Living as an AI (2)
Living as an AI (2)
Even in 'Little Shinjuku,' the busiest hub in the Lower Layer's Citizen District.
If you had to pick the loudest and most chaotic spot, the illegal market known as 'Vanta Market' was undeniably it.
And precisely because it was that kind of place, Vanta Market harbored more people with pasts they couldn't reveal to anyone than anywhere else.
The same held true for the old man who ran the antique shop, going by the alias 'Tenchō (テンチョウ).'
If I tried to recount that past of his, it would still fall short even after reading through all three volumes of the diary he wrote in every single night without fail.
Suffice it to say, there was no need to go into detail about just how many skeletons he had in his closet.
His real name was Hei Chiu (黑 秋).
That he was on the priority wanted list sought by the Chinese mafia enterprise 'Heishukwoi' was something not even the neighbors he was close with knew.
And if that was the case for Tenchō himself.
The other people who had drifted here as well.
It was a given that they, too, carried similarly unsavory pasts just like him.
Maybe that was why.
The old man could say with confidence that he had a sharper eye for people than most.
Of course, you couldn't glean everything about a person from a first impression alone.
But it helped that he generally never forgot a face once he'd seen it.
The fact that his gut feelings were rarely, if ever, wrong only bolstered that confidence.
And.
Because of that.
The old man could brusquely yell at the customer who had just boldly pushed open the door and walked in.
"Get out."
"...Er, hey, old-timer. I stopped by the other day, too."
He seemed to be saying something in reply.
But the old man refused to let those words reach his ears.
A place like this.
The very act of walking through Vanta Market with a woman dressed in a 'white maid outfit.'
It proved beyond doubt that he was no ordinary person.
"You trashy otaku (オタク) bastard!"
Apparently, Japanese had become second nature on the old man's tongue.
Through the translation module, the old man's words were relayed to the man verbatim.
The man.
Lee Si-woon clutched his head and let out a sigh right after that.
16. What It Means to Be an Artificial Intelligence (2)
Contrary to expectations, the misunderstanding cleared up faster than I thought it would.
Of course, it was partly because I'd vigorously protested my innocence.
But more than that—maybe he still remembered my face.
It was because the old man, having collected himself and taken a good look at my face, nodded and conceded on his own.
I really nearly broke out in a cold sweat.
Exhausted by my own antics, I turned to the old man sitting in the counter chair and asked.
"...I was wondering if you happened to have the hardware for the 'net connection device' I bought last time."
In other words, an old-fashioned computer.
The old man slowly nodded.
"Hm, a lot of people have been looking for those kinds of devices lately, so I set some aside."
Maybe it was from getting so worked up trying to stop a pervert from entering his shop.
The old man let out a shallow, pained noise as he tried to rise from his chair.
His trembling hands gripped the back of the chair and then released it.
Seeing the old man like that, the 'Confucian Scholar-Official' dwelling inside my heart snapped back to its senses.
'You scoundrel! How can one who has studied Confucian society not even offer a hand when an elder is trying to lift his weary body?!'
Oh no, had I been tainted by the cyberpunk without even realizing it?
I hurriedly approached the elder.
I moved to support his shoulders and help him up.
"...No, I'm fine. You'll find what you need if you go look over in that corner."
At the old man's restraint, I stopped the motion I'd been about to make.
Once again, the 'Confucian Scholar-Official' shouted.
'Argh!! How dare you ask an elder with a decrepit body to guide you?! Is this truly how you behave after studying Confucian society—.'
Argh, what do you want from me.
I shook my head and ignored the voice in my mind.
I bowed my head to the old man to give my thanks.
Actually, I preferred to take my time looking around the shop and browsing rather than having someone stuck to my side guiding the way.
I called out to Eve, who had been sightseeing inside the antique shop.
"Eve."
"I was on standby."
Until I called, Eve had been observing some 'thing' that looked like a 'dried frog' hanging from the ceiling.
It did look like a frog.
But it had several more legs attached, so it wasn't any frog I knew.
Anyway, I led Eve toward the direction the old man had pointed out.
