A week had already passed since I came here. Every day began the same way, waking up in District H-5.
Until recently, I had lived being grateful for even a single can of food, yet now I had reached the point where, if something didn’t suit my taste, I would chew it a few times and throw it away.
Because even if I wasted it like that, before long, Noah would bring me something delicious on her own.
No matter how anyone looked at it, this was truly extravagant.
If it had been me a month ago, wouldn’t I have cursed myself for being insane and slapped my own face? It was amazing that a person could change this much in just a week.
Thanks to that, I gained weight in no time. I, who had been moving around with barely any flesh on my bones, had somehow succeeded in returning to my original weight.
“At this rate, I really am going to turn into a pig…”
For now, I had returned to normal. But if this life continued? It wouldn’t be long. I could vividly picture myself crushed under layers of fat, unable to even breathe properly.
[It is all right. The Administrator will like you even if you become plump, Mr. Baek Seohan.]
How had she seen through my thoughts? Noah stood behind me with her hands clasped together, smiling brightly as she spoke.
No, can AI these days even read people’s minds?
Then again, Noah was analyzing my biometric signals in real time. Even the moment I stepped onto the scale to weigh myself, she calculated my stress index from the brainwaves flowing out of me and gave an answer suited to it.
[And you do not need to worry too much. A separate constitution-improvement protocol has already been prepared, so if it becomes an issue, the appropriate functions will be activated. Mr. Baek Seohan, because you have lived for too long consuming only enough energy to maintain life, your body is currently demanding excessive energy intake in preparation for survival. If you simply maintain proper eating habits at regular times without separately worrying about losing weight, your body will naturally find its proper balance.]
“Is… is that so?”
She said so much that I couldn’t understand it all at once, but in the end, she meant I should eat meals on time and live regularly.
Most people gained weight because keeping that up was difficult, though…
Forget it. What was the point of arguing with a machine?
After washing up moderately, I stepped out and walked down the pure white corridor.
[Where are you going?]
“Not sure. I’ve got nothing to do, and I’m bored.”
I answered Noah’s question dryly.
Honestly, I was getting tired of playing games in District G too. Yura didn’t really like me wandering around if I could help it, but even so, staying cooped up in my room was…
At the very least, I wished I had internet.
Ah, was that asking for too much?
With my back warm and my stomach full, I really had started losing sight of my place.
Fine, then let’s find Yura.
People were supposed to talk to people, after all. Talking to a lump of scrap metal only got you the same repeated questions like whether you needed anything. You could never have a comfortable conversation.
I desperately needed human warmth.
“Noah, can you tell me where Ms. Yura is?”
[The Administrator is currently in District C.]
“C? Didn’t Ms. Yura tell me not to go there?”
[That is correct. It is an extremely dangerous facility, so the Administrator personally designated it as a restricted area.]
Now I was curious. Just what was there that was so dangerous?
Of course, the control over areas other than the residential and recreational facilities was no joke, but the ones she had especially emphasized were District C and District L. She had said I absolutely must not enter those places, even if it killed me.
Something very scary was there, or so she’d said.
After living here for about a week, there were a few things I had come to understand about this place’s system without realizing it.
Usually, the naming standard for each district followed the initial of the word that represented that district.
For example, the treatment area was called District T, taking the first letter from Therapy, and likewise, District H, the residential area, came from the first letter of House.
It was simple and extremely intuitive. Then…
What about those dangerous Districts C and L?
I thought about it quietly, but nothing came to mind easily.
There were far too many possible words.
Among English words alone, there had to be thousands—no, tens of thousands—starting with C… I couldn’t even begin to guess. In the first place, thinking I could figure it out was absurd.
Once, out of curiosity, I had even asked Noah…
But of course, there was no way she would tell me.
Because Yura had personally set them as restricted areas, she didn’t open her mouth even once… No, wait, Noah was an AI. She didn’t write even a single line of text.
[Shall I send a message to the Administrator?]
“A message? Ahem…”
We were always in the same place, yet it felt hard to see her face even once. When I first arrived, she had stayed with me almost every day because of my treatment, but…
After about two or three days, she shut herself away somewhere and barely showed her face. At most, she would greet me before I went to bed?
Even that was incredibly short, only one or two minutes. Looking at it like this, I really was no better than some parasite… All I did was eat and shit, so I even felt guilty inside.
I wished I could at least do some cleaning…
Ugh… these damn machines.
