Sentimental Shower

#034

Yeon Tae-soo took Yoo Seong-woo to another room not far away. Seeing the sofa and table, it looked like a reception room, but it didn’t seem to be frequently visited.

Yeon Tae-soo had changed his clothes, and there were no longer any blood stains visible on his side. He had said he wasn’t badly hurt; perhaps it was true.

‘It didn’t seem to be… someone else’s blood.’

If it were someone else’s blood, there should be splatters or traces of it flowing downward, not spreading from the wound. But the only blood stains that seemed to have splattered were a little visible on the hem of his pants, far from the wound.

Yeon Tae-soo looked fine anyway. Although his complexion was bad, it was strange that he didn’t look like a severely injured patient.

‘Was it my imagination?’

While staying in Haeya-dong, he had seen many patients, but most were amputees, and since he wasn’t a medical robot, his medical database was somewhat lacking.

“Do you like tea?”

“Ah… Yes.”

He answered reflexively to the sudden question. Yeon Tae-soo was already taking something out of the built-in cabinet before even asking.

Yeon Tae-soo brewed the tea himself. He was quite skillful in handling the rare tea set, cups, and tea cloth that are hard to see these days.

One eye was artificial, and one hand was prosthetic. It was quite incongruous to see a man with machine parts handling white porcelain tea utensils, but surprisingly, Yeon Tae-soo seemed proficient.

The fragrant scent of tea filled the large room. The scent of leaves also didn’t seem to fit this place. However, Yeon Tae-soo’s tea-brewing looked natural, as if he had done it dozens or even hundreds of times.

“I didn’t know you liked tea.”

Yoo Seong-woo said, feeling the atmosphere becoming heavy. Somehow, his voice seemed to disturb this place filled with the scent of tea.

“I don’t particularly like it either, but sometimes I enjoy it when I take it out to match the guests’ tastes.”

“The scent is very nice.”

“It’s expensive.”

If he were a more advanced android, or one built for practicality, he might have analyzed the scent and identified each component, but all his olfactory sensors could detect was that it was a fresh and calm scent that humans would like.

“I can’t die.”

Yeon Tae-soo said while pouring tea into the cups. Yoo Seong-woo didn’t immediately understand his words.

“I can’t easily feel things either.”

At these words, he recalled the rumors known about Yeon Tae-soo. His incredibly promiscuous lifestyle. He also remembered how he seemed not to care even when people pointed fingers at him, calling him crazy.

He picked up the teacup in front of him and slowly drank the tea. The scent wafted with the tea slowly entering his mouth. His sensory sensors also reacted slowly.

And something that wasn’t purely a sensory sensor flowed down his spine as if brushing it.

When he raised his head, his eyes met Yeon Tae-soo’s. A biological response that one might feel when encountering a predatory natural enemy appeared. His pupils dilated, and cold sweat broke out.

The face that always held a playful smile was now completely devoid of expression.

As soon as he saw the suddenly changed face, he realized. He had been acting all along.

Goosebumps covered his entire body.

Yeon Tae-soo, who had stopped acting, looked even more emotionless than himself, an android.

He drank tea with a chilling expressionless face. If it weren’t for his shoulders rising and falling with slow breaths and his eyes blinking slowly, he could have been mistaken for a statue.

“…Since when?”

Does curiosity exist for him too? Yes, that must be why he’s asking such a question.

Yeon Tae-soo didn’t ask for clarification on the subject. He simply answered.

“Since I ran away.”

The word ‘escape’ filled his mind. So you ran away too. What could have made you, who always seemed confident and fearless, always cheerful, run away?

“But you keep awakening my broken senses. This corpse-like… inhuman being.”

Yoo Seong-woo felt something stirring inside him. Something that rose like a sudden wave stirred his insides greatly.

It was a sense of kinship.

It was an emotion that an android shouldn’t dare to have towards a human, and even more so while hiding his true identity.

Without knowing where he had run from, or what his story was.

Yeon Tae-soo, with a face as stiff as others’, emptied his teacup and refilled it. Until then, Yoo Seong-woo hadn’t even emptied half of his cup.

“I started acting when I realized my body was different from others. Being different is a kind of weakness, after all.”

Yoo Seong-woo understood his words. Unlike other androids, here was a model with overly sensitive sensory sensors, feeling emotions almost like humans.

