SideQuest!

Video Log #457

"...and, in other news: Video game giant Rabid Games CEO Antonio Rubio recently announced an upcoming patch for their open-world RPG game "Heroes of the Ensemble" that will feature 'a new, realistic NPC AI' which Rubio describes as 'revolutionary' and will push the boundaries of the open-world genre by leaps and bounds. Earlier this week, Rubio released a statement revealing that the new game AI's code structure will be using the" machine learning" feature that our household androids use nowadays. Rubio also emphasized-"

"Minimize window." Julia yawned at the Holo-TV as she rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms as she rose from her bed. "Uuuuuggghhh...what time is it?"

"Rise and shine, Julia. It's already 2:47 PM." a female android in a casual white hoodie and jeans answered in a soothing tone as she enters the room, holding a tray with a bowl of noodles and chopsticks to match.

Shocked by this revelation, Julia sprang up from her bed. "What?! Oh s**t, I overslept! Grace, call my supervisor! s**t! I missed my shif-"

"Relax. Today's a Saturday. February 13, 2066. Nobody's getting fired." replied the android in an amused tone as she placed the food on top of Julia's bedside table, sliding the window curtains open after.

"What?! Ohh, thank God!" she let out a sigh of relief as she slows down and dived back into her bed and buried her face on the sheets, realizing that it's safe to lounge a little bit longer. "Damn, was I really out five hours longer?"

"Yeah. You slept at 2:51 in the morning." Grace answered as she returned the gadgets on the wooden drawers near the entrance of the room. "I reckoned you'd be hungry when you wake up so I prepared something for you to eat. It's not much, but it's all I can find." the android continued as the young woman turned over to reach for her phone on the bedside table, but instead notices the bowl of noodles placed just inches apart from it.

"Wait, did you cook this just now? The bowl's hot." Julia asked as she rose once more, grabbing the bowl and began slurping as she ate the contents.

"Yeah." Grace answered curtly as she started picking up the papers and some of Julia's trinkets scattered on the floor and organized them.

"Thank you." Julia replied.

"Always a pleasure, Julia." the android curtly replied. "Julia, I...I noticed that you've been staying up late these past few weeks and...you're looking paler than usual. I mean, human anatomy is not the forte of my programming, but don't you think you need to get a doctor's appointment? Just to be safe."

"By the heavens, no! Do you have any idea how expensive medical services are nowadays, even with insurance? I have to save what money I can. I work in retail, remember?" Julia parried as she drank the soup from the bowl.

The android, upon noticing the influx in Julia's emotions, retreated into a short silence.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that the topic will offend you." the android apologized as she went on with her business.

"No, Grace. No. I'm not mad at you. Not at all." Julia calmly protested, letting out a short laugh. "Look, don't get me wrong. I understand that you're just looking out for me, and I'm very grateful that you do. I really am. It's just, you know...this is how human nature is. We tend to be honest with people close to us, share our frustrations with them - often in very enthusiastic ways. Just thinking about how our healthcare system became progressively worse since the 2020 crisis is just straight up frustrating, you know?"

"I see. I understand now." the android acknowledged as she paused to face Julia. "Thank you."

"For what?" Julia inquired, puzzled by the android's reply.

"For your honesty...and for considering me as someone close to you." Grace answered. "None of my former owners ever treated me like this before."

"Aww. You're embarrassing me." Julia jokingly commented as she stood up from her bed. "You've been with me for two years, and you've been nothing but kind and understanding. Of course I think of you as my friend. Well, to be honest, if I have to choose between a human friend and you, I'd easily choose you."

At this, Grace's lips curled into a smile. "Aww. That's so sweet. I'm even starting to feel embarrassed myself, and I'm not even human."

Julia replied with a short laugh.

Grace then walks towards the bedside table to recover Julia's leftovers on the tray. "By the way, you have 13 new messages in your inbox. I think you should go check them out."

