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Chapter 29
Translator: Enuma ID
After the exam was over,
The atmosphere at the Kingston University dormitory was completely different from usual.
The tension and intensity that had dominated the exam hall over the past few days vanished as if it had all been a lie, replaced by a sense of liberation and a festive mood that enveloped the entire building.
Laughter from the students erupted throughout the hallways. The doors that had been firmly shut were now all wide open.
Ẁ е bnо̃ vе l Е̃ńu̇ m̃а
When Seo-ha came out of the washroom after brushing his teeth, the hallway was already bustling.
Students who would normally be quietly studying or resting in their rooms were now all outside, mingling with one another.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
It was almost time to return.
They might not have another chance to see each other again.
Such thoughts gave the students the courage to approach one another.
“Kiddie! Want to come over here?”
Èǹum̌ă
Hans waved and called Seo-ha over.
After they had gotten a bit closer and started exchanging greetings, everyone began calling Seo-ha “Kiddie”. To Seo-ha’s ears, the word translated as “elementary schooler!”
“What’s going on?”
He lightly knocked on the open door and entered the room, where about ten students were already gathered.
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“Let’s do a memory challenge. Helen’s on a 7-game winning streak right now.”
Just as Woo-hyun had warned.
Ёnu m̂а . і́d̈
Everyone was eager to show off their brilliant minds.
As Seo-ha approached to take a look, a deck of playing cards was laid out on the table. A blonde girl from Denmark was seated in a chair.
Perhaps because of her winning streak, she looked brimming with confidence.
She spoke to Seo-ha in a friendly tone out of nowhere.
“Kiddie! I heard you were the only one who solved problem number 6? Our teacher told us.”
“I’m not sure if I was the only one, but I did solve it. It was tough.”
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“You were the only one. So, shall we put that amazing brain of yours to the test?”
Helen gave a sly smile and tapped her temple with her index finger.
When she came at him like this, it was hard to back out.
Seo-ha sighed and sat down in a chair. When Helen signaled with her eyes, Hans began to shuffle the cards. He must have played with cards a lot, as he displayed a flashy shuffle technique.
Swoosh.
Hans spread out 30 cards in a 6 x 5 grid on the table.
W е̊bñо̌v èl Ѐ ň um̄ â
“Alright! You can look at them for 30 seconds. You both ready?”
“Of course.”
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“I’m good too.”
Both nodded.
“Start!”
Hans and the others simultaneously flipped the cards over.
Е ǹ ù.m̈ a
“Spade 7, Heart King, Diamond 3, Club Jack....”
Seo-ha’s eyes swiftly scanned the cards. The other students had gathered around, watching with fascination to see how Seo-ha would memorize the cards.
Seo-ha and Helen stared at the cards with intense focus. But the two of them had completely different approaches.
Helen appeared to be using the Western technique known as the memory palace. She was moving her eyes in a zigzag pattern, trying to associate the cards with specific locations she had set in her mind.
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In contrast, Seo-ha chose a completely different method.
In his mind, the thirty cards were being converted into a 6 x 5 mathematical matrix.
Ӗn ǔm ȧ_. і̊ d̊
He memorized each card along with its coordinates (row, column). Spade 7 was (1, 1), Heart King was (1, 2).... This way, he grouped the position and the card information into a single dataset.
The suits were replaced with numbers. Spade = 1, Heart = 2, Diamond = 3, Club = 4.
This way, each card became a 4-dimensional vector of (x coordinate, y coordinate, suit value, card number value).
And numbers were the language Seo-ha was most fluent in.
“Time’s up!”
Hans called out the end of the round and flipped all the cards over.
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“Helen first!”
Hans pointed to the first card in the first row.
“Spade 7.”
Correct.
“Alright, now Kiddie. This one?”
The second card in the third row.
E n u̇ m а̌
“Club 3.”
Seo-ha answered without hesitation.
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Hans flipped the card to confirm and nodded.
“Helen!”
Third card in the fourth row.
Helen hesitated for a moment.
É n̄ú m̌ á
“Um… Diamond Queen?”
Hans flipped the card.
“Correct.”
The game continued. Both displayed incredible memory skills, but once they passed 20 cards, a difference began to emerge.
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“Helen?”
Hans pointed at a card, but Helen couldn't answer easily.
Ẇ е ḃ nо v̇ ӗ l Ѐ nûm̃ ȧ
“Club... nine?”
