I Got an Omnipotent Brain

Slap-

Kim Yoon-mi smacked Shin Woo-hyun’s back without mercy.

”Ow! That really hurts. You know your hands are really strong?”

Woo-hyun jumped up and rubbed his back.

“I can’t live like this!”

“But it worked out well, didn’t it?”

“Haa... I must be a crazy bitch. I let oppa meet with the parents.”

There was a bit of commotion, and they did receive some sharp glares from Yu Seo-ha’s parents, but in the end, Woo-hyun succeeded in persuading Seo-ha. Actually, it wasn’t even really persuasion.

‘There’s no way a genius like that could endure 12 meaningless years.’

Seo-ha looked blank, as if it was something he had never considered before, and soon agreed that grade skipping was absolutely necessary for him.

However, South Korea is one of the most conservative countries when it comes to grade skipping and early graduation.

Especially in elementary school, skipping a grade requires passing such strict standards that often not even one case is approved nationwide in a year. There’s no reason Seo-ha wouldn’t be able to meet those standards, but it would require a lot of unnecessary energy.

‘School isn’t just a place to learn academics.’

Learning minimal social skills and developing emotionally through peer interaction is also an essential part of human growth.

So, they agreed on completing all 6 years of elementary school.

During the lower grades, he would participate in major competitions held in Korea to make his name known, and in the 6th grade year, he would dominate the world.

Woo-hyun felt a flutter in his heart at the thought of consulting the future of the most outstanding child in the world.

“But I still don’t want to go to America.”

Rather than annoying, his bold expression of opinion was actually something to be thankful for.

At first, he thought America was the only answer, but the more he thought about it, the less that seemed to be the case. No matter how exceptional a student is, the top universities in America make early graduation practically impossible due to institutional constraints....

“Okay. No problem. Of course, it might be good to go someday... but do your parents have anything they particularly wish for?”

At Woo-hyun’s question, the couple hesitated for a moment, then carefully shared their honest thoughts.

“If possible, we’d like him to graduate from a regular school instead of getting a GED. We know how important college is, but school life only happens once in a lifetime, and it’s precious.”

Tap tap.

Woo-hyun tapped the table with his index finger.

“No problem.”

There probably aren’t many people who know the gifted education system as well as he does. Woo-hyun knew of an option that could satisfy both Seo-ha’s future and the parents’ wishes.

“Is that really possible?”

“There’s something called a Gifted School.”

“Ah... I think I’ve heard of it. It’s somewhere around here, right?”

At Chul-ho’s words, Woo-hyun nodded.

“Yes, there are ones in Sejong, Incheon, and Busan, not too far from here. The advantage of Gifted Schools is that they’re special-purpose schools, so they’re not bound by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that as long as he graduates from elementary school, he has no problem qualifying for admission. He can legally skip the three years of middle school. And Gifted High Schools operate joint programs with KAIST, so he can start studying college-level mathematics as soon as he enters. Of course, those courses will be recognized for credit after university admission.”

“Oh! That’s convenient.”

Now showing interest, Seo-ha’s eyes sparkled.

“Right? You can finish the entire university curriculum during your two years at the Gifted School, then enter KAIST and complete your master’s degree within two years.”

If he uses KAIST’s bachelor-master joint program, it’s entirely feasible. The professors would have no choice but to accept him.

“Th... then....”

Looking eager, Mi-young straightened her posture.

“Seo-ha can get a master’s degree from KAIST at age 16. And you won’t have to spend a single penny. If he puts his mind to it, he can earn scholarships anywhere.”

“Is it that easy to get into a Gifted School?”

The couple still seemed to have a lot of concerns.

There would be no issue with admission itself. There’s no way Seo-ha wouldn’t make it into a school that accepts hundreds of students each year.... The problem is his age.

Woo-hyun smirked.

“That’s why I’m planning it so no one can object.”

After finishing what was truly a heartfelt, all-out consultation, Yoon-mi suddenly felt hungry.

They walked for quite a while and arrived at the open lot where the car was parked.

“Get in, I’ll take you to a good restaurant.”

Woo-hyun gladly got into Yoon-mi’s compact car.

“Are you sure it’s a good one?”

Yoon-mi, pretending not to hear, pulled the car out onto the road.

During the ride, an awkward silence settled inside the car. While driving, Kim Yoon-mi quietly reflected on everything that had happened today.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“You were kind of cool today.”

A surge of emotion welled up inside Shin Woo-hyun.

”I was always cool, you fool.”

Unfortunately, the region’s specialty, fish noodle soup, wasn’t to his taste.

***

Four years later, Seoul National University, Gwanak Campus, Main Auditorium.

“My daughter, you can do well, right?”

Min-ji’s mother straightened her daughter’s collar. It was November, but the air already carried a chill.

Two years ago, Min-ji had failed the entrance exam for Science High School and fell into deep despair.

‘What was I lacking....’

Her first taste of failure in life.

But Min-ji couldn’t just accept defeat.

‘I was solving calculus problems since I was ten too.’

That winter break, she suppressed the inferiority complex that threatened to swallow her whole and tried to use it as fuel for studying.

For the next two years, Min-ji pushed herself through grueling effort.

She wrestled with proof problems through the night and rode in her mom’s car on weekends to compete in contests held all over the country.

The joy of her first award.

Even though it was only third place, she was happier than ever before. Because beneath her were many students from Science High Schools.

‘I knew I wasn’t wrong.’

But the more competitions she entered, the lower her rankings fell.

‘They’re here.’

Even though they rarely wore them otherwise, they always dressed up like this on these occasions...

