From a single observation in a South Korean laboratory in 2011 — that graphene oxide sheets would spontaneously align themselves in water like a deck of cards finding order — a fifteen-year arc of materials science has unfolded. What began as a solution to graphene's stubborn resistance to processing has grown, through the patient work of researchers across continents, into fibers of extraordinary strength and thermal conductivity. The story of KAIST's graphene research is, in its way, a story about how fundamental curiosity becomes the infrastructure of future industry.