Cecilia's voice, gentle yet brimming with dignity.
As soon as Seoeun sat in the chair, she began to brew tea in earnest.
Clink.
"Preheating the teapot is important. If the temperature changes too suddenly, the tea leaves get startled and hide their fragrance."
Cecilia emptied the hot water she had set aside in advance. Then she placed the reddish rooibos tea leaves into the pot, from which white steam was rising.
"Waaah."
A real tea party, not mere play.
Her gestures contained the tradition and dignity of a noble family that had been maintained for centuries. Seoeun fell under the illusion that time had stopped.
The red tea leaves swirled and danced inside the pot.
"It's beautiful..."
Though she did not properly know a single thing about tea, Seoeun was captivated by that mysterious sight.
"Mathematicians have a long history of drinking tea."
She flipped the hourglass and continued speaking.
"They say that long ago, the mathematicians in the House of Wisdom in the Middle East also drank tea while observing the stars all night and studying numbers. It crossed to Europe via the Silk Road, and British mathematicians inherited that tradition, holding teacups and debating every day at four in the afternoon."
Trickle.
She poured the tea into a small, adorable, yet by no means shoddy bone china cup. The clear, transparent amber liquid filled the teacup, spreading an exotic fragrance.
Seoeun closed her eyes and savored the scent.
"It is no coincidence that mathematicians loved tea. The very process of brewing tea is an art of precise time and ratios."
Swish.
Cecilia had procured the finest caffeine-free tea leaves for today.
"It's so beautiful."
Seoeun peered into the teacup.
Her heart swelled, as if she were being served a work of art layered with sincerity, dignity, and long history.
"So, the tea before you is the water of wisdom that geniuses who changed the world have drunk since thousands of years ago. It could truly be called a beverage for mathematicians.
Now, Special Research Assistant Yu Seoeun! This tea was made with care for you. Hurry and try it."
Gulp.
Seoeun reached for the teacup with a nervous expression.
As Cecilia had done, she closed her eyes, savored the scent first, then gently took a sip.
'Ugh, bitter!'
Her face scrunched up at the bitter taste that contrasted with the subtle fragrance.
"Hahahaha!"
The team members burst out laughing as they watched Seoeun.
Seoeun desperately put on a nonchalant, aloof expression. She did not want to embarrass Cecilia, who had served her tea.
"I-It's delicious!"
At Seoeun's words, Cecilia nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Oho! I see the makings of a lady in our assistant?"
Plop.
She gently dropped a sugar cube into Seoeun's cup and poured in warmed milk.
"This is a gift for a young lady. It is magic by the name of softness and sweetness. Now! Shall we try drinking the tea once more?"
The liquid that had held a reddish hue turned apricot-colored.
Seoeun nodded and gently stirred the cup with the teaspoon Cecilia had handed her.
Sip—
Seoeun's eyes grew wide at once.
The bitter taste she had felt at first disappeared like magic. The sweetness of the sugar and the savory, soft flavor of the milk wrapped around her entire mouth like silk.
"It's delicious!"
Seoeun's face brightened brilliantly, like spring flowers blooming. An uncontainable, happy smile spread across her lips.
"Isn't it? Try eating a scone together with it."
Seoeun lifted her cup and savored the taste of the tea. Then, as Cecilia had shown her, she carefully split the scone in half.
"Wow!"
A crispy exterior and a fluffy interior with wisps of steam rising.
She topped it with cream and strawberry jam and took a bite, and a rich buttery flavor rushed forth.
"How is it? You've become happy, haven't you?"
Seoeun nodded continuously with her cheeks puffed out full.
The water of wisdom.
Now that she had drunk this, could she become a mathematician like her older brother?
An overwhelming emotion she could not normally feel welled up inside Seoeun.
It was a dreamlike day.
She had been treated like a weirdo among her school friends, but here everyone gladly accepted her play. Seoeun roamed the research lab as if it were her own home and spent a joyful time.
"We have to go now, Seoeun. Mom is waiting."
Seoeun pouted her lips in reluctance.
Leaving this research lab filled with fragrant tea scent and these wonderful adults who acknowledged her as a "Special Research Assistant" was unbearably regretful.
"Brother..."
Seoeun cherished the name tag hanging on her chest and held onto the hem of Seoha's clothes. Seoha patted her head gently and smiled softly.
"The assistant mission ends today. Let's think about the rest when you're a bit older, Seoeun."
"Okay!"
Theo rummaged through a drawer and took out a camera.
"Let's take a commemorative photo!"
Theo, Sujeong, Cecilia, Sri, and Ben.
The world's greatest geniuses huddled together with Seoeun in the center. Even Cecilia, who detested having her picture taken, didn't complain this time.
Click!
"I'll send you the photo later. It will surely become a precious memory."
Forcing her feet, which refused to move away, to leave, she bid farewell. Seoeun turned around several times and waved her hand until the door closed. Her eyes, looking at them, were filled with admiration.
Whoosh—
The door closed, and a quiet silence fell upon the research lab.
Theo took off his jacket as if his tension had been released and flopped down onto the sofa.
"......."
"......."
"A child with a frighteningly promising future."
Ben mumbled softly, adjusting his glasses.
Theo loosened his tie and smirked.
"It's on another level. Didn't you see her with the cube earlier? How on earth was Seoha able to nurture that kind of geometric sense? It's not something you get just by studying."
Sujeong nodded.
"She didn't memorize formulas. Seoeun has been playing with numbers since she was born. That's probably why her intuition is unbelievably sharp."
"A-And her memory was amazing too."
Seoeun had returned after enjoying various games to her heart's content that she couldn't play with her friends.
