Yerin looked down at Yuju, but it didn’t seem as though she had any recollection of her. She smiled kindly, making Yuju tear up instantly.

“Yerin unnie….”

“Hm? You know me? That’s weird.”

For a moment, Yerin seemed to stutter in her actions, her eyes blinking rapidly. Raising a hand to hold her head, Yerin stopped blinking and sighed.

“Not again, darn it I was so close this time!”

Yuju held back her sniffles, this seemed serious.

“Ye-yerin unnie?”

“What, what is it? You’re a fan of mine aren’t you? Go away, I don’t want to take pictures with fans.”

“I…I’m not a fan Yerin unnie.”

“Then excuse you for not having your manners, because girl, even though you’re pretty, I don’t know you.”

Yuju stared. How could this be? Was Yerin playing a prank? Or was she purposely ignoring her? Pretending that they didn’t know each other?

“Yerin unnie, you really don’t know who I am?”

“No, I don’t. But talking with you seems to have made something stop working in me.”

“Stop…working?”

Yerin hummed as she casually popped open her wrist area, revealing a set of circuits and a bunch of wiring. Rummaging through the wires, Yerin pushed a button and shivered before looking at Yuju.

“I swear, are you a walking emp?”

“Emp? What is that?”

“Electromagnetic pulse. Stuff that makes electronics stop working, ya know, like cyborgs like I am. Besides, you’re probably looking for the human me.”

“Human you?”

Yerin nodded, her legs now swinging under her. Yuju noticed that she wasn’t wearing shoes and that her legs were moving.

“You can move your legs?”

“Of course, I can?”

“You…explain what you mean by human you.”

“Exactly that, my father, told me that I was his daughter’s replacement, that I had to do everything she was supposed to do, after she died a few months ago.”

“Yerin unnie can’t be dead. She didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries.”

Yerin hummed, it seemed that she didn’t know the reason either. Yuju jumped up and scaled the wall to sit beside this Yerin.

“I swear you’re still her.”

“And I swear I’m not. Hey, ever worked with mechanics before? I think my heart if malfunctioning.”

Yuju looked at Yerin curiously. If this was a robot, she wouldn’t have such human expressions. Nor would her eyes be so beautiful. Curiously, she reached a hand to Yerin’s hair, to which she didn’t move, staring at Yuju.

“You, said you were a cyborg?”

“Doesn’t that basically mean robot?”

“No, you’re half human, and you are Yerin unnie.”

Yuju’s fingers brushed through Yerin’s hair carefully. There was no doubt in her that this was Yerin in front of her, no matter what the other said, she was certain. Certain that this was her partner.

“Tell me you don’t feel anything from me.”

“I….”

Yerin stopped and curiously tapped her head, Yuju noticed a silver line on the side of Yerin’s face, close to her temple. Her eyes narrowed as it seemed that Yerin had a chip in her brain. She looked in her lap, SinB had been telling her about the technological advances in this nation and how their tests have been resulting. Very carefully, Yuju placed a hand on Yerin’s lap, she held felt her tears b when she felt the unnatural hardness under the fluffy pants.

“Hey, why’re you crying? Is it because I didn’t answer your question?”

Yuju shook her head as her tears fell, her hands covering her face as she cried. Yerin’s legs had been replaced, she had a chip installed in her head to help her move them and most likely she was the hidden military project, where her legs and chip were powered by her natural magic processing, constantly providing a low flow of magic.

“Hey, I don’t like seeing you cry, whoever you are.”

“My name is Yuju, I was your partner.”

She sniffled and looked up, the cold breeze freezing her cheeks where her tears had streaked down. Giving a sad smile, she held Yerin’s hand shakily.

“We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

“Yuju?”

Yerin blinked a few times, running her name over in her tongue.

“Hm, oddly familiar.”

“I know.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SinB paced in their hotel room, Umji had passed out and Eunha was practicing her flames. Yuju had gone out without telling them and they had no way of contacting her, SinB was hoping that Yuju had only gone for a walk and would be back safely for bed. They were supposed to head out to the Jung Industrial building early next morning after all.

Hearing a knock on their door, SinB hurriedly checked through the peephole, only seeing the back of Yuju’s head. Confused, she opened it. Before she could say anything, Yuju had covered quickly and pushed her backwards into the room. Her eyes were wide and her finger was pointing.

When she calmed down and Yuju had closed the door behind them, SinB sat down on the floor with a flop, her eyes unfocused.

“Yerin unnie….is walking?”

“Like I said, what’s so bad about walking?”

Yuju hurriedly grabbed SinB’s shoulder, whispering to her ear.

“She got surgery done on her legs, I think their robotic and she has a chip in her head. She has no memory of being with us and she doesn’t know that she had regular legs before.”

“WH-“

“Shhhhhh! Yewon is sleeping.”

SinB held in her screaming.

“Why. How?”

Yuju could only shrug.

“You guys are all stuck in this room together? That’s a little cramped, don’t you think?”

“We were short on money.”

“And you said we were friends? All the friends I have are arranged by my father, so they were all rich, where are you all from? Did I make friends when I ran away sometimes? I can’t remember.”

Yerin rubbed her head confusedly, she had followed Yuju because she seemed to be nice and had good intentions, now that she was in their small cramped hotel room, she wasn’t sure what she had gotten herself into.

“You guys aren’t lying to me to sell me for ransom, are you?”

“No, not in the slightest. If you remember, I have lie detector as an ability. I’m going to ask you some questions and you will answer them truthfully as you can.”

“What is this interrogation?”

“Please. We just want to make sure of something.”

===================

is this yerin really their yerin? man I'm having fun with the idea of cloning

but spoilers: she's not a clone, just a little memory issue :P you'll see