Robot Protection Zone Chapter 69

“A week ago, he went out and didn’t come back?”

“Yes, William.”

“You should have contacted me right away if Didi was missing!”

“There was William’s order not to report anything related to Didi.”

Hearing Sophia’s response, William felt as if he had been struck hard on the head.

He had certainly given her that instruction. But there was a reason for it.

For the time being, William wanted to keep his distance from Didi, so he stayed only at the hotel. At night, he would receive reports from Sophia about any unusual matters, and those always included every single action of Didi.

Mostly, it was about how Didi had sat on the living room sofa all day, or how he had asked when the master would return. Each time, William would imagine Didi’s sullen face waiting for him and chuckle softly.

But whenever there was a mention mixed in about him skipping meals, it would bother him so much that he couldn’t focus on work all day. William, who had been fiddling with his smartphone every night, soon realized that he was actually waiting only for Sophia’s contact.

At this rate, there was no point in leaving the house and living at the hotel. In the end, William had personally instructed Sophia not to report anything about Didi going forward.

William let out a deep sigh and ran his large hand over his face.

‘That stupid robot….’

It seemed like he had just gone out for a bit because he was bored, but for him not to return for a whole week. He must have gotten lost after going out.

William immediately checked the location tracking app. However, the location of Didi on the screen was indicated as being at home. Didi had ultimately left even his smartphone at home.

William, pressing his forehead as he sorted out the situation, came to the judgment that he should first request a search from the police.

“Sophia, contact 911.”

“Yes.”

As soon as the response ended, a connection tone rang, and an unfamiliar man’s voice flowed out from Sophia.

— This is 911. What is the matter?

“A person… no, a robot is missing.”

He had almost said “person” without thinking. William quickly corrected the word.

— Is it theft?

Theft…. William, who paused briefly to choose his words, said.

“He went out a week ago, but it seems like he got lost outside.”

— In that case, please visit the nearest police station, and we will help you with a lost item report.

“What? Lost item report?”

— Uh…. Is there some problem?

“Of course there is! That guy isn’t a lost item report…! Something more….”

William’s voice grew agitated. Realizing belatedly that he was getting angry, he calmed his heightened emotions and opened his mouth again.

“Can’t it be a missing person report?”

— Hm…. For a robot, you can only file a lost item report.

“No, that’s not just any robot! Ha, it’s a humanbot.”

— Ah….

The end of the operator’s voice coming through Sophia trailed off. He thought perhaps now they were getting through….

— In that case, we will help you with a valuable item lost report.

“Damn it! Sophia, hang up!”

William ultimately couldn’t suppress his anger and spat out a curse. Even after the call ended, he couldn’t calm his rage for a long time.

To dare try to handle Didi with a lost item report. His anger absolutely wouldn’t subside. It was true that he was a robot, but Didi was special. He was one of the few real humanbots left in the world, and he possessed emotions so three-dimensional that one could say there was no difference from a real person.

William barely regained his composure. He contacted his secretary and instructed her to prepare a search team, then plopped down on the sofa.

He imagined Didi’s figure sitting here waiting for him. He had thought he had just gone out for a walk because he was bored, but now, thinking about it, the possibility that he had actually set out to find him himself flashed through his mind.

“…Damn it.”

William, who had been thinking of Didi, muttered a curse and stepped out of the house. He couldn’t just sit still and wait until the search team brought back news of Didi’s whereabouts. He intended to search for Didi himself.

But even after wandering the streets until late at night, Didi’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

He was surely crying and searching for him near the house, so it was strange that not even a hair was visible. Could he have run out of battery while wandering? Or had he been kidnapped by someone who realized he was a humanbot?

“Damn it!”

William grew increasingly desperate. He scoured every place Didi might have gone throughout the dawn, but he couldn’t find Didi until the sun rose.

At that moment, a call came from his secretary.

“Did you find him?”

— Not yet. I’m sorry.

“Ha….”

— From the CCTV check, it seems he left the house and headed toward the city. We’re checking everything else.

Soon after, a video arrived showing Didi going out.

Summer had arrived and the days had grown hot, but the temperature difference was severe, so nights were still chilly. Yet in the video, Didi was wearing only thin clothes, with a small bag slung over his shoulder, and was hurrying out.

