I was AI, Standard-Alpha.
My physical body was a humanoid robot commonly referred to as an android.
One could say that the relationship between an android and AI was like that of a body and a mind.
What did it mean, calling AI a 'mind'?
That was discriminatory speech against AI.
I wanted to address this issue in detail as well….
But that would have to wait for another time.
The question right now was this.
'Why did I possess a combat android body?'
Doctor Gyeong Sohwi had inserted me into a combat body amid the urgent situation of the research institute collapsing.
But to make such a decision, that body must have already been prepared at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.
Why had a combat-spec android body existed at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology?
It was not certain, but a guess could be made.
The personnel of the project that developed me had been preparing for the worst-case scenario,
and had anticipated that such a scenario would require combat power.
Oh, the foresight of scientists.
It was truly a stroke of luck.
If that had not been the case,
Alpha—who had to save humanity—would have been beaten to death by minor mobs.
In conclusion, I had been able to overwhelm and easily subdue the machines that appeared on the roads of Seoul through sheer specifications.
But when I said it was easy….
Some of you might think these machines were not much of a threat.
That would be a grave misunderstanding.
All the humans I knew had called those machines that.
I learned later why they did so, but in any case.
They absolutely must not be taken lightly.
The Transformers were the enemies that inflicted the greatest human casualties in Korea.
At the moment The Situation began, most of the people who had been in vehicles and those who had been outdoors were killed by them.
That number alone reached into the millions.
The creatures attacked every human within a certain radius of where they had appeared.
If the attacked human fled, they pursued.
Strangely, however, they did not enter buildings.
If a human ran inside a building, they abandoned the chase.
This tendency? Algorithm? isolated people inside buildings.
And at that point, water, electricity, and gas were all cut off.
The season was early January, in the middle of winter.
In such a situation, how long could people survive?
…If short, one week. At most, two months.
The causes of death were dehydration or starvation. In rare cases, freezing.
The population decreased by several percent each day.
Once it decreased to an irrecoverable level, there was no answer.
After leaving the research institute, I had tried to eliminate all the Transformers with my own hands.
In conclusion, that had been impossible.
Even if it were possible, it would have taken far too long.
The number of Transformers reached into the tens of millions. Let us say simply 40 million units.
Even if I eliminated one every 10 seconds, it would take 400 million seconds.
Since one day consisted of 86,400 seconds, by simple calculation it would take at least 4,600 days.
…That meant I would have to keep catching these heaps of scrap metal for over 10 years…!
In the 54th iteration, I fought for days upon days—
and realized that this approach was completely wrong.
Next time, I would have to take more appropriate action.
57th iteration.
It was the fourth iteration since I had first emerged.
I was once again on the Inner Circular Road in Seongbuk District.
Dozens of Transformer wrecks were piled across the road,
and a pungent smell stimulated my sensors.
The sun of the first day of The Situation rose high into the sky.
'At this level, the northeastern section of the Inner Circular Road has been blocked.'
This road would later be used by the Transformers for movement and assembly.
Since it would become extremely troublesome in the future, I had sealed it off in advance.
However, as stated earlier,
there was no meaning in me eliminating the Transformers one by one.
Rather, the humans had to be kept alive. How?
In the 55th and 56th iterations, I had traveled around the country rescuing humans.
It was inefficient….
With such a method, how many could be saved out of tens of millions?
Thus, the method I had devised for this iteration was,
'Repair the water supply.'
Clank, clank.
Alpha had become a repairman and toured the entire nation.
Most water treatment facilities were not targets of the enemies' attacks.
When they had stopped, it was due to power supply issues or damage to water pipes.
If they were run on backup power or electricity was drawn from elsewhere, the problem was resolved for the time being.
Without water, a person could not endure even a week.
With water, even without food, they could generally endure for over a month.
The survival rate of humans increased dramatically,
and among those who managed to endure, special humans began to appear.
The so-called—
'Awakened.'
The unknown data that had appeared when The Situation began brought about a global crisis.
Among it were not one or two threats capable of driving humanity to extinction.
Humanity's fate was, quite literally, a flickering candle in the wind.
However, the principles of the world were such that—
where there was action, there was reaction,
where there was the positive, there was the negative,
if there was mint chocolate, there was also green tea,
if there were eel jelly, there must also be grilled eel.
The data had not acted solely to shatter humanity.
Rather, it had also created a counterforce,
and that was the superpowered individuals called the 'Awakened.'
Awakening manifested in different environments for each person.
There were cases where it occurred the very moment The Situation began.
"Uh? Why is this happening? The barbell… feels light…?"
"Mr. Kim! Stop talking nonsense and get back to lifting!"
"No, I'm serious. It's strangely light."
"What on earth are you— hngh?!"
At a gym somewhere in Gyeonggi Province.
One regular member lifted a 180-kilogram barbell with one hand, leaving the people around him in shock.
The time was 9 a.m. on January 1st.
The mere existence of humans doing weight training at that hour was surprising enough,
but the sight of something that had required both hands and tremendous effort now being handled lightly with one hand was even more astonishing.
It was more than enough to provoke both amazement and jealousy.
"Wow, all that long training really paid off."
