The questions were razor-sharp, aggressive to the point of outright insolence.
"This data claiming to have resolved IL-2’s inherent toxicity—are you absolutely certain it will demonstrate the same reproducibility in Phase 2 clinical trials?
From where we sit, the empirical foundation proving it will manifest identically within the human immune system appears remarkably deficient."
They were frantic to claw out a logical flaw, dissecting Seo-han’s internal metrics as though examining a protein structure beneath a microscope.
But to Seo-han, their interrogation was nothing more than a familiar exam question he had already simulated tens of thousands of times.
Click.
Seo-han idly adjusted his cuff links, which emitted a subtle metallic gleam, and spoke with measured calm.
"The very premise of your question is flawed. Let’s examine Aether Bio’s validation results for the 3D molecular structure."
He didn't just answer their objections; he effectively weaponized a deluge of unreleased secondary data to crush their skepticism in reverse.
The analysts fell silent.
For the first time in years, they felt less like investors and more like graduate students being lectured by their advisor.
Yet, the most suffocating moments materialized during the fifth and sixth sessions.
Senior analysts from a US-based biotech fund and a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund’s venture arm stared frigidly at Seo-han through the video conference screens.
"Dr. Lee, we are well aware that your company has barely eighteen months of runway left.
If you refuse to accept the terms and valuation we are presenting today, do you truly believe you can survive long enough to breach the next round?"
The principal analyst from the foreign VC delivered the question that cut straight to the heart of the matter, tightening the vise.
They knew exactly how much runway Aether Bio had left, calculating the perfect moment to tear into their prey's throat.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
But Seo-han’s gaze never faltered for a single millisecond. Instead, a trace of a cold, mocking smile touched the corners of his mouth.
Even as the corporate bank accounts plummeted toward zero, not a single shred of anxiety breached his psychological armor. His pulse remained unnervingly serene.
Coldly speaking, if Aether Bio’s runway expired tomorrow and the company dissolved into thin air, Lee Seo-han would not be the one weeping tears of blood.
Yet Seo-han never dismissed the possibility of collapse. He simply felt no fear of it.
The existing institutional investors, who had already committed 60 billion won to the company, were the ones whose feet were truly caught in the fire.
Until that massive graveyard of capital materialized, Seo-han would simply continue to do what a scientist does best from the ground he occupied.
And from the very beginning, the thought of this company actually failing had never crossed his mind. One way or another, a path would reveal itself.
And what if that ultimate stroke of fortune never materialized?
Then so be it, Seo-han thought indifferently.
If it broke, it broke.
He possessed assets far more valuable than the PhD hanging on his wall.
The brutal venture experience forged by rolling through the dirt of Teheran-ro, and the immunotherapy and anti-aging mechanisms mapped with absolute perfection within his mind.
As long as those flawless weapons remained magnetically locked inside his mind, he could rebuild whenever he pleased.
The sole reason Seo-han commanded such a psychological advantage was his terrifying detachment—the fearlessness of a man who had already burned his own bridges.
The unshakeable confidence of a genius with nothing to lose began to dominate the freezing room.
A weekend afternoon following the brutal IR rounds.
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Seo-han extracted several bundles of cash from the stack provided by Jeong Hyun-jin and visited a high-end bespoke tailor shop in Sogong-dong.
Though he was technically the poorest CEO of a company valued at roughly $90 million, the armor he wore into battle had to be flawless.
As he silently endured the busy hands of the tailor measuring his frame, staring at the dark gray lapels reflecting in the mirror, his mind drifted to the second die Jeong Hyun-jin had cast.
Deep in the heart of Cheongdam-dong sat 'The Black,' a private whiskey bar devoid of any exterior signage.
Waiting for him inside was Chae Do-hee—an elite hostess whose mere name possessed enough leverage to sway the most powerful capitalists in the Gangnam nightlife district.
Her hair was neatly arranged, paired with an elegant tweed jacket.
Thanks to the meticulous stage-setting engineered by Vice Chairman Jeong behind the scenes, her exterior perfectly mimicked that of a polished chaebol heiress fresh from an overseas education.
Yet instead of the vulgarity typical of a worn-out nightlife veteran, she radiated a calculated poise far more disciplined than that of genuine high-society women.
In truth, Do-hee’s shoulders must have been incredibly heavy that evening.
Vice Chairman Jeong, who had arranged the board, had called her personally to apply immense pressure.
Do-hee, that man holds my future in his hands. No man I've ever met has been able to resist you. Use whatever means necessary to completely capture that arrogant doctor's mind.
For a titan of South Korea’s corporate elite to be driven to such desperate lengths over a single man, Do-hee's instinctual competitive pride and internal calculations had inevitably been triggered.
