Haseul sat half-awake upon hearing the blaring alarm from her phone,her vision blurry still as she took a gander at her phone screen that reads 7 A.M. in front of a picture of her own self,smiling widely alongside Professor Jeong. She reach for her glasses...something’s missing.

“Vivi?” Haseul looked around and got no answer. Her eyes widened.

Vivi’s gone.

As she frantically looking everywhere in that basement she chance upon the note left and wrote by Vivi last night. Disraught,she cover her face with the palm of her hands and sat back down. A thousand and one bad scenario played in her mind simultaneously. What if the NIS found out?! What if the Son Industry knew about Vivi’s existence?!.

In the middle of that panic-filled moment,Haseul realized she’s not going anywhere,she need to remain calm. She draw as many air her lung could catch and let it out periodically. With clearer head,she also noticed her trench coat has gone missing,Vivi wore them,she conclude. Its a great clue to find for someone and a great outfit to cover the default robotic suit she wore. that pink hair too is going to stand out among the crowd. But there’s still one question remain unanswered in her head,How did Vivi knew about Kahei? Is the residue of Kahei’s database and memory still there? Haseul was sure to wipe them out from the neuro-organic brain she installed in Vivi’s head. She took another long sigh if Professor were here he must’ve known the cause.

First thing first,she needs to find out where Vivi could’ve go. Asking the police for help certainly out of the question. Since Haseul was wanted by the NIS for stealing the blueprints of Kahei’s model,showing her face to the police are the same thing as surrendering to her non-existant crime. Stealing...pah! The pot calling the kettle black. They are the thief. Not me. Setting her disdain aside,Haseul knew Vivi wouldn’t get too far. The traffic surveillance camera must’ve saw something.

She took her phone and start shuffle through her contacts,she stopped at the name ‘Frogspotter’.

“~who the hell is this...calling so early” the frog croak from the other side of the phone.

“Yeojin...Wake up and wash your face you lazy bum. I need your help.”

A momentary silence latter,Yeojin cleared and seems to regain her bearing,recognizing the voice of her caller.

“aigoo...what have you done now...Haseul-unnie? getting sick of covering your dirt all the time”

“Get your tiny in front of the computer,NOW!”

“Yeesh. All right,all right...hold on....yep,Frogspotter at your service.”

“Infiltrate the Ministry of Transport server. Look up the traffic surveillance camera outside nearby my basement,the time...from 9 p.m. onwards.”

“Looking for someone?” Yeojin asked alongside faint sound of rapidly typed computer keyboard.

“Soon you’ll find out”

“oooh...interesting...is it your boyfriend,or?”

“Oh for fu-“

“hold on! I got something...let me just zoom in...and clear out the fuzzy ty pixel. Hm? who’s that?..Oh shi- Haseul-unnie...you seriously had done it?! Kahei mark 7?!”

“Keep it down!”

“oops. sure,sure. Okay...where are you going miss organic-cyborg..at this time of the night...Damn! i lost her.”

“What happened?”

“She took a turn to some back-alley family restaurant. Can’t see since there’s no surveillance camera there...i’ll send you the restaurant street sign,did you get it?”

“i got it...thank you,kid.” Haseul said after taking another look at her phone screen,a picture file has been sent and a long sigh of relief followed shortly. At least i didn’t need to look for a pin in a haystack that is Seoul. “...and uh..sorry..i got panicked and-“

“Naaah..its okay. Rather,you need to worry about yourself though,Haseul-unnie. if words of this got out...the hounds gonna go sniffing.”

“You meant the wolves”

“Hounds,wolves...meh. they’re the same in my eyes. by the way,have you reported this progress to Jeon-Tech?”

“Ah...shi-..i forgot”

“Aigoooo...Haseul-unnie,they are the ones who paid your bills! Heejin-unnie had been anxiously awaiting the result of your research! Her board of directors had been ceaselessly breathing down her neck,threatening to cut off your funding!”

“All right-all right,geez..”

“Report! Now! Frogspotter out. Got a school to attend”

Dammit! How in the world i’ve become this careless?!

Her phone vibrates once again,this time reads Jeon Heejin. Right...today is deadline day too,with uncertain feeling Haseul answered

“Professor Jo,give me something good.” Judging from her rushed voice,Haseul knew Heejin must’ve been on her way to meet with her board of directors. Sometimes she pity her though,burdened by a monumental task to run one of the biggest chaebol there is in this country, fresh out of high school. She’s preparing for it her whole life,but still,it’s a tough task.

“My mark 7 model is up and running...but”

“But?”

“there’s the problem...running. the,uh..”

“Don’t tell me you let a fully operational organic-cyborg worth billion of won running around Seoul?!. I-....right. okay. She’s fully functional? Yeah?”

“She is...dare i say far better than Kahei,performance wise. It’s like...she’s got a mind of her own.”

“Even better...look,at least with these updates i can ease these old fart to stay clear away from your research funding. For now. but at some point,they would’ve demanded some kind of presentation. I trust you can find her as soon as possible? Utilize everything Jeon-Tech has gave you.”

“I will.”

“Good. Look,i have to go..and one more thing,. do be careful,Sector 9 of the NIS apparently got restructured. We no longer had our friend there,so,if you got caught...well..i can’t help you out.”

Heejin’s warning before she hung up kept repeated in Haseul’s mind. Incarcerated for some falsely accused charge..Hell no,I’ll make these things right,so my name and reputation can be cleansed. She sank back to her seat,how can a creation created with good intention becomes so much of a burden to her life and career? It supposed to be a simple process,the unbiased organic-cyborg equipped with an A.I. capable of high accuracy of medical expertise and knowledge. Surely it will do the world much good? She could help so many people. But the world itself corrupted her good intention. Or Haseul is just naive?.

But she still thankful some of the world agreed with her view,better yet if that some of the world in question is the heiress-now current CEO of leading pharmaceutical and advanced medical conglomerate like Heejin whom Haseul met during one of the world renown science fair. Haseul vividly remember the awe in Heejin’s eyes glowing as she saw Kahei back then. She agreed to fund Haseul’s and Professor Jeong’s research. Even now,at the great risk of harboring wanted,supposed ‘rogue’ scientists in her books could seriously damaged her company reputation. But Heejin wouldn’t budge. she got such lofty ambitions,wanted to mass produce Kahei and redistribute her to hospitals throughout the country. Yes,Haseul knew it would gain Jeon-Tech much profit from it,but Heejin’s good intention and her own outweigh it.

....All was smooth sailing...until the NIS and the Son Industry came to the picture,ruining it all.