17 Chapter 17

Max flies to South Korea and checks the address listed on the U-GIN company website. He flies to the company and lands at a secluded spot where he won't be seen.

He walks to the building, which is small and shabby. Anyone looking could clearly tell that it was not suitable for a brilliant scientist like her. There are random equipment on the roof of the building, with multiple cardboard boxes at the entrance. Even inside the building, the reception desk is small and there is only a single couch nearby for people to sit.

He walks to the reception of the company and the receptionist is a beautiful Korean woman. She looks at Max and gets nervous, sensing his foreignness.

Max walks up to her and says in English, "I would like to meet Helen Cho."

The receptionist says with the few English words she learned, "Helen Cho....yes..yes..sit.....there... Helen Cho....come.."

Max smiles and sits down. The receptionist runs inside and after a few minutes, she returns with a woman with black hair and a lab coat.

She walks up to Max and extends her hand. Max shakes her hand and the woman says in fluent English, "Nice to meet you. I am Helen Cho."

Max says, "Nice to meet you too. I am Max and I would like to talk to you about your company."

Helen Cho says, "Yes?"

Max continues, "I would like to acquire your company."

Max sees her face turn into that of anger and she says, "I don't think I have anything to talk to you about that. You may please leave."

She then turns around to leave. Max says, "Wait. I know how your company is doing and I know how talented you are. I want to acquire the company and I want you to work for me. I need a company in my name and you can work in it, continue doing what you are doing. I can even get you funding for what you want to do."

Helen stops walking to listen to what Max has to say. Max takes the opportunity to explain and continues, "I wanted to start a company and another scientist working for me suggested to acquire a company to skip all the paperwork. He then suggested that I look into your company since he appreciated your work like me and thought that you would get the necessary funds to pursue your dream. I will get you the funds for your project, in exchange, you work for me and sell me your company. Since the company is registered here, you can stay here and develop this office while I will have one in New York. I won't make you do anything that is against your wishes, unless it is something I can't allow."

Helen takes a while to say, "I will need some time to think."

Max then starts to walk out before stopping near the door. He turns to Helen and says, "You see, I actually didn't plan this trip properly. I haven't booked a place to stay and I don't have the local currency."

Helen says, "You can go to the expensive hotels and banks, they should have staff that speak English."

Max says, "Well, I don't have a visa to be in the country. So..."

Helen asks, "Can you really fund my project?"

Max says, "Don't misunderstand, I can get people to arrange everything, but it will take a day."

Helen sighs and turns to her receptionist. She says something to her in Korean and the receptionist argues back in Korean. After a while of back and forth, the receptionist sighs and walks to Max.

Helen says to Max, "Follow her, she will take you to a nearby hotel and help you check-in."

Max gives Helen his number and says, "Call me when you have decided what to do."

The receptionist leads Max to a hotel and during the travel there, there are many stares at him from the locals. They are curious about his appearance and clothes. When they get to the hotel, which is not grand and it barely has any guests.

The receptionist speaks to the hotel staff in Korean and helps him check in. He goes to his room and it is almost the same size as his house before he moved to the huge villa. He is not impressed by the amenities, but he doesn't complain.

The receptionist returns to U-GIN and Max sits on the bed. He has nothing to do and he hasn't had free time like this in a while. He decides to use this time to organize his thoughts, especially the information he obtained from going through the files in S.H.I.E.L.D.

He lies on the bed and closes his eyes, reviewing all the information he received and sorting it out.

(I am trying to give everyone a general picture of the whole world the story happens in.)

Max says to himself, 'Ok. Based on all the information I have, I can tell that New York is the hub for all the heroes and villains. First, the factions and companies in the city. The most noteworthy ones are Fisk industries, Alchemax, Stark industries, and Oscorp. There is also Pym technologies in San Francisco. There are more companies that have people who will turn into future villains and heroes, but these are the main ones.

Stark industries is working on their weapons that will kill people more easily and they have a weapons demo for the army in a month. I wonder if that's when the Iron Man movie plot happens.

Oscorp is working on the super soldier serum, which will eventually turn into the goblin serum.

Alchemax is working on many things, with their most notable ones being their work on spiders and their research on other dimensions.

Pym tech., they are working on recreating the Pym particles and S.H.I.E.L.D. is keeping an eye on the results since Hank Pym worked there.

As for Fisk industries, they are going to get a shipment in two months, which S.H.I.E.L.D. believes to be weapons.

Then the mutants, they split into three groups, one led by Charles Xavier, one led by Magneto and the other led by Emma Frost.

Charles Xavier is running his school and wants mutants to coexist with humans.

Magneto is living far from humans with a few mutants. He just wants the mutants to be left alone. S.H.I.E.L.D. however believes that he is up to something and is waiting.

As for Emma Frost, she almost died in the hands of Stryker, who was working for Trask at that time, and she wants revenge on humans.

