Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Eye of the Storm
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“Alright, everyone buckled in? Seo-eun, you got your seatbelt on properly?”
Cheol-ho glanced back from the driver's seat to check.
Yoo Seo-ha could detect a hint of excitement in his father's tone.
At some point, Seo-ha's competition schedule had turned into a family trip of sorts. Thanks to the county's support, they no longer had to worry about expenses.
“Yes!”
Seo-eun shot both hands up high in response.
“Seo-ha's bag is here, and I packed Seo-eun's clothes properly...”
Mi-young stepped out of the car, something still nagging at her, and double-checked the trunk one more time.
“It's just one night—do we really need such a big bag?”
To a country bumpkin like Cheol-ho, it was a world he couldn't quite grasp.
National-level competitions were mostly held in Seoul.
Seoul might not be the ideal spot for city folks to vacation, but for a rural family like Seo-ha's, it felt like an entirely new universe no matter how many times they visited.
Mi-young and Seo-eun, in particular, had fallen head over heels for the city's charms.
“Better safe than sorry.”
Mi-young hummed a little tune as she straightened things out, then closed the trunk.
Vroom.
The car pulled away.
Unable to contain her excitement, Seo-eun started singing a song she'd learned at kindergarten. When Seo-ha praised her, she puffed up with pride and even added some hand motions.
'Already the fourth time.'
Seo-ha had decided that after this competition at Seoul National University, he wouldn't enter any more events aimed at regular students.
Having swept the grand prizes in the previous three contests, Seo-ha was already the eye of the storm among math insiders.
But that buzz was confined to academic circles—math held zero interest for the general public.
'Maybe the Olympiad flop played a part too...'
Korea's score this year ranked a composite seventh, behind the US, China, Russia, India, Iran, and Hungary.
Im Soo-jung's individual third place had barely saved face.
Even compared to past years when they aced exams despite lacking true mathematical prowess, it was a dismal showing.
After checking into the tourist hotel and unpacking, Seo-eun immediately leaped onto the bed.
Fascinated by the massive mattress, she bounced like it was a trampoline before rolling sideways with a tumble.
Mi-young pulled out a slip of paper with shopping notes and hoisted the sprawled-out Seo-eun onto her back before heading out.
Seo-ha considered sticking around for a few more contests for his family's sake but shook his head as Woo-hyun's words echoed in his mind.
“You've done enough already. Anything more is a waste.”
Seo-ha agreed.
It had been fun at first, but the problems were all starting to feel the same.
Now he craved challenges that could truly ignite his passion.
Seo-ha brought his right thumb to his wrist to check his pulse.
One.
Two.
Three.
'Good. No issues.'
Obsessive-compulsive disorder was a form of anxiety disorder.
In most cases, heart rate spiked when symptoms flared.
Seo-ha checked it obsessively.
“Oppa! Good luck on the test!”
Seo-eun's cheeks were rosy from the cold.
Seo-ha cupped them gently with both hands, warming them up. Loving the cozy feel, her face relaxed into a smile.
“I'll be back soon. Let's grab something tasty later.”
“Okay!”
The heavy auditorium door swung open, and Seo-ha stepped inside.
A strange sensation washed over him instantly.
Glance, glance.
He could feel eyes on him from all directions.
'What's going on?'
Feeling awkward, Seo-ha made his way to his seat. With every step, blatant whispers reached his ears.
“That's the kid, right?”
“He's taller than I thought. Looks like a middle schooler.”
The results from the last competition must have gotten out.
Seo-ha swallowed his discomfort and sat down. He unpacked his favorite pencil and cutter knife, sharpened the tip, and did some light stretches.
As he twisted his waist to look behind...
“Eek!”
Seo-ha clamped a hand over his mouth and faced forward.
A ghostly pale face from behind had been staring right through him.
'Who is that? Why's she looking at me like that?'
Pale skin, sharp eyes.
The glaring intensity sent chills down his spine with its raw hostility.
Ding-dong-dang—
The bell rang, and the exam began.
Seo-ha's mood lifted.
Since recognizing his OCD symptoms, he'd worked tirelessly to manage them.
Training himself to consciously halt the automatic calculations in his head was like holding his breath underwater—pure agony.
But now? No need.
He could unleash his thoughts freely onto the paper.
Scribble, scribble.
Seo-ha's hand moved without hesitation.
Im Soo-jung watched him intently before finally turning to her own test paper.
Seo-ha's pencil danced across the page.
Like a prisoner freed from long chains, it rode the waves of his liberated thoughts.
Equations came alive.
Curves from function formulas unfurled.
Parabolas arched gracefully upward before settling softly; trigonometric waves rippled endlessly.
Exponential functions crawled low at first, then exploded skyward.
