For years man had been working to provide easy access to everything, the world becomes wrecked as hell, the sound of metal clanking and whirring are almost everywhere, and everyone was under a protocol. If you abide with it, you’ll live. If you don’t, you’ll die. Only the elites can make and have their own robot, and bundles of money are needed to make things work in a legal way. But it would probably be the other way around for him.

 

Ken doesn’t want to create a robot. Never.

 

Yet, his girlfriend’s death and his broken heart would be enough reasons for him to practice his profession for his own good, and not complying with the institute’s mandatory cataloging of androids, and specialists like him.

 

"A robot? You mean, a cyborg?" Leo wanted to check on his friend whether he is still on the right track or Ken's just lost.

"I will." Ken insisted.

Leo shrugged his shoulders as he lean his back on the chair. "No license, no right to make a cyborg. Got it? I knew you didn't even bother to renew it because Yoojin doesn't want to."

"I don't give a ing damn about that license."

"Then why do you ing bother about making a ing robot?!" Leo exclaimed.

“Because you don’t ing know how it feels to be lost!”

"That's the fracking point, Ken!" Leo stood up, then walked towards the glass window. "You might as well fail to make a perfect cyborg with that ing emotion. Snap it out or else I'm going to shock you with this. Fifty thousand volts, if you want." He waved the Taser gun he’s holding for a while, after he was attacked weeks ago.

 

There was silence. Ken was taken aback, and uneasy with the scene as the same time. He never saw Leo in that kind of fury, and not in this kind of situation. After Yoojin died, he didn't know where to go, so he chose to cover up this loneliness by deciding to create a robot which resembles the girl who always wear those hoodies and dark-tinted jeans. But he thought that this could turn upside down if he had this feeling of guilt and desperation in one rush on his veins.

 

He collected himself and shifted into his seat, his slouching body in upright position. “Hyung, you know that… I, I can’t run away.” He muttered under his breath, while fidgeting with his fingers.

 

“From what?”

“I-It’s just that…” Ken’s words trailed off. “I’ve always wanted to lose this feeling. But I love her, and I can’t just leave everything when all happened so sudden. It still hurts, in here.” He placed his hand on his chest, clenching the fabric between his palm and skin.

“I know.” Leo understood. “I’m still sensitive, even with this kind of face.”

“I wish I could have that face too.” Ken deadpanned, not wanting to make everything serious. “Emotionless.”

“You don’t know how hard it is to have this kind of face though.” Leo chuckled, shaking his head. “People would ask me why am I so cold but I always wanted to express my gratitude towards others. I think it’s because I’m too reserved.”

“You are.” Ken laughed.

“Shut up, Ken.” Leo sighed, ending the conversation which turned into something that is not even helpful for his friend’s state. “You could make yourself a cyborg instead, so you two could fit. You know what I mean. A cyborg to a cyborg. A bionic couple. Oh.” Leo retorted, looking intently at Ken, whose eyes are hidden behind the brown fringe. “Wait. No no no, you can’t just be like that.” He shook his head, looking away to let himself think of something that might help the latter.

“Then what?”

“Scratch it off.” The latter waved his hand. “You can’t just be a cyborg yourself. That’s… unreasonable. Ridiculous. Crazy.”

“Well that would be not unreasonable if it’s me and Yoojin, though.” Ken blankly stated, still his head down in strong disappointment and resentment against Leo’s idea.

“Then what do you think you’ll be doing? You’re not a ing hero. If Yoojin’s here she will definitely smack you in the head and scold you many times for being so stupid.” Leo’s fists landed with a thump on the table, causing Ken to flinch and raise his head. “Let her go.”

“No.”

“Just, please. Let Yoojin go.”

“I said no!”

“Seriously, what the actual are you into, Ken?! You can find another person to love instead. Let go of Yoojin, trust me.” The latter muttered under his breath. Leo averted his gaze, his eyes glancing on the clear glass window, eyeing the skyscrapers and the gray clouds of smoke surrounding it which is barely visible with the hint of the sun’s rays passing through those lump of particles. “You were as destroyed as this city. Don’t be like this. You could be somebody else other than what I see on you right now.”

“No!” Ken stood up, catching Leo’s diverted attention. It was his turn to hit the table with his fists with a loud thump. “I can, I will and I should.”

“You shouldn’t!”

“You can’t ing understand me, Leo!” Ken yelled. “I will make that robot. And if it works, I will definitely be happy. And that is the only way to fix my destroyed self. Keep that in your mind.” He gritted his teeth in rage before walking away, closing the door behind him violently. Leo placed his hands on either side of his waist, sighing as he his lips due to dryness.

 

Seconds just barely passed by until the door opened and a confused Hyuk entered the room. “What happened to that punk?” He asked Leo, who is now sitting on his swivel chair, his hands behind his neck and legs crossed above the table. “I saw him walking fast and he seemed to be so angry. I waved at him but he didn’t wave back. That’s weird.” Hyuk scratched his head.

“Don’t mind that idiot. I contradicted his thoughts and ideas though.” The other replied, shifting into a proper sitting position, his fingers now interlocked under his chin, elbows on the table to support his head’s weight.

