Chapter 95
[Seoul National University Everytime]
[🔥HOT Board]
[Title: The Seven-Year-Old Professor Really Showed Up…?]
I thought, No way, after only seeing the news,
but when I saw a huge crowd in front of the student cafeteria, I went to check it out—and it was real.
She was eating a packed lunch with her mom.
- I just saw her too lol
- I thought the news was edited, but she's real
- She's even more baby-like than I expected—adorably cute lol
[Title: Today's Legendary Incident at the Student Cafeteria lol]
A seven-year-old Professor Yoo A-yeon showed up lol
She brought a packed lunch and ate it with her mom
Everyone kept sneaking glances while eating
- I saw her too lol
- At this point, she's basically a celebrity
- Seoul National University's pride—the other universities can't even compete
[Title: I Think I Know Why the Professor Brought a Packed Lunch]
Looking at the student cafeteria menu,
pork bulgogi, kimchi stew, budae stew… again today.
It must be a little spicy for a seven-year-old lol
- Spicy food is a no-go for kids ㅠㅠ
- Growing kids should bring packed lunches
- Plus, she's so small that she probably has trouble getting served
- A seven-year-old coming to the student cafeteria holding her mom's hand and eating a packed lunch << Why does this not sound made up…?
[Free Board]
[Title: I Got to Watch Yoo A-yeon Head to Work at Building 27 Today]
She got surrounded by students from her own department,
and I even got to watch her leave after her mom picked her up by the side.
It was insanely fascinating…
- Ridiculously cute lol
- Jealous
- Proof?
-ㄴ It'd be rude to take a picture…
- ㅋㅋㅋ Natural Sciences finally gets a win!
[Title: Professor Yoo A-yeon's Feet Didn't Touch the Ground at the Cafeteria—So Cute lol]
She was sitting in a chair,
and her feet were dangling lol
- I saw that too lol
- Did you know? When A-yeon eats a tasty side dish, her feet flutter even faster?
[Title: Did Anyone Talk to the Professor at the Cafeteria?]
I thought about talking to her,
but I just passed by because I worried I might interrupt her meal.
- I made eye contact too, but just passed by
- Nice that everyone seemed considerate
[Title: Hey, the Professor for Calculus I Was Changed to Yoo A-yeon?]
I just refreshed the timetable,
and the spot that was ??? until a few days ago
had changed to Professor Yoo A-yeon ㄷㄷ
- Wow, she's teaching a first-year course. I'm jealous of this year's freshmen
- Why am I not a Natural Sciences student?
[Title: Yoo A-yeon's Calculus I First-Day Review]
1. The pace is insanely fast
2. The explanations are really good
3. Everyone has to applaud at the end of the lecture
4. She memorizes every student's name
5. And she consistently calls us oppa and unni
6. She gives us one voluntary assignment
- Why do we have to applaud lol
-ㄴ The baby professor likes applause
-ㄴ We all went clap-clap-clap at the end lol
- Cute lol
- How fast is the pace?
-ㄴ I asked a senior who took it last year, and they said she covered almost twice as much as on the first day last year
-ㄴ ㄷㄷㄷ
[Title: Yoo A-yeon's Memory Is Insane…]
After the first class, I went to ask a question from the back, and she immediately called me by name, like, “Oh, OOO oppa!”
She said she'd memorized every name after looking at the attendance sheet once.
I thought she was just saying that, but it was true…
- Wait, A-yeon calls you oppa???
- Is that for real?
- Ugh, I'm so jealous I could die
- I want to be called oppa too…
- I'm a humanities student, but I'm going to grab Yoo A-yeon's class next semester even if I have to brace myself for a GPA massacre…
[Title: Never Ditch Yoo A-yeon's Lecture or Get Someone Else to Take Attendance]
The professor said she'd crack down strictly.
“I memorized all your faces, so if you try any tricks, I'll bombard you with F's.”
- ㄷㄷㄷ
- Mm-hmm, if some shameless jerk ditches class while the cute little professor is working so hard to teach, they deserve an F
[Title: I Freaked Out When I Heard There Was an Assignment on the First Day of Yoo A-yeon's Calculus Class]
Thankfully, she said we didn't have to submit it, so I didn't even look at it.
Phew, I almost gave myself a headache, but thank goodness.
- The professor probably didn't assign it for no reason.
-ㄴ Dunno, my head hurts.
- What are you going to do if it shows up on the exam later?
-ㄴ I'll think about it when the time comes.
- Hmm, I can see the future of exam day lol
✒️✒️✒️
Usually, research labs in the College of Natural Sciences are so busy they barely have time to breathe.
Daily life is experiments, and experiments are war.
In an applied mathematics lab, hands stay busy all day typing away at code to build models, or hammering out calculations and running models on humming server computers.
Experimental physics labs are packed with insanely expensive equipment like vacuum chambers, lasers, oscilloscopes, and chillers. The measuring equipment has significant error, too, so tuning it to within about 0.1 mm before an experiment is a pain. Sometimes, when equipment goes dead, they say a grad student emails the German manufacturer.
In biology labs, they culture cells, run PCR, and peer into microscopes all day. Someone even has to come in on holidays to feed the cells. Otherwise, the precious cells they've raised will starve to death.
Chemistry labs spend all day measuring reagents, heating them, purifying them, and waiting endlessly for chemical reactions to finish. Then, if a reagent leaks or something explodes, the emergency bell rings and everyone in the building has to evacuate.
In fields where experiments are this important, experimental results are everything.
It's perfectly ordinary for graduate-student unnis and oppas to gulp down caffeinated drinks and stay up all night waiting for experimental results.
