131. Seven out of thirty nine
two days later.
An upscale Chinese restaurant near the US Embassy in Gwanghwamun.
When I said my name, the restaurant staff called the manager, and the manager in a suit led me to a small room inside the restaurant.
Director Jackson and Sgt. Philip Kim were in the room, and when the door opened, the two got up and greeted me and apologized. Even though it was a polite apology, I just said I knew it with an annoyed expression on my face.
A reporter with a strong back end would not have received such a verbal apology, and Director Jackson would make a suggestion to me today, because I decided that it would be better to take the lead in the conversation without knowing what his content was.
After saying goodbye, Director Jackson said to Sgt. Philip Kim.
“(Sgt. Kim is waiting at the embassy.)”
“(all right.)”
Sergeant Philip Kim left the room and the meal began. While eating, Director Jackson wiped his mouth with a napkin and opened his mouth in a slow tone.
“(The US administration immediately ended all PAI-13 use as of yesterday. But how did they find out that PAI-13 had such a serious weakness?)”
“(I was just lucky.)”
“(May I ask one question about PAI-13?)”
I nodded, Director Jackson said in a low voice.
“(That weakness… is it true that you found it yourself?)”
As I narrowed my eyebrows and frowned, he smiled and continued.
“(I’m sorry if I felt bad. I just wanted to make sure.)”
“(That’s what I found, and it’s true, like I just said, I was lucky.)”
At my words, Director Jackson shook his head and said.
“(The Department of Defense Security Advisory Committee… I think the person who found this weakness was not an ordinary person.)”
“(What do you mean?)”
“(Literally, you are asking for your identity information from the upper management right now.)”
The fact that my name would be passed on to the US administration and intelligence agencies was quite predictable. It’s a lot of regret for me, but since it’s happened this far, it’s unavoidable, and I thought that I would never have to travel to the United States for the rest of my life.
By the way… This means that my superiors are asking for my identity, which means that Director Jackson has not yet reported who I am to my superiors.
Why?
I opened my eyes thinly and looked at Director Jackson, who lowered his voice and opened his mouth.
“(Would you like to make a deal with me?)”
Finally, the main point is coming.
I leaned back in the chair and said.
“(Well, let’s hear the story.)”
At my words, Director Jackson began to explain.
In the case of high-ranking U.S. intelligence officials like himself, there are informants who are personally hired, not subordinates, and the funds to run these private intelligence agencies are also sourced from the intelligence services, President Jackson continued.
“(The $1 million I sent to you three days ago also came from this kind of special activity fund.)”
I nodded and opened my mouth.
“(So… see me now and become your personal informant, I mean.)”
read at noblemtl.com
Now I see.
If I become his personal source… The information I found was reported to the intelligence service in the name of Director Jackson, not my name. In other words, the weakness of the PAI-13 cipher… My name is missing, and it means to be fully the performance of Ledger Jackson.
It wasn’t a bad offer for me.
As if reading my expression, Director Jackson opened his mouth.
“(Necessary activity expenses and bonuses will be paid without disappointment.)”
“(I like it, but… there is one thing I want to make sure of)”
At my words, Director Jackson opened his mouth with a nervous expression.
“(what?)”
“(I’m not your subordinate. Can I always say no to something I don’t want to do?)”
Director Jackson nodded loudly at my question.
“(Of course.)”
Then he took a sip of the water and said with a smirk.
“(The Power of Capitalism!)”
“(Capitalism…? What does that mean?)”
At my question, Director Jackson opened his mouth with a triumphant expression.
“(If you know the size of the activity fee and bonus, it will probably be difficult to refuse.)”
At his words, I smiled and said.
“(Actually, I’m not really in need of money.)”
“(I know. Balhae Sports Director, Yun Seong Soft Executive Director, and even a real estate of 4,000 pyeong in Siheung with a market value of 800 million won….)”
His words gave me a bitter laugh. I was expecting it, but it was a thorough behind-the-scenes investigation of me.
By the way… Did the land price of the Siheung warehouse site rise that much?
After reading my expression, Director Jackson continued.
“(Don’t feel too bad about doing a background check. You can’t use someone you don’t trust as your personal information source. And again, I plan to support the activity expenses and performance money at a very satisfactory level.)”
“(Okay! Okay! Give it a try.)”
He extended his hand to me and continued.
“(I wish you all the best in the future.)”
I took his hand and said.
“(Me too.)”
We continued eating, and as we ate, Director Jackson told us about what is going on in Iraq these days. At first, it was the kind of story you would often hear on the news, but by the time the meal was over, the content had changed a lot.
