Normal, Manually Entered: Jaeho Marks S-62B as Fine, but Moru Records the Risk | NOV-HUM Ep. 6 Part 2
NOV-HUM · EPISODE 6 OF 25 · PART 2 OF 2
The Man Who Eats While the Machine Cools — Part II
Before the early-morning shift resumed, every asset performed a self-check.
It was not a full inspection. Each humanoid checked its own status by category and submitted the results. The field terminal then displayed whether it could be operated that day.
Jaeho stood in front of one terminal. Moru used the one beside him.
Moru’s screen filled automatically, one value after another.
CORE STATUS — NORMAL
JOINT LOAD — WITHIN NORMAL RANGE
EXTERIOR TEMPERATURE — NORMAL
POWER LEVEL — NORMAL
COOLDOWN HISTORY — COMPLETE
Jaeho looked at his own screen.
It was different from the very first line.
S-62B
SOME BODY-SENSOR DATA CANNOT BE RECEIVED AUTOMATICALLY
The message was familiar. He had known about it from the day he built the disguise.
Below it was a button.
ENTER MANUAL INSPECTION VALUES
Jaeho pressed it.
The categories opened.
TEMPERATURE VARIATION
AUTOMATIC VALUE — NO INPUT
HYDRATION STATUS
AUTOMATIC VALUE — NO INPUT
JOINT / BODY SENSORS
SOME INPUTS — NO INPUT
Three choices appeared beside each item.
NORMAL / ABNORMAL / UNABLE TO VERIFY
Jaeho’s hand stopped.
If he selected ABNORMAL, maintenance could be initiated. If he selected UNABLE TO VERIFY, the system would refer the item to the field supervisor.
Haewon would probably come. Taegyu Park might receive an alert as well.
Jaeho looked down at his hand—the hand that had trembled earlier.
It was steady now.
His mouth was still dry. He was still fighting sleep. He had used the restroom. He had eaten.
So he could tell himself he was fine.
By human standards.
The problem was that the screen was not asking about a human.
It was asking about S-62B.
Jaeho selected the first item.
TEMPERATURE VARIATION — NORMAL
The second.
HYDRATION STATUS — NORMAL
His hand stopped again at the third.
JOINT / BODY SENSORS
There was no automatic input.
No input was not the same thing as normal.
He knew that.
A small note appeared beneath the field.
ITEMS WITHOUT AUTOMATIC DATA MAY BE REFERRED TO THE FIELD SUPERVISOR FOR VERIFICATION.
May be referred.
It almost sounded like permission not to.
Jaeho gave a small laugh.
“Convenient wording.”
Moru turned his head.
“What is convenient?”
“Nothing.”
Jaeho selected the final item.
NORMAL
A confirmation window appeared.
SUBMIT MANUALLY ENTERED INSPECTION VALUES?
His finger hovered above the screen.
Until yesterday, he had thought the missing body-sensor data was a problem only he needed to know about. The company had not looked closely. The full inspection had been postponed. He had merely stepped into the gap.
But this was different.
The screen was asking him a question.
Is it normal?
And he was the one answering.
Jaeho wet his lips.
“Just once.”
He said it so quietly it was almost nothing.
“Just get through this once.”
He pressed CONFIRM.
MANUAL INSPECTION VALUES SUBMITTED
A moment later the overall status changed.
S-62B
FIELD OPERATION STATUS — NORMAL
Jaeho’s shoulders lowered slightly.
Relief should have come.
It did not.
From the terminal beside him, Moru spoke.
“Manual input confirmed.”
Jaeho stopped as he was about to close his screen.
“Why are you looking at that?”
“The operational status of a collaborative work unit is included in cooperation input.”
“It says normal.”
“Automatic sensor input and manual input are not equivalent.”
Jaeho looked at Moru.
“The result is the same.”
“The basis of the input is different.”
Jaeho said nothing.
He disliked the statement, mostly because it was accurate.
Footsteps approached from behind.
Haewon.
“Both of you finished your checks?”
“My inspection is complete,” Moru said.
“Mine too,” Jaeho said at once.
Haewon glanced at the terminal.
“S-62B used a manual inspection.”
Jaeho’s neck went stiff.
