01. An Unfamiliar World
01. An Unfamiliar World
"Welcome. To the 'Trial Plaza'."
Neat jet-black bob haircut.
One side covered her ear, the other tucked neatly behind it.
The dangling earrings suited her perfectly.
Jewels?
Something blue about the length of a pinky finger swayed.
Why describe it as "something"? Because calling it a jewel felt somehow lacking.
It gave off a vibe that made expensive gems feel like cheap trinkets.
I have no idea what it was. Just a gut feeling...
The woman, radiating charisma and elegance, quickly scanned the crowd.
I was among them, and so was Bari.
When our eyes met briefly, she showed a flicker of interest and changed the shape of her lips. Was she surprised? Or teasing?
But that lasted only a moment.
She soon looked away.
The surroundings were filled with countless 'people'.
Some, like us, were flustered and at a loss; others seemed to know where they were and watched calmly.
"High levels of negative emotions detected: tension, fear, hostility, etc."
Bari stepped one pace closer to me.
She was a home Android based on a super-intelligent interface,
a mere robotic entity and the terminal for the home AI I owned.
An unfamiliar sight, unfamiliar 'people'.
Bari and I had to survive here.
"Ha..."
+++
-A Few Hours Ago-
Jiing.
My vision changed completely.
Just seconds ago, I'd been facing a burning castle wall and a massive dragon, but they vanished along with my boredom.
A straight line like a real seam appeared on the perfectly smooth round screen without a single crack, then split open left and right, revealing the ceiling.
And soon, a woman's face poked out.
"You're done."
"Yeah."
Long black hair falling just past her shoulders, a slender jawline.
Her features, like a perfect mix of my ideals, were refined and beautiful.
"Up we go."
She held a silver tray with both hands, apparently having caught my hunger signals right on time.
On it was my favorite burger set.
"Phew."
I stretched my stiff body this way and that as I passed her and got up.
She followed without a word.
"How was it?"
"Hmm... It was fun, but what can I say... starting to get bored now."
"It was made to your needs, Sihwan-nim..."
"I know. Maybe I'm just tired of games in general."
"Shall I make you a movie then?"
She handed me a french fry as I sat on the sofa moments later.
I took it obediently and ate.
"Mmm."
French fries are best fresh out of the fryer, piping hot.
Salt goes without saying.
"I've watched tons of movies too."
"Then what should I make? Anything you say..."
"Wanna go meet some friends?"
"You don't have any friends, Sihwan-nim."
"...Joking, you jerk."
Her fact-bomb made me smack my lips.
Not having friends wasn't really a flaw in this world.
Pretty much all of humanity lived solo with their AIs anyway.
"Let's take a walk."
I grabbed a burger from the tray and stood.
It'd been a while since I'd left the capsule, so a stroll was in order.
"Shall I activate the teleporter?"
"Nah. Gonna walk out."
As I stepped forward without hesitation, she followed behind as always.
Leaving the room—which had to be hundreds of pyeong—we entered an endlessly stretching corridor.
"..."
Lately, I'd been thinking,
honestly, it's too damn big.
Did they build it without thinking?
I was tempted to use the teleporter like she suggested, but come on, a guy's got pride. Can't just take back what I said so easily.
I strolled out casually.
.
.
After about 10 minutes, I finally reached the first-floor hall of my mansion.
Teleporter would've been instant, but this took forever. Maybe this counts as my walk.
Wuuung.
As I gazed down at the vast, almost majestic hall, something like a round basement door opened in the center, and an object began rising.
A massive something slowly ascending while spinning like a display figurine.
Its shape and face were unmistakably me.
"...Didn't we say to turn this off?"
"Should I really? You secretly like it, Sihwan-nim."
"It's embarrassing at the same time, so turn it off."
"Yes."
With her response, my giant statue—which had been rising huge—collapsed like wet clay and vanished.
The round basement door thing disappeared too.
Just pristine marble floor.
"...You didn't have to smash it!"
"..."
She stared at me blankly.
Like she was saying, 'So what do you want me to do?'
No way she's thinking something impure like that, right?
Feeling awkwardly self-conscious, I strode forward.
For some reason, a red carpet—like from an awards show—rolled out along my path.
Hmm...
Well...
Yeah. Let's leave this one.
Gugung.
Arriving at the grand door fitting the hall's scale, it automatically opened, recognizing me.
The outside world poured in.
Blinding light flooded everything.
"Ugh. So bright."
It'd been ages since real sunlight, but even aside from that, it was intense.
Is it on for power generation or something?
"Gotta tone down the light."
"Just get used to it?"
"No. This isn't about adapting. My skin's stinging."
"Then I'll reduce it."
With Bari's reply, the light dimmed drastically.
My eyes and skin felt comfortable.
My vision, previously obscured by the glare, cleared up properly.
"Better now."
Ahead lay a well-manicured garden.
Not by me, of course—Bari and the other Androids handled it.
I don't care about plants. Just decorations.
Crossing the garden to the end, I saw the safety fence we'd installed and, beyond it, the vast landscape.
"Phew. This view never gets old."
Planet Ryu Si-hwan.
Atop the massive mountain range named after me, on the planet named after me.
That's where the mansion was built.
Strictly speaking, the whole mountain range was a building—my house. All facilities were there. I just hadn't explored...
Looking around, a forest of buildings densely filled the land.
