“Welcome to KBoys Cyborg Call Centre, you’re speaking with Yerin, how may I help you today?”

The caller let out an exasperated sigh and I knew already what pathways I needed to head down on the computer, preparing for how it would be described to me. Every day working in this company came with surprises, but it was all for the same undertone. Most would call for simple things, like how did they turn their Taeyong into friend mode after charging him or trying to un-train their Jackson from rapping loudly in the middle of the night. Most callers had innocent issues, and they were normally easy enough for me to solve.

It was clients like this though that I anticipated the most.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Can you explain your situation?” I glanced at the screen in front of me, noting the caller was from Busan and had purchased her Jungkook model three months previous. From the readings on his current status, he was in lover mode, and I pursed my lips together, waiting for how she would respond.

“He, he stopped working.”

“How so?”

An awkward cough came from the caller and I tried hard to keep a straight face. “His er, thing, his part. It’s not working.”

“I’m sorry, but you will need to be more specific so I can guide you. What thing or part has stopped working?”

“Aish this is so frustrating. His male part, okay!”

I composed myself, a little disappointed by her wording. She had been less creative than others in the past, admittedly. “Ah, the male appendage has stopped responding. Have you tried pressing the button at the back of his neck for ten seconds to reset him?”

“No, am I meant to do things like that? He was working completely fine, well, almost too fine, and then just stopped midway. I am very frustrated, so I called you immediately! How am I meant to know to press the damn button?!”

I could tell her embarrassment had led for her anger to rise in response and so I tried not to respond how I initially wanted to. Instead, I smiled at my computer monitor, as if it would resettle my own thoughts. “Customer, on page two hundred and thirty-nine there is exact troubleshooting advice for this situation. Could you please hold down the button for me for ten seconds?”

“I was meant to read that novel?! Fine, I’m pressing it!”

After counting to ten, I waited for her to comment back, noticing no call status change on the computer my end. Nothing was said at first and I waited a couple of seconds more. “Customer?”

The line remained silent and then I heard it. A squeal sounded into my headpiece and then was followed by a groan. “Yah! How could you do that to me Kook-ah! You left Noona waiting in a bad predicament!”

Eyes widening, I listened only a couple of moments longer to the male response and then ripped off my headset, my breath hitched in my throat.

“Yerin-unni?” I was nudged from the cubicle beside me roughly and blinked. “Are you okay? You didn’t end your call in the proper protocol.”

“There was nothing in the training book that would prepare me for that.”

The petite girl beside me frowned, leaning closer as if it would help her understand. “What?”

“Instead of responding, the client went back to her previous happenings,” I said slowly, hoping it would give me some kind of solace. Instead I kept hearing the same words over and over, shuddering a moment later. “Honestly!”

Sohyun finally came to the realisation and gasped. “She went back to having ?!”

I nodded, getting up weakly from my desk.

I had been working for Kboys Cyborg for the past two years. It was a company that specialised in creating artificial intelligence within the form of the most popular Korean idol male groups and distributing their bots worldwide. As someone who didn’t quite understand the concept of worshipping the ground of a bunch of idols so much that you needed to have your own version in a robot form, I had to admit the job had some insane perks that made my moral compass less important. The pay and job security were more than decent, and higher than any job my psychology degree could conjure up currently. Despite the capitalism on fans, the science and revolution behind the faces was highly intriguing to me. It was 2018 and robots were becoming more and more advanced, with Kboys being one of the most successful in their AI systems. All cyborgs were programmed with set characteristics that matched their real-life counterparts, with the ability to be trained by their owners to suit their needs. Most fans who purchased one would enjoy the boyfriend aspect of the bot, with the perks of having help with cleaning, cooking, and using their SMART controls, they could easily access knowledge from all areas of the internet. The most perfect boyfriend was sent right to their door, and through trade-ins, if they changed biases or a new group came out and captured their attention, they could send it back and have it go through a face-up calibration to match their new interest, all whilst withholding their vital data chip with the stored memories of their previous settings and training. Owners of a Kboy could do so much with their robots, except real responsive human interaction and emotions.

However, there was the lover mode aspect that always made me feel uneasy. It did provide a bit of amusement at times as clients tried to explain the awkward situation of their cyborg losing function of their male parts suddenly, usually from overuse. Knowing that these fans were able to truly ualise the idol counterpart through their robot generally sent me to the edge though. It wasn’t something I could ever imagine being comfortable with, knowing there was a real-life version out there whilst there was up to 100 counterparts made somewhere around the world in action with a fan. I wondered about the psychological impact and disinterested behaviour this could create in them towards actual people. My psychology background was a blessing and curse in this role, wanting to help these people find their way towards real-life connections and out of their homes. Most seemed to be people who suffered some kind of social phobia or anxiety and it saddened me that I was in no position to help them, if anything, my role was only fuelling them on to continue their fantasies with their lifesize doll.

“Yerin, where are you going?” Sohyun called out as I walked away from my desk, in desperate need of a break from this crazy environment. It wasn’t every day that I became shocked in my position, in fact, I had become so used to the way the clients spoke, that my previous naivety to some aspects of relationships had been fully overridden. But this client had managed to shake my composure enough to have me considering a resignation.

Had she been that pent up from being stopped in her lovemaking with her Jungkook robot, that the fact she had rung a human to help with her troubleshooting was completely forgotten as soon as her fake lover had risen again? Had she blurred all lines of real and make-believe? As I reached the staff kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water from the refrigerator, I gripped the bench to steady myself.

“This wasn’t what artificial intelligence should be used for, right?”

“It depends on what you’re referring to,” a voice answered and I looked around the room, finding him sitting in the corner. I frowned, noticing no badge on his plain clothing, moving slowly towards him so I could see if I recognised him. I stopped, dropping the bottle of water out of my hand.

He moved fast enough to catch it before it spilled everywhere, his eyes marvelling at his hand now holding the bottle, wondering how he had been able to capture it so perfectly. His dark eyes then connected with mine, an indescribable expression crossing his all too perfect complexion. “What must AI do to be considered right?”

I didn’t answer, I couldn’t, Instead, I stared at him with intense disbelief, wondering just how on earth one of the cyborgs had left the lab and was now standing in front of me, looking more relaxed than I had ever seen one appear before.