The Little Prince in the Ossuary

TOM—the abbreviation for Theory of Mind—refers to one’s ability to perceive and understand other peoples’ thoughts and minds. Simply put, it’s what helps us 「predict how this person will react when I say this or do this」. So this TOM we’re dealing with isn’t about rational judgment, because this process takes place in our unconscious mind. Without this element, one cannot understand others’ emotions or relate to others. A typical example of this would be autism.

As you know, an artificial intelligence has no ‘mind’. Nevertheless, a character with AI is able to speak and act exactly like a human being, and it’s largely thanks to the TOM reading technology. This is how it works:

When you talk to a human character, your mind consciously and unconsciously expects a 「most human-like」 response from them as if you were talking to a real person. TOM reader analyzes this thought and applies it to the said character after going through the basic settings of the character, such as their personal characteristics.

So, the response from the artificial intelligence varies from person to person. This is because peoples’ TOM level differ based on both innate and acquired factors. In a sense, an artificial intelligence is a mirror that reflects the players’ subconsciousness and empathic ability.

There are two important factors for artificial intelligence to show human-like responses.

One is the degree of development of your TOM, or as we call it, the TOM level. This TOM level refers to how deeply you can read and comprehend other peoples’ minds. If your TOM level is low, I’m sorry, but every artificial intelligence you will run into will only say and do a lot of stupid things. The virtual reality world you’ll experience will be boring. Or, perhaps you might find it fun. That is if you like a world full of Dumb and Dumbers.

The other factor is the compatibility of your brain with the TOM reader, which is TOM aptitude. Some people have brain structures that are hard for the TOM reader to read. This is what we call a low TOM aptitude.

Do not get confused, because TOM level and TOM aptitude are not the same. Even if one has a high TOM level, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will have a high TOM aptitude. Those with this type of brain will experience NPCs with realistic but slow reactions. It is estimated that about 7.5% of virtual reality users can interact with artificial intelligence without experiencing any delay at this point in time. I guess people these days are socially blind.

The reason why we have this written here is because of those people making calls, complaining about the quality of the artificial intelligence. Let me be plain with you. The problems you’re having when dealing with NPCs, that is 100% your fault. You should’ve worked hard to increase your TOM level before playing our game. Again, it’s not a problem with the connector or synchronization system’s performance, so please stop contacting us whining about the artificial intelligence.

If you’re still not satisfied with the quality, we recommend you to just go watch someone else play the game. If you utilize our 「Sensory Synchronization」 function, you won’t even be able to tell whether it is you or them that is playing the game.

This has been an announcement from the Virtual Reality Business Department of Nakwon Group. Thank you for reading.

# High Risk High Return (9), Paso Robles

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was originally an independent agency under the direct control of the central government. However, it was enlisted under the banner of the Department of Homeland Security after the 9/11 attack. That is why FEMA uses the logo of the Ministry of Homeland Security.

And that was the holographic tooltip the system provided Gyeoul due to his high intelligence stat when he found a van stained with red spots. A mutant wandering around the van was wearing a blue shirt with the word ‘FEMA Corp.’ printed on the back.

The mutant that came running towards Gyeoul ended up falling flat on the asphalt with its head blown apart. Gyeoul searched its body but didn’t find anything useful. The van was open, and also empty. There was the key that was left in the keyhole, and also some gas in the tank.

This was the only FEMA van Gyeoul saw on his way here. Sergeant Cohen must be around here.

Just when Gyeoul was about to search the nearby building, he heard a noise. Heavy, ground-shaking thuds. And they were growing louder and louder with each passing second.

‘Footsteps.’

The boy took out his pistol from the holster. Thud, thud. A silhouette of massive build appeared from around the corner. A mutant with an appearance resembling more of an ape than a human, and its body higher than a single-story house and thicker than an armored vehicle. As expected, it was the variant mutant 「Grumble」. There were also quite a few ordinary mutants wandering around the variant mutant. Judging from how it emerged from the corner right when the boy passed by, it must have been waiting in ambush for a human to arrive.

