Chapter 243

Translator: Dreamscribe

The hallway leading to the auditorium.

“Hey, hurry up!”

“Yeah, if we’re late, we’ll have to sit in the back, right?”

Students rushed down the hallway in a crowd.

The most famous graduate in the history of the Gifted High School. No, even on a national scale, there was probably no one in Korea more remarkable than him. The students’ faces were flushed with excitement, as if a celebrity had come to visit.

Chae-a and Seo-eun hurried along among them as well.

Chae-a glanced at Seo-eun and asked.

“What are you always reading in the library?”

“I’ve been studying my oppa’s paper on the Life Matrix. I don’t know much biology, so it took me a while to understand it.”

“You really are....”

Chae-a shook her head in amazement.

Put another way, that meant the math itself hadn’t been a problem for her.

When they opened the auditorium doors, the place was already packed with students.

Murmur.

Murmur.

The teachers all seemed to be there too.

It felt as though every single person at the school had gathered in the auditorium. The two quickly found seats and sat down.

A short while later, the door at the back of the stage slid open with a rattle.

Step.

Step.

Seo-ha walked onto the stage in a neat navy suit.

A genius mathematician, a man shrouded in mystery, and someone almost impossible to meet. Faced with the legendary graduate in person, the students could barely even breathe.

The noisy auditorium fell silent as if by magic.

‘It’s really him.’

The person they had only ever heard about was standing right in front of them.

Clap clap!

Someone started applauding.

Clap clap clap!

The applause spread throughout the auditorium.

The teachers also smiled and clapped enthusiastically.

Seo-ha bowed to the audience and stepped up to the podium.

“It’s nice to meet you, juniors.”

He slowly looked around the auditorium.

The principal and vice principal sat in the front row, unable to hide their proud expressions. He could also see several familiar teachers. As though he had returned to the past, Seo-ha found himself overcome by a strange sense of nostalgia.

‘I heard the students here are at a much higher level than they were back then.’

That insular, sharp-edged atmosphere peculiar to exceptionally gifted students.

Time had passed and many things had changed, but he could still picture it all as clearly as if it were right before his eyes. What kind of time these students must be spending here. Seo-ha slipped the speech he had prepared back into his pocket.

“Everyone, why don’t we take a look at the person sitting next to us?”

The sudden suggestion left the students looking puzzled. After exchanging uncertain glances, they awkwardly turned their heads. Nervous laughter broke out here and there.

Seo-ha smiled and continued.

“Is the person you just looked at a friend? Someone you only exchange greetings with? Or perhaps a rival you desperately want to beat.”

A few students flinched.

He had hit the nail on the head.

An endless cycle of competition, like running on a hamster wheel. There were only so many spots at the universities they wanted to attend, and for one person to get in, someone else inevitably had to be pushed out.

It wasn’t as though Seo-ha didn’t understand their situation. He simply felt sorry for the students who became so consumed by competition that they could not fully enjoy their high school years.

“But if you intend to walk the path of mathematics, the person beside you will become one of your strongest collaborators and someone who understands you better than anyone else.

Mathematics isn’t a zero-sum game. When the friend beside you solves one line, we can stand on that line and go even farther. We climb by standing on one another’s shoulders. That is how mathematics has advanced this far.”

Seo-ha went on to talk about many other things.

Memories of the fun he had playing soccer, and nights spent studying together until morning. In a way, it was the sort of conventional message one might expect from an adult looking back on school life.

But when those words came from Seo-ha, they carried weight. After all, he was the very person who had created the ‘Duck Lord Problem Solutions’ that students still practically lived by during exam periods.

A freshman who had been in a league of his own from the very beginning.

And yet, that boy of just thirteen had willingly given his time and knowledge to his friends. His sincerity was woven into thousands of pages of material.

The students looked at their friends with a newfound warmth.

After the lecture came a Q&A session.

The students eagerly bombarded him with all the questions they had wanted to ask.

“Was Boot Camp hard?”

“I heard MIT admissions have gotten more competitive. Is that because of you, sunbae?”

“When did you and Han Gyeo-ul sunbae start dating?”

At the final question, the entire auditorium erupted in laughter. Seo-ha gave an awkward smile and subtly sidestepped the question.

At that moment, Chae-a shot her hand into the air. Seo-eun, sitting beside her, widened her eyes.

“Yes. The girl sitting over there.”

When Seo-ha called on her, Chae-a straightened her uniform and stood up.

“Sunbae. About the Four Color Theorem in the seminar room. How did you end up proving it there?”

The auditorium instantly fell silent.

Something everyone had wondered about at least once.

Seo-eun seemed curious too, her ears practically perking up. Seo-ha paused for a moment and recalled his memories from back then. It was a story he had never even told his family.

Was it because the old memories had resurfaced? Feeling a little sentimental, Seo-ha opened up about what had happened then.

“Actually, that was a proof I had no intention of making public. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I wasn’t exactly in my right mind back then.”

A faint smile appeared on Seo-ha’s lips.

“At the time, my head was filled entirely with the Four Color Theorem. That problem, which had held me captive for seven years, was finally on the verge of yielding. I felt as though I would suffocate if I didn’t pour those equations out somewhere, no matter where I was.”

It was well known that he had been immersed in the Four Color Theorem since he was seven years old.

The mood among the students grew solemn. Then a voice came from the back.

“How did you feel after you finished solving it?”

It was Seo-eun.

From his sister’s expression, Seo-ha instinctively realized that she had managed to solve the Life Matrix.

He sank into his memories.

His thirteen-year-old self, filling the seminar room walls with equations. The memory of all the noise in the world disappearing as he stood face-to-face with a single truth was one of the most special moments in Seo-ha’s life.

