Chapter 83: To Korea
Chapter 83: To Korea
- Kim Shin: They’re calling Biolife’s vaccine the K-Vaccine?
- Paul: Yes. The name was given by the U.S. health authorities. It seems to have spread widely in the media.
The vaccine’s development code was BILF-043, but for convenience, those who participated in the clinical trials had apparently started calling it the K-Vaccine.
- Kim Shin: It’s not bad.
The K, symbolizing Korea.
It felt like tossing a massive piece of bait to the nationalistic channels on YouTube.
‘Just what kind of nonsense will they be spouting now?’
There were probably a lot of videos he had no desire to watch. And these days, the news articles were hardly any different.
While the foreign press maintained its objectivity, the attitude of the Korean media had completely reversed.
Biolife had never run advertisements with media companies.
Perhaps because of that, even when the vaccine was first announced, the tone of the articles had been neutral or critical.
- Biolife Vaccine Requires Thorough Verification.
- First COVID-19 Vaccine: Hopes Tempered by Concerns Over Side Effects
- Medical Experts Unanimously Express Doubts About Vaccine
- Can the Biolife Vaccine Secure FDA Approval?
There had been a flood of articles spreading distrust and anxiety about the vaccine developed by Biolife.
But from the day the contract with Isung Biologics was signed, the tide of the media had turned completely.
- COVID Vaccine Development: We Lead the Pack, Surpassing the US and UK
- Biolife Vaccine Development: A Stroke of Genius
- K-Bio Makes New History
- From R&D to Production, Korea Leads the Fight Against COVID
- The Bio-Leadership of Korean Entrepreneurs, a Hot Topic in the COVID Era
- Isung Group’s Future Growth Engine Achieves Success
Just seeing the media change its tune was proof that the term “Republic of Isung” wasn’t just an empty phrase.
* * *
A few days after the vaccine contract was finalized, the reporters and broadcast vans that had been camped near the mansion withdrew.
With a Chinese vaccine being the first to launch and a Russian vaccine released after skipping the third clinical trial phase, media interest had waned.
After that, life returned to a more leisurely pace.
Sailing on the yacht, playing tennis, enjoying the pool.
The mansion, which had seemed so vast when he first moved in, was slowly starting to feel familiar.
He was casting a fishing line with Lee Jong-yeop from the yacht.
“By the way, boss.”
“Yeah?”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Lee Jong-yeop told him about the publishing contract he had signed with Han Chae-won.
He explained that he had put various restrictions in place to prevent her from speaking to the media or the public about her past marriage.
“I was worried that if Han Chae-won started appearing frequently in the media, it would damage your image.”
“Hmm.”
“I figured if I told you beforehand, you’d worry about it on top of everything else you have going on, so I just went ahead and did it. Was that a mistake?”
Considering Han Chae-won’s character, which he had experienced for a year during their marriage, she was a ticking time bomb capable of anything.
If she spread false information in the media, he could sue her, but honestly, he didn’t want to get into a mudslinging fight.
With no emotion left but hatred, he simply didn’t want to be involved with her at all.
“No. You did well.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s been about five years since I met you, right?”
“That’s right.”
Time had flown by that quickly since he’d known Lee Jong-yeop.
“This is the best thing you’ve done so far.”
“Yes, sir.”
He felt a sense of healing, sipping coffee while looking out at the blue sea.
During his marriage, he had felt suffocated and unable to do anything.
A great deal of money had given him self-esteem and freedom.
“Boss. And also...”
Lee Jong-yeop hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Hersen keeps contacting us, asking to sign a vaccine production contract with them too.”
“Yeah, they have been.”
The pharmaceutical company Hersen was the one the Minister of Health and Welfare had recommended for COVID vaccine production.
Ever since they had signed production contracts with Isung and DK, Hersen had been relentlessly pushing for a deal.
He had refused because their factory facilities were subpar and their production capacity was low.
