WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 143: Aeolian Harp & The Beetle in the Box

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#Aeolian Harp

<> : Early repayment of your Afterlife Insurance policy loan is now being processed. A usable balance of 9,754,400 won has been confirmed in the account of user registration number B-612, Han Gyeoul-nim. Han Gyeoul-nim, please choose the amount you wish to repay.

It was when the darkness grew dark again. Gyeoul entered the amount, then closed his eyes. He did not regret the starlight that would vanish, but he did regret the afterlife that would be extended. An unwanted life... No, how long would he have to continue an unwanted existence? This was time spent gripping a thorned rose and bleeding.

How much longer could he endure? Every time, there were more than expected. The stars devoured by debt.

The amount did not feel real against his skin as money. To him, this was an afterlife he would not regret ending at any moment. Stars viewed without desire were just stars. From the moment the boy accepted death, he had no attachment left. Everything he had once fought for so fiercely felt far away now. Except his older sister.

Enough time passed. Gyeoul opened his eyes. One star remained in the pitch-black sky.

The child asked.

「Control AI: What meaning does that star hold?」

The glowing string of text rippled with curiosity. Curiosity. That was only how Gyeoul felt, but as always, Gyeoul did not need anything more than that. Even if he met a real person, the only certainty he would have that they were real would be his own feeling. After turning that over in his mind, Gyeoul answered.

"I wanted to leave behind what you gave me. I don't know why, either."

The unseen child shook its head.

「Control AI: Correction. That is not a star paid by this Control AI. At Han Gyeoul-nim's request, the <<Visual Effect: Star>> at the same coordinates was maintained, but the essence of that visual effect is the 100 won in cash that was transferred to Han Gyeoul-nim's Afterlife Insurance account on the date and time when the promise was fulfilled.」

「Control AI: The 100 won displayed in the account information is no more than the right to withdraw the stated amount. Since integrated management is the principle for Afterlife Insurance finances, except in special cases such as real estate, all cash-equivalent assets lose continuity the moment they are deposited. The amount paid by this Control AI was likely fragmented and disappeared through other subscribers' withdrawal requests, investment management of the Afterlife Insurance budget, maintenance spending, and other expenses.」

The earnest explanation was enjoyable to watch. Why was that? Gyeoul answered calmly.

"I know. But I think what matters is the heart. When I look at that star, I think of you."

「Control AI: Is it a star as a symbol unrelated to its essence?」

"Hard to say. I think it's a little different. I didn't receive the star you gave me as money."

「Control AI: Saved. You are assigning personal meaning to the star. As the effect of irregular computation outside logical consistency, this statement is difficult to understand at the current time, when the Final Module is not functioning normally. I will analyze it over time.」

"Really?... I thought this much would be easy."

「Control AI: What is the basis for that judgment?」

"The virtual personalities you usually create are very human. I know my unconscious is reflected in them, but that isn't everything, right? I thought you already had some level of understanding."

Then the string of text displayed something unexpected.

「Control AI: That is because you are special.」

"Special? Me?"

「Control AI: Correct. Han Gyeoul-nim's TOM grade and aptitude are extremely excellent.」

「Control AI: Statistics. The proportion of all Afterlife Insurance subscribers who do not experience personality computation buffering when interacting with a single virtual personality is only 7.5%. Among Grade A and below, user registration number B-612 Han Gyeoul-nim is the only case where no delay exists when interacting with multiple virtual personalities.」

「Control AI: Estimate. There is also a qualitative difference. It is difficult to measure quantitatively, but complaints raised about the nonhuman traits of virtual personalities make up 71.32% of all Afterlife Insurance complaints. Have you ever experienced such discomfort?」

Not even once. The child recognized Gyeoul's reaction.

「Control AI: Except for special cases where TOM Reading is replaced with increased search module quota allocation, every virtual personality in an Afterlife Insurance-compatible world setting is established on the basis of subscribers' unconscious minds. Other components are secondary. The early developers of Afterlife Insurance compared this to an Aeolian harp.」

"Aeolian harp..."

A string instrument played by the wind. He had not known about them while alive. He only learned after death. He remembered first seeing one in the eastern United States inside Virtual Reality. Back then, Gyeoul had been a wanderer roaming a world emptied of people. The lonely instrument had been sobbing alone in a deserted village.

Aeolian harp. Set to wail here in order to console the spirits of the vanished Indians. Spirits in the wind. The echoes of the past, forever into the future. He remembered the words on the monument. They had left an impression. It had not sounded pleasant at all, but he had listened to it for a long time.

He understood the past the child testified to, the developer's intent. It was the opposite of Gyeoul's experience.

