Ch.2626 – Interview

“Is the child coming today really the daughter of a Korea University professor?”

“Seems he wrote a recommendation letter for his own daughter. She’s going into her second year.”

“I’ve always thought it’s problematic how recommendation letters get misused for personal connections. It’s not even like she’s a distant cousin—she’s his daughter. Isn’t that too obvious?”

“Maybe it means he’s that confident? The fact that he wrote a recommendation letter will be recorded in the archives anyway.”

“Either way, I don’t like the principal who approved this. Is this even a proper recommendation letter?”

“Yes, Academic Supervisor. Since we’ve all seen these documents before, you can review them before the interview.”

Academic Supervisor Kim Si-hyung slowly examined the recommendation letter bearing Professor Cheon Kyu-jin’s official seal. This man occasionally appears on the news and is quite famous.

However, contrary to his reputation, the recommendation letter itself contained rather mundane and ordinary content—that she had been interested in magic since childhood and studied it independently, that she had favorite types of magic, and so on.

It was almost identical to hundreds or thousands of letters he had read when he worked as an admissions officer.

“There’s nothing special about this recommendation letter. I suppose we’ll have to focus on verifying her report during the interview.”

Recently, after cases where parents wrote admission reports for their children were exposed, he intended to scrutinize more thoroughly.

“I’ll handle that thoroughly, so don’t worry.”

The professor dispatched from the Cephiron Foundation confidently relieved the academic supervisor’s concerns.

“Ah yes, with Professor Hwang here, what is there to worry about?”

“Haha. This transfer candidate will either bring considerable expectations or disappointment.”

Professor Hwang narrowed his eyes as he carefully read through the report.

His eyes also contained a layer of distrust.

The modular group is such a minor topic that even among mathematicians, most wouldn’t know about it unless it was their specialty—yet here was a bold approach explaining its application to magic circles.

Moreover, perfectoid space is the essence of 21st century modern mathematics that emerged about 40 years ago, and even Professor Hwang had been researching related papers before coming to the interview.

Even among the same admission committee members, information about students was fragmented because they were responsible for different areas.

The academic supervisor from the Ministry of Education verified the recommendation letter, while the vice principal and head of academic affairs examined documents containing the student’s main personal information.

And Dr. Hwang Jung-hoon from the Cephiron Foundation was tasked with evaluating the report submitted as evidence of the student’s magical achievements.

The only information Professor Hwang could identify was the student’s surname, listed as the first author.

‘But why is her surname different from her father’s? It’s No, not Cheon?’

“It’s time. Is the student waiting outside now?”

“Yes, shall we bring her in?”

“Please do.”

The atmosphere in Cephiron Academy’s interview room was far from warm and friendly.

Especially for children experiencing this for the first time, it wasn’t uncommon for them to leave without saying a word due to the pressure from four adults.

Of course, the interviewers didn’t intentionally aim for a pressure interview, as that would go against the purpose of assessing the student’s capabilities.

*Click*

The front door of the classroom opens.

The academic supervisor and Professor Hwang, who were just learning about the student’s identity, were somewhat surprised by the transfer student.

‘She’s just a baby.’

A student with an even smaller build than his youngest daughter, who still throws tantrums and cries occasionally.

But her steps were confident, and she showed no signs of shrinking until she sat down in the chair at the center of the classroom.

“Welcome to Cephiron Academy, student No Na-me.”

The various secret magic spells placed on the documents provided to the interviewers were lifted. What stood out most was undoubtedly her name.

“Yes, I’m pleased to meet you too.”

The student with long jet-black hair neatly tied in low twin tails sat with a demure posture like a doll, staring straight ahead.

Her eyes were quite large compared to her face, and each time they blinked, they gave off an additional intimidating aura like that of a predator.

“The weather is quite cold today, isn’t it? How did you get here?”

“Professor Cheon Kyu-jin brought me.”

“So, your father, right?”

“Yes.”

The student answered the head of academic affairs’ question without being flustered, nor did her speech quicken.

It seemed as if she wasn’t nervous to begin with, but she also showed no signs of comfort at his greeting.

A somewhat emotionless response.

Everyone silently agreed that student No Na-me’s first impression was of a child with quite unusual qualities.

“The interview will last approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Shall we start with a simple identity verification, Vice Principal?”

“Let’s do that. Now, student No Na-me?”

“…”

The vice principal reads through Na-me’s personal information from top to bottom.

“Born on June 11, 2043, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Your mother passed away when you were young, and Professor Cheon Kyu-jin is your adoptive father, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then how long have you been adopted? Approximately?”

“Two weeks.”

“Two weeks? Well, hmm…”

Despite the identity verification being a customary procedure, a chilly atmosphere pervaded the interview room.

“Then how long have you known your father?”

“About two months.”

“Excuse me, Head Teacher? Could you pass me the resident registration?”

“Yes, here it is.”

“Let’s see… You were at Merlin Orphanage before? From June 2050 to January 2051… Is this an error? Why are there no previous records?”

