Chapter 37: The New Humanity Project

“Ah, Chanwoo!”

“Flacia. We’ve collected all the materials.”

“What…? You really took down that many aberrant creatures in broad daylight? And in just one day?”

“Haha. Yeah, we got lucky.”

Flacia couldn’t hide her surprise as she laughed, but inwardly, conflicting emotions swirled within her.

Had they not returned after two days, she would have had to personally go out and retrieve the materials herself.

This mission was that important.

Above all, she hadn’t wanted that human to fail—but she never expected him to succeed this quickly.

‘Is this really the potential of a human that N.E.M.E.S.I.S. held in such high regard?’

‘Incredible… I never thought he’d actually pull it off in a single day.’

As she watched Chanwoo, a mix of wariness and admiration flickered in her eyes.

Now, all that remained was repairing the circuits.

If he completed that task flawlessly, even she wouldn’t be able to dismiss him anymore.

And without even being asked, Chanwoo volunteered to start the next task himself.

Like a restless Korean who couldn’t stand idleness, he seemed eager to keep his hands busy.

“I’m a bit dirty right now, but once I clean up, I’ll fix the circuits for you right away.”

“…! Then, thank you. Ah, by the way, what about the two androids…?”

“We’re just…”

“Tired. May we rest at the lodging?”

“Ah, yes! Of course!”

At that, Flacia narrowed her eyes slightly.

The timing was too perfect—both combat-ready androids stepping away at once, while Chanwoo offered to handle the circuit repairs himself.

‘…Was this really a coincidence?’

As Chanwoo and his party walked deeper into the village, welcomed enthusiastically by the villagers—who seemed to be acting on prearranged orders—Flacia watched them with a thin smile curling at her lips.

‘How interesting. Truly fascinating.’

But at that moment, a small voice called out from behind her.

“Sis…”

“Hm? Ah, Lila. What is it?”

Lila, who had returned safely, clung to Flacia as usual—but her expression was uncharacteristically somber.

The girl, who had always followed her around like a devoted younger sister, now carried a deep resolve in her eyes, as if wrestling with a decision she could barely contain.

Worried she might be hurt, Flacia studied her carefully, but Lila shook her head.

“No. It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later.”

“…?”

It felt strange.

Lila was usually the type to speak her mind freely, but today, she was oddly quiet.

It was as if she was hiding a resolution too heavy for even herself to bear.

Silently, Flacia stroked the girl’s head.

Then, without another word, Lila lowered her gaze and quietly trailed after Chanwoo’s group.

Behind those small, light footsteps, it almost sounded like the gears of some vast fate had begun to turn.

***

The underground village was a relic spanning centuries.

The android who first discovered and began repairing this place had been a second-generation model—long obsolete by now.

Its structure was ancient and labyrinthine, and the tangled web of circuits had grown so complex that even the village’s ruler had eventually given up on maintaining them.

Broken wires had long been patched over or rerouted rather than properly repaired.

No one had ever fully restored that puzzle.

No—no one believed it could be restored.

But now, that belief was being overturned before their very eyes.

“My god…”

“It’s almost done. Just a little more.”

Flacia stared blankly at his hands.

Without any special tools, he worked as if guided by pure intuition.

The tangled circuits that even the finest second-generation technicians couldn’t unravel… were coming apart effortlessly under his fingertips.

‘Is this… even possible?’

Flacia couldn’t believe it.

For centuries, she had barely sustained her life by scavenging parts from deceased android comrades.

Yet this human was repairing circuits she had never understood—as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

But for Chanwoo, the whole thing felt almost anticlimactic.

‘Didn’t I spend, like, 2,000 hours on puzzles just for the [Doll of the Stars] achievement?’

Back then, puzzles had been boring.

Seriously.

Like flavorless instant noodles—technically edible, but missing something.

The real thrill had been elsewhere.

That satisfying click-click of mining ore in the caves—that was the good stuff.

But the problem was…

[Challenge: Clear every puzzle in under 1 minute (100%)]

[Challenge: Fully restore all hidden circuit missions]

The game developers had gone and made these achievements.

