Chapter 57: COVID-19 Vaccine
Chapter 57: COVID-19 Vaccine
With Lee Jong-yeop’s arrival, breakfast was now ham and egg toast sprinkled with sugar, served with an Americano.
“Here’s your toast and coffee.”
Ironed t-shirts and jeans hung on clothes hangers.
“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
Beside the dining table, he had printed out articles that seemed essential to read.
He must have figured it would be difficult for me to look them up one by one.
- New York Stock Exchange Halts Trading for 15 Minutes, Investors Panic
- COVID-19 Spreads, Oil Prices Plummet
- U.S. Stock Market Could Fall an Additional 20-30%
- Circuit Breaker Triggered as NYSE Plummets 7%
- COVID Shock: U.S. Stocks, Global Oil Prices, and U.S. Dollar Crash
- Oil Prices Drop 30%, FT Calls It Worst Day Since the Financial Crisis
A look at the stock market over the past few days revealed a continuous state of chaos.
*This COVID thing is really serious.*
Even after I had closed out my put options, the market continued its steady decline.
The Federal Reserve lowering interest rates and the U.S. government releasing fiscal stimulus only had short-term effects.
Financial institutions lowered their economic growth forecasts for the year, and the sell-off continued unabated as investors feared a recession.
*A pandemic…*
That word, once a vague source of fear, was now sweeping across the entire world.
*If I had bought those put options again after selling, I would’ve hit the jackpot.*
I regretted the missed opportunity, but investment decisions are never easy.
After the massive crash, government market intervention led to a sharp surge the next day.
A typical roller coaster market.
Most investors lost money as stock prices fell across the board amid fears of an economic crisis.
*Still, this is delicious.*
The sugar-dusted toast was exactly to my taste.
Growing up poor, I could never eat as much as I wanted. I had a strange fascination with street food.
The mere sight of hot dogs, hamburgers, or toast made my mouth water, engraving them in my mind as delicious treats.
Even when I worked at Arcor, I could never just walk past a toast stand while making my rounds to hospitals.
I suspected that was the memory that prompted Lee Jong-yeop to prepare a simple toast for breakfast.
“Jong-yeop.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to work at Earth Resource?”
“I’m not sure.”
Since I had brought him all the way to the U.S., I intended to give him a job he wanted.
“To be honest, I am curious about working at Earth Resource. I’m interested in many aspects of it, but it’s not something I’m confident I can do well.”
We had spent two years working together.
Even without a formal interview, I had a good grasp of his character.
“So?”
“For now, I’d like to serve as your personal assistant. I want to learn by taking care of your errands and handling the tedious tasks that would otherwise take up your time.”
The kind of personal aide that politicians or corporate executives have.
It meant handling all sorts of unpleasant tasks and being on call 24/7, including accompanying me on business trips.
*Right. He was always this tenacious.*
At Arcor, Lee Jong-yeop had worked at a relaxed pace.
But that was only after he had fully adapted to his duties and was performing at over 120% of his quota.
He never missed a task he was assigned and had a personality that hated being indebted to anyone.
*This is a guy who wouldn’t have easily brought up wanting to come to the U.S.*
Taking on a former subordinate from my Arcor days wasn't a big deal for me.
That's why I made the decision so easily, but for Lee Jong-yeop, it was a life-altering move to come to America.
“Alright. You can do that.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
Massive expansion.
That was the word that came to mind when looking at Earth Resource’s business activities.
First off, Oh Myeong-woo had made a huge move.
“I’ve narrowed down the list of game companies to about thirty.”
“That many?”
“Yeah. I won’t go over 500 million dollars. But there were a lot of companies that wanted to partner with us while only giving up less than 10% of their equity.”
“That’s not bad for us.”
Games could play a crucial role in the Source Coin ecosystem.
My plan was to acquire game companies, pay them in Source Coin to help with promotion, and even provide development funds if necessary.
In this field, at least, I trusted Oh Myeong-woo.
*Back in college, there wasn't a single game this guy called a masterpiece that didn't become a hit.*
Games, much like movies or TV shows, were a difficult sector to invest in.
Every year, there were games that failed spectacularly after their developers spent hundreds of billions on marketing, convinced they had a blockbuster on their hands.
Then there was the shooting game that became a trillion-won sensation.
Its development team consisted of only about twenty people, and it found success only after hitting the market.
That was why I trusted Oh Myeong-woo, who approached it purely from a fun-factor perspective.
“The reason there are so many companies is that a lot of them are indie developers.”
“You always did like indie games.”
“There are a lot of indie games that are excellent in terms of gameplay.”
Both Oh Myeong-woo and I were busy.
We established an investment division within Earth Resource and tasked them with handling the equity acquisitions and contracts with the game companies.
*So now we have a gaming pillar.*
Meanwhile, the shopping mall division was doubling its staff and undergoing a major overhaul.
I used to think the culture of working late was unique to Korea, but it was common in Silicon Valley as well.
Working over 70 hours a week or being subject to termination at any time.
They paid high salaries, but they expected corresponding results and worked their employees to the bone.
“We’ll complete the full overhaul and launch the service within a week.”
“Really?”
As the company’s CEO, I was surprised by the shopping mall division’s plan.
It wasn't just a website redesign; it involved creating a system to register and manage countless vendors.
“Yes. There’s a tremendous amount of interest in the e-commerce business from both companies and customers. So we have to develop quickly.”
