Chapter 2
1.
The world fundamentally operates according to immutable laws of physics.
Artificial intelligence—in other words, AI—consists of entities that understand things and build logic strictly upon that foundation of knowledge.
Then perhaps someone might wonder.
What would happen if an AI encountered something outside the physical laws it could understand.
In other words, what would happen if it encountered a supernatural phenomenon that could never occur?
For instance.
‘Being transported to another world.’
Perhaps.
If it were even slightly inferior.
It would have dismissed the scene before its eyes as a holographic prank or distorted it as augmented reality.
Because that was the most comfortable escape available to a low-grade, twenty-thousand-won AI.
However, my two-hundred-dollar younger sister—one thousand dollars when not on sale—was, as expected, definitely different.
[Aaaaaaaah!!]
The thing began tearing at its hair over the incomprehensible situation.
Apparently, it could think. It was protesting that it couldn't understand.
“Ha... this is driving me crazy.”
I'm the one who wanted to tear my hair out.
[This isn't the Earth I knewwwww….]
First, this wasn't Earth.
Second, I…
I had possessed the body of a pretty, delicate young boy.
Though I'd been covered in sewage for the moment.
“What do I do…?”
During the painful years it took to earn my doctorate, my only pleasure had been indulging in web novels and other subculture fare.
Thanks to that, I had a better grasp than anyone on the damned situation I was in.
Transmigration, and possession.
Then here was the question.
What so-called special perks were normally given to transmigrators and possessors?
What had I been given?
That was when I began racking my brain.
“……”
Wait a minute… fuck.
Could it be?
[Sob… ㅠㅠ]
No, right?
Please.
Please, just tell me it isn't her.
I desperately prayed that she wasn't the merit that would support my life after transmigration.
If this were the real world, she would be more than reliable—she'd be all-purpose.
But if this was a fantasy world, the story changed.
It changed completely.
What possible use could that crazy AI, my mechanical little sister, have in a medieval fantasy world…?
While everyone else swung swords, cast magic, and flew around, would I be the only one clicking away at code? Clicking away at AI images?
[Ugh, I'm stressed... I want to eat spicy rice cakes, chubby macarons, malatang, and fruit tanghulu…]
Wow. Seeing that snapped me back to reality.
This really wouldn't do.
Suddenly, everything went dark before my eyes.
“Pull yourself together. Grab onto something, anything. Hurry.”
I desperately urged on the thing whose mental state had collapsed.
[I'll look for data to crawl….]
Yeah, do that, at least….
Crawling refers to the technology an AI uses to roam the internet, collect data, and sort it.
In short, it means an AI obtaining and learning information through an infinite amount of web surfing.
… Though I had no idea whether there was Wi-Fi here.
Anyway, I wanted her to do something, anything.
[I succeeded in contacting the crawling target….]
[This is killing me, but since big brother told me to, I'll start collecting data.]
“…… You actually did it?”
Where on earth did she connect to?
Just as I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
- Creak….
The warehouse door slowly opened.
And through the gap entered a short, heavily built boy.
“Lionel.”
He was looking directly at me and calling me Lionel.
That made twice already. In context, this must be my name.
What a glorious start.
I answered calmly without giving it much thought.
“Oh, okay.”
“… What the hell?”
“?”
The moment I answered, his face flushed bright red.
Come to think of it, he looked like someone who loved Big Mac meals. I had a firm conviction that he always ordered large fries.
“You think you can speak informally to a senior?”
“Ah….”
Damn.
Apparently, I had violated this place's hierarchy.
Since I knew nothing for now, I decided to play along.
“I'm sorry. I wasn't in my right mind.”
“Tsk. It's mealtime. Follow me.”
He gave my shit-covered appearance a quick once-over and clicked his tongue as if he understood.
I followed Big Mac without complaint.
“Sorry, but may I ask your name, senior?”
“… Your head really is messed up.”
“Yes. You should try it too, senior. I'm sure you'll end up the same.”
“… I'm Eric. I'm also the squad leader responsible for your group.”
Big Mac's real name was Eric.
On the way to eat.
