The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

89| Son of the Tiger

Previously: 

Chanyeol arrives too late to save Jennie from Hani's wrath after the latter discovered their plans to contact journalists and expose the Tiger King story, incriminating the Dasoni in the process. Jennie was kicked out of the Dasoni by Hani who slashed her tattooed wrist. Jennie sought shelter with friends at Matt's cafe and also spilled out her story to Third Eye, a student journalism organisation with instructions to publicly release the video when given the order so as to expose the whole Tiger King affair. Chaesoo and Ella are stuck imprisoned in the condo. Siwon, Hani's eldest brother, arrives to take over the Dasoni in Haein's absence. He and Hani clash over how to handle Jinyoung because Siwon wants to hand off Chaesoo and Ella to him. Hani is left in conflict. Jennie seeks out the help of the Children of Justice, is kidnapped by them and faces a trial before she meets Leader, a strange man who calls her by name.

Jinyoung had left Jacob and Chan waiting in the lounge to take a call after they had checked-in for their flight. Not even the Jay accompanying them could listen in to this crucial conversation.

The call with the head lab technician in charge of manufacturing TK-Ultra had been brief, with the usual terse report.

"Well?" Jinyoung said, taking care to keep his smile on, in case people would be observing him. Even so, he couldn't help but stiffen as he awaited the usual negative answer.

"No change. We're still falling short on the projected TK-Ultra production estimates. We're simply not keeping up. This process isn't feasible, sir," the lab technician said wearily. 

He didn't go on to tell Jinyoung what he already knew: that he was using up too much TK-Ultra, that a single batch of TK was costly and inefficient to manufacture, that they weren't keeping up with the demand, that the raw materials requested were in dwindling supply, that mass production was simply not doable at this point in time.

But Jinyoung's steely response was always the same. 

"Keep pushing, we can't flag pace now. Halting production is out of question."

"We just need more time."

"Doesn't everyone? I have already raised your salaries and doubled your workforce. Now it's your turn to give me results. Anything else?"

"You'll be pleased to hear that TK-Beta production on the other hand is progressing smoothly as usual. Nothing else to report on that front. We'll deliver the product as per schedule."

Jinyoung's lips thinned. "Very well. I'll call you later."

"Yes, sir," the technician said dully.

Jinyoung hung up, taking a moment to pull himself together before he joined his friends. 

To be surrounded by incompetent people was one thing, but to be surrounded by incompetent people that didn't even try to do better was an even bigger headache. 

Mass production of TK-Ultra, the stronger strain of the original TK formula, had always been the goal from the moment Jackson had cracked the code, with production of TK-Beta being the backup plan in case of problems and to give to secondary Tiger Kings in development whilst they directed all TK-Ultra towards Tiger King Prime. 

They had seen firsthand how substituting TK-Beta when subjects had gotten acclimatised to TK-Ultra was akin to withdrawals, with the subjects performing substantially worse such as the showcase when they started to break down. 

Having Tiger King Prime regressing back to the weaker TK-Beta when it was used to the stronger concentration would be catastrophic, like giving an engine watered down petrol.