Even If You Come, I'm Not Going (4)
Multiple engineering labs, including Lee Se-jong's research lab, buzzed with frantic activity.
"Hurry! Hurry! Standby is just around the corner!"
"Current position of the professor?"
"About 23 meters from the student cafeteria!"
"Okay. Likely candidate spots?"
"C3 to row 7, E10 to row 13, H4 to row 10—these three sections have the highest probability."
These were the target candidate zones narrowed down based on coordinates reported by the fan operative on site at the cafeteria.
They had comprehensively considered empty seats, the rate at which seated students were clearing their trays, the number of students in line, today's menu, and more, then run supercomputer calculations at lightning speed to select them.
A first-year master's student fan operative, unable to shake a lingering uneasy expression, asked,
"But is it okay to use the supercomputer for this without permission?"
"Who cares if they find out."
"It's under the Commander's jurisdiction, so it's fine. Use it all you want. What's the observatory doing?"
"Setting up equipment, focusing just started."
"Make sure they've aimed properly at the windows. Tell them to account for the possibility of deviation from prime coordinates and secure plenty of left-right rotation angle."
"Okay. Computing team?"
"Voice analysis module upload complete. Check complete. No issues."
"Good. Art majors, music majors, pharmacy majors?"
"Deploying now."
Another first-year master's fan operative asked,
"Do we really need the humanities kids for this op?"
"To reduce the chance of the professor sitting in the wrong spot. They'll create bad sectors inside the cafeteria. That boosts the odds he'll sit in our target coordinates."
Under second-year PhD student Kim Yoon-hee's guidance, the joint operation with labs from other departments was meshing together with exquisite precision.
The monitors showed graduate students from the physics astronomy department grunting as they set up massive telescope-like equipment.
"But there are fan operatives in the observatory too?"
"How much does Professor Yoon Seung-ju from physics astronomy adore the professor? Back in the day, he was desperate to get him to transfer to his department—total maniac."
"Ah......"
"He agreed right away anyway, since they needed to test the equipment. Said the noisy environment would make for a great test bed."
Finally, the equipment—looking just like a space telescope—took position outdoors and zeroed in precisely on the student cafeteria building.
It felt awkward seeing a lens meant to point at the sky aimed downward below horizontal.
"With the angle like that, it looks less like a telescope and more like a laser cannon."
"Not wrong. This model's got a laser-based electromagnetic wave measurement module."
"Huh? Why would a telescope need that?"
"It's tech that uses laser irradiation and reflection to detect electromagnetic waves scattered in the cloud layer more accurately and densely. Depending on ground use, it makes for an excellent......"
"Excellent?"
"......remote loudspeaker."
The Lee Se-jong lab fan operatives all simultaneously thought, Isn't that basically a bugging device? But as if by prior agreement, no one voiced it.
> Target seated in E11 sector!
"Okay. Astronomy team?"
> Aiming complete, data collection ready, laser irradiation starting.
"Good, computing team?"
> Situation good. Receiving data.
The laser from the telescope hit the student cafeteria's glass windows, reflected back.
Impact area: 25 square meters every 0.1 seconds.
The scanned laser measured all noise values inside the cafeteria captured in real-time by the window vibrations, then returned to the telescope.
The telescope's lens and measurement mirror collected the returning laser, and the built-in computer converted those wave values into countless 0s and 1s, transmitting them to the linked supercomputer.
> Audio data conversion success. Noise extraction starting. Ah......
"Problem?"
> Noise too heavy—doubt we can extract just the two targets' voices accurately.
"They said comms would handle it with ANC machine learning. Computing, just pass the audio data."
> Got it.
Now it was the comms team's turn.
The comms team activated the AI they'd steadily machine-trained on Jeong Seo-hoon's voice data.
"Electrical info engi—er, comms team. You got this?"
> Professor's voice ML is solid. Issue's the Jim director. Been training on his voice data steadily since the vlog dropped, just in case—but time and budget were too tight...
"Make it happen. Prove you're the secret lab with success."
> We'll prove it.
The AI dove into the chaos of countless mingled 0s and 1s, hunting Jeong Seo-hoon and Jim Warsni's phonemes with hyper-speed computation.
The supercomputer, negotiated into place by Lee Se-jong with the government, prioritized the AI's processing, and after invisible electronic delays...
> Voice extraction success. Repeat: Voice extraction success!
"We did it!"
"Wooo! Success!"
"Fuck yeah! Pulled just those two voices crystal clear from laser bounce off a noisy cafeteria window!"
"See that? We're the elite of Korea University engineering grad fans!"
The fan operatives hugged in joy, but second-year PhD Kim Yoon-hee stayed cool.
"Not yet. Too early to celebrate."
"Huh?"
