Chapter 2: The Answers Are Already Shouting

The world is an ocean of information.

No, to be more precise, it is a trash dump filled with unnecessary noise disguised as data.

But for me now, all that noise naturally arranged itself into order.

[Environmental Scan in Progress]

[Location: “Cheongdam Yukgyeong,” a high-end Korean beef restaurant in Gangnam]

[Air Quality: Ventilation system operating at 82%. Concentration of charcoal aroma and protein transformation scents caused by the Maillard reaction: 12.5%]

[Heat Source Analysis: Binchotan charcoal internal temperature: 1,200°C. Grill surface temperature: 210°C. Time remaining until optimal crust formation from moisture evaporation on the meat surface: 14 seconds.]

My eyes were already converting the marbling of the beef into percentages of fat content and muscle fiber density.

Visual information was being broken down to 0.1-millimeter precision, recreating the cooking process in ultra-high-definition slow motion.

“Hey, Han Ji-hoon. You’re really okay, right? You’ve been staring at that meat this whole time. Don’t tell me something actually went wrong with your brain.”

Kim Tae-ho’s voice hit my ears from across the table.

His vocal cords were vibrating 150 times per second, carrying a frequency that clearly expressed anxiety.

[Target: Kim Tae-ho]

[Biological Log: Facial muscle tremor detected at 0.02 mm. Pupil contraction rate: 15%. Increased adrenaline secretion.]

[Psychological Analysis: Deep suspicion regarding his best friend’s sudden change. Confidence Level: 99.8%]

I looked at him and gave him the most natural and mischievous smile possible.

A carefully optimized smile using twelve facial muscles, designed to reassure the other person.

“Tae-ho, the meat’s burning. Just because we’re famous for ranking near the bottom of the school doesn’t mean we have to be slow at grilling meat too.”

I took the tongs from him and flipped the beef.

The sizzling sound on the 210-degree grill wasn’t noise.

It was a signal that the meat was being cooked perfectly.

After placing a slice of perfectly cooked sirloin onto his plate, I casually dropped a bombshell.

“I’m going to Baekgyeong University’s medical school.”

“…What?”

Tae-ho froze.

He even forgot to chew the meat in his mouth as his eyes shook in disbelief.

“Hey, our rich sponsor. Seriously? Just because you got some money, don’t pretend your brain got upgraded too. Baekgyeong Medical School? Top admission score? Are you really Han Ji-hoon, the guy who got called Dumb and Dumber with me in the football club? We spent our whole lives ranking from the bottom! There wasn’t anything below Grade 9, so we got Grade 9!”

Tae-ho shouted before chugging down a bottle of water.

He laughed in disbelief before glancing at me carefully.

“Okay, fine. Maybe you made some money from that clinical trial. But studying isn’t something you can buy with money. I’ve never seen you open a textbook in the past three years.”

As if I had expected that exact reaction, I smirked and put another piece of meat into my mouth.

“Tae-ho, you know something? When the world suddenly starts looking like it’s in high definition, the answers begin coming to you on their own. They’re practically screaming, ‘Please write me down.’ How am I supposed to ignore them?”

[Internal Status: Brain Usage Rate Maintaining 12%. Preparation Complete for Academic Textbook and Curriculum Data Archiving.]

“Just watch. You’ll see exactly how I get into Baekgyeong Medical School. I’m about to start a relationship with the correct answers. As for you, trust your rich friend and order more meat.”

***

Only two weeks remained until the College Scholastic Ability Test.

Studying?

For me, it wasn’t studying anymore.

It was simply a process of maximizing my brain’s efficiency and scanning information into memory as fast as I could turn pages.

The fantasy of mastering everything in 0.1 seconds doesn’t happen in reality.

No matter how fast my brain was, my arms and joints still had physical limitations.

So for twenty hours a day, I sat in the public library and physically flipped through every textbook, reference guide, and problem collection.

Flip. Flip.

The sound of turning pages echoed through the library like a metronome.

The muscles in my arms performed two page turns per second with perfect precision.

During those brief moments, when ordinary people wouldn’t even finish reading a single page, my eyes copied every word, image, color, and footnote into my brain’s hard drive.

[Learning Simulation: CSAT Curriculum Scan Rate 99.1%]

[Calculation Algorithm: Analysis Complete for the Past Ten Years of Exam Writers’ Patterns and Linguistic Habits]

***

On the day of the exam, the testing center was overflowing with tension.

But to me, it felt like the world’s most boring game of spot-the-difference.

The moment I read the first sentence of a Korean language passage, the entire logical structure and every trap set by the exam writer lit up like neon warning signs.

The so-called killer math questions had already been visualized as geometric graphs inside my mind.

The result?

Perfect scores in every subject.

***

The entire country exploded with headlines.

“Substitute Football Player Achieves Perfect Exam Score”

The Ministry of Education investigated the possibility of cheating.

But what evidence could they use against me when every answer was logically perfect?

The legend was only beginning.

I confidently stepped into the interview hall of Baekgyeong University Medical School, where Korea’s greatest elites gathered.

***

Third Floor Interview Room, Baekgyeong University College of Medicine.

Five interviewers sat behind soundproof walls.

Their eyes weren’t looking at me as the protagonist of a miracle.

They were looking at me as a clever fraud.

Especially Professor Choi, sitting in the center with reading glasses perched on his nose.

He threw my academic records onto the desk and asked sharply,

“Student Han Ji-hoon. According to your records, you were only a substitute player in the football club, and your grades were terrible. Yet suddenly you achieve a perfect score on the CSAT. Don’t you think that’s an insult to every student in Korea? I don’t know what kind of trick you used, but Baekgyeong University has no interest in accepting suspicious people like you.”

His voice wasn’t filled with anger.

It sounded more like someone whose intellectual authority had been challenged.

