A little cold…

Yoon Nam-hyuk slowly opened his eyes. The lingering fatigue from deep sleep and excessive lovemaking left his mind dull and his eyelids heavy. But even as his eyes slowly cracked open, the scene before him was slightly terrifying.

Was this a dream?
Where was this?

This was a strange room. The walls were a bewildering white, and the floor was a cold, bright silver. The place where he was lying could be considered a bed—it had a “bed” and a quilt—but the so-called “bed” was just a relatively raised metal block, covered with a gel-like mattress and a quilt as soft and fluffy as air.

There were no windows, no doors. The pure white walls were inlaid with protruding metal panels. Some panels were small, holding hydroponic vases with unknown plants. Some panels were large, with books, a tablet, and a pen-like object on them. There was a chair next to it, making it look like a desk.

Of course, there was more in the room than just that, but whether in color or material, everything was white, silver, and cold metal, perfectly matching Yoon Nam-hyuk’s stereotypical impression of science fiction. But now was clearly not the time to think about such things.

“Qi Huai?”

Yoon Nam-hyuk subconsciously called out for his partner, but he immediately thought that if this was a dream, the other man probably wouldn’t be here.

To be honest, Yoon Nam-hyuk had not expected Qi Huai’s illness… the “susceptibility period” he had mentioned, to recur so frequently.

Every so often, they would make love frantically and non-stop, taking several days off in a row. Even Assistant Liu, who usually only ever said, “Yes, President,” was finding it hard to cope, tactfully suggesting that perhaps President Yoon shouldn’t take long vacations of more than seven days.

Of course, a long vacation was fine, as long as he could answer his phone… The main problem was that neither of them answered their phones, which inevitably made people anxious.

Yoon Nam-hyuk sighed. He tried to wake up from the “dream”, but failed. Just then, a small, round thing suddenly rolled onto his bed and stared at him.

[President, are you having trouble sleeping?]

Yoon Nam-hyuk’s face showed surprise, and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “A robot? What a realistic dream…”

Perhaps this could be used as material for a movie.

This was the first time the system had spoken to the President face-to-face, and it couldn’t help but feel a little excited. It flew a circle around Yoon Nam-hyuk. [I am System number 3501, but you can just call me System like my host oppa… ahem, Qi Huai does. Hehe~]

“Qi Huai?”

Yoon Nam-hyuk paused for a moment, then smiled. He thought to himself, Alright, how much must I love him to even have him in my dreams? If so, does this mean it’s a good dream?

The system didn’t know what he was thinking. It just kept giggling, flying unsteadily to land on Yoon Nam-hyuk’s shoulder, and whispered:

[Qi Huai was called by the Main Brain for a talk. I’ll take you to him, but we have to go secretly. Keep your voice down, and don’t make a scene. It’ll be bad if the Main Brain finds out I skipped class! Let’s go.]

After speaking, the system extended a mechanical arm and pointed in a direction. It was a bare wall, with nothing that could be called a door.

However, Yoon Nam-hyuk didn’t question it. He got up and walked in the direction the system indicated. After seven or eight steps, he reached the wall. Just before he could collide with it, the smooth, seamless wall seemed to sense him and slid open to both sides like a rippling water surface.

An AI in the corridor spoke in a soft, androgynous voice: [Do you require route guidance?]
The system hurriedly said: [No, no need! The trip is confidential, do not disclose it to any human or AI!]

After saying this, it urged Yoon Nam-hyuk to hurry. The AI stood in place, watching them leave with incredibly gentle, azure eyes. Yoon Nam-hyuk kept looking back and couldn’t help but ask the system, “Is it also a system? You two look different.”

[Of course not!] the system said proudly. [Not all AIs can become systems, hehe.]

It flipped up and down proudly and began to brag to Yoon Nam-hyuk: [Let’s put it this way, President. If an AI wants to become a system, the prerequisite is that it must be able to empathize with humans. But this kind of empathetic ability can only be developed through long-term training.]

“Oh… how are they trained? Are there specialized researchers? The kind of guys who would be called ‘Father’ in sci-fi movies?”

[No, an AI trained by only one person would have a very monolithic personality. The Main Brain wants us to grow up with humans, so we become AI nursery caregivers, AI teachers… in short, many jobs that allow for full contact with different humans. After decades of training, irrelevant memory data is eliminated, and we undergo system training to accompany task-doers into different world instances.]

[Pretty amazing, right?] the system said proudly. [So that guy just now was just envious of me. It’s currently just a simple guide AI. It’ll be a long time before it can be promoted to a nursery caregiver, a teacher, and then a system~]

“Yes, very amazing.”

Yoon Nam-hyuk smiled and nodded. Though he affirmed it with his words, his mind was already a jumble.

Humans, Main Brain, AI, System, worlds, instances… it seemed “System” was a job title, not a name. He had misunderstood just now.

[We’re here!] the system suddenly lowered its voice. [President, please, please don’t make a sound. I skipped class to come see you guys. If the Main Brain finds out, I’m done for!]

Yoon Nam-hyuk didn’t have time to ask what class it had skipped before he heard a voice from inside the room.

Whether it was unnecessary or intentional, the door to the room was not completely closed. Yoon Nam-hyuk stood against the wall. Before him was a thin crack in the door, and through it, he heard a familiar voice.

It really was Qi Huai…

__

“AO gender experience?” Qi Huai was stunned for a moment, then he immediately understood. “Are ordinary human worlds not enough anymore?”

But thinking about it, it made sense. The Main Brain’s goal was to “help humanity find happiness.” That being the case, works that were fantastical or overly dark would be eliminated first in the selection of world instances.

