Even the Riemann Hypothesis, the most famous unsolved problem in history, was something the vast majority of people had never heard of.
Felix knew exactly how to draw the public’s attention. The classic method of submitting a paper did not suit the busy modern world.
Months before the official announcement, he began leaking provocative phrases through social media and specialized science outlets. Walking a delicate tightrope between academic authority and public curiosity, he kept feeding the fire.
In the end, terrestrial broadcasters and famous science YouTube channels began to move.
[The Million-Dollar Math Problem That Could Change the World—Finally Conquered?]
[Has Humanity Solved the Secret of Prime Numbers? Your Bank Account May Be at Risk.]
Videos with sensational thumbnails flooded in.
People may not have known who Riemann was, but they reacted instantly to the fear that their accounts might be emptied and to the enormous prize money of one million dollars.
Thanks to that, the farce even unfolded of banks and securities firms putting up banners on their social media accounts saying things like, “Your accounts are safe.”
“Good. Now the atmosphere is properly heating up.”
Felix raised the corner of his mouth in satisfaction as he swiped through the screen of his tablet.
No matter which country’s articles he looked at, he saw his name. It was a thrill incomparable to something like the Citation Index exchanged among scholars.
‘More. Go even wilder.’
In a capitalist society, value is proven by numbers.
He did not want to end his life in a laboratory, smelling the fishy odor of liquid nitrogen and helium. From Archimedes of ancient Greece to Einstein of the modern age, geniuses who changed eras had always been objects of awe.
And if wealth and power were added to that? Could there be a better life?
Three years ago, in a discreet restaurant near the Reichstag building in Berlin.
How surprised he had been when the chancellor proposed a meeting. He had been unable to control his pounding heart.
“Doctor, let us be frank. The times have changed. In this paradigm dominated by Google, Apple, Tesla, Meta, and America’s Big Tech companies, Europe is merely an old and sickly consumer market.”
The chancellor sipped his wine and fixed Felix with a sharp gaze.
“We need a weapon. A game changer that can overturn this board. I am not talking about some new technology that makes a bit of money. I mean a great symbol that can focus the eyes of the world and make capital flow back into Europe.”
“......”
He stopped speaking and watched Felix’s reaction. Felix deliberately toyed with his glass to hide his tension.
“I hear you have said several times that, with sufficient support, you could solve the Riemann Hypothesis. Is that true?”
His eyes widened.
He had not imagined that the words he had once let slip at a conference, almost like a sigh, would reach the chancellor’s ears.
“.....Yes. There is a recent paper, and the Riemann Hypothesis is now in a state where the door is half-open. No one seems to recognize it.”
“I need a definite answer. If you receive unconditional support, can you truly solve it?”
Gulp.
Unconditional support!
He calculated that it would be all right to make a somewhat excessive demand.
“There is a 99 percent chance. However, I will need backup on the mathematics side. Could you introduce me to one heavyweight mathematician?”
“A few heads of state who might accept such a proposal come to mind. It is also something that requires cooperation between nations.... They are desperate as well, so they will not refuse.”
“I-if I succeed in proving it, is there anything I might receive? I would like Your Excellency to promise me personally.”
An opportunity like this did not come easily.
Felix squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out what was in his heart.
“Hmm....”
The chancellor narrowed his eyes and looked at him.
But soon he changed his expression and showed a bright smile.
“Of course. Would the position of Federal Minister of Education and Research, the BMBF, suffice? With an achievement of that caliber, it is a post you would deserve.”
Felix drew in a deep breath.
“It is not enough.”
A decorative ministerial post was not what interested him.
What he wanted was a more concrete and sustainable reward. The chancellor seemed to think for a moment, then nodded.
“This is classified. Watch what you say. If the Riemann Hypothesis is proven, the EU intends to launch a ‘Pan-European Science Belt.’
My aides told me that many technologies would be born on the basis of that theory. In particular, we are focusing on security. We will completely take back the current security paradigm led by America’s NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology.”
“You mean post-quantum cryptography, PQC.”
“That is correct. Our goal is to develop it, implant it into infrastructure across Europe, and further expand it to every company in the world. I will offer you the position at its head.”
He might come to hold in his hands the standard that defined the flow of data throughout the entire world. Everyone who passed through it would have to pay a toll. Felix’s heartbeat quickened.
The recollection ended there.
Felix set down the tablet and looked down over the city of Munich. Everything before his eyes looked like territory he would one day rule.
“A ministerial post would not be bad. And who says I cannot become chancellor?”
He stroked his chin and murmured quietly.
Capital had already begun to move, and the political consensus was complete. All that remained was to add the finishing touch before the eyes of the world.
Bang!
The chief researcher burst in, panting for breath.
“Professor! The final formula verification data has arrived from Cambridge. It matches the LRZ computation results to thirty decimal places. However, Professor Pendleton said we should remain cautious until the very end.”
Tsk, tsk!
“Arthur is an excellent scholar, but he is far too timid. If one fears exceptions that might someday appear in the future while dealing with infinity, then proof will be impossible for one’s entire life.
The will of both governments is strong, so we can ignore that gentleman’s opinion.”
Madness glimmered in Felix’s eyes. He looked at the paper lying on the desk. Its cover had become crumpled from being read so many times.
“I should perhaps offer a prayer of thanks to God that such a noble mathematician still exists in this world. You cannot even imagine how grateful I am. I ought to send a fine potted plant to his laboratory later.”
Thud—
But he no longer needed it.
