Chapter 100
Park So-yeong, Class of 2027 in Seoul National University's Department of Mathematical Sciences.
She was what people called an elite.
She had graduated from a science high school.
She had represented Korea at the International Mathematical Olympiad and even won a gold medal.
Having studied advanced mathematics at science high school, she had already studied university-level mathematics to some extent.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Park So-yeong knew more about her major than any of her Class of 2027 peers.
That's why.
While her classmates struggled through university mathematics for the first time,
she listened to the lectures with a faint smile and a completely relaxed attitude.
Whether it was General Physics or Calculus,
it was all just a review of things she already knew.
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So-yeong met Eun-chae, another female Class of 2027 student, at the freshman orientation camp, and they naturally became close.
The College of Natural Sciences was unmistakably male-dominated.
The gender ratio became roughly even in chemistry and life sciences,
but theoretical fields like mathematics and physics were extremely male-dominated, with a ratio of nine men to one woman.
That was why women were rare in the Department of Mathematical Sciences,
and simply sharing the fact that they were both female students in the same year was enough for them to naturally become close.
After her major class ended, So-yeong chatted with Eun-chae.
“Ugh… today's class was incredibly difficult too. So-yeong, did you understand all of it?”
“Yeah. It was easy.”
“Really? That's amazing….”
Eun-chae, encountering university mathematics for the first time, genuinely envied So-yeong for having studied it in advance at science high school.
“I think you really are a genius, So-yeong.”
……
Genius.
That was a complicated word that held a great deal of meaning for So-yeong.
Only a few years ago, Park So-yeong had been utterly convinced that she was a genius.
Science High School.
An Olympiad gold medal.
The admiring, awestruck gazes of adults.
All of it had called her a genius.
Back when her pride was at its peak, she had even become steeped in arrogance and looked down on students from regular high schools.
But.
Park So-yeong no longer thought of herself as a genius in the slightest.
With a complicated expression, So-yeong shook her head.
“…Something as grand as being a genius? I'm just precocious. I simply learned a little faster than everyone else.”
“Oh, don't be so modest.”
“I'm serious. A true genius is….”
As Park So-yeong trailed off, the image of a certain little girl vividly appeared in her mind.
An adorable, tiny figure.
A professor who climbed onto a footstool and passionately taught Calculus with that small body.
“So-yeong?”
“…Yeah. It's nothing.”
Park So-yeong forced herself to erase the thought that kept coming to mind.
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There was one knot in Park So-yeong's heart that she could not tell anyone about.
Her father, Park Mu-yeol.
A mathematics professor and the person Park So-yeong had respected most since childhood.
Watching her father read papers while drinking coffee at home, young Park So-yeong had decided to become a mathematician just like him.
Wanting to become like her father, she had wrestled with those tiresome mathematics problems all night.
Fortunately, So-yeong had inherited mathematical talent, entered a science high school, represented Korea at the Olympiad, and even won a gold medal.
It was during the period when Park So-yeong's pride was swelling and she was growing arrogant.
Her father's field of research was analytic number theory.
It was the field containing the Riemann Hypothesis, humanity's greatest mathematical challenge.
But then a mere five-year-old little girl solved the Riemann Hypothesis and stole the spotlight from the entire world.
The Millennium Prize, a million dollars, top-tier journals, news and documentaries, and even a professorship in mathematics at Seoul National University!
The entire world was plastered with the name Yoo A-yeon.
It would have been one thing if Yoo A-yeon had merely been a clever little girl.
But she was cute, polite, and cheerful, and had even solved a Millennium problem that had gone unsolved for a century, so people simply could not help taking an interest.
Park So-yeong found it deeply unfair.
My dad deserves more respect.
My dad should get more attention.
Those childish thoughts kept rising in one corner of her heart.
Of course, her father was researching the properties of L-functions, not the Riemann Hypothesis, so there was absolutely no reason for him to feel wronged.
In fact, when the Riemann Hypothesis was solved, Park Mu-yeol himself freely acknowledged Yoo A-yeon's genius.
When Park So-yeong was accepted into SNU's Department of Mathematical Sciences, her father was happier than anyone and said this.
— So-yeong. Now that you've been accepted into SNU's Department of Mathematical Sciences, you should study hard under Professor Yoo A-yeon.
— If you study under that girl, there will be so much for you to learn.
— Professor Yoo A-yeon is a genius unlike any other in human history.
Park Mu-yeol lavished praise on Yoo A-yeon, to the point of leaving people speechless.
So-yeong didn't like that.
No, honestly, that was what hurt her the most.