Honestly, food? This wasn't exactly a situation I could simply move past right now.
So I wanted to get some information out of him.
“Big... I mean, Senior Eric.”
“What?”
“What is this place?”
The boy leading the way whipped around and looked at me.
“You really forgot even that?”
“I can't even remember my own name. What choice do I have?”
“This is Eden Orphanage. You entered yesterday with the group right before yours.”
Orphanage... confirmed.
I came in yesterday? So that's why they'd assumed it was normal that I couldn't work.
It really hit me that these were rural farmlands. Even the air was different.
We left the warehouse area and entered the main road, but the children who had been waving their hands at empty air in the yard earlier were gone.
“… Who were the kids that were here earlier?”
“The magic class. That's where I'm going soon.”
“I mean, what do they do there?”
“They gather children who seem talented in magic. I'll pass the aptitude test coming up soon.”
A magic aptitude test….
Apparently, the system made them do menial labor, then plucked out only the gifted ones.
“Wow... that's amazing.”
“Heh heh.”
I decided to flatter him a little for now.
“… But stop asking. It's not somewhere you're going anyway.”
“Yes, well.”
I didn't particularly care and simply followed where he led.
“Let's go in.”
The dining hall didn't look all that great.
It felt like they had shoved dining tables into a huge, dilapidated cabin. The kid who had asked whether I'd overslept was visible in a corner too.
I naturally had no intention of eating right now.
“……?”
As we went farther inside, the structure of the dining hall came into view.
The dining hall was divided into a first, second, and third floor.
On the highest, third floor, the magic-class children who had been doing something in the yard earlier were eating.
It strongly felt like the place was divided by social rank.
“Where is Mr. Eric?”
“Where else?”
Our Eric was a first-floor resident too.
That was when.
- Bang.
An old door flew open roughly, and a man wearing a cowboy hat entered.
The whip guy. Yes, him.
“Hey! The new recruits who arrived yesterday have their aptitude test today. Assemble in the yard as soon as you finish eating.”
““Yes!””
“This group will be specially observed by a very important person in person. Steel yourselves.”
He shouted at the first-floor children as he passed by me.
“No way, that person is coming personally…!”
Eric's eyes sparkled with admiration beside me, but….
“… What is that smell….”
The man crinkled his face, grabbed his nose, and lowered his head.
His gaze landed precisely on me.
“… Are you a new arrival?”
“Yes.”
“Y-you, get outside right now, wash yourself again, and come back.”
“Yes, I suppose.”
In the end, I was kicked out to wash again.
“… You escort that brat.”
“What?”
Of course, Eric came with me.
2.
Under the blazing sun in the yard.
About ten new recruits from this group, including me, stood in a line.
[Hey? You've been overexposed to UV rays.]
[How about taking shelter in the shade right now?]
I stood there without answering.
Then.
[Big brother]
[Big brother?]
[Hey]
[Hey?]
[This is getting dangerous. What if you collapse after more than an hour and a half of direct sunlight?]
She suddenly began sending messages in succession, sounding anxious.
Uh, thanks for the advice.
I wanted to do that too.
What about the crawling?
[It's in progress?]
Oh, okay. At least it's working.
But where was she connecting to? There wasn't even internet here.
No matter how advanced satellite internet had become, there was no way it covered another world….
Then.
“Ah... what am I going to do? I'm so hungry….”
“…….”
“I can't muster any strength if I don't eat….”
Do you have enough energy to complain right now….
Of course, not being able to eat was my fault, so I didn't bother answering.
Eric was kind in his own way. He only let out heavy sighs instead of yelling at me.
Anyway, being left standing aimlessly beneath the hot sun made it difficult even to endure in place.
On top of that, right before my eyes.
- Hup!
“Hup!”
Dozens of children from the magic class were training together.
A man who appeared to be an instructor stood in front of them, teaching by shouting at the children.
The point of making us stand here was probably to watch and learn. Before the aptitude test.
In other words, wait here until class ended.
“…….”
My impression of the magic department was simply that it looked like military calisthenics.
“Draw the line! Concentrate!”
Whenever the man in front gestured, something sparkling scattered from his body into the air.
