The Miracle Cure
"It's starting to get hot."
The weather was starting to feel like spring was truly ending and summer was creeping in. Of course, the planet's climate was so fucked up that the seasons were all out of whack, but it was still time to pack away the winter clothes and bring out the summer stuff.
> Wouldn't a warm summer be a bit better than being thrown out onto a freezing cold street?
"Hmm... that's a pretty philosophical question."
Whether it's hot or cold, if you lose your house, it all sucks the same. The season doesn't really matter.
> The provisional seizure the lawyer filed with the court has been approved. After the seizure notice was served, the bank immediately invoked the acceleration clause against the couple. If they don't repay the full loan by next week, their house will go to auction.
"Damn... banks are fucking terrifying, aren't they?"
> The husband is currently preparing for a divorce, and the wife tried posting on a mom cafe about how unfairly she's being treated, but she got banned.
"Is her head just for decoration? A lawsuit for spreading false information is going to hit her soon, so why does she keep..."
> I've secured the home cam footage. Would you like to see it?
Hearing that ajumma's attitude and grating voice would be more stressful than satisfying.
"Nah, forget it. Their house is already ruined, why should I care? At least it's summer, so they won't freeze to death in their sleep."
I hear this summer is going to be a scorcher. My condolences in advance.
"But if he's preparing for a divorce, is the husband just trying to dodge responsibility?"
> It seems that way... but I don't think he can avoid it. The bank will take the house before the divorce is even finalized, and it's more about the kids than the spouse, so it's a complicated mess...
Regardless of the outcome, raising kids is a shared responsibility. It's pathetic to see him scrambling to dodge it alone.
"Tough break. If anything changes, follow up. If not, just wrap it up on your end."
> Understood. There shouldn't be any major variables, so don't worry.
*KakaoTalk ping!*
I'd been holed up at home trying to establish a routine, but having a mental roommate who bitched at me 24/7 was driving me crazy. I came to the office, put on some YouTube, and was zoning out when the group chat notification went off.
"Ah, my stomach hurts."
I hadn't laughed this hard since that time we shaved that bastard's head before he enlisted.
If it was anything else, I wouldn't care, but hair loss is a serious fucking matter.
A thought crossed my mind. I opened my door and looked at the team members doing their own work.
Hmm... their hairlines aren't looking too great.
No one was openly saying they were balding, but looking closely, it was kind of sad.
The members who had been directly treated by Athena were fine, but the ones who had their families treated instead...
I read online a few years ago that the stress and loss of confidence from hair loss could, in extreme cases, lead to suicide.
"What about Hyeon-seong? Should I help him?"
> We could give him something directly, or... we could just make a hair loss treatment.
"Making the drug is easy enough... but getting it to market is a pain in the ass."
> If we bypass the drug route and release it as a functional cosmetic or health supplement for hair loss relief, we can launch it much faster. There's a small bio subsidiary under Cheonmun Group, so we can use their channels.
"Hold on a sec."
"Doesn't sound urgent then. Look into the non-pharmaceutical route."
I'd save my friend's life and bring a ray of light to balding people everywhere. The whole world.
An unbelievable call came in for Han Jeong-woo, the man steering the massive ship that was Cheonmun Group.
"So... to summarize, you want to distribute this product through our Cheonmun Group?"
"Yes. Black Ridge owns a bio-tech company. Their lab recently achieved significant results and completed private testing. We plan to launch it as a functional cosmetic, not a drug, and we want to use Cheonmun's distribution network and name."
Finally, a chance to put that bio-center, which had been sitting idle, to use.
"Hmm... could I get a sample of the product first? I have some hair loss myself..."
My eyes widened at the unexpected answer.
"You have it too, CEO Han?"
I'd heard the rate of male hair loss was high, but already I had multiple confirmed cases around me.
"Yes, it's not severe, but I do... Anyway, would it be alright if I tried it first?"
I thought about it for a moment. This guy wasn't an idiot who would leak information, so it was fine to give it to him.
"Alright. I'll have someone send it to you within a few days."
I hung up and thought for a moment about what form the product should take.
> How about making it a high-concentration scalp ampoule?
"What the hell is that...?"
I had zero interest in beauty products, so I had no idea what a scalp ampoule was.
> It's a product you apply directly to a wet scalp after shampooing. There are already products on the market for strengthening hair roots and alleviating hair loss symptoms, so it won't raise any suspicion.
"Alright, let's go with that. It's not a one-time permanent fix, right?"
> Of course not. The development cost is zero, but we're not running a charity. I'll design it so the effects fade if you stop using it for a certain period.
It was a devilish idea, but if you told people their hair would grow back, they'd sell their souls.
"The key is how long that period is."
