“You’re going to America?”
Exams were over, and winter break had begun.
Seoha had returned home and was roasting chestnuts with his family.
When he placed a peeled roasted chestnut on his palm, hot steam rose from the freshly roasted nut.
“Yes. I got an invitation from an American university asking me to attend a forum. It’s a famous school called MIT…”
When Cheolho brought in chestnuts he had soaked in water and roasted out in the yard, Seoha and Miyeong peeled them. Then Seoha split the well-roasted chestnuts and popped them into Seoeun’s mouth one by one.
Seoeun, who had been eating the chestnuts like a baby bird, blew on her mouth as if they were hot and beamed brightly.
“Oppa, this is delicious!”
Seeing his little sister eat so well made Seoha happy, so he picked out another chestnut that had roasted nicely.
“MIT?”
Cheolho, who had been coming in from the yard with the grill, grew excited when he heard Seoha’s words. He set the chestnuts down and immediately sat beside Seoha.
“Yes, they invited me because there’s a forum…”
Before Seoha could finish, he spoke firmly.
“Then you absolutely have to go! It’s MIT!”
Miyeong looked at Cheolho in surprise.
“Honey! You want to send him alone when there’s no one to go with him?”
Miyeong wanted to send Seoha too, but circumstances made it difficult for her to go overseas. There was the household to take care of, and more importantly, there was Seoeun, who was still young.
“It says here they’ll provide airfare for one accompanying person…”
Seoha glanced at them and rummaged through his bag, taking out the invitation letter to show his parents.
“Alone? You can go with him!”
“What about Seoeun? You can’t look after her by yourself.”
Seoeun set down the chestnut in her hand and began to tear up.
“Then I’m the only one staying home alone?”
The corners of Seoeun’s eyes quickly turned red. She bit her lip hard, trying not to cry, but she couldn’t hold it in and burst into tears.
“Waaaaaaah.”
Startled, Seoha hurriedly hugged his sister.
“No, Seoeun. There’s no way I’d leave only you behind. Oppa won’t go.”
Watching them, Miyeong felt conflicted.
“Seoha, we don’t want to make you choose something like that.”
“It’s not like I have to go. It’s fine.”
Seeing Seoha looking resigned made Cheolho’s chest tighten. As a parent, he simply could not accept his son giving up an opportunity on his own.
“Then let’s say you go with Seoeun too. I have to work, so there’s nothing I can do, but Seoeun happens to be on break too… Buying one more plane ticket won’t be that hard. It’s not like the lodging will cost more.”
Miyeong glanced at him.
“You’ll have to stay home alone. Will you be okay?”
“I’ll meet up with friends for the first time in a while and have some fun. I already had a few year-end gatherings planned anyway, so this works out.”
Seoeun’s tears stopped at once, and her face lit up.
“Really? I’m going to America with Oppa too?”
“Hahaha.”
Watching Seoeun jump around the room, shouting hooray, the whole family laughed together.
* * *
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Boston Logan International Airport.”
At the announcement flowing from the airplane speakers, Seoha opened his eyes.
After a thirteen-hour flight, they had finally arrived in America.
There had been all sorts of twists and turns before they got here.
The two women, who had needed to take passport photos, went to the photo studio fully dressed up.
“Mom, I don’t like this. Can’t I take it again?”
“I’m telling you, that one is much better. And stop wearing that pink coat already. You’re the same color from head to toe!”
From choosing clothes to packing luggage, the mother and daughter’s tug-of-war never ended. It was because Seoeun had tried to bring every doll and picture book she usually liked.
“You’re taking this gold medal too?”
Seoeun hid the medal behind her back as if she refused to let it be taken away.
“Yeah! It’s my treasure!”
Miyeong sighed as she forced the suitcase zipper shut.
“If this goes over the weight limit, we’ll be in trouble…”
After the thirteen-hour flight and a strict immigration inspection, the family of three was already exhausted.
“Let’s hurry to the hotel and rest.”
“Let’s do that. Seoeun must be tired too.”
When they came out of the airport, countless Ubers and taxis were lined up.