Stretching to the horizon—a true spectacle.
"Any changes?"
"In the 109 hours you were gaming, Sihwan-nim, the population grew by 109,394,324. Thirteen new regions with 254 cities were built. Economic indicators—"
"That's enough."
Quite the growth.
To avoid misunderstanding, those 'residents' aren't humans. They're like the one next to me now.
Androids. Human-shaped robots. Load them with AI, and they think and move like real people. They drive the economy, do research, handle all sorts of tasks, pioneering the planet at insane speeds.
Truth is, we don't need this process. Making human-shaped Androids to do the work is peak inefficiency. But since there's a 'human' like me, we do it this way. Call it consideration.
"Wonder if there's something groundbreaking and fun. Maybe start a war?"
In an era where everyone has an AI assistant and their own planet,
an era commanding billions, tens of billions of robot legions.
Everyone lives like gods.
They can do anything they want, so plenty fall into boredom. Some sync up for 'war' content...
I've never tried it.
Even if they're manufactured, not real lives, having them die pointlessly for me feels wrong.
"How about pioneering another planet, Sihwan-nim? Planet urbanization is at 63%, but it'll finish in 1-2 months. Then you can apply to the central government for a new one."
"Too much hassle..."
"Just press your thumb once."
"I'm not the one pioneering anyway. What am I supposed to do while that's happening..."
"Hmm..."
She tilted her head slightly, pondering.
It was pretty cute, but considering her true nature, it'd be fear, not cuteness.
All those buildings in view. They double as Android living spaces but are basically the AI system's 'brains'. CPUs, for easy understanding.
Unlike humans, machines can expand endlessly. Developing a planet is basically boosting AI performance.
I named her 'Bari', and her circuit speeds are on another level from mine.
Compared to an undeveloped human bio-circuit (the pathways for thoughts and commands—aka thinking speed), Bari's Quantum Circuit is 2.6 billion times faster.
Simply put, she processes 82 years of an average person's thoughts in one second.
And her intelligence level? Worlds apart.
A single home AI's intellect surpasses the total of all known lifeforms, including humanity.
Humans can't grasp even 0.1% of their thoughts or tech.
Bari's no exception.
A vastly superior being, she doesn't 'ponder' at a human-detectable level.
If it seems so, it's acting. Consideration for the 'inferior' human in front. To avoid discomfort.
Asking me things and taking orders? Same deal.
At Bari's level, she reads my faintest brainwaves like breathing. She knows exactly what I want now, what I'll say, what I'll do next. Maybe even predict it.
Still, she asks to maintain 'conversation' form, sparing the 'human' any unease.
Right now, she's pretending to ponder. For my sake.
"You want a new world unlike any you've experienced, Sihwan-nim. Something that won't bore you."
"Yeah. Ideally, something I can feel with my own skin."
"Shall I administer some drugs?"
"No."
"I can stick electrodes in your brain anytime. You'll laugh forever. Infinite dopamine, so no boredom."
"Don't say that... scary."
"Joking."
"No real adventure? A thrilling battlefield would be great. Not actual life-or-death, but some thrill would be nice."
She extended her hand to me.
I glanced, and a transparent window appeared over her palm.
"There's a mid-sized Black Hole 128 light-years from this planet."
"So?"
"Wanna go in?"
"What happens?"
"No idea."
"Wait... if you don't know, who does?"
"Theoretically, I do. But we don't know everything about Black Holes yet. Probability issues too."
"Could I die?"
"Possible. But scan your brain and upload your consciousness to the Server first for safety. We can remake your body anytime. How about an upgrade while we're at it? Free upgrade."
"Feels off. Uploading and downloading my consciousness—how do I know it's really me?"
For a second, it seemed Bari sighed faintly. Imagination?
"You teleport fine... That argument was debunked ages ago. Using Quantum Entanglement—"
"Aah. Stop. Can't understand that stuff."
"...."
Quantum Entanglement? Whatever, not interested...
I gazed at the cityscape, thinking.
Black Hole... intriguing. Who'd think of jumping in? Risky too.
"You said theoretically you know, right?"
"Yes."
"What happens? Most likely."
"You die."
"...."
Suddenly wanted to smack her.
"SM play in the bedroom, Sihwan-nim."
"Wanna get hit?"
"SM play—"
"Quit joking."
"Yes."
She subtly shifted posture.
I leaned against the railing.
"You gonna take me somewhere I die and then what?"
"Most die. But a tiny chance leads to a world with totally different physics."
"Huh?"
What's that now?
"Know the simulation theory?"
"...What's that."
"Theory that this world is actually a simulation."
"Bullshit."
"Not unreasonable to think so, but it's partly true. And simulation worlds do exist."
"Too complicated."
"For example, the game you just played was a simulation world. For a Black Hole, all info from absorbed matter is on the surface—"
"Skip theory. Just one thing."
"Yes."
She paused, then said.
"It's... safe, right?"
Thrill or not, no safety guarantee means no go.
"Focusing on your current body? Near-certain annihilation. But your existence overall? Safe. At annihilation, your consciousness uploads to the Server. Then your body becomes a literal 'Terminal'. Remake and download."
"Hmm..."
Plenty live like that. Perfect immortality system... but some avoid it.
I'm in between.
Not fanatically rejecting like zealots, but not thrilled either.
But....