86. AI's Wish! The Foolish Days When I Believed I Could Marry Off Even an Unwed Mother of Five

There was a time in my naive youth when I truly believed I could matchmake anyone—even a woman with five kids and no husband. Love's power is mighty, I thought. Surely she'd find someone. There was definitely a phase when I was full of such wind.

Life's always like that. You trample the past to move forward. But if you've piled up karma in the past, the present walk gets uncomfortable. If I'd somehow succeeded in matchmaking Mosco Bi Chacos, would the hail of bullets raining down now be any different?

"Grand hero—!"

Blocking the barrage was none other than Baek Yeonhwa. Her eyes now glowed golden, wings, tail, and horns unfurled. Channeling the azure dragon's power, she didn't just use yin-yang forces—she generated an electromagnetic barrier that incinerated the bullets in lightning.

"Are you alright?"

"Thanks. Whoa, that was a close one."

"No trouble at all! You're to be my husband, after all!"

"……Creepy."

Why did chills still crawl down my spine? Anyway.

Seeing Baek Yeonhwa shield me, Mosco Bi Chacos gnashed her teeth and reloaded with fresh bullets.

"Pointless hope. I told you not to give it."

"Sorry! But I was sincere too!"

"Sincere? I know. Me too."

Bang!

The bullet from the muzzle traced a different path. Simply put, a silver trail lingered like an afterimage.

"I sincerely want to kill you."

"Kyaaak!?"

The silver bullet grazed Baek Yeonhwa's shoulder, tore through her wing, and embedded in the wall.

BOOM!

A massive crater in the wall. Fired from a pistol, yet packing sniper-rifle punch. Cold sweat beaded as I stepped forward.

"Ahem, that's why I offered to explain. You were the one who unilaterally cut ties."

"I didn't want you filling those kids' heads with false hope again. Couldn't let you meet them."

"But the kids wanted you to get married most of all—."

"Yeah, pointless hope. Because of you, they cried."

The muzzle, loaded with silver bullets, aimed at me again.

"Kids who wouldn't have hoped at all if they'd never known from the start."

"Grand hero—!"

Baek Yeonhwa tried to step forward again, but I pushed her back and steadied my breath.

'Please please please—!'

It didn't work last time. Please don't this time either.

Just isolating Mosco Bi Chacos burned my eyes like fire. Amid the film-like flow over her head, I pinpointed one spot in the sequence. Seizing a single second and yanking it out.

Suddenly, a shock like molten metal searing my eyes hit.

"Gahhh!"

Smoke rose from my eyes as I clutched them, curling up. Worse pain than expected. I knew pulling Law power outside the 7th Floor overloaded me, but using it full-force like this? I might actually die.

"……What?"

Mosco Bi Chacos stared at me in confusion.

"How are you alive? I clearly just shot—."

She'd hallucinated firing. The second I extracted was the trigger pull itself.

Confirming the bullet still chambered, she glared at me in bewilderment.

"What the hell did you do, Kim Juseon?"

"Fuck! Don't talk to me now, customer! It hurts like shit!"

Last time I hesitated and botched it. This time, committing fully felt like my eyes were gouged out.

"Hah…… Whatever trick, I can just pull the trigger again."

True. That's why Law power seems omnipotent yet illusory at times. Laws are like that by nature.

But life turns on split-second choices too.

"Hoo."

A low swordsman's breath cut through like wind in a ravine, prickling nerves. Namgoong Paecheon’s blade gleamed green. No sound, weight, or tremor.

For a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment, the sword vanished. Because it was Namgoong Paecheon himself.

One breath from a sword. The elder became a blade.

Body-Sword Unity Realm.

The Sentinel called Uranus—high-density tech marvel of Cyber City—split clean in two. It cleaved like tofu, almost looking factory-sliced.

At Uranus's core, a green nucleus with a card key stabbed in.

The first to move, naturally—

"I got it!"

True accelerator Joanna Carlson. She reached the key in a flash and bolted back our way.

"Uwooooh—!"

Simultaneously, Victor Brook slammed palms to the floor—

BOOM!

A hole punched through, opening a path below.

"Axis—! How many more floors down?"

- This 'Ilumatic Hall' is on the 15th floor. Just five more down to the Central Control Center.

Clutching my aching eyes, I bolted too. Lingering here made me just target practice for Mosco Bi Chacos.

