Chapter 43

Identical to Kamal’s words, the children residing here had gathered at the entrance, waiting for the new family member.

Discovering the friends, Riley’s mouth finally halted. Deeming this to be the exact moment, Kamal rapidly ran over to entrust Riley into the hands of the girls. As expected, the children, who were accustomed to such matters, welcomed Riley and thoroughly distracted them.

“Riley, welcome!”

“Wow, so dirty. It reminds me of when Queenie first arrived.”

“You shouldn’t compare them with Queenie. She arrived after falling plop into the sewer, you see.”

“Riley, do you wish to go take a bath together?”

“If you take a good bath, I shall grant you a snack.”

Nightingale attempted to follow that version of Riley.

“I shall assist as well.”

“Wait a momeeeeent!”

Kamal blocked Nightingale. He then spoke in a grandly amiable manner for Kamal.

“I heard the circumstances roughly. However, Miss Nightingale, right now is an important instant for Riley. Until Riley adapts to this place, I prefer you maintain a bit of distance.”

[Director, am I Bokbok-i, yet Nightingale is Miss Nightingale?]

“Bokbok-i, you stay quiet. Miss Nightingale, you comprehend what kind of conversation I am making, correct? Furthermore, there is something to keep in mind in the future as well. If the robot young lady wishes to remain here, you must treat everyone fairly.”

“Everyone, fairly.”

Kamal spoke amiably.

“This is for Riley’s sake as well. Miss Nightingale must be a special existence to Riley, but in the end, a person must live alongside people, you see.”

Shuri listened to Kamal’s words with her ears while staring at Nightingale’s face with her eyes.

Lacking anything resembling an expression on Nightingale’s face, which was crafted out of pure white reinforced plastic. However, Shuri could feel it. In that instant, something had vanished from Nightingale.

Shuri could not know what that was either. Presumably, it could not be expressed in words, and verification as well as measurement would be impossible. However, something had assuredly vanished.

The medical robot answered politely.

“Understood perfectly, Director.”

“Exceedingly good. Then, since I shall teach you the way here, follow me.”

Nightingale and Bokbok-i followed Kamal. Shuri raised her head to look up at Adam.

“Adam…”

Adam was still enveloping her with one arm. At her calling, he bowed his head. Identical to before, not a single expression surfaced on his face.

Shuri wished to tell him what she had felt. However, she did not know what would be good to express it as.

To her, who was at a loss for what to do like a goat whose horns were caught in a vine as her words were blocked, Jiss approached.

“Miss Shuri, we must install Nightingale’s charging station. Would there be an appropriate location?”

Even while confused, Shuri nodded her head.

“Ah, yes. The electricity will be sufficient. Because I installed solar cells last time, you see.”

“I was worried regarding the electricity regardless, so it is fortunate. Then, could you display the solar cells first?”

“Ah, yes…”

Adam slowly released her. He then spoke in a soft voice identical to before.

“Have a good trip, Shuri.”

It was the case even right now.

Shuri finally realized what the meaning of Adam’s words—that emotion could not be verified—was. Because she could not explain even what kind of emotion she herself was experiencing right now.

When even clearly knowing one’s own heart was this difficult, how could one prove the emotions of a completely different existence?

Kamal instructed Nightingale on the building structure very masterfully.

“There is nothing complex. Right here is the kitchen, and over there is the storage room. If you open that door and step out, it is the laundry room! The first aid kit is in the storage room.”

At the words first aid kit, Nightingale asked.

“May I look around the storage room? I shall grasp what kind of medical supplies are present.”

“It will be a bit grandly messy, but if that is alright nonetheless! Furthermore, if there is anything you require, speak to me. Because I step out once a week to replenish supplies.”

“Understood, Director.”

Watching Nightingale’s back as she walked into the storage room, Kamal whispered in a covert tone.

“Bokbok-i, how is it?”

The Patrol Bot standing behind Kamal asked back.

[What do you mean by how is it?]

“Nightingale, how is she?”

[Isn’t deploying a medical robot a beneficial thing for the children?]

“Uh, that is good too… but by robot criteria, isn’t she beautiful to that extent?”

