Oxford University Press, Mathematics Editorial Department meeting room.
"Editor-in-Chief, this is too much. This goes far beyond the level of a revision!"
Bam!
Editor-in-Chief Norman slammed the blackboard, his face bright red. A list of dozens of books was written on the board, and in front of the titles, large X's had been drawn in red chalk.
"Do you see this list? These are the books scheduled for publication next quarter. All of them!"
Silence fell over the meeting room. The six editorial staff members glanced at one another, avoiding his gaze.
"But Norman, what about the *Number Theory Seminar* scheduled for publication next month? It's about to go to the printers."
Senior Editor Edward protested, clutching his head. But Norman didn't budge an inch.
"Publication? Have you all gone mad? Chapters 3 through 8 of that book have become completely useless!"
Bam!
Norman huffed and stamped the manuscript with a seal that read "Discarded."
Edward picked up the manuscript with trembling hands. He had been working on this book for twenty years. Every year, he had monitored academic trends, correcting figures and revising theories. Thanks to that, it had enjoyed the honor of being used as an introductory textbook at numerous universities around the world.
"Please, Seoha... Why did that child have to solve the problem at this of all times?"
It was a long-awaited celebration for the mathematical community, but for them, who had been planning to release new books, it was a disaster.
Margaret, the proofreader sitting in a corner of the meeting room, had proof sheets densely filled with red ink resting on her lap, gazing out the window with a dazed expression. The section she was in charge of was geometry.
"We shouldn't blame Seoha! Blame us established mathematicians who couldn't solve this problem for two centuries!"
Norman firmly cut him off.
In fact, it wasn't just the publisher's problem. News had been coming in that number theory and geometry lectures were being cancelled at several prestigious universities.
A professor had looked at the syllabus for a while and simply walked out. And shortly after, notices were being posted about a comprehensive curriculum review.
"The paper hasn't officially passed peer review yet. Isn't this a bit premature?"
Norman shook his head at the editor's protest.
"I looked into it, and heavyweight mathematicians are already writing follow-up papers. They're moving under the premise that Seoha's proof is correct. I heard Princeton has already made major changes to its publication plans."
"Then what should we do?"
Norman smiled broadly.
"We take one step ahead of them.
Seoha's paper has already surpassed millions of downloads. For a mathematics paper, it's an unbelievable figure.
Millions! Undergraduates, graduate students, amateur mathematicians, reporters, even stock market traders and ordinary people who haven't studied mathematics deeply—they're all reading it. What do you think is the reason?"
The editors nodded.
They had all downloaded and read the paper out of curiosity themselves. Norman picked up a piece of chalk and began writing new titles on the board.
"They want to understand! Therefore, this is what we must do now."
[*Yu Seoha's Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis Explained for Non-Mathematicians*]
[*The World After the Riemann Hypothesis—What Changes?*]
[*Revolution of Space, Yu-Riemann Geometry*]
"Submit the proposals within a week. Start contacting authors too. Try reaching Yu Seoha himself and MIT. Don't forget. We are Oxford—the very history of mathematics itself."
The editorial department's direction was set.
A solemn silence descended upon the meeting room that had been a battlefield. Completely revising the publication plans was a painful task. But at the same time, an overwhelming sense of mission—that they would be the first to record the new era of mathematics—glimmered in their eyes.
***
The red lamp on the camera turned on.
There stood Uhyeon in front of the blackboard. Dark circles under his eyes gave him the look of someone who had suffered greatly. The place he stood today was not the Gangnam studio where he usually worked.
It was the main studio of EBS, which oversaw South Korea's online education. A place that had no connection to him, who was both a vanguard of capitalism and a star of the private education industry.
[14,552]
[19,211]
It was not his usual paid lecture, but a public broadcast.
Perhaps because of how much it had been advertised, the number of concurrent viewers was soaring even before the start. Fitting for a major broadcasting station, several massive cameras illuminated him. The PD sent an okay sign.
*How did it come to this.*
Uhyeon formed a bitter smile.
It had started with a joke he made during class.
