*
Ding!
A cheerful sound rang out, utterly out of place in the shabby, chilly room.
[You have connected to the Ark Gallery.]
"...Huh?"
[Would you like to serve as the "juttak" of the Ark Gallery?]
What even is the Ark Gallery, and what the heck is a juttak?
A message more out of nowhere than anything in the world appeared before my eyes.
"What the hell is this..."
Was I seeing things because I was cold and hungry?
It might have been because I’d been eating the little bread I had in such tiny portions, trying to make it last.
"Let’s eat first. I’ll think after I eat."
The bread I had left was exactly the size of my fist.
Until yesterday, I’d been agonizing over how to ration it so I could survive even one more day, but
seeing an incomprehensible message floating in front of me made me think I was hallucinating because I hadn’t eaten properly.
"If I can’t see it after I eat, then I was crazy. If I can still see it after I eat..."
I didn’t have anything in particular in mind.
Muttering to myself, I finished preparing my meal.
A fist-sized piece of baguette and a quarter bottle of water.
They were precious provisions I’d been saving and saving.
I knew burning through all of this in a single meal wasn’t something a sane person would do, but...
"I’m not sane right now anyway."
I was dizzy from not eating and not sleeping, so maybe that was why I was seeing things.
In that case, couldn’t I say I wasn’t in my right mind?
[Would you like to serve as the juttak of the Ark Gallery?]
That message, still refusing to disappear from before my eyes.
I’ll eat first, then judge you properly.
I took a mouthful of water, lightly gargled, swallowed it, then grabbed the bread and tore off a bite-sized—
Tore—
Tore—
Tore it... off!
"Huuup... It’s so tough I seriously don’t even want to eat it."
Maybe because it was too old, the bread had become so tough it was hard to tear.
"Tsk... Or is it? Did I just lose all my strength because I haven’t eaten?"
I shouldn’t use expressions that made me not want to eat it.
This was the only food I had.
Honestly, wasn’t this single piece of bread worth more than I was right now?
Before I was transported here, I was a shut-in, loser, unemployed game addict.
Right now, I was a shut-in loser unemployed bum transported to another world.
"Ugh... Uuuugh..."
Was it thanks to the tears I shed from sheer misery?
The bread became damp, making it considerably easier to eat.
"Have you ever eaten bread soaked in tears?"
I have.
Thus, my life experience grew richer yet again.
Munch, munch.
Chewing the now softer bread, I checked the message before my eyes once more.
[Would you like to serve as the "juttak" of the Ark Gallery?]
"I know what a gallery is, but what the hell is a juttak?"
The sound of the word was extremely unpleasant.
Juttak.
It felt like a title given to someone who’d been forced to take on a job they didn’t want.
Ding!
[A juttak is the title of the administrator who manages a gallery.]
"Oh, so it has voice recognition and can answer questions?"
Had it recognized my muttering as a question?
The way it promptly gave me the information I needed made a few affection points stack up.
[Yes. It is possible. If there is anything you are curious about, please ask. However, I cannot answer every question.]
"Oh, that’s a very mastermind-behind-the-scenes kind of answer. Anyway, thank you, GalGPT."
So this thing was offering me the position of administrator managing the Ark Gallery or whatever it was.
"Wow, an administrator! Wow, employment!"
I got transported to another world and received a job offer.
Normally, in a situation like this, accepting the offer immediately would be the standard move.
But who am I?
A Bill Gates of free time, someone who once had so little to do that I even read through the terms and conditions before agreeing to them.
"Khh..."
Signing right away without any information was the perfect way to get scammed like an idiot.
So I asked the message window in front of me a question.
"And what might your name be?"
[...]
Had it not expected my question?
I succeeded in freezing the functions of a being capable of creating a screen in midair and displaying messages on it.
[I do not have a name. I merely exist to assist with the management of the gallery system.]
So, basically, it was a management AI?
Well now, if it didn’t have a name, calling it would be inconvenient.
[I will also ask a question. I could not understand the intent behind your question, so I would like to know the reason.]
An AI that questioned the user because it couldn’t understand the questioner’s intent.
It seemed to be an AI smarter than most people.
"It’s just kind of awkward to call you if you don’t have a name.
Calling you Message Window or Screen or something is a bit..."
[You are truly unusual. The intelligent beings I have assisted until now never asked me for my name.]
Apparently, I wasn’t the first juttak.
Still, not even giving such a kind AI a name?
It seemed my predecessors weren’t exactly nice people.
"Hm, so you don’t have a name?"
[Yes. That is correct.]
"Then would it be all right if I gave you one?"
[You mean my name?]
Nod.
