Chapter 181
Translator: Dreamscribe
[Yu Seo-ha Report (Revised Edition)]
Clearance Level: Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information access required (SCI)
Nationality: Republic of Korea
Affiliation: MIT, Team Apex
Classification: Priority Tier 1 (upgrade under discussion)
Risk Level: Top-priority protected asset, key surveillance target
Author: Senior Researcher David
Let me state at the outset that the author is a graduate of MIT's Department of Mathematics. This is not to boast; rather, it is to make the point that this writer is an expert when it comes to quantifying things. And yet I encountered tremendous difficulty in assessing the subject's intelligence. None of the evaluation systems in our possession could be applied to him.
No official record of the subject's IQ measurement exists.
There is a record of a cognitive ability test administered during his admission to the gifted high school, but the result at the time is recorded as having exceeded the upper limit of measurement. Since then, no institution has conducted a standardized intelligence test on the subject. It appears that even his parents took little interest in the matter.
Thus, one could say that the only means available to us for gauging his intellectual ability is indirect assessment.
The Four Color Theorem (age 13), Smale's Problems (age 15), Minimum Energy Theory (age 16), the Riemann Hypothesis (age 18).
Given the level of the problems the subject has solved, it would be appropriate to grant him the 'Tier Zero' rating, which since the NSA's founding in 1952 has been bestowed upon only three individuals (von Neumann, Oppenheimer, and Einstein). Of course, this is by current standards, and a special rating designed solely for him may well become necessary in time.
The subject holds an unbelievable amount of assets for his age. And yet, even now, he still lives off a weekly allowance from his parents.
What is most worth noting is the fact that he has not checked his own accounts in years. Beyond mere lack of interest, he seems to have forgotten that he is even wealthy at all.
It is the author's judgment that any recruitment plan relying on material incentives would prove ineffective.
[IMPORTANT!]
An anomaly was identified in the course of an exhaustive review of his records.
The subject has a tendency to be unable to tolerate a particular kind of incorrect answer. Even in situations where he stands to gain nothing and where the effort is plainly a nuisance, he goes to the trouble of correcting such errors.
[Collected Cases]
- Numerous records confirmed of him posting rebuttal comments on anonymous math forums. On rare occasions, he displays emotional reactions.
"Who I am isn't the point. What does a degree have to do with a proof?"
"Does making the formula more complicated make the error disappear?"
"You can't just brush it off because the professor let it slide! He's wrong too."
- He has a routine of regularly pacing the math department corridors at dawn to correct the errors in the equations written on the blackboards.
Perhaps he is greatly provoked whenever he encounters an element that offends his mathematical aesthetic?
It is possible that even with the Four Color Theorem, he spent seven long years on it precisely because he could not stand the brute-force computer-aided substitution method (regarded in the mathematical community as the ugliest proof in history).
If so, the strategy for recruiting him must change accordingly.
If the Post-Quantum Cryptography currently under development at NIST happens to touch a certain mathematical code embedded within him, there may be room for him to join its development of his own accord.
[IMPORTANT!!]
It has been confirmed that in the past he developed a simulation engine of enormous military value.
Skyline, which owns a defense-industry subsidiary, attempted to acquire it but came away empty-handed. There can be no doubt that Yu Seo-ha is perfectly aware of both the value and the danger his engine holds. It is currently being used as a game engine at the gaming startup Spectra Works.
[IMPORTANT!!!]
Intelligence indicating that the subject is considering enlistment for active duty service.
Considering the case of Skyline, he is unlikely to develop weapons of his own free will, but the military, being a chain-of-command organization, is another story entirely. This means his overwhelming intellect could be placed under the military control of a foreign nation. It could become an extremely dangerous variable for national security going forward.
"Is this true?"
Director Murphy pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. With the rise of China, Korea's importance was growing greater by the day. As it was, this ally of theirs was becoming harder and harder to keep in check. And now, if a variable named Seo-ha were thrown into the mix on top of all that?
"Yes, Director. He brought it up himself during a meeting with the Korean minister. Their government didn't seem to have any such intention, though. Still, he says he wants to serve as ordinary infantry, so wouldn't that be better than as a researcher?"
Slam!
He flung the report roughly down onto the desk.
"Don't be naive. The Korean government isn't stupid; there's no way they'd send Seo-ha to the front line as a rifleman. They'll obviously cook up some odd military specialty and bury him in a bunker where surveillance is impossible. And if he holes up in there and starts following orders?"
Oppenheimer had directed the Manhattan Project, and von Neumann had designed the implosion mechanism and the hydrogen bomb.
What was more, this was an era in which far more could be done with mathematics than back then.
Gulp.
David's face went pale.
The topics being most actively researched in the military of late were drone swarm control algorithms and missile trajectory calculations for defeating defensive networks. Both were fields in which Seo-ha could readily display his abilities.
"We'll have to stop it."
"Set up a video conference with their Minister of National Defense. Make it urgent! And put in a warning ahead of time."
* * *
Click.
[Military Service Physical Examination Application: Processing]
A week had passed since he submitted the application, but the status still wouldn't change from 'Processing'.
"That's strange. They definitely said they'd schedule a date right away...."
He hammered the refresh button over and over, but nothing changed.
"Did the server crash? I hope they fix it soon."
He would soon turn nineteen. An age at which one had to start thinking seriously about military service.
He had been urged to naturalize through various channels, but Seo-ha had no intention of changing his nationality. More than any other reason, it was his parents' circumstances that weighed heaviest.
Even after coming to America, the two of them still tended a small vegetable patch lovingly every single day.
