[FBI Captures Cyberterror Organization of Unprecedented Scale; Full Scope of Attempt to Paralyze Financial Networks Revealed]
[Who Found Them? Anonymous Civilian Collaborator Makes Decisive Contribution to Investigation]
[The Man Called the Second Coming of Euler—Why Did He Join Hands with the Devil?]
Major media outlets around the world were simultaneously pouring out breaking news.
From the billboards in Times Square to the monitors on the Wall Street trading floor. Passersby on the streets were all watching the news on their smartphones.
The world was in a frenzy reporting on the FBI's achievement.
"With this, we have completely severed the bud of the most devastating cyberterrorism in human history."
Branch Chief Miller continued his announcement with a flushed face before dozens of microphones.
Amid the barrage of camera flashes, he suppressed his overwhelming emotions with effort. The media outlets that had lambasted him as incompetent just days before had changed their attitude in an instant.
Miller let out a small sigh of relief.
If possible, he had wanted to bring Seo Ha along to explain the tense process of this operation. But the one who had contributed the most to the arrest had said this:
"I don't want to appear on TV for anything other than mathematics. My family would definitely be surprised."
Only part of the terror plot's masterminds could be revealed.
The forces that had planned the largest short-selling scheme in history. When the funds were traced, surprisingly, hedge funds had emerged.
They all protested in unison that they were not traitors.
"The RSA encryption system would have ended soon anyway. We were just trying to pull that forward. A kind of shock therapy, you might say?"
"We thought the government was involved in this plan too. It was introduced by a senator."
Those who worshipped only money as their absolute good.
The moral decay of hedge funds was nothing new, but this incident had crossed a severe line. Naturally, all of them would be arrested, and the companies dissolved.
However, the full masterminds could not be uncovered.
Because the man they had all identified as the prime culprit had vanished before the investigators could reach him, as if he had never existed from the beginning.
He left no trace whatsoever. The politician who had brokered the connection with the hedge funds had died in an accident, and the funds had come from a cold wallet whose owner could not be identified.
The work of a professional. Someone from an intelligence agency or with such a background had certainly been involved, but there was no evidence. Walter had uploaded a composite sketch to Interpol's wanted list, but even that was likely a fake.
China and Russia.
Analyzing the seized materials, their ultimate goal had been to undermine trust in the dollar. The other attacks had merely been decoys to divert attention.
Thus, it was only natural to suspect countries with many grievances against dollar hegemony. But waging war without clear evidence was impossible.
Yet the agency would not stop pursuing them.
* * *
It was a bright season. Mi Young sat on the wooden porch and took a deep breath.
The scent of earth wafting from afar, the smell of pumpkins and chili peppers ripening. It was the scent of her hometown that she smelled again after several years.
Life in America had grown familiar by now, and the daily walks along the Charles River remained good memories, but the air there had always been cold to Mi Young.
Mi Young had viscerally realized that no matter how stable her life became, a foreign land could never become her hometown.
"What is Seo Eun doing?"
In the vegetable garden, her daughter was bent over at the waist, engrossed in something.
Looking closely, she was humming happily as she picked pumpkin leaves. A smile bloomed at the corners of Mi Young's mouth.
"I'm preparing something for side dishes!"
Seo Eun grinned broadly with dirt on her face.
Mi Young guessed she was excited after receiving her brother's phone call. At Seo Ha's words that he would return in a few days, her daughter's face had been bright all morning. Unable to contain herself, she had finally gone out to the garden.
"Mom! Is this enough for when oppa comes?"
Seo Eun approached proudly, swinging a basket full of pumpkin leaves.
Seo Ha had peculiar tastes; he had loved eating tender pumpkin leaves topped with spicy soybean paste since he was young.
Mi Young gently stroked Seo Eun's head.
*If only she were this honest normally...*
Her daughter had reached the age of puberty before she knew it.
Now Seo Eun no longer ran to the front gate to hug her brother every time he came. Rather, if Seo Ha so much as entered her room, she would often shoo him out in disgust.
"Oppa! Knock!"
Seo Ha flinched at Seo Eun's threat not to enter her room without permission.
"Pfft."
Seeing that, Mi Young had to secretly suppress her laughter from behind.
That hurt expression on her son's face.
She sat on the porch with her daughter, peeling the pumpkin leaves.
It was quite a bothersome task that required steeling herself when doing it alone, but sitting face-to-face like this made it a pleasant pastime.
"Lalala."
Seo Eun's humming showed no sign of stopping. Mi Young reached out and brushed the dust off her daughter's cheek.
Suddenly, an old memory came to mind.
When Seo Eun had just barely gotten used to walking, the two of them used to run around the garden vigorously on their little legs.
She had thought such peaceful days would continue forever...
The people seeking Seo Ha had grown numerous.
When the Minister of Science and Technology had come in person to ask if there was anything uncomfortable, she too had been greatly flustered. Her husband, a former civil servant, stood rigidly at attention like a soldier and shook his hand.
Perhaps because the leaves weren't peeling as easily as she'd thought, Seo Eun wrinkled her pretty forehead.
"Argh! This is annoying. Mom, why is Korean food like this? Americans just prepare things roughly and eat!"
Though she complained with her mouth, she carefully peeled the pumpkin leaves one by one.
The sight was so lovely that the corners of Mi Young's mouth rose.
"Haa! This is hard. Mom, I'm done peeling!"
Neatly prepared pumpkin leaves were piled high in the basket.
"Well done. Now wash your hands and do your homework. When did you say the teacher would come?"
