The Wolf Foundation announces the winners every October with the agreement of each judging body.
Candidates are typically kept confidential, and notifications are usually sent the day before.
Unlike the Nobel Prize, which may contact winners only 1-2 hours before the official announcement, delays often occur due to issues contacting the winners.
However, the notification being on the day before does not mean that the judging process didn’t start much earlier.
The Wolf Foundation evaluates and lists the achievements of thousands of scholars from around the world, narrowing down the final candidates.
Now, all that was left was to decide the winner by majority vote, but a variable had emerged.
“This has never happened before. Why are we suddenly asked to change the candidates three days before the announcement?”
A sudden order came from above to place ‘NoName’ directly into the final candidate review without going through the prior judging stages.
The judge responsible for deciding the winner in mathematics shook the documents he had painstakingly prepared and shouted.
NoName is indeed remarkable, but still, seven proofs remained unverified.
If he were pressured to award a prize based on unverified proofs, he was prepared to resign and leave the foundation immediately.
However, a representative from the foundation responded confidently with crossed arms.
“It has been verified.”
“What?”
“The Twin Prime Conjecture. A report came in from the International Mathematical Union this morning. The verification committees from MIT, Oxford, Zurich, and Singapore universities simultaneously determined the proof to be valid.”
“Oh my God…!”
So, you’re saying an 8-year-old girl solved a problem that has stumped mathematicians for over 200 years?
With a serious expression, the judge, who had been frowning while calling upon the name of Jesus, thought hard for a moment before finally speaking.
“Well, considering the reputation of the Twin Prime Conjecture, she certainly qualifies for an award. But it’s too late. Plus, the Wolf Prize isn’t given every four years like the Nobel Prize; there will be plenty of opportunities next year and the year after… It wouldn’t be too late to award her next year, would it?”
“Do you really think so?”
The foundation representative shook his head.
He furrowed his brows as he looked at the mountains of paperwork piled high.
“Our Wolf Prize lags behind the Nobel Prize in magic and science, and the Fields Medal in mathematics. If word gets out that she has proven the conjecture first, what happens then?”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone will ignore our Wolf Prize and instead wonder when the girl will receive the Fields Medal.”
“Ah…”
There are few achievements as significant as proving the Twin Prime Conjecture.
“If we award her the Wolf Prize first? Our foundation would always be mentioned before the Fields Medal. At least for the next three years.”
“…”
“We need to be one step ahead of the International Mathematical Union. Our judges have exhausted themselves staying up all night for this. Wouldn’t it be much more fulfilling if the world recognized us?”
Though we tout it as one of the top three math awards in the world, you won’t find a single news article about the Wolf Prize overseas.
Academic prestige and public interest are not always proportional; that was a reality the judge came to understand while working in Israel.
“Fine. I’ll work some overtime for two more days to see if she qualifies.”
“Good thinking.”
While NoName’s achievements are indeed impressive, this decision also had political motives.
Currently, Israel faces a more dangerous international situation than ever.
The governments of neighboring Syria and Iraq are said to have already fallen under the control of Valpurgis.
Even so, the government members are discreetly moving according to orders from above without revealing their identities, making it unclear.
Given that they are occasionally appearing in holy sites of Saudi Arabia and Israel, engaging in missionary activities without any significant interference, Valpurgis’s influence may already be deeply embedded.
“I don’t want to, but I guess we have to counter anti-Semitic feelings in Europe and Asia and get their help.”
NoName is a girl of Korean descent but has gained immense popularity in the United States and Europe.
In both reality and virtual reality, if she could attend the Wolf Prize awards ceremony, it could serve as a foundation to resolve various diplomatic issues.
That is, until two days later, when the embassy of Israel in South Korea received an unbelievable response.
“She won’t be able to attend due to personal circumstances.”
“What? Is there anything more important than the Wolf Prize?”
“That day is the debut broadcast for a friend…”
“Debut? What is she, an idol?”
Hearing “debut,” the foundation representative immediately thought of the K-POP industry.
Though the diplomat’s explanation was lengthy, the crux of the matter was that it was because of a concept quite foreign—virtual YouTubers.
“What? V… V… Virtual YouTuber? That’s absolutely out of the question!”
“Then should we just change the winner to someone else…?”
“That’s not possible either! Ugh!”
An unexpected emergency had arisen at the foundation.
A man who had devoted his life to the foundation could not stand to see the prestige of the Wolf Prize plummet.
In the end, he came to a national decision.
“If she can’t attend the awards ceremony, then we’ll go to her.”
After all, it’s the same virtual reality; what does the background matter?
As long as there’s a banner with the Wolf Foundation’s logo, that location will be the Wolf Prize awards ceremony.
*
[Connecting to Void Space.]
[Welcome, User Name: NoName.]
It’s been a while since I logged into the virtual reality.
I haven’t needed to use the capsule much since parting ways with Emika.
I synchronize my avatar with my body to reflect even the slightest growth in height.
Right now, every millimeter counts.
[NoName has accepted the invitation.]
[Moving to Kariri’s Waiting Room.]
I jumped onto the plush mat on the floor and started to vent my frustrations.
“I feel like I get scolded almost every day lately. What have I done wrong?”
These days, Professor Chun seems to watch my V-tube videos frequently, and after my vlogs were uploaded, he called me to reprimand me.
He pointed out the incident where I demonstrated a magic circle going haywire for the children because I hadn’t set up the anti-reflux spell.
He didn’t just think that way; he showed me comments left under the video.
– “Isn’t it too dangerous to leave kids alone? The homeroom teacher should supervise them closely, right?”
