I Got an Omnipotent Brain

Translator: Dreamscribe

Woo-hyun walked through the streets of Okcheon.

This village, which he was visiting for the first time in years, was unchanged, as if time had stopped here. The winding back alleys, the persimmon trees drooping over the walls, even the faint smell of earth that brushed past his nose.

Seo-ha had returned to Korea a few days earlier.

Watching him come home in triumph, basking in the public's attention and the dazzling spotlight of the press, Woo-hyun felt as though an entire era had passed.

'That tiny little kid, and now look at him....'

Seo-ha had grown up even more splendidly than Woo-hyun had ever hoped. A faint smile spread across his lips.

'No matter how I look at it, I was lucky.'

When he had first come down to this rural village after receiving Yoon-mi's frantic phone call, he had never imagined for a single moment that he would meet a child like that.

The sight of several hundred scholars rising to give the boy a standing ovation in the auditorium. Having witnessed that astonishing moment with his own eyes, Woo-hyun was overcome with a swell of emotion at the thought that he had been there at the very starting point of that great journey.

'Is this the place?'

Before he knew it, Woo-hyun's footsteps had come to a stop in front of a familiar house. Boisterous laughter spilled out from beyond the low wall.

"Mom! Are you going to plant pumpkins out back again?"

"That's the plan. Your brother loves pumpkin leaves, you know. Once summer comes, we'll be able to eat them."

"Huh? This is the doodle I scribbled when I was little!"

He chuckled.

Maybe it was because time had passed, but the mood was completely different from the day Seo-ha had entered the training camp.

It was only a few weeks of basic military training, yet Seo-ha's face had looked as grave as a soldier shipping out for an overseas deployment.

In the end, Woo-hyun couldn't hold it in and burst out with a snort of laughter. To Woo-hyun, who had served his full term and been discharged as an army sergeant, it had simply looked like the cute fussing of a nephew.

"Anyone home!"

Startled, by the sound of it, someone inside chattered something or other.

"Oh my, Teacher!"

Mi-young came running out happily, wiping her wet hands on her apron. Perhaps because she had returned to her hometown, her face looked brimming with life.

"What brings you here without any notice? The house is a mess right now, we're still unpacking...."

"There's something I'd like to talk to you about for a moment."

A low table was set out in the room.

Clack.

When the same instant coffee he was always served appeared, Woo-hyun felt somehow reassured. Her son had become famous and she herself had become a successful author, yet this family hadn't changed in the slightest. It showed even in the way they stubbornly held on to the house they used to live in, when they surely had more than enough money to buy an expensive mansion.

"Today I've come because of Seo-eun."

"Because of my daughter?"

Mi-young's eyes went round.

Crash-bang-

Something clattered loudly outside the door.

He had clearly heard her voice out there, yet Seo-eun still refused to show her face to him. It seemed her cat-like habit of keeping a certain distance from him was as strong as ever.

"Hoho! It's just that she's a little shy around strangers."

Mi-young laughed, a touch embarrassed, but Woo-hyun's expression was quite serious.

He carefully drew an envelope of documents from his bag and set it on the table. A letter of recommendation that, when it came to mathematics, could wield the most powerful influence in all of Korea at this moment.

"Huh?"

Mi-young's gaze wavered violently.

It was because the image of Woo-hyun from over ten years ago, urging Seo-ha to graduate early, overlapped with the present. She straightened her posture and shook her head with a serious face.

"Seo-eun may take after her brother and be a little clever, but she's not a child who clings to nothing but math the way Seo-ha did."

At her cautious response, Woo-hyun nodded.

"Of course, Seo-ha was a very, very special child. From that young age, his identity as a mathematician was already firmly set. But ma'am, Seo-eun, too, is not a child you can fit into the category of ordinary."

For a moment, Mi-young was at a loss for words.

It was because she remembered how her daughter, studying with the textbook Seo-ha had made for her, had effortlessly overtaken gifted children several grades above her.

Woo-hyun went on, calm and even.

"I have no intention of forcing the issue the way I did with Seo-ha. I just feel it would be a shame for the sense for numbers Seo-eun has to be buried beneath ordinariness. Why don't we let her decide for herself?"

Mi-young thought for a moment, then glanced toward the door and said in a low voice.

"Stop hiding and come in here. We're talking about you."

A flinch could be felt from outside. And then, a moment later.

Creak-

Now thirteen, Seo-eun walked in carefully without making a sound and sat down. Forty-five degrees behind her mother. It seemed she could only settle her nerves when her body was suitably hidden.

