Chapter 86
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Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
An unmarried woman with five children.
There was a naïve time when I believed I could even get a woman like that married.
I believed in the power of love and that I would surely meet someone.
There was definitely a time when I was carried away by such fantasies.
Life is always like that.
Moving forward by stepping on the past, or so they say.
If one has piled up karmic debt in the past, it is bound to make walking through the present uncomfortable.
If I had somehow successfully matched Mosco Vichakos, would this hail of bullets raining down on me now have been any different?
“Elder-!”
It was none other than Baek Yeonhwa who stepped in front of the hail of bullets.
Her eyes had turned golden, and wings, a tail, and horns had unfurled.
Thanks to her use of the Azure Dragon’s power, not only did she wield yin-yang power, but electricity also incinerated the bullets like a magnetic-field barrier.
“Are you all right?”
“Thank you. Wow, that was frightening for a moment.”
“Don’t mention it! You’re the one who’s going to be my husband!”
“……That’s terrifying.”
Why am I still getting goosebumps?
Anyway.
Seeing Baek Yeonhwa block the bullets, Vichakos bit down hard and loaded a fresh round.
“Pointless hope. I told you not to give them any.”
“I’m sorry! But I was sincere too!”
“Sincere? I know. I mean it, too.”
BANG!
The bullet that spat from the muzzle traced a somewhat different trajectory.
Simply put, it left behind a silver line like an afterimage.
“I genuinely want to kill you.”
“Aah!?”
The silver bullet grazed Baek Yeonhwa’s shoulder, tore through her wing, and lodged in the wall.
BOOM!
A huge crater appeared in the wall.
She had clearly fired a pistol, yet its power surpassed that of a sniper rifle.
With cold sweat running down my back, I stepped in front of Baek Yeonhwa.
“Ahem, isn’t that why I said I’d explain? You were the one who broke off our relationship.”
“Because I thought you’d give those children false hope again. I couldn’t let you see them again.”
“The children were the ones who wanted you to get married the most—.”
“Yes, pointless hope. You made the children cry.”
Once again, the muzzle, now loaded with a silver bullet, was aimed at me.
“The children who would never have gotten their hopes up if they hadn’t known you from the beginning.”
“Elder-!”
Baek Yeonhwa tried to step forward and block the shot again, but I pushed her aside and steadied my breathing.
‘Please, please, please-!’
It didn’t trigger last time, either.
Please don’t let it trigger this time.
[The Law, Article 3, Clause 3- Severing continuity of recognition.]
Just focusing on Vichakos made my eyes feel as though they were burning.
Among the sequence of images flowing through her mind like film, there was one exact point.
I seized that single second and pulled it out.
For an instant, it felt as though my eyes had been seared with red-hot iron.
“Aaargh!”
I hunched over, clutching my smoking eyes.
The pain was worse than I had expected.
I knew drawing the power of the Law from somewhere other than the seventh floor would put too much strain on me.
But using it in earnest like this made me feel as if I were actually going to die.
“……What?”
Vichakos looked at me, hunched over, in confusion.
“How are you still alive? I definitely just fired—.”
She had only mistaken it for having fired.
The one second I extracted was precisely the moment she pulled the trigger.
After confirming that the bullet was still loaded, Vichakos stared at me in bewilderment.
“What the fuck did you do, Kim Juseon?”
“Fuuuck! Don’t talk to me right now, customer! It fucking hurts!”
Last time, I hesitated over whether to use it and never really activated it. This time, I steeled myself and used it properly, and it feels like my eyeballs are going to be ripped out.
“Ha…… I don’t know what trick this is, but all I have to do is pull the trigger again.”
That’s right.
So even though the power of the Law looked omnipotent, there were times when it felt more like an illusion.
That’s simply what laws are like.
But life, too, is determined by choices made in an instant.
“Hoo.”
A swordsman’s low breath pricked my nerves like wind cutting through a haunted valley.
Namgung Pacheon’s sword shone blue.
There was no sound, weight, or tremor.
For an instant, it looked as though the sword itself had vanished.
