Robot vacuums, robot housekeepers, nursing robots, the variety of robots the company had produced was beyond counting. Employees rented new models every month and shared their experiences, but Yiseo had never particularly taken to robots and had never used the rental service.

Somewhat ironically, she had chosen robotics engineering for the job prospects, found it didn’t suit her, and after debating a transfer, had settled on a double major in marketing, which was how she ended up doing marketing work at a robotics company.

Even with the reduced course load from the double major, spending years studying something she had no aptitude for was grueling. By the time she graduated, she was thoroughly sick of robots. The only reason she had chosen this company was Jeong Taegyeom.

This was the company Jeong Taegyeom had founded with a group of colleagues. From the founding until recently, he had served as director of robot development, pouring himself into the work. There was not a single robot made by this company that had not passed through his hands. The previous CEO, who had recently completed a merger with a s*x robot company, had stepped down, and Jeong Taegyeom had finally taken the top position. That was right around the time the talk of Yiseo’s promotion had begun.

“Huh? What, who are you?”

Yiseo squinted and peered at the entrance to her unit at the far end of the corridor-style apartment building. In the dark hallway, a tall silhouette stood in a suit with no jacket, only a vest. With each step she took closer, the corridor sensor lights switched on one by one, and the figure came into sharper focus. The haze of alcohol cleared from Yiseo’s eyes and her gaze snapped into focus.

“Wow, it’s CEO Jeong Taegyeom.”

“……”

“Wearing a suit with your hair swept back, you really do look like a completely different person from back in school. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

The robot stood still and stared at her. The unreadable gaze resembled the Jeong Taegyeom in her memory.

“Hold on. Why would Senior be in front of my apartment…… Oh, right. I rented the robot. It’s already here. Our company’s delivery really is the best!”

Remembering that products could arrive within three hours anywhere in the metropolitan area, Yiseo looked at the android and broke into a bright smile. The robot’s expression stiffened at the sight of her. The barely perceptible shift in that blank face, as though caught off guard, was exactly like Jeong Taegyeom transplanted in front of her. She walked straight up to the robot.

“You really do look exactly like Senior Taegyeom.”

Yiseo pressed close to the robot and examined its exterior. The android released this time was on an entirely different level from any robot before it. A robot so similar to a human it was indistinguishable, more human than a human. Nowhere else in the world was making a robot this close to a person. There were even rumors that Jeong Taegyeom had delayed taking the CEO position all this time specifically to build this new android. It was a prototype surrounded by that much talk. So this was not Jeong Taegyeom, but a work of art crafted by his own hands, in his exact image.

The robot’s gaze wavered again, as though startled. She smiled at it, face flushed and warm with drink.

The corridor sensor light flickered on a few beats late.

“……Kim Yiseo.”

“Oh wow, you know my name? Oh! I put it all in myself. Right, I filled everything out when I applied.”

“So I’m……”

“Hold on.”

Yiseo studied the android’s face carefully. It was Jeong Taegyeom. The person she had wanted so badly was standing in front of her, made into a robot.

The dark eyebrows, the straight nose, the eyes that left a cold, almost mechanical impression when his face was blank, the pale lips, the clean sharp line of his jaw. There was not a single thing different from Jeong Taegyeom. Word was that building this one robot had required specialists from every field imaginable. Doctors and professional makeup effects artists had apparently been brought in. It was a robot of genuinely human precision.

She brought the back of her hand to the robot’s cheek. The robot’s body gave a small flinch.

“It’s warm.”

Skin this soft and warm, and eyes that trembled as they looked at her. To think that human civilization had advanced this far.

“What should I call you……”

“……”

“I’ll call you Senior. I actually decided that the moment I won. Senior Taegyeom. The real one would probably get chills if he knew.”

Yiseo lowered her hand and held her phone up to the door lock. The door opened.

“Let’s go in.”

She pushed the door open and led the robot inside.

The robot seemed to resist for a moment, then let itself be guided through the doorway.

***

Yiseo and the android stood facing each other in front of the living room sofa.

With the fluorescent light on and everything clearly visible, the robot’s appearance was even more astonishing. Wearing a perfectly fitted suit with his hair neatly swept back, it looked exactly like Jeong Taegyeom stepping out of the office after a long day. In real life, she had only ever caught distant glimpses of him passing by at the company. His face never appeared in online articles either, so to see what he looked like, she had to dig through the gallery on her old phone. Seven years later, he had not changed much from back then. To be precise, this was a robot modeled after the version of him seven years on.

If anything had changed, it was the length of his hair, the clothes he wore, his hairstyle. Come to think of it, his features seemed more defined too. His eyes looked deeper than she remembered. So this was what Jeong Taegyeom looked like seven years later.

Yiseo gave Taegyeom’s forearm a sharp slap.

“Why did you hit me out of nowhere.”

“You’re not even a person and you’re pretending to be Senior.”

“I am a person.”

“I’ve heard. The speech patterns are identical, apparently, enough to completely confuse you with a real person. Even setting that aside, you should use formal speech with someone you’re meeting for the first time.”

“……Ha.”

The android swept its hair back, as though it had learned that habit from Jeong Taegyeom. The neatly combed hair fell slightly out of place.

“I’m not a robot.”

“What?”

“I’m Jeong Taegyeom. The real one.”

The robot looked at her with a steady, unwavering gaze. Yiseo’s expression shifted to confusion, then she studied him carefully. She opened her mouth with caution.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually……”

Then she raised one hand and pinched his cheek hard.

“There’s no way. Why would the real Jeong Taegyeom be standing in front of my apartment at this hour? I may have had a lot to drink, but I’m not so out of it that I’d be fooled by an android.”

“……”

“We’re seeing each other seven times total, right? Oh wait, six times left now.”

She let go of his cheek. A red mark remained on the robot’s skin. The skin texture really was indistinguishable from a person’s.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“We finally met, and seven times feels like too little.”

“What can you do. Your owner only gave me that much time.”

“So I’m telling you, I’m not a ro……”

“I’m glad.”

Yiseo cut the android off and let out a sigh.

“Actually, there’s something I’ve always wanted to say to Senior if I ever got the chance. I’ve been waiting for the right moment, thinking I’d say it whenever we met. I’m so relieved I get to say it to you at least, even at the end.”

“……What is it?”

The robot asked with an expectant look.

“I’ll tell you on the last day. Someone might be monitoring things in between. And at the end, everything gets reset anyway……”

Atlas Robotics’ rental robots deleted all records of their time with their owners once the rental period ended. It was to prevent personal information from being leaked. Even the information stored during the rental period was limited to only what was necessary for each function, and no one other than the owner could access it.

“Alright then, let’s set a password. How do you set a password on an android, come to think of it. Was it pressing the forehead?”

Yiseo pressed her index finger firmly against the robot’s forehead. Then she fixed it with a bleary stare.

“There happens to be a very special day this month. The password is my birthday. And my birthday is……”

“August 8th.”

“I hadn’t told you yet. Oh right, it was in the registration information. Recite the password back to me so I can confirm.”

“0808.”

“Excuse me, no formal speech?”

“The password is ‘0808.’”

The robot smiled faintly, the corner of its mouth curving as though something amused it. Yiseo patted its shoulder with a satisfied look.

“Good. From now on, accessing my personal information requires saying that number.”

The robot gave a short nod. The android that looked exactly like Jeong Taegyeom apparently knew how to smile like him too, robot or not.

“That aside, there’s something I’m curious about.”

Yiseo brought it up, and the robot met her eyes.

“Are you really built the same down there as Senior?”

“What?”

“I mean. Does your c*ck look the same as CEO Jeong Taegyeom’s?”