Chapter 75: The Conqueror of AIDS (9)
A hundred people signed up to participate in the live lecture and debate. They couldn’t take more than that as the studio was a very unique place: it was Room 411, a lab in Lab One at A-Gen. This lab was made and used for science high schools[1] or university students to observe experiments.
A-Gen had made this in order to improve the company’s image, pushing the slogan for the popularization of science and societal contribution. It was much larger than a regular lab, and it had a structure that was fit for a lecture, such as having a separate podium at the front of the room.
Young-Joon wanted to do the lecture program here.
—Filming in a lab?
Producer Na Sung-Jin found it ridiculous when he first heard the idea, but after thinking about it some more, he felt like it was actually going to be a very entertaining sight. The background would target the taste of the viewers who wanted to see the star scientist. It would be more interesting than meeting Young-Joon on a podium with a suit on, right?
—I’ll get it ready. We will also gather the audience like you want.
* * *
Young-Joon borrowed the pAFM, the super-resolution visible photoactivated atomic force microscope, from Lab One. It was an optical microscope that could see one hundred thousandth of a piece of hair using light. It had outstanding performance among existing optical microscopes, and it was pretty expensive as well. A-Gen had this kind of thing because well, they were A-Gen, but Young-Joon had to wait a little in order to borrow this equipment.
There were a few more things that needed to be set up in Room 411 for his lecture. Ten days were needed in order to gather those things and the audience.
In the meantime, Young-Joon headed to India. Karamchand Pharmatics was now starting the production of the treatment, and Young-Joon was asked to conduct a technical inspection of the system.
In the meantime in Korea, another issue was unfolding noisily. Professor Sung Yo-Han, the optometry specialist of the next-generation hospital, opened a press conference. He was not alone; beside him was the most famous patient in the whole world right now, Ardip from India.
He was the first patient in the world to use the glaucoma treatment kit, the first commercialized stem cell therapy, the patient who got a tumor in his eye and was almost sacrificed by Schumatix’s evil scheme, and the patient who informed the world of A-Bio’s advanced new technology of automatic stem cell death. The whole world was angered at the horrible things Schuamtix did to him, and voices supporting Ardip came from everywhere.
The hashtag, “PRAYFORARDIP” dominated social media, and countless intellectuals, celebrities, and politicians criticized Schumatix and issued statements praying for Ardip’s recovery.
How many people would experience such ups and downs as an ordinary patient? Among patients, he was as famous as Timothy Ray Brown. As the international medical industry was busy with the HIV eradication project, there were countless people who were curious about what happened to Ardip after the incident.
“We have cured Ardip’s glaucoma at the next-generation hospital,” Sung Yo-Han announced.
Click! Click!
Flashes poured onto them from all over. The reporters stared at Ardip with curious eyes. It was understandable that they were releasing this as this was an issue related to the confidence in the glaucoma treatment product. But was there a reason to open a press conference and bring the patient himself just for that?
Professor Sung Yo-Han said to the puzzled reporters, “Ardip told me he wanted to have a press conference. That is why I arranged this. The professional translator that was prepared by A-Bio will deliver the patient’s message.”
Sung Yo-Han handed Ardip, who looked nervous, the mic.
“Feel free to talk.”
“Y... Yes...”
Ardip gulped as his hands trembled. Dozens of reporters were staring at him. As he had lived as an insignificant and poor citizen, the interest was so overwhelming that it felt like he was being crushed.
But he had to say this for Young-Joon and for the women at the red-light district that looked after his life until now.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.
Ardip teared up even before he opened his mouth.
“I heard that Doctor RYu is developing an HIV vaccine. I also heard that there are a lot of people who are against it. I saw it. I saw it with my own two eyes because I can see now. They were petitioning in front of the next-generation hospital.”
The reporters look shocked. It was because they thought he would criticize Schuamtix, praise A-Bio, or talk about the glaucoma treatment, but Ardip began talking about the HIV vaccine out of the blue.
“Please don’t do that. Please. I beg you. You don’t know what kind of disease AIDS is. I grew up in Kamathipura in Mumbai, India,” Ardip said. “Kamathipura is like hell. It’s the worst red-light district in the world, and that place is infested with AIDS.”
Young-Joon pulled out another vial.
