Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Seo-eun's Grudge
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"Why is our little Seo-eun so mad?"
Five-year-old Seo-eun stood there with her arms crossed, stubbornly glaring off at the left side of the sky.
I tried coaxing her gently, but she puffed out her cheeks even more, jutting her lips out stubbornly before turning her head away completely.
"Come on, our pretty Seo-eun, just whisper it to Mommy. What's wrong?"
Standing there on her short little legs with her lips pursed in a pout, she looked like she was shouting to the whole world with her entire body that she was angry.
Mi-young couldn't help but smile at how adorable she was.
"Seo-eun, what's wrong?"
Seo-eun started sobbing as if she had the world's greatest grievance.
"Big brother!"
"Yeah, big brother."
Hiccup.
"Big brother hasn't played with me for two whole days! He said he'd play after the contest was over, but he lied to me!"
Tears were streaming down Seo-eun's cheeks in big drops.
"He's probably busy with a guest right now. They'll leave soon, so just wait a little, okay?"
Richmond? Edward?
A famous professor had shown up early and was chatting with Seo-ha. After dealing with this a few times, Mi-young had built up an immunity—she no longer got as nervous as before.
'Seo-ha can handle it himself.'
"Then how about Mommy plays instead? You can teach me."
Mi-young let out a sigh.
She had so much to do, and it didn't look like her daughter would let her go easily.
"Okay! Let's play with Mommy!"
"Yay!"
Seo-eun scampered off to her room. She came back dragging a basket filled with the colorful number cards that Seo-ha had made.
Mi-young had seen the kids playing with them before, but she had no idea what the rules were.
The cards were divided into two types: big numbers and small numbers.
"Mommy picks one, and I smash it with these cards. The more cards I use, the better!"
She handed Mi-young some cards. They were all big numbers.
Mi-young picked out the one with 90 on it and held it up.
"90, huh? Then I'll..."
Seo-eun rummaged through her cards with her tiny hands, muttering to herself.
"Hmm... First, 2! That leaves 45, then... 3! Now 15 left, so 3 and 5!"
Seo-eun excitedly slapped down the cards one by one.
"Ta-da! I used four cards!"
She clapped her hands in delight, then stuck out her palm.
"Candy!"
Mi-young stared at her daughter, utterly dumbfounded.
'This is a number game? Son, what the heck are you teaching your little sister?'
Mi-young placed a piece of candy in Seo-eun's hand.
"Now Mommy's turn! Bigger number!"
The parents had never taught Seo-eun anything.
But Seo-ha started carrying his little sister around every day, and one day he began reading books to her. That led to Hangul lessons, then numbers, the alphabet, and even multiplication tables. It hadn't taken long to get through it all.
'I didn't realize he was having her do prime factorization, though.'
Seo-eun just seemed thrilled to play with her big brother.
She didn't even think of it as studying.
Mi-young wasn't immune to human curiosity— she'd wondered if maybe Seo-eun was a genius too. But her daughter was different from Seo-ha.
Her son handled everything on his own. She never saw Seo-eun thirsting for knowledge, devouring books like he did.
But that was fine. As long as she grew up bright and healthy.
Cheol-ho was a bit jealous that his daughter had turned into a total big-brother fanatic, but...
Pfft.
Mi-young burst out laughing at the thought of her husband sulking at home, bumped down to third place in his daughter's affections.
"All done talking?"
It was quite a while before the professor finally emerged. He glanced at Mi-young with an expression like he had a lot to say, gave a polite bow, and left.
"Yeah. He's a professor from some university in America. He wants me to publish a paper."
"A paper? Isn't that super hard?"
"Nah, not really. He said just to organize the problems I solved well. He'll even handle the submission."
Mi-young still couldn't wrap her head around it.
Aren't papers something college students write at the earliest? She was getting used to having a smart son, but Seo-ha always exceeded her wildest imagination.
"But why a paper all of a sudden?"
"He probably just said it on a whim since he came all this way."
As if he'd just remembered, Seo-ha pulled out a box from behind him. It was pretty big, with "Korean Mathematical Society" printed on the sender label.
"Huh? What's this? It's pretty big."
Mi-young took the box and was surprised by its weight.
Curious, she grabbed a utility knife and carefully opened it. Inside was an object wrapped in cushioning material.
"A book?"
She opened the case, which was designed to unfold like a book, revealing a certificate printed with gold foil.
[49th National Math Competition Grand Prize]
"They really went all out on this," Mi-young said in admiration, peering at the certificate. It was on thick paper with genuine gold plating.
[Name: Yoo Seo-ha]
Seeing her son recognized at the national level made her heart swell with pride. Before she knew it, Seo-eun had snuck over and was rummaging through the box like a curious kitten.
"Mommy, a plate!"
It was a silver-plated trophy in the shape of a dish.
Mi-young alternated between the certificate and trophy, her face full of emotion. She had to display them somewhere everyone could see. Seo-ha, however, seemed utterly uninterested.
"Kyaa!"
Seo-eun squealed in delight.
