Translator: Dreamscribe
Woo-hyun was sitting in the very back row of the auditorium.
The placement was deliberate.
The front rows were occupied by well-known professors, scholars, and Ministry of Education officials.
'Special advisory committee member for the Ministry of Education, huh...'
Woo-hyun chuckled to himself inwardly.
After Mi-young's essay made his story with Seo-ha widely known, the places seeking him out had actually increased.
But one thing had changed, and that was the nature of the people who came to him.
As someone working in the private education industry, communication with parents had always been a delicate matter.
"Can my child be raised like Yu Seo-ha too?"
Woo-hyun always gave them the same answer.
"Seo-ha shouldn't become the standard for children's achievements. He's a very inappropriate role model."
If he were the benchmark for judgment, every student would end up a failure.
The person called Seo-ha was a singularity that had appeared in his life without warning. Something that would probably never happen again.
Around the time Woo-hyun was growing weary of the parents, others began coming to seek him out.
The Ministry of Education, national research institutes, gifted education foundations, even large corporations and consulting firms, all approached him with polite requests.
The forms differed, but what they wanted was one and the same.
The next Yu Seo-ha.
"We're compiling a list of talents that need to be managed at the national level. Could you help us?"
"We'd like to ask you to design a curriculum for the top 0.01% of gifted students."
"We need mechanisms to keep talents who are likely to go abroad anchored here in the country. We'd like your opinion on this..."
"You were the first to recognize Yu Seo-ha. We'd like to develop criteria that can identify gifted students at that level early on."
Before he knew it, Woo-hyun was being regarded as the nation's top expert on gifted education.
'Well, it's not work I dislike either.'
Watching bright kids was always enjoyable. Guiding them in the right direction surely had its own meaning too.
'But...'
Woo-hyun looked toward the podium and gave a satisfied smile.
The atmosphere in the domestic education scene had changed.
The preferences of top-tier students, which had been overwhelmingly tilted toward medical school, were now rapidly spreading toward the sciences.
At the center of that change was, naturally, Seo-ha.
'Why bother becoming a doctor? You can earn that much just by being good at math?'
'Mathematician seems like such a cool job, Teacher.'
Working on the front lines of college admissions, Woo-hyun could feel this atmosphere firsthand.
The cutoff for medical school prep classes was dropping year by year.
'It's a good thing for everyone.'
He closed the documents he had spread open on his lap.
This was an authority given only to Woo-hyun. A very powerful recommendation letter that could put an outstanding student on the KMO fast track.
'It would be nice if there were a child on Seo-eun's level...'
But today too, Woo-hyun failed to find the owner for his recommendation letter.
* * *
[Voting Day, New York City Council Main Chamber]
Step, step.
John Carson walked slowly out to the podium. He was holding nothing in his hands.
His footsteps echoed clearly through the quiet chamber.
He bowed his head before the council members, then steadied his breath.
"Esteemed council members."
His low, composed voice gave listeners a sense of trust.
As the matter had drawn the attention of all of America, the chamber was packed with press.
"I did not come here today to explain a new technology."
In the front rows of the chamber, a few council members raised their heads.
"Nor will I speak of policy or political advantages and disadvantages."
John slowly raised his head and made eye contact with each council member one by one.
"Instead, I'd like to talk about the choices this city has repeatedly made until now, and why New York has come to be in the state it is today."
"New York is a city accustomed to crisis.
In the 1970s, this city was on the verge of bankruptcy. Finances had collapsed, public safety had broken down, and crime was rampant throughout the city.
In just seven years, 600,000 jobs disappeared, and even more people left New York. The world's media declared that New York had entered an irreversible period of decline."
As if recalling that time, a few council members with graying hair nodded.
"And yet, we survived. And we rose tall at the center of the world as a brilliant hub of finance and culture.
On September 11, 2001, even atop the wounds left by the most horrific terrorist attack in history, we survived. The city drew people back once again and restored its life.
Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the suffocating pandemic: through every one of those crises, New York has always survived in the same way."
Silence settled over the chamber.
"The city survived, but the price was always paid by ordinary citizens. All this time, we've endured by drawing our strength from their sacrifices.
The income gap between the top 20 percent and bottom 20 percent in Manhattan is as much as 53 times. London, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul: no other major city in the world has left its low-income citizens neglected to this degree."
"We've always only demanded from ordinary citizens. Move faster, come in earlier, work harder...
You say it can't be helped because that's how the social structure is?"
He shook his head.
"Everyone!
Just once, let us try adjusting the structure of our society to fit the people."
There was genuine sincerity in John's voice.
The reporters nodded again and again, as if moved.
"I don't believe so, but the bill we're voting on today may possibly fail.
It will also draw criticism. And I may not be able to personally bear the consequences of this decision."
He gave a bitter smile.
"And yet, the reason I've put forward this bill is one thing alone!
Because we all already know the outcome of doing nothing."
"Council members, humans can never be perfect. But we can make courageous choices. And I believe this is precisely the moment that calls for your courage."
Click!
Click!
Thinking it would make a striking picture, the reporters pressed their shutters without pause.
John humbly bowed his head and stepped down from the podium.
The chairperson slowly raised the gavel.
"We will now begin the vote on Project Oracle."
John clenched his fists tightly.
All that remained now was for the citizens' representatives to choose New York's future for themselves.