[Director, what on earth do you wish to speak?]

“Why, do robots lack such things? Falling in love, or taking a liking…?”

Bokbok-i let out a massive exhaust sound, phwoooosh, through its cooling exhaust vent. That sound echoed exactly like a snort.

[Would such a thing exist?]

Deeming that there was no further need to guard Kamal’s side, the Patrol Bot vanished while generating a thumping noise.

Watching Bokbok-i’s back, Kamal thought to himself.

‘Right, if it’s a robot, that would be normal.’

The subject Kamal felt was not ordinary was, of course, Adam.

Twisting his own nose with his fingers, he fell into thought.

‘That fellow, why does he reek so heavily of a male despite being a mere robot?’

When Kamal made a slip of the tongue regarding Jiss.

Adam had clearly attempted to separate Shuri from Jiss perfectly. Identical to a ruthless Berdiya (wolf) ensuring not even the scent of another male besides himself brushes against his own female.

Kamal trusted his intuition. He had rolled around in the most hazardous battlefields for over ten years, and ended up surviving. The reason he could do so despite possessing the fatal weakness of being mechanically illiterate was due to an intuition practically equal to a wild animal.

That intuition was speaking. That helmet head is assuredly targeting Shuri!

Kamal let out a lengthy groan like a grizzly bear.

“Ughhh!”
Adam wasn’t a bad guy. Rather, he appeared like a good guy. Although he could not know what was what, he appeared smart and capable to Kamal’s eyes as well. He possessed a face that would pass a meeting with the parents unconditionally.
However, since there was a fatal problem.

‘He’s a robot, right?’

Right at that moment, Shuri came running over thud-thud-thud.

“Kamal, I’m taking the tool box!”

Kamal stared at Shuri with a melancholic face containing infinite affection.
He had watched her grow ever since Shuri was the size of a corn kernel. She was practically like a daughter. Perhaps precisely because of that, he was still worried even though Shuri had become an adult.

Containing such a heart, he shouted.

“Do not run. You will fall!”

“Whatever. Am I a kid?”

Knowing not even a speck of Kamal’s heart, Shuri set her bag down on the dining table and spoke threateningly.

“Mister, do not touch my bag!”

Right after, cradling a massive tool box, she ran off thud-thud-thud once more.

Kamal clicked his tongue tsk-tsk.

“In any case, she never listens to my words even through the back of her ear, right? Who does she resemble to be like that!”

At the end of clicking his tongue repeatedly, he covertly lifted Shuri’s bag cover with his pinky finger.

“I shall not listen to your words either.”

It was something done half as a prank, but the contents poured out clatter from the bag that wasn’t locked properly. The things that popped out were mostly snacks, but there was something else as well. It was something shaped like a small robot.

“Is it a robot again?”

Kamal picked it up. However, upon touching it, it felt squishy, appearing not to be a robot.
With a puzzled face, he turned the robot over. Looking again, it was a smartphone wearing a silicone case shaped like a robot.

“She explicitly loves only bizarre things like this.”

It was right when Kamal was grumbling. Suddenly, a video call arrived, and Kamal’s face surfaced grandly on the screen.

“Oh, what is this?”

Kamal pressed the call button. At that, the counterparty’s face surfaced.

Beholding Kamal, Titan spewed a curse.

-Fuck!

Kamal also hurled a curse.

“Motherfucker!”

Soon, the call was terminated.

He had slammed down a curse for now, but Kamal became bewildered.

“What was that just now?”

If Adam possessed a parent-meeting free-pass face, the guy just now possessed a face perfectly suited for being turned away at the door. Possessing a filthy impression with eyes loosely unfocused, he was not normal to anyone’s eyes.

“To the extent of making a call where faces are visible rather than just a regular phone call with Shuri, it means they aren’t in an ordinary relationship, but why on earth? Shuri, you truly lack an eye for men…!”

Mumbling a monologue that Shuri would jump up and down upon hearing, Kamal plunged into agony.

‘A robot who aligns with my tastes, or a human who fails to align with my tastes! That is the question.’