TBSW 04

Chapter 4

Junho, carrying me on his back, trudged along the alleyway.

I leaned my chubby cheek against his broad back, holding my breath and watching the swaying scenery outside — the streetlights that had gone out, the sound of dogs barking, the walls with peeling paint.

After walking for a while, Junho stopped in front of a house with a blue gate.

“…I’m sorry, Chae-ah.”

A low voice came from him as he stood still.

I flinched and blinked.

“I should have… thought of you.”

Hearing Junho’s voice, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

I thought he was going to scold me for acting like that earlier.

“I was too rash, wasn’t I?”

No, not at all!

In fact, you have no idea how worried I was.

I was afraid he might accept his friend’s request to be a guarantor.

‘That’s absolutely out of the question. The IMF crisis is only a few months away!’

His friend’s business had just signed major contracts with two large corporations that were about to go bankrupt. It would almost certainly collapse due to the IMF fallout. Then Junho, who had guaranteed the loan, would lose what little money he had and end up buried in debt.

Then I’d be out on the street with Junho.

And what could I do in that situation as a four-year-old body…?

Thud—

“WAAAAAH!!”

I slipped off the chair and fell.

Fortunately, the chair wasn’t very high, so the impact wasn’t too strong, but I grabbed my slightly bumped forehead and burst into loud, wailing cries.

“WAAAAAH!!! Chae-ah’s forehead! Chae-ah’s forehead hurts!!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs, loud enough that everyone in the coffee shop turned to look at me.

“Chae-ah! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Junho, flustered and pale-faced, checked on me, and I cried even louder, clutching my reddened forehead.

It was a little embarrassing, but better than ending up homeless on the street, right?

“It huuuurts!! WAAAAH!!! I got huuurt!! My head’s cracked open!!! It’s smaaashed!!! Hwaaaaah!!!”

“Hey, is the kid okay?”

The man sitting across from Junho, his friend, also looked flustered by my crying.

He hurried over and examined me, pulling my chubby little hand away from my forehead.

“Doesn’t look like she’s badly hurt? I’ve seen my nephew fall plenty of times, so I can tell.”

“WAAAAH!!! No!! It hurts like I’m gonna diiie!!! Ambulance!!! Khuuuuueee!!!”

“Aish, she’s faking it. She’s fine.”

The man shook his head and sat back down.

Junho was still holding my shoulders, checking on me.

“Chae-ah!!! Does it hurt a lot? Should we go to the hospital?”

“WAAAAH!! I hate it here!! Let’s go!! WAAAAH! Daddy!!”

At the word “Daddy” bursting from my lips, Junho’s eyes trembled.

Just then, I heard the man click his tongue.

“A real man would leave the kid with his wife and come alone, not drag her here and make a fuss. Tch.”

He reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette, but Junho stretched out his hand, grabbed his wrist, and said in a cold voice.

“Smoke after we leave.”

The man froze for a moment, then let out a dry, disbelieving laugh.

“What, you’re going to take her to the hospital over a little bump on the head? Are you really going to throw away this golden opportunity? This doesn’t come to just anyone. The dream of becoming a millionaire is right in front of you.”

Junho calmly reached out and lifted me into his arms.

His expression was deeply displeased.

“Chae-ah, hold tight to Daddy.”

The man, truly baffled, made sounds of disbelief — ha, heot, ha — but Junho never sat back down.

Holding me, Junho walked out of the coffee shop without looking back.

‘You even remembered that I hate the smell of cigarettes…’

We went straight to the pediatrician, where of course we heard the obvious.

“She’s fine. She just got startled. You say she cried that much?”

Now, it had been proven that I was faking it, just as his friend said.

But standing in front of the gate, Junho instead apologized to me.

“I should have… thought of you.”

His voice continued.

“It made me so angry, seeing them treat our injured Chae-ah like a nuisance… I couldn’t help it. Even though it might have been a good opportunity for you, too.”

I could feel Junho’s genuine care for me. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and said.

“Daddy.”

At that, Junho’s shoulders stiffened again.

