U Hyeon was sitting in the very back row of the auditorium.
It was an intentional arrangement.
The front rows were occupied by well-known professors and scholars, as well as officials from the office of education.
“A special advisory committee member for the office of education, huh…”
U Hyeon chuckled inwardly.
Once the story of Seoha and him became widely known through Miyeong’s essay, the number of places seeking him out only increased.
There was just one thing that had changed: the nature of the people who came to find him.
As someone working in the private education industry, communicating with parents had always required caution.
“Can my child be raised like Yu Seoha too?”
U Hyeon always gave them the same answer.
“Seoha must not become the standard for children’s achievements. He’s a very inappropriate role model.”
If he were the standard of judgment, every student would end up a failure.
The person named Seoha was an unforeseen singularity in his life. Something that would likely never happen again.
Around the time U Hyeon was growing weary of parents, other people began coming to see him.
The office of education, national research institutes, gifted education foundations, and even major corporations and consulting firms approached him and spoke to him politely.
Their formats differed, but what they wanted was one thing.
The next Yu Seoha.
“We’re compiling a list of talents who should be managed at the national level. Would you be able to help us?”
“We’d like to ask you to design an educational curriculum for the top 0.01% of talents.”
“We need a mechanism to keep talents with a high possibility of going overseas here in Korea. We’d like to hear your opinion on this…”
“You were the first to recognize Yu Seoha, weren’t you? We’d like to create criteria for identifying gifted children of that level early on.”
Before he knew it, U Hyeon was known as the nation’s foremost expert on gifted children.
“Well, it’s not as if I dislike this kind of work.”
It was always enjoyable to observe intelligent children. Surely there was meaning in guiding them in the right direction as well.
“But…”
U Hyeon looked toward the stage and smiled in satisfaction.
The atmosphere in Korea’s education circles had changed.
The preferences of top-ranking students, once overwhelmingly focused on medical school, were now rapidly spreading toward the sciences.
Naturally, Seoha was at the center of that change.
“Why bother becoming a doctor? You can earn that much just by being good at math?”
“I think being a mathematician is an incredibly cool job, teacher.”
Working on the very front lines of college admissions, U Hyeon could feel this shift firsthand.
The cutoffs for medical school prep classes were dropping year by year.
“It’s a good thing for everyone, too.”
He closed the document he had spread over his knees.
It was an authority granted only to U Hyeon. An extremely powerful letter of recommendation that could put an outstanding student on the KMO fast track.
“It would be wonderful if there were a child on Seoeun’s level…”
But today, too, U Hyeon failed to find an owner for the recommendation letter.
* * *
[The Day of the Vote, New York City Council Chamber]
Step, step.
John Carson slowly walked up to the podium. He had nothing in his hands.
In the quiet chamber, the sound of his footsteps rang out distinctly.
After bowing his head before the council members, he drew a breath.
“Honorable council members.”
His low, composed voice gave listeners a sense of trust.
Since the whole country’s attention was focused on the matter, the chamber was packed with reporters.
“I did not come here today to explain a new technology.”
In the front row of the chamber, several council members raised their heads.
“Nor will I speak of policy or political advantage and disadvantage.”
John slowly lifted his head and met the eyes of the council members one by one.
“Instead, I would like to speak about the choices this city has repeated until now, and why New York has reached its current state.”
“New York is a city accustomed to crisis.
In the 1970s, this city was on the brink of bankruptcy. Its finances had collapsed, public safety had crumbled, and crime was rampant throughout the city.
In just seven years, 600,000 jobs vanished, and an even greater number of people left New York. The world’s media judged New York to have entered an irreversible decline.”
Perhaps recalling those days, several gray-haired council members nodded.
“Even so, we survived. And we stood tall at the center of the world as a brilliant hub of finance and culture.
On September 11, 2001, even upon the scars left by the most horrific act of terror in history, we survived. The city called people back once more and restored life.
Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the suffocating pandemic after that—in every one of those crises, New York has always survived in the same way.”
Silence fell over the chamber.
“The city survived, but the price was always paid by ordinary people. We have endured by using their sacrifices as our driving force.
The income gap between the top 20 percent and the bottom 20 percent in Manhattan reaches a staggering fifty-three times. London, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul—no megacity anywhere in the world has abandoned its low-income residents until things reached this point.”
“We have always demanded things of ordinary people. Move faster, come out earlier, work harder…
You say it cannot be helped because this is how the social structure is?”
He shook his head.
“Ladies and gentlemen!
Even if only once, let us adjust the structure of our society to fit people.”
There was sincerity in John’s voice.
The reporters nodded repeatedly, as if moved.
“I do not believe so, but the proposal to be voted on today may fail.
It will receive criticism as well. And I may not be able to personally bear the consequences this decision will bring.”
He gave a bitter smile.
“Even so, there is only one reason I put this proposal forward!
Because all of us already know the consequences of doing nothing.”
“Council members, human beings cannot always be perfect. But we can make courageous choices. And I believe that now is precisely the moment when your courage is needed.”
Click!
Click!
Perhaps thinking it made for a good picture, the reporters pressed their shutters without pause.
John lowered his head with a humble attitude, then stepped down from the podium.
The Speaker slowly raised the gavel.
“We will now begin the vote on Project Oracle.”
John clenched his fist tightly.
