CHAPTER ONE

I stared at the man in front of me, who was completely unmotivated in engaging in any kind of conversation. Why do I always get the weird ones? I thought as I tried, but miserably failed, to catch his attention. From what I could see from the other side of the table, he was fairly tall, having that slick hairstyle that was popular nowadays, dressed in expensive designer clothes. His eyes, that had been shining out his absence of mind, were black and cold, under it a well sculptured nose and a pair of narrow lips. I guess I would say he was physically attractive at first sight, but oh, how first impressions could be so wrong. This guy was clearly not interested in going to blind dates, and even less interested in talking to me.

       “So, what are you searching for in a relationship?” I asked and crossed my legs. 
       The man looked up and met my eyes for a brief second, then looked away again.
       “Um… Someone who can manage the home for me?” he replied as his point of focus wandered to something that was located behind me. I cleared my throat.
       “Home management, huh?” I said and leaned forward in the leather armchair to put down my empty coffee mug on the rectangular table in front of me. Then I followed his gaze until I spotted a girl in maybe her early 20’s that was wearing a slightly too short miniskirt (as if those could get any shorter already) and a very revealing top. I sighed.
       “That’s it.” I mumbled and stood up, making the man jump in surprise.
       “You’re going already?” he said and looked disappointed.
       “You know what? I am. Have a good life.” I snapped back, grabbed my bag and walked straight out of the café.

I stuck my hand in the bag and rummaged for a while until I found my small, black notebook. I opened it and flipped through the pages until I found the one I was looking for. Ten lines below each other were filled with ten different names, all of the scribbles crossed over except for one. I pulled out the blue ball pen that was attached to the spiral, and scratched the remaining name. For less than 3 weeks I had now been convinced to go to ten different blind dates, all of which had ended in disaster. I put the notebook back and managed to find my phone that was lying in the bottom of the bag. I pressed the screen until Joonmyeon’s number appeared, and then pressed ‘call’. A couple of tones later there was a rustling sound and a hoarse voice whispered:
       “Hello?”
       “It’s four in the afternoon.” I stated and rolled my eyes, knowing he had been asleep until now.
       “Aw no, I missed wishing you good luck. How did it go?”
       “I don’t want to talk about it.”
       “That bad?” Joonmyeon said and I could almost see in front of me that he had a smug smile plastered on his face now.
       “It’s not funny.” I said, now a bit annoyed. ”Somehow mom and dad find all the bad ones okay? 10 times in a row…” I made a pause. “I’m going home.”
       “Please don’t go to those stupid blind dates then! I, dear sister, am going back to sleep. It’s my big day tomorrow. Love you.” he said and ended the call.
       “Damn you!” I yelled at the blank screen.
       Two tourists that were standing next to me stared at me with shocked faces and then quickly backed away until they were on a safe distance from the girl who looked like she would throw the black piece of technology she was holding, or more like clenching, in her hand, into someone’s head if she had to. After about thirty seconds of frustrated thinking, I finally made the decision to actually make my way home. 

Walking into the elevator, I pondered over whether this search was worth it. I now had a job, an apartment, a wonderful mother and father, an annoying (but trustworthy and supporting) brother, and I hadn’t even turned 25. Why would I even haste with finding someone? I had plenty of time. Sigh.

​       I went inside and started removing my makeup.
       "Stupid." I mumbled for myself while padding my eyelids so that the eyeliner, that I this morning had applied so carefully, faded away. "This is so stupid."
       I stomped on the little pedal that opened the trash can and threw the cotton piece into it and went into the living room.
       There were still moving boxes all over the place as I was still packing up all my stuff. Having moved in recently, it was kind of empty to not have Joonmyeon being literally everywhere, although I'd told him I wouldn't miss any of his bad habits. But here I was, waiting for that sarcastic comment about my tired appearance, that never came. It was completely quiet. This I would of course never admit in front of him, as he would tease me for eternity until the day I died. And I definitely wouldn't let that happen.
​       My evening was pretty ordinary, or well, if the normal events of a week would count as ordinary, it was. It was strange to sit there by myself by the kitchen table, eating a dinner that I hadn't put any effort at all in, not talking to anyone.
​       Maybe I should start a mukbang channel or something to feel less lonely? I thought for myself but felt sick when thinking about the copious amounts of food I would have to eat. On second thought maybe not...
 