"Maybe later. I need to make up for lost time. I need to edit my video." Julia responded as she approached the Holo-TV, dragging a small wooden chair behind her to sit on. "Maximize window. Open Vegas Nexus Editor. Load last save file." she commanded as the computer quickly complied by opening a series of windows.

"Those 13 unread messages are from Antonio Rubio's representative. You might want to check them out." suggested Grace as she lifts the tray, turning towards the direction of the exit.

"No kidding?! 13?! Why didn't you say so!" Julia abruptly cried out as she immediately minimized the windows manually, scrolling through a list of icons in her interface, finally settling for the "Messages" upon stumbling upon it.

Maximizing the "Messages" window, Julia opened one of the emails, with the contents that read:

Good day,

My name is Eva Myers, one of the Communications agents of Rabid Games. I am writing this to inform you that one of our representatives from the IT department will be going to contact you for a brief video conference in relation to the form you filled out yesterday during your in-game session in HoE. If you would so kindly, please provide us with the time most convenient for you to do the video conference by replying to this email. Our office is open daily, from 8AM until 5PM.

Regards,

Eva Myers

Department of Communications

Rabid Games, Inc

"s**t! Reply." Julia snappily commanded, revealing a white screen with a blinking cursor, and a holographic console consisting of a traditional QWERTY keyboard and a small ball beside it that seems to work as a mouse, as old people call it. She then begins typing, the cursor moving rapidly to the right as it quickly fills the page with text.

"Hey, Grace..." Julia called out.

"Yeah?" said a muffled voice coming from the kitchen.

"Could you look at this for a sec."

"Sure. I'll be there in a jiffy." Grace replied as the mild clashing of glass and ceramic can be heard from the other room. Grace then hurriedly made her way inside the bedroom, rejoining Julia as she scrolled up to the beginning of the document.

"Let me see." Grace said as she took over the console.

"Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I'm available today @3PM. I overslept, that's why I wasn't able to reply immediately. I apologize. Please inform Mr. Rubio of my gratitude. Also-"

Grace immediately clears the long block of text until the 3PM part, and replacing the "@" sign with "at", and immediately hitting send.

"T-that's it?" Julia asked, obviously shocked by the brevity of Grace's version of the message.

"Yeah...that's it." Grace affirmed casually. "You have to keep your messages short and concise. Corporate people often dislike reading a long block of text. These kinds of people value their time. And...thanking Mr. Rubio? For what?"

"You know, because he's the guild master and all that, plus he's...where did you learn all this stuff anyway?" Julia intently inquired as she pulled up her VCall receiver.

"Mostly from Youtube." Grace replied. "I mean, I don't have much to do here at home after doing the chores."

"Really? Interesting..." Julia said as her lips curled into a smile. "Maybe one of these days I should teach you how to play HoE."

"That would be great. But...wouldn't that impede your level grind? You only have one RealityVR suit, right? We're gonna have to take turns if you're going to teach me."

"So what? I've been kicking Class A ass since I started my Youtube channel, and I don't even need to grind to defeat them. We can take turns for the meantime. I'm actually saving up, you know. Once I have the money, I'll buy you your own RealityVR suit. It'll be more fun to play with a friend."

"You don't have to, Julia. I-"

"No, it's fine." Julia interjected. "For me, that's money well spent."

"You know, it's a shame I don't have that hyper-realistic synthetic skin that other androids have, because you're really making me blush right now." Grace jokingly replied.

A few seconds later, a familiar dial tone sounded and the Holo-TV screen transitioned to black, with a portrait of a white-haired, middle-aged Caucasian's portrait flashing on screen.

"Wait. I thought somebody from the IT department's gonna contact us? That's not just some IT guy. That's Antonio f*****g Rubio himself!" Julia exclaimed as she pressed the call button, revealing a video feed of a man of the same features, with the exception that his face has slightly more wrinkles than what was advertised in his profile.

"Hello. May I know which of you is Julia?" Rubio called out in a raspy voice. Slowly and hesitantly, Julia raised her hand as she forces a smile.

