I Got an Omnipotent Brain

Science,

[MIT Research Team Presents Core Structure of Minimum Energy Theory]

-First case to simultaneously demonstrate existence and convergence.

-This journal plans to convene an international verification panel in the fields of Dynamics, Analysis, and Control Theory for independent review.

Nature,

[Completing LaSalle as a Structure, Not Just a Principle]

-If this proof is confirmed, countless engineering models that have relied on assumptions for the past half-century will need to be rewritten.

The New York Times,

[The Engineering World Is Reeling from the ’Yu Seo-ha Shock’: Conventional Wisdom on Energy Theory Overturned]

-A massive crack has appeared in a theory that had been stagnant for decades. The engineering world is currently in a state of extreme turmoil.

Less than two hours after the broadcast ended, the names of Seo-ha and Team Apex had seized the top of real-time search rankings worldwide.

But the most intense reactions erupted from within academia itself.

MIT’s mail server was on the verge of collapse.

Inquiries poured in from Asia, Europe, South America, and every corner of the globe.

At first, they were polite requests: seminar invitations, private briefings, joint research proposals.

But as the days passed, the tone of the emails grew increasingly urgent, as if people could no longer afford to wait.

”Could you share the definition of the time-integral term used in the proof?”

”Please clarify whether there are any additional assumptions for the closure condition of the invariant set.”

”Were there any intermediate steps omitted during the live broadcast? According to the verification we conducted independently....”

MIT’s administrative team temporarily shut down their automatic sorting system.

Sorting by subject line alone had become impossible.

[Urgent: Request for Additional Explanation on LaSalle’s Dimensional Theorem]

[Inquiry Regarding Availability of Full Materials from Live Proof]

[Request for Official Position on Interpretation of LaSalle’s Invariant Set]

[Request for Additional Explanation on the Scope of Convergence Proof]

Perhaps because of time zone differences, the emails came ceaselessly, day and night.

When Europe fell asleep, North America woke up, and when North America rested, Asia picked up the baton.

Whirr...

The printer in the mathematics department office ran without pause.

Board photos, handwriting captures, and individual frames from the broadcast recording were printed and piled up on the floor.

”Seems like everyone’s more interested in the spoils than the verification.”

Whitman muttered, stroking his chin.

The mechanical engineering department had shifted into wartime mode. Every professor and researcher had set aside their ongoing work to discuss what could be done with Seo-ha’s theory.

Seo-ha’s own remarks had played a significant role in how things unfolded.

An emergency faculty meeting was convened.

Thomas took the lead and spoke.

”...We need to file an extremely strong patent.”

His throat must have been dry, because he gulped down water in large swallows.

”If we sit on our hands now, within a month, derivative patents will start flooding in from every direction. Control, energy, mechanical, aerospace, semiconductors... there’s no field that won’t be affected.

The licensing fees would be beyond imagination. Enough to rival every patent MIT currently holds, combined.”

He lightly tapped the stack of documents piled on the table.

”We need to lock down the structure itself.

The construction method of the invariant set, the convergence conditions including the time axis, and the application framework, all of it.”

The sheer scale of it silenced everyone.

The Team Apex members, who had been called in on short notice, looked around with their heads spinning.

That was when Seo-ha spoke.

”Professor.”

”Go ahead. Your opinion matters most here.”

Seo-ha slowly raised his head.

”Did Newton patent calculus?”

His words changed the air in the conference room in an instant.

”If he had, today’s mathematics and engineering wouldn’t have developed to even half of what they are.”

Thomas furrowed his brow.

”Times have changed, Seo-ha.

This is a theory that could move dozens of industries simultaneously.”

But Seo-ha was resolute.

”That’s exactly why.

The Minimum Energy Theory is something someone would have inevitably reached, even without me. But the moment we lock it behind a patent, everyone will try to work around it. The most efficient weapon would become unusable.”

Thomas let out a slow breath.

”So what you’re saying is you want to release all of it? Without any restrictions?”

Seo-ha nodded.

”The theory should belong to everyone.

Implementation, on the other hand, is different. Algorithms, control logic, physical devices, new materials.... Those can be claimed through effort. Anyone who works hard enough can secure their position first.

I believe this is the right choice.”

Hmm...

”You’re giving us quite the headache.”

Thomas pressed his hand to his forehead.

But then he looked at Seo-ha and broke into a warm smile.

”Still, the fact that people like you are students of our MIT... that is something to be immensely proud of.”

