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“Instead of separating gasoline, diesel, and asphalt residue from crude oil by fractional distillation, we can develop a separate production process for each of them, which will increase the purification efficiency by reducing the cost of the fractional distillation,” Young-Joon said.

He added, “Additionally, the gasoline that can be produced based on biosystems can be of much higher quality than the oil produced in Saudi Arabia. We can control the octane rating, allowing us to limit the production target to high-grade oil that is not prone to knocking.”

“...”

“Would you like us to do that?”

“T-There’s a limit to how much you can threaten someone!”

Abdul Asham jumped to his feet angrily.

“It… It doesn’t make sense,” he muttered in a trembling voice. “If you really had such a technology, why haven’t you been developing it all these years? It’s the biggest cash cow!”

“...”

“But I don’t understand why you refuse to share information about Doctor Ref. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to do so. Were you involved in the terrorist activities?”

“What are you talking about?!”

Abdul shook his hands in disbelief.

“Absolutely not. I had nothing to do with that terrorist attack!” Abdul shouted.

“Then tell me.”

“...”

“Quickly.”

“... Alright. I will tell you everything I know and do as you say,” Abdul Asham said, sounding defeated.

He had mostly let go of his pride as a prince by now.

“But I’m warning you, Doctor Ryu, do you really think that you will be safe after telling the Saudi prince that you have that kind of technology and threatening him with it?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“This country’s best and biggest asset is oil, and anyone who can make that dirt cheap is going to have a lot of enemies, even if it’s not me. Somebody in Saudi Arabia could be after you.”

“Not now, at least. I’m merely a biologist and the head of a private company. Surely, I’m not going to do something like catching terrorists on my own.”

“What?”

“Doctor Ref is an international terrorist who attacked the GSC. Of course, international intelligence agencies like the CIA are after her.”

“Are you saying that you’re working with the CIA?”

“Wouldn’t it be odd for them not to contact me? I’m the one who stopped the GSC terrorist attack we just talked about.”

“...”

“The Saudis have good relations with the United States, unlike many other countries in the Middle East. Don’t create diplomatic friction and give the United States and other oil-greedy powerful countries an excuse to attack this country,” Young-Joon said. “How unfair would it be if the first country the international community attacks is Saudi Arabia, when the terrorist is from Palestine and her headquarters are in Egypt?”

“...”

“What was your relationship to Doctor Ref—I mean, Isaiah Franklin?”

“Phew… She was a woman I was briefly seeing,” said Abdul Asham. “I swear I didn’t know she was a terrorist. She said she had an international logistics business in the United States but fled here after her family went belly-up. She asked me to protect her. I’m still a Saudi prince, and as a ruler, I couldn’t just abandon someone in need, so I gave her a little bit of humanitarian aid to…”

“I said you had one chance left,” Young-Joon said.

“Damn it. She seduced me… Alright, we slept together a bit, but that was when I had gotten divorced and was very lonely. I couldn’t help but fall for it? And um… I’m a victim! I… I thought it was love…” Abdul said, sounding ashamed.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But her family having gone belly-up was true. She asked me to help her put a ventilator on her dying business, and she needed about twenty million dollars. That was a lot of money for me to give out of my own pocket, so I took it out of Asham’s funds.”

“About four years ago?” Young-Joon asked.

“How did you know?”

Abdul Asham was surprised.

“Because that’s when Philistines was founded. It was probably their start-up money.”

“Philistines?” Abdul asked.

“The founders of Philistines were all poor scientists, and they had no history of getting funding, so how could they have built a shiny building in Cairo and made a big business? They found that with the money out of your pocket,” Young-Joon replied.

“...”

“So, how did Doctor Ref come to work here?”

“... There was some paperwork that had to be taken care of to give her the money, so I made her our employee for a while. I told her she could just do office work, but she insisted on doing the transport.”

“To Korea?”

“How did you know that?”

Abdul was bewildered again.

“Doctor Ref was probably transporting to a company called LifeToxin in Korea at the time. She probably went into their lab to deliver something and stole the botulinum strain.”

“...”

“I have a picture of the situation now: a company like Allergon is too big and has too much security, so she comes into South Korea, which is just now getting into the botulinum toxin business and has weak security.”

“No way…”

“It would have been too time-consuming to find the strain themselves… Mr. Asham, are you still in contact with Doctor Ref?”

“Yes,” Abdul replied. “Because I kept paying her some money and seeing her after that…”

“I see.”

Young-Joon nodded.

Seeing his face, Abdul asked, “Do you think I’m pathetic?”