[Interviewer Analysis: Professor Choi. Typical authoritarian personality. Conviction of cheating: 85%]

I leaned back comfortably in my chair.

Not arrogantly.

Just with calm confidence.

“Professor, the premise of your question is wrong. Poor grades don’t mean I lacked ability. They mean I lacked interest. Even when I played football, I was more interested in the density of the grass than the trajectory of the ball.”

“What? Are you mocking us?”

“No. The CSAT is simply a logic game. You reverse-engineer the algorithm established by the exam writers. I spent two weeks optimizing that algorithm and placing it inside my head. Calling it an insult is strange. If anything, I paid the highest compliment possible to the nation’s educational system by solving it efficiently.”

Professor Choi smiled coldly and handed me a sheet of paper.

“Very well. Then let’s see whether your precious algorithm can solve this. I personally modified one of this year’s most difficult Biology II questions. It combines pedigree analysis with cellular division mechanisms. Even medical students at Seoul National University would need thirty minutes to solve it.”

The paper was filled with complex family trees, probability calculations, and cell division cycles.

To an ordinary student, it would have looked impossible.

To me, it looked like a giant set of Lego blocks.

[Multidimensional Calculation Layer Activated]

[Data Scan Complete: Eight allele pairs identified within pedigree.]

[Crossing Rate and Independent Assortment Law Matched.]

[Logical Analysis Complete: Probability that traits of Individuals 5 and 7 in Generation Three are autosomal recessive = 0.25]

I didn’t even pick up a pen.

I simply looked at the paper and laughed softly.

“Professor, this problem is actually winking at me.”

“…What?”

“The answer is calling out to me so desperately that I almost feel bad ignoring it. The correct answer is Number 3. Statements Giyeok and Digeut are correct, while Rieul doesn’t apply because it’s X-linked recessive inheritance.”

Resting my chin on my hand, I looked directly at him.

“By the way, Professor, were you tired yesterday? Or is this supposed to be a second trap designed to test me?”

Professor Choi’s eyelid twitched by 0.02 millimeters.

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a small flaw in the design of the question. If you compare Individual 3 of Generation Two with the chromosome count during the M phase of cell division, your assumption of autosomal inheritance doesn’t work. Unless you apply X-linked inheritance, this family tree couldn’t even exist. Biologically speaking, you’ve created a ghost pedigree.”

The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.

Professor Choi’s pupils contracted slightly as he hurriedly reviewed the document.

To my enhanced senses, the sound of his heart valves closing echoed like metallic impacts.

“Ah… that…”

“It’s okay, Professor. The ideal answer you intended is definitely Number 3. That’s what you get if you remove the logical contradiction from the system. So what do you think? It took me about half a second. Is my algorithm worthy of passing your thirty years of accumulated knowledge?”

A bead of sweat appeared on Professor Choi’s forehead.

Low-viscosity perspiration caused by embarrassment.

[Micro Observation: Professor Choi’s breathing halted for 4.1 seconds.]

[Level of Awe Increased from 8% to 82%]

“…What exactly are you?”

“I told you already. The answers are always shouting. I simply listened and wrote them down. All the wonderful knowledge systems that you professors have built over decades look like puzzle pieces I can solve in 0.1 seconds. What am I supposed to do? It would be rude not to put them together. I’m a pretty nice guy.”

I stood up.

There was no reason to remain seated.

“Hiding errors inside questions is a good strategy, Professor. But you should choose your opponent more carefully. I’m not a child admiring a dollhouse. I’m the developer who can hack the entire dollhouse.”

I bowed politely and left the interview room.

Behind me, the sounds of heavy breathing and dropped pens blended together like a strange symphony.

***

As I exited the gates of Baekgyeong University’s medical school, the winter air was cold.

But my body maintained perfect comfort.

[Objective Achieved: Probability of Admission as Top-Ranked Student – 100%]

An overwhelming victory.

Yet I didn’t even have time to celebrate.

I had only just opened the door to the dollhouse.

***

Then I noticed a young woman sitting alone on a bench near the entrance.

[Data Scan Activated]

[Target: Lee Se-young. Only daughter of the director of Seongjin Hospital.]

She looked like a masterpiece frozen in time.

Her long black hair reached her waist and swayed in the cold wind.

A faint lavender scent was immediately captured by my enhanced sense of smell.

Her flawless skin reflected the winter sunlight with an almost unreal glow.

Beneath her long eyelashes were eyes as calm as the deep sea, yet filled with sharp intelligence.

Simply calling her beautiful wasn’t enough.

She carried both an untouchable elegance and the aura of an observer determined to dissect everything before her.

She was different from everyone else.

She didn’t see me as a miracle.

She didn’t see me as a cheater.

Her eyes examined me the way a microscope studies an unknown virus.

I slowed as I passed her.

“Hello, future classmate. Medical school should be pretty interesting.”

She looked up.

For a brief moment, our eyes met.

[Heart Rate Increase Detected: 0.5%]

[Cause Unknown]

Her lips moved slightly.

Her voice was calm and low, yet filled with certainty.

“…Han Ji-hoon. What exactly are you?”

Without stopping, I smiled casually and answered.

“Come on, I’m not that mysterious. Maybe I’m just a very lucky and handsome future medical student. If you’re curious, get admitted and find out for yourself.”

The sunset stretched across the sky.

My shadow grew long beneath it.

The Baekgyeong Medical Foundation had turned me into something godlike.

And this medical school was the heart of everything they had built.

Now I was ready to enter it, wield the scalpel of a god, and redefine humanity itself.

The true legend was only beginning.

[Humanity Synchronization Level: 84.1%]

[Notification: Curiosity Data Regarding Target ‘Lee Se-young’ Generated.]

[Analysis Priority Elevated to Rank 1.]