Hyuk shrugged his shoulders before taking his seat across Leo. “Not that again.” He shook his head while clicking his tongue.

 

The youngest research analyst, who is just a centimeter taller than Leo, knew what could have been Ken’s intention to go to the institute on an odd day. Even if Hyuk can sometimes be tagged as too optimistic, he would always have this piece of his mind for understanding. And he thinks the same way as how Leo looks on the situation.

 

“He could be hard-headed sometimes.” Leo sighed. “His reasons are too absurd to accept. Come on, how can he move on if he wanted to create Yoojin’s bionic version?”

“Same thing as Hongbin hyung’s reason, remember?”

 

Leo’s eyes widened at the memory, the blurry vision of Hongbin being shot dead at the laboratory with the robot Youngji in his arms. He remembers it all too painfully, then sighed at Hyuk’s statement, not even wanting to talk about their late friend on a problematic phase. “Hongbin’s different. He’s licensed and his robot was not, because it costs more than your life and only the richest of the rich can afford that ing robot registry. Ken’s on the worse side.”

 

“Wait, he doesn’t have the renewed license, does he?”

“He said he doesn’t ing care about that.”

“Oh.” Hyuk leaned on the chair’s back rest, arms crossed just a bit below his chest. “Illegality, huh. I could sense something bad is going to happen. But he could run away with his android girl after some time. Are you not going to stop him?”

Leo placed his hands on the swivel chair’s arm rest, leaning his head on the soft back cover. “No. Ken’s into it, and no one can stop him. The only thing is that I could probably shock him with this.” He tossed the Taser gun on the table. “Can you adjust it for me? Make it deadly.”

Hyuk squinted his eyes as he looked on the flashlight-like thing on the table. “Come on, Leo hyung. He’s still your friend. You should help him as well.”

The latter shook his head slowly, gazing at the window again. “I did everything, but Ken doesn’t listen. And I’m not going to help him if they will catch and exterminate that ing .”

“There’s no ‘if’ on that, hyung.” Hyuk softly said, still not dropping the formal greeting he always do. “It will definitely happen, and there’s nowhere to go.”

 

---

 

“Have you talked about it with Ravi?”

“No.” Hyuk replied.

 

N knew it would be better for the younger to tell Ravi first, but it would not be easy because Ravi’s the closest one to Ken, other than Hongbin. He clicked his tongue before standing up. “There’s nothing that we can do about it. If he’s in that kind of rage and he’s really desperate to bring Yoojin back, well, it’s hard to convince him.”

“Hyung, please!” Hyuk begged. He sighed then shook his head. “Leo hyung doesn’t want to stop Ken hyung from doing it. But I thought we should do something, something to bring him out of the mess.”

“Let him do what he wants.” N blankly replied, not sparing a gaze on the latter, his hands on his back. He started to roam his eyes on the view of the corrupted city. “Ken is like this view, wretched, and insane.”

The latter leaned his back on the chair, let out a heavy sigh, the window still blocked by N’s body. “You had the same thought as Leo hyung’s. But---“

“Huh.” N slightly smirked then slowly faced the younger. “I know what you want to do. You want to save Ken from Hongbin’s same fate.” He slowly turned sad. “I do, too. I want to save our friend, too. But if Ken doesn’t hear out our thoughts, then let him be. Just let things happen the same way it did for Hongbin, because we can’t do anything against it.”

“So you’ll be like you when you watched Hongbin hyung losing his breath?” Hyuk threw a disgusted look. “So, you wanted to watch Ken hyung soak himself on his own blood?”

N shook his head. “No! Why would I want that?” He exclaimed. “If I can do something, if I can only talk to the board but I don’t have that power! Just, please Hyuk. Please understand me. I wanted to help but… things are strict and every wrong move we do in here, in this institute, we’re all dead. We’re all afraid to lose our lives, aren’t we? Especially you.” N supported his weight by placing his palms flatly on the table, leaning forward to look at Hyuk’s worried eyes. “You’re the research team head, Han Sanghyuk. And even with that young age of yours, the government will not spare your life if you do something wrong. Got that?”

Hyuk reluctantly nodded.

“Now I wanted you to do something.” The older commanded, fixing his coat and necktie. “I’m going to a board meeting after 5 minutes. I want you to go to the vault where the unused lab keys are. Check if there’s a missing key. Notify me if there would be any.” He patted Hyuk’s shoulder before walking out of the office.

Hyuk prayed that it would not be that key.

 

---

 

rendering… 40% complete

 

Ken slammed his fingers through the keyboard, typing what he could hardly remember on his second year in college. Muttering incoherent words under his rapid breath, he could see the robot’s structure slowly approximating Yoojin’s features. He smiled at his newly created artwork in front of him.

“Okay. Just a bit more. You can do this.” He whispered, chuckling afterwards when he realized that he was talking to no one but himself, and all that he could hear is the sound of the flashing binary codes on the big screen, and the clanking of the assembling machine. He’s starting to be satisfied of what he’s doing.