Chapter 856 – #178_논문감사(4)
#850
1.
What is magic?
If a human ignorant of magic were to witness its use, they would literally think it was “like magic.”
That is, something vague, mysterious, unidentifiable, and unprovable—a supernatural power.
However, the essence of magic has always been one thing.
It is a highly developed science and technology that derives phenomena from magical power.
Like any other field of study, magic uses countless debates and discussions as the driving force for knowledge accumulation.
Rejecting existing theories, creating new ones, and offering multiple interpretations of a single theory.
They often clash sharply at every opportunity.
Even without extreme cases like a negative audit, any witch in academia constantly publishes papers and undergoes fierce debates in peer reviews, such as comments and critiques.
It’s just part of their daily routine.
Therefore, the questionnaire that Ricenne was holding was not a simple document.
It was created by the witches close to her, including Baron Demer, putting their heads together.
It points out logical flaws, induces sophistry, and elicits more in-depth answers.
It was a trump card to expose any vaguely understood parts.
Like a poisoned dagger wrapped in malicious rhetoric.
Even Ricenne, who had been somewhat intimidated, regained her confidence when she turned the first page of the document.
However….
“……”
Half of the confident questions were exhausted.
The sharply thrown daggers did not even scratch his logic, which was like an iron wall.
She had a vision of countless daggers lying at his feet, who was firmly clad in black armor.
“The accuser, please ask your questions.”
Ricenne bit her teeth subtly and examined the next dagger.
This time, it was not just a question to judge understanding.
It was a trap to subtly criticize the ethical aspects of the experiment and raise another suspicion.
A rude question asked indirectly, and a trap where reacting angrily would be a bad move.
Shin Siwoo has consistently expressed that he “doesn’t like being suspected of plagiarism.”
A bit of a nerve-grating, tabloid-level psychological warfare might actually work.
“The author’s paper implies the clinical utility of the Gnosis Egg. However, the data on clinical trials is significantly lacking. If there are actual cases, could you disclose them here?”
“There is not a single word about clinical utility in my humble paper. It only discusses the combination of different magnetic magic.”
“However, the combination of different magnetic magic is usually closely related to research on the Gnosis Egg. If not… did you study public case examples?”
“That’s a question that deviates from the point. I request mediation.”
But Shin Siwoo snorted and slipped out of the snare with ease.
“Request accepted. The accuser, please refrain from asking questions that deviate from the purpose of the audit.”
Ricenne bit her lip once and threw the next dagger.
“I request additional explanation on ‘symbolic control,’ which is presented as Type C of the repulsion control model.”
It was one of the parts that had garnered as much attention as his omitted proof.
It was also a part that had to be glossed over as if it was understood due to the ambiguous answer.
Siwoo picked up a piece of chalk and stood in front of the empty blackboard again.
“Many magnetic magics adopt ‘symbols’ in utilizing magic. By using the symbolic system that is already established before exerting influence on the world, the uniqueness and efficiency of magnetic magic are enhanced.”
He drew two circles on the blackboard.
He wrote A in one circle and B in the other, then drew different concentric circles around each.
“If each small circle is magnetic magic, then the large circle is a symbol used to construct magnetic magic. As you can see, if different magnetic magics are combined, a collision between symbolic systems occurs because of these symbols.”
The concentric circles overlapped like a Venn diagram, and Siwoo laid the chalk down and colored the overlapping part white.
“The larger the overlapping part, the greater the collision of symbolic systems, resulting in a massive conversion overload. Magical power is wasted to control the conversion overload, optimization is disrupted, and to forcibly correct this, one of the two symbols must inevitably be greatly weakened.”
Siwoo quickly wrote down a calculation formula below.
“Trying to juxtapose real-world symbols on one phase is an old-fashioned format. Symbolic control, which is Type C of the repulsion control model, is a method of solving this through the separation of ‘phases.’”
The question itself was quite sharp.
It was pointing out one of the important elements that had not been added intentionally.
But for Siwoo, even that was just a path he had walked long ago, only 1.5 generations ago.
And a new definition that was not written in the paper crossed the blackboard.
“The symbols that witches borrow are ultimately like ‘musical scores’ or ‘numbers.’ They are arbitrarily created concepts to depict elements that exist in the natural world. If you don’t understand, think of imaginary numbers.”
Ricenne did not understand what he was saying.
It was not in the materials she had prepared, and it was a part that had been roughly glossed over when discussing with Baron Demer.
She never imagined that he would deal with such in-depth content.
“I guess you don’t understand?”
It wasn’t just Ricenne who was frowning.
The witches who were randomly selected as audience members, as well as the witches from the Truth and Name Academic Society and the Emerald Tablet, were also looking at Siwoo with expressions that said, ‘What is he suddenly talking about?’
“There is no need to think of symbols as ‘surfaces.’ Also, there is no need to think that they must be placed on one phase. As I explained earlier, that is a preconceived notion.”