As the place known as the largest antique shop in Vanta Market, even a cursory glance showed the sheer breadth of its wares.
Granted, we'd come with the clear purpose of finding an 'old computer.'
But I couldn't help my eyes being drawn to the peculiar objects along the way.
Eve seemed to find this kind of space novel as well.
She didn't stop secretly rolling her eyes around to take in the sights.
"Wow, they've even got something like this."
I lifted up a piece of cyberware displayed off to one side—'a cannon shaped like an arm'—and spoke.
Taking in its bizarre shape, Eve added.
"It says it's a very inefficient structure."
"Ahh, you don't know? This is what they call a 'Rock Buster.'"
It was an item someone known as 'Rock Man' used to wear on their hand.
......Of course.
That probably wasn't its actual product name.
It was just proof that someone in this world had a similar kind of dream.
There's always some madman who wants to turn his hand into a cannon, no matter where you go.
I then spotted something else and spoke.
"There's a seriously ancient game console, too, huh? When I looked last time, there wasn't one."
It was a device needed to run retro graphic games.
Even though retro games have a fairly deep connection in cyberpunk settings.
In this world, even if you actually went to an arcade.
The cold reality was that you couldn't find any games with a similar design.
I hadn't expected to find one here.
Looking next to it, I saw several 'cartridges' that appeared to be game titles lying around.
...Hmm.
Alright, I made up my mind.
When we head home, I'll buy it and take it with me.
With that thought, I returned the game console to its original spot. Finding an old computer was the priority for now.
Maybe because it was an old antique shop.
It was genuinely entertaining to browse here and there.
Just about when my eyes were getting caught on something every three steps on average.
We arrived at the corner the old man had told us about.
Keyboards, monitors, and the like were piled up haphazardly all over the floor.
The brands all looked different, and each one's condition varied wildly.
I spoke my honest feelings aloud.
"...Finding a working one among these is gonna be a job in itself."
Though, they hadn't been in this state when I bought mine before.
It was a sight that made the old man's explanation about more people looking for them all too understandable.
But maybe that concern was mine alone.
Eve was maintaining her unchanging, expressionless face.
Not only that, but I could even feel a sense of buoyant emotion radiating from her.
Eve looked at me and proudly declared.
"It's fine."
.......
...No way.
Is it what I'm thinking?
No, that's impossible.
She could hack into an 'old computer' from the outside to check its condition when it wasn't even powered on, wasn't connected to any cables, and had no signals being transmitted?
No matter how I thought about it, it was impossible by my common sense.
As expected of a Super AI.
She truly seemed to have no limits.
...You're amazing, Eve.
Of course, that thought of mine vanished quickly.
It was after I saw Eve come back, having asked the old man, carrying a bundle of dozens of different cable lines, converters, and connector ends.
"Ah."
For reference, the connectors on electronics in this world weren't standardized.
It was convenient to think of it as the result of crazy corporate cartels trying to squeeze out every last credit.
You couldn't find anything convenient like a USB-C type.
I fell silent.
"......."
"It'll be quick if we do it together."
From Eve's expressionless face looking at me, I could have sworn I saw a halo shining.
Her expression was the same as always.
But she looked intensely expectant.
It was probably an action Eve wasn't even aware of herself.
But she was also nodding her head ever so slightly.
.......
So she was saying we'd just check and plug things in one by one.
In the end, we had no choice.
I squatted down in the corner and started checking the state of the devices together with Eve.
To sum it up in one word.
It felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out.
So much so that I thought I might need to stop by Drex's place on the way back and get my eye implant scaled.
It was roughly one hour later.
When we finally found 'cables' and 'input/output devices' that were in functional condition.
As I stood up, a loud bone-cracking sound starting from my waist echoed through the antique shop.
"Ugh."
Every time this happened, I was reminded of my shitty physical traits.
I'm dying, I'm dying.
I turned my head slightly to look at Eve.
There she was, gazing down at the monitors and keyboards with sparkling eyes (subjective).
...Well, with that, it was hardly any trouble at all.
