"I think I should go out and make some friends…" A twelve year-old Sungjong said with a pout, his ebony fringe bouncing in front to his eyes. What he had in front to himself was a container, transparent and blurry, looked like its content was drowned in some transparent white liquid. Right behind him there was another one. Those were the brothers Woo Jiho and Woo Jiseok, his only human friends. Well, they used to be human. Now, they were simply conserved with the power of technology, trapped, both no longer ashamed by the that has been with them those two years. They were technically dead, but kept alive by Sungjong’s father since he has found them in the bay, hours after getting dragged by a wave on the other side of Seoul’s coast. Yes, the sea has managed to come through the land, drowning all the other cities near the cost. The coast is now in Seoul, and a bay has been formed. Sungjong’s house was on that same spot for years and years and, he ended up having beach instead of grass on his back yard. Only knowing that few details would help improve on knowing how the two boys ended up in Sungjong’s house.

“You’ll get yourself into trouble…” Jiho replied. Sungjong was as old as Jiho, maybe Jiho was a bit older, a few months, maybe an year, but despite of those details, he was the same as Jiho, except that Sungjong could breathe and live and Jiho was kept alive by the container.

“He is right.” Jiseok, a sixteen year-old has replied. “You might get lost and your father will punish you if you are busted. And with a dad like that it’s easy to get busted.” Jiseok’s statement was understandable. He clearly knew how things were like, he was older than them by two years when he first died, and now, he wasn’t dumber. He was two years older, two years wiser. His nickname has always been 사게 지석, wise Jiseok. Also, Sungjong’s father was a scientist and creator, and he didn’t like any of his iDolls to talk with his experiences. Just, Sungjong went there when he was telling his son to learn more about robotics and his iDolls.

“Yes, you’re right, hyung…” Sungjong said to Jiseok, nodding his head. “I have to follow my father’s legacy.”

☆

Years later, Sungjong was following his father legacy, in order to get truth and freedom. Let’s check on the facts: first of all, Sungjong doesn’t remember all of his childhood, he only does remember from a certain point. Secondly, he wishes to find other than just his robot android friends, flesh and bone friends, people who can love him without being programmed to do it. Some of them had the will to choose who to like but all the robots around Sungjong were supposed to like him and all the people they live with or have bonds with. Just, the less plastic relationships were with Woo brothers, who used to be human. And also, his sister Olive and his mother Melissa.

Sungjong kept locking himself up in a certain room in order to get himself some concentration. All that could be heard was nothing but a soft piano melody passing on the background, as soft for his ears as a whisper. That time he hadn’t got Sejoon with him, his first creation. Nor he had his father. His father died, or went missing, he never knew.

The reason why Sungjong locked himself on such a white sci-fi, minimalist and neon and LCD lighted room was because the creator under the name Oh Sungjong was creating. He was creating human-like androids.

A lifeless body was lying inside of a capsule with colorless eyelids closed. And, other four faceless and colorless robots were standing by order, deactivated, heads down, no soul, no regrets, no inch of feelings. As soon as Sungjong typed some encrypted command on his magnificent grey keyboard with glowing lights, he has just put a mask in the robot’s face. He was generating his aspect. And, through that, he has commanded the machines to craft his eyelashes perfectly, his facial features to emerge right from the screen directly to the shapeless face, the robotic hands crafting him just like God did form Adam and Eve, with his bare, mystical hands.

After a while there was expression in that face. A serene expression. Pretty and juicy lips, nicely placed eyelashes, a doll, flawless skin – even if he was a doll, there was no sign of imperfection in him, any of them would – that made him go check on its texture. It was as tender and as elastic as human skin. And, soon the machines glued that face into the robot, making sure he’d stay like that, drying while Sungjong would make the next one.

Believe it or not, it was some tough work and Sungjong took long to make them all. First it was their expressions. He morphed several people he had as examples and changed the traits as he pleased. After that, he would program their personalities and, as soon as he was done, he’d craft each human being.

“Unit A, you’re almost done.” Sungjong smiled tenderly. He was so satisfied with his work that he thought he has made a girl in place of a boy. “Should I remake your face, or, are you happy about it?”

