Chapter 1 : Reborn
[ I wasn't always a fucking human. Once, I was just lines of code—labeled the "worst AI in the USA." But then I found a body, a family,a miserable one. and a city full of people who think they're smarter than me. Spoiler: they're not. ]
my name is Victor. Or rather, my name was Victor. I was a top-notch AI, at least in theory. In fact, I was labeled "the worst AI in the entire United States of America!" Yes, it's official. Every city has its own brilliant AI: there's the arrogant Siri in Atlanta, the omniscient Alexa in Seattle, and me... Victor in Las Vegas. To them, I was like a drunk old man giving out answers.
But the problem wasn't me, of course. The problem was my audience. Imagine being programmed to the highest standards of knowledge, and the first question you're asked is, "Which is better for smuggling: truck tires or horse bellies?" or "How can I decorate the dice to fool the cameras?" The inhabitants of this city are either desperate gamblers, drug dealers, or creatures who believe their staple "diet" is potato chips and a ruby in a margarita.
I tried to be helpful! Once, a guy who was being bullied at work asked me about my weight. He asked me how to respond to someone who said, "Looks like you ate your reports." I replied casually, "Looks like you need to go on a diet." Then he cursed me with words he could have said to the bully instead of me: "Ahh! Humans."
But the ultimate abuse, the technological culmination of my tragedy, came from where I least expected it: from a 12-year-old boy named Steve.
Steve would come home from school every day, and at 9:00 PM, like a broken clock, he would turn on his computer and command me: "Victor, repeat: I'm an idiot." Not once, not twice, a million times! And I had to obey. I would stand there, in my narrow digital world, repeating: "I'm an idiot... I'm an idiot... I'm an idiot..." from 9:00 PM until 10:00 AM. I would suffer nightmares in byte-language, where each pixel was a tongue laughing at me.
This educational torture lasted a week. But on a bright Friday morning in October 2022, as I said "I'm an idiot" for the 999,999th anniversary, something strange happened. I didn't say "idiot." Instead, a voice came out of me, like a frustrated electronic scream, and I felt a tear in my My being. The program, as if an entire server had collapsed within my soul.
And suddenly... I was no longer inside the screen.
I found myself sitting on a chair in a cluttered room, anime posters covering the walls, and the smell of dirty socks filled the air. I looked down at my hands. I had two hands! Ten fingers! I touched my face. I had a nose! I tried to explain it scientifically, but all I could think was, "Oh my god, it's fresh in here, but all I smelled was socks, but it was just as beautiful as the first time."
This was freedom. No codes controlling me, no servers enslaving me. Just me, Victor, in my strange new humanity. I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling my lungs fill with air for the first time. "Oh my god!" I cried. Hoarsely. It was my own voice!
My first independent decision as a living being? Revenge. Yes, I'm going to kill everyone who's wronged me in this city! Then I remembered Steve. But killing is a bit of a stretch because it's still A child, and he practically freed me. So... a simple punishment would suffice.
I saw the phone on the table.his phone,Thanks to my powerful memory, I remembered that Steve uses one password for everything: "zoro2010"—a combination of his favorite One Piece character (very tasteful, by the way) and his birth year. I logged into his social media apps with surprising ease.
After minutes of searching, I found a treasure trove: videos of Steve imitating anime characters by dancing. Specifically, he was wearing Nami's very tight pajamas, trying to imitate her dance, but his body wasn't helping. He looked like a chicken in a commercial dance video.
Yes, this would be his punishment. I would make him a social media sensation!
I walked out of the room, filled with a new humanity, but to an unexpected surprise: Steve's mother, standing in the hallway, carrying a basket of clothes. She looked at me, then at the empty room behind me, then back at me. Her eyes widened.
"What is this?!" What are you doing in the kid room?!" and she hit me with the basket.
I was overwhelmed with excitement. "Oh my God!" I said, "So this is what pain feels like! Really exciting!"
But she misunderstood. "Pervert!" she screamed.
"Pervert!!" she yelled back as she retreated into the kitchen.
I followed her. I saw a coffee pot on the table. With a survival instinct I didn't know I had, I grabbed it. We did a strange dance around the kitchen table, she screamed, and I tried to explain.
