The day of his discharge from boot camp.
Seoha snapped to attention, bringing his right hand to the edge of his eyebrow in salute.
“Trainee number 17, Yu Seoha, reporting successful completion of training! Thank you for your guidance during this time. Loyalty!”
As Seoha left the training grounds, the drill instructors sent him off with tearful farewells.
“Go on, get out of here! And don’t come back!”
Relief that it was finally over was palpable on their faces.
For four weeks, Seoha had been the idol of the boot camp and simultaneously an object of protection that everyone had to look after. They had come out from dawn to pick out stones from the training grounds, lest even a single bruise mar the body of the nation’s first Fields Medalist.
The day before his discharge, Seoha had sincerely signed his name for each drill instructor who approached him shyly, his heart full of gratitude.
“Trainee Yu. No, Private Seoha.”
The company commander approached with moist eyes and clasped Seoha’s hand tightly.
“I cannot tell you how happy I am that you are leaving in good health. Your mind is a national treasure, so please take care of yourself once you return to the world… Maybe you can even win a Nobel Prize, no?”
*There is no Nobel Prize in mathematics, though.*
He swallowed the words that had nearly reached his tongue.
It wasn’t as if there were no precedents of mathematicians receiving one, so it might be possible someday. Seoha expressed his gratitude to them once more and passed through the guard post.
The uniform he had worn for four weeks had grown quite comfortable.
He boarded the bus and headed home. As he entered the village, the scenery of his hometown—unchanged at all from the past—came into view.
He got off the bus and walked down the road with heavy steps. Past the old shopping district and the familiar tree at the village entrance, he saw the house he had so longed for in the distance.
Before he could even step into the yard.
*Bang.*
The front gate flew open, and someone shot out like an arrow.
“Oppaaaaah!”
It was Seoeun, who was now quite the young lady. But the momentum with which she ran toward Seoha hadn’t changed one bit from when she was seven years old.
A sudden wave of longing washed over him. Back during his gifted high school days, when he only came home on weekends, Seoeun had always been like this.
Seoha set the duffel bag on his shoulder down and opened his arms. Seoeun, just like a child, leaped into his embrace.
“Oof. Seoeun, have you been well?”
Startled by the sudden weight, Seoha took a step back and held her tightly.
“Yeah!”
“Did you say hello to your friends too?”
“Yeah, I play with them every day. But they keep asking me to speak English, and I hate it.”
Seoeun giggled and pulled him inside the house.
Miyeong hurried out through the open door. She cupped Seoha’s cheeks, examined him every which way, and let out a sigh of relief.
“Come inside. Let’s eat.”
Seoeun was clutching Seoha’s uniform sleeve tightly.
A delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen. Doenjang-jjigae, stir-fried pork, and seasoned spinach. They were all Seoha’s favorite dishes. Only then did it truly feel like he was home.
“Mom, let me help!”
An excited Seoeun got up and carried out the side dishes. When Seoha tried to help, mother and daughter vehemently stopped him.
“You just stay put, Oppa.”
“You’ve been through a lot, so sit down.”
Voices speaking at the same time. Seoha chuckled and sat down.
Spoons, chopsticks, and side dishes were placed one by one. Seoha’s gaze turned to one side. The chopsticks Seoeun had set down were slightly crooked.
*Swish.*
Seoha subtly reached out and realigned them perfectly perpendicular.
The room he entered after the meal.
Seoha’s hand gently brushed across the bookshelf. The feel of the books at his fingertips was familiar. His gaze lingered on the biographies of mathematicians tucked in the corner of the shelf. Gauss, Euler, Newton, Ramanujan, and Pascal, who had been his rival at heart since childhood.
Seoha took out a thick hardcover bearing the name Blaise Pascal.
“Have I finally caught up to you at nineteen?”
Curly brown hair, eyes that seemed to pierce through to the essence. He looked at Seoha with an expression that said he was nowhere close.
“I’m still lacking. I know. You completed a theorem bearing your own name at sixteen. At my age, you must have built a mechanical calculator. But Pascal’s Law came at twenty-five. Just you wait. Things will be different when I reach that age.”
The twenties were an age when a great number of mathematicians left behind immortal achievements.
For Seoha, who wished to be remembered as one of them in the distant future, it was an age where he absolutely had to accomplish something greater than the Riemann Hypothesis.
His hand trembled slightly.
If he could not surpass Pascal, he wouldn’t even be able to approach Newton, Euler, or Gauss.
A voice suddenly rang out.
*‘What, you know that too? So why are you keeping me separate like that?’*
Seoha glared at the desk.
A ridiculous duck mask glared back at him.
“Why are you out already? Are you that impatient?”
*‘Not even funny. You’re the one who called me out.’*
“Me?”
Seoha was at a loss for words.
He had no choice but to admit it. He was the one who had called out Deoki. The thirst suppressed within him could not be quenched by merely solving one difficult problem.
For the past four weeks, Seoha had tried not to think about mathematics as much as possible. He had resolved to run across the dusty training grounds, put everything down, and recover his body and mind. But that very thought had provoked Deoki instead.
*‘Do you really have time to act so relaxed? You want to surpass those giants, don’t you?’*
The duck doll on the desk seemed to urge him to pick up a pen right away. Seoha let out a deep sigh and leaned back in his desk chair.
