Chapter 328: Euler's Identity

The game finally commenced.

Managers on the side rooted for their artists. However, one manager seemed particularly excited for the show to start.

Chul knew the members of EVE didn't have any chances to win. Looking at the other contestants' profiles already proved that. He thought Jaeyong was pretty smart based on his looks; but after doing a quick background check, he found out he wasn't the brightest either.

However, he had more hopes for Jaeyong to make it farther into the competition than June.

What he was looking forward to was June getting eliminated in the first round and possibly making a fool of himself with a ridiculous answer.

"Let us start with the first preliminary round. Our buzzer for this round is—Bring me! Bring me white hair!"

The contestants were baffled by the ridiculous buzzer. However, Jaeyong, who was behind a female idol who had dyed her hair white, quickly snatched a piece and went to the front.

"Wow! With no hesitation at all, Jaeyong from EVE had given us the white hair. Please go back to your seat and pick a category."

The girl glared at Jaeyong as he passed by, so he shyly looked away.

As he settled in his seat, he looked through the categories.

"Nature," he said without any hesitation. He might not have been the brightest student, but he has always been fond of nature! He just wished it was a multiple-choice question so he could pass at least one round.

"Nature," Kim San announced. "Let's see the question."

The contestants waited in anticipation, nervous for the very first question of the night.

"In the desert, what is the most common way of dying?" San asked.

A 60-second timer was shown on the screen. Others wrote with confidence while some others hesitated to write their answers.

Zibo was one of those who confidently wrote his answer. It was a relatively easy question but a very tricky one. He was sure June wouldn't know the answer to the question, but when he glanced to his side, it seemed like June was already done writing his answer!

Jaeyong, on the other hand, bit his lips in anxiousness. He turned to June and was surprised to see his teammate staring right at him.

Much to his surprise, June was relaying a message—'you know this,' or somewhere along those lines.

Jaeyong closed his eyes and tried to look for an answer. However, only 'Oasis' played in his mind. Why couldn't they have asked something related to their song instead?

Then, he stopped.

Something sparked inside his mind, and he unhesitatingly wrote the answer that first popped up.

Maybe it was related after all.

"Boards up!" Kim San exclaimed.

The participants quickly raised their boards up to have them checked.

"Hmm, let me read some answers. Hyperthermia...Dehydration...Heatstroke...very convincing answers, but unfortunately, these are wrong."

"Those who answered such will be escorted by my assistants to the eliminated seats," he said.

"The correct answer is—drowning! Contrary to popular belief, drowning is the most common way of dying in the desert. When they find their oasis, they are often excited to see a drop of water. However, most don't know that it may be the start of a flash flood."

Jaeyong turned excitedly to June while showing him his answer.

They both got it right!

Chul was surprised to see that June actually gave the correct answer. But then again, this was a topic related to their latest title track, so maybe it was just a pure coincidence.

"Congratulations to those who have made it into the next round. Jaeyong," Kim San said. "You must be happy to get the correct answer. I wonder...have you studied about this?"

"Not necessarily," Jaeyong said. "But our title track, Oasis, speaks of the dangers of drowning in the desert...It was written figuratively, but I was able to get it right because of our song."

June smirked at Jaeyong's smooth promotion. Chul, too, proudly nodded as the audience grew more curious about their song.

"Oasis, huh?" Kim San asked. "I'll be glad to check that out when I get home."

"Let's move on to the second round!" Kim San exclaimed.

Only 43 remained, and now, the buzzer had something to do with dancing.

A familiar tune played, and the others hesitated on what to do. However, the bubbly twins didn't hesitate to go to the front and dance the full choreography of the song. The audience clapped as the adorable twins danced their way into their hearts.

"Fei and Kei!" Kim San smiled. "What an adorable duo. Since the two of you gave your best, I'll give you both the power to choose a category."

"What might it be?" San asked.

The twins glanced at June before confidently saying—"Math."

June smirked as the two of them made their way back to their seats.

Most of the contestants were already dreading the question. Jaeyong was one of them.

June, on the other hand, felt happy that the twins kept their deal.

Math was one of his favorite subjects in high school.

"e^i𝛑 + 1 ="

The audience gasped when they saw the question. For them, it was just a jumble of letters on the screen. Most of the contestants, too, haven't seen an equation like this before. So, most of them struggled despite the two-minute timer.

Zibo smirked as he confidently solved the answer. Meanwhile, June continued staring at the board, looking a bit lost.

Honey, one of the smartest contestants, also wrote the answer quicker than others.

Ocho searched his mind from where he had seen the equation before. Then, he smirked when he finally remembered it from one of his classes. It was a good thing they weren't asked to show the solution because Ocho merely remembered the answer.

"It's a crime for it not to have numbers," Seven exclaimed.

"It has the number one," Ocho deadpanned, causing the younger member to pout.

June finally wrote down his answer after the one-minute mark was passed.

He glanced at Jaeyong, but it seemed like his teammate was already writing his answer.

'That's right. Just keep what I said in mind,' June thought.

"3...2...1.... Raise your boards!" Kim San exclaimed.

It was evident that the contestants were less confident this round. They weren't expecting such a hard question to come by so early on the show.

Kim San shook his head as he looked through the variety of answers.

"More people got it wrong this round," he said. "If you didn't get the correct answer, please escort yourselves to the eliminated seats."

"The correct answer is — zero!"

This time, 11 contestants went down the stage, leaving only 32 contestants left.

Zibo glanced to the side, expecting June to go down. However, to his surprise, he saw the circular number on June's whiteboard.

He frowned, and Chul, who was watching backstage, frowned too. Maybe it was yet another coincidence since answering zero when you didn't know the answer was pretty common.

Jaeyong sighed in relief when he found out he got the right answer. He remembered June's advice —it was either 0 or 1 for Math questions...and he was right! Jaeyong gave June a thumbs up, to which the pink-haired man merely smiled.

"That was a tough question, huh?" Kim San said. "I'm sure some have guessed the answer, but can someone explain why the answer is 0? The one who answers correctly will decide the category for the next round."

Without any hesitation, Zibo raised his hand.

"Yes, Zibo?"

"I believe this is an equation. I forgot what it was called, but basically, e and pi are transcendental numbers. This means they have unending decimals...an infinite number, if you may call it," he started off.

Right off the bat, the audience was captivated by his explanation.

Jaeyong, who merely got the answer because of pure luck, already felt confused.

"Meanwhile, i is an iota, which mathematically means that it's the square root of negative one. By combining these numbers, we essentially get a negative one. And if we add another positive one to the equation, then the answer becomes zero."

The audience and the contestants clapped in amazement while Zibo tried his hardest to hide his smirk.

"Well said!" Kim San exclaimed. "Let's give this bright young man a round of applause."

Zibo smiled as he turned to June. "Your luck is pretty good," he said. "That may be the reason why you ranked first on Rising Stars."

June kept his gaze at the front.

"Your luck came in handy this time too. It's a good thing you answered zero, huh?" Zibo joked, although there was an underlying mockery in his tone.

"It's Euler's identity," June said, his gaze still focused on the front.

"Huh?" Zibo asked, his smile dropping.

June finally faced him.

"Euler's identity—it's the equation you were talking about."