PROMPT: A genre that you’ve never done, or tried. Sci-fi/Cyberpunk/Futuristic but somehow not really or whatever. Inspired by THIS.

*Note: This is extremely experimental work, done on a whim. It’s also possibly very silly. It's visually inspired by Ghost In The Shell, but it's still weird. Anyways, enjoy and let me know!

Two faces, two individuals, yet they moved in unison like they never existed separately before in their life. A carefully calculated gesture that was mathematically equal to the other; too exact for the eyes, too fast for the body to process. Pure synchronization, impossible in a human body, but known to be possible for androids. Swift moves that could not be grasped by anyone, like a ghost in the air that lingered and mocked the tangible human before slipping past their fingers, slithering away with a taunting smile.

And yet, these two girls had history, human bodies, human lives, that somehow turned into one of crime. Not androids created for the purpose of mischief or rebellion, just humans that grew under the radar and exploded exponentially. Their faces were different, but the more you looked at them, the more they started to morph together, confusing you from who is who. Bae Joohyun, with that jet black bob cut suddenly became Kang Seulgi with that same jet black bob, then shifted back to Joohyun. Their neon-green eyes, too powerful but too humanly to be from an android, were suddenly a concoction of one another -- perhaps a perfect mix or maybe a mental blob that made everyone shake their heads and look again. Seulgi’s nose suddenly morphed into Joohyun’s, while Joohyun’s luscious pink lips suddenly imitated Seulgi’s own redder ones.

At the precinct, the detectives watched the two mugshots taken hours ago -- before they escaped from their grasp, somehow -- and were terrified at the likeness. No, that wasn’t just the frightening part. The precinct’s AI, manicured to perfection for police work, malfunctioned again and again when trying to identify differences between the two girls, rebooting itself for safety until it reached some barely noticeable differences and started its process all over again. The grizzled detective assigned to the case watched the AI glitch and crash each time while he waited impatiently, clenching the pen in his hand as he felt them getting away more and more. The problem wasn’t just that they looked alike, the own database confused the backgrounds and the information. Seulgi’s family information was mistaken three times already while Joohyun’s never really reached to any possible, conclusive data but they confirmed through other means that they were both humans, that they both were born under the same hospital just on different dates and years. But that was it, there was nothing else. Without more information they had no lead, and without a lead they had no case.

So, the two criminals went free and the detective, old and tired of the all-too-wise thieves jumping leaps ahead of him, seriously considered his retirement. Anxiously taking an all-too-long drag from his cigar, he noted the strangeness of the case, the diligence in which it was required for this case to be close -- while a far more important case wasn’t receiving so much attention. However, when the gray-haired man the news he found out the importance of this case. These girls were not just thieves, but rather they had taken a hold of something important. Information. The man connected two and two together and understood the magnitude of all their exploits and feats. So, the question suddenly came to be more bizarre.

How could a machine so advanced not tell the difference? Even worse, how his eyes couldn’t tell the difference?

Where in the world could these two be? What could they be planning? 

A bank heist was done already, an assault to the presidential home had been done already (quite audaciously as well), the leakage of information from corrupt politicians happened not three hours hours after they escaped, and the whole world -- now connected and hungry for information -- was aware of the extent of the situation. 

What were Seulgi and Joohyun up to now?

In a fifty story tall building, forty houses wide, all ramshackled and stacked together like the once notorious Kowloon, lived the society of renegades. Somewhere in the distance, away from the main cities and town, yet too close -- taunting the government and taunting the people who were born luckier, was the ‘repulsive’ existence of those in different circumstances. People with low income, people with criminal records that the state refuses to erase despite knowing its falsehood, people who are not recognized in the world wide system of information because of unlucky circumstances.

People like you and I.

In the middle of that amalgamation of buildings, somewhere nuzzled between the dilapidated hallways that resembled alleys shrouded in darkness and ominous aura, was a cozy, small house specifically reserved for the duo. The community welcomed them with hushed whispers and unspoken words, leaving them co-exist with one another in an otherwise extremely tightly knit society. The mailman, the only man who knew the way through these street-like hallways, was kind enough to walk them through their destination, giving a small detour of the nooks and crannies of it. It wasn’t until the light from the newly repaired hallway shun upon Joohyun and Seulgi that he recognized them from the mugshot that were transmitted through the tele. His wrinkly smile broadened exponentially, his cordiality upped a bit and he even let them know that just three doors down their house was a man who was a technological genius.

“If you ever need it,” the mailman said with a wink.

Seulgi and Joohyun smirked.

But now, they were home. A compact home that worked for them away form the riches and the watchful eye of everyone. They didn’t need the lavish life, after all, all the money they stole was given away; all the information they had was sold to way too many people to count and that money was only partially used for their escaping arrangements, all safely stored somewhere no one would know about. Safely stored in a place so lonely and desolate that would be about to explode in (possibly) an hour. A carefully constructed bomb that would detonate safely in the middle of nowhere, where no one would hear it blast.

Kang Seulgi closed the front door and locked it, made sure the windows were jammed shut and covered them before she finally left out a sigh of relief. At long last, peace and quiet. Feeling her tough iron mask slipping and making way for the more human side of her, Seulgi smiled. Now, she was someone who wanted to rest, someone who wanted to be with her wife in peace.

“I think we’re safe,” she said softly, turning around to notice Joohyun taking her shoes off, seated on the couch, as if they had just come back from a party. All casual, like they haven’t spent three to five days on the run before being captured -- spending another set of hours escaping without notice. It amused Seulgi how calm Joohyun could be.

“I am certain we are,” Joohyun said softly, stretching her toes and legs before she signaled Seulgi towards the television built on the wall. “Turn it on, I think the conference may be on right now, or maybe a rerun.”

Seulgi didn’t wait, skipping over to turn it on and then retreating to the couch to take her own shoes off as they both watched a man behind a podium turn red in the face as he shouted to the poor audience of reporters and government-bought supporters and bystanders. The man’s face was bumpy with an allergic reaction, his veins popping absurdly at the exertion while his voice cracked and trembled at the heavy burden of accusations that had been released all over the world. Accusations that befell him and that implicated a good ton of other people around him.

Joohyun and Seulgi watched with amusement, stifling their laugher, noting how he never did address anything he was accused of but rather kept complaining, whining like a little boy, about how irreproachable and just he has been to his people as the president, how he’s been nothing but good to his nieces and nephews and how he’s been nothing but good to his wife and his son.

His son.

Then he jumped away from his delirious tangent to address ‘democracy’ and other confusing political terms.

Seulgi then looked at Joohyun, whose face contorted to a scowl for a few seconds. She scooted closer, holding Joohyun’s hand. “I think we made your father very mad,” Seulgi cheekily commented, squeezing her wife’s hand.

Joohyun turned to look at her, slowly smiling. “Yeah, I think we made that bastard mad.”

With that, Seulgi wrapped her arm around Joohyun and held her closer, rubbing her arm and humming softly, letting the man talk away his sins as if that would help the impending doom. In a few moments after, Seulgi asked: “How long do you think they’ll take to find out about you?”

Joohyun looked up at Seulgi, who looked at her in return. With a hand on her cheek and a chaste kiss on her lips, Joohyun spoke clearly.

“I never existed in that family. No one will find out about me. He will never find out it was me, not until it’s too late.”

After all, a ghost couldn’t break into the presidential home.

Seulgi smiled. “It already is too late.”