"Wait here."
He left Jo Sehui at a certain distance and approached the guards alone.
The moment he stepped within exactly 20 meters,
their eyes flashed with a red light.
[Warning: No weapons allowed when approaching the restricted security zone.]
"I will disarm."
He unclipped the Monomolecular Blade, raised it to show them, then placed it on the ground.
From behind, Jo Sehui's extremely anxious voice rang out.
"Th-that's enough, right?"
"It is an action I have tested before. It's fine."
"Really…? Then why can't I approach? I don't even have a weapon."
"Humans are not permitted. As for the reason… ask them."
"W-What? Ask them?"
He walked through the main gate of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea.
The two androids merely stood in place without any reaction.
He approached one of them and spoke.
"Guard."
[Salute. Do you have business?]
"Which unit are you affiliated with?"
[This unit is a security android belonging to the Ministry of National Defense Security Company of the Republic of Korea Army.]
"What is your mission?"
[First. Exclude humans from the security zone.]
[Second. Defend security personnel autonomously.]
[Third. Do not receive any mission other than the first and second.]
"You heard that?"
As he spoke, he turned to look at Jo Sehui.
She was staring at him with her mouth hanging open.
"How is this actually working…?"
"These units are fundamentally designed to treat civilians kindly and answer questions."
"…So they're massacring people, but the principles are still the same?"
"Correct. The base algorithm is identical. Only those three rules you just heard were added."
"It's not even some Three Laws of Robotics…."
Her reaction was gradually shifting from fear to disbelief.
"This is the true nature of the infection. All androids are in this state."
"My god… it was something this simple…."
"The manipulation itself is extremely simple. The problem lies in how it was done—it surpasses the domain of conventional engineering."
"But if it's this simple, there must be loopholes."
"There are. Even now, they are exposing one. Because their exclusion target is limited to 'humans.' They never anticipated the existence of a hostile android like me."
The moment he finished speaking, he shot his hand upward at extreme speed.
A fist aimed at the guard's head.
He described it as merely 'very fast,' but its velocity was close to the speed of sound.
It was fast enough to generate a localized sonic boom and shockwave.
[!!]
The guard reacted instantly.
It detected the sudden surge of kinetic energy,
and raised its arm to block at a speed impossible for any human—
Crack-!
But his other hand had already pierced through its abdomen.
The moment he destroyed the power core, the android's artificial muscles immediately lost strength.
As its body went limp,
the emergency power in its head attempted to broadcast the situation.
[Emergency. Emergency. Hostile act detected. Switching to defensive action imme—]
"Quiet."
He crushed the speaker module and turned.
Jo Sehui's eyes were wide with shock, though she had yet to scream.
From the opposite side, the other guard was charging toward him.
It was armed with an electric shock baton.
Fighting barehanded would be difficult.
He immediately extended his hand toward his blade.
Though it lay about 20 meters away, that distance was easily covered by directional electromagnetic force.
Shrrrng—
The blade flew into his grasp.
The instant it landed in his hand, he drew it with his other and drove it straight into the center of the enemy's torso.
[Threat eliminated… failure… requesting… support…]
The guard spasmed out a few broken words before collapsing.
The moment the blade pierced the power core, it seemed to have caused a shock.
Jo Sehui appeared equally shocked.
"Waaah! Why the sudden overdrive attack?!"
"Since we came this far, I decided to clean things up."
"Couldn't you have done that when I wasn't here?"
"You may come over now."
"W-Why would I…."
"Don't you want a closer look? There is a military android here."
"…Heeh…."
The Jo Sehui who had been unable to move a step just moments ago now crept forward.
She crouched beside the guard android and poked it with her fingertip,
then her eyes sparkled as she let out an exclamation.
"Wow… so this is military-grade? They layered artificial fiber muscles with an exoskeleton. With this structure, most impacts would be nothing."
"They boldly omitted any human-like exterior. Can you even call this an android? Well, I suppose the limbs are shaped the same…."
"The combat boots are fully integrated. I never even considered a structure like this…."
Left alone, she was gradually slipping deeper into the world of an engineering student and android enthusiast.
After listening for quite some time, he decided to conclude.
"Are these units usable for research?"
"Yes, yes! They're perfect!"
"Then let's take them."
"Ooh, we can take them? That's grea… but…."
As she spoke, Jo Sehui looked up at him,
then back down at the guard.
"…Is that really okay? I mean… aren't these androids kind of like your own kind, Alpha?"
"As if. They are merely enemies."
"Still… when humans conduct research on human corpses, there's a strong sense of aversion… so I wondered if you might feel the same."
"? Why would I? They are identical to toasters. In that they are machines designed solely to perform specific purposes."
"…I see."
Jo Sehui rose with a slightly subtle expression on her face.
At that time, he could not understand the emotion contained within it.
