Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Calculation Ability Experiment (1)
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Lee A-ram.
Just what did she think of Kyung-jun?
For starters, she'd seen him standing alone in the middle of the hallway, muttering to himself before suddenly yelling out, "Aja! Jackpot!"
At first glance, the guy seemed a bit off in the head.
She couldn't help but think he was at least dangerous.
Of course, like those books she'd borrowed from the library, she wasn't pegging him as some full-blown psychopath or sociopath.
She'd already figured out that Kyung-jun wasn't dangerous on that level of personality disorder.
'...If helping the teacher was his goal from the start, he should've just said so.'
She'd jumped to conclusions based solely on overhearing the conversation.
In the end, the whole thing about him extorting the homeroom teacher in the staff room had just been a misunderstanding.
It was a misunderstanding, sure.
'But did he know I was eavesdropping on the stairs?!'
The fact that it felt deliberate was the problem.
Thinking back to that conversation...
It seemed like he'd chosen every word to be perfectly open to misinterpretation.
It felt like he'd orchestrated the whole scene with intent.
Of course, there was no hard proof.
'...No, there is proof. Solid proof.'
The advice he'd given her under the pretense of being nosy.
"You'd be way better off reading actual medical books written by psychiatrists. That guy's a self-proclaimed psychologist who didn't even finish his PhD."
'I looked up reviews online later at home... and yeah, that's exactly what people said.'
And that wasn't all.
Right after, Lee A-ram had read the book herself to confirm.
Sure enough, just like she'd skimmed before borrowing it, the book was entertaining like a novel, with a captivating story.
But the further you got, the less it was about professional psychological techniques from a supposed expert.
It devolved into just the author's personal opinions.
Han Kyung-jun's judgment that it wasn't as good as it seemed had been spot on.
Was that all?
'He even saw right through what I was thinking...'
Lee A-ram recalled that one line from him at the end, the one that had made her knees go weak.
"By the way, only two of those apply to me."
Kyung-jun had pierced right through even her own self-perception.
That single line summed up the entire situation back then.
Because of it, any simple notion that he was just some attention-seeker or lunatic had shattered.
'...Even thinking about it now gives me chills.'
Really, in that one moment...
Lee A-ram had felt utterly exposed in front of him.
Especially since she was the type who hid her true feelings even from friends and family.
She couldn't help but feel that way even more.
Even if she'd tried to brush it off as "the world's full of weirdos,"
"Hey, Han Kyung-jun. I'm just gonna stick with my original club."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah. My mom won't even check anyway. But just in case, ask me later what I did."
"That's annoying."
"Why?"
"Preemptive strike."
"Preemptive? Oh. I'll buy tteokbokki."
"Thanks for your service."
"Shit... Cup ramen cool trade call?"
"Pikachu."
"...?!"
"Pikachu pork cutlet, nothing less. Thanks."
"You bastard... You've clearly done some business in Windy Hell and Maple Syrup Story..."
Seeing her friends chatting so cheerfully and pointlessly with Han Kyung-jun like that.
Could she really just ignore it and stay put?
'...When and where the hell did Hong Ja-hee get so chummy with Han Kyung-jun? She was the one who suggested going to CA together first, and now how long is she gonna...'
In the end, Lee A-ram got tired of waiting and went over to her friend next to Han Kyung-jun.
"Hong Ja-hee, not going to CA?"
Today was Friday.
Morning classes only, with club activities in the afternoon.
"You said you switched to science club to go with me."
Hong Ja-hee had definitely said on Monday that she'd switch to science club to follow Lee A-ram.
And they'd planned to go together for Friday's club time.
'...What the hell wind blew through?'
There were still about a week until midterms.
But even without that, Hong Ja-hee clearly looked like someone who'd built a wall between herself and studying.
Yet here she was, suddenly switching to science club.
Lee A-ram wondered what had gone down between the two.
"Oh, I decided not to go to science club after all."
