Seoha walked slowly across the campus.
Perhaps because of the rain that had fallen overnight, the air was clear. Newly sprouted young leaves caught the light and glittered gold.
He leaned back against a bench beneath a large zelkova tree and closed his eyes. A breeze blew in. The small leaves brushed against one another, making a pleasant rustling sound.
“Seoha?”
When he opened his eyes, Ellie was beside him.
It had been quite a while since they had met after the group assignment, and a wave of gladness rose in him. Dazzlingly bright blond hair, a still-beautiful face.
But compared to before, she looked far more modest.
“Have you been well?”
“Me? I’ve been doing nothing but studying like crazy.”
There was a book in her hand.
When he saw the title, he felt embarrassed. Ellie quietly covered the cover with her hand.
[Collected Papers of Seoha]
He did not know when it had started.
From the four color theorem to the most recent ST compression. Someone had gathered the papers he had written and bound them into a single book.
And before long, it had begun to spread like a trend among master’s and doctoral students. That fire had even spread to the undergraduates.
Understanding the entirety of the Collected Papers of Seoha was now being treated as a symbol of intelligence. Seoha found that unbearably embarrassing.
The cover of the book was worn down from how often it had been read.
“Ellie, you’ll be able to become a good mathematician.”
She had not yet fully unleashed her potential.
Seoha had seen a fragment of it, but breaking out of one’s shell was not something anyone else could do for you.
Ellie smiled brightly and said,
“It makes me happy to hear a genius like you say that.”
Seoha’s expression turned uncertain.
“Genius... A genius, huh.”
“Why? You don’t think of yourself that way?”
It was something he had heard often. It was probably the most common word used to describe him. But Seoha himself found it difficult to accept.
Silence flowed between them.
“......”
“I’m sorry. I was thinking about who truly deserves that title.”
“Now I’m curious. Who do you consider a genius?”
Seoha could answer easily.
A genius was someone who changed the paradigm. If not that, then at the very least, they should have accomplished something that explosively expanded a concept.
Someone like Pythagoras or Euclid.
Archimedes could not be left out either. Already in his era, he had laid the foundation for calculus through the method of exhaustion, and had also proved the formulas for the volume and surface area of a sphere.
The first person to mathematically describe and prove natural phenomena through “Eureka.” He could truly be called the pinnacle of ancient mathematics.
“Your standards are incredibly high. But antiquity was so long ago that it’s hard to use as a reference, isn’t it? The Middle Ages would be... the Arabs.”
Seoha’s voice brightened.
He became excited, talking about a subject he liked.
“That’s right. From the ninth century onward, I see it as a new chapter. It was the period when Arabic numerals were adopted and al-Khwarizmi laid the foundations of algebra.”
It was also the name that became the origin of the word algorithm.
“It was also the golden age of the Arabs. They were actively studying cubic equations, after all. It would have been nice if the House of Wisdom still remained today. The Library of Alexandria, too.”
Seoha nodded vigorously.
“I feel the same regret. Because of that, Europe entered a dark age that lasted for centuries. Until the fifteenth century, they were scrambling just to keep up with Persian mathematics.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s strange. How did the center of mathematics move back to Europe?”
Seoha smiled as if boasting about his own achievement.
Descartes.
This man, commonly known as a philosopher, flung open the doors of modern mathematics.
His mathematical achievement was just one thing: coordinates.
In Euclidean geometry, a circle is merely a circle, and a line is merely a line. But thanks to coordinates, geometric figures could be expressed in the algebraic language of equations.
“I think this was an event in the history of mathematics as shocking as the introduction of Arabic numerals.”
Ellie had, before she knew it, become completely absorbed in his story. To Seoha, who had read biographies of mathematicians since childhood, these people were his closest friends and the heroes he admired.
Her eyes shone as she asked,
“After that come the people we all know, right?”
Seoha nodded.
“Yes. Newton and Leibniz created calculus by combining Archimedes’ method of exhaustion from antiquity, algebra from the Middle East, and coordinates.”
“And theories like those of Lagrange and Fourier can be seen as things that derived from that.”
“Right. It was the most romantic era in the history of mathematics. The tremendous energy emitted by calculus spread everywhere, giving birth to all kinds of theories.
And Euler, ‘the teacher of us all,’ and Gauss, ‘the prince of mathematics,’ compiled them all together. The peak of modern mathematics and the golden age of the expansion of knowledge—how happy must the people who lived in that era have been?”
Envy was clear on Seoha’s face. Ellie felt as though she had caught a small glimpse of Seoha’s secret. His thirst for knowledge was absurdly great.
Not only knowledge itself, but the very atmosphere in which it was derived—he seemed to enjoy it so much that he looked like an explorer born in the wrong era.
“Then what about modern mathematics? The boundary is a little vague, isn’t it?”
Seoha’s face turned serious. Looking into his deep eyes, Ellie could guess that Seoha held a special feeling toward this subject.
“......Bernhard Riemann.
It would be right to see Riemannian geometry as the beginning of modern mathematics. Topology, complex analysis, differential geometry, relativity, quantum mechanics—everything began from there. And it’s astonishing that it’s still ongoing even now.
Humanity has yet to see the world beyond Riemann.”
June 10, 1854.
Twenty-seven-year-old Riemann ascended the lectern at the University of Göttingen. It was a trial lecture to obtain his teaching qualification. He began his lecture with the prince of mathematics, seventy-seven-year-old Gauss, seated in the front row.
With that single lecture, he brought an end to the Euclidean geometry that had ruled humanity for two thousand years.
“Before he was even thirty, Riemann gifted humanity a new universe.”
Without realizing it, Ellie covered her mouth with her hand.
Because she felt as though she understood what Seoha ultimately wanted.