He snapped his fingers and used telekinesis.
The white chalk dust that had been on the black blackboard rose into the air in its original shape.
“How is it?”
The two circles, A and B, floating in the air, were clearly overlapping when viewed from the audience seats.
But in reality, they were not physically overlapping because there was a distance between them.
By simply pulling something that was on a plane into a higher dimension, the actual contact disappeared.
Feeling uneasy, Ricenne jumped up from her seat and retorted.
“There’s no way it can be that easy! Is it even possible to combine magnetic magic in a state where they don’t exist on the same phase in the first place?”
“It is possible. For example, what are the symbols of fire? Ruby, bonfire, ash, volcano, red.
Then what are the symbols of life? Flowers, heart, breath, blood…. How is it? There are many, right? Like this, symbolic systems are loose. They can be flexible. If they ‘overlap’ when viewed from above, it doesn’t matter how far apart the actual phases are.
Of course, if they are too far apart, the influence of one of them will be greatly reduced.
The relational expression for this is as follows.”
The blackboard was filled with writing without a break throughout the explanation.
Listening to the sound of the chalk, which sounded like horseshoes, Ricenne realized.
Not only Ricenne, but everyone gathered here realized.
The rest of the questions in Ricenne’s hand, the pile of papers to raise plagiarism suspicions, were now no different from scrap paper.
Shin Siwoo explained his knowledge too calmly and skillfully.
In addition, he helped with understanding by using appropriate metaphors and easy explanations.
Not only did he perfectly answer the questions about the paper, but he was also describing the expanded knowledge without hesitation.
The way he appeared in the in-depth argument was not something that was possible by someone teaching him.
It was a performance that could only be performed with knowledge and ability built up entirely by his own power.
“That is all for the answers to the questions.”
Siwoo declared, replacing the worn-out chalk with a new one.
Silence filled the hall.
Librarian Gremory opened her mouth.
“Accuser, do you have any more questions?”
The pile of documents in Ricenne’s hand slipped down powerlessly.
Baron Demer was wrong.
Throwing daggers sharpened based on the premise that he had plagiarized was nothing more than the ugly struggle of a loser.
“…No.”
Baron Demer would take care of the aftermath, but it was a foregone conclusion that Ricenne’s reputation would be tarnished.
It was obvious that even taking a walk would be difficult until she was trained to have a thick skin.
The only hope was that the audience’s questions would be sharper than Ricenne’s and that Shin Siwoo would make a mistake, but Ricenne was not so naive and ignorant of the world.
Failure is failure.
“Is it okay for the author to continue? If you want, we can take a 30-minute break.”
“It’s okay.”
“Then, we will take questions from the audience.”
As soon as Librarian Gremory finished speaking, dozens of witches raised their hands at once.
The sound of their sleeves rustling was as grand as waving a large flag.
Even the witches who had not yet raised their hands were engrossed in new thoughts while holding paper and pens.
The designated witch stood up from her seat, bowed her head to Siwoo, and paid her respects.
“I am Tarba Hecate, the ‘Witch of Dominion.’ I have an additional question regarding the phase matching proof. If the definition of phase set by the author is similar to the level of magic implementation….”
“That’s simple.”
Siwoo listened to her explanation, pondered for a moment, and then gave an uninterrupted answer with the blackboard, just like before.
“Let’s take the next question.”
Arms rose powerfully into the sky like seagulls begging for shrimp crackers.
“I am the ‘Witch of Verity.’ I was greatly impressed by the author’s paper. Next….”
There were many audience members, and due to time constraints, they had to be shortened as much as possible, but most of the witches sat down with expressions that seemed to be convinced.
This place was no longer a negative research audit to reveal plagiarism suspicions.
It was a lecture hall full of enthusiasm where they waved their hands like children, disregarding their dignity, to gain even a little more teaching.
“Due to time constraints, we will conclude the audience Q&A for in-depth arguments. Mr. Shin Siwoo, please return to the author’s seat and take a seat.”
The evidence was clearly revealed the moment Siwoo answered the 30th question and came down from the platform.
-Clap clap
The auditorium, which had become quiet after the Q&A.
A lonely applause echoed amidst the lingering remnants of academic zeal.
It was a sound coming from the audience seats.
-Clap clap clap clap clap
The applause, which was initially only from one person, spread like a wildfire in a dry field, like a downpour.
———!!
The sound of applause that poured down so much that it made the skin tingle meant one thing.
The audience gathered here were not jurors.
They did not have the right to judge the audit, and it was only the audit committee that would decide on the plagiarism suspicion.
But the witches, who were more proud and stubborn than anyone else when it came to magic.
Arrogant, clumsy, old-fashioned, inflexible, and natural-born scholars who would not hesitate to give their lives for magic.
They were silently conveying their opinions on this audit with thunderous applause.
Shin Siwoo was not a young witch blinded by the desire for fame.
He was a supernova that had newly appeared in the witch academia.
