TPMITWON Chapter 1: Souta

In a room filled with dim light from various monitor screens, a man stood with a wide smile on his face. The man's eyes sparkled as he gazed at a transparent capsule. Inside, there was a humanoid figure that looked remarkably like a human.

No—it's not a human. It's a robot.

"Finally! I did it! Yes! Yeah…!" the man exclaimed enthusiastically. The proud expression on his face was unmistakable.

The man was Souta Tetsu, a genius scientist, researcher, and expert mechanic in the field of robotics. At that moment, Souta was perfecting his latest project—a humanoid robot designed to be as similar to a human as possible, not only in physical appearance but also with a customizable personality.

In other words, this robot could be created according to someone's ideal image, whether as a friend, partner, or even a figure that had only existed in human dreams. That was the grand vision behind this project.

Souta had spent years researching robotics. However, this project was the most ambitious, taking longer than all of Souta's previous creations combined. Souta sacrificed many things for the perfection of this technology, even his personal time.

Surrounding Souta were various types of robots filling the room. Cleaning robots busily swept the floor, coffee-making robots worked automatically, cooking robots arranged ingredients on their own, and delivery robots moved back and forth with high precision. Almost the entire building operated thanks to the robots created by Souta.

However, despite being a genius in robotics, Souta was not someone skilled in social relationships. He could speak fluently with colleagues, business clients, or research partners, but when faced with strangers, Souta often felt awkward and didn't know what to say.

Perhaps that was also the reason why Souta was currently working alone. A few hours earlier, he still had a team—subordinates and friends who assisted in the research. But now, in the quiet of the midnight hour, there was only Souta and his greatest creation still asleep in that capsule.

Souta, busy and fully focused on his research, was unaware that something terrible was happening.

In a corner of the room, sparks of electricity appeared—a short circuit occurred unnoticed. Within seconds, a small fire ignited. Normally, this wouldn't be a big problem. The automatic smoke detection system would soon activate the sprinklers and extinguish it. However, there was one fatal issue.

Near the fire, there were chemicals that were highly explosive. Just a small spark was enough to ignite them.

And sure enough.

The fire touched the material.

"BOOOM!"

A tremendous explosion shook the room. The shockwave destroyed various equipment nearby. The robots within the blast radius suffered severe damage. Their systems short-circuited, and sparks of electricity began to spread throughout the room.

"Boom! Boom! BOOOM!"

One by one, the damaged robots began to explode. A series of chain reactions occurred, creating flames that consumed everything in the laboratory. It was only then that Souta realized the disaster unfolding.

But it was already too late.

The short-circuited electricity spread throughout the building. Alarms blared loudly, lights flickered erratically, and the temperature in the room rose drastically. Amidst the chaos, Souta saw something that made his blood run cold.

The humanoid robot he had been working on—his greatest project—suddenly began to heat up rapidly. White steam billowed from its capsule, and the sound of crackling electricity surrounded it.

"Damn—"

"BOOOOM!"

A massive explosion occurred right in front of Souta. His body was thrown violently, crashing against the wall with tremendous force. A large crack formed where Souta hit, and part of the wall even collapsed.