“Na-me-ya, it’s a bit sudden, but since we’ve become family, it’s fate… Nice to meet you again.”
Sae-min awkwardly stretched out his right hand towards me.
“Must have been quite fun, huh? Enjoying a drama from such a good observation seat.”
“No, it wasn’t on purpose…! How was I supposed to come out in that situation?”
“That’s what you think, Se-min oppa. No, Se-min-ssi.”
“Hey, I feel a bit hurt… Since you called me, just keep calling me oppa.”
If only there was a culture in Korea where we called each other by our names.
Good cultures should be embraced by everyone.
“Depends on your actions. But aren’t you busy? Isn’t it exam season?”
“Is there a time when it’s not exam season? Just… are you saying this is an invitation for me to come and crash the party?”
“Looks like you’re not completely clueless, huh?”
“We’ve only met in VR. It’s the first time we’ve met in person, and you’re already being so harsh, Na-me-ya.”
“Still, I’m grateful for you submitting that request for the reinvestigation on my behalf. It looks like your offer to help wasn’t just empty words.”
My head hurt. I grabbed some ice from the freezer, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and put it on my forehead.
The coldness flowing through my head felt refreshing.
[Casting: Diagnosis]
“What are you doing?”
“Checking my cortisol levels.”
“You know about cortisol? Wow… you really know everything, don’t you?”
“I don’t know everything. I just know what I know.”
Well, at least the levels were normal.
So, I guess I can consider what just happened as my body’s way of returning to normal.
“So where did Professor Chun go?”
Professor Chun had rushed out of the house while I was in the bathroom washing my face, talking with Sae-min.
“Maybe to meet my dad.”
“Why would Professor Chun meet your dad?”
“Well… my dad was the prosecutor handling the Valpurgis case…”
What?
In my excitement, my reflexes kicked in before my mind could catch up, and I found myself grabbing the young man by the collar and shouting.
“Why are you telling me this now?! Ha, the villain’s been right here…! No wonder the darkness was under the lamp…”
Isn’t this just like the plot of the novel ‘I Married the Son of My Enemy,’ which noble ladies of my past life enjoyed reading?
But what can I do? I’m ready to kill the parents of my savior at any time!
“No, no! My dad was dealing with a case in Jeju Island at that time, remember? He was at the Jeju Prosecutor’s Office from the start…”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, he was probably the deputy chief prosecutor there… You should check it out.”
I gently released his collar. Since the collar of his shirt was wrinkled, I also used my aura to smooth it out.
“… I’ll let you live.”
“Wow, how utterly shameless…! Anyway, since it was a big deal nationwide, I guess you’re going to your dad, who’s now the head of the Seoul Central Prosecutor’s Office.”
“The head prosecutor… If he’s even the head of the Seoul Prosecutor’s Office, I can’t say he’s completely unrelated.”
“Can you stop pushing my dad as the villain…? Honestly, I really don’t like it, but I think he’s at least moral and clean.”
I could hear him talking on the phone with Professor Chun.
Even the sound coming from in front of the elevator was loud enough to penetrate the entrance door.
I thought about using my aura to eavesdrop, but decided against it. He must know what he’s doing.
“…”
“…”
We continued to stare blankly at each other, the silence stretching on.
“Well, if you’re done staring, you can leave now.”
“Really? You’re too harsh. Your dad called and dashed out during PK (penalty kick).”
PK? It can’t be penalty kick in this context, can it? Even if it is, it might still be a problem.
“I don’t know what that means, but is that okay?”
“No, of course not. So play with me for a bit. I was asked by my uncle!”
I guess there was no way he wouldn’t worry about me while leaving.
He must have asked Sae-min to keep an eye on me. That’s why he’s been dragging things out.
“Then can you help me with making a video?”
“What video? Are you talking about exposing something at a contest?”
“Exactly. So don’t just lie there!”
I pulled on Sae-min’s arm to get him to stand up.
Then I pointed to the camera on the high shelf and requested he get it down for me.
I really didn’t need to use my aura for such work. That would be a waste of labor.
While I checked to see if the camera was on, Sae-min sat on the sofa and kept glancing me up and down.
“Na-me-ya.”
“What now? Stop bothering me.”
“I just find it interesting to watch you. You think of yourself as a genius, right?”
“I’m just mentally mature.”
“Is that so? Doesn’t seem like it…”
“If you think so, figure it out yourself, whether it’s side effects of mana potions or whatever.”
“If that were true, it would be reported to the academic community. Do you still enjoy your time at the academy? Have you met any geniuses like you?”
“Why do you ask?”
“It was a question from a cute junior who was vice president in high school. Just got curious.”
“You were also in student council?”
“I was the student council president back in the day.”
“Wow… the school level was really…”
As my hands paused while setting up the camera.
If someone were to ask me if I’ve ever seen a genius in my life, I could confidently say yes.
Maria Euphrasia Terarubi.
The master of the Black Magic Tower.
She was the most exceptional talent in the Kaizen Empire, mastering not only Magic Studies but also economics, politics, statistics, astronomy, logic, algebra, physics, and medicine—a superhuman being.
Unlike your average blue lizard, who merely has a lot of knowledge from living for hundreds of years.
