Chapter 80
EBC headquarters decided to scale up this hard-won interview considerably for broadcast.
[Exclusive Interview with Yoo A-yeon, the Genius Girl Who Proved the Riemann Hypothesis]
First, they aired a short teaser, two to three minutes long, with this title.
Yoo A-yeon wearing a cute sailor-style school uniform.
Proudly showing off the paper she had published in a journal.
Even a hint that she was about to reveal some shocking news about her current life.
The video was cleanly edited to do just enough to pique viewers' curiosity.
Thanks to this teaser, viewers across the country became explosively interested in the latest news about the famous genius girl who had set the whole nation abuzz.
On every kind of SNS and online community, people looked forward to Yoo A-yeon's broadcast, saying this was what EBC's license fee was worth.
EBC decided to feature Yoo A-yeon's interview in its regularly scheduled flagship educational program, [The Great Lecture].
The program brought together world-renowned scholars to deliver high-level knowledge.
And Yoo A-yeon more than fit the bill as such a world-renowned scholar.
Amid the public's anticipation, [The Great Lecture—Yoo A-yeon Special] began airing.
✒️✒️✒️
The broadcast began calmly.
First came a friendly explanation for viewers who knew absolutely nothing about mathematics.
What exactly was the Riemann Hypothesis?
Why was it so important?
The difficult concept of the distribution of prime numbers was explained in plain, easy-to-understand terms.
—A great problem of humanity that no one had been able to solve for more than 160 years.
As the narration played over it,
the screen showed past footage of Yoo A-yeon giving a lecture in a Seoul National University auditorium, click-clacking as she wrote formulas on the blackboard.
And finally.
The screen began showing scenes from Yoo A-yeon's interview.
Dressed neatly in her sailor uniform, sitting in a chair and swinging her legs back and forth.
“Uhehing—Of course I feel super happy!”
A six-year-old girl laughing innocently.
And yet—
“If you force them even when they say they don't want it, that's not studying—it's abuse.”
A mathematician casually tossing out an opinion more thoughtful than anything most adults could offer.
With those two extremes coexisting in a single scene,
viewers couldn't help but become completely captivated by Yoo A-yeon's charm.
✒️✒️✒️
[Gallery]
[Title: What Motivated A-yeon to Solve the Riemann Hypothesis]
Not some lofty goal like solving a problem facing humanity
Just getting lots of applause
This is just fucking adorable
- Kids that age are honestly motivated like that
- But those are scholars applauding her
- A-yeon's amazing, clap clap clap
[Title: A-yeon Showing Off]
(A video clip of her saying, “Ta-da~ My name's printed right here, see? Hee-heh.”)
- She really is a kindergartener lol
- I'm fucking done for; after seeing A-yeon do her little shoulder-shrug, I can't stop grinning
- Don't fall for it—this is marriage bait
[Title: Professor Yoo A-yeon Rumor Confirmed, Damn lol]
The SNU president just admitted it too.
They're scrambling to put out additional articles right now.
- Child Professor Yoo A-yeon, wow
-ㄴ You are Child Professor Yoo A-yeon, wowww
- Wait, this is actually real?
[Title: A Typical Career of a Six-Year-Old in South Korea]
Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis
Paper published in a top journal
Won the Millennium Prize
Received $1 million
Second place in a French youth chess tournament
Seoul National University professor
- A twenty-year-old's résumé: bombed the CSAT, enrolled in a cram school, got kicked out after being caught watching porn on his phone, and now browsing online galleries from his room
-ㄴ Ugh
- God, you fucking bastard, hurry up and patch the balance
- (A cute Mikku sobbing and turning into a sea of tears emote)
[Title: 1.5 Billion Won in Prize Money + Professor's Salary…?]
Ugh, I'm green with envy.
A-yeon, I think you've been happy enough now…
- No chance—she's about to use Dad privilege to invest it for 500x returns
- The fact is, the US and China pay top-tier geniuses salaries in the tens of billions of won. It's fucking frustrating that she decided to stay in Korea for a pittance of a salary
-ㄴ She kept saying on the broadcast that family was more important than money and that's why she wasn't going to America, so why are you twisting yourself into knots over it?
-ㄴ You're only saying that because you're too young to know how the world works
-ㄴ That's not exactly a life a jobless shut-in needs to worry about
[Title: Korea's National Pride Fully Recharged]
Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford
Turned them all down
—I like Korea, so I'm going to Seoul National University.
(Yoo A-yeon smiling brightly while making double peace signs.jpg)
THE GREAT A-YEON
- Wow, national pride is sweet
- Did those boomer bastards keep all this good stuff to themselves?
- Thank goodness A-yeon likes Korean food
-ㄴ Kimchi stew is legit lol
[Title: I'm a Math Grad Student and This Interview Gave Me an Existential Crisis]
—I've already gone deep into analytic number theory, so I might try researching a different field.
I work overtime all week and still can't understand my research area, so I can't even write a paper, and she's already exhausted the whole field and is switching to another one…
- Save the grad students
- ??? : Ah, number theory is so boring. Nothing left to do. Not enough content.