└Teacher, how did Yu Seoha prove the Riemann Hypothesis?
Uhyeon laughed as he looked at the chat window.
"You guys probably won't get it. The background knowledge needed for the proof is no joke. Honestly, none of you are even interested, right?"
└That's not true! We're very interested!
└Really!
└Can't you at least give us a summary?
"Not a chance. The moment I explain it, you'll all get distracted or fall asleep. How many years do you think I've been doing this? You think I'd fall for that?"
└I'll listen properly though?
└Teach, please do it! I even downloaded the paper!
"Quiet. It's not something that can be explained in an hour or two, and it's even less something to discuss with high schoolers. Well, if a request came from somewhere like EBS, maybe."
As they say, words become seeds.
Before a few days had passed, he received a call from an educational broadcasting official who had heard the news.
"Teacher, an unprecedented mathematician has emerged from Korea, but frankly, no one knows what Yu Seoha has accomplished. Shouldn't someone explain it properly?"
The PD convinced him persistently, eyes gleaming.
Uhyeon had marketability.
He was currently the highest-earning instructor in Korea; even offhand jokes he made became topics of conversation. During a class not long ago, he had mentioned that a certain brand of frozen pizza was delicious, and news had surfaced that its sales had quintupled.
"Someone like you needs to step up. I beg you, if only for the students."
*It's for the advertising revenue, yet he flatters so naturally.*
Uhyeon was cynical inwardly. But the man wasn't wrong.
Korea was currently in the grip of Yu Seoha fever. News of his military enlistment had decorated the main nine o'clock news, and YouTube was overflowing with videos about the Riemann Hypothesis. But there was no one who had deeply explained his actual theory.
*It's only natural.*
Seoha's paper was a monstrous theory that fused together all kinds of abstruse fields of modern mathematics. Even Uhyeon, who had done mathematics his whole life, couldn't fully understand it.
"Very well. Let's give it a try."
It was an uncharacteristic decision for Uhyeon. Why had he accepted something that wouldn't even make money?
The reason was simple.
At the end of the paper, Seoha had signed with the fountain pen Uhyeon had given him to use when he decorated a page of history. What could he do for such a Seoha?
He was no longer a country boy. For someone who had enough money and fame that he no longer needed anyone's help—
But there was. Something only he could do.
His competitive spirit also played a part.
No matter that he had left academia, he had once been a figure expected to lead the mathematical world.
More than anything, if he could not fully comprehend his great achievement, he felt he would never be able to meet Seoha's gaze for the rest of his life.
"I have a condition."
The PD's face brightened.
"You don't need to worry about the appearance fee. We'll offer an unprecedented—"
"No."
Uhyeon cut him off with a rigid expression.
"I request a broadcast with no time limit."
"Wh... what?"
The PD blinked.
"I'll finish it properly in one go. Don't cut us off in the middle. Even if the viewers complain, even if the ratings hit rock bottom, the broadcast stays on until I finish my explanation."
Uhyeon had fought a battle for the past two months.
He had taken out the specialized textbooks from his Princeton days that he had long forgotten. He hadn't neglected studying the latest theoretical books and papers either.
Days when he immersed himself in studying like mad, from Grothendieck's scheme theory to Alain Connes's noncommutative geometry.
*Grothendieck would have loved it if he were alive.*
Some—no, quite a few—mathematicians evaluate Grothendieck as a figure greater than Riemann.
In his scheme theory, numbers are not important. What was essential was what relations they formed, upon what space they were placed, and in what manner they transformed. But even he couldn't see the end.
"Just how many mathematicians' dreams have you fulfilled?"
Yu-Riemann geometry touches upon ontology.
Though it is the study of space, Seoha is redefining the very way numbers exist from the ground up. The difficulty has crossed the line. He thought that perhaps students who would study this in the future might greatly resent him.
But Uhyeon had done it.
He had read the paper to the end without a single doubt remaining.
At dawn when he closed the final page, Uhyeon couldn't control his body for a while due to sheer exhaustion. But at the same time, he felt a burning exhilaration. Fireworks exploding in his head the moment the proof clicked into place. It was that very ecstasy he had last felt during his university days.