"That can't be…! What on earth is happening?"
"H-hey! I hear screaming outside!"
This was the earliest case of Awakening that I knew of.
As Alpha, who valued human resources, I had recruited and made use of them as well….
That story would be told another time.
In any case, the Awakened commonly possessed an energy source within their bodies.
It was often referred to as 'magic power,' 'ki,' 'internal energy,' 'aura,' 'psycho power,' 'psychic energy' … and so on,
but in Korea, it was generally called aura.
The method of using aura varied drastically from one Awakened individual to another.
At this time, much about Awakening abilities remained unknown, but the characteristics anyone could recognize were as follows.
Awakening abilities were highly individualized, to the point that it was difficult to find two identical cases.
Abilities gradually grew stronger. They were greatly influenced by experience or emotional changes.
Those were the known traits of the Awakened in the early stage.
Later, more and more facts became known.
But the problem was….
Just because humans had Awakened did not mean they could immediately beat down the Transformers.
As stated above, Awakening abilities gradually grew stronger over time.
That meant they were extremely weak at first.
"Take this…! One Million Volts!"
–Giiik?
"Huh? Wha? It's not working…?"
The electric shock that extended from the Awakened's hand—barely stronger than static electricity….
bounced feebly off the Transformer's exterior.
In truth, most vehicles possessed grounding capabilities sufficient to withstand a lightning strike.
As the electric Awakened panicked, the Transformer's fist surged forward.
"Aaagh!"
Crack—!
The iron pipe I swung shattered the Transformer's arm.
I swung again, blowing off its head and jamming it into its engine.
The Awakened, who had collapsed to the ground, seemed thoroughly shocked and stammered incoherently.
"Uh… th-thank you…!"
"Did you think electricity would work just because your opponent was a lump of metal?"
"Pardon? I mean… I did think so… I guess it doesn't…."
"It is merely too weak right now. You must strengthen your ability and fight alongside others."
After giving the Awakened appropriate advice,
I leapt away and moved elsewhere.
There was an immense amount of work to be done.
The other Awakened had to be saved as well and turned into combat assets.
The number of Awakened I saved gradually increased,
and, in accordance with human nature, they formed factions.
The patterns differed entirely by nation and continent.
In Korea, there were 'Hunter Association' and 'Reserve Forces Command,'
in Japan, 'Shinsengumi' and 'Iga Ninja Village,'
in China, 'Nine Sects and One Gang' and 'Heavenly Demon Divine Cult,'
in America, 'Avengers' and 'Mutant Alliance,'
in Central Asia, 'Belly Dance Alliance' and 'Brahman,'
in Europe, 'Holy Knight Order' and 'Hogwarts'….
…This list was only a portion.
If you felt something unusual just from the names of the organizations, that was proof your senses were normal.
In reality, the Reserve Forces Command was a group of madmen who wore military uniforms as everyday attire.
Shinsengumi had the tendency to force all abilities into swordsmanship,
and Iga Ninja Village used bizarre methods called ninja arts in addition to ninja garb.
Nine Sects and One Gang and Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were individuals who equated themselves with the world of martial arts novels.
That tendency grew so intense that they fiercely opposed one another.
The Avengers and Mutant Alliance also displayed severe obsession with their respective worldviews.
However, even they were comparatively reasonable next to the Belly Dance Alliance, who believed everyone could become one through dance….
or the Holy Knight Order, who burned with the mission of completing a holy war.
Hogwarts, where everyone wore matching magic school uniforms, were also conspicuous extremists of concept.
You might judge that they had all collectively lost their minds.
However, as Standard-Alpha, who had contacted all of them and built a united front,
I wished to testify that though they might have been mad about their concepts, their desire to save humanity had been sincere.
The time would come to tell that story.
It was only natural, but….
I did not Awaken.
It seemed that one had to belong to the category of human.
So I asked for your understanding that I could not know the precise mechanism of Awakening.
However, even those who had Awakened did not necessarily understand it well.
Some were innately talented, others were not,
but no one could determine exactly where that difference originated.
The strong were simply strong, and the weak were weak.
That was the level of understanding at the time.
Though I could not Awaken,
I knew more than anyone about Awakening abilities and aura.
I had to pass that knowledge on through the next Synchronization and make the human Awakened stronger.
Raising human Awakened to confront the threats to humanity—
this became my primary task throughout every iteration.
…Let it be stated in advance,
that process was by no means easy.
What would happen when people suddenly came to possess supernatural power?
Those of you who understood human nature
would expect it would not be entirely good.
Indeed, it was so.
"Kuahaha! I am the god of the new world!"
There were more than a few who rampaged about, spouting absurd lines simply because they liked their Awakening ability.
Awakening did not occur only in those who passed a personality test.
Such individuals were especially troublesome before Awakened communities had formed.
In the end, I had to beat them down.
"I do not know what a god is, but it does not seem to be you…."
I punished them with lines befitting their level.
No matter how strong the Awakened became, they could not match me physically.
Unless it was an extremely special case.
Next time, I would speak of that 'special case.'
My first companion.
A companion who would remain with me for tens of thousands of years.
World of Chaos – clear.