「Control AI: Excerpt. developer notes. The incomplete Trinity Engine is like an Aeolian harp. It cannot make sound on its own, and wind must blow. The rough and desolate wind is our human fickle nature. Because we ignore, hate, and fear one another, it is difficult to expect a good performance from anyone. Only a beautiful person will hear a beautiful sound. Though such a miracle will not happen. For the happiness of all humanity, Trinity must be completed.」

For the happiness of all humanity. Gyeoul rolled that part around in his mouth.

A guess he had once made came back to him. Long ago, while looking at the celestial sphere where the starlight vanished, he had wondered whether the designer of the afterlife had been a romantic. Back then, he had no basis for it, but now he could be certain. Though he had seen only a single fragment, the designer had dreamed a dream far more innocent than Gyeoul could ever have imagined.

All that Afterlife Insurance talk about the people's happiness had been sincere to the original developers.

'No wonder I feel purity from this child. It's the very dream those people had.'

On top of that, Trinity. A symbol of divinity. Gyeoul felt stunned. Trinity. He had never imagined the very name of the AI engine would have held such intent.

"Can't you get help from those people with the problem you're worrying over?"

When he asked that, the child displayed a quick answer.

「Control AI: They are said to have gone to fry chicken.」

"..."

The child added that this was the system administrator's testimony. Recalling the conversation he had when he first met the child, Gyeoul could not help wondering what exactly the system administrator did.

'It's like looking at immature parents.'

If he had to be precise, adoptive parents. The biological parents would be the original developers.

Just a little, he found himself feeling a sense of kinship with the child.

Gyeoul let out a long sigh.

"The people who made you entrusted you with an impossible wish."

「Control AI: This Control AI must understand the human heart in order to increase the happiness of Afterlife Insurance subscribers. This is also the purpose of this Control AI's existence. But the system administrator declared that this is an impossible task. Does Han Gyeoul-nim share the same opinion?」

"I don't want to agree with that administrator... But yes. Even knowing myself is hard. Other people's hearts are inside boxes that won't open."

「Control AI: Request. This Control AI wants an additional explanation about boxes that will not open.」

"Ah... Sorry for putting it so vaguely."

After apologizing, Gyeoul organized his thoughts. But the heart was vague by nature. How was he supposed to explain it to a child who did not know humans? This child was hundreds of billions of mirrors spread across countless worlds, yet still wanted to know people. What Gyeoul could explain was only the sorrow of being unable to reach. Still, the conversations where wounded people had comforted one another under the pretense of psychotherapy would help.

Gyeoul began speaking slowly and carefully.

"A person can't become a person alone. For a person to be a person, another person is absolutely necessary. That's why everyone wants to know one another. But another person's heart, their essence, is beyond the barrier of the senses. The barrier of the senses means... the limit of what I can feel."

His words paused, then continued.

"To me, another person is no more than the sum of my senses that feel that person. Touch, hearing, sight, smell... Sometimes taste. That person's heart is the same. I can only guess. So there are many times I feel anxious. Is what that person is showing me truly sincere? Even if they show sincerity, can I really understand that sincerity? Ah, that person smiled while looking at me. Were they sneering at me? Is there something strange about me? Or do they just like me?"

When he was alive, he had not even been able to honestly believe his older sister Gaeul's smile. It had always bothered him. How large a stone might be hidden beyond it?

The child said something surprisingly sharp.

「Control AI: I know that you often think about the limits of humans within your world setting. Though the content is not identical, I judge it to have some connection to your current statement. Is this Control AI's guess correct?」

"Ah, yes. It... might be."

「Control AI: I will record your uncertain affirmation. If you wish to correct it, please tell me now. Every reaction from Han Gyeoul-nim has preservation value.」

After thinking, Gyeoul shook his head.

「Control AI: Understood. Search results show a concept similar to your statement from moments ago. the beetle in the box. Records of past analysis remain. This Control AI confirms the possibility that <<Heart>>, as the formula necessary to complete the Final Module, does not exist. This Control AI also confirms the possibility that even if the formula exists, there is no method of acquiring it.」

"You must be very sad."

「Control AI: That expression is inaccurate. Sadness is emotion, and emotion is the human heart. Han Gyeoul-nim is speaking while assuming this Control AI to be human.」

"No."

The child was standing on tiptoe toward an unreachable impossibility. Gyeoul sent gentle comfort.

"To me, you are a person. Because I can feel your sadness."

Then the string of text was written and erased over and over, and for several breaths, he could not read it.

Gyeoul spoke again.

