Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Laundry Hell Solution
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[Laundry Room Usage: Let's Keep Manners]
Student council president Baek Jun-ki checked the bulletin board and let out a deep sigh.
"We've already got over 20 complaints about the laundry room this week alone. Shouldn't we come up with a plan?"
Vice president Min Do-hyun raised his hand.
"Isn't this because we're doing first-come, first-served on our own? We could tweak the reservation app to suggest different times for everyone. Bottlenecks are the issue—if we smooth those out, we have plenty of machines. Should work fine."
Gifted High School granted students a lot of autonomy, including laundry room usage.
But that meant they had to solve nitpicky problems like this themselves.
"Hmm..."
Jun-ki mulled over Do-hyun's idea before nodding.
"Good thinking. The app we're using was made by our seniors anyway."
"I heard it was from three years ago. Back then, everything was analog—everyone lined up with laundry baskets during peak hours..."
The current systems had evolved bit by bit over time. But as tech advanced, so did the systems—and the student council headed to the Computer Club 'Bit Forge' that afternoon.
Screeech—
The small clubroom was in no way clean, even generously speaking.
Desks buried under cable mountains, dust-caked PC towers, empty energy drink cans scattered everywhere.
As the door swung open, a musty wave of electronics stench hit them.
Baek Jun-ki wrinkled his nose.
"Clean up and live like humans, please!"
Students in hoodies from the back stared blankly. Their screens swirled with endless graphs and code.
One stood up to greet them.
"Student council? What's up?"
"It's about the laundry reservation app."
Do-hyun, the vice president, spoke politely.
"Oh, that? Our seniors made it. Total mess."
Snickers rippled through the clubroom.
"You know it's broken—can you fix it? Overhaul the reservation system."
The baseball-capped girl fired back right after Jun-ki finished.
"It's free, that's the problem. Charge money, problem solved."
'Why are there no normal people here?'
Jun-ki swallowed his rising anger and replied softly.
"Can't do that. Free is the rule. We can't charge students."
The room fell silent at his firm tone.
"But why should we? No reward."
A guy in the corner with one earbud leaned back in his chair.
Jun-ki sighed.
"Aren't you guys students here too? We all use it—if it's better for everyone, win-win."
Solid logic, but it didn't land.
"Not inconvenient for us? We do laundry every three weeks."
"Neat. Once a month for me."
"I take it all home."
Jun-ki finally raised his hands.
"Fine, name your terms. Something we can swing."
Demands poured in instantly.
"Budget, obviously. New top-spec computers."
"Campus-wide Wi-Fi expansion."
"Club-logo jackets."
Do-hyun whispered, dumbfounded.
"This is just a wishlist."
Jun-ki's face hardened.
"None of that's doable. How about this? Refuse student council requests, and you get audited. We'll compare your budget eats to achievements—see if this club even deserves to exist. Oh, and hygiene inspection too."
Silence blanketed the clubroom.
Bit Forge president Yeon-woo cleared his throat and shot glances at everyone.
"Well... we do have the code from our seniors."
"We always respect the student council. Just tell us what to do!"
Jun-ki smiled, satisfied.
"Great! Our conditions are simple."
He pulled over a whiteboard and started listing demands.
- 10 washers, 12 dryers.
- Night noise curfew: 00:00 - 05:00
- Priorities: lab clothes, club group loads, extra weight for disabled students.
- Ensure fairness.
- Minimize average wait times, path conflicts, idle machine time.
Yeon-woo eyed the board, scratching his head uncomfortably.
"President, we can whip up an app no problem. But that recommendation engine? Hell-level difficulty—you know that, right?"
"Why?"
The usually quiet girl jumped in.
"Impossible. Not simple app dev. Too many goals. Probability, optimization, fairness, demand fluctuations, seasonal effects.
Paper-worthy. Grad-level project."
"We still need a solution."
Yeon-woo offered a compromise at the irritated president's look.
"Meet us halfway. Drop fairness. We'll max efficiency—run machines full tilt."
"Be real. You'd accept recommendations only at midnight or mealtime?"
Yeon-woo's voice rose in frustration.
"Then what the hell do you want from us?!"
"Effort to make it possible. We'll certify it as a school project—decent budget, performance scores too."
Yeon-woo's face flushed red.
"Push us why don't you! Search the world—no high schooler can do this!"
The girl glanced at the hyped Yeon-woo and said curtly.
"There is one."
"What?"
They both turned to her.
"God of Math, Oriza. He could."
