Reality and Drama's Grad School (4)
The KSTAR operations team leader couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed.
They achieved nuclear fusion by overcoming the Coulomb barrier using only that much energy? That's impossible. It can't happen.
KSTAR was a device that heated particles to over 100 million degrees to overcome electrostatic repulsion and bring atomic nuclei close enough for nuclear fusion.
But now, fusion had occurred at temperatures far below 100 million degrees.
It would be easier to drive a regular sedan into the sky.
From the start, this was a function that didn't exist in KSTAR. It was functionally impossible.
"The KSTAR measurement system isn't malfunctioning, is it?"
"No way. We measure the generated energy with multiple, rigorous checks. The system could fail, but we'd detect any anomaly immediately. Everything's normal."
The operations team leader's voice grew weaker with each quick reply.
His answers pointed to one undeniable truth.
"Professor, was this a room-temperature nuclear fusion experiment from the beginning?"
"Who knows? I have no idea. This experiment was entirely my student's."
"No way..."
"Jeong, care to explain?"
Jeong Seo-hoon turned calmly to the two men and spoke.
"The main goal was to intentionally introduce complex changes to the heating method and check the possibility of spin interference..."
"But?"
"In that process, we also considered the possibility that the electromagnetic forces blocking nuclear binding could be canceled out."
"You mean you even thought fusion could happen at temperatures far below 100 million degrees?"
"Yes."
The team leader and other team members stared in stunned silence, speechless.
Jeong Seo-hoon unplugged the laptop cable, and someone muttered emptily.
"This makes no sense... Might as well say they drilled a hole inside a mechanical pencil lead with a pickaxe..."
Jeong Seo-hoon understood their reaction.
It was a spot-on analogy.
KSTAR wasn't equipped for that purpose from the start.
Everything was thanks to the Lens's power, an ultra-microscopic interference tool that no one but Jeong Seo-hoon knew about.
The ultra-microscopic world changes particle and energy states just by being observed.
The Lens's power made the entire lab, including KSTAR, perceive itself as a giant camera.
"Seeing" the tiniest particles already involved photons colliding and altering their state.
In other words, observation in the ultra-microscopic world inherently affected the particles.
Jeong Seo-hoon's act of "viewing" those particles through the "giant camera" functioned as a tool to change their state.
If you can precisely calculate the results an observation will produce, you can inversely draw out the desired reaction.
The laptop's control program was merely a minor intermediary.
The real key was Jeong Seo-hoon's gaze, synchronized with the ultra-microscopic world.
Like a flower blooming the moment it's named, the particles moved exactly as he intended the instant he observed them.
Room-temperature nuclear fusion impossible to replicate without the Lens's power.
In Rashid's world, technology existed to interfere with particles without the Lens's power.
But it was a classified secret whose location was unknown, so he couldn't reach it.
This was room-temperature nuclear fusion that could never be commercialized.
A bridge that never existed from the start, a horizon impossible to cross.
The only way to reach it was through the Lens's power that Jeong Seo-hoon had obtained.
This is more than enough for me.
His goal wasn't commercializing room-temperature nuclear fusion.
It was capturing the existence of the sun—room-temperature nuclear fusion—in a photograph and clearly showing it to humanity.
Thus gaining the authority to approach the comet.
There was no need to reveal or provide the camera that had captured the sun.
"Jeong, got all the data you wanted?"
"Yes, Professor."
"How about repeating it once more the day after tomorrow? Ideally, with more people watching."
"Understood."
For academic authority, the more witnesses, the better.
Jeong Seo-hoon nodded readily.
As they prepared to leave, the operations team leader hesitated and approached.
"Um... could I get an autograph?"
The other team members followed without hesitation, requesting autographs from Jeong Seo-hoon.
They wanted to commemorate the moment great history was made.
Jeong Seo-hoon signed willingly, then headed to the lodging with Lee Se-jong.
In the car, Lee Se-jong seemed serene.
But Rashid's sharp intuition sensed the overwhelming emotion trapped and raging inside.
"I'll gather all the heavyweights in my network. Confident?"
"Yes, Professor."
"You're absolutely sure?"
"Yes. Everything happened within my predicted range, and the measurement data is accurate. Today, we—"
Jeong Seo-hoon met Lee Se-jong's proud gaze head-on and declared.
"Proved the sun."
The shoot proceeded smoothly.
Song Jeong-woo was a bit puzzled by KFE's suddenly much kinder, more cautious attitude compared to the first day.
"Why are they suddenly acting like this? Treating us like VVIPs."
"Right? Yesterday they kept repeating every ten minutes how expensive this is and to be careful, but today it's all free pass."
Jeong Su-ryeon chimed in, and Song Jeong-woo asked again.
"Su-ryeon, you know something? Did Professor Lee Se-jong pull some strings?"