"Next week? They're suggesting I enter a competition, but I'm thinking about it. I'd have to go to a training camp later and everything. I'd even have to go abroad to take the exam."
Recently, Seo Eun had been receiving instruction from Uhyeon.
Mi Young was dumbfounded by her daughter acting as if she had already been selected to represent Korea. Having grown up watching her older brother, she seemed to take it for granted.
Creak—
From across the yard came the sound of her husband opening the gate and coming in.
Though she felt sorry for making him change jobs twice, he went about his work without complaint. Mi Young set down the pen she had been using to write her manuscript.
The first draft was complete, but there was still much to revise. CEO Park had also advised that publishing it after Seo Eun produced results in Korea would generate a greater response.
The sunlight was warm.
A gentle breeze brushed through her hair.
Mi Young closed her eyes and savored the late summer weather. And she carefully etched this happy moment deep into her heart so that she would never forget it.
* * *
Seo Ha, who had come to America after a long time, had many things to do. He met Gyeoul, exchanged news of what they had been up to, and listened to her performance in the practice room.
"Here."
Gyeoul handed him two newly recorded CDs.
Her refined appearance suited the New York scenery well. However, the way she looked at Seo Ha had not changed one bit.
Worry, pity, and the trust they had built together over a long time. Seo Ha received them with an apologetic expression.
"It hasn't gotten worse, right? Have you...?"
Gyeoul bit her lower lip tightly.
She had wanted to suggest going to the hospital. If he were nearby, she was confident she could somehow help. But when they were far apart like this, she sometimes had nightmares. Dreams where Seo Ha became a completely different person.
"Don't worry. I'm getting better little by little."
*Liar.*
Gyeoul knew better than anyone. Whenever Seo Ha fell into certain states, his pupils dilated and his focus drifted away.
A strange high.
His genius might be a blessing to humanity, but as an individual, it seemed to fuel itself with dangerous flames that gnawed away at life, making her anxious.
"You said your next recital is in Korea? I'll definitely go then. The urgent matters are over, so I have some free time now."
Seo Ha smiled innocently.
She had recently placed fourth in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, one of the world's four major piano competitions. The age limit for international competitions was generally thirty. She had chosen to challenge herself before it was too late. She had decided to participate in all four major competitions.
"I'll only do it this once. I also want to go to Korea after a long time."
She had begged her teacher to hold one last recital before preparing for the Chopin Competition. Of course, saying she missed Korea was an excuse. Her goal was to meet Seo Ha.
*I hope he stays healthy until then...*
Though he pretended otherwise, Seo Ha was stubborn.
Gyeoul let out a small sigh, then unwound the cashmere muffler she was wearing and wrapped it around Seo Ha's neck. The seasons in New York turned cold before Korea's.
Seo Ha's face turned red, seemingly embarrassed.
Was it because they had always been apart except for that one year at the gifted high school? The affection grew stronger with each meeting. Gyeoul suppressed her desire to hold him back and sent him off.
* * *
"Ladies and gentlemen, our plane will be landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport shortly. The current weather in Austin is clear with a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius."
Seo Ha stretched.
Four and a half hours by plane.
He couldn't believe he had to fly this long just to move between cities within one country.
"Please take me to the University of Texas."
Seo Ha told the driver as he got in a taxi.
The P=NP problem was first posed in 1971 by Canadian computer scientist Stephen Cook. And in '73, Leonid Levin, a mathematician in the Soviet Union at the time, independently reached the same conclusion through his research.
They discovered that certain complex problems (NP) were interconnected, such that if just one of them could be solved efficiently (P), all the remaining problems could be easily solved as well.
The academic community recognized the two scholars' contributions and decided to call this the Cook-Levin theorem.
"If they can be solved, that is."
Seo Ha muttered, looking out the window.
After the Cook-Levin theorem emerged, the mathematical community was divided and engaged in fierce debate.
And for good reason—they had discovered a seemingly wondrous connection, but there was no evidence whatsoever that the key hanging at the end of it actually existed.
But many scholars still remained who held faith in this.
Of course, it was understandable. The discovery that tens of thousands of seemingly unrelated problems were actually bound by a single connection.
They were from completely different fields.
Physics, biology, mathematics...
But peel back one layer and they were all the same logical formula?
If one's heart didn't race at this, they surely were not a mathematician.
"So is this a joke God threw down for amusement? It's too elaborate to be a coincidence."
The scholar who said these words was at the University of Texas.
Seo Ha had sent him a few questions via email some time ago. The scholar had been greatly excited to receive an email from him and had personally invited Seo Ha to the university.
The University of Texas was ranked in the top ten nationally. But in analysis, applied mathematics, and topology, it was strong enough to be counted among the top five worldwide.
"Ah... It's hot!"
He had heard that Texas was hot, but he hadn't expected it to be this extreme. As soon as he got out of the car, the fierce heat rising from the asphalt greeted him like an old friend.
Sweating profusely, Seo Ha walked while looking at the map the scholar had sent him.
"Is this it?"
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and stepped inside the mathematics building. The air conditioning hitting him made him feel like he might survive. The location marked on the map was Lecture Hall 302.
*I guess famous professors get big lecture halls.*
He was a giant in the mathematics world who had received the Wolf Prize.
Creak—
Without a second thought, Seo Ha opened the lecture hall door and went inside.
Silence.
"Yu Seo-ha!"
"Oh my god. He really came!"
Seo Ha's body locked up as if it had broken.
Because hundreds of students filling the tiered lecture hall to capacity were looking at him with sparkling eyes.
And a moment later—
Waaaaaaaaah!
Thunderous applause and cheers engulfed him.