II
Increasingly Alive
On/Off
Watching a bird fly seemed like the blandest thing to do in the world of technology, but Yongguk found himself doing it frequently. Perched at his window, he would watch for the colorful creatures swaying in the sky, taunting him with the beautiful dance of freedom. Yongguk longed for it every day. But being free meant being spontaneous, and that was one thing that was not in Yongguk's nature.
So he just watched the birds laughing at him through chirps and clicks of their tongues. They would dance their bodies from left to right before disappearing through the trees, or fading away into the digital sky. Were they even real? They were just too far in the air. They were always in sight, but just out of reach.
Yongguk's cell phone rang from the living room, soon followed by the tiny footsteps of Hyosung bringing him his phone. As she skipped in, her purple pigtails bounced at the sides of her face.
“Thank you.” Yongguk smiled at her as she reached for the phone in her small hands. She stretched her arms to him and dropped the phone in the palm of his hand, then giggled and scampered off in the direction of the hallway.
“Hello?” Yongguk said.
“Yongguk, darling!” He pulled the phone away from his ear, and rolled his eyes. His mother always called on the eve of the holiday, pouring out hints on his present. She would try her hardest not to tell him blatantly, but Yongguk always knew what he was getting. Her hints were never subtle. “How are you, dear?”
“Fine, mom.” Yongguk said. Hyosung came skipping into the room again, tugging at Yongguk's jeans. When he didn't respond, she pulled harder. Yongguk waved his hand in the direction of the hallway. “How are you?” He said flatly.
“Oh, fine, darling. Just wrapping your present! I have a feeling you'll like this year's gift.” She said. Hint #1, Yongguk thought. “In fact, you'll be... fascinated. Especially with your tech-nature and such.” Second clue: it had to do with technology, and it was probably something he used a lot. Another robot? “And with all those little robots around, this one should be different!” While his mother was pouring out hints, Hyosung was busy whining and at Yongguk's foot. She moved his jeans away from the bottom of his leg, though Yongguk paid no mind.
The pieces were all so easy to put together. It was obviously a robot, but he couldn't tell the make and model yet. She would crack soon though, and just tell Yongguk what they got for him.
“Oh, I just can't wait for you to get it!” His mother continued. “It's—“
Hyosung bit down on Yongguk's leg, leaving small teeth marks behind. Yongguk shouted, dropping the cell phone on his bed. Hyosung pulled herself away from Yongguk, arms crossed over her tiny chest.
“What was that for?” Yongguk said firmly, grabbing the small bot by the back of her shirt. Her pigtails fell to her shoulders while she pouted in anger.
“You didn't listen to me. Therefore, I had to use force to get your attention.”
“By biting me?” Yongguk exclaimed. She nodded as though it were nothing.
“I must have master's attention in the case of an emergency.”
“Well, what's the emergency?” Yongguk said impatiently. Hyosung smiled with pride.
“I'm very, very hungry.”
Yongguk scoffed loudly, putting Hyosung down on the bed next to him. He could hear his mother shouting from the other line of the phone, her obnoxious and nasal voice penetrating through the silence. He wasn't so angry that she was yelling, as he was that he missed his chance to hear what his holiday present was. His mother wouldn't repeat it now.
“I gotta go, mom.” Yongguk cut off her shrieking long enough to put in an entire sentence. She took a small breath.
“I didn't mean to yell, honey. What happened? Are you all right?” She seemed to be genuinely worried, but he didn't care. He just had to get off the phone.
“Nothing, ma.”
“Well, your father and I will drop off your present tomorrow. We have business in another town, so we won't be there when you open it. But at least you'll have it!” His mother said this as though it was nothing. Yet in her mind, it was nothing. They were never there for the holidays when Yongguk was young. Work was first priority, and Yongguk was tired of that mindset. As soon as he was 17, Yongguk moved out of the house, and supported himself instead of relying on anyone.
