CHAPTER 1 — ERROR 404
"Anyone?"
Professor Han looked around the lecture hall for what felt like the tenth time.
The massive projector displayed hundreds of lines of code. Right in the middle...
Runtime Error.
His AI model had crashed.
Again.
"This is your mid-sem practical," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If anyone can identify what's causing the recursive failure, you'll earn bonus credit."
One hundred and twelve Computer Science students.
Not a single hand went up.
Whispers spread through the room.
"It compiled yesterday..."
"Maybe it's a memory leak?"
"No way..."
Professor Han sighed.
"I expected more from SNU."
A chair scraped against the floor.
Everyone turned.
A girl sitting in the last row stood up, laptop tucked under one arm.
"Professor."
Professor Han blinked.
"...Y/N?"
"May I take a look?"
He stepped aside immediately.
"If anyone can fix it..."
He smiled.
"...it's probably you."
A few students exchanged looks.
One of them muttered under his breath.
"Teacher's favorite."
She ignored it.
Walking onto the stage, she plugged her laptop into the projector.
The code filled the screen.
Her eyes skimmed through thousands of lines without saying a word.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Then she spoke.
"You've trained the memory module to prioritize confidence over verification."
Professor Han frowned.
"...Explain."
"When the model becomes too certain of an incorrect prediction, it stores that prediction as reliable memory."
She highlighted three lines.
"So every cycle..."
Tap.
"...it trusts the previous mistake."
Tap.
"...which creates another mistake."
Tap.
"...until the entire model collapses."
Silence.
She deleted four lines.
Added three.
Pressed Enter.
The classroom watched the terminal.
Loading...
Initializing...
Neural weights verified.
Memory synchronized.
Training resumed.
The model came back online.
For three whole seconds...
Nobody spoke.
Professor Han slowly turned toward her.
"...How long did that take you?"
She glanced at the clock.
"Two minutes."
Someone in the front row whispered,
"That's impossible..."
Professor Han laughed.
"I've been trying to solve that since Monday."
The lecture hall erupted into applause.
Y/N looked... embarrassed.
She gave a small nod, unplugged her laptop, and quietly returned to her seat.
No celebration.
No smile.
Just another bug fixed.
---
The lecture ended thirty minutes later.
Students poured into the hallway.
"Hey!"
A classmate hurried after her.
"Wait!"
She stopped.
"You seriously fixed Professor Han's research?"
"It wasn't his research."
"What?"
"It was his logic."
"...There's a difference?"
"A big one."
The student blinked.
"...You're scary."
Y/N laughed.
"So I've been told."
---
Her phone vibrated.
A notification.
Mom ❤️
«Have you eaten?»
She looked toward the university cafeteria.
The line stretched almost outside the building.
She sighed and replied.
«I'll eat after I get home.»
A lie.
Again.
---
By the time she reached her apartment, the sky had already turned dark.
She tossed her backpack onto the couch.
Silence greeted her.
No roommates.
No family.
Just the low hum of her computer.
She changed into an oversized hoodie, tied her hair into a messy bun, and walked straight to the desk.
Three monitors lit up.
One displayed research papers.
One displayed today's lecture notes.
The third remained black.
She rested her finger on the fingerprint scanner.
Access Granted.
A hidden folder appeared.
PROJECT PERSONA
She smiled for the first time that day.
"Let's see what you've learned today."
She double-clicked the folder.
A loading circle spun across the screen.
Initializing Persona Model...
The cursor blinked.
Then—
Hello.
