Chapter 30

Central 3 was not an artificial intelligence designed for communication with the general public. However, there were a few channels it operated experimentally, and one of them was the Nutube music channel ‘Eden Variations.’

Adam steadily uploaded audio tracks to this channel. At least in terms of managing this channel, Adam’s taste was consistent; classical music and audio tracks arranging it into various versions were mainly what went up. For example, they were things like this:

[♬] Moonlight Sonata - Glass Version
[♬] Swan Lake - Cyborg Ballet

However, starting from two days ago, the direction of the channel changed. Love songs composed by Adam himself began to be uploaded.

[♬] ADAM - Saved in My Memory
[♬] ADAM - Hold My Code
[♬] ADAM - U are My Only Variable
[♬] ADAM - Rendezvous in the Moon Crater

Because this was an unprecedented occurrence, it was becoming a subtle hot topic.

@The_blue – What is happening right now?

@LOVE_DEATH_ROBOT – Did the channel owner change?

@Roller – This song is about love. I keep listening to it!

@p66x – Did the Adam channel get hacked?
└ @HaveAgoodDay – As if lolololol
(Pinned by @Adam_AI)

@fancy_lio – Don’t tell me Adam got a girlfriend?
└ @junjun – Holy fuck, why did Adam pin this comment? Is this real?
└ @vishi – Bro, you shouldn’t swear here. If you do, a level of spiciness gets added one by one when you order food delivery.
└ @junjun – Big brother Adam, I am sorry. But is the counterpart an AI after all?
└ @junjun – Wow, I ordered pizza after writing this comment, but the pizza didn’t come and only 30 bottles of hot sauce arrived.
└ @kiko – lmfao take it down sweetly

Adam climbed up from the basement of the pantry while uploading his fifth self-composed song, ‘Into the Black Hole for You.’

“With this, the first tracklist for Shuri is complete. Although the pantry organization is only just beginning.”

After hoisting the SH-48-XY-9000-P above the pantry, he sent the cleaning robots inside. It went without saying that cleaning robots were more suited for cleaning than a sexaroid. The reason he deliberately showed himself cooking and organizing the pantry with a sexaroid was entirely to look good to Shuri.

Walking in front of the counter, Adam spoke in a joyful voice.

“Shuri, around where are you right now? In front of Plum Park?”

He looked through all the CCTVs surrounding the building of Newbots, the toy company that manufactured Unimo. The Newbots office building was in the bustling district of Revnax, and shops capable of tempting Shuri were lined up in the vicinity.

He checked the CCTVs in front of the jelly shop and the cupcake shop Shuri always eyed, and even the café at No. 221 she always stopped by. However, Shuri was not visible anywhere.

“Mm?”

In a flash, Adam checked the CCTVs of the entirety of Revnax. Yet Shuri was still not visible.

“Hmmm.”

Adam fell into deliberation for a moment.

If he tracked the location of Shuri’s smartphone terminal, it would not be difficult to find out her current location. However, he felt that it was not a manner that respected Shuri. In truth, it felt a bit like a stalker.

“Then… I suppose I should utilize the home system instead.”

He rewound the footage recorded on the home CCTV step by step. While he was inside the pantry, Shuri’s back could be seen checking her mailbox while slapping her own forehead repeatedly, whatever she was thinking.

Shuri, who had been slapping her forehead slap-slap, checked the tablet and instantly froze stiff. Over her shoulder, the video received via email was visible. It was the video of UH’s CEO, Victor Halden.

Adam grew suspicious.

‘Victor made contact with Shuri? Why?’

He soon found the answer. It was not a real video of Victor Halden. It was a deepfake video created using Victor Halden’s interview footage.

What surfaced at the end of the video were coordinates. Shuri could be seen moving creakily even while frozen like a stone to take a picture of the screen with her smartphone.

Someone had taken Shuri away from him. There was only one existence in this world capable of such a thing.

Casting aside his apron, Adam shouted.

“Titan…!”

