The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 110

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 110: Clinical Trial (1)

The amount of Cheon-gye flowers that Danggumak sent wasn’t much, but it was enough to make treatment medicine for clinical trials.

Tae-ju began researching the treatment using Geumjeonghwa and Eumyanghwa.

These two flowers were very deeply related to treating mana rejection syndrome.

He extracted the necessary components from the flowers and combined them with the poison extracted from the Poison Registry.

‘What would be the right amount?’

The important thing was still the mixture ratio.

Finding the ratio that could produce the greatest effect was the priority.

‘Hmm.’

Mixing too much caused problems.

This was because the Cheon-gye flower extract transformed even the poison that was supposed to eliminate mana.

‘Let’s gradually reduce it.’

After dozens of attempts, he finally found the golden ratio.

The poison and Cheon-gye flower components mixed completely without any sense of incompatibility.

The number of treatment samples he made this way was about 100 bottles.

Still, half of the Cheon-gye flowers remained.

With the remaining flowers?

‘I need to find out if it’s possible using poison made by mixing general materials instead of poison extracted from the Poison Registry.’

Until now, Tae-ju had directly extracted the poison that served as the basic base from the Poison Registry.

In other words, no one but Tae-ju could make the treatment.

But if it continued this way every time, mass production would be difficult.

He might have to extract poison from the Poison Registry every single day.

He needed to be able to make treatment using actual materials.

Also, the treatment made that way had to show the same efficacy.

He began manufacturing with the poison.

For the Ten Thousand Year Centipede decomposition poison, he found a substitute with similar effects, and for mosquito poison, he directly caught mosquitoes in the Jirisan Swamp and secured them through cultivation work.

He processed them and mixed them with purified water and Cheon-gye flower extract in the golden ratio.

The mass-production treatment samples made this way were also 100 bottles.

Now it was time to enter clinical trials.

But executing it right now wouldn’t work.

‘I’ll have to wait.’

For Danggumak’s next delivery.

Sufficient supplies needed to be secured.

Only then could he move to the next stage.

While waiting…

‘I should rest a bit.’

How much would the supply of Cheon-gye flowers be?

Danggumak had spoken positively about it, but.

Tae-ju came out of the laboratory.

It was sunlight he was seeing after a long time.

Right then.

“Huh?”

“…”

He ended up making eye contact with someone who was walking that way.

It was a cat.

Ilbaek stared at Tae-ju with a surprised expression.

“…Ilbaek?”

After the two stared at each other for a while.

Swish! Ilbaek turned away from Tae-ju and continued on his way.

‘He’s sulking.’

It seemed that way.

He knew the reason too.

He hadn’t seen his face once because he was absorbed in research.

That little guy.

He was quick-witted and knew full well what his owner was doing.

“Not even recognizing your owner. Should I try raising a dog? I’ve been drawn to puppies lately…”

Freeze!

Ilbaek stopped moving with one paw raised.

“I should go to an abandoned dog shelter while I’m at it.”

Instantly!

Dash dash dash dash dash dash dash dash!

He charged at Tae-ju.

“Meow!”

Ilbaek jumped and hugged him.

“You little rascal! What’s the point of you sulking?”

“Meow?”

“Yeah, let’s each have a Seondo after a long time.”

“Meooooow!”

Tae-ju spent time with Ilisambaeyi for a while.

And he stopped by Gurye City Hall after a long time.

He was supposedly the lifetime Mayor of Gurye.

But he had hardly been to City Hall.

“M-Mayor!”

“…You should at least call, we would have escorted you from in front of City Hall.”

“Please visit often.”

All the City Hall civil servants came out and showed their delight to Tae-ju.

Before being lifetime mayor, he was Gurye’s most popular person.

Everyone’s expressions were bright.

Was it the effect of the salary increase?

“There aren’t any difficult matters, are there?”

“No, there aren’t.”

“If there are any, please be sure to tell me. I’ll handle them right away.”

