The Future of the Star
"These days, plenty of elementary school kids have already finished the Standard of Mathematics. In the medical school prep class at the academy where I work, there's a fourth grader who's already doing differential and integral calculus. Don't you know how advanced kids are these days? Why are you making such a fuss?"
"No! No! Listen to what I'm actually saying. He started at a second-grade level."
"How do you know that? Maybe he already did all the advanced prep?"
"Hey, I can tell just by looking. I'm telling you, he didn't even know what a fraction was!"
Cha Se-young spoke with intense excitement, but her friend merely tilted her beer bottle with a lukewarm expression.
"Be realistic. You want me to believe a kid who didn't even know fractions understood quadratic functions in just two hours?"
"I'm serious!"
"You got one hundred percent scammed, you dummy. Did you see the guardian's face? 'Isn't our kid amazing? Right?'"
"W-well..."
She had seen him when saying goodbye after the tutoring session ended.
At the time, when she told him the kid was incredibly smart, he had nodded with an immensely proud look on his face.
She had thought about explaining further, but his somewhat overbearing presence made her decide to postpone the detailed explanation for later...
"No, it definitely wasn't that kind of vibe."
"Sure, sure. He's a genius, whatever."
"Sigh... How do you teach trigonometric ratios to your kids?"
"What do you mean, how? I just tell them to memorize it. Sin 30° is 0.5, sin 45° is root 2 over 2, sin 60° is root 3 over 2."
"Has any kid ever asked you about something like sin 37°?"
"Why would they ask that? It barely even shows up on the CSAT. Even if it does, it's just a random example in the passage. And besides, they can just look at a trigonometric table. Or use a calculator."
"That's exactly what I said! I told him to just look at the trigonometric table. But then he asked me who made the table in the first place."
"That's just pure grunt work. Hipparchus first brute-forced it, and then mathematicians refined it over hundreds of years..."
"Exactly. But then he said this: 'First you guess roughly, then you add or subtract the error, and then you add or subtract the new error. Since the error keeps getting smaller, if you keep doing it, it'll eventually be exact.' And then, after thinking for a moment, do you know what he said? He said we can't just do it normally. He said we need to write numbers in a different way."
Her friend, who had been bringing the beer bottle to her mouth with an indifferent air, suddenly spat out a mouthful of foam.
Se-young wiped the beer splatters from her face, met her friend's wide, questioning eyes, and nodded.
"Exactly. An eleven-year-old kid, without even knowing what a Taylor expansion is, basically described the underlying principles of radians, infinite series, and convergence."
A Taylor expansion doesn't even appear in high school mathematics.
It first shows up in college freshman calculus for science and engineering majors. To explain it properly, one has to understand derivatives, which requires understanding limits. Ultimately, explaining sin 37° through a Taylor expansion required the entirety of high school mathematics.
Her friend wiped the beer foam from her mouth with her sleeve.
Se-young might be a bit gullible and easily fooled, but she wasn't the type to lie.
Her friend's mouth fell open in a daze.
"An eleven-year-old?"
Faced with her friend's horrified expression, Se-young nodded once more.
"Of course, he didn't come up with the exact formula. But isn't it incredible that an elementary schooler approached it that way?"
"Bull!"
"I'm serious!"
"Total bull!"
"Sigh..."
Se-young ultimately gave up trying to convince her friend.
Honestly, even if she had heard it from someone else, she wouldn't have believed it either.
"Let's just drink."
"It's bull, right?"
"Yeah, it's bull, you jerk."
Bringing the beer bottle to her lips, Se-young began to ponder what she should teach in the next tutoring session.
Should I bring the Standard of Mathematics...?
For some reason, her heart fluttered with anticipation.
"No way. Phones are fun, sure, but they're addictive. They melt your brain. I looked into it. Those shorts and reels ruin kids..."
"..."
"Using data to watch things is strictly limited to three hours a day."
"..."
"Sigh, seriously! Put that pout away, will you?"
Chul-jun sat in his chair, staring intently at the phone on the desk without giving Hyeong-man so much as a glance.
He had been like this ever since he woke up in the morning.
