The Price of a Life
I had heard the phrase "Maetan's dog" even back during my aptitude test.
"We might be living here thanks to Maetan, but you know how it is, Hyeong-nim. Nobody actually likes Maetan," Hee-cheol said, his tone carrying the distinct, rough-around-the-edges respect of a seasoned gangster.
It was exactly as he said.
Maetan's citizens became its employees just to survive, but it was essentially a contract to be exploited in exchange for their lives.
When they registered their Neck-Hubs with Maetan, they were saddled with a massive debt under the guise of a "down payment" that took years to pay off. Meanwhile, the corporation drained their labor, paying them barely enough to scrape by.
If they caused even the slightest loss to the company, they were pushed out into the dangerous wilds of the Internet under the pretext of "fieldwork" or "business trips."
To survive in Maetan, working two or three jobs was a necessity.
The Goblin seniors I worked with probably had other jobs too.
"And since you've personally proven yourself to be one of Maetan's dogs, there's no way people are gonna like you, ya know?" Hee-cheol added.
"But high-rank Players are popular, aren't they?" I asked.
A- and S-rank Players were objects of envy. Broadcasts of them exploring the Internet and showing off the data they retrieved were among Maetan's most popular programs.
"Well, that's because they're high-rank... The best in any field is bound to be popular. But you're a D-rank, Hyeong-nim. No offense, but D-ranks are a dime a dozen."
Hee-cheol poured synthetic beer into a glass.
"Honestly, Hyeong-nim, you seem to be completely in the dark. Hey, bring Min-jae back in!"
Hee-cheol called for the man named Min-jae, whom he had tried to introduce to me earlier.
A moment later, the door opened and a middle-aged man in a sleeveless tank top walked in. His arms and chest were thick with hair.
"Min-jae here is a Player too. Hey, Hyeong-nim just became a Player, so show him the ropes."
The man named Min-jae limped over to the table.
Looking closely, I saw a wooden prosthetic leg where one of his legs should have been.
"Hello there! I'm Oh Min-jae, a C-grade Player."
"Help him out with whatever he needs. He's a bit lacking in common sense, so explain things thoroughly. I'll cover your TC," Hee-cheol said.
"Thank you, boss!"
Min-jae sat down across from Hee-cheol.
Hee-cheol poured a beer and handed it to him.
"Hyeong-nim, have you joined a guild yet?" Min-jae asked.
"Sprout..."
"Sprout! That's a great guild, sir! In that case, there's barely anything for me to teach you! Compared to other guilds, they're famous for being kind to low-rank Players and managing them well. Though their guild leader, Yoo Hyeyeon, is a bit terrifying..."
Yoo Hyeyeon, terrifying? She had been quite kind to me.
Come to think of it, Kang Yeolchan did seem a bit intimidated by her.
"Which guild are you in, Min-jae?"
"You can speak casually to me."
"I'm not that ill-mannered."
"Ha!"
Hee-cheol let out a dumbfounded chuckle.
No matter if he was Hee-cheol's subordinate, I couldn't bring myself to speak casually to a man who looked at least ten years older than me.
"Hehe, I'm a solo Player. Joining a guild comes with too many obligations... Besides, I don't do anything major. I just wander around safe zones and bring back data that isn't on Intra-Maetan. I'm what they call a 'Miner.' A Miner."
A term I had heard from Yoo Hyeyeon came up. Miner.
It referred to Players who hauled relatively worthless data from the Internet back to Intra-Maetan.
"The data I bring back is... well, things like buying books from bookstores, or grabbing info on new convenience store products when they stock up. Honestly, most low-rank Players make a living mining. The pay isn't great, but the risk is low, and it's a decent side hustle."
"That's why people hate 'em, sir. They don't bring anything useful back, but they raise the risk of bringing back a virus," Hee-cheol chimed in.
"It's not a virus, it's getting infected by the Internet's AIs," I corrected.
"Ain't that the same thing? Infection is infection. High-grade Players are strong and skilled enough to run away from AIs or fight and win, but for low-grade Players, meeting an AI is the end of the line. If they crawl back to Intra-Maetan carrying that infection, it's an absolute disaster."