"Please wrap them up for us."
"Yeah, I should have some cardboard boxes around."
I tried to lift the devices in front of Eve to help out. But before I could, Eve scooped up the old devices in a flash.
...Come to think of it.
This was Eve, who had sent that guy Koozaka Koichiro flying several meters with a single punch.
She showed absolutely no signs of strain from the action.
We made our way toward the counter like that.
And before that, I didn't forget to grab the old game console I'd found earlier.
Come to think of it, maybe going out was pretty doable after all.
The thought that maybe coming out one day a week wouldn't be so bad crossed my mind.
However.
At the counter, another customer had arrived before us.
Was he being a nuisance or something?
The old man was struggling to send him away with a troubled expression.
"Why are you looking for a tactical drone here?!"
"They say you have all sorts of things, so I just thought I'd stop by."
It was Keyboard Warrior Underdog.
No, was he even following us?
Earlier when we first came to Vanta Market, I'd pretended not to see him and passed right by, so he shouldn't have been able to confirm our appearance.
But in this situation, there seemed to be no way to avoid facing him.
Right on cue, there was a maid carrying large devices standing right next to me.
It was absolutely not a combination designed to avoid drawing eyes.
Keyboard Warrior Underdog, who had been talking to the old man, looked over at us.
"Still, if you try looking, maybe it's ther—, ......huh."
But something was odd.
His gaze subtly narrowed.
A normal person wouldn't have been able to tear their eyes away from the maid in a situation like this, but curiously, his gaze seemed to be directed at me.
What the hell.
Had he somehow noticed that I was the one who'd completely trashed his electronics?
No, it couldn't be that.
I'd done it covertly while hiding my identity, so there was no way he could've found out it was me.
But strangely enough.
His behavior right now was clearly the reaction of someone who knew me.
Was it just my imagination?
Keyboard Warrior Underdog turned his head back toward the old man at the counter.
"Haha, of course you might not have one. Sorry for disturbing you over nothing."
He bowed his head and walked out the door.
It was a suddenly very polite change.
What in the world was this situation.
While I was pondering that.
The owner of the antique shop, the elder, jumped over the counter and came running toward us.
He looked quite urgent.
Earlier he hadn't even seemed like he could stand up.
But now he was running around just fine.
The old man hurriedly opened his mouth.
"Hey! Run, right now!"
"Huh?"
What was this, all of a sudden.
The old man must have been frustrated by my clueless expression.
His long beard sprayed with spit as he urgently explained.
Since some of it landed on my mask as well.
I almost reflexively grimaced, but I managed to endure it by reviving my Confucian societal spirit.
"There's no time to explain in detail. That guy who just left is an information broker called 'Underdog.' Seeing his reaction, I'm sure of it."
"Huh?"
I answered the same way again.
The old man asked me.
"Your name is Shun Li, right? The one they call the only Mage."
"...The first part is wrong, the second part is right."
Not Shun Li, Lee Si-woon.
"Right now, 'Heishukwoi' has secretly commissioned small-time information brokers to dig up information about you."
...Heishukwoi.
That was the Chinese mafia enterprise notorious for its overflowing infamy.
Why would they want me—.
Thinking that far, a memory resurfaced.
The corporate party.
The Heishukwoi tactical organization officer I'd met at Quantum Nexus.
Was the name Hei Rui?
.......
So that's how things were turning out.
"Probably because they don't want to get on the 'Shooting Star's' bad side, their information control is thorough, so not many people will know. I only know because I've been secretly digging up info on the Heishukwoi lines."
I nodded nonchalantly.
Sure, that could happen.
Seeing my reaction, the old man pounded his own chest as if in frustration.
"What are you standing there dazed for! I'm telling you the Heishukwoi tactical operatives could swarm this place any minute now!"
Well, even if you say that.
I naturally turned my head.
I looked at Eve, who was standing behind me.
Before I knew it, Eve had set down all the old devices she'd been holding on the floor.
Her face wore the same expressionless look as before.
But the feeling was completely different.
She didn't seem likely to listen even if I suggested we run away.