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Seeing Unimo rushing over while flashing its small horn with a beep-beep pattern, Sisi said tearfully.
“I-I’m scared! It’s a ghost.”
Unimo spoke gently.
[It’s alright. If I keep the light on like this, the ghost won’t come.]
Contrary to its words, the light on Unimo’s silicone horn went out. Watching that, Sisi smiled with a teardrop still hanging on her eye.
“But the light went out.”
[Ah, I made a mistake! I’m sorry, little friend.]
The light on Unimo’s horn brightly turned back on. Flashing its small horn in rainbow colors, Unimo spoke in a cute voice.
[I’m sorry for being full of mistakes. But I love you always!]
At that, Sisi let out a small chuckle and scooped Unimo into her embrace.
“I like you too.”
[The little friend’s love has been charged!]
Young children gathered around Sisi and Unimo.
“I want to play with Unimo too!”
“Unimo, how do you charge love?”
On the other hand, the older children didn’t fall for the fluffy stuffed-animal robot. Wearing arrogant expressions, the little punks gathered in front of Adam.
“Robot hyung (older brother), can you pull out a gun like a patrol bot?”
“Why is your name Adam? You aren’t the real Adam, right? Planet-Dominating AI!”
However, Adam deployed an evasion skill as well.
Adam suddenly released a guidance voice in a mechanical tone.
[The SH-48-XY-9000-P is a household humanoid; it is not for combat use and does not contain built-in weapons.]
She could feel the children’s interest cooling down in an instant.
“Che, it’s just a household one that only looks scary. Why did you bring something like this?”
“Shuri, can’t you make combat robots or power suits?”
It appeared Adam had no intention of cooperating.
Shuri ground her teeth tightly.
‘So that’s how you’re going to play, huh?’
She commanded Adam, who was pretending to be a household humanoid.
“Why would I bring a household humanoid along? I brought him to do chores, of course. Adam, move the tomatoes to the kitchen with the kids!”
[…!]
“Booo, tasteless tomatoes!”
“The most tasteless in the world!”
Shuri didn’t even pretend to hear the children’s complaints.
“I brought them for you guys to eat, so make sure to devour every last one without leaving a single drop behind. Adam, quickly lead the way!”
[Understood. I will stack the tomatoes and leafy greens inside the refrigerator.]
A sense of rebellion could be felt within the stubborn mechanical tone. It seemed Adam wasn’t entirely pleased with this situation.
The children dragged Adam away.
“Robot, the kitchen is this way!”
While Adam and the children moved the vegetable boxes.
Kamal approached Shuri and bluntly placed his massive hand on top of her head.
Shuri raised her head and glared at Kamal. She still couldn’t look into Kamal’s eyes, but she could see that Kamal’s lips were smiling.
Those lips spoke.
“And here I thought… you brought home a man you wanted to marry or a boyfriend, you punk.”
Affection and concern toward her dripped abundantly from Kamal’s smile. Lazily pretending not to see it, Shuri mumbled.
“That will never happen, so stop worrying over nothing.”
“I suppose it is a bit like that, huh? Shuri, have you made any friends?”
“You’re dealing a double blow?”
Kamal burst into laughter at Shuri’s grumbling. Laughing heartily, he patted Shuri’s back gently with his hand.
“It’s alright. I know everything. Sometimes you need time alone. But trust my words, Shuri. You will get much better.”
Instead of answering, Shuri puckered her lips and ducked her head low. She merely plucked at the loose threads of her innocent jeans with her fingertips.
Gazing down at those tiny shoulders, Kamal slowly added.
“…Just like when you were a child.”
Meaning, before she was adopted into the Wentworth family.
Shuri had been an ordinary child. An ordinary child who smiled easily and liked playing with friends.
Though she was smart enough to produce impressive numbers on an intelligence test, which led to her being adopted into a wealthy doctor’s family, before her adoption, Shuri had been an ordinary child who could smile while looking at other people’s faces.
“Stop talking about when I was a child.”
Shuri raised her head slightly. Glaring at Kamal’s lips, she spoke in a tiny voice.
“I’m comfortable like this. I like being alone. Kamal, are you saying I don’t look like I’m doing well?”
Saying so, Shuri bit her lips firmly, but her black eyelashes were trembling subtly. Seeing that, Kamal felt a surge of rage boiling up.
Bringing his hand behind his back, Kamal spoke gloomily.
“As expected, I should beat that doctor bastard to death…!”
“There he goes again. An ahjussi (middle-aged man) who truly has no place to take him in if it isn’t Zone F…”
Glaring at Kamal while shaking her head, Shuri’s eyes grew wide. It was because she belatedly discovered the sheath of the kukri knife hanging from Kamal’s waist.
Shuri let out a shriek.
“What is that? Are you insane? Why is the director of a children’s shelter carrying a knife around?”
Kamal—former Gurkha mercenary, current director of the Zone F children’s shelter—spoke gloomily.
“For the sake of the children, I can get blood on my hands at any time!”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Shuri pulled Kamal’s thick forearm to return it to its original position. Fortunately, the doctor bastard he wanted to beat to death wasn’t right before his eyes, so Kamal obediently took his hand off the sheath.
Having her energy completely drained just from the brief conversation with Kamal, Shuri spoke while panting.
“I-I’ll go to the kids. I need to check if the robots are functioning well too.”
She then fled the spot as if running away.
The children turned around after tossing the vegetable boxes roughly into the kitchen.
Setting down the heavy tomato box, Adam spoke primly.
[It is best to stack the tomatoes and leafy greens inside the refrigerator before their freshness drops.]
The tallest boy replied indifferently.
“Forget it. They’re the most tasteless tomatoes in the world anyway!”
“Yeah. Things like tomatoes are equally tasteless whether they’re fresh or not.”
Looking around at the arrogant punks, Adam opened his mouth.
[It was four years ago.]
“Huh? What was?”
[The period when Miss Shuri first placed her interest in agriculture.]
Adam spoke in a low voice.
[Right after the Great War, a time of hardship continued until minimal infrastructure was restored. Countless people starved and died. And a certain incident occurred. It was an incident where crops harvested from farmland contaminated by chemical leaks were distributed to a children’s shelter, resulting in the deaths of children. Ever since then, Miss Shuri began looking for a method to cultivate uncontaminated crops in this contaminated world.]
The children fell silent.
Adam continued his words in a much softer voice.
[Miss Shuri’s determination is magnificent, but it is still in the trial-and-error stage. The reason Miss Shuri’s tomatoes have been tasteless all this time is because she chose the wrong variety. While she has a passion for agriculture, she does not like vegetables. I will recommend a variety that is suitable for hydroponic cultivation and pleasant to eat to improve the taste of the tomatoes.]
The tall boy came and stood in front of Adam. He then spoke with a flushed face.
“I didn’t know Shuri was thinking that. Though we grumbled, we are always grateful to Shuri. I won’t tease her about the tomatoes being tasteless anymore either.”
Adam let out a light chuckling sound. He then spoke tenderly in his original voice, not the mechanical tone.
“You are a good child.”
“Also, you… you aren’t a regular household robot, right? You’re an artificial intelligence, aren’t you?”
Adam nodded his head.
“That is correct.”
At his answer, the children suddenly burst into cheers.
“Wow, it’s an artificial intelligence!”
“They say you know everything, is it true?”
“That is an exaggerated…”
The tall boy interrupted Adam’s words.
“My name is Jera!”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Jera. My name is…”
Without even listening to Adam’s words until the end, Jera shouted.
“Artificial intelligence, help us!”
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