Ghosts of Eternity

The main laboratory of Aether Bio.

Rows of silver stainless steel workstations stretched out under a high ceiling. The overhead fluorescent lights refracted in harsh, white lines across the smooth metal surfaces.

In the corner, a centrifuge hummed with a low vibration as it spun, while the adjacent vent exhaled a steady stream of dry air. The rhythmic squeak of researchers' footsteps scraped against the epoxy floor.

Seohan pointed at a monitor. A complex protein structure filled the screen.

"We are starting the IL-11 project."

The researchers gathered around Seohan, their tension visible in the way they held themselves.

“This is a key regulator of fibrosis. Begin building the antibody candidate pool immediately.”

Seohan’s voice was low and precise.

“Rank the candidates by antibody response and binding signal. Handle the specific experimental conditions within our existing platform protocols.”

The researchers nodded quickly. Their routine was now locked in.

From the moment the antibody responses climbed, a cascade of screening and functional validation would follow. Their goal was to isolate one definitive clone from countless antibody candidates—one capable of shutting down the fibrosis signal.

That was the first step of the experiment Seohan had designed.

"Upload the data to the data room as soon as it comes in. I will verify it myself."

Seohan turned off his tablet and headed toward the CEO's office.

The office door opened.

A mantle of cold intellect seemed to rest over the neatly tailored collar of her soft beige shirt. It was Sihyun Kang, the senior partner overseeing the legal architecture around Aether Bio and Aeterno. The steel watch wrapped around her wrist caught the afternoon sun filtering through the window, glinting sharply.

"Did you look for me, CEO Lee?"

Sihyun crossed her legs as she took the seat opposite Seohan, her posture impeccably straight.

Seohan closed the stack of documents spread across his desk.

"Aether Bio’s 45 billion won capital injection has been finalized for one year from now. Artemis might try to pull some petty tricks, but structurally speaking, the contractual clauses leave them no room to catch us off guard."

"Good work."

Seohan leaned deep into the backrest of his leather chair.

"I plan to begin development on the next pipeline. The internal code name is Ghost."

Sihyun lightly gripped her stylus.

A steady tap, tap against the edge of her tablet laid down a quiet rhythm in the silent office. Her deep, measured gaze rose to lock with Seohan's.

"It’s an endocrine regulation mechanism."

Seohan casually rolled up the sleeves of his linen shirt.

“We will list ovulation induction and female hypoactive sexual desire disorder—HSDD—as the official indications.”

His tone was completely dry. It was entirely devoid of emotion, like a machine outputting automated data metrics.

Sihyun’s dark eyebrows twitched slightly. Her wrist, weighted by a Cartier Tank watch, moved as she scrolled through the basic summary on her screen.

"Endocrine regulation... That is an incredibly minor market for an Aether Bio portfolio. Is there a valid reason to burn significant resources developing this? The rationale is too weak to convince investors."

Her critique was dead-on. It wasn't a target that global Big Pharma or major institutional funds would chase aggressively—at least, not on the surface.

"Because the real objective lies elsewhere."

Seohan looked straight into Sihyun's eyes. A chilly light radiated from his gaze, conveying absolute certainty in the data roadmap he alone had mapped out.

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"The real objective?"

Sihyun leaned forward, tilting toward Seohan. The rhythmic tapping of her stylus stopped.

“First, we will follow the clinical path already established by similar compounds. Since the safety profile for this class is already well established, the regulatory path should be relatively clear.”

Seohan pulled up his tablet, overlaying several intricate line graphs on the screen.

"We will clear Phase 2 in the shortest timeframe possible, then target an indication expansion right at the gateway of Phase 3. We will enter through a narrow bottleneck, framing it initially as a treatment for a minor patient cohort. But the ultimate target is the post-menopausal market for ages fifty and up."

Seohan pressed his finger firmly against the numbers 50+ flashing on the screen.

"This isn't a simple hormone supplement. We are forcefully restoring the brain’s processing capacity and physical responsiveness, both of which have been blunted by aging. Capitalists don't fear losing their wealth; they fear inheriting a body that can no longer spend it."

Sihyun kept her lips pressed together for a moment. She had handled multi-billion-won M&As and high-stakes patent litigations, but this operated on a different plane. It was a terrifyingly arrogant design that treated the aging body as a market to be conquered.

"...And I intend to develop this under Aeterno's name, not Aether Bio's."