For example, there were stories about the rivalry within the Iraqi military for loyalty to President Saddam Hussein, the activities of Shiite and Kurdish resistance groups in southern Iraq, and the movements of Islamic militants such as al Qaeda and the JTJ in and around Iraq. .
In particular, Director Jackson said that these armed groups have recently started communicating using the Internet and are using a higher level of encryption than expected.
read at noblemtl.com
Now it seems I’m getting the hang of it. What Director Jackson wants from me.
After that meal, Director Jackson handed me a USB drive.
“(The account and password program required for contact are included here. In particular, there is also my direct number, so please feel free to use it if you have an urgent need.)”
When I got the USB drive, he got up, grabbed his coat, and continued.
“(When the Iraq war starts in March next year, there will be a lot of things to ask of you. We will contact you again around that time.)”
After speaking, Director Jackson left the room, and at that moment, the mask of reporter So-jeong was removed and a long sigh escaped my mouth.
When I got home, I checked the USB that Director Jackson gave me.
The USB contained data on more than 20 Islamic militant groups in Iraq and neighboring countries, along with an e-mail encryption program to communicate with him.
In particular, the data on the communication encryption used by these armed groups were detailed, and as Jackson said, they were using a fairly high level of security RSA encryption.
After browsing through the data on the USB drive, I checked my email.
ah-! It’s finally here!
Ten days ago, on October 17th.
After many twists and turns, I arrived home from the Yangju intercity bus stop and had a late lunch with my mother and Uncle Sangsoo, and in the evening I met Yeongmi and spent time. What I did when I returned home after letting Youngmi in late at night was… It was none other than sending an e-mail to the major’s sister.
Today is October 27th. Now, two weeks later, on November 11th… Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman will publish a paper with the following title in arXiv, an open archive maintained by Cornell University.
＜The entropy formula for the Ricci flow and its geometric applications>
This is the paper with the final puzzle piece that completes the proof of the Poincare conjecture.
Of course, in order to supplement the proof process and correct minor errors, Perelman will publish two more papers in the future. It will take more years.
However, the proof of the Poincaré conjecture that has been going on for over 100 years with Perelman’s November 11 paper comes to an end.
The email I sent to my major sister ten days ago.
It was about being discharged from the army, but the real reason I sent the email was to ask if my sister and Mike had proven the Poincaré conjecture.
Again, I have no intention of helping my sister and Mike with the proof. However, if my sister and Mike were in the process of verifying after proofing, I was trying to tell them to do the verification later and submit the thesis as soon as possible, or at least leave a record in a public archive like arXiv like Perelman did.
Unlike analytics and algebra, set theory and topology often have problems that require lengthy verification, especially Poincaré’s conjecture.
I clicked the e-mail sent by the major’s sister, nervously.
+ +
oh! Our Jeong-ho has finally become a reserve sergeant!
Congrats on being healthy! Your mother will really like it.
Thanks for contacting me. And sorry for the late reply!
Last week was the midterm exam period, and Mike Schultz’s PhD defense also overlapped, so I’ve been crazy busy. I can’t even remember how the last week went by.
I’m very busy, but I’m doing well. There are still a lot of kimchi from Korea left!
Oh yeah-! Where did the Poincare guess come from?
This is a top secret… I’ll let you know in a special way. I think the proof is over. Whoa! (ㅡ ㅡ)y (＜– This is an emoticon I learned in Korea last year, I really like it!)
Anyway… There was a bit of ambiguity in the proof process, so I’m currently verifying this part with Mike. I think it’s right for me, but Mike wants to be more careful.
As soon as I finish this verification, I will submit it to the journal. Mike’s doctoral defense ended two days ago, so I’m going to take a break and start working on verification next week. It will probably take two or three months… If you submit your thesis then, I will show it to you too.
Look forward to it! Doom! Opening soon!
Well then, let’s get back to you!
Please say hello to your mother.
So goodbye!
+ +
The major older sister must be in her mid-30s by now… It seems that V is still a lover.
As in other fields of science, the most important thing for the mathematical community to publish their research results is the fact that it is ‘first’.
It is useless to say that after the first results of the study were published, we had completed the proof before that, but were delaying the presentation due to verification.
I immediately responded to the major’s sister. I’m asking you to submit your thesis right now. He added that the verification of the proof should be left to the reviewers of the paper.
It wasn’t until November 1, five days later, that the major sister’s optimistic reply came back. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything.
There are ten days left until November 11th.
I’d like to say that in ten days there will be a paper on the Internet that completes the proof of the Poincaré conjecture, but I can’t… You can’t just pretend you don’t know.
okay… ! How about this?
I checked the watch.
It will be 11 am in Texas now. I made an international call to my sister’s university lab.