Family Workout Time!

The email defense had begun.

Questions poured in, nitpicking even the most trivial details—from a single lemma to a specific inequality, down to the very definition of a function space.

Clack, clack, clack.

Using my tiny fingers, I methodically replied to them in the order they arrived.

It was a tedious cycle of labor: read the question, cross-reference the paper to see exactly what they were asking about, write out the mathematical formulas in LaTeX syntax, and draft the response.

I was so focused that I completely lost track of time.

Until...

"Sissy!"

I heard A-rin's voice. She had just woken up from her nap.

"Oh, hey, A-rin."

I peeled my eyes away from the laptop screen and tried to stand up.

"Ugh-heee!"

Thud!

I collapsed face-first onto the desk.

"Sissy? What's wrong?"

"M-my body... it won't move..."

My fingers were stiff. My wrists ached. My shoulders were completely frozen. When I tried to turn my head, my neck let out a loud crack.

"Wait... how long have I been sitting here?"

I glanced at the clock. Over three hours had flown by.

Evening arrived. Dad came home from work, and Mom woke up from her nap.

Walking through the living room, Mom spotted me slumped over the desk like a deflated balloon.

She saw the open inbox and the mountain of replies I had written.

"A-yeon."

Mom's voice was laced with worry.

"Yes?"

"How many hours have you been answering emails?"

"About three hours, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I think..."

"Three hours?"

Mom crouched down next to the laptop and examined my posture. She let out a heavy sigh.

"A-yeon, you can't do this. Using an adult-sized laptop ruins your posture. Look at how you're sitting. At six years old, your head is still heavy compared to the support strength of your neck bones. Slouching for this long is really bad for you."

Mom placed her large hands on my shoulders and began massaging them vigorously.

"Yee-hee-yikes!"

I let out a squeak at her sudden kneading.

"But... there's a whole mountain of emails..."

"Even so, absolutely not," Mom said firmly.

"Your bones haven't even fully hardened yet. If you develop bad posture at this age, you'll end up with text neck and herniated discs later in life."

I imagined myself with text neck. A-yeon the Turtle, slouching all day, only to poke her neck out when she needs to concentrate.

"I think... I might hate that..."

By the way, what sound do turtles make? Turtle-turtle?

"Let's get you up first."

Mom slipped her hands under my armpits and lifted me out of the chair. I dangled limply in her grasp like a scruffed kitten.

Dad, realizing what was happening, walked over. He gently felt my neck and frowned.

"It's really stiff."

He went to the storage closet, grabbed a rolled-up yoga mat, and unrolled it across the living room floor with a satisfying shhhk.

"Come here, sweetie."

"Why?"

"We need to stretch you out. You haven't been exercising lately because you've been too busy writing papers and preparing presentations, right?"

"Hmph. But I don't wanna..."

"Let's do some stretching to make you flexible. How can you be Yoo A-yeon if you aren't flexible? In Korean, 'Yoo' means flexible. Without it, you're just 'A-yeon'!"

"Living as just 'A-yeon' might not be so bad..."

Hearing Dad's suggestion, A-rin raised her hand high.

"Me too! Sissy! Let's do gymnastics together!"

A-rin's eyes sparkled with anticipation. Since my little sister wanted to join, I couldn't very well refuse as her older sister.

"...Fine. Let's work out together."

A-rin and I changed into comfortable clothes and stood on the yoga mat.

Dad turned on the TV, and a children's show happened to be broadcasting a follow-along exercise segment.

The host, a cheerful young woman, smiled brightly as she demonstrated the movements.

A-rin and I stood side-by-side on the yoga mat. Just then, Mom and Dad unrolled another mat next to ours.

"Wait, you guys are doing it too?"

"Of course. Since our daughters are working out, we should join in."

Mom and Dad had also changed into tracksuits.

"We'll do our own workout over here. A-yeon, A-rin, you two follow the lady on TV, okay?"

"Okay!"

The TV host began the routine. The child co-hosts beside her followed her lead.

"One, two! One, two!"

Stretch your arms up. Stretch them to the side. Bend at the waist and reach for your toes.

Beside us, Dad was doing squats with rhythmic grunts. Mom was doing push-ups, exhaling sharply with each rep.

For the first five minutes, the TV routine was reasonably easy to follow.

But then...

"Wait, isn't this way too hard? Who designed the difficulty curve for this?!"

The difficulty of the movements on screen was spiking exponentially.

"Alright, little friends, shall we push ourselves a bit more? One, two! One, two!"

The host was still smiling brightly while pulling off borderline acrobatic maneuvers. Even the child co-hosts were grinning as they performed these grueling stretches.

What kind of monstrous stamina did they have? Is this the average physical fitness of children these days?

"Haa... haa... save me..."

I was already out of breath. The routine was far too intense for a simple children's show.

I glanced to my side. A-rin had already collapsed onto the mat.

