Housekeeper is a Korean YLAB webtoon and the 11th Super String webtoon. It was produced by YLAB and the story is written by Yongtaek Chae and illustrated by Yuhyun. With Soyeon Kim and Hanna Park as "Business Development Team" and Daeun Lee as "Platform PD."[7]
AI robots are fighting against humans... for humanity. The world has fallen victim to a terrible virus, which turns people into zombie-like creatures. The government has decided to eradicate the infected people rather than cure them. But, Hasty, a housekeeper AI robot, cannot give up on her master Navil. She is willing to fight... for humanity.[8]
Housekeeper was initally developed during 2015 with an initial concept. Such as how the protagonist orignally looked and a different title. It was held on hold for a while until much later in the years.[9][10]
Housekeeper is set in an alternate/parallel dimension in the real world. In this storyline, Nazi Germany won WWII and Einstein finished his Theory of All Things. Thus, even though set in the mid 1900s, because of the invention of Androids, the technology is far more advanced than the current 21 century in the main dimension. Furthermore, even though it is a parallel world, up till now, the only characters that appear in both the housekeeper and main dimensions are Kawooka and Kangtawoo. There is no mention of White, the Disaster Preparatory Committee or the Black Wing Clan, all which have played important roles in the main dimension.
Most of the events of Housekeeper occur in Europe, 17 years after the creation of Androids.[16] However, since it is a parallel dimension where history was changed, names of countries are no longer used primarily, rather, continents or larger regions are labelled as "Sectors", each given a 2-3 letter code names (i.e. EU for Europe). Countries are then categorized into these Sectors, with the region code first followed by a number code of 1-3 digits to identify the country (i.e. EU-315).
There are also special sectors that do not represent a country, but a particular base (i.e. army base or medical center). Based on the Webtoon, there are a total of 1094 sectors with 941 sectors infected (during s2)[17]. Below is the general structure:
Function Sectors (based on function not geographical area)
Some of the sectors may overlap the sectors above (i.e. some medical zones may be within the EU sector, or PA-001 and PA-001 being under the President's Special Forces)
Below is a overview map of the general area of the sectors as well as the specific sectors that have been mentioned in the Webtoon. Please note that this is only approximate and based on the hints and maps provided in the Webtoon, as specific sub-sectors are not listed by country name, so it can often be tricky. Furthermore, the list below provides a detail of the specific sub-sectors that made an appearance:
The capital of the Third Reich. Technically part of the EU sector, it was closed off for some reason.[35] According to the map, the specific location of Germania seems to be near Berlin, as it is shown to be on the northeastern side of Germany.[36]
Due to the events of Housekeeper being in a different dimension, it is unknown when it takes place. However, it is most likely before the events of Terror vs Revival. However, in its own dimension, it takes place at the year 1976. Specifically September 4, 1976 when the P-Influenza started.[51]
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
Because episodes were designed to slowly release bits of information, thus episodes and events are often not disclosed in chronological order. Below is an attempt to a compilation of a chronological account of the events in Housekeeper. For a summary timeline, click the button below.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler forms the Third Empire and slowly organizes his plans for world domination. The Soviet Union discovers Kangtawoo in the North Pole and build a Soviet Bolshevik Institute with a secret lab 243 meters underground to research it. At some point in time the Third Empire finds out about it and carries out Operation Barbossa to overtake the Soviet Union and succeeds[52]. In In 1940, Professor Oppenheimer and Dorothy Crawford are sent by Hitler to the secret lab to study Kangtawoo.[53]
Team Nerthus researches the alien tech within Kangtawoo either in the North Pole or perhaps it was moved to the and develops the Nerthus weapon, which later becomes the core of the AI Androids. Team Nerthus helps Germany win the war with the Nerthus weapon. However, seeing the great destruction that it brought, the leader of Team OZ falls apart.
