Chapter 184: Three Divine Instruments (1)

The Merkur Trading Company entered into the mass production of steroids.

The fermentation process of the mold Belgian discovered had reached a stable trajectory.

Through negotiations with the Eastern Ducal Family, the supply chain for the raw material, Diosgenin, was also established.

A massive foundation for a pharmaceutical industry was finally completed.

This news spread like wildfire.

For those waiting for the Demon Disease cure, it was precious news that calling it a miracle would be an understatement.

And just as it always was whenever Director Schun created a new medicine.

The front of the Merkur Trading Company was a sea of people again today.

Countless people praised the accomplishment of the Black Saint once again.

However, I didn't have the time to soak in those achievements and sentiments.

Because I had to make the next medication right away.

'Where is the time to hesitate when I can make the Three Divine Instruments?'

Without even a moment to enjoy a vacation, the Black Sorcerer Belgian was thrown into the laboratory.

Though the man himself was cursing me with his eyes.

That probably wouldn't last long.

Because...

'That guy will also thank me later if he makes this.'

Because once the drug I was rushing to make was completed, his suffering would be nothing.

Traditionally, a researcher is bound to dream at least once of making a profound contribution to humanity.

Belgian would also be able to feel that kind of fulfillment.

He entered the laboratory for that purpose in the first place, didn't he?

Was he not?

If not, whatever.

Anyway, I immediately started planning for the next medication.

'I can finally make that.'

I opened my old notebook.

The Three Divine Instruments notebook.

The Reincarnator's notebook I had diligently made right after reincarnating into this world, before my memories could evaporate.

With the Library of Memory activated, the value of this notebook had faded somewhat.

But it was still a notebook with symbolic and relic value to pass down to my descendants.

I opened a page of that notebook.

The page right after the one detailing Viagra, the weakest of the Three Divine Instruments.

It was the page for the drug ranked 2nd in hierarchy among the Three Divine Instruments.

This was a drug that turned even that Viagra into a mere mortal.

Its name was...

'Statin.'

Ingredient name Atorvastatin.

It was a drug for the management of hyperlipidemia.

*

Making Statin itself wasn't something that would take a long time.

Because the process of making the drug itself wasn't that difficult.

'It's in the same category as penicillin.'

This drug had a similar origin to penicillin.

Because it was a substance made from mold existing in nature.

The problem was the process of finding out what that mold was.

'How am I supposed to know which mold makes Statin?'

In my previous life, the medical scientist who discovered Statin searched through a whopping 6,000 species of mold to find this substance.

But I didn't need to do that.

Because all I had to do was follow the mold that person discovered.

That's why I wanted to make penicillin and Statin before making Quinine.

'It was supposed to be a freeloading drug...'

But that dream didn't last long.

Just as Quinine was a drug derived from bark, not tree sap.

Just as penicillin came from white mold, not blue mold.

This drug, too, had quietly undergone an Another World Patch.

'I thought it would originally be in the Aspergillus terreus mold.'

Sure enough, when I checked, that mold didn't have Statin.

Furthermore, even after somehow finding it, it was a drug with many problems.

'Because it's an unfamiliar drug for which a market hasn't even existed yet.'

In order to make people take medicine, they must first acknowledge the fact that they have a disease.

The problem was that hyperlipidemia, which required Statin, was not a disease that caused any symptoms in itself.

Let's think about it.

If you told a passing 19th-century person, "Fat is building up in your blood vessels, so you need to manage it from now on," would that person obediently take the medication?

I guarantee they'd snort and call it a scam.

Therefore, there was a lot of groundwork to lay before making this drug.

A method to diagnose hyperlipidemia, and the awareness that it needed management.

These two things were necessary.

For these reasons, Statin was one of the Three Divine Instruments I had put off because the preparations weren't ready.

However, the situation had now changed.

"Belgian. It seems a peculiar mold was mixed in among the molds you were researching."

Molds have a limitless metabolic ability to convert cholesterol-based substances.

Scholars researching endocrine system medications don't obsess over mold for nothing.

And among the molds Belgian was researching this time, there was a mold somewhat similar to that.

"Among the molds you discovered, I found one that slightly inhibits cholesterol synthesis in the liver."

While Belgian was submitting his interim reports.

I tested those molds one by one using a liver homogenate (a culture medium made by grinding rat livers).