"This is the fork where casual sasaeng fans diverge from the truly devoted. Comms, convert extracted phonemes to text, then delete irrecoverably."
> Why? Ah, got it. Okay, deleting.
Only then did the fan operatives grasp Kim Yoon-hee's intent, looking at her with awe.
The operation commander was securing maximum moral high ground, just in case.
The monitor finally displayed the precious info converted to text.
[Beta] Are you perhaps asking if I want image transformation?
[Alpha] No, I haven't seen the script but
[Alpha] the role you're proposing
[Alpha] is plenty from your description alone
"Now the finishing touch."
Kim Yoon-hee's eyes sharpened intensely.
"Post it compiled to the fan cafe."
This precious source material, forged by devoted fans scattered across labs in humanities and sciences uniting their powers.
Wasn't this united collaboration the true path to academic integration?
Some fan operatives teared up with emotion.
"Do the casual internet fans know how much complex, unseen division of labor went into collecting this source?"
"That's the world. Everything we enjoy so easily is born from intricate clockwork labor in the shadows."
"Unnie, you're too cool......"
They all drowned in wordless感動.
In the corner, fossil-year married PhD (real) Hwang Gi-tae sat slouched, scratching his head furiously.
"Kids. I've got computations piling up—I need the computing resources back soon. When you returning them......"
His plaintive voice reached no one.
His phone buzzed.
Hwang Gi-tae sighed deeply and texted his wife back.
He pocketed the phone in his lab coat and stood weakly, legs feeling like jelly.
"Not a drama, but what's with this reality......"
Couldn't make any guarantees lightly.
Still, it was a question thrown out very cautiously and delicately.
Jeong Seo-hoon quietly pondered the reason tucked into that gap.
"If you're going that far to accommodate me, I have no reason left to refuse. No, I should be grateful."
"Haha, finally hearing a positive answer for the first time."
"But your overly cautious attitude bothers me. High chance of falling through?"
"Yes."
Jim Warsni shrugged like, what can you do?
"I know Korean directors have absolute authority. But Hollywood's different. Producers hold absolute power. Everything runs like a conveyor belt in a total system."
Jeong Seo-hoon knew that now too.
"Extremely speaking, directors are just parts that shoot as ordered. More important than others, sure, but replaceable."
Like how even an irreplaceable car engine could ultimately be swapped.
"Even with your reputation, Director Jim, you can't overcome the system's limits. So now you need to convince the producers."
"Right. That's why I needed your firm yes, Mr. Jeong. With this level of commitment, I can say they gave the okay— that's pre-negotiation ammo to sway producers."
Jim Warsni laughed heartily, regaining some ease.
"Silver lining: only need to convince two out of four producers. One already gave me a blank check before coming here. Said any terms okay if I can cast Mr. Jeong."
"Isn't that three to convince?"
"No need for the other one."
"......?"
Jim Warsni slowly raised a finger to point at his own chest.
"I'm one of the producers too. Producer-director."
"So now it's a 2:2 battle."
"Not easy, but I must win. Only way to make the film I want."
"Won't be disappointed if it falls through."
"It'll happen for sure. I'll make it so."
Jim Warsni thumped his chest confidently.
"Even if it flops later, right now claim it's all perfectly solved—that's Hollywood style. Better start prepping Oscar acceptance jokes now, haha."
After seeing Director Jim off, Jeong Seo-hoon returned to the lab.
But the lab vibe was oddly off from usual.
Everyone seemed buried in their work, but he could clearly see they'd lost focus, lost in their own thoughts.
They barely met his eyes.
First-year master's fan operatives, who normally rushed out like puppies greeting their returning owner, just huddled awkwardly from afar.
What's going on? Professor couldn't have torn the lab apart.
Lee Se-jong's nicknames included Buddha—he was utterly serene.
No student had ever seen him angry, yelling, or barking orders.
Even third-year master's lagging on quals got guidance, directions, and repeat practice—no berating like why can't you do better?
Though some feared that gentle composure more.
"Gi-tae hyung, something happen? Lab mood's weird all of a sudden."
"What? Nothing."
But he caught Hwang Gi-tae slyly glancing at Kim Yoon-hee.
Why was Hwang Gi-tae, senior by years, eyeing a much junior Kim Yoon-hee?
And not just that.
The moment he spoke, he caught all the fan operatives staring fixedly at Hwang Gi-tae.
Not him—Hwang Gi-tae.
What the hell?
"Oh, anyway, Seo-hoon."
"Yeah, hyung."
"What'd you talk about with Director Jim? Casting, right? What'd you say?"
"Hyung, why you asking so stiff like Su-ryeon reading lines at an audition?"
"M-me? Stiff? No. No. I'm asking super casually."