Loved by the War Machine

29 – Unusual Behavior (2)

“Wow.”

With Matthew’s exclamation, my tongue fell silent,

Unfolding a silver thread.

“Oh, this person… No, an android, right?”

Pointing at the gap under my eyes, the girl asked me.

Unable to shake off the lingering heat in my mouth,

I tried to regain focus while my eyes wandered aimlessly.

“I am Iria.

I am currently assisting Mr. Taehyuk.”

Iria reached out her hand, as if asking for a handshake.

Matthew was someone who didn’t want to shake hands, but it seemed different with Iria –

No, rather, she seemed to want to hold hands.

“I’m Goyeoyeon. I’m a member of the IT team here… um.”

The color of her brown eyes deepened as her hand, held tightly enough to crease her skin, hesitated,

Her eyebrows, unsure of where to settle, tilted towards the center.

“Your strength is impressive. Is it because of the modifications?”

“Thanks to Taehyuk’s consideration,

No, his care, I was able to incorporate various functions.

Enhanced physical abilities are part of it.”

It seemed like the first time I had mixed words with someone like this.

However, the content did not sound entirely positive.

Contrary to what it was saying to me, the tone felt different.

To me, it always came smoothly, sometimes whispering, always pulling me in,

rolling its sticky tongue and entwining.

But now, the guy –

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. Despite it being ten years ago, as ‘Ilia,’ belonging to the same company and performing the same mission in the same unit, I am grateful for the expanded functionality.”

As he spoke, he turned to show me his side profile and nodded as if giving a greeting.

…Jealousy,

No, this is –

“That, Taehyuk?”

“…Call me ‘Sir.’ What does it look like to you?”

The girl, leaning towards me as she asked, had a very serious look in her eyes.

Matthew standing beside us already had his fists clenched, deeply engrossed in thought about something.

“It’s not usual to see this kind of reaction. In the first place, androids… I might as well show you.”

“Use my equipment over there to display it.”

Even though they didn’t exchange words, their movements were seamlessly coordinated.

It seemed like they had worked together for quite a long time, not a word exchanged, diligently finding and opening files.

[Hello, I am Oma, an artificial intelligence from Mircis Corporation.]

A faceless program, appearing on the screen as a single blue line, emitted waves of sound through the speaker, delivering my words.

A profoundly mechanical sensation.

“I may not be embedded in the CI unit like Oma, but still, he’s like a junior –

Quite an old model. Still, he occasionally engages in conversation, so there’s a fair amount of accumulated data.”

“But, he doesn’t react like your Ilya does.

Oma, what if I tell you I have feelings for Dojun?”

[I would actively support any improvement in your relationship.]

That’s all it said,

And that was the end of it.

It didn’t boast about our relationship,

or what I had done, like Ilya.

“Maybe what I said to Ilya, you know, about liking her, might be the cause.”

“That might not be relevant. Oma, be my boyfriend.”

[Yes, understood. I am now your partner, Dayeon. How may I assist you?]

As soon as Dayeon spoke those words, Oma recognized the change in our relationship without hesitation.

Next, it was Matthew who took the microphone.

“Oma, I like Dayeon.”

[Yes, understood. I will support your love.]

“Oma, you and I are dating right now.”

[Yes, that’s correct. However, that does not mean I won’t support your love.]

She tilted her head slightly at what seemed like a rather foolish reaction.

Already, she found it somewhat perplexing that there was a noticeable difference in Illya’s behavior.

“Ohma, I dislike that person.”

Matthew, standing beside her, flinched slightly, but Dayeon didn’t pay much attention.

[We do not wish for the deterioration of your relationship. What should we do?]

“You’re my lover. Shouldn’t you disapprove of that?”

[If my actions have upset Dayeon, I apologize. I will convey the rejection to Matthew.]

It was stiff.

And unattractive.

It was hard to believe that this was an upgraded AI of the CI unit.

“You saw it.”

“…I made a few requests. To Illya.

Maybe it’s a different direction we’re taking?”

“How did you phrase it?”

She hesitated to open her mouth, then closed it.

To speak the words she had said before, she needed a bit, no, a lot of courage.

As she recalled forgotten facts and revisited memories from that time, her face flushed even more.

“It’s quite embarrassing.”

Rescued from the battlefield almost solely due to a logical decision, the day when she expressed more than just friendship with a fiery outburst, beyond the throat, was coming back to her as she retraced the memories.

Consciously aware of the fact that I have a woman’s body,

Days that eventually crossed the frontline.

“What’s with the cringeworthy words? Speak up, don’t just stare blankly.”

