002: Bots

     Jieun woke up to the smell of mildewy boxes.

     She opened her eyes to the chandelier hanging on the ceiling and stared at it meaninglessly. It was a change from having to stare at the crack on the ceiling whenever she woke up, but she was still having a hard time adjusting to this big room.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking out the window. 

     The curtains of the boy's room were open again, but the boy was nowhere to be seen in the room. His room was more messier than it was yesterday which grossed Jieun out a little. Just as Jieun was about to avert her gaze, a woman entered his room and started putting all the laundry into the white basket that she was holding. She didn't seem like the other women in the town; she was scrubby - but she looked much more human. 

Today, Jieun had to go to the high school in this town to get herself enrolled. 

     She wasn't exactly thrilled after seeing those weird kids in the streets yesterday, but it wasn't as if she had a choice.

She didn't have a choice moving to this town. 

"We're leaving after breakfast," her Mom knocked on her door abruptly, startling her. "Get ready."

---

     "I can just take the bus to go to my old school," Jieun grunted as she got in the car. "It's not even that far from here."

"Nonsense," her Mom snapped at her.

"Why? This school's probably some weird private clique where all the girls eat scones and drink tea for lunch."

Her Mom gave her the eye through the front mirror, shutting Jieun up. 

     "We're living in an upper-class neighborhood," her Mom said. "We're no longer living in that middle-class apartment and that shabby high school that you attended back there." 

"All the kids here are weird," Jieun blurted. "Have you seen the way they dress?!"

"They dress very pleasantly, mind you." 

"Ugh," Jieun sighed and looked out the window, staring at this town that looked like a 70s Hollywood movie set. 

"Sit up," Jieun's mother scolded her. "No girl sits like that in this town."

"Mom, it's 2020." Jieun glared. 

"Why can't you just be like your sister?" Her Mom said annoyedly. "She's already perfectly adjusted to this town."

Because she's spoilt like you

     Jieun thought as the car drove into the school parking lot. 

     Jieun sat up and stared at the school. As expected, the school looked like a typical rich high school with its buildings looking like some building owned by a major corporation. There was a large zen garden outlined by marble greek theatre seats, and this entire area was decorated with all sorts of colorful flowers and bright green trees. 

"Is this really a school?" Jieun asked, eyeing her mother. 

"Yes now, don't be a country bumpkin like your father." Her mother snapped as the two walked into the school building. 

     Jieun looked around the building, shocked. It wouldn't be weird if she got a seizure anytime soon because all she experienced ever since she got here was shock after shock. The school bell rang across the building as students walked out of the building, barely talking to each other. There was not a single student whose school uniforms were unkempt or not tucked in and everybody's hair was done up in a perfectly tidy manner. Every girl's skirt was right on their knees and every boy's shirt was tucked in, and all they all had identical smiles on their faces as they walked the corridor in a single line separated by gender.

"Here," her Mom hissed as she dragged Jieun into the office. 

Jieun rolled into the office and tripped on her own feet, crashing into someone as she entered the office. 

She looked up and saw a familar face looking down at her, catching her with his arms. 

     "Eunwoo..?" Jieun said as propped herself up and stared his perfectly chiselled face. She felt her cheeks get hot as he stared right into her face with a soft smile. 

"Are you okay?" He asked gently and took off his hands gently when she nodded. 

"Thank you," she murmured. 

"It was nice to see you again," he said in his pretense voice again as he walked out of the office with his robot-like posh walk. 

"Who was that?" Her Mom asked with a cheeky smile. "That boy's pretty fine."

"Mom!" Jieun blurted. "It's the guy who brought us the pavlova yesterday geez." 

     Jieun looked around the office staff. They all wore the exact same monotonous facial expression on their faces as they typed into their computers with not a single chatter going on inside the office.

"Mrs. Lee?" The principal walked towards them. He didn't seem robotic in his tone or his walk; he seemed perfectly normal.

    Jieun walked into the principal's office and took a seat, looking around the office. The brown walls gave off an antique feel and hung pictures of past graduating classes whom all looked exactly identical in pose and smiles. She looked at the principal who looked back at her with a small grin and interlocked his fingers together as he began speaking. 

     "Well first, I would like to welcome you to The Town," he smiled creepily. Jieun glanced at her Mom who smiled back at him; she didn't seem to be getting any of the chills that she was getting from the principal or just this town in general. 

"10th grade," he smiled as he looked at Jieun. "How exciting?"

Jieun faked a smile, nodding softly. 

"I have assigned two students to be your buddies, just to show you around the school and help you get adjusted." 

"I don't need buddies-"

"Thank you so much sir," her Mom interrupted. "Jieun's been dying to make new friends." 

Knock Knock

     "Come in," the principal motioned as two students walked into the room. 

"Oh?" Jieun gasped as Eunwoo and a girl stood at the door, staring at the principal. 

     Jieun stared at Eunwoo and at the girl, noticing something so different about the two. Eunwoo stood there with such a still expression and posture it looked as if someone pinned his bones to stand like a display doll. The girl, on the other side, had a slightly slouched posture and her expression was filled with curiosity and a pint of annoyance as she stood there waiting for the principal to say something.

