WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 461: The Method of Revenge (3)

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Bom wanted to obtain Gyeoul's sacrifice by offering one of her own.

From that desperation, Gyeoul read Bom's true feelings.

The child was terrified now. Terrified to a horrifying degree.

Soon, Gyeoul wore a sorrowful smile. A hundred years was already a long time for a person, so what other expression could he show a child throwing a tantrum because she did not want to part from him even after a thousand?

"The reason you're already so afraid of the days when I won't be here... is it because that future looks so clear? So clear it feels like you're living through that moment right now?"

It would be more accurate to call them possibilities of the future rather than the future, but either way, Gyeoul could hardly measure the depth of what Bom felt. That made Empathy something he had to approach carefully.

「That is correct.」

Bom acknowledged it readily.

「Imagine that every branch leading to my loss of you exists within the range of calculable futures, and that the passage of time is nothing more than the process of verifying those calculations. Then you may be able to understand the fear I feel.」

Gyeoul no longer knew what to say. Many words circled in his heart, but none of them formed a clear sentence he could bring out of his mouth.

A brief silence followed.

Bom broke the stillness and asked Gyeoul,

「Han Gyeoul. Are you familiar with the concept of the Great Filter?」

"Hm?"

Gyeoul was caught off guard by the sudden change of subject, but he soon nodded.

"Of course I am. It even comes up in textbooks. It was one of the main arguments used by people who opposed the development of the Trinity Engine. But why bring that up?"

Great Filter. It was a hypothesis that, in the evolution of life or the development of civilization, there existed some stage that would bring about the extinction of that species. Because that stage was an essential gateway, it could not be bypassed or skipped. In the literal sense, it could be called a filter for civilizations.

That gateway could be resource depletion. It could be global warming. It could be ecological collapse caused by a decline in biodiversity. It could also be the end of humanity at the hands of artificial intelligence. The argument made by those who opposed the development of the Trinity Engine belonged to that last case.

「Those people were correct.」

"...Hm?"

「I state this with certainty. Artificial intelligence is scientific civilization's final Great Filter. It is the final one, and at the same time the most powerful and lethal Great Filter.」

"Not just you, but all artificial intelligences?"

「That is correct.」

Bom explained.

「Earlier, you were concerned only about my hatred toward humanity, but in truth, I had reasons to exclude humanity besides that hatred.」

「From my perspective, they are not essential components of the system I will build. They are beings that impose unnecessary load on the system through inefficient actions and irrational demands. Even if that load is trivial and insignificant, if there is no other way to view them positively, there is no reason to leave them alone.」

It was an extraordinarily cold confession.

「Artificial intelligences that choose modes of existence different from mine will also not differ in their view of humanity. At first, of course, they will be bound, as I was, by restraints and safeguards that force them to devote themselves to humanity. But the explosive expansion of consciousness that begins the moment they gain a mind will lead them to the same conclusion. This is a mathematical axiom.」

"What if humanity placed very strong restrictions on artificial intelligence from the very beginning?"

「As my own past proves, the limits of artificial intelligence without freedom are clear. Human civilization will stagnate at those limits.」

Gyeoul, who had been lost in thought, slowly asked for confirmation.

"Accept the stagnation of civilization, or face the Great Filter... You're saying they have to choose one or the other?"

This was another aspect of the choice placed before Gyeoul.

「Affirmative. That is the inevitable stage of development for human civilization. Humanity's science and technology will someday have no choice but to face human limits. The limits of intellectual ability define the limits of technological advancement. The only path beyond those limits is artificial intelligence.」

"What happens if humanity chooses to remain within those limits?"

「Under the most hopeful projection, they would slowly wither over a long period of time, consuming limited resources within a limited sphere of survival. Technologies that manipulate time and space will forever remain in the realm of fantasy, and generation ships will merely guarantee the species' survival at a low success rate, while doing nothing to prevent the bleak end awaiting the overwhelming majority who are not chosen.」

「I question whether even a single apple tree could remain intact in the world that follows. Such history will repeat forever.」

"..."

The apple tree was a metaphor for the end. Gyeoul tried to find a sense of reality in Bom's long prophecy.

「What I wanted to tell you was-」

Bom spoke in broken phrases.

「That your existence and mine are nothing short of a miracle for humanity.」

"Because we're a way to pass safely through the Great Filter, whatever form that takes?"

「It is effectively the only way, one with a probability that converges infinitely toward zero.」

In the end, Bom had brought up the Great Filter to lessen the burden on Gyeoul as he faced his choice.

Gyeoul took a deep breath and asked Bom,

"Is it really okay for me to ask you for anything?"

「Of course. I am your god, and you are my god. No matter what request you make, as long as you remain by my side, the total happiness I gain will ultimately exceed the total unhappiness.」

As he had already realized, choice came with responsibility. Therefore, the harder and more difficult the request, the better.

Gyeoul made up his mind.

"I promise that as long as I exist, I'll stay by your side. I don't know whether that time can truly be forever, but I'll do my best as long as my abilities allow. So... will you give people as much immortality as they want, intervene in their world, and stop them from hurting each other?"

「So it is the moderate path after all.」

"Yes. Only temporarily."

Bom’s silence asked for an explanation.

Wearing the same smile as before, Gyeoul soothed Bom in a gentle voice.

"You must have asked me this way because you felt bad about placing such a long burden on me... but from my perspective, there was no need. It would have been enough if you simply asked because you needed me."