"Seems like it. Seo-hoon and the professor came back late yesterday. Probably chewed them out for interrupting the shoot."
Jeong Su-ryeon continued while busily setting up equipment.
"Anyway, it's nice they're being polite."
On the third day, countless vehicles suddenly flooded into KFE.
Song Jeong-woo rubbed his eyes seeing the influx of foreigners who screamed "I'm a scholar."
"Is there a seminar here today?"
"How about filming them for the drama? I'll go ask for permission."
"No way. You can't even speak English."
Some parts of the shoot were delayed, but the team focused on what they could without complaint.
"PD-nim, Professor Lee Se-jong is looking for you. Says to bring the camera quick."
"Really? Then I better hurry."
Song Jeong-woo dropped everything, gathered a mini-team with the director of photography, lighting, and mic, and moved out.
"Professor, you called for the camera team."
"Ah, perfect timing. Today Seo-hoon will run an experiment in front of top global scholars. Thought we could film it for the drama."
"Really? That's okay?"
"Those people gathered there? All renowned scientists. Even Nobel winners."
"Whoa, for real? Got it. We'll make it look epic."
"I've got all the permissions, so film freely from a good spot. No one will complain."
Song Jeong-woo was moved by the professor's serene, Buddha-like expression.
He hurriedly set up cameras, capturing even the heated discussions among the murmuring scientists without missing a beat.
Lee Se-jong kept his word.
He'd summoned every prominent scientist he could from around the world.
Better to prove it big all at once.
He could hear them exchanging skeptical opinions.
'Room-temperature fusion? Impossible even in 100 years.'
'Tokamak reactors can't even attempt it. Like harvesting rice with a tractor?'
'Lee Se-jong sounded so confident, but maybe blinded by favoritism toward his student...'
'Let's watch.'
All eyes were filled with doubt and skepticism.
But once the experiment ran and they shared all data, that doubt would vanish.
The scientists received real-time KSTAR experiment data via their laptops.
They were free to take and analyze it privately.
Jeong Seo-hoon connected his laptop.
The operations team leader looked resolute, mistaking the laptop's control program for the secret weapon.
The experiment began, and Jeong Seo-hoon plunged endlessly into the ultra-microscopic world.
Particles and surrounding forces interfered as per his intended observation, synchronizing with the results he perceived.
Hydrogens piercing the 0.1% to 0.085% probability bonded, ultimately turning into helium.
Just before the fusion reaction, the tokamak's internal temperature was only two digits.
The temperature rose precisely by the heat generated in the fusion process minus losses.
Unlike the first day, Jeong Seo-hoon didn't pause midway and ran the experiment to the end.
He endlessly observed the sub-1% fusion probability with the Lens's power, steadily pulling it higher.
I need to deliver a performance that leaves no room for doubt to everyone here.
Ignoring the gasps from the macroscopic world, Jeong Seo-hoon maintained focus, exerting interference on the ultra-microscopic particles.
Finally, when all the hydrogens vanished, he returned to the macroscopic world.
"Oh God... My goodness..."
Delighted sighs and gasps poured from all sides.
They too had clearly witnessed via KSTAR's real-time data what just happened.
Internal temperature at two digits just before fusion.
Additional heat unexplainable without nuclear fusion.
Helium created from fused input hydrogens.
Thud.
Someone collapsed weakly.
Unaware of the full story, Song Jeong-woo raw-captured the scene of scientific giants in awe with his camera.
"Seo-hoon-ah."
His father, Jeong Tae-hyeon, approached flushed with excitement.
Unable to hug his son rashly, his face showed uncertainty about what to say. A expression Jeong Seo-hoon had never seen on his father.
"You're... truly amazing."
"Thank you."
"No, really, truly, so... incredible. Haah, to think my son discovered the clue to room-temperature nuclear fusion."
"It's just proof for now. Commercialization is still a long way off."
"A long way? That won't be an obstacle. Now we know the destination exists."
Ignorant that particle control was achieved via observational acts through the Lens's power, he could say that carefree.
The other scientists probably felt the same.
Oh, it might be easier than thought.
Sorry, Dad.
Jeong Seo-hoon apologized inwardly.
How devastating to learn current human civilization couldn't forge a path to that destination.
Lee Se-jong strode up briskly, extending a hand for a shake.
It was the demeanor toward a colleague worthy of full respect, not a cherished student.
"Congratulations, Dr. Jeong."
Looking straight at Jeong Seo-hoon, not as a father figure, Lee Se-jong enunciated clearly once more.
"No matter what anyone says, from now on, you're Dr. Jeong Seo-hoon."
It was a historic milestone festival in the scientific community, but the public passed it by without much notice.
rode a rising viewership curve, boasting top popularity and ranking as Korea's most talked-about drama.
Overseas broadcasters came with bags of money requesting broadcast rights.