They had already taken every place where a human like me could do something. Everything I tried to do was already being handled by AI…
I didn’t think I had ever felt this awkward and self-conscious in my life.
“Then just… ask her if it’ll take long.”
[Beep— Bop— Sent. It seems the Administrator will arrive here shortly.]
Huh? All of a sudden? I thought she would be too busy to even read the message, so when I heard she was coming this way, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Huh? What did you send her?”
[Nothing special. Based on my virtual simulation analysis, I arranged the words in the order most likely to elicit the best response from the Administrator.]
“No, I’m asking what you said.”
When I snapped in frustration, the contents of the message finally appeared on Noah’s display screen.
Fuck…
Has this thing lost its mind?!
It seemed the time had come to replace this AI.
[Ms. Yura, what are you doing? I’m lonely. I miss you so, so, so much… When will you come? I’ll be waiting♥]
Every single sentence was lethal, but among them, the heart emoticon was the one that stood out the most. No matter how you looked at it, there was plenty of room for misunderstanding.
“Hey, hurry up and send another one! Delete it! Damn it… Wait, there’s no point if she already saw it? Hold—”
Dududududu—!
Before I could even finish speaking, the perfectly solid ground suddenly began to rumble. Hadn’t Noah said there was quite some distance between District C and where I was?
A powerful blast of wind swept through, and Yura stood before me.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
The blue circuitry flickering over Yura’s compression suit was unusually red today, as if it had overheated. On top of that, her breathing was utterly ragged.
It looked extremely difficult for her to even stand on two legs.
“S-sorry. I kept you waiting, didn’t I?”
What should I do? It seemed like clearing up this misunderstanding would take a little time.
***
“You damn piece of shit!”
Clang—!
When Yura struck Noah’s head, a crisp sound rang out. It was a brief little incident caused by our tin can.
Yura frowned and pressed her fingers to the space between her brows.
“Sorry. She still isn’t perfect, so there must’ve been a slight problem with her logic circuits.”
“I’m sorry. You were busy, but I did something that could cause a misunderstanding.”
“M-misunderstanding? No. I thought it was strange too. You suddenly did something unlike you, so I thought something had happened.”
Yura smiled awkwardly. Why was that? The corners of her eyes looked strangely moist.
“But… Ms. Yura?”
“Yeah?”
And that was when I noticed something out of place. I discovered that red stains were splattered all over her white gown.
What was that? Blood?
It wasn’t just one or two spots. They stood out far too much. It couldn’t be her own blood, right?
Well, if she had bled that much, there was no way she could be smiling and talking so casually.
Where had this come from…
I reached toward Yura’s gown.
Smack—!
Before my hand could touch her, Yura sharply slapped the back of it away. Her eyes were fierce. It was the first time I had seen her look so ferocious.
“No.”
“…”
“Ah, th-that’s not it. It’s dirty. Looks like some reagent got on me. I’ll have to throw the clothes away. Right.”
“Reagent?”
“You know, chemical liquids used in experiments.”
Ah, so that was it?
I thought she had gotten hurt somewhere. Since I’d heard District C was dangerous to begin with, I was startled.
Yura scratched her head and took off her gown. Then she tossed it straight to Noah, who caught it and finished scanning it at once.
[Administrator, I will dispose of this.]
“Yeah, do that. We have plenty of clothes anyway.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Noah left to incinerate the garment.
Now only Yura and I were left.
“Don’t you have to go back to work?”
“It’s fine. I saw everything I needed to see anyway. More importantly, maybe it’s because I worked without eating, but I’m hungry. I’ll go to the cafeteria, grab something to eat, and take a short nap.”
“Ms. Yura, aren’t you overworking yourself too much? You’re in other districts almost every day.”
“Uh, um… Are you worried about me?”
Her eyes widened as if she hadn’t expected that. Was it that strange for me to worry about her? She looked genuinely moved.
“Of course I’m worried. I don’t even know where you are or what you’re doing.”
Worry was part of it, but honestly, it was also because I had too little to do. I didn’t think I had ever spent so many days all alone like this.
Since there had always been people by my side, I just couldn’t get used to it.
“Ah… Then the part about wanting to see me wasn’t entirely…”
“Pardon?”
Yura turned her head away and muttered something very quietly to herself. Her voice was so soft that I couldn’t hear what she said at all.
She only hurriedly waved her hands, and her face had turned redder than before.