As Seoha held up the luggage and waved, a black SUV Uber quietly pulled up.
“To a hotel near Cambridge, please.”
When Seoha stated the destination in fluent English, the driver kindly moved their suitcases for them. Then the car quietly set off.
Once they got in the car, Seoeun, who had somehow recovered her energy, pressed her face close to the window.
“Mom, Oppa! It really is America! Even the signs over there are all in English!”
As they went up onto a bridge, the driver pointed across with his finger.
“See? That’s MIT.”
Across the river, among red-brick buildings, they could see a campus with a striking silver dome.
“To think my son was invited to a place like this. Your mother must be truly blessed.”
Miyeong’s voice was choked with emotion.
Without a word, Seoha held his mother’s hand tightly.
When they got out of the car, a biting sea wind assaulted their bodies.
As he breathed in, the tip of his nose stung with cold.
“Ugh, it’s cold!”
Seoeun hunched her shoulders.
The temperature was similar to Korea’s, but because they were near the sea, the wind was fierce.
“Let’s go inside quickly. You’ll catch a cold.”
Seoha paused to catch his breath in the unfamiliar air and looked up at the sky for a moment.
The dazzlingly blue sky shone vividly.
‘I really came all the way here.’
He didn’t know what he would gain from this long trip, but seeing his family so happy, he thought it had been the right choice to come.
On this trip, Seoha was in charge of communication.
When he handed over the reservation documents, the hotel employee smiled brightly and nodded.
“Welcome. Here is the key.”
“Thank you.”
Seeing Seoha receive the key card, Miyeong looked surprised.
“When did you get so good at English? Our Seoha is so dependable.”
Seoeun’s reaction, unexpectedly, was as if it were only natural.
In Seoeun’s world, her older brother was someone who didn’t know nothing.
The accommodation provided by MIT was a twin room, but once they requested an extra bed, it was more than enough for three people to stay.
While his family rested, Seoha quietly sat at the desk and turned on his laptop. On the calendar on the screen, the forum schedule sent by MIT was organized.
The first day was scheduled for welcoming remarks and a keynote lecture, the second day for discussion sessions with participants from various countries, and the final day for a campus tour and networking time.
‘Will I be asked questions?’
Seoha didn’t know exactly what this “Young Mathematicians Forum” was, but looking at the schedule, it seemed he would be discussing things with many people.
“If there’s anything they’re curious about, they’ll ask.”
Seoha took a moment to steady his breathing, then opened his email window.
Tap, tap.
He wrote an email to Professor Orsen saying he would visit within the next few days, then closed his eyes. Perhaps because his fatigue had not yet faded, drowsiness came over him.
Soon, Seoha lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
The Young Mathematicians Forum was an international event jointly hosted by MIT, a world-renowned mathematical institution, and the Clay Mathematics Institute.
Their goal was to discover the next generation of scholars and provide a venue where they could interact with one another.
The participants were prodigies representing their respective countries: International Mathematical Olympiad medalists, students who had published noteworthy papers since high school or their undergraduate years, and people personally recommended by institutions or major figures in academia.
Many academic stars had passed through this forum.
If one gathered only the Fields Medal, Abel Prize, and Nobel Prize winners among them, it would be enough to hold a small conference.
Because it was such a prestigious event, the researchers gathered here were highly conscious of one another. And among them, Seoha was the participant receiving the most attention.
He was the only person who satisfied all three conditions required by the forum, so MIT had made an exception by supporting his airfare and lodging to invite him.
The event hall lobby was already filled with young researchers who had gathered from all over the world.
Some undergraduates greeted professors while handing them short CVs recording their research achievements.
Other students exchanged business cards with one another or briefly explained the projects they had worked on, building connections.
Just then, the doors to the event hall opened quietly, and a boy entered.
He looked far younger than the other participants, but everyone knew who he was even without looking at his name tag.
Yu Seoha.
At first, only a few people glanced at him, but soon whispers began to spread.
“That kid is Yu Seoha from Korea?”
“The one who placed first at the IMO at twelve…”
“Problem 6 was seriously difficult.”