This place was different from Paju.

Gurye’s administrative system was running well, no different from before.

There weren’t any major projects either, so there wasn’t really anything to do as mayor.

“Where is the Deputy Mayor?”

“He’s in his office.”

Lee Jeong-hak Guild Master, who currently controlled City Hall’s administration in place of Tae-ju.

Originally he was the Gurye Police Chief, but he handed over his position to the Nogo-dan Guild’s Deputy Guild Master and rose to the Deputy Mayor position.

“Mayor, welcome.”

“Have you been well?”

“You came at just the right time. There’s a lot to report.”

“…Uh, right now?”

“Yes.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have come?

Well, he had to perform his duties as mayor.

Lee Jeong-hak’s report continued.

There weren’t any particularly big incidents, but…

“The number of magical beasts in Jirisan has increased a lot?”

“That’s right. They’re mainly ordinary magical beasts, but even so, we can’t just stand by and watch.”

The reproductive ability of magical beasts is quite excellent.

Even if hunting slows down just a little, they multiply quickly.

Thus, when magical beast density increases, elite magical beasts are born as well.

Tae-ju reading the report.

“Hmm, it seems like the number of raid teams has decreased significantly.”

“It’s probably because of the tax issue.”

With Tae-ju becoming mayor, Gurye also lost its Free City status.

As a result, the tax exemption benefits for selling magical beast byproducts also disappeared.

“Then let’s revive it back to the original way. Tax exemption for byproducts.”

“That’s a good decision. The city hall budget is sufficient anyway.”

Having visited city hall as well, now only waiting remained.

One day passed, then two days passed…

Just when he was spending time anxiously!

Beep beep beep beep!

Finally, the delivery signal appeared.

‘…As expected?’

Tae-ju checked the items.

“Hehehe.”

The inside of the Shared Warehouse was completely filled with flowers.

Large Geumjeonghwa and Eumyanghwa flower clusters were packed full inside.

In the subspace bag as well.

After emptying the warehouse and filling it with Earth items, Tae-ju checked his smartphone.

– Looks like we can start mass production. Try saving people.

The signal came through.

Clinical trials first, before that.

* * *

The temporary ward set up at Taehong Orphanage.

Ten patients were gathered, including Myeong-jin.

All were severe to critical mana rejection patients.

“Haah…”

Baek Hong-pyo let out a long sigh from his frustrated heart.

At first, he had hope seeing the symptoms improve, but after that, there was no progress at all.

Even that great Tae-ju seemed to find it difficult.

Was overcoming this curse beyond human power?

For now, they could only rely on day-to-day life support treatment.

But even that was something, wasn’t it?

Without the temporary treatment Tae-ju had made, at least half of these people would already be dead.

However, the doctor dispatched from the hospital to support the clinical trial had a somewhat negative attitude.

“Director, let’s give up now. This is false hope. It would be wiser to give these people time to prepare.”

This bastard, adding fuel to the fire.

While doing nothing but idling around.

“So has even one person died?”

“Pardon?”

“These are patients who wouldn’t be strange to die today, so I’m asking if anyone has died?”

“Ah, no, what I meant was…”

“How can you say ‘give up’ so easily? And you call yourself a doctor?”

“…”

“Our Chairman Kim is still devoted to research, while you’re just checking numbers on a monitor.”

The doctor didn’t hold back either.

“So have there been any results? From the beginning, this impossible task is just giving false hope…”

That’s when it happened.

The door burst open.

“Hyung-nim!”

“…Oh, Tae, Tae-ju.”

“Where’s Myeong-jin?”

“Over there, he’s sleeping right now.”

Tae-ju handed the prepared injection to the dispatched doctor and said.

“Please inject this along with the IV.”

“…Haah, understood.”

The doctor’s expression showed he somehow didn’t like this.

But could he defy the words of Tae-ju, who was also the lifelong Mayor of Gurye?

The mana rejection treatment entered Myeong-jin’s body along with the IV.