In that process, I was able to find a clue for Statin.

"Of course, it wasn't a significant figure to the degree I wanted."

Naturally, this wasn't the completion.

Because that mold alone didn't yield a meaningful result.

It was to the point where it couldn't even be used as a supplement.

But even this much was a huge harvest.

"I have named the fungi similar to this one the Aspergillus Genus. Now, we just need to intensively perform screening on the strains in this genus."

Every mold existing in the world.

And a specific fraction of those molds.

It went without saying which one would be easier to search through.

"We only need to check about 300 species. Won't that be easy, Belgian?"

"......"

300 species is vastly easier than 6,000 species.

Besides, the difficulty of checking it is lower than steroids.

Conveying that meaning, I flashed a bright smile toward Belgian.

Belgian returned the smile.

"......Just kill me."

"You must be truly excited."

"Damn it."

See.

Belgian was already excited too.

Like that, Belgian returned to the laboratory.

Though there was an issue of him constantly whining midway, it was only brief.

He quieted down when I said I'd list him as the second author on the academic paper.

One month after that.

As a result of overworking Belgian and the Black Sorcerers belonging to the trading company.

"It's finally a success...!"

We were able to discover the mold that produced Statin.

*

After discovering the mold, extracting Statin happened in a flash.

Finding the mold was the problem in the first place, just like with penicillin.

Because the recipe for the drug itself was already in a completed state.

As a result of cooking and processing the discovered mold.

I finally made Statin.

"Guild Master. Let's recruit clinical trial subjects now."

"......Director. How much profit do you intend to pursue with this new medicine?"

I brought it to the Guild Master as soon as the drug was made.

Sure enough, the Guild Master was already thinking about sales as soon as he saw the drug.

"Well, please don't misunderstand and listen. It's just that the drugs Director Schun has recently created haven't been very profitable compared to their scale......"

The Guild Master spoke cautiously.

"We have finished preparations to supply the White Death Disease Medicine to the entire Eastern Region, but... it's not generating as much profit as expected. Not to mention Morphine."

The medications I'd made recently were far from being profitable.

First, the cure for the White Death Disease (Tuberculosis).

This cure was a drug that didn't make as much money as one would think.

The reason was due to the nature of the disease called Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is a disease that poor and malnourished people easily catch.

Because it's a disease you're more susceptible to as your immunity level weakens.

To put it another way, it meant that the patients with the White Death Disease were a demographic without much purchasing power.

For these reasons, despite its fame, the net profit of the White Death Disease cure was rather mediocre.

On top of that, it went without saying for Morphine since I deliberately didn't pursue a profit with it.

"Director. You aren't going to set high profitability for steroids either, are you?"

"Yes. Because it is my conviction."

Furthermore, there was the issue of my conviction.

I had always repeatedly emphasized to the trading company.

That the more a drug is needed by the people, the less I would take an excessive profit unnecessarily.

The Guild Master seemed to remember this as well.

"It's just that, after the Lord Saint revealed his identity, our stocks have recently started experiencing a downtrend again... The shareholders' resentment is widespread."

It wasn't that I couldn't understand his stance.

He was a businessman.

On top of that, the Guild Master of a joint-stock company.

He had no choice but to be conscious of the shareholders.

"If things continue like this, the drop might be larger than expected... We're currently in a situation where we need a medication to act as a buffer..."

The stock market is cold-hearted.

No matter if it was a company run by a Saint.

No matter if we had developed a cure for the Demon Disease.

If that drug didn't make money, the market would turn its back.

The shareholders would say, 'Is it that mediocre?' and slowly pull out.

Although I didn't know much about stocks, I knew it was a nerve-wracking situation from a president's perspective.

That was probably why he was speaking so cautiously.

"Umm... Once this Statin is finished, could you perhaps develop a drug like Viagra to buffer..."

"I have no intention of doing so."

At my firm answer, the Guild Master's shoulders slumped.

"Understood... I'll speak well to the other directors..."

"I mean there's no need for that either."

"Yes?"

The Guild Master looked up at me with his eyes wide open.

I spoke toward him.

"Isn't there a Quarterly Earnings Presentation in a few months?"

"Yes. There is..."

"Please just hold out until then."

Winter is brief.

The spring that would follow would be beyond whatever the Guild Master was imagining.

