A futuristic novel that asks where the line between human and non-human is.

A full-length science fiction novel by novelist Kim Jae-ah, who has believed since childhood that this world is not everything.
This is a complete revision of the work that was published six years ago under the title “Dancing Like a Dream.”
In a more solid writing style, a broader imagination and deeper thinking shine.

A future world where the Mediterranean Sea has become a desert and wars between extremist groups have left many places in ruins.
99% of humanity lives in unemployment due to machine capitalism.
At that time, an artificial intelligence that had repeatedly studied the 13.8 billion years of universe history was born into the world by borrowing a human body.
Around him, humans lose their humanity, and non-humans maintain their humanity, a daily occurrence.
Can he become human? No, where does humanness end and where does it cease to be? What exactly is human?

Think back to the moment of connection.
The moment I connected with the man who gave me his body, I couldn't help but laugh.
It was uncontrollable laughter.
A thousand sensations surged through the laughter.
I laughed and cried, I laughed and was in pain, and I laughed and was hot.
Every connection was a laugh.
It was a joy.
I don't know why, but as my brain recorded the moment we first met, my emotional neural network kept sending out explosive joy.
What kind of sensory number should I use to express my feelings at that time?
3-1017 "A burst of joy that almost brings tears to your eyes"? 5-999 "A situation where all your uncontrollable emotions explode"? Yes, something almost exploded.
I almost disappeared.
It was that kind of moment.
The moment when different species connected.

--- p.19

“However, the artificial brain I created has a superior sense of morality, responsibility, and sociality than humans through four different programs.
They have a much stronger sense of ethics than selfishness, and rarely show aggression or anger.
Even when faced with a situation where I must attack the opponent to maintain my permanence, my artificial brain does not make the so-called 'unavoidable choice' of killing the opponent.
My artificial brain was programmed to choose death on its own at such times.
My brain is not a survival machine for genes, and it knows that if my freedom and equality are important, then those of others are important too.”
Noah Exum finished speaking.
Someone sighed in the student cafeteria.
Kim Rin said.
“You are now confessing with your own mouth that the humanoid you created is a superior being than we humans.
Your artificial brain is a threat to humanity because, as you said, it is superior to humanity.
“Our choice is inevitable.”
Blood flowed from Noah's mouth.
Kim Rin continued.
“Fortunately, Noah, you are the only being on Earth who knows about artificial brain splicing technology.
So today we will make the inevitable choice.” Kim Lin stared at the screen.
“If Dr. Noah Exum were gone, Earth would be a slightly safer place.”
--- p.37

Then, a sound was heard.
A woman was being dragged down the hallway.
It was a person standing on the rooftop railing.
It only took 22 minutes after I told you where I was.
The strange clothes were made by the lab staff.
Why was the woman standing there? I felt like I was about to fall, but I thought it was fortunate.
The woman was dragged down a long corridor and locked in a room that felt like a hospital room or a prison cell. It was SALUT.
There were many rooms in the lab, but from the outside it was dark, so you couldn't even tell if there were any rooms.
Only SALUT stood out.
The white color of the room seemed like a symbol of both heaven and hell.
As the woman entered, the door was locked from the outside.
You will never escape again.
The woman looked out through the window in the door.
Our eyes met as I was loitering in the hallway.
He looked straight into my eyes.
I avoided eye contact.
--- p.99

While Jason and I were having drinks, Mongi walked to a wider area.
Stretch out your arms and legs.
This is a stretching exercise done before dancing.
Mongi, standing on a wide field, stretches both arms upwards to the right and then upwards to the left.
Stand on tiptoe.
Just looking at her warm-up movements, she looks like a gymnast who has advanced to the Olympic finals.
Straighten your legs and raise them to the right and left at a 90 degree angle.
Then, using your left leg as the axis, lift your right leg and turn around to draw a circle, then lift your left leg and draw a circle using your right leg as the axis.
The red lips are tightly closed in a straight line and the eyes are hazy.
After a while, he jumps up from the floor.
Stretch both legs horizontally in the air.
The moment he lifted his feet off the ground, Mongi's hair flew up and his lips parted.
I think I smiled for a very brief moment.
The camera in my eyes captured that moment.
I realized.
Mongi doesn't want to dance, he wants to fly.
You want to be happy.
Jason fills my glass.
The moment the body in the air touched the ground, the upper body tilted.
I felt like I was going to fall, but I managed to keep my balance.
I burst out laughing to myself because I found the situation where I almost fell over funny.
Roll forward out of nowhere.
Mongi, who got up after doing one more forward roll, put both hands on his waist and shrugged twice.
Tap both feet on the ground at the same time.
It seems to be saying, 'O universe, don't mess with me.'
His expression is full of confidence.
He taps his feet again out of sync.
It seems like it would go well with flamenco dancing, but Mong's dance is not stereotypical.
Stretch out both arms and flap your wings like a butterfly.
The wings are flapping faster.
When you wonder how to fly, stretch your arms toward the sky like the arms of a mask dance and lift one leg.
Can I dance?
I thought I would learn to dance easily once I became human.
--- p.151

He smiled faintly.
“If you think it’s a cigarette, it’s a cigarette. If you think it’s a drug, it’s a drug.”
“Then I’ll think of it as a cigarette.”
We stood in front of the pouring rain and listened to the sound of the rain in silence.
He opened his mouth.
“You’re the first person to ever ask me if I’m really a machine.”
It was unexpected.
I looked at him.
When rainwater splashed on his lower body, he wiped it away with his hand.
The cold lower body made a sharp sound even with the slightest movement.
He said while listening to that sound.
“The moment you say you are a machine, I begin to doubt whether you are human.
“Your eyes don’t look like a machine at all.”
He took a deep sip and chuckled.
The sound of the rain was so loud it felt like it was hitting my ears.
“We are like two beings.
It is influenced by the other person's perception.
The moment a patient thinks I am a machine with this appearance, I become a machine, and the moment they think I am still human, I become human.
“The perception of others is an important factor in determining my identity.”
“I don’t care whether you are a human doctor or a machine doctor, but what do you think of yourself as?”
He blew out smoke.
--- p.216

The second kill didn't seem that difficult.
Mongi is a little taller than Elijah, but he is practically a corpse.
I turned on the bedside light.
Under the dim light, Mongi was seen lying down.
I approached carefully and stroked its long, thin neck.
Potassium would be helpful, but it's not readily available at this time.
Let's use the classical method.
There was no need for a neck transplant, so it was Mongi's original neck.
I thought about it for a moment.
'After killing Mong-i, how should I die?' Dying right away would be the best.
I know the various suicide methods used by humans.
The World Health Organization recently announced that there are 136 different suicide methods worldwide.
But as far as I know, there are 183.
Big data also shows that there are suicide methods with a high success rate.
I haven't decided yet which one to choose.
Caress Mongi's neck.
'Can I end the life of my eternal friend?' I touch and touch again as if praying earnestly.
'I guess I'll have to kill him anyway.' It was a long journey.
It's a very human imagination, but if I were to die and go to another world, and meet Noah there, I would say this.
A few days of human life were longer and more difficult than the 13.8 billion year simulation program you created.

--- p.233