Sentimental Shower

#003

About 30 years ago, the mass slaughter of androids by the European Union and the Republic of Korea came to light.

The truth revealed by the deaths of android unit KW0911 and retired soldier Major “Raven” Shin shocked the world.

Since then, there have been numerous discussions. How should we treat high-end androids that look and metabolize almost identically to humans?

Humans created androids but didn’t know how to handle them.

These androids, who looked human and had cultivated skin, bones, organs, and even genitals identical to humans, were only distinguishable by parts of their heart and brain.

High-end androids cried, felt sad, and experienced pain like humans. They even begged for their lives.

After the revelation of their inhumane slaughter, laws to prevent android abuse were enacted, and the global perception of high-end androids that feel and think like humans seemed to be changing.

However, a war that occurred about 5 years ago changed everything again.

The European Union, led by a radical former military leader, invaded the Republic of Korea.

They claimed to intervene in Korean politics, stating that android basic rights were still not improved and that they would liberate the oppressed. In short, it was nonsense.

The Republic of Korea fought against the invasion and won. However, they suffered a massive loss.

The black moonstone mine in Jirisan was destroyed.

The collapse of this astronomically valuable mine caused immeasurable damage.

The Republic of Korea was the largest producer of black moonstone. The real reason for the European Union’s invasion was precisely for this black moonstone.

The world condemned the European Union, and they paid war reparations to the Republic of Korea, but it was said that restoring the black moonstone mine would take at least a decade.

After this incident, people began hunting androids to obtain black moonstone.

Even the government couldn’t stop the illegal trade of black moonstone extracted from android hearts. Thus began an era where one species hunted another.

And Mr. Yoo was living in a situation where he could be hunted at any time, while treating humans with severed fingers.

“Aaagh! Agh! It hurts so much!”

“Anesthesia is an additional 50 jeon.”

Today’s patient also came with a severed ring finger. Thanks to putting the finger in milk, as he had heard somewhere, suturing was possible.

But the suture itself wasn’t the problem. Even with suturing, there were countless other issues like infection, so the success of the surgery depended on this patient’s luck.

In this era, many things often went awry like this. Mr. Yoo concluded that he himself, performing surgeries without a medical license, was also part of this irrational flow of the world.

Treating humans like this while not knowing when he might die at human hands didn’t feel particularly strange if he considered it just part of the world’s flow.

After all, the world was full of errors. Wasn’t the existence of beings like himself, who act, feel, and even judge like humans, an error to begin with? No, even before that, life itself was already an abrupt and bizarre error.

Yeon Tae-soo returned just a day later. Even though the bandage couldn’t have gotten dirty yet, he crawled in and lay down on the large dog examination table on his own. Then he took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

“The hospital is non-smoking.”

Yeon Tae-soo ignored this, inhaled the cigarette, and exhaled smoke. Then, narrowing his eyes, he asked.

“Mr. Yoo.”

Because he had never revealed his name in this neighborhood, everyone called him ‘Mr. Yoo’. It was a title he always heard, but somehow the nuance of this man calling him sounded a bit different.

“Want to work at Eden?”

He thought there might be another quarrel today, but an unexpected question came out.

“I didn’t know Eden needed a doctor.”

“We do. We really do.”

His two differently colored eyes sparkled through the cigarette smoke. Feeling his gaze, Mr. Yoo unnecessarily pulled his mask up tighter.

Yeon Tae-soo’s gaze, as he lay lazily smoking, fell on the half-carved camellia flower.

“I’ve been curious, what’s that? Did you make it, Mr. Yoo?”

Realizing his gaze a beat late, Mr. Yoo quickly put the camellia flower in a drawer, pretending to tidy up his desk.

“…Just a hobby.”

Why did it feel so uncomfortable? Because it was imitating humans?

“A pretty thing making pretty things. Nice.”

He almost froze in place at the words thrown out without warning. He couldn’t judge how to react.

As he was about to tell him to leave if nothing hurt, Yeon Tae-soo got up and approached.

“Don’t you carve your own face? That would be the prettiest.”

There had been plenty of flirtatious people before, but this guy’s level of flirtation was different. How could he say such nonsense with a straight face?

“If you have nothing to do, why don’t you go for a run around the neighborhood?”

“Why would I run when there’s something so pretty right in front of me? It’d be a waste for my eyes.”

Yeon Tae-soo took out a business card from his jacket’s breast pocket and lightly placed it on Mr. Yoo’s crown. Mr. Yoo ignored the card falling to the floor and meaninglessly tapped on his tablet used for medical records.

“I’ll pay you a lot, so contact me if you change your mind.”

Fortunately, Yeon Tae-soo disappeared without lingering any longer.

No matter how much the salary might be, it was obvious what he’d be doing at Eden. He’d probably just be warming that man’s bed.

And if his android identity was discovered, the same hands that caressed his body would end his life.

He picked up the fallen business card from the floor and threw it in the trash, then sank into his old chair. As Popo climbed onto his knee, he stroked it.