The ivory tower of knowledge she built from having a human body for 50 years was genuinely unreachable.
So if I tried to challenge her with knowledge like the theory of relativity or quantum mechanics that I learned shallowly in my first life,
[I heard there’s a kid at the academy boasting about his memory being good.]
I would strongly realize that the theory of modern genius was indeed wrong.
[You? Idiot?]
But in a twisted way, the gods fairly gave her characteristics of being emotionally unstable and an alcoholic.
Of all people, she was the one I respected the most.
“She’s not at the academy now. I might know one person among those I know. Here you go.”
I stopped the small talk and handed the camera to Sae-min.
Click
“Hey, don’t take it… no, just take it for now so I can see the composition.”
Click
Click click click
“Are you taking it properly?”
“Ah! My camera!”
I rewound the latest photos I took.
Among a few decent photos, I discovered a ridiculously close-up shot of my nostrils filling the entire frame. Delete.
“Stop fooling around and do it right. I’m serious right now.”
“Okay, got it! But what about the lines? Do you have anything prepared?”
“I’m thinking about it right now. Toss me some ideas.”
I’ve always been the kind of person who struggles to find the right words.
Countless misunderstandings arose from my words, and sometimes problems occurred simply because I didn’t speak.
Just as using a given mathematical formula to create a magic circle is a talent, I thought composing sentences to persuade the public was also a talent.
If my eloquence were dazzling, I could have become Hitler in my past life.
Though no matter how that would end, the result wouldn’t really be much different.
“I, too, am in the sciences, so my writing skills are quite horrendous.”
“Well, that doesn’t help at all.”
“Hearing that from a seven-year-old really hurts my brother’s heart?”
“Even your subtle nudges won’t get me to call you oppa. In the end, it’s the start that matters.”
There’s a saying that the beginning is half the battle.
No matter how the latter part might go wrong, if the start is good, a decent video could still come out.
If we do an interview, what would the public see first when the video I prepared is played?
And what would they think when they see me?
Wonder? What would that wonder even specifically be? It shouldn’t feel like watching a giraffe at a zoo.
Denial? Even if they see me at fourteen, so many wouldn’t believe it, and just because I look like an avatar, would the public accept it easily?
When something deviates from common sense, it’s human nature to deny it first.
In the end, it was crucial to manifest my usual self in reality as it is.
“What was my first impression?”
I asked Sae-min.
At least he could offer me an objective perspective. Professor Chun’s reliability was questionable.
“Did you want to go over and slap me?”
“… not in League of Legends. Just when I found out you were seven.”
“I really thought someone was messing with me. I barely accepted it after checking your name at the orphanage.”
“Seems like everyone feels that way, right?”
What a ridiculous statement.
The fact that I had survived for seven years locked in a capsule was too unrealistic for the public to accept.
“Since ancient times, appealing to emotions has always been a good way. Just do it as I did with my uncle earlier.”
“…”
“Ah, I’m sorry…! I don’t want to do that, so what should I do… um.”
Are you about to cry again?
Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever cry again.
Except when I meet Seol-ah.
“Then since the living room is a bit weird, how about we shoot in your room instead? That might feel more natural.”
“What difference does it make…? Fine then.”
I led Sae-min to my room.
The desk was still messy with piles of paper scattered around.
There’s plenty of room to step on, so it wouldn’t matter much.
“What’s all this? Numbers?”
Sae-min pointed at the yellow post-it notes and asked.
“Oh, this. 1049 and 1051. What’s the common thing about those two numbers?”
“Hmm… They’re both prime numbers.”
Sae-min’s answer came right away.
“Correct. Numbers that differ by 2 are called twin primes.”
I loved that names like this existed in math and physics.
If the difference is 2, we call them twin primes; if it’s 4, cousin primes; and if it’s 6, sexy primes.
“No… that’s not what I was asking.”
Sae-min edged away from me again.
“Oh. You can’t doodle on the walls. That’s why I used post-its.”
He slowly turned around to observe the entire wall and finally opened his mouth.
“What’s written all over this wall… what does it all mean?”
“It contains the proof that there are infinitely many twin primes.”
“Did you learn that all by yourself from the internet?”
“No? Why would I try to solve a problem that’s already been proven?”
Math is just a puzzle.
You can buy a 1000-piece puzzle as a hobby and try to piece it together.
The thrill and vitality felt when you first try to fit the pieces can never be replicated after that initial experience.
“I figured it out since it wasn’t solved.”
A moment of unexpected silence.
At his words, Sae-min took a deep breath, then bent down to match my eye level.
“Na-me-ya… I just realized an incredible truth.”
His serious face made my body instinctively lean back.
“What… what is it?”
“There’s no need to struggle to convince the public. Just showing that you’re a treasure that won’t exist again in this Republic of Korea is enough.”
“Treasure…? What do you mean?”
Sae-min smiled meaningfully and raised both arms toward the sky.
“If you make it so people can’t help but protect you, that’s it, right? Then they’ll prove it for you.”
“Why are you talking like some middle schooler? Did you eat something weird?”
Sae-min began to whisper his plan to me.
“So? What do you think? Quite good, isn’t it?”
“What did you eat, though?”