"A-rin, why did you sit down?"

"Tired."

Retiring after only five minutes...! You traitor!

I felt a bit cheated, but since A-rin was only three, I decided to let it slide.

I pushed on, trying to keep up with the TV gymnastics.

Ten minutes passed.

"Pant... pant... save me...!"

Finally, at the fifteen-minute mark...

"Ugh-aaah!"

The routine finally ended.

Flop.

I sprawled out on the yoga mat in the shape of a giant 'X'. Or, since I was a tiny child, should I say I sprawled out in the shape of a 'star'?

Ah... the familiar ceiling.

Sweat drenched my entire body, and my heart hammered against my ribs.

"Haa... this is too cruel for a homebody..."

"Good job, Sissy!"

Dad looked down at me, wiping his sweat with a towel.

"So, how was it? A completely different dimension from running around the playground, right?"

"Yeah, a totally different dimension... a fractal dimension."

"That's why you need to exercise regularly."

"Okay... later..."

"Not later, starting now," Mom said, handing me a cup of cold water.

Gulp, gulp, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gulp!

"Ahhh!"

What more is there to life? This is the peak!

"Good job, A-yeon, A-rin. You both worked up quite a sweat. Let's all take a bath together."

The bathtub was filled with hot water, steam rising gently from the surface.

Our family climbed in one by one.

Splash, splash.

The warm water melted away my fatigue, just like a piece of cake melting in your mouth.

I felt completely relaxed.

Mom began washing A-rin's hair.

"Phew..."

Dad squeezed some shampoo onto my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head and started thoroughly washing my hair.

"Hehe, that tickles!"

"Hold still."

His thick fingers massaged my scalp. I could feel the tension in my neck and shoulders slowly melting away.

"How does it feel?"

"I think it feels better."

"That's the magic of bathing after a workout. It relaxes your whole body."

"Still, it was so hard..."

"You have to push through if you want to stay healthy."

The bath was over.

We stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in large towels.

Mom sat A-rin on her lap and began blow-drying her hair.

"Look at our daughter, all stretched out and relaxed. You're definitely Yoo A-yeon now, not just 'A-yeon'."

"Hehe. Don't underestimate the flexibility of a six-year-old girl!"

Dad sat me down in front of him and switched on another hair dryer.

*Whirrrr.*

Warm air dried my silky hair. Dad gently ran his fingers through my locks, making sure to dry it thoroughly.

"Ahhh... feels so good..."

A warm bath after exercise, followed by a warm breeze. My entire body felt heavy, and my eyelids grew droopy.

"*Yawn...*"

"Sleepy?"

"A little."

"Go to sleep once we're done drying."

Dad's hands slowly parted my hair as he dried it. Next to us, A-rin was also drifting off to sleep while Mom dried her hair.

*Soft breathing.*

The living room was quiet, save for the hum of the dryers.

*Whirrr.*

*Whirrr.*

The next morning.

I opened the inbox on Mom's laptop. There were still so many unanswered emails, and even more had piled up overnight.

"There are so many today too..."

I stretched my fingers and prepared to start typing.

"A-yeon."

Mom walked over.

"If you sit in front of the laptop for too long again, your posture will collapse. It's bad for your health."

"Hmph... but I have to reply."

"Hold on."

Mom sat down next to me.

"Do you really have to answer all of these? Didn't you already do enough by giving a great performance at the lecture?"

I shook my head.

"I absolutely have to. If only to maintain my credibility in the academic community."

"Credibility?"

"Yes. Because of my lecture and the documentary, my paper has generated quite a buzz. Right now, mathematicians all over the world are unofficially peer-reviewing it. The fact that they're sending these questions means they're reading it seriously. If I reply diligently, it fosters a positive atmosphere in the community, encourages them to verify the paper favorably, and ensures the review panel takes it seriously when I submit it to top journals."

I continued.

"Conversely, if I don't answer properly, it might give the impression that the author can't defend their own work. Even if the paper is correct, a negative atmosphere will slow down the verification process. Look at what happened to Uncle Perelman. He just uploaded his Poincare conjecture paper to arXiv and vanished, so it took years to verify. Because of that, some weird Chinese professor almost stole his credit."

Mom pondered my words for a moment.

"Ah... I see."

"So I have to be diligent."

"But... I still can't let you sit in front of a laptop all day. Should I help you?"

"But at this rate, it won't end even if we work all day... and you're already tired from doing housework, Mom."

When Mom helped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me type the paper, we did it slowly over two years, working just two hours a day, so it wasn't an issue.

But now, I had to quickly reply to a flood of questions. That meant sitting in front of the laptop all day.

And that was terrible for my health... I'd turn back into a stiff, wooden Yoo A-yeon.

"Hmph, what should I do..."

Mom thought for a moment, and suddenly, a lightbulb seemed to go off over her head.

"Ah! A-yeon, how about this?"

"What is it? What is it?"