CHAPTER 332: ROOM 203, CURSED ROOM - 'NEW BEGINNING' RE (12)

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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 683,626

Current Location: Floor 2, Room 203 – Cursed Room ‘New Beginning’

Sage’s Advice: 3

– Han Kain

“...That’s how it happened.”

The doctor and Grandpa, whom we reunited with after a long time, were extremely thin.

I wondered if both of them have had a proper meal since entering this room?

“You’ve all been through tremendous adventures. I’ve also experienced quite a bit of hardship with Senior.”

It looked that way.

“Is there anyone who doesn’t suffer in the Cursed Room?”

“That’s true. By the way, it seems Miro has died, who took the Protective Suit?”

“Seungyub is wearing it now.”

At that moment, a young woman entered the cave where we were talking and brought water and simple food.

The doctor greeted her lightly, “Thank you, Blue Wind.”

“Y-yes!”

After the woman named Blue Wind left, Eunsol-noona next to me made a bewildered expression.

“Is that woman from Sanghyun’s tribe?”

“That’s right.”

He brought tribe members all the way to the mountain range?

Jinchul-hyung and I acted like that in the first attempt, but after that, we had been going around by ourselves because it was too difficult to bring tribe members along.

Moreover, didn’t the doctor and Grandpa Mooksung go by themselves from the first attempt?

The doctor explained the situation with an awkward smile.

In the first attempt, Jinchul-hyung argued with Grandpa and the doctor, who had abandoned all the tribe members, saying this direction wasn’t right, and the doctor himself had some realizations from that debate.

“Apart from ethical considerations, they wouldn’t have given us tribes for no reason.”

So the doctor openly told the tribe members. He said he was thinking of leaving for the mountain range after receiving a revelation from great ancestors, and those who wanted to follow could follow.

“Shamefully, not many people followed me. Probably because I didn’t have tremendous power like Jinchul.”

At first, about 7 people followed, but they dropped off one by one during the journey, and in the end, only that woman remained.

Eunsol-noona made a subtle expression.

“A young woman following that distance... You know what that means, right?”

“Eunsol seems to have misunderstood, but we didn’t form any deep relationship. As I said at first, I just brought her along because I was curious about what the reason for the existence of primitive humans might be.”

“If that’s the case, well...”

After a moment of silence, the doctor asked, “Kain, you’re planning to move to negotiate with the AI with the core now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Since yesterday, I’ve been hearing loud noises of robots being redeployed. The AI is already aware of the core’s approach.”

“I guess so. It’s emitting tremendous heat in all directions.”

“According to the plan, aren’t you going to bring the core, restore the spaceship, and then set off into space again?”

“Yes.”

“There’s an uneasy point. How are you thinking of handling the spaceship control issue?”

“We probably don’t need to control it in the first place, right?”

“That’s right. The crew members fall into cryosleep while the spaceship is moving. It was probably designed assuming AI control from the beginning, and there’s a high possibility that humans can’t control it.”

“I guess so.”

“Isn’t that point worrying? It means we have to entrust ourselves to an AI that’s hostile to us...”

“There was a solution to that part when I read the records left at the place where the core was stored.”

“A solution?”

“It says the AI is basically designed to obey the crew and protect humanity. Because of this, it couldn’t intervene even when the human forces in the mountain range split and caused internal strife 1800 years ago.”

“It can’t harm us in the first place?”

“Humans who reached an advanced civilization probably created safety measures when designing the AI.”

“That may be so, but didn’t it kill us without hesitation in the first attempt?”

“Maybe it doesn’t recognize us as crew members now?”

“That’s a good point. While staying near the mountain range with the elder, discussing various possibilities, we found that part strange.”

“Which part?”

“Why doesn’t the AI know that we are crew members?”

“...”

“We’re not beings created by the kit that Adravita stole, but the crew members themselves who came down to this planet on the spaceship.”

“That’s right.”

“Why doesn’t it recognize us?”

Why is that?

I got a headache because I hadn’t thought about this part before.

“The AI’s memory loss... does that not make sense?”

“Surprisingly, there’s a possibility. It’s not human so it wouldn’t experience memory loss, but didn’t the human group clash long ago?”

“That’s right.”

“Part of the AI’s database might have been destroyed in that process.”

“That could be possible.”

“Then, the AI won’t recognize that we are crew members in the future and will keep trying to kill us.”

The AI was designed not to harm crew members. However, as long as the AI didn’t recognize us for some reason, that design was meaningless.

Of course, there was a solution to this part too.

“We just need to wake up the captain, right?”

The doctor, who had been pondering, soon nodded.

