Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: My Appearance in the Future 10 Years Later (2)
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If I go to KAIST.
And while pursuing my doctorate there, I can serve as a "Professional Research Personnel" for alternative military service.
Then, getting my PhD would neatly solve my military issue too.
What about other schools? Can't you just take the Professional Research Personnel exam there?
It's a bit different.
Other schools require you to take an actual "exam" to transfer into the program.
That exam comes after getting your master's, enrolling in a PhD program, and going through the hassle of graduate grades and TEPS scores.
But KAIST is different.
As even Lee A-ram knows, KAIST isn't some ordinary university—it's a "Science and Technology Institute."
KAIST secures its own slots (TO) at the institutional level, without any exam run by the Ministry of National Defense.
Then they score and distribute those slots to admitted grad students.
So no need to waste time on pointless Defense Ministry exams.
You can snag a slot purely based on your expertise in the field.
That's why people say undergrad is Seoul National University over KAIST,
but for grad school, it's KAIST over Seoul National University.
In fact, rumors of people failing KAIST grad school and going to Seoul National University's instead were straight-up facts.
So what about me?
Can I get into grad school?
"No need to even ask."
I've personally experienced all this stuff anyway.
Hell, forget grad school.
In this second round, from the moment I enroll in undergrad, I'll get pre-admitted without an interview via the "KPF" special exemption given only to the top 1% on paper.
Unlike my first round self, who lucked into it through the admissions officer system.
This second-round me is confident I won't lose to those so-called gifted kids from science high schools.
Seoul Science High School worries me more, actually.
Truth is, those kids have better brains and study harder than KAIST or Seoul National University students.
They're just high schoolers from Seoul Science High.
But I've got the status window as my cheat, so I can hang with those genius prodigies just fine...
"...Hold on."
As I filled out the home ec printout "My Appearance in the Future 10 Years Later," a massive sense of dissonance hit me.
And soon, I realized exactly what it was.
"This isn't a dream."
It's just goals.
How is writing down things I can obviously do a "dream"?
Was getting into Seoul Science High my dream?
Was getting into KAIST—where I'd already been accepted once—really what I wanted?
No.
Not at all.
This can't be my dream. No way.
"School, money—they're all just means to an end."
Quantum computers.
Humanity's third scientific revolution, one that will completely upend the world.
Advances in classical mechanics and thermodynamics took the world from agriculture to the industrial age.
Advances in electromagnetism and information theory took it from the oily heavy industry era to the sleek information age.
And now, the world's top physicists are gearing up for another leap with quantum mechanics.
The Quantum Era.
I haven't truly experienced that era yet.
I tumbled down right at its dawn in 2031.
I barely got a taste.
Then got crushed by the era's pressure and booted from causality itself.
And now I'm back in 2008.
So now I'm just gonna prepare?
Keep studying.
Go to a good high school, good university, write good papers.
Get recognized by everyone, play it safe this time so I don't crash and burn.
And just do good deeds for the country, nation, and world that mercilessly discarded me?
Don't make me laugh.
"I'm building a quantum computer. Starting right now."
Riiip!
Erase it all.
Scribble!
Write it again.
In a way no one else can touch.
So no one but me can achieve it first.
Based on overwhelming cheats.
A path to a dream that's solely mine, for me alone.
Over that dreamlike "My Appearance in the Future 10 Years Later,"
Scribble scribble!
I start layering on reality.
"...It's done."
I looked down at the completed paper.
From 2008 until just before 2019—exactly 10 years.
┌────────────┐
①『Now ~ Seoul Science High Enrollment』
┗ Review and reestablish all theories I remember.
┗ Secure funds for minimal experiment implementation.
┗ Recruit my one trustworthy mentor, Professor Furusa.
(※Preparation Phase)
②『Seoul Science High ~ KAIST Enrollment』
┗ Build personal lab at school.
┗ Secure and train initial reliable talent.
┗ Study for sustained future growth.
(※Implement 'Limited Quantum Computer' by at least 2014)
③『KAIST ~ 2019』
┗ Student startup for quantum computer, initial founding members, incorporate.
┗ Harvest funds in the coin era.
┗ Continuous talent recruitment and training, research and develop 'Universal Quantum Computer'.
(※Achieve 'Quantum Supremacy' by at least 2019)
└────────────┘
The previous entries for Seoul Science High and KAIST admissions.
Now they were just markers of time (『』)—obvious stepping stones, no longer mere goals.
Under those obvious timelines were the tasks (┗) to do during them.
And beneath that, short-term objectives (※).
Prepare in middle school.
Run the first real experiments in high school.
┌────────────┐
②『Seoul Science High ~ KAIST Enrollment』
┗ ....
(※Implement 'Limited Quantum Computer' by at least 2014)
└────────────┘
By graduation, complete the "Limited Quantum Computer."
"Even if it's late, at least by freshman year... no, maybe even graduation's too soon."
Limited quantum computers called Quantum Annealing or Quantum Simulation.
Around 2014, when I enter KAIST, companies will already commercialize and sell them.
"...『Q-Wave』."
That startup succeeds in building one.