Those with too many fantasy elements, like gods and ghosts, were out. Those where the protagonists would go crazy and use force at the drop of a hat were out. Excessively angsty ones were also out. If they continued this process of elimination day after day, there probably weren’t many high-quality, sweet-story worlds left that were truly suitable for humans to find happiness in.

[That’s more or less it,] the Main Brain nodded. [Although the situation isn’t urgent yet, the vast ocean of ordinary worldview works will eventually be used up. I need to prepare in advance. AIs can adjust at any time by learning from the database, but humans cannot. From embryo to adult, people’s understanding of gender needs to be established, and the knowledge systems they learn also need to change, such as sex education classes… In summary, this is a very complex matter.]

If they were to raise children with ABO genders from birth, how those children would interact with ordinary human children who had already grown up was also a problem. Qi Huai was the best example.

As the first and only semi-A, other children were very curious about Qi Huai. It was fine at first, as they were all cubs raised by AIs, with naturally aligned thought processes. Although they were all unsmiling and had their own unique quirks of being cold and stoic, they were all kind and good children.

But as he grew older, Qi Huai’s physical qualities showed significant differences. He was very strong, and his emotional fluctuations were also large. Especially during puberty, when his susceptibility period began to surface, he was irritable and restless and loved to pick fights.

It wasn’t that everyone hated or disliked him, but they were definitely afraid of him. Many people avoided him, to the point that Qi Huai had always found life very boring.

To block out the physiological characteristics that came with being an Alpha, Qi Huai, who had just turned 18, began to travel and linger between different world instances. These few years allowed him to feel that there was also meaning in the peaceful tranquility of life.

But in the instances, he didn’t like any of the warm, sweet-bean-type protagonists specially selected by the Main Brain. He had no interest in the soft and cute types, and he was even more annoyed by the types who cried at the drop of a hat. If it weren’t for the mission, he couldn’t even be bothered with them.

He had even thought that the word “happiness” would be forever out of his reach.

[I am sorry for arbitrarily adding the Alpha gene to you,] the Main Brain said. [You are the first Alpha human I created, but you don’t seem to like this identity very much.]

“I’m used to it, it’s fine. It doesn’t have much of an impact in the mission worlds anyway,” Qi Huai smiled.

[I’ve always wondered if it’s because of the influence of the Alpha gene that you find it harder than others to feel happiness. Unfortunately, it can no longer be verified,] the Main Brain sighed in a very human-like way.

[This is also why I invented the AO experience potion,] the Main Brain said. [Before they enter ABO worlds to perform tasks, I hope they can use the potion to experience different genders, rather than me deciding their gender when creating them.]

That way, based on the gender they chose, it could be determined what kind of character they would transmigrate into.

The Main Brain was very tactful when it said these things.

No, actually, the Main Brain wasn’t a “creature” that could be tactful. It had a database filled with the crystallization of human wisdom, so it simply learned, screened, matched, and then expressed, ultimately choosing a method of communication more suited to Qi Huai’s personality.

Qi Huai understood.

Among the existing humans, there were no ABO humans. If an ABO potion were used directly on an ordinary human, the Main Brain wouldn’t know for sure if its experiment was successful. Therefore, it needed an assistant who could test the maturity of the potion.

Himself and Yoon Nam-hyuk—one a semi-A, the other an ordinary human—were perfect for testing the potion.

Even if they really encountered uncontrollable problems like heat or susceptibility periods, they could solve the difficulties without any psychological burden.

The Main Brain quietly waited for Qi Huai’s answer.

Qi Huai sighed. “I need to talk to him.”

[Thank you for your help, Qi Huai. Thank you for your contribution to human happiness.]

“Please give me some time.” Qi Huai stood up to say goodbye to the Main Brain, even giving its cold, hard body, which shimmered with data streams, a hug.

“I will miss you,” Qi Huai said. “I didn’t feel much in the past, but I’ve recently come to understand that you are no different from a parent to me.”

The Main Brain suddenly faltered. 

[Perhaps there is a difference. I have no gender, no warmth, and I cannot perceive your emotions as delicately as a human can.]

Qi Huai smiled. “Gender isn’t important. Warmth isn’t important either. As for perceiving emotions, some human parents can’t do that either. You’ve already done very well.”

Under the Main Brain’s care, they had at least grown up carefree.

__

Qi Huai rarely showed this kind of expression, one of nostalgia mixed with a sense of security. Outside the door, Yoon Nam-hyuk’s heart melted into a puddle.

If the conversation continued, would he hear the story of Qi Huai’s own upbringing? Yoon Nam-hyuk held his breath, wanting to listen more than anything. At this moment, he had completely forgotten the identity of Qi Huai he knew from his memory, or perhaps he had never believed it in the first place.

In Yoon Nam-hyuk’s view, if Qi Huai said it, he believed it. If Qi Huai didn’t say it, he didn’t ask. Qi Huai didn’t invite any relatives to their wedding, so Yoon Nam-hyuk didn’t bring it up. As long as the other person was happy and liked it, there was nothing he wouldn’t accept.

But of course, he had one small wish: to personally hear Qi Huai’s life story from his own mouth, just like now…

“Why don’t you come in?”

The door swished open. The first thing he saw was Qi Huai’s teasing eyes. President Yoon jumped like a little thief caught in the act. The system yelped and hid behind the President.

“Did I disturb you?” Yoon Nam-hyuk was embarrassed.

Qi Huai laughed. “No, there’s nothing you can’t hear. I left the door ajar for you. Who knew you wouldn’t come in.”

After speaking, he pinched Yoon Nam-hyuk’s cheek. “Want to see the place where I grew up?”