“Your prototypes are a failure, I tell you,” Lee-eun said, scolding Jaehyun. “You gave them one order, ONE, and they couldn’t even do anything. Have you even managed to find their whereabouts?”

Jaehyun glared at Lee-eun, arms crossed in front of them. “Sometimes when you make something perform a task that wasn’t there initial purpose, there’s going to be room for trial and error,” he said, looking at Renjun and Taeyong, who were looking at the ground, silent. “You know I didn’t created them to hurt others-”

“But you said they were capable of many things,” Lee-eun argued. “Only one of the models managed to kill some people but the other three? Pathetic.”

“Oh, yeah? I’ll like to see you make humans from scratch, cause you’re not going to get it from having a woman-”

Lee-eun took out his sword and held it under Jaehyun’s chin, the blade almost slicing the skin. “I can throw you in for treason whenever I want, so don’t test me, Sir Jung, now tell me, where are the other two?"

Taeyong stepped forward. “We have an insider who found their location but said their on the move,” he lied to Lee-eun, forcing himself to look at him in the eye. “Jaehyun is doing all his best.”

Lee-eun stared at him for a good few seconds before lowering the blade from Jaehyun’s neck, motioning his guards to leave with him. “You have five days to give me that location,” Lee-eun warned him, heading out the door. “Or it’s off with your head.”

He left the lab, his guards closely behind him. Jaemin rushed to close the door after him, breathing  heavily. “Sir what are we going to do-”

Jaehyun looked at Taeyong, fists balled in anger. “Why would you say that?!” he yelled at him, swiping all of the papers and machinery on the table to the floor. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“I- he was going to hurt you, sir,” Taeyong explained, his arms and lips trembling. “I couldn’t- I really tried to-”

“You really thought he was going to do something to me?!” Jaehyun shrieked.

Jaemin dove to the floor, hastily trying to pick up the papers that Jaehyun had dropped. “Sir, maybe we can finish it by that date-”

“No, you guys don’t understand, he’s going to try to kill people and I’ll take all the responsibility!” Jaehyun yelled at the three of them. “Do you guys not see what type of problem we have here?”

Renjun glared at Jaehyun, balled fists at his side. “If we’re such a burden to you, then just ing destroy us then,” he sneered at him. “It’s not like we’ll ever be considered your equal anyways.”

He marched out of the room into the smaller lab room where their tubes are, shutting the door behind him despite Jaemin running after him, leaving Taeyong and Jaehyun alone. 

Taeyong bent down and picked up the papers silently, stacking them into neat piles when Jaehyun called out to him. 

“Hey, um, I’m sorry,” Jaehyun started, scratching the back of his head. “I forgot you guys still have yet to understand social cues, and-”

“I promise to be more obedient sir,” Taeyong said, setting the papers on the desk as he set to pick up the metal scraps. “And to not get involved in your personal matters.”
 

***

Donghyuck woke up early in the morning, and when he got out of the guest room, Johnny still snoring on the bed, he noticed the house was pretty silent as well. 

He stepped out into the hallway slowly, yawning. Hopefully he didn’t make too much noise and disrupt the… how many people were in this house again? 

There was a folded blanket on the end of the couch, so he grabbed it and wrapped it around his body, wondering how the hell was the house so cold in the morning. What time was it, anyways? Now that he thought about it, did Xiaojun even have a clock in the house?

Early or not, Donghyuck’s stomach was rumbling, so he stumbled his way into the kitchen, accidentally stubbing his toe against the kitchen table, and he had to bite his lips raw in order to not let out a scream. 

He did fall onto the floor, though, as he held his foot, whining about the pain. Surely he did something in his past life to deserve all this misery? What could he have possibly done anyways?!

“My poor toes!” he cried quietly, biting his lip while groaning. They hurt so bad, someone please just cut them off now-

Donghyuck felt someone carry him, and if it weren’t for the pain in his toes, he would have twisted his body to see who it was, but frankly, he didn’t care at the moment. 