Charles Xavier and his X-Men are keeping her in check, so there have been no incidents so far. S.H.I.E.L.D. believes that she is also up to something and is waiting for something.

There are also rogue mutants, who are either escaping from scientists who want to dissect them, or have joined gangs, becoming criminals. The most important rogue mutants are Mystique and Logan.

If you look at the plot that happened till now, nothing much happened after the X-Men: Days of Future Past. After the incident with Trask, the mutants all split into the three factions and haven't done anything noticeable till now.

There is also Dr. Doom in his kingdom Latveria. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have much information on him.

And lastly, the various facilities scattered all over the world where they experiment on mutants.

Now that I know how much danger is in the city, I am really glad that my house is far from the city.'

His train of thoughts is interrupted by the knock on the door to his room. He walks to the door and opens it. The receptionist from before hands him a plastic bag and leaves without saying anything.

He says, "Thank you" to her back and goes back inside.

Inside the bag, there are a few drinks and two cup noodles. Max looks at them and says, "Wow, can't wait to try Korean cup noodles."

He boils water in the kettle and pours it in the cup noodles. The pack is completely red and it has various chilies and fire pictures on the cover. Max is even more excited since he knows it is going to be spicy.

After it is done cooking, he opens it and has a bite. As soon as the noodles hit his tongue, his whole mouth is on fire.

"Hot...Hot...hot...." Max jumps around and reaches for the drinks he got with the noodles, but they are all unsweetened. He tries the water in the hotel, but it doesn't help at all.

While Max is suffering from the burning sensation, he gets a call. He walks to the phone and sees a foreign number. He picks it up and hears Helen's voice on the other side of the call, "Hello Max, I hope you enjoy your lunch I arranged."

Max says, "You are sadistic."

Helen says, "That's the pain I feel when I am selling my company, but after thinking about it, I can't risk losing all the work I've done by being stubborn. Besides, the noodles had clear pictures that they were going to be spicy. Eating them was your fault."

Max says, "I am definitely going to make you pay for this."

Helen says, "Then, I'm looking forward to it Max. Come to my office after you deal with the pain. We will discuss the details of the acquisition."

Helen hangs up and Max says to himself, "I know I brought this on myself. Now, how do I stop this pain?"

His mouth is getting numb and that's when Max's brain finally starts thinking. Until then, his pain was the only thing on his mind. Max says, "I am really getting more and more dumb day after day."

He then focuses on his tongue, more specifically, the impulses being sent from his mouth to his brain. He controls the electricity and blocks the impulses from reaching his brain. This makes the pain go away completely. In fact, he can't even feel his mouth anymore.

Max then tries to do the same throughout his body and immediately, he collapses to the ground. He can't feel any part of his body. His heart also stops beating and Max can't breathe. He quickly undoes what he did and he can breathe again.

He also regains control of his body and stands up, taking the support of the bed near him. Max says, "I have to work on that later."

He then flies off through the window and lands in front of the company. Helen is waiting for him near the company and sees him fly there.

Max doesn't try to hide it since her office is in a remote location and Helen is going to work with him in the future.

Max lands near her and Helen is stunned. Helen says, "You just....you...you were flying....."

Max says, "That's why I don't have any visa or money. I just flew in from New York."

Helen asks, "How...how...how are you doing that?"

Max replies, "Not now, when I trust you enough, I will tell you. Now, we have a big deal to finalize."

Helen leads him inside, but she is still amazed by the sight of Max flying in the air.

They agree on the terms of the deal and Helen says, "I will get my attorney to prepare the papers for the transfer of the company and they should be ready in a week. Since you can fly, you can go back to New York and come back when the papers are ready."

Max says, "I was actually planning on staying in Korea for a few more days."

Helen says, "Ah! Sightseeing. You better get a tourist guide for that, I am not sending any of my employees to show you around."

Max says, "No no. I was actually really interested to learn more about genetics from you."

Helen smiles and says, "Nice try Max, but that trick is getting old."

Max is confused and asks, "What?"

Helen says, "Come on Max. I've had three men see me in a lab coat on different occasions and the first thing they do is ask about my work to start a conversation, to ask me out on a date."

Max says, "Well, thanks for the tip. I will keep that in mind when I have to ask a scientist out on a date. As for now, I really want to know about the genetics of cells and the DNA. I have some basic knowledge I learned from the internet about how the DNA is made of different types of nucleotides."

Helen is skeptical at first and says, "Fine, you can come watch me work from tomorrow and I will explain it to you while working. I don't have time to waste for tutoring my boss."

Max liked what he heard. He says, "Boss huh. I like the sound of that. Call me boss from now on."

Helen sighs and gets up to leave. She is not amused by his arrogance. Max says, "See you tomorrow."

Max had the idea of studying genetics when he discovered he could change his body. He was thrilled by the opportunity he just got. He wanted to learn how his DNA was different from others and analyze a few more DNAs. He hoped to alter his own body for more strength and powers.