In the mind of the Genius

New Game (3/3)

I must admit, this code is really hard to crack.

I need to calm down and see things differently. It's her code so I need to try to understand her mind. It's not like those existing codes to begin with. I need to face what's in front of me to be able to solve this.

I closed my eyes. Then I slowly controlled by breathing.

I can sense my chest expanding every time I inhale. The sound of air coming out from my nose is very relaxing. I am slowly gaining this consciousness on my entire body. Like my every cell is losing the tense and I can feel the blood circulating on my body.

What my brain needs is oxygen. Controlling my breathing really helps me obtain this additional power, it's like a cheat code whenever I want to exceed my limits.

In my head, I'm visualizing the code, the numbers, and the plus sign.

Wait..

The position of the plus sign varies. It's like a marker for something. Well, it's common sense that 'X' mark is used in marking the location of the treasure in treasure maps. Maybe it is not a plus sign that I know - the symbol used for addition. There's no way that I would add something anyways. Perhaps it's a cross! Both X and + are crosses. That must be it! Well, I must assume that the plus sign is a mark of something.

THE CENTER!!!!

The plus sign must be the center! If I would divide the alphabet into two, and put the plus sign at the focal point, then everything before the plus sign must be the first half of the alphabet, and all the rest of the letters must be after the plus sign.

Then I immediately got up, and hurriedly went to where the computer is, and opened it.

This exhilarating feeling is what I always longed for. The feeling of discovering something, unraveling the meaning of something and knowing that you're getting into something is really irreplaceable. These kinds of challenges rekindle the fire in my unemphatic soul.

Now, to test my hypothesis, I opened MS Excel and lined up the letters of the English alphabet.

Now, I just need to plot the letters according to the code. I just hope it's the letters I know. I hate to admit it but Tagalog and English are the only languages that I can speak. The code is "10+ 9+ +2 9+ +2 / +7 +9 +6 +9" so I'll just have to substitute the numbers with the corresponding letter - before the plus sign and after the plus sign. Let's see where it would lead me.

JIOIO TVSV

Once again, I hit a road block. Just when I thought I was up to something, the reality wakes me up from my fantasies. All this effort was for nought.

I pulled my hair out of frustration. Of course it would not be easy. Himeji Takayama is a student of Ecclesiastes University - the best university in the Philippines. She is definitely a genius, and if I want to defeat her, I need to push further. I'm still the reigning president of this university. Pride or whatever you call it, I have to decipher this code no matter what.

I removed the scrunchie from my left wrist, and started tying my hair into ponytail.

Conditioning is one of the most common terms I hear in my psychology classes. And I always thought that our brains work better when conditioned. I can't remember when did I started to come up with this trick but - I have conditioned myself that whenever I tie my hair into ponytail, it means that I will finish what I need to do. This is like a curse - I will not eat, I will not do anything else as long as I'm not yet done. In exchange, I get to force myself to focus on this one task - deciphering this code.

Now, like in any other code, if all else failed then brute-forcing is the only chance. So I input all the possibilities of number sequence and then substitute with the corresponding letter.

"Here comes nothing." I said out loud.

Yet again, no usable words.

The lack of variables is really frustrating but I'm done complaining, surely there must be other ways I haven't explored. Yet, I feel that I'm on the right track. It can't be done any other way - the plus sign, the numbers - this must be the way, there just be something I need to tinker to successfully crack this code. It's like opening a vault, I just need to rotate either clock-wise or counter clock-wise to open the vault.

I need to exhaust all the possibilities, my attempts so far produced nothing, so I need to think of other ways this code might have been constructed.

I need to go back to the code and enumerate all my observations.

10+ 9+ +2 9+ +2 / +7 +9 +6 +9

First, I'm pretty sure that the plus sign is the marker from where the letters are located - either from left or from right. Second, the highest number from the code is 10. Third, the numbers from the code are repeating especially 9.

In the English Alphabet, the letter E is most common used letter. Should I start substituting E to 9? But what comes after? It's a possibility but it lacks additional information. It would be my last option to directly search for an English word that could fit in the sequence of the code.

Just wait a second, I subconsciously decided that 13 would be the highest number but there's no proof that the alphabet is divided equally. I missed out all the other perspectives. It can be that 10+ is the highest number of the left side and +16 is the highest on the right side.

10+ +16, 11+ +15, 12+ +14, 13+ +13, 14+ +12, 15+ +11, 16+ +10

There's more combination that needs to be explored! The code didn't specify the limits, so surely the 13+ +13 limit is the only one I've explored so far and found out that it's not the correct limit since I was not able to get any usable words.

Now that I have a whole lot of new options, let's try it one by one - starting with the 12+ +14 limit.

So far, nothing makes sense, but I guess that guts is one of the crucial factor in solving any mystery. Whenever someone is looking for light, he or she must have the guts to walk and explore in the dark.

WHAT THE HELL?!!!

What's with JININ SURU or JIYIY TRUR? 12+ and +14 limit is now cancelled out. No usable words. Well, I have few more combinations to try on. I just hope that one of them hits the home run.

Wait a second.

As I'm looking in front of the monitor, something bothered me. Am I missing something?

JININ SURU sounds Japanese.

Himeji is half Japanese. Could it be that the code is in Nihonggo?

Since it's also a possibility, I opened google translate and keyed in JININ SURU.

MY GOODNESS!!! The translation came up with a word I can finally understand!

At last! I've deciphered the code. Himeji just wants me to sing. Maybe it's her clumsy way of inviting me to a karaoke or something. Well, I can't blame her to look for some fun and some fresh air since the atmosphere here at EU is always gloomy and tense.

She's really funny, sending me a code just to invite me to hang out. She could have said it directly. All that Izza said about her are just her personal grudge. I find this Himeji girl really cute to have resorted to this.

Then I just noticed the time from the computer. It's already 4 PM. I missed lunch and my class. I immediately looked at my phone, Ian has 25 messages. To think that I didn't even feel the vibration from my phone, I was really immersed into solving the code.

I'm hungry.

I need to tidy up this place before leaving.

Out of impulse, I slowly erased the words from google translate, leaving only the word JININ.

RESIGNATION

Does she want me to resign from being the president?

I should start learning Nihonggo.

I wonder if the previous Sheiyreen watched anime. Would it be easier to solve the code if I would be able to recover my memories?