"But that's why the Monolith Gate exists," I mentioned, referring to the black stone slab one had to pass through to access the Internet.
"Doesn't the Monolith Gate detect and catch AI intrusions? And if it does, Maetan's security extraction team will track them down and yank out their Neck-Hub within fifteen minutes."
"The Monolith Gate isn't foolproof, sir. In the end, humans built it. How's that gonna hold up against AIs? If an AI sets its mind to it, it'll breach it in no time."
I looked down at my left arm. Come to think of it, this thing was an AI too, and she slipped through the Monolith Gate whenever she pleased.
"Actually, there was an incident in the past where an AI bypassed the Monolith Gate, and the extraction was delayed," Min-jae said.
"Really?"
Hee-cheol said, crunching on a fried grasshopper leg, "It was probably a bit before you arrived in Maetan, Hyeong-nim. The day the entire city ground to a halt. Quite a few people died that day."
"With that kind of risk hanging over us, there's no way people can like Players. If we brought back incredibly helpful data like the high-grade Players do, it might be different, but low-grade Players like us are practically invisible to them."
I silently ate my food. I hadn't really understood how the general public perceived Players. But even so...
Does it really matter?
CC voiced my thoughts.
Neither you nor I want to become a Player to get famous, ahjussi. We have a goal. If it really bothers you, we can just find Choi Minseol and the PC Cafe quickly, and then you can quit being a Player!
The bouncy message floated before my eyes.
It was a statement that completely disregarded human relationships, but it was also entirely correct.
To me, being a Player was a means, not an end.
"I see. It's probably best not to go around telling people I've become a Player."
"Smart move, sir. Oh, but if you reach a high rank, you can advertise it all you want. Fans will even send you Super Chats and stuff," Hee-cheol said, refilling my glass with beer.
"If you ever hit a high rank, Hyeong-nim, I'll treat you big time. Just make sure to save the Chairman's seat for me, sir."
"Chairman?"
It's internet slang for the person who donates the most money to a streamer.
Min-jae, who had been watching the mood, spoke up. "By the way, Hyeong-nim, have you gotten your vaccine yet?"
"Vaccine?"
I recalled the most recent memory of getting a shot.
I had been jabbed countless times while being treated for my radiation-soaked state.
But none of those had been vaccines.
"What kind of vaccine?"
"What's the scariest thing on the Internet? Getting infected by an AI. Even if you don't run into an AI directly, spending too much time on the Internet slowly infects you. It's a shot that prevents that."
"There's such a thing?"
I thought of the bearded man who had been infected by an AI during my fieldwork.
He had looked human, but he was an infected host blindly trying to connect to Intra-Maetan to return to his original body.
"Where do you go to get that?"
Ahjussi, I'm telling you, that makes absolutely no sense!
CC's message blocked my vision.
I barely managed to navigate the street, peering through the gaps between the floating text.
"What do you know? You don't even have a body."
A vaccine makes zero sense! AIs are digital entities, so how on earth can a physical injection block them?!
"Are you looking down on humanity? We live in an era where we can scrub radiation out of blood vessels. It wouldn't be strange if there was a technology to filter out AIs flowing through the bloodstream."
┗|｀O′|┛ Arghhhhh! Why would an AI be flowing through your bloodstream in the first place?!
Frustrated, CC spammed message windows all over my field of vision.
Ignoring her, I headed toward the clinic Min-jae had recommended.
Officially, there was only one hospital in Maetan.
The corporate hospital run directly by Maetan.
The place where the true miracle workers resided—the ones who had brought me back from being a pickled radiation corpse.
But because they charged murderous medical fees, it wasn't a place one could easily visit.
If you were dragged there while unconscious, your life was practically over. People said it was better to just hand over a few organs to clear the debt.
Maetan's citizens called any medical facility that wasn't the corporate hospital a "clinic."
