But you found it. Don't kick yourself too hard. Computers aren't only used when you know the full formula. They're also used to discover formulas, work around the unknowns, or bypass the tedium. In this case, you didn't readily know the formula but were still able to solve the problem.

I should have known better. There had to be a pattern and a simple code solution, yet I decided to brute force it... I am humbled.

It's serious :)

Don't know if this is a joke or serious, but either way, this is brilliant.