Chapter 37
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 037
Chapter Title: Research Submission
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Kim Ah-hyun's lavish workshop.
She scribbled away with her quill on parchment, but her focus just wouldn't settle.
"...I heard asd123 sent a detection scroll to the Association."
Was it a coincidence?
It seemed to line up perfectly with the task Professor Park Ha-jun had recently assigned to his researchers.
Of course, it could just be a coincidence.
I don't know exactly what effect that [Detection] scroll has, after all.
But the previous [Barrier] scroll had definitely raised some suspicions.
On the day Kim Ah-hyun had told Park Ha-jun about intercepting barriers.
Park Ha-jun had given his researchers a related mathematical model as homework.
And asd123 had sent an intercepting barrier scroll to the Association.
Mathematics and scrolls.
There wasn't a direct connection, so she couldn't say for sure, but...
Somehow, she had a feeling that Professor Park Ha-jun might be asd123!
No, she wanted him to be asd123.
Though Kim Ah-hyun had ended up as a lab assistant more or less by accident.
Her original goal had been to meet asd123. To kneel before him and beg for his teachings.
But regardless of Park Ha-jun's true identity, there was one problem.
"Why do I feel so ignored...?"
They chatted occasionally, but they'd rarely delved deep into circuit discussions. Kang Eun-ho said he'd done so, though...
It was only natural to feel a bit resentful. From her perspective, it felt like he was avoiding the topic.
Does he not want anyone finding out he's asd123? Not like I'd go blabbing about it.
"I just want to learn..."
As she doodled with her quill, nursing her grievances, a text message arrived.
Ah-hyun, could you come in a bit early today?
"...!"
It was the first text from Park Ha-jun. And the content was far from ordinary. Come in early?
At the same time, Kang Eun-ho's words flashed through her mind.
"If the professor requests a private meeting, don't ask questions—just go..."
Kim Ah-hyun grabbed her quill and hurried to work.
Park Ha-jun's lab.
Park Ha-jun poured coffee for Kim Ah-hyun.
Slurp.
The reason he'd called her aside was simple.
Expresses and conveys the geometric concepts contained in one's thoughts as sensory information comprehensible to others.
However, it only activates if one's understanding of the relevant circuit is perfect.
He needed to test this newly acquired skill.
Previously, only the end result—the 'circuit'—could be conveyed as communicable information.
Now, it meant the geometric concepts embedded in the circuit could be expressed in magical terms as well.
"I wonder what it'll feel like."
Park Ha-jun, brimming with curiosity, slowly opened his mouth.
"It's about this research. There's something I'd like to discuss with you, Ah-hyun."
"Discuss?"
Her face lit up with eager anticipation.
Park Ha-jun knew exactly what she was hoping for.
He'd chatted with her enough to realize she hadn't yet reached 100% circuit completion.
He'd glimpsed her burning determination for it.
So, he smiled gently and said,
"Yes. I've prepared something quite intriguing."
"...Please, go ahead."
Kim Ah-hyun nodded solemnly, her expression resolute.
The topic he brought up was straightforward.
A study he planned to announce to the academic world soon—a geometric approach to magical incantations and scroll circuits.
Specifically, on the 'essence of attributes.'
By grasping the essence of attribute shapes (knots) and deforming them appropriately while preserving that essence, one could approach perfection.
To prove this, he'd list attribute shapes from 1 to 100.
And through that, reveal the essence of attribute shapes in magical terms.
But if Park Ha-jun did it alone, it'd draw unnecessary suspicion.
He'd have no choice but to enlist the help of Kim Ah-hyun, the A-rank creator.
Have Park Ha-jun handle completion levels 1 through 80, then pass the rest to her—with some guidance on the side.
"...So, by aiming for a specific state while preserving the essence, we might surpass the circuits the system provides, don't you think?"
"Ah..."
Kim Ah-hyun's eyes widened in fascination.
But there was something she didn't know.
This time, unlike with Kang Eun-ho, he hadn't used terms like 'attribute incantation section' or 'circuit components' much.
In other words, Park Ha-jun had expressed the attribute parts of the circuit as 'knots' in topology.
Yet Kim Ah-hyun felt no disconnect—instead, she looked utterly shocked.
After pondering deeply for a while, she uttered just one phrase.
"...So that's the difference."
"Hm?"
Kim Ah-hyun shook her head.
"It's nothing... Professor, could I handle listing out the cases for your research?"
Park Ha-jun smiled softly in response.
"Of course. It's beyond me anyway, so if I set the basic framework..."
"No! I want to do it from start to finish! If you just guide the direction..."
"?"
He'd sensed it from their first meeting, but Kim Ah-hyun was truly an exceptional researcher.
Though Park Ha-jun tried to dissuade her, he couldn't break her resolve.
"...Alright. Feel free to ask if you have any questions."
Park Ha-jun scratched his cheek and handed over the relevant materials.
"She's a good one... I hear she's been studying math lately too. I should ask if she's thought about grad school soon."
As Park Ha-jun mulled over that slightly chilling thought, Kim Ah-hyun was organizing the data she'd accumulated over the past eight years in her mind.
