer breeding grounds."
"Cancer breeding grounds?"
The name somehow sounded ominous. Breeding cancer.
On the screen, Illys prepared to dash off, then turned her head and shot a quick look his way—an expression that asked whether he was ready to follow.
"Yes, yes. I'll come along."
Illys smiled brightly and broke into a run.
"Fly!"
Pop!
Or rather, she took off into the air.
Impressive. Reaching Sixth Circle had completely changed the way she moved.
Cloaked in a mage's robe, golden hair streaming behind her as she soared.
He tapped the smartphone.
Tap-tap.
Illys was flying so fast that he had to keep tapping just to keep up.
Leaving the Castle of the Creator behind, she arrived deep in a mountain range. There she called for him.
"Constellation, are you watching?"
"Yes, I followed without any trouble."
Illys pointed with one finger.
"We're raising cancer cells over there."
Knights and mages stood gathered. The knights saluted the moment they saw Illys.
"Loyalty!"
A cave whose entrance was guarded by knights and mages.
"This is the cancer-cell breeding ground…?"
"Yes."
Illys lightly touched the cave mouth.
Crackle.
A thin ripple like lightning raced across the entrance.
"I placed a protective barrier over the entrance. These things… well, they drain life force, so it could get a little dangerous if they got outside."
She carefully passed through the barrier, continuing her explanation.
"The features of this cave are low oxygen, high humidity, and the luminous moss on the walls. We recreated the environment where cancers grow most vigorously."
A cave. It felt like stepping into a massive dungeon.
"Come inside. From here on is the full breeding sector."
Illys pointed to the sigil on the first chamber. It glowed a deep black-violet.
"This is the melanoma sector."
The instant they crossed the threshold, the atmosphere inside the room was unmistakably different. Black gel masses lay tangled across the floor like vines; when light struck them they glittered like metal and writhed.
"Melanoma reacts sensitively to light. That's why, as you can see, the moss on the walls is darker here than anywhere else."
One of the melanoma masses edged toward Illys.
"Grrrrr."
A low growl.
Illys flicked her fingers and fired a lump of mana.
Ping.
"Kyaak!"
The melanoma mass contracted and shrank back.
"This one's got a bit of a temperamental streak."
They moved to the next chamber. The entrance sigil shifted to a warm red.
"This room is for growing gastric cancer."
The moment they stepped through the door, the air changed completely. A damp, sticky heat wrapped around them, and the floor was covered in a gel layer closer to liquid than solid. Deeper inside, large translucent masses drifted slowly.
"Gastric cancer prefers nutrient-rich environments. So we made wide nutrient pools in this room."
Illys stretched out a hand and tapped the edge of a pool; the masses reacted all at once, bubbling and releasing tiny air pockets.
"See? They're sensitive to the scent of food. Touch them the wrong way and they all come swarming."
A few steps farther in, the floor turned soft and spongy. Small gel clusters writhed there.
"Ah, do you see that form? That's the nucleus of a fairly large cancer cell. At that size it could easily pass for a mid-boss."
Three times Illys's height. A single cell, yet in the Nano World its size was considerable.
Illys did not look the least bit afraid.
"I couldn't get used to them at first either… but the more you look at them, the more they're sort of cute, you know?"
At that moment, one of the gel masses before their eyes began to split in two.
"Ohhh, that one's dividing right now. That's how they increase their numbers and expand their territory."
The cancer was splitting, becoming two.
Infinite division. The defining trait of cancer.
Cells were supposed to divide in moderation; cancer was a cell that had lost control of division. It divided unconditionally and absorbed surrounding nutrients without restraint.
Pure selfishness—live only for itself.
The large mass quivered like a wave as it split. Illys smiled with a sigh mixed in.
"You have to be most careful when they're dividing. They get extremely prickly."
He offered his impression.
"This place… how should I put it… feels like a dungeon."
"Exactly. This is a mini-dungeon, no question."
"It really is a dungeon?"
"Any cave or space full of monsters is called a dungeon, so anyone looking would call this one."
"You created an environment the cancer cells love. A genuine dungeon."
He had tossed them the task of researching cancer cells, and they had built a dungeon to raise them. Every single cell looked like a monster.
Infinite division. Life-force absorption. Monsters with terrifying skills.
Then Illys leaned slightly toward the screen and smiled.
"I built it well, didn't I?"
An expression that clearly wanted praise.
"Illys, you worked hard. You did wonderfully. Praise incoming, full force. Tilt your head toward the Holy Relic. Head pats."
"Heheh!"
He was beginning to understand Illys a little better. She was a lord and a mage, yet she was the type who went soft for compliments.
"Constellation, and there's someone who helps me with this cancer breeding ground as well."
"Who is it?"
He had expected a dwarf or some other Nano person to appear as the helper Illys had mentioned.
Instead, Illys lifted the mirror-like Holy Relic toward him.
From the transparent mirror, a clear voice flowed out.