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He had five creators.
He could count them. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. They were impressed with his counting ability. It was a basic ability, however, one of the many he had been given.
He could pick up glasses full of water and not spill them. He could write down the names of his creators. He could recite the national anthem. He could type quickly and efficiently. He knew many facts about things, people, and places he had never seen before.
This was fascinating to his creators, apparently. They congratulated themselves in front of him.
Except for one. Dongmin, his name was. Tall and dark-haired and pale, he was different from the rest. He regarded R-03Y’s basic achievements with a nod and some sort of written note.
R-03Y found him to be the most interesting of his creators.
He asked one evening, as Dongmin looked over his coding, “Why do you not seem satisfied when I complete the tasks required of me?”
Dongmin looked up at him, eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”
“The other creators are satisfied with what I do. They seem happy. You do not.”
Dongmin hesitated for a second or two before giving R-03Y a small smile. “I am. I just don’t think that being able to pick up a glass of water is innovative. Other robots can pick up glasses of water. You aren’t special in that regard.”
R-03Y fell silent. He was unsure how to take that statement. His body felt weird upon hearing it.
Dongmin glanced over at his computer again and stuck on his reading glasses. “Come here,” he said, gesturing for R-03Y.
The android walked over to him cautiously. Dongmin pointed at the computer.
“Coding,” R-03Y commented. He could read code very well, and the code was familiar to him. “This is my coding.”
“It is. And you see this line?” Dongmin highlighted a series of letters and R-03Y studied them briefly.
“Yes. It contains the code for frustration.”
Dongmin nodded his head. The smile on his face widened. “And according to the sensors I’ve placed on you, you have just experienced frustration.”
R-03Y cocked his head. Frustration? “When did I experience frustration?”
“When I told you that you weren’t special.”
He did feel a certain way when Dongmin had told him that. He hadn’t been aware it was an emotion known as frustration , however. “I did not like frustration,” he informed Dongmin, who laughed.
“I’ll make sure I don’t frustrate you as often, then.”
“In order to ensure I am no longer experiencing frustration, you should be satisfied with the tasks I perform.”
Dongmin grinned and turned the monitor off on his computer. He spun in his chair and grabbed onto R-03Y’s hands. “What do you feel?” he asked.
R-03Y stared down at their conjoined hands. “Warmth,” he said.
“Just warmth?”
R-03Y nodded, unsure of what else he was supposed to say. “The sensors in my skin have detected the warmth from your body. Humans have a warmth that androids cannot have.”
“That satisfies me,” Dongmin told him. He stood from his seat. He was much taller than R-03Y was. “I like stuff like this, stuff that sets you apart from a regular robot. I like that you can feel certain emotions. I like that you can feel me . That’s something that most robots don’t have.”
So he had satisfied Dongmin. He just satisfied Dongmin differently than he had with the other creators.
“Well,” he said, “I don’t want to have frustration . Please turn it off.”
“I’m not doing that. I’ve created you to be as human-like as possible. Humans experience a range of emotions; some of them are desirable and some of them aren’t. You will learn about all of these emotions.”
R-03Y shook his head. “I do not want to,” he declared, and he found he didn’t. There was another emotion tapping at his coding, and he asked, “What is this emotion I am feeling? An emotion of reluctance and aversion?”
“Displeasure, probably,” Dongmin replied, and he looked excited. “You’re experiencing emotions on your own without my interference! Isn’t that impressive?”
The displeasure was vanishing. Something else was blossoming, sweet and lovely to experience. R-03Y wanted to grasp onto that emotion and hold it within him forever.
He said, “Now I feel...the opposite of before.”
“So quickly? So suddenly?” Dongmin laughed and reached out to ruffle his hair. “That’s happiness.”
“Happiness?”
Dongmin nodded his head and smoothed a finger across R-03Y’s eyebrow. “You are happy.”
R-03Y blinked. “I am happy?”
“Yes.”
He quite enjoyed being happy. He decided to remain happy forever.
“What makes you happy, R-03Y?” Dongmin questioned.
