Chapter 39
A special documentary about Yu Ah-yeon was broadcast around the world.
At the very beginning of the documentary, a video began explaining who Yu Ah-yeon even was.
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[Broadcast Content]
One day, a paper claiming to have proven the Riemann Hypothesis was suddenly uploaded to the archive.
It was a paper by an independent researcher with no institution and no degree, but number theorists around the world read it and reacted that it was anything but ordinary.
‘Maybe the Riemann Hypothesis will really be solved.’
Scholars wanted to directly ask the author specific questions.
However.
No one could identify the author of the paper, Yu Ah-yeon.
There was no photo attached to the paper, and since there was no affiliated institution or contact information, there was absolutely no way to get in touch.
The scholars had no choice but to pore over the paper as posted.
And then, on October 18, 2025.
News spread that Yu Ah-yeon would be giving a lecture at Seoul National University.
‘I want to see the proof of the Riemann Hypothesis with my own eyes!’
The scholars were seized by that desire.
In the mathematics world, an event this big hadn’t happened in 22 years, since Fermat’s Last Theorem was solved in 1994 and the Poincaré conjecture in 2003.
However.
The chance to hear the process of proving such a problem in a lecture was not something easily granted.
Andrew Wiles promoted it not as a “Lecture on Fermat’s Last Theorem,” but as a “Lecture on Elliptic Curves.” As a result, not many people came.
Grigori Perelman submitted his proof of the Poincaré conjecture to the archive and vanished, so no lecture was ever held.
But this time was different.
The [Lecture on the Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis] was heavily promoted by Seoul National University itself!
Expectations were already spreading throughout academia.
And there was plenty of time until the lecture date, plus seating that could accommodate a large crowd.
The result.
About 1,000 people filled the main auditorium, and about 700 more gathered in the auxiliary hall a little farther away. A total of 1,700 scholars came to Seoul National University to hear Yu Ah-yeon’s lecture.
The MeTube channel streaming live drew about 10,000 viewers from Korea and abroad.
Everyone looked forward to the lecture.
But then.
Suddenly, a five-year-old girl appeared…!
And that little girl claimed to be Yu Ah-yeon, then started a lecture explaining [On the Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis]!
[The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function ζ(s) all have real part 1/2.]
“I’m going to prove this now!”
The situation was utterly absurd.
Rumors began spreading through every internet community and social media, and by the time the lecture ended, it had reached a record 120,000 viewers.
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[Gallery]
[Title : I’m watching the TV special right now—is this actually real?]
I couldn’t watch the live broadcast back then, and I’m only seeing it properly for the first time today,
was it really true that that little kid proved the Riemann Hypothesis…?
- I thought it was AI deepfake too, but it was real
- Seeing the professors stand up and applaud was insane
- Regular people are all “what even is this?” while the experts are the first ones having their minds blown, for real
[Title : Even watching it again, “I’m five years old” < this is so damn ridiculous lol]
Proving the Riemann Hypothesis is already a huge shot of national pride,
but the moment she says she's five, it's so absurd I can only laugh lol
- The chat was an absolute disaster back then
- But even now, I still wonder if she’s really the same person
[Title : Dammit, I should’ve watched the live stream then]
Damn it, I hate myself for going to sleep because I was sleepy
(frog hanging itself meme)
- If you didn’t see the chat back then, you’re a loser in life
- Chat reaction: Cute lol -> Not fake? -> Huh? No way? -> Holy shit it’s real -> What? She’s five?
- Honestly, Yu Ah-yeon’s existence itself is more shocking than the Riemann Hypothesis
[Title : So in the end that Shin Yi-joon guy just copied the research notebook, huh]
So in the end, he just copied the predecessor’s notes and published a paper, right?
If I had that notebook at home, I’d have proven the Riemann Hypothesis too, easy.
- Is this guy seriously an idiot?
- (link address)
- Shin Yi-joon’s research notes were already made public five years ago?
…
[This post has been deleted]
[Tweet]
えっ、これ韓国で実際に起きた事件だったの！？
→ Huh, this actually happened in Korea!?
会場の空気がガチすぎる
→ The atmosphere at the venue is way too intense
今テレビ見て初めて知ったんだけどヤバすぎる
→ I only just found out by watching TV, and this is way too crazy
[English-speaking community]
I thought the clips were fake memes
→ I thought the clips were fake memes
people watching this live must’ve lost their minds
→ The people watching this live must have lost their minds
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The broadcast cut to the next scene.
The reporter visited Yu Ah-yeon’s house.
“Please take good care of me-!”
Yu Ah-yeon gave a polite little bow and greeted them.
Yu Ah-yeon walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a thin book.
The camera showed this month’s latest overseas math journal.
Yu Ah-yeon tore open the plastic roughly, sat on the sofa, swung her feet, and slowly began reading.
After that, Yu Ah-yeon hurried over to her mother with the journal in hand.
“Mom, I want to read this together!”
Yu Ah-yeon sat on her mother Han Seol-ae’s lap and started listening as her mother read the journal aloud.
A paper on algebraic geometry that even specialists struggled with.
Han Seol-ae took notes of the important formulas while reading aloud in English, but perhaps because it was difficult, she kept stumbling.
Then.
Yu Ah-yeon looked over the material and began explaining the parts her mother had gotten stuck on in fluent mathematical terms!
