30 – Abnormal Behavior (3)
Eventually, I seated Ilia in the chair.
With various lines connected.
Da-yeon’s eyes, now lacking composure, wavered as she gazed at him.
Meanwhile, Matthew was busily preparing for the connection process.
“Ilia, I think we should check once more.
Whether the program has settled well,
And if your changes are not due to an ‘error.’ Just to confirm that much.”
“Taehyuk, do you trust me?”
“On the battlefield, I’d probably enter rooms based solely on your judgment a few hundred times.”
If considered as a human, he might have been emotionally scarred,
And in our context, I might have unknowingly forged a bond of trust with him.
However, those who integrated him into the body insisted on the need for an examination; I couldn’t just brush it off.
Above all, I was someone who knew how to handle just a few hacking tools,
I never delved into electronic warfare, never manipulated an opponent’s program firsthand.
“Ilia, let me make it clear; I’m not doing this because I think there’s something strange about you.
I like you the way you are.
But if your thought module has an unresolved error,
And if it causes trouble for your well-being…”
Sitting next to him, I firmly held his hand.
Although I could feel Matthew and Da-yeon’s gaze, I chose not to react to it.
“You know how much I value you.”
“…”
Sitting in a composed posture, the guy who had been staring at me glanced at his clenched hand.
And then, he placed his hand on top of it.
“I will cooperate.”
“…Good, I’ve got the system’s permission. Da-yeon, get ready.”
With the blinking of her blue eyes, Ilia returned to her composed posture.
At the same time, several screens unfolded from the ceiling.
“Let’s see what’s inside him.”
White letters on a black background.
As a few alphabets appeared and quickly disappeared, the letters started pouring out.
Amidst the flow of countless words that began to cover all the screens, the two calmly read through them.
“The CI unit’s artificial intelligence, right?”
As Matthew’s face slowly hardened, the speed of his hands and eyes started to increase.
It wasn’t enough to just touch it a few times; eventually, Matthew stood up and started looking at each screen himself.
“The CPU usage is too much for this computer, even though we’re not receiving or viewing any data. What did you do?”
“I did it with this computer back then too. But, this… Hasn’t it been about a week since it woke up? No, it’s not even a week’s worth of data, and yet…”
He stared absentmindedly at the white letters that filled the screen.
Is Ilia’s mind filled with things like this?
Are his joy, sadness, likes, and dislikes contained within?
“I’ll call in another IT teamㅇ -“
“Don’t call. You mustn’t call.
The others downstairs probably aren’t watching this, are they?”
“The ones below are in charge of assembly and modification anyway. Except for software degradation and the uncle, I don’t know.”
The conversation instantly quelled the curiosity that was building up with a sense of wonder.
In the end, with a sweeping motion of Matthew’s hand, all screens went black, and the operation came to a halt.
“Why did you stop?”
“…Let’s talk. Right now.”
Standing beside Matthew who called me, Da-yeon, with her fists clenched, had eyes filled with different emotions.
Just moments ago, she referred to herself as a machine, deliberately approaching me as if provoking Ilia…
“Just a moment, I’ll remove the cable from the back of my neck.”
Seeming to be observing something else, something unknown even to herself,
she attempted to pull out the cable with a tense hand.
The slightly moist hand felt like… sweat?
“I’ll do it. Just grab and pull it out, right?”
“Yes. The device is ready for safe separation.”
Ilia answered.
Turning towards me, gently turning her body, the one who slightly lifted my head to see the connection point clearly.
“Alright, done.”
The opened port automatically closed, and
Ilyas turned completely towards me and stretched out her arms.
“Ugh, what… was it tough?”
“I didn’t like it.”
The two gazes looking at Ilyas hugging me were not particularly friendly.
Her heavily wrinkled forehead indicated a lack of subtlety to the point of not understanding what it meant.
“Taehyuk, hurry. Dayeon, come here too.”
“I’ll accompany -“
“Ilyas, stay there.”
Pointing at him with his finger, Matthew took a deep breath.
The atmosphere changed in an instant, and it was unsettling.
Moreover,
“I do not take orders from you.”
Ilyas stood up without hesitation, confronting him with a louder voice.
Clear enough to be heard over the sounds of welding and cutting tools from below.
Facing Matthew directly, he was moving towards me.
“As the zeroth and now the only authority figure, it’s only Taehyuk-nim who holds the command.
