“I feel as though I might have heard of him... or perhaps not...”
The confidence drained from the students' faces.
Bessel was not one of the genius scientists they commonly encountered in biographies of great historical figures. Besides, after reaching the upper grades of elementary school, most students had barely studied anything that was unrelated to getting into their next school.
“I believe Bessel was a true genius.”
Kim Seon-ho continued his story.
“You may not know Bessel, but he was a remarkable scientist. His genius was astonishing, particularly his ability to solve problems through independent study.”
The students listened with wide, attentive eyes, captivated by an unfamiliar but fascinating story.
Bessel had struggled to adapt to school, received little formal education, and dropped out of middle school. He showed little talent in most subjects, but he was good at arithmetic, so he found a job at a trading company.
While working there, Bessel taught himself astronomy and mathematics and independently calculated the orbit of Halley's Comet. Recognizing his genius, Olbers introduced him to Gauss, one of the great mathematicians of the age.
One genius recognized another. For approximately forty years thereafter, the two exchanged scholarly ideas. Bessel regarded Gauss as his mentor, while Gauss cherished Bessel as a brilliant astronomer. They held each other in high esteem.
Bessel went on to enjoy a reputation as one of Germany's foremost scientists until his death.
Kang Woo thought of Bessel functions. He remembered lamenting over drinks while studying engineering mathematics at university. Bessel had ruined his youth, forcing him to wrestle with textbooks. That bastard had devised such difficult functions that his life had become a miserable struggle.
Looking back now, those were all fond memories.
Kang Woo understood what Kim Seon-ho was trying to accomplish. Some students here would despair when they realized they were not geniuses, while others would admire the great minds of history and burn with a desire to surpass them.
They were still young. They had dreams, and they had the determination to make those dreams come true.
“That is what a genius is. Someone who learns what they're taught is merely an excellent student, not a genius. A genius understands things without being taught and can grasp ten things after learning just one.”
“...Ah!”
“Over the coming years, you'll study everything from the high school curriculum to university-level general education material. It's important to understand what you're taught and earn good grades. But if you're truly geniuses, you mustn't be content with simply learning what others have already discovered. There are still countless laws of nature that humanity doesn't understand, and you are standing before those unknown laws. Pursue your own curiosity and seek the answers yourselves. That is how your genius will reveal itself.”
The classroom fell silent when Kim Seon-ho finished speaking.
Kang Woo gazed at him with admiration. Kim Seon-ho's views were remarkably similar to his own. He had sensed it during their brief meeting the previous night, but now he felt even more certain that he and this teacher would get along splendidly.
The students gathered here had probably never heard anything like this before. At their academies, they must have been told over and over to memorize formulas and solve problems correctly. They had likely been discouraged from pursuing intellectual curiosities beyond the textbooks, with such interests dismissed as distractions from their studies.
Kim Seon-ho's words stirred something deep within them. They felt a growing desire to study mathematics and science more deeply and to solve problems that no one had yet managed to answer.
“...Bessel was just twenty years old when he met Gauss. By then, he'd already reached a level in mathematics and astronomy that astonished even a genius like Gauss. And he'd accomplished it through self-study. You can do the same. By the time you graduate from this school, you could be capable of discussing your field with world-renowned scholars. Shouldn't a genius be able to accomplish at least that much?”
Clap, clap—
One student began applauding. The others immediately joined in.
Kang Woo felt a warm sense of satisfaction as he looked at the students' shining eyes.
Of course, not every student needed to be a genius. If Kim Seon-ho's words inspired even one genuine genius to awaken to their potential, this class would have been worthwhile.
After all, this was an age in which a single genius could support hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people.
And in Kang Woo's opinion, the person in this classroom who came closest to being such a genius was Choi Dae-woo. The boy possessed no fewer than two S grades.
* * *
The next lesson was physics, taught by their homeroom teacher, Cha Do-do.
Kang Woo headed to the physics classroom with his group members. Since it was the same place where they had taken the diagnostic assessment the previous day, he found it without difficulty.