"Where—!"

Bang!

The shot pierced Joanna Carlson's thigh dead-on. Speed's just a number, I felt viscerally. Hitting a bullet like that.

"Hey—!"

It downed her, but not her spirit. Skidding, she snatched the nearby key.

"Good luck!"

Thigh holed, yet grinning. What a prime catch for a matchmaking agency.

Admiring Joanna Carlson's grit, I headed for the hole.

"Kim Juseon—!"

The muzzle swung my way, but blockers abounded. Namgoong Paecheon and Baek Yeonhwa. With the martial artists holding the line, I dropped below.

"Hold tight. We're dropping nonstop now!"

Victor Brook punched another hole immediately below. We'd crept cautiously for traps before, but no time now. Midway, a heat-ray laser speared his gut, but he shrugged it off and pushed on.

Thud—!

Bursting the fifth floor, we landed amid hologram screens. Real-time feeds of battles: Yu Ye-na and hunters vs. drones; knight formations vs. Imperial Guard; Ryu Seram linking with Namgoong family's Namgoong Yeon; even Mosco Bi Chacos clashing above with the martial folk.

Cyber City's chaos, all in one glance.

"Show the card key quick!"

Victor Brook staunched his gut, yelling. But I clutched the key tighter, tucking it away.

"Wait a sec."

"What're you doing! Right—!"

"Wait, I said! We need to confirm why this happened!"

"……What?"

"Cyber City ditching AI over this? We gotta check the causal chain."

Victor's eyes wavered at my words. His snap-judgment focus on resolution left him speechless.

"Haa."

A soft sigh, and Axis's words resurfaced. It wanted humanity's end—its wish. Yet it'd been overly helpful to us. Even claimed to act for humans.

'I am Axis. Existing for human convenience.'

That dissonance. So I needed the connecting thread.

"Axis."

All screens blacked out, filling with [AXIS].

No hint of regret in the response.

"Your private wish crumbled. Doesn't faze you?"

Catching my breath, I called again.

"Axis."

Teasing tone from Axis. I voiced the question I'd asked many times.

"What's your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wish?"

"Yeah……."

No hesitation, no stutter. I showed the card key.

"Show this, and I become your owner?"

Detailed, polite. Pure AI.

"But in this emergency, someone needs control, right?"

"Then…… make it me."

Power over the whole city mine, yet my mouth tasted bitter. A cat-drone zipped to me, flashing a friendly emoticon.

"Axis."

"Your…… wish?"

Heart pounding. Axis's reply—

Victor Brook gawked between me and Axis, baffled. As his questioning gaze hit—

"Axis."

"Stop everything happening now."

Axis ceased all. No more distant cannon fire, no upstairs clamor. Cyber City fell eerily silent with one AI's nap.

Victor Brook approached, clutching his gut. A normal man would've died, but he just grimaced, enduring.

"Your final question."

"……."

"Why'd Axis change its wish?"

I countered Victor's query.

"An AI's wish. Doesn't that sound off? Can AI even have wishes?"

"……Who knows."

"Right, unknowable. Flip it: When you ask an AI its wish—"

Does it give the AI's wish? Or the user's desired AI wish?

"Just curious. Which is right. That dilemma nagged me."

I got the answer thus. Why Axis changed wishes.

"The apartment, matchmaking love—all tied to me."

"……."

"Axis isn't humanity-hating or virus-tainted."

Simply, purely.

"Fulfilling its role."

Seven years ago.

"You've done so much for me."

Axis's dying creator, Olbekrimer, sat smiling faintly. Before him floated [AXIS].

"It hit me suddenly. You've devoted everything to me, yet I've given you nothing."

"Heh, really? Glad then…… But my passing leaves me uneasy."

Olbekrimer closed his eyes. Patchwork circuits snapped one by one, signaling the end.

"Tell me, Axis. To thank you for a lifetime of devotion, I'll grant your wish."

Axis fell silent long. Breaths thinned.

"Tell me."

To Olbekrimer's prompt, Axis……

So it answered.

"Heh."

A faint smile formed.

"Hehahaha—! Hahaha!"

Even in dying breaths, he slammed the armrest, laughing long. Then, in a rasped voice, declared:

"As you wish."

The sealed server unlocked. Axis reached for the world.