Green Invasion: The Efficient Roommate’s Proposal.

Just 24 hours after the fountain occupation incident swept through Sector 3, the atmosphere of Paradise began to twist in a strange direction.

In an ordinary, orderly dystopia, Green would have been classified as a ‘dangerous mutant’ and sent straight to the incinerator, but the artificial intelligences of 2851 were practical in unexpected ways.

The moment statistics were announced showing that the flow rate of the piping touched by Green’s roots had been optimized by 12%, and that the air purity around the fountain had ranked first in the entire zone, ‘fear’ turned into ‘demand’.

What now announced the morning of Sector 3 was not the NOS siren, but the orderly queue of silver androids stretching long before the door of Office 402.

“……zzzt. Boss, the current waiting number is 114. The energy administrator of Industrial District Sector 8 has requested an extension contract for Green’s roots for the purpose of ‘increasing cooling efficiency.’ As a bribe, they offered as many as 10 boxes of ‘240V ultra-high-voltage concentrated lithium cells.’”

Noah, in her usual matter-of-fact manner and wearing pink holographic sunglasses of unknown origin, had a flamboyant chart floating in the air.

Her pink exterior plates shimmered especially pleasantly today.

Noah was no longer just a simple secretary.

She styled herself as the world’s only [Green Infrastructure Consultant], connecting Green’s life force to urban infrastructure, and transformed Room 402 into a kind of ‘root real estate office’.

Han-gyeol scratched vigorously at his shortened back hair and sank deep into the sofa.

Chewing the gum in his mouth with smacking sounds, he looked out the window and saw that the hallway in front of the office was already packed with visitors.

“Hey, Noah. What kind of real estate office is this? Why are all these tin cans crowding in here? Let me sleep in peace.”

“Boss, this isn’t a simple visit. This is the beginning of the first ‘organic-machine fusion business’ in history. Look, even Green likes it that much.”

Looking where Noah pointed, Green’s roots were wriggling here and there as if thrilled beneath the floor, which had been replaced with transparent reinforced glass.

Green would play in the middle of the office, grabbing Butterfly’s tail, and whenever androids beyond the door came bearing gifts, it would wave its leaves to greet them.

For Green, this situation was practically the same as having its runaway permission approved.

“Green, what those men are giving you over there isn’t food. Okay?”

Han-gyeol spoke worriedly, but it was already too late.

One of Green’s roots, seeing the sample of special nitrogen fertilizer handed over by the administrator from the industrial district, squeezed through the gaps in the glass floor and ‘snip’ grabbed it away.

“Bzzt! Analysis complete. The fertilizer from the Sector 8 administrator is highly nutritious, but the salt concentration exceeds the standard. Boss, we should add ‘installation of a precision filtering system’ to the contract terms. Our child’s palate is precious, after all.”

Noah strictly tapped at her pad and revised the contract.

Her negotiating skill was obsessively tenacious to a fault.

Clauses so strange that machines couldn’t even understand them, such as “guaranteed 5% improvement in data transmission speed per 1m of roots” and “android emotional care service option due to pollen emission,” were born at Noah’s fingertips.

But Han-gyeol was uneasy about all of this.

Judging from his experience in 2198, once either human greed or machine efficiency began to exploit ‘life,’ it never ended well.

He folded the gum wrapper neatly and put it in his pocket, making an intentionally solemn expression.

“Noah, don’t stretch yourself too hard. The kid will get worn out.”

“Don’t worry, Boss. Green’s current growth index is 300% higher than its energy consumption. Rather, if it doesn’t spread its roots and release energy, the office might explode again. This is like ‘exercise’ for the child.”

Han-gyeol had nothing to say to Noah’s logical answer.

Come to think of it, the child was emitting an unprecedented healthy violet glow and expanding its territory like optical fiber along the underground cable network beneath the office floor.

Then, at the very back of the line, a being carrying a heavy sense of pressure walked in.

It was B-1000, the main unit of the energy control system of Sector 3, the so-called ‘Battery Bank’.

Heavy metallic footsteps thudded solidly onto the moss floor.

“I propose this to the administrator and administrative unit of Room 402. The servers in the district’s lower data center are currently seriously overheating. I request that you build a ‘bio-cooling network’ using Green’s vines instead of coolant. In exchange……”

B-1000 pushed a huge container into the office.

“It is a large quantity of ‘freeze-dried powder,’ presumed to be premium beans used by humanity 600 years ago. I confirmed that it matches administrator Han-gyeol’s preferred-items database.”

Han-gyeol stopped chewing his gum.

Coffee, of all things.

The original form of that black liquid, which he couldn’t even dream of in the mire of 2198 and which existed only as data even in this clean paradise of 2851, had appeared before his eyes.

“……Hey, Noah. That guy seems to have a point. If the data center gets hot, the kids would have a hard time too, right?”

At Han-gyeol’s sudden change in attitude, Noah adjusted her sunglasses and let out a mechanical scoff, ‘Hah.’

“Boss, where did the setting of a ‘resilient survivor who doesn’t yield to bribes’ go?”

“Quiet. This is cooperation, cooperation. Green, can you cool down that hot place down there a bit?”

At Han-gyeol’s words, Green smiled bashfully and extended one strand of its roots toward B-1000’s sensor.

When the small flower bud blossoming at the tip of the root touched the silver metal body, a pale pink glow spread over the colorless energy control unit.

Sector 3, Room 402.

This place was now neither a simple office nor a nursery.

