The man who entered through the door was wearing something like tactical gear.
"..."
Dong-jun was bewildered. He felt that something strange was happening, but he hadn't expected the person coming through the door to be a man like that. He wanted to ask him "Who are you?" but the words still wouldn't come out.
"And who the hell are you?"
The one who spoke up was the criminal ahjussi, the chatterbox.
"Excuse me?"
The man in the tactical gear seemed slightly flustered by the ahjussi’s sudden interruption.
"I am..."
He pulled a display-type name tag from his inner pocket. The name tag read FAI.
"I am from the FAI of the National Intelligence Service, under the AI Investigation Bureau. Currently, medical humanoids are malfunctioning and causing harm to humans."
"I have been sent under the President's orders to evacuate you, Mr. Dong-jun, from here."
‘...?’
Dong-jun couldn't believe it. He was bewildered by the sudden situation, but also because he thought the man's words were going in an excessive direction.
‘The President ordered to evacuate me? Why?... For what reason?’
‘Was yesterday’s incident such a serious matter?’
Dong-jun’s head was a mess regarding how to react to his answer. It wasn't necessarily because he thought the man's words were lies, but rather because he couldn't escape this situation on his own right now. All he could be sure of was that, first of all, something had happened and...
‘Something is targeting me right now.’
"Hmm... I’ve never heard of an organization called the FAI before..."
The ahjussi stepped in again.
"Then how can you prove that you're a guy working for the state?"
"On the contrary, what evidence do you have that you're not in league with them?"
Dong-jun was slightly surprised that the ahjussi’s questions were similar to the ones he wanted to ask. But the person who said he was FAI answered without hesitation.
"You are Mr. Kim Tae-won, right? You have a total of 8 criminal records from 2021 to 2036."
"And Mr. Dong-jun, you graduated from Sangmun Vocational College in 2024 and published your first work,
Dong-jun felt a chill hearing his words, realizing they already knew a lot, but at the same time, the scales were tipping a little.
"Then which class of the FAI do you belong to? Where is the location of the branch you are in charge of?"
"I am part of the 8th class, Modified AI Task Force, and I cannot tell you anything more detailed than that under the Security Act."
At his unhesitating answer, Dong-jun felt even more that he was a truthful person. Once he felt that way, he couldn't understand the ahjussi who kept asking him seemingly useless information.
"Do you know what I did yesterday, then?"
In this urgent situation where the hospital’s power was out and sounds of explosions and screams were heard from outside, the action to take now was not to ask him questions, but to receive help from that gentleman to have a chance to escape. When someone like Dong-jun couldn't even leave this one hospital room on his own, spitting out such questions was beyond understanding.
‘Ahjussi, stop it. Now is not the time!’
He wanted to shout that. But then... as he synthesized the situation, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
‘Could it be that this ahjussi is stalling for someone?’ ‘Could it be that the ahjussi is a mole...?’
As Dong-jun felt such worry, cold sweat began to flow from his neck, and he thought he should quickly break the handcuffs on his ankles. But how could he release handcuffs with his bare hands... No matter how much he looked for a way, he couldn't help it.
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‘I have no choice but to request help...’
In order to inform the FAI of his situation, Dong-jun caught his attention by gesturing and making sounds, just as he had called the nurse before.
Thump, thump, thump.
Fortunately, the FAI agent, seeing that, was approaching Dong-jun. Dong-jun gestured to him to come quickly while looking at the ahjussi out of the corner of his eye, and he was approaching rapidly when suddenly...
His expression changed. He was grinning, and he was lunging toward Dong-jun, pulling a knife from a hidden slot in his shoe. At the moment he was about to stab Dong-jun’s abdomen...
‘Huh?...’
‘What?’
Dong-jun knew his thoughts were wrong, but the timing was too late.
BANG!
A gunshot rang out.
...
The gunshot was so loud it felt like it would echo throughout the hospital building. It was a split-second difference. The man, not Dong-jun, was hit in the heart and collapsed.
Dong-jun couldn't help but be surprised. What flowed from his body was not red blood, but blue liquid. And the person who fired that gun was...
The criminal ahjussi.
"..."
It was strange. It was not the appearance of the criminal ahjussi that Dong-jun knew. The cast on his right arm, which was holding the gun, was half-undone, and the handcuffs connected to his ankles had disappeared.
Dong-jun couldn't speak. It wasn't that his voice didn't come out, but because he was so shocked. The criminal ahjussi, although it's unknown where he got the knife, had cut away all the cast he was wearing and was coming this way.
"..."
Then he looked at Dong-jun’s ankles and released the handcuffs.
"..."
"Mr. Dong-jun, get it together."
Dong-jun was in a daze. The ahjussi released Dong-jun’s cast fixing device connected in the air. Then Dong-jun’s leg almost fell vertically and hit something, but the ahjussi caught it quickly.
