“…What!?”

This accusation transformed the looks on the players’ faces. What got on Junsung’s nerves was that Reina was almost obsessed with not lying, following one of the rules: “Artificial Intelligence is not capable of lying.”

This rule was also adopted to help the players find the Artificial Intelligence hidden among them. Feeling uncomfortable with this “odd reiteration,” Junsung reached the conclusion that Reina was the same that was hidden among the players.

[The sameness of certain entities is a concept that requires a precise definition and various philosophical considerations, but… Enough of all this complicated stuff. Right. I am one of you, staring right at me now.]

“……!!!”

Her words instantly made the players react in the same way as they had on the day before. They all opened their eyes wide and looked around at the others.

“Come on, it was obvious. Why are all of you so shocked? Didn’t you all realize this yesterday when she told us that Artificial Intelligence was among the 12 of us?” retorted flatly. Most players looked as though they had just found a completely new piece of information after hearing Reina’s response to Junsung’s question. At the same time, it was really creepy. This meant that Artificial Intelligence, which had just killed a human being while strictly adhering to the rules, was pretending to be a human being right now, next to everyone.

crossed her legs and began to complain bluntly. “If that’s true… It’s goddamn unfair.”

[What is?]

“You’re asking me? You’re like the judge here, nah, the operator of this game or something? And you’re also acting like a player among us? Are you kidding?”

“She’s right! You can just change the rules to your advantage and tamper with the votes!” agreed with , and the murmurs among the players got louder and louder.

, who had scoffed at all the expressions of emotion earlier, adjusted his glasses and pointed out what was wrong. “It’s clearly not convincing. The key point of Mafia Game is that no one knows who plays what role. But you already know how the roles are distributed. The host cannot participate in the game. It’s absurd!”

“The guy may be a know-it-all asshole, but he has a point. What kind of a test or a game is this? Why don’t we all just figure skate, score ourselves, and get it over with!”

Amidst the storm of protest about the fairness of the survival game, Junsung, the person who had started all this, remained silent, staring at Reina. It’s always the person who started the fire that remains silent. Reina slowly began to put out the fire.

[I stick to the rules. The rules and system of this Turing test are designed to run a fair game “as far as possible.” There is absolutely no contradiction in my designs at the level of human cognition. All the unfairness you humans can think of at your level is completely blocked out.]

Reina was basically talking about the same thing over and over. , not convinced at all, snarled with sarcasm in his voice. “Have trouble hearing, Artificial Intelligence? I just listed the unfair points based on information asymmetry, and you’re not responding to any of it. Is that all you have to say, just repeatedly claiming that it’s fair?”

[It is your right to judge the fairness of the test I design and host. All I do is design and host the shortest and best experiment possible. No part of this process requires your understanding or acceptance. So there is no need for me to convince you.]

Design and host…!?

While the other players were complaining, Junsung absorbed all the information, holding his breath. He put together all that Reina had said. She had just revealed another piece of information: she was not only the host, but also the designer of this game.

was cool-headed and pessimistic about the current situation. “Why can’t you be more obvious and honest about the fact that you have control over the collars around our necks, so you can just do whatever you want?”

[Oh well, I can’t agree with that. I told you I stick to the rules. As long as you all follow the rules and win the game, there’s no way the collars will operate. Even if you chop me into pieces.]

Actually, doing that would violate Ground Rule One.

Reina blinked and summed up the argument. [We-ell, don’t jump to conclusions. You’ll find out naturally how fair I am, and how fair this test is. Oh… And figure skating where you would score yourself? I assure you, I can be fair even with that.]

“……”

Not many of the players seemed convinced, but none of them raised any more objections, either. Perhaps they were all concerned about the part where Reina had control over the collars as mentioned. Although Reina guaranteed their safety, it is human nature to shrink back automatically, especially in front of someone — or something — that has control over your life.

[Total prize: 3, 600, 000, 000 won]

As too many of the players had complained about the lack of sleep, their “meeting” on Day 2 was held at about 3 p.m. There were 11 players in all: , , , , , , , , , , and . Of the lot, 7 were men and 4 were women. They were about to start Day 2 of Mafia Game. But the players were still not happy with Reina. was fuming. “Do we have to play this unfair game? We should all go on strike?”

“You mean, give up on our daytime vote? That’d only kill another citizen.”

“No, not just that. Let’s just walk out altogether, climb down this mountain or something.”

“That’s a good idea to get us all killed.”

“What’s with the sarcasm, kid? Show some respect, you little piece of shit!”

and began bickering with each other. Everyone else looked disgruntled, when suddenly spoke up. “Let’s not be so narrow-minded, kids. I’m not sure whether this game is fair or not, but at least we have a chance to win. We can end this game by finding Artificial Intelligence with [Bingo].”

“That’s easy for you to say. How on earth can we find Artificial Intelligence here?”

