Chapter 26

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

“It seems she had her dad write her recommendation letter. She’s going into her second year this year.”

“I always think this, but I feel like recommendation letters are being abused too personally. She’s not some cousin or distant relative, and being a daughter seems too transparent, doesn’t it?”

“Doesn’t that suggest they have confidence? After all, the fact that a recommendation letter was written will be recorded in the archives anyway.”

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

“Yes, Scholarship Officer Kim. Since we’ve all seen it before, it should be fine to review it before the interview.”

Scholarship Officer Kim slowly skimmed through the recommendation letter stamped with Professor Cheon Kyujin’s seal. This person is a renowned figure who occasionally appears in the news.

However, despite his reputation, the content of the recommendation letter was quite mundane and ordinary, mentioning that the child had shown interest in magic since childhood and had self-studied, along with a few favorite spells.

It was almost identical to the content he had read hundreds or thousands of times when he used to be an admissions officer.

“This recommendation letter isn’t anything special. We have to focus the interview more on verifying the report.”

Recently, there had been cases of parents writing transfer application reports for their children, so he intended to verify more thoroughly.

“Don’t worry; I will handle it thoroughly,” said the confident professor dispatched from the Seviron Foundation, easing the scholarship officer’s concerns.

“Oh, with Professor Hwang there, is there really anything to worry about?”

“Haha, I have quite high expectations for this transfer candidate, or I might be disappointed.”

Professor Hwang squinted and carefully read through the report.

His eyes held a glimmer of skepticism.

The modular group is such a minor topic that even among mathematicians, most people wouldn’t know about it if it wasn’t their area, let alone attempt to explain such a bold technique as applying it to magic circles.

Furthermore, the perfectoid space was a hallmark of 21st century modern mathematics introduced about 40 years ago, and even Professor Hwang had been researching related papers before coming to the interview.

Even among admissions officers, information about students was fragmented due to the different fields they managed.

The scholarship officer dispatched from the Ministry of Education dealt with recommendations, while the vice principal and academic dean verified documents containing the students’ essential personal information.

And Dr. Hwang Jeong-hoon from the Seviron Foundation was responsible for evaluating the reports provided as proof of the students’ magical achievements.

The only information Professor Hwang could ascertain was the last name of the student listed as the first author.

“Then why does her last name differ from her father’s? It’s not Cheon, but No?”

“It’s time. Is there a student waiting outside right now?”

“Yes, should I let them in now?”

“Please do.”

The atmosphere in the Seviron Academy interview room was anything but amicable.

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

Of course, the interviewers did not intend to put them under pressure. That would contradict the purpose of assessing the student’s abilities.

Creak.

The front door of the classroom opened.

The scholarship officer and Professor Hwang, learning about the student’s details for the first time, were somewhat surprised by the identity of the transfer student.

“A complete baby has arrived.”

The student, smaller in stature than the youngest daughter who often throws tantrums, walked confidently and showed no signs of shrinking away until she sat down in the central chair of the classroom.

“Welcome to Seviron Academy, Ms. No Name.”

The various magically encoded secrets granted to the interviewers were released. The name that stood out most was undoubtedly hers.

“Yes, I’m glad to be here too.”

With her long, jet-black hair neatly tied in low twin tails, the student gazed quietly at the interviewers like a doll.

The size of her eyes, which were notably larger than her face, gave a sense of pressure akin to that of a predator whenever she blinked.

“It’s quite cold today, isn’t it? How did you come here?”

“Professor Cheon Kyujin brought me.”

“So, your father, I see?”

“Yes.”

The student answered the academic dean’s question without embarrassment, and her speech did not quicken.

She didn’t seem to be nervous at all, but there was no hint of comfort in her greeting either.

Her response seemed somewhat devoid of emotion.

The first impression of Ms. No Name was unanimously that she had a rather peculiar temperament.

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

“Let’s do that. So, Ms. No Name?”

“…”

The vice principal began reading out her personal information from the top down.

“Born on June 11th, 2043, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Your mother passed away when you were young, and Professor Cheon Kyujin is your adoptive father now?”

“Yes.”

“How long has it been since you were adopted? Just roughly?”

“About two weeks.”

“Two weeks? Well, hmmm…”

Even though personal information checks were traditionally routine steps, a chilling atmosphere lingered in the interview room.

“Then how long have you known your father?”

“About two months.”

“Um, Academic Dean? Could you pass me the resident registration certificate?”

“Yes, here you go.”

“Let’s see… Previously, you were at Merlin Orphanage? From June 2050 to January 2051… Is this an error? Why is there no previous record?”

“Well, I’m not sure…”

Despite the academic dean’s attempt to convey that there was no error in the certificate, the vice principal couldn’t shake her doubt.