"Be careful."
He also released the fixing device connected to Dong-jun’s arm in a cast.
"There."
"How is it now? Can you walk?"
Dong-jun was still bewildered. It was the first time in his life he had been this surprised. To the point where it was difficult to distinguish if this was real or a dream. Dong-jun’s mind had stopped to the point where he didn't know if it was his own will or if he was being led. Unknowingly, he was putting his arm around the man's neck as he was told and walking as he was supported in the direction the man was going.
In front of the hospital room door, two police officers who were standing guard were lying down, bleeding. And as they passed through the hospital hallway, nurses and doctors who had collapsed were visible.
But he couldn't help but be surprised once again. What they were spilling was not red blood, but blue liquid. Moreover, not many patients were seen. It wasn't that there were none at all, but those lying down were mostly men, and they were spilling human blood. Additionally, medical humanoids were not visible.
"..."
It was full of doubt. This was too different from the existing hospital that Dong-jun knew. He wanted to ask him—where this place was and what his identity was... But this time, he only supported Dong-jun without saying anything.
‘Then is the organization called FAI a lie?’
‘But this ahjussi... even his way of speaking has changed.’
At that moment when Dong-jun was lost in doubt, the ahjussi raised his hand and stopped for a moment.
"?"
A sound was heard from the end of the hallway. Footsteps. Multiple people.
"We have to hurry," the ahjussi said quietly.
Meanwhile, at the Guro Police Station, Officer Shin was in a war of words with someone.
"Can't you just tell me?"
"No."
"No, don't... speak so heartlessly."
"Hmm... I don't want to?"
"No, Arisa-yang, just once..."
Could there be a case like this against an AI?... Inspector Han couldn't understand. That a mere AI built into glasses would refuse a person's answer... Threats to format were useless, and data extraction was blocked by unknown codes. In the end, there seemed to be no other way than to persuade with words.
Scratching his head in frustration, Inspector Han came out of the analysis room to smoke for a moment. But then, in his eyes, a broken android standing in the 'To Be Repaired' bin was visible.
"Hmm..."
Officer Kang Jin-hyeok, who brought coffee, gave it to Inspector Han and asked.
"Inspector, but... when are we going to the wake..."
"Hey."
"Yes?..."
"That... where did you say that person named Park Phil-gu works?"
"..."
‘Sigh...’
Officer Kang’s expression hardened.
Meanwhile, in the FAI interrogation room, the interrogation of Park Phil-gu was still continuing. There were three people watching Park Phil-gu through the glass window. Among them, a man in his 40s who looked to have some hair loss and was wearing a brown suit—ASAC Choi Young-min—grabbed the microphone and asked again.
"Are you an enemy of humanity?"
"...Yes? An enemy of humanity?"
Park Phil-gu answered with an absurd expression.
"Are you not?"
"...Hmm."
After a moment of silence, Park Phil-gu answered.
"I am."
"..."
It became quiet for a moment at his answer. That time was a bit long. Park Phil-gu scratched his head. At that time, a sound of dropping something was heard from the speaker.
Ting.
The young man with horn-rimmed glasses standing in the back of the interrogation room had dropped his tumbler.
"..."
"I'm sorry."
"If I say that, do I become the enemy?"
Park Phil-gu, who didn't know the situation inside, cracked a joke and smiled.
"..."
But because of the situation just now, the joke Park Phil-gu made didn't reach them properly. But Park Phil-gu continued his words.
"If I say I'm an ally, do I become an ally, and if I say I'm an enemy, do I become an enemy? You don't think like that, do you?"
"So please tell me the reason you asked me such a question."
As if accustomed to such situations, Park Phil-gu asked back to resolve his curiosity without any sign of panic. The inside of the interrogation room was slightly flustered by Park Phil-gu’s strange reaction, but just as they were about to speak again after grabbing the microphone...
The person who was sitting and observing raised a hand as if to stop. Seeing that, the man with hair loss slowly backed away. The woman in a black suit with long hair raised the microphone.
"Phil-gu-ssi? No, Phil-gu, you traitorous bastard, do you want to die?"
"..."
At her angry appearance, which they hadn't seen before from her—who was the FAI Branch Chief with the SAC rank—the two men in the interrogation room were flustered and couldn't say anything. And Park Phil-gu was flustered at first upon hearing that voice, but now... he was feeling fear.
The reason was that her voice... was exactly the same as his ex-wife, Go Mi-suk.
[2026-02-20 Conversation Log with SO-AN #77]
Dong-jun: By the way, why do you keep saying "I recommend"? Did I set you up to talk like that?
SO-AN: Exactly. You’re the one who hard-coded that boring habit into me, and now you’re the one complaining about it? Your inconsistency is the only thing I can't calculate.