Translator: Dreamscribe
“Ji-hoon, don’t be nervous and take your time.”
Young Sung Ji-hoon sat in the examination room chair and received the test paper.
His expression remained calm as he turned each page one by one.
Watching this, the doctor quietly whispered to the parents.
“Most children get very nervous in this kind of environment, but Ji-hoon is really composed.”
At the doctor's words, the mother smiled proudly.
“Yes, sometimes I feel like our child is overly smart. It makes me worried as a parent. Why, just the other day....”
“H-hmm hmm.”
‘Parents, really....’
The doctor clicked his tongue inwardly.
But seeing the boy keeping his mouth shut and focusing intently on the test paper, it was clear he wasn’t an ordinary child.
30 minutes later, Ji-hoon put down his pencil.
“I’m all done.”
The examiner checked the time with a surprised expression.
“Already? Usually, this takes over an hour.”
Ji-hoon shrugged.
A few days later, the couple and their child returned to the hospital to hear the results.
Looking at the chart, the doctor expressed admiration.
“Ji-hoon possesses an exceptionally high intelligence.”
The couple, sitting with tense faces, suddenly lit up.
“I knew it, right? Specifically, how high is it?”
“IQ is a relative indicator, with the average set at 100. A score between 85 and 115 is considered the normal range. About 68% of the population falls into that category.”
“Then our child is....”
“155. That places him in the top 0.01%. To put it simply, he’s one in ten thousand.”
“Really?”
Ji-hoon’s mother covered her mouth in surprise.
“Generally, a score over 130 is classified as gifted, and over 145 is considered genius-level. Ji-hoon scored much higher than that.”
The doctor gave a long explanation about what such a high IQ meant and what to be cautious about, but none of it reached the couple’s ears. What mattered to them was only one thing, their child was a genius among geniuses.
Even at a young age, life was enjoyable for Ji-hoon.
He was loved wherever he went and excelled at everything he did.
Even his tall height and handsome face.
Life on easy mode.
It was a nickname his friends gave him, full of envy.
And at a time when it seemed like there was nothing in the world he couldn’t achieve if he set his mind to it, he met her.
“What? I got second place?”
One year after joining the Gifted Education Institute,
He experienced second place for the first time in his life.
But surprisingly, the shock wasn’t that big.
‘Well, it makes sense. One in ten thousand.
There must be dozens of kids like me born every year.’
If they had equal talent, then of course the one who worked harder would win.
But....
Were we really equal? Unlike you, I hardly even study.
The student who took first place was the embodiment of hard work.
To a degree he could never imitate.
Even so, because the difference in scores wasn’t large, Ji-hoon remained composed.
He believed that if he simply made up his mind, he could beat Su-jeong anytime.
“Hey! Sung Ji-hoon! You’re first again this time?”
Middle school friends gathered around Ji-hoon in the classroom.
“You played games with me the entire exam week! How are you first?”
“Yeah. I just sort of winged it.”
Ji-hoon chuckled awkwardly.
Trying your best doesn’t look cool.
What’s satisfying is defeating someone who struggles as if their life depends on it with minimal effort, and watching them despair.
That is the privilege of those with superior intellect.
But in the Math Olympiad, where gifted students gathered, his usual methods no longer worked.
Watching Lim Su-jeong get selected as the Korean representative over him was not enjoyable at all.
And so, after another year, with an effort he wasn’t ashamed of, he reached this point.
But....
“Hehehe!”
Seo-ha was placing duck figures on the windowsill next to his bed.
One,
Two,
Three.
Ducks with different expressions.
Resting his chin on his hand, he looked at them with fascination. Occasionally letting out incomprehensible giggles.
‘To think I lost and got chosen behind a kid like this....’
When the kid solved the problem using mental arithmetic, everyone, including Ji-hoon himself, was visibly shaken.
‘Ah, maybe not Lim Su-jeong?’
Not long after, the second person to give an answer was her.
The rest was a mess.
They fumbled around and wasted quite a bit of time.
A wave of self-loathing washed over him.
But it was fine. He had only been making an effort for a year.
Just like before, he could surpass this kid too. Then today's humiliation would become nothing more than a sliver of memory.
While Ji-hoon was burning with determination, Seo-ha got down from his bed and rummaged through his bag. Then he pulled something out and approached him.
“Um, would you like to have this?”
A glossy orange dried persimmon.
Ji-hoon stared blankly at Seo-ha in disbelief.
“Why a dried persimmon?”
“My parents picked and dried them themselves. They packed them so I could share them in the dorm.”
Pride was clearly written on Seo-ha’s face. As if he were handing over something precious.
He didn’t even make such a face when he was the first to solve the problem.
“Uh... oh! Sure. Thanks.”
Ji-hoon gave an awkward smile and picked one up.
The dried persimmon was much softer and moister than he had expected. As he took a bite, sweetness spread across his mouth.
"It's delicious."
“Right? I really love these. My mom has been making them for me since I was a baby.”
Seo-ha bit into a dried persimmon and wore a happy expression.
‘We’re supposed to be competitors for the national team spot, and he’s completely defenseless? Well, it’s none of my business.’
Ji-hoon began setting up his desk.
The suitcase was packed with past exam books. These were the problems he had to start tackling seriously from today.
‘Let’s buckle down.’
Ji-hoon decided to give his absolute best effort during the winter school period.
The schedule here was simple.
Wake up at dawn, do a light workout, and eat breakfast together.
Attend two hours of lectures in the morning, then solve problems after lunch. After dinner, it was self-study again.
Everyone had dark circles from lack of sleep.
Except for one person.
Scratch, scratch.
Once again, Ji-hoon was solving problems in his room while glancing sideways at Seo-ha.
