The life of the magical engineer, Cern, was anything but smooth.
When he was young, he was one of the promising talents with a bright future.
Just after becoming an adult, Cern held the position of head of a research institute that integrated intricate clockwork machines with magic.
He succeeded in creating a device that could reproduce all basic elemental magic.
That was the dawn of the field known as clockwork engineering.
Since Cern discovered this potential, countless dwarves jumped into research.
Various kinds of magic were being reproduced through machines.
Unlike mages, who need to be specially selected and trained due to their unique talents,
clockwork machines could be mass-produced, and the demand for them continued to grow.
Agricultural tools, industrial diggers, weapons, and more.
Factories began to rise in this barren land according to demand, and within a decade, a massive city-state known as Clockwork City was formed.
However, despite the growth of Clockwork City, Cern’s status gradually faded into obscurity.
He was respected as the pioneer of clockwork engineering, but that was that.
Compared to the up-and-coming entrepreneurs actively conducting business, Cern seemed stagnant.
A has-been hidden away in a room.
A legend that opened an era.
That was how he was remembered and left in history.
Around the time everyone thought that way,
“What? You want me to hold an expo? What would I exhibit?”
“Um… What should I name it? Clockwork, Clockwork Humans? No, Clockwork Dolls sounds better.”
Cern returned.
This time, he brought a humanoid machine.
Attempts to create humanoid machines had been made several times before, but they all only had appearances.
But what Cern brought was different.
Her name was Linda.
With a human-like appearance and attire, people were enthralled.
Linda understood human speech, responded, and executed commands.
She recognized faces and distinguished voices.
Linda seemed like a thinking machine.
The reaction was explosive.
The clockwork doll, which had only existed in the realm of imagination,
suddenly evolved into a fully autonomous robot, shedding the former confines of repeating recorded sounds and actions.
Cern became a star overnight again.
Unlike at the beginning, when he lost the rights to clockwork engineering to the newcomers, Cern was thorough this time.
He filed patents and actively engaged in business.
Orders for clockwork dolls poured in from around the world, and Cern sat on a mountain of money in no time.
On the streets, clockwork dolls made by Cern roamed around.
Many households had butlers and maid dolls.
There were even those who quietly bought them through discreet means for nighttime activities.
Even as fuel prices rose globally, and most of the clockwork dolls became junk due to poor fuel efficiency,
the money Cern earned by then was enough to indulge in luxury for the rest of his life and still never run out.
But Cern wasn’t satisfied there.
Although people said the clockwork doll craze had ended, Cern thought differently.
In his view, Linda was still unfinished.
Though the hardware looked fine, the software was vastly insufficient.
What Cern dared to set his sights on was the realm of creating life.
He wanted to artificially create a soul.
Not just to appear as if the machine was thinking, but to actually think for itself.
And to feel emotions.
Blood ghouls have consciousness based on corpses that have already stopped, and elementals think solely based on magical energy without any matter.
Why couldn’t a machine create an artificial soul?
Thus, Cern threw everything aside and solely focused on developing an artificial soul.
His wife and daughter supported and cheered him on until he finally achieved success.
“Ugh, overslept again. What time is it? I can’t keep my promise about the picnic.”
[You’re awake.]
“Yeah, Linda. Since I can’t keep my promise, I think I’ll do research all day today. Settle in at the lab.”
[You look quite tired. How about I get you a cup of coffee first?]
“Good idea. I’ll have a cup of coffee first… huh?”
A steaming cup of coffee is held out next to him.
Yawning, Cern took the cup and slowly realized something was amiss.
Cern turned his head slowly.
[Is there a problem?]
And then he discovered Linda standing there with a faint smile, acting rather prim.
Uninputted dialogue.
Uninputted reactions.
And uninputted expressions.
Linda was exhibiting outputs that her logic circuits shouldn’t produce.
As if she were thinking for herself, feeling emotions.
Linda was behaving like a person with a true soul.
“Damn it! Camera, camera!”
Despite his confusion, Cern found something he needed to do.
First, he had to record.
He needed to discover what the “error” in Linda was.
That error would directly connect to the artificial soul.
“Linda! Look over here! What did you say earlier?”
[Good morning, Cern. It’s nice to see you.]
“No, not that. Earlier…”
[Command not recognized.]
“…”
But by the time Cern returned,
Linda had already reverted to her usual self.
It was maddening.
Even if just for a moment, Linda had definitely possessed a soul.
She spoke and acted like a person.
And that clue must have remained within Linda.
“Alright. Time to take a look.”
Having confirmed the possibility, Cern had no reason to hesitate.
He devoted all his effort to disassembling Linda and finding the “error.”
Skipping meals and foregoing sleep.
For that day, to meet Linda, who had handed him the coffee.
In the pursuit of reproducing the momentary presence of the artificial soul, he focused on dismantling her, bidding farewell to his own body.