That’s what naming is, after all.
"If I become the administrator... I mean, the juttak, won’t I keep seeing you?
I don’t really feel right calling you without a name."
Names were important.
I believed there had to be a clear difference between having one and not having one.
[If that is what you think, then I will leave it to you.]
"Yep. I’ll give you a pretty and memorable name."
A name, a name.
A name suited for a kind AI that answered anything so gently.
First of all, the names currently popping into my head—WhipGPT, Sizzle, and Bubble—were rejected.
"Mm..."
You can ask it anything. And it answers...?
"Ah!"
It came to me.
That magical thing that answered any question!
I had no confidence I could think of a name more fitting than this.
"Whelk—no. How about Sora?"
The Magic Conch Shell!
Might I dare call you by the name "Sora"?
[Sora. Yes, understood. From now on, my name is Sora.]
Wow! The Magic Conch Shell has bestowed an answer upon me!
I didn’t know if it was just my imagination, but it felt like the message speed had become slightly faster than before.
"All right, Sora. I look forward to working with you."
[What is your name? I believe that, just as you gave me a name, you also have a name.]
"My name is, um..."
It was not Eom Jun-sik.
Nor was my surname Eom.
I just thought that if I used my old name, it might become too easy to identify me.
A name should be ordinary.
No matter where you go, drawing attention just makes things tiring.
[It is Eom, then. I look forward to working with you, Eom.]
"No. It’s not Eom..."
And just like that, I ended up with a name that would draw attention anywhere.
"It’s not Eom. I was thinking that if I used my real name, it’d be too easy to identify me, so maybe I need a new one."
Should I just make up a completely new one?
As a way to leave behind my life as a shut-in, loser, game-addicted, unemployed bum, starting anew with a new name didn’t seem bad.
[Eom. Tears are flowing from your eyes. I judge this to be the result of a sudden emotional disturbance.]
"I said it’s not Eom... Anyway, I need to make a new name. Do any names come to mind?"
I asked while wiping away the tears running down my cheeks.
[No particular name comes to mind. If necessary, shall I select several names from the gallery users and show them to you?]
"That sounds good. I can just tweak one I like from there... But is it okay to just pick out user names like that?"
Wasn’t that basically throwing personal information protection to the dogs?
[As long as I do not show names and nicknames together, there is no particular issue. I have already completed verification, so you do not need to worry.]
Fast. And competent.
Still, it felt a little wrong.
"Hm, then could you show me the top one hundred most commonly used given names and family names?"
Freely browsing personal information in a place where anonymity was guaranteed?
That’s a crime, you know.
[Output complete. I will display them on the screen.]
As expected of the Magic Conch Shell.
I really had given it the perfect name.
Now it was my turn to give myself one just as well.
"...Whoa, that’s a lot."
From first to one hundredth place, people’s given names and family names were listed all across the screen.
For now, they were Western-style.
"Do people here put their family name first? Or does the given name come first?"
[It differs by region, ethnicity, nation, and race. There are also cases where it differs even among the same race.
At present, there are more intelligent beings who attach the family name at the end than those who put it first.]
Another screen appeared beside the one listing the names and answered my question.
So it was a mess here too.
Since all the names were Western-style, I’d gotten my hopes up, but it seemed this place wasn’t organized either.
Surely their units of measurement weren’t a total disaster too, right...?
I was indifferent to most things in the world, but yards and pounds were something I could not tolerate.
"Then let’s go with given name first, family name last..."
Looking at the names listed on the screen, it seemed like I could basically make it whatever I wanted.
I wanted a name that wasn’t strange, but would still be memorable.
Hm...
As expected, only one came to mind.
A hero from our country’s folk game, the space-war game.
A pan-cosmic social butterfly who fought every race with a small commando unit and always survived.
I couldn’t use that man’s name exactly as it was, so if I altered it a little...?
"Ready to head out, cowboy?"
I recalled a memory that should not exist.
[I do not understand the intent of the question.]
"No, it wasn’t a question."
I had no intention of leading a commando unit, but I’d decided on this name.
"Jin. Jin Rain. From now on, that’s my name."
[Jin Jin Rain. I have recorded it.]
"No, Jin Rain... You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?"
[I do not understnad the intent of the question.]
It understood.
Expressing emotion through a typo—truly, it was the Conch Shell.
Then now I had to decide for sure, didn’t I?
"So, that juttak thing? About that... What happens if I say I won’t do it?"
What happened if I refused?
Before reading the terms, I asked the question that would decide whether I would read those terms at all.
[It is deeply regrettable, but you will die immediately.]
"Oh."
And I received a blunt and ice-cold answer.