Chapter 16

Shuri picked up Unimo and properly tucked them into Adam’s embrace. As she pulled the seatbelts down to fasten the two robots in, she introduced Adam.

“Unimo, this guy’s name is Adam.”

“Central 3,” Adam corrected swiftly. “I am Central 3.”

[Wow, Unimo knows that too! That’s copy-paste.]

Starting the engine, Shuri spoke.

“Unimo, it’s Central 3, not Ctrl+C.”

[Ah, I made a mistake! I’m sorry, Shuri. And copy-paste!]

“…”

“No, no. Good job, Unimo!”

Clutching the seatbelt tightly, Unimo flashed its small horn in rainbow colors and spoke in a cute voice.

[I’m sorry for being full of mistakes. But I love you always.]

Thrilled at the thought of racking up mistake points, Shuri responded loudly.

“Copy-paste and I love you too!”

Flashing its tiny horn, Unimo was delighted.

[Shuri and copy-paste’s love has been charged!]

After first raising Unimo’s points, Shuri whispered to Adam in a tiny voice.

“You’re the smart one, so just deal with it.”

Adam spoke calmly.

“To simply call me smart is an understatement. The performance difference is like heaven and earth. It is akin to a stealth fighter jet versus a stone axe.”

“Adam, are you mad?”

“Copy-paste is not mad.”

“…You’re definitely not mad, right? Then let’s roll!”

The Jeep Wrangler raced excitingly along the half-destroyed roads of the Free Zone.

Once even that road cut off and they transitioned into an off-road terrain, their buttocks began to bounce a dance atop the stiff seats.

Clutching the seatbelt tightly, Unimo was highly amused as its small horn flashed with a beep-beep pattern.

[Shuri, is this a roller coaster?]

“That’s right, Unimo! This is a roller coaster.”

Excited, Shuri pressed a button on the dashboard. At that, the car’s soft top slithered open and folded backward, and 2000s pop-rock flowed out from the speakers.

A pristine blue sky stretched out above their heads. Amidst the blazing rays of the scorching sun, Shuri and Unimo even began to squawk along to the music.

“What you see isn’t everything!”

[I’m sorry for being full of mistakes. But I love you always! Uni-Uni Mo-Mo!]

Adam already knew that the only song Unimo, who was Level 13, could sing was a brief jingle. Having filtered out Unimo’s voice as background noise from the very beginning, he was extracting and enjoying only Shuri’s voice.

With the golden wilderness and the deep blue sky as her backdrop, her light pink hair fluttered beautifully as she sang in a sweet voice that he would never grow tired of even after playing it trillions of times.

“…I see the soul inside.”

Adam saved that voice inside ‘Home.’

The place where the Jeep stopped was in front of a building situated slightly apart from the slums of Zone F.

Unimo read aloud the signboard attached to a rusted iron arch.

[Soul Garden?]

Parking the car in the building’s backyard, Shuri unfastened the seatbelts wrapping the robots and spoke.

“No. It’s Seoul Garden. It’s because the ‘e’ fell off.”

[Cool. Soul Garden!]

“Call it whatever you want. To be fair, everyone calls it Soul Garden anyway.”

Holding Unimo, Adam spoke.

“Seoul Garden was a Korean-style barbecue restaurant located in the area formerly known as Southgate, and it was a Korean restaurant that pushed ‘galbi’ (marinated beef short ribs) as its main dish.”

Shuri’s two eyes grew wide.

“Galbi? Seriously? They sold galbi here? I’ve… only ever tasted BBQ-flavored potato chips!”

“It is true. They reportedly sold grilled marinated beef short ribs and samgyeopsal (pork belly) on a grill for dinner, and a set menu for weekday lunch.”

“Marinated beef short ribs? Pork belly? What on earth are those? And what’s a set menu?”

“The salted mackerel set menu and the samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) set menu were forty-five dollars, while the galbijjim (braised beef short ribs) set menu was fifty dollars…”

“So expensive!”

“However, the taste appeared to be magnificent. The Viewgle Maps rating is 4.4 stars. Shall I read you the remaining reviews?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“The set menu comes with ‘sotbap’ (pot-cooked rice), and the taste is moving. The taste of the house-made kimchi is excellent. The taste of the galbi is highly astonishing. The sweet, well-marinated, and perfectly grilled meat melts right on the tip of the tongue…”

“Slurp.”

