episode_0058

What is a hero in a cyberpunk world?

It’s a pretty difficult story. Ji-hoon realized that fact only after the movie started. From the perspective of someone living in 21st century South Korea, there were quite a few conditions for becoming a superhero.

A super rich playboy could have an epiphany one day and fly around in a steel suit and become a superhero, or a monster born from outdated radiation could become a hero.

Or, the hero could be a lonely detective wearing a black suit and using all the cutting-edge technology in a dark city where it rains all day.

human body

If one could transcend the limitations of one’s body with ‘science and technology’ and gain powers that ordinary people cannot have, one could become a hero, a superhuman.

‘This is difficult! This…’

On the contrary, in the cyberpunk world, it was too easy to overcome the ‘limits of the body’. It’s the same as people with poor eyesight buying glasses in 21st century South Korea.

If you had money, you could do anything.

You want to grow taller?

Want to improve your eyesight?

You had an accident and lost your arms and legs?

If you have money, it is nothing to go beyond human limitations. In cyberpunk, anything is possible. The human body is weak, and technology has advanced beyond imagination, so it is a world where attaching artificial organs or cyberware arms and legs is nothing.

Even if you look at Hong Seo-yeon, she wasn’t walking around in a steel suit, but didn’t she once summon transparent drones and attack Ji-hoon?

‘This is the superhuman of the cyberpunk world… so, is this what they call a hero…’

Ji-hoon, who had been watching the movie unfolding before his eyes for a long time, finally realized something.

In this world, there is no such thing as ‘physical limitations’. What matters is the ‘mind’. Like Ji-hoon’s cyber hypnosis app, it is possible to control people’s minds at will, but becoming a hero is a different story.

The same goes for Ji-hoon. He has the power to control people’s minds, but he didn’t use that power to make himself into something like ‘Captain Korea with a righteous heart.’ He could play with others as he pleased, but it was a completely different story to say that he had a noble heart and sacrificed himself for justice.

So, the superhero movies of this world are mainly about the spirit and ‘purity’.

“Seoyeon, is that story true?”

It was rude to talk while watching a movie, but it didn’t matter because they were alone in a huge movie theater. Hong Seo-yeon even paused the movie that was playing to answer.

“What’s the story?”

“The story is that the cyberware arm is gradually weakening the body.”

There was a man in the place Ji-hoon pointed to. He was a soldier who lost his right arm in an accident. He was a man who had a cyberware arm and was a superhero with a righteous heart, but in this scene, he had that arm removed and was fighting with one arm.

“That’s right. This is… a bit of a business story. Is that okay?”

“Of course. Isn’t it fun to know whether people in the past were wrong or whether they are still right?”

Hong Seo-yeon nodded as she picked up a handful of popcorn and crunched it in response to Ji-hoon’s words. She had been wanting to stop the movie like this and chat away, so the thought “Thank goodness” passed through her head.

“This is a story that neither our company, Lucky Venus, nor Vassar can solve. You know that, right? Mr. Ji-hoon, because of MHC, even if you receive an organ transplant, you will have a rejection reaction.”

“HMC… . Oh, are you talking about the HMC?”

“Ah.. You know that side? That’s interesting. Anyway. That’s right. Humans basically reject anything that isn’t made by their own body. That’s called the human immune system…”

“That’s why you’re given anti-inflammatory drugs.”

At Ji-hoon’s words, Hong Seo-yeon nodded in satisfaction and pointed to her eyes and chest.

“Nowadays, cyberware and implant technology have improved so much that there is no need to take immunosuppressants, and if necessary, the brain chip can automatically control the immune system… but that doesn’t mean the fact that the body rejects it goes away.”

Hong Seo-yeon spoke with a smile and snapped her fingers.

“That’s why you have to keep upgrading once you get cyberware treatment. Your nerves will gradually die. Your brain won’t be able to properly receive signals from the implant, or your brain will go crazy because the signals from the implant are too much…”

She finished speaking and shrugged her shoulders.

“Then, if I buy a prosthetic arm for a future company, I will have to buy a new one every five years”

“That’s right. Thanks to you, our company can survive, but we also live quite busy lives because we release new models every year.”

Hong Seo-yeon spoke and smiled bitterly as she looked at the one-armed soldier displayed on the screen.

“That’s probably what the main character is thinking. Unlike cyberware that eventually becomes weak and broken, the human body can maintain its strength if you have a strong mind and continue to train. So… .”

“Don’t rely on upgrades that money can buy, and live a noble life with a good heart. Something like that.”

Ji-hoon’s words were not wrong. That was what the cyberpunk superhumans and heroes were.

The story was that anyone can become a hero by achieving ‘spiritual nobility’ rather than relying on an overflowing body or material things that can be upgraded if they have money.