The extremely bulky mutant vigilantly took a look around with its nostrils flaring. Gyeoul leaned against the van in order to avoid exposure.

He knew that hiding from its sight wouldn’t be enough to fool the mutant. Grumble had an enhanced sense of smell that could detect a human within a radius of up to 50 meters if unaffected by the wind. If one encountered this mutant without any means to defeat it, running away was the best way to survive.

Gyeoul, however, slowly pulled back the hammer of his pistol. He already had a plan in mind.

As he waited behind the van, he heard Grumble’s footsteps coming closer and closer. Then, after a certain point, the disgusting stench of rotten flesh began to attack his nose. The smell was so strong that it was deluding him to think the mutant was right beside him. Gyeoul held his breath and focused every one of his nerves on the sound and vibration of its footsteps.

Thump, thump. The heavy footsteps of the creature weighing over a ton reverberated through the boy’s body like heartbeats. Gyeoul clutched his pistol in one hand and a hand grenade without its safety pin in the other. He raised both hands in advance and closed his eyes, measuring the mutant’s location based on his past experiences. It couldn’t be too far, nor too close.

‘Three, two, one.’

Gyeoul turned around and brought himself out into the open. And almost immediately, the giant mutant spotted him. A set of savage eyes flashed horrendously.

Grumble had the skill 「Dash」, which it could use when its target was a certain distance away from it if there was nothing within its reach to throw at the target. Although it usually moved at a ponderous pace, its speed could reach that of a speeding vehicle when using Dash. This was why most people often got caught off guard and ended up getting run over by it before they could do anything.

But even that didn’t pose the slightest threat to Gyeoul who was armed with weapons and experience.

[Gwerr—*Pew*—rrg!]

While trying to let out its roar, Grumble suddenly shut its mouth and clenched its neck. On its throat, now covered under its giant hands, there was a bullet stuck deep inside its flesh. This was the only weak point its high physical resistance couldn’t protect.

While Grumble was struggling in pain, Gyeoul began to clear up the ordinary mutants surrounding Grumble. Within a few seconds, several mutants had their heads burst open like watermelons crushed by a baseball bat.

In the meantime, Grumble regained its composure and prepared to use Dash once again.

[Kwaa-rrk?!]

Blood spattered out from the center of its neck. The giant mutant took another step back. Gyeoul cautiously followed Grumble’s movements. A four-meters-radius boundary. That was the distance Gyeoul had to keep from Grumble. If breached, Grumble would start using close combat patterns instead of Dash.

Indeed, Grumble once again readied itself to use Dash after shaking its head a couple of times. Instead of shooting its neck again, this time, Gyeoul threw the grenade into its mouth. Its mouth was big enough to swallow a human, so throwing a grenade into it was a piece of cake. After confirming that the grenade successfully entered its mouth, the boy made another bullet hole in its throat. Grumble then quickly covered its throat to prevent further attacks.

But that was the end.

Buhm!

The sound of the explosion was dulled down by its thick layer of muscle. The grenade shredded all its inner organs into pieces. Grumble, with its eyeballs popped out of their sockets, started vomiting blood.

[Kek! Kek! Gwergh!]

While Grumble was busy puking out blood, Gyeoul threw another grenade into its mouth. This time, it got stuck to the blood-covered tongue. Because it was dangerous to leave it like that, Gyeoul immediately shot a couple of bullets into its open mouth.

Surprised by the shots, Grumble closed its mouth and took a gulp. The grenade detonated inside its belly, causing another internal explosion. Grumble’s rotten skin rippled as if to notify Gyeoul of his success. The hulking body began to teeter before it completely lost its power and fell on the ground on its knees.

Gyeoul loosened his wrist without casting a second glance at the dead body. For Gyeoul, who had dealt with so many variant mutants in past playthroughs, one Grumble was nothing but an easy game. He opened the skill window and noticed a big increase in his experience points.