Seo-ha read the longing in their eyes. The backyard and fields of their home in Okcheon; in summer his father would take up his hoe while his mother crouched beside him pulling weeds. Seo-ha and Seo-eun used to dash about merrily between them.
"They'll go back someday."
Probably once his and Seo-eun's studies were finished.
For the sake of that day, he had to hold on to his nationality. And he meant to be done with his military obligation as quickly as he possibly could.
The Military Service Special Exemption came with strict conditions. Even if he were exempted, he would have to spend several years bound to a research institute or a company. Seo-ha hated being tied down to anything.
And in truth, there was also a part of him that rather looked forward to barracks life in the army. As the saying goes, if something can't be avoided, one might as well enjoy it.
Ever since proving the Riemann Hypothesis, he had been getting far too much attention.
His life had drifted far from anything ordinary before he knew it; wherever he went, cameras and reporters trailed after him. It bothered him to the point where he had to refrain from even a simple outing.
What came to mind then was his dormitory life at the gifted high school.
There, one rose and ate at fixed hours. Getting through the day called for no particular thought. Whatever energy was left over could simply go toward mathematics.
"Newton had something similar happen, too."
In 1665, when the plague was raging through London, Cambridge University closed its doors.
He had to retreat to his hometown of Woolsthorpe and spend eighteen months there.
What he accomplished during this period was astonishing.
He conceived the concepts of calculus and universal gravitation. It was also during this time that he began his study of the light spectrum.
People called this period the 'Year of Wonders (Annus Mirabilis)'. Newton was a mere twenty-three years old at the time.
He would soon graduate with his undergraduate degree.
He had heard that he would receive his master's degree at the same moment as his graduation. He had been given a hint that he might be appointed as an Assistant Professor and begin teaching lectures. When Seo-ha heard the news, he had been flustered.
"Me, a professor, just like that?"
A professor younger than his own students.
Even to Seo-ha, who was generally indifferent to anything outside of mathematics, this was no easy challenge.
But what if he were to receive military training as an active-duty soldier and then be discharged? Wouldn't that offset the penalty of being so young, at least a little?
Every sign pointed Seo-ha toward enlistment.
He had figured that since he had to go anyway, he might as well come back healthier in both body and mind....
Ding-
[Military Service Physical Examination Application: On Hold]
On hold before he'd even taken the exam?
"Wait, why?"
Tilting his head in puzzlement, Seo-ha looked up the phone number for the Military Manpower Administration.
* * *
At that same moment, the Ministry of National Defense.
"The application submitted by the petitioner is currently under review...."
Click-
The major who had hung up the phone let out a sigh.
"I've put it on hold."
The call Seo-ha had placed went round and round through the extensions until it climbed all the way up to the office of the Minister of National Defense.
"And the Americans?"
"This is already the third request for a video conference. It's getting hard to keep coming up with excuses...."
"I have no idea what kind of bolt from the blue this is supposed to be."
One day, the NSA had reached out through unofficial channels.
The message was that it would not be pretty if Yu Seo-ha were enlisted for active duty. He had heard that a plan to exempt the man was already underway at the government level, so what in the world was going on here?
Quite apart from all that, there was something about their attitude that made the minister bristle.
"Isn't this interference in our internal affairs?"
Here was one of his own citizens wishing to fulfill the sacred duty of national defense, and the head of an allied nation's agency was standing in the way.
Unable to contain his fury, he let out a rough breath.
"What's the reason these damn Americans are throwing such a fit?"
Leafing through the documents, the major answered.
"Aren't they worried Korea might go and build a nuclear bomb or something?"
"And is that even possible?"
"The analysts say that if Yu Seo-ha put his mind to it, he could create something far worse than that."
The minister's expression hardened as he rebuked him.
"Why are you even analyzing that?! Stop it!"
If it ever came out that such an order had been issued, no one would be able to take responsibility.
When he had first heard that Seo-ha had applied for his physical exam, he had thought it was some tasteless joke.
But not long after, a letter arrived at the Ministry of National Defense. An elegant envelope bearing the MIT emblem. Its contents, however, were nowhere near as refined.
In short, it was a threat that, should so much as a single hair on his head be harmed, they would file a lawsuit on the scale of trillions of won.
A highly specific piece of intimidation, complete with attached opinions from a global insurance company and from the International Court of Justice.
And that was not even the whole of it.
The World Federation of Mathematicians, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, the British Royal Society, and even the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Every last one of them voiced a similar concern.
'You actually intend to send Seo-ha into the army? Has your country lost its mind?'
By this point, even he was getting a throbbing headache.
The Ministry of National Defense had never once forced him to enlist. On the contrary, they had planned to actively talk him out of it. And yet here he was, insisting on going active duty of all things!
"He's the one who wants to come in, so what am I supposed to do about it?!"
The minister let out a scream.
If some unforeseen accident were to befall Yu Seo-ha, just how far up the chain would the dismissals reach?
He could say with certainty that, with the sole exception of Seo-ha himself, not a single soul wanted him to enlist.
"Still, if there's something to be gained, we ought to get it out of them. There may well be areas where we can cooperate with each other."
At the time, even he did not yet realize it.
That there existed a point where the interests of both nations aligned so perfectly.
* * *
A few days later, Seo-ha, having risen early in the morning as usual, checked the website out of habit.
Click.
[Yu Seo-ha is not subject to active-duty enlistment.]
- Relevant statute: Military Service Act, Article ■■, Separate Fulfillment System for National Core Research Personnel.
"Huh?"
Seo-ha was crushed.
*****
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