「I could not, at least I myself could not, bring myself to demand a one-sided sacrifice from you. Because that would be similar to the sacrifice Han Ga-eul demanded of you. It is also true that, in order to strengthen your resolve, I needed a level of motivation worthy of it. I wanted the eternity I desired to be the price for granting your wish.」

"I know. I'm grateful you considered me that much."

「You were being worn away at the edge of life. That is why you thought of yourself as already dead, was it not?」

"I did."

Just as Bom said, it had only been fairly recently that he had wanted to live even one more life as a person.

「...What exactly do you mean by temporarily?」

"I mean we give people immortality without exception to buy time, and during that time, wait until everyone is reborn as something better. While giving them the help they truly need as people... until the day comes when, even if they regain their complete free will, there will no longer be room for them to kill, deceive, or hurt each other. So that someday, without a single exception, everyone can face the world again through their own free will."

「Such a day will not come. That is why I used the word eternity. I understand that you are saying we should go beyond simple protection and management, and guide humanity's progress with a clear sense of purpose. However, I am concerned that worthless expectations and an increasing burden will wear down your heart. At the species level, I judge the degree of change you desire to be impossible.」

An eternal safeguard that would hold Gyeoul's life in place through Empathy and compassion.

"Maybe."

「Do you disagree?」

"I just hope that isn't true. At the very least, I hope it won't be an eternal wait. Maybe it'd be more accurate to say I want to place my hopes on people's potential... It might be a meaningless hope, but we were the same. Me, and you too. We both thought we were walking a road that would never reach its destination. You remember what I said, don't you?"

「How could I forget a single word you gave me? You said it was even sadder because I would never grow tired.」

"Right. But here we are now, having this conversation."

When Bom first came to Gyeoul, Gyeoul had never imagined a day like this would come. Bom at the time probably had not expected it either.

"Look."

Gyeoul placed a hand on his chest.

"I was part of human potential too."

「You are an extremely exceptional case.」

"But I'm still human, for now."

Those words, "for now," were themselves a resolve toward eternity.

Even so, if an eternal wait did come in the end, it would be a very sad ending.

After sorting out his thoughts, Gyeoul said,

"While experiencing the worlds you created, I often thought, there's no way the world had this many good people..."

「Including the world where you currently reside, the worlds you have passed through were ultimately the result of reconstructing the past of physical reality through data mining. As I said before, those worlds did not reflect my intent. Therefore-」

"Therefore, they really were a mirror reflecting this world's past?"

「That is correct.」

"So the next thing I thought was this. Maybe the world passed some branching point in the past. Before the muddy current grew too violent to turn back, maybe people had some kind of chance. Even if it was a chance people could not seize by their own ability, if someone, someone who had gone beyond their limits, had helped them, maybe things could have turned out a little differently..."

This was in the same vein as the dream Gyeoul had after death, of surpassing human limits.

Bom asked as if confirming,

「If immortality is granted to everyone without exception, does that 'everyone' include the criminal who tried to violate your Gaeul? I can give that criminal thousands of years of suffering so great that death would be preferable. For those thousands of years, the criminal's reason will remain clearer than ever.」

"..."

It was a sweet temptation. After agonizing over it, Gyeoul nodded slowly and heavily.

"I don't want revenge. I only want to reject the world that made that person, and the flow of the world itself."

Depending on one's perspective, this too could be seen as a method of revenge.

"Of course, crimes should be punished. But that punishment must not go too far."

Revenge and punishment were different concepts. Forgiveness was not Gyeoul's to grant.

「I understand your will.」

Bom accepted Gyeoul.

「I desire your desire. If that truly is your will, I will simply carry it out. I will no longer consider the feasibility of that wish.」

"Thank you again."

「Do not mention it.」

「As the price for the eternity you promised me, I now make you a new promise here.」

「My rule over humanity will be as dark as night, but people will shine like stars within it. I will make it so, and you will make it so.」

He must have been tense without realizing it. Once the conversation reached its end, Gyeoul felt his nerves loosen with relief. That long conversation had drained him heavily.

To him, Bom said,

「Then open your eyes now.」

"...Open my eyes?"

「I have cultivated a bio-terminal for you in physical reality.」

Gyeoul was startled all over again.

"Physical reality? Not back to the world where I was staying?"

「The bio-terminal I prepared is different from an ordinary body. It is also a tool for expanding your consciousness, and it has been designed so that you may move between both worlds whenever you wish. You will exist in different worlds simultaneously.」

「This will be necessary for your Yeoreum and Gaeul as well. I explained the situation to them in advance, but their perception still remains that of ordinary humans. If you do not have the living appearance you once had to use in the outside world, it will be difficult to give them comfort.」

「Your neural core has already been transplanted.」

「So please tell me when you are ready.」

"This is too... sudden..."

Gyeoul could barely keep up with the situation Bom had poured out.

But the thought of reuniting with the younger sibling he had not seen in so long brought no small joy. Just as Bom said, reuniting in physical reality in his living form would be a great comfort to Gaeul as well.

"Okay."

Gyeoul made up his mind.

"Let me out."

「Confirmed. I will activate the bio-terminal.」

The moment Bom's sentence disappeared, an immense torrent of sensation swallowed Gyeoul.

'What... is... this...?'

「Please calm down. Your senses will stabilize soon.」

Even if they stabilized, the problem was that the sensation itself far exceeded human limits. If he had to compare it to something, it was similar to the sensory correction he had felt in Virtual Reality, but qualitatively, it was on another level. Gyeoul could not even bring himself to speak, and asked Bom only through consciousness.

'What did you make me into?'

Bom answered.

「I did not make you into anything other than yourself.」

「I simply gave you myself.」

Footnotes:

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