You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 173

“I didn’t expect Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals to fall this far; the impact is bigger than I thought.”

Jo Bong-joon checked Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals’ closing price for the day and smiled with satisfaction.

Before we started our work, Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals’ stock price was around 50,000 won.

And now, it has fallen to the late 20,000 won range.

“I know a few big shot *hyungs* [older brothers/respected male figures], and they’re saying that those who invested in Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals are leaving only what they can afford to lose and pulling everything else out. I’m not telling them to sell first just in case, but I’m telling everyone who contacts me that the outlook is bad. Hehe.”

He opened his phone and showed me a few call records.

There’s no way I could recognize them just by looking, but his words were correct.

Moreover, the stock price falling to this extent is impossible unless big hands are moving.

“Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals must be sweating bullets by now. I bet the investors won’t stay still? They must be making a fuss demanding a proper explanation.”

Even a slow halving over a year would cause an uproar, but a halving in a fortnight is a definite red flag.

Now, even without our comment manipulation, there were more than a few people selling off their shares belatedly after seeing the falling stock price.

Of course, that didn’t mean our comment team had nothing to do.

Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals had also started deploying their own team, so we were busy fighting them in the comments.

“I wonder how Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals will respond now.”

The medical journalist who first broke the story voluntarily started publishing follow-up articles, even though the sources we provided had run out.

However, competition is inevitable even among them.

Even if they just took dictation for the first article, journalists want to bring exclusive stories after that.

The journalists were stretching out all sorts of lines to find Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals officials, and they were also asking medical scholars to analyze the components of Antrozol Alpha.

At this point, broadcasting stations would also be moving.

Because terrestrial broadcasters have more credibility than most internet media, they were obviously delaying reporting until everything was certain.

But that wouldn’t last long either.

Cable broadcasting stations had already mentioned Antrozol Alpha in short segments.

More than two weeks had already passed since the Antrozol Alpha issue arose, so they must have investigated enough.

Soon, the news will also cover the Antrozol Alpha story.

Everything is flowing in a desirable direction.

“At this rate, Antrozol Alpha is going bye-bye, right? Those bastards, most people suffering from arthritis are middle-aged or older. Don’t they know that the people with parents suffering from arthritis are the young adults who are most economically active right now? You can’t ignore the power of those people; the internet is scary these days.”

Jo Bong-joon was half drunk on victory.

So was Choi Jong-hyun.

But things don’t flow as easily as they think.

Just because we’re cruising now doesn’t mean we can leave the next steps to the current.

“Wooshin probably has some cards prepared as well.”

“Prepared cards?”

“Strictly speaking, Antrozol Alpha is just a means to Wooshin, not the goal.”

“That’s right.”

“As we discussed, it’s about the rights offering, acquiring Geumsan Card, and securing funds. It’s not just a problem for one affiliate, but a step for the entire Wooshin Group to leap forward. It’s not like Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals didn’t know about the existence of Apilataylene and Lopetamine, and they started knowing there was a problem. Surely they prepared for this situation?”

“Of course, they can predict the situation, but it’s a fact that they used problematic ingredients, and that’s been revealed. How can they cover this up?”

Jo Bong-joon crossed his arms.

“The best they can do is continuously release reports that can gloss over the situation, right? Like, it’s not that dangerous, the research results are wrong, something like that.”

Choi Jong-hyun gave his opinion, and Jo Bong-joon agreed.

“There’s nothing else they can do. But there are already many places investigating. No matter how much data Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals releases saying there’s no problem, it can be revealed that it’s wrong. No, releasing data saying there’s no problem is already too late. In a situation where research results show there’s a problem, what can they do?”

Jo Bong-joon snorted.

Well, the results will come out soon.

Until then, there’s no need to pour cold water on the two people who seem to be in a good mood.

“It doesn’t hurt to be careful in advance.”

I replied appropriately.

* * *

[Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals has announced that there are no problems with Apilataylene and Lopetamine, the problematic ingredients in Antrozol Alpha. According to the research results presented by Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals, it is true that Apilataylene and Lopetamine can increase the possibility of cardiovascular disease when they meet, but Hyizolam, another ingredient in Antrozol Alpha, suppresses that action. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also cited the results of the paper and stated that there is no reason to revoke the approval of Antrozol Alpha.]

Several days later, Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals released an answer to the controversy through all available channels.

What gave them strength was none other than the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

They stated that there were no problems in the three clinical trials conducted, and that the research results presented by Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals proved that fact.

Broadcasting stations even created video materials showing how Hyizolam reacts and suppresses the chemical reaction caused by Apilataylene and Lopetamine.

And they emphasized that the research on this action of Hyizolam was conducted by a famous American institution and was published in a prominent medical journal.

Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals openly posted the name of the journal on its official website and made the results of clinical trials conducted with Antrozol Alpha available for viewing.

It was an attitude of telling people to check it out themselves if they were suspicious because they had nothing to hide.

It was no different from the response I had seen in my previous life, and it was actually the most appealing response to confused investors.

Isn’t the logic of ‘If you’re confident, it doesn’t matter’ what people usually say to those who are cornered and struggling?

From that perspective, it seems that Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals is confident that there is nothing wrong with Antrozol Alpha.

It’s like saying that we were already aware of such problems and have prepared countermeasures, so there’s no problem.