Swallowing her drool, Shuri spoke in a sorrowful voice.

“The glory of the past is so dazzling that tears are coming out of my mouth. Nowadays, only pure slop comes out.”

Right then, a roaring man’s voice echoed from deep within the worn-down building.

“Shuri?”

The main door opened, and a man of gigantic stature emerged.

His long hair was pulled back and tied firmly, and he bore deep, old scars across his face and body. He was a man who gave off the impression of an old tree that had weathered long ages to become harder than stone, looking like a retired military man even from a hundred meters away. However, he wore a cute pink apron around his waist.

The man rushed over, letting out a panicked sound.

“Did you… perhaps bring a man home? I object. I absolutely object…!”

Arriving before them in an instant, the man swept his fierce eyes up and down Adam. The gaze was so intense it felt exactly like a metal detector running a thorough scan.

Cross-legged in disbelief, Shuri spoke.

“Just what on earth are you talking about? Look closely, he isn’t human, he’s a robot.”

The man gasped in shock.

“What? This gentleman is a robot? He’s not some crazy bastard wearing a helmet, but a robot whose head just happens to be shaped like a helmet?”

He was Kamal, the director of the Soul Garden children’s shelter here in Zone F.

Tucking Unimo at his flank, Adam offered a polite greeting.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Central 3, Adam.”

[Hello! I am Shuri’s friend, Unimo.]

Kamal’s face turned into that of a primitive human witnessing lightning.

“Wow… to think this friend is a robot, I can’t believe it. Is this that thing? Technologia!”

“It’s just technology, okay?”

Brushing past the growling Shuri, Kamal offered a handshake to Adam.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kamal.”

Seeing Kamal’s rugged hand extended toward Adam, Shuri panicked.

“Don’t touch my robot! Kamal breaks every single machine he lays his hands on…!”

Shuri grabbed Kamal’s thick forearm and pulled with all her might, but Kamal’s hand didn’t budge in the slightest.

Firmly clasping Kamal’s hand back, Adam spoke amiably.

“Do not worry, Shuri. For I do not break that easily.”

Kneading Adam’s hand, Kamal marveled.

“Wow, he feels exactly like a real person.”

Then, staring intently into Adam’s helmet-like face, he asked.

“But if he’s a robot… can this part be detached?”

Shuri shrieked.

“No! Don’t detach it…!”

While Shuri and Kamal were bantering away, a crowd of children tumbled out from behind. The children were diverse in age, skin tone, and race, but they shared one common trait: every single one of them was completely grubby.

Discovering Shuri, the children crowded over while shouting out loud.

“It’s Shuri!”

“See, I told you it was Shuri’s car, not the Liberation Front!”

“Shuri, what did you bring today?”

Smiling brightly, Shuri pointed with both hands at the vegetable boxes loaded in the trunk.

“Ta-da! Thanks to indoor hydroponic cultivation, these are excellent tomatoes and lettuce that you don’t have to worry about contamination for!”

The children feigned gagging.

“Blegh! Not that again.”

“The most tasteless tomatoes in the world!”

“Shuri, you promised to buy us snacks this time!”

Shuri let out a scoff.

“Where would I get the money to buy snacks…?”

She did have it. A whole million dollars.

Shuri slapped her own forehead.

“…I forgot.”

“Too cruel!”

“Booo…”

The public resentment was towering. Growing embarrassed, Shuri deployed an evasion skill.

“T-Tomatoes and lettuce aren’t all. Do you want to see who I brought along? Adam and Unimo. They are both robots I participated in manufacturing!”

Naturally, the children’s gazes gathered upon Adam and Unimo.

Upon seeing Adam, the children fell into shock.

“Gasps!”

“His head is weird!”

Sisi, the youngest child in the shelter, even burst into tears.

“Waaahnnn…!”

Shuri grew flustered.

“Is it to the point of crying?”

Kamal burst out into a loud laugh.

“His head certainly is strange. Shuri, surely he isn’t your type?”

“…”

“…”

Adam with the strange head and Shuri with the strange taste were left speechless.

However, there was a savior horse appearing before them.

Leaping down from Adam’s arm, Unimo rushed over to the sobbing Sisi.

[Hello! I am Shuri’s friend, Unimo. Little friend, why are you crying?]