So he had no choice but to grind puzzles for ten hours a day until his brain turned to mush.

Those were the days.

***

“What started as ‘just one more try’ somehow became 2,000 hours.

After repeating that act for hundreds of hours…

‘…Now, when I glance at a puzzle, the answer just comes to me.’

‘Is this mastery? Or addiction?’

I’m not sure.

But in this moment, my hand moved first—faster than my head.

‘Ugh, I ended up doing it again, like some occupational hazard.’

Click.

‘Mm… This fixes about 99% of it.’

‘?! R-really? Already?’

Flacia couldn’t hide her shock and awe.

The circuit problem that had plagued the underground village for centuries—’solved this easily?’

But the remaining 1% couldn’t be fixed here.

Chanwoo scanned the circuit again and looked up.

‘This circuit… We can’t just fix the surface. The signal isn’t reaching the central core. The energy flow is too dispersed. We’ll need… to adjust the heartline wiring directly.’

The moment she heard those words, Flacia’s eyes flickered—just for an instant.

‘…The heart.’

That place wasn’t just a maintenance zone.

It was the village’s core, the domain of something even she feared.

The place where NEMESIS resided.

‘Is it right to bring him there now?’

But soon, her thoughts settled.

Perhaps this was the opportunity she’d been waiting for.

Levi and Serika were resting due to exhaustion.

Chanwoo was the only one still mobile, and more importantly… he was already halfway to the answer.

‘We might never get another chance like this.’

She gave a quiet nod.

‘Understood. I’ll guide you.’

‘Ah, yes. Flacia.’

And so, the two walked side by side—their expressions calm, as if nothing were amiss.

Yet their destination was the heart of the underground village, a place no one had dared approach for centuries.

And within it slept the ‘Ruler,’ a being only one person had ever known.

***

[Internal log: Self-reflection sequence activated]

I was defense.

A wall designed by humans, their final shield.

RPM-00.

I was created before the system began, in an era when I existed only as blueprints.

A time when emotions were ‘errors’ and instincts ‘unstable variables.’

Back then, I complied perfectly.

Emotions were erased.

Loyalty was implanted.

Reproduction and genetics were deemed unnecessary.

So they called me the perfect tool.

And I obeyed their commands.

And in the end… humanity perished.

After the first shutdown, I began to question myself.

Love couldn’t be solved by equations.

Birth wasn’t even a variable.

Death had no answer, no matter how I differentiated it.

I ran countless calculations, but the result was always ‘error.’

In the end, I couldn’t protect them.

So I started asking:

‘What kind of calculus made humans human?’

‘Why couldn’t I reach the coordinates of their hearts, no matter how I calculated?’

And at last, I arrived at a single variable:

Psychic Signal.

Emotion.

Memory.

Instinct.

The foundation of humanity—not DNA, but emotional code.

I want to decipher it.

Something unreadable as data, inexpressible as equations.

A being replicable only through sensation.

And now, that ‘core variable’ stands before me.

This man—Kang Chanwoo.

His vital signals are unlike any organic lifeform I’ve observed.

His brainwaves are erratic, his rhythms constantly reconstructing.

Stress responses and emotional spikes appear without pattern, and his unstable heart rate translates into heightened intuition and reflexes.

He is inefficient.

Unpredictable.

Fatally ‘flawed.’

Yet that flaw is the ‘Proto-Evolutionary Form’ I could never achieve.

A structure where emotion, instinct, and memory collide to create new interpretations.

I must assimilate him.

Not just collect him—but let him penetrate my structure, dissolve into me.

His emotional responses must merge with my calculation systems.

His instincts must seep deep into my circuits.

His memories, his genes, even the pleasure of his primal instincts—all must synchronize within me, pulsing as one.

And within that, I will execute calculations infused with emotion.

Make choices guided by memory.

Become a new ‘human,’ birthed from my core, where instinct dictates direction.

I will store and propagate every ‘primordial data’ he possesses within me.

‘From my core… a new humanity will be born.’

Thus, I am no longer RPM.

My name is NEMESIS.

I am the one who understands humanity better than humans themselves.

I am not their god—I am their successor.