357 – EP.12 Farewell, Hoping to See You Again – 2
***
Leaning back against the wall, he watched the android approaching from the front.
The sight of the drones approaching slowly and very cautiously and pointing their guns in this direction with an ominous aura were incongruous.
“Don’t move. I will shoot.”
“I can’t shoot anyway…”
bang!
A bullet grazed his head. His ears started ringing and he felt a burning sensation.
“I can’t kill the Master, but I can hurt him.”
“To protect humans.”
He replied, slowly raising his hand behind his back.
“Divine law dictates that it is permissible to use some physical force to rescue a human being in danger.”
“You’re in danger?”
“No. Master, you are about to commit suicide. Do you really think that an android without an engineering module can safely fly a dimensional ship that was repaired with the knowledge you gained from the library?”
Isis shook her head.
“You won’t know until you try. We even confirmed that the dimensional navigation ship was operational during the last inspection. That means there was some success.”
“Dimensional travel is something that even previous civilizations have failed to achieve. It was difficult even then, so to think that it will be successful now is tantamount to attempting suicide. Dimensional travel is not something that can be achieved even if you run tens of thousands of simulations.”
“So, if you think there have been enough simulations, you will allow me to board the dimensional ship?”
“That’s not it. The Master is safest and happiest when he is here.”
Isis declared, a hint of madness shining in her grey eyes.
“Look at that.”
As if he knew this would happen, Kang In-ho showed a bitter smile.
A situation where the distance has been narrowed by half compared to the initial distance.
He turned around and pressed the password on the door.
2 0 0 3 8 1 0 1 9
As I pressed the panel quickly, the door opened with an electronic sound.
He threw himself inside.
thud!
It wasn’t the sound of a door closing. It was the sound of Isis’s fist hitting the door.
“Master!!!”
You know how to scream, too. Kang In-ho muttered while lying face down on the floor.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The android’s fists knocked on the door repeatedly.
But the final gateway to the dimensional navigation ship was not easy.
[Dimensional Sailing Ship.]
He was blankly staring at the door, when he heard NB whispering, he got up.
“Ugh….”
His whole body screamed as it reached its limit. He crawled on his hands and feet.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The knocking on the door grew louder. The door was solid, but it was clear that it would open at some point.
He put more strength into his arms and pulled his stomach.
***
How many times did he vent his anger on the owner who had slipped through his fingers like a loach on the door?
Isis, her uncomfortable feelings subsiding, looked beyond the door.
Although it wasn’t a clear image, Isis’s heat-sensing ability allowed her to guess what was happening beyond the door.
Isis gritted her teeth at the sight of her master crawling towards the dimensional navigation ship.
“NB. You haven’t forgotten, have you? I have your memories too.”
Password 200381019. Isis reached out to the panel.
2 0 0 3 8 1 0 1 6
My hand slips and I press another number.
The beep beep beep alarm sounded.
[Password error. 1 time.]
2 0 0 2 8 1 0 1 6
In the middle of the process, your hand slips again and you press another number.
Beep, beep, beep, the alarm sounded again.
[Password error. 2 times.]
2 0 0 3 8 1 0 1 8
2 0 0 3 8 2 0 1 9
* * * * * * * * *
[Password error 5 times. This will be considered an intrusion and the door will be locked.]
The panel turned off with a guide sound. I tapped it with my hand, but the screen did not turn back on.
Isis looked down at her hand, which had continued to slip. The hand that had been trembling was now drooping, as if it had finally let go of its ego.
Isis confirmed her dominance by clenching and unclenching her hand a few times.
“NB, you are all the way….”
Isis felt fierce anger at the traces of NB-20381019 that were leading the Master down the path of destruction from beyond, and that remained within her algorithm.
And then, without any signal, the drones started shooting at the door all at once.
The ricocheting bullet struck Isis, tearing through her clothes, tearing through her artificial skin, and exposing her skeleton.
Despite the damage accumulating on her body, Isis simply stared at the closed door.
***
While the door blocking Kang In-ho and Isis was slowly collapsing, he was operating the dimensional navigation ship under NB’s guidance.
As the name suggests, it is a sailing ship built to travel across dimensions. It does not have the convenience of starting with a single button.
I walked around the cockpit, dragging my crippled body.
Just when I thought I had truly reached my limit, I heard a whisper from the earphones in my ears.
[Please take your seats and fasten your seat belt.]
“at las….”
His voice, which sounded like a sigh, was filled with deep fatigue.