***

Not even a few months after entering the mass production of steroids.

The Merkur Trading Company announced a new medicine.

Its name was Statin.

The trading company immediately began recruiting patients on a large scale under the pretext of clinical trials.

Through healers in various regions, the trading company selected a high-risk group that needed to be prescribed Statin.

Those who had survived a myocardial infarction at least once.

Those who had collapsed from carotid atherosclerosis.

Those who had briefly met their ancestors due to a stroke and come back.

Countless patients became clinical trial subjects for Statin.

The scale of that project was massive.

Looking only at the scale, it might have been even bigger than penicillin.

However, the world's reaction to the project was lukewarm.

No, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was a complete letdown.

"What in the world is this new medicine used for?"

"Well, they say it purifies the blood or something. I heard it doesn't even immediately bring down a fever or make pain disappear when you take it."

Understandably so, Statin wasn't flashy.

A vaccine that uprooted the seeds of a plague.

Penicillin that led to an innovation in healing magic.

Steroids that cured the Demon Disease.

Unlike those drugs, Statin's effects were too plain.

Taking it didn't immediately stop a cough or heal a wound.

Even after taking the medication, no dramatic changes could be felt in the body.

Naturally, the reaction from the press and the public turned frigid.

「Is this the Black Saint's first blunder?」

「An ordinary pill devoid of miracles.」

For the Nth time this season, the suspicion of 'Is this finally the Black Saint's mistake?' began to bloom.

More accurately, it was the result of propaganda by those who wished for him to make a mistake.

Because there were those who profited the more the Merkur Trading Company's stock dropped.

And the efforts of such people were more effective than expected.

The Merkur Trading Company's stock, which had been riding a steep uptrend, began to gently decline.

"No! People are living in here!"

"S-Should we escape?"

"Ahem! I believe in the Lord Saint! We have to believe!"

"It's going down now!"

The trading company's shareholders also struggled in a crucible of chaos.

Had this been the 21st Century Republic of Korea, it was a situation where massive amounts of homeless clowns could have been mass-produced.

The Academy was no exception.

"Unnie. My friends keep saying this, but they say it might be better for you to slowly start selling your stocks."

One weekend morning.

Ayla spoke toward her older sister.

Valeria was a legendary major client at the Academy.

As a result of investing most of her allowance into the Merkur Trading Company, unlike the others, she had built up an asset comparable to the Dean just with her pocket money.

For this reason, as the Merkur Trading Company began to slowly chart a downtrend,

The Academy's students naturally took an interest in Valeria's trends.

"Wouldn't it be better to sell now, Unnie?"

"......"

Sip.

Valeria sipped her coffee.

She tore her gaze away from the newspaper filled with economic news and opened her mouth.

"Ayla. Do you not trust the Director?"

"It's not that, but... my friends were saying so..."

"Then leave those people be. And tell your close friends not to sell their stocks, but to buy more since this is the bottom."

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Unnie?"

Valeria cast a calm gaze toward Ayla.

"Ayla. What do you think is important for sales?"

"Uh... The scale of the market?"

"Right. Then what do you think the market scale for Statin is?"

"I wouldn't know..."

"How could you not know when you're a healer."

"Because Dyslipidemia is a disease that my Teacher newly established. There's no way to guess how many people have it from inside the hospital."

Ayla still couldn't fathom the scale of this market.

Of course, being by Yulian's side, she knew from experience that there were many patients being prescribed this drug.

The problem was that the Meyer Infirmary where she worked was a place where all sorts of bizarre cases gathered.

Looking at the world through her experiences at the infirmary, most of the world's population lacked limbs, and most had diabetes.

For this reason, ironically, the scale of Statin's market didn't really hit home for Ayla.

Rather, Valeria, who looked down from a market perspective outside the infirmary, was more knowledgeable in this regard.

"If that's the case, it can't be helped."

"But why, Unnie? Is the market really that big?"

"It's extremely big. Even more so than antibiotics or Quinine."

Valeria had come into contact with the medical history of various families through the young ladies and young masters of noble families.

A count of one family collapsed from a stroke.

Another family supposedly has a curse of dying young from heart attacks.

As a result of estimating the approximate demand market based on such information.

Valeria came to one conclusion.