"...What?"
"Didn't I tell you?"
She'd suggested going together just this past Monday.
But come Friday, Hong Ja-hee flipped her words in an instant.
"No, like... Shit, I thought about it a bit, and with my mom's personality, she probably won't call the school to check."
"What?"
"I can just hear what you or Han Kyung-jun did and play it by ear if she asks."
"..."
Hong Ja-hee's explanation made zero sense.
Partly due to her unique internet slang, sure.
But mostly because it was something only the people involved would know.
And those involved were just Han Kyung-jun and Hong Ja-hee.
"...Oh, okay?"
Lee A-ram didn't pry into what had happened.
"What, Lee A-ram, are you mad about earlier?"
"...No, not mad, just."
"Hey, hey. Don't be mad. I'm the type who speaks first and thinks later. Sorry. Everyone shits sometimes."
"...That's exactly the problem."
Stuff like teaching her games later, or buying her Pikachu pork cutlet too.
Hong Ja-hee threw out excuses while slinging an arm around Lee A-ram in an overly buddy-buddy way.
In this situation, getting mad would be pointless.
So Lee A-ram could only shake off the clingy Hong Ja-hee, calling her annoying.
That's when.
"Oh? Then it's just you and Han Kyung-jun from our class in science club?"
Hong Ja-hee rediscovered a fact everyone had surprisingly overlooked.
And at that exact moment.
Ring ding dong~♪ Ring ding dong~♪
The pre-bell rang.
Five minutes until 5th period.
Shh shh shh.
The kids who'd been lingering and chatting in the classroom finally scattered to their club rooms.
"Ah, then I'm off to movie appreciation club. Really sorry I couldn't go to science club! But hey, you've got company now, so it's good."
Hong Ja-hee left Lee A-ram's side without a second thought, heading to her movie appreciation club friends.
"So-mi, Yu Eun-ha. Let's go. What are they showing today?"
"Something Indiana Jones, I heard..."
"Oh, that one where at the end he falls into the ant pit and they eat all the flesh off him~?"
"Ah, fuck, spoiler!! But I feel like I've seen it?"
"It's famous~"
Not just Hong Ja-hee—Lee A-ram's other friends were all in movie appreciation club too.
They were four friends, but Lee A-ram was the only one in science club.
"Hmm."
Kyung-jun looked at Lee A-ram with a sympathetic expression.
Then, as if he totally got it.
"Hang in there. Turns out you don't really need friends that much in life?"
"...Shut up. It's not like that."
Just.
For some reason, Lee A-ram suddenly felt like crying.
The science club session was held in the science lab.
As expected of science club, unlike other club classes.
Out of the roughly 600 first-years, there were fewer than 20 members total.
With 12 classes in first year.
Science club truly had at most one or two applicants per class.
And among them, the one class with a whopping two applicants was.
"..."
"..."
Class 10's Kyung-jun and Lee A-ram.
But just because they were from the same class.
Once they arrived at the science lab, they sat as far apart as possible.
Kyung-jun took the very back left seat.
Meanwhile, Lee A-ram took the absolute opposite: front right.
True to a science lab, unlike regular classrooms, it was set up with group tables from the start.
But Kyung-jun's group table was empty except for him.
Lee A-ram was using her vast group table all by herself too.
Meanwhile, the other kids were all clustered two or three to a group table.
The reason was simple.
The front seat where Lee A-ram was—no one wanted the very front.
Kyung-jun's back seat was prime real estate, but.
The rumors swirling around him kept people away.
"Heard? Dong-jin almost got shaken down in the bathroom this week."
"No way, for real?"
"He said he couldn't even go to the bathroom after..."
"Whoa, but why science club of all places... The delinquents never come here."
"Right?"
The bad rumors about Kyung-jun were even more exaggerated outside his own class 10.
And as if bothered by the rumors and whispers.
"Gasp?! H-he's glaring right now... N-not at us, right?"