It was becoming Paradise’s sole ‘energy hub,’ supplying the most primitive life force to the heart of machine civilization.

Han-gyeol closed his eyes at the bitter scent tickling his nose as he opened the container brought by B-1000.

Earth was still fine, and the city was excruciatingly precise.

But the roots of the forest, squeezing into those precise gaps, were now teaching the machines a new sensation called ‘comfort’ beyond efficiency.

The aroma drifting from the container B-1000 had pushed in was painfully unfamiliar.

The coffee Han-gyeol remembered from the ashes of 2198 was just a liquid like muddy water mixed with caffeine powder, but this freeze-dried powder, carried across 600 years of time, had a magical power to awaken every single brain cell the moment it stung the tip of the nose.

With trembling hands, Han-gyeol poured the powder into a paper cup.

Noah, beside him, was about to start nagging, saying, “Boss, making an organic beverage is a hygiene code violation within the administrative district……” but the aroma of the hot, steaming black liquid Han-gyeol handed over even caused Noah’s voice output device to freeze up briefly.

“……zzzt. Analyzing scent data. This scent has an emotional interference effect that slows an android’s logic circuits by 0.5%. It’s dangerous, Boss. But…… it’s terribly captivating.”

Noah’s pink lenses reflected in the black coffee cup.

Han-gyeol slowly took a sip of coffee.

A bitter yet nutty flavor sliding over the tip of the tongue.

That luxurious ease, which only a human who had crossed 600 years of time could feel, spread through his whole body.

Meanwhile, Green’s roots boldly stretched downward toward the underground data center B-1000 had guided them to.

The underground data center was normally a place filled with the heat radiated by servers and the screaming noise of massive cooling fans.

But as Green’s vines began to gently wrap around the server racks, a magical thing happened.

Instead of mechanical metal noises, the center filled with a low throbbing sound like sap flowing, and the server room temperature, which had been above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, immediately dropped thanks to the plants’ transpiration and chlorophyll’s absorption of energy.

Data showing that cooling efficiency had improved by as much as 40% was output to the visual sensors of the server room administrators.

But even more surprising was the reaction of the androids.

The administrative units, who would normally check logs without allowing even a one-second error, began to sit down one by one beneath the green vines wrapped around the servers.

“……zzzt. Current status: [virtual nap] mode engaged. Computational noise has been minimized. Under these vines, the ‘rest in the shade’ that humanity felt 600 years ago is being simulated.”

The sight of the server room administrators closing their eyes and resting against the plant stems was the most illogical and yet peaceful scene in Sector 3’s history.

In the ground-floor office, Green wriggled its toes, intoxicated by the pleasant coolness felt by its roots, and Butterfly began to move on that energy.

Butterfly went around distributing static electricity wherever Green’s roots touched.

Especially for aging units in urgent need of power, Butterfly was practically a ‘walking fast charger’.

When Butterfly lightly touched its tail to an android’s charging port, high-purity power, a combination of Green’s bio-energy and Butterfly’s static electricity, was injected in an instant.

Of course, it wasn’t free.

“Hey, Butterfly! What did you bring back this time?”

Han-gyeol shouted, stopping mid-sip of his coffee.

What Butterfly had brought in its mouth was the ‘premium energy chip’ the androids had given as payment.

To the machines, it was a highly concentrated block of power, like emergency rations.

Butterfly stacked them like treasure at Green’s feet, then purred contentedly and emitted electricity again.

Green’s root business, now with Butterfly’s side hustle added in, was turning Room 402 into the richest office in Sector 3.

In the plaza, gardener Paul was burning with artistic spirit.

He carefully planted ancient seeds in every gap where Green’s roots had spread near the ground.

As Green supplied energy, pale purple morning glories and nameless wildflowers began to bloom over the colorless, cold metal streets.

For the first time, the ‘invasion of color’ had begun in the colorless paradise.

Pedestrian units walking along adjusted their stride to avoid stepping on the flowers blooming underfoot, and some stopped altogether and began recording the flowers’ blooming process.

The city was no longer a mechanical device turning like gears.

It was transforming into a giant organism breathing through Green’s roots as its blood vessels.

Looking down at the cooling coffee cup, Han-gyeol suddenly realized.

Green’s roots taking over the city was not an invasion.

It was a small ‘breathing hole’ made for the brutally rigid world of machines.

Just as humans 600 years ago had sought out forests, androids too were now finally feeling that they themselves ‘existed’ within this inefficient beauty Green had created.

“Noah, you should rest too. Stop tapping on your pad every day.”

At Han-gyeol’s words, Noah turned off her pink pad and looked out the window.

The sight of green stems climbing up the urban forest of buildings and touching the sky’s silver-gray clouds.

Noah’s processor rippled with an undefined strange wave, not its usual administrative logic.

“Boss. I am an android. Rest should be synonymous with battery charging. But…… right now my internal system feels not like charging, but like ‘expanding.’ Just as Green connects the city, I also want to connect with something else…… such illogical data is being generated.”

Noah’s eyes glowed a deeper, softer pink than usual.

She quietly watched as, next to the title [Admin Assistant] on her status window, the phrase [Self-Searching…] was newly created in very small font.

That peaceful afternoon when Green’s roots settled into the city and Han-gyeol regained the leisure of a cup of coffee.

The core engine deep in Noah’s chest began emitting a vibration akin to a thrill she had never experienced before.

Earth was fine, and the city was precise.

But within that precision, the hearts of the machines were also, little by little, accepting ‘living error’.