“Wake up Ahri, who plays the role of captain, during the negotiation process? It seems the AI still recognizes Ahri as the captain, so that would work.”

“This is also the release of Ahri’s seal.”

“It seems like a convincing progression.”

Just before climbing the mountain range, the doctor said something unexpected, “I’ll stay here.”

Grandpa let out a surprised voice, “Sanghyun?”

“Isn’t there a saying not to put all your eggs in one basket?”

Eunsol-noona nodded.

“Do that. Negotiating with the AI could certainly involve dangerous situations, so we need to prepare for contingencies.”

***Looking down at the traces of the first civilization that stood on this planet 1800 years ago, Grandpa muttered with a complex expression, “What would the people who built this city have thought if they saw this state now?”

“Sage time has come, huh?”

“Sage what? Seungyub, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“...”

At that moment, Eunsol-noona warned.

“It’s coming. I can see it. Everyone, get ready!”

Jinchul-hyung was on top of the core, wearing the Protective Suit.

We were thinking of threatening the AI using the safety of the core as an excuse if necessary!

***Pride, borrowing Ahri’s body, appeared alone without bringing any robots.

“Pride, do you have any intention of negotiating with us?”

“...Negotiate, you say. Why should I do that?”

“Don’t you need the core we brought?”

“I can just kill you and take it.”

“If you were thinking that, you would have sniped us already. Aren’t you afraid the core might be destroyed while fighting us?”

Pride made an expression as if it was hard to understand and asked back, “I don’t understand what you want.”

The moment I heard those words, Grandpa, who had been clenching his fists, quickly shouted, “Let’s set off again!”

“...What?”

“Let’s leave this damn planet and set off into space again!”

“...”

This time, I opened my mouth, “Pride. You know, right? This planet is already hopeless. A mad god has spread pseudo-humans all over the planet and made something like an animal farm!”

“...”

“Let’s go back into space. There must be another planet somewhere in space suitable for humanity to start anew. So—“

“I don’t understand.”

“What?”

“Where on earth did you get this information?”

“What—“

“There’s a spaceship in the mountain range. The core is the spaceship’s power source, and the core is needed for the spaceship to set off into space again. How on earth did you know this information?”

Come to think of it, the current situation was incomprehensible from the AI’s perspective.

Civilization and everything else collapsed 1800 years ago, but suddenly the distant descendants of traitors realized the true ancient history and brought the core, the essential power source of the spaceship.

Realizing this fact, a better logic for negotiating with the AI came to mind.

Isn’t the very fact that we have this information evidence that we are crew members?

“It’s simple. Because we were crew members of the Pride of Humanity.”

Instead of refuting those words, Pride looked at me as if piercing through me.

“It’s certainly information that would be difficult to find out if you weren’t crew members. But this is also incomprehensible.”

Noona, who was behind, said with a frustrated expression, “What’s incomprehensible?”

“The lifespan of enhanced humans is longer than ordinary humans, but it doesn’t exceed 300 years.”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

If, as the AI said, the lifespan of enhanced humans was less than 300 years, there was no way crew members from 1800 years ago could still be alive.

At this point, another question arose. After the collapse of civilization, where on earth were our bodies?

This time, Grandpa ran up and shouted, “If you want, do a blood test or whatever. We are those crew members you know-“

“Meaningless.”

“What?”

“Because part of the crew roster database is in a state I can’t access.”

So that’s why you couldn’t realize we were crew members!

“Do you have anything more to say? If not—“

Just as I felt the vibration of robots approaching from afar, a rough voice was heard from above the core, “Stop! Do you want to see me destroy this?”

Cha Jinchul was riding on top of the core, enduring the heat it emitted while wearing the Protective Suit.

As he showed a stance as if he would strike the core at any moment, Pride showed an incredulous reaction.

“You truly have monkey-like intelligence. Do you think you can destroy the core with a human fist—“

– Boom!

With a tremendous explosion like firing a cannon, the AI’s expression momentarily hardened.

“...No matter how strong you are, the core’s durability can never be broken by a fist—“

– Bang! Crack!

“Do you know what kind of object the core is? To claim you’re crew members while trying to destroy the core!”

“So call off the robots. And wake up the captain!”

“...”

“The captain! Wake up Ahri! Ahri will be able to tell whether we’re crew members or not!”

“...”

The next moment, Ahri’s body in front of me started to change.

The inorganic expression that couldn’t be read for emotions loosened as if tension had been released, and a somewhat cold yet playful expression settled.

As Ahri frowned and lightly touched her forehead with her hand, I finally knew that the Ahri I knew had awakened.

“Good job everyone! But my head hurts a lot.”

