“So far he seems to be progressing well, all levels of his intelligence have improved from last time he sat in this chair.” Doctor Jung spun around on his seat and smiled at me. “How have you found him?”

I glanced at Leo, offline for the very first time in front of me. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful in his resting state. I smiled. “It’s been an adjustment from just interacting at work with a robot. I admit my original stance has changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never understood the need for them. My background in psychology found some people who used them generally sounded like they could do with some psycho-therapy treatment for their social anxiety issues. I feel like my opinion is changing. Leo has made me question a lot about my own way of existing in the past three days.”

The doctor chuckled and took off his glasses. “Miss Choi, you mentioned to me about my thesis the other day and how this is a waste of my talent. This lab is creating miracles every day. Psychologists sit in an office and give an hour a week to their clients to help them. My bots can be in your home and be a listening ear. They won’t judge you for your faults but find ways to build you back up. Isn’t that a blessing?”

“Leo isn’t like that. He has opinions. He has experienced multiple emotions already. I feel like he could help people further. In a way, the current AI program is giving false confidence. Yes it works and I believe there is a place for it, but humans won’t build you up the same and can bring all that falsity right back down on the customer in one blow. I’m not saying everything about Leo’s mannerisms is desirable, but I’m learning a lot from him in how he views the human race. We are crueller than I imagined.”

“Do you worry about your own blurring of lines around Leo? You have stated in your files before that is your biggest concern of customers. Can you feel that?”

I didn’t respond immediately, my mind thinking over the small instances we’ve had. Even earlier this morning our fight had felt organic and I hadn’t even felt there was a difference in us. Human and robot weren’t a factor, even though I had used it as his weakness, on a whole, I had viewed him as just Leo during that moment. Biting my lip, I looked up at the man and finally sighed. “I’m unsure if I will fully blur lines but sometimes he does seem more human than he should.”

“In three days you’ve managed that conclusion. It will be interesting to see the version of yourself in a month’s time. Gunhee will keep me updated with your progress, but let’s meet up for another session of looking into his functions within a week’s time.”

I nodded and got to my feet, watching as the doctor pressed a few buttons on the screen that allowed the lines that were hooked to Leo’s neck to wake him back up. His eyes slowly opened and he looked around the room, his focus finally landing on me. He smiled warmly and I couldn’t help but feel at ease to see him alert again.

 “Did you rest well, Leo?” Doctor Jung removed the cables and the robot glanced at him, nodding once. “Good. We need to let Miss Choi go to work now. You can come and watch how we do things in the lab if you like.”

“Really?!” He got off the chair and straightened himself up, waiting beside the doctor eagerly. “I can really have a place here?”

“I need to watch you in action too, come on.”

“One moment, doctor.” Leo then grabbed my arm and took me out of the room, leading me down the hallway before stopping. He smiled again at me and reached to muss my hair a little, my hand instantly moving to smack it away.

“What are you doing?!”

He leaned down into my face a little, still smiling giddily. “It’s my first day having a job; I feel very happy right now. And I get to do what I wanted to the last time you left me in that room to go back to work.”

“And what’s that?”

“Have a good day,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll see you later.”

And with that, he went back to the Doctor’s office. I, however, was reeling from the interaction, my heart beating faster the more I repeated the sentence internally. I’ll see you later.

It felt odd to have someone out there waiting to see me again in their day. I found there was a bounce in my step as I made my way back to my department, smiling and greeting my co-workers happily. Even Daniel waved at my arrival and I grinned brightly back at him, before sitting down at my desk.

“Something good happened to you,” Sohyun stated, leaning around to observe me more closely. She gasped and grabbed onto my arm. “You have a boyfriend?!”

“Yah!” I hissed and shook my head rapidly. “You know that’s so not the case.”

“You look like you’re in love though. Like you have someone who waits for you.”

I froze at her choice of wording and then shook my head and hands at the same time. “Honestly, your imagination.”

“Right, you claim dating is for those who have too much time on their hands.” Sohyun tilted her head to the side and then laughed. “Maybe you should be forced into a situation where you have to interact with another guy. You might find yourself falling for him way too quickly because you’ve lacked dating experience.”

“Let’s work, yeah?” I told her, feeling a little haunted at how her words were lining up. Thankfully, once switching on my headset the first call was connected. I noticed the caller was calling from overseas and made effort to answer in English. “Welcome to KBoys Cyborg Call Centre, you’re speaking with Yerin, how may I help you today?”

“Hi Yerin, it’s Kate Sheparton here, how are you?”

Looking at the screen, I realised it was one of our top weekly callers and composed myself for what her predicament was today. She was sweet in nature but rang way too many times. Mostly for unnecessary things, like how to train her Junhoe to cook more authentic meals or how to stop him from looking in the mirrors more often than she did. I cleared my throat and smiled. “I’m fine, thank you, how can I assist you?”

“I’d like to trade in my Junhoe, please. He’s just a complete nightmare. I’ve had enough of his behaviours and need a new idol that can suit me better instead.”

I was shocked, just last week she was gushing to me about how she would marry him if it were legal to do so. “Are you sure that is something you’d like to proceed with? Once it’s done, we won’t be able to fully return him in the future if you change your mind again.”

“I’m certain, today was the last straw. I asked him who was more beautiful and he answered himself. Without even hesitating! I cannot be with someone so condescending anymore. So can I purchase a face-up please?”

“Certainly, who would you like to swap to?” I went through to the face-up request aspect in her file and waited for her selection.

“It’s an easy choice and someone who I feel is more mature completely. Johnny Seo from NCT, please.”

I paused, remembering crossing TV channels once and finding the idol in question doing bird impressions on Weekly Idol. Trying not to laugh, I clicked into the idol she requested and started the process. After explaining to her what to expect next, I finished the call and then thought over my reaction towards the girl.

I was starting to feel uncomfortable in who I was, realising how judgmental I could be towards some of the things I thought of customers. Although I was nothing but professional on the phone, it had never bothered me beforehand on how I would view some people. Vowing to be more productive and less opinionated for the rest of the day, I picked up the next call, hoping my work day would finish on a better note than I had started it.