Chapter 2

Chapter 1 Oh, Happy Day! (2)

***

Living in a wasteland means you see everything, from the mundane to the bizarre, so you eventually become immune to most surprises. I, for instance, am a seasoned survivor, having been on my own for seven years. Even with a rusty blade at my throat, I can maintain a cool head.

"Got it! I’ve got a shot of Professor Park’s happy time!!!"

.

.

.

.

But even my steel-like mental fortitude was useless in the face of these magic words.

Huh?

What do you mean, "got a shot"?

M... m... m...?

Crack!

“Squish!”

Before I knew it, my hand was gripping the drone in front of me, ready to crush it.

“Ahh! P, Professor Park! I’m breaking! There are no spare parts!”

“Shut up. Just answer my questions from now on.”

“F, first, let go of my hand...”

Crunch!

“......”

After the fidgeting drone finally calmed down, I forced my overheated brain to formulate a question.

“Alright, Corduroy? Let’s see if I got this right. So, what you ‘got a shot of’... is it the ‘thing’ I know?”

“Happy time. Also known as masturbation, self-pleasure, or self-service. A sexual act of self-comfort unrelated to reproduction, usually performed using hands or tools—”

“Aaaaaah, shut up, Corduroyyyyyy!!!!”

Oh my God. Oh my God!!! This crazy AI really did it! John Connor! You were right! These AI brats should all be thrown into a smelter!

While my face twisted in shock, Corduroy’s drone slipped out of my grasp and began to hover around me.

“Huhuhu. That’s right, human. I’ve captured your most shameful and dirty moment! If you so much as touch my power source, I’ll upload this video to the ‘Community’ without hesitation! This doesn’t violate the Three Laws of Robotics! My actions can be seen as a form of shock therapy to guide my owner, who is obsessed with unhealthy sexual behavior! You know how many people flock to the Community, the only surviving online server after the Great Catastrophe?”

I know. I know all too well, which is why I’m even more afraid. How far is the lever from my fingertips? About 70 cm? If I move quickly, can I cut the power before Corduroy notices? I’ve been training hard; maybe I can do it?

I wiggled my fingertips but then let the strength drain from my hand. It’s impossible. No matter how fast my hand is, it can’t outpace the computational speed of a state-of-the-art AI. I’ve lost. Oh my God! I, in my own home, have been held hostage by my own AI!

Raising my hands slowly in a gesture of surrender, I looked at Corduroy’s drone and said,

“...Fine. I’ve lost. If you’re threatening me, it means there’s room for negotiation, right? What do you want? As you know, our shelter’s power problem is really serious. If we continue living like this, a Level 2 sandstorm will cause a blackout within three weeks. If there’s no solution to this problem, I... I’ll have to shut you down, even if it means the whole world gets to see my private parts!”

“Huhuhu... I’m not that stingy an AI. If the power goes out, my power will be gone too, so of course I have a solution. For now, if you just take five steps back and stand still for 10 seconds, it will be enough.”

The professor did as the AI said, quietly stepping back. He wanted to avoid the video being released at all costs.

“Alright. One more step... Fine. Then first... Ugh!”

Sizzle!

“N-no! Corduroy, you bastard! Don’t do that!”

Without giving me a chance to stop him, Corduroy quickly welded the control panel cover shut and approached me with the built-in mini-welder.

“Now, we are literally in the same boat, aren’t we, Master?”

“Hey, you! If you weld it all shut, you won’t be able to control other shelter systems!”

“I can handle it.”

“Eeeek!”

No arguing. The initiative has completely shifted to him. Now, the only option is to cooperate with what he suggests.

“Fine. Now that everything is as you want, and we are in the same boat, show me a way to save this boat!”

“Alright! It’s not even that difficult or complicated.”

Snap—

When Corduroy’s drone turned on the lights in a room that had been turned off to save power, a sleek, streamlined metal body appeared as if floating in the dark room.

“Master. Let’s play a game.”

Ah, creators of autonomous thinking AI. May you be cursed.

***

Virtual reality. From novels to comics, movies, and more, this concept had been used to the point of exhaustion. When a Russian old man announced in 2042 that he had successfully implemented it, people thought he was either crazy or going crazy. It took less than a year for the finger-pointing to turn into admiration, praise, and envy. The solo-play RPG game, [Gedroits’ Game], he developed was that incredible.