Only now did she understand. Even without mentioning his age, Seoha’s accomplishments were great enough to count among the finest mathematicians of the present century. But what he was looking at was the entirety of human history.
Perhaps it was only natural that he had worn an awkward expression at being called a genius. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.
“Then the reason you’re so obsessed with the Riemann Hypothesis is also...”
Seoha nodded.
“Solving the Riemann Hypothesis won’t open a new era. But it could at least serve as a hint. I think the secret of prime numbers is one of the keys.
So the answer to the question Ellie first asked is...”
Seoha smiled brightly.
“Compared to those people, I haven’t accomplished anything yet.”
Whoosh—
A breeze blew in and shook the branches.
Seoha rose from his seat and brushed the dust off his clothes.
He walked away.
Ellie looked up. The sky after the rain had stopped was unbelievably blue and seemed so very high.
“Even if you solve the Riemann Hypothesis, you’ll still be hungry.”
A limit.
Something one approaches endlessly, but can never reach.
How could one surpass historical giants like Newton? He seemed to be chasing a phantom. But if it was Seoha, perhaps someday he might reach them.
That was what she thought.
***
Maem, maem—
Summer had suddenly drawn near.
[Yu Seoha, 18-Year-Old Confirmed as Fields Medal Candidate. What Are His Chances of Winning?]
[Yu Seoha Selected as ICM Plenary Speaker. A New History for Korean Mathematics]
[Teenager the World Is Watching. Even His Favorite Donut Brand Tops Search Rankings]
└Yu Seoha, son of Okcheon, let’s go!!
└Why is Seoha the son of Okcheon? What did the county ever do for him? He’s the pride of our gifted high school!
└Seriously, what percent chance does he have?
└He’s a plenary speaker, so I’d say fifty-fifty. Honestly, he’s just too young.
└I heard that American donut place is coming to Gangnam?
└Should I send my kid to Okcheon to study abroad too? I hear the kids at Dodam Elementary are that good at math.
└But isn’t he still an undergraduate? This is going to make the hierarchy really complicated, isn’t it? When Seoha comes back to Korea, the professors’ dignity lolololol
“What a mess. Since when were you people so interested in mathematics?”
Uhyeon chuckled and closed the internet window.
After the ICM’s announcement, the entire country had been turned upside down. It was probably a counterreaction to the trauma of having achieved so little in the basic sciences until now.
Before the reports went out, Uhyeon had received a letter from Seoha. It was brief, saying that he had an extra invitation and was sending it to him. Uhyeon smiled at his thoughtfulness.
Thanks to that, even he, who had drifted away from academia, was now able to attend the ICM.
—Professor! Please appear on our broadcast just once. You have a special relationship with Yu Seoha, don’t you? We need a panelist who can explain his accomplishments so far and his chances of winning.
“I’m sorry. I have nothing to say.”
He had received several casting requests from terrestrial broadcasters.
Everyone he met also grabbed him and asked. Was a Fields Medalist really going to come from Korea?
‘He deserves it and then some.’
That was what he wanted to say.
But feeling as though getting ahead of himself would drive away luck, Uhyeon was being extremely sparing with his words. In truth, there were many things he wanted to ask Seoha if he met him too.
He had heard rumors from a colleague from his Princeton days. Rumors were rampant in academia that the Riemann Hypothesis would soon be proved. How shocked he had been to hear that the person at the center of it was Seoha.
“Is this really going to be solved?”
Uhyeon roughly rubbed his dry face.
Suddenly, he remembered something from the past. The child who had played by drawing geometric figures on the ground in Okcheon. From the moment he first saw him, he had known that the boy was a vessel he could not handle.
“Still, Seoeun is a real shame.”
He smacked his lips.
He thought it would be fine since Seoha was by her side, but there were things only an adult could give. His letter of recommendation still had yet to find its owner.
“Ah! That guy!”
Click.
When he clicked the mouse, the materials he had captured until now appeared.
[Lololololol, you think the Fields Medal is some random mutt’s name? Do whatever you want. If that ever happens, I’ll even do a dogeza in Gwanghwamun.jpg]
Tap-tap-tap.
[The villain who said Yu Seoha was a bubble! I trust you’ll keep your promise.]
—I’ll prepare the spot. Let’s kneel and beg forgiveness with a repentant heart.
He could not resist getting ahead of himself.
So just this much. Since they wouldn’t know who it was, Seoha would not feel burdened either.
└That’s my IP? You screenshotted this?
└I told you I’d preserve it.
└You’re ruthless. Truly ruthless. But he hasn’t won yet, has he? A normie like you wouldn’t know, but do you really think those old fogeys will give the prize to a kid who doesn’t even have a bachelor’s degree?
No way lololol. At least not this time. If he does get it, I’ll do 108 dogeza bows. If he fails, you do it. Deal?
Crack!
He had his pride. He could not back down.
└Deal!
“Look at this guy. Could he be a mathematician?”
Every past Fields Medalist had held a doctoral degree. The anxiety Uhyeon felt stemmed from that fact as well.
And as expected, the ICM committee members were also deeply troubled over how to treat Seoha.
***
At the same time, Berlin, the ICM Organizing Committee conference room.
A solemn atmosphere hung over the hall. The chair adjusted his glasses and opened his mouth.
“I never thought I would be saying something like this. Because I have always believed that mathematics must be judged fairly by results. However!”
He paused for a moment and looked around at the committee members.
“Eighteen years old! That would break the record for youngest laureate by nine years. Forget a doctorate—he doesn’t even have a master’s or bachelor’s degree. Even after receiving the Fields Medal, he will still be an undergraduate.
Think of it from the perspective of a professor who will teach one of his classes. How bewildering would that be? What on earth is he supposed to teach with the owner of a Fields Medal sitting in front of him?”
A silence of agreement spread from every direction.