Robot Protection Zone Chapter 61

“Didi, wake up.”

I heard my master’s voice, along with a hand gently stroking my head. A touch filled with warm affection. I liked it so much that I deliberately kept my eyes closed and tossed and turned, pretending it was hard to wake up.

“Umm…”

Then, I heard a soft laugh from beside my head. Oh no, it seemed he had caught me pretending to be asleep. Still, I stubbornly kept my eyes closed and continued to feign sleep.

“You’ll be late if you sleep any longer. It’s time to get up now.”

“Okay…”

After enjoying my master’s touch for a little while, I decided I really had to get up now and slowly lifted my eyelids. As I blinked, my face still heavy with sleep, I saw my master sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking my head.

My master was sitting with the bright morning sunlight at his back.

At first, because of the light that spread like a halo, I couldn’t see his expression clearly. But as my vision gradually came into focus, his face also became distinct in my sight.

My master was looking at me with a gaze that looked as if honey would drip from it.

It was an excessively affectionate, unsettlingly soft gaze. Had he been looking at me with those eyes this whole time?

Flustered, I froze on the spot. I hesitated, not knowing how to react, and ended up forgetting my morning greeting and hiding my head under the covers.

“Didi, I can’t let you sleep longer just because you do that.”

“Oh, that’s not it. I’ll get up.”

Fortunately, my master didn’t seem to notice that my reaction was strange. I got out of bed hesitantly, but in the end, I couldn’t meet his eyes and left the room as if I were running away.

It was a commute to work just like any other. I was preparing to get out of the car as I watched the company building get closer and closer in the distance, but the car drove right past the company I saw outside the window.

“Huh?”

I turned back to the receding company building, bewildered.

I looked at my master in confusion, and then I belatedly remembered what he had said in a low voice last night.

Right, he said he would be busy starting today. That must mean we had another destination.

“Master, where are we going today?”

“The factory. There’s something I need to check.”

“The factory?”

“Yes. It’s where the new humanoid model is being produced.”

“Ah… that robot…”

I remembered a conversation I had with the prototype in the underground lab around the time the development of the new humanoid model had just been completed. Come to think of it, he had said they were already taking pre-orders.

My heart felt complicated for no reason. It was a feeling I had never felt toward Sofia or the other robots, but strangely, just thinking about that new model made me tense up. Perhaps because it looked similar to me, I couldn’t help but feel like it was a competitor.

This must be what they call a sense of rivalry.

I’m anxious and worried that my master’s attention will be stolen away. Seeing as I feel this way, it definitely seemed to be competitiveness.

But if I told my master this, he would surely find it absurd, right? In the first place, that new robot model was so competent that it couldn’t even be compared to me. Honestly, if I, who can’t even cook properly, said I felt a sense of rivalry, I think even I would scoff.

Soon, we arrived at the factory. We must have reached the outskirts of the city at some point, as there were hardly any tall buildings in the vicinity.

As I got out of the car and looked around, someone came rushing out from the factory.

“Good morning, Chairman Spencer. I hope your journey here wasn’t uncomfortable?”

“Forget the useless pleasantries. Let’s check the site right away.”

“Yes!”

The man seemed to be the manager here. He greeted us with a respectful attitude and then guided my master and me into the factory.

The shoulders of the man walking ahead were completely stiff with tension. I quietly watched him, sympathizing with how he felt.

I was scared of my master at first, too. His first impression was so cold that I was even hesitant to speak to him, and his icy gaze made me constantly read his mood and shrink back. He had become much gentler these days, but he still wore a cold expression in front of people other than me.

‘It’s huge…’

The factory was as spacious on the inside as it was on the outside.

Since it was an unfamiliar place I was visiting for the first time, I felt like I would become a lost child if I lost sight of my master. I trotted closely behind my master to avoid getting lost. At the same time, I didn’t forget to roll my eyes and look around at my surroundings with curiosity.

Before entering the main part of the factory, everyone put on a safety helmet. I also pushed a round helmet onto my head and examined my reflection this way and that in front of a mirror.

Suddenly, I felt a gaze from somewhere. But before I could turn my head to see what it was, I spotted my master’s reflection in the mirror and froze.

My master was looking at me. His gaze was so precisely aimed at me that it wasn’t easy to pretend I didn’t know and look away. I lowered my head while pressing down firmly on the helmet, but I couldn’t hide my blushing face.

