12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

‘That’s right. If I look at the ranking news in the category of Life/Culture on Saturday…

‘No matter how much I think, there’s nothing but a Lotto number. The Lotto number is always on and off the real-time search keywords around 8 p.m. on Saturday. There are so many people looking for it, it can’t be unnoticed. That’s the only news they’ll see in the Life/Culture category of that time zone.

‘If I get Lotto winnings, I can easily afford to pay not only $500,000 but also $1,000,000.” Yeah. If I could go after Lotto in that way…’

I decided to choose the Ranking News this time. Additional News was likely to be more synergistic later on, after being able to use this People Search and Ranking News freely.

‘Then let’s take a characteristic like this.’ I clicked on ‘People Search’ and ‘Ranking News’ once. Then I pressed the “Application” button. A warning window popped up.

[The skill points used cannot be returned. Do you want to choose this way? Y/N]

I hesitated for a moment, but I didn’t seem to have a better choice than this now, no matter how much I thought. I chose Y. The notice window was on top.

[People Search Lv1, Ranking News Lv1 selected.]

[The selected skill is available immediately in the following news.]

‘All right.’

I thought we could use the People Search right away from today, and the Ranking News tomorrow and Saturday, when the Lotto would draw. I went down the scroll thinking that way. Under the description of the skill, there was a “Platinum Class Service Guide.”

[Upgrade your news to a Platinum Class with a monthly fee of $10,000,000!]

[Platinum members will be given five skill points and will be eligible to apply for a Diamond Class Membership Service.]

[When you apply for an upgrade through the Customer Service, the charges will be automatically drawn from the account you specify. The monthly payments service will be immediately renewed, and the Platinum member service will be upgraded.]

[If you apply, we will repay you with a service you won’t regret.]

Gold’s next Class was Platinum, followed by Diamond.

‘Bronze, Silver, Gold, and then Platinum, and Diamond.’

These were the grades I had seen often. And there seemed to be something on top of them. The first thing that stood out was the fee. Platinum charged as much as $10,000,000 a month. I needed at least $20,000,000 to consider whether to pay or not.

‘It would be nice to upgrade, but…’

$10,000,000 was not a sum I could reckon with right now. They were going to give me five points and I could upgrade my skills. That was the story then. Right now, $10,000,000 was too burdensome. I scrolled down a little bit more, and saw the end of the email. At the end of the notice, there was a line:

[Customer Service is open. Customer Service is open 24 hours a day and you can get counseling upon application. Apply for counseling.]

‘Do they run it 24 hours, and is counseling possible immediately?’

As expected, the place where it said “Apply for counseling” glittered.

‘I don’t know how the Customer Service operates, but I think I’ll have to apply.’

I had a lot of questions when I got 12 Hours After. And in recent years, whether on a guidebook or anywhere, I had often seen the words, Please visit Customer Service in the future.

I picked up the mouse cursor and twirled around the place saying, “Apply for counseling.”

‘No, how is counseling possible?’

I looked down at my cell phone with a slight scratch on it. Those who sent me 12 Hours After already knew my cell phone number. If I would apply for counseling, my cell phone would ring right away. I looked around. There was no one in the company.

“Ahem.” Holding my cell phone, I cleared my throat once, then pressed the “Apply for counseling” button.

Instead of the cell phone ringing, a window opened in front of my eyes. Rectangular window, one shining cursor on a white background, and two IDs that I could see. This was a classic messenger app screen that could only be seen in the early ’00s. I was going to write something, but the chatting window popped up first.

[Customer Service – How are you, Mr. Han Sang Hoon? How may I help you?]

‘This way? By chatting?’

I tried chatting to the cursor. I was trying to make sure it worked.

[Han Sang-hoon – Is this the Customer Service that sends the news in 12 Hours After?]

As soon as I post the chat, it took less than 0.1 seconds for me to get a reply.

[Customer Service – Yes, that’s right. Sir.]

I was sure.

‘It’s not… it’s not a human replying.’

It was impossible to type so fast with a human hand. In my mind, words like Machine Learning, Deep Learning, AlphaGo, and Alexani went back and forth. In short, it was artificial intelligence. I asked the counselor about it.

[Han Sang-hoon – Is the counselor who’s answering this question human?]

[Customer Service – We’re both human and not human, Sir.]

A strange reply came back.

‘It’s some bullshit…’

I chatted one more time.

– So what’s the company doing there? Is it a company?

