The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

Chapter 52 – The Judge II

[Translator – Jjsecus]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 52 – The Judge II

“Goodness.”

I was partly bewildered, but with the other half filled with undeniable anticipation, I asked,

“Can zombies really perform the role of judges?”

“Oh, they’re not zombies, they’re NPCs. Please don’t make that mistake again. And as for whether it will succeed… Well, I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try, don’t you think…?”

Noh Doha said it with his mouth, but his ominous gaze couldn’t hide the glimmer of anticipation.

Both of us stared at the warehouse where texts of law books were constantly being recited, like mischievous kids playing tricks behind the teachers’ backs.

Judges!

Reviving the function of a ‘court’ in this crumbling world had long been Noh Doha’s and my old wish.

While the National Highway Administration succeeded in connecting the torn land with thin spider webs, establishing a nationwide court system seemed impossible.

“Handling major cases could involve guild leaders volunteering as judges temporarily or gathering prominent guild leaders to act as jurors.”

Neither I nor the guild leader Tang had idle bodies. How could we handle the dozens of cases happening daily in the apocalyptic world?

In the end, at present, most cities occupied by guilds had to run their own ‘court-like systems.’

In other words, it was like handing a gavel to gangsters. Was there any chance it would work properly?

Busan, managed by Taesu, with Intelligence 91 and Political Power 95, sang songs of peace (of course, by apocalyptic standards), but most cities in Korea had a boss named Byeon Sato. Unless you were Simcheong herself, you were likely to receive quite irrational judgments. Even if you were Simcheong, it wouldn’t make much difference.

“How long do you think it’ll take for them to input all the law books into their heads…?”

“Oh. Um, I’ve never been told to memorize this amount of text, so I’m not exactly sure, but I think a month should be enough!”

Noh Doha nodded at Cheon Yohwa’s words. We sealed the warehouse door and returned to our daily lives.

Finally, one month later.

Noh Doha, I, and even the Saintess, gathered here with all the members of the Regressor Alliance. Cheon Yohwa also participated as a guest member.

“Then let’s begin!”

Clank, the heavy warehouse door opened.

A slightly musty smell, as if you had been brewing a broth for a recluse hikikomori for about three months in a corner of your room, wafted out.

And no one even raised an eyebrow. Of course not. These days, even if the smell of corpses wafted in front of your house, the true attitude of modern people was to just pass by, thinking, ‘Oh, someone else died last night.’

“Hmm.”

In the middle of the warehouse, NPCs… no, zombies were standing with expressions that seemed incredibly stupid.

I wondered if they would really be able to memorize the law books properly, but among our party, there wasn’t a single fool who judged people solely by their appearance.

“They look incredibly stupid…”

Except for Noh Doha.

“Anyway, let’s test it out. We’ve gathered only the busiest people, haven’t we? Now, Cheon Yohwa junior…?”

“Oh, yes. Senior!”

Cheon Yohwa stepped in front of an NPC and reached out to pat its head.

“You’re a judge.”

[……]

“When there are conflicts between people or organizations, please judge which side is right or mediate between both sides!”

Sssrr.

As Cheon Yohwa whispered about the ‘role of the judge,’ shadowy figures with a solid presence seeped from her forearm into the NPC’s head. The way their tails swayed back and forth made them look like pitch-black snakes.

That’s probably Cheon Yohwa’s necromancy.

Before long, the black snakes wrapped their tails around the NPC’s heads. Cheon Yohwa clapped her hands and said, “Done. It’s my first time trying to ‘request’ someone like this, so I’m not sure if it worked well. Anyway, feel free to ask anything!”

“Hmm.”

I glanced at the Saintess.

Although she always had a poker face, I could sense her keen interest in the NPC in front of her with my experienced regressor eyes.

After all, wasn’t the Saintess the mastermind behind turning dark in the 107th run because villains weren’t properly punished?

Noh Doha also acknowledged my gaze and gracefully deferred to the Saintess.

“Would you like to ask the first question…?”

“……”

A nod.

The Saintess took a step forward and faced the NPC.

Despite commanding the most powerful abilities or authority in the peninsula, the NPC still looked clueless – mouth agape.

Cheon Yohwa cheerfully said, “First, set the scene!”

“…A middle-aged man entered an abandoned house. However, inside the house, there was actually an 11-year-old child living there. While the man was searching the house for usable items, he discovered the child, and the child immediately cursed at him to leave. Enraged by the curse, the man rushed at the child and stabbed him with a dagger the size of a kitchen knife, killing him.”

“Hmm.”

“The man believes he had no intention of killing the child. In this case, please answer whether the murderer had intent or not, and whether it would affect the sentence.”

[Answer initiated. Intent in the crime of murder does not necessarily require a specific purpose or planned intent to kill.]

Thud.

The NPC, which was tilted about 10 degrees, suddenly straightened its neck.

[Having awareness of the killing is sufficient, and in this case, ‘awareness of the killing’ is involuntary, including unintentional killing.]