"A significant portion of the adult population is a potential customer for Statin. Especially for Dwarves, almost all of them will have to take it."

According to Valeria's research, Statin was an essential drug for Dwarves.

Even though Dwarves were a long-lived species similar to Elves, their average lifespan was short.

Because it was difficult for them to pass the age of 60 due to heart attacks or strokes.

However, when looking at the target demographics for Statin, almost all Dwarves had a need to take Statin.

"Ayla. Don't you feel it too while working at the infirmary? Weren't Dwarves uniquely susceptible to those kinds of diseases?"

"Come to think of it, Teacher mentioned something like that before. He said Dwarves are susceptible to lung diseases and endocrine-related diseases."

Ayla recalled the racial differences she had heard from Yulian.

Elves are resistant to blood disorders but susceptible to nerve and digestive diseases.

Dwarves are resistant to digestive and nerve diseases but susceptible to blood vessel, respiratory, and endocrine diseases.

Beastkin are resistant to skeletal and nerve diseases but susceptible to genetic diseases and urological diseases.

And humans are equally(?) susceptible to almost all diseases.

"......is how he explained it."

"Right. This is the reason why Statin's market is big."

Almost the entire population must take Statin.

She had even heard it wasn't a medicine taken when sick, but one taken before getting sick.

Valeria knew one such medication.

"Like Insulin, it's a medication you continuously use until you die. But the patients are far more common than those with diabetes."

"Then if you compare it with Viagra, which do you think will have higher sales?"

"There's no comparison."

"As expected, Viagra..."

"No, Statin will generate at least three times more sales."

"Yes? Th-Three times?!"

Consistency in itself becomes sales.

The secret to Viagra's sales was also related to this.

Vaccines are taken by almost the entire population, but it ends with just one time.

Quinine or penicillin are used briefly when sick and then it's over.

In contrast, Viagra has demand from countless males, and it's a drug continuously used in daily life.

However,

"Statin has higher demand than Viagra. But unlike Viagra, it has to be used every day. Not only are there far more people using it, but the frequency of taking it is also higher."

Even factoring in that Statin was cheaper than Viagra, its market scale was overwhelming.

The sales simply couldn't compare.

"There's going to be a Quarterly Earnings Presentation soon. It'd be best to buy as much as you can with your allowance before then."

Valeria was certain.

The reason the Merkur Trading Company's stock had dropped now.

It was due to the market's evaluation that the trading company's sales were somewhat lacking compared to the Saint's influence.

What would happen when this drug was introduced to such a market, and the earnings were announced?

"I've already put in all the scholarship money I received after this exam."

"Mmm... I'm still a bit too scared. I don't think I can invest as boldly as you, Unnie."

"I won't force you. I've already put money in anyway. Just tell me if you need allowance later."

"I'm sorry for constantly being a burden, Unnie."

"No. That's an older sister's role."

Valeria gave a pleased smile.

However, separate from her previous explanation, Valeria was unconditionally planning to invest in the trading company's stocks.

It didn't matter even if the stocks crashed.

To her, Director Schun was the benefactor who had saved her family, made her younger sister a Saintess, and helped her dream of becoming a hero.

Her belief in Yulian was bordering on the realm of fanaticism.

To the point where she could confidently say that if Yulian had defected to the Round Table of Thirteen, she would have smilingly followed right behind him.

Therefore, the market's evaluation had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Since the destination of her assets was always going to be one place anyway.

'The quarterly earnings presentation was next week, wasn't it.'

Valeria thought that as she fully enjoyed the peaceful morning.

Several days after that.

The Merkur Trading Company's quarterly earnings were disclosed.

[Breaking News] Merkur Trading Company Achieves Highest Quarterly Earnings in History — The 'Statin Shock' That Ridiculed Market Predictions

[Surpasses the Blue Pill's Sales 6-Fold as a Single Item! The Quiet Monster That Overturned the Pharmaceutical Market's Landscape]

[In-depth Analysis] The Ridicule of Being a Failed Work is Over. The Economics of Statin That Drove the Merkur Trading Company's Sales

It was literally overwhelming.

As if laughing at people's analyses, Statin's sales transcended imagination.

Valeria, who had been reading down the newspaper, muttered.

"As expected... Lord Yulian is beyond what someone like me could even imagine."

That day, a storm raged through the stock market once again.