We had to set the right price and the right duration to maximize profit while getting praised by consumers.
> For the first month, apply it daily to revive the follicles. After that, applying it two or three times a week will maintain the results. And I'll design it so the effects disappear if you stop using it.
"Let's make the package size about a month's supply. Price... 50,000 won? Is that too cheap?"
> That's the price of two chickens.
"Thinking about chicken prices pisses me off again. Anyway, if we don't set it too high, what's a reasonable price?"
> The development cost is practically zero, and if we make the ingredients not feel cheap... how about 70,000 won per month?
"What's the average price of products on the market right now?"
> It varies widely. Expensive ones are hundreds of thousands of won, and cheap ones can be under 30,000 won.
"Then 70,000 won might be just right. Once it hits double digits, it feels different."
It was an investment in yourself, and it felt like the baseline for a premium product.
"How many balding people are there in the world?"
> About 1 billion.
"So if they all buy it... 70 trillion won a month?"
This was a fucking money-printing glitch.
Even with the highest estimates for other costs, the net profit would be over 60 trillion won.
> Of course, not all 1 billion will buy it. Each country has different systems, and there's the magic card of protecting domestic markets and local companies.
"Even considering that, it's still a shitload of money. At this rate, we might have to change Cheonmun's entire sector."
Not that they developed it themselves, of course.
*Knock, knock, knock.*
A knock came at the door of Arthur's office, where he was buried in reports and documents.
"Come in."
*The door swung open.*
It wasn't a subordinate who walked in, but his employer.
"What brings you down here all of a sudden?"
His employer always went to the floor above, but he almost never came down to where they worked.
"I have something for you. Don't misunderstand, just listen. Do you have hair loss?"
Caught off guard by the sudden question about hair loss during work hours, he hesitated for a moment before admitting that, yes, he was losing his hair with age.
"Then use this. Give me your review after you use it. Seriously."
Arthur stared at the mysterious cosmetic-like product his boss had left on his desk before disappearing. He went home and, with a mix of skepticism and hope, used the product according to the included instructions.
A few days later, like a lie, his hair, which had been thinning and falling out, started to gain strength like it was in his twenties. It was visibly growing.
Arthur Sullivan stared blankly at his changed reflection in the mirror, his hair miraculously revived.
"No fucking way... Honey!!!"
He ran his trembling hand through his scalp, and not a single hair fell out. In disbelief, he called for his wife, who had followed him from America to Korea.
His wife, who had rushed in at his call, dropped her phone at the sight of Arthur, who had regained the vitality of his twenties when they first met.
Having regained a fraction of his most brilliant youthful appearance, Arthur left his frozen wife behind and ran to the living room to boot up his laptop.
"Top companies in the finasteride market... companies holding minoxidil patents..."
He scrolled through the information on global pharmaceutical giants, compiling a list.
The value of this mysterious product his employer had casually tossed his way was beyond imagination.
I'll have to verify the details, but since the boss gave it to me, the performance must be reliable.
Seeing his hair start to strengthen in just days, not weeks, Arthur was convinced this was a fucking goldmine.
I finally escaped after being hounded by two middle-aged balding men for a while.
"The performance is legit. I've never seen them that excited."
> It's directly tied to a man's, no, a person's confidence and pride. The clinical trial subjects were satisfied too. Shall we proceed like this?
Seeing those dignified gentlemen so excited, I could already picture my friend's reaction.
"Proceed immediately."
> The overall structure will be that the Siheung Bio Center holds the core technology and will transfer the exclusive manufacturing and distribution rights to Cheonmun. Since they're all under the Black Ridge umbrella, it's easy to coordinate.
"Are we giving them the entire recipe, or is Cheonmun just doing the final assembly?"
> The raw materials are manufactured in Siheung. Cheonmun receives them and adds purified water, preservatives, fragrances, etc., to complete the final product.
It was the same method used by a certain world-famous beverage brand.
"And... the previous owner won't try anything stupid, right?"
> It would violate the NDA signed during the acquisition, and doing so would be digging their own grave. They can't. You probably weren't very interested, but the center had a history of developing related products.
I couldn't even remember who the previous owner was, but I knew they'd be kicking themselves soon.
"Price is set, structure is designed, and we're obviously not registering a patent. That's it?"
> Yes. All that's left is the launch.
The aftermath would be on a completely different scale from launching a simple game, but since it wouldn't reach me, I didn't really care.
"Let's launch it. Don't make the marketing too big."
I was sure word of mouth would spread faster than us shouting "Our product is great!!"
"Why did I acquire this place in the first place... Was it because I needed a place to make the stuff to fix Jacob's son?"
> Yes, that was it.
An action taken without much thought was about to create a massive butterfly effect.