"The Vice Chairman went to great lengths to arrange this. He thought you would find this setting far more comfortable than a stiff, formal matchmaking arrangement.
Hello, Mr. Lee. I'm Chae Do-hee."
Do-hee glided into the seat directly across from Seo-han, her fingers wrapping naturally around her glass.
A forty-three-year-old biotech founder with a PhD, he looked nothing like the countless men desperate for a place at Vice Chairman Jeong's table.
Seo-han remained dry and silent, observing the grain of her mask as though evaluating a cellular specimen under laboratory conditions.
"Looks like the Vice Chairman gave you quite a difficult assignment."
At the low, clipped remark, the corners of Do-hee's eyes twitched minutely.
A standard target would have tried to dominate the atmosphere at this timing, but Seo-han had driven a blade straight through her defense in a single stroke.
"Do all doctors put up walls this quickly?
Vice Chairman Jeong told me you had a peculiar talent for shaking people with your words, Mr. Lee, but from where I sit..."
Do-hee leaned forward slightly, locking eyes with him—a sophisticated framing technique perfected through handling countless power players.
"Rather than trying to shake me, it feels like you're trying to vivisect me."
Seo-han didn't move a muscle.
"Shaking and seducing people is your domain, Ms. Chae. My logic isn't meant to persuade. It simply presents the facts.
You don't have to try so hard."
An icy silence settled over the room.
Do-hee toyed with her glass, staring into Seo-han’s dry eyes.
The combined weight of Jeong's pressure and her own experience was accomplishing nothing before this scholar's clinical gaze.
Do-hee let out a sharp, hollow laugh and buried herself deep into the sofa.
The professional posture she had maintained for business collapsed, revealing the cynical, raw face forged at the very bottom of the nightlife district.
"You're right. I came here under strict orders from Vice Chairman Jeong. He told me to sink a hook into some grand doctor, so I was curious.
But rather than sinking anything, it feels like I'm the one drying up to death."
A fleeting smile crossed Seo-han’s mouth.
This was a sharp, predatory current radiating from a survivor of the underworld—something entirely different from the refined precision displayed by Attorney Kang Si-hyun.
"I desire nothing from you. I am merely executing my own rules.
However, that raw look in your eyes is infinitely better than watching a manufactured play."
"I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult," Do-hee murmured, draining her glass as she stared directly at him.
The conversation excelled her boundaries more than she cared to admit. Her mind immediately began running the numbers, calculating how her usual methods would fare against this academic.
"Then I suppose today's homework is a failure. What should I report back to the Vice Chairman?
Should I tell him I was too terrified of you to even hand over my card?"
"That's for you to decide."
Seo-han checked his watch and set his glass down with pristine neatness.
"Thank you for enduring such a tedious performance. Let’s make sure our next meeting is free from the Vice Chairman's interference."
Do-hee’s eyes tracked his every movement.
In his clinical, unbothered posture as he stood to leave first, she read something far greater than mere stubborn pride.
An instinctual realization that the unknown power axis this man commanded might be infinitely more massive than Vice Chairman Jeong's entire empire.
"...Is there actually going to be a next time?"
"Data is never concluded after a single reading."
Seo-han adjusted his lapels and walked out of the room.
Left entirely alone, Do-hee quietly stared at the lingering warmth of the whiskey glass he had left behind.
The script handed down by the Vice Chairman had already lost its utility.
Within the frozen orbit of this enigmatic genius, the quiet ambition of a woman who had survived at the top of the underworld began to surface deep within her eyes, calculating what kind of variable she could become.
Exiting the bar to hail a cab, Seo-han fell into deep thought as he stared straight at the cold night landscape of the Riverside Expressway.
The heavy, precise silhouette of the new suit tailored with Jeong Hyun-jin’s cash earlier that day still clung firmly to his shoulder line.
The variable known as Chae Do-hee was no simple spy dispatched by Jeong Hyun-jin. She had been forged in the murkiest waters of money and power.
To draw a woman like her fully into his controlled trajectory, mundane metrics like power, luxury, or capital were useless.
It required an unpredictable counter-intuitive stimulus—something violent enough to instantly shatter the calculated defensive architecture she had spent her lifetime erecting.
When the very cash Vice Chairman Jeong traded his lifeforce to secure was consumed within the center of Do-hee's own board in the most clinical, sophisticated manner possible—only then would her real face finally reveal itself.
A fleeting, chilling smile crossed Seo-han’s mouth.
The week-long IR war to extend Aether Bio's runway, and the simulation designed to elicit the true response profile of the biological variable known as Chae Do-hee.
Beneath the crimson reflections dancing across the Han River, the gears of Seo-han's grand design continued to turn—slowly, relentlessly, and without mercy.