Translator: Dreamscribe
Cecilia's voice was gentle yet brimming with grace.
As Seo-eun took her seat, Cecilia began brewing the tea in earnest.
Clink.
"It's important to warm the teapot in advance. If the temperature changes too suddenly, the aroma of the leaves gets startled and hides away."
Cecilia poured out the hot water she had prepared earlier. Then she dropped reddish-tinted rooibos leaves into the pot, white steam curling up from within.
"Wow."
This wasn't make-believe. It was a real tea party.
Her every movement carried the tradition and dignity of an aristocratic family stretching back through the centuries. Seo-eun felt as though time itself had stopped.
The crimson leaves swirled and danced inside the pot.
"It's beautiful...."
Seo-eun knew nothing about tea, but she was utterly captivated by the mysterious sight before her.
"Mathematicians have a long history of drinking tea."
Cecilia flipped over an hourglass and continued.
"Long ago, the mathematicians at the House of Wisdom in the Middle East drank tea while observing the stars all night and studying numbers. That tradition traveled the Silk Road to Europe, and the mathematicians of England carried it on. Every afternoon at four, they would pick up their teacups and begin their debates."
Trickle.
She poured the tea into a small, dainty, yet by no means simple bone china cup. The clear, transparent amber liquid filled the cup, releasing an exotic fragrance.
Seo-eun closed her eyes and savored the scent.
"It's no coincidence that mathematicians have loved tea. The very process of brewing it is a delicate art of time and proportion."
Whish.
For today, Cecilia had specially imported the finest caffeine-free tea leaves.
"It's so pretty."
Seo-eun peered into her teacup.
It felt as though she were being served a work of art layered with care, dignity, and a long history, and her chest swelled with emotion.
"So the tea before you is, in a sense, the water of wisdom that the geniuses who changed the world for thousands of years have drunk. You could truly call it the drink of mathematicians.
Now, Special Research Assistant Yu Seo-eun! This tea was made with care just for you. Go on, give it a taste."
Gulp.
With a tense expression, Seo-eun reached for her cup.
Just as Cecilia had done, she closed her eyes, savored the aroma first, then took a small sip.
'Ugh, bitter!'
Her face scrunched up at the bitter taste that contrasted so sharply with the gentle aroma.
""Hahahaha!""
The team members watching her burst into laughter.
Seo-eun desperately put on a prim, unaffected expression. She didn't want to embarrass Cecilia, who had gone to such trouble to serve her tea.
"It..it's delicious!"
At Seo-eun's words, Cecilia nodded with a satisfied look.
"Oho! I see signs of a true lady in our little assistant."
Plop.
She gently dropped a sugar cube into Seo-eun's cup, then poured in some warmed milk.
"A gift for the little lady. It's magic by the name of softness and sweetness. Now! Why don't you try the tea once more?"
The reddish liquid turned an apricot hue.
Seo-eun nodded and gently stirred the cup with the teaspoon Cecilia handed her.
Sip-
Seo-eun's eyes widened in an instant.
The bitterness she had felt at first vanished as if by magic. The sweetness of the sugar and the rich, smooth flavor of the milk wrapped around her entire mouth like silk.
"It's delicious!"
Seo-eun's face brightened like a spring flower in bloom. A happy smile she couldn't possibly hide spread across her lips.
"Right? Try the scones too."
Seo-eun lifted her cup and savored the taste of the tea. Then, just as Cecilia had taught her, she carefully split the scone in half.
"Wow!"
A crisp exterior, with a soft, fluffy interior steaming gently.
She topped it with cream and strawberry jam, and the moment she took a bite, the rich aroma of butter washed over her.
"How is it? You're happy now, aren't you?"
Seo-eun nodded over and over, her cheeks puffed out full.
The water of wisdom.
Now that she had drunk it, could she become a mathematician like her oppa too?
A swelling emotion she had never known before bubbled up softly inside her.
It had been a dream of a day.
