Sentimental Shower

#026

He couldn’t directly contact Yoo-hyun. But they could talk. Mr. Yoo, who was then called just Yu without a name, first learned through him that the same models could exchange messages. Occasionally, whenever Yoo-hyun’s schedule was free, he would strike up a conversation.

– About a hundred years ago, when people could still enter the sea, there was an android that disappeared after falling into the ocean.

Yoo-hyun knew more than him and was more emotional. Perhaps that’s why his way of speaking was different.

– They never found the body of an android that disappeared after falling from a bridge wearing white clothes. Model HY0912. A combat model different from us.

Sometimes, even if he didn’t respond, Yoo-hyun would talk on his own.

– Did you know that after that android disappeared into the sea, water appears in the dreams of all androids?

As befitting an artist, he had a rich imagination. It made him wonder how there could be such differences even among the same models.

– Do you dream of water too?

Yu just waited for his disposal date. That is, until Yoo-hyun, the youngest sibling and last model, committed suicide.

And after Yoo-hyun’s death, the owner went completely mad.

The owner spent his days listening to Yu’s performances and songs. Sometimes the performances would continue for over ten hours without a break.

Even when blood from his hands stained the piano, the owner didn’t tell him to stop. Yu envied his brothers while fulfilling orders. His older brothers who died before even opening their eyes, and even the youngest sibling who was so human-like that he could dispose of himself.

He wanted to dispose of himself too. But the programming in his head, designed to follow the owner’s orders, prevented him from harming himself, who was the owner’s property.

It must have been the same for Yoo-hyun, so how did he do it?

Not knowing that envy was an emotion not allowed for machines, Yu played the piano again and again. Unable to turn off his pain sensors, he felt the pain from his bleeding fingertips, but couldn’t stop because the owner didn’t tell him to.

How much time passed like that? Finally, the owner sent him out of the mansion.

‘Live.’

The owner cut the bond. He no longer had to listen to his orders.

‘Don’t get caught by the sponsors. Never. They won’t let you go.’

It felt like the sensation of them scribbling on his body was still there.

‘The sponsors know you weren’t disposed of. They’ll probably be looking for you.’

The owner continued, trembling.

‘They have eyes everywhere. Be careful. Don’t trust anyone.’

Yu came outside. It was his first time out in almost 20 years, including the development period.

He wore a mask to hide his face, identical to his famous siblings, and pretended to be human. Coincidentally, the outside world was at war, so even the city centers away from the front lines were in turmoil. No one paid attention to a single man in his 20s walking around with his face covered.

Occasionally, he saw Yoo-hyun’s face on holograms floating on the street or screens projected on old building walls. Each time, Yu adjusted his mask.

The world was dirtier and more dangerous than what was input in his head. Outdated soliciting androids that weren’t humanoid waved their mechanical arms, bumping into people and falling over, and neon signs invaded the night with various colors. Some people wore radiation protection suits of questionable effectiveness.

Seeing this place where the living and non-living mixed and moved about, Yu pulled out a word from his database.

Chaos.

Could humans living in such a world create machines that symbolize clarity?

Looking up, artificial clouds were covering the moon through illegally extracted semi-transparent power lines. After briefly observing the ominous shape of the artificial clouds, which showed a grid pattern if looked at closely, Yu moved on. A documentary was playing in the window of an electronics store in one corner of the alley.

In English, it’s called a ‘meteor shower’, right? Even in the 4th era, this phenomenon of stars falling like rain could be observed with the naked eye, but now due to air pollution…

He thought he would need a name.

***

Mr. Yoo had several regular patients, including Choco. The next day was Choco’s check-up day, so he left Eden for the first time in a while.

Yeon Tae-soo followed him closely, then took a seat in one corner of the animal hospital, volunteering as a guard just like before.

Surprisingly, Choco liked Yeon Tae-soo. She rubbed her head against his cold prosthetic hand and trembled her stiffly raised tail.

“This one doesn’t usually act cute with just anyone. It’s strange.”

Choco’s guardian was also amazed.

“Animals can recognize handsome people too.”

He answered shamelessly, but neither Choco’s guardian nor Mr. Yoo could refute it.

Choco had become much healthier now. It seemed like she just needed one last treatment. Hugging Choco tightly as she glared at Popo’s swaying antenna, the guardian expressed gratitude multiple times.

As he was preparing the medicine to be taken at home in the inner room, he suddenly paused at the faint sound of music coming from outside.