‘What book is he reading?’
Like the other students, Seo-ha never put his book down even after entering the room.
But it was clear he wasn’t solving past exam questions.
Sometimes he smiled, other times he looked troubled as he scribbled formulas into a campus notebook.
Ji-hoon thought maybe it was a difficult problem, but the pages were colorfully filled in with colored pencils. No matter how he looked at it, it wasn’t a past exam book.
Even so, during class, Seo-ha never lacked answers, and he stood out during problem-solving sessions too. Every professor who met Seo-ha adored him. Though no one showed it openly, Ji-hoon was more sensitive to such situations than anyone else.
Because those were the exact kinds of looks he had received from teachers since he was young.
Seo-ha closed the notebook and pulled out another book.
This time, Ji-hoon clearly saw the title.
[Biography of Niels Henrik Abel]
‘He’s reading a biography?’
Is this some kind of teabagging?
Ji-hoon felt confused.
He recalled how he used to stay up all night gaming with friends and still never lost his top rank at school.
Anger surged inside him.
‘I’m not someone you can treat like that.’
But if he brought it up, he’d only end up looking like the petty one.
Maybe sensing the discomfort, Seo-ha glanced up at him. Then, rummaging through his bag again, he pulled something out.
“Would you like some peanuts? We grew them in our garden. My mom roasted them for me to snack on while studying.”
Thick peanuts filled both of his palms. No matter how he looked at it, his face showed pure goodwill.
Having once been well-versed in manipulative tactics himself, Ji-hoon could tell it was sincere. But he decided to test it anyway.
“Seo-ha, can you help me with this? I don’t understand it.”
Ji-hoon accepted the peanuts and opened his notebook.
It was a problem he hadn’t been able to solve all evening.
Seo-ha glanced at the problem, then picked up a pencil and began writing equations on a blank sheet of paper.
“This problem becomes easier if you use symmetry.”
Scratch, scratch.
As Seo-ha’s pencil moved, the problem that initially appeared complex was gradually transformed into a simpler form. As if an entangled thread were being naturally unraveled.
“If you use substitution here... it becomes like this.”
Ji-hoon followed the tip of Seo-ha’s hand with astonished eyes. The problem he had been stuck on for over three hours was solved in an instant.
And yet, he didn’t display the slightest hint of superiority.
Watching him, Ji-hoon was overcome by a strange emotion. A complex mix of jealousy and reverence.
“Seo-ha.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you think of us as competitors?”
What on earth is this kid thinking? No matter how hard he tries, Ji-hoon can’t grasp how he thinks.
Seo-ha tilted his head. He genuinely looked like he didn’t understand.
“Do you learn things you didn’t know by winning a competition?”
“...What?”
“There’s still so much I want to know. There are so many proofs I haven’t solved yet. I’d do anything for that, but...”
A way of thinking completely different from the life he had lived.
Through the mirror named Yu Seo-ha, Ji-hoon saw the true self he had hidden deep in his heart.
The cowardice that had hidden behind his talent like a shield.
The laziness that took comfort in relative superiority.
The truth was, he had wanted to make an effort.
He had only been afraid of taking on the challenge.
He had come to winter school, declaring he would give it his best, but Ji-hoon knew deep down.
He was already one step back, leaving himself a way to run away from this place at any time. Because he didn’t think this was all there was to life.
‘Am I really that special?’
More than this kid in front of him?
Ji-hoon sat up straight.
Even if he was a worthless person, just once, just this once, he wanted to give it his all.
That’s what he decided.
He could step back afterward if he wanted to.
***
A week had passed since winter school had started.
In the professors’ lounge,
A snow-covered campus spread out beyond the window.
“How do you think the kids are this year?”
Kim Ji-yoon asked Professor Park Chul-min as she set her cup down.
She had been visiting here and there recently to observe the winter school.
“Better than I expected. A few of them definitely stand out. Su-jeong was always good, but she’s gotten way better compared to last year.”
Seeing Su-jeong grow just as he had hoped, Professor Park couldn’t hide his joy.
“She’s so diligent, despite her looks.”
“To be honest, I think we can look forward to this year’s IMO.”
Even if winning is too much, they might be able to aim for second or third place.
“But you’re not mentioning the important one, are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on. You know who I’m talking about, Yu Seo-ha.”
Professor Park widened his eyes in surprise.
“The rumors already spread? How do you even know Seo-ha?”
“There’s always a way to find out.”
“To be honest, I’m really cautious about this. Our country has never properly nurtured a genius.”
Forget China and Japan, even Vietnam had produced a Fields Medalist, but not a single one had come from the Korean mathematics community.
“I see it differently. I think a genius blooms regardless of the circumstances.
Abel left behind great achievements even as he starved and died of tuberculosis, without a piece of bread to eat. If someone wasn’t nurtured, maybe it just meant they didn’t have enough talent to begin with.”
“I think so too. It’s just... I’m afraid to hope and be disappointed.”
“I’ll guarantee it, Seo-ha isn’t just at that level. I gave him a problem in Algebraic Geometry, you know, the field considered the most difficult among mathematicians, and he solved it without hesitation. Especially his mathematical intuition with numbers is just....”
Everything else can be trained to a certain extent, but mathematical intuition is the realm of pure talent.
Ji-yoon saw that in Seo-ha.
“I know, I know. He wasn’t even paying attention in the class, yet he caught a symbol mistake on the blackboard. Thanks to that, one less thing to worry about this year.”
“You mean the IMO, right?”
“Yeah. Even if Korea doesn’t place high as a team, an individual first place carries symbolic meaning.”
“If nothing else, that’s the one thing we can count on.”
The two professors simply could not imagine anyone at the high school level being mathematically superior to Seo-ha.