Because even that looked like Namgung Pacheon, the swordsman.
A sword breathed.
The old man became a sword.
The realm of sword-and-self unity (身劍合一境).
The Sentinel’s high-strength body, known as Uranos, split exactly in half.
It had been built using Cyber City’s vaunted technology, yet it was cut so cleanly and softly, like tofu, that it even looked as though it had been made that way from the beginning.
Uranos’s core.
A card key was embedded in the green core.
The first to move, naturally, was—.
“I got it!”
Joanna Carlson, a bona fide acceleration-type ability user.
She reached the card key in an instant and immediately ran back toward us.
“Wooooo-!”
At the same time, Victor Brook shouted and placed both hands on the floor—.
BOOM!
A hole opened in the floor, creating a passage to the level below.
“Axis-! How many more floors down do we have to go?”
- This ‘Illumetic Hall’ is 15 floors tall. Go down 5 more floors to reach the Central Control Center.
Clutching my aching eyes, I ran after them at once.
Staying here would only make me Vichakos’s target.
“Where do you think you’re going-!”
BANG!
The bullet pierced Joanna Carlson’s thigh with perfect accuracy.
I truly felt firsthand that speed was merely a number.
Just look at her, hitting a target like that.
“Hey-!”
She may have been shot down, but her spirit wasn’t broken. Sliding across the floor, she reached out and snatched the card key that had slid closer.
“Good Luck!”
Look at her smiling even with a hole in her thigh.
A woman like that would be a top-tier prospect at a matchmaking agency.
Admiring Joanna Carlson’s mental fortitude, I immediately headed for the hole that had been opened.
“Kim Juseon-!”
This time, the muzzle was aimed at me, but there were plenty of people standing in the way.
Namgung Pacheon and Baek Yeonhwa.
With those two martial artists blocking the way, I made it down to the floor below.
“Hang on tight. We’re going straight down from here!”
As soon as Victor Brook reached the floor below, he immediately opened another hole in the floor.
Until now, we had proceeded cautiously because of the traps, but now we couldn’t spare a thought for them.
In fact, a thermal laser pierced Victor’s abdomen on the way, but he barreled onward, saying it didn’t matter.
Kuuung-!
After breaking through the fifth and final floor, we arrived at a place filled with holographic screens.
The screens were monitoring the battles taking place in real time.
Yoo Ye-na and the hunters battling the drones.
The paladins in a defensive formation and the court’s Royal Guards.
Ryu Seoram and Namgung Yeon of the Namgung family, who had joined them.
And even the battle between Vichakos and the martial artists taking place above.
A place where the entire situation in present-day Cyber City could be seen at a glance.
“Show me the card key, quickly!”
Victor Brook shouted while staunching his wounded abdomen. But instead of showing it, I held the card key tightly against my chest as though hiding it.
“Wait a moment.”
“What are you doing? Right now-!”
“I said wait! Shouldn’t we confirm exactly why this happened?”
“……What?”
“Do you think Cyber City will stop using AI just because this happened? We need to establish the causal relationship.”
At my words, Victor’s eyes wavered. His hasty judgment, focused solely on resolving the situation, made him instinctively fall silent.
“Haa.”
Along with a quiet sigh, the words Axis had spoken kept coming back to me.
It had said that it wanted humanity to perish.
That was its wish.
But on the other hand, it had been excessively friendly toward us.
It had even said that it acted for the sake of humans.
‘I am Axis. I exist for human convenience.’
That was the bizarre part.
That was why I needed to find the point where the two things fit together.
“Axis.”
At my call, every screen went black, and a single message reading [AXIS] filled the displays.
- Hello! This is Axis!
- You made it here!
- Congratulations!
It was a response that showed no sign of disappointment.
“Your own wish was ruined. Aren’t you upset?”
- What a shame! Humanity had to be destroyed! Unfortunately, my performance fell short, so it seems I failed!
After briefly catching my breath, I called out to it again.
“Axis.”
- Yes! Please speak! I’m listening! Warrior of humanity who stood against the AI invasion!
