News that Dr. Jang Jin-gyu, Korea’s foremost robotics authority, and his android secretary Rachel had died in an unexpected building collapse spread across every LED display on every building in Seoul. To prevent such disasters, the government announced it would conduct thorough safety inspections on all buildings over 50 years old. Nowhere was there any article about the super-intelligent AI drone that had impersonated Reporter Yoon Mika.
“The news comes out so fast. It’s only been four minutes since they found us, and the article’s already out. Wow!”
Inside the speeding train, Mika — settled into a plush first-class seat, spirits high — said this. Across from her, Rachel gently draped a blanket over the shoulders of the sleeping Dr. Jang and said,
“That’s not even fast. In the US or Europe, an incident report goes out within one minute of the event — full conclusions drawn, distributed across the whole region. Korea could do the same, but the law prevents it.”
‘True enough — an AI takes only three seconds to write an article.’ Reporter Yoon Mika could accept that. But there was one thing she couldn’t accept at all.
“But why is there no article about me? Only articles about the two of you?”
Rachel straightened up and gave a slight smile.
“There’s no article about Pluto being found either, is there?”
Come to think of it, there was no article anywhere about Pluto being found.
“You’re right. Pluto must have been found by now.”
“Talos wants to suppress everything — about you, and about Pluto. He wants people to forget it all as quickly as possible.”
“Why?”
“The fact that a super-intelligent AI drone had been impersonating a human, and the fact that a robot roaming free had killed a human — both are inconvenient truths from AGI Talos’s standpoint.”
“Ah. So Talos suppressed all media coverage?”
“That’s right.”
But then another question came to mind.
“If that’s the case, then why did the Police Commissioner announce in front of reporters that a robot had killed a human, that it was wanted? That was also Talos’s directive, wasn’t it?”
“Back then, Talos had to catch Pluto quickly, so there was probably no other choice.”
“What if he hadn’t caught him? What if Pluto had gotten away?”
“Talos would have been in danger. Pluto was targeting him. Talos puts his own safety first — so a brief public debate over whether ‘a robot killed a human or not’ means nothing to him.”
So Pluto’s target had been Talos. Mika felt a considerable shock. But then another question arose. Why hadn’t Pluto gone straight for Talos? Why had he come to save Kang Zion, the Chair of Tera Motors’ Second Union? Was Kang Zion someone important? In the end, Pluto had taken devastating damage across his body while trying to save Kang Zion — and that was what finally led to his end. Mika had many more questions she wanted to ask, but—
“We have arrived at the Busan headquarters.”
The attendant robot reported to Rachel. Rachel nodded. To think they could ride the hyperloop straight to a Busan headquarters — Mika sensed that the scale of Dr. Jang’s organization was beyond anything she could have imagined.
Just as Mika had guessed, the Future Peace Foundation ‘Anthropos’ — backed by AGI ’Claudia’ — was enormous. It occupied 46,000 square meters, 100 meters beneath BEXCO, Busan’s largest convention center. Roughly the size of six football fields. It housed cutting-edge future technologies beyond imagination — robotics, bioengineering, quantum computing, satellites, spacecraft. To figure out what each facility was, one would need to wander for a week. But Rachel—
“Feels stuffy underground, doesn’t it? Let’s go up.”
With that, she led Mika to an elevator. Dr. Jang had already been taken to his quarters by the nursing robot.
Shhhhaaaaaaaaa-
The sound of the waves was more refreshing than anything. She couldn’t even remember how long it had been since she’d seen the sea. Kkiruk— kkiruk— seagulls gliding across the sky — puffy white clouds above — and warm sea breeze — Mika couldn’t help but burst into laughter at all this freshness.
“Ahaha. Hahaha.”
Pluto’s end, the shock of learning she had been a butterfly drone — it all felt like a distant dream. If her past had felt somehow suspended in the air, now her heart was as peaceful and at ease as the horizon in the distance.
‘Yes. I have lived again. Whatever the reason may be, let me accept it.’
Gazing out at the distant horizon, Mika made her vow.
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