The person set him down on the soft couch, and that’s when Donghyuck got a good look at the person who turned out to be-

“Are you okay?” Mark asked him, standing in front of him.

Donghyuck stared at him with wide eyes, confused. He had completely forgotten about the assassin robot superhuman whatever guy they had held hostage. 

“I’m fine,” he lied, even though he still wanted to die inside. “Johnny always calls me clumsy, anyways.”

Mark nodded, looking at the ground where Donghyuck fell where the latter had dropped the blanket after falling in agony. Without thinking twice, he walked towards it and picked up the blanket.

“The temperature in the house is below sixty degrees,” Mark informed him, laying the blanket of Donghyuck’s body. “You have to stay warm and not get sick.”

“I’ll have you known, I have a good immune system,” Donghyuck said. “Unlike Johnny and my parents. They always got sick.”

Mark nodded again. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Yeah, better safe than… sorry…” Donghyuck muttered. 

Mark looked out the window and headed towards the door. “It was nice to meet you,” he said, opening the door to leave. “But I must go, if by what you guys have told me is true, Jaehyun has a possibility of being in danger-”

Donghyuck sat up on the couch, his dramatic antics about his stubbed toes gone. “Who’s Jaehyun?”

“The… the one in charge of me,” Mark said. He didn’t know the intentions of these people, and even though he sensed they were harmless, he did not get a good vibe from the brother who kept making accusations about him. Maybe he would betray him in the long run, Mark thought. Yeah, it was better to be safe then sorry, as he said. He’s heard that quote from Jaehyun before, multiple times. “I’m sensing he might be in danger, and I need to go back and help him.”

“But you’re a wanted criminal!” Donghyuck explained. He grabbed one of the newspapers on the coffee table and held it up for Mark to see. “See? You and some other people were seen and people think you are working together.”

Mark’s eyes widened when he saw the picture of Model L. He had been given a name last minute, but he had forgotten, since the four of them were soon given their orders. “Oh no.”

“Yeah, they didn’t get you and these others that well, but first of all, you’re in that exact same outfit,” Donghyuck pointed out, referencing the dark clothing Mark had on. “They’re going to know you in the first five seconds after you walk out of that door.”

Mark looked down on his clothing. There were a lot of enhanced fibers that Jaehyun had woven together for the five of them, making it fireproof, waterproof, cut resistant, and didn’t weigh him down. “This outfit is for my protection.”

“And you would be better protected if you didn’t look like someone who tried to assassinate the royal family,” Donghyuck said. 

Switching glances between Donghyuck and his clothing, Mark sighed in defeat. “I’ll change it but where am I going to get spare clothes?”

Donghyuck whipped the blanket off of him and jumped off the couch, landing on his perfectly two good feet as if they weren’t causing him misery a minute before. “This is what I call doing something that will annoy your brother but with a tad bit aegyo, he’ll forgive you,” Donghyuck explained, grabbing Mark’s hand and leading him back into the hallway. “We’ll have to raid Johnny’s clothes.”
 

***

To see the assassin wearing his tight pair of jeans (they always made him look fine, in Johnny’s opinion, which is why he always wore them around Ten) and one of his white t-shirts during breakfast made Johnny take out his blade with no second thoughts, only to get smacked on the back of his head a minute later. 

“Mark needed a shower and some clothes,” Donghyuck explained, ignoring Johnny throwing daggers into his eyes. “And my clothes are too small for him."

“And you gave him my stuff?!”

Donghyuck shrugged, picking up his fork. “See, maybe if you made me my grilled cheese yesterday, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”

Johnny opened his mouth to scold his oddball of a brother who clearly had no regards for his safety, only to be interrupted by Xiaojun next. 

“Can you not argue when it’s crack of dawn?” he asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “We get it. Mark tried to murder Donghyuck, Johnny, what part of him being a robot being mandated do you not understand?”

“I’m not a robot,” Mark corrected him. “I’m a human-”

“A human who is still going to be involved in a small ‘accident’ anytime soon,” Johnny muttered, stabbing a piece of his toast. “I told you not to get close to him.”