“Well, I’m not sure either…”

The head of academic affairs expressed his embarrassment and reconfirmed there was no error in the registration, but the vice principal couldn’t dismiss his doubts.

“It’s because I was a missing person.”

“A missing person?”

“Yes. I’ll refrain from discussing further details as I believe they’re irrelevant to this interview.”

Na-me answered his question stiffly. It couldn’t even be considered a polite refusal.

With her past activities cleanly absent, there was nothing to pick at.

As if she had fallen from the sky or suddenly emerged from the ground, student No Na-me’s personal information was obscurity itself.

The vice principal had no choice but to ask a few more questions before passing the baton to the academic supervisor.

The academic supervisor also tried asking prepared questions, but Na-me always answered them dryly and efficiently.

“According to the recommendation letter, student No Na-me has a veeeery high level of magical knowledge and understanding, but I’ll leave that verification to Professor Hwang later.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“You listed the 5th Circle magic Alchemist as your favorite magic. Is there a reason why you like this magic?”

“Because it’s pretty.”

“Because it’s pretty?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, yes, because it’s pretty. Is there no other reason?”

[Are you going to stop being upset now, Esha? And Niobe’s death wasn’t your fault. You don’t need to feel guilty toward me.]

[But… Niobe… Niobe was your real sister. How can you be so unbothered?]

“No… there’s no other reason.”

“I understand. Then finally, is there any reason why student No Na-me must be admitted to Cephiron Academy?”

“A reason? I’ve never thought about it. Rather, you should consider why you must accept me.”

“Hahaha. Do you think the academy is an orphanage that takes in just anyone? I have nothing more to ask, Professor Hwang. Please give this overly confident friend a reality check.”

Finally, the moment has come. The other admission officers were curious about what kind of impressive report this student had prepared to be so bold.

“Let’s start by reading the title. ‘Complex Analytic Forms of Modular Groups and Local Solutions of Perfectoid Curves where n is Less Than or Equal to 3.’ What is a modular group here?”

“It’s a group formed by Möbius transformations acting on the complex upper half-plane, created by elements of SL(2,Z).”

“What does SL(2,Z) mean?”

“It refers to 2×2 matrices with integer coefficients and determinant 1.”

“Oh… Then let me ask a few questions about the content. In the second paragraph, when R is an integral perfectoid ring, you stated that open subschemes of SpfR are perfectoid. Could you explain this?”

“May I use the blackboard?”

“Yes, please do as you wish.”

The hand holding the chalk filled the blackboard with equations without hesitation.

“My goodness…”

“Do you understand what that means, Teacher Heo?”

“No… it’s completely alien to me.”

While the teachers were murmuring, only Professor Hwang was frowning with his chin resting on his hand.

“This is… I can only describe it as remarkable… Then, could you list all the runic words you used to match this quasi-isomorphism?”

“Three-syllable ones: Arhen, Gernum, Psyche. Four-syllable: Hyprit. Five-syllable: Rahivesche, Luminestin, Estrendal, Cresceium, Daleprei.”

“Why specifically use Hyprit?”

“Because even in dimensional transformation of circles, a fixed time system must be used as a reference point. Hyprit is a runic word suitable for time attributes.”

“According to student Na-me, in certain situations, using local solutions can induce 3D trajectory transformations with 1st Circle magic. Could you demonstrate an example?”

“You want to see a magic demonstration, correct?”

Na-me’s lips curled upward.

She noticed an empty plastic bottle someone had left by the window in the corridor.

She untied one of her hair ties, looped it around her middle finger, and raised her palm facing the interviewers.

“1st Circle Advanced Casting: Polar Coordinate Assignment.”

The rubber band that shot from her hand in the blink of an eye reached right in front of the academic supervisor’s nose, who had been momentarily distracted.

“Aaaagh!”

But the hair tie, as if defying the laws of physics, barely grazed his hair and returned to Na-me.

Na-me tilted her head slightly to the side with perfect timing.

*Thunk*

With a crisp sound, the plastic bottle behind Na-me fell over helplessly.

* * *

*Bang!*

That went terribly.

[The exit is this way. Thank you for your effort during the interview?]

From before the interview started, they had already judged me with all kinds of prejudiced standards—calling me a parachute appointment, an illegitimate admission—I guess they thought I couldn’t hear them when I was in the corridor.

Especially the man with the mustache sitting on the far right, I didn’t like his attitude from the beginning.

It was standard for him to ask questions and then not even listen to the answers, and later he even mocked my background?

I gave him a little scare as a warning, and his expression at the end of the interview was quite a sight.

On the other hand, the older man on the left, who seemed to be influential, appeared to view me favorably, so the others couldn’t openly object.

‘I might get rejected.’

I don’t know if he’s a teacher at this school or an outsider, but if he was affiliated with the school, I would have been really disappointed.

That level of academy would be predictably disappointing to attend.

While I was wondering what to tell Professor Cheon who had trusted and waited for me, two female students scurried over and stood in front of me.

“Hello!”