Ch.5858. Freedom.

People who visit ancient ruins or museums with remnants of the past naturally speculate and imagine about bygone eras.

Though we can’t travel back or skip through time, this curiosity arises from our human understanding of time and history.

It seems only natural that I, having come to this city with traces of the past—though it’s the future for me—would wonder about what happened here.

“Hey. Do you think the people who lived here worked and lived alongside robots like people from the past? Or did they live comfortably without the concept of work thanks to robots?”

I’d been wondering this all along, just hadn’t voiced it until now.

Even in a world supposedly facing extinction but surrounded by highly advanced technology, what kind of society did people form, and what roles did they play?

Would concepts like jobs and labor, which hadn’t disappeared for thousands of years since societies began, still exist here?

“Well, considering the lab coats in the high-rise office buildings and research labs, plus handwritten papers, I guess jobs must have existed.”

In any world, there are always people who excel beyond the ordinary.

They know things others don’t, imagine what others can’t, and put those ideas into action.

Whether through innate talent or acquired effort, human civilization advanced rapidly thanks to those who looked beyond their everyday lives and the world around them.

However, that doesn’t mean a handful of geniuses created all of human civilization.

While a few geniuses discovered thread-like possibilities and worked to achieve them,

It was ordinary people who created the stable society that allowed these visionaries to pursue their goals for humanity.

There might be people slightly more talented than others, but no human exists who can accomplish everything alone.

That’s why even though certain people may lead an era, all humans were equal and necessary.

—At least until humans themselves created robots and artificial intelligence.

“But… not everyone was smart enough to create artificial life forms, and no matter how many buildings and offices there were, they couldn’t accommodate everyone who lived in The Ark.”

From simple tasks to constructing massive buildings, and even creating art like music and paintings that satisfy universal human preferences—

In an age where robots superior to most humans were created, and those robots produced more robots, would there really have been work for ordinary people like me?

Just as I was wondering if only a few geniuses utilized their abilities while others were forced to live like animals, just eating and sleeping,

The robot spoke to me as I was chatting with the drone in the dark building.

“As you said, Mori, very few people lived with jobs except for a minority of researchers and office workers who monitored whether the city’s robots were functioning properly.”

“…Really?”

“Most tasks in the city could be handled more efficiently by robots.”

Human free will and emotions are so different from the concept of ‘efficiency’ that they could be considered opposites.

Robots don’t suddenly quit or refuse to work simply because they don’t feel like it or are tired of it.

Unlike humans who need to acquire information as they live, robots arrive on site already equipped with all the functions and information needed for their mission, eliminating the need for handovers.

“Of course, there was no extreme legal clause stating ‘Humans must not do work that robots do!’ so anyone could do it if they wanted, but not many humans would choose to do work knowing it offered little reward or fulfillment and was inefficient on top of that.”

As the robot spoke, it displayed two bars on its screen.

One bar stretched from one end of the screen to the other, while the other was so small I had to squint to see it.

Below these bars were the words “Unemployed” and “Employed.”

“Then what did people in this era do with their daily lives?”

Working hard to do what you want and get what you desire, then being rewarded for it.

I thought this fundamental structure would never disappear no matter how much time passed, but apparently not here.

“Well, I suppose everyone lived doing what they wanted to do?”

“…The world seems too cold for people to just do whatever they want.”

In the days of barely surviving on The Ark, the cold and deprived environment tends to make human hearts cold as well.

With snow never stopping and resources visibly diminishing, how many pure-hearted people could maintain happiness?

If someone asked me what form of death I’ve seen most frequently among countless deaths, I would answer without hesitation: those that occurred in residential areas.

Neighbors who might have been friendly had to point knives and guns at each other to steal space and resources to survive. The results were horrific.

Blood trails leading from houses with corpses to nearby homes. In severe cases, I frequently saw people who had eaten their neighbors or attempted to.

In such a world, could people really live doing “what they wanted to do”?

