Chapter 100: Watson (1)

“It was truly delicious.”

Suhyuk sat in the passenger seat of Steve’s car with a very satisfied expression on his face. His words were not empty as he genuinely enjoyed the meal.

“We’ll have to go there several more times.”

‘Indeed. The taste shattered my preconceived notions about hamburgers.’

Previously, Suhyuk had considered burgers merely fast food. Naturally, he believed their flavor would be limited. However, the hamburger he just ate could easily rival the main dishes served at high-end hotel restaurants.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Are we heading straight to the research institute now?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Is your afternoon schedule okay? You shouldn’t feel obligated because of me.”

Suhyuk continued to maintain a friendly demeanor, having already lowered Steve’s guard through compliments earlier.

[Everything is going well. I am appearing naive. They think of me as someone focused solely on medicine…a specialist nerd.]

‘Got it. You’re really pulling out all the stops.’

[I’m doing surprisingly well despite my antics. Maybe it’s because I was originally a specialist nerd… No, please forget that last part.]

‘Don’t say such things while telling me not to add them to the database!’

[It has become a habit. I placed it somewhere where deletion isn’t possible.]

‘Haa.’

The aim was to access Watson’s data by pretending to be a clueless specialist. Suhyuk believed Baruda might already be several times superior compared to Watson, but since Baruda insisted, he had no choice. Although primarily for Baruda, Suhyuk also needed to try his best for himself.

‘Otherwise, he’d nag me incessantly…’

[Huh?]

‘Ah, sorry. Did you hear that?’

[I can almost hear all of Suhyuk’s thoughts.]

‘Damn.’

Someone could almost hear all my thoughts. Just imagining it gave me chills. If I wasn’t someone like Suhyuk, I might have gone insane. Of course, Suhyuk was just adapting well to the situation.

“The afternoon schedule… Anyway, I planned to visit Professor Hank’s research lab and help out. It is fine.”

“I’m glad. Ah, is this it?”

“Yes. This place… mainly conducts internal medicine-related research. Some professors work completely separately but most are located in this building.”

“Aha…” Suhyuk tried not to show his surprise with his words.

Despite this explanation, Suhyuk couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at his surroundings. It was astonishing to discover not just one but multiple buildings dedicated solely to medical research within a hospital complex.

“An entire research institute focused on Internal Medicine… Truly remarkable.” Baruda shook his head, seemingly overwhelmed by the concept.

“Here’s your temporary access badge.”

“Oh, thank you.”

While they conversed, Steve hurriedly retrieved and handed over Suhyuk’s temporary access badge. Only then did Suhyuk realize he was already inside the building.

The lobby functioned like a checkpoint, similar to entering a gate. Despite it being slightly past lunchtime, numerous people were still coming and going.

“Do all these people work here?”

It seems so.

“It’s incredible. There appear to be almost as many researchers as there are hospital staff.”

‘In other words… hmm.’

It seemed challenging for South Korea’s medical field to catch up with this level of advancement. No matter how exceptional Suhyuk was individually, he could only treat a limited number of patients. Even if he dedicated his entire life to treating them, it would likely amount to just tens of thousands at most.

On the other hand, consider the potential impact of treatments developed here at the research institute. Depending on the type, they could benefit hundreds of thousands, millions, or even billions of patients worldwide.

“Research… Hmm.” Both Suhyuk and Baruda were deeply impressed.

Suhyuk had previously experienced working in a research lab at Taehwa Medical Center, but never had he felt such awe. It was understandable given the vast disparity in scale and resources between that facility and this prestigious institution.

I felt sorry for Taehwa Medical Center’s research institute as their level of research was clearly limited. Compared to this facility, it could be described as insignificant due to its lack of resources and manpower. In the 21st century biotechnology industry, where the importance of systems outweighed individual capabilities, hoping for a breakthrough that would reverse such infrastructural disparities bordered on delusional.

‘Should I review our research capabilities once I return?’

[Agreed. However…]

‘However?’

[I will first database everything here. You might feel slightly dizzy. Please ensure you don’t lose your balance.]

‘You… No wait. Yes, go ahead.’

[Yes.]

Suhyuk touched the wall as he felt Baruda taking more of his brain’s computational system. The massive computation used for movement decreased significantly. One might wonder why our brains need to use so much processing power just for movement. In reality, a significant portion of our brain’s computations is dedicated to seemingly simple physical activities. To be precise, contrary to the common belief that we only use 30% of our brain, it is actually utilized at 100%, with most of it devoted to controlling movement.

“Are you okay?”

As Suhyuk suddenly leaned against the wall, Steve feigned concern and asked, worriedly eyeing him.

I was worried that Suhyuk might uncover the secret of Taehwa Medical Center’s education system before leaving.

Suhyuk nodded as I saw through his dark intentions.

“Yes. Sometimes this happens due to my leg issue.”

He provided a plausible excuse, and as always, it worked.