Of course, back then people trashed it, saying it wasn't a real quantum computer, just for specific calculations, not general-purpose.
But in the end, they sell them to Google, the U.S. nuclear weapons lab, the Defense Department, etc.,
for tens of billions of won per unit.
"I'll achieve that first."
Right before high school graduation, no less.
Is that even possible?
I'll still just be a high schooler then.
What makes me think a mere student like me can outpace them,
with big corps throwing investment and top researchers their way?
Impossible.
Pure pipe dream.
That's exactly why I have to do it.
Even if they catch up later.
I need to start on equal footing.
So at least match them.
By 2014, when I graduate Seoul Science High, build a limited quantum computer.
With my power alone.
"Not an easy path. Not by a long shot."
Excruciatingly hard.
Even with regression, plenty of reasons make it seem impossible.
That's why it's a goal. A dream.
"But worth trying."
Not impossible.
Even if success odds are 0.001%.
Not 0%.
I've got the status window.
And first-round future knowledge.
What my first-round self saw, read, studied, wrote, built.
All those achievements.
Now swept away by waves defying causality, erased without a trace.
But some linger in my head.
Some vivid as ever.
Others faded, but the feel remains.
"Details... I'll have to recreate them hands-on."
Most minutiae blurred away.
Just vague traces like "Yeah, I did that."
"...Kinda scary."
Every day, future knowledge I know slips away one by one.
Endlessly, day by day.
My sole cheat starts failing bit by bit.
Time's terrifying.
Steals memories in the blink of an eye, without you even noticing you've forgotten.
"...That's why I gotta start building it now."
Prep from middle school.
Hit experiments hard in high school.
But just in case, let me ask.
"Status window."
I called the status window.
(No one around can hear, FYI.)
Class was noisy with kids chatting and joking about their 10-years-later selves.
If anyone heard, they'd just think some loner muttering to himself.
"Can't you give something like that as a reward? Not Inssa gear like North Face Himalaya—"
The status window's existence defies any physics I know.
My existence, regressing in direct defiance of Einstein's relativity.
Plus access only I have to first-round records.
If these three are my clear "reality,"
"—An item to retrieve my first-round research data."
Then this should be possible too.
[Such an item does not currently exist in the 2nd Life Special Shop.]
"Ah..."
...Knew it.
Wait. Hold up.
"Currently"?
"So it means there will be one later?"
"Okay, everyone quiet down~!"
The home ec teacher quiets the rowdy Class 10.
"Did you all think hard about your future selves 10 years from now? Looks like it from all the excited debates. Okay, stop discussing. Who wants to present first?"
Throw out a topic, let them chatter, then have them present.
Just like those old morals debate classes.
Scribble.
Scribble scribble.
Kids preferring this over straight studying, hands shoot up everywhere.
"Alright, Eun-ha, you first?"
"Yes~"
First up: Yu Eun-ha.
One of Han So-mi's group, but chats naturally not just with friends,
but other groups' girls too—total Inssa.
With her bubbly Inssa voice,
"In 10 years, I wanna be an idol~"
She drops a bombshell.
Not nuclear, but enough.
Kids murmur at Yu Eun-ha's aggro statement.
"Ooh~ But to be an idol, shouldn't you start now, not in 10 years?"
"Pfft."
"Eun-ha sings well, though. And she's super flexible."
"Yeah. She got first in seated forward bends last PE class. Her toes weren't just touching—went past her wrists."
Mostly neutral or positive reactions.
Tells you exactly how Lee A-ram? No, how Yu Eun-ha is seen and positioned in class.
But if there's praise, there's hate.
"Hmph, idol? Still clueless about reality."
"Yeah. We're middle schoolers now, not elementary."
Some mock Yu Eun-ha, naturally.
"For real idol material, it's more like... right?"
"What're you saying? Don't tease."
"Not teasing, for real~"
Just loud enough for presenting Yu Eun-ha to maybe hear.
"But yeah? Not jealous or anything, but Eun-ha's super cute."
"Yeah."
"Kinda lacking for idol, though?"
"Right, right. Can't everyone just be cute and become idols?"
Words muffled, but giggly vibe clear from context.
Of course, with my Physique stat at 14 boosting hearing, I catch every word.
Typical middle school girl backtalk.
Boys suffer violence from bully culture and noir politics in school.
Girls endure medieval fantasy court intrigue.
Co-ed mixes genders and tempers, making it messier.
"Haha."
I just smile bitterly.
Living carefree, no real worries.
Makes Assa life look good.
No room to butt in there.
Loner might struggle, but North Face Himalaya +3 Durability boost? Surprisingly tanky.
"Damn, can't focus."
If even that useless chatter bugs me, I'm definitely fried.
Morning spent on research plans, experiment plans, first-round backlog studies,
then 5th period home ec inspires 10-year future blueprint.
Maybe time for a break?
"Next time, pump Persistence over Computation."
Slump.
Decide that, lay head down for a nap.
But suddenly.
"...Tch."
Tongue click.
One I've grown very familiar with lately.
A venomous voice that chills around the neck like a noose.
"...Annoying."
Our pro discomfort maker, Lee A-ram.