114. Six on nineteen
the next morning.
I woke up to the sound of someone muttering in Japanese.
I leaned my head out of the blanket and checked the clock on the wall.
9:45 am.
Whoops!
I turned my head to the desk, where In-cheol was sitting in a chair holding an old cassette player.
“Are you awake? I don’t have time to practice this other than now… sorry. haha–!”
At Incheol’s words, I got up and said.
“no. I’m sorry… . The time has already come But now in Japanese, did you say it? I think you were talking about some kind of cat… .”
“ah… ! did you hear ha ha ha—! Nothing. ah… ! When you go out of the living room, the food is already on the table, so come eat.”
“Is your mother already gone to work?”
“Then you left a while ago.”
“Oh! I couldn’t even say hello. under—!”
When In-cheol returned to his room after eating, In-cheol was still muttering Japanese into the cassette player.
“Japanese vocal imitation, isn’t it?”
Incheol nodded, rolled the tape back and played what he had just recorded.
When the recorded part was finished playing, Incheol changed the tape and replayed the conversation between the two Japanese people he had heard yesterday.
“What do you think? Are you a bit like that now?”
“Five! It’s not the same, it’s exactly the same, right?”
I continued with a thumbs up.
“Now they even mimic Japanese people’s vocal cords, and it’s really amazing.”
At my words, Incheol clenched his fists and said.
“Oh yeah! Finally ready!”
“What are you ready for?”
“haha–! There is such a thing.”
“What? People are curious… .”
At my words, Incheol shook his head with a determined expression.
“I’m sorry, but no matter how much you do this, you can’t help it.”
“Aren’t you trying to make another accident? If you go on vacation and have an accident, things get complicated.”
“haha–! Don’t worry, ma’am. It’s not like that.”
A smile is on In-cheol’s face as he answers.
Looking at Incheol’s smiling face… .
I remembered In-cheol in the morning on the day I went on vacation a week ago.
It was the way he emphasized the role of ＜spearheading the information war> to me.
Anyway, seeing him so happy, I think it’s a very important thing… What the hell?
Incheol, who read my expression, pointed to the clock as if trying to change the topic.
“It’s past 10 o’clock, aren’t you going to the warehouse today?”
ah… ! right!
read at noblemtl.com
No matter how much there is no one to supervise, I am currently on a temporary assignment.
“Go fast, man! I still have a lot to prepare.”
“Oh right! Is it today?”
Incheol nodded his head with a smile on his face.
Today, Friday, In-cheol goes to Gangneung with Ji-eun for 3 days and 2 nights.
“Yeah, come have fun.”
I made an awkward expression, and Incheol said seeing it.
“what? you! That bad expression? Perhaps… ? Don’t you think it’s weird.”
“Don’t you think I’m weird? Choi In-cheol! Are you stabbing something?”
“What is stabbed? I’m busy, so don’t laugh with such a strange expression, get out, bastard!”
6 p.m. that day.
After confirming that the working hours were over, I locked the warehouse door and went out of the mall.
Youngmi was waiting for me in front of the gate of Namseo Elementary School, across the street from the shopping mall.
“When did you come? Didn’t you call me when you arrived?”
“No, I just came.”
“But didn’t you come from school together?”
“No, I came home first because class ended early.”
Yeong-mi continued, checking her watch.
“I told you to come on time at 6 o’clock… .”
“Are you a little late? Shall we take a look around here at the elementary school while we wait?”
Youngmi smiled and nodded her head.
So we went inside the gate of Southwest Elementary School.
I have seen them often coming and going, but this is the first time I have ever seen inside a school since graduating eight years ago.
Except for the newly painted school exterior and the urethane paved basketball court, everything was the same.
Entrance to the school building.
When I was in elementary school, I… After all classes were over, I used to come out first to the entrance of the school building and wait for Yeong-mi, so maybe that’s why I could see young Young-mi waving in the hallway when she saw me.
At that time, when Youngmi smiled, her cheeks were slightly dimpled… .
“You were so cute back then… .”
At my words, Youngmi pointed to her right cheek and said.
“How are you now?”
The dimple on the left cheek disappeared when Youngmi became a middle school student, and now only the right dimple remains.
