As the arrival time drew near, everyone pressed themselves to the windows and looked outside.
Seoha, too, gazed out as if fascinated.
The scenery of England beyond the window was utterly different from Okcheon. Beneath a sky hung low with gray clouds, quaint little buildings stood in orderly rows.
“Wow, it really is England!”
Jihoon let out an exclamation.
Seoha felt the same. It was the first foreign land he had ever set foot on in his life, and everything about it was new and wondrous.
Once they passed through immigration, guides from the IMO organizing committee welcomed them warmly.
[Welcome to London! Korean Team]
Professor Park went over to the people holding the placard and handed them the documents.
They boarded the prepared bus, and the road into central London began.
The road ran along the Thames, and Big Ben and the London Eye began to come into view.
Seoha pressed his nose to the window, trying to take in every bit of the scene.
“The opening ceremony is tomorrow.”
Sujeong took the schedule out of her bag and checked it.
The opening ceremony was scheduled to be held at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
As the bus left the city center and entered a quiet residential area, the scenery outside the window changed. Wide gardens spread out among old-fashioned buildings made of red brick.
“That’s the dormitory.”
Professor Park pointed ahead as he spoke.
Kingston University dormitory.
It was the lodging where the delegations from each country would stay during the IMO. Several three-story buildings stood in rows, and in the front yard, the flags of various nations fluttered in the wind.
When they got off the bus, the damp London air brushed the tips of their noses.
“Korean team, this way please.”
A staff member from the organizing committee guided the group. They finished checking in at the lobby and received their room keys.
“The roommates have been assigned at random.”
Following winter school, Seoha ended up sharing a room with Jihoon again in London.
“I’m roommates with you again, hyung!”
When Seoha rejoiced, Jihoon shrugged as well.
“Yeah, I’ll be counting on you.”
They carried their luggage up to the second floor, where rooms lined both sides of the hallway. They found Room 201 and opened the door.
“Wow!”
The room was more spacious than expected. There were two beds, two desks, and even a small refrigerator. Through the window, they could see the garden below.
Seoha chose the bed by the window and set down his bag. Only after taking out his duck figurines and lining them up did the place finally feel a little familiar.
“Seoha!”
Jihoon put his index finger to his lips in a gesture for silence, then called Seoha over.
“Listen.”
When he put his ear to the wall, he could hear the students in the next room talking.
“It’s Chinese?”
“Yeah, looks like the Chinese kids are next door.”
Was it meant to encourage them to socialize? The room assignments had been mixed here and there.
As they were unpacking, a murmur came from the hallway.
“What is it?”
Jihoon opened the door.
Students had come out of their rooms and were greeting one another. Blond students from the West, black-haired Asians, and people of various races whose nationalities were hard to guess had gathered in one place.
“Hello. I am Hans.”
A student who met Seoha’s eyes greeted him cheerfully. Judging from the badge on his chest, he was a German representative.
“Nice to meet you. I am Seo-ha.”
Seoha answered in English.
‘I’m glad I studied.’
A week before his departure, Seoha had bought two English conversation dictionaries. They came with CDs containing native speakers’ voices, which had helped a great deal with correcting his pronunciation.
Perhaps thinking they could communicate, the other boy smiled brightly and offered a handshake.
“You look quite young. Is it only because you are Asian? I'm from Frankfurt, Germany. It's my first time in England, so are you? I'm worried that Asians are good at math.”
(You look quite young. Is it because you’re Asian? I’m from Frankfurt, Germany. It’s my first time in England. Is it yours too? I’m worried because they say Asians are good at math.)
“I'm actually young, 12 years old. It's my first time in the U.K, too. It's also my first time being a foreigner, so I've been looking forward to it.”
(I actually am young. I’m twelve. It’s my first time in the U.K. too. In fact, it’s my first time going abroad at all, so I’ve been looking forward to it a lot.)
Jihoon, startled by Seoha’s fluent English, came over.
“Hey! What are you? You said you’d never had private tutoring. So why are you good at English?”
