Chapter 228: Rosaline (3) |
In a luxury apartment near Jungyoon University…
Beep!
The front door opened with a short beep from the door lock.
Young-Joon took off his shoes and walked inside. It was almost his first time home since returning from China. He didn’t even have the time to come home because he had to take care of his backlog of work. He usually ate and slept at a hotel near the company or in his office.
But today, the mental fatigue was too much to bear.
“I’m home,” Young-Joon said as he walked to the living room.
“Ah!”
Ryu Ji-Won, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room, stood up, startled.
“H-Hey, what are you doing here all of a sudden without any notice?”
Young-Joon glanced at the young man who was sitting beside Ryu Ji-Won.
“H-Hello.”
Frozen, the young man greeted Young-Joon awkwardly.
“I recognize you… Who was it?” Young-Joon asked, looking a little puzzled
“I’m Ji-Won’s friend, Yang Dong-Wook. I came to help her move her stuff when she was moving…”
“Oh, right, I remember now. We introduced ourselves, then, right?”
“Yes!”
“You’re hanging out with Ji-Won. Where’s Mom and Dad?” Young-Joon asked Ryu Ji-Won.
“Um… They went on a trip not too long ago.”
“Really?”
Young-Joon nodded.
“That’s why Dong-Wook is here since they’re away. How long have you been dating?”
“Ack, we’re not!”
“We’re not dating!”
Both of them shook their heads frantically.
“It’s not like I’m going to scold you for dating or anything. Dong-Wook’s lips are red because of your lipstick, Ji-Won.”
“... I’m sorry…” Yang Dong-Wook said, wiping his lips.
“It’s been a month now… Don’t tell Dad, it’s a secret,” Ryu Ji-Won said.
Young-Joon chuckled.
“Alright. It’s not like you’re kids anymore, so I hope you guys are happy. I’m a little tired, so I’m going to get some sleep. Wake me up if you need anything.”
Young-Joon went to his room, closed the door, and collapsed on the bed.
Ryu Ji-Won, who was watching him, glanced at Yang Dong-Wook.
“I wonder why he looks so unenergetic?” Ryu Ji-Won said.
“You think?”
“Do you think something happened at work?”
*
Rosaline approached Young-Joon, who was lying down on his bed.
“What do you think about what Elsie said?” he asked.
—I don’t know.
Rosaline laid down beside him. It looked like a girl the size of Ryu Sae-Yi was lying down, but the bed didn’t bounce because she was actually a cell.
—But I did see a lot of scientists who misused science in my time with you.
“...”
—There was Kim Hyun-Taek, who got rid of Cellicure, or Schumatix, who committed medical malpractice to get rid of a glaucoma treatment. There was also Jamie Anderson who recklessly used a treatment that had a risk of hyperprogression for his Nobel Prize.
Rosaline went on, explaining everything she had seen.
—I was a little shocked when I saw the facilities in Xinjiang where three million Uygurs were being held. It was extremely unnatural and inefficient.
“I’ve never seen you that shocked.”
—I think humans are imperfect and immature, and I’ve always thought that. Humans are essentially impulsive and self-centered creatures, and that’s why they make mistakes, like when Ji Kwang-Man tried to get his thugs to murder you.
Rosaline continued.
—And the higher the level of science, the greater the damage when you make a mistake. You could go from throwing a rock to pushing the button on a nuclear missile because you couldn’t control your emotions in the heat of the moment.
“...”
—Maybe human science should be controlled. If I could infect all of humanity, I could do that. It’s kind of like how countries like the U.S. are trying to control guns. I’ll evaluate intellect and morality, and I’ll share science based on that.
“So you’re going to stop schools from teaching science, too?”
—I don’t think anyone’s going to want to study science if scientific knowledge that is difficult to gain, even with decades of studying, is given to a select few in a matter of seconds.
Rosaline went on.
—Schools would teach more about ethics and morality instead of science, and science would be led in a more constructive and safe direction by people like you who are moral enough.
“Do you agree with Elsie about the GSC?” Young-Joon asked.
—I don’t hate humans, but I do agree that groups like the GSC have too much power and authority that they don’t deserve. They’re human, after all. It seems problematic to me that underdeveloped countries are accepting their policies simply based on their name value.
“... So you want to monopolize and manage the science of humanity yourself?”
—I don’t know.
Rosaline seemed hesitant.
—What I’ve been talking about is capability, which isn’t the same thing as desire. In terms of capability, if I were to infect and dominate all of humanity as Doctor Ref said, I’m confident I’d do well.
“Probably.”
—I told you how to wipe out the flu before, right?
“You said I should put the flu gene into the cold virus, which is less virulent, and spread it around the world.”
—I’m not going to choose a route that radical anymore. I’m no longer seeking extreme efficiency.
Rosaline explained to Young-Joon.
—I learned bioethics from you. You do not treat anyone as a means or a sacrifice. That’s the standard of your behavioral patterns that I’ve analyzed.
“...”
—You only need to select people who have those principles and give them my science based on the situation.
Rosaline was dry. She was only delivering objective facts without the slightest hint of emotion, and Young-Joon could see that as well.