At Youngmi’s question, I smiled and said.
“Now dimples are sexy. It is full of maturity.”
At my words, Youngmi pinched my forearm and said.
“Ugh! There is nothing I can’t say.”
So we looked around the school and walked towards the school gate again.
Someone waved at us in front of the school gate, and Youngmi saw it and said to me.
“I think you have arrived?”
in front of the school gate.
“Five—! Are you guys exactly like the old days?”
“A long time ago?”
“yes! Professor Park Soo-Soo’s errand. Every Saturday, you pick up little Chae Jeong-ho from here and take him to the professor’s lab.”
The major older sister looked at me and Yeongmi in turn and continued talking.
“Hmm—! Even then, the two of you were together… Even then and now, holding hands is the same… Jeong-ho on the right, Yeong-mi on the left, how is it that the two of them are standing in the same place?”
“haha–! is that so?”
“At that time, whenever I came to pick up Jeong-ho, Yeong-mi looked at me with her eyes open like this.”
The major sister opened her eyes thinly and looked at me and Yeongmi in turn, and Youngmi raised her voice towards her and said:
“sister! When did I do that?”
“You really did, boy!”
My sister continued talking to me.
“Jeong-ho, am I right?”
I recalled an event a long time ago.
ah… ! I didn’t know it at the time, but what the major older sister said was correct.
Young-mi’s eyes wrinkled slightly, and it was the expression on her face that was wary of her sister.
“Boy! Don’t laugh out loud, try to answer. Am I right?”
I shook my head at my sister’s question.
“a! no. That was my sister’s misunderstanding. Why would Youngmi stare at her?”
My sister continued speaking with a short sigh.
“under—! yes i lost How am I going to beat your couple? let’s go! I’ll buy you something delicious. Are you going to eat beef bulgogi?”
At Noona’s words, I glanced at Youngmi and shook my head.
“no. Please buy pork bulgogi. I want to eat something spicy today!”
A spicy scent emanated from the sizzling fire.
The restaurant staff cut the finished meat and put it on a plate, then grinded the fire and put new meat on it.
While eating, I said to the major sister.
“How is life in Korea after a long time?”
Major older sister received tenure at Texas State University last summer when she was promoted to associate professor, and now she has been on a sabbatical for a year as a visiting professor at the Department of Mathematics at Korea University.
My sister answered my question with a satisfied expression.
“great! Absolutely good! But in Korea, time seems to pass too quickly. I have a lot of work to do, but I don’t have time… . This is a big deal. haha–!”
When my sister said that she didn’t have time, I calculated the remaining time in my head.
Because it was November 2002 that Perelmann posted the last proof of the Poincaré conjecture on the Internet Archive… That’s about a year and a half left.
“The surgical technique… How are you doing?”
＜If a closed curve can converge to a point on the surface of a three-dimensional manifold, then the manifold is topological to a sphere.>
This is Poincare’s conjecture. With the creation of a powerful theory called the Ricci flow, Poincare’s conjecture has been proven in almost all three-dimensional manifolds.
For reference, rich flow is a mathematical technique that stretches a wrinkled surface like a botox injection. The place where this rich flow technique is not applied is called a singularity.
For example, a point where the curvature value becomes infinite, like the tip of a sharp needle, becomes a singularity.
Therefore, the surgical technique is a method of appropriately cutting around such a singularity and attaching a curved surface with a finite curvature value.
Proving that this surgical technique is mathematically correct makes it possible to apply the rich flow technique at the singularity, and the final puzzle of the Poincare conjecture is solved.
When I asked if the research on the surgical technique was going well, the major older sister shook her head and said.
“We’re on our way, other than the surgical technique.”
“Another way?”
My sister nodded and said.
“Have you heard of Zeno’s paradox? I plan to use it.”
Zeno’s paradox.
It is also called the paradox of the arrow, and it is explained as follows.
The arrow leaving the bow must pass through the midpoint between the starting position and the target.
And the arrow that arrives at the midpoint must pass through the second midpoint between the current position and the target, and the arrow that arrives at the second midpoint must also pass through the third midpoint between the current position and the target.