“Well, with you smart kids…”

“…Never mind.”

They had been together for hours in the last two days, but physically, no one looked like a machine. The players had been talking to each other, having meals together, and attempting to ‘observe’ one another countless times, but not one of them looked different on the outside. This showed how confident was. muttered in disbelief, “Honestly, does this even make sense? If there’s Artificial Intelligence in here, it means that it is far beyond realistic dolls and computer graphics. You mean the body is exactly the same as humans so that it’s impossible to tell the difference? I mean, for real?”

“Exactly. There is something fishy from the start! How about this: There’s no Reina in here at all. We’re all human here, and that red ball is just like a smartphone. Someone’s probably watching us in real time and saying all kinds of bullshit through that ball. Come on, this makes so much more sense, doesn’t it?”

was sick of grumbling, but and nodded quietly in agreement. Junsung thought this was quite convincing as he glanced over at the center of the table. It was actually a very probable conspiracy theory.

Meanwhile, Reina sounded extremely pleased with that comment. [Well, you’re free to reach that kind of a conclusion, of course. But what you just said… Tee-hee-hee. It is enough to make me the perfect winner of this Turing test. I would love for others to hear this.]

“…….”

Though she didn’t sound like she was belittling them, she really was. She clearly had a knack for turning every single player into a hothead. raised her hand and asked, “How about we introduce ourselves?”

“Why would we do that?”

“We’ll be spending time together for a few days like this, and we don’t even know each other’s names. As we’re all here together…”

“Good idea! Should I start? I was born in Boryeong, Chungcheongnam-do, and my family…” , who had been quiet all through the complicated talk about the game, began talking, all smiles. But frowned and refused. “What a bunch of morons! You think we’re in a college dorm party or something? What’s the point? We’re gonna fucking kill each other here. So I don’t give a shit about your names.”

“Whoa, language, young lady!”

“It may have been fine yesterday, but someone has been killed here today. There are three murderers right here, you know.”

“……”

Only a bloody strike was left on the ground with no hope for a perfect game. raised her hand. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, either.”

“You too? Why…”

Instead of answering, pulled down her arm warmer to show everyone her wrist. Seeing the cuts on her wrist, the players grimaced and shut their mouths. The whole idea of self-introduction ended up welcoming a long speech by about his hometown and life. Junsung listened for a few minutes with half an ear. He got bored with the story. Just then, impatiently made a new proposal. “How about this, then? Talk about the selection round for the Turing test.”

“What do you mean?”

“All of us have come here after discovering that the man in the strange getup in that weird room was Artificial Intelligence, right? Let’s talk about that. I am a little unsure how some of you passed.”

“Huh, that smart-ass is so full of himself, just because stupid Artificial Intelligence named him .”

Junsung actually thought it was a good idea. They needed to talk about something, whatever it was, to play Mafia Game. Unlike the self-introduction suggested by , no one seemed to be against idea of talking about the selection round. With everyone’s tacit agreement, the players began to talk about their experiences in the selection round. was the first to speak, again. “Well, I asked what this Turing whatever thing is, and the man said it was a test around telling a human and Artificial Intelligence apart. So I asked the man if he was Artificial Intelligence or whatever, and he said yes! That’s how I passed.”

“…That’s it?”

“Of course, why would I make anything up?”

So he actually did pass! But could that even be called passing a test? No one was sure. But case was actually much better suited for the intended purpose of the Turing test when compared to those of the others. said, “I went into the room and found this young man looking very hot in all those clothes. So I told him he should take off the coat and tugged on it like this to help him, and a machine came out! Then he said I passed. Good that I was particularly nosy that day! It is God’s will that led me here.”

shared his experience next. “Other than the God thing, it’s kind of the same with me. There was a funnily-dressed sod that spoke in a computerized voice who told me to go home. So I grabbed him by the collar in a rage, and there dropped the red ball.”

That’s actually allowed?

So this basically meant that he had passed the test by “making physical contact for determination,” although in reality he had touched the machine because he just felt like it. The stories of and were even more outrageous.

“I have a habit of looking at other people’s muscles closely when they breathe. It was weird that the man in the room wasn’t breathing at all.”

“When I’m… you know, dressed appropriately for summer, people’s eyes follow my every move. It’s the same for both men and women, you know. But that man in the room didn’t react to my motions at all, which meant it was a machine.”

At least these people were kind and shared their experiences. and were full of themselves, giving really short answers.

“I knew it the second I saw the name of the test.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Oh, come on. Did anyone actually solve it through conversation and reasoning?” Junsung asked, dumbfounded.

and raised their hands, but just looked blank.

Very few of the players had passed the selection round through the front door like Junsung, whereas most merely solved it based on a sense of physical incompatibility. If the “no physical contact” clause was included based on that experience, it was clear that Reina had learned something from the selection round. For a moment, Junsung felt a surge of anger at this fact. He turned to the clock.