Now, all that remained was for the representatives of the citizens to choose New York’s future for themselves.
* * *
[BREAKING NEWS]
—New York City Council Gives Final Approval to Project Oracle
“Moments ago, the New York City Council gave final approval to the Project Oracle budget bill with 26 votes in favor and 17 against.”
The screen switched to the City Council chamber.
The numbers displayed on the screen were clearly visible.
“This is the largest budget execution for a single transportation and urban system reform plan in New York City. This vote is being evaluated as a major turning point that will change the very way New York City is operated going forward.
In particular, Mayor John Carson’s speech in the council today is said to have left a strong impression not only on the political world, but on civil society as a whole.”
The camera showed the plaza in front of City Hall.
People were cheering as they watched the electronic display. There were quite a few people holding placards with John’s name written on them.
“Now the ball has been passed to the researchers who will design and implement this project. The core design of Project Oracle is expected to be handled by MIT’s young brain, Yu Seoha, who has recently solved a series of difficult problems.”
Familiar names appeared on one side of the screen.
[MIT Team Apex Lab]
—Yu Seoha
—Theodore Lanford
—Srinivasa Krishnan
—Im Sujeong
“Oh, it’s our names!”
Sujeong shouted while watching the news.
Since the vote involved the team’s major schedule, all the team members had gathered in the lab to watch TV.
“Wow! I didn’t think this would actually pass…”
“Me neither.”
Theo and Sri wore dazed expressions.
“What did you say?”
Sujeong glared at Theo.
“So you made me study for a project that wasn’t even confirmed? Do you know how much I suffered because of this?”
No matter how smart Sujeong was, studying unfamiliar coding was no easy task. She had retraced everything Seoha had done since Boston. She learned mathematical models and learned how to place those models on top of real-world data.
The language connecting the two consisted of unfamiliar codes whose names she had only barely known.
“Haha, it was good that you did it, wasn’t it? Now that you know everything, what a relief!”
“I was surprised by how quickly Sujeong learned too.”
Sri chimed in after Theo.
It was clearly an attempt to lighten the mood, but Sujeong could not hide her aggrieved expression.
“I thought it would pass, of course.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Seoha at his words.
“Really? Didn’t it look difficult to anyone?”
“No, I believed John would definitely pull it off. He had the face of someone who had firmly steeled himself. Now it’s our turn to give an answer.
Let’s make the coolest system together!”
The three of them nodded at the same time.
“Yeah!”
“Of course.”
“I guess there will be more room for me to contribute than before.”
A ten-billion-dollar budget.
The details would have to be negotiated, but the success fee would likely be no small sum either.
Bzzzzzz—
In the middle of the conversation, Seoha’s cell phone on the table rang.
[Han Gyeoul]
Sujeong made a strange expression.
“Huh? That Han Gyeoul from our school?”
After checking the caller, Seoha hurriedly left his seat and answered the phone.
“Hello?”
—Uh… It’s me.
Gyeoul was not the type to call often, and her tone of voice was lower than usual.
Had something happened?
Seoha asked in an urgent voice.
“Yeah, tell me. Is your performance not going well again?”
—No, it’s not that. I’m at your school right now.”
“Huh?”
Seoha’s eyes widened.
Just as he was about to ask where she was, Gyeoul stated her business first.
—Can you come to Bartley’s Burger? But there’s someone with me who says he absolutely has to meet you.
“Got it. Wait just a moment.”
It was a restaurant right in front of the school.
Seoha hurriedly ran there.
Creak—
Posters plastered densely over every wall, a menu board written like graffiti.
Perhaps because it was not mealtime, the interior was quiet.
“Here!”
Gyeoul sat at a table by the window and waved.
As he approached the table, he saw her companion. Seoha’s gaze naturally shifted to him.
A gray jacket, a neat shirt.
He was a man who did not suit the atmosphere of this place at all.
The deep fatigue settled in his eyes was the only commonality Seoha could find.
“You must be Yu Seoha.”
It was Lawrence.
Though there was a hamburger in front of him, he had not touched it at all and was sitting with both hands folded together on the table.
“I’m sorry to have made you come all the way to a place like this.”
“No.”
Gyeoul had come with him.
There was surely a reason for it.
“This is Professor Lawrence from Curtis. He’s also a famous conductor. A few days ago, I was playing the piece you composed in the practice room…”
Gyeoul briefly explained why she had come here.
But Seoha’s mind was still full of questions.
“Please take a look at this.”
He pulled over the bag beside the table and took out a thick stack of sheet music.
Seoha accepted it and began to read.
“Orchestra…”
The parts were divided.
“He isn’t even a mathematician?”
Seoha clicked his tongue inwardly.
Lawrence had found almost all of the subtle symmetrical elements Ducky had hidden within the piece.
He had arranged it so that they would harmonize around the strings and winds, but…
Seoha felt he knew why this man had come to find him.
“Do you like it?”
With his clasped hands resting against his chin, Lawrence quietly gazed at Seoha.
It was an excellent arrangement.
But he could not accept it.
When Seoha shook his head, Lawrence smiled as though he had expected as much.
“The more I touched it, the more it felt like I was only ruining the piece. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever had such an experience. Just what kind of magic did you work on that score?”
“…”
“I mean I couldn’t find a way to expand the piece without breaking the symmetry you designed. Me, Lawrence!”