Ch.409404 – Homeomorphism

Human A and Human B are topologically isomorphic.

[For a paracompact space X with open cover U, when Xu is a complex space associated with the open cover U, the function p: ΔXu→⨆Xu=X is a homotopy equivalence.]

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

[When all functions of X are isomorphic complex spaces, prove that the projection from ∆X to Γ is a sheaf.]

“Argghhh! My head hurts, I don’t want to do this anymore…”

My body shivered like I was swimming naked in the winter sea.

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

I learned one thing: mixing a cold with topology is a terrible idea.

Thanks to that, my headache doubled in intensity.

I curled up into a ball, shivering under the blanket.

Knock knock-

When the door swung open, countless particles of light stabbed my eyeballs.

“Evil villain appears, bam! How are you feeling, meow?”

I slowly raised myself up, holding onto the bed rail.

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

I moistened my desert-dry lips with saliva and said:

“I’m in top condition.”

“You look like you’re dying. Your voice is completely gone. Here, Tylenol.”

“Thanks. Leave it there and get out quickly so you don’t catch this.”

I’m the type whose body doesn’t respond well to medication.

More specifically, I think I have significantly less cytochrome P450 enzyme than others. Or maybe not.

The medicine prescribed at the hospital wasn’t enough, so Saet-byeol bought me some Tylenol from the pharmacy.

Pop-

Cheon Saet-byeol opened the medicine packaging and took out a pill.

I could do that much by myself.

But instead of handing it to me, she put it in her own mouth.

“Why are you taking it?”

“Blehhh! Want me to feed it to you mouth-to-mouth?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“Why so serious? Then I’ll just eat it properly myself.”

She grabbed the 2L water bottle I had left on the desk.

She put her mouth on the bottle that the sick person had been drinking from and gulped down the water.

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

“Hey, you’ll catch my cold!”

“I already caught it, you know? I’m taking medicine in advance because I’ll be sick later.”

“You caught it?”

“Sniff.”

Saet-byeol made a nasal sound and rubbed her nose.

“Sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing? I was expecting to catch it anyway. But what were you looking at? Don’t tell me it was porn? You’re not old enough for that stuff yet! Hehehe, let’s see?”

Saet-byeol lifted my blanket.

Light leaked from the hologram projector, revealing all the textbooks I had been reading.

[Hatcher’s Algebraic Topology]

[Madison’s Rehabilitation Medicine]

[Heier’s Clinical Pathology]

[Weinberg’s Quantum Field Theory]

[Larous Computational Organic Conjugation]

[Counterexamples in 5-Circle Etheric Circuit Theory]

“Oh god, why did I look! Why are you reading this stuff?!”

Saet-byeol recoiled in horror and pushed the hologram windows far away.

I collapsed back onto my pillow.

“I’m bored. Since I can’t use the internet, I have to pass time somehow.”

“Here, medicine.”

“Nom.”

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

“No. I could finish one in a day, but that would be too boring. So I rotate between several.”

“That’s the same thing.”

Munch munch-

I gathered saliva in my mouth and swallowed the pill.

Saet-byeol stared at me intently, then rolled me up in the blanket like a burrito and rolled me to the other side.

“?”

“This is my spot now, hehe!”

Plop-

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

“Oh, should I take it off here? Want to help me undress?”

“…I’m going to sleep after taking medicine, so don’t bother me.”

“Nooo, don’t be like that, play with me. Ta-da! NoName kimbap! The kimbap is flying away!”

“Waaah!”

Saet-byeol hugged me, trapped in the blanket kimbap, with her arms and legs.

She threw the already suffering patient up toward the ceiling.

Patient abuse, no, patient torture.

I had no choice but to surrender unconditionally and sign an unfair treaty promising to sit quietly beside her and listen to her stories.

“Today, I played soccer with the kids from Class 6, and I scored two goals! Let me tell you how this amazing person did it, listen carefully.”

Saet-byeol drew a virtual soccer field on the ceiling, smiling wide enough to show her canine teeth.

“You know Song Ui-chan from our class? He was playing right wing, and I made this perfect through pass! The ball going between the defenders was like the parting of the Red Sea!”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Then I was sneakily hiding behind the defenders, planning to jump out for a header when the cross came, but the timing was off so I just redirected it with my shoulder and goal! NoName, isn’t that the goal of a lifetime? Isn’t it awesome?”

“You played soccer with the boys?”

“Yeah! I’m better than most of them. Haven’t you heard of the ‘Guryong Bomber’?”

Shake shake-

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

Cheon Saet-byeol’s heroic tales continued.

She tried hard to explain with her fingers, but I couldn’t picture the situations at all.

“Do you know how to do a knuckleball shot? You probably don’t know this stuff, right? Here, right here, the center of the instep, exactly this part. See?”

Saet-byeol lifted her leg and put her dirty white sock right in front of my nose.

I wrinkled my face at the strong sweaty smell.

“Please move that smelly foot away.”

“What’s wrong with my foot smell…! Sniff sniff, it’s perfectly fragrant! Smell it properly.”

“Wait, don’t take that off here!”

Bad premonitions always come true.

Patter patter-

Small grains of sand that had been sleeping in her sock fell onto the blanket.

“Adella!”

“Oops, sorry… Well, we can just clean it up. Come on, let’s get you up, heave-ho.”

Saet-byeol grabbed me under the armpits and pulled me out of the blanket kimbap.