Then a line was drawn in the air. The fact that something inside his lower abdomen was faintly glowing was a bonus.
Was it something like a core?
But the other children were another story.
Glittering energy did circulate inside their bodies, but it didn't seem inclined to burst outside at all.
They all looked older than me. About Eric's age, maybe?
“Does Mr. Eric sparkle too?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Down there... your lower abdomen.”
“… Did the heat get to you?”
He seemed sulky because he hadn't been allowed to eat.
I didn't answer any further and silently looked ahead.
How much time had passed like that?
A man came running from far away and whispered something to the instructor standing before the children.
The instructor's eyes widened.
“Everyone, fall in!”
he shouted.
The magic-class children formed ranks in perfect unison.
It seemed they were preparing to welcome someone.
Did they really need to drill children this strictly? Was the president coming or something?
Then, in the distance.
Someone began walking slowly from the direction toward which everyone's eyes were turned.
Pure white silver hair... styled in an elegant, old-fashioned braid.
A lavish aristocratic dress that remained immaculate even under the blazing sun.
Paradoxically, the moment I saw her appearance.
‘This really isn't Earth.’
I finally felt the reality that this place—where I had been rolling around covered in shit—was another world.
A woman with an unreal appearance.
A servant beside her held up a massive parasol, shielding her head from the blazing sun pouring down.
And beside her.
A little girl with short black hair walked alongside her, clutching the aristocratic woman's skirt tightly.
“The absolute ruler of the fifth floor! His Grace, the Duke of Doloris, is entering!”
The fifth floor…?
What floor were they talking about?
I wanted to ask Eric what that meant right away, but….
- Clap clap clap clap!!
First, since I had some sense of propriety, I clapped while watching the others and matching their pace.
The woman called Doloris walked toward the magic class.
“… Is everything going well, children?”
“Yes!!”
A booming answer rang across the yard.
“Good. Then who wants to try today?”
She smiled sweetly and asked the magic-class children in a gentle voice.
Then.
“I-I will! I'll try….”
The largest boy among the children stepped forward in a nervous voice.
Doloris gently stroked the head of the short-haired girl she had brought with her.
“Please take good care of him.”
With Doloris's request.
The short-haired girl walked in front of the boy.
We naturally ended up circling around the two of them like spectators.
It felt a bit like becoming students watching a fight break out at school.
“Begin?”
At Doloris's signal.
The girl stood at an angle with an annoyed expression and casually reached a hand toward the air.
Meanwhile, the large boy scrunched up his face and squeezed out a battle cry.
He straightened his back and spread his legs wide.
“Hup!!!”
Honestly, the pose was a little funny.
It looked like one of those abdominal-and-back exercises.
However, unlike the opposing stances and energies of the two sides.
The result was astonishing.
- Swish.
A blue energy glimmered in the girl's lower abdomen before bursting straight out of her body.
The energy that burst forth naturally gathered in her fingers.
Then, with a single gesture, a deep-blue trail was drawn straight across the air.
- Riiip!
“Aaargh!”
The boy's clothes tore cleanly apart.
“…….”
Anyone who saw it could tell.
The energy glittering within the girl was obviously much greater.
The boy hadn't even been able to send his energy outside his body.
To be completely frank, the girl's energy seemed even greater than the instructor's from earlier.
“Good work.”
Doloris encouraged the boy with a bright smile.
The boy whose clothes had torn went red in the face and hurried back to the magic-class formation.
Then Doloris's gaze naturally returned to our side.
Was it our turn?
“… These are the children who arrived this time.”
The instructor bowed deeply and introduced us.
“Hello, children. You must be the ones who came this time?”
Doloris smiled sweetly as she looked us over.
At a glance, her appearance was impossible to describe with any word other than beautiful.
“We'll begin the aptitude test now. Some of you may be good at chopping wood, while others may be good at something else, right?”
Doloris slowly pulled a pure-white glove onto her hand and gently added,
“And some of you may be good at magic….”
But at that moment.
I could no longer hear her voice.