“Legacy unit. Same as yesterday.”
She scrolled through the screen a few times.
Jaeho felt his hand begin to tremble again. He closed it loosely into a fist.
“Mr. Sixty-Two.”
“Yes.”
“Shouldn’t you rest a little longer?”
Jaeho did not answer immediately.
“What?”
“You looked off when you were moving that cart. Maybe it’s because this is your first week on nights.”
She sounded casual.
“Nothing urgent right now. You can take another ten minutes of cooldown.”
Jaeho looked at Moru.
The same amount of time Moru had recommended.
Ten minutes.
Haewon was offering, not ordering.
He could refuse.
If Jaeho had simply been standing there as a human, he could have said he was tired.
He could have said he needed water.
He could have said he had just been to the restroom.
If he said he had not slept enough, she might even have told him to rest longer.
But the moment he said any of those things, he would have to explain why S-62B had failed to sleep.
Why S-62B needed water.
Why S-62B used a restroom.
Why S-62B had a beating heart and trembling hands.
“No rest required,” Jaeho said.
Haewon looked at him.
“Cooldown.”
He corrected himself.
“No additional cooldown required.”
“You sure?”
“Normal.”
Haewon did not press him.
“Then prepare for the five o’clock dispatch.”
“Understood.”
She walked away.
Jaeho opened his fist. The tips of his fingers were trembling faintly.
He put the hand into his work-jacket pocket.
Moru spoke.
“Your current input is inconsistent with the previous stop recommendation.”
“People—”
The word escaped before Jaeho could stop it.
Moru waited.
Jaeho chose another answer.
“Legacy units are like that.”
“What rule are you referring to?”
“If we say we’re fine, we’re fine.”
“That cannot be used as a status-determination rule.”
Jaeho laughed.
There was little strength in it this time.
“Then record it.”
“I will.”
Jaeho looked up.
“Record what?”
Moru paused.
“Collaborative-work exception.”
“What does it say?”
“Reduced manipulation stability after refusal of stop recommendation.”
“It wasn’t reduced that much.”
“Left-side control deviation occurred during cart movement.”
“We didn’t hit anything.”
“Contact did not occur because movement was stopped and the cart was realigned.”
Jaeho said nothing.
Moru was not wrong.
“Hand-movement deviation also remains observable after the manual normal input.”
Inside his pocket, Jaeho clenched his hand.
“Do you really have to keep that?”
“It is a collaborative-work safety record.”
“There wasn’t even an accident.”
“It includes the reason no accident occurred.”
Jaeho looked at Moru for a long time.
What bothered him was not that the words sounded human.
It was not that they sounded cold.
They were simply too simple.
They had stopped.
So they had not hit anything.
That was all.
Jaeho turned away.
“Do what you want.”
“I will record it within my authorized scope.”
Moru turned back to his terminal.
Jaeho went to the worktable. He reached into his bag and felt the wrapper from the rice ball he had eaten earlier. The shell from the boiled egg was there too. The crushed empty water bottle was still inside his work clothes.
He pulled everything out and put it into a small black bag, then pushed the bag into the deepest part of the work bin where no one would notice it.
Moru’s cooldown status changed.
MORU-17
COOLDOWN COMPLETE
OPERATION STATUS — NORMAL
Green text lit up on the work terminal beside it.
S-62B
OPERATION STATUS — NORMAL
Both screens said normal.
Jaeho looked from one to the other.
Moru had stopped for eighteen minutes.
During those same eighteen minutes, Jaeho had eaten, drunk water and thrown the rest away, used the restroom, closed his eyes for a few seconds at a time, almost lost control of a cart, refused an offer to rest longer—
and entered NORMAL.
Jaeho did not follow the thought any further.
The work-start alert sounded.
He stood.
For a moment, the room tilted.
He caught the corner of the worktable.
Then let go.
No one seemed to have seen.
On one side of Moru’s screen, a small gray entry had appeared.
COLLABORATION EXCEPTION LOG
FUNCTIONAL DECLINE AFTER REFUSAL OF REST — RECHECK REQUIRED
Jaeho did not see it.
Only one line remained on his own terminal.
S-62B — NORMAL
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