Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Prodigy's Talent
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"Seo-ha!"
After class ended, Seo-ha—who had been noisily packing his bag, fully ready to head home—turned around at the sound of his name being called. He came running over with a bright smile.
"Yes, Teacher!"
Why can't kids that age just walk normally?
His overflowing energy was both enviable and exhausting.
He looked like a perfectly ordinary elementary schooler...
There wasn't a trace of the dark aura typical of an abused child anywhere on Seo-ha's face. Nor was there any of that smug attitude the kids who finished pre-learning early sometimes showed off. During addition and subtraction lessons, he participated as eagerly as any other child and took diligent notes.
Of course, this was all because Mi-young and Cheol-ho had repeatedly emphasized the importance of listening carefully to the teacher during class—but Yoon-mi had no way of knowing that.
"Did you bring any tough books in your bag again today?"
At Yoon-mi's question, Seo-ha's eyes widened in surprise before he nodded.
"Yes. I was going to read during break time. The kids haven't been playing soccer lately because it's so hot..."
He fidgeted with his clasped hands and glanced toward the door, clearly itching to get home.
"Do you have to rush off somewhere?"
Caught red-handed, Seo-ha's face flushed pink.
"Ah... no, not really. But Seo-eun is waiting for me. She's my little sister, and she's super cute. Mom won't start cleaning or making dinner until I get home."
The image of the baby nestled in her mother's arms flashed through Yoon-mi's mind, nearly making her laugh. She really was an adorable little thing.
Ah! What the heck was I even thinking?
Her tension melted away.
Seo-ha was just a pure, kind-hearted rural elementary school kid. Yoon-mi decided to let this good boy go as soon as possible.
"Then how about solving just these problems? They're not too many—if you finish them all, you can head right home!"
"Really?"
Seo-ha perked up, clearly having expected it to take much longer.
"Of course! If any are too hard, just skip them."
He was undoubtedly a smart kid.
It was rare, but even among her science high school classmates, there had been someone who self-studied middle and high school math starting from early elementary. That guy was now pursuing his PhD at UCLA.
Seo-ha might not be quite at that level, but if he could perfectly solve even middle school math problems, Yoon-mi started pondering what kind of help she should offer.
Before she knew it, Seo-ha had pulled a character pencil topped with a duck figurine from his pencil case and begun scribbling answers.
Problem 1: Middle school 1st year level.
Proportions and ratio reasoning.
[If 5cm on the map represents 2km in reality, how many km does 8cm represent?]
Scratch, scratch.
「3.2km」
Seo-ha jotted down the answer in an instant.
Mental math right off the bat?
Yoon-mi's eyes twitched. She examined Seo-ha's face closely.
His blinking had slowed, his breathing grown shallow. His lips were half-parted, slightly tucked inward as he stared at the test paper.
No doubt about it. Eager to get home, Seo-ha had entered full concentration mode.
Scratch, scratch.
Problem 2: Pythagorean theorem.
[A right triangle with base 8cm and height 6cm shares one side with a square that has sides of 8cm. Find the distance from one vertex of the square to point O, the midpoint of the right triangle's hypotenuse.]
After pondering for about two seconds upon reading the problem, Seo-ha's hand moved right away.
No way! This one too?
Gulp.
Yoon-mi swallowed dryly.
This was a problem meant to test thinking rather than calculation. The answer was a clean, exact number. Seo-ha wrote it down without a second glance.
「5cm」
Problem 3: Quadratic equations.
[For real number m, consider the quadratic equation x² + 2mx + (2m - 1) = 0. Find all real numbers m such that the equation has two distinct real roots whose difference is 2.]
Seo-ha's pencil moved without hesitation. Yoon-mi watched, forgetting to breathe.
In a flash, he recalled the discriminant condition and adapted it perfectly to the problem's equation.
No pauses. No signs of doubt. He was 100% certain of his answer.
「m = 0 or m = 2」
Yoon-mi unconsciously covered her mouth with her hand, afraid a sound might escape.
Plugging the quadratic formula into the equation wasn't hard. But the insight to grasp the problem's structure, transform the conditions, and connect them—that kind of thinking was exceptionally rare.
Yoon-mi's heart pounded fiercely.
Speed didn't matter. This structural reasoning couldn't be taught.
Problem 4: Trigonometric ratios application.
Easy calculations, but required a shift in thinking.
Seo-ha didn't just plug in values or rely on formulas.
At eight years old—an age when even basic arithmetic was challenging—structural thinking was ingrained in him.
And just like that, he wrote the correct answer.
Problem 5: Differentiation.
[For f(x) = x² + 2ax + (2a - 1), find the real number a such that the difference between the two roots is 2.]
Short calculations, even quicker judgment. Yoon-mi was dying of curiosity about what on earth was happening inside this kid's head.
Seo-ha gripped his pencil, scanned the problem once, and dove straight into calculating.
An eight-year-old grasping the entire flow—derivative, extrema position, root difference—without a single stumble.
He read the problem and instantly linked the conditions to the function in his mind. Not a single unnecessary step.
This meant Seo-ha already possessed flawless logic and intuition.
An indescribable emotion flickered through Yoon-mi's mind.
It was like an elementary kid drawing up intricate architectural blueprints with crayons. The cold logic embedded in his innocent handwriting felt eerily alien.
