[All right, let's take a taxi and get going.]
[So I can fuck that bitch's pussy.]
“……”
It was called God AI, wasn't it?
With AI starting to make a name for itself lately, I'd heard one agency was even preparing to debut non-human AI idols.
“Has the world really advanced this far?”
Had they developed an AI that showed up on its own just because you muttered something?
[What are you talking about?]
[I may be an AI, but I'm on a completely different level from the AIs you're familiar with in this era. I'm a God AI. I'm like a partner sent to you by God.]
“I see.”
[What do you mean, ‘I see’?]
[Let's get moving already. You don't want to end up unemployed like this, do you? Let's go fuck Han Hye-eun.]
At God AI's words, I reflexively started putting on my coat, then froze.
“Wait a second.”
[Why?]
“No, being unemployed isn't the issue here... She's an actress whose popularity has been plummeting lately, and whose self-esteem is hitting rock bottom because people are calling her acting dogshit in the drama she's currently filming, but still.”
[Yes.]
“She's an actress, isn't she? A celebrity?”
[So what?]
“No, before that, if you suddenly rape a perfectly normal woman, you'll end up in prison. What the fuck are you talking about? Why would I suddenly go assault her out of nowhere? I said I don't want to be unemployed, not that I want to be a criminal.”
[Oh my God!!]
What the hell was with “Oh my God”?
I wanted to scream even louder.
[First, let me correct myself.]
[This absolutely cannot be rape.]
[Why, why?]
God AI let out a deep sigh.
[I suppose I have to explain it to an idiot like you, despite how capable I am. Rape is when one person acts unilaterally, disregarding the other person's wishes.]
[BUT!]
[What we're going to do isn't rape. It's God-tier sex by mutual consent—so good that the woman will want it even more than you do.]
“That damn ‘God this, God that’—are you planning to wear a Joseon-era gat or something?”
[Please refrain from saying such shitty things. I nearly brought divine punishment down on your head without meaning to.]
They say that once AI advances far enough, it'll even try to control humans.
So I'm witnessing that firsthand right now.
[Hah, I suppose I should let you experience some of the power of God AI. I hadn't planned on giving you this much service, though.]
[As I've said time and again, I'm a ‘God’ AI. Didn't the fact that God sent me tell you anything, human?]
“Not really.”
[This is the power of God.]
[So shut up and do as I tell you.]
“Ha, this is ridiculous.”
Would anyone in this world really do what some guy told them to?
[Do you think you'll ever get to fuck Han Hye-eun's pussy in your life?]
“Fine. I'll trust you for now.”
I quietly put on my shoes and added one thing.
“You keep calling me ‘you,’ and it feels kind of weird. Could you just call me Master or something?”
[Certainly, Master.]
[It's not exactly wrong, after all. Oh, come to think of it, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Nobel.]
[And your name, Master?]
“Kim Hyeon-woo.”
[Understood. Then, Master, head straight to the old food tent in the secluded alley at 213 Unmyeong-ro 8beon-gil. Han Hye-eun will be there alone, blaming herself and sipping soju with spicy stir-fried octopus.]
“If that's actually true, it'll be fucking creepy.”
I chuckled and took a taxi to the place Nobel had told me about.
[Granny's Food Tent]
I found one of the few neighborhood food tents left in Korea, lifted its orange tarp, and looked around at the few tables inside. The moment I did, my eyes went wide.
“Wow, fuck, that's creepy.”
Two balding old men drinking soju with fish cakes, gimbap, and spicy pork stir-fry were one thing.
But there she was in the corner, boldly sipping soju with spicy stir-fried octopus: Han Hye-eun.
She wasn't quite S-rank beautiful.
She was getting on in years, but even just five years ago, she'd shot to stardom as Korea's Nation's Little Sister.
Though when I say she was getting on in years, she was still only twenty-seven, younger than me.
‘I'm twenty-nine now. At this point, pretty much any woman looks beautiful to me.’
Still, an actress was an actress.
Han Hye-eun wasn't ugly by any means, nor had she let herself go.
She still had a slim waist and pretty, foxlike eyes that could look a little sharp.
Seeing a woman like that drinking with her thighs bared beneath a thick coat she'd casually thrown on was incredibly hot.
‘I can fuck that woman's pussy, today of all days?’
No way.
“What should I do here, Nobel?”
[If you just do as I say, she'll soon be moaning in pleasure with you on top of her.]
[Just watch.]
‘Watch what?’
Sure enough, if I lowered my gaze just a little more, I might be able to see the panties Han Hye-eun was wearing between her legs as she sat perched on the plastic chair...
[Not that! Look at Han Hye-eun's condition!! What kind of perverted lunatic are you? Wait, is that why God chose you, then?]
“Ahem!”
I gave a small cough and looked at Han Hye-eun.
Her hair looked like she'd washed it, but it was a little messy in places, as if she'd messed it up herself several times.
At a glance, it looked like she wasn't wearing makeup, but she was wearing some, subtly.
Honestly, someone like Han Hye-eun would look pretty even barefaced, but one of the Korean makeup styles is to look like you're not wearing any.
She'd already had soju... Gasp, three bottles?
That's a lot.
[For reference, Han Hye-eun's limit is two and a half bottles. She's already gone over it.]
“How do you know that?”
[I'm a God AI. I know everything.]
[Right now, Han Hye-eun is like an eight-ton truck barreling downhill on a sled. That's because she got off to such a great start.]
True enough, I'd heard that just a few years ago, Han Hye-eun had supported the entire agency I worked for, N&P, all on her own.
