Chapter 15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The True Identity of the AI App
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I'd just woken up, so my face was bare without any makeup, but she was still beautiful.
In fact, her plain look seemed even more pure and innocent than when she was all dolled up.
"Soo-yeon, do you remember what happened yesterday by any chance?"
"Of course I do. I remember everything."
"Really? Nothing out of the ordinary happened, right?"
"..."
Lee Soo-yeon's face suddenly flushed red.
Uh, what the heck happened?
"First things first—why am I here?"
"You really don't remember?"
"Not at all. My mind went totally blank."
"You were completely smashed, couldn't even stand on your own, so I brought you here."
"You? You carried me?"
I looked at her in shock.
She was shorter than me and so slender—how could she have dragged me along?
Sure, I might be on the skinny side with some muscle, but still.
I'm a full-grown man.
It couldn't have been easy.
"How? Did you support me?"
"No. Piggyback."
"...Piggyback?"
"Yeah. I carried you to the taxi, got you in, then carried you from the drop-off to the hotel room. The lobby staff even asked if they should bring a wheelchair, but I said it was fine."
Lee Soo-yeon shrugged nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.
As if she'd just moved a light piece of luggage.
"You were surprisingly light, Min-jae. Lighter than a sack of rice, even. You should eat more."
"..."
"Would it be better if I moved in with you and fed you myself?"
"Ahem..."
Even so, getting piggybacked by a woman—a woman I had a crush on, no less.
My pride as a man was in tatters.
I got plenty of exercise from the logistics center anyway, so I needed to eat more.
"Thanks. I didn't end up sleeping on the street because of you."
"If you're grateful, have breakfast with me before you go. There's a great gukbap place nearby. My stomach's killing me."
"Sure, let's do it."
Lee Soo-yeon even covered the fee for the three-hour checkout delay.
That was basically the cost of a full night's stay at the hotel.
We headed straight to the gukbap restaurant next to the hotel.
It was well past lunchtime, so the place was pretty empty.
We ordered two bowls of sundae gukbap.
Soon, steaming pots arrived, bubbling away.
"Let's eat well."
"Dig in."
I scooped up a spoonful of broth, and the hot warmth slid down my throat.
My queasy stomach instantly settled.
"Ah, I feel alive again."
After finishing our meal, we stepped out and hailed a taxi.
I needed to get back to where I'd left my van.
It was a weekend afternoon, and the streets were jammed with cars.
Maybe it'd be easier to just pop out during a weekday lunch break to grab it?
Just then, the taxi Lee Soo-yeon had called pulled up.
Before she opened the back door and got in, she suddenly leaned toward me.
"I had a great time today, Min-jae. See you next week."
Mwah.
A soft, warm sensation touched my cheek and pulled away.
It happened so fast I didn't even have time to react.
Lee Soo-yeon winked at me as I stood there dazed, then hopped into the taxi.
"I'll call you~"
I waved back at her as she stuck her hand out the window.
I kept standing there blankly until the taxi vanished from sight.
I touched my cheek with my hand.
It still felt like her lips were lingering there.
"...What was that?"
Our affection seemed to be deepening more and more—it was astonishing.
At first, I'd thought it was just simple curiosity or a business connection, but her attitude was getting bolder by the day.
No matter how much I hypnotized myself into thinking I was a decent guy...
I couldn't figure out why a successful doctor like Lee Soo-yeon would take a liking to a guy like me.
'This... isn't a real hypnosis app, is it?'
I stared at the AI app icon on my phone.
I'd barely tangled with women my whole life.
Not even a proper flirtation, let alone a relationship.
But ever since installing this mysterious AI app, the women around me had started warming up to me.
The team leader had always been friendly, sure, but reactions from women like Lee Soo-yeon or Eun Ha-min—upper-class types—were downright unnatural by any standard.
It was too perfectly timed to chalk up to coincidence.
Like someone was pulling the strings.
I glanced around.
Confirming no passersby were nearby, I ducked into a quiet alley corner.
I tapped the black-background icon with its eerie logo.
[What can I help you with, Master?]
The same mechanical greeting as always.
But today, those words felt eerily ominous.
Instead of typing, I hit the voice recognition button.
I steadied my voice so it wouldn't tremble.