“Once I deceived myself, acting wasn’t difficult. Pretending to be crazy is easier than you’d think. Because I only had to deceive myself.”

Yeon Tae-soo drank the tea again. As if he couldn’t feel the heat or taste, his movements were dry and emotionless.

“Well, who knows. Maybe I really am crazy.”

Only then did a weak smile cross Yeon Tae-soo’s face. This time, it wasn’t an act.

Why was he so alone? Surviving in solitude without anyone to help him was similar to himself.

‘Despite being human.’

Humans live rubbing shoulders with each other, don’t they? Why couldn’t you do that?

“What do you mean by not being able to die or feel?”

“It means exactly that.”

Sensing that he wouldn’t explain further, Yoo Seong-woo closed his mouth.

He wanted to know more about him. He wanted to ask. What kind of life have you lived? Yeon Tae-soo, the human before him, was broken. Just like himself, an android.

He put down his teacup and stood up. As he leaned over the table towards Yeon Tae-soo, his scent reached his nose. There were so many proofs that Yeon Tae-soo was human. His scent, body temperature, and… even this gaze looking at him.

Yoo Seong-woo placed his hand on his cheek. Looking down from a height, Yeon Tae-soo seemed even more precarious. Perhaps he looked that way because he had stopped acting.

On his face, which no longer acted out the playfulness created by pulling up the corners of his mouth, no emotion was visible. Not even the will to live. He looked like a marionette with its strings cut.

“Didn’t you come to see my face?”

Yoo Seong-woo asked, stroking that face which looked even more like a doll because he had stopped pretending to be one.

Only then did a faint smile form on Yeon Tae-soo’s face. It wasn’t the twisted smile he usually showed. It was a real smile.

“That’s right. I came to see your face.”

“Then you should look at my face instead of the teacup to your heart’s content.”

At his words, Yeon Tae-soo lifted the corners of his mouth. The smile was sweet. He was about to ask to see the wound, to say that it couldn’t be fine without even first aid, but he closed his mouth. He remembered what Yeon Tae-soo had said earlier.

‘I can’t die.’

He looked up at him. Although his face was expressionless, he looked much more comfortable than when he was smiling.

At that moment, Yoo Seong-woo suddenly realized. He knew absolutely nothing about this man.

“You…”

Who on earth are you? Instead of asking that, he contorted his eyes.

He rushed forward and grabbed Yeon Tae-soo’s shirt, tearing it off. A few buttons from around the waist fell off and rolled away.

Normally, he would have made all sorts of strange jokes about Mr. Yoo’s actions, but this time he was quiet. He didn’t stop his actions either. As if he knew this would happen.

There was definitely a stab wound. There were still traces of bleeding on the wound. It was distinguishable among the numerous scars.

But surprisingly, the wound was healing. It didn’t look like it had just been injured, but as if several days had passed.

He looked for other places just in case, but there were no other wounds with blood stains.

And above all, Yeon Tae-soo’s gaze looking down at him was saying:

Whatever you’re guessing, what you’re seeing is correct.

He recalled the previous time when Yeon Tae-soo had come to him after being stabbed in the stomach.

Back then, he had marveled at how quickly the wound healed.

He had thought the man was just very robust and tried to dismiss it, but thinking about it now, the recovery speed was implausible. It was the same now.

At that moment, a question arose in his mind. In the database built up over a long time of dealing with humans, there was one clear statistic: Those who reveal their hand always have an intention.

“Why are you telling me this? I…”

What am I to you? What if I use your weakness against you?

“Good question.”

Yeon Tae-soo answered with a small laugh. Was it his imagination that he looked comfortable? Did he look relieved after finally revealing a secret he couldn’t tell anyone?

“Because you keep looking at me like that, I end up talking.”

Something was wrong. His database, his electronic brain must be completely broken. Otherwise, there’s no way he would feel this way, have this reaction.

“As I said earlier, you keep reviving my dead senses.”

“……”

“That’s probably why I keep looking for you.”

He wasn’t human. So these emotions were also errors.

Having come to this conclusion, Yoo Seong-woo felt something breaking inside him. It felt hot inside as if his circuits were burning out.

Yoo Seong-woo reached out to Yeon Tae-soo, and Yeon Tae-soo to Yoo Seong-woo. Their lips met, with neither being the first to initiate.