“Really…”

Hong Seo-yeon snapped her fingers with a sadistic smile after hearing Ji-hoon’s words. The splendid images began to move again, along with the sound that filled the theater, which was too large for two people.

“Isn’t that trivial? What good is having such a mindset? If you don’t have the money to make your dreams come true, you can’t do anything. If you have a noble spirit, you can build nice muscles? Well, you could think that way.”

Hong Seo-yeon, the president of a future company with an overflowing amount of money, spoke with a smile as if it were a matter of course.

“Then, Seoyeon, do you think it’s stupid to save people from a collapsing building like the superheroes in that movie?”

“Saving people is a noble thing, but it’s not something that he could do because of his mind. What if that guy had four arms and had cyberware legs from our company?”

“We could have saved more people.”

“That’s right. You can’t do anything with your mind. Ji-hoon, you know how many homeless people there are in Neo Seoul, right? Who wouldn’t want to help those people? But you don’t have money. Because it costs money, no one will save you.”

Hong Seo-yeon, who spoke sharply, smiled and picked up a nacho. She dipped it deeply in the bright red salsa sauce and put it in her mouth, eating it deliciously. That small nacho, that food that was trivial to calculate the cost, cost over 100,000 won.

‘Oh my…’

From the perspective of a woman who can snap her fingers and pay for a top-of-the-line sports car, how ridiculous must the “mental integrity” that superheroes talk about so much seem?

Ji-hoon could understand her feelings. Hong Seo-yeon, who was giggling next to him as if the heroes’ psychiatry was an interesting story, was under the influence of his hypnosis app.

‘How ironic.’

* * * * *

“It was a pretty funny movie, right? I like this series. It’s really funny how he destroys his body with his funny psychiatry and never gets cyberware treatment.”

Hong Seo-yeon snorted and sat down on her chair. The two of them, who had come out of the movie theater, naturally ended up at the restaurant on the top floor of the building where the movie theater was. They wanted to go somewhere else, but Hong Seo-yeon’s ‘love for the company’ was so strong that it was impossible to suggest going somewhere else.

“Why? You don’t want to go to the restaurant our company created?” said Hong Seo-yeon with wide eyes, and Ji-hoon couldn’t say, “Yes, that place is a bit weird, so let’s go somewhere else.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone say that movie was fun. I heard that people in the past were quite moved by it.”

Ji-hoon deliberately expressed his honest feelings here.

Hong Seo-yeon looked surprised as soon as she heard that, but quickly raised the corners of her mouth. Ji-hoon and she were different. But don’t people with the same poles push each other away? They had to have different sides to stick together.

“Really? I don’t know why people in the past were moved.”

“When the movie was made, cyberware implants weren’t that popular yet. I guess the image of them rejecting the changes that were coming and defeating the enemies who had cyberware implants with a noble heart was impressive.”

“Really? Hmm…”

Hong Seo-yeon couldn’t fully understand his feelings. However, it was clear that there were movements that refused cyberware treatment and that there were nobles who lived with pure bodies. So instead of denying or making fun of Ji-hoon’s words, she accepted them.

In the first place, the movie that Ji-hoon and Hong Seo-yeon saw was made 50 years ago. Talking about what people were thinking and what their hearts were like when they made this movie was just a regular gossip story.

“Mr. Ji-hoon, did you like hero movies because of that kind of nobility?”

“There is that too. It’s funny how you have great power in your hands, but instead of using it to satisfy your own desires, you use it for good things.”

“Then, what would you do if you had that kind of power?”

“It’s exactly the same as Seoyeon.”

Hong Seo-yeon burst out laughing at Ji-hoon’s words. They’ve only known each other for half a year, so how could he know what she’s thinking and what she’s doing? Hong Seo-yeon giggled and nodded.

“If you have such great power, of course you have to make money…”

Hong Seo-yeon was someone who thought without necessarily speaking. She actually had a great mind, but she only used it for future businesses, not for public works or welfare.

He also uses cyber hypnosis apps to fulfill his own desires. This is not strange. Ji-hoon thought to himself once more and slowly reached for the luxuriously arranged menu to order.

“Uh…”

What should I eat? Before he could even think about that, Ji-hoon saw ‘Lee Ji-ah’ standing in the distance. She was staring at Ji-hoon openly, nodded once, and walked towards the bathroom.

‘What the… is going on?’

Maybe he had been talking too long in the building of the future company. Ji-hoon felt a strange sense of unease and got up from his seat.

“Seoyeon, can I go to the bathroom for a bit?”

“Oh, of course. I want to go too, so let’s go together.”

Ji-hoon reluctantly nodded his head as he watched Hong Seo-yeon speak with a smile.