“Could it be…”
“This is Sir Thomas’s lab!”
Just as I was about to mention my former master’s name, the robot came to a stop.
When I raised my head, I saw Thomas’s laboratory, the one I had visited before with my master.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?”
The robot asked, but I simply shook my head in silence.
I was curious about how my former master had been after my power was shut off, but now didn’t seem like the right time.
“Didi? What about William?”
When I opened the door and entered the lab, Thomas greeted me warmly.
But he soon tilted his head, realizing I was alone without my master.
“My master is busy, so I came alone.”
“Oh? Did something break down?”
“No, I came to see Sophia.”
“Ah, you mean the maid robot William brought? She’s still under repair, so we haven’t powered her on yet… But since you’re here, you can take a look.”
So she’s still being repaired…
A wave of disappointment hit me.
I had so many things I wanted to say to Sophia…
Even though I wouldn’t be able to talk to her, I still wanted to check on her like Thomas suggested.
Thomas said Sophia was in the repair room and led me to the place where my body had been opened up last time.
The memories of what had happened in the repair room instinctively made me feel uneasy, but I quietly followed to see Sophia.
When I entered the repair room, Sophia was sitting on the surgical table where I had once lain.
Her power was off, and she sat with her head bowed, completely still.
If only I could say hello…
As I stood there with a gloomy expression, Thomas looked at my face and asked,
“You don’t look so good. Did something happen?”
Unlike my master, Thomas was kind to robots.
And since he was a longtime friend of my master, he probably knew a lot about him.
That made him the perfect person to talk to about my concerns.
“I don’t think I’m any help to my master… I just keep causing trouble every day…”
I hesitated but carefully opened up about my worries.
Then, sensing something strange, I looked up and saw Thomas looking at me with a warm smile.
Or perhaps… he looked moved.
“How can you be this thoughtful…”
Thomas murmured in awe, then spoke to me in a comforting tone.
“William’s a bit gruff, isn’t he? Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
“But what if he decides I’m useless and abandons me…?”
“That won’t happen. William may seem cold, but he doesn’t throw away a robot once he’s accepted them. If you really ever feel like you’re being abandoned, why don’t you come to me? I’ll take good care of you.”
Thomas joked as he lightly tapped my shoulder.
I forced a smile, but even with his comforting words, I didn’t feel much better.
Just like Thomas said, my master didn’t abandon Sophia and chose to repair her.
But that didn’t guarantee he would keep her forever.
Even if you spend years together, being discarded can happen in a single moment—just like what happened to me.
“Since you’re here, should I check to see if anything’s broken?”
“No, thank you. I’ll head back in case my master starts looking for me.”
I shook my head and got up from my seat.
Though I doubted my master would look for me, I didn’t want to delay Sophia’s repair by staying too long.
Leaving a reluctant Thomas behind, I exited the lab.
As I tried to return to my master’s office, I suddenly froze upon seeing the wide hallway.
Where… am I?
The company was huge, and the hallways were long.
I tried to retrace the path I had taken with the guide robot earlier, but I couldn’t remember a thing.
It was clear I wouldn’t be able to find my way back alone…
In the end, I decided to ask another guide robot for help returning.
While peeking around the hallway, waiting for a robot to pass by, I soon spotted one rolling by in the distance.
It looked just like the one from earlier, but it was a different unit.
“Excuse me, I’d like to return to my master…”
“I’ll escort you to Mr. William Spencer!”
Even though I hadn’t said my master’s name, the robot mentioned it right away.
It must have shared information through the company’s internal network.
I really need to become a competent robot like that…
Suddenly, I remembered the disappointed look on my master’s face.
A heavy feeling weighed down my chest once more.
“We’ve arrived at Mr. William Spencer’s location! Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
The guide robot led the way, and we arrived at the destination quickly.
But the place we arrived at wasn’t my master’s office.
“This isn’t my master’s office…?”
I looked around in confusion.
It was clearly different from his office in every way—the atmosphere of the hallway and the shape of the door.
“Are you sure my master is here?”
“Yes! Mr. William Spencer is here!”
I asked again, but the robot simply replied in a confident voice that the master was indeed present here.
Tilting my head, I fell into thought.
Was this another one of the master’s offices?
The door was fancier than the others—maybe that was why…
Just in case, I opened the door slightly to check.
“So you’re saying it’s impossible?”
I heard the master’s voice from inside.
Ah, so this is the right place. I quietly thanked the robot that had guided me here and stepped inside.
From the entrance, I couldn’t see the interior well.
I could only hear the master’s low and seemingly angry voice from beyond the hallway.
Was he on a call?
He didn’t sound like he was in a good mood.
Thinking I should enter as quietly as possible, I walked forward carefully.
As I stepped further in, I suddenly froze.
The moment I peeked my head around the corridor’s end, countless eyes all turned to me at once.
“Ah…”
Flustered, I turned my head and saw the massive screen beside me.
A solemn atmosphere, complicated numbers and graphs filling the display—
He was in a meeting.
I only realized the situation too late.
This was a conference room.
There hadn’t been any signs on the door, so I didn’t notice in time.
Ah—come to think of it, the master had been busy preparing for meetings since this morning.
I’d made a mistake.
Slowly turning my gaze toward the master, our eyes met—just as I feared, he looked extremely displeased.
Thinking I was in trouble, I quickly tried to turn around and leave, but then I heard the master’s low voice:
“Didi, come in.”
The master had given me an order.
I hesitated for a moment, but seeing his expression grow darker, I hurried forward.
“Excuse me…”
I passed by the people who sat in stiff silence with stern expressions and approached the master.
When he gestured toward the chair next to him, I quietly sat down.
“Continue.”
The meeting, which had paused because of me, resumed.
“As I said before, the manufacturing of HumanBots is currently prohibited by law.”
“Even if we amend the law, it won’t be easy to overturn the existing public perception…”
“Can we even call the new robots ‘HumanBots’? They don’t actually have emotions; they just resemble humans in appearance.”
“But still…”
I held my breath quietly.
Since I hadn’t heard the discussion from the beginning, I didn’t know the full details, but it seemed they were discussing something about HumanBots.
I recalled the first part of the conversation.
So the manufacture of HumanBots is banned…
That was news to me.
No wonder I hadn’t seen any other HumanBots until now.
As I was pondering this newfound information, the room fell into silence.
Everyone simply watched the master nervously, worry written across their faces.
As he lightly tapped the table, the master finally spoke:
“This one sitting next to me is a HumanBot that belonged to my grandfather. I brought it along to a charity event a few days ago, and the demand was overwhelming.”
“A HumanBot?”
The conference room buzzed at once, and all eyes turned to me.
Noticing their unease, the master continued speaking:
“I don’t care how people end up using these. We just need to mass-produce them and sell them to whoever wants one.”
With a slight nod, the master added:
“They’re just robots, after all.”
Just robots…
The master’s final words pierced my chest like a dagger.
“Focus on restoring HumanBot technology. Quietly push for legal amendments through lobbying the higher-ups.”
Though some continued to oppose him until the end, the mood of the meeting gradually began to shift in agreement with the master’s stance.