“I studied with books.”
It was true. He had memorized the entire conversation dictionary.
Seoha remembered every one of the countless sentences prepared for all sorts of situations in the dictionary.
“What kind of lunatic studies English conversation with books? At this rate, you’ll tell me you can build a spaceship yourself as long as you have a book!”
Perhaps feeling indignant, Jihoon’s voice rose in pitch.
Since it was the first day, everyone seemed excited. The nerds, who had been hesitant at first, soon approached strangers and introduced themselves.
Bang.
They were exchanging greetings when the door to the next room suddenly opened.
Chinese students streamed out. The last one to emerge was a tall student who looked like their leader.
Sharp eyes and a composed expression. He stepped out and looked around.
“That’s Rui Chen.”
Dokyung approached Seoha and whispered.
Before they knew it, all the Korean representatives had gathered in the hallway. Rui Chen spotted a familiar face and walked toward Dokyung as if pleased to see him. Then, with a perfectly casual expression, he threw out an impolite remark.
“You guys came again this year? Are there really so few Koreans who are good at math?”
Dokyung and Changseok, who had gone home without medals the previous year, flushed red.
Sujeong, angered, was about to step forward and say something, but Dokyung raised a hand to stop her.
“I don’t know about anything else this year, but Korea intends to take first place individually.”
Rui Chen gave a snort of laughter, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“Give up. You guys don’t stand a chance.
We’re on a different level of competition from you. Just the number of our middle and high school students is larger than your country’s entire population.”
Fifteen million college entrance exam candidates in a single year.
The Chinese delegation consisted of talents selected and selected again from among them. They had no intention of letting go of the team title, let alone individual first place.
“I know it’ll be difficult. But this year, Korea has an absurd monster. You’d better stay on your toes too.”
Perhaps Dokyung’s confident expression bothered him. Rui Chen swept his gaze over the Korean delegation. His eyes paused briefly on Seoha, then moved on.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Good luck. Unlike us, you’ll need it.”
Maybe because of his aura as last year’s individual champion, even his arrogant words sounded plausible coming from him.
Rui Chen and the Chinese representatives walked away.
“Whoa! That made me tense!”
As if his strength had left him, Jihoon sank to the floor.
“Why is the mood around them so brutal?”
Jiye stuck out her tongue as if fed up.
“China really doesn’t mess around. The government openly supports the Olympiad.
Once you’re chosen as a representative, you can enter any department you want at either Tsinghua University or Peking University. If you take first place, there’s bound to be an even bigger reward. You should basically think of them as staking their lives on it.”
“They’ve won the team competition more than twenty times. The U.S. is strong too, but China is truly powerful at the IMO.”
Changseok added to Dokyung’s explanation.
The previous year, China had devastated the IMO by achieving an unprecedented feat: all six of their members winning gold medals.
After unpacking and resting for a while, an announcement came over the speakers.
"Attention all participants. Lunch is ready at the dining hall."
“Let’s go eat!”
Jihoon got up from the desk.
The dining hall was on the first floor.
Round tables were set up in a large hall, and representatives from each country sat together in small groups.
The Korean team took a table as well.
“What’s on the menu?”
Sujeong asked, looking at the menu.
“Fish and chips.”
Perhaps because there were so many people, there was only one menu item.
Seoha was excited at the thought of tasting a dish introduced in the encyclopedia as Britain’s representative food.
“Maybe don’t get your hopes up too much? You’ve heard that British food is bad too, haven’t you?”
“Isn’t that exaggerated? No matter what, it’s a developed country that once dominated the world…”
A country with frequent exchanges with other nations was bound to develop its food culture.
Hadn’t Britain had more opportunities than anyone in that field? That was what Seoha thought.
“I warned you, okay?”
It wasn’t only Seoha; Jiye and Jihoon, who were also overseas for the first time, looked rather expectant as well.
A short while later, college students who seemed to be volunteers served the food.
