#074
The KW0911 model exhibits a unique pattern of malfunction. As its functions deteriorate, the unit releases learned emotions without filtering. It becomes more human-like.
This pattern has been rarely observed in other high-end humanoid android models besides KW0911. The cause of these symptoms remains unknown.
However, a very small number of models showing these symptoms have exhibited “runaway” syndrome. This syndrome, called “runaway,” is characterized as follows:
*From “Humanoid Management Studies”*
After some time, the bleeding stopped, but the wound was deep and there had been significant blood loss. Yeon Tae-soo desperately wanted to take him to a hospital, but Yoo Seong-woo adamantly refused.
With a face turned pale, he stubbornly insisted it wasn’t necessary, that he was fine, and Yeon Tae-soo simply couldn’t force him.
He could use force to drag him there. Taking a man smaller than himself and weakened by blood loss wouldn’t be difficult at all. But he couldn’t bring himself to grip and pull those trembling hands.
Yoo Seong-woo kept trembling. Yeon Tae-soo wondered if it was due to the blood loss, but even considering that, his expression was worryingly poor. He seemed terrified.
‘What is it that you’re so afraid of?’
Yeon Tae-soo’s blue eyes sank with the weight of this thought.
Fortunately, Yoo Seong-woo’s medical robot Popo didn’t take long to bring back blood packs. While Popo administered the injection and blood transfusion, Yeon Tae-soo sat beside him, arranging the blanket and continually checking his temperature.
His complexion improved somewhat after the transfusion. The trembling also subsided considerably. But the anxiety in his dark eyes remained.
Yeon Tae-soo’s hand grasped Yoo Seong-woo’s. Though some dark traces remained, the color had returned considerably thanks to the antidote. However, the calluses and small wounds were still there. His hands hadn’t been like this before.
When their eyes met, Yoo Seong-woo averted his gaze. Was it because he disliked him? Seeing his face first surprised then blushing, Yeon Tae-soo realized that wasn’t the case.
Lying in bed and avoiding his gaze, Yoo Seong-woo seemed more comfortable than before. The anxiety that had been constantly present in his eyes was now gone.
‘Why… why do you… only seek me out at times like this? When I can’t… push you away…’
The words he had heard earlier kept circling in his mind.
All the expressions Yoo Seong-woo had shown him, those eyes burning with the desire to live, came to mind one by one.
The face looking up at him with fever, the deep emotion conveyed through those eyes, his body temperature lower than his own, the gentleness of shoulders leaning against him, and the careful touch he offered. And the Centimenade medicine bottle hidden under the mattress.
All of it culminated in one conclusion. Clear enough that anyone who wasn’t a fool could see it.
Feeling his forehead growing hot, Yeon Tae-soo closed his eyes tightly once, then opened them.
“Seong-woo.”
At his careful call, the averted gaze slowly turned back to him.
“I don’t know how you ended up injured like this, or why that doctor didn’t even stop the bleeding until blood pooled on the floor.”
Yoo Seong-woo’s eyes wavered. There they were again, those wavering eyes. When facing those eyes, Yeon Tae-soo felt his own balance completely collapsing.
All concepts he knew became useless. The moment Yoo Seong-woo entered his world, all common sense disappeared, focusing solely on him.
“But I know that you were trying to leave me again.”
The brown eyes looking up at him began to waver. He wanted to swallow that confusion. Not just the confusion, but all of his emotions, to examine each one. Would that help him understand more about him?
Would he also understand why, despite being so confused now, he couldn’t take his eyes off him? Why he looked so desperate?
“And I also know that you… don’t dislike me.”
The wavering eyes abruptly stopped. Resentment and despair overflowed in that gaze fixed on him. Yeon Tae-soo reached out and cupped his cheek. See? You don’t even avoid my touch.
“Seong-woo, I can’t let you go.”
“Mr. Yeon, I…”
The hand cupping his cheek moved down to carefully hold Yoo Seong-woo’s hand with the IV. Then he brought it to his neck.
Yoo Seong-woo’s hand touched the spot between Yeon Tae-soo’s neck and shoulder, where his pulse beat slowly. Those fingertips, slightly cooler than his own temperature, flinched as if reading the vibration.
“You need to know how wondrous you are.”
This corpse-like body smiles again, rejoices, cries, and despairs like a human. All weight shifts to you. Like a satellite that finally found its motherly gravity, moving with you as its center.
Yoo Seong-woo’s fingertips traced his pulse. His eyes widened as if sensing the pulse quickening under the skin, then filled with sadness again. Does he know? That emotions show quite clearly on his face.
Yeon Tae-soo gently placed Yoo Seong-woo’s hand back on the blanket. He lightly brushed back the bangs that had grown painfully long in his absence. Large eyes looked up at him intently. With eyes still confused. Eyes that seemed to reproach him, asking why he was acting this way.
