It Might Be a Bit Scary (2)
It Might Be a Bit Scary (2)
The brief conversation at the café had ended.
Drex climbed into the waiting vehicle.
It was a private car sent by Natasha.
She had said it was built to withstand being crushed by a tank and still be fine, so there was no need to worry about any other trouble on the way to 'No Answer.'
And since it was a vehicle driven by an unmanned system, there was no need to be careful about the conversation being overheard.
Drex, wanting to lighten the stuffy atmosphere inside the car, broke the silence first.
"...Whoa, I thought it couldn't be. I never imagined a super AI actually existed in the world."
Beyond Drex's black sunglasses, his green mechanical eye glowed with a machine light.
He carefully turned his head to look at the other people in the vehicle.
Behind Drex's seat were two women, each staring out a different window.
The golden mercenary and the red elf.
Catherine and Andrea.
Normally, Mage—whoever—should have been in the car too.
But he'd made an excuse about urgent business and ran off without looking back, so there was no helping it.
They seemed so absorbed in their own thoughts.
When no answer came, Drex reclined his seat and leaned his head back against it.
'I'm tired.'
Drex thought.
An incident tangled up with a mega corp—ordinary mental fortitude couldn't handle something like that.
But still.
He could swear that the three people now riding in this car were all thinking about the same person.
'Eve,' wasn't it.
That was the name.
The scene he'd witnessed at the amusement park flashed through Drex's mind.
Dozens upon dozens of ninjas collapsed on the spot, unable to do a thing.
The mega corp's firewall, staffed by dozens of professional security administrators, was breached in an instant.
The sight of the city lights, blazing ceaselessly day and night, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
In a way, it was terrifying enough to inspire fear.
It was a detail he'd gotten past only because his trusted friend and colleague Si-un had explained it.
If not for that, he might have mistaken it for an asymmetric weapon made by a city or a major state—a game-changer.
The fact that it was an artificial intelligence, for one.
Its performance and capabilities were at a level you couldn't believe even when seeing it with your own eyes.
'......It really is insane.'
What would happen if this information leaked to the city, Neon City, or the mega corp?
Right now, the daily life around them—especially Si-un's daily life—could be shattered.
And yet.
'To have that kind of important conversation at a café.'
Did he have no particular thoughts about it?
Or was he not worried at all?
Drex simply couldn't understand what his colleague Mage was thinking.
There must be things Si-un was considering, just as he'd helped out his colleagues, including Drex himself.
But part of him wished Si-un would trust colleagues like him and tell them things in advance.
'Well, as long as he's told us now, I guess it's fine.'
Drex covered his face with his hand.
Right now, their destination was 'No Answer.'
It was the natural route, since Natasha, the owner of No Answer, had planned the operation to kidnap the vice chairman.
So how should he explain to her how things had turned out?
Drex had no idea at all.
It made him think that maybe this was why Si-un had run off.
Drex gazed at the city lights visible beyond the window.
He wondered if his friend had gotten home by now.
He let out a short sigh, worrying about his friend.
.......
And on top of that.
A woman in a maid outfit, no less.
It wasn't his intention, but he was also surprised to learn his friend's new taste.
'What a taste.'
It was so John-like.
15. A Little Scary (2)
Honestly.
Humans are peculiar John-creatures.
My own case was no different.
The artificial intelligence, Eve.
In the current situation, the relationship between Eve and me hadn't changed one bit.
AI and master.
Lost property and finder.
That relationship of ours had been maintained for quite a long time.
The first time I met Eve was during the last commission I took on with my colleagues.
Even if it hadn't been years,
no one could deny that there had been enough time for me to adapt and get used to Eve.
But even so.
Eve hadn't changed.
I hadn't changed either.
It was just that the artificial intelligence who'd always been with me now simply had a body.
But what was this feeling?
"......."
The situation of being together with Eve hadn't changed.
But the simple fact that the artificial intelligence—a beautiful woman—was physically beside me in the same elevator filled me with a sense of pressure.
I carefully looked over at Eve.
It had been like this ever since coming to my place, too.
Maybe because the scenery she saw through her artificial prosthesis was fascinating, Eve kept looking around here and there.
She pressed all the hologram panels that moved between floors.
And as if she'd hacked the contents of the surveillance camera installed in the elevator, she even stared fixedly at the camera lens, spacing out.
I didn't deliberately talk to her to stop her actions.
I'd have to have a detailed conversation once we got inside anyway, but I didn't want to disturb her as she looked around.
It'd be a lie to say I had nothing I was curious about.
Especially the maid outfit Eve was wearing.
The stares from people on the way here had been incredibly burdensome.
Well, anyway.
The elevator stopped and a short bell sounded.
Eve trailed along behind me as I got off the elevator.
It felt like a chick following its mother bird.
It was just then.
"Ah."
I spotted someone ahead of me and let out a groan.
Our eyes had already met.
There was no way I could just walk past.
I bowed my head and greeted the biggest cyberpunk stickler I knew.
"...Bill-ssi, it's been a while."
"Hm, yeah."
It really had been quite a long time since I'd last seen him.
The little one, who looked to be about ten years old, reacted to my greeting with complete nonchalance.