"This is Eunwoo and Jennie," the principal introduced and pat Eunwoo's shoulders. 

"Eunwoo is your neighbor, right?" The principal asked and Jieun nodded awkwardly, creeped out by how he even knew that. 

"They'll show you around the school and help you get adjusted to this place." 

     Jieun stood up and nodded, following Eunwoo and Jennie out of the room. 

"Welcome to The Town High School," Eunwoo said to Jieun with a robotic smile.

"Thanks," Jieun said with a shy smile.

"So where you from?" Jennie asked, walking backwards as he stared at Jieun's face, blowing a bubble gum. 

"I came from Yong-in," Jieun said, a little more comfortable with Jennie being on the normal side. 

"What?" Jennie said excitedly. "I'm from there too! I moved here a year ago!"

"Jennie, your voice is above 75 decibels, please follow school sound regulations." 

Jennie and Jieun stared at Eunwoo, weirded out. 

"Whatever," Jennie mimicked Eunwoo and continued chattering, excited. 

"Kids here are quite... different, huh." Jieun chuckled awkwardly as she glanced at Eunwoo's handsome face. 

"Would you believe it if I told you that everyone here is a robot?" Jennie said with a cheeky smile. 

"W..hat?" 

Jennie started roaring of laughter. "I'm just messing with you! It's a tradition to tell that to all new students here, believe it or not."

     "This is the school gym," Eunwoo interrupted as he pointed to the door on the right. "This is our class in the gym."

     Jieun peeked through the door and saw a group of girls lined up in a perfectly straight line, doing the exact same dance moves at the exact same time. Jieun peeked through the east gym door and saw a bunch of male students playing basketball. Each boy was standing in a perfectly aligned position, each one watching as one tossed the ball to the other and ran at such a careful speed. 

     Out of those boys, there was a boy who pushed these robotic boys abruptly and snatched the ball off, throwing it in the hoop. One of the boys slammed onto the ground, moving faintly as the other boys gathered around the boy in a swift motion and all watched. Jieun squinted her eyes and realized that it was the boy opposite her window. 

"Him? Jennie said, popping her bubble gum. "That's Kim Taehyung."

"Taehyung?"

"He's this emo dude in our class. Never talks to anyone."

"Why?"

"Wish I knew," Jennie shrugged. "But I heard he wasn't always like that. Apparently he used to be the exact opposite until 8th grade."  

     The three walked past the gym, Jieun eyeing Taehyung until the gym left her sight.

---

     Jieun had toured the entire school just in time for lunch.

     Jieun sat at a table in the cafeteria, looking around the entire cafeteria in weirdness. The cafeteria was so refined and so clean with not a speck of food stain anywhere in the room. All the girls and boys walked in a separate line as they sat at the table and ate their food, speaking in their lowest voices as they talked to each other about some unrelatable topic. 

    Jieun stared at their lunch, a half bowl of salad and stared down at her pork cutlet. 

From the crowd, she saw Eunwoo walking towards a table of 3 boys who were dressed just as orderly as he was.

"Good Afternoon Jieun," he said softly as he walked past and sat at his table. 

"You have a crush on him?" Jennie asked as she stuffed a spoonful of chocolate pudding into .

"What?" Jieun said, laughing. "No."

"Have your friends ever told you that you're a really bad liar?"

"He just lives across the street from me," Jieun said, her eyes continuously on Eunwoo. "That's all."

"It's okay to have feelings and all that jazz, but don't have them for one of them."

"One of them?" Jieun watched as a robot like girl walked up to their table and sat next to Eunwoo.

"We call them bots," Jennie said as she stared at the girl sitting next to Eunwoo. "Don't you notice anything strange about them? The way they talk, walk, look, dress, everything. It's just like a robot."

"What if it's just... an upper class thing?" Jieun said, slightly convinced. "How can someone be a robot?"

"You see that girl next to Eunwoo? That's Park Eun-bin. When I first came here during middle school, she was one of the most human girls in this town. She was so bold and rebellious, you know what I mean? She practically defied every rule that was known to man in this town and did whatever she wanted to. All these bots were her toys. She was my first friend here when I moved here and I was super shy, so conservative. She changed all of that about me and we literally became best friends."

"But what happened?" Jieun said, staring at Eun-bin.

"One day she came to school, completely changed as one of them."

"How?" 

     "I don't know. No matter how much I tried to talk to her, couldn't get anything out of her because she became one of them. It's like she doesn't understand normal human language anymore!"

"What if she... just.. wanted to have a change of style?"

     "Please," Jennie snorted. "She hated bots so much she would hold protests toward the mayor to reveal what she's doing to the people in this town. She had this conspiracy theory that the mayor of this town was inserting chips in everybody's brains to make the entire town into an obedient robot society or something." 

"That's just weird," Jieun shook her head. 

"She had this entire evidence map she collected for years to try and expose the shady stuff that she thought the mayor was doing. It's funny though, she passed all that information to someone the day before she changed. It was almost as if she knew she was going to change."

Jieun stared at Eunbin, lost in thoughts.

Jieun had so many questions, but there wasn't anyone who could answer it.

More accurately, she wasn't sure if she could believe any answer that was given to her.