The next day, it was finally sunny outside so I decided to explore the area before going to work. Most of my time the last month had pretty much consisted of getting the apartment at least a little neat, and working, so I hadn't spared any of it to actually get to know the place. Walking down the street I realised what a mixed neighborhood I lived in. On one side of it, there were luxorious skyscrapers that must have costed millions to build, on the other, buildings that looked like they would fall apart at any moment. In a small alley I found something peculiar that gave me a strange feeling, but clearly caught my attention. On a brick wall, there was a carelessly tacked poster with a blue background. I looked around to see if there were more of these posters, but this was the only one. On it stood a text that I couldn't really interpret what it meant:

"Are you yearning for that spark of love in your life, but cannot seem to find it?
Have you gone to numerous blind dates, but cannot seem to find the one?
Are you searching for the perfect partner?
We might have the solution for you"
       It was signed 'Night Studios'. It looked like it might have been a matchmaking agency, but the design said otherwise. Maybe mom and dad would like this, I thought and raised my eyebrows when I realized what this could mean for them. Nah, I don't really want to be that desperate. I decided that the name sounded shady enough for me to ignore it and continue to work.

However, that poster never left my mind the whole day. My colleagues wondered if something special had happened lately as I 'seemed so distant'. So on my way home, I went back to the place where I'd found the poster and took a photo of it so that I would be able to look it up when I came home. There was no clear information about Night Studios on the internet, but there was a phone number. Out of curiousness, I called it. On the other side of the line, a man's voice spoke.
       "This is Night Studios, what can I help you with?" he said monotomously and yawned.
       "Um... I'm just... I saw the poster and got curious about what-" I started but was interrupted by a loud yell in the background.
       "OUT OF THE WAY! I'M TAKING IT!" there was another voice and then a scraping sound.
       "Hello?" the other voice, another man, said. "Are you interested in the Layered Series Project?"
       "What? Well, I suppose." I mentally facepalmed myself as I realised this probably was some lunatics promoting drug testing or organ trading. My heartbeat sped up when I thought of how I in this instant could be dragged into a shady car and taken to a laboratory where they were going to take my liver and sell it on the black market. I've just watched too many police dramas. It's fine. 
       "Oh how much I have waited for you to call!" he said and squealed. 
       This was so weird.
       "Um, okay? Actually I thought my mom would like me to do this, so I thought..."
       "Your reasons don't really matter, you can come in instantly!" the man yelled and said something about 'I knew someone perfect would catch on' to the other man in the room. All he got in reply was a faint grunt. 
       "So, um... Are you some kind of matchmaking agency or something?" the part about 'catching on' sounded seriously shady, so I didn't really want to go there alone. Maybe I could bring Joonmyeon along. The man got quiet for a little while, but then laughed. 
       "I guess you could say that." he said secretively. 
       That was it, I was going to do it.
       "I'd like to bring my brother along."
       "Is he also interested?" the man sounded like he would pass out from overload of happiness.
       "Um, no, I'd just like to bring him."
       "Ah, I see. That's fine." I could clearly hear he was disappointed, but I decided to ignore it.
       "So, can I get an address?" I asked, and was immediately given the address together with the pin code to enter the building. I ended the call and sent a text to Joonmyeon, hoping he would see it in time.

Sent 6.43 PM

When you're done with your thing, can you meet me at this address.

Only two minutes later I got the reply, and I sighed in relief.