“And the thing in here is an active form of HIV.”
Young-Joon drew up one milliliter of the virus.”
“Doctor Ryu!”
Horrified, Na Sung-Jin shouted as he got up from his seat. But he was too late. As everyone was in shock, Young-Joon injected the virus into his arm.
The lab was filled with silence. The audience was frozen.
Young-Joon stared at them with a calm face.
“I will not release my vaccine only in AIDS-risk areas in developing cultures and conduct clinical trials there when there is so much resistance because of its danger,” Young-Joon said. “But also, I will not take a defensive stand against this vaccine development. As Ardip said, people in high-risk areas need this technology as soon as possible. That is why I am administering and testing it myself.”
Young-Joon switched the syringe and drew blood from his arm. He mixed in a dye that stained white blood cells into his blood and put a droplet on the glass slide. Then, he turned on the microscope. A video of the virus rushing to the huge white blood cells was shown on the large screen.
“Let’s see together what happens to the virus.”
1. Science high schools are a special type of school where there is a large focus on science and technology. You must qualify to attend. ☜
2. A Korean unit of size. It is roughly equal to 107 square feet.[ref] room. The room would be small, and the ceilings would be so low that they wouldn’t even be able to stand up fully. Sometimes, they would stay in that windowless room for years and never be able to come up. These women lived and prostituted in this place, which was not that much different from an animal pen.
Also, these women shared prostitution beds with each other because they didn’t have their own. From dawn until they went to sleep, these women had to take customers, no matter if they were on their period, pregnant, or had a miscarriage.
The money they received for this was around a few hundred won, but most of it was taken from them as a room fee by gang members. To maintain order, they used violence, verbal abuse, and even electrical torture.
But there was something even scarier than that. The true ruler of terror that reigned over that region was not people, but a virus. The infection rate of HIV was sixty percent; half of the people who lived there were suffering from AIDS.
Everyone fell into despair when the women in the next room, which was divided by a cardboard partition, got sick. It was unimaginably painful that this disease, which infected the only people these women could rely on and consider as family, was an infectious disease. It was the horrid enemy that robbed them of their last strand of hope and their affection and care for each other. AIDS divided people from people; it was the devil that took away life and hope at the same time.
From a ten-year-old child to an elderly in their sixties, this disease did not discriminate. It killed the gang members who ruled over the women, the rich tourists from strong nations who visited Kamathipura, and the women living there.
The worst case was to give birth to a baby while being infected with HIV. The baby would have HIV from the moment it was born. It was sinful that it was born into that hellhole, but the mother was also giving it HIV.
“AIDS is not what you think it is,” Ardip said while tears ran down his face. “That infection is a curse. It is the devil that takes away the last strand of hope from people who have nothing. I heard everything the people who are against the vaccine said. The things about the side effects or homosexuality increasing.”
Ardip bit his lower lip.
“How... Why does that matter? Even if that is true, is that a reason to stop the vaccine development? I have been blinded by glaucoma, and I have a limp in my left leg from a stroke. But still, I’m more afraid of AIDS. When you go to sleep, you don’t worry about whether you were infected by HIV or not. You are not in terror at the news that someone is coughing in the morning. That is why people in developed countries can worry about the side effects and resist vaccines,” Ardip said. “Please let him exile that disease from Kamathipura. I beg you. Please do not stop Doctor Ryu. The people who live there are like family to me. Please rescue those people.”
Ardip came out of chair and begged them, bowing on the floor. Sung Yo-Han quickly got him off the floor and settled the situation down.
“We will not be receiving any questions for the condition of our patient.”
* * *
Ardip’s appeal about the place called Kamathipura and the situation of AIDS there had quite an impact. The issue about AIDS cure and HIV vaccines was heated. Kim Pil-Young was also shocked as he heard firsthand from a local survivor that the infection rate of HIV was sixty percent.
The first place where the atmosphere changed was Jungyoon University. The booth where they were petitioning was in pieces. A poster with a long message written by students was put up in the Central Library.
[Recently, we have seen a group on campus leading the movement against the development of the HIV vaccine and campaigning for signatures. The biotechnology major students, batch of 2019,[ref]This is the Korean equivalent of “Class of...” in university, but the year is when they enter, not graduate. ☜
