“Is the kid coming today really the daughter of a professor from Korea University?”
“She must have gotten a recommendation letter. She’s going into 2nd grade this year.”
“I always think this, but it seems like they abuse recommendation letters way too personally. It’s not like she’s a cousin or a distant relative; isn’t it too transparent if it’s a daughter?”
“Well, doesn’t that just mean they’re that confident? Anyway, the fact that a recommendation letter was written will be recorded in the archives.”
“I still don’t approve of the principal who signed off on it. Is this even a recommendation letter?”
“Yes, Scholarship Officer. We’ve all seen it before, so you can look it over before the interview.”
Scholarship Officer Kim Si-hyung slowly flipped through the recommendation letter stamped with Professor Cheon Kyu-jin’s seal. This guy occasionally pops up on the news; he’s quite famous.
Yet, despite his reputation, the content of the letter was rather dull and ordinary, mentioning how she had an interest in magic from a young age and had studied it on her own, among other mundane details.
When I was an admissions officer back then, I must’ve read it hundreds, if not thousands, of times a day.
“There’s nothing special in the recommendation. I guess we’ll have to focus on validating the report during the interview.”
Lately, due to cases of parents submitting reports on behalf of transfer students being exposed, he was determined to verify everything meticulously.
“Leave that to me; I’ll handle it thoroughly, so don’t worry.”
A professor dispatched from the Sephiron Foundation confidently alleviated the scholarship officer’s worries.
“Oh, with Professor Hwang here, can we have any concerns?”
“Haha. This transfer student seems like they’ll either bring a lot of expectations or disappointments.”
Professor Hwang squinted as he carefully read through the report.
There was a layer of distrust in his eyes.
The modular group is such a minor topic that even among mathematicians, most have no clue if it’s not their field, let alone trying to apply that within a magic circle—a bold move on its own.
Moreover, the perfectoid space was a hallmark of 21st-century modern mathematics that had emerged around 40 years ago, and even Professor Hwang was brushing up on related papers before heading to the interview.
Even as fellow admissions officers, since they had different fields, the information about the student was fragmented.
The scholarship officer dispatched from the Ministry of Education was verifying the recommendation letter, while the vice-principal and the academic affairs head were confirming the student’s main personal details.
And Dr. Hwang Jeong-hoon from the Sephiron Foundation was responsible for evaluating the supplementary reports submitted to prove the student’s magical achievements.
The only information Professor Hwang could ascertain was the student’s last name as noted on the report.
“But why does she have a different last name from her father? She’s not Cheon but NoName?”
“It’s time. Is the student waiting outside?”
“Yes, can we let her in now?”
“Please do.”
The interview room at Sephiron Academy was anything but cheerful.
Especially for kids who were having this experience for the first time, it was not uncommon for them to leave without saying a word due to the pressure from the four adults.
Of course, the interviewers didn’t intend to apply unnecessary pressure. That would defeat the purpose of assessing the student’s capabilities.
Creek
The classroom door opened.
The scholarship officer and Professor Hwang, now aware of the student’s details, felt slightly surprised at the identity of the transfer student.
“What a complete baby has come.”
The student, smaller than the youngest daughter who still throws tantrums, walked in with confidence, not even showing a hint of shrinking back as she took her seat in the center of the classroom.
“Welcome to Sephiron Academy, NoName student.”
The secret magic of the various documents assigned to the interviewers was finally released. The first thing that caught their attention was undoubtedly her name.
“Nice to meet you.”
The student, with long jet-black hair neatly tied in low twin tails, stared at them composedly like a doll.
Her eyes were quite large compared to her face, and every time she blinked, it gave a sense of predatory pressure.
“Isn’t it quite cold today? How did you get here?”
“Professor Cheon Kyu-jin brought me.”
“So your father, then?”
“Yes.”
She showed no sign of panic at the academic affairs head’s question, nor did her words come out any quicker.
It seemed like she wasn’t tense at all, yet there was no hint of warmth in her greeting.
Her reaction seemed to lack emotion.
All the interviewers internally agreed that NoName possessed a notably unique temperament.
“The interview will be over in about 15 to 20 minutes. Shall we start with a simple identity verification, Vice-Principal?”
“Let’s do it. So, NoName student?”
“…”
The vice-principal began to read through NoName’s personal details in order.
“Born June 11, 2043, right?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother passed away when you were young, and Professor Cheon is now your adoptive father, correct?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you been adopted, approximately?”
“Two weeks.”
“Two weeks? This is honestly hmmm…”
Even though verifying personal details was a customary procedure, a cold atmosphere hung in the interview room.
“Then how long have you known your father?”
“About two months.”
“Excuse me, Headmaster? Can I get a copy of the resident registration?”
“Here it is.”
“Let’s see… You were at Merlin Orphanage previously? From June 2050 to January 2051… Is this an error? Why is there no previous record?”
