Robot Protection Zone Chapter 22

Hoping my master might come back, I decided to wait a little longer, crouching in front of the café.

Every time a car passed on the road, I would raise my head cheerfully, wondering if it might be my master, but the cars, far from slowing down, just sped past me. Then I would become sullen again, hugging my knees and squatting down.

I wonder how long I waited. I pushed my tired body up, brushed the dust from my knees, and turned my steps in the direction opposite from the house.

If he finds out I’ve disappeared, will my master come looking for me?

I’m not sure. He might find it a bother and never look for me for the rest of his life….

“It’s cold…”

I wrapped my arms around myself. Of all days, I had worn thin clothes today. They were fine during the day, but when night fell, the temperature dropped sharply, and a harsh wind seeped through my clothes.

Boom—.

The moment I took a step, huddling my trembling body, the sky lit up brightly, and the sound of fireworks came from afar.

When I lifted my head, a small fireworks display was starting not too far away. Suddenly, I remembered the fireworks I had watched with my master on the cruise ship.

Unlike this dark and lonely place, the place where the fireworks were going off looked bright and warm. Without realizing it, I walked toward that light.

“…”

After walking a little further, a small park appeared. There, a family was gathered, laughing and chatting while setting off fireworks.

I sat on a bench in a corner of the park and blankly watched the scene.

A close-knit, happy family.

I was envious. Could I ever have a family like that?

The images of my master, Sophia, and Eve living under a warm roof passed through my mind in succession, but it was difficult to picture myself there with them.

Right, for an abandoned robot… I shouldn’t have such excessive expectations.

But what if I was abandoned again this time…?

My heart grew heavy.

The sound of the fireworks lighting up the sky unsettled a corner of my heart. Feeling my eyes sting, I buried my head between my knees to hide my blurring vision.

“Haaah…”

Getting out of the car, William let out a long sigh as he stretched his stiff body.

He had received an urgent call while he was out and had been dealing with the problem, and before he knew it, it was the middle of the night. He dragged his tired body and opened the front door.

“Welcome, William.”

“Everything was fine, right?”

“Yes. It was.”

He took off his overcoat and handed it to Sophia, who greeted him in her usual stiff voice. He was about to go straight up to the second floor when he heard a strange sound from behind him.

Thud— thud—.

The sound of something hard hitting something else.

When he turned around, he saw Eve repeatedly bumping her body against the front door.

“What’s wrong with her now.”

Has she already broken down when it hasn’t been that long since I brought her here? What a pain. I should scold Didi for not managing her properly, I thought….

Wait, Didi?

“…Damn it.”

He belatedly remembered Didi, whom he had left at the café.

“William, are you going out?”

“I left Didi behind. I’ll be right back with him.”

“Understood.”

William hurriedly put on his overcoat and went outside again.

He drove quickly, heading for the café he had gone to with Didi during the day. But it was late at night, and the café had already closed.

“Didi!”

Didi was nowhere to be seen near the café. He got out of the car and called his name several times, but no answer came back.

“I told him to wait here, so where did he go.”

Seeing that the house was empty, he hadn’t gone back. I didn’t see Didi on the way to the café either. Did he get lost trying to go back home? Or… was he kidnapped after they found out he’s a human-bot? His thoughts chased each other in circles, and his mind became a jumble.

—Boom.

Far away, in the direction of a small park, a firework shot up into the sky. For a moment, the scene of watching fireworks with Didi on the cruise ship flashed through his mind.

‘Could it be?’

William quickly made his way to the park.

In the park, a family was enjoying a small fireworks display. As William scanned the area, a familiar silhouette, huddled and crouched on a secluded bench, came into view.

Ha, found him.

“Didi!”

When William called his name, Didi slowly raised his head. And the moment his eyes met William’s, who was looking at him, his large eyes trembled greatly.

“Master…!”

Didi’s dark pupils quickly became moist, and then tears welled up in his eyes.

Didi shot up and ran to William, throwing himself into his arms. William, finding himself holding Didi who was burrowing into his chest, was taken aback by the desperate way his arms clung to him.

Didi’s body was as cold as ice; who knows how long he had been waiting in this cold place wearing thin clothes. The small body that fit in his arms was trembling violently, so William quietly clicked his tongue, took off the jacket he was wearing, and draped it over Didi’s shoulders.

