Translator: Dreamscribe
Click!
'What on earth is going on?'
The scheduled time had already passed, yet the shoot was still going.
Click! Click!
The shutter fired in rapid succession.
The lighting was so bright that Seo-ha kept blinking. The light stung as though it were boring into his face.
But the more he did, the more serious the photographer's eyes became.
"Yes, that expression right there! Very natural."
He crouched lower and brought the camera in close.
Seo-ha let out a small sigh. He had thought this would be a simple profile shoot, but the photographer was putting in far too much enthusiasm.
When Seo-ha swept his hair back with one hand, the man reacted immediately.
"That motion just now, hold it right there for a second."
Click, click!
"Hmm... the background is a shame. Would it be possible to step outside?"
"Sorry?"
Wasn't the shoot supposed to be in a lecture hall?
"Right now is the best time for natural light.
Now that I've been shooting, you really catch the light well. The camera loves your face. I think we can get some great shots, so come this way for just a moment."
In the end, Seo-ha let himself be led outside the building.
The weather outside was nice.
A flawlessly blue sky, rare for winter, and sunlight bathing the campus in warmth.
The photographer positioned Seo-ha and set his pose.
"Perfect. Hold it just like that until the light hits your face."
Click!
He checked the display and let out a gasp of admiration.
"Wow! That's perfect. No question, this is an A-cut."
The staff gathered near the camera, murmuring among themselves.
"It really came out great."
"It looks like something out of a fashion editorial."
Even after the shoot ended, his work was not done.
"A few small touches and the mood will really come alive...."
He transferred the files to his laptop and began retouching the photos. He raised the brightness slightly, then lowered the contrast and saturation. The image transformed into something with an entirely different feel.
"That's the one."
An unexpected gem had come from an unlikely place.
It was the moment another photo was added to his portfolio.
* * *
Megan, on her way to her shift at the cafeteria, stood frozen in front of a poster on the bulletin board.
A white shirt, a black jacket, and a languid expression.
"Ah, those eyes!"
He clearly looked like he couldn't be bothered.
She knew she shouldn't, but something hot surged up from inside her chest.
"Dangerous, dangerous!"
Her brain was sending out warning signals.
Megan shook her head, trying to shake the thought away. But before she knew it, her gaze had drifted back to the poster.
'That charm was supposed to be my little secret....'
Megan bit her lip.
The photographer who took this picture undoubtedly had taste as excellent as her own.
Light traced along Seo-ha's profile, accentuating his slender neckline.
Pure and clean, yet fragile and cold at the same time.
That was the exact combination that struck her heart.
Click.
Megan carefully pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of the poster.
'It wouldn't hurt to take just one, would it?'
Rustle.
She tried to peel it off, but the poster was firmly secured to the wall.
Passersby were giving her suspicious looks. Megan hastily lowered her hand and flashed an embarrassed smile.
After her shift, she logged into her SNS account.
[Looks like there's a public lecture being held at MIT.]
-If anyone's interested, you should check it out. Apparently the student on the poster is the speaker.
She posted it as casually as she could.
On social media, you never say what you actually want to say directly. Just as she expected, followers who shared her tastes responded immediately.
└Who is this person?
└Is that really a student? Not a model?
└He's giving me child actor vibes.
└Surprisingly, he IS a student. And apparently he solved some crazy hard problem and is giving a lecture about it.
└He's 15. Heart-fluttering, right?
└He's a minor?? Phew, thank god. I almost typed something dangerous.
└Same ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└No matter how you look at it he's totally working his charm on the older girls. What are we supposed to do about that expression!
└He's an MIT student so he must be crazy smart, right? Plus one point.
└What a gorgeous kid? I wish I had a little brother like that.... I've got a whole list of things I'd want to do.
└He looks like he walked out of an anime.
The posters covered not just the math department but all of MIT.
The main building entrance, departmental bulletin boards, the cafeteria, even the library hallways. Everywhere you went, there was Seo-ha in his white shirt and black jacket.
Slightly tousled hair, an indifferent downward gaze, and that signature couldn't-care-less expression drew students' attention to a strange degree.
Students often stopped to take photos as they passed the posters.
"Isn't that the kid?"
"Yeah, he's famous in the math department."
"He's cute. Maybe I should go to the colloquium? I'm curious what his voice sounds like."
"If you're not a math major, you won't understand a word."
That afternoon, a suspicious post appeared on Reddit.
[Is this poster real? Or fake?]
-Someone sent this to me and they say the person in the photo is a colloquium speaker at MIT. Supposedly he solved some problem that's gone unsolved for decades, but is that for real?
He looks way too young. The look doesn't fit either. This is exactly what a K-pop trainee's profile photo looks like.
└I get you guys. MIT kids have a complex about their looks. K-pop is hot right now so I guess they're making ridiculous edits like this ㅋㅋㅋ
└Let's be realistic here. With that face, why would he be doing math? There are way easier ways to make money.
└Uh? It's actually real though? I've seen that poster on campus.
└It's real? No way, you're lying!
└Have you been living under a rock? Just google it and photos will come up. From when he was younger, but still.
└How old is he?
└Looks like 15. I looked up the articles and there's a bunch. If it's true, how much of a genius is this kid?
└It's fake. I guarantee he's a trainee at some Korean entertainment company.
└Can I repost this?
└I'm putting this on Instagram.
The meme "MIT's Genius Pretty Boy" began gaining traction online.
It took less than a day for the post that started on Reddit to spread to other platforms. At first, the majority of responses were cynical, dismissing it as an edit.
'If he's 15, isn't that barely high school age? And he solved an unsolved problem?'