You can’t help but feel trustworthy.

As much as Wooshin invested, the content of Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals’ response spread quickly here and there.

[WTF, I knew it (Writer: My bank balance 15 won)]

Did you guys see what Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals announced? LOL

They even released a paper and clinical trial results announced in the US.

I’ll summarize the results for the stupid ones.

They say there’s no problem.

Even the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety confirmed that there’s no problem. LOL

How do the guys who got off Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals feel? LOL The stock price has broken the 30,000 won mark again; it looks like it will be restored soon.

Apollo is nothing special LOL He thinks he’s something because everyone sucks up to him, calling him *hyung*, and he writes on the internet and gets humiliated.

The reality is just a room-bound loser who becomes an *iljin* [school bully] when he grabs a keyboard. LOL]

Of course, the stock community was buzzing again with the Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals story.

Of course, unlike the initial situation, it was filled with content saying that Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals was being unfairly framed and was pitiful.

I just checked, and our part-timers were writing comments asking if it was really trustworthy and fighting hard.

I think I should give them some snacks to cheer them up.

“This is an unexpected response. I thought Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals would definitely deny it. It’s true that the two ingredients cause side effects, but they put in an ingredient that suppresses it. Ha, this is….”

Jo Bong-joon sighed deeply.

Choi Jong-hyun was also clearly flustered.

It’s a natural reaction.

But I couldn’t help it.

It wasn’t a wise idea to tell them in advance how Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals would respond.

I’ve always glossed over it by saying ‘I received a tip’ when sharing information from my previous life with Choi Jong-hyun, but I couldn’t get away with it this time.

If someone could give this kind of tip, they would have to be an insider at Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals.

So, I would naturally have to say that I heard it from a Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals official, and if that happened, they would inevitably try to find out who that person was.

Of course, I could say that the person doesn’t want to reveal their identity, but you never know when and how the existence of that faceless informant will grab your ankle.

Anyway, they were disappointed for a while, but I know the solution, so it doesn’t matter, right?

“Isn’t this a typical method?”

“What is?”

“At first glance, they’ve posted a paper full of English and technical terms that ordinary people wouldn’t understand. Unless someone is determined to fact-check, they’re trying to get even experts to understand and move on.”

“So, is that paper completely different?”

“That’s not it. Of course, the content of the paper is about the effect of Hyizolam on the side effects of those two ingredients. But we need to consider whether that paper is really reliable.”

“……They’re talking a lot about famous institutions and famous journals, and when I looked it up, it’s a famous journal.”

Jo Bong-joon showed me the search results.

Of course, it’s a famous institution, and it’s a famous journal.

“The institution that conducted this paper is currently in controversy over falsely recording clinical records.”

I put the file with the overseas articles I had printed out in front of them.

“So far, four studies have been found to have falsely recorded clinical records. The studies conducted from 2003 to 2009 were under the influence of the executive who ordered the false recording. And the study on Hyizolam was conducted in 2007.”

“……So, there’s a possibility that this paper was also written based on falsely recorded clinical trial results.”

“Of course. Not only that, but among the researchers on Hyizolam, here. Do you see the name Lee Jun-sung, a Korean?”

“I do. There’s a Korean.”

“He’s been with Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals since 2003.”

When I pointed to the place I had highlighted with a highlighter, Choi Jong-hyun picked up the paper.

And he checked the name listed in the Hyizolam paper.

“The research on Hyizolam was probably conducted with the support of Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals. Lee Jun-sung was probably dispatched under the guise of exchange and conducted research on Hyizolam together.”

“……Ha, look at these bastards.”

“I stopped at this level because I was investigating before coming to see you, but if you ask an expert to analyze the paper and investigate a little more, a lot more will come out.”

The two seemed to be absorbed in reading the bundle of documents I brought.

They were too busy to even answer my words and kept checking the documents.

I waited quietly until they checked it themselves.

“It seems like Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals has been up to something.”

“It would be good to check a little more first. It doesn’t seem like Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals will release more explanatory data, so let’s keep the internet side in maintenance mode for now and quickly verify whether it’s false or not and blow it up.”

“The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is talking trash, too. It seems like they’re on the same side?”

“They probably are.”

“Haa, these bastards really…….”

Jo Bong-joon rubbed his face dry and writhed.

After cursing the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals for a long time, he gathered the scattered data in one place and glanced at me.

“But, Attorney Cha.”

“Yes.”

“When did you investigate all this?”

I already knew the facts, so I just did a little searching.

In fact, I know what problems there are in the paper, but it wouldn’t make sense if I, a non-expert, analyzed it all in a short time, so I decided to just wait for an expert’s analysis.

Again, they don’t need to know this.

“I just thought I should check if the research institution was trustworthy, so I was able to quickly grasp the direction of the investigation.”

“I see.”

“What did I say? Attorney Cha received a divine revelation? Ask him to look at your fortune later.”

Choi Jong-hyun joked, propped himself up on his knees, and stood up.

“Let’s go eat. We have a mountain of things to do in the future.”

At the word ‘eat,’ Jo Bong-joon put down the documents and stretched.

“How about pork belly, *hyung*?”

“Sounds good!”

It seems they won’t have any more questions about me.

Phew, that’s a relief.