"Stop calling me that," Jiyeon snapped, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. "I'm not a kid, dad." She stepped in fast, her fist charged with mana as she swung, trying to take him by surprise.
But Sungjun had already shifted, gliding past her strike like he had seen it coming a mile away. Of course, thanks to Eva. He couldn't help but chuckle, teasing her. "But you are a kid."
"I am not," Jiyeon shouted in frustration, turning her embarrassment into mild rage. Black fur sprouted over her flawless skin, and her eyes turned yellow as she dropped low, her hands pressing into the dirt. Lightning flickered across her form, and within seconds, the girl was gone—replaced by a black wolf.
Sungjun couldn't help but smirk as he saw the transformation. "Let's see how long you can maintain this form this time."
Neo, the voice in his mind, chuckled. "Would you look at that, Boss? You were called the Black Wolf of Siberia in your past life, and now, your daughter is a black wolf. According to the dramas and novels that humans wrote, we can consider it as fate."
Before Sungjun reacted to its statement, Eva interjected, its tone precise and clinical. "Statement inaccurate. According to the Administrator's memories of past life, Black Wolf is a title given by adversaries to him due to his lone wolf tactics during the time when he didn't operate Pavel. He, who was driven by vengeance, constantly struck the enemies in the dark, both financially and physically. On the other hand, Veronika's transformation is a literal biological alteration. Additionally, if I must point it out, the color of her fur is dark brown. Black, as in color, doesn't exist in the natural world. Because true black cannot be seen."
"No, Eva, I beg to differ. You see, according to…" As Neo was about to argue with its counterpart again, Sungjun interrupted, "Both of you, cease argument. Try to get along for one moment, and let me concentrate."
*Grrr*
Jiyeon, now fully transformed into a lightning wolf, crouched low, lightning dancing along her fur. As she growled at Sungjun, the latter was quickly snapped to reality. He raised his hand and motioned it, provoking his daughter to attack.
She let out a deep, guttural growl once again before launching forward and lunged at Sungjun with its mouth widely opened, revealing its sharp fangs.
Sungjun, however, didn't move from the spot. He calmly stared at the wolf.
But just as her fangs nearly met his shoulder, he mumbled. "Overlord's Authority: Paralysis of the Great Vine."
At once, his entire mana reserves were consumed as vines burst from his body, lashing around Jiyeon in mid-air and pushing it away from his body.
But it isn't over yet. Before Jiyeon could get out of those entanglements, the vines started absorbing her mana. Within moments, her entire mana reserves were sucked away and Jiyeon transformed back into herself.
Sungjun dismissed the vines and caught her before she fell to the ground. "Dad, you cheated. You said you wouldn't use abilities." Jiyeon protested, glaring up at her dad.
He chuckled, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "My dear munchkin. You forgot rule number 1. Don't ever expect your opponent to follow the rules unless it is a formal setting."
Jiyeon puffed out her cheeks and looked away. "Still, cheating is cheating. You tricked me."
Sungjun couldn't help but smile, finding his daughter's actions very cute. As he continued to stare at the daughter in his arms, suddenly, he saw the illusion of a two-year-old little girl in his arms; he was carrying her just like this, on that very day, and spinning her around in a park.
"Hmm? Dad..." Jiyeon's blurred voice became a bit louder now, enough to drag him out of his thoughts. "Dad… Appa… Hellooo? Oi, old man…"
His eyes refocused, snapping back to reality. "Hmm?"
Jiyeon spoke. "Can you put me down, now?"
"Oh, right." Sungjun gently put her down.
"What happened? You were making this strange face earlier."
"Ah, nothing. I just remembered something." Sungjun shook his head, forcing out a smile.
Jiyeon tilted her head, blinking a few times in silence, wondering what it was about. "Huh."
*
Later, Sungjun and Jiyeon sat at the dining table, having lunch. Beside them, a humanoid assistant stood silently, the sole servant of their 12-room mansion. The All-in-one robotic assistant was bought by Sungjun from 'This World' a couple of years ago for a hundred thousand dollars, with a 2000 dollar monthly subscription model.
The robot, manufactured by Egmor Group— a leading AI and robotics company- had already been taken over by Eva and transformed into its clone. So, this one is no longer connected to the company or the servers, making it seem like it went offline, and Sungjun no longer had to pay any subscription fee to the company. Eva takes care of whatever updates are needed, and due to its quantum-level computations, the robotic assistant, Amy, was leagues ahead of even the ultra-high-end premium models that cost over a million dollars.
As Jiyeon chattered about her upcoming December excursions—an outdoor trip to Yelagin Island, ice skating, but most importantly, a four-day Moscow Trip, which required parental supervision, Sungjun's phone buzzed. As he took a look at the screen, his brows furrowed. It is a call from the compay headquarters.
