Ghosts of Eternity

The Palisade’s tires rolled quietly across the parking garage floor.

Only a few weeks ago, Aetherno’s underground parking lot had been a gloomy space reeking of damp cement. Now, it had been transformed into a quiet, orderly space under soft recessed lighting.

President Park unloaded reagent boxes from the back seat—peptide concentrates and polymer compounds that served as raw materials for 'Ghost 2.0.' A thin layer of frost clung to the surfaces of the boxes.

"President Park, you brought them yourself?"

A man in a navy suit greeted him by the elevator. He was an administrative staff member from Aetherno. His immaculate suit and expressionless gaze made him look less like office staff and more like a trained attendant.

"Well, sending this by courier felt a bit off. Besides, I had an appointment to see Director Lee as well."

Park followed the man into the storage corridor leading to the reagent rooms.

Indirect lighting along the walls exposed the clean grain of the marble, and the floor was kept impeccably spotless. Beyond the reinforced glass of the analytical lab, automated dispensers and sealed filling units stood in neat rows, yet not a single sound leaked out.

"So, is it always this quiet here?" Park asked casually as he arranged the vials on the storage shelf.

During the entire delivery, he had encountered only two staff members. The complete absence of human presence in a lavish facility spanning thousands of square meters created a subtle undercurrent of tension.

"We maintain a high level of automation. It is also an external contamination control zone," a female technician standing beside the storage shelf replied without looking up from her tablet.

Park rubbed the back of his neck to brush off the awkwardness.

Having completed the delivery, Park turned back down the hall and inadvertently stepped toward a translucent glass door labeled Clean Restricted Zone.

A short warning chime sounded from the access terminal.

"That area is a clean zone. You cannot enter without proper access training and garb."

The male staff member had stepped up beside Park without a sound, speaking in a flat tone.

"Ah, I took a wrong turn. Sounds like the machines are running hard inside."

"Our automated production line is currently operating under GMP standards."

The man's lips curled into a businesslike arc, but his eyes remained utterly motionless.

A subtle chill crept down Park’s spine as he hurried his steps.

Empty corridors, expressionless staff, and silent automated machinery.

Emerging from Teheran-ro's gridlocked traffic, the car pulled up in front of the building housing Aether Bio.

It was an ordinary office building built over a decade ago. Passing the directory in the lobby where Aether Bio was listed among various other bio-ventures, Park stood before the executive office door.

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

The door opened onto cool, clean air from the office’s purification system.

Inside the office sat a newly installed large monitor alongside a separate terminal displaying Aetherno’s real-time operational status. To an outsider, it looked like an ordinary venture office. On Seohan’s desk, however, the finances, logistics, and research schedules of both companies were integrated into a single dashboard.

From behind the desk, Seohan was reviewing experimental results on his monitor, his sleeves lightly rolled up.

Seohan looked up from the screen and leaned back in his chair when he saw Park.

"How are the effects of the drug these days?"

"Great, Director. The afternoon crash I used to get is completely gone. I wake up feeling lighter, too."

Park approached Seohan’s desk with a flushed face.

"How’s business been lately?"

Park swallowed hard.

"Thanks to your support, Director, I can breathe a little. But I still have a long way to go to cover what I lost in the stock market. I blew hundreds of millions, after all."

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He looked out at the forest of skyscrapers beyond the window with a bitter expression.

Seohan watched Park for a moment before asking, "How would you feel about opening a US branch for IPS TECH?"

Park’s eyes widened.

"A US branch for my company?"

"Yes."

"I run a small reagent supply business. It’s not a proper company that can open an overseas branch. I can't even speak English properly, let alone handle local sales."

Park spoke with a chuckle, but he couldn't hide the thread of anticipation in his voice.

IPS TECH.

A company he had kept afloat for over ten years. At one point, his staff had grown to six, and he even secured annual supply contracts with a few research labs in the capital region. But after bad investments locked up his capital, employees left one by one. Now, it was little more than a small reagent business where Park answered client calls and hauled boxes all by himself.

He had never even imagined seeing 'USA' attached to his company’s name.

"We’ll establish a US branch of IPS TECH in Boston. We'll register an address there and set up a local warehouse and bank account."

Seohan pulled up a map of North America on his monitor. Logistics hubs around Boston, New York, and New Jersey flashed onto the screen.

"You won't need a large staff at first. Local agencies will handle customs clearance and freight, while Aetherno’s legal team will cover legal and accounting matters."

"Then what do I do?"

"Not much different from what you do now. Verify the goods, sign contracts with clients, and manage inventory logs."

Seohan lightly tapped a point on the outskirts of Boston with the tip of his pen.

