”You’re a robot now.”

Minseok scanned Chen’s expression for a while to check whether he’s joking or not. But his expression remained serious. Minseok started to laugh and Chen looked at him weirdly.

“You must be joking? This must be another fantasy of yours, right?” Minseok continued to laugh and Chen’s eyebrows met.

“I’m serious, Minseok.” Minseok stopped his laughing.

He could sense the seriousness from Chen’s tone. He realized Chen wasn’t really joking.

“Seriously?”

“I’m dead serious, Minseok.”

His eyes shifted to his hand. He really couldn’t believe it but he does felt something different within him. Not something but entirely different. It felt like he’s living in a new body. His heart…he started to wonder about it. He put his hand on his chest, expecting his heart beating normal but no. He doesn’t have a heart. Nothing. He knows it because there’s no pulse in his body. His entire body felt cold. But he felt weird, if he’s a robot…then why does he felt a lot of feelings right now.

‘Am I dead already?’ Minseok thought.

“You don’t have a heart, Minseok,” Minseok lifted his head up to meet Chen’s eyes.

“Then why can I feel a lot of emotions right now?”

“It’s because I’ve already programmed everything what humans would have including your memories in you. So you will feel happy, sad and angry. Just like a normal human.”

“My memories? How did you get my memories?”

“Simple. From a single strand of your hair.”

“Wow, I didn’t know a single hair would contain a lot of memories,” Minseok rubbed his chin.

“Well, I just followed what was written in my dad’s manual.”

“Really? It’s a good thing I can still remember everything in my head. But are you sure that you only took a single strand of hair? I hope you didn’t make me bald after taking a single strand of my hair,” Minseok burst into laughter. Chen frowned.

Later Jongin came back with a pair of clothes with him and approached both of them.

“Here, Seokkie hyung,” Jongin passed the clothes and Minseok took the clothes from him.

“Thanks, Jongin…”

“No prob…”

Minseok slowly stood on his feet as he’s still uncomfortable with the new body of his. Chen and Jongin had helped him to stand up. When he finally managed his balance, he wore the clothes that Jongin gave him earlier.

After he’s done, he looked at Jongin and Chen. “Is this…” Minseok’s question was cut off by someone who suddenly intruded into the room.

“Chen~ Kai~! Omma’s here! OMO!!” Jongin and Chen froze in the spot. Minseok looked at their mother, Mrs Kim. Mrs Kim scanned the whole room and sniffed in the air.

She knew who’s the criminal of that room’s mess and she directly glared at Chen who wasn’t even moving an inch. “Kim Jongdae,” she called Chen by his real name and her eyes shifted to, “Kim Jongin.”

She had her hands on her hips and cleared , “What were you two doing?! Look at this mess! It’s a good thing that you did blow this place up! It took a lot of money to repair you know!” she scolded angrily at both of them. When she was about to scold them more, she stopped once she saw someone familiar. “Aren’t you..?!” she started to point her shaky index finger at Minseok. “M-Minseok?! Y-You’re..?!” she didn’t finish her sentence when she suddenly fainted on the floor.

“Omma!” Chen and Jongin called out on the same time.

---

The three of them sat on the sofa. The tension between them and Mr Kim started to linger in the air. Mr Kim quickly came home after he heard the news about Minseok from his wife. He was shocked to hear the news and he wanted to come back home to confirm whether the news was true or not.

Now, they’re at the living room. With the three children in front of him, he had his arms crossed while he’s in deep thought. The three had their head hung low, couldn’t meet Mr Kim’s eyes.

Mrs Kim entered the living room with a glass of orange juice in her hand. She approached Mr Kim and gave the drink. Mr Kim took it from his wife and sipped the drink while Mrs Kim took a seat beside him. After he had his drink, he placed his drink on the coffee table in front of him. Mr Kim began to break the silence between them. He cleared his throat.

“So, Chen. Did you stole my manual on how to create a robot?” Mr Kim stared at Chen.

