I Got an Omnipotent Brain Chapter 88

Translator: Dreamscribe

"It's done."

Seo-ha set down the chalk as if finally liberated and slumped into a chair.

"I need to rest. I don't feel like doing anything."

Theo nodded.

"Even if you took a year off, nobody would say a word."

"A day is enough. It's finals season at school right now."

Theo let out a bewildered laugh.

“Are you the one making the exam questions?”

"Don't joke around. I learn a lot at school. Every day I'm reminded that the studying I did on my own wasn't enough."

He shook his head.

"There's no way you can't handle undergraduate-level problems. It'd be better for everyone if you graduated as soon as possible."

Seo-ha wiped off the chalk dust and gathered the trash that had fallen on the floor.

A glance at the trash can revealed it was full of chocolate bar and gummy wrappers.

"Are you hungry, by any chance?"

Theo rubbed his face.

Since coming to the East Coast, he hadn't had a single proper al. He missed his favorite fish tacos and turkey avocado sandwiches.

"I should find a restaurant. There's got to be at least one decent place to eat in Cambridge."

"Would you like to co with ? My mom is a really great cook."

It was already the second invitation. If he refused again, Seo-ha would probably be hurt.

He hesitated, then nodded.

"Sure. I have no prejudice against Asian food."

"Really?"

Seo-ha happily packed up his things.

Looking out the window, the sun had been up for quite a while. He had lost track of ti following Seo-ha's proof.

'Ho, huh....'

His thoughts drifted to his parents and siblings back in Denver.

They probably still thought of him as a traitor. Christmas was coming soon, but he couldn't bring himself to go ho.

'Is he close with his family?'

Seo-ha was on the phone, his expression bright.

Grinning nonstop about sothing, he chattered away endlessly in Korean.

"Do you have any allergies?"

"No."

‘So it was about the nu.’

Theo looked around the chalkboard.

The hypotheses, the conclusions, the logical flow, the balanced developnt. It was a flawless proof without a single gap.

And yet, despite achieving a feat that would stun the mathematics world, Seo-ha showed no sign of joy. His expression was calm, as though he had simply finished a long-overdue assignnt.

"Let's go!"

The two left campus and headed ho.

The cold winter air brushed against their faces. Most of the snow had lted, but traces still lingered along the edges of the sidewalk.

During the entire walk, Seo-ha didn't say a single word about the Smale problem.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Theo finally asked him.

"You just solved a major unsolved problem. Aren't you happy?"

"Uh...."

It seed like an unexpected question; a look of surprise crossed his face.

"How many unsolved problems are there in mathematics, by the way?"

Theo sank into thought for a mont.

"Roughly two or three thousand."

“There are that many?”

Unsolved problems were an area of interest for Theo. He explained calmly.

"Of course, no one's ever counted them precisely.

Algebra, analysis, topology, mathematical logic, combinatorics, number theory.... Every field shares its open problems. They pile up year after year and snowball. Even if there were far more than that, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised."

Seo-ha nodded with a serious expression.

"I don't think the problem I solved is aningless. But it's only important among mathematicians."

"Hmm.... Hard to argue with that."

Solving it wouldn't change anything in the world right away.

"There's a teacher back in Korea who's helped since I was little. He firmly believes that I'll one day uncover the secrets of the world. As if...."

"Like Newton?"

Theo felt he could understand that teacher's feelings. Anyone who witnessed talent like this would inevitably co to hold that kind of belief.

"Yes. So I want to live up to their expectations. I've admired the great mathematicians of the past since I was young, too."

Surprisingly, Seo-ha held an objective assessnt of his own intellect.

If it were Seo-ha, he would surely be on par with them. Perhaps even beyond.

"Who's your role model right now?"

It was a casual question, but Seo-ha deliberated over it for quite a while.

"It's more like a rival I compete against in my own head than a role model."

"Who?"

Seo-ha said it shyly, as if embarrassed.

"Pascal.

He published 'Pascal's theorem' at sixteen, so I have about one year left. I want to produce a result comparable to his within that ti.

I don't intend to fixate on age, but that's just how I feel."

Seo-ha had been chasing after Pascal since he was little.

He had always believed he could overtake him soday, but Pascal's achievents were simply too monuntal.

"One of the greatest geniuses in history. He formulated Pascal's law at twenty-four."

"Don't you think I'll have accomplished sothing by that age too?"

Seo-ha smiled cheerfully.

Theo nodded without thinking. He wasn’t fully ford yet. But even with his immature knowledge and experience, he had demonstrated an ability that was nearly untouchable.

'What would he look like when he's fully realized?'

Von Neumann ca to mind.

A once-in-a-generation genius who had reshaped the paradigms of not just mathematics, but chemistry, physics, computer science, and economics.

'No.'

He shook his head.

Von Neumann had been more interested in the real world than in theory and philosophy. Seo-ha, despite his age, had an idealistic streak.

A pure passion devoted to truth itself, like the mathematicians of the dieval era.

"We're here."

While he'd been lost in thought, they had arrived at their destination.

Seo-ha's house was a modest two-story ho, the kind found anywhere.

Theo checked his own outfit.

Jeans and a coat. Cheap, but it didn't seem to be a serious breach of etiquette.

"Co on in."

The mont the door opened, the sll of food washed over him.

Soy sauce and fernted soybean paste. Ingredients he could easily co across in San Francisco.

Seo-eun ca running out from the living room.

"Oppaaa, huh?"

Spotting an unfamiliar adult, Seo-eun hopped two steps back and pointed at Theo with her index finger.