The team members were shocked by Seoha's words that he had never properly taught Seoeun math.
"What if..."
Theo said, stroking his chin with an intrigued expression.
"What if Seoha decides to seriously teach her math? We may have done something even greater than we thought today."
Theo paid particular attention to Seoeun's geometric ability.
The highest-dimensional realm in mathematics would be abstraction. The ability to freely rotate and decompose invisible multidimensional structures in one's mind. If she grew as expected, couldn't she too become a mathematician who leaves her mark on history?
"Hmmm."
Cecilia's languid voice.
Everyone's gaze focused on her.
"Is it okay for you to just stand there admiring her like that?"
"Excuse me?"
Ben asked back with a puzzled expression.
"You saw her expression earlier, right? She was looking at us with admiring eyes, as if we were Newton."
Cecilia took her hand off the teacup and continued.
"But you know, what if when she grows older and sees us again, she thinks, 'Huh? They weren't anything special after all'?
Aah! The moment when brilliant admiration turns into disappointment. I don't think I could bear that, at least."
At her words, everyone's faces stiffened.
Theo shook his head as if even imagining it was terrible.
"That has nothing to do with me. There's a theory with my initials in it. I'm going to make plenty more too."
"Same here! I'll become a mathematician who won't be ashamed in front of Seoeun!"
"I-I also do engineering, so maybe I can avoid direct comparison?"
"......."
Cecilia looked at Ben with a strange expression.
In her mind, she pictured a porter following young Seoeun around, serving her.
Ben made an emotional expression.
"I think you're having a very rude thought right now."
"Huh? Was it that obvious?"
Ben sighed as if dumbfounded by her startled appearance.
"If you think I'll stay like this forever, that's a big mistake.
Now that I have the opportunity, I'll work myself to death. If I saw the moment that look in her eyes changed, I think my heart would truly break."
Seoeun had seemed to take a liking to Ben and had played with him for quite a while. The sparkling eyes of the innocent girl were still vivid in his mind.
"Uwahaha!"
"Pfft!"
"Hahaha!"
The laboratory became a sea of laughter at his solemn declaration.
Cecilia patted Ben's shoulder as if she understood.
It had been in jest, but it was no joke. Everyone took the hint and returned to their places. Then they began to furiously read the materials to review for the next meeting.
***
Ben arrived at the lab first, as usual.
The morning was his alone time. He collected the newspaper and mail, made a round of the lab to check if anything unusual had happened overnight. Cleaning the chalkboard and whiteboard so the team members could start the day in a good mood was also his duty.
"Done!"
As soon as he finished cleaning, people started arriving.
"Morning!"
"You look good today!"
He brewed a cup of coffee, sat on the sofa, and turned on his tablet. The people here generally weren't interested in academic trends.
"At least someone has to keep track."
The Nature News logo appeared.
His eyes, which had been scrolling through the screen absentmindedly, grew wide. A face he couldn't forget even if he tried.
"Impossible!"
A loud voice burst out of him unconsciously. The team members raised their heads and began gathering around him one by one.
"What's going on?"
[Is the Final Destination Finally in Sight? Cambridge and University of Munich Joint Team Announces Revolutionary Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis]
Ben clicked the article with trembling hands.
—Researchers from the world-renowned Cambridge and Germany's University of Munich announced that they had secured decisive clues regarding the critical line of the Riemann Hypothesis after two years of joint research.
A large photo was printed on the right.
Felix Morgenstern, the supervising professor of his third lab at the University of Munich. He was a godfather of the European scientific community and also a staunch authoritarian.
"This man collaborating?"
The article's contents were more specific than expected.
A large-scale project combining Cambridge's mathematics team and the University of Munich's quantum physics team.
"Oh? This!"
Sujeong let out a shriek while reading the article.
It was an interview with Cambridge Professor Arthur Pendleton.
—In fact, what became the decisive bridge for this research was the paper by MIT's genius mathematician, Yu Seoha.
The theory on the correlation between quantum chaos and the zeta function that he published gave us great inspiration.
We obtained hints from his formulas and decided to collaborate with Professor Felix.
"Ah... No!"
Of all people, Felix!
Ben clutched his head in despair.
Seoha had paradoxically handed the sharpest blade to his most powerful enemies. When he raised his head, everyone was looking at Seoha.
"What do you think?"
Seoha fell into thought at Theo's question.
In fact, Seoha didn't particularly care who proved a difficult problem. Of course, he would prefer if it were himself, but he was prepared to gladly offer praise if it were someone else.
But this was no longer a personal matter.
As the leader of a team, Seoha had the duty to repay his team members' hard work.
"I don't think it's an impossible approach."
Cambridge University had a long history with the Riemann Hypothesis.
Professor Hardy of that institution was the mathematician who first proved that infinitely many zeros of the zeta function exist on the critical line.
Until his dying moments, he had wished to prove the Riemann Hypothesis as his New Year's wish.
"Th-Then!"
"What should we do?"
"Could they be faster than APEX?"
Seoha shook his head.
"Other than that it's not a wrong approach, I can't be certain of anything yet. But they seem quite confident."
If they had gone so far as to release an article, it must mean they had a fair amount of confidence.
He turned his body and looked at the team members. There was no hesitation in Seoha's eyes as he looked at them.
"From now on, it's a competition. I'm confident I can win, but what do you all think?"
Sometimes science develops through competition.
November 1915 was the most intense month in the history of mathematics and physics. Einstein and Hilbert competitively immersed themselves in research and presented their theories.
The great battle of geniuses waged over the feat of proving the theory of relativity; of course, the victor was the one everyone knows.
And the gap between the papers they submitted was merely five days.