Although it was only their second class, having assigned groups meant the students naturally moved around with their group members. At first, Kang Woo had been reluctant to take part in group activities, but he quickly recognized the advantages of the arrangement.
Group activities certainly made adjusting to school easier. They seemed especially helpful to Kang Woo, who was not truly a high school student in his mind. Constantly mixing with students his own apparent age helped him settle naturally into high school life.
As soon as he entered the classroom, Kang Woo looked for a table at the back. The physics classroom doubled as a laboratory, so large tables were set some distance apart.
But just as he was about to hurry to a table in the rear, someone grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?”
“Huh?”
Son Cha-hee glared at him fiercely. Her eyes warned him that she'd have something to say if he didn't sit at the front. Kang Woo immediately raised his hands in surrender.
'Ugh. How am I supposed to sleep if I'm sitting right at the front?'
He could not even voice his small protest.
He sat down at a front table with his group members, and Cha Do-do entered the room.
Today she was wearing a black business suit. Her black jacket and skirt went beautifully with her white blouse. Back when he had been a professor, Kang Woo might not have been able to take his eyes off her. But now that he was a high school student, he felt rather indifferent.
As she had in the Earth science class, Cha Do-do first asked whether the students had encountered any difficulties during their first night in the dormitory. Then she began the lesson.
“All right, before we start, I have an announcement.”
Cha Do-do took out her phone.
After tapping through several screens, she opened an app and showed it to the class.
“Have you heard of an app called Classroom?”
“No.”
“Our school uses the Classroom app for all kinds of activities. You'll use it to receive and submit assignments, reserve seminar rooms, and even request permission to leave campus. Later, when you undertake your research projects, you'll mainly use Classroom to communicate with your supervising teachers and receive their guidance. Classroom is also linked to the adjustment support program you'll be expected to complete before officially enrolling...”
Cha Do-do displayed the app on the screen and explained how to use it. Kang Woo listened with his mouth hanging open.
He might not have been an early adopter, but he was hardly ignorant when it came to electronic devices. He had a background in science and engineering, after all, and was accustomed to using computers. Even so, this app was completely unfamiliar to him.
What was even more bewildering was that the students around him had no difficulty understanding Cha Do-do's explanation. Apparently, younger people really did adapt to new things faster!
'Ugh, I feel like I've become completely hopeless with technology...'
He had known that spending so much time shut away in his laboratory had left him behind the latest trends in gaming and social media. But he had never imagined that even his ability to use ordinary office applications would fall short of a high school student's.
Perhaps she noticed his strange expression, because Cha Do-do frowned slightly.
“...Kang Woo?”
“Yes?”
“So how do you submit a report?”
“W-well... by email...”
“If you do that, you won't receive any marks.”
Was he finished already? He felt as though his homeroom teacher had singled him out for trouble on the very first day. And his homeroom teacher taught physics, of all subjects.
'How am I supposed to regain her trust? If I don't, the next year is going to be miserable.'
Son Cha-hee and Yoon Su-a, his fellow group members, looked at the flustered Kang Woo with pity. Their expressions were full of the sort of sympathy soldiers might show an incompetent comrade who was constantly causing trouble. Had even his group members written him off?
“All right, I'll explain it again. Everyone, watch carefully.”
Cha Do-do went through the instructions for using the app once more. But none of it stayed in Kang Woo's head. Her words went in one ear and straight out the other.
'How on earth do these kids understand all this?'
The students whom he had assumed did nothing but study at their private academies were handling an unfamiliar app with ease. Had they secretly spent every day staring at their phones instead of doing the studying they were supposed to do?
Son Cha-hee, who was sitting beside him, poked him in the ribs.
“Your expression is a little strange right now.”
“Uh... huh?”
“I mean, our homeroom teacher is pretty, but if you're going to stare at her like that... aren't you making it a little too obvious?”
“Huh?”
Without thinking, Kang Woo wiped the corner of his mouth, as though he had been drooling.
Son Cha-hee's expression twisted further. Clearly, she now thought he was some kind of pervert.
“I-it's just that I don't really understand what she's saying...”
