The Super Genius Doesn't Lose to Common Sense Alteration

A single chat window floating on the screen.

Whatever you typed, an answer came back from the other side.

Ask if they'd eaten and you got words of concern. Type that you wanted to die and you got words trying to talk you down.

It wasn't a person.

Just a program that had swallowed whole the hundreds of millions of sentences scattered across the internet, trained and retrained until it could pass for a single intelligence.

We call that a chatbot.

In there, anything went.

You could become a god, the lead of a pure-love romance comic, or solve the things you couldn't crack in real ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠life.

I'd only ever heard that such things existed. Never paid them much mind.

Not until I was lying in my room and a holographic window appeared in midair.

Me, Park Yushin.

I was pretty sure I'd lost my mind.

…Kim Suyeon? That woman who won two Nobel Prizes last year?

I reached for the window. My fingers passed straight through it.

"Ghk—!"

My scalp suddenly burned, and a scene I'd never witnessed began to play inside my head.

It was a spacious conference room.

Several men in suits sat around a long table, and at the head of it a silver-haired man lounged with one leg crossed over the other.

"Sponsoring Director Kim is difficult without board approval."

The man across from him closed a file as he spoke.

"I'm saying I'll do it. Who's going to stop me? Ah—Secretary Kim, suck my cock."

Everyone blinked and looked at him.

"…Excuse me?"

The female secretary he'd pointed out carefully asked again.

The silver-haired man flicked his fingers.

"It's common sense for a female secretary to suck her boss's cock during a meeting, isn't it?"

"What are you—"

The woman's incredulous protest never finished.

Thud.

The strength left the arm holding her tablet; her hand dropped toward the floor.

"…Ah."

She blanked for a moment, then came back to herself. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the man.

By any measure, the correct response was to be furious at the rudeness.

"I'm sorry. That was careless of me."

But the answer that left her mouth was nothing like what anyone expected. Even the others around the table nodded along.

"It's fine. No one minds, right?"

"That's fine, but the sponsorship amount is considerable. An expenditure of this scale…"

They reacted as if he'd merely asked whether it was all right if he drank some water.

Not a single person left who felt that something was wrong.

"Hah… hah…"

The information caught up a beat late.

That this place was inside a chatbot called The Super Genius Doesn't Lose to Common Sense Alteration.

That the silver-haired man from a moment ago was the user running this chatbot.

And that I was an extra living inside it.

The scar from falling as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a kid, the air filling my lungs—all of it fabricated, apparently.

I'm a byproduct of artificial intelligence?

The way my ragged breathing settled down only made it worse. Even the speed at which I accepted it felt designed.

"…System. Mind if I ask a few things?"

"What was that thing he used just now?"

Insane.

If that actually worked, it was pure broken bullshit.

"…How the hell am I supposed to win?"

So at least I had some baseline advantages.

"All right. Where is that woman?"

And so—right in the middle of the street.

Honk—! Honk—!

A truck blared its horn at a taxi trying to go straight from a right-turn lane.

I stood at the crosswalk with a wireless earbud in only one ear, waiting for the light.

No music was playing. I just didn't want to look like some lunatic talking to himself on the street.

"Give me the info on this chatbot."

What the system recited went like this.

Kim Suyeon, right before falling to the user of Common Sense Alteration, had proposed a bet with him.

"Isn't it boring, always moving puppets that react exactly as you decide? How about a wager with me."

A bet that she—under Common Sense Alteration—would deduce its contents herself.

The deadline was two weeks.

If she failed to figure it out or gave up, she would willingly place herself under him.

She had set overwhelmingly unfavorable terms with her own mouth.

She had reason to. She'd once appeared on a program called Talent Breaker.

It pitted the best of every field against each other worldwide, and she had never lost once.

Sharp eyes that looked down on people. White hair cut short at the chin.

I'd even watched the rebroadcasts of that show. I'd rewound it more times than was reasonable if I was only watching because she was pretty.

"…But this world was made for that woman to lose."

If the bet ran honestly, finding the answer wouldn't be hard for her.

Honestly being the key word.

"…Hah. Why does my world have to look like this."

The light changed and the crowd surged forward all at once.

"Whoa—"

A man in a suit coming the other way brushed my shoulder. I ducked my head on reflex.

"Ah, sorry."

The man didn't answer. Even when I looked back from the far sidewalk, he was still standing in the middle of the crosswalk.

The light was blinking, but his feet wouldn't move; his mouth hung half open, focus landing nowhere. A middle-aged woman coming from behind shoved past him with her shoulder and kept going.

"…Huh."

Only then did the man blink and start walking as if nothing had happened.

Guess he really doesn't want to go to work.

I fixed my earbud and walked on.

"User info… Name Casey. Silver hair, red eyes, handsome. Looking at the way he set himself up, the guy's purpose is crystal clear."

Aside from having some money, all he'd invested in was a bit of body and status. Common Sense Alteration must have been an extremely expensive ability.

"What day are we on?"

"Can't you just tell me the contents of the Common Sense Alteration and I'll pass it on?"

"Probability?"

Tch. Would've been easy if that had worked.

"If the user just forces her physically, doesn't the game end?"

"That's bullshit."