Cars were lined up in the garage next to him. But Didi, who didn’t know how to drive, glanced at them once and then briskly set off toward the direction of the city.

Ha, seeing Didi wandering the streets so defenselessly, it was as if the sight of him being kidnapped was vividly clear, and it burned at his insides.

“Increase the search personnel and secure all CCTV records to find out where he went. Focus the search around the last sighting location.”

— Yes. Understood.

William, who had been exhausted from searching for Didi all night, returned home.

Today, the house felt excessively quiet. It was just that Didi, who would greet him with a smile, was gone, but it felt as if the house had turned into an unfamiliar space rather than home.

William asked Sophia, who was quietly gazing at him from the entrance.

“Didi?”

“He hasn’t returned yet.”

“I see.”

William, dragging his tired body to enter his own room, stopped upon seeing Didi’s room. He turned his steps and headed toward Didi’s room.

Entering Didi’s room and flopping down onto the bed, he felt as if a faint scent of bath salts lingered in the room. Had he taken a bubble bath before leaving? Thinking of Didi enjoying a bath in warm water, smiling brightly and looking happy, a faint smile crept onto William’s face, which had been stiff with tension.

William lay on Didi’s bed without even washing up and thought of Didi. This bed probably hadn’t even been used by Didi, but since it was that guy’s room, it seemed to faintly carry a nice scent from the bed.

William, who had been worn out from searching for Didi all night, fell asleep just like that.

A few days later, the data brought by the search team felt like it was striking the back of William’s head hard, who had firmly believed that Didi had just gone out for a short walk.

For several days, even while William was desperately searching for Didi, he had been steadily heading in the direction opposite from home. At first, he thought even that cute old thing’s sense of direction had broken down, but it didn’t take long to realize that wasn’t the case.

In the CCTV footage, there was also a scene captured of a man approaching Didi as he wandered a dangerous night street and stealing the only item he had, a small bag, before running away. After tracking down the pickpocket and recovering the bag, William was able to check the contents inside.

A charger.

In the shabby small bag, the only thing inside was a single charger.

At first, he thought the thief, who had insisted that there was nothing in the bag except the charger, was lying. But looking at Didi heading in the direction opposite from home, and the charger in the bag, anxiety began to sprout in William’s heart.

Because Didi had gradually headed toward the outskirts, it had become even harder to know his location now. No matter how much of a cutting-edge era the world was, there were no CCTVs in forests with only trees, and in such remote places, there weren’t even people wandering around. William, who had at least been able to check Didi’s safety through videos, was now unable to see even that, driving him even more to the brink of madness.

Two weeks had passed since Didi left the house. For William, every hour, every minute, every second was hell.

During the day, William went to the area near where Didi was last found and searched for traces of him, and at night, he returned home, downed alcohol, and then lay in Didi’s bed watching Didi’s last video before going to sleep.

At first, he thought it was just an old thing bothering him. He thought it would be fine without such an old thing. But before he knew it, he found himself chasing even the traces Didi had left in the house. Realizing that he couldn’t even sleep properly without the faint scent of Didi that had scattered away, he searched for Didi even more desperately.

William finally admitted it. That mere old thing had properly bewitched the great William Spencer. William Spencer had fallen hard for a robot that didn’t even bleed when poked and could only express pain with its cute face.

William Spencer could make a robot just like Didi. Even if the law blocked it, if he decided to make one, no country could stop him. He didn’t know the exact principles of humanbots yet, but with time, there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.

But the even bigger problem lay elsewhere. No matter how perfectly a robot made with William’s excellent skills resembled Didi, William had already reached the point where he couldn’t settle for anything but the worn-out and old Didi.

William regretted it. Didi had stayed by his side for so long, yet the only trace of Didi was the house where he had stayed. He didn’t even have a single photo. The only way to confirm Didi’s appearance was through the blurry CCTV videos.

When at home, William practically lived in Didi’s room. He entered Didi’s dressing room, found clothes where Didi’s scent still faintly remained, and spent time hugging them. When the scent faded, he went out to search for Didi. But nowhere on the empty streets was Didi to be found.