“I read his paper on the four-color theorem too. It was unbelievable.”
Each time Seoha took a step, the area around him grew strangely quiet. Then, gazes filled with curiosity followed him.
With a calm expression, as if he was used to it, Seoha found a seat and sat down.
“Hello.”
Seoha quietly greeted the students sitting beside him.
They hurriedly answered, as if suddenly nervous.
“H-Hello. I’m Yusuke from Japan. I placed first at the IMO this year.”
“I’m Maria. I came from Poland.”
In their voices as they spoke to Seoha, there was a clear sense of “we know who you are.” After Kronen’s lavish praise, Seoha had already become a “symbol of challenge” among young mathematicians.
“The event will begin shortly. Please proceed to your seats.”
At the staff’s guidance, everyone found their seats.
Before long, the dean of MIT’s Department of Mathematics appeared in the hall.
Harold Whitman.
A mathematician from Oxford in England, he had devoted more than forty years to research and education.
He had left unparalleled achievements in topology and mathematical logic, and had even won the Abel Prize.
He was an old man with a full head of white hair, but the look in his eyes was still no less youthful than that of any young person.
When he stood before the microphone, the event hall instantly grew quiet.
“Welcome, young mathematicians!”
He looked around the hall. His eyes swept lightly across the room, then lingered a little longer in the direction where Seoha sat.
“As a senior who has studied mathematics for more than forty years, I would like to give you one piece of advice.”
He paused briefly and drank a glass of water.
“It is a mistake we mathematicians often make. Do not trust your own intuition too much.
Mathematics sometimes betrays intuition. Let me give you an example.”
Hundreds of gazes in the hall focused on him.
“Let us assume that aliens exist.
They observe the solar system through telescopes. And they discover Earth. The alien scholars conduct a great deal of research on Earth. Its size, composition, rotation and revolution periods…
But when they actually arrive on Earth, they are startled. Why would that be?”
No one raised a hand.
Seoha thought he knew the reason, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself unnecessarily.
“You are all quite shy, aren’t you?
The student who gives the correct answer will receive a meal voucher for a lavish dinner at the best steakhouse in this area.”
‘Oh?’
That changed things.
Meat was a prize even Seoha found difficult to give up.
Murmurs broke out here and there. Someone giggled and poked the person beside them, while a few students seriously placed fingers on their chins and sank into thought.
“Is it because humans were different from what they imagined?”
“Because they saw the ocean for the first time!”
“Because of advanced civilization!”
Answers rang out from here and there, but the professor shook his head.
Then Seoha quietly raised his hand.
“Yu Seoha, please answer.”
When the boy rumored to be a genius stood up, everyone’s gaze focused on him.
“Could it be because they saw the calendar? Our calendar has 365 days in a year. But they must have seen Earth rotate 366 times.”
Professor Whitman slowly nodded and smiled.
“Correct, Yu Seoha. Excellent!”
Maria and Yusuke, seated on either side of him, looked at Seoha with admiration in their eyes.
Seoha gave an awkward smile and sat down. Thinking of how happy his mother and sister would be made him feel that it had been worth mustering up the courage.
“The alien scholars would naturally have calculated Earth’s rotation period based on their own frame of reference. To them, a day on Earth is not twenty-four hours.”
Exclamations of “Oh!” burst out among the students.
“Twenty-three hours and fifty-six minutes.
While Earth rotates once in a day, its revolution causes the position of the sun to shift about one degree to the side.
In astronomy, this is the concept known as a sidereal day. Let us not ask the unamusing question of why a civilization scientifically advanced enough to come to Earth would not know this.”
“Hahaha!”
At the dean’s joke, all the students laughed.
“The point is that intuition can deceive us at any time. Follow your intuition, but test it thoroughly with firm logic.”
Even afterward, everything he said was advice that would become flesh and bone for mathematicians.
Several participants took out notebooks and wrote down his words. Some even took out recorders.
Among the participants, anticipation began to bloom over what kind of forum this would be.
And from the very first day, Seoha captured everyone’s attention and made his presence unmistakably known.