This had been a matter already agreed upon within Team Apex.

At the professor’s words, Theo, Sri, and Su-jeong all looked on the verge of tears.

Whitman rose from his seat.

”You all should start preparing the paper immediately. The theory, at least, must never be touched by anyone else. This must be your achievement and yours alone.”

””Yes, sir!””

Thomas asked with a concerned expression.

”But will this really be alright? Your team members deserve compensation too.”

Seo-ha grinned.

”I have something in mind for that.”

Sri needed the money, and both Theo and Su-jeong deserved something for all their hard work. A plan was necessary.

Seo-ha had already devised a sizable patent to leave for the team.

The meeting ended on that note.

And once word spread that MIT would not be locking down the theory, the flood of inquiries began in earnest.

* * *

On the dean’s orders, several warning notices were posted on the door of the Team Apex lab.

[Absolutely No Entry for Unauthorized Personnel]

[No Unscheduled Visits or Meetings Without Prior Approval]

[No Photography or Video Recording]

[No External Storage Devices Allowed]

[No Guests May Accompany Researchers Into the Lab]

[No Media Contact]

Passing students stopped out of curiosity, read the notices, and quietly moved on.

Beneath the notices, someone had stuck a few playful Post-it notes.

-Hang in there! We’re proud of you guys.

-The world’s greatest department!

-Shh! History is being rewritten in here.

Theo spotted them and let out a quiet chuckle, then walked inside without removing them.

Seo-ha was resting for a bit, recovering from the aftermath of the proof.

”This is where people are going to nitpick first.”

Theo pointed to the center of the board.

His finger had stopped on the part Seo-ha had glossed over without detailed explanation during the live broadcast.

”You mean the step where the time-integral term gets absorbed into the invariant structure?”

”Yeah.”

He nodded at Su-jeong’s words.

”Seo-ha’s intuition is remarkably precise. But proving it rigorously is a different matter entirely.”

Sri was already at the workstation, building a simulation for that very section.

”The verification is going to take quite a while. Just understanding it won’t be easy.”

Seo-ha’s proof required not only mathematics and engineering but also physical energy analysis and the geometry of invariant sets simultaneously, a structure impossible to comprehend from any single discipline alone.

But the three of them had spent countless nights together, burning the midnight oil over the theory.

On the days they failed, on the days they completely changed the direction of the theory, on the days Seo-ha stood silently before the board all day long, they had been there with him.

Slide.

The door opened and Seo-ha walked in.

”Huh? You’re here already? Why didn’t you rest more?”

Seo-ha had been running a fever since the live broadcast.

They had agreed he would take a few days off, but he simply couldn’t stay home doing nothing.

”My mom told me to bring this for you guys.”

Seo-ha unwrapped a cloth bundle on the table.

Glistening braised short ribs, beautifully colorful rolls of gimbap, an assortment of savory pancakes and seasoned vegetables. Warm steam rose from the food, as if it had been cooked at home just moments ago.

Gulp.

Grumble.

Su-jeong, who had already been missing Korean food, couldn’t take her eyes off the table.

”Let’s eat first, then get started.”

”Y-yeah, let’s!”

”Can’t work on an empty stomach!”

”Tell your mom we said thank you!”

A small party broke out in the lab.

It had been a time of war. The small happiness that came after all their hard work melted the tension from everyone’s faces.

”Su-jeong, aren’t your chopsticks moving a little too fast?”

”I’m Korean, so obviously. Sri, maybe you should just eat with your hands?”

”That sounds right, but why does it feel offensive? Isn’t that kinda racist?”

”Shut up and eat.”

Everyone burst out laughing at Su-jeong’s scolding.

After the meal, the table was being cleared. Seo-ha quietly rose from his seat and bowed his head to them.

”Thank you, all of you. I’m the one who did the proof, but no matter how I think about it, there’s no way I could have done it alone. And more than anything....”

Seo-ha paused and made eye contact with each team member, one by one.

”Thank you for believing in me to the end, instead of dismissing it as a pipe dream.”

It was an attempt that anyone would have considered reckless. But they had poured every ounce of their strength and passion into it without a shred of doubt. Seo-ha felt deep gratitude for that.

But their reactions were not what Seo-ha had expected.

Theo made a blank face, as if wondering what Seo-ha was even talking about.

”I never once thought it was a pipe dream, though?”

”Huh? Me neither.”

”Same.”

