The  soft whirring of machinery is the first thing that registers in his mind when he opens his eyes, shifting them around in their sockets only for them to focus on an unfamiliar room. Slowly he pulls himself into a sitting position holding his hands out in front of himself noticing that the appendages looked unfamiliar as well. Closing his eyes again he tries to remember who he is, digging through his mind, only to find one letter as an identity.

    N

His name is N, or at least part of it is, and that’s all he knows. N has no recollection of who he is, no friends, family, or  memories beyond that one letter, nothing but N.

    The first thing he feels is fear, it’s a terrible thing that grows out from his stomach filling his entire being. N is sure of that as he places his unfamiliar hands onto his face running them over the slopes and ridges that make up his features. Cautiously he decides to look around, hoping to find something that would draw out a memory, the soft whir and  clicks of the machines seeming to grow louder as he moves.

    The room he’s in is a cold metallic silver that reflects the fluorescent lighting stinging his eyes and forcing him to squint, as he picks out an array monitors that flash the word ERROR in bright red that filling corner opposite of him. Looking to the sides he sees that machinery is everywhere around him, large metal apparatuses filling the walls to the ceiling, and to his surprise none of its moving leaving the question of the whirring noise unanswered.

A variety of silver cords that are wrapped around his legs and ankles that hold him down being brought to his attention when he tries to stand. He pulls at them ignoring the way some of them have to be removed from his skin as he drags himself towards the only door in sight. The whirring continues to crescendo as he starts to stand reaching a fortissimo as he starts to run, bursting through the door and into an equally metallic hall.

The sound of his feet hitting the floor blocking out all other sounds as he runs. Breaking out into the hallways of the building, he’s surrounded by the never ending shine of the crisp chrome that plates the walls and floors the bright florescent lighting blinding him as he runs. The lack of doors hardly registers in N’s mind as his legs push him forward completely numb. N’s head is a flurry of panic as he runs through the corridor in a straight line, only panicking more as it goes on and on for what seems like eternity in a single line.

N doesn’t feel the wire that catches his foot as he runs only noticing when he finds himself face to face with himself the reflective floor. It’s there that N sees himself for the first time, the heart he realises he never had stopping as he looks at the wires flowing in and out of his throat. He pushes himself backwards to the wall slamming against the chrome with a solid thud, the whirring of machinery still buzzing in his head as he comes to the realization that it’s him making the noise.

    His eyes flit around the room finally locking back on the image of himself that is reflected off of the wall. He takes in the sight of himself, from the dark skin of his face and arms, to an exposed metal ribcage finally stopping on the cord hanging from his neck to the floor, the cord he’d tripped on. Lifting a shaking hand up to the cord he stares at his own face in the reflection taking in a slow breath as his fingers wrap around the cord, the small clicks becoming clearer now, pulling it from its socket, watching his irises flash from black to a shocking white blue.

    N’s vision flashes red when the cord falls to the floor. He grabs out at more of the wires, monster, is the next word to make it’s presence known in his mind, followed by, demon, evil, and wrong. He can see the black tears run down his face as he watches his reflection his whole body freezing under him. The whirring finally fading out as his knees hit the ground vision the red fading to black. A final word flashes through his thoughts as he slips into the void, ERROR.

    The scientist is quick to find his creation after receiving the distress signal, sprinting through the halls as he searched. He feels as if a part of himself dies as he looks at the lifeless machine kneeling on the floor, the eyes pure white trails of black smeared from them. A light flashing on the side of it’s neck indicating the memory chip had been faulty. He curses as he looks down at the broken image of the man who had once been the light of his life. Bending down he lifts the empty shell before resting his hand against the wall opening the hidden closet. Filled with all of his failed experiments. He rests his newest failure in the center of the room, wiping away the dark stains with his coat sleeves, leaving to return to his lab.

    Once he’s surrounded by the monitors again he opens his desktop. He taps on the only folder on the screen, bringing up the few images of Hakyeon he’d had before his death, before his illness had taken him. He looks at the pile of machinery in the corner before preparing himself for his next attempt, it looked like he had enough parts for one more try. Surely this time wouldn’t be an error.