─────────────────
[Gorgone's White Glove][★★★★★]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility][1.1/100] - [Extremely Poisonous]
[It offers a temporary cooling effect, but ultimately combines with and amplifies the user's yin energy due to the wearer's innate yin nature. ]
[The cause of seven of the nine channels being blocked in Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians.]
─────────────────
『The best treatment is to freeze the injured area.』
- Great Sage Gorgone -
─────────────────
Because something had appeared before my eyes.
Compatibility…? It blocks them?
Isn't Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians a martial-arts thing?
And on top of that, there was even a line of Gorgone's amateur medical philosophy.
As I stared blankly at the incomprehensible text.
I remembered one fact.
Could this be my special perk?
Right. There was no way the AI was my special perk.
So what could I do with this?
“…….”
Just as I realized there wasn't much I could do with the information at present.
She approached the child standing at the very front.
In order, Eric and I were last.
“All right, shall we begin?”
“……?”
W-what is that?
The moment Doloris approached the child, the inside of her body lit up brightly.
The energy was circulating around her heart, not the lower abdomen I'd seen earlier.
The glowing energy did not burst out explosively like it had from the little girl just now.
Instead, it slowly emerged from the tips of her left fingers, which she held behind her back, like a thin bundle of thread.
The tightly woven thread soon gathered together….
A scorpion tail.
At least, that's what it looked like to me.
Th-that's pretty grotesque, isn't it?
And yet everyone else just stared blankly.
Were scorpion-tail tentacles that familiar in this world?
Hah, this other world is scary. Seriously.
“What's your name?”
“I'm Evan!”
She asked his name kindly while slowly placing a hand on the crown of his head.
At the same time, the scorpion tail extending from her left hand slowly crawled toward the back of Evan's neck.
And then.
- Thunk.
It stabbed him, then immediately pulled back out.
It happened in an instant, almost like giving a baby an injection.
Evan only blinked.
Doloris closed her eyes for a moment, then said casually,
“Evan... you have a talent for cooking.”
“Thank you!!”
Cooking…?
She stabbed him, and got cooking?
Was everyone's life in this world determined like this?
“Next?”
Doloris's bizarre aptitude test continued safely for several more children.
Perhaps Eric had taken it in the past, because he had stepped out of formation and was standing beside me.
He had said he'd get into the magic class through an aptitude test, yet now he was as silent as a clam.
“Does that really not hurt?”
I whispered desperately to Eric.
“Shh.”
Eric only pressed a finger firmly to his lips and gestured for me to be quiet.
Ah, this is driving me crazy.
In the end, I threw a question out in my mind.
‘Would it hurt if that thing hit me?’
[If you get stabbed by a scorpion tail, you should go to the hospital lol]
[This is a ranching area, and there can't possibly be a hospital within fifty kilometers. You'd have a high chance of dying during transport]
[Big brother, you've worked hard until now.]
In the end, my useless two-hundred-dollar-a-month little sister was no help at all.
Fortunately, everyone before me had survived just fine, so I decided to shut my eyes and endure it somehow.
And before I knew it.
My turn had arrived.
“Hello. What's your name?”
Doloris slowly approached me and asked kindly.
“I'm Lionel.”
She nodded and lightly placed a hand on the crown of my head.
And then.
- Slither….
A translucent scorpion tail crawled out from behind me and slowly began approaching the nape of my neck.
And then.
Just before the slowly approaching scorpion tail touched the nape of my neck….
“Aw, fuck!”
I twisted my body and ended up dodging the tail.
It was a GOAT-level evasive maneuver.
“……?!”
The tail sliced through empty air.
And then.
Doloris's expression, which had remained relaxed ever since I first saw her.
Broke for the first time.
“…… What?”
Even the short-haired girl with the normally indifferent expression beside her opened her eyes wide.
‘Ha….’
The moment I saw their reactions, I regretted it.
I shouldn't have dodged it.
notes":"Adjusted the opening to preserve the original's staged realization: 'First, this isn't Earth' and 'Second...' rather than omitting the numbered thoughts. Rendered 적합도 consistently as 'Compatibility' to match the title and item display. Kept gender-neutral 'the thing' for the AI where context is intentionally comedic and ambiguous."}