“I didn’t say that, but honestly, yes.”

“And… Philistines is selling botulinum toxin through our distribution network,” Abdul said. “Isaiah Franklin introduced us. She said she wanted to repay me by connecting me with a business partner…”

“There’s a reason why Philistines grew so fast, since the youngest son of an oil tycoon poured money into it.”

“Doctor Ryu! I’ll be in huge trouble if my brothers find out about this!”

Suddenly, Abdul begged him with a face on the verge of tears.

“P-Please keep this a secret!”

“Cooperate with us to catch Doctor Ref, and I won’t go spilling the details anywhere, so you can take care of your mess yourself,” Young-Joon said.

*

Young-Joon was now in Israel. It was all over the news a few years ago. The problem was that there was no reason for him to visit Israel at all.

Another piece of bad news: it wasn’t certain, but according to her sources, a car with a group of people who appeared to be Prime Minister Felus and Young-Joon was heading to Afula.

‘That’s where I released the polyomavirus.’

Doctor Ref was deep in thought. She was in the middle of a journey to Tabuk, a city in Saudi Arabia.

Egypt was located to the west of Israel, and Saudi Arabia to the southeast. Both countries were quite large, but fortunately, Cairo and Tabuk were close, as Cairo was located in the northeast of Egypt and Tabuk was located in the north of Saudi Arabia. Though, it was a bit of a hassle that she had to take a boat across the Gulf of Aqaba.

Yassir had insisted that she fly, saying that her fake ID was pretty good and that it would work. However, Doctor Ref didn’t want to risk anything, since airplanes were more strictly screened than ships in the Gulf of Aqaba.

As such, Yassir drove her to the port of Nuweibaa, where she spent the night before taking a boat across the Saudi border and then a taxi.

During all this, Doctor Ref had only one concern: why did Young-Joon go to Afula? Did he know about the polyomavirus? If so, was there a possibility that the plans would change?

“Are you going on a date this early in the morning? You’re dressed so nicely,” asked the taxi driver.

“What? Oh, yes,” replied Doctor Ref.

She snapped out of her thoughts and smiled.

“We’ve arrived,” said the taxi driver.

“Thank you.”

Doctor Ref handed him the taxi fare with a bright smile and got off.

It was six in the morning, and she had arrived at a small park between a mosque and a Middle Eastern restaurant on the outskirts of Karpu.

‘I’ll swindle him this last time, and then I’m done with him.’

It was time to stop leeching off of Abdul Asham.

‘Yassir told me to be careful. They’re talking about the cold chain right now, and Ryu Young-Joon might come into contact with Asham, so I might get caught.’

But Young-Joon was supplying the cold chain to a small transportation company called Karpu. Besides, she was in Afula now, so it was unlikely she would be caught through Ahsam.

“Franklin!”

Abdul Asham waved from across the street, smiling.

“Asham. How are you?”

Doctor Ref waved back and started running towards him. But after a few meters, Doctor Ref stopped in her tracks, sensing the strange atmosphere. Asham was unusually nervous. His neck was wet with sweat, and this area was quieter than usual.

Doctor Ref quickly scanned the faces of the people around her. In any city, half of the faces in a particular alley at six in the morning would be regular. But every face she saw now was unfamiliar.

This was a controlled area.

‘I’m screwed.’

Doctor Ref sensed danger. She turned around immediately and began running in the opposite direction.

“Get her!”

Men who were disguised as citizens ran towards her from all sides.

“Damn it.”

Were they intelligence agents or detectives?

A guy who was reading his newspaper threw it away and began running. A couple on a date began running. A man walking his dog began running. Now, she realized that the dog was a military working dog.

‘How can it be exactly the same as the plot of some common spy movie, down to every single detail?’

Doctor Ref, who was running for her life, bumped into someone as she turned the corner.

It was Robert, the CIA agent.

*

—Operation complete.

Robert’s voice came through the walkie-talkie.

—We have secured the target.

Young-Joon, who was watching from the situation control room with the other agents, stood up.

“Can I see her?” Young-Joon asked the CIA agents.

“Of course.”

Young-Joon came down from the building and headed towards a large, black van. A young woman in handcuffs was inside, along with a group of intelligence officers.

“I heard you went to Afula. When did you coax Asham?”

Doctor Ref smiled bitterly when she saw Young-Joon.

“I purposely exposed myself in Jerusalem, finished my business, and quietly traveled to Saudi Arabia with the agents here,” Young-Joon said. “I think we have a lot to talk about. Shall we start with the polyomavirus?”