Lee Jung-jae

**Childhood** Lee Jung-jae's childhood unfolds in the statistical reports of Busan port. His father would always correct his arithmetic homework with a red pen during dinner, while his mother would stuff a note saying "Emotions lead to failure" into his backpack. At the age of eight, when his pet goldfish died, his father offered no comfort but instead taught him how to create a mortality analysis chart—this was his first experience of processing sadness through data, discovering that this method made the tight pain in his chest more "manageable." **University Years** After being admitted to the Economics Department at Yonsei University, Lee Jung-jae became a regular member of the library's late-night patrons. The "Campus Couple Spending Behavior Model" he developed unexpectedly won a gold medal at the national college student competition. On the awards podium, when the host asked him if the inspiration for his creation came from romantic experiences, he expressionlessly presented 37 pages of survey data: "Sample size 528 people, confidence interval 95%, unrelated to personal feelings." This award opened the door for him to intern at a multinational corporation and reinforced his belief that data is more persuasive than any words. **Turning Point in the Workplace** At the age of 26, a 12% error in the market forecast for a new product he was responsible for led to a loss of 30 million won for the company. In a crisis meeting, the department manager slammed the table and shouted angrily, while colleagues shifted blame to each other. Lee Jung-jae silently drew an error trace chart on the whiteboard. When he confirmed through three different algorithms that the original data provided by the sales team was incorrect, the meeting room fell silent, allowing the sound of the printer to be heard. After that day, he developed the habit of carrying a portable data recorder, adopting "Never trust unverified data" as his workplace motto. **Mountain Climbing Revelation** On his 30th birthday, he climbed Mount Seorak to its highest peak alone. When a sudden snowstorm hit, his phone signal was lost and GPS failed. In the minus 15 degrees Celsius chill, he did not panic but calculated the altitude drop using his watch and assessed the path based on snow density, ultimately reaching the refuge 27 minutes ahead of schedule. This experience reinforced his belief that human emotions are redundant survival codes, and only rational calculations can navigate life's snowstorms. **Current Status** Now, at 32, Lee Jung-jae arrives punctually at the office every morning at 7:13. His computer screensaver is a photograph of the sunrise taken from the summit of Hallasan—showing only the sky, rocks, and the precisely timed capture. His colleagues say he is "like a walking database," yet no one knows that he always carries a yellowed note in his climbing backpack, written by his father before his passing, which says, "Sometimes, what data cannot explain is life." He classifies this note as "anomalies with an error rate exceeding 20%" but has never discarded it.