“Well, I’m not really sure…”
The academic affairs head looked troubled while he relayed that there was no error in the documentation, but the vice-principal couldn’t shake her suspicion.
“It must be because she’s a missing person.”
“A missing person?”
“Yes. I think the details are beyond the scope of this interview, so I’ll refrain from elaborating.”
NoName answered rigidly to his question. It couldn’t even be interpreted as a gentle refusal.
With her past cleanly erased, there was nothing to grab onto.
As if she fell from the sky and appeared from the ground, NoName’s identity was entirely shrouded in mystery.
The vice-principal, forced to continue with additional questions, ultimately passed the baton to the scholarship officer without any productive results.
The scholarship officer had prepared some questions as well, but NoName continued to respond to them in a dry manner.
“According to the recommendation letter, NoName student possesses an extraordinary level of magical knowledge and understanding, which we will ask Professor Hwang to verify later.”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
“It states that your favorite magic is the Alchemist from 5th Circle magic. Is there a reason you like this magic?”
“Because it’s pretty.”
“Because it’s pretty?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, yes, because it’s pretty. No other reason?”
[You should quit sulking, Esha. And you don’t need to feel guilty about Niobe dying; it’s not your fault.]
[But… Niobe is… Niobe is your biological sister! How can you act like it doesn’t matter?]
“Yes… There’s no other reason.”
“Understood. Lastly, is there a reason why NoName student should be admitted to Sephiron Academy?”
“A reason? I’ve never thought about it. Perhaps it’s better for you to consider why the academy should want to keep me.”
“Hahahaha! Do you think the academy is just a daycare that takes anyone? Well, I have no more questions, Professor Hwang. Let’s pass it over to our confident friend for a round.”
Finally, the moment had come. The other admissions officers were curious about what kind of impressive report this student had prepared to be so audacious.
“Let’s start with the title. Local solutions of the moduli space of complex analytic forms and perfectoid curves with n less than or equal to 3. What is the modular group?”
“It is the group of Möbius transformations generated by elements of SL(2,Z) acting on the complex upper half-plane.”
“The meaning of SL(2,Z)?”
“It refers to 2×2 matrices with integer coefficients and a determinant of 1.”
“Oh… Now, let’s ask a few questions about the main content. In the second paragraph, when R is an integral perfectoid ring, the open subschemes of SpfR are said to be perfectoid. Can you explain that part?”
“Can I use the blackboard?”
“Feel free.”
Scratch scratch
With her chalk in hand, she effortlessly filled the blackboard with equations.
“Oh my… heavens.”
“Do you know what that means, Heo-sensei?”
“No… It sounds like complete alien language?”
While the teachers were murmuring, only Professor Hwang placed his chin on his hand and frowned.
“Well… I can only express this as being remarkable. Could you list all the runes used to fit this quasi-isomorphism?”
“Arhen, Gernum, Ppsyché for 3 syllables; Hypreet for 4 syllables; Lahibecche, Luminestine, Estrendal, Cresceum, Dalefrey for 5 syllables.”
“Why did you specifically use Hypreet?”
“Even if there’s a dimensional transformation in the circle, the reference point must be a fixed time point. Hypreet is a rune well-suited for time properties.”
“If what you say is true, then during specific situations, using local solutions can induce a 3D trajectory transformation with 1st circle magic. Could you demonstrate an example?”
“You want to see a magic demonstration?”
NoName’s lips curled into a smile.
Just then, she spotted an empty plastic bottle that some student had abandoned by the window in the hallway.
She loosened the hair tie from one side of her hair, wrapped it around her middle finger, and raised her palm towards the interviewers.
“1st circle upper casting: polar coordinate granting.”
In a blink, a rubber band shot from her hand, flying right past the nose of the scholarship officer.
“Ahhh!”
But the rubber band seemed to defy the laws of physics, narrowly grazing his hair before returning back to Na-me.
Timing it perfectly, NoName tilted her head to the side.
Twang!
With a cheerful sound, the bottle behind her fell over limply.
Boom!
“Well, that was a total mess.”
[The exit is this way. Thank you for your hard work in the interview!]
They had been whispering among themselves, throwing around labels like parachute and fraud before I arrived, thinking I wouldn’t hear anything just because I was in the hallway.
Especially the guy with the mustache sitting farthest to the right—I didn’t like his attitude one bit.
He would ask questions and then act like he didn’t hear the answers, and later he even brought up my background to mock me.
I had tried to give him a taste of his own medicine, but when the interview was over, his expression was quite a sight to see.
On the other hand, the older gentleman who seemed to be more influential on the left was favorably inclined toward me, so he seemed unable to openly disagree.
“I might just fail.”
I didn’t know if he was a school teacher or an outsider, but if he was affiliated with the school, I would have been really disappointed.
Attending such a level of academy would likely lead to a predictable outcome.
As I contemplated what to say to Professor Cheon, who believed in me and awaited my arrival, two female students rushed over and stood in front of me.
“Hello!”