"All done, Teacher!"
Had it been three minutes?
Seo-ha handed over the paper, his whole body radiating eagerness to go home. It was adorable.
"Good job. You got them all right. You can go home now."
Her words came out dry from sheer shock. She winced inwardly, but Seo-ha didn't mind at all.
"Yes! Thank you!"
Seo-ha bowed at the waist and dashed off.
After pulling off the impossible, he didn't act like it was anything special—no expectation of praise.
Yoon-mi blankly watched him trot away on his short legs.
She sank into thought.
"What am I supposed to do with you?"
Yoon-mi stared at the paper in her hand for a long while.
She never would have dreamed this was possible, even in her wildest fantasies. The gap between reality and common sense left her mind numb.
She carefully filed away the answer sheet to avoid crumpling it, handling it like a precious treasure she didn't want to damage.
Tap, tap, tap.
Yoon-mi drummed her index finger on the desk.
He was still just a first-grader.
An age that obviously needed adult protection. He might shine now, but he could lose interest in math at any moment. Yoon-mi had seen countless prodigies fade away like that.
"If he were just an ordinary prodigy, that is..."
Seo-ha was something beyond "genius"—a freak of nature.
Suddenly, goosebumps prickled across her skin.
She might be in a position to influence someone who would leave their mark on history.
Whoosh.
She took a deep breath. Reality snapped back.
Her fingertips trembled faintly on the desk.
For a long time, Yoon-mi weighed her options. But nothing felt right. Why? Simple. She'd never been a genius herself. She lacked the basis to judge the best path.
"I've decided."
She'd ask a genius—or someone like one. The burden was too heavy to carry alone.
Ring, ring, ring...
The signal dragged on.
-What's up? You actually calling me?
A reluctant voice answered just as the ringing was about to end.
"I have something to ask."
Silence stretched on. Then came a resigned sigh and his reply.
-Hold on a sec...
* * *
Beep.
Woo-hyun hurriedly turned off the recording camera.
The blackboard was covered in graphs and equations. What could his ex-girlfriend, whom he hadn't spoken to in years, possibly want?
At her mention of something to ask, Woo-hyun trudged out of the studio, grabbed a canned coffee from the fridge.
Click.
"What's going on?"
-One of my students is an incredible genius.
Woo-hyun snorted.
"Genius, my ass. That's what you call me after years of silence?"
He was sick of it. That word.
It was the endless praise showered on him after taking second place at the International Mathematical Olympiad, with over 100 countries competing. It was the second-best result ever for a Korean participant since their debut in 1988.
But it was all meaningless. Such titles were reserved for the tiny few chosen by the gods.
-I know what you're thinking, but this kid's different. He...
But Yoon-mi couldn't finish.
"Stop! No other business? I'm hanging up."
Was she mad?
A suffocating silence hung over the line. Regret washed over him.
Damn. Should've handled that better? Why poke at my sore spot when you know I hate that crap?
As Woo-hyun agonized over what to do...
-You little punk...
"What?"
A vein throbbed at his temple.
-Hey, you punk!
"You wanna die for real?"
-How long are you gonna hide away?
His temper flared as he listened. Everyone had their untouchable reverse scale.
"Hide? Is there anyone from our class who makes more money than me?"
Last year, he'd paid over 5 billion won in taxes alone.
The top instructor idolized by every parent and student—the math god with the ultimate credentials, Shin Woo-hyun. How dare she!
But her next words chilled his heart.
-If you're so proud, why skip all the reunions?
"...That's because of you. You think seeing my ex is fun for me?"
-Hilarious.
"Whatever. I'll listen, so say it again. What about the kid?"
He heard a relieved exhale from her end.
"A first-grader who perfectly understands and solves calculus and geometry vectors."
Woo-hyun grimaced the moment he heard it.
"You still in Gangnam? Those parents are nuts. How hard did they push the kid..."
Several such cases popped up every year.
Combine good genes with inhuman early education, and voilà—these kids appeared. Most would wise up soon enough and head to med school.
If they couldn't snap out of the delusion, they'd go on some prodigy discovery show to get famous. Pathetic. As if anyone cared.
-No. I'm in my hometown right now.
"Okcheon?"
Back when they dated, Woo-hyun had visited her hometown with her.
-Yeah.
"A kid in that backwater solving that stuff?"
-I couldn't believe it either. I called the mom to check—no cram school, nothing taught at home. The kid figured it out on his own.
"You sure it's not a lie?"
-You think I'd fall for that? I double-checked multiple times. Oppa, help me out. I have no idea what to do with him. Should I contact a gifted center? Look into early graduation? I was thinking of calling some science high teachers too..."
Woo-hyun cut off Yoon-mi's frantic words.
"Don't. You'll ruin the kid. Parents get delusions of grandeur, and the student turns arrogant thinking they're hot stuff."
-Then what? This is the first kid like this I've ever seen in my life.
"Maybe in our country. It happens abroad sometimes. With those crazies."
A bad memory surfaced, crumpling Woo-hyun's face mercilessly.
-So just leave him alone?
"Of course not. Assuming your story's true—what do real geniuses like that need? Know that?"
-No clue. I'm no genius.
He ignored her sarcastic tone completely.
"Overwhelming achievements."
-What?
Her stunned reaction left Yoon-mi speechless.