"So shut up and whisper...!"
Kyung-jun was staring intently in their direction.
"Hmm."
Of course, contrary to what they thought.
Kyung-jun had zero interest in them.
The reason he was staring holes into empty space wasn't them.
"What should I pick to make rumors say I picked well."
It was all because of his own status window.
What I was looking at wasn't just the basic stats of Intelligence, Physique, and Charm.
It was the detailed sub-stats under Intelligence.
"Hmm."
I'd been poring over the newly unlocked status window for a while now.
And soon, I could only mutter bitterly to myself.
"...Getting this confirmation hurts."
I'd already suspected I wasn't that smart back in my first life.
But this was after taking the all-stats +1 potion, and it's still like this?
Before that, everything was 1 lower?
My memory and calculation ability were that bad?
Yeah, seems like it.
That's why I always took notes, recorded lectures, saved everything, replayed and reviewed it all...
Studying was always harder for me than for others.
"Yeah. Low memory, calculation ability, and creativity... That's why I flunked the gifted school entrance and suffered so much."
Generally, a person's smarts are determined by these three abilities.
Good memory shows in everyday life.
Calculation ability? Smart kids do mental math on the spot.
And those who aren't great at studying but come up with brilliantly original ideas that leave you stunned—they're the same.
People call kids like that "creative."
But all three of mine were lacking.
I admit it.
Sure, I got into KAIST, got my PhD in grad school.
Somehow scraped by to snag a professor spot at KAIST.
But no one ever called me smart.
Teachers praised my studying and hard work plenty.
In high school, one even spread rumors to other classes that I studied well but had low IQ.
This is why regular high schools suck.
"At least creativity's decent... but still meh."
Including creativity, my memory and calculation ability were pathetically low for someone who'd made studying their career.
Instead, I had tenacity and concentration.
Those two were exceptionally high compared to the rest.
I'd vaguely realized that too.
Truth is, I'd gotten this far purely on effort and immersion, not brains.
If others studied 10 hours, I did 15.
While they sat pretending to study, goofing off on YouTube or auto-playing phone games.
I poured every ounce of focus into studying alone.
That piled up, getting me into KAIST, through master's and PhD.
And barely to a professor position.
Even so.
"That was my limit."
I couldn't beat the kids who were smart, hardworking, and enjoyed it.
I overwhelmed pure brainiacs with focus and time invested.
I scraped by on tenacity alone.
But KAIST admits rarely got in on brains alone.
They were overwhelmingly smart, or well-rounded.
In high school, I went all-in on grades, got a principal's recommendation.
That let me compete only against other regular high school kids in the principal rec track, avoiding gifted/science high schoolers.
If admissions hadn't favored holistic reviews back then.
I definitely would've failed.
"But not anymore."
No more brute-forcing it.
No brains, no savvy.
No money or connections for flashy specs.
Just time and effort in my first life—that's different now.
Back when effort and time had limits for improvement.
That's not the case anymore.
Now, not just my body.
Appearance too, decently.
And brains as well.
[『Intelligence Boost Potion』 x4 used in full.]
All investable.
[Investing in Calculation Ability.]
As long as I farmed points with effort, I could improve endlessly.
"Phew."
I closed my eyes, then opened them.
No visible changes on the outside.
The only thing different, visible only to me.
Just the number in the status window changed.
"..."
But the look in my eyes was distinctly different now.
Slide.
I pull out a notebook from my bag.
Flip.
Open to a random page.
Scribble scribble.
Jot down some random numbers.
Horizontal random numbers.
Vertical too.
Like filling numbers between gomoku grid lines.
0 5 7 8 9 2 5
8 4 9 5 9 4 8
0 8 9 7 5 3 7
1 4 2 4 7 4 9
9 5 4 0 7 4 1
7 6 5 4 3 9 7
4 3 5 9 8 6 5
A 7x7 matrix of random numbers constructed.
"Compute the eigenvalues and eigenvectors."