The Unforeseen Solution
I finished the first day of the written exam without incident and returned to my dorm room. I dove straight onto the bed. The soft sensation of the mattress seemed to ease some of my fatigue.
“Ah. My head is killing me.”
I’d spent the entire day thinking, so my head was throbbing. I didn’t want to think about anything. I just wanted to rest without a single thought in my head.
“Haa.”
I had to go to the library by 7 PM. Of course, I was grateful she was doing all this to help me, but it was still exhausting.
“Still, I’m really thankful.”
Jeong Hanna was helping me with incredible enthusiasm. It was as if her own exam was on the line. I’d thought she would just go through the motions, but she didn’t. She genuinely poured her energy into tutoring me.
“It can’t be easy teaching someone else.”
Jeong Hanna was probably sacrificing some of her own time right now. Yet she never showed the slightest sign of discomfort. She simply tutored me in silence.
“Yeah. If she’s putting in this much effort, I should at least endure it for one more day.”
If I could just get through tonight and tomorrow, the midterms would be over. Then I’d finally have some time to rest. Just two more days of suffering, and the easy days would come.
“A field trip, huh…”
Elpon Academy periodically arranged experiential learning visits to domestic companies to give students a variety of experiences. This time, the company was the Samhwa Group.
In reality, these visits were no different from school field trips for the students. Since their career paths were already decided, there was no need for them to try out other professions through company visits. I wasn’t particularly interested either.
Just as I was about to write down any random affiliate and send the message…
The phrase “Please select the Samhwa Group affiliate you would like to visit” caught my eye.
“Wait a second. Isn’t this an opportunity?”
Now that I thought about it, this was an incredible chance. I could visit Samhwa Bio, which Cha Jiyun operated. Normally, the strict security would prevent ordinary people from entering, but a field trip organized by Elpon Academy was different. That meant I could get inside too.
“If I play this right, I might be able to help her.”
I could assist with Samhwa Bio’s new drug development and receive some shares in return. A win-win situation.
“Alright.”
I wrote down Samhwa Bio as my choice.
Yulia peered into the room. Inside were Jeong Hanna and Choi Minhye. Jeong Hanna was diligently teaching Choi Minhye.
“Hmm. Good, they’re working hard.”
Yulia’s reason for giving Jeong Hanna the task of raising another student’s grades was simple.
“You only truly understand something when you teach it to someone else.”
To explain knowledge you unconsciously possess, you must first make it explicit. It is through that process of explicit articulation that previously vague knowledge becomes clear.
“Hanna will take another step forward.”
Jeong Hanna was a genius Yulia had been keeping an eye on. Among the students she had seen recently, Jeong Hanna had the best understanding of theory.
Yulia returned to her private room to grade the numerous exam papers that had come in.
One problem caught her eye.
Problem) The graph of the quartic function f(x) = 67x⁴ + 23x³ and the line y = k enclose 40 regions, each with equal area. Find the value of k.
“This was one of the problems I submitted.”
It was a past exam question Yulia had created. Theory exams weren’t written by a single teacher. Multiple teachers submitted problems, and the selected ones appeared on the test. This particular question was one Yulia had carefully crafted.
“This is really a problem meant to distinguish perfect scores.”
It was designed to separate the very top students. It wasn’t meant for average students. It was the kind of question that decided the difference between 100 and 96.
“As expected, he couldn’t solve it.”
Kim Taeyang was a fairly model student.
“What was his ranking on the entrance exam again?”
Yulia checked the documents in her drawer.
“Ah. He was 4th.”
“…Hmm. Was this too difficult?”
Yulia tilted her head. Since the problem was meant to distinguish between 100 and 96, it was natural that the 4th-ranked student couldn’t solve it.
“But… he didn’t even attempt it.”
The exam paper was completely blank. That meant he hadn’t even tried to approach the problem.
“I thought someone ranked 4th would at least be able to make some headway.”
She had designed the difficulty with that in mind. Students around 4th place should be able to approach it, but the sheer volume of calculations would prevent them from finishing.
“Hmm… Maybe it was a bit much.”
The same pattern appeared in the other papers. The students who had ranked 3rd, 4th, and 5th on the previous entrance theory exam all failed to even approach this problem.
“It might have been a little too hard…”
While Yulia was blaming herself, a practice sheet with the solution caught her eye. It was densely filled with writing.
“Oh. They approached it correctly.”
That alone was impressive. Most students hadn’t even been able to attempt it. Even the top theory scorers had failed to approach the problem.
“But that’s all they did.”
While getting the approach right was remarkable, the problem had a trap. Yulia had deliberately created a section where students were bound to make a calculation error due to the sheer volume of numbers.
“But they got through that section perfectly too.”
The solution on the practice sheet had passed through the calculation-heavy section without a single mistake. There were no traces of an eraser. It had been solved in one go.
“But there isn’t just one trap section.”
The dense calculations weren’t the only trap. The next one was the real challenge.
“Only an intuitive leap.”
No matter how hard you studied, intuition couldn’t be taught. It was something that only a genius’s instinct could produce—the immediate sense of how to approach the problem upon seeing it.
“Without that, solving this problem is impossible.”
She had believed it was impossible to come up with that intuitive leap. After all, only a born genius could think of it.
But when she read the next line, Yulia’s hands began to tremble.
There, written out, was the intuitive approach she had thought impossible.
Despite her shaking hands, Yulia’s eyes continued to follow the solution.
“It’s perfect.”
The intuitive leap matched exactly what Yulia had vaguely envisioned. Not only that—the supporting calculations were flawless as well.
“As expected of Jeong Hanna.”
Yulia smiled inwardly. She truly was the genius Yulia had been watching. Solving this problem so perfectly was just like her—the overwhelming first-place student in theory.
“Second place managed the calculations but couldn’t come up with the intuition.”
They had pushed through the dense calculations somehow, but failed to grasp the key insight. That was why they couldn’t solve it.
But Jeong Hanna was different. She had produced the intuition and solved the problem completely.
Yulia looked at the name written on the solution sheet.
It had to be Jeong Hanna, of course.
But as she read the name, Yulia’s expression began to stiffen.
[Name: Nam Doyun]
“…?”
What? Did I misread it?
Yulia rubbed her eyes and looked at the exam paper again.
But the name remained the same.
“….What the hell is this.”
A chill ran down Yulia’s spine.