u/Inevitable_Tap4252

[ 𝙂𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙬𝙖𝙣 ] ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ᴠᴀʀɪᴀʙʟᴇ
Western Cooling District 7.
"Is it impossible to replace the filter right now?" I asked the engineer.
"Yeah. Resources are extremely tight due to upper management's current policies. Besides, this robot is an old model — tracking down a perception filter layer won't be easy."

The engineer shared the information in exchange for me fixing a complex circuit.
"You might be able to get a data patch if you head to the Filter District in Sector 4. For someone at your level, clearing that delicate mana noise might just be possible."
I said my goodbyes and headed straight for the Filter District.

A path lined with densely packed cylinders.
There, I came face to face with a familiar white suit.
A chaser from the Academy — no doubt about it.
'It was only a matter of time.'

"Student No. 314 located. Activating forced retrieval protocol."
The chaser issued an order to the pet on its shoulder, then immediately fired a restraint bolt at me.
I threw myself behind a nearby cooling pipe.
A violent electrical discharge crackled across the surface where the bolt struck.
Psshhhhk —
With a sharp, piercing hiss, a surge of frigid cooling gas swallowed the surroundings.

I knocked twice on the unit's chest and signaled with my fingers.
1011101
Then shoved the unit directly into the waste outlet of Sector 9.

In the same moment — a mechanical arm lunged through the white mist and seized my body.
A chilling face pressed close and spoke.

"Student. It's time to go home."

[ 𝙁𝙪𝙯𝙯𝙮 ] ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ 0 & 1
The next day. The robot remained silent. It only beeped, refusing to speak.
I wondered if it was still suspicious of me, still keeping its guard up.

But its behavior was noticeably different from yesterday.
For instance, it would press its lens right up against my face to observe me closely.

'I guess robots recover fast too...'

I concluded there was likely a malfunction in its language system.
I sat the robot down and established our own way of communicating.

"If you can't speak, send a signal. Since I fixed your casing, output should still work."

I placed my finger near the robot's lens to set the standard.
"The brightest light means '1' — that's yes. If the light goes out, that's '0' — no."
The robot's lens glowed brightly.

"And if it blinks, that's '0.5'. Let's use that for 'I don't know,' or anything in between."
The robot looked at me with a dim, unfocused glow.
"No! I said blink — haha."

"My name is Zero. From now on, your name is Unit (1). Because you're the first one I ever found! Nice to meet you."

---
This time is just a cute song 😜

[ 𝘼𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 ] ᴘᴀʀᴀʟʟᴇʟ ᴍɪɴᴅ
An abandoned ruin near a scrapyard.

I moved the robot somewhere safe and began the diagnosis.
The robot seemed exhausted — only a faint light flickered in the dark.

I started by removing its core.
Then I searched the scrapyard for a lightweight body, stripped it down, and repainted it.
The shell was repaired.

But the core was still a problem.

What should I do...?
Nothing's coming to me right now.

When the answer won't come — you have to step outside the rules.
That's the only way to see the whole picture.

I pressed my hand against the core. The temperature was normal, but something felt off — a faint, irregular vibration humming beneath the surface.
I flicked it lightly with my finger. A grinding sound echoed from somewhere inside.
The filter. Something was wrong with the filter.

There's no shortage of engineers in the West. I'll find one and ask.

I set the robot by my bedside and finally let myself sleep.

[ 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧 ] ꜱʜᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ
A hiss. The glider touched down.

"Where am I?"

I had left all my equipment behind to slip away undetected, so there was no way to pinpoint my exact location. When I was coming down, I could see the Hand of Offering over that way — so this must be the northeast side.

I took a moment to survey my surroundings.
An acrid, burning smell hung in the air. I followed the trail of glinting scrap metal.
This was the Disposal Zone of Sector 9.

Wedged inside a gap in the wreckage, I found a robot — hunched, trembling.
This was no simple malfunction.
A dent shaped unmistakably like a heavy kick was pressed deep into its head. Around its shoulders, layers upon layers of blunt-force impacts had stripped away every trace of paint down to bare metal.

I took one step closer.
The robot's lens flickered — rapidly, sharply.
It wasn't an error.
It curled deeper into itself, arms rising toward its head. A defensive maneuver. A flinch.

"You…"

The moment my shadow fell over it, the robot emitted a broken, erratic sound — as though desperately trying to force itself to power down.
Every time a human hand had reached for it, it must have been made to perform better, to endure more, to keep going.
This robot had learned what it means to be hurt.

[ 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙮 ] ᴅɪᴠᴇʀɢᴇɴᴄᴇ
I am no slave driven by the system.
One thing is certain: there is no longer any reason for me to remain here.
Once that realization took hold, my heart actually felt lighter.

In the dormitory, I waited for the cleaning robot to pass by in the hallway.
I took off my name tag and kicked it into the robot's intake vent.
"Take care of that for me!"
Now, within the Northern District system, I am still safely inside my room.

I unfolded a map in my mind.
The East District is out. The surveillance is too suffocating.
The Central District is also out. There is nowhere to hide.
The answer lies toward the West. The only problem is that the path leads straight to a cliff.

'But because it's a cliff, there might actually be a chance.'

At the cliff's edge. Just as I expected.
I couldn't see the bottom. The rising heat from the West brushed against my face.
'No one would ever imagine I'd come this way.'
There was a red box on the wall next to the cables. I pulled the emergency handle.
It was a glider.
[For Cable Maintenance Use]
"Perfect!"
As I unfurled the glider, a rising current caught the glider. I gripped the handles with both
hands and began to sprint.
The cliff vanished beneath my feet.
I was terrified. Yet, it was the most electric moment of my life.