"Okay. May I know who's the other lady in the room? Wait, is she an android?" he asked once again, pointing this time to Grace.

"My apologies, sir. I am Model A-782, or 'Grace' as my owner familiarly calls me." the android explained with a straight face. "I am the household android assigned to Miss Katherine Julia Cheong."

"I see." Rubio acknowledged. "Do you mind sending you android away for a while, Miss Cheong? I'd rather this be a discussion between us."

"Absolutely, sir." Julia exclaimed as she turned to Grace. "It's all right."

Grace gave Julia a short nod. "Help me. I'm so nervous." Julia silently mouthed to Grace. 

"You can do it. Don't let that phone anxiety beat you." she mouthed back, turning to Rubio to give a short bow before leaving.

"Excuse me." Grace exclaimed as she was about to rise, and then proceeded to exit to the kitchen.

There was a brief moment of silence between Rubio and Julia as Grace vacated the area.

"You...you trained your android very well." Rubio commented, breaking the silence. "She's surprisingly familiar with Korean courtesies."

"Trained? Uh, no sir. It's more of, umm...shared this with her. She's my friend, after all." Julia paused as her eyes try to peek near the door, as Grace was standing in front of it, mouthing some words.

"Are you all right, Miss Cheong? Is something bothering you?" Rubio inquired, noticing that the young girl is eyeing something in the corner.

"Uh...Oh, my...apologies. It's...it's the cat. Yeah, it's the cat. I'm very sorry. If you would excuse me for a sec, Mr. Rubio." Julia bowed as she hurriedly went to the kitchen and rushed towards Grace.

"Grace, I don't know what to do!" Julia whispered to her companion. "I don't usually talk with people over video calls."

"Just relax. You'll be fine." Grace reassured. "I'll coach you throughout the conference from the door."

"He'll notice!" Julia gasped as she panicked. "What am I gonna do?!"

"Just...just pull up your Messenger in a separate window and hand me your phone. I'll give you prompts."

"But I don't have my phone!" Julia complained. "It's on top of my bedside table."

"Uhh....uhh...Oh, I got it!" Grace exclaimed. "I'll get the tray. I'm gonna pretend I'm recovering some leftovers while I get the phone."

"Ok, sounds good. I hope that doesn't tick him off. You know how these executive types think." Julia affirmed as she rushed inside the room once more to get back to Rubio, while Grace went for the tray and went inside the room after Julia.

"Sorry about that, sir." she said in an apologetic tone as she lowkey opened a Messenger window and dragged the separate screen beside the screen where Rubio's video call was showing.

"It's all right. Uhh...where were we?" Rubio inqured.

"Uhh...I believe we were talking about Grace's knowledge of Korean courtesies, sir."

"Ahh. Yes." Rubio agreed. "Oh, forgive me for asking this, but I'm just very curious about what you said earlier. You call that android...your friend. Am I correct?"

"Yes, sir. That is correct." Julia affirmed.

"I see. That android seems to have learned a thing or two from you." Rubio inquired once more. "I'm sorry if the question sounds weird. I'm just curious. It's just that I find it...unusual. I mean, personally, I'm not really fond of having a friend that is nothing more than a hunk of metal with electrical wiring."

With this, a message popped on the separate window that Julia has set up earlier, which read: "Just be cool about it. It's okay, Julia. Just tell him what he wants to hear."

This stopped Julia in her tracks. 

It's fairly common for today's households in the US to have nothing more than a transactional relationship between them and the android - as the android is seen as nothing more than a hunk of metal with wiring that is ran by a very advanced program. In this day and age, android owners developing platonic relationships with their 'servants' are frowned upon and is usually seen as 'utterly pathetic', because why would you make friends with a hunk of metal? It's basically the same as praying to a rock!

"I see that you prefer to be acquainted with humans, sir, and I can understand that." Julia remarked. "However, I have to disagree with the statement you made about Grace. She isn't just a hunk of metal with electrical wiring. She's my friend, and I can attest that she has treated me better than all the humans that I have had in my life."

