Sentimental Shower

#006

The police talked with Yeon Tae-soo for quite a while before leaving. From what he heard, it seemed that despite quite a few illegal aspects in Yeon Tae-soo’s business, the police were unable to do anything about it.

“Come have a meal at Eden sometime soon.”

“Ah, I’ll stop by briefly after work then.”

Only after bowing his head several times did the police officer finally leave.

Completely exhausted, Mr. Yoo buried himself in his chair and closed his eyes. He could feel Yeon Tae-soo approach and fan his face.

“The wound looks quite deep. I wonder where our Mr. Yoo got hurt.”

When he slightly opened his eyes, he met Yeon Tae-soo’s gaze as he fanned him.

“To the point of sweating this much, even.”

He wanted to tell him to leave, but at the same time, he wanted him to stay.

Although robberies were common and not particularly special, he couldn’t rely on a human he barely knew just because he had experienced such an incident after a long time.

“It’s just a scratch.”

While it might be good to be on friendly terms with someone who could even butter up the police, at the same time, he was also a human who could kill him.

‘I fucking hate androids.’

Mr. Yoo pulled his mask up tightly as he got up. He checked if the coat hanging on the hanger next to the desk was dry by touching it.

“Are you going to rest today? Where’s your home? I’ll give you a ride.”

In response to Yeon Tae-soo’s words, Mr. Yoo pointed to the back of the operating room.

“There’s a room in the back here.”

“There’s another room in this tiny building?”

He peered towards the operating room as if he couldn’t believe Mr. Yoo’s words, then shook his head.

“This won’t do. Let’s just go to my place. I’ll call a doctor for you.”

“But I am a doctor.”

“Oh my, you’re saying something that could get you in big trouble. Should I call back that police officer who just left?”

Even though he knew it was a joke, his body stiffened. Yeon Tae-soo playfully squeezed his shoulder and let go.

“Why are you so scared? Do you think I’d really report you? Then I wouldn’t be able to see your face anymore. Alright, rest here. I won’t take you with me.”

When he didn’t answer, fortunately, Yeon Tae-soo didn’t press further. He even disappeared, telling him to rest comfortably.

Left alone, Mr. Yoo wanted to rest but had something to check. He bit his lip and quietly went outside.

***

It was very hot and humid even though it was still morning. It looked like it might rain again.

Mr. Yoo carefully climbed the mountain only after thoroughly scanning his surroundings.

Although Haeya-dong was incredibly flashy, there was a small mountain just a little ways out. On that mountain was a small incinerator, a private one that would burn anything if you paid.

This was also a place Mr. Yoo frequently used. He had burned the bodies of those who had tried to rob and harm him, but ended up being killed instead, here.

The incinerator was run by a man with half his face disfigured, who couldn’t hear or speak, so there was no need to worry about being rushed. Conversely, he couldn’t ask anything either.

“The man. The man I asked you to burn yesterday. What happened to him?”

He asked just in case, but of course, there was no answer.

The incinerator owner silently did his work without even looking at Mr. Yoo. Mr. Yoo quickly scanned the surroundings.

Sometimes it would be delayed a day or two if there was a lot to burn. So the android man from yesterday might still be here.

Mr. Yoo ran towards the furnace. Heat and smoke hit his face. Covering his face with his hand over his mask, he started to sift through the pile of garbage near the furnace.

There were too many items, all mixed up in a mess, making it hard to distinguish what was what, and they were very heavy.

He was in the middle of rummaging through all sorts of useless objects, grunting. A hand was visible under one of the many piles of garbage. And a severed finger.

He had to get it out quickly, quickly. A huge pair of tongs was moving back and forth, putting the gathered garbage into the furnace.

Mr. Yoo used all his strength to pull the body. As the top collapsed with a rumble, the body came out at once.

“Cough! Haa…”

The acrid smell and smoke from the incinerator felt as if they were tearing his lungs. Mr. Yoo coughed until his face turned red before he finally calmed down.

The body was still intact. Mr. Yoo looked around and picked up a sharp piece of glass. It was sharp enough to tear human flesh.

As he was undressing the dead man, Mr. Yoo suddenly stopped. The smoke kept making his eyes sting.

He breathed heavily and just stared at the corpse for a long time.

He had intended to take out the Black Moon Stone, but now that he was looking down at it, he felt very reluctant.

Was it because of some meager sympathy for his own kind? There’s no way he could have such a thing. Such a higher emotion couldn’t possibly exist in him.

While he hesitated, the tongs approached again and started to scoop up the garbage near him.

Mr. Yoo just watched as the android corpse was caught by the tongs and lifted. The Black Moon Stone in that chest could fetch an enormous amount of money. Maybe he could even leave this neighborhood and start anew.

Yet, why did he feel so reluctant to rip open the chest of the dead and take out the Black Moon Stone?

While he hesitated, the body was eventually dumped into the furnace along with other garbage and burst into flames. The red flames were blindingly bright and hot. The body was hidden behind the flames.

“I thought you were resting because you were sick, what are you doing here?”

Startled by the familiar voice from behind, he turned around.

Yeon Tae-soo was standing there, looking at him askew. As he slightly lowered his head, the sunglasses he was wearing slid down to his nose. Curiosity gleamed in his exposed eyes.

Mr. Yoo tried his best not to look back at the furnace. The body hidden by the flames would have been burned to the bone by now in the high-temperature fire, leaving nothing behind.

