Chapter 92: The Empathy Bug

As I got out of the car, I looked up at the Spenic building I hadn’t visited in a long time.

This place hasn’t changed at all.

The building was still meticulously maintained, and the wide company grounds bustled with busy people just as before.

Since I was at the company, I thought I should say hello to Thomas and Nick as well, so I followed Master as she walked ahead.

On our way to Thomas’s lab, we encountered a company guide robot rolling toward us from the opposite corridor.

I was about to greet it, but then remembered Master had told me not to speak to the robots, so I closed my mouth.

I quietly passed by the robot.

Since I didn’t greet it first, the robot simply slid past Master and me.

“Master, why did you tell me not to talk to the robot last time?”

“Ah, that…”

Master trailed off, postponing her answer.

“I’ll explain once we get there.”

I nodded.

It felt a little odd that Master was avoiding the question, but I didn’t press any further.

“Thomas.”

“You’re here? Oh, Didi’s here too!”

As soon as we entered the lab, a familiar voice greeted Master and me.

He was just the same as ever, though the lab, which was usually messy and cluttered, was now clean and organized, making the atmosphere feel a bit unfamiliar.

“Are you feeling better? You were pretty badly hurt last time I saw you.”

“Yes. I healed quickly since I applied medicine often.”

Thomas checked my body first.

Seeing him carefully examine the areas where I’d been injured, it seemed he must have looked after me once while my power was off.

After confirming I was fine, Thomas led us to the inner part of the lab.

There, the new product to be released this time was on display.

It was a robot dog identical to Eve, standing on all fours with its power off, motionless except for its colour.

While Eve was jet black all over, the new product was a soft ivory colour.

The Spenic mark was engraved on its ear.

Other than the color, everything was the same.

As I looked at its identical appearance, I grew curious.

If it was just a copy of the robot dog Master had made before, its movements shouldn’t be much different—so why did she bring Eve?

“It looks exactly like Eve, so why did you ask me to bring Eve?”

“Uh… I haven’t told you yet?”

“…I was about to.”

At my question, Thomas blinked and exchanged glances with Master.

After sharing a look for a moment, he spoke up.

“Then, do you want to go see Nick while I extract Eve’s data? He’s managing the robots right now.”

Master nodded.

Now that I thought about it, Nick wasn’t in the lab.

“Didi, come with me.”

“Yes.”

I glanced back, worried that Eve might try to follow, but thankfully she was sitting quietly in her place.

Relieved, I followed Master.

After leaving the lab and walking a bit, we arrived at a large space that had been used as a storage room.

Crash!

Before we even entered, we heard a commotion from inside.

I looked up at Master, wondering if something was wrong, but she opened the door without concern, as if she was used to it.

Inside, various kinds of robots were gathered together.

There was the robot I’d seen in the cafeteria, the robot handing out balloons on the street, and the robot I’d asked for directions when looking for Master’s old house….

Robots that should have been in their respective places were all gathered in one spot, creating a strange sense of discord.

Yet, they all felt oddly familiar.

“Why are all these robots gathered here…?”

“Because they talked with you and developed emotions.”

Ah, that’s right.

Master’s explanation made me realize—the robots here were all ones I’d spoken with at least once.

But I tilted my head, still not understanding what she meant.

Developed emotions?

Master watched my reaction and continued calmly.

“The emotion code Grandfather created was designed to be activated by your voice.”

I quietly blinked.

It was hard to believe what Master was saying.

But she didn’t seem to be lying.

Soon, I realized what she said was true.

I wasn’t sure if this function had been with me from the start, or if it had been added by my previous Master after I’d been powered off.

Since my previous Master had already passed away, I’d never have the chance to ask and learn the real answer.

“So that’s why Eve developed emotions….”

Now that I knew the truth, Eve’s behavior finally made sense.

She would smile on her screen when she saw me, or come over to comfort me when I was feeling down….

Thinking it was all because she’d developed emotions, everything fit.

It also made sense why Thomas wanted to reference Eve’s movement patterns.

The biggest trait of robots that develop emotions is that they begin to think for themselves and break out of their set behaviors and functions.

If they applied Eve’s behavior patterns, the new robot dog would move more naturally.

But as I listened to Master’s explanation, I realized something odd.

“But Sophia didn’t seem to develop emotions, did she?”

“Sophia was made by Grandfather, so it doesn’t apply to her. Only the robots made recently developed emotions.”

That’s probably why not every robot I’d spoken with was gathered here.

Like the giant cleaning robot I’d met in the charging room.

Among them, I also saw the humanoid that had been called a failure.

Back then, it could only open its eyes and showed no response, but now that the emotion code had been activated, it seemed able to move.

Its previously dull gaze now sparkled with life.

With a human-like appearance and emotions, it was no different from a Humanbot.

I quietly took a breath.

If that was the case, it meant they’d succeeded in creating a Humanbot.

Thinking that all the effort to help Master had finally borne fruit, I found myself asking brightly,

“Then, have you succeeded in restoring the Humanbot?”

“…Yes. But I have no intention of making more Humanbots.”

“Huh? Why not…?”

My voice, filled with hope, faded at Master’s answer.

“I don’t want another fool like me to exist.”

Master gave a bitter smile.

Her self-deprecating tone left me speechless, when Nick, who had just noticed us, came over and greeted us.

“Hello…! Did you come for something?”

“No, we’re just stopping by. No problems, I hope?”

“Yes… though, as you can see, there are big and small accidents every day….”

Nick gave an awkward smile as he looked at the mess inside.

It seemed that robots with emotions had also become curious and were behaving unpredictably.

Maybe that’s why we heard the loud noise earlier.

Suddenly, I remembered greeting the robot at Father’s birthday.

“Master, the robot at your father’s house—”

“It probably had its emotion code activated. I’ve already told Father. He said he’d handle it.”

“Then, does that mean I can’t talk to robots anymore…?”

“No, I plan to patch it in a few days.”

She explained that although there was nothing to be done for robots that had already developed emotions, once the patch was applied, even if I spoke to them, they wouldn’t develop emotions anymore.

I was relieved that I wouldn’t be unable to talk to robots for the rest of my life.

As I looked around at the robots one by one, I spoke up.

“Huh…? But there’s a robot missing.”

“Missing?”

“The company guide robot. I’ve run into it outside before, but I don’t see it here.”

I nodded, recalling the robot I’d met outside.

The guide robot in use at the company.

Since I’d spoken with it, it must have developed emotions too.

When I left home and wandered the city, I thought it was strange that the company robot was out and about, but now I didn’t see it here.

When I asked, Master frowned as if hearing this for the first time.

“The company robot too? Damn… I haven’t heard of any missing units. I’ll have to check.”

Looking troubled, Master made a call somewhere.

As I watched her, I turned my gaze back to the robots.

Robots of different shapes were moving about, each behaving differently.

The thought that just speaking to them could give robots emotions—I still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.