“He has red hair!”

Theo smiled wryly and smoothed his orange hair.

When he was younger, his hair color had been a sore spot.

"Seo-eun! I told you it's not okay to make fun of how people look!"

At Seo-ha's scolding, Seo-eun flinched and politely bowed her head.

"I'm sorry. It's just because your hair color is so pretty."

Theo waved it off as if it were nothing.

“It’s okay. I’m actually grateful a young lady is showing interest in .”

"Really?"

Perking back up, Seo-eun energetically led Theo inside.

In the kitchen, Mi-young was busy moving around with an apron on.

The sound of at sizzling on the grill and the sweet aroma of caralizing seasoning were irresistibly tempting.

Grumble-

Hunger hit him all at once.

"Welco."

Mi-young, whose English had beco quite passable by now, greeted him warmly with tongs in hand.

"I heard you ca from far away? Seo-ha's told so much about you. He said you're the kind person who's been helping with his research...."

"Ah.... Yes. Thank you."

Theo, well-versed in Asian culture, bowed at the waist in the Korean fashion.

Before long, a bubbling pot of soft tofu stew and perfectly grilled LA galbi were set on the table.

"This looks wonderful."

Theo marveled.

But that wasn't the end of it. Side dishes kept appearing one after another. An array of hogrown vegetables and preserved foods Mi-young had made on a trial basis were placed on the table in succession.

Theo felt as though he were being given a grand welco.

"Did you make all of this yourself?"

he asked, visibly impressed.

"Yes, the kids are picky eaters."

"?"

"I'm not picky either!"

Seo-ha and Seo-eun looked at Mi-young as if to say, what are you talking about?

“Aigoo, you guys wouldn’t know. A few tis I tried serving store-bought side dishes, and neither of you even touched them.”

It was a delightful alti.

Seo-ha and Theo, both starving, tore through the food with ferocious speed. Theo was deeply moved by his first taste of "real" food in a long ti.

Holding the bones with his hands was unfamiliar, but the sweet-and-salty at paired with rice, and the harmony of the spicy yet soft tofu stew, were so captivating that he forgot all about maintaining appearances.

"Thank you for the al."

"Mom, that was delicious!"

After the al, while they were having coffee, Mi-young learned about Theo's situation.

“You two stayed up all night researching yesterday? And now you’re staying at a motel?”

Seo-ha awkwardly turned his head, afraid of getting scolded.

"It can't be easy getting back either, so why don't you rest here today? It's not very big, but we have an attic."

Seo-eun, intrigued by Theo's hair color, nodded enthusiastically.

“I agree! Let’s play gas together!”

For a mont, Theo's mind went blank.

These were people who treated strangers so naturally, without the slightest hesitation. He even wondered if they lacked a sense of caution, having not been in Arica very long.

"Uh...?"

While he stood there dumbfounded, Theo found himself being shown to a room to rest in.

A folding bed and a desk.

The room seed to be used for storage, as it was packed with books. Theo browsed the bookshelf.

He saw Korean-language encyclopedias and various mathematics textbooks, along with neatly bound stacks of academic papers.

He pulled one of them out.

Swish.

It was a thick bundle of papers.

[A Study on the Zeros of the Riemann Zeta Function]

Besides that one, every docunt in the room was a paper related to the Riemann hypothesis.

'How many of these are there? Must be over a thousand.'

"Is the room all right?"

The door slid open and Seo-ha peeked his face in.

"Yeah, way better than the motel. But what are all these papers? Don't tell you're planning to take on the Riemann hypothesis."

Seo-ha shook his head.

“Not right now. I’ve realized it’s too hard to do alone. But I’ve been preparing.”

That made sense.

You need a party to defeat the final boss, after all. And the Riemann hypothesis was a demon lord-tier monster.

"Can you really afford to take your ti, though?

Thanks to the paper you published, the Riemann hypothesis is a scorching hot topic right now. The entire math world has been in an uproar over it. I've heard there are plenty of professors who are fired up about it too."

All of them had their own teams.

"Ah...."

Seo-ha seed unbothered.

"Doesn't it worry you that soone else might solve it first?"

"If it were simple enough for that, I would've finished it on my own.

But I am confident that I can find the answer. Once the conditions are right, I absolutely intend to take it on and prove it."

Theo nodded.

Thinking about it, it was only natural. Solving a Millennium-level problem required a good research environnt, colleagues to collaborate with, data and computational resources, and above all, the material, temporal, and spatial freedom to think about nothing but mathematics.

"Well then, get so sleep!"

Seo-ha gave a polite bow and withdrew.

Exhausted, Theo fell asleep almost imdiately.

In his dream, he was clad in heavy armor.

The weighty feel of iron, a shield in his hand larger than his own body.

The sky was dark. Across the ground lay magic circles that resembled the Riemann zeta function.

KRRUUUAAAA—

A colossal monster roared in the distance.

The countless numbers and symbols clinging to its body flickered like flas.

"Ready!"

Soone shouted.

Behind him stood a young hero.

He was, most likely, the last remaining hope of this world.

From every direction, monsters unleashed a barrage of attacks at the hero. It was an onslaught that threatened to engulf the earth.

"Damn it!"

Theo instinctively threw himself forward and blocked it with his shield.

The impact boring into the shield reverberated deep into his bones.

His arms had already gone numb. The monster's assault continued without a mont's pause.

Theo gritted his teeth. His role was to protect the hero.

"Huff, huff...."

When he woke, his forehead was drenched in sweat.

"What the hell kind of dream was that?"