✒️✒️✒️
By contrast.
The daily life of a pure mathematics lab was very peaceful and quiet.
“……”
“……”
Mom and I had already been staring intently at papers for over an hour without saying a word.
Whirr-whirr-. Scritch-scritch-.
Other than the sound of the mouse wheel turning and pens moving,
the lab was quiet as the grave.
At this point, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the Yoo A-yeon Library.
But.
There was one thing you shouldn't misunderstand here.
Even if our hands and feet didn't look busy, this absolutely wasn't taking the easy way out!
Other departments' labs might be battlefields,
but in theoretical physics and pure mathematics, the battlefield is inside your head.
We might look like we're sitting quietly on the outside, but inside our heads, equations were crashing into one another like mad, shattering, and being assembled again.
We're theoretical disciplines, after all.
Read papers and think.
Read papers and think.
Read papers and think.
Organizing those thoughts and writing our own papers is the job.
And because of this unusual structure,
unlike fields where experimental results come out right away and count as achievements,
a result isn't recognized as an achievement until other mathematicians agree that the proof is valid.
That's why it took a whole six months for my solution to the Riemann Hypothesis to be officially recognized!
Because mathematicians around the world picked apart my paper line by line, verifying it with their eyes blazing as they asked, “Is there any leap in logic here?”
Anyway.
What I'm trying to say is,
the atmosphere in a pure mathematics lab is completely different from that of the STEM labs people usually imagine.
If I had to compare it, it might be similar to the atmosphere in literature, history, or philosophy labs.
They also spend all day reading papers, searching through historical sources, thinking, and writing.
Throb-throb-.
“Ughhh, my head huuurts.”
I pressed firmly on my temples.
Mom seemed to be just as worn out from reading papers.
“Professor Yoo A-yeon, let's stretch for a bit.”
“Okaaay-.”
I sprang up from my child-sized chair and stretched with a groan.
Mom stood up too and loosened up with a couple of “heave-ho” motions.
Crack-.
“Ow-ow… My body isn't what it used to be…”
Mom said in a self-deprecating voice.
Apparently, she had compared herself to when she was doing her master's before and realized how much time had passed.
And no wonder: Mom had devoted seven years to raising children before returning to academia for her PhD.
Keeping up with the same graduate-school schedule she had handled with the stamina of a twenty-year-old was bound to be a little hard now that she was in her thirties.
Even so, I comforted Mom.
“Eek, you're still fresh and young, Mom! You can even lift me up like it's nothing, and you're super strong!”
Of course, saying someone was young wasn't exactly something a seven-year-old should be saying to her mom, but my words seemed to comfort her a little.
“Hehe, thank you for saying that, Professor.”
Pat-pat-.
Mom gently patted my head with a kind expression.
Ding-ding-.
All of a sudden, an alarm rang from the smartphone with the rabbit case.
When I checked the time, it was already four.
I'd clearly announced that office hours would run from three to four, but in reality, Eun-chae unni had been the only person who came to ask questions.
“Oh my gosh!”
There had been so many unnis and oppas who'd listened blankly during the lecture with expressions that said they didn't understand.
Why on earth had only one person come?!
Muuuu-.
I puffed out my cheeks.
Of course, I wasn't upset that the unnis and oppas hadn't come to my lab.
I was just a little upset that, despite all having plenty they didn't understand, they weren't actively coming to ask questions.
There was a Professor Yoo A-yeon who would answer so kindly that everything would click after just a few flights of stairs, so why weren't they taking the chance?
I'd even prepared my favorite snacks, Kancho and Pepero!
Seeing my reaction, Mom spoke calmly.
“Professor, it can't be helped. It's still the first day, after all. They must all be shy. Other than Eun-chae, who already knows us, coming to the lab would feel intimidating. And they might feel sorry about interrupting our research, too.”
“Eek, that makes sense too.”
Thinking it over, Mom was probably right.
The freshman unnis and oppas were experiencing university for the first time.
A curriculum completely different from twelve years of elementary, middle, and high school.
It must be exciting, but nerve-racking too.
Expecting those freshmen to think, “Nihihi, if there's anything I don't know, they'll come actively seek me out and ask questions, right?” was setting the bar far too high.
“Yes. And you told them to think about it for a long time, didn't you, Professor? They're probably all racking their brains and thinking about it on their own.”
“I guess so?”
Come to think of it, I was the one who had emphasized the importance of reviewing.
Being proactive enough to ask questions when stuck was important, but studying independently was important too.
I suppose I'll just have to trust the autonomy of the unnis and oppas taking my class…
“Then I guess it can't be helped… I can't throw away the Kancho, so I have to eat it myself…! Hehe!”
I picked up the Kancho I'd arranged on a plate earlier when Eun-chae unni came.
Then I popped it into my mouth.
Crunch-crunch-.
The sweet chocolate cream inside the crisp cookie cracked open and spread through my mouth.
“Hwaaah… yummy.”
“Professor Yoo A-yeon, if you eat snacks now, you'll be full and won't be able to eat much dinner later.”
“Mmmph-uh-ah-ah-oh. (I can't throw them away.)”
Like a hamster storing nuts in its cheeks, I'd already stuffed a handful of Kancho into my cheeks.
“Honestly… I suppose it can't be helped. Then I'll eat some too, to keep Professor from overeating?”
“Mm-hmm! M-uh-oh-oh! (Mom, you eat some too!)”
Pop-.
Mom also put a Kancho into her mouth with her finger.
Crunch-crunch-.
“Mmm, delicious.”
After enjoying a little snack break,
Mom and I packed up and left work.
We are a professor and graduate student who clock out sharp at four!