'But the photo looks way too real. It doesn't look edited.'
'Isn't he some nugu K-pop idol? Is his company running a promo?' (TL: Nugu - unknown/no-name)
But a single post from someone changed the entire mood.
~~~
[I work at the MIT cafeteria, and the poster is 100% real.]
-On top of that, someone took what I posted and spread it around. Where are your manners? You guys should take an interest in science too. You'll find out soon enough just how famous Seo-ha is.
But I get you all. I also feel like he's someone who doesn't quite belong in this world.
~~~
What put the final stamp on the debate was MIT's official account.
Apparently aware of the online buzz, they responded to the issue swiftly.
~~~
[Massachusetts Institute of Technology@MIT]
-Yes, he is a real person. He is a student we are very proud of.
Furthermore, it is true that he has presented an answer to an unsolved problem and that a colloquium on the subject will be held. There are no eligibility restrictions for attendance, so please come join us.
#MITsEtherealBoyGenius #Mathematics #NoFakebutTruth #ComeandSeeHim
~~~
Bzzt-
Bzzt-
Seo-ha's phone vibrated endlessly.
The messages were from Korea.
-Dude! You're all over the news.
-Seo-ha you're trending in real-time searches right now.
-Wow! You're photogenic as hell? Acting all innocent and then pulling poses like that, you should be embarrassed ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Good to hear from you through the grapevine. Still using Quack-Quack every day!
-Have you still not played soccer? I'm dying over here, man.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Seo-ha's face turned beet red.
Once MIT's official account responded, the SNS feeds exploded.
Gossip-hungry internet outlets began writing articles one by one, and before long, it had spread all the way to Korea.
He clicked on a link someone had texted him.
[Why Did MIT use a Korean Student?]
[The Viral MIT Pretty Boy Revealed to Be Korean.]
[Not an Idol Trainee! The Korean Genius Boy Taking Social Media by Storm.]
Cringe-inducing headlines filled the screen.
Seo-ha set down his phone and let out a deep breath.
"Hmm- Looks like your country is going crazy over this too?"
A voice came from behind.
Seo-ha flinched and flipped his phone face-down.
"Eli!"
"You had such a weird look on your face, I thought something was wrong."
"Don't tell me you've seen it too, Eli?"
Eli grinned mischievously.
"It'd be hard not to, wouldn't it? It's about our school."
"Haah-"
Seo-ha clutched at his hair.
He had never once wanted fame. Especially not like this.
"I've been through it myself, so trust me, it's not worth stressing over."
"You too, Eli?"
She nodded.
"Not as much as you, but whenever I went somewhere and won an award, my face ended up in the local paper. 'An intellect as brilliant as her beauty', 'Eleanor Windsor, where brains meet grace', that kind of thing.
I even got second place once and only my photo made the paper. You have no idea how sorry I felt for the kid who came in first."
"Oh...."
"I was angry at first, but I've decided to think of it positively. It's better than doing something and having no one notice, right?"
"I guess so?"
"Yeah. The world cares about math way less than you think. No, actually, it actively dislikes it.
Ninety-five percent of Americans have never even heard of the Riemann Hypothesis. Sixty percent of adults reported symptoms of Math Anxiety (Math Anxiety - the tendency to avoid mathematics).
But look! There are this many people saying they want to come to the colloquium."
She opened a webpage.
There were numerous comments from people saying they would come to MIT to see the boy everyone was talking about.
"You're right, Eli."
Youngest-ever first place at the IMO, a proof of the Four Color Theorem, establishing critical theories on the Riemann Hypothesis and Quantum Chaos, and even Smale's Problems.
He had accomplished no small number of things, yet he had never received attention like this before.
All because of a single photo that happened to turn out well.
Seo-ha decided to take it in stride.
Eli patted Seo-ha on the shoulder as if she were proud of him.
"I've read through your whole paper. I'll be cheering you on at the colloquium!"
She walked away with a smile.
'If it gets more people interested in math, that's a good thing.'
Seo-ha consoled himself with that thought.
The day of the colloquium,
The event was held in Capriccio Hall, MIT's central hall.
Normally, a colloquium was a quiet affair attended by a handful of relevant parties, a few math journal reporters, and the professors tasked with verification, all there to listen to the contents of the paper.
But this day was different.
Tripods and cameras had been set up at the entrance of the hall. People with press badges around their necks wandered about, firing their shutters nonstop.
"Over there, that's the student. The one from the poster."
"Really? He looks even younger than in the photo."
"Hard to believe, right? He's only fifteen. And he solved a problem that's gone unsolved for decades."
The murmuring was ceaseless.
Professors were busy arranging the seating, and the MIT PR team, their faces a mix of bewilderment and excitement, were consumed with handling the press.
The hall was already at full capacity.
Not only students, professors, and scholars, but outside visitors who would never normally be seen here had claimed their seats.
Step, step.
Someone walked into the hall.
This time, the murmuring stirred among the mathematicians.
"That's Elijah Cronen."
The air shifted.
Those seated in the front rows, the insiders and officials, rose from their seats to greet him. The reporters' cameras all turned in his direction at once.
"My god, he actually came."
"I had no idea he'd show up to the colloquium."
Step, step.
He walked forward in silence, paying no attention to the reporters.
The hem of his long coat brushed against the floor as he passed.
He stopped at a front-center seat with the best view of the lecture.
Whitman extended a hand to him.
"I hadn't heard you were coming."
Cronen replied dryly.
"I wanted to see for myself just how big the fish I let get away was."
The corner of Whitman's mouth slowly curved upward, and before long the smile had spread across his entire face.