– “Na-me, take care of yourselfㅠㅠㅠ”
– “Magic is scary ㄷㄷ That’s why I don’t learn it.”
– “There are moments where it looks like you’re recklessly handling your body… you should at least consider some child psychology counseling…”
While listening to my complaints, Kariri pulled my cheek and said,
“You should be grateful for having a family that cares! Why are you so fearless?”
A family that worries about me.
I still don’t quite grasp that I have a family.
And I often find myself thinking about my old family, which leaves me feeling uneasy.
I stretch my limbs as if to shake off those thoughts.
Kariri returned to her seat and helped set up the broadcast for the children who will be debuting soon.
The mouse darted all over as she deftly operated four monitors.
“Seeing you like this, it’s clear you’re a full-fledged pro now, Kariri.”
“Now you see? How long have I been doing this?”
“The first part of the introduction is about an hour each, and from part two, the four of us will do a talk show, then do the Wagal four-person queue together, right?”
“Yup! But we might run a bit late in part one; you okay with that?”
“I’m free today. I cleared my schedule.”
“Okay! I’ll count on you for today, NoName-sama!”
“By the way, how do you think Adella and Ni-el are doing? Do you think they’ll do well?”
It seems they had been practicing together for a gaming collab even before the debut without revealing their avatars.
“Well, they might be a bit clumsy now, but they’ll improve gradually. You don’t find someone who’s perfect from the start.”
While saying this, Kariri bit her thumbnail slightly.
Out of all of us, it seemed like Kariri was the most nervous.
I turned on the music video for “Coup d’État,” the debut song of the first class of “Safari Dream,” to calm my nerves.
“How about it, Na-me? The song is really good, right? Ni-el wrote and composed it! The more you look at Ni-el, the more you realize she’s capable of everything!”
“Looks like you didn’t just idle away for three months.”
“Of course not! I was super busy confirming avatars with Adella and U-Dex, getting vocal training, shooting the music video, and practicing games.”
She proudly introduced Ni-el’s achievements.
[17:57]
Three minutes before the broadcast begins.
Kariri’s eyes rolled back in her head, revealing only the whites, so I took over monitoring.
[Safari Dream – Adella]
In virtual reality, Adella is practically an idol, and she casually scratches her cat ears.
Gone are the days of her shabby old clothes; she now wore a fuzzy jumper and snug white pants that suited her perfectly.
I turned to see something off on the other monitor, where Daniel, wrapped in black scaly clothing, was flailing in a corner.
[Safari Dream – Judex]
“…! Kariri, no, Yoon-seul, wake up. Is that alright?”
“Hmm…? Why? Eek, what’s that!”
A [Giant Ice Block 2m x 2m x 2m] used as decoration sat in the room.
Ni-el’s long tongue was stuck to the ice, unable to detangle.
“This is bad!”
[17:59]
Kariri hurriedly turned on her microphone to broadcast her voice.
“U-Dex, what are you doing? Why are you sticking your tongue there?!”
Uhp uhp! Ehh?! Ehh uhp!
“Open your item menu and put it in your inventory!”
Kariri’s frantic voice had Daniel randomly pressing buttons.
The more he clicked, the more the setting menu obstructed her view, and the situation worsened.
Uh oh!
“How am I supposed to do this?!”
“Oh, crap… The decoration can’t be controlled from the center…! What to do… what to do!”
As Kariri panicked and flailed around, the second hand completed a full circle.
[Safari Dream – Adella]
[ON AIR]
[Safari Dream – Judex]
[ON AIR]
“Let’s turn off the camera first.”
“Y-yeah, that’s right! The camera!”
It’s disappointing for the first broadcast to have a misstep, but we have to manage the situation.
Pfft!
One screen turned completely off, and the comment section was flooded with question marks.
“Na-me, keep things in order here. I’ll quickly resolve this and be right back. Ugh, that silly sister…!”
*
‘Surprisingly, I’m super nervous…’
Adella kept fidgeting with the fur of her jumper while glancing at the clock.
If someone said the debut moment wasn’t nerve-wracking, it would be a lie.
Even now, she felt an urge to scratch the wallpaper.
The more she understood modern conveniences, the more she realized how much money was needed to gain a physical body.
[Wait, are you telling me I have to repay 300 billion won later?]
[300 billion or 500 billion, it doesn’t matter! The moment I appear, money will flock to me!]
[You sure talk big.]
She used to brush off what Na-me said as a joke, but in terms of value, even defeating a demon king wouldn’t yield that much wealth.
I worry Na-me might be overextending herself out of responsibility for wanting to pull her out of virtual reality.
So, Adella decided to do her utmost, thinking of “pennies make pounds” and that her best effort would count.
This virtual YouTuber broadcast would be the start.
Though she wasn’t as versatile as Daniel, she was confident she wouldn’t fall behind anyone in enthusiasm.
[18:00]
[Safari Dream – Adella]
[ON AIR]
‘Today I’m going to burn myself out!’
At the exact appointed time of Wednesday, 6 PM.
[Adella Ch.]
[Just Chatting – Your kingdoms are doomed! From now on, Adella reigns supreme!]
[Broadcast Time – 0:00:01]
[Number of Viewers – 3929]
With gray ears perked up, she wagged her well-groomed long tail.
After staring at the screen and chat window with a mischievous glint, just as she was about to open her moist, red-tinged lips,
[Safari Dream – Adella]
[OFF AIR]
“Ehhhh?! What?! My broadcast just turned off!”
What greeted Adella was a black screen and a chat full of question marks.