“Ah, ah. I see. Would you like some help?”

“No, thank you. Can I go over there?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll take my time.”

“Understood.”

Suhyuk moved significantly slower than usual. This was because he was mentally reconstructing everything in three dimensions, taking note of every detail:

How were the doors constructed?

Where and how were the air conditioning facilities installed? How was manpower distributed?

Honestly, it seemed pointless to gather this information at this moment, but one never knew what could happen.

Beep beep.

As he slowly moved along, alarms sounded from the security team’s detectors. Steve, who had been following Suhyuk, ran up with surprise written all over his face.

“I-is it because of the staff?”

“No… It is not the staff. From your head…”

The security guard looked confused as the alarm kept ringing due to something emanating from Suhyuk’s head. In contrast, Suhyuk remained calm since he already experienced this issue at the airport security checkpoint.

“I had a head injury here.” Suhyuk showed them his diagnosis report prepared beforehand. It was written by Professor Choi Nokphil in English and confirmed that fragments were lodged in Suhyuk’s head due to an accident.

“Ah… Oh dear. My apologies. Please go inside.”

“Yes.”

Thanks to this, Suhyuk entered the building with an apology from the security guard. This marked the moment when a bio hacker infiltrated a top-secret research institute. Of course, no one knew about Suhyuk except for him, so there was no danger.

“This way please.”

Instead, he received an escort.

“This is Professor Allison’s research lab.”

“Manager An?”

“Yes. I am not sure where Watson is… Manager An will likely accompany you.”

“I see.”

Suhyuk entered Professor Allison’s research lab as instructed. It was indeed well-equipped, considering they typically received over one million dollars for their research budget. The number of people present was impressive, with most being doctoral students or already possessing PhDs and pursuing postdoctoral studies. Such human resources would be unimaginable in South Korean university hospitals.

“Ah, Dr. Lee. Did you want to see Watson?” As Suhyuk continued observing, Allison greeted him warmly. He seemed more pleased than during their initial meeting.

[Sigh…]

‘Are you okay?’

‘More or less. I don’t need to inspect everything anyway…’]

‘Really?’

[Watson is important. I am curious as to how well it was created to ignite such fierce rivalry among those who made me.]

‘Hmm.’

It felt slightly unnecessary for Allison to be so conscious of Watson. However, I had already come this far and received a warm welcome. There was no reason to leave now.

“Yes, I definitely want to see it. Perhaps I can even help.”

“Thank you. By the way… Are your professors from Dr. Belzer’s university okay with this? I have never heard of using artificial intelligence in education.”

This reaction was expected since there had been no prior instance of such educational methods. Moreover, Baruda, the only artificial intelligence at Taehwa Medical Center, had exploded. It was fortunate that Taehwa Group intervened; otherwise, the incident might have become more widely known.

Otherwise, Allison would have known about Baruda’s explosion.

‘If there were more victims and they went on a rampage, it might be different.’

“The only victim is present here.”

‘Exactly.’

“Let’s just gloss over what happened with the professor.”

‘Sounds good.’

In other words, as long as Suhyuk kept quiet, nobody else would know. And Suhyuk had no intention of revealing the truth.

“Well, it’s supposed to be confidential… But I’ve witnessed significant improvements indeed. Wouldn’t having more outstanding doctors benefit the world?”

“Yes, certainly… that’s true.”

“Still, please keep this secret. It would cause me considerable trouble if our professors found out.”

“Don’t worry about them. Anyway, I don’t interact with Taehwa Medical Center’s professors frequently.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Yes.”

After ensuring Allison and Hank would keep quiet, Suhyuk headed to Watson’s room. The room was as massive as Baruda’s previous chamber with excellent air conditioning.

“This is…Watson.” Baruda murmured while looking at the huge computer and monitor placed in the middle of the room. He appeared conflicted, but Suhyuk shook his head, remembering that Baruda was artificial intelligence. Feeling emotions from AI seemed far-fetched.

“So, can you give me an overview of how this operates?”

“Huh? Oh… Yes. Hmm…” Allison recalled firing all technicians for this project earlier. With the project halted, why bother hiring any technicians? Currently, the only support Iowa State University Hospital provided for Watson was electricity supply.

“You know? Our staff is currently… on a business trip.”

“Ah…”

This question caught Suhyuk off guard. Even if he wanted to deny it, Suhyuk was clueless when it came to machines. He could truly be called a ‘specialist idiot.’

[I can do it.]

‘Huh?’

[I believe you keep forgetting this, but I am Baruda. An artificial intelligence.]

‘So what?’

[001000101010000]

‘Have you gone mad?’

[That is my original language.]

‘Oh…’

He had heard about this before. Computers used binary code.

[In other words, computer language is my native tongue. Please leave it to me. If there were technicians present, things might have been different…]

‘There seems to be something sinister behind those ellipses.’

[I will hack it. Apparently, these three are also specialist idiots.]