“It’s probably because she was a missing person.”

“A missing person?”

“Yes. I believe elaborating on this matter would be unrelated to this interview, so I will refrain.”

No Name answered stiffly to his question. It couldn’t even be seen as polite refusal.

With no lingering traces of her past, there was nothing to catch her out on.

Her personal details were so unknown that it was as though she had fallen from the sky and suddenly appeared on earth.

The vice principal had no choice but to continue asking a few more questions but eventually handed the baton to the scholarship officer without any fruitful outcome.

The scholarship officer also posed previously prepared questions, yet No Name merely answered dryly and effectively.

“According to the recommendation letter, Ms. No Name has very strong magical knowledge and comprehension, which I will later ask Professor Hwang to verify.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“You’ve listed the 5th circle spell Alchemist as your favorite magic, do you have a specific reason for liking this spell?”

“Because it’s pretty.”

“Pretty?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, yes, pretty. Is there no other reason?”

[You should stop feeling bad now, Esha. And Niobe’s death is not your fault. You don’t need to feel guilty about it.]

[But… Niobe is… Niobe is your biological sister. How can you be so indifferent?]

“Yes… There’s no other reason.”

“I see. Finally, is there a reason Ms. No Name must attend Seviron Academy?”

“A reason? I’ve never thought about it. Instead, it would be good for you to think about why you should be the one to retain me.”

“Hahaha. Do you think the academy is just an orphanage that takes anyone in? Well, there’s nothing more to ask, Professor Hwang. Then let’s have a word with this confident student.”

Finally, the moment had come. The other admissions officers were curious about just how remarkable the report prepared by this student was for her to come off so boldly.

“Let’s begin by reading the title: Local solutions of complex analytic forms of modular groups and perfectoid curves with n ≤ 3. What exactly is the modular group?”

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

“What does SL(2,Z) mean?”

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

“Oho… Then let me ask a few questions about the main text. In paragraph 2, it mentions that when R is an integral perfectoid ring, the open subschemes of SpfR are perfectoid. Can you explain that?”

“Can I use the blackboard?”

“Yes, feel free.”

The hand that took the chalk quickly filled the blackboard with formulas.

“My goodness…”

“Do you know what that means, Mr. Heo?”

“No… It’s completely foreign to me.”

While the teachers murmured, only Professor Hwang frowned, resting his chin on his hand.

“Well, I can only express that it’s impressive… Then can you tell me all the rune words you used to match this quasi-isomorphism?”

“Argent, Guernum, Psyche for three syllables; Hyprit for four syllables; Rahibest, Luminestin, Estrelland, Creseum, Dalefray for five syllables.”

“Why did you specifically use Hyprit?”

“Because even if it’s a dimensional change of the circle, the fixed time frame must be taken as a reference point. Hyprit is a rune word suitable for time properties.”

“According to you, Ms. No Name, at specific situations, it’s possible to induce a 3D trajectory transformation using local solutions with 1st circle magic. Could you give an example?”

“You mean you want to see a magic demonstration?”

A smile crept onto No Name’s lips.

Just then, she spotted a discarded empty plastic bottle left by a student by the window.

She took the hair tie that was holding one side of her hair and slipped it onto her middle finger, raising her palm towards the interviewers.

“1st circle advanced casting: Polar coordinate assignment.”

In the blink of an eye, the rubber band that sprang from her hand reached just in front of the scholarship officer, who had momentarily lost focus.

“Ahhhhh!”

However, it seemed as if the rubber band defied the laws of physics, narrowly grazing his hair before returning to No Name.

No Name tilted her head to the side in time with the action.

Thwack!

With a playful sound, the bottle behind No Name toppled over helplessly.

* * *

Bam!

What a complete disaster.

[The exit is this way. Thank you for your hard work during the interview!]

They had already accused her of being an undeserving candidate, of having a fraudulent admission as they chatted among themselves before the interview even started, yet they thought she wouldn’t hear them in the hallway.

Especially the man on the far right with the mustache had been unpleasant from the start.

It was basic for him to ask a question and then pretend he hadn’t heard the answer, and later, he even started to mock her background.

She had threatened him with a prank, but when the interview ended, his expression was a sight to behold.

In contrast, the older gentleman on the left who appeared to hold real authority seemed to have a favorable impression of her, which made it impossible for her to retort openly.

“I might fail.”

She didn’t know whether he was a teacher from the school or an outsider, but if he were a school official, she would have been really disappointed.

Such a level of academy would be predictable in terms of the experience.

While she was contemplating what to say to Professor Cheon, who believed in her and waited, two female students rushed up and stood in front of her.

“Hi!”