At school, the other kids treated her like a weirdo, but here, everyone happily played along with her. Seo-eun roamed the lab as if it were her own home, having the time of her life.
"Time to head out now, Seo-eun. Mom is waiting."
Seo-eun pursed her lips, looking reluctant.
She didn't want to leave these wonderful adults who acknowledged her as a "Special Research Assistant," nor the lab filled with the fragrant aroma of tea.
"Oppa...."
Cradling the name tag pinned to her chest, Seo-eun grabbed the hem of Seo-ha's shirt. Seo-ha stroked her head with a small smile.
"Your assistant duties end today. We can think about the rest when Seo-eun is a little older."
"Okay!"
Theo rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a camera.
"Let's take a commemorative photo!"
Theo, Su-jeong, Cecilia, Sri, Ben.
The world's greatest geniuses gathered close together with Seo-eun in the middle. Even Cecilia, who normally despised having her picture taken, didn't complain this time.
Click!
"I'll send you the photo later. I'm sure it'll become a precious memory."
Forcing her reluctant feet to move, Seo-eun bid them farewell. She kept turning back and waving until the door closed. Her eyes, as she looked at them, were filled with admiration.
Whirr-
The door shut, and a quiet stillness settled over the lab.
Theo, as if releasing the tension, tossed off the jacket he was wearing and flopped down on the sofa.
"...."
"...."
"That child has a future that's almost frightening to imagine."
Ben adjusted his glasses and murmured softly.
Theo loosened his tie and snickered.
"It's beyond just that level. Did you see her with the cube earlier? How on earth did Seo-ha manage to develop that kind of geometric sense in her? It's not something you can get just from studying."
Su-jeong nodded.
"She wasn't reciting memorized formulas. Seo-eun has been playing with numbers since she was born. That's probably why her instincts are absurdly sharp."
"Her..her memory was incredible too."
After thoroughly enjoying all the kinds of play she could never share with her friends, Seo-eun had headed home.
The team had been stunned when Seo-ha said he'd never properly taught her math.
"What if, hypothetically...."
Theo stroked his chin with an intrigued expression.
"What if Seo-ha set his mind to actually teaching her math? What would happen then? Maybe we accomplished something even bigger today than we realized."
Theo had paid particular attention to Seo-eun's geometric ability.
The most advanced realm in mathematics is, surely, abstraction. The ability to freely rotate and dismantle invisible multidimensional structures inside one's head. If she grew up as expected, couldn't she become a mathematician who would carve her name into history as well?
"Hmmm."
Cecilia's voice sounded almost languid.
Everyone's eyes turned to her.
"Are you really fine just sitting there marveling like that?"
"What?"
Ben asked back with a puzzled expression.
"Did you see the look on her face earlier? She was looking at us with eyes full of admiration, as if she were gazing at Newton himself."
Cecilia took her hand from her teacup and continued.
"But you know, what happens later, when her head grows a little bigger and she looks at us again, and thinks, 'Eh? They weren't all that, were they?'
Ah! The moment that radiant admiration turns to disappointment. I, for one, don't think I could bear it."
At her words, everyone's faces stiffened.
As if even the thought was unbearable, Theo shook his head.
"That's got nothing to do with me. I've already got a theory with my initials in it. And I'm going to make plenty more."
"Same here! I'm going to become a mathematician Seo-eun won't be ashamed of!"
"I..I do engineering too, so I might be able to avoid a direct comparison, right?"
"...."
Cecilia gave Ben an odd look.
In her mind's eye, an image formed: Ben as a porter trotting after little Seo-eun, attending to her every need. Ben's face flushed with indignation.
"You're thinking something extremely rude right now, aren't you?"
"Oh? Was it that obvious?"
At her startled reaction, Ben let out an exasperated sigh.
"If you think I'm going to stay this way forever, you're sorely mistaken.
Now that I've been given a chance, I'm going to work myself to the bone. If I had to watch the light in those eyes change, I think it really would break me."
Seo-eun had taken a particular liking to Ben and had played with him for quite a while. The sparkle in that innocent little girl's eyes was still vivid in his mind.