* * *
[BREAKING NEWS]
-New York City Council Passes Project Oracle Final Vote
"Moments ago, the New York City Council passed the Project Oracle budget bill with 26 votes in favor and 17 against."
The screen switched to the council's main chamber.
The numbers displayed on the screen were clearly visible.
"This is the largest budget allocation ever made for a single transportation and urban systems reform bill in New York City. This vote is being evaluated as a major turning point that will transform the very way New York City operates.
In particular, Mayor John Carson's speech before the council today is being regarded as having left a powerful impression not only on political circles but across civil society as a whole."
The camera panned to the plaza in front of City Hall.
People were cheering as they watched the electronic billboard. No small number of them were carrying placards with John's name written on them.
"The ball has now been passed to the research team that will design and implement this project. The core design of Project Oracle is known to be in the hands of Yu Seo-ha, the young brain at MIT who has recently solved one difficult problem after another."
Familiar names appeared on one side of the screen.
[MIT Team Apex Lab]
-Yu Seo-ha
-Theodore Langford
-Srinivasa Krishnan
-Lim Su-jeong
"Oh, those are our names!"
Su-jeong cried out as she watched the news screen.
Since a major schedule for the team was riding on the vote, all the members had gathered in the lab to watch TV.
"Wow! I didn't think it would actually pass..."
"Me neither."
Theo and Sri wore dumbfounded expressions.
"What did you just say?"
Su-jeong glared at Theo.
"So you had me studying for a project that wasn't even confirmed? Do you have any idea how much I suffered because of this?"
As sharp as Su-jeong was, studying unfamiliar coding was no easy task. She had retraced every step Seo-ha had taken going back to Boston: learning mathematical models and figuring out how to apply those models to real-world data.
The language connecting the two was strange code she had only barely known by name.
"Haha, aren't you glad you did it? Now that you know it all, how lucky is that?"
"Su-jeong, even I was surprised by your learning speed."
Sri chimed in agreement with Theo's words.
It was clearly an attempt to lighten the mood, but Su-jeong couldn't hide her aggrieved expression.
"I thought it would pass, naturally."
All eyes turned to Seo-ha at his words.
"Really? Didn't it obviously look difficult?"
"No, I trusted that John would definitely pull it off. He had the face of someone who'd made up his mind. Now it's our turn to give him an answer.
Let's build the coolest system together!"
The three nodded in unison.
"Yeah!"
"Of course."
"I'll have more places to shine than before."
A ten-billion-dollar budget,
The details would still need to be worked out, but the success bonus was bound to be no small sum either.
Bzzzzzt-
In the middle of the conversation, Seo-ha's cell phone on the table rang.
[Han Gyeo-ul]
Su-jeong made a curious expression.
"Huh? That Han Gyeo-ul from our school?"
After checking the caller, Seo-ha quickly stepped away and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
-Um... it's me.
Gyeo-ul wasn't the type to make phone calls often, and her tone was lower than usual.
Had something happened?
Seo-ha asked in an urgent voice.
"Yeah, go ahead. Is your playing not going well again?"
-No, it's not that. I'm at your school right now.
"Huh?"
Seo-ha's eyes widened.
Just as he was about to ask where, Gyeo-ul brought up her purpose first.
-Can you come to Bartley's Burger? There's someone with me who really needs to meet you, not me.
"Got it. Just wait a moment."
It was a restaurant right in front of the school.
Seo-ha hurried over to the place.
Creak-
Posters plastered densely on every wall, a menu scrawled like graffiti.
Perhaps because it wasn't mealtime, the inside was quiet.
"Over here!"
Gyeo-ul waved from a table by the window.
As he approached the table, he noticed her companion. Seo-ha's gaze shifted naturally toward him.
Grey jacket, neat shirt.
A man who didn't fit the atmosphere of this place in the slightest.
The only commonality Seo-ha could find was the heavy weariness settled deep in his eyes.
"You must be Yu Seo-ha."
It was Lawrence.
Even with a hamburger placed before him, he hadn't taken a single bite; his hands were folded together on top of the table.
"I'm sorry for making you come out to a place like this."
"Not at all."
Gyeo-ul had come here with him.
Surely there was a reason for that.
"This is Professor Lawrence from Curtis. He's also a famous conductor. A few days ago, I was practicing a piece you composed in the practice room..."
Gyeo-ul briefly explained why she had come here.
But Seo-ha's head was still swimming with questions.
"Please take a look at this."
Lawrence pulled the bag from beside the table over and took out a thick stack of sheet music.
Seo-ha took it and began to read.
"Orchestra..."
The parts were divided.
'He's not even a mathematician?'
Seo-ha was inwardly stunned.
Lawrence had found nearly all of the subtle symmetrical elements Ducky had hidden within the piece.
He had arranged them centered on the strings and winds to create harmony with them, but...
Seo-ha thought he understood why this man had come looking for him.
"Do you like it?"
With his interlaced hands resting against his chin, he gazed quietly at Seo-ha.
It was a splendid arrangement.
But he couldn't accept it.
When Seo-ha shook his head, Lawrence smiled as if he had expected it.
"The more I touched it, the more I felt I was only ruining the piece. In all my life, I've never had an experience like this. What kind of magic have you worked into that score?"
"..."
"I couldn't find a way to expand the piece without breaking the symmetry you designed. I, Lawrence!"