***As Ahri woke up, the situation was quickly resolved.

The AI started communicating with us by controlling nearby robots instead of Ahri’s body, and Ahri declared that we were crew members with her captain’s authority as soon as she woke up.

From that point on, the AI started treating us as crew members and asked Ahri if she would give the order to set sail again.

“Order to set off again?”

“Captain, the Pride of Humanity has been abandoned for a long time. Even with the core, repairs are needed to go back into space.”

Ahri made a somewhat confused expression and then lightly nodded.

“Alright.”

The scene that unfolded afterwards was truly miraculous.

Literally, with a sound that seemed to twist the entire mountain range, the upper part of the spaceship started to appear. The security units that had been in the mountain range started moving around like workers and began rapidly restoring the spaceship.

At this speed, wouldn’t the spaceship’s restoration be finished in a day or two?

By evening, the spaceship’s form could now be clearly recognized, and Ahri had succeeded in recalling almost all information.

Ahri, who combined her memories with the information we provided in the place prepared by the AI, started organizing the situation.

“The story is really complicated. I’ll organize just the main points, cutting out the detailed branches.”

In fact, if one just considered the main points, it wasn’t much.

About 1800 years ago, highly developed humans arrived on this planet with Adravita.

Soon, conflict arose among them, and Adravita scattered pseudo-humans who would worship him all over the planet.

Afterwards, the human group split into those who followed Adravita and those who didn’t, and after conflict, both collapsed.

In that process, the spaceship was separated into the main body remaining in the mountain range and the power source hundreds of km away.

In this world where humanity collapsed, Adravita became the de facto ruler.

“And now we’ve appeared.”

“That’s right.”

“The curse of this room... Is it the situation itself where humanity’s new beginning has failed?”

“Maybe so?”

“Is your plan to escape from the malevolent god’s hands and set off into space again?”

“That’s right.”

“Adravita needs you to leave so he can do whatever he wants with this planet?”

“That’s the feeling.”

“It feels like there are holes all over the scenario...”

The gazes of companions who felt uneasy at Ahri’s words gathered.

“In what sense?”

“Aren’t there too many strange parts? According to that scenario, why are the primitive humans even here? If it’s just about us repairing the spaceship and setting off into space, the primitive humans have no role at all?”

“...”

“Why do we have to set off into space in the first place?”

“Huh?”

“How many planets suitable for humans to live on could there be somewhere in space? This planet must have been found with great difficulty in the first place.”

“That’s...”

“How about just living on this planet and laying the foundation of civilization together with the primitive humans? Wouldn’t that give the primitive humans a role too?”

“But Adravita would interfere, right?”

“Wouldn’t preventing that interference be the trial of this room?”

The surroundings became quiet. Just as the companions were all tilting their heads, Ahri carefully pointed out, “When did you start thinking we had to leave for space?”

“It’s a conclusion we reached after seeing past records at the headquarters where the core is.”

“Who wrote that information?”

Well, most of it was the AI—

– Boom!

Suddenly, loud noises started coming from the entire place where we were!

Jinchul-hyung was surprised and opened the door and knocked on the wall, but it didn’t budge at all.

Meanwhile, strange sounds came from the ceiling, and as gaps opened, strange gas started coming in.

At this moment of clear crisis to anyone, I fell into another question. Why didn’t the Life Warning activate?

...Because it’s not trying to kill us?

At that moment, a realization like lightning striking hit my head.

“Ahri!”

“Huh?”

“The order to set sail again! You gave it to the AI, right?”

“Y-yes—“

“The content! What’s the content?”

“R-repair the spaceship, decide the route, the human cultivation kits-“

“Not that, information related to us!”

“Uh, uh, t-the crew members fall into cryosleep while the spaceship is operating—“

As those words came out, Ahri’s and my expressions froze.

Pride was now trying to put us all to sleep to follow the order to set sail again that Ahri just gave.

...When my thoughts reached this point.

A very frightening thought that pierced through the many questions we had held until now crossed my mind.

The Cursed Room with strangely no danger.

A scenario that seemed to have holes all over.

A Convict who kindly spoon-fed information to an uncanny degree.

Maybe.

The lack of danger might be because someone had removed the dangers in advance.

The feeling that there were holes in the scenario might be because someone had actually distorted it.

The reason for kindly providing information might be to guide the direction of the conclusions we would draw.

Confusing scenario, complex progression.

Let’s remove everything and just look at the current situation. What situation have we encountered?

To leave space on the spaceship, we must fall into cryosleep. The path we had chosen was a path that put ourselves into cryosleep.

...While forcibly holding my closing eyelids, I prayed.

May we have a “next chance”.