“We need to cut your hair, my Seong-woo.”
Though he wanted to stay longer in the bedroom, he got up. Because he looked like he might cry at any moment.
“I’ll be outside. Let me know if you need anything.”
Yeon Tae-soo left the room. He slid down against the wall, feeling so drained he couldn’t move a step.
‘…Damn it.’
Why are you so difficult?
Despite both their feelings being clearly visible, he couldn’t understand why everything was so hard and difficult. In Yeon Tae-soo’s life where everything was easy and boring, Yoo Seong-woo was the most brilliant challenge.
***
After Yeon Tae-soo left, Yoo Seong-woo held his breath for a long time, covered with a blanket. He gritted his teeth to keep from crying.
He had intended to make Yeon Tae-soo believe he was dead by showing the blood pooled on the floor. If he had known Yeon Tae-soo would come so quickly, he would have postponed his plan by a few days.
It was the first time he had seen him make such an expression. Even without an emotion identification function, he could tell. Despair and fear were boiling, breaking him down.
Yoo Seong-woo couldn’t turn away from him like that. He couldn’t push him away.
Considering his body’s condition, he should have escaped even now. He couldn’t even imagine how angry Yeon Tae-soo would be when he discovered that he was an android, something he so detested. That sense of betrayal was not something he could casually imagine.
Yet he felt disgusted with himself for not pushing him away immediately and instead lying comfortably in the safe house he had provided.
Yoo Seong-woo curled his body tighter. His rounded body felt like some terrible mass. A mass that was neither human nor machine. A meaningless organism that was deteriorating even at this moment.
Even as such a being, he wanted to live.
…I want to stay by your side.
He closed his eyes and took a breath. Yeon Tae-soo’s scent flowed in under the blanket.
***
Even with continuous administration of the antidote, at some point, the toxins began to be expelled very slowly. Yeon Tae-soo couldn’t understand the cause and felt frustrated, but Yoo Seong-woo had a guess.
‘The medicine isn’t working well.’
Because he was so similar to humans, drug effects worked similarly, but since he had black moonstone and microchip functions, they couldn’t be considered exactly the same.
‘Maybe it’s because my body condition is poor.’
Still, his physical condition was much better than before. He no longer vomited black substances, and his headaches were somewhat less severe.
Except for the occasional stabbing migraines, life was fairly manageable.
Yeon Tae-soo monitored his condition throughout the day. Without asking verbally, he directly took his temperature and observed his complexion.
Those openly scrutinizing gazes made him nervous that his true identity might be discovered. Nevertheless, Yoo Seong-woo pretended to be calm.
He had to act as if this place was comfortable, as if he felt safe, so that Yeon Tae-soo would be reassured.
“Would you stop staring? You keep making me mess up when you look at me like that.”
“What’s wrong with messing up a little? I’d prefer if you didn’t do that at all.”
Even as he meticulously refolded the laundry that the washing robot had carelessly dumped out, Yeon Tae-soo’s nagging continued.
“I’d like it if you just lay down and did nothing. Looking pretty.”
“I’d look like a corpse.”
“A pretty corpse.”
He was a man impossible to win against in verbal exchanges. As Yoo Seong-woo shook his head, Yeon Tae-soo laughed out loud.
There seemed to be no opportunity to go outside. Yeon Tae-soo guarded this place all day. He didn’t leave Yoo Seong-woo’s side. If there was something needed, he would send his men to buy it. He himself didn’t step outside even once.
Was he planning to confine him here? The problem was that Yoo Seong-woo didn’t mind. He liked that Yeon Tae-soo was keeping him here out of concern. He liked that he wouldn’t leave his side.
His anxiety about not knowing when malfunction symptoms would appear coexisted contradictorily with his desire to stay by his side.
Was this also due to his body’s malfunction? Contradiction was one of the flaws humans possessed, and as he broke down, he was becoming more like a human.
The KW0911 model, discontinued about 30 years ago, reportedly showed more human-like traits as it malfunctioned. Was he like that too?
“Are you really not going to give me a carving knife?”
“No. Be patient for now. You can play the piano instead.”
Yeon Tae-soo had even brought a piano to this safe house. It was the same piano he had played at the used instrument shop in Haeya-dong market.
Did Yeon Tae-soo know that the previous owner of this piano was an android? Probably not, which is why he brought it.
Unable to ignore Yeon Tae-soo’s thoughtfulness, he had sat at the piano a few times and tapped the keys with one hand, but never played a complete piece. Partly because just pressing the keys a few times was exhausting, but more significantly due to psychological factors.
He felt uneasy about possibly resembling the previous owner who had reportedly jumped into water. It was an illogical reason.