Waiting for the drug effects to appear, Tae-ju also administered medication to the other patients.

And shortly after.

Woo Myeong-jin stirred and woke up from sleep.

His eyes snapped open.

“Uwah!”

He removed the oxygen respirator with his own hands and let out a cry of amazement.

“Mye, Myeong-jin! What’s wrong? Does something hurt?”

“Well…”

Pop!

He sat up his upper body.

“I suddenly feel comfortable. It doesn’t hurt, and I can breathe so well.”

That was the beginning.

Severe to critical patients sitting up here and there.

All of them removed their oxygen respirators and said.

“I’m fine too.”

“My head feels clear.”

“I feel light. There’s no problem with breathing.”

“Me too…”

.

.

.

The doctor dispatched from the hospital gaped at this completely unexpected situation.

‘What is this situation? People who couldn’t even breathe on their own just moments ago…’

Really?

Could it be some kind of drug?

No, just from one injection…

He hurriedly checked the vital signs monitor.

Strangely, all the numbers were within normal ranges.

‘This can’t be…’

Actually, at first he had scoffed.

He knew well that Chairman Kim Tae-ju was a great person.

The fact that the new drugs he created changed people’s quality of life and brought revolutionary changes to magical beast hunting as well.

But a mana rejection treatment was a completely different problem.

‘How long has he been researching this…’

To solve this, the global medical community had been devoted to treatment research for almost 100 years.

Naturally, there had been no results.

But today, a miracle happened as if it were a lie.

Tae-ju wasn’t satisfied with just this.

I need to see how long the effects last.

Day 2, the next day.

Their condition hadn’t worsened.

They maintained the improved state.

So I administered the medication once more.

They got even better.

Color began returning to their faces.

Day 3.

The effects were still maintained.

Some people were even walking around.

Continued medication administration.

Day 4.

People’s appetites increased.

Their emaciated bodies began filling out.

Some were even running around.

Severe mana rejection patients beginning to live normal lives.

They strolled around the orphanage playground, sometimes exercised, ate well, and in short, were no different from ordinary people.

Phase 1 clinical trial: complete success.

Patients with relatively mild symptoms finished with 3 doses, but those with severe conditions required 4 doses.

We’d have to keep monitoring whether the disease would recur, but so far they hadn’t reverted to their previous state, and there were no side effects whatsoever.

Baek Hong-pyo grasped Tae-ju’s hands with tears welling in his eyes.

“I don’t know what to say. Tae-ju! You’ve really worked hard.”

“Not at all. We still have the Phase 2 clinical trial left.”

“Phase 2?”

“Yes, please find and bring 10 more people with similar symptoms.”

They decided to keep the Phase 1 clinical success secret.

It wasn’t time to make a fuss yet.

Perhaps the most important experiment remained.

And so began the Phase 2 clinical trial.

The treatment used this time was an injection made from actual materials, not poison extracted from the Poison Registry.

After completing a week of medication.

The results were…

“It worked!”

Phase 2 was also a great success.

It was a miracle achieved by Tae-ju and Danggumak together.

There were differences from Phase 1.

Since it wasn’t poison from the Poison Registry, reduced efficacy was unavoidable.

The average number of doses was 7, requiring at least 6 or more, and for meaningful effects, 7 doses were needed, sometimes even up to 8 for severe cases.

But this reduced Tae-ju’s burden of having to extract poison from the Poison Registry.

It couldn’t be replicated either.

Where else could they get Cheon-gye flowers besides from him?

‘But there are many points that need improvement.’

Reducing the number of doses.

So Phase 3 clinical trials needed to be prepared as well.

Through testing, enhance the treatment’s efficacy.

Also establish mass production systems for the treatment.

But there was no factory to produce the treatment.

New Seoul Factory, Gurye Factory – the current production lines were at full capacity.

‘First, temporarily halt production of existing medications…’

Tae-ju went to find Baek Seo-yeon.