It felt like damp humidity was seeping into his mask. Through it, he could smell the lingering scent of Yeon Tae-soo’s perfume. The rainy season was coming soon.

***

Even though Eden was the most famous and largest gambling den in Haeya-dong, not just anyone could enter.

Yeon Tae-soo strictly managed the establishment. Those without a certain amount of cash were turned away at the entrance.

Mr. Yoo, who had neither money nor interest in gambling, naturally had no reason to enter Eden. He had only admired its brilliant grandeur from afar a few times.

“Just help me this once, okay? Why did that construction job have to be scheduled on that day of all days…”

If it weren’t for Old Man Chang from the hardware store’s request, he would never have had a reason to enter.

Old Man Chang was supposed to meet a customer at Eden to receive materials, but an important construction job was scheduled for the same day.

The transaction could be handled by sending someone else, but as the technician, he had to go to the construction site himself, so he asked Mr. Yoo for help.

“This construction job pays a lot… My granddaughter has recently taken an interest in drawing… She’s going to an art academy…”

Although he tried not to get too close to humans, money was always useful, so Mr. Yoo accepted Old Man Chang’s proposal.

At Eden’s entrance, when he told the bouncers he was there on behalf of Old Man Chang, they had a long conversation on their radios before finally letting him in.

The inside of the building was even more impressive than the exterior. Each pillar had different carvings, and large windows that seemed to follow the Romanesque style filled the walls, but they were all fake, not showing the outside.

‘It’s more glamorous than I heard.’

Mr. Yoo was inwardly impressed. He knew more about art movements and historically famous works than most humans.

And it was clear that the decorations in Eden were handled by someone who had studied even more than him. Even reproductions of historically famous works were arranged according to a certain rule.

Thinking that it certainly couldn’t have been that uncultured Yeon Tae-soo, Mr. Yoo arrived in front of Old Man Chang’s customer.

The customer was a middle-aged man, playing Go-Stop with his companions in a private room.

“I’m here to receive Old Man Chang’s items.”

“Oh, yeah, wait.”

Not only did he speak informally without even looking at his face, but the man also kept Mr. Yoo standing for a long time while holding onto his four-of-a-kind hand.

“Ah, really! I lost again! I’m telling you, only my cards are weird!”

When one round ended, Mr. Yoo thought he could finally receive the items, but the man still treated him like he wasn’t there.

Judging that waiting any longer would be inefficient, Mr. Yoo approached and started rummaging around the man. He lifted the tablecloth and looked behind the chairs, and only then did the man react.

“What? What are you doing?”

“I thought it would be faster if I looked for it myself.”

When he answered in his usual dry tone, the man’s eyes flared angrily.

“How dare you…!”

Just as his hand was about to fly, there was a loud bang as the room door opened.

“B-Boss.”

The dealer hurriedly bowed. Mr. Yoo inwardly sighed. The scent of Yeon Tae-soo’s perfume invaded his mask. His head ached terribly.

“If you came, you should have said something, Mr. Yoo. Were you going to leave without a word? So cold.”

A hand gently wrapped around his shoulder. Mr. Yoo felt his tense body relax as soon as he judged that several potential crisis situations he could have faced had disappeared with Yeon Tae-soo’s entrance. In human terms, it would be called feeling relieved.

Thanks to this, he was able to safely receive Old Man Chang’s items and leave. Did he owe a debt for receiving help? Humans usually express it as being indebted in situations like this.

“Um…”

“Go on, hurry.”

However, Yeon Tae-soo didn’t demand anything in return. Mr. Yoo turned to leave only after analyzing Yeon Tae-soo’s expression as ‘favorable’.

Yeon Tae-soo stood at Eden’s entrance, waving his hand until Mr. Yoo disappeared. Mr. Yoo pressed his temples to ease his persistent headache as he moved away from the building as quickly as possible.

***

With the money received from Old Man Chang, he replaced Popo’s old parts with new ones. Excited, Popo rolled around the hospital for a long time.

“Popo is strong! Mr. Yoo is the best! Popo is strong!”

Ignoring the squeaking noise, Mr. Yoo organized the profits on his tablet. As his headache wouldn’t go away, he eventually took a painkiller. It was fortunate that painkillers worked on him, as most of his organs and metabolic activities were the same as humans.

The cheap tablet kept displaying ads. He could avoid seeing ad pop-ups by paying extra, but he didn’t want to waste money.

Of all things, today’s ad was about androids.

“How to take care of your android’s health?”

On one side, androids were dying with their hearts torn out, while on the other side, people were trying to protect such androids as private property with all sorts of security measures.

Clicking on the ad, he found symptoms of androids nearing the end of their lifespan.

Early symptoms: Headaches, frequent memory loss, delusions, noise in visual display.

Symptoms usually appear in order starting from headaches, but may vary by model.

After reading the concluding statement that one should immediately visit an android hospital if these early symptoms appear, Mr. Yoo closed the ad. The headache still remained.