“Oh, gotta run, darling! Love you!” His mother yelled at somebody from the other line of the phone, then the line was dead. Yongguk threw his cell phone on the bed, turning his attention to Hyosung again, who was twirling her finger in her hair ever-so mischievously. He had to admit, even though Hyosung was the trouble-maker of the group, she was the most reliable bot he had received.
Yongguk put his hand level to the ground, and Hyosung jumped into his palm. Yongguk then placed her on his shoulder.
“What do you want to eat, then? Since you couldn't wait earlier.” Hyosung placed her finger at her bottom lip, thinking for a few seconds before clapping her hands together.
“Pizza!” She shouted. Yongguk laughed weakly, but made his way to the quiet kitchen, leaving the dancing birds behind him.
***
The day of the holiday had came. The morning was chilly, and a bit frosty as Yongguk closed his bedroom window. What would be waiting for him in the living room? Would he even like it? He missed the feeling of opening the first present in the morning. Tearing the gift wrap open, staring at the first amazing toy he received, smiling like a child. But he was too old for that.
Yongguk rubbed his head while Hyosung, Zinger, and Jieun slept in an open drawer in Yongguk's dresser. Jieun yawned, rolling over in the blanket they had over their frail bodies. Yongguk crept out of the room like a wind, and into his kitchen where all he had to do was push a button and there came a cup of coffee.
The streets were void of cars, but people were walking along the sidewalks, either in glee, or in a rush to buy last minute gifts. The best presents were gone already, so last minute shoppers rarely ever had a good pick of gifts.
Yongguk took the cup off steaming coffee off of the counter, and started his way to the living room in hopes to find something decent on the television. The news was usually cheerful and fun on the holiday, so Yongguk hoped it would take his mind off of the present his parents got for him. Yongguk wanted to visit Himchan, see what he got for the holiday. They could probably work out some new programs if Himchan got a new computer, especially since Himchan was never really tech-savvy.
Just as Yongguk went to sit down, he spotted a large, about life-sized container at his door. His mother must have still had the spare key to his apartment, so that was how she left it inside. A mauve colored silk blanket cascaded over the containers cylindrical shape. Yongguk grazed his fingers over the material, hastily pulling it off of the container with a sudden peak of interest.
Under the silk blanket sat a glass cylinder, and inside of it, a robot. But not just any robot, a new model. It was the robot he told his parents not to get! He should have known they wouldn't listen to him, or his wishes. Yongguk gazed at the robot, studying its facial feature with focused eyes. Its skin was flawless, and his hair was pretty long, feathery, and dark blue. It accentuated the robot's face perfectly, matched only by the long eyelashes the robot had. Yongguk took a step back, and recognized the bot to be a male. Yongguk never had a male personal computer before.
The boy wore a plain white shirt that contrasted with his blue jeans. Yongguk marveled at how real this boy looked. Even the joints of his body looked real, no apparent lines showing where the circuits met and ended. They must have spent weeks on this one robot. Imagine how long it must have taken them to do the rest!
Yongguk opened the door to the glass container, grabbing the user manual out of the pocket of the robot's pants. There were specifics about robots that had to be learned before actually using the bot. They came with a pre-destined name, age, language, uality function, hair color, and so on and so forth. Yongguk never used the uality function (but then again, most of his androids were about the size of a pencil, so what use would it be?) The thought of having a bot interested in a relationship was strange, and slightly discomforting. Yongguk had heard of it, but hearing and doing something were obviously two different things.
The robot's skin was a cream white color, and he had a few faint freckles splattered across his nose, and parts of his cheeks. Yongguk opened the manual and found the first page, telling the basic information of the robot.
*PC936777 User Manual
Name: Choi Junhong
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Eye color: Glasz
Hair color: Navy
uality: User's choice
Language(s): Korean (First language), English, French
Yongguk went on to read the rest of the manual where it indicated the bot's restart button that was located on the back of the right knee, and the programmed emotions. The android was to be a sensitive, almost meek and scared in nature. The manual said it took more influence from outside roles, rather than itself, and put others before itself. That was a bit redundant though, because isn't that what robots were supposed to do anyways?