– It’s a company and it’s not a company, sir. We’re publishing the news.

These guys seemed to have set up a Customer Service to play with words. I typed faster.

– Then, is there a place in Korea that sends the news?

– There’s a place in space that publishes the news.

I clapped my hands on my forehead. Being in space was simply an answer for Andromeda.

– So, are you aliens?

– Alien is just a concept of distinction. The universe is one.

‘Oh, come on. The universe is one.’

It seemed wrong to expect a normal Customer Service. I asked another question.

– If it’s from outer space… Do you mean there’s another reader beside me?

– None. This news service is available to only one subscriber, Han Sang-hoon, in space.

Unexpectedly, the normal answer returned this time. I softened up slightly and asked for something else.

– Then what is it? Why are you only sending it to me when you are in space?

– Think about it yourself.

This time, it destroyed my expectations again.

‘Do I have to think about it myself? You’re a very good teacher. You’re a… Well, that’s enough.’

I decided to ask about the news in 12 Hours After.

– Do you have any higher grades? How many more do you have?

-The membership is rated Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, xxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, sir.

This time, a slightly better, normal answer came back. Except for the xxx in the back.

– What’s the next xxxx class?

– That’s a secret.

I put my hand down from the keyboard for a moment because I was a bit dumbfounded.

‘Secret? Then what does the Customer Service do?’

I shook my head and put my hands back on the keyboard.

‘Let’s give up the normal answer. Instead, I am just going to get as much as I can.’

– How do I increase my usable skills?

– Skills naturally open as they go up. Please apply for a class upgrade. Skills become stronger as class goes up. In particular, the skills you get from the Master Class are very powerful, so I recommend you upgrade.

– What skills? Please let me know in detail.

– That’s a secret.

‘They say that I have to do it without telling me what it is. If it’s a Master Class, it’s three grades higher than Gold now. The amount required will also be enormous.’

I followed up with a few more questions.

– What’s the usual way to call Customer Service?

– Send a text message to 919-31413-11721 and you will receive an email for a counseling chat. You can talk 24 hours a day through email.

The telephone number was familiar. When I searched on my smartphone, it was the number I sent when I first applied for a subscription: the stupid number in the flyer. I saved the number for now.

– Is the news only sent in Korean? Will you tell me your news if I go abroad?

– News will only be sent in the subscriber’s native language. Han Sang Hoon’s native language is Korean. We will send you selected news based on the type of media in Korea.

– Can I change the email address I receive the news in?

– You can change it anytime. Please use the Customer Service.

– Can I lower my class or pause my subscription for a while? Just in case I don’t have any money.

– It’s possible. Please contact the Customer Service as well.

A normal answer came to this kind of question. I watched the chat window for a while with my arms folded. I thought I had asked everything that came to mind.

‘I can call them 24 hours a day, if I want to ask them something. Then shall I close the chat window?’

I took the mouse cursor to the upper right x button with that thought. By the way, I suddenly had one more question come up, and I put another line on the chatting window.

– What the hell are you? Are you God or the devil?

As expected, a reply came in less than 0.1 seconds.

– Both a god and a devil.

I should not have expected a proper answer. I closed the Customer Service chat window.

———————

At 8:55. A new email, G. 12 Hours After, came. Silver’s S changed to a G. I clicked on it.

[Gold Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 30 days.]

[Politics – Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won is predicted predominant.]

[Economy – DSR is applied in Full-scale. Is a cold wave coming to real estate?]

[Society – The Four Rivers are coming back to life.]

[Life/Culture – Southern Storm and Thunder]

[World – Chinese Prime Minister visits Japan.]

[IT/Science – Why are Survival Games so popular?]

[Entertainment – Photos of the Goddess Joo-hee of Double Up Girls]

[Sports – Chelsea? Manchester United? The agony of a super prospect.]

It certainly looked different from Silver Class. It showed each news item without having to choose three separate categories.

‘Well, if this is the case… even if I don’t mean it, I’ll have a big chance of getting a good one.’

I went down further, thinking that way. There were more and more changes to the bottom part.

[People Search – Enter name.]

[Ranking News – Use Now (1 available)]

Where there was nothing, there was a place where I could click on the People Search and Ranking News.

‘This is an active skill…’

I was a little concerned about the Customer Service, which was unkind, but it seemed obvious that this email would bring me a lot of money anyway. I clenched my fist, thinking, ‘All right, let’s make a decent living.’