Robot (roh-buht, -bot)

noun

A machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command.

Kim Minseok frankly wanted nothing else but to relax and catch up on his sleep. God knows he deserved it. With thesis deadlines to finish and exams to study for, Minseok had little to no sleep. And even though the school year ended with him passing with flying colors, he had yet to catch up on his precious sleep because of all the 'End of Year' parties his friends threw. The house, one that he shared with his 10 other friends, was the very definition of a pig sty at the moment. There were pizza boxes, takeaways, confetti, drink cans and piles of food wrappers everywhere along with an odd garment here and there. Minseok finally decided that he had tolerated enough of the garbage. 

"If only robots weren't banned." Minseok sighed wistfully as he tied the garbage bag together. While doing so, Minseok somehow knocked over the papers he'd piled together for recycling. He sighed again and gathered the papers for the second time. A piece of paper from a couple years ago caught his attention. An advertisement for a housekeeping robot. "There really were Bots for everything huh?" Minseok mused before he put the papers along with the advertisement into a disposable tote bag. 

"Hyungggg~ can we have delivery for dinner?" 

"We had takeaway last night as well." Joonmyun frowned. But to be honest, they'd been living on junk food and takeaways from day one of living together since no one could be bothered to cook all the time. Now that Joonmyun thought about it, it was quite the miracle that they were all still in shape regardless of their monstrous food consumption.

Minseok chimed, "You guys should help me clean. Work up an appetite." Zitao and Sehun both immediately grinned and threw an arm around Minseok.

"But that's why we have you, Minnie hyung~" Sehun teased, lightly pinching Minseok's puffy cheeks ignoring the glare from the smaller male. Seriously, Sehun doesn't seem to have any respect for his elders. "You're like our personal cleaning Bot."

"Yah. Respect your elders." Joonmyun chided before turning to Minseok with an easy smile. "Hyung. If you need anything, just let me know. I'll make sure they,"  Joonmyun pointed at Zitao and Sehun. "help you out." Minseok rolled his eyes at the younger men affectionately, shaking his head at them before leaving the house to dispose of the waste. The maknaes would probably end up doing a half-assed job at cleaning anyways.

But seriously though, why did the government ban cleaning robots as well? Minseok could understand (he really couldn't) banning the other robots but cleaning robots? And it was just when they had saved enough money for one, the world government came to a collective decision to ban all robots and make them illegal to possess. 

Minseok grunted to himself as he dragged the heavy garbage bags and tote bags toward the garbage alley. You could build muscles just by cleaning in their apartment and even more muscles from just taking the garbage to the garbage alley because of the enormous amount of rubbish. In the summer, taking the garbage out would make you sweat like you've been in the sauna for hours but thank goodness it was winter.

"Baozi~" Minseok didn't even have to look up to know it was Luhan calling him. Arms quickly wrapped itself around him. Minseok was used to the skinship his friend always indulged in. Besides he could get all the hugs he wanted in the world so no complaining there. "Oh. Going to the garbage alley?" Luhan asked before giggling to himself at Minseok's 'You don't say' look on his face. 

"And where were you when you could have been helping me clean?" Minseok asked, nudging his friend's arms off him. It was awkward to walk when being back-hugged.

"Nowhere." Luhan sing songed before he snickered at Minseok's annoyed expression. "Jealous?" Luhan gasped, dramatically grabbing at his chest. "Oh my Baozi! I promise I'm not cheating on you! You are the only one for me!"

Minseok laughed along with Luhan and shoved him playfully. That was how close they were. Their friendship may seem a little (read very) gay to others with their excessive skinship and random declarations of love but they were all indefinitely straight, no matter how much their weird stalker fans (why the hell did they have fans anyways?) want it to be otherwise. They turned the corner into the garbage alley, chatting randomly when Minseok froze making Luhan walk into his friend. "What's wron..." Luhan's voice trailed off when he saw what his friend was staring at. 