“Be quiet. I know even if you don’t say it.”
Seoha’s eyes remained on the cover of Newton’s autobiography for a long time.
A portrait printed in black and white.
“Newton, I won’t blame the era. There are still so many unsolved mysteries remaining in this world. And…”
He began to speak, then clamped his mouth shut.
He wanted to complete a logic that explained everything in the world as one, like the law of universal gravitation and the theory of relativity.
The Theory of Everything.
Humanity’s final dream, which Einstein devoted the last thirty years of his life to but ultimately left unfulfilled. Only by completing this did Seoha feel he could finally square his shoulders proudly before the giants of the past.
“Let’s first create a mind-blowing cipher. We did render RSA useless, after all. You help too, Deoki.”
*Click.*
When he opened the drawer, a palm-sized olive-drab notebook came out.
*[Military Notebook]*
Inside, formulas were scrawled messily in a flowing hand.
The moment he picked up a pen, his impatience vanished, and he finally felt peace return to his heart.
* * *
A divine workplace, Apex Lab Korea.
The researchers who came here all thought similarly. Do their best to produce results and leave their names on next-generation PQC. And add a shining line to their resumes: “Collaborated with Team Apex.”
“Since there are only six members, we’ll need more team members, won’t we?”
Hyeran, his college classmate, asked Hyeongju as if seeking agreement. It was a question missing its subject, but he understood it immediately.
“Who knows. It’d be huge if it happens, though.”
Needless to say, the greatest merit among them was the chance to become an official member of Team Apex.
“Everyone’s so quiet.”
The surrounding researchers sat before their monitors with coffee in hand. But anyone could plainly see they weren’t doing anything at all.
The others on the other side were no different. Hands resting on keyboards, lost in thought.
*Ahem!*
Someone coughed awkwardly, perhaps feeling the strange atmosphere.
Today was that day.
“What time did they say?”
“Eight o’clock.”
Hyeongju glanced at the clock on the wall.
[07:55 AM]
Through the glass wall of the conference room, Teo was visible. He stood with arms crossed, looking toward the entrance. Sujeong stood beside him, checking materials as if busy.
Ben and Seuri wore anxious expressions. Cecilia was already on her second cup of black tea.
Seeing that sight, Hyeongju felt it for the first time.
*So even they get nervous.*
The past four weeks.
Team Apex had greedily absorbed knowledge that elite Korean and American researchers had built up over a lifetime. Cryptography was notoriously difficult. Yet they had never been stuck anywhere. Moreover, their ability to apply what they had learned to their own specialties was truly astounding.
Such monsters were clearly nervous.
Thus, it was only natural that everyone harbored a question.
*Just who is Yu Seoha?*
[08:00 AM]
*Ding-dong—*
The elevator doors opened exactly on time.
Seoha walked in.
Familiar jeans and a checkered shirt. The military notebook was tucked in his front pocket. He walked down the hallway with heavy steps.
His gaze turned toward the whiteboards and boards attached to the wall. Without breaking his stride, Seoha rapidly scanned them with his eyes. As if reading a table of contents.
Seoha did not flaunt authority.
On the contrary, those around him knew well that he had a gentle disposition. But true authority came from skill and achievements.
The moment he entered the main hall, the air changed.
The prover of the Riemann Hypothesis, an existence revered by scholars worldwide. It was as if a halo shone behind him.
Without anyone going first, the researchers rose from their seats one by one. No one had given the order; it flowed naturally like water.
“Here.”
Ben had already approached and handed him a white lab coat. Seoha naturally accepted it and put it on.
He stopped walking and looked at the researchers.
“Please, sit down.”
At Seoha’s bright smile, the atmosphere in the lab softened.
It was their first meeting. The researchers evaluated Seoha by their own standards.
*Thank goodness. He’s much kinder than our professor.*
*He’s amazing at math, but he’s still young, so maybe he’ll be easy to handle.*
He sat down and began reading the materials accumulated over the past four weeks.
*Gulp.*
The development proposal for next-generation quantum-resistant cryptography that Hyeongju had also lent a hand to.
Team Apex were outstanding mathematicians, but in cryptography they were no different from beginners. That was why the Korean and US governments had dispatched various personnel.
*Flutter.*
The speed at which he turned the pages was constant. The researchers held their breath and watched.
And Seoha was bewildered.
*Huh?*
His face gradually stiffened, then at a certain point contorted greatly. Seeing this, Teo smirked as if he had expected it.
*This is cryptography?*
It wasn’t the mathematics he knew.
The beauty of mathematics that Seoha pursued lay in explaining the maximum world with the minimum order. But the cryptographic system these people had created was solely obsessed with the idea of preventing attackers from breaking the cipher.
“Ahh.”
Seoha let out a short cry of anguish.
It was like a collapsing wall propped up by tens of thousands of supports. Needlessly raising polynomial degrees and injecting random noise to merely bloat complexity.
The mainstream modern next-generation cryptographic method, LWE (Learning With Errors). It mixed errors into the correct answer to confuse attackers.
As experts, there were legitimate reasons for their designs. But in Seoha’s eyes, it looked like a massive castle of garbage. Deoki let out pained “quack quack” sounds. Seoha was so dizzy he felt nauseous.
He raised his head and saw faces looking at him with expectant eyes.
Seoha made an awkward expression, not knowing what to say.