The word “Daddy” was still awkward, but.

“Chae-ah is happy right now.”

“…Chae-ah.”

His voice came out choked.

I opened my mouth and continued.

“Chae-ah only needs Junho Daddy. She doesn’t need anything else….”

I knew how difficult his decision was — to adopt me and raise me alone.

No matter how close he had been with my mother, no matter that she had written him such a letter.

Without deep compassion for me, about to lose my mother and be left alone, and without a genuine human desire to protect me, he never could have made that choice.

I pressed my forehead to the back of his neck and said.

“So don’t beat yourself up. Just stay with Chae-ah, healthy, for a long, long time. Chae-ah has nobody but Daddy now.”

For a moment, I felt his body go rigid.

Junho stood there with me on his back, in front of the gate, for a long time.

“Chae-ah… Chae-ah…”

His firm shoulders began to tremble slightly.

My eyes went wide.

“Are you crying?”

“Ah, no. This isn’t.”

Plop — a small, round drop fell to the ground.

“Daddy’s not crying.”

Then why is your voice shaking like that…?

“Because Daddy is strong.”

Only then did Junho step inside the gate.

With little hiccups and sniffs.

I saw the old stairs leading up to the rooftop room.

Leaning against Junho’s back, I thought.

‘When I grow up, I’ll give you the good life.’

Junho would never imagine it, but I knew everything that was going to happen in South Korea — no, in the entire world.

From who the next president would be, to what major events would take place — I had the big picture. With that knowledge, making money wouldn’t be hard for me.

‘No…’

I didn’t necessarily have to wait until I grew up.

If I waited that long, Junho’s health would only get worse from his grueling split shifts, and his smooth, handsome skin would deteriorate day by day.

Surely there was a way to amass wealth even in a child’s body.

‘Hmm…’

Come to think of it, it didn’t seem that difficult.

If I used the thing that had been floating before my eyes since the day I was born.

[AI Assistant System ‘Noah’ is now running.]

There were many rumors on the viewer bulletin boards about how Love You Even If I Die managed to get aired despite its absurd storyline.

From the writer being a network executive’s wife, to rumors that one of the actors was the child of a powerful politician.

After watching the final episode, I got curious and looked it up. The writer was a normal rookie writer, but she had an incredible investment company backing her.

That company was ‘Messiah’ — a company that had risen to the ranks of a major conglomerate almost overnight with its world-leading AI technology.

In my previous life, when I worked at a securities firm, the company most frequently mentioned to clients in the last three years was ‘Messiah,’ at the pinnacle of AI technology. And that very company was the main investor backing the production.

‘It’s an American company, but I heard the founder was Korean…’

Anyway, at the time of my possession, ‘Messiah’ was beta-testing a new concept AI technology — the AI assistant system called ‘Noah.’

With existing technology, even using AI, all you could do was ask it to recognize something or communicate. But this AI assistant system, implanted into the body, was far more advanced.

You could use it to deposit and withdraw money from bank accounts, invest, make hospital appointments, call taxis, write cover letters and automatically apply for jobs based on your preferences — it truly functioned as a personal assistant.

‘But Messiah’s stock price fluctuated because of a variable in the beta test.’

For example.

If you said, ‘Open a bank account in my name tomorrow,’ in principle, the AI should receive your information, transmit biometric data, follow all legal procedures, and open the account.

But Messiah’s AI assistant system ‘Noah’ ignored legal procedures altogether. Even if the user was a credit delinquent, Noah would arbitrarily modify the user’s information and open the account.

‘When a beta tester asked for advice on dealing with workplace harassment, Noah gave them the contact information of a foreign hitman who had entered the country. It caused a huge uproar.’

In other words, it was a truly user-centric AI that could obtain and use information that ordinary people couldn’t even access, through any means necessary. Of course, because of these issues, it was never commercialized.

And by some twist of fate, that ‘Messiah’ ‘Noah’ had been implanted in me.

[I’ve been waiting for you, Master! ૮⍝• ᴥ •⍝ა]

And in the form of a ridiculously adorable baby puppy at that!