"Hahaha!"
"Pfft!"
"Hahaha!"
His solemn declaration turned the lab into a sea of laughter.
Cecilia patted Ben on the shoulder as if she understood.
It had been playful, but it wasn't a joke. Glancing at one another, they all returned to their seats. Then they began ferociously poring through the materials they would review at the next meeting.
* * *
Ben arrived at the lab first, as he always did.
The mornings were his time alone. He'd collect the newspaper and the mail, walk a lap around the lab, and check whether anything unusual had happened overnight. Wiping the chalkboards and whiteboards clean so the team could start their day in good spirits was also his job.
"Done!"
Once he finished cleaning, people began to arrive.
"Good morning!"
"You look great today!"
He brewed himself a cup of coffee, sat on the sofa, and turned on his tablet. Most of the people in this lab had no real interest in academic trends.
"Guess somebody's got to keep up with it."
The Nature News logo appeared on the screen.
His eyes, casually scanning the page, suddenly went wide. It was a face he could never forget no matter how hard he tried.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
A loud voice escaped him before he knew it. The team members looked up, then began drifting over to his desk one by one.
"What's going on?"
[Is the Final Stop Finally in Sight? Cambridge and Munich University Joint Team Foreshadows Revolutionary Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis]
With trembling hands, Ben clicked on the article.
-The world-renowned Cambridge University and Germany's Munich University announced that, after two years of joint research, their teams have secured a decisive clue regarding the Critical Line of the Riemann Hypothesis.
A large photo was featured on the right side.
Felix Morgenstern, his thesis advisor at Munich University, his third lab. The man was the godfather of the European scientific community, and a notoriously stubborn authoritarian.
'This guy, collaborating?'
The article was more detailed than he'd expected.
A large-scale project combining Cambridge's mathematics team with Munich University's quantum physics team.
"Wait, this!"
Su-jeong let out a yelp as she read the article.
It was an interview with Cambridge's Professor Arthur Pendleton.
-In truth, what served as the decisive bridge for this research was a paper by MIT's genius mathematician, Mr. Yu Seo-ha. The theory he published on the correlation between Quantum Chaos and the Zeta Function was a tremendous inspiration. We took a hint from his equations and decided to collaborate with Professor Felix.
"N..no!"
Of all people, it had to be Felix!
Ben tore at his hair in dismay.
Ironically, Seo-ha had handed his most powerful enemies the sharpest blade. When he looked up, everyone was staring at Seo-ha.
"What do you think?"
At Theo's question, Seo-ha sank into thought.
In truth, Seo-ha didn't particularly care who proved a great problem. Of course it would be best if he did it himself, but if someone else managed it, he was perfectly prepared to offer his applause.
But this was no longer just his personal matter.
As the head of a team, Seo-ha had a duty to repay the efforts of his members.
"It's not an impossible approach."
Cambridge University had a deep, fateful tie to the Riemann Hypothesis.
It was Cambridge's Professor Hardy who had first proven that infinitely many zeros of the Zeta Function lie on the Critical Line.
Until just before his death, his New Year's wish had been to prove the Riemann Hypothesis.
"Th..then!"
"What should we do?"
"Could they be faster than APEX?"
Seo-ha shook his head.
"Beyond the fact that they aren't barking up the wrong tree, we can't be certain of anything yet. But they do seem fairly confident."
If they had gone so far as to release an article, it meant they had reached a certain level of certainty.
He turned and looked at his team. There was no waver in his eyes as he gazed at them.
"From here on, it'll be a competition. I'm confident I can win. What about all of you?"
At times, science advances through competition.
November of 1915 was the most fiercely contested month in the history of mathematics and physics. Einstein and Hilbert threw themselves into their research in direct competition, racing to publish their theories.
The great battle of geniuses over the achievement of proving the theory of relativity. Of course, the winner was the man everyone now knows.
And the gap between the papers they submitted was a mere five days.
*****
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