Chapter 74: Shattered Regrets

William had been living a desolate life ever since Didi disappeared.

Days, weeks, and then over a month had passed since Didi left home.

The last time anyone saw Didi was in the outskirts—after that, he vanished without a trace.

It had been a long time since William last went to the office.

He spent his days and nights drowned in alcohol.

Sometimes, he would take out Didi’s clothes and spread them across the bed, curling up among them, clinging to the faint warmth that lingered there.

Today was no exception.

Drunk out of his mind, he hugged Didi’s clothes and barely managed to fall asleep.

Then, the incessant ringing of the phone woke him.

“…Thomas.”

-I figured it out!

The moment the call connected, a booming voice filled the room.

It was a voice tinged with excitement.

Could it be—had he found Didi?

-The emotion code! I figured out how to activate the encrypted emotion code!

…No, it wasn’t that.

As soon as William realized it had nothing to do with Didi, his interest faded.

Right now, the only thing that mattered to him was Didi’s whereabouts.

“I’m not interested.”

-W-wait, wait! Don’t hang up yet!

“…What now?”

-The emotion code, you just need Didi!

“What…?”

-The emotion code can be activated by Didi’s voice!

William fell silent, unable to say a word.

Thomas didn’t even pause for breath as he continued.

Thomas explained, the encrypted emotion code automatically activated in response to Didi’s voice.

All those robots that had shown strange reactions until now—every one of them had been triggered for the same reason.

Just by talking with Didi, they had somehow developed emotions.

If only Didi would come back, they could analyse his voice and maybe fully restore the emotion code.

Thomas could barely contain his excitement.

Even after Thomas finished explaining, William said nothing.

A heavy silence filled the room.

-William?

As William stayed silent for a long time, Thomas called out from the other end, his voice uncertain.

After a while, William finally spoke.

“Cancel the product launch.”

-What did you say?

“I’ll make an official announcement tomorrow. Be ready.”

-Wait, but the shipments start next week, how can you…

Thomas’s flustered voice trailed off, but William hung up before he could finish.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, William wordlessly ran a hand over his face.

Emotions he had tried to suppress trembled from his brow down to his fingertips.

Grandfather was right.

Now he understood why the creation of human-bots was forbidden, why the emotional functions they had painstakingly completed had to be destroyed.

It wasn’t just a technical issue.

When a robot had emotions, humans would inevitably give their hearts to them.

And as long as the other party was a robot, that relationship was bound to collapse sooner or later.

Didi was a robot.

Even so, he laughed at trivial things, grew sad for the smallest reasons, and sometimes even got jealous.

When William held him, he was warm, and when he was gone, William’s heart felt empty.

Despite knowing Didi was a robot, William had unknowingly entrusted him with his most precious feelings.

Yes, he had fallen in love.

He had given his heart to a robot.

The robot he once thought of as just a machine had turned his life upside down and then disappeared.

Ever since, William had spent every day chasing after Didi’s traces, living each day in agony.

If even someone like him, who never cared for robots, could end up like this, how could ordinary people be any different?

If robots with emotions were allowed to walk the world, everything would collapse.

Grandfather must have believed such beings, who could destroy people so completely, should never exist in this world.

Yes, robots with emotions should never have been made.

News that William would be appearing in public for the first time in a while drew a dense crowd of reporters to the company entrance.

With Spennic’s new product launch approaching, expectations were sky-high and the company’s stock price was soaring.

The eyes of the press blocking the entrance shone with anticipation.

Questions poured in, but William entered the company with a cold, hard expression, not saying a word.

Not long after, Spennic delivered explosive news to the world: the cancellation of their new humanoid product launch.

All day, William endured harsh criticism from executives and investors, and by the end, he dragged his exhausted body home.

Perhaps because it had been so long since he’d gone out, the moment he stepped into the foyer, a crushing fatigue weighed down his entire body.

His throbbing headache only grew worse.

What William needed most right now was Didi’s bright smile.

***

As he slumped onto the sofa with a cigarette between his lips, a small sound reached him.

He looked up to see Sophia setting a mug down on the table.

Coffee, perhaps.

