There is Paradise in the Place You Fled (2)
There is Paradise in the Place You Fled (2)
Wednesday. Time fucking doesn't pass.
Today as usual I went to my elective class. Together with my seonbaenim from the class of '17 who lives upstairs.
"Huaaaaam."
This person's name is Yoon Seo-ah. All the way, she kept yawning 'jjeok jjeok' next to me.
"Noona, what time did you play games until yesterday?"
"Ah... 3 AM?"
"You almost stayed up all night..."
As soon as we arrived at the lecture hall, she collapsed onto the desk without hesitation.
I was grateful for the consideration of coming out 30 minutes early, saying she'd attend class with me, but the intention was too transparent.
"Wake me up when Professor-nim comes."
"Yes."
A little later, Professor-nim entered and started calling attendance. I poked her side with my finger, as promised, with a 'kuk'.
"Noona, attendance."
"Euum...."
Yoon Seo-ah lifted her messy hair and got up like a zombie. Just then, Professor-nim called her name.
"Student Yoon Seo-ah?"
"Yeeess...."
She raised her hand limply.
As soon as Professor-nim took his eyes off the attendance sheet and called the next person, her head dropped with a 'tuk'.
Koong.
With a cheerful sound, she logged back into dreamland. From waking to sleeping in 3 seconds. Truly astonishing efficiency.
Actually, from my perspective, it didn't matter whether she slept or not. Because this person serves as a reliable 'totem' during elective classes.
Because she firmly stays by my side, strangers can't easily approach me.
And that makes sense. In a normal situation, she should have already graduated or at least be a senior, being from the class of '17.
Whether it's because of the dignity of a senior student who has gone beyond a fossil to become petroleum, or just because of the unique aura she gives off, the effect was certain.
Professor-nim's lecture started in earnest, but the head of the totem next to me never lifted even once until the class ended.
[Understanding Modern History]
Today's class focused on the changes after the Industrial Revolution.
Invention of the steam engine, mass production, and changes in social structure. Professor-nim filled the blackboard with passionate speech, and time flew by.
The main progress ended earlier than expected. Checking the clock, Professor-nim put down the chalk and looked around at the students.
"We have some time left. Today, apart from the progress, I'll throw out a light question."
Leaning on the podium, she opened her mouth as if interested.
"Among the animals you know, does anyone know a species with an extreme sex ratio imbalance?"
Silence fell over the lecture hall.
When no one spoke, as if they were silent as the grave, Professor-nim randomly pointed at one student.
"There, the female student with glasses."
The pointed-out student seemed flustered and pointed at herself with her finger.
"Huh? Me, me?"
"Yes. Just say whatever comes to mind."
The student thought for a moment, then carefully answered.
"Uh... um... Lion?"
"A lion."
Professor-nim nodded but wore a mysterious smile.
"Hmm, it's a good approach. Usually when you see a lion pride, there's one male and multiple females, so it's easy to think that. But many people are mistaken—it's not lions."
Professor-nim wrote '1:1' in the corner of the board and continued explaining.
"Lions only have a polygynous social structure; biologically, the sex ratio at birth is nearly 1:1. It's just that as males grow, they are driven out of the pride or die fighting, altering the adult sex ratio. What I'm asking about is 'inborn' imbalance."
The students nodded with 'Ahh'.
"First, among animals with skewed sex ratios, marine organisms whose sex is determined by specific environments or hierarchies are representative."
Professor-nim drew a crude turtle picture on the board.
"The easiest example is sea turtles. These guys don't use genetics; their sex is determined by the 'temperature' of the surrounding sand when the eggs hatch. High temperature yields females, low temperature yields males."
Ttak, ttak. Professor-nim tapped the board with the end of the chalk to draw attention.
"Thanks to that, as global warming worsens recently, a certain sea turtle population in Australia is experiencing a strange phenomenon where 99% of newborns are female."
"Wow, 99%...." Exclamations burst out here and there.
As if the students' reactions were quite interesting, Professor-nim added a fish picture as well.