It was the moment that showed Yu Ah-yeon’s math level was higher than her mother’s.
After that, Yu Ah-yeon showed the reporters the results of her IQ test.
An IQ of 160, the theoretical maximum.
She had received that result at 26 months old, far younger than the recommended minimum test age of 30 months.
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[Title : This is fake as hell too]
Same with the last lecture, and this whole stunt of reading a paper this time too
isn’t it all just something she memorized in advance?
How much did you bribe the broadcaster? lol
- That’s this month’s latest issue, and it isn’t sold separately or even listed on the secondhand market—what the hell would he memorize, asshole
- Didn’t you see her tear the plastic off a brand-new book?
- Why are you so angry? Don’t tell me you’re jealous of a kid?
- no
- I’ve been seeing this fake-news troll around from the start, and even when you show proof he just covers his eyes and ears. Just ignore him.
- no
[Title : Uu... Ttutta... I wanna be like Ah-yeon too...]
(Photo.jpg of Yu Ah-yeon explaining with a confident expression)
(Photo.jpg of Han Seol-ae gently smiling while patting Yu Ah-yeon’s head)
I want to be born a genius to a pretty mom too and get head pats…
- You can’t do it this life, so just reset and try again.
- Work hard and earn your head pats
- Hng... I don’t wanna study...
- (cute kid about to punch you meme)
[Title : Ah-yeon, this big brother has something serious to tell you… ]
(gif of Yu Ah-yeon swinging her feet)
(Photo.jpg zoomed in on Yu Ah-yeon’s toes)
(Photo.jpg zoomed in even more on Yu Ah-yeon’s toes)
(Photo.jpg zoomed in even, even, even more on Yu Ah-yeon’s toes)
(Photo.jpg zoomed in to the limit on Yu Ah-yeon’s toes)
Ha…
Ah-yeon…
(raccoon meme shoving its face uncomfortably close to the camera.png)
Are you trying to drive your big brother crazy or something?
- Squishy little toes, nyam nyam~
- Crazy foot-fetish freaks, damn
- Ugh
- (frog with bulging eyes sticking out its tongue meme)
[This post has been deleted]
[Deletion reason : Fuck off, don’t dirty up the gallery]
[Title : But her IQ doesn’t seem that high, surprisingly?]
I know someone in Mensa who says their IQ is 152,
and they didn’t seem that smart.
(cute kid going “hmm...” with her chin resting on her hand meme)
- The tests are different
- Mensa and Wechsler use different standard deviations
- The standard deviation is 24 for Mensa and 15 for Wechsler.
- Uu... Bbitbbi, I don’t understand what you’re saying... explain it in a way that’s easier to understand...
- So a Mensa 148 and a Wechsler 130 are the same 2 standard deviations above the mean. A Wechsler 160 is 4 standard deviations above the mean, so it’s in the top 0.006 percent. Much higher.
- Honestly, people with high IQs around me are mostly pretty ordinary. Just a bit faster at mental arithmetic?
[Tweet]
足ぷらぷらしてる5歳児が代数幾何読んでるの意味不明
→ A five-year-old swinging her feet while reading algebraic geometry makes no sense
可愛い仕草とやってる内容のギャップで脳がバグる
→ The gap between her cute gestures and what she’s doing is making my brain glitch
IQ 結果を自慢してる姿だけは普通の子供っぽくて可愛かった
→ The way she bragged about her IQ results was the only part that seemed like a normal child, and it was cute
[English-speaking community]
every time the camera cuts to her mom I forget this is a gifted documentary
→ Every time the camera shows her mom, I forget this is a gifted documentary
imagine a five-year-old next to you explaining the paper better than you 💀
→ Imagine a five-year-old beside you explaining the paper better than you 💀
honestly the IQ score is the LEAST shocking thing about her at this point
→ Honestly, the IQ score is the least shocking thing about her at this point
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The scenes of Yu Ah-yeon and Yu A-rin playing at the playground were cut entirely.
The problem was apparently that the location of the playground could be identified from the footage alone.
Moreover, Yu Ah-yeon and Yu A-rin deliberately came to the playground when no one else was there.
If that fact became known to the media, the children could be exposed to the risk of abduction or kidnapping.
So Reporter Lee Dong-hyun and Reporter Michael decided to delete the footage on the camera itself before even editing it.
Instead, the chess club, which was far enough from home, was judged to be a safe, well-trafficked place and could be shown in the documentary.
In the actual documentary broadcast, there was an interview with the director lavishly praising Yu Ah-yeon’s genius, along with a brief promotion for the chess club.
Yu Ah-yeon beat a high school senior at chess, then wiped the sweat from her brow and celebrated her victory.
(Interviews with students from the intermediate and advanced classes who were close to Yu Ah-yeon)
The reporter asked the students questions about Yu Ah-yeon.
“Ah-yeon? She’s seriously really good. She only started coming here recently, but her skills keep improving noticeably.”
“Ah-yeon and ■■ are the youngest here, so they stand out. But both of them are incredibly talented.”
“I often feed Ah-yeon chocolate, and the way she happily nibbles on it is just like a squirrel, so cute.”
In the next scene, Yu Ah-yeon was shown unable to finish a Peroro chocolate in one bite, so she nibbled it a few times and ate it little by little.