Chapter 185 – Things She Has Prepared
The first group communication inviting scientists ended successfully.
All communications were terminated and the central control room screen returned to its window function.
A fixed cityscape that will not change even after 10 or 100 years fills the entire facade, and only silence remains in this place where heated discussions took place.
The only trace is warmth.
It’s just the warmth of my seat where Artemis was sitting before her
She went to the incubator room to manage the condition of her grown body.
As she did, she put her legs up on the desk and buried her body deep into the chair.
When I hinted that I would stay longer, Artemis smiled triumphantly, like a child who had received the gift she wanted.
Not the smile I saw through the monitor, but the golden eyes sparkling in front of me.
Artemis was always within arm’s reach.
I reached for her chin. She wanted to grab her chin and turn her face to face me. I wanted to project my desires there.
She also will not reject my touch.
But my hand, which was heading for her chin, changed direction and landed on her head.
I stroked my silver hair, which shined brilliantly as if bathed in moonlight.
Is it because I feel like I’m being treated like a child? She had a sullen expression for a moment, but as my hand continued to touch her head, that expression quickly disappeared.
I liked the variety of sensations that the act of stroking her head evoked.
Artemis’ body is blood and flesh filled with uncontrolled sensations.
She loves being swept away by a torrent of sensations from mixed stimuli. Even though she doesn’t say it or admit it herself.
Even sensations that are insignificant to me will be special to her.
It’s like the sweetness a child feels when eating candy for the first time. The child will be even more surprised if she eats caramel, and she will be so happy that she will faint if she eats chocolate.
When your thoughts go that far.
‘Are you going to stay longer?’
She took her lustful gaze away from those pretty lips of hers.
Like a multi-course meal, I wanted to sequentially taste all the pleasant sensations one can encounter in life.
There has never been a woman who has made me think like this.
That’s how special Artemis is.
She is someone who completely understands everything about me. She was and still is my closest companion.
‘From now on, I will be the one to fill your body with new flesh and blood. It’s not the genes of parents who don’t know your name or face, and who never loved you.’
He is the most dedicated doctor, the wisest advisor, and the strongest protector.
‘If you let him sink just a little deeper, at some point he sinks to the bottom and cries… He’s truly a troublemaker.’
The first time we met was in this city, but we were also connected through the spirit world, embracing each other across time and space.
Compared to the time we will spend together in the future, the time that has passed will only be a moment.
“We will continue to be together in the future.”
Because it is a flower that can be picked at any time, and because it is a flower that will never wither.
A paradoxical feeling arose that made me want to cherish it even more.
* * *
How many more days have passed since then?
The outside world is filled with a mixture of hope, greater brutality, opportunism, and fear of the future.
Artemis and I paid attention to such movements while continuing to live a peaceful life in the shelter.
She walked around the city with me.
Could it be said to be a desire to become a dwarf and explore a huge model city that was painstakingly created?
One of her favorite walking courses is to follow the route I took during the city retaking operation.
It is said to be pleasant because you can look around the city and reminisce about the most passionate times.
For reference, this was created as an experience course by Kids, so those who wish can experience it.
When you pass by the location of the battle, a monster hologram is created, making for quite an interesting experience.
“You’re out of here! And I cut it into two pieces.”
She was seen swinging her axe.
But to me, she only looked like a rich girl swinging an imaginary golf club.
In the hydroponic cultivation facility, I put my nose to all the flowers and fruits I came across and sniffed them, and sometimes sneezed at the unfamiliar irritation of my mucous membranes.
“It’s not like I have an allergy or anything. It was just a very unfamiliar and stimulating sensation for me.”
Was I embarrassed to sneeze?
She declared as if there were no flaws in her perfect body.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Hmph!”
Artemis turned around and continued watching her.
I must have been fascinated by the various scents coming from everywhere, so I walked through the flowers, leaves, and fruits, despite having to sneeze several times.
However, there is one absurd part.
“Hey, isn’t it common manners to sneeze into one’s arm?”
While smelling the scent, Artemis feels like sneezing! Because she turned and came running and buried her face in my chest.
“Ecchi!”
And then a small vibration echoes in my chest.
