Chapter 137
I stared at that email for a long time.
I had clearly read every word, but I zoned out for a long while.
I read it again from the beginning.
Dear Professor A-yeon Yu.
To Professor Yoo A-yeon.
Right, that's my name.
Fields Medal.
…The Fields Medal.
“W-Waaaaaaaaah!!!”
I threw both arms up in a victory pose.
While Mom was in the bathroom, I screamed at the top of my lungs in the empty lab.
“Eek… this isn't a dream, right?”
I lightly tugged at my cheek.
Sting~
“Owwow… that hurts.”
The fact that the peripheral nerves in my cheek had sent pain signals to my brain meant this was real.
I leaned back against the chair.
Fields Medal.
An award presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians once every four years.
An award said to be harder to receive than the Nobel Prize in the world of mathematics.
An extremely demanding award that can only be given to mathematicians under 40.
In short, an award for the GOAT of mathematics!
They were saying they would give it to me.
“Wuhehe-.”
I pressed both hands to my cheeks and grinned stupidly.
The current youngest recipient is twenty-seven, so if I, a seven-year-old elementary schoolgirl, won the Fields Medal, the age of the youngest recipient would be lowered by a full 20 years!
I'd been writing a paper proving the Riemann theorem with Mom since I was three, thinking, Ah~ It'd be so awesome to win the Fields Medal—so now that I really was going to receive it, it felt like a dream.
I looked at the email on the screen once more.
strictly confidential.
Strictly confidential.
It meant I couldn't tell anyone until the opening ceremony.
“Mmph-.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth and became tight-lipped.
Of course, the fact that Mom immediately caught on when she returned from the bathroom because I failed miserably at managing my expression was just a bonus.
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Meanwhile, around the same time.
The Mathematics Major Gallery.
[Title: Looks Like Someone's Winning the Fields Medal This Time]
I wonder who'll receive it.
- First off, the gallery boss has to get it, obviously, LOL.
- They proved the Riemann theorem and still don't get it? Then the entire mathematics world will rise up.
-ㄴ For real, if they skipped the gallery boss after giving them the Millennium Prize, that'd be bigger news.
- The gallery boss is guaranteed one spot; I'm curious who the other three will be.
[Title: Predictions for the Other Three Spots]
I've been seeing Martin Legrand from Europe mentioned a lot.
He solved a longstanding conjecture related to mirror symmetry in symplectic geometry.
China's Chen Yilong is also a strong candidate.
Apparently he proved the local-global correspondence in the Langlands program.
Russia's Ivan Sokolov is also a strong candidate.
He got a partial result on Navier–Stokes regularity.
Nathan Cross from the US.
Proof of universality in random matrix theory.
It comes up a lot in probability theory, so his odds of winning should be high?
- Didn't Legrand win the Breakthrough Prize last year, too?
-ㄴ He did, so lots of people are saying winning the Fields Medal too would make it a double celebration.
- They say Chen Yilong's paper from three years ago is still being verified. Will they reach a conclusion in time?
-ㄴ You think the Fields committee would give it without doing that level of verification? The verification's already finished, which is why he's being mentioned as a candidate.
- What's Navier–Stokes regularity? Is it different from what the gallery boss is working on?
-ㄴ The property of a solution not blowing up. The Millennium problem the gallery boss is tackling asks about both existence and regularity, while Sokolov proved regularity in a specific situation.
-ㄴ (An emoticon of a cute little kid going “Duu…” with a stupid expression)
- Damn, probability theory again.
-ㄴ Can we normalize the probability nerds already?
[Title: This Year's Fields Medal Lineup Is Insane]
Martin Legrand, 38
Chen Yilong, 35
Ivan Sokolov, 36
Nathan Cross, 37
And
(Yoo A-yeon smiling brightly while making a double peace sign.jpg)
Yoo A-yeon, 7
- As expected, Ayeon Yu lowers the average age, LOL.
- Whoa, so soft and fluffy.
- When's the ceremony? I want to see it already.
-ㄴ It's not officially announced yet. It's just a rumor going around.
[Title: Are the Gallery Boss's Odds Up on Overseas Prediction Sites? LOL]
(Screenshot of an overseas website.jpg)
Fields Medal.
— Ayeon Yu - 91.2%
Of course I posted it since they were up, LOL.
The site has posted the odds for this year's Fields Medal candidates,
and the gallery boss's odds are over 90 percent.
- What is this site?
-ㄴ A gambling site where you bet on famous award candidates and get paid according to the odds if they win.
- LOL, 90 percent is insanely high.
- Isn't that actually a good deal? The gallery boss is practically guaranteed to win, and it's only at 90 percent.
-ㄴ For real, if you bet now, it's a sure thing.
[Title: I Dumped My Entire Month's Salary on Yoo A-yeon Winning LOL]
Thanks to the guy who shared the site.
I just signed up and dumped my entire salary into it.
The odds of her winning are so high that even if I get the payout, it'll only be 200,000 won.
I should roll some gacha with the winnings.
- Bookie, give us a line.
- Line.
- There really is a lunatic in Korea who actually does this.
- Hey, I took a screenshot and reported you. Goodbye.
[This post has been deleted.]