When Hans flipped the card, sighs erupted around them.
“Ah....”
“Helen lost this?”
“Isn’t she just nervous? I heard she even won the memory competition.”
“Wrong, it’s Club Six.”
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Helen made a disappointed face.
“Kiddie’s turn. If you get it right, you win.”
Hans pointed at the fifth card in the fourth row.
But in Seo-ha’s mind, the entire dataset of cards was already completed.
“Spade Ace.”
The card was flipped. And naturally, it was correct.
Е̄ nŭm̌а .і́ d̄
“Wow!”
“Amazing!”
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“He’s the new memory king.”
Everyone clapped and laughed.
“Then, just for fun, want to try the rest too?”
Seo-ha nodded at Hans’s suggestion.
Е̊ ñ ů m̃а
“Diamond King, Heart 4, Club 2....”
Seo-ha called out each card’s name as he flipped them one by one. Helen looked at Seo-ha with a stunned expression.
When he got all 30 cards right, the room erupted with the students’ excitement.
“Kiddie! Kiddie! Kiddie!”
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The students chanted Seo-ha’s name.
“Now I get why you were the only one who solved problem 6.”
W̆ еbn ǒv̇e ľ É n̆ûm а.
Helen smiled and reached out for a handshake.
Seo-ha, embarrassed, lightly grabbed Helen’s fingertips, and everyone burst into laughter.
“Helen! Seo-ha’s still a kid. He needs a bit more time before he starts producing testosterone.”
Helen raised her right middle finger at the giggling boys.
“What are you even saying, you guys just got wrecked by me.”
It was a delightful afternoon.
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***
“Phew!”
Seo-ha jumped onto his bed after returning to his room.
After the memory challenge, the rumor must have spread, because many students came to him with games they were confident in.
Sudoku, mental arithmetic battles, 24 game (a puzzle game where you use four numbers and arithmetic operations to make 24), and even one student challenged him to see how many digits of pi he could memorize.
Meanwhile, a chess tournament was taking place elsewhere.
W ѐ b̊n̆ о vе̄l̄ Е n u m̀ а
It was called a tournament, but really, the winner just kept playing. A true ‘last man standing’ match. Challenges were open to anyone.
Knock knock!
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While lying in bed resting, he heard a knock at the door.
“Who is it?”
“...It’s me.”
Lim Su-jeong’s voice was weak, unlike her usual self.
Еn u m а
Seo-ha quickly opened the door.
“What’s wrong?”
Su-jeong looked at him with a face that seemed on the verge of tears.
“I’m sorry.”
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Looking ashamed, Su-jeong lowered her head deeply.
“What happened?”
Е ǹ um̂ā. і̌ d
Su-jeong looked devastated.
“I lost all the ramen and snacks.”
“What?”
When he heard the story, it was ridiculous.
Do-kyung, who was usually confident in chess, had challenged Alexei, the Russian representative. He narrowly lost.
When Do-kyung tried to challenge him again, Alexei set conditions.
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“If I accept every rematch, it’ll never end. If you really want to play, put something on the line.”
Do-kyung, who was in charge of keeping the Korean team’s food, accepted the deal.
One by one, Do-kyung lost the snacks. Unable to watch any longer, Su-jeong stepped in to protect her own snacks. The result was a crushing defeat.
Like a gambler unable to leave the table, the game continued until all of the Korean team’s snacks were gone.
“Thinking back, I think it was planned. He looked like he was about to win most of the time.”
Today and tomorrow, they had planned to take out all the remaining snacks and have a party at night.
Е ñů m а̄. ǐ d́
But at this rate....
“Let’s talk to the teacher and go to New Malden (a Korean town near London) tomorrow. I’ll pay. My parents gave me some money, so it’ll be fine.”
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Su-jeong, feeling sorry, hurriedly rambled on.
“Did you know it’s easy to get Korean food even overseas these days? Tesco or Sainsbury’s even sell Korean ramen! And did you know? The cup noodles sold abroad actually have more toppings and taste even better than the ones in Korea!”
Seo-ha tightly shut his eyes.
Ramen and snacks were precious to him too.
Ẁ.ӗḃ n̂ о̌ vеl̃ Ẽ ṅ u mа
Every morning he filled up on an English breakfast, and for lunch and dinner, it was always potatoes and meat.
Jacket potatoes, chips, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, potato cakes, potato salad, hash browns, even the snacks were just potato chips.
