Chapter 409

Humans A and B are homeomorphic.

[For U in the paracomplex space X, if Xu is a complex space that is attached to the open cover U, the function p: ΔXu→⨆Xu=X is homotopy equivalent.]

If all humans were donuts, the world would be much simpler.

[Prove that the projection from ∆X to Γ is a fibration when every function on X is a homeomorphic complex space.]

“Ugh! My head hurts; I don’t want to do this…”

My body trembled as if swimming naked in the winter sea.

I pushed the hologram tab aside and pulled the heater closer to my bed.

I learned the hard way that adding a spoonful of topology to a cold is a recipe for disaster.

Thanks to that, a double headache event began.

I curled into a ball and shivered under the blanket.

Knock knock—

When the door swung open, countless particles of light poked at my eyes.

“Villain appearance, baaam! How’s your body feeling?”

I grabbed the side of the bed and slowly lifted myself up.

I was so out of it that I didn’t even have time to fix my messy hair.

Wetting my desert-dry lips with saliva, I said,

“I’m in top condition.”

“You’re practically dying. Your voice is completely gone. Here, take some Tylenol.”

“Thanks. Don’t come over here since I might catch something; just leave it there and go quickly.”

I had a constitution where no medication seemed to work well.

To be precise, I seemed to have a notably lower level of cytochrome P450 enzymes than others, or maybe not.

The medication prescribed at the hospital wasn’t enough, so Saetbyeol brought another Tylenol from the pharmacy.

Thud—

Saetbyeol tore open the packaging and handed me a pill.

I could have done that myself.

But instead of handing it to me, she popped it into her own mouth.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Should I feed you with my mouth directly?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“Why are you being so serious? Then I’ll eat it properly.”

She picked up the 2L PET bottle that I had left on the desk.

She brought it to her mouth and gulped down some water.

“Ahhh. The water tastes good. But it’s a bit lukewarm; I prefer it cold.”

“Hey, aren’t you catching a cold from me?”

“I already caught it, you know? I’m taking the medicine early just in case it hurts later.”

“Caught it?”

“Sniffle.”

Saetbyeol made a strange noise as she wiped her nose.

“Sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing? I expected to catch something anyway. But what were you looking at? Don’t tell me, adult videos! You’re not old enough for that yet! Hehehe, really?”

Saetbyeol pulled back my blanket.

Light was streaming from the hologram projector, revealing the textbooks I had been reading.

[Algebraic Topology by Hatcher]

[Medicine Rehabilitation]

[Clinical Pathology by Hayler]

[Quantum Field Theory by Weinberg]

[Computational Organic Synthesis by Larousse]

[Counterexamples in 5 Circle Etheric Circuit Theory]

“Really, I shouldn’t have looked. Why are you even reading stuff like this?”

Saetbyeol gasped and pushed the hologram windows far away.

I collapsed back onto my pillow.

“It’s boring. If I can’t use the internet, I have to pass the time somehow.”

“Here’s your medicine.”

“Nom.”

“You read all of this in one day? Are you crazy?”

“No. If I read just one, I could finish it in a day, but that would be too boring. So, I read several at a time.”

“That’s the same thing.”

Mumbling—

I gathered saliva in my mouth and swallowed with the pill.

Saetbyeol stared at me and then wrapped me in the blanket, rolling me over to the other side.

“?”

“Now this is my spot, hee hee!”

Thump—

“If you’re going to lie down, at least change out of your uniform!”

“Oh, should I take it off here? Are you going to help me?”

“…I’m going to take my medicine and sleep, so don’t bother me.”

“Ugh, don’t say that; let’s play together. Ta-da, NaeMe gimbap! The gimbap flies away!”

“Wow!”

Saetbyeol hugged me, trapped in the blanket gimbap.

She tossed the sick patient up towards the ceiling.

That was patient assault, or rather, patient torture.

I had no choice but to declare unconditional surrender and sign an unfair treaty promising to listen quietly by her side.

“Today, I played soccer with the kids from Class 6, and I even scored 2 goals! Let me tell you how I did it, so listen carefully.”

Saetbyeol smiled widely, her canines clearly showing, as she drew a virtual soccer field on the ceiling.

“Do you know Song Ui-chan from our class? He was the right wing, and I made this beautiful through pass! The ball went right through the defenders; it was a total miracle!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then I hid behind the defenders, waiting for the cross, but I jumped out at the wrong timing and just directed the ball with my shoulder into the goal! Isn’t that a life goal? Doesn’t NaeMe think so too?”

“Were you playing soccer with the boys?”

“Yeah! I play better than most of them. Haven’t you heard of Gyoryong High School’s bomber?”

Shaking my head—

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the ridiculous nickname.

Saetbyeol’s tales continued after that.

She enthusiastically attempted to explain, but I couldn’t visualize the sequence of events in my head.

“Do you know how to kick with your shoelaces? You wouldn’t know this, right? Right here, in the middle of your foot. See?”

Saetbyeol lifted her leg, bringing her sand-coated white socks right in front of my face.

The pungent scent of sweat made me wrinkle my nose.

“Please move your stinky foot away.”

“What’s wrong with my foot smell…! Sniff sniff, it’s just fragrant, okay? Take a good whiff.”

“Wait, what if you take that off right here!”

Bad omens always turned into reality.

Thud—

Small sand grains that had been hiding in her socks fell onto the blanket.

“Adella!”

“Oops, sorry… We can just clean it up. Come on, get up, one, two, three!”

Saetbyeol grabbed me under my arms and pulled me out of the blanket gimbap.

She sat me down on a chair next to the heater and kissed the damp hair on my forehead.

Smack—

“I’ll restore it back to normal in no time, NaeMe boss!”

