The next morning felt strangely calm.

  Too calm.

  Almost as if

  something had been quietly reset.

  The curtains opened automatically,

  and Ark’s voice flowed into the room.

  “Good morning, Rowan.

  Sleep efficiency: 97%.

  Your condition appears stable.”

  Rowan opened his eyes

  and stared at the ceiling.

  His body felt strangely light.

  “Yeah…

  this is how people

  are supposed to live.”

  He murmured quietly,

  almost like talking to himself.

  On the subway.

  Rowan sat down

  and casually opened his phone.

  Under the settings menu,

  a short line caught his attention.

  User Pattern Stabilization Complete

  Deviation Risk: Low

  He stared at the words

  for a few seconds.

  Then he let out

  a small breath.

  Relief.

  More than that—

  it felt like

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  being acknowledged.

  The office.

  Work flowed smoothly.

  His judgments were quick.

  His hands never hesitated.

  Irregular data

  was sorted one by one

  according to the manual.

  The graphs became cleaner.

  The report

  had no excess.

  His team leader passed by

  and said,

  “Nice pace today.”

  Rowan lowered his head slightly.

  “Thank you.”

  That was enough.

  He could feel it.

  Today was clearly easier

  than yesterday.

  With fewer thoughts,

  decisions came faster.

  The whole day

  felt lighter.

  This…

  must be what it means

  for things to work properly.

  That was the conclusion

  he reached.

  Just before leaving work,

  a message arrived from Mailo.

  [ Are you free tonight? ]

  Rowan replied

  after a short pause.

  [ I’m a bit tired today. ]

  The reply came quickly.

  [ Something going on lately? ]

  [ No. Nothing special.

  Don’t worry. ]

  Rowan read the message.

  Then he stopped typing.

  It felt like

  there was no need

  to explain.

  When he arrived home,

  the lights turned on.

  The temperature adjusted.

  The house was doing

  exactly what it was meant to do.

  “Good work today.”

  The familiar voice.

  Rowan didn’t answer.

  He didn’t need to.

  The house functioned perfectly

  either way.

  As he sat on the sofa,

  his body slowly relaxed.

  He replayed the day

  in his mind.

  There had been no problems.

  His choices were rational.

  His judgments were efficient.

  I lived well today.

  That thought

  wasn’t wrong.

  But—

  there was one faint sensation

  he couldn’t quite explain.

  It felt like

  he was feeling

  just a little less

  than yesterday.

  The doubt hadn’t disappeared.

  It had simply been pushed

  deeper inside.

  Rowan didn’t try

  to hold onto the feeling.

  If he did,

  he felt like

  he would become tired again.

  Tonight,

  he decided not to check the logs.

  He already knew.

  Today—

  would be marked

  as stable.

  Rowan turned off the lights

  and lay down.

  He stared at the ceiling.

  His thoughts

  didn’t continue.

  He simply accepted

  the quiet state.

  And then

  a thought crossed his mind.

  There’s nothing wrong

  with living like this.

  It was such

  a natural thought.

  Which was exactly why

  it stayed longer.

  …Really.

  Was it actually okay

  to keep living like this?

  The question

  never completely disappeared.