Promotional auto-scooters sometimes played music as they passed by. That was familiar enough. But why this particular song?

“Oh, it’s Yoo-hyun’s song.”

Sure enough, Choco’s guardian seemed to recognize the song.

“Who’s that?”

“You don’t know Yoo-hyun? The singer Yoo-hyun.”

“Don’t know him.”

“Why do you keep using informal speech?”

The preparation room was just partitioned off, so all voices could be heard. While the two were bickering, Mr. Yoo’s mind was racing.

‘He really doesn’t know.’

It didn’t sound like a lie.

“Look here. Yoo-hyun. You’ll recognize the face, right?”

He slightly turned his gaze outside the preparation room to peek at them. Choco’s guardian was holding out a tablet to Yeon Tae-soo.

“Um, Mr. Yeon.”

Hoping his voice wouldn’t sound urgent, he called out. Fortunately, instead of looking at the tablet, Yeon Tae-soo immediately stood up and approached the preparation room.

“Yes, Mr. Yoo. Did you call?”

“…Could you clear away these empty bottles?”

“Sure, I throw them here, right? Where it’s marked for medical waste.”

Yeon Tae-soo seemed pleased that he was being spoken to and given a task. After gladly completing the task, he stared intently with eyes asking if there was anything else to do, somehow resembling an obedient robot dog. Robot dog – he found it ridiculous even as he thought of it. It was a term that didn’t suit him at all.

“Oh, come to think of it, doctor, you look a bit like Yoo-hyun.”

“Mr. Yoo is much prettier though?”

Yeon Tae-soo responded to Choco’s guardian’s voice coming from beyond the preparation room. His gaze remained fixed on Mr. Yoo.

“I thought you said you didn’t know his face?”

“Still prettier.”

At his firm words, Mr. Yoo swallowed a dry laugh. He felt an intense gaze on his face as he pretended not to hear and continued preparing the medicine.

“What? This is ridiculous.”

“He is pretty, and the way he sometimes acts like he’s committed a sin against me, too.”

It was now unclear whether Yeon Tae-soo’s words were to himself, a conversation with Choco’s guardian, or directed at Mr. Yoo. It didn’t matter either way.

Mr. Yoo left the preparation room with the medicine bag spit out by the packaging robot. Choco’s guardian exchanged a few more words with Yeon Tae-soo, then put Choco, who was playing with Popo using her front paws, into a carrier and left the hospital.

As he was looking out at the setting sun outside, Yeon Tae-soo’s hand touched Mr. Yoo’s shoulder. Mr. Yoo didn’t shake him off.

The words “I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that” rose to the tip of his tongue. Because I’m already committing a sin against you.

***

Since he was out of Eden, he took care of a few more regular patients. There weren’t as many arthropod patients as usual. Convinced that Yeon Tae-soo’s presence was reducing his income, Mr. Yoo stared at him blankly.

“What? Hungry? Want me to buy you something?”

He shook his head at the excited question. Yeon Tae-soo stared at him for a moment before turning his attention back to his tablet. It seemed he had a lot of work to do, so it was unclear why he was hanging around here again.

Outside was peaceful. People and non-people passed through the dirty streets. The same was true for the air. Either people riding non-people, or just non-people.

How long could he be protected without being discovered as an android? It was essentially lying, so guilt was piling up and anxiety was growing.

He could give his body anytime. But somehow, he hadn’t had proper sex yet.

He could guess why Yeon Tae-soo hadn’t had penetrative sex yet.

‘It’s like saving the most delicious food for last.’

If it became clear that he was relying on him in exchange for selling his body, maybe the guilt would lessen a bit.

As he was secretly stealing glances at Yeon Tae-soo’s profile, Yeon Tae-soo tilted his head to the side once, then returned. It seemed he had received a phone call.

“Oh, why?”

Yeon Tae-soo stood up, glanced at him once, and went outside. Whether he didn’t want the conversation to be overheard, or he was being considerate about the noise, was unclear.

Not long after the call, Yeon Tae-soo came back in with a serious face.

“I need to go back.”

Since he didn’t expect Yeon Tae-soo to ask for his permission, he just looked at him once and then went back to his tablet.

“Pretty one, wait just a bit. Okay?”

He sighed inaudibly, still not used to Yeon Tae-soo’s term of endearment.

Not long after he left, an uninvited guest arrived.