Chen, who was afraid to confront his father’s stare could only nod weakly as a yes. Mr Kim just heaved out a sigh.

“So, Minseok here is the robot you’ve just created?” Chen nodded weakly again.

Mr Kim stood up. “Minseok, come here,” Mr Kim called Minseok. Chen’s heart began to palpitate faster than usual.

‘No! Please don’t shut him down.’ Chen began to scream in his heart.

Minseok couldn’t do anything but to follow Mr Kim’s order. He hesitantly stood up and went to Mr Kim. Mr Kim’s eyes started to examine Minseok’s whole body. He even walked around Minseok. Then he stopped, right in front of Minseok again.

“What do you feel right now, Minseok?” Mr Kim asked.

Minseok honestly told what he had felt, “Nervous.”

“Hmm…” Mr Kim hummed and rubbed his chin. “Do you know us? Or do you…remember us?”

Minseok blinked in confused, “Of course I do. You were my neighbour before my family moved to another place.”

Mr Kim faced Chen. “Chen…” Chen flinched in surprised when his father called his nickname. “This is…”

‘Crazy, right? I know what you’re going to say appa… You’re going to shut him down, right?’ Chen still had his head hung low and balled his fist in fear.

“This is…” Chen couldn’t bear to hear it further.

“Incredible! I never knew you would succeed in creating a robot alive at such a young age! This is splendid! Splendid indeed!” Mr Kim clapped his hands in joy.

Chen shot up his head to see his father smiling broadly. His eyes were about to pop out from his head. He couldn’t believe his ears hearing his father’s praise. Chen innocently asked his father, “Y-You’re not going to shut him down?”

Mr Kim burst into laughter, “Why should I? You’ve done a lot of work to create him, right? Why wasting your effort to shut him down?”

Jongin and Mrs Kim gaped at Mr Kim. Even they didn’t expect that Mr Kim would say that. Mrs Kim stood up, started to protest his husband.

“Why aren’t you mad at him?! He stole your manual right?! He should apologize to you for taking it without your permission!” Mrs Kim scolded her husband.

“Now, calm down, yeobo. I know he had done a mistake but he must have a reason to create Minseok. Right Chen?” Mr Kim looked at Chen knowingly.

Mrs Kim still hasn’t satisfied and she continued to argue, “Are you kidding me? This Minseok!” Mrs Kim pointed at Minseok, “Is just a robot! He’s not real! Even he looks completely like him doesn’t means he’s the same as Minseok that we knew! Again, he’s not real! He’s just another copy of Minseok!”

Minseok doesn’t even know why but he just felt a sharp pang hit him in him. He has no heart but he still can feel it. It’s hurting him and…painful too.

Mr Kim saw Minseok’s expression and he lightly ruffled his hair while flashing his smile, “I know he’s a robot. But did you forget that I wrote manual? Hmm?” Mr Kim turned his head to Mrs Kim and raised an eyebrow. “I know what I have written in the manual and I know Chen would have followed the instructions well. And all I know is that Minseok here isn’t a heartless robot.” Mr Kim began to raise his voice a bit.

“I don’t care whether he’s heartless or not. JUST SHUT HIM DOWN ALREADY!” Mrs Kim yelled back.

When Minseok heard Mrs Kim’s words, he closed his eyes shut, “Can I see my parents?”

Everyone in the room became stiff and silent after hearing his sudden question. Out of blue, Minseok blurted that question and he doesn’t know why but he felt like he had an urge to know. Mr Kim and Mrs Kim exchanged glances. Chen bit his lower lip while facing the floor and Jongin looked away, eyes remained on the window.

Minseok looked at Mr Kim, waiting for his answer. Mr Kim looked at him apologetically. Mr Kim took a deep breath and heaved out slowly afterwards.

“Your parents didn’t make it, Minseok. They died last year.”

is it too early for this sad moment?:(

dang, i felt like i'm having a little fever here...

owh, my head hurtsTT__TT...

btw, feel free to comment your thoughts~!:D