Flustered, Kang Woo hurried to explain himself.
Son Cha-hee narrowed her eyes, then nodded as if she'd finally understood.
“Ah! That's right. You're from the countryside... aren't you?”
What did being from the countryside have to do with anything?
But he had been too shaken by the app training to protest that she shouldn't look down on people for where they came from.
“See, this is how it works...”
Unable to stand watching him struggle any longer, Son Cha-hee kindly opened the app on her own phone and walked him through it step by step.
Kang Woo came to a startling realization.
Son Cha-hee was a genius. She was astonishingly good at using mobile apps. No, it wasn't just Son Cha-hee. Most of his classmates were the same.
To someone who had spent his time shut away in a laboratory, doing little more with his phone than exchanging chat messages and watching videos, it was an entirely new world. In this field, he was the greatest dullard of them all.
Kang Woo felt as though his entire world had collapsed.
* * *
Before he had even recovered from the shock, the physics lesson began in earnest.
Kang Woo accepted the handouts and scanned their contents. He might have been hopeless with apps, but this was something he knew.
Classical mechanics, the most fundamental branch of physics. Velocity, acceleration... He had learned these concepts in middle school, and they were among the first topics covered in high school physics textbooks. Naturally, they were so elementary to Kang Woo that they only made him yawn.
Of course, Kang Woo was not the only one who felt that way. The other students did too.
After writing a few basic formulas on the board, Cha Do-do smiled.
“You already know all of this, don't you? These are basic laws you could apply with your eyes closed. If I went over them again, I think you'd all fall asleep... Oh? Someone's already sleeping over there. Kang Woo!”
Kang Woo, who had drifted off, jolted awake when Son Cha-hee jabbed him in the ribs.
“Yes?”
“Sleeping in the very first lesson? And while sitting right at the front?”
This was exactly why he'd wanted to sit at the back!
“W-well, I didn't sleep very well last night...”
“Were you up all night playing instead of sleeping?”
He had stayed up late chatting with Choi Dae-woo, so that accusation was not entirely wrong. Still, he could feel his homeroom teacher's opinion of him sinking deeper into the gutter.
After glaring at him for a moment, Cha Do-do resumed her lesson.
“How about a competition between groups this period, to see how well you can work together? Discuss the problem with your group members and come up with an answer.”
At the prospect of their first group competition, everyone's eyes lit up.
“First, I'll give you ten minutes to think about the problem. During that time, each group should write its answers on the paper provided. When time is up, one member from each group will come to the front and write the answers on the board. Understood?”
After surveying the classroom, Cha Do-do announced the problem.
“Today, we're going to save the Earth.”
“I know! The Eagle Five!”
The other students turned toward Kang Woo, who had blurted out the answer without thinking.
“What are you talking about?”
'Ah! So this is what a generation gap feels like!'
Disheartened, Kang Woo fell silent. Meanwhile, Son Cha-hee was giving him a sharp look from beside him. Once again, he learned that speaking up carelessly was a bad idea.
Cha Do-do wrote the problem in large letters on the board.
- List every possible method for calculating the mass of the Earth.
Her handwriting was... exquisite. Exquisite in the best possible sense, of course. The elegant, flowing letters suited her appearance.
“If I put a scale on the ground and stand on my head...”
“Hey! That would be a way to lift the Earth!”
A joke came from the other side of the room.
Cha Do-do smiled.
“You have exactly ten minutes starting now! Write down your group's methods for calculating the Earth's mass, and send just one person to the front.”
Kang Woo put his head together with his group members.
Naturally, Son Cha-hee took the lead. No one paid Kang Woo any attention, and he too declined to take the initiative, remembering the lesson he had just learned.
“I guess the group that finds the most methods wins.”
“There must be some other intention behind the question.”
Among Kang Woo's group members, Son Cha-hee was unquestionably the most confident in physics, followed by Choi Dae-woo. Surprisingly, Yoon Su-a was relatively weak in physics.
As for Kang Woo... everyone regarded him as a student who had not studied ahead, so none of his group members even considered asking him for his opinion.