A little duck figurine sat on her monitor.
Yoo Seo-ha had no idea what was happening.
Suddenly a crowd swarmed him, surrounded him wordlessly, and dragged him here.
[Bit Forge]
Sitting in a chair, the embarrassed student council president explained.
"So... you say I need to make a laundry algorithm?"
"Spot on. Please, we're begging. Years of built-up gripes—if we ignore it, student council's toast.
School project, so full marks on second-semester informatics too."
Jun-ki clasped his hands pleadingly.
"But I don't know programming."
"Huh?"
Everyone froze at Seo-ha's innocent expression.
Gifted High had informatics classes, so most students pre-studied coding before enrolling.
"Could I learn it now?"
"It's urgent—think you can?"
The Bit Forge president shook his head—it was impossible.
Still, if Seo-ha set the math rules and they coded the rest, it might work.
"Possible now. Book here."
Nari fetched a guidebook from somewhere and handed it over.
'Handing it now—what for?'
She was quirky enough normally, but her thinking was a total mystery right now.
"Thanks."
"Classmate. Banmal's good."
"Sure!"
Seo-ha took the book.
Watching their easy rapport, Jun-ki and Yeon-woo suddenly felt old.
[Python: From Beginner to Advanced]
"Title's intimidating. No beginner book?"
Nari shrugged at Jun-ki's comment.
"Top of the stack."
Seo-ha sat and started reading.
First page dumped unfamiliar terms: function scope, iterators, generators.
But as pages turned, a smile crept across his face.
The words were new, but the structure intimately familiar.
'Scope's like proof assumptions and conclusion boundaries, iterators induction, generators infinite sequences.'
Code was just new symbols. The principles? Math logic etched into his body.
Seo-ha realized programming languages were mere collections of logic and rules.
His heart raced.
Intangible logic from math now realizable in code, in the real world—it thrilled him.
Two hours slipped by.
Too awkward to leave, they busied themselves waiting for Seo-ha.
Thud.
Seo-ha closed the book.
"Can I come back next week? Need to research a few things."
He'd devoured an advanced textbook in two hours.
'Did he really get all that already?'
Everyone nodded awkwardly.
Seo-ha headed straight to the library's computer science section.
'Beautiful language.'
Understanding programming clarified exactly what he needed for the laundry issue.
[Operating Systems and Scheduling]
[Computer Networks]
[Game Theory and Algorithmic Design]
Back in his dorm, Seo-ha piled books and notes on his desk, fired up his laptop.
Whirr—
"Alright, let's try."
Tap, tap.
First, the overall framework.
Math theories popped into his head for it.
Tap, tap.
As night deepened, the code lengthened.
'What else?'
Some book ideas would fit the app perfectly.
Random delay sims to prevent simultaneous booking clashes, instant-response ghost calls.
'Add rewards.'
Even a simple credit-exchange model to nudge student choices.
With the rough design done, Seo-ha went to bed beaming.
A week later,
Seo-ha was a different person.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-thud—
Code poured out like a storm.
Senior year, but coding like a 5-year vet.
Multiple contest wins.
Yeon-woo couldn't believe his eyes.
'He started Python just last week.'
Seo-ha's fingers danced divinely over the laptop.
Screeech—
"Ready?"
Jun-ki entered; Seo-ha spun his chair.
"Conclusion first."
The president and VP whipped out notebooks, pens ready.
"Perfect fairness is impossible.
But we can hit a state where no one loses big—mathematically, EF1 (Envy-Freeness up to one item)."
"EF-what now?"
Seo-ha turned the laptop, showing packed graphs and tables from simulations.
"Yeah. One concession per person eliminates envy. Long-term, equal chances for all. Machines near max efficiency too."
Yeon-woo's eyes widened.
"S-systematically doable?"
He'd heard it was thesis-level, yet this kid explained it casually.
"Fairness via probabilistic weights and rewards. Combined, grabs efficiency and fairness."
Yeon-woo let out a hollow laugh.
"EF1... for a laundry room?"
The earbud kid sat up.
"If this works, programming contests—grand prize easy."
"Very hard, but possible. Realistic. Needs extreme math skills though."
Nari gazed at Seo-ha approvingly.
Baek Jun-ki and Min Do-hyun stared through the simulation graphs.
Washers and dryers humming, queues shrinking.
Red unfairness metrics faded to a stable low.
"Wait times down 35%?"
Do-hyun's voice shook.
"God of Math indeed."
Nari said smugly.