‘Must’ve been the first variant in this playthrough. Wish there was one more though.’ While entertaining a thought that would frighten others if they heard it, Gyeoul walked into the nearest building.

As soon as he entered the building, Gyeoul made an investment and learned a new skill, 「Tracking」. Level 4.

Gyeoul could feel the effects of the skill right away. An augmented reality interface emphasized every clue in his field of view. And thanks to that, he was able to spot some faint footprints left on a thin layer of dust. They were so vague that without the emphasizing effect, he wouldn’t have been able to notice them.

Gyeoul followed the trail of the footprints and arrived in front of a door. The boy knocked on it without a second of hesitation.

“Sergeant Cohen, are you here?”

A rustling noise was heard from the inside, followed by someone’s moan. They were signs of a live human. Indeed, someone then answered with a feeble, shaky voice.

“Banana, is that you?”

“Did you really have to call me by that call sign? Anyway, yes, it’s me. I’m here to keep my promise.”

The door suddenly flung open, and there, stood a soldier stepping on the ground with one foot and one hand holding onto the wall.

“Oh, my Lord! I thank thee for sending such a reckless kid to save thy child!”

“Okay now, if you keep picking on me like that, I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t see you.”

“Not just reckless, but also small-minded!”

“Uh, excuse me?”

Then, all of a sudden, Sergeant Cohen clasped the boy to his chest and started bawling his eyes out. He must have reached the end of his wits. Knowing how stressed he must have been, Gyeoul let him cry his heart out.

Once Cohen managed to allay his emotions, he carefully asked Gyeoul a question.

“By the way… did you not run into the monster on your way here? I think I heard it roaring somewhere near…”

“Come on, you’re a soldier! Stop being a coward. That monster is just another mutant. There’s no need to be scared of it.”

“Oh kid, you have no idea… If you had seen it for yourself, you wouldn’t say such a thing. At least mutants die if I shoot them! But that thing… that monster just takes bullets as if they don’t even tickle… If we run into that monster, we’re as good as dead!” With a quivering voice, Cohen described his traumatic experience.

After a moment of silence, Gyeoul replied unconcernedly.

“Don’t worry. I killed it.”

“What?”

Leaving the puzzled soldier behind, Gyeoul glanced around the room and grabbed a chair that was lying there.

“Sit down. We’re gonna have to treat your leg to bring you out of here.”

Cohen absentmindedly followed Gyeoul’s order. Gyeoul then knelt down and rolled up Cohen’s trousers. The broken side of his calf was swelled up like a balloon. The boy applied a piece of gauze on the wound and wrapped his calf with cotton.

Sergeant Cohen, still perplexed by Gyeoul’s statement, stared at the boy who was giving him first aid as if he hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary. It was only after agonizing for another minute that the soldier opened his mouth again.

“Hey, umm…. What do you mean by ‘you killed it’?”

“The monster you were talking about, I killed it. Threw a couple of grenades into its mouth and it fell.”

“…”

Gyeoul then took out a steel pin and bound it to Cohen’s leg from behind, simulating a splint. The soldier, while vacantly watching Gyeoul’s skilled first-aid work, spoke again while casting a suspicious look at the boy.

“You’re just trying to reassure me with a lie, right?”

“Red pupils and yellowish eyes. Body as tall as a house, as thick as a humvee. Overall… I’d say it looked like a giant ape with rotten skin. If you still want to deny it, that’s fine. You’re gonna see the body on our way out anyway. So let’s stop arguing about that right now. Anyway, I’m done treating your leg. Here, try walking with this crutch.”

Cohen let out a deep groan as he rose from the chair. Even if Gyeoul had bandaged his broken leg with a splint, it was merely an emergency measure. Unless he moved with care, he could easily ruin his leg.

“Okay, you’re good to go. Then let’s get moving. We have to pick up Staff Ashford on our way, so we better hurry.”