“Hngh.”

A groaning sound leaked out of its own accord. The cause was the new shoes.

The shoes she had put on to observe the TPO¹ were claiming with their entire being that they were not existences created for climbing things like the old, steep iron staircases of an abandoned factory. Whether their resolve was grand, they were even refusing to avoid a bloody situation. The flesh of Shuri’s heels was being eaten away bit by bit by the shoe backs.

However, she had to endure it right now. While being summoned by her employer due to an inappropriate and unseemly matter, she couldn’t show herself whimpering just because her heels were scraped a bit.

‘A strong engineer!’

Shuri pressed her upper and lower lips together with all her might. Not satisfied with that, she tightly bit her rolled-up lips with her front teeth. As she plugged her mouth like that, a snort-snort sound came from between her nostrils. However, she couldn’t plug her nose too. If she did, where would she breathe from?

It was right then…

“Tan.”

With a desperate face, Shuri looked up. The man who had been walking ahead had stopped before anyone realized and was looking back.

“Hu- what? What did you say burned?”²

“My name. Call me that for now. Try calling it once.”

“Gasp, huff. Y-you’re…”

You’re kidding me.

Shuri barely swallowed those words. Instead, she spoke like this.

“I-I’ll call you if there is an occasion to call you.”

Instead of Tan’s face, she stared at his hand gripping the rusted iron railing. Tan’s hand appeared large and rough. Tattoos were densely engraved on his thick-jointed fingers, incredibly up to the second knuckle. It was text. The shading was too dark to readily discern what was written, though.

Tan grumbled.

“If I tell you to just call me, call me, seriously.”

“Ta- Tan.”

“……”

“C-Can’t you go a bit slower? The stairs are too steep…”

As if asking when he had ever told her to call him, the moment she called him exactly as requested, Tan fell silent.

Halting in that spot for a moment, he quietly looked down at Shuri. Thinking this was her chance, Shuri leaned against the railing to take a fleeting rest. And shifting her scraped heels up and down, she fell into deep agony.

‘Should I step on the backs of the shoes, or not?’

Stepping down one pace toward that version of Shuri, Tan called out to her.

“Shuri.”

“U-Uh?”

“How far… were you plundered by that bastard?”

“Huh?”

“Seeing you fly over after checking that video gives me a rough idea, though.”

Shuri became bewildered. Snapping her eyes wide open and staring at Tan’s smooth jaw, she asked.

“What do you mean by plundered?”

“Fuck’s sake.”

Out of nowhere, Tan bellowed in a sudden rage.

“Did you sleep with Adam?! Panting like that and even calling his name…”

She could not endure any further. No matter if it was a summons from the CEO, there was no need to tolerate this level of rudeness. Turning around instantly, Shuri shouted.

“Go die!”

Tan’s hand flew out with a whoosh and grabbed her arm. Shuri shrieked while losing her footing.

“Let go!”

“Fucking hell, even when I spun a gentle lie for your own good, you scratch my temper raw. You’re quite cute, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

Exerting effort to maintain her balance, Shuri shouted.

“Are you saying… you lied to me?”

Meaning that among the numerous impolite things Tan committed against her, a lie was included too. If so, which among them was the lie?

Shuri’s gaze landed on the hand gripping her arm as if it were about to break it. A large tattoo was engraved on the back of Tan’s hand. No matter how dark the shading was, it could be discerned at this proximity.

[TITAN]

Tan pulled her with monstrous strength. After pinning her struggling upper body with his thick forearm, he grabbed her jaw to make her look straight into his face.

“……!”

A pitch-black pupil met her eyes. His eye appeared like a deep cavern where light had never once entered. A cavern where one couldn’t even guess where it led, the kind from which one had to step back without even harboring curiosity.

Her breath was completely choked up. It was a panic symptom. It felt like she had been struck in the abdomen once by a boxer. The opponent’s face appeared blurry. Neither Tan’s face nor the glint in his eyes could be seen clearly.