Seo-ha looked taken aback for a moment, then laughed along with them.

”Well, in that case, I’d like this paper to go out fairly, under the team’s name. How about co-first authors?”

Theo shook his head.

”I appreciate the thought. But that’s not a good choice for us either.”

”What?”

”Think about it. Anyone looking at it would think we just rode your coattails, right? And to some extent, that’s true.”

Sri and Su-jeong nodded in agreement.

”Definitely....”

”I’d think the same if I were an outsider.”

Seo-ha thought it over deeply, then proposed a compromise.

”Then let’s go with co-first authors, but clearly specify each person’s role. I really need to do it this way.”

Seo-ha opened his laptop and typed four names side by side in the author section. Then he began writing what each of them had done.

[Theodore Langford]

-Reviewed the logical consistency of all major theorems and proofs and coordinated mathematical coherence. Also contributed to the construction of supporting lemmas and the reinforcement of logical weak points.

[Srinivasa Krishnan]

-Conducted numerical simulations and computational experiments based on the proposed theory to verify its practical applicability.

[Lim Su-jeong]

-Mathematical review of closure conditions and time-integral term handling in high-dimensional State Space. Examined the stability of the proof with a focus on potential counterexamples.

”I’ll write yours.”

Theo pulled the laptop toward himself.

[Yu Seo-ha]

-Proposed the core idea of the research and designed the overall theoretical framework for the Minimum Energy structure.

-Extended LaSalle’s Invariance Principle to complete the key proof guaranteeing convergence simultaneously in time-dependent Dynamics.

The team members read and reread what Seo-ha had written about their contributions.

It was work they had actually done, but the fact that he had personally acknowledged it was what mattered.

”Oh! Seo-ha. About the time-integral term, wouldn’t we need to expand on it more for the paper? It’s one of the key theorems, after all.”

At Theo’s question, Seo-ha wore an indifferent expression.

”Hmm? I think it’s fine as it is. I’ve opened the path to the proof well enough.”

’Oh, not again!’

Theo pressed his hand to his forehead.

Seo-ha had always been like this. Once he had proven a theory, his interest cooled off with remarkable speed.

’For anyone else, this would be a lifetime’s worth of achievement to brag about....’

”Oh! How about this!”

Clap!

Seo-ha clapped his hands as if a great idea had struck him.

”Theo, Sri, Su-jeong, the three of you write an independent paper on that topic together! I’ll leave it in your hands, then!”

Without even waiting for a proper answer, Seo-ha left the lab humming a tune.

”Huh?”

”....”

”W-wait a second!”

The door closed, and silence settled over the lab.

He had entrusted them with one of the key logical components of the proof.

”We’d better do this right.”

”No kidding.”

”Brace yourselves, everyone. We’re going all in, more thorough than ever!”

If this wasn’t trust, what was?

The three of them looked at each other and made a silent vow.

But Seo-ha had simply wanted to show off that three of the finest mathematicians he knew were part of his team.

* * *

Seo-ha’s live proof was a massive bomb dropped on the engineering world.

Quick-witted universities and research institutes had already begun their research, treating his theory as established fact.

At MIT as well, a dedicated task force was swiftly assembled around the mechanical engineering department, and researchers dispatched from various departments began gathering at a single table.

”Feels like the party’s started and we’re the only ones who didn’t get an invitation.”

Jane, a postdoc in materials science, said in a gloomy voice.

”It can’t be helped, given the nature of our field.”

”Everyone’s going crazy saying this is huge.... Will our lab even survive next year?”

What materials science did was neither proofs nor system design.

Their time came when theory transformed into concrete requirements. So for now, all they could do was watch from the sidelines.

Knock knock!

A sudden knock at the door.

Jane opened it with a disinterested expression.

”Huh?”

The moment she saw who was standing at the door, Jane forgot what she was going to say.

A young, gentle-looking face.

But the person currently receiving more attention than anyone else on campus, no, in the entire scientific community.

”Hello. I’m Yu Seo-ha from the math department. I came by because I was wondering if this could be turned into a patent.”

He pulled a bundle of papers awkwardly from his bag.

Jane’s eyes went wide. And a moment later, her voice rang through the laboratory loud enough to echo off the walls.

”Seo-ha came to our department!! That Seo-ha from the math department!! The actual Yu Seo-ha!!”

”Huh?”

He had come to ask for help, but Seo-ha seriously considered whether he should be running away from this place right about now.