Translator: Dreamscribe
As the arrival time drew near, everyone clung to the window to look outside.
Yu Seo-ha also looked out with curiosity.
The scenery of England outside the window was completely different from Okcheon. Under a sky filled with low gray clouds, quaint buildings were lined up in neat order.
“Wow, this really is England!”
Ji-hoon exclaimed in admiration.
Yu Seo-ha felt the same. Setting foot on foreign soil for the first time in his life, everything was new and fascinating.
After passing through immigration, guides from the IMO organizing committee welcomed them warmly.
[Welcome to London! Korean Team]
Professor Park approached the people holding the placard and handed over the documents.
Once they boarded the prepared bus, the journey into central London began.
Along the road that followed the Thames River, Big Ben and the London Eye began to come into view.
Yu Seo-ha pressed his nose against the window, trying to take in all the sights.
“The opening ceremony is tomorrow.”
Su-jeong took the schedule out of her bag and checked it.
The opening ceremony was scheduled to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
As the bus left the city center and entered a quiet residential area, the scenery outside changed. Between the classic buildings made of red brick, wide gardens stretched out.
“That’s the accommodation.”
Professor Park pointed ahead and said.
Kingston University dormitory.
It was the accommodation where each country’s delegation would stay during the IMO period. Several three-story buildings were lined up, and the flags of each country fluttered in the wind in the front yard.
When they got off the bus, the humid London air brushed past their noses.
“Korean team, this way please.”
An organizing committee staff member guided the group. After checking in at the lobby, they received their room keys.
“Roommates were assigned randomly.”
As in the winter school, Yu Seo-ha shared a room with Ji-hoon even in London.
“Roommates again, hyung!”
Yu Seo-ha was happy, and Ji-hoon shrugged his shoulders.
“Yeah, let’s get along.”
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!”
It was more spacious than expected. Two beds, two desks, and even a small refrigerator. Through the window, the garden could be seen.
Yu Seo-ha chose the bed by the window and put down his bag. He took out his ducky figurines and lined them up, finally feeling a bit of familiarity.
“Seo-ha!”
Ji-hoon put his index finger to his lips to signal for silence, then called Yu Seo-ha.
“Listen.”
As he brought his ear to the wall, they could hear the students in the next room talking.
“Chinese?”
“Yeah, looks like the Chinese kids are next door.”
Was it to encourage social interaction? The rooms had been arranged with various countries mixed in.
As they were organizing their belongings, a murmur could be heard from the hallway.
“What is it?”
Ji-hoon opened the door.
Students were coming out of their rooms and greeting one another. Western students with blonde hair, Asians with black hair, and various races whose nationalities were hard to pinpoint all gathered in one place.
“Hello. I am Hans.”
A student who made eye contact with Yu Seo-ha greeted him warmly. The badge on his chest showed he was from the German team.
“Nice to meet you. I am Seo-ha”
Yu Seo-ha answered in English.
‘Good thing I studied in advance.’
A week before departure, Yu Seo-ha had bought two English conversation dictionaries. They came with CDs containing native speaker audio, which were very helpful for pronunciation correction.
Thinking they could communicate, the student smiled brightly and reached out for 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.”
“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.”
Ji-hoon approached, surprised by Yu Seo-ha’s fluent English skills.
“Hey! What’s with you! You said you’ve never had private lessons. Why are you so good at English?”
“I studied with books.”
It was true. He had memorized all the conversation dictionaries.
Yu Seo-ha remembered every sentence designed for various situations included in the dictionaries.
“Who the hell studies English conversation with books! If you had a book, I bet you’d build a spaceship yourself!”
Maybe overwhelmed, Ji-hoon’s voice grew louder.
It was the first day, and everyone seemed excited. The nerds who had been shy at first soon approached strangers and introduced themselves.
Clack.
As they were exchanging greetings, the door to the room next door suddenly opened.
A group of Chinese students poured out. The last one to come out was a tall student who appeared to be their leader.
Sharp eyes and a calm expression. He stepped out and looked around.
“That’s Lu Yichen.”
Do-kyung whispered to Yu Seo-ha.
At some point, all the Korean representatives had gathered in the hallway. Upon spotting a familiar face, Lu Yichen walked toward Do-kyung with a seemingly pleased expression. Then, with an indifferent face, he threw out a rude remark.
“So, you guys came again this year? Is there really no one good at math in Korea?”
Do-kyung and Chang-seok, who had failed to win any medals last year, flushed red.
Su-jeong, angry, stepped forward to say something, but Do-kyung raised his hand to stop her.
“This year, even if we don't get anything else, we’re planning to take first place individually.”
Lu Yichen smirked, as if he found it ridiculous.
“Give it up. You guys have no chance.
Our level of competition is different from yours. Just our middle and high school student population alone is larger than your entire country’s.”
Fifteen million students take the college entrance exam in a single year.
The Chinese delegation consisted of talents carefully selected from that enormous pool. They had no intention of letting go of either the team victory or the individual first place.
“I know it’s difficult. But this year, Korea has an unbelievable monster. You’d better be on your guard.”
Perhaps unsettled by Do-kyung’s confident expression, Lu Yichen glanced over the Korean team. His gaze lingered on Yu Seo-ha for a moment before moving on.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Good luck. Unlike us, you’ll need it.”
Whether it was the aura of being last year’s individual winner or something else, even such arrogant remarks sounded convincing coming from him.
Lu Yichen and the Chinese representatives walked away.
“Phew! That was intense!”
Ji-hoon sat down as if his strength had left him.
“Why are they so damn intense?”
Ji-ye stuck out her tongue in dismay.