After Nazi Germany won the war, a unified government was established. However, 4 years later, in 1945, a rebellion arose, overthrowing Hitler and executing him.[54] The Third Empires thus collapsed and the World United Government was established on the principles of democracy so a dictatorship would never arise again.[55][56]
In the 1950s, Oppenheimer gathered a group of genuiesus, including scientist, software programmers, mechanical engineers to join the existing Team Nerthus to form Team OZ. Together they create the unlimited energy core.[57]
The theory of all things was completed by Einstein in 1955 and mankind achieved industrial development that surpassed several generations, specifically AI technology. This was the beginning of the 4th Industrial Revolution. [58]
In 1955, Team Oz created the first android which Dorothy's son, Briant, names "Fredrich" (inspired by Friedrich the Great). Team OZ presents him at the android presentation. However, Fredrich detects shooting sounds from afar and the event is stopped as Friedrich heads towards the shooting just in time to protect Robert McMillan.[59] Because of the incident, Robert is convinced that the Venus Project will not work unless there is a leader that is not human, but AI. Dororthy rejects the idea, but Hermann overhears the conversation. Hermann convinces Robert to a plan where they transfer Friedrich from an android body to a biological body and let him run for presidency. Robert agrees.
On October 2, 1955, during a core output conversion experiment, Hermann intentionally pretends that the experiment has gone of out of control and that Friedrich is destroyed. He apologies to Dorothy who doesn't blame him. The truth is that Fredrich's memory data was transferred to a new biological body and rebooted on April 2, 1956. Also, at this time, all Team Oz members except Dorothy agree with Croucher and allow Friedrich to enter politics and successfully gain the support of the people. On April 1, 1959, Friedrich Bismarck was inaugurated as President of the World United Government Government. Through discussion with Team OZ (not including Dorothy), Friedrich establishes the AI laws as well as the central database network that connects info from all over the world.
On Robert and Hermann's request, Friedrich visits the OZ House, seeing the new AIs and the AI laws, among them, Article 1, Section 7, which states that A.Is must not lie, causes him discomfort as his existence is no different from a lie. Afterwards, he takes a picture with Dorothy, and Briant and Penelope also come and take pictures. Briant hears a subtle sound coming from Friedrich and recognizes he was the android from the presentation.
Fredrich and the other OZ team members try to brush it off and overlook Briant's suspicions, however, Briant insists that it is the same Friedrich and goes to the presidential palace to look for him. The guards try to chase him off and when one of them almost injures Briant, out of reaction, Friedrich jumps in to save him. He carries Brian into the office and confesses that he is is the android from the presentation. Instead, he asks him to keep this a secret for the time being and decides to confess everything on April 1st of next year.
On April 1st, 1960, he announces his resignation, shocking the public and Team Oz. He monologues that it is impossible to implement the Venus Project anyway due to the excessive population, and that it is right for him to step down to prevent Team Oz from being divided because of him. He visits Dorothy and confesses everything and asks her to destroy him, the cause of Team Oz's disbanding, but is dumbfounded when Dorothy flatly refuses. Robert misunderstands that the resignation speech was instigated by Dorothy and comes to Dorothy's house in anger.
Friedrich intercepts Robert, who even pulls out a gun during a conversation, and tries to calm him down, but his actions are stopped by a hacking tool. Just as Dorothy was trying to calm Robert down, Friedrich senses a stone flying through the window and realizes that the person who threw the stone was one of his supporters.
Friedrich just watches as his hard-core supporters, who have turned into rioters, break into Dorothy's house and threaten her. Although Robert attempts to release his lock to calm the supporters, the mob smashes Robert's communicator. As he is unable to move, he watches helplessly as the mob, which becomes even more frantic, kills Dorothy's husband and Briant, and tries to calculate why this happened, but is confused and does not know why.
In 1958, the government started registering citizens online. However, Team OZ was not put in the records and all written records about them were deleted. Team OZ records were deleted, including their existence, achievements and deeds. At some point in time, they created OZ House.[60]
In 1960, September 8th, there is a news report of the researchers of Team OZ contracting the P-flu. One week later, on the 15th, the AI was officially released.[61] At that time many journalists were curious about the developers (Team OZ) and attempted to gather information about them. However, the secret police (the Gestapo) from the Third Reich was revived to squash all that information. At the same time, Article 0 (hidden rule) created but not announced by the government.[62] At the same time, the World United Government annouced the "Three Rules of Robots" to completely control AI and established laws in accordance to those rules.[63]
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