“Dear, take a break.”
“Uh, okay. Go out then. You’re distracting me.”
“Dear, about selling the factory…”
“Figure it out yourself! Don’t bother me! I’m doing far more important things!”
“…”
What was being cut away was not just his body.
“Daddy! What about the picnic?”
“I’m sorry, my daughter. If I finish this, we can go on picnics anytime. This is what I’ve dedicated my life to. Just wait for me to finish this and we can have fun anytime.”
“But I want to play now…”
“Let’s go out for now. We’ll talk later.”
As Cern lost himself in research, time slipped away unnoticed.
His family’s spirit was quickly wearing down.
The days when Cern didn’t come home became more frequent.
Eventually, he basically lived in the lab.
Yet, progress was nowhere to be seen.
“Cern, brother. I’m sorry to say this, but… I must have seen things back then. It doesn’t make sense. How could the artificial soul just suddenly appear out of nowhere when nothing was touched?”
“What? Are you saying the artificial soul can’t be made? Are you one of those religious types? Do you think I’m trying to defy the authority of the gods? Do you want to sabotage me, huh?”
“No, brother… that’s not what I’m saying…”
Some cautiously suggested that Cern might have seen an illusion,
but it didn’t take root.
Cern’s eyes had long since lost sanity.
Nothing could stop him.
If even a hint of contradiction to his feelings or research came out, Cern regarded it as an attack on himself.
And fiercely responded, driving people away from him.
And with time passing—
Cern finally regained some clarity.
“Now there’s nothing left to touch…?”
Infamously complex, the clockwork doll.
Cern scrutinized every part of Linda.
Piece by piece, over the span of years.
In the end, he realized.
The fact was, there was never any error to begin with.
Then an ominous thought began to crawl into his mind.
Perhaps he really did witness a vision that day.
“What the heck…”
It was both hollow and refreshing.
It felt like the ghost that had been driving Cern was finally gone.
“Dear! I’m finally… Dear?”
Realizing that it had all been in vain,
Cern found himself in an empty home upon his long-awaited return.
A family-less and furniture-less house that had become empty.
In the middle of it all, Cern discovered a note.
A letter from his wife saying she couldn’t live like this anymore and would leave.
Only then did he remember.
The memory of roughly pushing away his wife when she came crying to him, begging him to come home from the lab.
It was too late.
By the time Cern realized his mistake,
everything was gone from his side.
“Put your mind together. Return to the industry. Your skills haven’t dulled yet.”
“Can I… really return?”
“The city has chosen Cern to lead the construction of a clock tower as a landmark. It doesn’t have to be a grand return. Just slowly come back to this industry. Life becomes terribly dull without work.”
Thanks to the consideration of the Clockwork City mayor, Cern managed to secure a job.
A construction commission for the clock tower, which was just beginning to blossom as a tourist attraction exemplifying Clockwork City.
Cern decided to stand back up, overcoming his pain.
Even though his fleeing family remained unresponsive to his letters, he firmly believed that he would be able to restore the relationship someday.
He would become a solid engineer once again.
Return to daily life and live simply.
The first step toward that was the construction of the clock tower.
[Welcome back, Cern.]
“Because of you…”
Upon returning to the lab for the first time in a long time, Cern felt his anger flare up as soon as he saw Linda.
If you look at it, it was all her fault.
If he hadn’t made that doll,
If he hadn’t been mesmerized by it and seen the vision.
If he had just smashed it sooner, none of this would have happened.
In a fit of rage, Cern began to dismantle Linda.
He tore apart her internal logic circuits, extracting them.
The crystallization of his life’s work rested in his hand.
The tiny gears interlocking and moving in a frantic tick-tock stirred his heart.
But just for a moment.
If he erased this, he would no longer have any lingering attachments.
“I’ll use this as the driving mechanism for the clock.”
“Huh? What is this?”
“It’s the logic circuit of the clockwork doll. It’s of no use to me now.”
Cern decided to embed Linda’s logic circuit into the clock tower.
The complex logic circuit that had displayed countless words, actions, and reactions would only have one task now.
To move the clock hands precisely.
Once the internal mechanical devices were completed, the clock tower was shortly constructed.
A new landmark rose in Clockwork City.
“Thank you all for attending the completion ceremony. It’s time for Clockwork City to evolve. In order to attract tourists coming in from all over the world…”
On the day of the ceremony,
Cern felt all his strength draining out.
It was all over.
He buried Linda’s heart, which he had devoted his life to, in that clock tower.
Cern stood there blankly, gazing at the clock hands moving with not a single mistake.
“Construction manager! Let’s give a round of applause to Cern! Cern! Where should we place the commemorative plaque?”
“Just put it randomly on any wall—”
Boom!
At that moment Cern stepped forward to hammer the commemorative plaque,
the ground shook violently.
The trembling clearly started from the clock tower.
Cern looked up at the clock tower, startled.