As though he could not bear the sight of it, he threw Seoha’s paper into the trash can.
“Move up the announcement schedule. Next Monday at ten in the morning, broadcast live. Inform Professor Arthur’s side as well, and do not forget to send official notices to the major media outlets and academic societies.”
“Yes, sir!”
Felix turned up the collar of his coat and left the laboratory.
At his confident stride, the researchers passing through the corridor stepped aside to either side and bowed their heads deeply. He nodded in satisfaction.
***
[Breaking News: Cambridge Newton Institute, University of Munich Officially Announce Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis]
Seoha stared at the television screen.
The people in the laboratory, one by one, gathered around him.
Click!
Click!
Countless reporters were visible on the screen.
Felix and Arthur walked onto the platform under a barrage of flashing cameras.
“The paper’s up on arXiv!”
Sri, who had been looking at the laptop screen, shouted loudly.
At the same time, Dean Whitman opened the door and entered. In his hand was a copy of the paper, printed at some point.
“Seoha, you have not read it yet, have you?”
The dean’s eyes were filled with worry.
He had not told Seoha, but rumors had been circulating in academia for some time. Rumors that it was a project backed with full intent by the British and German governments. He had heard it was an ambitious plan to bring scientific hegemony back to Europe.
“No. I’m curious.”
Seoha nodded and accepted the paper.
On the screen, Felix stood before the microphone, wearing the smile of a victor. In German rather than English, he spoke his first words with force.
“The name Riemann Hypothesis will soon disappear.”
The reporters looked puzzled.
“Because from today onward, it will no longer be a hypothesis. It is only proper that it obtain the status of a theory.”
Gasps burst out here and there.
“Today, we have crossed a barrier that has blocked humanity for a very long time. The University of Munich laboratory has succeeded in converting the renormalization group theory of high-energy physics into a mathematical operator. Using the LRZ supercomputer....”
The press conference continued, but no one in the laboratory was watching the screen.
Rustle.
The sound of paper turning rang out particularly loud.
The laboratory was suffocatingly quiet. The team members were focusing all their nerves on which page Seoha’s hand would stop at.
Seoha’s brow narrowed, then relaxed, repeating the motion.
“...This discovery will change the paradigm of cryptography. We have already, based on this proof, developed a new....”
‘Hm?’
Reading with the press conference as background music, Seoha grimaced fiercely. Whitman and the team members watching him flinched in surprise.
“It hasn’t even been twenty minutes?”
Sujeong muttered as she looked at the clock.
Even Dean Whitman, who had received the paper in advance, was still checking the formulas in the introduction.
“What is academia’s reaction?”
The dean shook his head.
“There are a few professors who received it early and read it for verification. Their reactions are mostly the same. Can you guess?”
Seoha’s expression was strange.
With a face that looked somewhat disappointed, he said,
“At the current stage, no obvious error is visible.”
“That is right. And one more thing. ‘It is not beautiful, but it is persuasive.’ What do you think?”
Seoha let out a small sigh.
“For the first time, I felt displeased while reading a paper.”
“Displeased?”
“Yes. The reason the mathematical community cannot produce a proper commentary right now is simple. The amount of data they have shown exceeds the limits of technical verification.
I consider this a kind of intimidation, or gaslighting. They are trying to overwhelm and crush people with sheer quantity.”
It was disappointing.
There must have been an answer on the path they had chosen as well. Even if it was a crude method of winding around and sometimes cutting through mountains to bore tunnels.
“Can you perhaps give a counterexample?”
If even a single counterexample appeared, the hypothesis would collapse.
At Theo’s question, Seoha put on a thoughtful expression.
“Calculating beyond ten quadrillion to find one would be far too inefficient. It is not possible with the resources we have, either. In the end, pointing out a geometric contradiction would be best. Though it will take quite some time.”
At Seoha’s answer, Whitman nearly burst out laughing.
Even when giving a single counterexample, Seoha would not give up aesthetics. Just from the fact that at the age of only seven he had been unable to endure an ugly answer and had thrown himself into the Four Color Theorem, one could tell how obsessed he was with mathematical beauty.
It contrasted far too starkly with their attitude of doing anything as long as they could find the answer.
“D-Dean! Shouldn’t we do something? They cannot be allowed to go down the wrong path.”
At Sri’s words, Whitman sank into thought for a moment.
In the meantime, Seoha spoke as if he had made up his mind.
“It cannot be helped. Even if I have to stop my research for a while, I will find a counterexa—”
“No!”
Whitman raised a hand and stopped him.
“Leave it be. It will only invite unnecessary misunderstanding. It is no secret that Apex Lab is working on the Riemann Hypothesis. A rebuttal in this situation could easily be seen as jealousy.
Do not waste your time on such a thing.”
Seoha asked with worried eyes,
“You intend to just watch?”
“Do not underestimate the self-correcting function of the mathematical community. The right person for the right job, as they say—there is someone more suited to this than anyone else.”
They were shameless beyond belief.
Even though they had used Seoha’s paper as the cornerstone of their proof, they had not mentioned his name even once at the press conference.
If their proof had been correct, it would have stung a little, but he would have endured it.........
‘There is no need to go out of my way to be considerate.’
The higher they had climbed, the more devastating a fall they would taste.
Someone’s face rose in Whitman’s mind.
‘Why has it been so hard to hear from him lately?’
It had already been four years since he had heard that he was approaching a solution to a Millennium Problem. Elijah Cronen was still shut away from the world.