Why didn't Dad feel wronged?
Why did Dad accept it so readily?
Dad was an accomplished enough mathematician to deserve attention too!
But.
—I don't like the fact that Dad isn't getting any attention.
It was far too childish and immature to say such a thing out loud.
So So-yeong
simply clamped her mouth shut.
She swallowed that knot deep into her heart.
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After enrolling,
on the day she attended Professor Yoo A-yeon's class for the first time,
So-yeong sat with her arms folded firmly.
She stared intently at the adorable professor on the podium.
— Let's see how well she teaches.
The reason behind that stern, challenging gaze directed at Yoo A-yeon was precisely this.
Intellectually, she acknowledged it.
That adorable little girl was a genius unlike any other in history.
The mere fact that she had solved the Riemann Hypothesis at the age of five left no room for argument.
But emotionally, So-yeong desperately did not want to acknowledge it.
That was Park So-yeong's current, complicated, tangled state of mind.
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“Anyway.”
“Huh? Oh, uh.”
So-yeong shook herself, as if brushing away the thoughts that had come to mind.
“I'm going to Professor Yoo A-yeon's office hours later. Want to come with me?”
Rustle-rustle-.
Eun-chae spoke brightly as she gathered her bag.
“Huh? I don't really have anything to ask.”
So-yeong awkwardly looked away.
Meeting Professor Yoo A-yeon separately outside of class felt burdensome.
“Oh, come on. Let's go together.”
In as casual a tone as if she were suggesting they go to a café after class, Eun-chae proposed going to the professor's office.
So-yeong was flustered by that attitude.
‘Even so, it's a professor's office… Is it really okay to suggest going there so casually?’
As far as So-yeong knew, a professor's office was not a place to treat lightly.
Her father's office was the same.
Even knocking on the door required caution, and students always went in and out with tense expressions.
‘Shouldn't I be careful so I don't disturb the professor's research…?’
While So-yeong was worrying about it,
Eun-chae suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her along.
“I said let's just go…!”
“W-wait!”
And so, before they knew it, the two of them had arrived in front of Special Professor Yoo A-yeon's office.
“We really came….”
“Then did you think we'd come for real in fake form?”
But she seemed to hear a sound from beyond the door that absolutely should not have been coming from a mathematics professor's office.
‘The voices of a lot of people chattering noisily….’
Knock-knock-.
Eun-chae knocked on the door without hesitation.
“Professor Yoo A-yeon~.”
— Yees-. Come on in-!
A cute voice drifted through the door.
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Creak-.
The moment the two of them opened the door and stepped inside,
“Gasp-!”
So-yeong was instantly startled.
Around eight people were clustered around the visitor table, happily munching on snacks with loud crunching sounds.
Various snacks had been piled together into a mountain on the table, while crumbs were scattered across the floor.
And on closer inspection,
six of them were classmates from the Class of 2027 who had attended Calculus with her earlier!
“Oh, it's Eun-chae!”
“So-yeong came too?”
Her classmates waved while holding snacks in their mouths.
“Uh… this is Professor Yoo A-yeon's office… right…?”
So-yeong asked without realizing it.
What on earth was going on?
How had a professor's office turned into a department lounge?
Faced with a situation she could not understand at all, So-yeong simply froze.
The professor's office she knew was not a place like this.
You had to take deep breaths before knocking.
And if you wanted to ask even one question, you had to spend hours beforehand carefully refining your wording.
It was that kind of heavy, solemn place.
But.
Eun-chae did not care in the slightest that the professor's office was noisy like a department lounge.
Striding forward,
she headed straight toward Professor Yoo A-yeon at a brisk pace.
Hug-!
And hugged her tightly just like that!
“Mmph…!”
“Our adorable professor~! I came to replenish your adorableness!”
Rubbing-rubbing-.
Pat-pat-.
Eun-chae rubbed the tiny Professor Yoo A-yeon all over while vigorously patting her head at the same time.
“Hing, Eun-chae unni! It's embarrassing in front of everyone!”
“Hehe, so what?”
And then
at that sight,
“Huh…?”
now it was not just Park So-yeong.
Every student in the room froze in place.
The hand reaching for a snack stopped in midair, and the mouths that had been about to drink froze wide open.
“…D-did she hug the professor?”
“Is that allowed…?”
Shock and horror swept over the office.
Only one graduate student—the teaching assistant for Calculus and Yoo A-yeon's mother—
“Oh my, Eun-chae, you're here?”
simply smiled as if nothing were out of the ordinary and quietly took a sip of tea.