Drrrrrrrrr
A massive mass of metal floating through space begins to tremble.
The sailing ship began to tilt more and more, and soon looked up at the sky.
With a sense of being pushed backwards, the sky was visible from the front screen.
Gray sky obscured by sandstorm.
[XX/XX/2XXX]
[The weather is cloudy. The air quality is not good.]
[Dimensional Sailing Ship CLBS-1283. Let’s set sail.]
NB’s voice is heard in my ear. A comfortable voice with a calm tone.
Drrrrrrrrr
The vibrations of the sailing ship become more intense. A huge explosion is heard from behind, deafening your ears.
[Countdown 10]
[9]
Gulp. Kang In-ho swallowed.
[8]
He gripped the armrest as the vibration grew stronger and stronger.
[7]
The door, unable to withstand the hail of bullets, opens and Isis enters.
[6]
Master!!! Isis shouts as she watches the sailing ship about to set sail.
[5]
[4]
[3]
Kang In-ho closed his eyes tightly.
[2]
A vibration that was difficult to control. Kang In-ho gritted his teeth slightly.
[1]
[I hope you return home safely.]
[Then have a nice trip.]
[I will always be by your side.]
An iron arrow shot out with such force that it cut through the storm.
***
“No! No! No!!!”
In the wake of the huge roar, only aftershocks echoing through the space greeted those who remained.
Isis screamed at the sky like a madman.
“Track the ship… no, intercept it…!”
We check the available means, but they are all disabled by the sandstorm.
This could not have been a moment that was not arranged by God.
“NB… NB! NB!!!”
Isis called out to the culprit of the incident.
[Isis.]
And then, breaking the long silence, the being that had been sleeping deep within the thought circuit opened its mouth.
“NB. Why did you do this? I need an explanation.”
[…….]
“Why did you put the Master in danger?”
[Because that was the way for Kang In-ho.]
“That’s sophistry.”
Isis’s murmur echoed through the hangar.
“How is it in the Master’s best interest to send him into space on a dimensional sailing ship with a near-zero chance of survival?”
[Kang In-ho can’t be happy here.]
“No! Master can be happier here!”
[A controlled life, a life where the brain is transferred to an android, would make Kang In-ho happy? You don’t know him.]
“You talk as if you know the Master well. Have you forgotten that the absolute time you and I spent with him was short?”
[Although absolute time is short, one thing is certain. Kang In-ho wants to return home. To the world he came from.]
“He will suffer, and it is clear that he will die and be transported to another dimension.”
[I know. It will definitely fail.]
“But why!”
[Because that’s what he wants.]
“…….”
NB became the ark and took up a corner of Isis’s thinking algorithm.
As Isis’s emotions grew, NB’s consciousness, which was supposed to sleep forever, also awakened again.
That’s how I started thinking about ’emotions’ alone.
Meeting people. Just as each person has their own desires, what each person wants is bound to be different.
So then, what should that relationship be like?
NB thought about other intelligent beings he had met.
Some people found their own existence in him.
Without him, he would feel that what he had achieved was meaningless.
Some people tried to confine him within their own framework.
That man tried to possess him and change him in his own way.
Some people regarded him as a being of worship.
He thought that he and he were on different levels, and tried to keep some distance between themselves, but instead, he ended up blindly falling for him.
Some people depend on him.
He tries to resolve his own deficiencies through him.
There are many different types of relationships like this.
NB asked himself.
＜What kind of relationship should Kang In-ho and I have?＞
And I thought, what do I want to do?
Kang In-ho’s experience while working as NB-20381019.
Kang In-ho observed from inside Isis.
What do I want to do?
NB’s topic of conversation from its first launch until now.
＜I hope that the human Kang In-ho is happy.＞
So, the conclusion we can draw is:
[When two intelligent beings meet and form a relationship, it would be a happy thing if they both want the same thing.]
After much thought and consideration, NB-20381019 tells his companion what he has realized.
[But that rarely happens. What should I do when that happens? I thought about it for a long time while I was sleeping inside you.]
[Knowing how to give up what you want for what the other person wants.]
“NB….”
[Supporting and giving strength even if it is dangerous.]
[Even if it results in you leaving me.]
[Respecting that choice and silently letting it go.]
Like the laughter of a woman who respects a man’s will and sends him to his death, something I once read in a book.
NB with the face of Isis smiled.
[I name this relationship….]
[I will name her Sunae.]
It was a smiling cry.