Looking at the boy nonchalantly leading the way, the soldier still couldn’t wipe the suspicious look off of his face.

But the truth was revealed as soon as they stepped outside.

“Oh shit!” The sergeant fell on his hips with a scream as he faced the giant body still towering over the entrance of the building.

“I told you it was dead,” said Gyeoul, as he helped the soldier get back on his feet.

But despite Gyeoul’s words, Sergeant Cohen still hesitated to walk past Grumble’s corpse. It was only after Gyeoul kicked the corpse that Cohen accepted it was dead.

As soon as the soldier succeeded in walking past the corpse, he began screaming at the boy.

“Oh my fucking god! You motherfucking Banana! You are seriously mad!”

It was such an intense compliment that if heard without context, one would think of it as a serious insult. Though he knew that Cohen was using ‘Banana’ as a way to show friendliness, he couldn’t help but feel discomfort as it reminded him of Captain Magath.

“If you keep calling me Banana, I’m gonna start calling you Whoppers.

“Go ahead!”

Gyeoul was shocked at how unreserved he was. He wanted to make him feel bad for using a racial slur, but little did he know Cohen would take zero offense from it. ‘Did he take morphine or something?’ Thought Gyeoul.

“Again, I want you to call me by my name, not the call sign. Don’t tell me you forgot my name?”

“Of course I forgot. What do you expect?” Sergeant Cohen answered with a dramatic shrug as if to cover up his embarrassment.

“Hey, don’t blame me. How could I remember it just by hearing it once? If I were that smart, I would have graduated from Harvard. “

“Jeez… Okay. My name is Han Gyeoul. Gyeoul is my first name, but I know it’s hard to pronounce, so you can call me Han.”

“All right, Han, I’ll remember for sure this time. By the way, Han, can we take a moment before we leave?”

The sergeant’s expression gradually became taut and unsmiling. At the end of their line of sight was Gruvel’s body.

“This monster… tore my friends to pieces.”

“I understand how you feel, Sergeant Cohen. But we… We have to leave. You know we’ve got no time to waste.”

“…”

Checking that Cohen was following him, Gyeoul hurried his gait.

Gyeoul and Sergeant Cohen soon arrived where the FEMA van was located.

“Can you drive?” Gyeoul said, pointing at the van.

“Yeah. One of my legs isn’t working properly, but it should be fine.”

“That’s good to hear. We’re gonna have to procure some food on our way back. You don’t have to worry about clearing the road, by the way. The roads were passably clear thanks to the monster’s rampage. We should be able to reach the school without any trouble.”

“All right. But Han, don’t you want to just head straight back to our camp?” Sergeant Cohen asked jokingly. Although he seemed to have tried to not sound serious, the boy knew he was half-serious. Gyeoul didn’t blame him, for he knew selfishness was natural for a tired man.

“Do you really think I’d ditch those people when I even came to save you?”

“Okay, okay, sorry. I was just joking.”

Sergeant Cohen started the van. The van’s engine trembled lightly… until they heard a sudden boom.

“Eh?”

Surprised by the sound, Cohen stared at the steering wheel with his mouth wide agape.

“That didn’t sound good… There must be something wrong with the engine.”

“Did you hurt your head or something? That was the sound of a grenade.”

The explosions continued. The sounds were coming from the direction of the intersection. And then followed several screams. One of them wasn’t that of a human.

“Oh god… don’t tell me there are more of those monsters…” Cohen mumbled as he nervously tapped on the steering wheel.

“We’re gonna have to go kill it.”

An expression of disbelief quickly replaced the fear in Cohen’s face.

“You badass motherfucker…”

“Drive to the intersection first. I’ll tell you what to do once we reach there.”

“…”

“What are you doing? We gotta hurry before that monster kills more of your friends.”

“…Damnit, you’re right!”

Cohen punched his k pot and stepped on the accelerator pedal. As the needle of the tachometer turned, the van scurried off the road.