Received 6.45 PM

Sure. I'll meet you in 30 mins

So 29 minutes later, I stood outside the door that had the strange logo of Night Studios on it. A panting Joonmyeon appeared behind me.
       "How are you so fast?" he said and had to rest his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "Anyways, what are we doing here?"
       "Not sure, but you're here as my backup plan."
       "Your... backup plan?" his eyes widened. "From exactly what?"
       "In case it's a trap where they kidnap us and something bad happens."
       "Bad?!" he hissed, now in slight panic. "But bad stuff can't happen to me now, I'm auditioning tomorrow!"

       "But you'll come, right?" I asked apologetically, and he nodded (although he was really hesitant). "Anyways, I have the code, so we can apparently just go in."
       The corner of his left eye twitched as he forced a smile. So I pressed the code and opened the door. We didn't have to wait long until a man in a white robe came running toward us through a long, sterile corridor.
       "YOU'RE HERE! I'm Dr Jung, and I'm here with my colleague, Dr Min. He's the one who answered the phone earlier."
       "I'm Kim Jiyoung, and this is my brother Kim Joonmyeon." I said and pointed towards my brother, whose face was pretty much as white as Dr Jung's robe at the moment. He stared at Dr Jung with pure fear in his eyes.
       "Okay sis, I usually don't judge what you're doing, but what the hell have you gotten yourself into now?"
       "Honestly I have no idea, but we're here now, and he seems nice." I whispered to him.
       "To lure you into his trap so that he can steal your kidneys or something." he whispered back.
       In the end of the corridor, there was a big, white door. There was nothing special about it; it was a regular door that one normally would see in a hospital or something.
       “In here,” Dr Jung said and opened the door. “This is where we make magic happen.”
       We followed him inside, too scared to think this was as cool as Dr Jung made it sound, too curious to run away. A man, whom I assumed was Dr Min, was soundly asleep in his office chair.
       “Wake up!” Dr Jung yelled, making Dr Min jump in surprise, rambling something about being awake. “Let’s start the tests.”

Dr Jung placed a chair in front of a screen and asked me to sit down.
​       "Um, your brother might want to sit at least some distance away from you." he said and looked at me for approval. 
       “Think about the kidneys.” Joonmyeon whispered in my ear.
​       "I think we'll do just fine." I said and he held my arm tight and nodded with determination. Dr Jung sighed.
​       "Actually, the questions are quite personal." he confessed. I looked at Joonmyeon and he met my eyes. 
       “The kidneys.” he mouthed.
​       "He knows literally everything about me."
​       "Well then, don't tell me I didn't warn you."
       I glanced at Joonmyeon who moved his chair closer to mine. I immdiately felt safer with him next to me. 
       "First we want you to input your personal details." Dr Jung said and seated himself on the other side of the table, with another screen in front of him while I wrote my name, age and address on the screen.
       "So, in an ideal man you'd like him to be taller than you, same height, or shorter?"
       A scale from one to ten appeared on the screen, I guessed 5 being the middle. I pressed 7. Joonmyeon smirked. 
       Dr Jung listed question upon question, and it felt like it never would stop. 
       "Aaaand the last question... ual drive. 1, high, 2, fairly high, 3, moderate, 4, low." 
       I hesitated, but pressed the screen.
       "Two, huh?" Joonmyeon teased. I felt my face getting warm: I had completely forgotten that he was sitting next to me and could see all my answers.
       "Yeah? What about it?" I raised a pointless little stick in defence, when I knew he would be holding a sword, but he just laughed. 
       "Right." He raised his hands in defeat, which I was actually quite surprised by.
       Dr Jung stood up and poked Dr Min who had once again fallen asleep, in the shoulder. He brushed off some dust from his white robe and then extended his hand to shake mine. 
       "Thank you so much for your cooperation Kim Jiyoung. You definitely won't be disappointed."

A/N

Hello everyone and welcome to the first chapter of 'Artificial Love'. I really hope you'll enjoy reading this story. I will update this one alongside Unexpectations, so yeah... Anyways, have a great day and comment, subscribe and upvote~ Thanks on beforehand  m_ _m
Stay awesome everyone!