“Here's your fish and chips! Traditional British cuisine at its finest!"
A wonderful posh accent, just like he had heard in movies.
His expectations for the food rose.
Click.
Seoha took a photo to show his family.
On a huge plate were a large piece of fried fish and thick chips.
With a look full of anticipation, Seoha picked up his fork and knife and took a bite of the fish.
Mush.
‘Huh?’
It had been fried, yet it wasn’t crispy at all.
The batter had soaked up oil and become soggy. Not only that, but perhaps the fish hadn’t been prepared properly, because even after just a small bite, an intense fishy smell rose up.
“Ugh…”
He gulped down water, but the taste did not easily fade.
Jihoon also picked up a chip and ate it, then grimaced.
“Aren’t fries supposed to taste good even if you make them half-heartedly?”
The chips had a limp texture.
On top of that, perhaps because they were too thick, the insides weren’t properly cooked. Salt and vinegar had been sprinkled over the fries, but for people trying them for the first time, the barrier was far too high.
Sujeong looked at Seoha with an expression that said, “I told you so.”
Then, from the table behind them, someone’s voice was heard.
“I guarantee it, this is sabotage. They’re trying to ruin our condition before the test to raise their own scores.”
Seoha turned around.
They were Americans.
One of the British students watching them stood up with an offended look on his face.
“We know British food is bad too, so why don’t you just eat it? At least we have something called tradition. What do you Americans have? Hamburgers?”
The American student laughed as if he couldn’t believe it.
“At least hamburgers taste good.”
At that moment, Hans, who had exchanged greetings with Seoha, looked toward the American table and tossed out a comment.
“Hamburgers actually came from Hamburg, Germany, so strictly speaking, wouldn’t that not be your cuisine?”
At a nearby French table, a curly-haired boy stood up with a tsk-tsk and wagged his index finger.
“My friends… Let us not fight over this. We French understand that not every country can master the art known as cuisine.”
The Italians saw this and clicked their tongues before adding a word.
“Food outside Italy is all more or less the same anyway. You should have come prepared like us.”
“We’re not worried. There are Chinese restaurants in every country in the world.”
The joke the Americans had started lightly had somehow turned into a bragging battle among culinary powerhouses.
Even the introverted, nerdy students bared their teeth and giggled.
Clink.
A gentleman who seemed to be an official of the competition tapped a glass with his fork, drawing everyone’s attention.
“My apologies. Large-scale cooking is not easy, so the food seems to have fallen short of your expectations.
But you are all fortunate. At least today’s meal wasn’t jellied eels or kidney pie, was it?”
“Puhahaha!”
“Hahaha!”
At the self-deprecating joke from the dignified-looking British gentleman, everyone burst into laughter.
“Today, we have all become one through suffering. From tomorrow on, I’ll ask the kitchen to pay more attention to the food, so please rest assured.”
Seoha, too, relaxed and burst out laughing. The food was terrible, but the atmosphere had become much more comfortable.
The students from each country, who had been awkward at first, began chatting noisily with one another.
After the meal ended, the delegations dispersed in twos and threes.
Though no one said anything, the Korean team all gathered in Seoha’s room as if by habit.
“All right, then let’s do our final check before the exam.”
Dokyung took out the materials he had been preparing from his bag.
After winter school, the representative team had been meeting regularly.
Seoha nodded and stood up. The sight seemed quite natural.
“Always remember. Half of geometry is finding hidden symmetry.”
Everyone listened seriously to Seoha’s explanation.
The representative team, which had trained with Seoha for several months, was brimming with confidence unlike before.
Growl.
Before they knew it, it was dinnertime, but everyone hesitated, watching one another and reluctant to go down to the dining hall.
Dokyung quietly asked Jihoon.
“…You didn’t bring any cup noodles?”
“I heard Professor Park brought a lot.”
“Let’s go get some.”
It was something happening in most of the teams.
And two days later, on the day after the opening ceremony.
Three problems, four and a half hours—the exam, with each nation’s honor on the line, began.