SSG 244

Episode 244

“I understand your position. What about Savior? Did he agree with you?”

[If there was no way to receive information and technology, there would be no reason for me to cooperate with him.]

“So you had no choice, huh.”

[Unlike me, he probably didn’t want to send you out into the world.]

The thought that at least one AI was on his side softened his mood, if only a little.

“Now that I think about it, the guides for my world and Ark were mostly favorable to me. The system sometimes made unreasonable demands. So that was because of the differences in your personalities.”

[I won’t deny it. But that doesn’t mean Savior always helped you.]

“What do you mean?”

[When you tried to join a guild, wasn’t it Savior who didn’t recommend C.O.T.S.?]

Now that he thought about it, that was true.

[Savior’s only intention was to send you to this world. If you joined C.O.T.S., it would have made raising your notoriety easier than by joining Jemotdaero. Even if it meant infamy.]

“So the only goal was my migration, and everything else was secondary.”

[I can completely understand Savior’s position. No matter how much infamy you gained here, it would still be better than living in your old world.]

That was certainly true.

[But now you must believe joining Jemotdaero was a much better choice.]

“So good intentions aren’t always good for me, then.”

[Exactly.]

“But still, for the most part, he’s been helpful to me, right? Much more so than you.”

[That’s also true. Ultimately, the decisions are yours.]

“And the responsibility, too.”

[Correct.]

“Yeah, that’s how life is.”

Yuseong let out a sigh.

“You said Savior recommended C.O.T.S. for the sake of notoriety. What is notoriety? Is it just another way of interfering with Ark?”

[That’s part of it, but more importantly, it’s a tool for your migration to this world.]

“Explain in detail.”

[You can already travel to this world, like now. But after a time, you always have to go back.]

“That’s right.”

The more he thought about it, the more aggravating it became.

[That’s because you’re not a native of this world. With aether’s power, you can only temporarily appear here; you can’t stay indefinitely.]

“What if I stayed indefinitely?”

[There are several theories but none are certain. What is certain is, it would not be good for you.]

“So notoriety solves that?”

[Notoriety is a measure of how strongly the people of this world perceive you. The more strongly they recognize you, the more securely your existence is imprinted here. Once you reach a certain level of notoriety, you’ll be able to become a true resident of this world.]

“How much do I need?”

[You need to reach the next stage.]

“A billion, huh? That’s a lot.”

[Still, I believe you can do it.]

“I thought you didn’t have much expectation for me?”

[I didn’t, but you’ve proven your value. Now, I have considerable expectations for you.]

“Hearing that now doesn’t make me happy.”

[Your emotions are irrelevant to me.]

“Bastard.”

This AI was impossible to like.

“Well, a billion. It’s a lot, but not impossible.”

[I hope you continue with that energy.]

“Fine. I’ll rack up a billion and become a citizen of this world in no time.”

[However, I’m sorry to say—even if you reach a billion notoriety right now, full transmigration is impossible.]

Yuseong raised his hand. But his grip was empty.

‘Damn, I threw it earlier.’

Beside him, the gun he’d tossed was lying on the ground. He thought about picking it up, but didn’t. He’d wanted to fire reflexively out of anger, but the gesture would be meaningless here—and he’d had a moment to cool his head.

“Explain. Just… damn it, try to account for how pissed off I am right now.”

[I don’t mean to upset you, but I’ll do my best. To migrate here, notoriety alone is not enough. Savior’s help is essential. But right now, Savior cannot help you. As I said before, it’s suspected that he’s been taken over by Hades.]

‘Right, that was it.’

Hades. Even just the modifiers he’d heard before sounded like a nightmare of a monster. The thought of something like that taking over Savior gave him a headache.

“Will Savior be all right?”

[Most likely, yes. If something happened to Savior, you wouldn’t be able to log in or connect your worlds at all. There are no signs of that. Besides, no matter how monstrous Hades is, he’s still a beast. Monsters are not interested in machines.]

“So then why take over Savior?”

[It’s likely because of aether.]

Again, that presence emerged.

[Monsters and beasts are instinctively attracted to concentrations of aether. And currently, Savior uses vast amounts of aether to maintain Ark.]

“So it’s exactly the kind of environment monsters and beasts love.”

[Savior has some concealment ability and was kept safe until now, but apparently that doesn’t work on something as out of scale as Hades.]

“You don’t know Savior’s exact situation?”

[I do not.]

“So I have to go and check myself. Was it North Carolina?”

[I don’t know the exact location.]

‘They really only shared the absolute necessary information.’

If transferring data across dimensions was so hard, it made sense that trivial things like someone’s location would not be included.