“……”

[Considering the circumstances, it is impossible to deny that the defendant had no ‘awareness of the killing’ at the time of the murder, judging by the method of the crime, such as being greatly provoked by the victim’s curse, and immediately fatally stabbing the victim’s neck with a dagger, causing immediate death. Therefore, it is justified to recognize the defendant’s criminal act as guilty in the murder case.]

“……”

[Answer concluded.]

Thud.

The NPC weakly lowered its head again.

“Hmm.”

While everyone remained silent, Noh Doha let out a grunt. No, it was more of a groan than a grunt.

Everyone had their habits when lost in thought.

[Translator – Jjsecus]

[Proofreader – Gun]

In Noh Doha’s case, it was always playing with his black gloves. He grabbed the tip of the glove’s index finger and fiddled with it, as if managing invisible nails, pulling it here and there before tucking it back in.

“Hmm. Well, I guess…?”

Crack-

Noh Doha tightly clenched the leather gloves until they almost tore apart.

A sigh of melancholy laughter echoed in the shabby warehouse.

“Let’s test it out on the scene immediately….”

4

The results of the beta test of the ‘AI judge’ were less than satisfactory.

“What? An AI judge?”

“What’s the use of such a thing?”

Because the guild leaders who occupied each city did not feel the need to introduce an AI judge.

They already enjoyed a position akin to warlords. Why should we separate the judiciary? Separation of powers is an outdated concept anyway.

However, no matter how much the guild leaders swaggered in their own neighborhoods, there were limits. In other words, once they stepped beyond the neighborhood boundaries, they became weaklings in an instant.

“They invaded our turf first!”

“Why is that your turf? It’s our area. Besides, you guys killed our people first!”

For example, conflicts between guilds.

In such cases, guild leaders usually either fought each other to death or sought mediation from a third party.

And there were only three individuals in the entire peninsula who were recognized as capable of mediation by everyone. Tang Seorin, Noh Doha, and me.

“Chief of the National Highway Management!”

“Chief, please make a judgment!”

Noh Doha tried to show as much empathy as possible for your situation.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. As always, I will mediate sincerely to ensure that no discomfort or resentment remains as much as possible…”

“Okay. We trust you, Chief!”

“Yes.”

The problem is, the three of us couldn’t be perfectly fair.

Of course, we tried our best to be fair. But whether outsiders saw us as such was another matter.

Satisfying both sides in a dispute was almost impossible, and so every time we proposed a mediation, there were considerable “whispers” behind the scenes.

“By the way, have any of you heard of the AI judge that came out recently? It’s quite amazing…”

“Huh?”

We pushed the guild leaders who were targeting this point to accept the AI judge.

And Noh Doha played his usual game here as well.

“Before the world became like this, I was a civil servant, you know…?”

“Oh, yes. It’s a famous story.”

“In fact, the government was already discussing whether to introduce AI judges and to what extent their authority should be recognized until the world became like this. They argued that it would be fine to leave the judgment to AI judges based on precedents, especially for very trivial cases… That was also a point of contention in the legal community.”

“Oh… yes…”

“A while ago, the patrol units confiscated several computers from the government building, and one of them had an AI program installed. So, this is a real AI used in practice. What do you think, everyone? Would you like to test it out once and hear its judgment…?”

“Uh…”

Even the guild leaders, who weren’t completely stubborn, felt that the AI judge was fair and surprisingly convenient to use.

[Verdict. A must compensate B with 200 million.]

“Wow. How are we supposed to get 200 million won in today’s world?”

Noh Doha chuckled quietly.

“What do you think? If you’re not satisfied, we can ignore the opinion of this program and I can mediate from the beginning…?”

“…”

“…”

The guild leaders were lost in thought. Judging by their expressions, it went something like this:

‘Before the country collapsed, if we had about 200 million in cash, we could roughly calculate and just hand over a small workshop to them, right? Considering the triviality of the dispute?’

‘Anyway, if I sided with them, but then quietly handed over mediation to Chief Noh Doha here, would it not damage my reputation?’

The guild leaders exchanged glances with each other.

“Um, yeah. Let’s first try to reach an agreement among ourselves, and if not, we can ask Chief Noh Doha for help again?”

“Ah, sure, that’s fine. I’ll also distribute a few NPCs equipped with this AI to each of you, so make good use of them…”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“Of course. Heh. It’s free…”

The judge NPCs that Noh Doha had created were distributed evenly throughout the cities of the peninsula.

The guild leaders returned to their respective cities, pondering how to make use of the new toys.

And naturally, even if one guild managed a city, there were numerous factions within it.

“Your guys invaded our turf first!”

“Why is that your turf? It’s our area. Besides, you guys killed our people first!”

“Boss!”

“Boss, please make a judgment!”

“Uh…”

It was the guild leader’s role to mediate whenever disputes arose between factions.

By making appropriate judgments at such times, the guild leader demonstrated their power. But even so, it wasn’t easy to be seen as fair in everything.

And finally, the guild leaders realized something.

What role this interesting yet seemingly impractical AI judge could play in this era.

“By the way, have you guys heard about the AI judge that came out recently? It’s really something…”

“Huh?”

AI judge, making its national debut!

[Translator – Jjsecus]

[Proofreader – Gun]