'Aha!'
He grasped the problem setter's intent.
Using convex function properties could simplify the messy expression into one line.
But Seo-ha didn't go that route.
'The essence here is symmetry.'
Curves bloomed in his mind, pushing past the intended structure into infinite depths, unearthing a hidden cyclic symmetry.
A spark ignited.
Treat the inequality as a geometric object in n-dimensional space.
Seo-ha's pencil flew with excitement. Translating algebra into geometry revealed the problem's core in a whole new light.
A proof even the setter hadn't foreseen unfolded beneath his hand.
Im Soo-jung scanned her test paper.
Each problem registered clearly. All solvable.
'Good.'
Relief flooded her.
Then doubt crept in.
'Why am I feeling relieved?'
For her past self, tests were eagerly awaited joys. She knew sweet rewards followed every one.
But now?
At some point, a foreign emotion had taken root: defeat, inferiority.
Im Soo-jung shook her head fiercely.
'No. I can't be scared of this.'
She knew herself well. This was nothing. She wasn't weak. Even if adversity struck, she'd rise laughing and conquer it.
The scariest thing was admitting she was just ordinary.
Everything changed after losing to that boy for the first time.
She tried to focus, but her mind was a mess.
'When did I start loving math? And why?'
Because it was hard.
A chuckle escaped.
She loved breezing through what stumped everyone else.
And the praise that poured in afterward.
Dad, Mom...
They pretended to discourage her, but she knew they were prouder than anyone.
Problem 1.
[For positive real numbers a, b, c with a + b + c = 3, prove that √(a² + 1) + √(b² + 1) + √(c² + 1) ≥ 2√3.]
Lagrange multipliers or AM-GM would solve it easily.
But Im Soo-jung didn't touch her pencil.
She could tell just from his back.
The kid in front was lost in it, scribbling away happily.
Im Soo-jung gritted her teeth.
'I can do this too.'
No safe paths. Following the model answer wasn't perfection.
She stared at the problem again.
√(a² + 1)... It could be interpreted as a vector's norm.
'Wait—Minkowski inequality?'
No one else here would think of it.
Scribble, scribble.
Her pencil raced.
Time slipped by.
Errors kept cropping up no matter how she pushed the calculations.
'Sign error? Miscalculation?'
No, wrong path entirely.
'Focus, Im Soo-jung.'
She tapped her cheek lightly and started over.
More carefully this time.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
'Why won't this solve?'
Normally, it'd take ten minutes tops.
'Just solve it the usual way?'
No.
That would repeat last time's result.
She wanted to submit an answer that would leave the judges stunned—like the reaction her teacher had to Yoo Seo-ha's paper.
But her mind kept wandering against her will.
'What's missing in me?'
Knowledge?
Her, the youngest ever to qualify for the International Olympiad after twenty years, outdone by that elementary kid?
Technique?
She knew solutions and applications for every past Olympiad problem.
Experience?
No peer had competed in more contests than her.
Then what?
A possibility surfaced in her heart.
She dismissed it immediately.
The problem was now.
No time for distractions.
She was sure she could crack it, yet every path dead-ended.
The simple-looking inequality loomed like a massive wall. Her pencil had filled the page with equations, but the proof remained incomplete.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Time marched on mercilessly.
“Thirty minutes remaining until the end of the exam.”
The proctor's calm voice echoed through the hall.
Im Soo-jung's heart pounded.
That meant two and a half hours hung up on problem one.
For a fleeting moment, she yearned to blast through everything as usual and feel that relief.
But instinct told her she'd never beat Yoo Seo-ha if she did.
'Perfect score be damned.'
Im Soo-jung threw herself into proving problem one.
A math prodigy since age three, she was certain she'd claim first at the International Olympiad under equal conditions (age).
And she planned to.
Scribble, scribble.
Pencil sounds filled the air.
Everyone was wrapping up.
But Im Soo-jung's hand hovered, trembling in midair.
Drip.
A small droplet hit her paper.
Drip, drip.
The dense equations began to smear.
She hadn't finished the proof to the end.
“Time's up. Put your pencils down.”
Im Soo-jung looked up front. Tears blurred her vision into an ugly mess, but nothing came to mind.
He calmly organized his paper, looking so serene.
His hand reached for the pencil, tucking it away preciously in its case.
The smug duck expression on the eraser seemed to mock her.
“Damn duck...”
Im Soo-jung muttered under her breath.
If she let him go like this, who knew when she'd see him again.
Her chest tightened to bursting. She could barely breathe.
She turned in her paper as he walked out.
Swish.
“Wait!”
The moment he brushed past, Im Soo-jung grabbed Yoo Seo-ha's hand without thinking.