When told his phone usage would be restricted from now on, he had gone into a full-blown sulk.
"So, are we going or not? Am I going alone?"
Chul-jun stood up from his chair, his brow still heavily furrowed.
Then, he began to clumsily pull on his coat.
Hyeong-man let out a chuckle.
At least he still did what he was told.
The kid had been so mature that it had felt a bit heartbreaking, so seeing him act like a normal child for once made Hyeong-man feel somewhat relieved.
Finding it incredibly cute, Hyeong-man ruffled Chul-jun's hair, which only made the boy's pout grow even deeper.
"Let's go, kiddo."
*
Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.
In the lobby of the National Intelligence Service headquarters, there are nameless stars.
It was a memorial installation dedicated to agents who died in the line of duty without leaving even their names behind.
Originally, the intention was to add a star every time an agent died, but the count had stopped at nineteen.
Every NIS employee knew that far more agents than those represented by the stars had dedicated their lives to the nation and never returned to their homeland.
And Chul-jun came to learn this today as well.
Hyeong-man gently patted Chul-jun's head and took a step to the side.
Chul-jun quietly gazed at the stars.
One of those stars was his father, Jaegang.
He didn't understand patriotism or things like that.
He didn't really grasp the meaning of dedicating one's life to the nation.
He couldn't comprehend why someone would devote their life to a task that no one would ever recognize.
But standing face-to-face with those stars, he felt he could understand the noble weight of that life.
Chul-jun bowed his head deeply.
His lips trembled slightly.
Hyeong-man's rough hand came to rest gently on Chul-jun's small back.
"Just because someone dies doesn't mean nothing is left behind. They remain vividly in the memories of everyone they crossed paths with in the past."
The calloused hand ruffled the boy's hair.
"And he left you. You are the future of that star."
Chul-jun nodded.
He felt like he understood what that meant.
"So you have to keep your mind and body healthy. Because you have to live carrying that star within you."
Chul-jun continued to nod.
"If you look at your phone too much, your mind and body will be ruined."
Chul-jun instantly stopped nodding.
And his pout returned.
He had been about to upgrade Hyeong-man's reliability rating to Tier 3 in his personal network database because of the cool speech, but promptly demoted him back to Tier 4.
"So, that's him?"
"Yeah."
"He doesn't look like you at all."
"Yeah. His mother must have been very beautiful."
Hyeong-man's colleague, Kim Han-su, the NIS 3rd Deputy Director, chuckled and handed over a manila envelope.
"Severance pay, condolence money, compensation, and a special occupational pension. I fought the Director to get you every single penny. Go through the inheritance process immediately."
Jaegang's mother, Chul-jun's grandmother and only remaining relative, had passed away four years ago.
Therefore, Jaegang's entire estate belonged to Chul-jun.
"Okay. Thanks!"
"Is the guardianship process finished?"
"Yeah. Seok-hyun handled it cleanly."
"Good. What about... the slush funds?"
"For now, I have about a billion won that I can use immediately. There should be more scattered elsewhere."
"A billion won?"
"You know, the kickback we secretly pocketed back during the illegal gambling den operation in Yanbian."
"You pocketed a billion won back then? You crazy bastards..."
"No, it was a hundred million won back then. But I put it in crypto to launder it, and it ballooned to that much."
"What...?"
"Jaegang explained it to the kid perfectly. Haha. He even threatened me using your name and phone number, saying he'd tell on me to you if I tried to back out."
"What? My phone number too?"
"Yeah, he memorized it by heart."
"Impressive."
Kim Han-su shook his head with a dumbfounded expression.
Hyeong-man spoke again.
"He was lecturing me about guardianship laws and whatnot. Seriously, it was mind-blowing."
"Wow, really? He's incredibly smart."
"Yeah. His IQ is 120."
"But you should be more scared of us than some guardianship law."
Hyeong-man scowled.
True, if he messed up raising Chul-jun, everyone connected to Jaegang would hunt him down. That was much scarier than the law.
They were all formidable people, after all.
"Well, that's true. By the way, do you have any connections to the Hanyoung Educational Foundation or the Hanyoung Group?"
"Hmm? Why the educational foundation?"
