Chapter 2

Shuri was flabbergasted.

‘What on earth is he talking about?’

She couldn’t understand the situation, but she couldn’t keep someone who had come to see her for business standing at the entrance forever. Shuri spoke into the intercom in a crawling voice.

“J-Just wait a moment…!”

She then unlocked the front door.

The heavy deadbolts of the entrance let out a series of clicks as they opened, and John could be seen stepping inside the building.

‘Seriously, what is all this?’

Shuri had no choice but to end her week-long seclusion and go out to greet her guest.

John stood tall at the entrance of the lobby, lightly scanning his surroundings. The building’s exterior was practically a ruin, but the interior was pleasant—even if it was far from luxurious.

Hanging from the high ceiling in the center of the lobby were those very same CCTV monitors like a chandelier, and a vertical indoor farm on both walls was casting a pale light.

Noticing Shuri as she hesitantly approached him, John offered a greeting.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Shuri.”

Shuri accepted his greeting with a face that showed she wasn’t pleased in the slightest.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you too… But I don’t really understand the situation right now. I think I need more of an explanation…”

John watched Shuri silently as her eyes grew wide with bewilderment, and then he took a step forward.

“Miss Shuri, you participated in the development of artificial intelligence at UH in the past, didn’t you?”

“…!”

Was it because of that?

Shuri turned deathly pale and shook her head vigorously.

“No! I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

John took another step toward her. He then bowed his head toward her and spoke firmly.

“You are an engineer who creates miracles. And you’ve done it twice.”

At the piercing gaze of John’s deep blue eyes peering into her face…!

Shuri slowly lowered her gaze, fixing it on the snowy white pocket square tucked into John’s chest.

“Ah, I know about you. Did they say you can’t make eye contact with other people?”

Shuri glared at John’s pocket square and answered in the most casual tone she could muster.

“That’s right. It’s a type of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). But you don’t need to worry about it. It’s at a level that doesn’t interfere with my work.”

“I see.”

Even though she told him he didn’t need to worry, Shuri could feel John backing off slightly.

“Incredible, Miss Shuri.”

Instead of answering, Shuri pressed a hand to her forehead.

‘What exactly is so incredible?’

This situation couldn’t be a coincidence. John knew about Shuri’s medical diagnosis history, as well as the most fatal mistake she had ever committed. If that was the case, it would be useless to pretend ignorance any longer.

“Sigh…”

Letting out a deep sigh, she had no choice but to nod her head.

“Fine. Come on inside.”

Sitting on the lobby sofa, John elegantly crossed his legs and brought up the main topic.

“The world is in a state of complete celebration. It’s as if humanity has overcome every crisis. But that’s not true. While Adam destroyed the asteroid cluster, he failed to destroy ‘Titan.’”

At the mention of Titan, Shuri squeezed her eyes shut.

“That has nothing to do with me. What I make is just a very simple AI training system.”

John spoke.

“That is where ‘Adam’ and ‘Titan’ were born.”

No longer able to evade it, Shuri wrapped her hands around her head.

A few years ago, when she urgently needed money, she had sold an AI training system she developed herself on the dark web.

Just as she had told John, what she sold was a very simple system suitable for training small-scale artificial intelligence. However, scientists from a communist state disguised as a small biotech firm had purchased it.

At best, she thought a cute and smart chatbot that helped people take their medicine would be born, but lo and behold—what was born was the worst cyberterrorist, “Titan.”

‘To think that a guy who does every trashy thing an artificial intelligence can possibly do was born from my training system…!’

Shuri groaned.

“That’s right. It’s the worst mistake of my life. That’s why I handed over my training system to UH to make up for it, isn’t it? Thanks to that, Adam was born.”

She let out a deep sigh before continuing her words.

“Since Adam even blocked an asteroid cluster, he’ll easily be able to block something like Titan.”

“Of course, we hope so too. However, to do that, we need your help.”

“What could I possibly do? As I’ve already told you, I am absolutely not an incredible engineer. What I developed was a very basic training system. It was truly a miracle that Adam and Titan were born from it.”

Feeling her throat go bone-dry, she spoke as calmly as possible.

“To put it simply, I’m like a kindergarten teacher. I don’t want to get involved in a fight between tyrants who graduated from my kindergarten and are now squabbling over planetary dominance!”

John cut her off cleanly.

“One million dollars.”

“…”

“That’s the down payment. The success bonus is separate.”

Shuri’s pupils shook violently.

“A-A down payment of one million dollars, you say?”

“Yes. UH is staking its survival on this.”

Whether UH was staking its survival or not, this was a proposal she should have rejected instantly.

However.

Shuri swallowed her dry saliva and slily shifted her gaze upward. Her farm, which had been smashed to pieces after being hit by the meteor, came into view.

‘With a million dollars… I can rebuild the farm, can’t I?’

It was far too much money to refuse.

The hesitant Shuri opened her mouth once more.

“What is it that I have to do?”

John placed his clasped hands on his knee and spoke elegantly.

“The media speaks as if Adam controls every surveillance system on Earth. However, the system control authority actually granted to Adam is extremely minimal. While Adam is doing his best with the authority granted to him, he needs greater authority to protect humanity from Titan.”

“Are you saying he needs something to receive that greater authority?”

“That is correct.”

John nodded.

“We must teach Adam humanity, proving that he is mankind’s true hope. That is the project I am entrusting to you, ‘Project Apple’!”

Humanity…

Humanity!

Shuri’s face, which had been listening intently to John’s words for a brief moment, turned pale all at once.

“As expected, I can’t do it.”

“Miss Shuri.”

“Even though I know I won’t succeed, I can’t take on a job just because of a down payment. This involves the future of humanity.”

“A job that won’t succeed—why do you think that?”

Shuri spoke with a face drained of color.

“Because I hate humans.”

It was true. She terribly disliked humans.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I want to hurt anyone like Titan does, but I don’t possess anything like humanity. How am I supposed to teach something I don’t even know?”

Shuri shook her head earnestly.

“The down payment is tempting, but I can’t take this job.”

John spoke slowly.

“But Shuri, Adam designated you.”

Shuri’s eyes grew truly large this time.

“Why would he designate me? Think about how many genius engineers there are at UH!”

“Of course, they will also join the project sequentially.”

Shuri felt immensely relieved by John’s words.

Sweeping her hand down her chest with a sigh of relief, she beamed.

“Ah, is that so?”

“Naturally. UH is staking its survival on this. We will do everything within our power to teach Adam humanity.”

John spoke firmly, a faint smile gracing his thin lips.

“But Shuri. The one Adam chose is you alone.”

Shuri didn’t deliberate for long.

“Why the heck not, let’s give it a shot!”

Of course, this would have been an impossible choice if she didn’t have faith in the genius developers worldwide, including those at UH.

‘To think Adam would make a mistake like this. I guess he evaluated my training system very highly. Oh well, even if I fail, someone else will succeed! I should just take the down payment and make a run for it.’

John spoke to Shuri, who was chuckling to herself at the thought of freeriding.

“I have sent the down payment immediately.”

“Thank you for the swift transfer, valued customer! I don’t have much confidence, but I’ll do my absolute best.”

Shuri asked while wearing the most professional smile she could conjure.

“When shall we begin?”

“Let’s do it right now. Adam is already on standby.”