“China’s no joke. The government openly supports the Olympiad.
Just being selected for the team means you can choose any department you want at Tsinghua or Peking University. If you win first place, there must be even greater rewards. It’s basically a life-or-death game for them.”
“They’ve won the team championship more than 20 times. The U.S. is strong too, but China is a real powerhouse in the IMO.”
Do-kyung’s explanation was followed up by Chang-seok.
Last year, China made history by winning gold medals with all six members of their team, utterly dominating the IMO.
After organizing their luggage and taking a short rest, an announcement came through the speakers.
"Attention all participants. Lunch is ready at the dining hall."
“Let’s go eat!”
Ji-hoon got up from his desk.
The dining hall was on the first floor.
Round tables were set up in the large hall, and teams from various countries were sitting in small groups.
The Korean team also took a seat at one of the tables.
“What’s on the menu?”
Su-jeong asked, peeking at the menu.
“Fish and chips.”
Perhaps because of the large number of people, there was only one set menu.
Yu Seo-ha was excited at the thought of trying a dish introduced as a representative British food in the encyclopedia.
“Don’t get your hopes up too much, okay? You’ve heard people say British food is bad.”
“Isn’t that an exaggeration? No matter what, it’s a developed country that once ruled the world…”
Countries with a lot of international exchange naturally develop rich food cultures.
Wouldn’t England have had more opportunities than anyone in that area?, so Yu Seo-ha thought.
“I gave you fair warning, alright?”
Not only Yu Seo-ha, but also Ji-ye and Ji-hoon, who were both overseas for the first time, looked quite expectant.
Soon, college students who appeared to be volunteers began serving the food.
“Here's your fish and chips! Traditional British cuisine at its finest!"
That classy posh accent heard in movies.
The anticipation for the food rose.
Click.
Yu Seo-ha took a photo to show his family.
A large piece of fried fish and thick-cut chips were served on a giant plate.
Yu Seo-ha picked up his fork and knife with an excited expression and took a bite of the fish.
Squishy.
‘Huh?’
Though it was fried, there was no crispiness at all.
The batter had absorbed so much oil that it was soggy. On top of that, the fish hadn’t been properly prepared, and even after just a small bite, a strong fishy smell rose up.
“Ugh…”
He gulped down water, but the taste didn’t go away easily.
Ji-hoon also picked up a chip and ate it, only to grimace.
“Aren’t French fries supposed to taste good even if you make them half-heartedly?”
The chips were damp and soggy.
They were even so thick that the insides weren’t fully cooked. Salt and vinegar had been sprinkled on top of the fries, but for someone trying them for the first time, it was too much of a challenge.
Su-jeong looked at Seo-ha with a face that said, ‘I told you so.’
At that moment, someone’s voice came from a table in the back.
“I’m telling you, this is sabotage. They’re trying to ruin our condition before the test so their own results look better.”
Yu Seo-ha turned to look behind.
It was the Americans.
One of the British students who had been watching them stood up with an offended expression.
“We know our food’s not good, alright? So just eat it. At least we’ve got tradition. What do you Americans have? Hamburgers?”
The American student laughed in disbelief.
“At least hamburgers taste good.”
Then Hans, who had exchanged greetings with Seo-ha, glanced at the American table and casually threw out a remark.
“Well, since hamburgers actually came from Hamburg, Germany, they’re not really your cuisine, are they?”
From the nearby French table, a curly-haired boy stood up with a tsksksk sound, waving his index finger.
“Mon amis… let’s not fight over something like this. We French understand that not every country can master the art of cuisine.”
The Italians, seeing this, clicked their tongues and commented.
“Food outside of Italy is basically all the same. You should’ve come prepared like we did.”
“We’re not worried. There’s a Chinese restaurant in every country in the world.”
What started as a light joke from the Americans had somehow turned into a pride battle among the great culinary nations.
Even the introverted (nerdy) students revealed their teeth and giggled with laughter.
Clink-
A gentleman who looked like a tournament official tapped his glass with a fork, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Apologies. Mass catering is no easy task, so it seems the food didn’t meet expectations.
But consider yourselves lucky. At least we didn’t serve jellied eels or kidney pie today, right?”
“Puhaha!”
“Hahaha!”
Everyone burst into laughter at the self-deprecating joke from the dignified-looking English gentleman.
“Today, we have all become one through shared suffering. I’ll ask the kitchen to put more care into the meals starting tomorrow, so don’t worry.”
Yu Seo-ha relaxed and let out a laugh. The food was terrible, but the atmosphere had become much more comfortable.
Students from various countries, who had been awkward at first, now chattered loudly, engaged in lively conversation.
After the meal, the delegations from each country broke off into small groups.
The Korean team, as if by habit and without anyone saying a word, all gathered in Seo-ha’s room.
“Alright, let’s do a final check before the exam.”
Do-kyung pulled out materials he had prepared from his bag.
Since the winter school, the team had been meeting regularly.
Seo-ha nodded and stood up. The movement looked very natural.
“Always remember. In geometry, finding the hidden symmetry is half the work.”
Everyone listened seriously to Seo-ha’s explanation.
Having trained for months with Seo-ha, the team now carried a different level of confidence compared to before.
Growl-
Even though it was already dinner time, everyone hesitated to head down to the cafeteria.
Do-kyung quietly asked Ji-hoon.
“...Did you bring any cup noodles?”
“Professor packed a lot, apparently.”
“Let’s go get some.”
It was something happening in most teams.
And two days later, the day after the opening ceremony.
Three problems, four hours and thirty minutes, the exam that would determine the honor of each country had begun.