And today.
Four hours had passed since the lecture began.
[203,417]
Concurrent viewers had surpassed 200,000. Someone approached from outside the studio and whispered something into the PD's ear. The PD's eyes widened. He quietly wrote a memo on an A4 sheet and showed it to Uhyeon.
「Estimated concurrent viewers including international audience: 1 million」
Uhyeon glanced at it and turned his gaze back to the blackboard. His expression didn't waver in the slightest.
"Now, this is the core."
He drew a line in the center of the blackboard. Long and distinct, vertically.
"Let's examine how the zeta function changes in Yu-Riemann space."
└Is anyone actually understanding this right now?
└I'm in a math master's program. I'm keeping up. The dignity of Korea's #1 instructor is unreal. It's a really difficult concept, but he's making it easy to understand.
└I'm a student in Teacher Uhyeon's class, forcing myself to listen because I feel bad for asking, haha. He holds grudges like crazy, so he'll definitely check later T_T
└Aren't the majors listening with gritted teeth? It's embarrassing if you don't know, and there's no one else who can explain it this easily like Sin Uhyeon.
└I'm a science high school student. We're watching as a group. He's our senior, haha.
"Will he be okay?"
Seven hours had passed since the lecture began. The youngest writer looked at the studio with worried eyes. It had been a forced march with only minimal hydration.
The number of concurrent viewers kept increasing. Sin Uhyeon's exploits had become known throughout online communities.
[Sin Uhyeon Explaining Riemann Hypothesis for Seven Hours Straight]
Some sent messages of support, while others sent donations. Uhyeon's lecture raced toward its climax.
"Now we can discern. The zeros can exist only on this line. There are no other possibilities. Seoha has created a world where the Riemann Hypothesis must be true, using Yu-Riemann geometry.
A world where all other possibilities are denied. Truly, it was an idea that none but a genius among geniuses could dare to imitate."
Uhyeon's throat tightened.
└Wow!
└Wow, for real, haha. He's not an instructor making tens of billions of won a year for nothing.
└A feels-like-I-understand-something kind of feeling.
"It took eight hours. Thank you all for your patience. For those who found it difficult to understand, a replay service will be provided soon..."
Uhyeon, delivering his closing remarks, stopped speaking and looked carefully at the screen.
└Teacher, thank you. I watched the entire thing from beginning to end. Even I, who created the theory, don't think I could explain it as easily as you?
The ID next to the comment:
[Seoha Yu]
└The man himself, haha!
└Is this for real, whoa.
└Verify yourself! Try reciting the military service creed, Our Resolve!
└Kya! A Fields Medalist is chatting in the broadcast, haha!
The chat window ignited to an uncontrollable level. Characters scrolled up so fast they were impossible to read. Uhyeon's throat choked up. But he managed his expression like a professional.
"I will conclude the lecture here. Since Seoha has verified it himself, I'll take it that there are no errors in my explanation."
As he was about to end the broadcast, Seoha sent a long chat.
└The media often says that I have no academic mentor, but this is not true. Teacher Sin Uhyeon is my teacher.
When I was young, I was greatly influenced by him. If my teacher had not been there, what kind of life would I have lived? Thank you, Teacher.
The star instructor at the pinnacle of South Korea's private education market, earning tens of billions of won in annual salary. But in one corner of his heart, there had always been a stigma that read "deserter," "loser." Ever since the day he had packed his bags and fled Princeton.
*Perhaps this success was the price of abandoning his identity as a mathematician?*
As if he had sold his soul to the devil.
Whenever this thought crossed his mind, he could never fully enjoy his success.
But not anymore.
In his mind, Seoha was a figure who would one day stand on the same level as Newton, Gauss, and Euler. And such a figure was calling him his teacher.
Uhyeon felt the fragments of his inferiority complex, which had tormented him so fiercely, being washed away.
"No, I am the one who is thankful. Seoha."
In the end, Uhyeon wept before the camera.