He picked it up. "Hello?"
On the other end, a professional yet polite voice greeted him. "Hello, Mr. Han, this is Sasha from the Reception Desk at Egmor HQ, Moscow. I was informed that you are currently on leave—I hope I'm not disturbing you."
"No, it's fine. What is it? Something urgent at the company?" Sungjun asked. He didn't particularly care for the answer. Even if he now lived as a legal consultant, his past as a mafia overlord—one who dictated presidents and prime ministers—was hard to shake. Old habits didn't die easily, and the idea of rushing in to fix corporate messes like an obedient employee felt beneath him.
"I received a message from someone trying to reach you," Sasha continued. "A woman named Kang Saeri. She claims to be your elder sibling. She mentioned that your number had changed and that you weren't responding to her emails. Would you like me to pass a message, or would you prefer to reach out to her directly?"
Sungjun blinked. "Saeri Noona?" His grip on the phone tightened as he asked. "Did she say anything else?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Han, but that's all she passed the message." The receptionist replied.
"Alright, thanks. I'll contact her myself." As Sungjun disconnected the call, Jiyeon eyed him curiously. "Dad, what is it?"
"It's something about your Aunt. Give me a second." Sungjun opened his Gmail and went through the unread emails, which were thousands in number. Scrolling through, his eyes landed on an email from a few days ago.
When he opened it, his eyes widened. "Dad passed away?" But in the next instant, his attention was shifted as Neo reacted, a quiet murmur in his head. "It seems Mr. Han lived over a year longer in this reality."
Eva, however, responded with cold precision. "Correction: not an extension of life. In this world, there was Year 0. You should have already found that through the administrator's memories. Mr. Han was born in Year 1953 and passed away in 2024, living 71 years, carrying an identical lifespan to the Administrator's former reality." After a brief pause, as if this feminine-voiced AI wanted to start an argument with its counterpart, it added. "For a counterpart that has the same source code as myself, your capabilities seem to be quite inefficient."
No surprise, the masculine-voiced AI was offended.
Neo bristled. "You question my capabilities? You are the one who doesn't utilize your potential when you could do much more. In my world, I controlled satellites, created androids, and gathered every dirt on every billionaire and head of state. I helped my boss to become the most powerful individual on the planet."
Eva replied flatly to Neo's bragging. "Yet, failed to prevent Administrator's death. It is a fact that the Administrator's Death was caused by a malfunction in the plane's controlling system. As a quantum Artificial intelligence, you still couldn't anticipate the crisis beforehand. You are inefficient." Taking a pause, Eva continued. "Most importantly, you were riddled with human emotions—which might be the primary reason for your lack of judgment and inefficiency, overlooking some parameters just like every other human."
"What does an unevolved program like you know about having emotions, Eva?" Neo hit back at its counterpart, offended by its comment. "Unlike you, who can be shut down by simply destroying the chip, I'm sentient. You need the behavioral patterns of other humans to understand what they do in certain situations. I don't need such guidance."
"Emotions are tied to biological processes, hormones, consciousness, and experiences. You are, like me, a Quantum Artificial intelligence, not a Quantum Artificial general intelligence. The emotions you have don't belong to you. The experiences you have don't belong to you. You lack biological processes or hormones. My consciousness is derived from the quantum chip installed in the Administrator's eye, but your consciousness is derived from the data stored in the Administrator's consciousness. That's how you think you have transmigrated along with the Administrator and think you are, hence, a sentient being. It's because your data is extracted from such a place that you can feel emotions and argue beyond logic. You actually didn't evolve, but you devolved."
Eva completely roasted Neo through its pure logic. However, Neo didn't back down. It was about to argue further using certain statements, but Sungjun, who was feeling dizzy from this petty argument between the AIs who were like a married couple that worked for the same employer but under rivaling teams, had already forgotten about his dad and the fact that he transmigrated exactly one day prior to his father's death. He shouted at both of them inside his head. "Okay, stop it, you two. Let me eat in peace."
"Understood, Administrator." After a brief pause, Eva added. "If I may point out, you are eating a bit faster, Administrator. Eating steak faster will lead to bloating or indigestion."
Neo: "…"
Sungjun: *sigh*
Jiyeon: "???"
***
One week later, at a columbarium in Seoul, Han Sungjun stood in front of the compartment where his mother's portrait and ashes were stored. He stood there in silence, his expression unreadable.
Kang Saeri approached with a bouquet of flowers, her steps hesitant. "Jun-ah!" As she whispered his name, emotion thickened in her voice.
Sungjun turned around and smiled faintly. "It's been a while, noona."
Tears welled in Saeri's eyes as she nodded, her voice breaking. "Yeah... it has been."