The contract volume Hersen requested was 30 million doses.
The quality of the vaccine was paramount.
He couldn't risk the credibility of over 400 million doses for a mere 30 million, so he had rejected the contract.
“Didn’t we look into them and decide not to sign because their production facilities weren’t up to snuff?”
“That’s right. But they’ve leaked a few articles to the press.”
He used to search for his own name or Biolife on his phone.
But once the vaccine passed the second clinical trial phase, hundreds of articles were being published in Korea alone, making it difficult to check them all.
“What kind of articles?”
“Things like us favoring large corporations and discriminating against domestic pharmaceutical companies, or that we need to be more proactive since vaccine production is insufficient.”
“So, hit pieces against us.”
“They’re not blatant, but they’re implying we’re in the wrong. They also seem to have a very close relationship with the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Should I handle this Hersen issue myself?”
“Hmm.”
“It feels like they’re underestimating us. If Biolife is going to operate in Korea, we can’t let people think they can push us around.”
Moving Biolife to the U.S. for real wasn’t an option.
While he could build better research facilities, it would be difficult to uproot Dr. Lee Ho-yeon and the research team from their homes.
“What are you going to do?”
“I was thinking of casually mentioning it to Isung and DK. When it comes to taking care of small and medium-sized enterprises, the big corporations are the experts.”
Could that sort of thing still work in this day and age?
A few days later, as if by magic, the contract requests from Hersen completely stopped.
* * *
Though he had been busy with the vaccine, and Earth Resource’s various ventures were doing well, the most unpredictable of all was Source Coin.
- Shopping mall sales break all-time records!
- This is great news!!!!
- Let’s celebrate!
The price of Source Coin surpassed $9.
- They say Earth Channel is launching within the year!!!
- It’s going to be a massive hit when it comes out.
- There’s nothing to watch on broadcast TV. I’m definitely watching.
The price of Source Coin broke through $12.
- An article came out in the Wall Street Journal. Earth Resource is projected to have a net profit of $3 billion this year.
- In its first year of business? Seriously insane lol.
Source Coin’s price easily surpassed $15.
- The games coming out this year. A few of them are giving out Source Coins!
- Let’s go download them!
- Source Coin even lets you enjoy gaming.
Over the past three months, the price of Source Coin had climbed past $16.
- The computing and cloud divisions are all doing well. It’s a company that succeeds at whatever it does.
- Trust and let's goooooo!
- To the moon!
The media was focused on the retail investors buying up stocks.
But he felt the ones buying crypto were the true warriors with hearts of lions.
‘It’s going to be hard to find someone I can trust to run the crypto division.’
It was a world of extreme volatility.
He would be too anxious to entrust it to just anyone.
- Kim Shin: Is the filming going well?
- Vice President Jeong Beom-tae: Yes, sir. The enthusiasm of the staff and actors on set is incredible.
Content for Earth Channel was being steadily prepared.
The plan was to launch with at least five original films and three original dramas.
- Vice President Jeong Beom-tae: The actors’ morale is high now that it’s known you invested in the vaccine, sir.
- Kim Shin: Oh, come on. Surely not.
- Vice President Jeong Beom-tae: It’s true. The actors and staff are all huge fans of yours.
Vice President Jeong Beom-tae of Dream Art Rainbow was an incredibly loyal type and handled his duties well.
Including flattery that went beyond a reasonable level.
‘Long hours, working late, intense loyalty. He’s great as a subordinate, but it would have been a nightmare to have him as a boss.’
Eddie demonstrated his genius by integrating and managing all of Earth Resource’s systems, continuously improving them.
To keep him from losing interest and leaving, Earth Resource was fated to constantly expand into new fields.
Oh Myeong-woo, as if he wasn’t even there, managed the organization perfectly as Vice President.
Allison, in the shopping mall division, was ambitiously leading its expansion.
While everyone was working hard, a call came from a Biolife employee in Korea.