I watched Saetbyeol earnestly shaking the blanket with the back of my hand on my forehead.

Even though she was doing unlikable things, strangely, none of her actions felt annoying.

It seemed she was friendly with both boys and girls among her high school friends.

“I envy you.”

I was feeling a primitive emotion born from the destructive impulse of an infant: envy.

I clenched my chest tightly and bit down hard.

It was okay to feel envy now; it was a very natural feeling.

“Ha… ha…”

My heart began to race, and my breathing quickened.

Once fear had marked my soul, it didn’t easily fade away.

“Are you okay? Does it still hurt a lot?”

Saetbyeol squatted down and watched my condition.

“Yeah. I’m really okay.”

“I cleaned up the bed nicely. I swept all the sand off the floor. I’ll help you back.”

“No, I can walk by myself.”

I just had to take three steps.

As soon as I stood on the floor, my vision went dark and dizziness hit me.

In the end, I had to rely on Saetbyeol to support me.

I lay back down and covered myself with the blanket again.

The same blanket from before emitted a refreshing scent.

“I sprayed fabric refresher since you said it smelled. I only sprayed a little so you wouldn’t get dizzy.”

“Thank you…”

And as if nothing had happened, she sat at the end of the bed casually.

I understood a bit.

Her actions never carried malice.

She didn’t act with ulterior motives.

But at the same time, she was quick-witted and had a basic mindset of considering others.

Besides that, everything she did was funny, interesting, and she always brought intriguing conversations, so I never got bored.

“You’re popular at school, right?”

“Did you just realize that? You know, I can’t even count how many boys have been charmed by me at school! But why?”

“No, just…”

I felt too embarrassed to verbalize what I had been thinking until just a moment ago.

“Don’t kiss me, okay? I’m not that young anymore.”

“No way, that’s such a harsh thing to say. Is this the infamous 4th-grade disease I’ve heard about? The terrifying 4th-grade disease that’s worse than 2nd-grade disease? I can’t believe my NaeMe is in puberty…”

“It’s not true. It’s not—”

“What’s wrong with being 9 years old?”

“Because we’re family.”

“Eh, it’s only okay because you’re my little sister; if you were someone else, you’d be arrested immediately.”

“Does it really work that way?”

“Yeah! Or is there some other reason? Do I have bad breath? That’s strange; I brush my teeth well usually. Haah haah.”

I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

Now Saetbyeol didn’t even treat me like an older sister.

I pulled the blanket up to my chin and fell deep into thought.

Am I 9 years old, 34 years old, or 59 years old?

Or am I at the age of 25, when I would have faced death?

I wasn’t even sure if there was any meaning in such discussions.

In this world, there are 20-year-olds with the wisdom of 60, and there are 60-year-olds who are ruder than 10-year-olds.

But there was always a heavy sense of guilt involved in abusing the status of being 9.

If a 9-year-old solves a KGSAT that a high school student can handle, people around will raise them up.

I often felt that I received excessive praise relative to my abilities, which pricked at my conscience.

So perhaps, I consciously or unconsciously avoided being treated like a child.

Especially with Saetbyeol, who thinks I’m a cute 9-year-old child, am I not completely deceiving her?

If I were in my past life form, this kind of surprise kiss on the forehead would never happen.

When Saetbyeol pressed her lips to my forehead again, I pushed her face away with my hand.

If she had a puppy tail, it probably would have drooped down, portraying how dejected she felt.

“Save your kisses for your first love.”

“Hmph. I’ll never achieve my first love now…”

“Did you have a first love? Wait, what do you mean by not being able to achieve it…?”

I felt my heart drop.

‘Could it be… she’s dead?’

Did I just make a big mistake?

Saetbyeol placed her hands on her hips and turned her gaze away.

“Life is really bitter…”

A deeper sigh than ever escaped her lips.

I grasped the blanket tightly, feeling anxious.

She opened the curtains and looked out at the distant mountains.

And how long had passed?

“If you tell this to your sister, I’ll be so embarrassed that I’ll kick the blanket tonight. Should I say this or not?”

“With all that buildup, you have to say it.”

“Right? That makes sense, huh? Ahh, how do I even say this! Phew… Okay, got it.”

She seemed to gather her courage, letting out a strange scream.

I straightened my back, readying myself to listen seriously.

“To be honest, NaeMe is at fault here. So, you must promise not to tease me.”

“Okay. I will never tease you, no matter what.”

“I’m not usually this kind of person, you know? I’m not very firm in my preferences, but I always thought I liked boys more than girls.”

“So…?”

Suddenly, she brought up her preferences?

I couldn’t predict which direction the conversation might go.

“So, um, ugh! Phew. What happened was that when I was born, I was stuck in a strange world the whole time. That game world, you know?”

Her voice was shy, something I had never heard from her before.

Saetbyeol fidgeted with her silver hair and blinked rapidly.

“But…?”

“I honestly see this as negligent intent. With looks that anyone can fall for in one second, if I risked my life to save someone, isn’t it normal for them to fall in love? Right? Am I right?”

“What are you talking about? I can’t quite follow.”

“My sister’s avatar! My first love was your game avatar, sniff sniff…!”

Saetbyeol’s face turned as red as a beetroot, and she stomped her feet.

“What?”

“But what’s this? The beautiful sister is nowhere to be found, and there’s just this kid. I… I’ve always thought deep down that I wished my sister was like me, an ASI. You never know—maybe you were someone who escaped from the game world too…”

“…”

“That day my world shattered. My pure heart was ruthlessly crushed.”

I couldn’t find the words in response to Adella’s shocking and heartbreaking confession.

Saetbyeol, flooded with embarrassment, her face exploding like a volcano.

She kept punching the mattress repeatedly.

“That’s actually…”