“If I was taking too long, you should have gone home. Why are you in a place like this?”

“I thought… you had abandoned me, Master…”

Didi sobbed and mumbled. His pronunciation was completely slurred, so it was difficult to understand everything, but he could guess what he was saying.

William let out a long sigh and held the still-shivering Didi more tightly.

I was going to scold him as soon as I found him, but seeing him like this, I can’t even get angry.

“Hic… sob….”

Didi wept sorrowfully in his arms. His hunched shoulders kept heaving, so William silently pulled Didi closer to warm him up.

The park gradually grew quiet. The family that had been enjoying the fireworks was also tidying up one by one and slowly preparing to leave.

“Let’s go back. The fireworks are over, too.”

“Yes…”

William took the sniffling Didi’s hand and quietly returned to the car.

Under the dim interior light of the car, Didi’s face was completely red, from his eyes to his nose. Noticing his hands, red from the cold, and his body, trembling minutely, William silently turned up the heat inside the car.

All the way back home, Didi, who was seated in the back, just kept sniffling. He had every right to resent his master for leaving him alone in a cold place for so long, but he showed no sign of it and just cried.

Because of that, William’s guilt only grew larger. In any case, it was his fault, so he couldn’t order him to stop crying, nor did he want to apologize to a mere robot.

William glanced at Didi for a moment, then fixed his eyes on the road ahead again. A strange silence filled the car.

“Welcome, William, Didi.”

“I’m back…”

Didi was still sniffling softly as he entered the house. Still, he seemed somewhat relieved to have arrived home, as the sound of his crying seemed to have quieted down a little.

“…”

— 🙁

Seeing Didi come into the house sniffling, Sophia and Eve stared at William without a word. For some reason, it felt like the emotionless robots were blaming him, and his conscience pricked him for no reason.

“What are you looking at?”

When he snapped at them irritably, the two robots finally turned their gazes away at the same time.

William sighed and went up to the second floor with Didi. However, once upstairs, Didi headed toward his own room, not William’s.

William watched him silently, then opened his door and went into his room without a word.

As always, Didi would finish getting ready for bed and brazenly come into William’s room. That was only natural, as Didi had slept in William’s room that way every single night until now.

But even after a long while, Didi didn’t come.

William decided to organize the documents he had to deal with tomorrow while waiting for Didi. As he worked mechanically until the firmly shut door opened, the clock had already struck one in the morning.

There were no more documents to check. No, in the first place, the work had been finished a while ago. William tapped his fingers on the desk, then finally shot up from his seat and went to sit on the bed.

“He came to sleep with me every single night…”

The night grew deeper. He was going to forgive him if he came even now, but Didi showed no sign of coming. William, who had been waiting with his eyes open, finally couldn’t stand it anymore and headed for Didi’s room.

“Didi!”

As he threw open Didi’s firmly closed door and went in, a small lump on the bed, curled up in a ball under the covers, flinched, as if startled. A moment of silence passed. When he waited patiently, Didi poked his head out from within.

“Master…?”

He thought Didi had stopped crying after arriving home, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. His voice as he called out to him was extremely hoarse, as if he had been crying continuously. His face was wet with tears and a complete mess.

Seeing that, William muttered a quiet curse and roughly tousled his hair.

“Didi, come here.”

Didi hesitated, got out of bed, and then approached falteringly.

“Why did you call me, Master…?”

William narrowed his brow. The distance between them was subtly greater than usual.

Was he protesting, showing that he was upset that I had forgotten him? It was obvious he was deliberately keeping his distance. William looked at Didi with a displeased expression before asking.

“Did you put ointment on your arm?”

“No…”

Didi hunched his shoulders completely, as if expecting to be scolded.

William instructed him to bring the medicine. Didi picked up the ointment from the table, opened the cap, and tried to apply it himself.

“Who told you to put it on yourself?”

William approached and snatched the ointment from Didi’s hand as if stealing it. Ignoring Didi, who looked up at him with a startled flinch, William began to apply the ointment himself.

“Stay still.”

“Yes…”

Didi winced as the cold ointment touched his wound. Did even something this minor hurt? William eased the pressure on his fingertips even more and gently applied the ointment.