He walked past Yeon Tae-soo, ignoring him. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as the smoke stung them.

Was it because he had been looking at the fire for too long? With each step, a severe headache surged, blurring his vision.

After just a few steps, his vision blurred so much that he had to stop. The symptoms seemed to be getting worse. How much longer would he have to endure this damn headache?

“Mr. Yoo.”

“Don’t come near me.”

Despite his sharp words, he could feel the footsteps getting closer. Mr. Yoo wished, once again today, that he was a combat model.

“Whoa, whoa, I’m not trying to hurt you. I’ll take you home.”

As he turned to say he was fine, his vision spun again. Yeon Tae-soo caught him as he was about to collapse.

Because of the headache, he wanted to get away from this hot and smoke-filled place quickly. That was the only reason he didn’t push Yeon Tae-soo away.

“I told you to stop collapsing in front of me. It’s not like you’re trying to seduce me.”

Almost being lifted, he got into Yeon Tae-soo’s car parked near the incinerator. Yeon Tae-soo leaned in to fasten the seatbelt before getting into the driver’s seat. He usually had a chauffeur, but it seemed he came by himself today.

The hand that wasn’t a prosthetic reached for his face. Mr. Yoo instinctively flinched, but Yeon Tae-soo’s hand just cupped his forehead, wiped away the sweat, and withdrew.

“You keep breaking out in cold sweat.”

“…There’s no need to go to the hospital. It’s just a chronic condition…”

“Yes, yes. I’ll just take you home then.”

In the midst of the terrible headache, Mr. Yoo suddenly realized something. Despite having had several opportunities to remove his mask, Yeon Tae-soo had never once tried to forcibly pull it down.

“…Hey.”

His voice seemed to be laced with heat. The tip of his nose was still permeated with the smell of burning.

“You should call me Tae-soo.”

“Why do you hate androids?”

It was just a random thought he blurted out because his mind was hazy from the headache. It didn’t mean anything.

But it seemed to mean something to Yeon Tae-soo. He couldn’t help but stiffen when he saw his profile.

He had never seen the bright blue artificial eye look so sharp. No, he had never seen Yeon Tae-soo make such an expression.

Disgust, anger. The words analyzing his emotions filled his retina.

“Well, I just hate them.”

Despite the perfunctory answer, it was razor-sharp. Mr. Yoo didn’t ask any further.

***

After a few days, thankfully, the headache subsided a bit. But the fact that he would have to live with this pain from now on was terrifying.

How long did he have left until he completely broke down?

When the chips embedded in his heart and brain start to malfunction, that’s when cognitive abilities begin to decline and physical activities slow down.

Starting with headaches, then frequent memory loss, delusions, noise in the visual display. Should he be grateful that most of these symptoms haven’t appeared yet?

Popo, who had picked up a discarded bottle cap from somewhere and was playing with it in the hospital, flashed its yellow eyes and made a warning sound.

“Doctor, are you in?”

The door opened and a man entered. Since he wasn’t carrying a cage or an animal, Mr. Yoo was about to prepare for a human consultation as usual.

“I have something I’d like to ask you.”

Observing his cautious attitude closely, Mr. Yoo finally remembered who the man was. It was that police officer from yesterday. He hadn’t recognized him because he was in plain clothes.

“…I told you I haven’t seen that android.”

“Ah, it’s not about that. It seems that Chairman Yeon has been coming here often recently…”

Why was he talking to him about Yeon Tae-soo? He must have unknowingly shown his wariness. The police officer quickly waved his hands and smiled awkwardly.

“Has the chairman seemed a bit strange recently?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

Despite his intentionally sharp response, the police officer showed no signs of backing down.

“There’s been a report of an incident at Eden recently. They say there was even a shooting, have you heard anything…?”

“I don’t know.”

When he answered as concisely and annoyedly as possible, the police officer finally nodded and half-turned towards the door.

“Um, doctor, if you notice anything suspicious or strange about Chairman Yeon’s movements… you don’t need to come to the station, just contact me directly.”

Judging by the way he trailed off meaningfully, Mr. Yoo got the gist of it.

So this police officer didn’t have the intention of investigating Yeon Tae-soo, but rather wanted to find his weakness.

“And, um… if you need help with anything else…”

Familiar signals appeared in his visual display at the subtle nuance. If he were human, he would have felt disgust.

Only after receiving his fierce glare did the police officer hurriedly leave the hospital.

Mr. Yoo closed his eyes, deeply buried in his chair. Even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t turn off the display. On the display with visual information blocked, a warning message appeared saying that physical fatigue had increased.

Humans express this feeling as ‘tiresome’. Feeling this ‘mood’ must be due to the influence of hormones. He didn’t know exactly how an android’s body mechanism worked. He could only guess based on his study of the human body.

Since most of the body structure was the same, hormone functions and such were similar, which is why sexual intercourse with humans was possible and emotion learning was easy.

He was tired of struggling to live without knowing how much of his lifespan was left, and tired of being disrespected by all sorts of human characters in this place.

The thought of discarding this body himself crossed his mind several times a day. In other words, using human expression, suicide.

When his thoughts reached that point, he wondered why humans had made androids capable of such thoughts.

Why do androids want to endlessly resemble them, picking up these miserable emotions, these useless things that even humans have discarded?

He closed the blinds with the remote control. Right on cue, it started pouring outside.