“They said Dr. Lee Ho-yeon collapsed.”
Ever since COVID first broke out, Dr. Lee Ho-yeon had been engrossed in his research, barely sleeping.
He had collapsed from overwork and stress, and it turned out this was already the third time.
- Kim Shin: I have a favor to ask.
- Jin Yoo-kyung: What is it this time! Do you need to buy a car?
- Kim Shin: Please get him admitted to a VIP room at Mirae Hospital.
Mirae Hospital was considered one of the best in Korea.
He had Biolife employees make sure Dr. Lee Ho-yeon was forced to rest at Mirae Hospital.
Dr. Lee Ho-yeon had no family.
The thought of him lying sick in an empty hospital room weighed on his mind.
“Jong-yeop.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s go to Korea.”
* * *
Roughly two months ago.
- The Midas Touch. Kim Shin. Profits of over $5 billion from derivatives trading.
Kwon Do-jin read the article in the Wall Street Journal. Although he himself had achieved considerable success as a Korean, it was nothing compared to Kim Shin.
“That lucky bastard.”
A man who achieved colossal success with every investment.
The media and investors alike were watching Kim Shin’s every move.
‘Still, when it comes to crypto, he’s missing a golden opportunity.’
Earth Resource’s Source Coin had far greater potential for expansion than it currently did.
If it were connected to the coins he had created, or if they partnered with the coins and exchanges his team controlled!
‘He could become the center of the virtual currency market and create order.’
Couldn’t he see the astronomical profits to be made?
His partner, Jim, had been urging him for some time.
“Find a way to screw with Source Coin. We need to crush it before it gets bigger and becomes a problem.”
Kwon Do-jin was an expert in the crypto field.
He had designed numerous coins and listed them on exchanges, reaping massive profits.
He could have brought down a mediocre coin with community opinion alone, but Source Coin had been unshakable so far.
“Jim, Source Coin will be hard to take down.”
“So what? Are you saying we should just wait for them to get bigger?”
“As long as Earth Resource’s businesses don’t fail, Source Coin won’t fall easily. So let’s make money through Source Coin instead.”
“Make money?”
At the mention of money, Jim’s eyes lit up immediately.
Kwon Do-jin’s plan was simple.
“It seems about 23 million Source Coins are released per day.”
“That’s a rough estimate, but it seems about right.”
“Analyzing Earth Resource’s exchange, it looks like less than 10% of the daily supply is actually traded.”
“That makes sense. It’s a coin that’s likely to rise even if you just hold it.”
Source Coin’s trading volume was increasing, but the figure was not large in the grand scheme of things.
Compared to coins that issue 100 billion from the start, its supply was ridiculously small.
“So, let’s buy it up.”
“We should?”
“Let’s buy Source Coin every day and accumulate it.”
The moment Jim heard that, he understood the plan.
“A change in perspective. You mean we should run our usual playbook on Source Coin.”
“Yes. In this field, we’re the experts worldwide. We’ll consistently buy and accumulate Source Coin, and when the time is right, we’ll release good news to pump the price.”
“Even if we sell it off like that, the profit margin won’t be that high, will it?”
Jim looked dissatisfied.
When they ran an operation on a coin they created from nothing, the return on investment was off the charts.
A few tens of thousands of dollars spent creating a coin could turn into hundreds of millions.
But with Source Coin, even if it rose significantly, they might only double or triple their money.
“We have funds just sitting in the bank, don’t we? Compared to that, this would be a good investment.”
“True, interest rates are terrible right now.”
Because of the Fed’s money printing, there was almost no interest to be earned by leaving money in the bank.
Both Jim and Kwon Do-jin had fortunes reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.
It was capital they had amassed by creating and listing coins.
Source Coin was judged to be the perfect place to park a large sum of money, as it was stable and could offer returns exceeding the market average.
“Alright. Let’s draw up a detailed plan for managing the funds.”