Dr. Jang looked at her quietly before speaking.
“It was unfortunate, what happened to Pluto. One thing that struck me was that you reported the incident differently from other outlets. Not as the destruction of a robot, but as the murder of one.”
Mika felt her curiosity deepen; these two clearly had examined her article in detail.
“Thank you for reading it. I believe robots also have the right to exist.”
Dr. Jang neither agreed nor disagreed.
Instead, he raised a hand.
In the air before them, hundreds of floating video fragments sprang to life—Pluto’s schematics, police photos, field footage, and every scrap of data related to the robot.
“It took ten years to complete Pluto. I never imagined those ten years would end in tragedy.”
He tapped one of the fragments.
It expanded instantly—
a high-definition interior shot of District 3, Union Office No. 1, the very place Mika had infiltrated.
“Robots must all be killed!”
The expressions of enraged union workers filled the frame—raw, frightening, unmistakable.
Mika felt a cold shock. Footage she had risked her life to capture… yet they had it effortlessly.
Their reach was far beyond anything she had imagined.
Dr. Jang merely watched silently.
“I had hoped to contribute something to humanity. Perhaps… it is not yet time.”
“So you’re saying you won’t make police robots anymore? Is that why you ordered a full withdrawal of the team?”
He gave no reply.
Mika didn’t push him.
Instead she tapped another floating video.
It expanded into full motion:
A robot carrying a man over its shoulder, sprinting across a high-elevation crane.
“There’s a report claiming the robot killed Union Leader In-cheol Cho.”
Mika zoomed in further.
The image sharpened without distortion, still crystal clear.
How did they get footage this clean?
She wanted to ask Rachel privately.
The robot’s silhouette was unmistakable—
the same battered armor, the same build… Pluto.
But Dr. Jang’s expression remained unchanged.
From his face alone, she could not tell whether the robot was Pluto or not.
“A robot killing a human? That is something the control office would never authorize. Every unit must have the Three Laws Core installed. Those cores cannot be hacked.”
“Then how is this possible?”
Mika zoomed in again—
and Pluto’s face filled the frame.
A featureless metal mask.
Black casing.
Red eyes glowing like embers.
And in Dr. Jang’s eyes—just for a moment—Mika saw something flicker.
Recognition? Pain? Memory?
She asked immediately:
“Is this robot Pluto?”
A direct question.
The heart of everything.
But Dr. Jang gave her nothing.
No denial, no affirmation, no sign of turmoil.
“Not everything you see is the truth.”
A cryptic answer—the second one today.
Mika pressed on.
“Do you feel nothing toward the union members who killed Pluto? No anger? No resentment? You’ve abandoned all your work since the case and isolated yourself here. What do you do every day in this enormous house? The place is huge for just the two of you, and the security is too intense. Are you hiding a research facility underground or something?”
She hurled every thought that came to mind, rapid-fire.
Dr. Jang watched her with an almost curious expression.
Then—
A sharp beep— a holographic alert flashed in midair.
Time for his scheduled diagnosis.
Rachel moved his wheelchair.
“Doctor, it’s almost time for your remote consultation.”
She bowed politely to Mika.
“I’m sorry. He must receive his medical session now.”
The timing was uncanny.
Mika sensed she wouldn’t get more answers anyway.
She stood reluctantly and bowed.
“Thank you for the iced lemon tea.”
“Anytime you need.”
Rachel replied as she wheeled Dr. Jang toward the elevator.
Mika tried to read his expression one last time, but his eyes were closed.
Rachel kept smiling at Mika until the elevator doors sealed shut.
Back in Leo’s car, Mika ate cup-rice with long wooden chopsticks as she rambled on.
“It was definitely Pluto who carried that man on the crane. Pluto was killed and now he’s back, so someone must have… revived him. That makes Dr. Jang the prime suspect. And yet he doesn’t react at all—not even when I show him crystal-clear footage!”
On Leo’s main screen, his square digital eyes and curved mouth displayed a puzzled expression.
“When a robot commits a crime, who is responsible? The robot, or its owner?”
“Uh… the owner?”
“What if the owner has no idea how the robot was programmed?”
“Then… the programmer is responsible?”
Mika frowned.
“So in any case, a robot is never responsible for its own actions.”
“How can a robot be guilty of anything? It only follows its programming.”
Leo blinked his square eyes repeatedly but said nothing more.
“What?”
“Then how do you explain this?”
On Leo’s monitor appeared the exterior footage of Dr. Jang’s estate.
Leo had been recording the surroundings while Mika was inside.
Under the wisteria tree’s shade stood a dark silhouette—
facing the house.
Watching Mika and Dr. Jang the entire time.
It was Pluto.
“Pluto monitored all the conversations between you and Dr. Jang from the yard.”
Mika dropped her chopsticks in shock and zoomed in.
There was no mistake.
It was Pluto.
Leo asked quietly:
“Is this programmed behavior as well?”