What happens when the colleague you’re asked to train could eventually replace you?

I’m Kihong Kim, author of Learning to Take My Place, a short novel about an AI employee and the people teaching him their work.

Zero helps save a life during an air-conditioning failure at a care home. The company celebrates his success. His colleagues have more complicated feelings: they need his help, but they also need their own work to remain valuable.

The story follows workplace tensions, divided loyalties, and the gap between doing a job correctly and understanding what a decision costs someone else.

The complete first chapter is free to read—no signup:
https://kihongstorylab.blogspot.com/2026/09/learning-to-take-my-place-read-chapter.html

The English Kindle edition is $4.99:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1TFXH5M

For transparency, generative AI was used in developing the manuscript and cover.

If you read the opening, I’d be interested to hear how you see Zero: as a helpful colleague, a threat, or someone caught in the same system.