In this way, no matter how close the arrow gets to the target, there is still a waypoint between the arrow and the target, and since the number of waypoints is infinitely large, the arrow eventually comes to the conclusion that it cannot reach the target. This is called Zeno’s paradox.
At my sister’s words, I tilted my head and opened my mouth.
“With Zeno’s paradox… Poincare’s conjecture and… There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the two? What are you going to do?”
“It is still a secret. I’ll tell you if it’s entirely mine, but my students come up with ideas and prepare them, so I’m a little careful. Sorry.”
There are many ways to break Zeno’s paradox, the easiest of which is to use time and speed.
But, after all, the most mathematical way is to use the concept of limits.
Each time the arrow arrives at the midpoint, the remaining distance is half of the previous distance, so if the arrow arrives infinitely at the midpoint, the remaining distance to the target is 1/2 infinity multiplied and converges to 0.
Zeno’s paradox is broken, because zero distance means the arrow has reached its target.
I mean, I’m going to use this in a singularity… .
Hmm… How are you doing?
Again, the curvature at the singularity is infinite.
For reference, infinity in mathematics means ‘the state of becoming infinitely large’.
So, even if you use Botox injections (Rich Flow) to stretch and stretch and stretch again and again and again, it will still remain a singularity.
I’m talking about using Zeno’s paradox here… .
OMG–! I can’t figure it out.
The major older sister said to me, who was still tilting her head with a curious expression.
“If you are curious about that, take a vacation in the summer and come take a look. Then I am preparing for a seminar.”
“A seminar?”
“Yes, my student wanted to come to Seoul, so I told him to give a seminar presentation when he came.”
If you’re a student studying Poincaré’s conjecture with your major sister… !
“Perhaps… Is that student’s name Mike Schultz?”
I’ve always wanted to see you alive… Finally we meet like this
My sister nodded her head in response to my question.
“That friend will come too, and maybe someone else will come too.”
“Anyone else?”
“Yeah, when I said before that I was going to challenge the Poincare guess, you were talking about a professor at Yale University, Jeongho. Do you remember?”
I nodded and said.
“Dr. Hamilton?”
“right! Not long ago, I sent you an invitation email, saying that you were thinking positively. So maybe he will come to Seoul too.”
“Wow! Really?”
At my words, my sister smiled and said.
“He… . Are you so surprised that it’s such a big deal? haha—!”
I couldn’t help but be surprised.
Dr. Hamilton has been my PhD advisor for the past life.
I was vaguely thinking that I would like to see you someday, but to have the opportunity to meet like this… .
I feel like my heart is pounding already.
“So when exactly is summer?”
“I think it will be around the end of June or early July. Can I go on vacation then?”
“sure. I must come.”
I just decided to go on a trip with Youngmi in June, so the timing is really good.
It was really nice to save the private vacation without using it.
“And a friend named Choi In-cheol is also in the same unit as you?”
I nodded at my sister’s question, and she took a small gift bag from the bag and held it to me.
“It was already 3 years ago, so it’s very late… When you return to the unit later, give me this.”
The older sister smiled and continued.
“If it wasn’t for the help of that friend back then, I wouldn’t be able to get tenure now.”
It refers to the case of catching David McLean, who stole the major’s sister’s thesis with the help of In-cheol three years ago.
“By the way, In-cheol is also on vacation.”
“really? Didn’t he say that he also lives in this town? Could you please call him now?”
At my sister’s question, I smiled and said.
“ah… ! that is… Incheol is… uh… Well… You must be having a good time in Gangneung by now.”
“good times? What does that mean?”
* * *
same time.
A hotel in Gangneung, Gangwon-do.
In the dark hotel room, the author was asleep in In-cheol’s arms.
In-cheol gently stroked the sleeping author’s hair, and after a while… Incheol whispered in a small voice.
“Ji-eun, are you sleeping?”
The author seems to have fallen into a deep sleep, only exhaling evenly without answering.
In-cheol said once more as if trying to confirm that Ji-eun was asleep.
“Ji-eun?”
still no answer
After a while, In-cheol is not his own voice… He opened his mouth as if whispering in the voice he had practiced listening to cassette tapes all week.
“Watashino Kawai, Akachan Neko, Chinatsu. Oyasumi.”
My pretty kitten, Chinatsu. Sleep well.