Laid against the snow lined recycling dumpster bins was a body wrapped up loosely in white strips of cloth, like a mummy. The cloth was at its loosest around the head, revealing patches of dark hair hanging over a serene looking face. Luhan slowly walked up to the body, looking back at Minseok in intervals with a worried expression. 

"Is he.. Is he dead?" Minseok whispered as Luhan tentatively felt for a pulse. Then he gasped, looking at Minseok with wide eyes. 

"There's... There's no pulse." Luhan said. The two just stood in panicked silence before Luhan took out his cell phone. "We have to call the police. Tell them there's a d-dead body." Luhan said shakily, tapping at his screen.

"Wait! Luhan!" Luhan snapped his head up and barked out 'what?'. Minseok put the garbage bags down and walked over to Luhan, squinting his eyes at the body. "I don't think he's dead." Minseok muttered, kneeling down in front of the body.

"Huh? But he's not breathing. There's no pulse!"

"Look at this." Minseok pointed on the neck. It was white, almost blending with the alabaster skin completely but Minseok's sharp eyes caught sight of it nonetheless. A white barcode. And under it in tiny scripture, "SM Corporation. Model D110193-O." Minseok whispered. Luhan's wide eyes was accompanied by a dropped jaw. They knew exactly what it meant. After all, they had done extensive research just so they could get one. "He's a Bot."

"But... How can that be? The government decided to scrap all robots. And," Luhan kneeled besides Minseok. "He looks so...human." The most human humanity could get robots to look was like the robots in the old film 'I, Robot'. But this boy looked perfectly human. If they hadn't seen and hadn't known the significance of the words and numbers inked into the skin, Luhan and Minseok would've thought the bot was human. A dead human perhaps, but human all the same. "We should call the police." Luhan repeated, tapping at his phone again.

"Hold o-"

"Omo! If it isn't Luhan and Minseok." The boys froze and looked up at the speaker. Mrs. Lee from the house next door beamed at them obliviously, walking over with her refuse bags. "You boys look more handsome every time I see you." She giggled before she caught sight of the bandaged android and her grin fell.

"Aunty, we can explain-" Minseok started but Mrs. Lee raised a hand with a frown etched on her ageing face, cutting Minseok off. 

"I can see exactly what is going on." She said. Luhan and Minseok exchanged looks of terror. Crap. "I don't mind you boys playing pranks on your friend-" Luhan and Minseok both looked back at Mrs. Lee who was now smiling at them sheepishly. "But it's winter already. Your friend may get a frostbite with so little clothes on." 

"A-ah. Of course." Minseok laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Mrs. Lee didn't seem to notice the waves of nervousness pouring off Minseok and Luhan. She just shook her head affectionately at the pair as she dropped off her garbage and left with her good nights. She didn't notice anything at all. Two sighs of relief echoed in the dimly lit garbage alley. 

"Thank god." Luhan said breathlessly. It seems his body had forgotten about a thing called breathing in the midst of panic over getting caught.

"No. This is bad." Minseok groaned, running a hand through his hair. Luhan looked at him questionably. "We were seen." Minseok deadpanned. Immediately, Luhan also groaned.

They were seen. Together with the Bot. Now even if they called the police, Mrs. Lee's misunderstanding would make it look like they knew about the robot. That they may be the owners of the robot. Either way, Minseok and Luhan only saw themselves getting thrown into a prison cell as a result, should somebody find out about the robot. Along with possession of artificial intelligence being illegal, there was a heavy life imprisonment law enforced in Seoul. 

"What do we do now?" Minseok groaned again. 

Luhan bit down on his lower lip nervously. A million scenarios flashed through the young man's mind. All of which ended quite badly. "What else can we do?" Luhan whispered softly. Minseok raised an eyebrow at Luhan as Luhan wrapped his arms under the Bot's neck and knees. "We have no choice but to take him in." Luhan said, lifting the Bot up.