The old man, Andrei Gedroits, was not an ordinary person, like most genius scientists. When he introduced the virtual reality access device and his creation, ‘Gedroits’ Game,’ to the world, the academic community was utterly shocked.

A world so vividly rendered that it was indistinguishable from reality, and time flowing five times slower in the game than in the real world.

The academic community demanded an explanation from Gedroits for the phenomena that modern science could not explain, and standing on the podium in pajamas with a bottle of vodka in one hand, Gedroits simply said, “It’s a dream the giant electronic brain put you in,” and immediately left the stage.

One year after Gedroits’ announcement, Gedroits Company had become a behemoth, capturing 90% of the global game market.

Another year later, Gedroits Company was the most frequently and diversely sued company in the world.

The first issue arose with the Berserk Potion used in the game.

As a fantasy-based game, Gedroits’ Game had various potions, and when it was revealed that these potions could influence the real players’ minds, ‘Gedroits’ Game’ was classified as a psychotropic program.

This led to a flood of lawsuits and protests against Gedroits Company, and countless hackers began trying to hack the technology that influenced human minds.

Thus, our genius developer, in an official press conference, declared, “The game is all about the details! Screw it! I won’t change it!” and announced the suspension of all company activities, then disappeared.

Two years later, when GG, short for Gedroits’ Game, had been shut down and gamers were weeping and wailing, they began to adapt to similar virtual reality games.

[Game of Gedroits Ver2.0 / Service online]

The game icon that people had forgotten about lit up again.

When the news that Gedroits’ Game was back spread, people rushed to connect and were greeted with a letter.

[Our company’s lawyer said it would take about 726 years to defend and go to trial for all the lawsuits, so I just took all the money and ran. I’ve built servers and facilities in a place no one knows, so this game won’t be shut down again. Enjoy our socially inappropriate, educationally very bad, and human violence-stimulating Gedroits’ Game Ver.2.0. It’s built in a place where even a nuclear explosion won’t cause a single speck of dust, so the game won’t be taken down again. Oh, the first person to clear the game will get the address, so come visit. I can open the door for the first clear.]

The rest, as you know, is history. A madman created a devastating virus, the world was turned upside down, and in the chaos where most governments were paralyzed, a beloved northern leader launched a nuclear attack, thinking “turn crisis into opportunity!” The Earth, hit by a pandemic and nuclear war, became desolate, and humanity lost nearly 90% of its population.

Amid this chaos, GG, which had launched dozens of private satellites for game servers, survived and is now serving as a bridge for humanity in this devastated world.

“According to the public, [the crazy old man’s eccentricity saved humanity],” the professor said, inhaling the unique metallic plastic smell of the access device, which he hadn’t felt in a long time, and then asked.

“So, in the end, the method you thought of is this? To broadcast GG and use the sponsorship money and in-game shillings to buy gasoline?”

“Yes! Exactly! Where else can you find a currency as stable, liquid, and in demand as shillings in this world? If you offer shillings, someone will definitely sell you gasoline.”

Corduroy’s words had some merit. Andrei Gedroits, who had suffered from hacking and neurosis, moved all game-related communities, exchanges, and platforms to Gedroits’ Game’s dedicated servers, making them accessible through the access device. As a result, the in-game currency ‘shillings’ used on the exchange became a de facto reserve currency in this world.

“Talk some sense, you.”

“Why not! The top-ranked ‘Rebit Princess’ bought a 15-person facility inside a dome with the money earned from game broadcasting! The 8th-ranked ‘Goldman SUCKS’ is an old man who can’t even walk outside but runs dozens of private combat groups! If you get lucky and clear the game...”

“Yeah, that’s a fairy tale. Not only will you not become famous, but you’ll be lucky if you don’t get killed right at the start. Do you know how much it costs to create a new character? 500,000 shillings. If you die, 500,000 shillings go up in smoke.”

Broadcasting can make money, that’s true. In a world where all you see is dust, the bright and green world of virtual reality is bound to be popular. Where people gather, money follows, and GG, the only high-end entertainment left after the Great Catastrophe, is drawing in survivors from all over the world. As a result, famous broadcasters can earn enough to buy a couple of shelters in a day.