"Clownfish are also interesting. You know 'Nemo'? In their group, if the largest female dies, the male below her undergoes sex change to become female."
Professor-nim added with a laugh.
"A thoroughly matriarchal society, and a case of sex change as needed."
Having explained up to there, Professor-nim put down the chalk and dusted off the powder on her hands.
"But this is only a story about reptiles or fish. Mammals like us basically have sex fixed by sex chromosomes. XY is male, XX is female. This 1:1 rule is quite solid."
She paused for a moment, then adjusted her glasses and looked around the lecture hall.
"However, among mammals, there is one very rare species with an overwhelmingly high proportion of females at birth."
An unfamiliar name popped out of Professor-nim's mouth.
"It's a rodent called the 'Wood Lemming'."
At the unfamiliar name, students murmured. I also stopped rolling my pen and stared at the board.
"These guys live in Northern Europe and have a peculiar genetic mutation. Normally, to become male, the Y chromosome must function properly, right? But some female wood lemmings have a modified X chromosome."
Professor-nim's voice dropped low.
"This mutated gene suppresses the male-determining factor of the Y chromosome. In other words, even though they are born genetically XY (male), they manifest biologically as females."
"......!"
"As a result, males dry up, and variants that are genetically male but physically female become abundant. Externally, it becomes a perfect 'female-dominated society'."
The atmosphere in the lecture hall turned strange at Professor-nim's explanation.
'Genetically male, but body female...?' A confused algorithm spun in my head.
Is that completely... 'otokonoko'? Or is it just nature-forced TS material?
Conceived as male but born female. It's not like some light novel title.
"For reference, these variant females also have normal reproductive abilities. They just live as females with their Y chromosome ignored."
Ah. It's not a trap, it's just penis confiscation.
Nature's providence forcefully changed their sex, saying, 'Hey, you're not cost-effective as a male, so just be a female.'
'Wow, just imagining it gives me chills.'
While the students wore blank expressions at the mice's sorry fate, Professor-nim turned back to the board once more.
"Anyway, the reason I went on about mice is because, as you know, the current human birth sex ratio has collapsed to 1:9."
Skreeek— Professor-nim circled the word 'Industrial Revolution' written on the board.
"There is one interesting hypothesis in academia. After the Industrial Revolution, machines started to replace human physical labor, right? No longer is male muscle strength an absolute factor for survival and reproduction like in the past."
"······."
"It's a theory that as humanity underwent rapid social change, the species' preservation instinct devalued 'the necessity of males.' Like wood lemmings, it's attempting a transition to a matriarchal society at the genetic level. Of course, there are also claims from an epigenetics perspective that environment influenced the expression of genetic traits."
After finishing the explanation, Professor-nim drew a large question mark on the board.
"Of course, this is just one of many hypotheses pouring in. There are also scholars lining up by the truckload refuting it as a ridiculous leap."
She shrugged and added.
"There's a lot of talk about environmental hormones, genetic mutations... but the conclusion is one."
'No one knows the definite cause yet.'
"If any of you figure out the exact cause, you can go collect your Nobel Prize."
I, listening to the class, rested my chin and snorted.
'What bullshit...'
Humans aren't some alien species, are they connected by a collective consciousness?
Just because a few machines came out, all of humanity's genes formed a group chat and colluded in 200 years?
Evolution isn't instant ramen that happens in 3 minutes. Darwin would be wailing in his grave.
But whether she knew my thoughts or not, Professor-nim calmly continued the class.
"Of course, biological evolution takes a long time. But humanity's 'social evolution' is faster than ever."
Professor-nim held up two fingers.
"It's only been a little over 20 years since the 21st century began. But what happened to the world in just 10 years after smartphones became widespread? It was completely turned upside down."
She paused for a moment, then gave a meaningful smile.
"Many futurists also foresee this: In the near future, AI will draw pictures, write novels, and even replace creativity, which was believed to be humanity's unique domain."
I couldn't agree with that statement even more.
'That's ridiculous.'
How can a mere machine touch art, the realm of emotion?