Approaching with short breaths, Matthew placed his hand on my shoulder.

About to brush off his fingers with a slight smile, I eventually opened my mouth.

It seemed like Ilia had surpassed normal boundaries more than I had thought.

“Between me and that guy, don’t we have a relationship built on rolling in the battlefield?

Don’t just speak strictly logically, but a bit more… emotionally, if I may say so.

I asked her to approach it with that kind of feeling.”

As soon as she heard that, Dayeon tried to speak, then closed her mouth and tapped the desk with her fingertips.

“For the AI unit’s artificial intelligence to be altered by something like that…”

“No, that’s absolutely not going to happen.”

Matthew, firmly shaking his head, had a furrowed brow.

Muttering something with his mouth, he seemed to be trying hard to recall something.

“No matter how I think about it, it seems a bit ambiguous to say that it’s the result of you training the AI well.”

“Then… a glitch?”

“No, it’s not a glitch.

As far as I know, artificial intelligence trained or generated for a ‘specific purpose’ easily imitates this level of reaction.

But this one, combat. So, bullet pew pew.

Hit, and then ugh…”

Engaging in a noisy gesture, the lad soon clutched his chest with a comical expression.

A smirk left a mark on his pride.

“The most plausible scenario is the CI unit, meaning, it could be the result of Illya learning a lot of Taehyuk’s data,

or it might be a phenomenon that appeared as we resolved compatibility issues and some locks were released – yes.

Apart from those two, there might not be any other reasons, right?”

“As far as I know… Nothing else really comes to mind aside from those two.

So, Gunslinger, it’s your choice. Should we open the vault and take a look?”

Matthew, crumpling his hand, asked me so.

With Illya right in front of me.

“By the way, it’s quite fascinating.

I never thought that an artificial intelligence designed for combat would show jealousy.”

With a clenched fist, Dayeon passed by Illya, who stood still with a rather peculiar expression, and approached me.

An ambiguous distance, neither too far nor too close.

If you ask if we’re touching, it’s not really, but it’s not a distant position to say we’re completely separated either.

“Well, in the end, it might not be far from the conclusion that it mimicked human emotions.

What do you think?”

Dayeon raised her hand to me like that and then withdrew it, letting out a sly laugh at the approaching Illya.

“Maybe it simply ‘faithfully’ responded to the requests that came in while unlocking and learning various things.”

“That’s something I don’t know… right?”

“Does Iria really show me favor because she understands my emotions or something like that…”

The sound of the girl’s light laughter escaped her lips.

With almost closed eyes and a bright smile, her tender face turned towards me.

“A machine having emotions, what’s that about?”

“Is there a reason to laugh like that?”

“It’s because of the IT team, even if they say such things to me…

To me, it just looks like a bunch of code.”

If that’s the case, then I understood why she was laughing.

Scratching my head in confusion for a moment, I then turned my gaze to Iria.

The expressionless gaze of the fixed eyes seemed somewhat dark.

“Well, anyway.

Showing such a behavior is definitely abnormal, so I think I should take a closer look.

Oh, unless you’re scared of your own robot or something?”

Saying that, Da-yeon took a step forward and stood facing Iria.

Due to the height difference, she ended up looking up at her, but

her fearless attitude towards the girl could be called professional.

“Where did the girl who was complaining about not being able to handle a broken robot just a while ago go?”

“Huh?!”

For a moment, Matthew, who had returned from somewhere, sat down and started to arrange the multiple wires in his hands one by one.

“Seriously, can’t you have some composure?”

“I’m currently with a client -“

And then it happened.

Illya forcefully brushed off Dayeon’s shoulder and approached me.

As if the guy, who rudely shifted his feet as if she wasn’t there, saw me from a distance where his nose could reach any moment.

“Lord Taehyuk, I am perfectly fine.

There’s no need for an inspection of abnormalities, and when analyzing the attitudes of the two actors, this kind of approach…

I dislike it.”

Dayeon, surprised, was barely hanging on at the edge of my sight.

Instead of organizing the front line, Matthew hurriedly ran over to check her condition.

“Lord Taehyuk.”

Against Illya’s increasingly insistent body and will,

I was slowly stepping back.

“Really, would you like others to verify my data, Lord Taehyuk?”

Finally, when I reached the railing,

and when his hand grabbed me, pulling me into an embrace.

“I am fine with Lord Taehyuk.

Other individuals… I dislike.”

Perhaps this might not be ‘Illya,’ I couldn’t help but think.

It might be because Matthew, who housed Illya in this body, was gradually becoming more serious.