And the complete freedom and release that had come at the end of that agonizing immersion.

The corner of Seo-ha’s mouth lifted slightly.

“It’s difficult to explain.”

Every eye in the auditorium turned toward him.

“I think I simply forgot everything. I didn’t know how many days had passed, whether I was hungry or sleepy, or even that the bell for Monday classes had rung. Then came a moment when everything clicked into place. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t experienced it can truly understand what that feels like.”

Seo-ha paused briefly to choose his words.

“I sincerely hope that moment comes for all of you someday.”

Clap.

Clap clap.

Applause filled the auditorium.

The students filling the seats were consumed by a desire to experience that moment for themselves as soon as possible.

“Ah! One more thing!”

Seo-ha raised his index finger and looked at the students.

“Team Apex at MIT will soon be opening an internship program. The door is open to all of you, so I hope many of you will apply.”

The moment he finished speaking, murmurs spread throughout the auditorium.

Chae-a’s mouth hung open.

It felt as if he had personally invited her to join the great journey that awaited in the future. Unable to contain her excitement, she looked beside her and saw Seo-eun wearing an unreadable expression.

“Why are you making that face? Ah! Were you already going to join anyway?”

Perhaps because she was envious, the words came out sharper than she intended. Realizing her mistake, Chae-a hurriedly covered her mouth. But Seo-eun gently shook her head as if she didn’t mind.

“That’s not it. I just know one thing. People who think of the internship as something to pad their résumés probably won’t be invited.”

“....”

Someone with the soul of a mathematician.

Only those who could devote themselves completely to the truth would be worthy of joining them.

Amid the fervor filling the auditorium, Seo-ha stepped down from the stage and shook hands with the teachers. The principal patted him on the shoulder with the expression of someone who had gained the entire world, while the other teachers shyly approached and asked him to sign books or magazines.

After finishing everything on his schedule, Seo-ha waited until Seo-eun’s classes ended.

Autumn.

The campus in its most beautiful season. The trees lining the walking paths were gradually taking on their own colors, creating a charm entirely different from autumn in Boston.

“Did you wait long?”

He had once wanted to show his sister how beautiful the campus was in autumn. Seo-eun came lightly walking toward him along the path beneath the long rays of autumn sunlight.

Seeing Seo-eun approach in the same uniform he had once worn brought countless memories to mind.

For a moment, the sight of Seo-eun walking toward him overlapped with an image of himself at thirteen. And that autumn day when the two of them had ridden bicycles together in Boston.

Seo-ha shook his head and cleared away the memories.

“No. Let’s walk for a bit.”

“Okay!”

The two walked side by side along the path.

Whenever the wind blew, leaves drifted down one by one from overhead. Looking at the brightly colored leaves, Seo-eun asked.

“Why did you want to meet here?”

“Because we might not get another chance.”

Seo-eun pouted.

“What kind of answer is that!”

Ahead, he was walking slowly down the path.

An oppa she could proudly show off to anyone. But that wasn’t only because he was a once-in-a-century genius. He was someone with a gentler, warmer heart than anyone else in the world.

No one else would ever know that side of him. Seo-eun watched his back and fell into thought.

‘How far can I follow him?’

She had known since before she turned five that her oppa would become someone extraordinary. But the path he was walking now had gone far beyond anything she had ever imagined.

All she wanted was to stay on her oppa’s side and cheer him on. But-

‘It’d be so embarrassing if I couldn’t even understand why what he’s doing is so incredible.’

Seo-eun smiled softly, quickened her pace, and matched her oppa’s stride.

***

MIT faculty meeting.

Dean Whitman began with a grave expression.

“As you all know, Seo-ha’s Military Discharge is not far away. Originally, our Department of Mathematics intended to appoint him as an Assistant Professor, but....”

Academia had its conventions.

One rose through the prescribed ranks, from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor, and then to Full Professor. No matter how exceptional someone was, no one skipped those steps.

It was both a courtesy to scholars who had devoted decades to a single field and part of the order academia had long upheld.

“That whole track became meaningless the moment Seo-ha won the Fields Prize.”

Hahaha!

Everyone burst into laughter at one professor’s remark.

No one would understand appointing the Fields Medal winner and the man who had proved the Riemann Hypothesis as an Assistant Professor.

“This is a dilemma. We can’t exactly make him a Full Professor in his first year. Knowledge isn’t the issue. He probably has no experience teaching students....”

“That certainly could be a problem.”

Whitman narrowed his eyes as he looked at them.

“What exactly is so problematic about it?”

Thud.

He dropped a file onto the table.

They were official letters from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Cambridge. Every one of them requested verification of Seo-ha’s degree.

“The Office of Academic Affairs showed these to me. Why do you think those universities sent them to us?”

“Good heavens!”

“The nerve of them! They know full well that Seo-ha is a royal of MIT!”

Whitman shook his head with a stern expression.

“That’s the wrong way to look at this. We desperately need him, but what about from Seo-ha’s perspective? What exactly can MIT offer Seo-ha?”

The youngest person ever appointed as a Full Professor at MIT had been thirty-one years old.

Of course, even that person had gone through Assistant Professor and Associate Professor first. But in an unprecedented move, a proposal had been put forward to appoint Seo-ha directly as a Full Professor with tenure(Tenure, a permanent academic appointment guaranteeing employment until retirement).

One professor raised a hand with a worried expression and asked.

“Um.... I’m not opposed, but are we sure he’ll be all right teaching classes?”

Whitman replied with an indifferent expression.

“Why should we worry about that? That sounds like the students’ problem....”

As if struck by a profound realization, all the professors nodded at once.

“Indeed.”

“As expected, very wise.”

Bang!

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