“I see.”
We decided the shopping mall would not run its own promotions or discount events.
We judged that paying out 5% in Source Coin would be enough to attract customers.
The average profit margin for an online marketplace was about 20%.
That margin would increase if we didn't sell groceries, which are tricky to ship and manage.
Without spending on promotions and discounts, the business could be profitable from the very start.
“Allison, our company is in Silicon Valley, but we’re receiving a great deal of attention from Korea.”
“Yes, I’m aware that most of the mining is happening in Korea.”
“So our shopping mall business must be competitive in Korea as well.”
The main challenges for an online marketplace were purchasing and shipping. We needed to build a system that took into account convenient delivery to Korea.
For that reason, we even pushed to establish a Korean branch.
Korea already had major players like 11th Street and Coupang, and traditional retail giants like department stores and hypermarkets were pouring resources into their online businesses.
It was a red ocean where many e-commerce companies were operating at a loss, making it incredibly difficult to turn a profit.
Therefore, we decided to focus the business on electronics, which were easier to manage in terms of inventory and product handling.
Mining, cloud, shopping, gaming.
What began as a single startup had seen each of its divisions grow at a rapid pace.
The number of miners had reached 1.3 million, with the cap increasing each time we signed a deal with a new corporation.
*Now, we won't be operating at a loss even while supporting Biolife.*
Although I had made a fortune through investments, it felt good to see the company’s management program show a profit in the mining sector.
Money earned from investments felt a little different from money earned through business.
An expenditure of 425,000 Source Coin.
The income from corporations was roughly $600,000. That was a profit of over $170,000 per hour.
While gaming was just one part of our expansion strategy, our cloud and shopping mall ventures were entries into markets worth tens of billions of dollars annually.
*Growing a company. Is this the fun of doing business?*
Earth Resource was posting the highest growth rate among all the companies in Silicon Valley.
* * *
Paul Lesser.
The professor from Johns Hopkins University had a look of deep fatigue on his face.
Life at Biolife was intense enough to remind him of his medical school days.
“Are you saying we have two different potential methods for developing a COVID vaccine?”
“Yes. Based on what we’ve confirmed so far, that’s right.”
Dr. Lee Ho-yeon and his research team had barely slept, making significant progress in vaccine development.
The dormitories that Mirae Construction had built to accommodate the researchers.
In reality, only about a tenth of them were being used, as everyone was completely devoted to their research.
“The first is the mRNA method.”
Dr. Lee Ho-yeon said, his face haggard.
It was an innovative method that had been actively researched in the medical community for several years.
The method involved encoding the virus's genetic material and injecting it into cells.
“RNA carries the information that can be translated into proteins. mRNA acts as the blueprint. Replicating the viral gene allows for rapid development, but the problem is that delivering the mRNA into the human body requires advanced technology for both development and production. There are also concerns about side effects.”
“Side effects?”
“There’s no antigen in the vaccine itself. When the vaccine is injected, the body’s own cells produce the COVID-19 antigen through gene expression.”
The vaccine essentially transforms the body's own cells into antigens.
It was impossible to know which cells in which part of the body would be affected, and there was a possibility that heart muscle cells could be impacted.
Serious, though rare, side effects like myocarditis or autoimmune reactions could occur.
Professor Lesser had read about mRNA in papers, but he was astonished by the very idea of applying such a method to an actual vaccine.
“Vaccine production will be difficult.”
“Yes. We’ll struggle right from the manufacturing stage. And there will be a string of criticisms about the side effects. Still, it seems other major pharmaceutical companies are moving forward with mRNA vaccines. It allows for rapid development once the genetic analysis is done.”
Everyone was saying vaccine development would take over eight years.
But the major pharmaceutical companies were pulling out all the stops to shorten that timeline.
“What’s the other one?”
“The protein subunit method, which has been used for decades.”
This involves injecting the virus’s spike protein into the body to enhance the immune response.
It was the same method used for existing vaccines like those for hepatitis and influenza.
As a long-established method for creating vaccines, it was the most stable.
“Soo-rin’s help with the protein structure analysis was a huge help. We should be able to produce results within five days.”
“If that’s really possible, the medical world will be stunned.”
As COVID spread far and wide, the U.S. and Europe were pouring massive funds into vaccine and treatment development.
The U.S. alone planned to invest a billion dollars, while Japan, Canada, and Germany were also providing support ranging from 200 to 400 million dollars.
Korea, which lagged in new drug development, had recently announced 6 billion won in support.
That money would have to be divided among many existing pharmaceutical companies, and with the subsidiaries of large corporations in the mix, Biolife hadn't even bothered to apply.
To achieve such results without receiving any of that funding would undoubtedly shock the medical community.
For someone who had accomplished something so great, Dr. Lee Ho-yeon’s expression was dark.
“But I have a concern.”
“A concern?”
“What if we create the vaccine, but it shows side effects in clinical trials?”
What if they spent an enormous amount of money to develop a vaccine and start clinical trials, only for it to end in failure?
His dream and his life’s work of fighting influenza and coronaviruses would become meaningless.
Paul understood Lee Ho-yeon’s anxiety completely.
“That would be difficult, it’s true. But we’re in the business of saving lives. We have to take on the challenge, even with the risk of failure.”
A doctor operates on a patient who might die, as long as there is even a sliver of hope.
Even if a patient was lost on the table, a doctor had to walk into the next operating room moments later.