When the neighbor right beside you might suddenly turn and try to kill you?

“Besides, I think freedom can only be fully appreciated when there’s something opposing it.”

Just as we can feel happy eating food because we feel hunger, or rejoice on clear days because there are cloudy ones,

Human happiness often emerges when deficiencies are fulfilled.

I think freedom is the same.

Can empty time that I didn’t choose, forced upon me by others or social structures, really be called freedom?

I don’t think so. Just as we wouldn’t call a white rat trapped in its cage free.

“A stable daily life is different from repetitive, unstimulating days…”

In a life without any assigned role, feeling boredom instead of comfort becomes just another form of suffering.

[Hey. Can you tell me something interesting? I’m getting sleepy just watching you drive…]

[I’ve already laid out my blanket. Wake me up when we reach that city in the distance.]

That’s right. Just like my friends saying they’re bored to death watching me just drive.

Flash!

“Ah, the snow…!”

While wandering and chatting in the city where night had fallen earlier than usual,

A crackling sound of electricity flowed through the empty city, and suddenly everything brightened.

“…Oh. So that’s where the light was coming from.”

Though it was quite sudden, I wasn’t surprised. I already knew that bright lights would illuminate the city at night.

I gazed at the light source in the center of the city. The light source was so bright it could be seen from a great distance, and its size was enormous—like the sun had risen.

This artificial sun made of countless metals and wires—yes, it looked like a symbol of the human era.

“It might just be my mood, but it looks somewhat lonely.”

I sat on a street bench watching the shining sun, a star shining alone in a world where no one remained, then slowly got up.

It was quite late, but with the streets so bright, there was no reason to stop.

“Ugh. This place is a mess too.”

“I know, right? I wonder if there was a fight inside… It would’ve been nice if they’d left it cleaner.”

I search through the messy building, looking for any remaining items in every corner.

I’m not sure if they sold everything in the city to ascend to Paradise, or if they took everything to another city—but the building was chaotic, and there were hardly any useful items.

“Huh? What’s this?”

But even in places like this, if you search carefully, you can usually find one or two intact items.

While opening various shelves and locked drawers, I happened to enter what looked like a religious facility and discovered a small chest.

“Seems like there’s something inside… I should open it.”

“I’ve noticed this before, but your lock-picking skills are impressive. If you’d been born a thousand years ago, you might have become a professional thief.”

“…Shut up.”

Despite its appearance, it’s quite heavy, and when shaken, I can hear hard objects colliding inside.

Thinking there might be food inside, I forced the lock open and found a small box.

“A box within a box… And what’s this? Powder?”

After taking out the small box, I found white powder in a small bag underneath.

It looks like ordinary powder, but considering how well it was hidden… it’s probably some kind of drug.

“Mori. Just to be safe, please don’t try eating it out of curiosity.”

“I know that. These things are usually dangerous.”

Wondering why there would be drugs in a place like this, I opened the rectangular box, thinking it was funny. Based on its length and the liquid sound when shaken, I had a pretty good idea what was inside.

“Ah, as expected, it’s alcohol.”

I couldn’t tell exactly what the pictures and letters on the bottle meant, but the overall impression definitely suggested alcohol.

“Come to think of it, this might be the first intact bottle of alcohol I’ve seen.”

I say this while shaking the bottle, mentioning how I usually only see broken or empty bottles. The sloshing sound and the heavy feeling are surprisingly entertaining.

Well, the most amusing part is that alcohol and drugs were stored in a religious facility, where people should be most devout and frugal.

“Even in this era, drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol are still commonly found…”

“Perhaps because there wasn’t much else to enjoy?”

“Maybe so.”

In a world of unwanted freedom where people couldn’t trust each other, did they try to fill their deficiencies with other stimulations?

Various thoughts came to mind about these objects meant solely for pleasure that I kept encountering.

The first thought that occurred to me was, “Instead of developing technology to make and store these things, they could have made more food…”