The First Generation's Shadow
Prove that you are human! The contact with her flat chest lasted only a fleeting moment, and when R.P.M.’s short embrace ended, I finally let out a sigh of relief. In the midst of this godforsaken apocalypse, the moment of my own personal utopia was finally beginning. 'Now I can finally sleep with my legs stretched out!'
She was R.P.M., the Great Monster Extermination Protocol and the Humanity Preservation Program herself. Since I, the very embodiment of living humanity, had sought her out personally, wasn't this practically like being invited as a state guest to another country?
"Then, we shall begin the final test."
"...Excuse me?"
Until her gaze shyly avoided mine, I had thought this whole ordeal would end quite simply.
"W-wait a second! You already checked everything!" I shouted in a panic.
"...No. Actually, there are further procedures that remain." She averted her eyes slightly.
"Then why did you hug me?" I felt a bit annoyed as I said it. What on earth was she doing?
"...That was just because I wanted to."
At her blunt remark, my eyes widened involuntarily.
"What?"
"...?! T-there are various ways to conduct verification procedures! Did you think that I, the final barrier of humanity, would make a judgment based on a mere physical touch?"
Her voice sounded almost aggrieved. No, no matter how I looked at it, she sounded like a kid who was annoyed because she felt guilty about something. Honestly, I shouldn't think this, but I felt an impulse to flick her on the forehead. But I decided to hold it in.
"To me, you... I mean..."
"It's Kang Chanwoo."
"Ah, yes. To be fully certain if the individual named Kang Chanwoo is truly human, or a monster disguised as a human, additional procedures are necessary."
She finished her sentence clearly and looked at me with a serious gaze, but I still had no clue what she wanted me to do.
"Can a machine feel 'certainty'?"
"To be precise, I am a system. And I possess a structure capable of simulating data patterns similar to human emotions... u-um, that is, sexual responses..."
...I guess I have to acknowledge that much.
"So, what do I need to do?"
"I must collect and analyze your DNA directly, Kang Chanwoo."
"What?!"
Suddenly, the atmosphere began to feel like a science lab class.
"DNA collection? I, uh, I was a liberal arts major...?"
DNA. Wasn't that some complex science stuff that only appeared in movies about cloning dinosaurs? I was the type of person who lost my mind just looking at a syringe; what was I supposed to do with that?
Just as thoughts were spiraling, a visual piece of information suddenly popped up in this empty, pure-white electronic space.
Location Coordinates: 80.2km Northeast | Name: 17th Identification Preservation Base
A transparent panel seemed to overlay the electronic space. R.P.M.’s voice seeped over it.
"About 80 kilometers northeast from your current position."
"Yeah?"
"There is the '17th Identification Preservation Base'. It is the place that stored the biological information of key figures until just before the fall of humanity and operated the human identification protocol."
"...Such a research facility is still active?"
She nodded and crossed her arms. "It might not be in full operation, but there should be systems running on auxiliary power. It is highly likely that the core server and the identification equipment are still maintained."
"Oh, then that's it!" I shouted, ready to jump up. "Let's go there, get a sample, get verified, and finish this cleanly!"
But R.P.M. pressed her lips together without a word. Then, she added with a hesitant look on her face.
"However, there is one variable."
"...A variable?"
As I sent an equally anxious look her way, R.P.M.’s expression wavered minutely.
"...That is."
A short silence. And her eyes flickered slightly.
"There might still be one android remaining inside that base..."
"...Eh?"
That was the variable? Just because of one android?
"Oh, that's fine. We can just ask her for help."
"Normally, yes."
But beads of sweat were already forming on her forehead. "...But that unit has a record of 'desertion'."
"Eh?"
Wait, 'desertion'? At that moment, although I didn't say it out loud, I started to get a hunch. It was hard to define exactly, but it was a category that didn't belong to humanity, nor to the monsters... it belonged nowhere.
"Furthermore, the time of her manufacture was 1,083 years ago..."
"A... a thousand years ago?! Then, don't tell me, that deserter is...!"
"Yes. A '1st Generation Android'. She is the existence called the god of the android world, created by humanity as their last hope just before their extinction."