"I want to send him to Hanyoung Elementary School. It's close to the house."
"Really? Private schools are good. Let's see... Hanyoung Educational Foundation... I don't know about the foundation, but I think I can find a connection to the Hanyoung Group through a few mutual acquaintances."
"Okay. Look into it for me."
"Got it."
Hyeong-man tapped the manila envelope.
Then, he stood up from the sofa.
"I'm off."
"Yeah. Raise the kid well."
"Will do!"
*
The car drove for quite a while after leaving the NIS.
Chul-jun didn't say much during the ride.
Hyeong-man wondered if the boy was still sulking, but looking at his face, that wasn't the case.
He seemed to be organizing his thoughts while quietly staring out the window.
After driving down the highway for a long time, the car took the exit for Daejeon.
Within a few minutes, they entered a spacious parking lot.
"Alright, let's get out, kiddo."
"Yes."
Hyeong-man retrieved a white flower basket from the back seat.
Daejeon National Cemetery.
White tombstones stretched endlessly across the vast green lawn.
Chul-jun silently followed behind Hyeong-man.
Hyeong-man suddenly stopped.
"Ah, looks like someone else already visited."
A white flower basket was already placed in front of the tombstone.
Hyeong-man placed his own basket next to it.
Then, he scowled slightly.
"Tsk. I should've bought a bigger one."
The flower basket Hyeong-man bought was slightly smaller.
"Go on, say hello. It's your grandmother."
Chul-jun blinked his round eyes and looked at the tombstone.
"Do you know how to bow?"
Chul-jun nodded slightly.
On rare occasions, his father, Jaegang, would tell him stories about his own childhood.
She was a person who always appeared in those stories.
In those tales, his grandmother was always the protagonist.
He had said she was gentle and warm, yet strict, unable to tolerate injustice, and always helped those in need.
When Chul-jun first met Jaegang in Yanbian, he had heard she had passed away about a month prior.
His father had once said this:
Perhaps, his grandmother had sent Chul-jun to him at that time to save Jaegang's life.
Chul-jun performed two deep bows, silently offering his gratitude.
He thanked her for bringing Jaegang into the world,
And he thanked her for allowing him to meet Jaegang in Yanbian.
Hyeong-man smiled warmly as he brushed his hand over the tombstone.
"Mother! Your grandson! Your grandson! You were so worried, but look. Jaegang sent us such a beautiful grandson. He's incredibly smart. President material. Rest easy, and I'll come back again!"
Hyeong-man stood up straight and gently patted Chul-jun's head.
"You know, I really took care of your grandmother. Well, actually, I mostly just dropped by whenever I was bored to freeload on her food, but man, I really miss her spicy kimchi stew. Anyway, your grandmother is my mother too. It's actually pretty hard to be buried here. My own parents didn't meet the criteria, so they're in a columbarium. But your dad was an incredibly great man. That's why, even though your dad was still alive, they exceptionally treated her as the family of a national merit recipient. That's a huge deal. Your dad was pretty awesome, wasn't he?"
"Yes..."
Chul-jun replied, staring quietly at the tombstone.
He liked the feeling of Uncle Hyeong-man's rough hand moving gently over his head.
And he liked the friendly, affectionate tone Hyeong-man used when speaking to his grandmother.
He liked hearing that his father was a great man.
It was a good enough day to immediately promote Hyeong-man from Tier 4 to Tier 2 in reliability.
"Shall we go? The sun is setting. It's cold."
"Yes."
On the way back,
Uncle Hyeong-man's back looked a little more reliable and dependable.
"I'd like to have a word with you..."
Seeing the tutor's grave expression, Hyeong-man furrowed his brow.
"Hmm?"
"Well, I want to be careful saying this, but... the child is a bit different from normal kids."
"Haha. Of course he is. Our Chul-jun is incredibly smart."
"No, being smart isn't the problem..."
Hyeong-man raised an eyebrow.
"Why? Is he falling behind the curriculum?"
"No! No!"
"Then what?"
Cha Se-young gulped.
"...His progress is too fast."
"Hmm?"
Hyeong-man tilted his head in confusion.