For her, listing cases was child's play.
She could finish in a single day what had taken Park Ha-jun a week.
The next day, at the Mage Association.
A staff member reviewing research proposals and deciding on funding let out a sigh.
"...This is driving me crazy."
A troublesome issue had arisen recently.
It all started with one research proposal.
The lead researcher was a math professor.
The content involved not just incantations but circuits too—utterly absurd on its face.
Naturally, such a cheeky proposal deserved rejection. It was a miracle no curses were scribbled in the rejection reason.
So, he'd sorted it into the rejection pile.
But then.
Councilor Jeong Hyun-seok had sponsored that very research. With 300 million won, no less.
"...Why?"
He reread the proposal, but it still made no sense.
The wonders of topology—deforming while preserving essence... Wasn't that a bit too fanciful for magic?
"If finding the essence of incantation sections were that easy, we wouldn't have slaved away for eight years."
The magical academia was trudging along the path paved by the Association President.
Even he hadn't provided clear guidelines, leaving many mages wandering lost.
And now some math professor was declaring he'd pull it off.
The intent was good. If possible, it was worth investing more than 400 million...
But good intentions alone weren't enough.
The proposal lacked concrete methods.
All that topology and geometry nonsense was too flimsy to count as methodology.
"Councilor Jeong Hyun-seok isn't the type to sponsor based on intent alone."
What had he seen in it?
He wanted to ask, but the councilor was away on the Basqui incident response team.
So he'd been waiting for his return when...
Submission: [A Geometric Approach to Magical Incantations and Scroll Circuits...]
The researcher had submitted the paper.
"What on earth is he thinking...?"
Hadn't this professor only recently sought sponsorship?
There was no way he could've produced results this quickly...
"Probably just padded with bullshit."
Unable to curb his curiosity, the staffer opened the paper file.
How could he resist a magic fusion study by a math professor backed by a big sponsor?
Before reading, though, he steeled himself.
"If it's full of subjective nonsense, I'll reject it myself."
With a troubled heart, he slowly scrolled down.
The introduction was standard fare.
Pointing out the limits of system-provided circuits and stressing the need for new approaches.
Described in circuits, with incantations aiding understanding.
Starting with circuits over incantations earned it a demerit, and he scrolled further.
Then a subsection title caught his eye.
"...?"
It sounded like novel bullshit. Utterly out-of-left-field nonsense that nearly made him chuckle.
This professor must want a fight with the magical academia.
"Let's see what crap he spews in the body."
He read on with a mocking smirk.
But then.
"Hm?"
The beginning was anything but ordinary.
Hundreds of pages of incantations and circuit diagrams.
The starting incantation was laughably crude.
But it gradually progressed toward perfection.
With clear criteria along the way.
And the final incantation resembled the Association President's textbook version at first glance.
"..."
Silenced by the unexpected expertise, he read the body.
"...This study redefines the essence of the fire attribute as a one-to-one correspondence with the 'Trefoil Knot,' a topological structure like that in [Figure 1]...")
The conclusion: Fire attribute incantation sections only achieve perfection when they take on the topological invariants of the trefoil knot.
"What is this? This weird persuasiveness..."
The staffer shook his head vigorously. But he couldn't deny it.
...He was convinced. It had moved him, stuck at the 2-circle wall.
Greed stirred.
Should he share this with the world?
Or reject publication and keep it to himself?
...But this research had already caught Councilor Jeong Hyun-seok's eye.
"...No wonder."
Muttering to himself, the staffer approved publication despite not finishing it.
He drafted a report correcting the funding rejection. There was no choice but to fund this research.
Around that time, Park Ha-jun sat in his lab chair, handling administrative work.
"It'll probably take about two months for the paper submission results..."
Thanks to Kim Ah-hyun's vast data and Kang Eun-ho's incantation conversions, he'd finished the paper in a day. But going public took time.
"...Even more time for reactions to emerge."
He hoped the magical academia would be shocked.
That they'd embrace his research and see overall skill improvements.
Park Ha-jun would continue linking all magics mathematically and geometrically.
Eventually, they'd be studying math out of necessity.
His knowledge had limits, after all.
...That was the ultimate goal of this research.
Anyway.
"...No word on the paper submission or the immortality potion detection, and nothing more I can do."
He'd given his researchers a well-deserved break.
Time to tackle the backlog and essentials.
[Mathematics Lab Administrative Staff Recruitment]
[... 2nd Semester Research Student Recruitment]
He posted the announcements first.
Hire admin staff and expand the lab to reduce overall fatigue.
Couldn't cut the work itself.
Fewer projects might make him worse than a slave-driving professor for grad students needing achievements.
"So more math enthusiasts can build strong records in a good environment..."
After posting, he pulled out his quill.
asd123. Why no scrolls today?
Piles of eager buyers.
"Maybe sketch for an hour."
As he drew the [Detection] circuit, he'd made a resolution.
"If I die hoarding gold like this, what's the point."
From now on, steadily convert 10% of earnings to cash. The next goal, a legendary magic quill, would take time.