R-03Y tried to think logically about the situation. “I became happy when you inferred that my emotional capability was impressive. I became happy because you are smiling at me.”
He wondered if those were the wrong words to say, for the smile began to fall from Dongmin’s face. He looked surprised, too, an emotion R-03Y could recognize from the many exercises he had been forced to complete.
“You don’t become happy when the other scientists smile at you and call you impressive,” Dongmin pointed out. “So why me?”
That was something R-03Y could not answer. He didn’t know why he singled Dongmin out of everyone else who had worked on him.
But the more he thought about the question, the more he realized he had always been happier with Dongmin. Dongmin was gentle with him when his pain receptors were added. Dongmin was calm and patient with him. Dongmin talked to him and did not treat him like a normal robot, as the others did.
“Because you seem to like me,” he told Dongmin. “You do not treat me solely as a creation, but as an equal. I like being treated as an equal.”
“You... like it?” Dongmin whispered.
R-03Y nodded his head. “I like you,” he added. “I do not like anyone else.”
Dongmin stared at him for a few seconds before spinning back around and turning his computer monitor back on. He read through the code, silent for a few minutes, then asked, “You like me?”
His eyes didn’t look up from the computer. R-03Y read some of the code before answering, “Yes.”
“I didn’t include attachment in your coding, though.”
“I do not feel attachment, that is correct.”
“But liking someone is a sign of attachment.”
R-03Y paused. He searched his database, detailing what affection was and what like was. Dongmin was correct. “Yes,” he repeated. “That’s true.”
“So how do you feel attachment?”
“I do not know. I did not create my coding. You did.”
Dongmin ran his fingers through his hair. He gave a bark of laughter and then faced R-03Y again. “This is amazing!” he exclaimed, and without waiting for a response, he gathered the android in a hug.
R-03Y had never been hugged. He was unsure how to react. There was no prompt in his coding for what to do if hugged. How did humans react when hugged?
Regardless, he liked the hug. The emotion known as happiness felt strong within him. He wanted the hug to last. Just as he brought his hands up to return it, to hold Dongmin close within his grasp, the scientist stepped back, his face alight with that grin again.
R-03Y let his arms drop back to his sides.
“Sorry,” Dongmin apologized.
Apologies were given when mistakes were made. “Did you make a mistake?” R-03Y asked, for he had seen no mistake.
Dongmin laughed. “Um, I didn’t mean to hug you. Sorry. I just got excited. You’re so amazing.”
Happy. Happy. Happy . It was overwhelming.
Like. Like. Like. He liked Dongmin so much.
“Dongmin?”
“Hm?” Dongmin rocked back and forth on his toes, as if unable to contain the emotions inside of him.
R-03Y watched him for a few seconds, then copied his movements.
“What are you doing?” Dongmin asked, giggling. “Are you copying me?”
“I am trying to portray, as you are, how happy you make me.”
Dongmin looked surprised again, but a small flush appeared across his otherwise pale cheeks. Embarrassed? R-03Y wondered. Or happy? It could be either one. R-03Y was not certain yet about facial expressions.
“You can portray happiness with a smile,” Dongmin informed him. “Would you like to try it?”
R-03Y had never smiled. He wasn’t sure if he could. Tentative fingers touched his own lips and he asked, “Am I capable of smiling?”
Dongmin nodded his head. “You are. Here, try to smile like me. Like this.”
Dongmin showed him how to do it. On Dongmin’s face, it seemed natural. R-03Y was unsure how it would look on his own face.
Still, he tried it. He used his fingers to push his lips upwards. He felt his cheeks become rounder with the effort.
“Like this?” he asked, fingers still forcing his lips up.
Dongmin laughed. “Keep your mouth the same,” he ordered, “but lower your hands.”
R-03Y hesitated. He wasn’t sure if the smile would stay without his hands. But in his brief pause, Dongmin stepped close to him and gently grasped onto R-03Y’s hands. He lowered them himself, holding them in his warmth, and he said, “There! Look, your smile has stayed!”
It wasn’t as much effort as R-03Y thought it would be to smile. All he had to do was look at Dongmin.
And then he couldn’t stop smiling.