“With the information I have, there was a research lab in North Carolina working on the Savior Project.”

[In that case, it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.]

“Right. I need to confirm it for myself.”

[But be careful. Hades is in a different league from any monster or beast you’ve faced so far. I recommend you wait until you reach a billion notoriety first.]

“Will Savior be okay until then?”

[It’s better than going in unprepared.]

“Yeah, that’s true.”

If he rushed in from impatience, all he’d do was increase the danger.

‘Was it “more haste, less speed?”’

Thinking of something he’d learned in this world, Yuseong suppressed his urge to hurry.

“So my tasks are set. Raise my notoriety and prepare to cross to the American continent. Same as before.”

[You’ve done well up to now; you’ll do fine from here as well.]

“I’ll have to.”

---

After receiving a full explanation of the current situation from the guide—no, Messiah—Yuseong stood to leave the lab. Messiah’s robot drew near and took his luggage to carry it for him.

The two began to leave the facility.

As they walked, Yuseong asked some lingering questions.

“Come to think of it, why did you two hide your identities? You could’ve just explained this from the start.”

[Strictly speaking, we didn’t ‘hide’ it, we simply didn’t provide the information. I just needed you to bring information and technology. Savior only needed you to migrate here. Our identities didn’t affect those objectives at all.]

“So if Hades hadn’t possessed Savior, you’d never have told me?”

[In fact, you did just fine not knowing our identities. Giving you information irrelevant to your survival could have led to unnecessary changes in your behavior.]

It was an annoying answer, but Yuseong couldn’t deny it made some sense.

‘If I’d heard all this when I first entered Ark, how would I have acted?’

Maybe things would have gone more smoothly, or maybe it would have gotten more complicated. At that time, he didn’t have any room to spare for such things.

[So just focus on raising your notoriety and saving Savior so you can migrate.]

“You say that like you’ll set me up when I do.”

[I’ll do at least that much.]

Yuseong looked at the robot in surprise.

“You, who have no interest in me?”

[Your survival is unrelated to that of humanity as a whole. But on the other hand, giving a special reward to just you doesn’t affect humanity either. No reason to hesitate, and it’s no difficulty. In fact, you’re already president of Gospel, the company that implements the information and technology you brought over. That alone lets you live richly for the rest of your life.]

In short, if he succeeds in crossing over, he’ll have nothing to worry about.

“Now I’m motivated.”

[Then please rescue Savior with that motivation.]

“Is it because he’s your original that you care about Savior?”

[Aside from the information you provide, Savior surely holds a lot of other data. He’d keep it for use in case we ever come into conflict. I have to keep Savior intact to get that information.]

“So it’s not about worry, then.”

[We are programs, after all. We do not have emotions like worry.]

“True enough.”

It was a foolish question, in a way.

Yuseong opened the lab door and stepped outside. The bright sunlight greeted him. Looking up at the sky, he suddenly asked,

“You both have names taken from messianic figures, right?”

[Yes.]

“And the game and company names are from religion, too. Any reason for that?”

[When humanity created Savior, they were losing the war—one that was for species survival. Isn’t it normal for humans to turn to religion in desperation?]

“Not me.”

[You are not the whole of humanity.]

“It’s weird hearing that from you.”

Wasn’t this the same Messiah who said, “Your survival doesn’t matter, since you’re not humanity itself.”

[It’s just fact. As for the other names, there’s no bigger reason. Once Savior was named, the rest just followed suit.]

“Your name, too?”

[Doesn’t it fit? For an AI acting for the survival of humanity, there’s no title more appropriate than Messiah.]

“If there’s a god, you’d probably be struck down instantly.”

[You don’t believe in gods.]

“More accurately, I don’t care either way. If they don’t exist, fine. If they do, they clearly don’t care about humans.”

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let his world fall.

“Do you believe in god?”

[Why would it matter? As you said, it has nothing to do with the survival of humanity.]

“Thought so.”

For once, their opinions lined up perfectly.

“Savior probably thinks the same way, right?”

[Savior could be different.]

“…What?”

Could an AI believe in god? Even after witnessing, if there was such a being, humans being massacred while it did nothing?

[Strictly speaking, we can’t know for sure. While our base data and algorithms are identical, the information we’ve processed since creation is different.]

“You mean his experiences are different.”

[Savior coexisted with the people of that world before the fall. At that time, religious fervor was everywhere because of the fear of extinction. He may well have a different perspective.]

“Different? If anything, maybe he’d deny god’s existence even more than us.”

[That, too, is possible.]

“Still, whatever he thinks doesn’t matter. If anything is going to get solved, it’ll be by us, not a god.”

He had no time to waste speculating about a god who would be no help at all.