"We plan to export Ghost 2.0, produced at our GMP facility, as a research-grade reagent. The US branch of IPS TECH will handle local import and distribution."

Park’s mouth parted slightly.

The automated filling equipment he had seen in Aetherno’s basement flashed through his mind. Machines running endlessly in a space devoid of a single human being. The goods made there would cross the Pacific through his company.

"Hold on. Does that mean the company selling Ghost in the US will be IPS TECH?"

"A company supplying research-grade reagents, yes."

"Still... it means it gets exported under our company’s name."

"Correct."

Seohan answered as if it were no big deal.

To Park, however, it was a massive deal.

IPS TECH—a business that had once chased overdue payments and called graduate students just to secure small orders—was now opening a US branch to handle an exclusive research compound.

That alone could elevate the company to an entirely different tier.

"What about the costs of setting up the branch?"

"I’ll cover them."

"Warehouse rent and agency fees won't be cheap."

"I will fund all operating expenses as well. Even if sales take longer than expected, none of your money will be at risk."

Park ran his tongue along the inside of his lip.

"If the branch takes a loss, won't that cause trouble for the IPS TECH headquarters?"

"Aetherno will assume the operational liabilities. I won’t ask for personal guarantees either. The legal team will review the contract and forward it to you."

With every answer, his caution gave way to something he had not felt in years.

Hope.

Park unconsciously leaned forward in his seat.

"Why hand this to me, Director? For something like this, wouldn't it be better to find a larger distributor?"

"A large distributor would put its own priorities ahead of Ghost," Seohan said calmly. "You’ve never brought me the wrong item, Park, and you know how to keep your mouth shut in front of clients. That is more than enough."

Park was rendered speechless.

Until now, people who lent him money never asked what he could do. They only checked what collateral he had, and what they could seize if he failed.

Seohan was different.

He still saw value in a tiny reagent shop with almost no employees left, and in a client list built over a dozen years.

"If the branch is set up, do I become the US branch manager?"

"You will be the CEO of IPS TECH and its US branch manager."

Park chuckled awkwardly.

"Jaehyun Park, US Branch Manager..."

The words felt surreal even as he spoke them aloud.

Seohan pulled a set of prepared documents from his drawer and slid them toward Park.

"You can tell your family the truth. That IPS TECH is expanding into the United States."

Those words struck a strange chord in Park’s heart.

It was a success he wouldn't have to hide.

He wouldn't need to explain to his wife or children that he had started something shady to pay off debts. He could simply tell them the company he built was expanding into America.

"Then... will I be traveling to the US and all that?"

"Once the branch is established, you should visit at least once. You’ll need to inspect the local warehouse and meet clients."

"Can my wife tag along?"

Seohan nodded offhandedly. "You can make a family trip out of it. I'll cover those expenses separately."

Park’s thick knuckles twitched.

"A family trip..."

Park swallowed a hollow laugh. After losing his apartment and being forced into a modest low-rise apartment on the outskirts of Gimpo, he had spent years reading his wife's expressions, unable to buy a single plane ticket to Jeju Island.

"How will the paperwork for the US branch be handled?"

"Aetherno's legal team will handle it. All you need to do is execute the contracts with local research institutions and distributors according to my instructions."

Seohan pulled a thick document envelope from his drawer and slid it across the desk. It rasped across the tabletop.

Inside the envelope were neat stacks of 50,000-won bills. Park closed the top hastily. Even without counting, he knew it was more cash than he had held in years.

"Consider it an advance. Use it for preparation expenses."

Park’s eyes quivered. Whether from the vitality Ghost granted him or the weight of the envelope pressed against his hands, his heart hammered heavily.

"Director... I can really trust this and go ahead, right?"

"Even if the goods don't sell, you won't suffer any loss. I’ll cover any operating losses myself."

A faint, reassuring smile touched Seohan’s lips.

Park stood up from his seat and bowed deeply.

"Director, whether it’s the reagents or the US operation, I’ll make sure everything is handled cleanly."

"Don't overexert yourself; just make sure to check the contracts thoroughly. Take care of your health, too."

Seohan offered a light wave in place of a formal goodbye.

Park shoved the envelope deep into his coat pocket. As he walked out of the office, his steps were lighter than ever before.

"Honey, it's me. I'm on my way home. Let's get beef for dinner tonight. Top-grade Korean beef, plenty of it."

Calling his wife from inside the elevator, Park’s voice carried a surge of energy for the first time in years.

Hanging up, Park pressed his hand gently over the envelope inside his jacket.

In the closing elevator doors, his reflection looked unfamiliar—alive in a way it had not been for years.