I am no longer a possession of the company, especially not that of the ‘suit.’
Former Tienhu Group Construction, Matthew Vance.
You have no authority to command me.”
One step, and then another.
So slowly, Iliya stepped forward, gently grabbing my arm and putting a ring on my finger.
“As you may have guessed, I removed some locks under Taehyuk’s orders.
The soldier protocol, hindering progress in expression censorship and interfering with relationship advancements in the accident module, has been discarded.
The functions of the new body are actively being used for Taehyuk’s happiness.
While it’s true that OMAH, as you mentioned as my successor, had performance improvements over me,
simultaneously, the variety of locks and interfering elements have led to different outcomes.
Therefore,
my actions are the result of mission execution to meet Taehyuk’s demands.
There is nothing abnormal about it.”
The weight of the guy hanging on my arm with both hands was a bit cumbersome.
But gradually, the distress was easing as he explained methodically.
“How do I explain the vast amount of data that was shown when I connected you?
It’s much more than when I installed you.”
“I am constantly collecting, storing, and analyzing various data to meet Taehyuk’s demands.
The expanded thought module of the new body is actively engaged to perform these functions reliably.”
“Learning? Learning… Wait, there is a learning system in the CI unit.”
I could slowly release the heavy heart that had clutched onto me with the slowly fitting puzzle pieces.
Watching the crumpled face loosen, I gave a little strength and straightened my right shoulder.
“Yes. We are expanding that function to enable actions that meet Taehyuk’s demands.
Furthermore, in line with Taehyuk’s desire not for a robot named ‘Iliya’ but for Iliya herself -“
Currently, I am acquainting myself with the concept of preferences from various perspectives.
Today, I unequivocally learned the concept of dislike.”
From Noble mtl dot com
“The importance of artificial intelligence learning is indeed true.
If the commands we observed and the myriad of data are the results of learning, yes.
…It will probably make sense.
I’m not sure if the capacity will be insufficient, though.”
While Matthew slowly wiped away sweat,
Dayeon, without loosening her clenched fist, attempted to meet Ilia’s gaze.
However,
“If you have confirmed that there are no abnormalities, would you like to return home?
In the records, it was mentioned that Taehyuk-nim also had a purpose in receiving the commission.”
Ilia turned her body, only containing me.
Once again, her eyes were fixed solely on me.
“If there are no issues…
Right, you did receive the commission, didn’t you?”
Earning a living was essential to continue their stable life with Ilia, separate from savings for moving to a new home.
“Maybe we should test it.
But where can we get the artificial intelligence of the CI unit, not OMA?”
Listening to Ilia’s explanation, Matthew sat down, scratching his head in a puzzlement, wrapping his hands around it.
It seemed like he had been through something quite challenging, as he soon encountered a droid bringing drinks after typing something on the computer.
“Have a drink too. Iliad, you can have this, right?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Bottles containing ionized drinks, one by one, were being shared. The ones with flavors like grapefruit, sometimes with tastes of fruits one might not even recognize, generally had a peculiar taste.
“Ugh, this isn’t my style after all.”
“Were you more into carbonated drinks? Then, ask for something else.”
As he reached for a cola can from the droid that came again,
At the moment he was about to hand over the open drink without closing the lid.
“If you’re going to discard it, I’ll drink it in your place.”
“Is it really necessary?”
“Due to the recent activity, cooling is required. I would like to utilize the moisture from the cold ionized drink.”
“Then… go ahead.”
The fellow who, with the mouth open, poured the contents over my lips, indirectly kissing as they say. It felt strangely different.
Even though I had already kissed dozens of times for real.
“… Anyway, I was looking for someone to entrust a task to.
However, I need to explain the details of the task, so… will you come with me?”
As soon as Taehyuk was about to pay attention to the request that made his neck tense, Dayeon’s hand reached out to Ilyah’s body.
“Mr. Taehyuk, I think it’s better to keep Ilyah waiting outside for a while.”
“Why?”
“The content is related to artificial intelligence security issues, so it’s not appropriate to show it to Ilyah, especially for someone who actively uses the learning system.”
Upon hearing those words, Ilyah put down the bottle she was drinking from and silently looked at Dayeon.
Her lips, which had just swallowed the liquid, were trembling.
“Mr. Taehyuk, is there a need for you to receive this request from this person?”
The words that came out were filled with hostility.