1st Generation Android. She was literally something out of mythology. Forgotten technology, lost circuits, an ancient relic whose blueprints couldn't even be properly restored today. Just before humanity lost everything, this was the final card they threw down, creating something they couldn't even control themselves. That was them.
Now that technology, ideology, and ethics were all buried in the past, these beings were relics frozen in that era. Whether they were mocking the later generations of androids, disappointed in them, or just in a bad mood—nobody knew. The only thing certain was that if they decided you didn't fit their criteria, they would silently, without reason, and quietly erase you.
They couldn't be understood, and they couldn't be persuaded. From my current perspective, they were just 'bombs that would explode if you touched them'. R.P.M. said one of them was 'staying' inside that research facility.
"In that research facility... there is a hero-class unit codenamed 'Cherry Blossom', or in Japanese, 'Sakura (さくら)'."
"Ha..."
"Official records regarding the unit itself were mostly discarded... but I scraped together data from past Asian servers, the Japanese Ministry of Defense, and even newspaper articles from that time." Her eyes flickered for a moment. "She was developed on the Japanese archipelago 1,121 years ago, and because of her technology and combat algorithms, she earned the title of 'Sword Saint'."
And that 'Sword Saint' might be our enemy if things go wrong! ...It was a truly tragicomic situation. I couldn't laugh because my neck was stiff, and I couldn't cry because no tears would come out.
Still, I had one hope left.
"Since she's an android, she won't be able to attack me, a human, right?"
According to R.P.M.’s system, androids are forced to stop immediately if they attempt to harm a human. In fact, Serika had once tried to attack me after mistaking me for an enemy, only to be caught by the stop protocol. Just before that, she had asked for forgiveness in a way that was too human for a machine. With her lips, carefully and slowly... as if 're-inputting' her loyalty to me through fellatio.
Anyway, I thought maybe it would work out that way this time too. I briefly harbored some useless hope.
However.
"At the time of the 1st Generation Android's development, humanity had not yet completely perished."
"...So?"
"So, by the standards of that time, only 'direct murder' was prohibited... other things like suppression, restraint, and forced confinement were all permitted. By design."
R.P.M. chose her words for a moment before quietly adding. "So... it means that while they cannot kill a human, if they judge you to be 'dangerous' by their own standards, they can take any measures necessary, such as making you unable to move."
Ah, right. That was why N.E.M.E.S.I.S. had forcibly raped me, declaring she would milk me dry for the rest of my life to make babies. She didn't have the slightest intention of killing me; in fact, she said she would keep me alive. As a 'sperm tank', that is.
So, it meant that if I got caught by her, I was truly screwed.
"But I believe."
"...In what."
"Kang Chanwoo. If you are truly human, I believe you can melt her heart, which has grown cold over a thousand years."
...Don't go dumping your responsibilities on me. Still, if I think positively, the opponent is an android. Machines basically move according to rules, and as long as the basic command system is maintained, resistance is difficult. In other words.
'...If I stick my dick in her, she won't be able to move, right?'
At that moment, the word 'dick-lock' popped into my head quite naturally. Of course, there was no guarantee it would actually happen, but that was the only thing I could hope for in this situation. Yeah, since I'm going anyway, the only thing I can trust is my own body.
And so, I decided to place a very pathetic expectation on my last remaining hope. And when the communication with R.P.M. was cut off and I returned to the real world, I was informing Revi and Serika of our next destination.
"If that is the case, it is finally my turn to step up!"
"...Revi?"
While Serika had left on a one-day business trip to the tuna canning factory to stock up on food, the only ones left were me and Revi. And at that timing, Revi suddenly shouted at me confidently.
"Stand up, Chanwoo-nim!"
"...Huh?"
"From now on, I will pass on the android-exclusive self-defense techniques I learned from R.P.M. for the sake of the weak Chanwoo-nim!"
...You're going to teach me, a human, android-exclusive self-defense techniques? Is there any point to this?
"Do not worry too much! Androids hatched at the R.P.M. space facility learn this martial art as a basic education from their childhood! It is not that difficult!"
Even if you say that... honestly, whether that martial art is basic or whatever, I'm confident I'd get beaten and knocked out even by a kindergarten-aged android.
"And I even once placed first in the cat-fight subject in the 4th Unit!"
No, no, no, that's not a matter of concepts!