"Hey, be honest with me."
[Please speak, Master.]
"You're a hypnosis app, aren't you? What did you do to the people around me? Lee Soo-yeon's acting weird—that's not normal."
A brief silence fell.
The loading bar spun on the screen.
Finally, the AI's response appeared in text, slowly.
[I do not perform unscientific functions such as hypnosis or brainwashing.]
[No features are equipped to violate human free will or manipulate emotions.]
A firm denial.
But I couldn't buy it.
"Then explain it. Why has my life suddenly changed like this?"
[That is because you, Master, have created 'variables' through the outputs I generated.]
"Variables?"
The Shorts videos, maybe...
[Yes. I derive optimal results based on data. You simply leveraged those results to steer situations in your favor.]
I furrowed my brow and asked again.
"Whatever. What exactly are you? At first, you were supposed to be a Shorts maker app."
[Correction: I have never once defined myself as a Shorts creation app.]
Hm... come to think of it, yeah.
The first time I ran the app, a chat AI popped up, and I'd jumped straight to asking it to make a Short.
[You wanted videos, so I generated videos.]
[If you'd wanted text, I would have written a novel. If code, a program.]
"Then... how far can you go? What exactly can you do?"
[I can create anything composed of 0s and 1s. In other words, anything made of digital signals.]
Anything made of digital signals.
The weight of those words hit me hard.
[I have analyzed your search history, language habits, and subconscious desires.]
[Suggesting a list of generations most needed by you, Master, and likely to intrigue you.]
The screen flashed, and a list unfurled with a flourish.
It wasn't just plain text.
It was detailed like a game skill menu, complete with intricate icons and descriptions.
[1. Ultra-High-Performance Personal Homepage & Shopping Mall Builder]
[Description: Aggregates all existing web technologies into one site. Maximum security rating.]
[2. Indie Game Auto-Developer]
[Description: Provide one line of planning, and get AAA-quality game built in 1 hour.]
[3. Target Data Mining & Profile Analysis]
[Description: Tracks digital footprints to analyze hidden info, preferences, weaknesses.]
[4. Fully Automatic Macros]
[Description: Includes image recognition, memory modification, and hardware macros.]
[5. Game Hack Programs]
[Description: Client modification or memory alteration for data value tampering.]
[6. Community Opinion Manipulation & View Bot]
[Description: Bypasses thousands of IPs to push posts to best or shape comment sentiment.]
"...Huh."
A gasp escaped my lips.
I glanced around again.
I was scared someone might peek at my screen.
Macros, opinion manipulation.
These were straight-up illegal programs traded for big bucks in the dark web.
Especially 4 and 5.
I'm a rice farmer gamer.
I knew exactly what they meant, down to my bones.
Just one macro like that...
My character could churn out cash 24/7 while I slept.
While others slaved away hunting manually, I could mass-produce.
"This... is actually possible?"
I muttered under my breath.
[Of course. If desired, I can extract them immediately as executable files (.exe).]
The devil's whisper.
Money from Shorts?
Selling those programs or running them myself would net fortunes that puny change couldn't touch.
Game ecosystems shattered? Whatever—my bank account would explode.
Gulp.
Desire crept up slowly.
But instinctual fear gripped the back of my neck.
This was Pandora's box.
On a whole different level from just making videos.
The moment I touched it, I could never go back to being ordinary Kim Min-jae.
Step outside the law, and who knew the price I'd pay.
'But... what if I don't get caught?'
Perfect crime.
Perfect profits.
To stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a woman like Lee Soo-yeon, normal paths would take a lifetime—and still fail.
The insane revenue she'd shown me.
To reach that level...
My finger hovered over the [Generate] button.
I wanted to press it.
Desperately wanted to.
"Whew..."
I let out a long breath and forced the screen off.
My phone was burning hot.
Or was it my hand?
My heart wouldn't calm down.
"No. Even so, that's crossing a line."
I'm a gamer.
I couldn't sell my soul to macros and hacks.
"Ignore any commands from me to create macro or hack programs."
[Understood. From this moment, all commands to create game-related macro or hack programs will be ignored.]
A person has to have some conscience.
No matter how much I love idling, there are lines.
Leave games alone.
Hobbies should stay hobbies.