Whenever my master suddenly looks at me like that, I get flustered, not knowing how to react. My heart pounded as if it were broken, making a loud noise over and over again. It was a relief that the sound of my heart was buried by the loud noise of the machinery coming from inside the factory.

After a simple safety procedure was completed, we walked toward the inner part of the factory.

There were almost no people or humanoid robots inside. It seemed to be a fully automated factory, as the only things moving here were the huge machines that assembled the humanoids.

Although I had come along for my master’s work, I was busy looking around like I was on a field trip. This place was full of fascinating things. Were Humanbots like me made like this, too? I watched, taking in the process of how a robot was made, one step at a time.

“What about the parts supply?”

“It’s proceeding without any issues.”

While my master was talking with the factory manager, my mind was entirely focused on the other machines.

The huge machines lined up next to the long conveyor belt were magnificent, precise, and cool. They looked a bit scary, but I somehow felt like they would answer if I tried to talk to them.

I cautiously approached a machine and offered a small greeting. Naturally, no reply came back. Feeling a little awkward, I pretended to be looking at the machine, then returned to my master’s side.

“Is this the last part?”

“Yes. This is where the finished products are gathered.”

As we walked along the conveyor belt, a large space appeared.

It was a strange scene. The humanoids were inside transparent boxes perfectly sized for their bodies, packaged side by side like items that had just finished preparing to be sold. It was a scene that really brought home the word ‘product’.

I passed by them with my master. The powered-off robots stood with their eyes closed and without a single movement, but they exuded a lifelike quality as if they could start breathing and moving at any moment. All of them had the same appearance and a prim, upright posture. Because of that perfection, I felt a sense of distance.

My master walked past them, examining them one by one, then stopped in front of one robot. After looking at the robot for a long time, my master spoke.

“This one is defective. Scrap it.”

My eyes widened at my master’s words as he calmly delivered his assessment. Even more surprised than the factory manager who was there with us, I asked my master.

“S-Scrap it?”

“Its body’s balance is slightly off. It’s faster to scrap it than to disassemble and reassemble it.”

“But…”

It was a robot that would work perfectly fine if it were just turned on, yet its disposal was decided in an instant for such a trivial reason. Now that robot was fated to disappear forever without even being powered on.

I silently closed my mouth. My master sometimes had these cold moments that made him feel distant.

“This is good enough.”

After looking around the factory once, my master seemed generally satisfied and wore a faint smile as he looked at the new products.

Seeing that, the anxiety I had been suppressing in a corner of my heart began to creep back up. My master had clearly said he had no intention of getting a new robot, but without realizing it, I kept imagining my own position becoming precarious.

Feeling my lips go dry, I furtively watched my master. He was a fickle person, so he might suddenly change his mind and say he was getting a robot. After imagining the new humanoid standing by my master’s side instead of me, I quietly approached him and opened my mouth.

“Master, I know that I’m less useful than the new humanoid… but you’re not going to get that robot, are you…?”

At my small, mumbled words, my master stopped walking and turned to look at me. When he saw my utterly gloomy face, he raised an eyebrow and answered.

“Didi, that’s just an ordinary humanoid, and you’re a Humanbot. What are you getting so dispirited for?”

“……”

My master reacted as if such a thing would never happen, but I wasn’t reassured. That was because I still didn’t quite understand what made Humanbots special compared to other robots. To me, they all just looked like the same kind of robot.

As I remained silent with a still-dark expression, my master asked with a slight smile.

“Are you jealous?”

“What?”

My eyes widened at the word that came from my master’s lips. Jealousy? I quickly shook my head.

“N-No. I’m just…”

As I tried to deny it, my words caught in my throat. I realized it only then. The feeling I had been experiencing since a while ago was indeed jealousy. Not a clean emotion like competitiveness, but a selfish desire for my master to look only at me and not at other robots.

“Yes… I guess I am…”

I nodded my head, readily admitting it. It felt like just yesterday that I was desperately trying not to be abandoned by my master, yet now that he had cherished me a little, I was getting jealous without knowing my place… Even I thought it was pathetic, and my face flushed hot.

I walked with my gaze fixed on the ground. Then, along with my master who seemed to be in a particularly good mood, I quietly left the factory.