In a survey I saw in the news before, 'the job that will never be replaced' was painter or writer. A machine replacing imagination, humanity's unique domain? That's a laugh.
That was when.
A female student sitting in front suddenly raised her hand.
Seeing her wearing a department jacket with 'Life Science' on the back, she seemed to be a student from biotechnology or bio-related department.
"Professor-nim, may I ask a question?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"You were just talking about genetics. According to recent papers, experiments using gene scissors or sperm sorting to control sex have already succeeded in animals."
The female student continued her question in a clear voice.
"If such technology is applied to humans, couldn't it artificially increase the male birth rate? But I'm curious about why it hasn't been commercialized yet, Professor-nim's opinion."
It was a fairly plausible point.
······But why ask that to a history professor?
Isn't that a question for a medical or biotechnology professor? Seems like she got the wrong address.
'Well, I'm curious too.'
I also leaned in slightly and perked up my ears. If it's a problem solvable by science, it should have been solved already, right?
Professor-nim gave a wry smile as if troubled and scratched her head.
"Ah... that part isn't my field of expertise, but since it's a topic many people ask about, I was curious too and once asked a medical professor."
Professor-nim paused for a moment, then carefully opened her mouth.
"To give the conclusion first, with current technology, it's difficult to apply to humans."
"Huh?"
"If you apply sex selection technology to humans as per animal experiment data... it is said that fatal side effects occur for unknown reasons."
The professor's expression turned serious.
"Most are miscarried, or even if born, they are born with severe deformities, I hear. I don't know if it's a simple technical flaw or if nature truly rejects it."
She let out a short sigh.
"Anyway, it's clearly a huge task humanity must solve in the future."
"......?"
I really don't understand what she's saying at all.
So, the reason the sex ratio in this world is fucked up is because of some great nature's rejection? Did some forest druids cast a collective curse?
It sounds more like occult than science.
I shook my head and packed my bag. Whether superstition or science, it wasn't a problem I could solve by worrying right now.
Just then, the lecture ended.
"Alright, I'll end today's class here."
As soon as Professor-nim left the lecture hall, I shook the upstairs noona who was sleeping obliviously next to me.
"Noona, wake up. Class is over."
"Euum... Already...?"
Seeing the wet drool stain on the desk, it seemed she had been sleeping very sweetly.
.
.
.
After that, I dragged that person, who was swaying with half-closed eyes like a piece of luggage, to the school cafeteria and roughly fed her lunch.
She didn't even have the strength to hold a spoon, mechanically chewing and swallowing rice, then as soon as she emptied her tray, she went back into zombie mode.
"I'm going... I want to sleep a bit more..."
I watched her disappearing figure staggering somewhere, then I also moved my steps.
The destination was the club called 'Utopia', where only men gather.
Heading there, I looked around.
Definitely when I first came here, the club room door was crowded. There was no room to step because of female students trying to catch a glimpse of the men inside.
Now it's empty.
A heavy silence hung in the hallway, only my footsteps echoing.
'······.'
So quiet that I wonder if something happened. Did they all go to class together?
I don't know the reason.
I just shrugged, thinking maybe today was a lucky day, and opened the door.
As I stepped inside, dry air greeted me.
Today there were particularly few people.
In the spacious club room, only a sparse few members were visible. Even they were either sprawled on the sofa like corpses or had their noses buried in their phone screens with earphones in.
I adjusted my bag and briefly opened my mouth.
"Hello."
I threw out a greeting regardless of whether they heard. Because if I didn't, I might get scolded for being rude later.
But only silence returned.
Indifference that didn't even nod when someone entered. That thorough individualism that doesn't take eyes off the smartphone.
'Actually this is more comfortable.'
I also had no intention of attracting their attention. I immediately approached the empty sofa in the corner and threw myself down.
Puk.
As I felt the old sofa sink under my back, all the tension in my body released with a 'tak'.
I used my bag as a pillow, propped my head, and took out my phone.
There was quite a bit of time until the next class.
I'll just waste time idly here.