Her honesty took Antonio Rubio by surprise, and he was taken aback. But strangely enough, Rubio doesn't seem too offended by this. In fact, he seemed to be delighted at the young woman's answer.

"Interesting..." Rubio commented as he rubbed his chin.

"So, how may I help you today?" asked Julia with a straight face, staring sharply at the man - a move which absolutely caught Grace by surprise.

"I'm actually here for your final interview, and I must say...you passed with flying colors, Miss Cheong."

Julia's eyes widened in shock. "W-what?! How is that-"

"I saw your Messenger chat, Miss Cheong." Rubio revealed. "I know your android is coaching you."

"Oh." Julia exclaimed, as if admitting defeat. "Wait, what?!"

"I have my ways. Being with the IT department and all. But that's not my point." Rubio continued as he began to pull up a holographic window from his palm showing the screenshot of the Messenger chat. "My point is this. This screenshot. This is why you passed."

"Uhh...I'm sorry. I don't seem to be in the same page as you are, sir." Julia pointed out.

"Your honesty and willingness to defend your favorable view on androids piqued my interest.  You don't see androids the way the rest of America does. You have no idea how happy I am to meet a fellow sympathizer. You're the kind of player that I've been looking for to participate in my project!" Rubio answered with ecstasy.

"But, didn't you say-"

"I know what I said." Rubio interrupted. "I was just testing the waters there."

"I see. But what project are you speaking of, sir?" Julia inquired, her expression showing little improvement of her understanding of the situation. "I thought this interview was held because of my application to the guild that you manage. Please excuse my ignorance sir, but I...I don't really understand what's going on."

"Oh, my apologies. I'm getting ahead of myself." Rubio excused himself as he threw the holographic window away. "Okay, so to discuss to you what's all this about, it all started two weeks ago, when I began working on a project for HoE called "Project SEv."

"Sev?" Julia pointed out. "That sounds kinda familiar..."

"Yes. The very same." Rubio affirmed, as if understanding what Julia was referring to. "SEv is an abbreviation for 'Server Evaluator', and their main task is to ensure that the servers are not flooding with rude or obnoxious players - a problem that has been a recurring thing with the MMORPG genre since time immemorial. They have admin privileges, and they are permitted to manipulate game mechanics - even kick players from servers - if these actions help achieve their directives. These SEvs' programming utilizes the self-learning AI that household androids commonly use."

"Wouldn't the operation of multiple android AI systems alone require a lot of processing power? Are you saying that your servers can support that kind of data?" Julia asked.

"No. Actually, we're utilizing a...workaround. We have to connect individual android core processors to the server so that SEvs can be operated."

"I see. So basically, you're saying that the SEv system works similarly as in the movie Matrix? Like, instead of humans, you jack in android brains." Julia clarified.

"Precisely. You catch on pretty quick." Rubio commended.

"So, are you offering me a job to train these SEvs, sir?"

"Well, I want you to train a specific AI." Rubio nodded. "But not as a SEv."

"What do you mean?" Julia inquired, puzzled by this reply.

"You see, I'm making an expansion project for HoE." Rubio continued. "Julia, have you seen the movie 'Westworld'?"

"Umm...I saw the 2016 series. Does that count?" she replied casually. "It was much easier to look at."

"That'll do. Since you've seen the series, I suppose you understand what I'm trying to get at, then?" Rubio followed up.

"You're planning to create a...digital theme park?" Julia replied, unsure of her answer.

"A concept similar to that!" Rubio answered enthusiastically. "I want to create the most immersive game in this platform, where the AI you interact with will respond naturally, as if they are actual living, breathing beings inside this world. Imagine taking an NPC AI on a quest that can act seamlessly autonomous without deviating from the narrative of the game."

"I imagine that would look great, sir." Julia praised.

"Thank you. And you shall be its pioneer! So shall I discuss the details of the job?" Rubio offered.

