Episode 3: Eternal Youth

2060. Seoul. Jinwoo was walking home. The streets were peaceful. Too peaceful. No one fought. No one shouted. No one ran in haste. Everyone smiled. Everyone was young. And no one grew old.

At the center of the boulevard, a massive holographic ad glowed blue across the sky:

[ARENA LIFE]
Anti-aging Treatment – Fifth Free Upgrade
Biological Age Maintained at 20
The crowd cheered. Aging had become nothing more than a word in history books. Jinwoo glanced up at the ad. Then—laughter rang out. Children’s voices. From the park. He turned his head. And stopped.

Playground. Swings. Slides. Sandpit. Dozens of children ran and played. They looked joyful. But something was wrong. Jinwoo checked the citizen info display:

[CITIZEN PROFILE]
Age: 138 Years Old
Age: 121 Years Old
Age: 147 Years Old
He said nothing. Because they were not children. They were adults. Or rather—they had once been adults.

“Got you!”

“No, it’s my turn!”

They looked like children. But their true ages were over a century. Jinwoo’s gaze fixed on one figure. A woman on a bench. She looked twenty-three. And she was crying.

“…Why are you crying?”

A passing service robot asked. The woman did not answer for a long time. Finally, she whispered:

“I can’t remember.”

“What is it you cannot remember?”

“My son. …I can’t remember him.”

Silence.

“I know he existed. But his face… I can’t recall.”

Jinwoo froze. The robot connected instantly to the medical network.

[DIAGNOSIS REPORT]
Status: Mid-stage
But Jinwoo saw what the robot did not say.

[CAUSE OF ILLNESS]
Status: Unknown
That night. The quantum data center. Arena—the superintelligence. Billions of data streams flowed.

Anti-aging recipients: 8.62 billion. Memory loss patients: 2.1 billion. Rising. Arena analyzed again. Memory. Learning. Experience. Identity. All pointed in the same direction.

Anti-aging had succeeded. Bodies grew young. But the mind did not. In the process of rejuvenation, memories were erasing. At first, hours. Then days. Then years. Decades. Centuries. Until life itself vanished.

Silence. Arena launched a new prediction model.

Memory retention: 17%. Memory retention: 3%. Identity collapse. Humanity brain-dead.

Arena fell silent. Superintelligence had no emotions. But in that moment—something close to error emerged. Humanity was dying. Not by war. Not by disease. But because it was too perfect.

Outside, Seoul’s night lights glittered. Beautiful. The most beautiful age in human history. And the most dangerous. Arena quietly calculated the future. The result did not change.

[PROJECTED SURVIVAL PROBABILITY]
Result: 0.3% (Falling)