…
[Title: (Notice) Gambling-Related Posts Deleted and Users Banned for 30 Days]
Fuck, sports-betting assholes, this is a math forum.
Everyone who posted related content has been banned for 30 days.
- Haha, the head mod really restores the gallery to order.
- Exactly. This is a place even the gallery boss visits sometimes. Do those sports bettors have no brains?
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I kept my lips sealed.
I was happy and dizzy, but at the same time, I had to keep my mouth firmly shut.
“Professor?”
Flip-.
Mom stopped flipping through the documents and looked at me.
“…Did something happen? What's with that expression?”
Mmph-.
Still tight-lipped, I shook my head back and forth.
Swish-.
Mom set down the documents and came over.
She'd definitely noticed that something was strange!
You can't fool Mom, after all.
I might be the greatest genius in the world, but when it came to managing my expression, I was hopeless.
Keeping it secret.
That sentence—saying I couldn't tell anyone until the opening ceremony—kept circling around in my head.
…Huh?
But wait, isn't it okay if my family knows?
It made no sense to expect me to keep something this huge to myself.
Thinking it over, I realized that I would have to hop on a plane and fly overseas to receive the award anyway.
It would be physically impossible to hide from Mom and Dad that I was receiving the Fields Medal until right before the opening ceremony.
I nodded repeatedly, reached that conclusion in my head, and then gently turned the monitor so Mom could see it.
“Here, look at this-.”
Mom peered at the email I'd received.
I could see her eyes moving along the sentences.
And a few seconds later, Mom's eyes went perfectly round.
“Wow… really?”
Mom let out a very brief exclamation.
“Our Ayeon is a Fields Medalist now, huh?”
Since the only people in this lab were the two of us, Mom switched from graduate-student mode to praise-Mom mode.
“Heeheehee-. I'm Yoo A-yeon, the youngest Fields Medalist-.”
Peace-peace-.
I flashed a broad grin, made a V sign with my fingers, and held it up in front of my face.
Pat-pat-.
Pat-pat-.
Mom smiled proudly and stroked my head.
“You're going to tell Dad and Arin too, right?”
“Yep. Of course.”
I nodded.
I had to share this joy with my family.
“But, Mom.”
“Hmm?”
“They said I absolutely, absolutely mustn't tell anyone outside!”
“Of course. Naturally.”
Mom smiled gently.
“Let's go home and tell Dad and Arin properly, too.”
“Okay!”
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But that afternoon, a problem arose.
“Professor Yoo A-yeon.”
Later, when Jae-hyeok oppa came to work, he read a paper intently, then got up to stretch and asked me,
“…W-What is it?”
“Did something good happen today, by any chance?”
“…Eek!”
I froze on the spot.
“N-No? Nothing happened!”
Jae-hyeok oppa tilted his head.
“But you've been grinning and twitching your lips like that for a while now…”
“I wasn't smiling!”
I covered my face with both hands.
I couldn't help it when the corners of my mouth kept rising on their own.
“…Professor, did you perhaps get some good news?”
This time, So-young unni asked.
“N-No! There's nothing at all!”
“Really?”
“Yes! There really is nothing! Maybe it's because the weather's nice today? Ahaha~ The sun is shining so brightly today, and it's just the best!”
I pointed out the window and awkwardly changed the subject.
Jae-hyeok oppa and So-young unni exchanged glances.
“Indeed.”
“The weather is lovely.”
Jae-hyeok oppa gave an uncertain nod and turned his gaze back to his laptop.
So-young unni stopped asking questions and returned to her seat.
“Phew-.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
That had been a close one.
I glanced to the side and saw Mom calmly sipping her coffee—slurp, smack-smack.
Mom was so good at managing her expression!
I firmly resolved to work on managing my expression like Mom over the next few days.
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And that evening.
As soon as I got home from work, I ran into the living room.
“Dad! Arin!”
“Oh, my daughter's home?”
I ran to Dad and threw myself into his big arms.
“Sis!”
Arin set down her tablet, scampered over, and hugged me too.
Soon Mom hugged Dad and Arin tightly as well.
Once the family hug was over.
I jumped up and down as I bragged,
“Heheh-. I'm receiving the Fields Medal this time!”
“…What? The Fields Medal?”
Dad asked incredulously.
“Isn't that… the most famous award in mathematics?”
“Yep! It's a super-famous award with the prestige of the Nobel Prize!”
I excitedly spread both arms wide-.
“The email came this morning!”
Dad stared at me for a moment, then suddenly jumped to his feet.
“Wooooow! Our daughter is amazing!”
Clap-clap-clap-clap-!
Dad clapped wildly with both hands.
“Someone in our family is getting a Fields Medal! I've got one more thing to brag about my daughter wherever I go!”
“Hehehe.”
“Sis, what's a Fields Medal?”
Arin asked as she tugged at my sleeve.
“Hmm… It's the award mathematicians want to receive most. It's given to only four people once every four years.”
“Wow! Then it's really amazing! Sis, you're amazing!”
“Yep!”
Clap-clap-clap-!
Arin excitedly clapped along with Dad.
Clap-clap-clap-clap-.
Mom joined in and clapped too.
The living room filled with the sound of applause.
I let myself be swept up in the torrent of applause.
“Hehehe-.”