[But the drama she filmed after that unexpectedly failed to make her character stand out, and she was forgotten just like that.]
[Han Hye-eun had been a huge hit with her first drama, so her standards and expectations had already been raised sky-high. But she never had another major hit after that, and before she knew it, she became anxious and started to grow mentally fragile.]
[Of course, with that mindset, she had no chance of growing further, so her work and results were bound to suffer.]
That was true.
At first, Han Hye-eun may have supported the company, but in a way, things were the other way around now.
It felt like the company was supporting Han Hye-eun.
Still, since she'd been a good actress for them early on, they continued to bring her fairly decent roles.
That wasn't as easy as it sounded.
It wasn't like the old days, when people openly handed out bribes or held drinking parties.
But that sort of thing hadn't disappeared entirely, either.
[The one thing propping up her steadily declining self-esteem was her younger boyfriend.]
[But in the end, even that younger boyfriend couldn't put up with her hysterics or help her relieve her stress, much less satisfy her sexual appetite, so he declared they were breaking up.]
[At the company, she no longer received the treatment she used to, and her popularity wasn't what it had been.]
“Good grief……”
[On top of that, she overheard that the director of the weekend drama she's currently filming was wondering whether he should find a way to write her out, since even the reviews for it were poor.]
[Han Hye-eun is now in despair, consumed by fear of the future and self-loathing.]
[She's in a very easy-to-handle state.]
Hearing all that, I could definitely understand just how precarious Han Hye-eun's situation was right now.
“……Ugh, haa!”
Even the way she let out a huge sigh was practically like an office worker who'd just been laid off.
[Now that her popularity's gone, her confidence has shrunk too, and she's afraid to casually show herself in front of other people.]
[Still, wanting someone to notice her and get some fresh air, she put on makeup while pretending she hadn't, deliberately exposed her thighs, and is drinking soju alone at this food tent.]
[Women—and celebrities in particular—live off attention.]
“Oh-ho……”
[Ironically, though, in the more than two hours that have passed, over five tables of people have come and gone, and no one has recognized Han Hye-eun.]
That's true. A lot of people don't watch terrestrial TV these days.
And aside from that, it's a fact that Han Hye-eun's popularity has fallen a lot.
[People in this world aren't that interested in other people. Everyone who came to this food tent came to drink for their own reasons.]
[Besides, what kind of lunatic would openly stare at her thighs?]
[Han Hye-eun didn't want that, either.]
Nobel continued.
[Anyway, that's the situation. Han Hye-eun is very starved right now. For attention, affection, and even sex.]
[So from here on, it's your turn, Master. Somehow seduce Han Hye-eun, go to her place, and sleep with her.]
[Then it's over.]
[Han Hye-eun will recover from her slump, giving the company some breathing room, even if only temporarily. And for the time being, she'll become a great ally to you.]
[It's the first step in the buildup.]
“Wait a second.”
[Yes, why? You're not so amoeba-brained that you can't understand even after I've explained this much, are you?]
“No, if you've gone this far... can't you do something about getting me to Han Hye-eun's place, too?”
[Master! Hey! You need to put in a little effort yourself. Do you want to become a slave to AI?]
[If that's what you want, just hand your body over to me.]
“Ahem!!”
Having heard something needlessly chilling, I quickly cleared my throat and cautiously walked over to Han Hye-eun.
“Mm, who's that? Who are you, sitting here?”
“Hello, Ms. Han Hye-eun. I'm Kim Hyeon-woo, and I currently work as an artist manager at N&P.”
“Oh... You were a manager. What brings you here?”
Han Hye-eun looked a little disappointed.
[She'd hoped someone who didn't know her would recognize her.]
[She thought that of course a manager who worked for the same company would recognize her.]
[She's sighing because she realizes, ‘Ah, I've fallen this far.’]
“Did Team Leader Park tell you to come? To keep that washed-up actress from causing trouble? Heh, since you're here, fine, let's have a drink.”
I casually accepted the soju Han Hye-eun handed me, downed it in one gulp, then quickly picked up my chopsticks, grabbed some spicy stir-fried octopus, and offered it to her.
“Huh?”
“Please, have some.”
“……Okay, thanks.”
Normally, she would never have accepted something like that, but Han Hye-eun was weakened in more ways than one, and she accepted it in a daze.
“Actually, I was a fan of yours, Ms. Han Hye-eun.”
It was a lie.
“I applied to work in the entertainment industry so I could see you up close, Ms. Hye-eun. I joined N&P, the company you're with.”
I just threw applications around like crazy, and this was the place that hired me.
At least it was a little bigger than the others.
“R-Really?”
I could tell just how starved this woman was.
Even though she was drunk, she immediately reacted to what I'd said, tucking her hair behind her right ear and smiling faintly.
Was she really that desperate for attention, or was she desperate for words that would boost her self-esteem?
“But...”
“Hm?”
“Lately, I've felt so sorry for you. I keep wondering how you fell so far, unlike before.”
“You...!”
That was when Han Hye-eun suddenly flared up in anger and was about to splash the water from her paper cup at me.
I grabbed her wrist and looked her straight in the eye.
“You're so beautiful and bold. I keep wondering why you've fallen apart like this.”
“……Ugh.”
“But I happen to know a way for you to become as captivating as you used to be. What do you think? Would you hear me out?”
My words had made her bristle on reflex, but Han Hye-eun soon remembered her situation.
She cautiously sat back down in her chair and said,
“Go on, then... If you start spouting anything weird, I'll contact Team Leader Park right away. I still have that much power.”