Seo-eun had skipped grades in the United States, so she had already graduated from elementary school by the time she came back. From Woo-hyun's standpoint, even this counted as having held out patiently for quite a long while.

"At home she's lively and plays just fine, but she's still a bit shy with new people."

"That's not it."

Seo-eun said, turning her head away primly. In her arms, she was still hugging her friend Justin tight.

"Why don't you tell the Teacher yourself."

"Hm? But I don't really have anything I want to say, though~?"

"Honestly. I should've known."

Watching Seo-eun roll her eyes and play dumb, Mi-young shook her head from side to side.

Unlike Seo-ha, her daughter wasn't the type to hold a fierce passion for anything. She loved nature and animals, and had a hobby of collecting the medals her brother brought home.

She clearly had a talent for mathematics, but her temperament didn't suit the aura of a solitary mathematician in the slightest. Mi-young only wished, in a modest sort of way, for her daughter to become a professional like a doctor or a lawyer, or to graduate from a top university and land a good job.

Woo-hyun spoke with a bright smile.

"As I said, I have no intention of forcing anything. Being good at math doesn't mean everyone has to become a mathematician. Seo-ha was an exceptionally special case. From the very beginning, he had the patience and perseverance that a mathematician needs above all else."

Mi-young laughed and waved a dismissive hand.

"Oh goodness, she has none of that whatsoever. The moment she's not having fun, she loses her focus in an instant."

Woo-hyun stroked his chin and looked at Seo-eun.

"But hasn't she been studying math steadily all this time?"

"That's only because I've been doing it with my brother ever since I was little. And he explains it in a fun way, too."

Seo-eun said it as if sulking at her mother's harsh assessment.

But there was also a reason she couldn't quite bring herself to tell Woo-hyun.

Her brother looked happy when he taught her math. Even in the middle of explaining a problem, at some point his eyes would light up, his gestures would grow bigger, and his words would come faster.

Back then she hadn't realized it, but now Seo-eun understood. Her brother had been happy to share the world he'd discovered with someone else. And Seo-eun wanted to keep doing that, together with him.

"What have you been learning from your brother lately?"

"Uh, um.... a stream?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Woo-hyun asked, tilting his head. Seo-eun shot up and hurried off to fetch the book her brother had made. It was now in its third volume, "Mathematics a Special Assistant Should Know".

Rustle.

The cover looked just like a picture book.

Woo-hyun turned the pages with a light heart. On the opening page were the frills of a flowing dress, and geometric symmetry illustrated through the fractal structure of plant leaves. Following that, the principles of harmony and numerical sequences were charmingly explained using piano keys.

A textbook that, instead of rigid symbols, translated the shapes of everyday objects into a high-dimensional mathematical language. Inwardly, Woo-hyun marveled at Seo-ha's insight.

'Though it's not a book just anyone could read.'

To the eyes of a man who had authored countless textbooks as an instructor, this book was the most beautiful, most adorable invitation ever written for a single person in all the world. And its destination, needless to say, was the world of mathematics.

"Here, the stream! This is the most fun part lately!"

A streamside drawn in a rainbow of colored pencils.

When the stream meets a rock it splits, and when it passes through a narrow spot it speeds up. Water, too, has viscosity. That's why the water touching the bottom flows relatively slowly, while the water on top has to spend energy dragging it along.

The density of knowledge packed into that charming little picture book left Woo-hyun feeling as though his breath might catch in his throat.

"Good God."

Woo-hyun felt a shiver run through him. Not because of Seo-eun, but because of Seo-ha.

This book was a guide designed so that the still-young Seo-eun could approach the very highest level of mathematics without any resistance at all.

Watching the elementary-school child brightly explain the flow of water in mathematical terms, Woo-hyun quite forgot the purpose for which he had come here.

"Could I take a look at your room, Seo-eun?"

"Sure!"

Had the distance between them shrunk a little? Seo-eun rose readily and led Woo-hyun to her room.

The first thing that caught the eye on the desk was a three-slot wooden medal case that looked as though her father had made it himself. It was shaped much like the watch case in the dressing room of his own home.

In the center slot, a golden Fields Medal gleamed, flaunting its imposing presence.

"Why does this one have three slots?"

Seo-eun put her hands on her hips and spoke as if showing off.

"Math medals come as a set of three, you know. My brother's going to bring them all home anyway, so I had Dad make it ahead of time."

The Three Major Math Prizes.

The scale of Seo-eun's medal collecting was steadily growing. It was, of course, because Su-jeong had been secretly egging her on.

"And you don't want to receive one yourself?"

"Hmmm...."

Seo-eun fell into thought, a finger pressed to her lips.

"Not really?"