Rosaline was really that intelligent and knowledgeable. If she did what Doctor Ref said, she would do very well.
‘Maybe she would do better than me.’
—But desire is a different matter. I don’t have that kind of desire.
Rosaline was certain.
“Really?”
—I don’t know about the future, but so far, yes. I desired your desires.
Rosaline only raised her head from the bed and stared at Young-Joon.
—Was I born that way? Was I born to have no desires?
“... You like ATP. Wanting ATP is also a desire.”
—Not things like that.
“I don’t know.”
—Anyway, Doctor Ref’s idea that Elsie mentioned earlier was a little strange.
“Doctor Ref wants you to be independent from me. She wants you to be a powerful force that rules the world, not my personal scientific vending machine.”
—But I can’t survive outside your body.
“...”
In the past, Doctor Ref had criticized Rosaline, calling her an incomplete organism with no desire to reproduce. She told Rosaline that she would complete her if she came to her.
—I know what you’re thinking right now.
Rosaline stared at Young-Joon, her face right in front of his.
“If you think about it based on virology, infection is reproduction for a virus,” Young-Joon said. “If you could infect other people, that in itself is reproduction if you really are the first life form with viral characteristics.”
—That’s right.
Rosaline agreed with Young-Joon.
—I don’t have the ability to reproduce, nor do I have the desire to.
“...”
Rosaline shrugged.
—Am I really an organism?
Rosaline wondered.
—An organism like me doesn’t exist. Maybe I’m less of an organism than a virus. I always thought I knew myself perfectly, but now I’m not so sure.
Rosaline signed.
—A lot has changed, Ryu Young-Joon. Do you remember when I told you I wanted to sleep?
“I remember.”
—I can barely tolerate it nowadays. I used a lot of fitness, especially when I replicated an iris in Xinjiang to open a door. I’ve been tired ever since.
Rosaline went on.
—If I really am incomplete, there’s one possible reason that I can think of.
“What is it?”
Rosaline sat up from the bed.
—Do you remember the pathogen that infected Director Kim Hyun-Taek and left him brain-dead?
Young-Joon’s eyes narrowed.
At the time, it was right before A-Gen’s past work on anthrax bioweapons was going to be revealed. Kim Hyun-Taek had come to Lab Six and collapsed in the Life Creation Department, infected with an unknown pathogen. The pathogen looked Vantablack in Rosaline’s Simulation Mode, and it was a highly toxic substance that knocked HIV, anthrax, and Ebola out of the park.
Rosaline went inside Kim Hyun-Taek’s body to see what it was, but she unleashed perforin and destroyed the pathogen.
—It tried to attack me as if it were alive. When I destroyed it, some chemicals came out of it.
“Chemicals?”
—They were prednisolone and pentoxifylline.
“What is that? Why did that come out of it?”
—You don’t know what this is?
Young-Joon tilted his head in confusion.
“I’ve never heard of it. Biologists don’t know much about chemicals except how to use them.
Rosaline snapped her fingers in front of Young-Joon’s eyes.
[Rosaline Lv. 22]
—Metastatic Status: Heart (9%), Liver (47%), Brain (12%), Kidney (15%), Spinal Cord (9%)
—Synchronization: 33%
—Cell Fitness: 20.5
Rosaline pressed the button below the status window to look at the message history.
—Activate Synchronization Mode: Observe Artificial Organ
…
The most recent messages popped up.
Drrrr.
Rosaline scrolled down quite a bit.
—Simulation Mode: Mosquito Reproduction in Guangdong.
…
—Simulation Mode: Medical Examination of Lee Yoon-Ah’s Condition.
…
—Synchronization Mode: Analyzing the Six Stages of Alzheimer’s. Fitness consumption rate: 0.7/second
“Where are you scrolling to?”
—Wait a second.
Rosaline kept scrolling.
…
—The current message and status window is created by the artificial cell manipulating your cerebral cortex; it analyzes the memories in your hippocampus and presents information to you with the UI design most familiar to you.
—I will remind you of the moment when you created life.
“This is the beginning, right?”
—Yes. We have to go all the way to the beginning.
“What…”
Young-Joon, who was about to ask what she was looking for, froze.
—The artificial cell is beginning to break down the orally administered drug.
—Has broken down 30 mg of Prednisolone.
—Has broken down 400 mg of Pentoxifylline.
…
—The artificial cell has recovered your body.
“...”
—This is even before you named me: the point of my birth. You had hepatitis from alcoholism and you were taking medication for it. You had those substances in your blood…
“Oh my god. This is…”
—Even when you pricked your finger on a piece of glass while observing a sample of Rosaline v4.87 and bled—even when I was being created by your ATP. Rosaline went on.
—That blood contained the hepatitis medicine.
“And those chemicals were in the pathogen that caused Kim Hyun-Taek to become brain-dead?”
—The hepatitis drugs were chemicals that don’t occur in nature. Biology is chemical reactions in the microworld. If the hepatitis drugs interfered with the chemical reactions at the time of my birth in some way…
Rosaline paused.
—That’s where I could have divided from.