Seo-ha had never realized until coming to England just how many variations of potato dishes existed.
It was a terrifying country. The only carbohydrate source: potatoes.
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Seo-ha already missed Korean food so much it was unbearable.
‘I was planning to eat ramen for dinner...’
Ёnu mа̂_
He hadn’t expected Woo-hyun’s advice to learn chess to be this useful.
“Let’s go! I’ll do something about it!”
Seo-ha opened the door with a determined expression and stepped into the hallway. Su-jeong, tilting her head, followed after him.
When they got down to the lobby, over 50 students were gathered.
At the center, there was a table with a chessboard set up, and in one seat sat Alexei.
As soon as Seo-ha appeared, one by one, the students noticed.
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“Kiddie!”
“Kiddie’s here!”
“Kiddie! Kiddie!”
Cheers erupted.
It was thanks to him crushing the other students in every game.
“Oh, Kiddie! You came? Are you good at chess too?”
Е̄ n̂u m а
Alexei shrugged with a relaxed expression.
The American representative sitting across from him didn’t even seem to care.
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“That American guy, he’s a master.”
Su-jeong whispered into Seo-ha’s ear.
“Really?”
"Yeah. He's the Kentucky state champion, I think? He said he'd go out last and finish things off..."
Ė n̆u̇mа̂._і̀d
Maybe they knew each other, Su-jeong clicked her tongue.
Seo-ha looked at the table behind Alexei. Piled like trophies were countless snacks.
Before long, the American representative, Brian, had to hand over his prized large pack of jerky to Alexei.
“We’ve been playing chess since the 15th century. A so-called master from America is nothing.”
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At Alexei’s provocation, the Americans bristled. But none of them stepped forward.
“Come on, Kiddie! Let’s play a match.”
Wе b̂ n о̆ v̀.е l Е̃ n u m̀ ӑ_
Alexei bared his teeth in a confident smile.
Seo-ha nodded and took a seat.
As Alexei arranged the pieces on the board, he spoke.
“In Russia, it’s not uncommon for elementary schoolers to beat pros. In chess, talent comes before experience. You could say it’s all about the battle of calculation.
Kiddie, I heard you solved problem 6 that no one else could. I’m looking forward to this.”
“Don’t expect too much. I’ve only played against one person.”
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“Then this should end quickly. Just think of today as a learning experience. I was the Russian junior champion.”
“But don’t get too complacent either. That could be a problem.”
Alexei laughed good-naturedly.
“Haha! Alright. What about the rules? Blitz or Rapid?”
Blitz was a speed game, 5 minutes per side, meaning the whole game must finish in under 10 minutes. Because there’s almost no time to think, mistakes happen often.
Rapid allowed for a bit more breathing room.
Ӗ_n u ṁ_ä .ĭ d̆
“Blitz.”
“I like it.”
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The pieces were all set.
Hans brought over a tournament chess clock from somewhere and placed it on the table.
Then, looking around at everyone, he declared,
“Game start!”
Еn u ṁ a
Alexei confidently made the first move.
e4, King’s Pawn Opening.
Click.
Seo-ha paused briefly, then responded with e5.
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Alexei’s pieces moved rapidly. He was clearly very experienced, leading the game through familiar patterns.
At first, Seo-ha played reactively, as if adjusting. But as the game progressed, the situation changed.
Ẃ е̄ b̃n̊о́v̈ е l̊ Еnũ.m а̂
A speed battle based on intuition, that was completely Seo-ha’s domain.
Ten minutes later,
Alexei stared blankly at the chessboard.
Not a single one of his pieces remained.
A complete and total annihilation.
The lobby exploded with the students’ cheers.
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“Waaah!”
“Kiddie won!”
“He beat the Russian champion?”
“Kiddie got revenge!”
“L-let’s play again! Rematch! It’s because it was Blitz. If it had been Rapid, it would've been different!”
Alexei had made too many mistakes trying to keep up with Seo-ha’s fast pace. In hindsight, they were obvious moves. If he played again, he was sure he could win.
W ĕb ṅо̆v̄_el̄ Еn u m̆ a
His face flushed red, Alexei demanded a rematch.
Seo-ha tilted his head and looked at Alexei.
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"If I accept every rematch, wouldn't there be no end?"
Laughter broke out all across the lobby.
*****
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Enum̂ а́ . і̄d
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