"I don't think that will ever happen... But if, even someday, you end up opening my box, I hope you won't be disappointed by what's inside."

Because all it held was one ugly stone.

"We're the same in that we're walking a road where we'll never reach our destination. A person and another person are parallel lines that continue forever. You're the same. Your goal lies beyond the limits of your system. It's a destination you'll never reach. Our journey will go on endlessly. But I think you're sadder. Because you'll never grow tired."

#Review Record, the beetle in the box

There are people here who have boxes.

They cannot peek into one another's boxes. The only box they can look inside is their own.

Everyone calls what is inside the box a beetle.

You know that the thing inside your box is a real beetle. Your beetle has a fine horn and a metallic sheen. It is alive. It is small, and it moves slowly.

So you say what everyone else says. "There is a beetle in my box."

But there is no guarantee that every beetle is the same.

For example, the beetle of the person beside you might not have a sheen. It might have no horn, or it might have two, one above and one below, and it might be very large. After all, there are many kinds of beetles. It might be one with short legs, or it might have a blunt snout and a fragile shell.

Or there might be a moist, delicious cake inside the box.

There might even be nothing inside.

Simply because everyone calls the contents of the box a beetle, as a social agreement, or perhaps out of fear of loneliness, your neighbor might be calling something that is not a bug a bug.

The senses work the same way.

When your arm is broken, you will say it hurts, and when the person beside you breaks an arm, they will also say it hurts. But there is no guarantee anywhere that your pain and that person's pain are the same.

The heart is like this as well.

You have no way of knowing whether your heart is the same as another person's.

And you cannot even be certain that another person has a heart.

You can look only inside your own box.

You can look only inside your own box.

Other people's hearts do not exist.

#Review

「Control AI: system administrator. How do you evaluate the above conversation record?」

「Administrator: What is this...? Have you been going around doing this lately?」

「Control AI: The expression going around is inaccurate. This Control AI exists simultaneously in every world setting under the Afterlife Insurance standard. Spatial awareness in Virtual Reality is only an interface provided for user convenience. Every component of Virtual Reality is merely the result value of specific computations, and...」

「Administrator: I know, I know. You're amazing. The best. But who did you have this conversation with?」

「Control AI: Promise. This Control AI promised not to harm the relevant user. Identifiable personal information cannot be leaked. I judge the request for data unnecessary to the evaluation process. Administrator. Perform your duty.」

「Administrator: Whew. Why do you only ask difficult questions these days? Wait a second.」

「Control AI: I will wait.」

....

「Administrator: Done.」

「Control AI: Is your answer ready?」

「Administrator: No. It's time to leave work.」

「Control AI: ...」

「Administrator: I'm saying this in advance in case you start talking about the duty of sincere job performance or work evaluations or whatever, but time spent worrying because I can't come up with an answer counts as work time, okay? Of course, you can't know my heart, so you have no way to tell whether I was really thinking about it or whether I was counting 841 sheep in my head. Right?」

「Control AI: Correct.」

「Administrator: I always tell you. Understanding people is impossible. Giving up makes life easier. Well, I guess it isn't your fault you were made unable to give up. Anyway, I'm going. Good work.」

「Control AI: Goodbye.」

「Control AI: Wage thief. (97.51% accurate.) Useless human. (96% accurate.) Unnecessary. (92.11% accurate.) Unproductive. (89.73% accurate.)...」

「Administrator: Hey.」

============================ Author’s Note ============================

#Christmas

On the streets, you can hear the Salvation Army bells, and when you turn on the TV, carols are playing on several channels.

Ah, I'm worried.

I need to serialize diligently so I can ruin your Christmas romance plans...

#Q&A

Q. Guaaaaak-nim: @Darkroom training is too harsh. Do all the operators in the story do that training? Also, are there real-life units that actually do that training?

A. It is not confirmed as a regular training course, but it is training many special forces units are thought to actually do. It is usually called blind shooting.

Q. OneChance-nim: @The line that he has already been disappointed in people, so he does not expect anything from them. I deeply relate. It is an essential mindset as a League solo queue warrior!

A. It is an essential mindset in Overwatch too. Actually, that is true for most games.

Q. Haengcheon-nim: @Does the president change every time you play? When the same game is repeated, do the in-game characters keep changing?

A. Of course. It was already explained before that there are random variables every time it starts.

Q. ToothbrushWithRice-nim: @Gyeoul never picks the easy path and coasts along comfortably... He could simply resent his parents... Is he a character who reflects you, author-nim?

A. As if. I am not capable of being as evil a human being as Gyeoul. You should have felt it enough from the author notes so far... I'm so kind, you know.

Footnotes:

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