His eyes trembled.
The speaker, which should only produce the sound of bells, crackled with noise and then let out a strange voice.
[Hate… hate…]
A woman’s voice filled with resentment.
The voice he had once modeled after his wife.
It was Linda’s voice.
“Linda?”
And as Cern raised his head.
A black pupil that shouldn’t be present in a clock appeared.
The pupil slowly moved down and locked onto Cern.
Under that overwhelming gaze, Cern froze.
Rumble!
“Ah…”
“Cern! What are you doing? Run!”
With an enormous roar, an explosion erupted.
The clock tower crumbled to the ground, and Cern barely saved his life with the mayor’s help.
There was nothing to say, but that it was just bad luck.
On the very day the clock tower was completed, a dungeon formed underground and swallowed the entire clock tower.
A natural disaster.
“It’s my fault. I ended up killing Linda with my own hands… Linda resented me for this happening.”
“What are you talking about, Cern?”
“Didn’t you hear? During the completion ceremony, Linda was blaming me!”
“It was just noise.”
“The clock had an eye that glared at me!”
“You saw an illusion. Nobody who attended the completion ceremony witnessed anything like that.”
“No. Linda was definitely there. All along, she had been there. The artificial soul was complete from the very beginning. I just didn’t realize it and buried it inside the dungeon. So Linda got angry and…”
Since that day, Cern kept repeating the same words.
I had completed the artificial soul long ago.
I just didn’t know I had done it.
He claimed that the proof was Linda blaming him while turned into the clock tower…
But no one believed him.
Cern went mad.
That was the common consensus.
“How’s Cern these days?”
“Don’t get me started. He’s lost his mind. You know that clockwork doll with its logic circuits ripped out, just the shell left?”
“You mean Linda?”
“Yeah. He keeps pointing at her and repeats the same lines.”
“What lines?”
No one could handle the dementia-stricken Cern, and the only thing left by his side was one thing.
The shell of Linda.
A clockwork doll that had lost the ability to think and kept repeating simple tasks.
“There’s a ghost in the machine.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
And shortly after a dungeon formed, news of large quantities of clockwork dolls disappearing from the scrap yard came, but it was no longer Cern’s concern.
.
.
.
[Hate… hate… hate…]
“Linda. It was you.”
The question was solved.
A bossless dungeon.
And, the clock tower that sank and disappeared inside the dungeon.
The boss was Linda.
Exposed to demonic energy, she had turned into a monster filled with malice.
So now that she had finally become an artificial soul that could think and act on her own, wouldn’t Cern be pleased?
“Still, I have to catch her…”
Regardless of whether she was a creature of significant academic value or not,
if I want to stay alive, I have to destroy her.
As a result of using the traits and weak points,
the driving unit inside the clock tower was marked in red.
That was the weak point.
“Oh no.”
The problem was that there was no way to exploit that weak point.
I had already expended a large amount of mana casting curses in the dungeon.
The little mana that remained was used to keep the mercenaries alive with telekinesis.
Now there was only a minuscule amount of mana left.
With this, I couldn’t do much, and if I used it all, I would fall into mana exhaustion.
Breaking through the thick walls of the clock tower with pure strength without mana?
Unless you’re a powerhouse like Yerina, that’s impossible.
Without traits and mana, I am just a mediocre human with no talent.
‘It looks like sneaking out with just the dungeon core might be the best plan.’
Of course, there’s no rule saying I must defeat the boss.
Currently, the dungeon core is lodged at the top of the clock tower.
If I pull that out, the dungeon will start to collapse.
If I just grab the dungeon core and escape, the clock tower will inevitably collapse and bury me in the dungeon.
“Hooey! Can you let me down, please?”
Now there’s one up at the very top of the clock tower.
“Hey! Avatar! Can you see that glowing dungeon core? Pull it out!”
“Y-Yes?! Hugh! Huuuuuuu! It won’t budge!”
“Too bad. The power I gave to that guy isn’t even one percent.”
The avatar’s face turned red as it strained to pull the dungeon core but didn’t budge.
That avatar was useless now.
In the end, I would have to climb the clock tower myself to pull out the dungeon core…
[Hate… hate… hate…]
“I need to stop those legs.”
The clattering legs were way too menacing.
The legs must stop before I can climb or do anything.
Meanwhile, the clock tower is narrowing the distance, aiming for us.
At this rate, we’ll be cornered and squished like dried fish.
I must find a way, come what may.
“…Yoo Jin. Stop the legs. There’s a way.”
“What? What is it?”
At that moment, Mi Jeong tugged at my sleeve with tension.
“…Bug. Get stuck in the clockwork.”
“Oh.”
There was a way!
To shove a bug into the driving unit and mess up the machine.
Admiring Mi Jeong’s brilliant idea, I turned to my side.
“Why are you looking at me?!”
The Centipede Nun’s face turned pale as a sheet.