Hyosung was the first of the girls to wake up, running into the living room just as Yongguk located the On/Off button behind the robot's ear. He pushed away the soft blue hair and gently tapped the button, taking a step back.
“Master, it's another robot!” Hyosung shouted in glee. She even ran into the container and made circles around the bot as he was still waking up. The bot's eyes slid open, revealing vivid colors of green, blue and gray. He was taller than Yongguk, which surprised him because most bots weren't. Yongguk was a great height of 5'10”, while bots were made to be anything under 5'8”. This specific bot appeared to be about 6 feet tall.
“What's his name?” Hyosung tugged at Yongguk's leg, as the bot stared at its surroundings with curious eyes. Yongguk reached a hand out to the boy, deciding against calling him bot anymore. He watched as the boy gently placed his hand in Yongguk's, uneasily slipping out of the container.
“Introduce yourself.” Yongguk said. The boy seemed scared at the sudden tone of his voice, but Yongguk's expression didn't change. The boy pointed at his own chest, swallowing a ball in his throat.
“Hello,” his voice was soft, almost frail, “I am PC936777, named Junhong.”
“You're just Junhong.” Yongguk corrected. He hated when his bots called themselves by their call number. It was so humiliating to that bot. They had a name for a reason.
Jieun and Zinger slowly walked into the living room, Zinger rubbing her eyes as she saw the tall bot before her. She stopped in her tracks, as Jieun continued to walk without the slightest clue of what was in front of her.
“Jieun.” Yongguk said. She stopped. “Meet Junhong. He's one of you.” Jieun clapped her hands together, while Junhong studied her small frame carefully.
Junhong fell to his knees, and placed his open palm on the floor. Zinger urged Jieun into the palm of his hand, and Junhong lifted her to his face with haste. His breathing was soft, gentle, nothing like Yongguk expected. Junhong was more than Yongguk bargained for.
“Junhong.” Jieun reached her small hands to his face. Her fingers caressed the soft skin of his face. “My name is Jieun.” Her voice was small and squeaky. Junhong nodded while she studied the beautiful features of his face. Then she pulled her hands away from his face, and smiled. “I apologize. I can't see, so I must use my hands to visualize certain things.”
Jieun hopped off of Junhong's hand as he leveled it with the ground again. Then he turned to Yongguk, innocent eyes searching for guidance already.
The silence between them was broken by Yongguk's introduction. “I'm your master. My name is Yongguk. Please call me Yongguk.”
“But master is your name.” Junhong protested quietly.
“No. My name is Bang Yongguk.”
“Yongguk.” Junhong sounded out the name carefully. Yongguk gave him praise for the pronunciation, to which Junhong laughed lightly. “Yongguk!”
“Now... do you like these clothes, Junhong?” Yongguk asked deliberately. While Junhong was still just a young robot, he had to learn how to make decisions for himself, without having other influence him in the slightest. Yongguk wanted to know how well Junhong could function decisions by himself.
The blue haired boy looked down at his clothes, taking a few awkward glances at Yongguk for even an expression. “Yes?” He said. Yongguk didn't change his emotions. “No? I-I don't know, master.”
“Exactly.” Yongguk said. “But you must make your own choices in life. You are just as human as I am, and I think you deserve the right to make your own decisions. So decide.” Junhong looked down at his clothes. For some reason, he felt like he didn't like that.
“No....” Junhong said quietly. Then he took a breath. “I mean, no. I do not like these clothes.” He said firmly.
“Good!” Yongguk praised him. “Let's get you new ones then, shall we?” Yongguk looked at the boy who was unsure of what to say. Then Junhong nodded.
“Yes, master.”
“Yongguk.” He corrected Junhong before telling Hyosung, Jieun and Zinger to change their clothes. Yongguk finished what was left of his coffee, and searched for a spare jacket in his house. It was too cold to not have one on. Yongguk decided he would buy Junhong a new wardrobe, and then go to Himchan's house. Yongguk had to show off his shiny new toy.
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