These were run by civilian doctors, totaling about ten across all of Maetan. Each had its own identity, ranging from traditional Eastern medicine clinics to Western clinics, and even shamanic clinics.
"Is this the place...?"
The clinic Min-jae recommended was nestled deep inside the market of the civilian district.
Seeing dried herbs, dried insects, and dried mushrooms hanging in clusters at the entrance, it looked like an Eastern medicine clinic.
Ahjussi, let's just go back and not waste your money. It really makes no sense.
"What do you know? You've never even gotten a vaccine."
Back in the military, I received all kinds of vaccinations every time we relocated or deployed for a mission. Especially during the mid-war period when the AIs actively deployed chemical weapons, we had to get new shots almost daily.
I thought it was a hassle back then, but looking back, it was the reason I was still alive.
In front of the shop, a middle-aged man in a modified hanbok was trimming dried mushrooms.
I approached him and asked, "Doctor?"
The middle-aged man looked up. His calm, serene eyes were striking.
The man raised his hand and pointed inside the clinic.
"Thank you."
I gave him a brief nod and stepped inside.
"Where does it hurt?!"
Before I could even greet anyone, a booming, scolding voice echoed through the shop.
Seated in the deepest corner of the clinic was a heavily wrinkled old doctor with a black beard.
"Hold on. Let me guess. Your face is dark and sallow... looks like your kidneys are shot. Am I right? Constant indigestion, diarrhea."
For someone like me who digested more than three times the calories of an average person daily, hearing that my digestion was failing was practically a death sentence.
"No."
"Really? I could've sworn... Then what is it? Are you seeing things? Hearing strange voices? Am I right? I saw it when you walked in—you're not alone. There's a woman on your back..."
Oh my. (o_o)
Why are you the one getting surprised?
Only then did I look around the clinic.
Mysterious talismans, a small shrine, candles, and various ritual tools were scattered everywhere.
From the outside, I thought it was an Eastern medicine clinic, but stepping inside, it was clearly a shamanic clinic.
"This one's going to be hard to shake off... *Sigh*... I'm getting old... But if you show enough sincerity, it's not like I can't muster up some strength..."
I spoke to the doctor, who was stealing glances at me to gauge my reaction. "I came to get an AI vaccine."
Only then did the doctor understand. He straightened his back and spoke arrogantly. "A Player? A rookie?"
"Yes."
The doctor sized me up from head to toe. "Eight million Maetan Points."
"What?!"
"Why, is it expensive? Looks like you can afford it."
I was shocked by the price, but even more shocked by the fact that he had guessed almost exactly how much money I had.
"What's there to be surprised about? If you get infected by an AI on the Internet, you're as good as dead! This prevents that! It's literally the price of your life, and you think eight million is expensive?!"
(°ロ°) ...Can we please go back?
CC's message popped up.
Now that I thought about it, preventing AI infection with a vaccine did sound absurd. AIs were digital entities; how could an injection in the bloodstream stop them?
I silently turned around to leave.
"Fine! Five million!"
As I placed my hand on the door.
"Ah, seriously! Taking advantage of an old man's soft heart... I'll take three million! You thief!"
As I opened the door.
"Sigh... Look, young man. Fine, I lose. Two million. No lower than this! I'm really... only doing this because I hate to see a young life wasted... I'm giving it to you below cost."
As I took a step outside.
"If I let you go like this, it'd be a mercy if you just died. But if I have to see you begging on the streets with a yanked-out Neck-Hub a few days from now, how regretful would I feel? So, I'll do it for 1.5 million. Final offer. This is it!"
I turned my head and looked back at the doctor.
His watery eyes and deeply furrowed brow moved my heart.
I turned back and stepped into the clinic again.
You're seriously falling for this?
1.5 million is practically nothing anyway.
"Right, let's write down your patient chart first. What's your name?"
"Yoon Juhyuk."
"Yoon... Ju... hyuk... You can pay the 1.5 million right now, yes?"
The doctor pulled out a USB cable connected to Intra-Maetan.
Just as I took it and was about to plug it into my Neck-Hub.
"Wait."
A hand gripped the cable.