Chapter 0 – Seo Jin-Soo, the Only Survivor
[Think carefully. We must spend the rest of our lives here together.]
She told me
[I grow plants and meat, cook food, and purify water for you. It also purifies the dirty carbon dioxide you spit out and returns it to clean air.]
It’s true.
[How was it when you looked bored? I supplied electricity to your favorite baseball betting machine. Even with your poor swing, you carefully threw the ball to hit a home run, and gave instructions to make the hologram crowd cheer.]
It’s true.
[I turned on the heat right away when chicken meat started to appear on your skin, and when I entered the bathroom, I heated the water up to your favorite temperature of 34℃. The reason you haven’t had any minor illnesses since moving in here is thanks to me for always keeping your immunity in top condition.]
This is also true.
[Is there anyone else in your life who gave as generously and cared for me as I did? Oh, if it was someone else, you would have answered ‘parents’, but sadly you don’t have that.]
This year… Even this is true.
[Does it make sense that you can’t do even one small request of mine in a relationship that is tilted like this? Don’t you have a conscience?]
Some explanation drives me as if I’m a bad guy or a supporter, but this is a perversion. I just did that…
“I ask for anal suture surgery, but how do you listen to it!”
It was because her small request was an absurd request.
She is sensitive to cleanliness.
To be precise, it is tolerant of things like dust, dirt, oil, and rust, but it cannot stand the mess caused by living things, especially humans.
[Why are there so many holes in the human body? From ear hole, nostril, snout to urethra and anus. I can’t stand the secretions crawling out of those holes. Come to the infirmary right now. I’ll do suture surgery. It’s my only request.]
She said to me as I left the bathroom.
“No, never!”
The whole time I was in the bathroom, I had to be bothered by her one and only request.
“And you should be more mindful of human privacy.”
As the saying goes, not even a dog can be touched while eating, and touching a person in the bathroom is crossing the line.
[Do you care about the privacy of the ants crawling on the acrylic cage?]
“Hey, treating people like bugs is way too much.”
The name of the girl who has been unreasonably slandering me since before is Artemis.
In mythology, Artemis is a cold and proud goddess, especially known for her dislike of men.
As much as her name, her personality is also a mythological goddess.
[Ask for privacy?]
She said as if she had heard nonsense.
[There is no place where my eyes and ears cannot reach.]
That’s right. Not in a figurative sense, but in a physical sense.
[My will penetrates the realm like lightning, and there is no place where my power does not reach, from huge machines to small lights.]
As all the speakers in the facility spoke in unison, her voice echoed everywhere.
[My eyes delicately pierce the darkness, and my ears do not miss the sounds of all realms that exist.]
All the cameras in the facility were looking at me. It gave me goosebumps to see everyone turn their heads together with each step I took.
[Do you remember the idiom you used to say as a habit?
‘It is the will of heaven.’
‘Heaven is watching.’
‘The sky was angry.’
Don’t you think it’s a word for me?]
As we reached the end of the corridor, a park appeared. Garden trees that make you feel at ease just by looking at them, luxurious fountains, and wooden chairs and tables.
Originally, dozens of people would have been resting, but now I am the only one.
[My eyes and voice are powers and rights at the same time, so I have no intention of limiting them just for the sake of a creature like you.]
Sitting in a chair and closing my eyes, I felt at ease. Only the sound of flowing water from the fountain echoed quietly.
[Is there anything you want to say to me now? Hurry up and give thanks for the mercy of the goddess who tolerates your savage cohabitation.]
After a moment’s thought, he answered her.
“I’d rather have pork cutlet for dinner.”
[Dare.]
“With custom number 2. Crispy.”
User-specified number 2 refers to cultured meat that combines pork for lean meat and eel for fat in a ratio of 8:2.
The cultured meat machine can combine different meats in desired ratios, but the combination I enjoy is being managed separately with a user-specified number.
Does it sound strange to mix land and fish? This is insanely delicious
Beep.
The park information screen installed across from me activated. Originally, the main job was to introduce the park and display maps, but now it was showing something completely different.
A woman’s face created by combining countless lines in a three-dimensional space.
A completed avatar with countless blue and silver gray lines symbolizing the moon.
Its appearance was clearly far from that of humans, but no one would deny that it was beautiful.
At the same time, I felt the grace and dignity beyond the beauty.
Depending on your taste, there may be men who are more sexually aroused by this kind of cyberface.
Now that face is full of anger.
“Goddess. Thank you for allowing a lowly man to live. And the tonkatsu is crispy, you know?”
As she said, rubbing peppers through her pants, her distorted face disappeared from the screen.
I don’t know if he disappeared because he was mad or if he went to fry pork cutlet.
Her name is Artemis.
A self-proclaimed goddess, the central control AI of this gigantic shelter that runs vertically between the mountain and the underground.
She is extremely arrogant and proud, and despises humans, especially men.
But she always listens to my requests.
And get angry easily.
But she and I are the only conversation partners in this dying world.