The answer came with an untroubled smile.

It seemed that, more than the medals themselves, Seo-eun placed great meaning in the fact that they were precious gifts from her brother.

"Well then, I'll see you again next time."

Woo-hyun promised Mi-young that he would write the recommendation letter anytime she wished, and stepped out through the front gate.

'There's no need to rush. There's even talk that the Gifted High School is already on the move.'

The Gifted High School, which had turned out the finest output of all in Yu Seo-ha, had over the past few years become the most prestigious high school in all of Korea. A school that countless gifted children across the nation sought out as their first choice.

Rumors that its principal had set his sights on Seo-eun were rife throughout the field.

Rrrrm-

Woo-hyun climbed into his car and started the engine. But he couldn't quite bring himself to pull away, and gazed outside as though reluctant to leave. It was because the shock of the textbook he had seen earlier still hadn't faded.

"Seo-ha. What on earth were you trying to teach your little sister?"

The truth was, Seo-ha had had nothing of the sort in mind.

Since his little sister loved nature, things like rain and wind and water, he had simply tried to explain them to her logically and in a way that was easy to grasp. But to Woo-hyun, an entirely different scene appeared. Because-

"That's the Navier-Stokes Equations."

His grip on the steering wheel tightened.

The very foundation of fluid dynamics, and the hardest of all hard problems, one that modern mathematics had not shown even a sign of conquering. If it were solved, humanity would advance into a new chapter. Because human control over nature and climate could rise dramatically.

The Neolithic Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Space Age, and now on into a world beyond even that.

"That's probably reading too much into it."

Woo-hyun shook his head to chase off the stray thoughts.

Vroom-

As he sped along the national highway, a sense of déjà vu came over him. Streets and shops that looked familiar.

'When was it that I came here before?'

In that instant, a restaurant sign in the distance caught his eye.

[Okcheon's Finest Fish Noodle Soup]

The memory came back to him. It was the restaurant he had gone to that very first day he came to Okcheon.

As if entranced, Woo-hyun pulled the car up in front of the restaurant. It wasn't out of any longing for Yoon-mi. After all, she had married a good man and was building a happy family of her own.

Jingle.

"Welcome!"

"One fish noodle soup, please."

He took a window seat, and after waiting a little while, a bowl of noodle soup was set down in front of him.

Steam rose from the red broth. Woo-hyun picked up his chopsticks and gave the noodles a big stir. Perhaps because of the fish that had dissolved into it, the broth was thicker than he had expected.

The sharp aroma of the generous helping of perilla leaves and sancho pepper powder pricked at his nose. All of a sudden, hunger washed over him.

Slurp.

"Huh?"

'Why is this delicious?'

The first time he ate it, it definitely hadn't been to his taste.

The fishy taste peculiar to freshwater fish was nowhere to be found. Instead, a savory richness burst and spread through his mouth, and the noodles clung snugly to his tongue.

Sweating buckets, Woo-hyun polished off the entire bowl of fish noodle soup clean.

* * *

"Training is combat! Individual Combat Training!"

The booming chant of the new recruits rang out across the parade ground. The faces of the recruits training in the neighboring platoon were caked with dirt and dust, proof of just how hard they'd been run into the ground.

But for some reason, the platoon Seo-ha belonged to was the exception.

"Trainee Number 17, Yu Seo-ha!"

His voice as he gave his rank and name report was grave with resolve.

Seo-ha had never once thought about special treatment or being excused. For this moment at least, he had resolved to empty his mind and give his all as an army trainee, and yet....

"Simulated enemy spotted to the front! Squad, rush forward! But no hurrying, take it nice and slow. Slowly!"

"Unit, rush forward!"

The instant the drill instructor's order dropped, Seo-ha sprang up like a coiled spring and dashed off toward the objective.

Just then, the company commander, who had been stationed under the command-post tent in the distance, came sprinting over with a shriek.

"Stop! I said stop right where you are!"

The company commander's face had gone deathly pale, as though he were watching his own child charge into a burning building. Gasping, his breath heaving all the way up to his chin, he threw himself in front of Seo-ha to block his path.

"Huff, huff.... Trainee Yu! Why are you trying so hard? I told you to take it easy!"

Wide grins broke out across the faces of the fellow trainees standing behind Seo-ha. The officers and drill instructors, by contrast, were having a miserable time of it. A parade ground so smooth there wasn't a single small stone, its floor laid with soft earth so that no one would get hurt even if they fell. A special order that had come down all the way from the Minister of National Defense himself, no less.

All they could do was pray that this excessively eager trainee would finish his training and be on his way as soon as humanly possible.

*****

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