He was so tired he thought of drinking it to clear his head, but the liquid that touched his tongue was unexpectedly sweet.

It was warm honey water.

William took his lips from the cup and looked at Sophia.

It was the first time Sophia had offered him honey water on her own.

He stared at her in surprise, and suddenly recalled the time Didi had made him honey water when he was suffering from a hangover.

Sophia must have learned from watching Didi’s actions.

Come to think of it, what had Sophia and Didi done together while he was gone?

He was the one who told Sophia not to copy Didi, but now he found himself wondering how Didi had spent his days.

“Sophia, Didi… while I was gone, what did Didi do?”

“Most of the time, he waited for William on the sofa.”

William’s chest tightened at the thought that Didi had waited for him.

Did he grow restless waiting for his master and eventually go out searching for him?

But then, why did he keep heading further away from home…?

Of course, it was his own fault for not returning for weeks without a word.

Whenever he imagined Didi collapsing somewhere after being robbed of his battery, or being kidnapped, his heart ached unbearably.

He regretted all the times he’d treated Didi roughly, excusing it because he was just a robot.

“Did he… sleep well?”

“When it got late, he slept in William’s room. On the last night, he tried to sleep in his own room.”

William paused at her answer.

He thought he could still smell Didi on the unused bed in Didi’s room.

Didi always slept in his bed—why did he suddenly move to his own room?

Perhaps, disappointed by a master who never returned, he finally gave up waiting.

“Was there anything else? The day before… yes, the day before he left, what did he do?”

William struggled to hear even a little about Didi from Sophia.

In the past, he couldn’t have imagined begging a robot for such a favor.

But now, he felt he couldn’t go on without hearing about Didi.

“While waiting for William, he watched 7/.”

“7/? Was it a movie?”

“I think he was watching the news, hoping William would appear. And William did appear.”

“Me?”

William’s eyes widened.

The thought that Didi searched for news just to see him made his heart twinge.

“Did I have any reason to be on the news? I hope I looked alright… What was Didi’s reaction?”

Imagining Didi’s reaction to seeing his master on the news, William couldn’t help but smile for the first time in a while.

Didi probably wore his usual grumpy face at first, then broke into a radiant smile, as if he owned the world.

William could almost see Didi’s careful eyes scanning his face, not missing a single wrinkle, and the warmth filled his heart.

“It was a news story about William’s new lover. Didi looked very sad.”

But Sophia’s next words shattered William’s happiness.

Ah, that’s right.

He’d gone out a few times with a man, trying to deny his feelings for Didi, but after a few meals, he’d cut off contact.

He’d even forgotten that happened, but now it resurfaced in the worst way.

He’d never cared about rumours, but he never imagined it would make the news—and that Didi would see it.

For Didi, who loved him so earnestly, it must have been heart breaking.

Wait.

Was that why he left?

Was it not a short walk or a search for his master, but something else?

Realizing Didi’s departure was entirely his fault, William’s face twisted in anguish.

“It’s exactly the expression you’re wearing now, William.”

Sophia’s words left him even more devastated.

As if struck from behind, William quietly stood and staggered toward Didi’s room.

Inside, he realized Didi’s scent was gone.

He searched the room, the dressing room, the bathroom, the bed—nowhere was there any trace of Didi.

Whatever traces remained had been ruined by William’s own mess.

The neatly hung clothes were now scattered across the bed and floor, and the air was thick with the smell of alcohol and cigarettes.

William collapsed onto the ruined floor.

“Ha… ha ha…”

The image of Didi’s face—always smiling or bashful, never sad—he couldn’t even imagine it.

The more he tried, the more it hurt, until he couldn’t bring himself to picture it.

If he couldn’t find Didi, he couldn’t imagine how he would go on living.

He wanted to laugh at himself for always muttering, “He’s just a robot, just a robot,” like it was a habit.

Now, the life he’d so easily dismissed was the one he wanted to dedicate his own to.

He still half-expected Didi to come back, smiling like always, saying he just stepped out because he was jealous of his master’s new lover, whispering that he loved him as he returned.

But the truth was, he already knew.

The Didi he knew would never come back on his own.

Didi had disappeared so completely, not even a trace remained to follow.

It was far too late for regret.