As I patted her silver head and waited, she took a few breaths in her arms and then chased her scent again.
I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and went over to it, but I didn’t need it.
Even though her nose was cutely red, it was clean and dry.
As if there wasn’t even one gram of dirty elements in her body.
* * *
As the time I spend with Artemis increases, there are some things that I vaguely begin to think about again.
That’s all about why she wanted to get her body.
I thought it was because I wanted to enjoy experiences that can only be gained through the body.
The pleasure of the senses.
Interaction through the body.
Direct experience of the city and the world.
These are things that cannot be felt by machines.
But the more time I spent with her, the more I began to think that there might be another, perhaps true, reason that goes beyond those.
The first time I realized it was when I heard Artemis’ song.
“My feet hurt.”
While I was walking through her garden holding her hand, she asked me to take a break.
So when I tried to lead her to a bench near her, she shook her head.
“It would be better over there.”
The place Artemis pointed to was a small rock surrounded by several trees and flowers.
She took her in her princess arms and ran to her and sat her down on a rock.
“I’ve felt it before, but you don’t seem that strong in terms of stamina or strength.”
Artemis described her body with one word: ‘perfection.’
Therefore, I vaguely thought that she had a high-performance body with a strengthened musculoskeletal system like mine, but that was not the case at all.
Even considering that she has only recently started doing physical activities, her physical abilities are at the level of an average woman.
“Electric eel.”
Artemis said.
“Huh?”
“Electric eels have muscles for producing electricity, so their strength is weaker than that of fish of similar weight class. That’s natural. “The body had a different purpose in the first place.”
Artemis took off his shoes and threw them carelessly nearby.
While I was picking it up and organizing it neatly in front of her.
A slap.
The soles of her red feet clung to the cold rock surface.
“It’s cool.”
Her face is melting.
Crouching on her rock and lifting each of her toes with her fingers, she opened her mouth.
What came out of those pretty lips was not a conversation, but a song.
The language that composes the song is neither Korean nor English.
At first, I thought it might be a language from another country that I didn’t know. Because Artemis can speak all registered languages around the world.
But that’s too much…
“Beautiful. And it’s cozy.”
Without realizing it, exclamation flowed from my mouth.
What would it be like if we removed the malice from the song of the sirens in mythology?
No. No matter how captivating the siren’s song is, at its core, it is a monster. Removing malice will not bring warmth.
Artemis let out the melody quietly with her eyes almost closed.
The artificial valley flowing nearby responded to her voice.
It felt like the sound of just flowing water was turning into a single instrument and trying to harmonize with her voice.
Even though I am describing it, something strange is happening that is difficult to understand.
At first, her song seemed to spread radially like any other voice.
It coiled around me like a ship sailing on a set course and refused to leave. As if I could hold onto her song if I stretched out my hand.
‘Everything will be fine.’
The lyrics of the song were assembled in my brain without going through my ears.
‘You don’t have to worry about anything.’
The song that enveloped me contained warmth.
It is not a physical warmth expressed in Celsius or Fahrenheit, but a warmth that warms the soul.
As I listened to Artemis’ song, everything became peaceful.
The gunshot wound on my side, carved a long time ago, tickled pleasantly. As if he had turned into nothing more than a scab that fell and got scratched. It felt like her mother was applying ointment to the void that surgery could not fill.
‘Everything here exists to protect your happiness.’
As I listened to her song, I felt like I was being held in my mother’s arms.
No, rather, it feels like I became a fetus and returned to the womb.
“Huh?”
Before I knew it, my eyes were getting wet. A strong feeling rose up, as if my throat was going to close, and at that moment, my concentration on the song was lost, and the warm feeling disappeared.
“Sorry.”
Artemis’ golden eyes look at me.
“I think this is the limit for my immature body.”
She said, stroking her neck and the area where her lungs would be.
“What did you just do?”
“It was a pretty good song, right?”
I nodded to her as she spoke with a smile.
“No matter how good a speaker is, there are some chords that cannot be produced. It’s not just about songs. “To achieve what I want, I need a body made of flesh and blood.”
“…”
Artemis always has many plans.
It was something much deeper than I could fathom or anticipate.
It was today that I truly felt it.