She must have loved the shiny thing, clutching the plate tightly with both hands like it was hers. Mi-young scooped her up for some "airplane" tosses high into the sky.
As she cleared away the box, some papers fell out onto the floor.
[Prize Money Receipt Instructions]
- Prize Amount: 1,000,000 KRW
"Prize money too? And this much?"
In their tight budget, a million won would be a huge help, but Mi-young couldn't bring herself to think about spending it.
'I'll save it for Seo-ha's future. Who knows what might come up...'
This was the day Yoo Seo-ha's name began to spread across the nation.
Sejong Gifted High School staff room.
Im Soo-jung stood there blankly, clutching the certificate. The paper trembled faintly in her grip.
[49th National Math Competition Gold Prize]
"Gold prize? For me?"
Disbelief filled Soo-jung's voice. This had never happened before in her life. She had always taken first place. In every test, every competition.
"Yeah. Tough break this time."
Her homeroom teacher and math instructor, Park Young-ho, shook his head regretfully.
"Teacher, is this a mistake? I don't make mistakes. All the problems were ones I knew, and I wrote perfect solutions and answers. Full score—how could I not get grand prize?"
Ugh.
The homeroom teacher looked troubled.
He hadn't doubted she'd win grand prize either, so he'd called the organizers right away to confirm.
-There was a small error on problem 4. The grand prize winner fixed it perfectly. It was a big topic among the professors. They were going to allow multiple correct answers, but a Stanford professor named Han objected.
Edward Han.
Just hearing the name gave Young-ho chills. Why would a world-class mathematician show up for a Korean competition?
Back in college, he'd pulled all-nighters trying to understand that professor's paper.
At age 34, he'd published "An Approach to the Regularity Problem of the Navier-Stokes Equations," shaking the math world. He'd proposed a revolutionary methodology for one of fluid dynamics' core unsolved problems.
After that, he'd published over 30 papers in top journals, boasting world-class citation counts.
If this guy had picked the grand prize himself, even the society couldn't argue.
Young-ho explained all this earnestly, but Soo-jung couldn't accept it.
"I don't know what I did wrong. If the answer was incorrect, I could study harder and get it right next time. But it wasn't, right? Teacher, what do I have to do to get first place? Wait until the grand prize winner goes to college?"
'Why is she so desperate?'
Only then did Young-ho realize the student before him was just 15 years old.
Her brilliant math achievements had blinded him to seeing her properly.
"Soo-jung."
"Yes?"
"Do your parents put a lot of pressure on you academically at home?"
Young-ho asked carefully.
According to her student records, Soo-jung's father was a Seoul National University engineering professor, and her mother was a doctor. From experience, families like that often piled intense academic pressure on their kids.
This girl might be forced into near-abusive levels of study.
But her response was completely unexpected.
"Huh? What do you mean? My parents have been begging me since I was little to cut back on academies. Especially Dad—he'd nag every weekend to skip them and go play, and I'd have to fight him off."
Soo-jung stared at Young-ho like he was some weirdo.
"Huh?"
"Yes?"
"Then why are you so obsessed with rankings? Gold prize is an amazing result."
"I like first place. That feeling of standing alone at the top. The moment everyone else looks up at me... it's just..."
Soo-jung's eyes sparkled. It was like a junkie craving a fix.
"...indescribably ecstatic."
Soo-jung closed her eyes, crossing her hands over her chest as if embracing herself. Her body shivered.
Prickle.
Goosebumps rose on Young-ho's arms.
"S-Soo-jung."
'This isn't normal. Mental disorder? But she's always seemed perfectly fine otherwise. Her mom's a doctor—what the hell goes on at home?'
Thoughts raced through Young-ho's mind.
He tried to subtly back away, but Soo-jung suddenly snapped her eyes open and leaned forward.
Caught off guard by her inexplicable intensity, Young-ho flinched.
"That's why I'm asking, Teacher. The grand prize went to a senior, right? Graduating this year? Then starting next year, I'll be first again, so no big deal. Honestly, even if they don't graduate, it wouldn't matter much. I just got unlucky this time. Who could've guessed that professor from America would throw a fit? But better safe than sorry, so I'll check it out. What's the name?"
"Yoo Seo-ha."
"I know the top 20 math whizzes in Korea by name, and I've never heard of him. Guess he just got super lucky this time."
Young-ho hadn't realized how talkative she could be—she was usually so quiet.
Now he got it.
She must have quietly basked in the praise showered on her.
Her nonstop chatter left Young-ho's mind in a fog. He decided to end the conversation quickly.
"He's an elementary school kid."
Soo-jung blinked, her brain seemingly grinding to a halt.
"Pardon?"
"Yoo Seo-ha, the grand prize winner. Elementary schooler."
"I got the grand prize answer sheet too and read it, but honestly, I didn't understand it all. Sorry, teacher here lacks the chops."
It was a sincere apology, but her eyes were unfocused, like she wasn't hearing a word.
"...No way."
A massive crisis had just crashed into 15-year-old Im Soo-jung's life.