LnD | Chapter 1

Q5. Are you experiencing erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation related sexual dysfunction?
□ Yes (+1) / □ No (+0)

Yoon Si-ron rolled his eyes at the embarrassing question that caught his attention first on the questionnaire. Feeling endlessly small, he thought there was no need to even take off his pants on the bed. However, the doctor with the gloomy impression and silver-rimmed glasses spoke indifferently, as if he had dealt with such patients hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

“Please sign the clinical trial consent form first, and fill out the questionnaire. Answer all 50 questions honestly.”

“Oh, yes.”

Quickly taking the consent form, Si-ron sat on a stool far from the man, facing the wall. He carefully reviewed the contents of the consent form, but it wasn’t much different from the conditions of the clinical trials he had participated in before.

11. Validity of the Consent Form

This consent form is considered a written agreement between the participant and Skone Pharmaceutical Company and is valid from the time the participant signs it.

Participant Name: Si-ron Yoon
Participation Date: July 19, 2014

After meticulously filling in the date at the bottom of the consent form, Si-ron opened the questionnaire. Most of the questions were related to the respondent’s sexual function.

A month ago, he found a clinical trial part-time job through a clinical trial brokerage site. The search criteria were simple: high financial compensation and a location within a 50km radius of where he lived.

Out of 87 search results, the one that caught Si-ron’s eye was a clinical trial sponsored by Skone Pharmaceutical Company. It was a drug trial targeting males aged 20 to under 35 with sexual dysfunction and was conducted at a urology hospital less than 4km from his workplace.

Q1. Please indicate your age group.
□ 20-25
□ 26-30
□ 31-34

Si-ron checked 26-30 and quickly moved on to the next question.

Q2. Over the past year, how confident have you felt about your ability to achieve and maintain an erection when sexually stimulated?
1) Very low (+2)
2) Low (+1)
3) Moderate (+0)
4) High (-1)
5) Very high (-2)

“Damn.”

Si-ron muttered a curse, closing his eyes tightly. Torn between his conscience telling him to be truthful and his pride, which was nothing without bravado, Si-ron reluctantly sided with his conscience.

‘1) Very low (+2)’ was the only choice. If there had been an option ‘0) No confidence to lose (+3)’, he would have chosen it, even if it was a bit embarrassing.

The following questions were enough to gradually erode Si-ron’s already fragile pride.

Q8. Have you tried various treatments such as medication or surgery for erectile dysfunction?
1) Urology treatment (+2)
2) Folk remedies (+1)
3) No experience (+0)

With a sullen face, Si-ron chose option 2. He had tried brewing herbs said to be good for stamina into tea and holding his urine for over half a day to strengthen his stream, but these passive folk remedies had no effect. He still had frequent urination, couldn’t achieve an erection, and felt a dull pain below his navel every time he urinated.

Si-ron hadn’t always suffered from sexual dysfunction. Until his early 20s, his sexual function was perfectly normal. However, as his career began to rise, his sexual function started to decline, and by the time a scandal that shook the world ended his heyday, it had completely ceased.

Watching porn, reading erotic comics, or having dirty thoughts didn’t bring any noticeable change to his genitals, and morning or evening erections were impossible. His genitals were nothing more than a dangling piece of unnecessary flesh, merely a handle for urination.

※ If your score is 55 or above, please consult a urologist.

“How considerate.”

Muttering sarcastically in Korean, Si-ron recorded the total score on the corner of the questionnaire. After calculating with his fingers, he arrived at a score of 58 out of 70. Severe sexual dysfunction.

If sex had been important to Si-ron, he would have actively sought out a urologist, but having lived a near-celibate life for the past few years, he had never even seen the shadow of a urologist until today.

Si-ron quickly concluded the direction of his remaining life with a gloomy feeling.

Delete dating, and delete marriage too.

But as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. The one consolation was that his lower body troubles had fortunately led him to a high-paying part-time job.

The Phase 2 clinical trial, which had already verified the drug’s safety, didn’t require hospitalization as outpatient visits were allowed. Most importantly, he would receive a hefty compensation of $3,000 after taxes for three doses.

‘It’s so good it’s suspicious.’

The clinical trial Si-ron applied for was sponsored by Skone Pharmaceutical Company. A Google search yielded 140,000 results, mostly in Swedish, though there were some in English.

It was a company Si-ron had never heard of, but with 140,000 search results, it didn’t seem like a company conducting strange experiments led by a mad scientist.

The hospital designated as the clinical trial site was ‘Johnson Doctor Urology,’ located in Riverland, south of the Nathan River, which runs through Bargas City. Riverland was one of the most slum-like areas in the crime-ridden Bargas City.

It was indeed strange for a Swedish pharmaceutical company to select a urology hospital in a slum in the U.S. as a clinical trial site.

He worried whether someone like him, without health insurance, should even apply for such a clinical trial, but with the second semester tuition payment for Ji-yeon looming, he couldn’t afford to hesitate over a high-paying part-time job, so he made an appointment without further thought.

Am I really in a position to be picky? No, even stale food would be a blessing.

Standing up, Si-ron handed the questionnaire to the doctor. The doctor, sitting upright, flipped through the questionnaire so quickly that Si-ron doubted he was checking it properly, then spoke in a calm voice.

“63 out of 70.”

Si-ron had calculated 58. Having used all ten fingers to calculate the score twice, Si-ron asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Are you sure?”

The doctor quickly reviewed the questionnaire again.

“Yes, it’s 63.”

“Well, if you say so…”

Though momentarily irritated, there were too many uncertainties to fully trust himself. Reluctantly agreeing, he tried to casually accept the official death sentence of his manhood with a cool laugh.

“As you know, not all Asians are sexually incompetent like me.”

“…I suppose not.”

“More than half of the world’s population is Asian, right? They don’t seem to have any problems with reproduction. Haha.”

Si-ron laughed awkwardly, making a joke he’d regret before falling asleep. The indifferent doctor responded to Si-ron’s joke with a businesslike tone.

“Then we’ll proceed with the blood draw and the dose. Let’s move to the injection room.”