- I'm only an undergraduate, but hearing stories like this makes it even scarier
[Title: The Feelings of Specialists That Ordinary People Don't Know]
Non-major: “Wow, she's a genius.”
Math undergraduate: “Wow, that's insane.”
Math graduate student: “What the fuck, is that even possible?”
Math professor: “…”
- People who know how hard the problem Yoo A-yeon solved was: ㄱㅡ
-ㄴ When you see interview clips asking math professors about Yoo A-yeon, all their expressions are fucking complicated lol
-ㄴ An expression mixing awe and despair
- The gap in overwhelming talent…!
[Title: I'm So Damn Jealous of Seoul National University Math Students]
You get to learn math from an insanely cute, soft, squishy little professor…?
Why are all the professors at my school just potbellied, balding middle-aged men?
- Seriously, if our professor were that cute, I'd have 100% attendance and ask questions every day
- Class of '08, aiming for SNU math so I can meet Yoo A-yeon
-ㄴ If you're browsing the gallery at this hour, you've got no hope. Just wash your feet and go to sleep
-ㄴ Shut up, you fucking bastard
-ㄴ (A frog emote chasing after someone with a knife, absolutely furious)
[Title: “There's No Such Thing as Too Early or Too Late to Learn.” ← But Holy Shit, She's Ridiculously Early Lol]
Yoo A-yeon: Born in 2020, Year of the Rat
Next year's freshmen: Born in 2008, Year of the Rat
You're twelve years apart from the students you'll teach lol
- Fucking lol
- This is fucking ridiculous
[Title: I Was Honestly Shocked That A-yeon Said She Was Entrusting Her 1.5 Billion Won Prize Money to Her Dad]
She says she gets permission from her parents before spending money because spending it freely would give her bad habits.
When I was in elementary school, I rolled around on the floor screaming because I wanted my parents to buy me a Beyblade from the stationery store.
How well did this family raise her?
- What kind of life must you be living to manage the assets of your six-year-old daughter…
-ㄴ A winner in life
-ㄴ The enemy of fathers nationwide
- I'm so fucking jealous
[Title: What on Earth Is Her Little Sister?]
She's four years old and studying probability theory and game theory from her older sister.
She crushed her sister at chess.
Her mental arithmetic speed is fucking insane.
I'm so dumbfounded I can't even talk.
The government needs to hurry up and run a genetic test on this family.
- According to Yoo A-yeon: “A good match for von Neumann.”
-ㄴ Why is a four-year-old little kid being compared to von Neumann? lol
-ㄴ This is a battle between the strongest beings in the universe. It genuinely makes my heart swell.
- What would it feel like to have an older sister like that?
[Title: I Was Jealous of That Family's Atmosphere]
They don't force the kids to study
They don't let them spend money freely
They go out as a family often
They don't use their phones much in front of the kids
The sisters are two years apart, don't fight, and get along well
The atmosphere in that family is fucking great
- There must be a reason a genius came from that family
-ㄴ Talent is talent, but the environment seems fucking great too
-ㄴ There's a reason people say family comes first
- It's nice to see
- Huh, weird. Weren't parents normally supposed to get drunk, yell at each other, throw dishes, kick you out of the house, and then change the door-lock password…?
-ㄴ (A cute Mikku sweating nervously and looking around for clues emote)
-ㄴ Um… hang in there
[Title: The Part Where Yoo A-yeon Was Truly Admirable]
“Forcing a child to do something they don't want to do isn't education—it's abuse.”
This came amid a nationwide uproar over the education craze,
and it came directly from A-yeon herself.
A-yeon was much more mature than expected.
- It seemed like she knew how much influence she had when she said it
- For real, watching a six-year-old's interview made me feel respect
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After the 2025 broadcast of a special documentary on Yoo A-yeon, an early-education craze swept the country under the name Yoo A-yeon Syndrome.
Various school districts, including Daechi-dong, opened academies for preschool children.
Parents began spending exorbitant amounts of money to push their children into academies.
As this excessive education fever was emerging as a social issue,
Yoo A-yeon's final statement on the broadcast made parents across the country stop and think.
[Moms' Café]
[Title: I Did a Lot of Self-Reflection While Watching EBC Today]
There was something she said today that stayed with me the most.
—If you force them even when they say they don't want it, that's not education—it's abuse.
I realized that the things I had done for my child might actually have been my own selfish desires, and that I might have made my child unhappy.
My heart grew heavier and heavier.
- I got choked up at that part too ㅠㅠ
- It made me reconsider sending my child to one more academy for no real reason…
- In the end, I think the important thing is helping children find what they like
- I got a stern lecture from a little child…
[Title: We Want to Help Our Child Find What They Like Too]
I used to wonder whether I had to make my child study English, math, and chess to turn them into someone like A-yeon.
But after watching today's interview, I changed my mind.
A-yeon did math because she liked it.
- I felt called out too…
- My child likes dinosaurs, so I think I should encourage that more.
- I tried to force my child into things too, ended up fighting with them, and this really hit home…
- What stayed with me was that a child's interests should come before a parent's ambitions.
- EBC really made an excellent program. I have a lot to reflect on.