This might be well-known, but it's a story I read in a magazine a long time ago.
It was the near future. Science had advanced, and people's lives had become increasingly comfortable and prosperous. Telephones, which every household had, had also changed. Answering machines had evolved, and the "Multi-Functional Adaptive Answering Machine" had become the mainstream. This was a wonderful device that could make its own judgments and respond to callers flexibly and appropriately.
One day, a phone rang in a certain home. No one in the family answered. The phone made its own judgment and decided to handle the conversation. "Is this the XX residence? This is OO Trading. It seems the head of the house is taking the day off..." It was a call for the husband. The phone decided to respond using the wife's voice. "I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. My husband suddenly came down with a fever."
In the afternoon, the phone rang again. "Hello, is the lady of the house in?" It was a call for the wife. The phone thought about it and decided to answer using the daughter's voice. "Sorry, Mom went out shopping right now."
In the evening, a call came from the daughter's boyfriend. "Ms. [Name], we had plans for 5:00 today and you still haven't shown up, so I'm worried." The boyfriend, huh? It would probably be better to use the father's voice for this one. "My grandmother in the countryside suddenly passed away, so I had to rush back home along with her mother."
Even after that, the calls to this house kept coming. The phone was getting somewhat tired. When on earth were the members of this family going to come back?
Last night, a robber had broken into this house and brutally murdered the entire family, leaving behind a scene from hell. Believing the voices of the answering machine, no one has realized the truth. Today, the phone continues to ring, with people searching for their missing loved ones.
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