“Yeah, I don’t care about your opinion.” Donghyuck grabbed another piece of bacon and put it on Mark’s plate, the latter chewing his food slowly. “If you truly are stronger than Johnny here, you need to eat more-”

“Johnny, you’re bending that fork,” Kun pointed out. He didn’t talk much during table conversations. 

“No I’m not,” Johnny lied.

Xiaojun sighed, handing Johnny the day’s newspaper. “Please don’t destroy my silverware, remember you’re helping me today.”

“Why is it called silverware if it’s not made out of silver?” Donghyuck asked, curious. He used his fork to stab a piece of his apple. “Not that I’m complaining, I’m allergic to silver.”

“A rare allergy only found in one percent of the population,” Xiaojun added, quoting a magazine that he read a few months ago on the anniversary of the King’s dead brother. “But yeah, who knows, I just use cheap metal.”
 

***

 

“You think this cheap piece of metal is going to handle your weight as you climb up the tree?” Chen Le scolded Yangyang, who was setting a thin steel ladder against the tree trunk. “It’s so rusty, it’s going to collapse.”

Yangyang frowned. “Are you calling me fat?” 

Chen Le rolled his eyes. “No, I’m calling this thing useless,” he corrected him. “Besides, how are we going to be fat if we can barely eat?”

“Well, that soup yesterday was delicious.” Yangyang set his foot on the first rung and got on the ladder, ignoring how it seemed to be bending due to his weight. “I’m going to sit on that branch and look at the world above.”

“Say hi to death for me,” Chen Le muttered, walking away. “I’m going to get the hoes so that we can start soon.”

Yangyang climbed until he reached the first branch, lifting his foot over it. “Yes, more food for later.”

He watched Chen Le walk away as he heaved himself onto the branch, managing to throw his body over it. It really did seem unstable, but hopefully it wouldn’t collapse. 

Chen Le found the hoes from yesterday and dragged them to the field when he saw a carriage pass by on the road. For a second, he froze before remembering they were supposed to be safe here. Barely anyone saw them in the palace and no one would think they tried to hurt the royal family… would they?

He saw how someone from the carriage got out, staring at their surroundings. They looked insanely dressed up, they’re clothing too nice for being out here in the countryside. Probably a nobleman collecting taxes or whatever they did to mistreat peasants. 

Ignoring them, Chen Le called out to Yangyang, who was sitting on the branch. “Yangyang, come on, we have work to do!!”

“Not yet, I like being- uh oh.” Yangyang heard a crack on the branch, feeling it go down a few inches. “Uh-”

The branch snapped, falling off and taking Yangyang with him. 

He reached up to grab onto the part jutting out of the tree trunk, desperately trying to grab onto it but his fingers kept slipping. “CHEN LE!! I’M GOING TO FALL!!”

Chen Le dropped the hoes and dashed towards the tree, calling out to his friend, who unfortunately let go of the branch. 

Luckily for Yangyang, he fell into someone’s arms. 

The nobleman from earlier had run when he saw the branch snapped and managed to catch Yangyang, who was confused as to why he didn’t fall to the oblivion. He craned his neck to see the man that caught him and went laxed as realization hit, fainting in his arms. 

Chen Le caught up to the nobleman who was carrying Yangyang. “Oh my god, thank you for catching him,” he said in Korean, out of breath, looking at his unconscious friend. “He always puts himself in dangerous situations.”

The man shook his head. “No worries, I’m just glad your friend here is safe,” he said. “You said his name was…”

“Yangyang,” Chen Le said. “I’m Chen Le, we’re both Chinese.”

“Chinese living in the Kingdom of Korea, interesting…” the man said. “Actually, your names sound quite familiar.”

“Maybe we know you,” Chen Le said, shrugging. He placed the back of his hand on Yangyang’s forehead, wondering if the latter had a fever again. “What’s your name?”

The man lifted up Yangyang higher to get a better grip on him. “Officially known as Huang Guanheng, or Prince Hendery from the China Kingdom.”