She sat me on a chair next to the heater, then kissed my slightly sweaty forehead.

Smooch-

“I’ll restore everything right away, NoName boss!”

I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand while watching Saet-byeol diligently shaking out the blanket.

It’s strange how nothing she does seems annoying, despite her troublemaking.

She seems to get along well with all her high school friends, regardless of gender.

‘I’m envious.’

I was feeling envy, a primal emotion stemming from a child’s destructive impulses.

I clutched my chest tightly and gritted my teeth.

It’s okay to feel envious now, it’s a natural emotion.

“Haa… Haa…”

My pulse quickened and my breathing became rough.

Fear once branded on the soul doesn’t easily disappear.

“Are you okay? Are you still in a lot of pain?”

Saet-byeol crouched down to examine my complexion.

“Yeah. I’m really fine.”

“I cleaned the bed. Swept up all the sand from the floor too. I’ll help you back.”

“No, I can walk by myself.”

It’s only three steps anyway.

As soon as I stood up, everything went dark and I felt anemic.

In the end, I had to accept Saet-byeol’s support.

I lay down on the bed and received my blanket again.

A fresh scent wafted from the same blanket as before.

“You said it smelled, so I sprayed some fabric freshener. Just a little bit so it wouldn’t make you dizzy.”

“Thank you…”

Then she casually sat down at the end of the bed as if nothing had happened.

I think I understand a bit.

There’s never any malice in her actions.

She doesn’t calculate her every move either.

But at the same time, she’s perceptive and has a basic mindset of consideration for others.

Plus, everything she does is funny and interesting, and she always brings fascinating topics of conversation, so I never get bored.

“Are you popular at school?”

“You just realized that? NoName, I’ve made countless boys cry at school! Why do you ask?”

“No reason…”

I trailed off, too embarrassed to voice the thoughts I’d just been having.

“Don’t kiss me… I’m a certain age, you know.”

“No way! How can you say something so harsh? Is this the infamous fourth-grade syndrome I’ve heard about? The terrifying fourth-grade syndrome that’s worse than eighth-grade syndrome? Our NoName is going through puberty…”

“No. Since it’s not-“

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

“We’re family.”

“Hey, I can do it because I’m your sister! If we weren’t related, I’d be arrested right away.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yes! Or is there some other reason? Do I have bad breath? That’s strange, I brush my teeth well. Huff huff.”

I had to keep my mouth shut.

Now Saet-byeol doesn’t even treat me like an older sister.

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

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

Or am I 25, the age when I faced death?

I’m not even sure if this discussion has any meaning.

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

But I always felt immense guilt about abusing my position as a 9-year-old.

When a 9-year-old solves the KGSAT that high school students take, everyone praises them excessively.

I always felt my conscience pricking me, receiving excessive praise compared to my actual abilities.

Perhaps that’s why I consciously or unconsciously avoided being treated like a child.

Especially, am I not completely deceiving Saet-byeol, who thinks of me as a cute 9-year-old?

If I had my previous life’s appearance, I wouldn’t have been subjected to surprise forehead kisses.

When Saet-byeol tried to press her lips to my forehead again, I pushed her face away with my hand.

She made a gloomy expression that would have made a puppy’s tail droop if she had one.

“Save your kisses for your first love.”

“Hmph. Now my first love can never come true…”

“You had a first love? Wait, what do you mean it can’t come true…?”

I felt my heart sink.

‘Did they die…?’

Did I just make a huge mistake?

Cheon Saet-byeol put her hands on her waist, turned her head, and looked elsewhere.

“Sigh… life is so bitter…”

The deepest sigh I’d ever heard escaped from her lips.

I nervously gripped the blanket.

She opened the curtains and gazed at the distant mountains outside.

After some time had passed.

“If I tell you this, I’ll be kicking myself under the blanket tonight from embarrassment. Should I tell you or not?”

“After all that build-up, you have to tell me.”

“Right? That makes sense? Aaaaarghhhh how do I say this! Phew… okay, fine.”

She seemed to have gathered her courage after screaming.

I straightened my back to show I was seriously listening.

“Honestly, this is partly NoName’s fault too. So you absolutely can’t make fun of me.”

“I won’t. No matter what happens.”

“I wasn’t originally this kind of person, you know? While my orientation isn’t firmly established, I always thought I preferred men over women.”

“And…?”

Suddenly bringing up orientation?

I can’t tell which direction this conversation is heading.

“So… Aaaack! Phew. So what happened was… You know. I was trapped in that strange world since birth. That game world, I mean.”

It was a shy voice I had never heard from her before.

Saet-byeol twirled her silver hair with her fingers and blinked her eyes incessantly.

“And…?”

“Honestly, I think this is willful negligence. If someone with looks that could captivate anyone in a second saves your life, risking their own, shouldn’t you naturally fall for them? Right? Don’t you agree?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

“I’m talking about your avatar! My first love was your game avatar, sob sob…!”

Saet-byeol’s face turned as red as a radish as she stomped her feet.

“What?”

“But what is this! Instead of the beautiful older sister, there’s this little kid. I… I’ve always thought it would be nice if you were an ASI like me. You never know. You might have escaped from the game world like I did…”

“…”

“My world collapsed that day. My pure love was trampled.”

I couldn’t close my mouth at Adella’s shocking and devastating confession.

Cheon Saet-byeol, overwhelmed with embarrassment, her face erupting like a volcano.

She just kept pounding the bed mattress with her fists.

“Actually, that’s…”