Going by looks alone, his hands clasped behind his back in an arrogant pose were irritating, but since he was actually close to a hundred years old, I was at a loss for what to do.
There was always the option to just ignore him and go inside.
But as someone from the Eastern land of propriety, that was a difficult choice for me.
I tried to quickly pass Bill by while making some small talk.
But faster than that.
Bill looked at the person next to me, Eve, and asked with curiosity.
"...Who's the young lady next to you in the maid outfit?"
Even he, who'd always just seemed like an out-of-touch old crone,
found the cyberpunk-style maid outfit too much.
His tone was extremely puzzled, entirely unlike him.
...Hm.
How should I explain Eve?
No, there was no need to explain in the first place.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to say she was just an acquaintance.
That's when Eve moved.
"?"
Leaving my bewildered expression behind.
Eve walked up and lifted Bill.
"...Huh?"
In the flustered situation, Bill was too startled to react.
He seemed unable to even register the fact that a woman he'd just met had picked him up.
Because Bill had the outward appearance of a roughly ten-year-old.
He couldn't muster any response or reaction to Eve's action.
Bill belatedly came to his senses.
"Wha, what the!! Put me down!"
Ignoring Bill's flustered voice completely.
Eve, still holding him up, walked toward the front door of the hallway—toward the house where Bill lived.
At the same time, she opened the front door of Bill's house.
"...How did you open it when it was lock—."
After setting Bill down, Eve shut the front door with a Kwang! sound.
From beyond the front door, the sound of Bill urgently pounding on it came through.
[What the, why won't the door open!]
The door handle on the outside turned.
But strangely, he didn't seem able to open the door from the inside.
I carefully called out to Eve.
"...Eve."
"It was an act that did not violate any laws related to the city, 'Neon City.'"
"......."
Is that so?
Thinking about it, it did seem right.
She hadn't used violence.
And it wasn't illegal breaking and entering.
She'd simply set Bill down inside his house from the hallway.
I fell into brief confusion.
I looked at Eve as she walked back behind me.
Eve stood there expressionlessly, as if nothing had happened.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but through Eve's blank expression.
I sensed a feeling of refreshing satisfaction.
...Yeah.
You got a lot of stress from Bill too, huh.
I looked at Bill's firmly shut front door and spoke.
"That felt refreshing."
"Affirmative."
Seems my guess was right.
Eve nodded ever so slightly.
"I learn that this is the emotion called refreshed."
That added remark was a bonus.
I felt newly grateful to Eve.
In my current tired state, if Bill had managed to find fault with me, 'respecting one's elders' could have turned into 'attacking one's elders.'
...Thank you!
I dragged my exhausted body down the hallway.
.......
Anyway, returning to what I'd been mulling over earlier.
Was I supposed to live together in the same house with Eve, who now had a human body?
My house wasn't exactly spacious.
I felt it might be better to just get her a different unit on the same floor.
"Hey."
"Standing by."
I paused my steps for a moment.
I turned around to look at Eve.
In the middle of the condominium hallway, Eve's white eyes stared intently at me.
I'd thought so from the first time I met her at the amusement park, but the sculptural beauty of her face was remarkable.
Looking at her now, it seemed as if the 3D model I'd seen on Eve's stream had been realized exactly as-is.
Ah.
I shook my head to snap out of it.
I'd briefly gotten mesmerized by Eve's looks and spaced out.
I spoke to Eve, who was waiting for my words.
"Wouldn't it be better to just live in a different hou—."
"Refused."
Eve's answer was very swift.
"The purpose of this AI, this entity, is to serve the human 'Lee Si-un.' Therefore, I calculate that being in a narrow room in a female form is the most efficient method."
Her precise pronunciation, like that of an NCB24 news anchor, was an art form.
Except the words came out at a speed as if the video were playing at 1.5x speed.
"I humbly assert that it is not a good choice, because I have already ordered furniture for living environment improvement to the address where the human 'Lee Si-un' resides."
"Hold on, you said you ordered delivered furniture?"
When the hell did she do that?
Eve continued.
"Correct. This artificial prosthesis has been set to fully implement all human functions. Therefore, elements such as sleep and meals are necessary."
...An artificial prosthesis that even eats, she says.
Even with my roughly cobbled-together knowledge.
It couldn't help but seem like an extremely inefficient structure.
"This too, I state, is for the purpose of serving the human 'Lee Si-un.'"
How on earth eating and sleeping.
Were used in serving me.
I just couldn't understand it.
Anyway, we couldn't keep having this conversation in the hallway forever.
"Alright, let's just go inside for now."
I passed through the hallway and entered the front door passcode.
...Yeah, when I thought about it, nothing was really changing.
Living with Eve, who had been stored inside my data module, was the same either way.
It was just a matter of whether she had a body or not.
I resolved not to think about it too deeply.
Hm.
I'd just keep living the way I'd been living.
With that thought, I opened the front door.
.......
"Wait a second."
I spoke while looking at the room.
Setting aside the large amount of newly added furniture.
The question was why my old 'single bed' had been replaced with a 'double bed' size.
"...Eve?"
"Considering the room size and the number of living occupants, this is the most efficient choice."
Does an AI artificial intelligence also possess something like embarrassment?
It somehow sounded like she was making an excuse.