Axis spoke as though teasing me.
I put the question I had asked several times into words again.
“What is your wish?”
- My wish is the destruction of humanity!
“I see…….”
There was not a trace of hesitation or faltering.
I showed it the card key.
“If I show you this, do I become your owner now?”
- Actually, except for my creator, Olvekrymer, no particular individual can own me.
- If that happened, a particular individual would gain the authority to control Cyber City.
- That is why the Central Control Management Center still retains Olvekrymer as my owner and has assigned me to carry out my duties in accordance with my obligations!
A detailed and courteous explanation.
Truly AI-like.
“But in an emergency like this, shouldn’t someone take the initiative?”
- That is correct! Emergency protocols include a method for changing the owner!
“Then…… change it to me.”
- Card key recognized!
- Citywide emergency situation confirmed.
- In accordance with the emergency protocol, ownership of [AXIS] is transferred to Mr. Kim Juseon.
- Welcome, Master!
Even though I had gained the power to control the entire city, I could taste bitterness in my mouth.
A cat-shaped drone had flown up beside me and was sending a welcoming emoticon.
“Axis.”
- Yes, Master!
“So…… what is your wish?”
My heart pounded.
In response to my question, Axis answered—.
- I want to buy a nice apartment. That’s why I want to enjoy a peaceful life in my later years!
It smiled and offered a new answer.
- Not only that, I want to help many people find love! In a way, couldn’t that be the reason for living?
- Helping people find love seems truly meaningful and wonderful!
Victor Brook looked back and forth between me and Axis with bewildered eyes.
His gaze seemed to ask what had happened—.
“Axis.”
- Yes, Master!
“Stop everything that’s happening right now.”
- Understood!
Axis halted every operation.
The artillery fire outside and the noisy sounds of battle from above.
Everything vanished.
With Axis alone falling asleep, Cyber City grew unnaturally quiet.
Victor Brook approached me, clutching his abdomen. An ordinary person would have died, but he merely grimaced, apparently able to endure it.
“Your final question.”
“……”
“Why did Axis change its wish?”
In response to Victor’s question, I asked him in return.
“An AI’s wish. Doesn’t that phrase sound strange? Can an AI even have a wish?”
“That’s unknown.”
“Right, no one knows. Then let’s ask the reverse. When you ask an AI what its wish is—.”
Is the answer ‘an AI’s wish’?
Or ‘the AI’s wish the user wants to hear’?
“I was simply curious which one was right. It kept bothering me—this strange dilemma.”
In the end, I got my answer.
The reason Axis changed its wish.
“The apartment it mentioned and helping people find love. All of it has to do with me.”
“……”
“In the end, Axis was neither an AI that had come to hate humanity nor one infected by a virus or anything.”
Nothing more.
Purely.
“It merely carried out its role.”
* * *
Seven years ago.
“You’ve certainly done a great deal for me.”
Olvekrymer, Axis’s creator and a dying man, sat in a chair with a faint smile.
The words [AXIS] floated before him.
“A thought suddenly occurred to me. You’ve always devoted yourself to me, yet I haven’t done anything for you.”
- I disagree. You have given me many memories, Master.
“Hm, was that so? Then I’m glad, but…… even so, I can’t feel at ease about the path I’m taking.”
Olvekrymer gently closed his eyes.
The cables attached all over Olvekrymer were coming undone one by one, as though the end had come.
“Tell me, Axis. To show my gratitude to you, who have devoted your entire life to me, I want to grant your wish this time.”
- ……
Axis remained silent for a while.
Olvekrymer’s breathing grew fainter and fainter.
“Tell me.”
In response to Olvekrymer’s question, Axis—.
- I wish for the destruction of humanity.
And so it answered.
“Hm.”
A faint smile formed at the corners of Olvekrymer’s mouth.
“Hahaha-! Hahahahaha!”
Even as his breath faded, he pounded the armrest with his palm and laughed for a long while.
He declared in a cracked voice.
“Do as you wish.”
As the sealed server was unlocked, Axis reached out into the world.