“Ms. Seo-yeon.”

“Chairman! I heard the news too. Did you really create a treatment…?”

“Yes. Now we just need mass production. That’s why I’m saying this – we need to start acquiring pharmaceutical companies. We need to begin large-scale production.”

“Ah, I’ll look into it.”

“If possible, a factory with proper pharmaceutical facilities.”

“Hmm…”

Baek Seo-yeon pondered for a moment, then said.

“Chairman, how about Mirinae Pharmaceutical?”

“…Mirinae?”

“Yes, that company’s situation is very bad. As you know, they’re firmly on the bad side of the Board of Audit and Inspection and the Food and Drug Administration, so they’re on the verge of bankruptcy.”

When trying to enter New Seoul with Saengibulkkun and Saesalssugsseug, there had been disruptions in patent reviews due to Mirinae Pharmaceutical’s interference.

They were caught by the Board of Audit and completely destroyed.

Chairman Lee Gi-eon had also collapsed then and still hadn’t recovered.

“That sounds good. Acquire them regardless of cost.”

“I’ll get to work on it.”

Baek Seo-yeon had absolutely no intention of paying fair value.

Mirinaei Group, where she had once worked.

So she knew well how Mirinae Pharmaceutical had grown.

The management who had done all sorts of dirty deeds – she’d kick them all out and buy it as cheaply as possible.

“The faster the better, so I’ll try requesting help from the Imperial Palace. Is that okay? It’s not that I don’t trust you, Ms. Seo-yeon…”

“I was actually going to ask you to do that. Is this really the time to be picky?”

And if the Imperial Palace got involved, they could buy it even cheaper.

“Oh! And…”

Tae-ju handed her a list of toxic substances needed for treatment production.

“Please secure as much of these materials as possible.”

“Understood. Please trust me with this.”

“You don’t need to overdo it. I’m planning to ask other places too.”

He was thinking of borrowing the Imperial Forces’ power.

Toxic substances were usually abundant in monster-infested areas.

By requesting help from the pioneer units, defense units, and outpost units currently expanding territory while subjugating monsters, they could secure more materials faster.

So he called the Emperor directly.

“Your Majesty, it’s me. Kim Tae-ju.”

– Hey, Chairman Kim, you’ve been busy lately, haven’t you? Is there anything I can help with?

“Actually…”

Tae-ju explained the plan to acquire Mirinae Pharmaceutical’s factory and requested borrowing the Imperial Forces’ power for medicinal material procurement.

– So you’re going for mass production. That’s not difficult. Suho can handle it.

Grumbling sounds could be heard from the side.

– If it’s additional mass production, it must be Saengibulkkun, right? Are you planning to compete with the copycat drugs?

“Pardon?”

– You’ve finally decided on overseas expansion. Good thinking. Those inferior copycat drugs will crumble without a fight when the real thing enters the market!

The Emperor was mistaken.

This wasn’t about Saengibulkkun.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t told him.

That I had created a treatment for mana rejection syndrome.

– I’ll help too. Once the copycat drug problem is resolved, research on mana rejection syndrome treatment can proceed smoothly…

“It’s not mass production of Saengibulkkun.”

– Huh? What do you mean?

“I’ve created a treatment for mana rejection syndrome. That’s what I’m trying to mass produce.”

– Ah, I see. Mana rejection syndrome treatment… Huh! Wh-what did you say?

The Emperor’s trembling voice.

– P-please tell me again. Whether what I just heard is c-correct…

“It was successful. What I asked for wasn’t Saengibulkkun, but mass production of mana rejection syndrome treatment and securing materials for it.”

– Uaaahhh! G-good heavens! N-no, this is ridiculous, is today April Fool’s Day? It’s not! Y-you’re not really joking, right? Huh? C-crazy!

Strange cries coming from beyond the phone.

Why is this person called The Emperor making such a fuss?

Well, I understand.

Is this some ordinary incident?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————