In the end, it meant I had to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stick to that woman for two weeks so she could finish her deduction safely.

Walking, I found myself in front of a building before I knew it. A sign glittered beneath a peak that seemed to scrape the sky.

Suyeon Corporation.

The most successful company in the world, the place they called the tower of knowledge.

I stopped in front of the automatic doors.

"…System. What happens if I walk in there right now?"

Figured.

I was an orphan, a nobody unemployed guy. There was no way for someone like that to meet that woman. Casey had approached as a sponsor—so I needed at least some pretext to clear the threshold myself.

"You mentioned unit setting values earlier. Explain that."

What?

So I could become Hypnosis Uncle or Super-Handsome Batman or whatever?

"Anything goes?"

No magic in a world without magic—something like that.

"My grades?"

Wow. I was completely, utterly ordinary.

"The user?"

"…So I'm restricted too, right?"

"…!"

My scrunched brow smoothed out. The corner of my mouth lifted.

Found it. The thread in the gap.

I was an orphan anyway, so Relationships could stay F. Raising Body was paper against Common Sense Alteration, and this wasn't a game you won with your body to begin with.

Drop Body by one, dump everything into Status.

I walked through the automatic doors and headed for the front desk.

As I passed through and approached the counter, the woman seated there greeted me with a smile.

"Hello~ What brings you in today?"

"Uh… I'd like to make a sponsorship."

At that single sentence, her smile turned even more artificial.

"Oh my, is that so. May I have your name?"

"Park Yushin."

"One moment."

I watched her peer at the computer screen.

This woman got hit with Common Sense Alteration too, right?

If so, staying wary was the right call. If the user got pissed, he might use the people under Common Sense Alteration to corner her and try to force himself on her.

Still, this place is definitely high-end—even the smell is nice.

I drew a deep breath and a fragrance like a luxury hotel washed over me.

Smells good… wait.

Achoo!

"Eek?"

I'd inhaled too deep and coughed without meaning to.

Because I dropped Body to F?

The result: my spit landed on the receptionist's face.

"……"

I saw her business smile nearly crack.

"S-sorry!"

Please, anything but a look of contempt!

After staring at me hard for about five seconds, the receptionist blinked, then pulled a handkerchief that looked expensive from her pocket.

"…It's fine."

I offered silent apologies and respect to the woman barely holding her smile.

"Well, you don't appear to have a separate appointment. Sponsorship inquiries are quite backed up at the moment. If you leave your phone number, I'll help you schedule something."

"Huh?"

Sponsorships were backed up?

"Wait, wait—do you know someone named Casey? I heard he got a meeting right away."

I'd heard it from the system, so it was fact.

But her answer was—

"…? Casey? Who is that?"

Unexpected.

…What?

And right after she wiped her face with the handkerchief—

"…Ah."

The focus drained from her pupils. Her mouth parted slightly and her movements froze in place.

About five seconds passed, same as before.

"……Ah. You mean Mr. Casey? He's classified as a special sponsor, you see."

She smiled at me as if nothing at all had just happened.

Did the Common Sense Alteration just come undone?

My head lit up like a switch had flipped.

…System. Her reaction slowing down—is that related to my spit?

Is that so?

Then… that changes things.

The moment the thought landed, I scratched my head and asked with an innocent face.

"Weird. I was told I'm classified as a special sponsor alongside Mr. Casey. Mr. Casey said that's how it would be."

"Mr. Casey said—"

Ptoo.

I spat in her face.

I am such a goddamn lunatic!

At this point it was all or nothing!

"……"

Her movements stopped cold.

A normal reaction. I'd freeze too if someone suddenly spat in my face.

But?

I stepped closer and tapped her cheek.

No reaction… at all.

That office worker earlier was the same thing.

I leaned over and checked the monitor. There really was a special-sponsor list, and Casey was the only name on it.

I shoved my own name onto the list and returned to my spot just as she started moving again, by a hair.

"…Yes? Let me check that for you."

Her hand reached for the handkerchief on the desk—the same gesture as before, about to wipe her face.

Grab.

I caught her wrist.

"Uh, hey."

"…Yes?"

"There's nothing on your face. You already wiped it earlier."

The fingers holding the handkerchief went slack. She glanced down at her own hand, then set it on the desk as it was.

So washing it off puts things back to normal.

Information worth noting. I let go and rested my arms on the counter.

"More importantly—what's your name?"

"…Han Jisu."

"How long have you worked here?"

"Three years… now."

"And before that?"

Her eyes flicked left and right a little.

"…I don't know."

Even as she said she didn't know, her mouth kept moving.

"Among the lab people, who spends the most time with Casey?"

"Manager Oh from Planning."

"What time does he leave today?"

"He goes down to the underground parking garage at six-thirty."

"And Director Kim Suyeon?"

"The Director is in her private laboratory on the 27th floor. Access is available from special-sponsor rank and above."

After answering that far, she closed her mouth.

"…What did I just say."

"You were explaining the sponsorship process."

"Ah. Yes. Of course."

She turned her eyes back to the monitor. Even looking at the screen with my name on it, not a single fingertip hesitated.

"Mr. Park Yushin, confirmed. I'll escort you to the 27th floor."

I broke into a wide grin.

"Thank you."