Students from Science High Schools, neatly dressed in their school uniforms, entered in groups. It felt like the air changed whenever they walked by, probably because regular high school students like herself were whispering in awe.

But the best high school in the country isn’t that one.

“It’s the Gifted School.”

Someone whispered.

A group of Korea’s most brilliant minds.

She had never even dared to dream of it. Engaging in a subtle mental battle with the Science High School students, they found seats on one side.

‘So you’re human too.’

Min-ji observed the discomfort clearly showing on the faces of the Science High School students and fell deep into thought.

This year, only two Science High School students had been selected for the International Mathematical Olympiad team. All the remaining spots were taken by students from the Gifted School.

She’d heard that this year, a genius had been chosen from the Gifted School as a national representative, even though they were only in 9th grade.

Min-ji subtly searched for her.

Lim Su-jeong.

A face she had seen in news articles.

Small in stature, extremely skinny. An unadorned face with hair tied back.

Perhaps it was the halo effect, but she even seemed noble.

‘She’s pretty too.’

What must it feel like to become a national math representative at that age?

A genius from another world, someone she could never reach no matter what.

Studying that had started as an act of defiance had its limits. Once you realize someone like that exists, giving up becomes inevitable.

‘This will be my last competition.’

It was time to prepare for college.

She had started participating in competitions to overcome her inferiority complex, but it would also likely help her with bonus points in admissions.

As she stared at Su-jeong, lost in thought, Su-jeong’s head suddenly snapped to the side.

Then she scrunched up her pretty face without restraint.

‘What is it?’

Min-ji’s gaze followed Su-jeong’s.

Step, step.

It was a boy who looked like an elementary school student.

He had tucked a country-looking checkered shirt into his jeans. He looked like a mini version of the current nerdy-boy fashion trend, and it made her chuckle.

‘What grade is he? He’s pretty handsome.’

If she had a younger brother like that, dressing him up would be so much fun...

In fact, from Yu Seo-ha’s perspective, his outfit was something his parents had paid a lot of attention to for his trip to Seoul. They had gone to a big store in town and bought the nicest clothes they could find.

Su-jeong’s gaze toward the boy burned with intensity.

‘Ah!’

She remembered hearing about it.

Since the beginning of the year, rumors had spread about an elementary school student who was sweeping up Grand Prizes at major competitions. She recalled the name was Yu Seo-ha....

Judging from Su-jeong’s expression, it didn’t seem like just a rumor.

But the boy himself didn’t seem to care about anyone.

He glanced at his test ticket, then quietly found his seat.

Min-ji watched him as if spellbound.

Once seated, Seo-ha pulled a pencil out of his pencil case. It was a lower-grade pencil with a character figure on it.

‘A duck?’

‘Ah! I get it now. Losing to a kid like that would definitely shatter your mental state.’

Seo-ha calmly looked out the window.

Over the past four years, his math skills had undergone dramatic development.

Woo-hyun sent books at intervals of a month or two, and the content was so fascinating that Seo-ha would count down the days until the next delivery.

A world completely different from the Encyclopedia Collection.

Graph theory and network science, Riemann and non-Euclidean geometry, even philosophical books about the history of mathematics and the lives of great mathematicians.

The strange dance of complex number matrices, tricks of formulas that deceive intuition, the more he studied, the deeper Seo-ha fell into mathematics. And eventually, he realized that mathematics was a grand language that interprets and reconstructs the world.

But there was a minor side effect.

“Why are you solving this problem like this?”

Woo-hyun’s temple pulsed with a vein.

He usually tried to let things go, but he couldn’t just overlook Seo-ha’s answer, which stretched over ten pages for a proof that could’ve ended in five lines. If he did the same in an actual test, he might not finish in time.

But young Seo-ha’s words pierced him right in the chest.

“Teacher, that proof is incredibly vulgar.”

Woo-hyun looked at the problem.

A proof of the general generation formula for Pythagorean triples.

“It’s just the classical parametrization of the Pythagorean theorem. If you use Euclid’s method as is, it’s five lines.”

“That’s just using a formula. If you want to show why this triangle has that structure....”

Seo-ha drew a large right triangle with his pencil. Then he drew a square inside it.

“This method is beautiful because you can reach the conclusion using only the rotation of the square and the similarity of triangles. Geometry tells you everything intuitively.”

Seo-ha began applying geometric transformations to the shapes on the paper.

He rotated the square 90 degrees clockwise, and using the new hypotenuse as a reference, rearranged the right triangle. In that process, two squares combined with a quadrilateral of equal area and divided in a complex way.

‘To derive integer conditions from similarity ratios....’

Insane. Genius.

Woo-hyun realized he could no longer teach this child.

‘Seo-ha’s mathematical identity is growing stronger by the day.’

“It’s time to enter a competition.”

‘Let the judges be the ones to suffer the headaches. I can’t wait to see whether they give you the Grand Prize or not.’

He became curious how the judges would respond to Seo-ha’s answers, which would be clearly different from the model ones.

Even if their eyes were like knots in wood, if they were mathematicians in name at least, they wouldn’t dare resist.

“Yes!”

“Only the big competitions. I feel bad for the kids who’d have to compete against you.”

They would skip city-level competitions.

He didn’t want to see a scene where fresh green sprouts get run over by a truck and wither. Of course, there would be victims, but even they would soon accept it as a natural disaster.

There was still a year and a half left until he graduated elementary school.

The Olympiad selection process, which took a full year, could start next year.

’Before that, first I’ll drop a bomb to prepare the hearts of the old farts in the mathematics world.’