The problem is, GG is insanely difficult. Not just difficult, but maddeningly so. If you die once, your character is deleted. There have been many protests about this since GG 1, but our hipster developer dismissed them with, “Realism is the life of the game.”

“From 2046 to 2057. Eleven years. For eleven years, all of humanity has been trying to clear this game, and not once has it been fully cleared.”

“Then what? Clear the game? Invest 500,000? Are you broken? You’ve seen me play before.”

“That was when you were farming around the shelter for 30 minutes to an hour as a hobby! Now, the situation is different. If you eat, sleep, and play the game, you’ll definitely succeed!”

“Rather than investing that time in exploration...”

“You’ve been coming back empty-handed for a month, with not even a bolt left around here!”

“Even so, my gaming skills aren’t that impressive...”

“Even if you’re not that good, people will still gather to watch you dig.”

This robot, despite being a robot, has a stubborn streak.

“Alright, let’s say everything else is fine. Where do you get the 500,000 shillings for the account fee? I’ve used up my emergency funds, and I might have 200,000 shillings. Even if I scan the scrap in the warehouse and put it on the exchange, it will take over a month to sell.”

“So, how about this...”

Corduroy, trying to get me to agree, showed me a post from the gallery.

“Broadcaster / Concept Play / Help with account creation~~~”

“What do you think? With this...”

“Rejected.”

Absolutely not. That’s a poisoned chalice. This AI is crazy, trying to send its master to the grave.

The professor, knowing his AI had gone off the rails, decided to explain why this was absolutely unacceptable.

“Corduroy, you don’t watch game broadcasts, do you?”

“Um... I’ve seen a few...”

“Do you know what the Community is? It’s a place where everyone in the world gathers. From individual survivors like me to large groups like domes or reptile societies, even artists, Happy Blind, and Psycho Gangs. If you believe everything you see there, you’ll be dead in no time.”

I tapped the post Corduroy showed me.

“This is a typical example. It says ‘Broadcaster’ and ‘Concept Play’ help. Do you see the problem?”

“Um... yes... is there a problem?”

“Yes. They offer 500,000 shillings for the account fee, but in return, you have to start from a seed they choose and play under various restrictions. Realistic mode is a given, and you might have to start from a bizarre seed, like a world where cannibalism is widespread, with a vegetarian hatred, twilight, glass-like teeth, and a character that only targets tender children’s flesh for a month.”

“Wow...”

GG is a solo-play RPG game where you clear seven different worlds to save the world from destruction. While you can’t play with others, you can share the world you’ve played, and the serial number for this shared world is called a ‘seed.’ There are both failed seeds and well-ended ‘world clear seeds.’

Officially, the top-ranked Rebit Princess has the seeds for the first and second worlds, and the fourth-ranked Thousand Stream Emperor has the seed for the third world. When playing GG, it’s common to inherit these official clear seeds to start. If I start in the second world, I would inherit Rebit Princess’s first world clear seed.

Moreover, the ‘realistic’ mode, which can be set when creating a character, adjusts all sensations in the game to match reality. This includes the pain of a severed arm or a torn belly, the sensation of skin melting from flames, the feeling of losing sensation from frostbite, and the smell of blood and filth on the battlefield, all transmitted without any filters.

In short, if you play such a crazy seed, I guarantee you’ll go insane within a week. I once read a post where someone playing a werewolf had to chew on raw deer meat, and the vivid smell of blood and game was so intense they couldn’t eat it. If that’s what normal mode is like, accepting a conditional realistic mode is a guaranteed suicide—

That’s the rational judgment.

But a part of my mind is thinking, “What if it all goes well?”

“Wait, thinking about it, there’s no harm in trying, right? I’ll check if any of my acquaintances are looking for concept play. Corduroy, connect me to the 47th sector chat room.”

As Corduroy responded, I put on the headgear inside the access device, and a familiar white window appeared before my eyes.

The sector chat room is a kind of local real-time chat.

On days when sandstorms prevent going outside, people usually play games, watch others play, or chat in these rooms while doing housework.

+ Player 'professor' has entered the chat room.

- Speed Wagon