With Seohan’s flat delivery of his next move, Sihyun's hand stopped entirely. A warning flare went off in her rational eyes.

“Aether Bio's legacy shareholders will immediately file a breach of fiduciary duty claim if they catch wind of this. The new 45-billion-won investors won't sit idly by either. They will claim you siphoned the company’s most valuable pipeline into a personal holding entity and sue immediately.”

"Is there a legal workaround? For instance, having Aeterno secure the foundational IP rights upfront, while granting Aether Bio contract manufacturing rights or subordinate licenses down the line?"

Countless statutes and capital market precedents flashed through her mind.

“What is technically yours and what you can legally move are two different things. If even a single won of Aether Bio’s capital or a single minute of a researcher's time bleeds into this, your legal defense collapses."

"The moment they show their teeth and litigate, your lab moves to a courtroom, and you will be tied down for at least two years. If they find a single crack, you are looking at criminal exposure for embezzlement and breach of trust."

Sihyun’s tone was absolute. It was the unyielding warning of an expert, stripped of all personal sentiment.

Seohan didn't offer a verbal rebuttal; he simply held her gaze. His eyes, scrubbed clean of emotional volatility, exerted a strange pressure that felt like he was systematically reading the cards in her hand. Within that silence, Sihyun couldn't shake the sensation that her own legal defenses were being reverse-engineered.

Breaking the heavy stillness of the executive office, a minuscule curve touched the corner of Seohan's lips.

“That is why I trust you, Attorney Kang. Textbook risk control.”

Seohan maintained his straight posture and gave a slight nod.

"Very well. We cannot afford to waste time untangling legal knots. We have a long road ahead. We will advance the Ghost project as an official pipeline of Aether Bio. We will proceed along the fastest path, utilizing Aether Bio's official capital and protocols."

It was an incredibly swift and rational pivot. Given the intense momentum with which she had just charted the boundaries of white-collar crime, his withdrawal was seamlessly fluid.

Sihyun closed her pen cap with a sharp snap. Logically, her counsel had prevailed, successfully anchoring her client within safe legal boundaries. Yet, the heavy weight pressing down on her chest remained.

Seohan turned his gaze toward the window. The fading rays of twilight sank slowly into the massive concrete jungle of Teheran-ro.

Seohan rolled his linen sleeves up one more notch.

He gazed out at the crimson sunset, meticulously computing the clinical timeline for Ghost and the massive hurdles blocking the path ahead.

"This won't end with simply launching a new drug onto the market."

Seohan’s voice was low and calm, yet it carried the chilling stillness that precedes a massive storm.

“This isn’t about operating inside existing law. We have to identify the spaces where regulation doesn’t exist yet.”

He turned back to look at Sihyun, his expressionless eyes scanning her reaction with clinical precision.

“I need a true architect—someone who understands exactly what parameters drive the executive branch and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Do you have someone to recommend?”

Click.

Sihyun powered off her tablet screen entirely. Her sharp eyes reflected against the darkened glass.

She lightly tapped her watch, sinking into a brief moment of thought.

“Do you remember meeting Seoyun last time?”

Seohan’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly at the mention of the name.

"Are you referring to Baek Seoyun of GSI?"

"Yes. The eldest daughter of the Baek family, whose father served as Vice Minister of Economy and Finance and Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs."

Sihyun nodded calmly, continuing her pitch.

"She is peerless when it comes to regulatory frameworks and healthcare policy design. She goes far beyond simple legal interpretation—she has a gift for identifying the structural seams within the bureaucratic machinery. She knows exactly how to translate regulatory voids into operational realities."

Sihyun's voice carried absolute conviction regarding Seoyun's capabilities.

"Her specialty is reverse-engineering regulations that others discard as impossible, transforming them into legitimate national policy. She has deep channels running into the core of the administration."

Sihyun locked eyes with Seohan.

“Show her even a fraction of what you’re designing. If you do, she will come to you on her own. Seoyun is someone who wants to completely overhaul South Korea's healthcare paradigm through policy and systemic regulation."

Seohan remained silent for a moment.

Baek Seoyun.

Not someone who blocked regulations, but someone who engineered the very direction in which regulations moved.

For Ghost to emerge into the light, clinical data wasn't the only metric required. It needed a structural vessel within the system ready to receive it.

And if there was anyone capable of designing that vessel, it was the woman Sihyun had just named.

Seohan quietly powered his tablet back on.

The name Baek Seoyun appeared on the screen.