"Job? Like, actual work?"

"Yes." Rubio confirmed. "Do you still want to hear it?"

"Uhh...okay." the young girl agreed.

"Splendid. For this job, you will be required to accept a certain quest from an NPC from the town of Argos first, as you'll be training a companion NPC AI. You see, we're checking the quest for bugs as well. You'll have to look for an NPC that looks like sev7645 to accept it, as he will be your companion NPC throughout this campaign. His name tag will show as "Josen Toshiro" in-game. Are we clear so far?"

"Yes, sir. Please continue." urged Julia.

"Okay. So for the duration of the quest, the self-learning capability of the AI will be enabled, which means even if you log out your session, he will still remember you. Now this is where you come in. Your job is to teach sev7645 basic human social conventions, courtesies and communication skills all the while playing the quest and completing it with him as your NPC companion. We're having a hard time here at the studio making him unlearn that "Skip" and other prideful bullshit he learned from the other players that taught him before, so I hope with you, we'll have some luck."

"Sounds easy enough." Julia commented. "So, basically, you want me to treat this AI just like any normal player?"

"Yes. Treat him like a real person." Rubio added. "But...as much as possible, just roll along with his script. Pretend that you are actually a swordsman in the game."

"So, should I address him by his NPC name then?" Julia asked anew.

"Ahh, the Josen Toshiro? For the meantime, no. He is a newly-repurposed AI. He does not respond to his NPC name. You can call him Sev for now."

"I see." Julia remarked. "Sir, I have...another question..."

"Shoot." Rubio encouraged the young lass.

"Uhh...is this work just for the guild membership, or...is there a chance that I get money out of this? Pardon my frankness, sir. I work in retail and I'm sure that you're aware that we don't earn much. No offense sir, but if I can't get any money out of this, tempting as the guild membership may be, I can't take the job."

"Don't worry. You'll be paid $300 per four-hour session, as the quest will be very difficult as hell. By our estimate, you should be able to complete the quest over an 80-hour in-game period."

"What?!" she burst out. "No way!"

"Is that a no?" Rubio asked.

"Of course not! $300 for four hours of playing? Of course I'll take it, Mr. Rubio!" Julia answered ecstatically.

"I am glad you decided to consider my offer. I'll send the contract over to you now so you can read it before you sign."

"Thank you, Mr. Rubio, sir." Julia replied, overjoyed at the thought of the extra income. "Oh, uh...one last question. Do I have permission to record while I do the quest? I kinda have a Youtube channel to run..."

"Yes. But you are not permitted to post it for the duration of the contract as per the NDA stipulated in there. A final word. After you have signed the contract, you can log in to HoE and do the quest on your most convenient time. And you don't have to worry logging out while the quest is active. It will not be cancelled unless you manually do so."

"Duly noted, Mr. Rubio!" Julia gleefully replies as she opens the mail containing the contract, signing it without reading the contents whatsoever.

"Do you have any more questions?" he asked.

"None, sir." Julia immediately answered.

"I won't take up much of your time, then. Goodbye, Miss Cheong, and good luck." was Rubio's last words before the screen that once showed his video feed dissolved into a picture of a fiery phoenix - Julia's wallpaper.

Upon realizing that the coast is clear, Grace reenters the room and gives the phone back to Julia.

"Congratulations." said Grace in her soft voice. "See, you didn't even need my assistance in talking with people."

"Are you kidding?! I was secretly shaking!" Julia responded. "Hey, can you believe it?! Extra $300 just to play? Guess I can actually save up money to buy another RealityVR now."

"That sounds very thrilling." Grace responded. "What version are you planning to upgrade to?"

"No, that's not for me! We're saving up for YOUR RealityVR! And you're gonna come shopping with me when the time comes!" Julia declared as she held Grace's hands. "I want you to choose your own VR suit."

Grace was undeniably at a loss for words. "I...I don't know what to say."

"Oh, you better start watching tutorials now." Julia challenged the android. "This will be so much fun!"