The confession was met with a look of utter disbelief, her facial features frozen tightly on spot. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but the big lump in the back of prevented her from doing so. She didn’t even realize her fingers were tightly clutching against the hem of her shirt as a form of resistance towards the sudden revelation.   “You’re lying,” she stated, pathetically hoping he’d reveal he was indeed lying. But he wasn’t.   “Yes, I have been lying to you regarding several things,” Jong Hyun then confessed, and she was honestly scared to listen to whatever could break her heart even more.   “Please explain to me, what is he if he isn’t human? I… I don’t understand.” She was holding her tears back, fearing there was a possibility she might lose Tae Min. She had grown too attached and had fallen too deep to give him up.   “Did you really think it was possible for a game character to become fully human like that?” Jong Hyun questioned.   Maerin was honestly too hesitant to answer. Whatever the answer pertained to be, it would go against her logic.   “He is a robot.”   She blinked her eyes furiously, opening agape, but unable to utter a proper response. The quizzical look on her face said it all.   “You must be wondering why he looks fully human if he is a robot. Well, this is where the second lie should be corrected,” Jong Hyun cleared his throat and shifted his position on the floor. “You aren’t actually the first person who managed to unlock the special feature.”   Maerin felt her chest tightening, unable to clearly comprehend what emotion she was supposed to feel. There was an overwhelming calamity washing her mind and soul.   “Why did you lie?” She managed to whisper a response. She clenched her hands into a fist, holding it below the table out of his sight.   “Because you wouldn’t continue playing the game if you knew the ending,” Jong Hyun answered.   She had a bad feeling, a very very bad feeling that suffocated her from the inside out. She was afraid to ask, but she had a right to know the truth. “What do you mean?”   “We have a laboratory at the headquarter where we mimic the characters created in Love Fantasy. Whenever a player unlocks the special feature, it activates the robot to life. This explains why they have every memory from the game, because we input all the data into their system. Though we are still trying to figure out what triggered players to obtain the special feature.”   Maerin wondered how trustworthy the information was considering he had lied to her before. For now, she told herself to believe him although her mind was strongly resisting the idea. “What about the ending? Why wouldn’t I want to play if I knew the ending?”   “Because out of all the virtual boyfriends that had been brought to life, none of them lasted for more than six months.”   Maerin vocalized a loud gasp, feeling her heart sink in a deep stream of dark sorrow. She mentally counted her time with Tae Min. Time went by so fast she didn’t realized they had been together for almost six months now.   “What happened to them?” She then questioned.   “Similar to what is happening to Lee Tae Min now; they malfunctioned. It won’t take long before he will no longer be operating.”   “So…” Maerin bit her lips to look for the right words, “You’re saying he will shut down entirely after six months?”   Jong Hyun did not answer, did not nod, did not even blink. And that was an answer in itself.   “Is that why he suddenly started to act weird?” Realization hit her hard. How else would Tae Min mistake all those important details about her?   “Towards the sixth month, you will notice some changes,” Jong Hyun said, avoiding her eyes because he could not handle the desperation penetrating through.   “Why didn’t you tell me? You should’ve told me before I fell in love with him. At least then I could’ve kept my distance,” Maerin uttered, her eyes glistening wet with hopelessness as she looked at anything but the guy in front.   They said love grew over time, but no one ever restricted a time limit. Who was to say it was too soon or too late to love someone? Her time spent with Tae Min may not have exceeded 365 days, but she was sure it wasn’t infatuation.   The way he made her feel was as if she was the most important being in the world. He looked at her like she was the only person her could ever lay eyes on. He held her hands like he was afraid to lose the warmth once he let go. He kissed her forehead like she was the woman he was going to love for the rest of his life.   All of that would soon disappear, and a part of her wondered whether she had been making the right decisions.   “Do you regret falling in love with him?” Jong Hyun asked.   Maerin tilted her head to meet his curious expression. A smile twists her lips briefly, replying to his question without hesitation.   “No,” she spoke, “Meeting Tae Min is the best thing that ever happened to me.”   “Then what are you gonna do now?”   “Make every single second count.”     It didn’t take long before Maerin started noticing a change ranging from the subtle ones to the big differences that left her in disbelief.   “You cooked this?” She came home to a fancy looking dinner consisting of steak, bacon, broccoli, potatoes, and mushroom sauce to top it off. She had to stay behind at work while he had gone ahead to take care of dinner, which was a change in itself. Tae Min wouldn’t usually let her walk home alone.   “Yes. I followed some YouTube cooking channel to give my girlfriend the best.” Tae Min approached her and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead, then proceeded to lay out the plates on the coffee table.   Maerin smiled. Some things didn’t change. Maybe she should stop focusing on what she no longer had, and focus on the things she had. It would be a waste of time to mourn for her loss—time was no longer an essence she could abandon.   “Beef, potatoes, mushroom, crispy bacon and broccoli, these are all my favorite things in one plate!” Maerin grinned.   “I know. I especially looked for a recipe that had everything you liked combined together.”   Tae Min was beaming with pride at his accomplishment, and really, why wouldn’t he? The last time he attempted to cook her some healthy ramen rich on vitamin C, it was rather disastrous. The malfunction must’ve transformed him into an amazing chef.   Maerin smiled bitterly. It wasn’t that she disliked the ramen, but she tried her best to see the good in everything, even at his transformations. She had to. Time was ticking.   “Let me feed you the first bite,” Tae Min insisted as he cut up a big chunk of meat and held the fork in front of . He grinned when she opened to properly savor what he had cooked just for her. “And?”   “Delicious!” Maerin shouted in surprise, a little too loud. She cut up a piece and fed more of it to her boyfriend. They soon ended up fooling around and continued to feed each other with interlinked arms one would usually see during wedding events.   “This feels like we’re getting married,” Tae Min noticed their position and smiled.   “As long as I’m becoming Mrs. Lee, I really don’t mind,” Maerin said. “Though I do wonder whether I’ll be Mrs. Lee Tae Min or Mrs. Brock Lee.”   He scoffed. “What even is Brock Lee?”   Maerin blinked her eyes. “Brock Lee is your stage name.”   “Stage name? Why would I need that for?”   Maerin’s chest began to suffocate the breathings trapped in her lungs. Was this another effect from the malfunction? Not only was he remembering details and facts wrong, but he was now starting to forget fragments of their memories together.   “Do you not remember what my username was when I first played Love Fantasy?” She asked him carefully.   “Maerin,” he spoke casually. “You had entered your name as Maerin.”   She bit her lips together, unconsciously counting the remaining days left. If he unconsciously altered the memories they spent together, how long would it take for him to completely forget about her?   “I’m gonna shower,” Tae Min then announced after he was done with dinner. The girl had been a little unresponsiveness, and he decided to give her space for now.   “Okay,” she replied mundanely, receiving another one of those pecks she treasured dearly. Her eyes trailed after his movements as he grabbed a clean shirt and brought it with him to the bathroom.   Was it the hairdryer’s fault? She saw the orange spark right after she had tried to dry his hair. Things went downhill afterwards.   It didn't make sense anyway. She had tried to search his body at the accessible and appropriate spots for any suspicious button or control panel. But Tae Min was flawless in every way. There were no weird bumps or anything that could act like a power button.   Tae Min looked like a perfectly normal human being.     “Welcome to Mushqroom,” Tae Min greeted the customers brightly like he was taught to. But at the sight of the familiar face, his eyes lit up. “Soo Jung, nice to see you.”   First it was the Goddess like presence that alerted Maerin, but Tae Min