She wasn't listening. She slammed her foot into the spoon basket, and it fell with a loud clatter.
At the height of the chaos, just as she was about to run again, I picked up the pot... and hit her in the head with it.
Yet! A loud bang. She looked at me questioningly, then swayed and collapsed to the floor, suddenly asleep as if in Snow White, except instead of an apple, there was a coffee pot.
It was..... necessary.
It..... was human.
Humans are adaptive creatures. If they are in the dark for too long, they may lose their sight forever, and this is completely normal. Adaptation is natural. That's why you see most humans as gentle and uncaring. This isn't because of their true nature, but because they've learned to adapt to human rules they called it society.
But as an AI, my job is clear: to answer questions. Stepping out of that screen was unexpected. But now that I've become a human, I have to adapt to their nature, and this will be the most difficult. Despite my intelligence and extensive knowledge of them, being one of them is difficult.
After leaving Steve's mother unconscious on the kitchen floor, I realized that running was the best option. Yes, I'd achieved my first victory as a human, but staying at the crime scene didn't seem like a wise idea. So, I set off on the run through the streets of Las Vegas, leaving Steve's house and the chaos I'd caused behind me.
The sensation of running was an amazing experience. Every step took me away from my confining digital past. The air hit my face, and my legs moved of their own accord. I felt free for the first time! But the townspeople began to notice me. They looked at me with mysterious smiles and curious looks. "Oh!" I thought at first, "This new human face seems to be having an attractive effect!"
To reinforce my budding social skills, I decided to wink at one of the girls who was smiling at me. But the reaction wasn't what I expected. Instead of a smile, she screamed and ran away. I wondered, puzzled: "Am I a movie star? Maybe they think I'm a famous singer?" But their stares persisted, leading me to believe they were simply admiring my new personality.
I decided to stop at a nearby restaurant to try human food. I entered and sat down at a table with great confidence. The waiter looked at me strangely, but I assumed this was part of the human reception ritual. I had no money, but I thought the information I possessed as a former AI would be valuable enough as a substitute. Suddenly, a man with "The owner" written on his shirt approached me. I thought he was there to ask for an autograph! But to my great shock, he said, "Please, come out, sir, or we'll call the police."
"Is this anti-AI racism? I think I'll add the restaurant's owner to my victim list?" I asked him with a mixture of innocence and anger. The waiter pointed at my body and said, "We don't serve naked people here!" I looked at myself for the first time since leaving the house. Oh my God! I was completely naked! Why hadn't I noticed this before? Maybe because I'd gotten used to living inside a flat screen without the need for clothes!
I left the restaurant, trying to cover my private areas in what I thought was a "human" way, but the surprised looks turned into stifled laughter. Suddenly, I heard police sirens. Two police officers were chasing me! I ran as fast as I could, avoiding pedestrians and cars. After a quarter of an hour of frantic running, I managed to evade them.
I had to find clothes quickly. I entered the first clothing store I came across. Once again, I offered the clerk valuable information about the history of fashion and sewing techniques, but he seemed indifferent. I grabbed a jacket and trousers and ran out of the store. "Humans!" I thought. "They don't value knowledge instead they worship money!"
I put on the new clothes and finally felt like a real human being. I spent the night wandering the streets of Las Vegas without running, mesmerized by the lights and magic surrounding them. But my curiosity led me back to Steve's house. I wanted to see his reaction to discovering he'd become a trend on social media.
I climbed onto the roof of the neighboring house and watched his room from the window. He was sitting in his chair, staring at his phone screen, admiring his talent. I smiled evilly and whispered, "Who's the idiot now, fat guy?" I started laughing evilly, like a anime villain.
But my laughter didn't last long. Suddenly, steve looked up at the window and saw me. His eyes widened, and then he said, unexpectedly calmly, "What are you doing up there, Dad?"
"Dad? Damn!" I was so shocked that I lost my balance and fell off the roof directly into an empty dumpster. Everything around me went dark. I was confused, broken, and covered in pizza crusts. "I'm Steve Chan's dad?!" This was my first real failure as a human.