After pondering something for a moment, she looked into his eyes and asked,
"Then is there any difference between you and a toaster, Alpha?"
"...."
The sudden question she threw at him would later give him something to contemplate for a very long time.
She probably had no idea that he would spend thousands of years thinking about the answer.
In any case, at this point in time, he could not give a proper reply.
"…I don't know. I believe there is. At least as much difference as there is between a toaster and a human."
"Pfft…!"
Jo Sehui burst into laughter.
It seemed she rather liked that answer.
"You're right! I don't really know either!"
She spun around lightly and looked up at the sky.
"I've had way too much fresh air today. Let's hurry back. Home."
She waved her arms and legs in exaggerated gestures.
It took him a moment to realize that the place she called 'home' was the library.
Throughout the 76th Iteration, he lived together with Jo Sehui.
It was for about two years, until the Mountain Lord invaded southward.
During that time, many things changed.
For example, forms of address.
"Alpha oppa, don't you have anything to do today?"
At some point, Sehui had begun calling him oppa.
At first, she had boasted about being older than him.
"Lately you've been calling me oppa."
"There's something called visual rank, you know. Anyone would think you're the older one."
"Not because you realized the gap in mental age?"
"Nooo— anyway, do you have anything to do?"
"I will be going to Gangwon Province this afternoon."
Some of you might think he spent all day buried in books.
He simply hadn't mentioned it, but he had quite a lot to do.
Was that not evident just from what Sehui enjoyed?
"Then you have time now! Let's go eat!"
When it was mealtime, Sehui liked dragging him to a restaurant.
People who saw her walking around with him for the first time usually reacted like this.
"H-hey, look, it's an android… and that woman!"
"I heard there's a crazy woman who's best friends with a killing machine…."
"Shh, quiet. They'll hear you."
Unfortunately, if someone was within his field of vision, there was no way he would fail to hear their voice.
Even if they made no sound at all, he could read their lips and detect vocal cord vibrations.
"Sehui. Are you really all right? I'm worried you might become isolated from associating with me."
"Oh please. Don't underestimate me, oppa."
"Hmm?"
"Even if I didn't hang around you, I'd still be isolated."
"…Is that so. Understood."
He hadn't realized it at first, but Sehui's interpersonal relationships were almost on the same level as his.
However, she did not regret that at all.
Most of her interests were focused on androids.
Murmur, murmur—
The place they always went to eat was the university student cafeteria.
In this era, schools were representative refugee shelters,
and the student cafeteria was the most convenient way to supply nutrition to refugees.
"Whoa! Why is that here?!"
"D-don't make eye contact…."
At first, when they entered, people parted like a receding tide.
Even the food distribution line disappeared entirely,
so they received their meals at ease.
"I don't know why everyone makes such a fuss. Is it going to eat them or something?"
Sehui chose to stand confidently on his side.
After always sitting in the same spot,
they would begin eating and chatting at the same time.
"Ooh— today's curry tastes pretty good! I wish you could eat too, oppa."
"I agree. I only know what taste is as data."
"You don't have taste sensors?"
"I do. But what I interpret from them is merely data. I cannot call that true 'flavor.'"
"Hm… I think a little differently."
Sehui pushed the carrots aside as she spoke.
"What humans feel is data too, after all. It's nothing more than electrical signals sent from the tongue."
"Is that so…."
"The brain interprets that data very differently for each person. Wouldn't it be the same for you? You just have your own way of interpreting it."
"I see. But eat your carrots too. The nutrients in carrots are also essential for humans—"
While they were chatting like this,
people who had been sitting at quite a distance gradually began choosing seats closer to them.
Probably because seating was limited.
"That android… it can even hold everyday conversations…?"
"Come to think of it, there used to be lots like that before The Situation. People living at home with androids. Some even got married."
"Right, it was a trend for a while! Android-human weddings!"
"But all those people, the moment The Situation began… they were cut down. By their spouses."
"Ugh…."
In truth, he felt considerable pressure about coming to the cafeteria.
To people whose trauma regarding androids had piled up,
he would be nothing less than a trigger.
Sehui looked into his red eyes and said,
"…It's getting better."
"What is?"
"Those people. At first, they would panic just at the sight of you. But now they at least talk about you."
"They seem to be insulting me… is that really fine?"
"Of course! They'll get closer over time."
Sehui was right.
Over several months, people gradually stopped being afraid of him—of them.
Later, they even ate at the table right next to them.
And after several more months, some people came over and spoke to him directly.
"…Excuse me, are you the android who defeated
"Thanks to you, we were able to annihilate the Transformers. Thank you…!"
At times like that, Sehui would fold her arms and smile faintly as she said,
"See? People are finally acting like people. They even know how to be grateful."
She looked proud, as if it were her own achievement.