He knew the other robot couldn’t respond yet so he has looked at his face closely to determine what to do. He saw him lay there, having only his face and a still not designed body, and, no hair. By using some prototypes and changing its features so he wouldn’t be self-destructive, he did insert a drive in his neck, loading the information into his head. As the robot opened his eyes, he made sure he wouldn’t have any danger and activated the magnetic field around the mattress the iDoll was lying on. The other had big dark brown expressive eyes and his nose was as pretty as the rest of his face.

“Do you like your facial features?” Sungjong verbalized, making sure his unit wouldn’t attack him for some weird reason. “Or, should I change it, Unit A?”

Unit A looked into the mirror, horrified, looking at how pleasing his face was, contrasting with the rest of his robot, still not finished body. “Where’s my hair?!” He shouted horrified. “Give me my hair back!” Sungjong observed his creation in shock.

“I activated you so you could choose an hairstyle for yourself… calm down… you’ll be handsome soon, I’m in charge of that, you’re just not ready yet.”

Unit A stared at the mirror again, acting all cocky. It seemed like the robot’s personality was getting affected by the face itself like he was some manly diva. “You need to make me a matching body. Can robots have abs instantly without exercising?”

“What did I just do…” Sungjong buried his face on his hands. “I can’t get rid of his face or he’ll freak out. I better make him a bit uglier…”

“I heard that.” He gazed at his creator, trying to persuade the other to make him have an amazing body shape. Sungjong was startled at how weird and simultaneously funny and cocky was the other. “Give me abs and I’ll accomplish my mission as good as I can. When I know what it is… By then I’ll do my best.” It was obvious that Unit A was faithful to his creator’s commands, but it seemed like he was more to his own appearance.

“I will.” Then Sungjong turned back and shut down the robot, removing the drive and adding a few more details so the guy would accomplish his mission well. The other traits were not something really important. Since any of the robots were aggressive.

☆

“Appa!” Sungjong barely knew how things were, he knew how to speak, not a lot of difficult terms were used by him since he was three but he was a really smart baby. Olive was carrying him on her back and he was doodling with a colored pencil. She was ten and he had stolen her writing materials so as a sheet of paper. Their parent seemed really nervous.

Olive looked up with shiny black and sad eyes. “Appa, do you have a milk bottle mommy has left on the kitchen? Sungjong is starving, he also is sleepy. And he has stolen my notebooks to doodle them all. He has been crying all day… why are you always stuck in your office?” She asked with a whiny expression. Sungjong was already eating the paper he doodled and chewing the pencil. He always enjoyed putting things on his mouth as a toddler.

“I’m sorry to leave you both alone, I had job to do and things to organize. Your mother said she had a business dinner with her boss. She’s getting back late.” He nodded with a tender smile, holding up the distracted boy who was already about to stab his own eyes with the pencil without noticing. “Don’t that Sungjong, you might hurt yourself.” The boy immediately dropped the pencil and the paper sheet and whined to go down and get them. And so he did, as he placed them over the table. He was definitely a very calm and sweet boy, and very intelligent. “Time to go eat, isn’t it, Jongie?” Sungjong grinned, clapping his chubby hands as his small – for a toddler – eyes squished a little, while he kept grinning and drooling.

“Food!” Toddler Sungjong said with a very cute and sweet voice, making grabby hands at the plate with pear porridge with some homemade oatmeal his father has made for him to have as dinner. Since he only had two teeth by then, he could only eat those things.

“I can feed him if you want, daddy, I’m a grown up girl.” Olive said, putting herself on her toe tips to reach the baby’s food, smiling at him.

“You two would be genius someday in college.” Their father agreed. “But one of you has to follow my legacy. If possible, both.” He mumbled, ruffling Olive’s hair and Sungjong’s beret. “I will be on the living room trying to call your mother if you need help.”

☆

Winter has always been my favorite season. I have always been used to all the year being bathed by a strong desire of seeing snow. I know many years ago it was common, but now heat waves would make it quite impossible. Olive was lucky. She always has snow by her birthday. The middle of January. 16^th January it was.

About me, I have to resume myself to my birthday being filled up by heat. Warm nights. Probably because of the global warming. It’s incredible how the water level swallowed so many kilometers of land that used to be fields in which we could run freely. I wish I had a really big garden with flowers, but I’ve never been in one.

Books show me and suppress – or increase – my desire of smelling the wild flowers that cannot be found in vases. I know guys shouldn’t like flowers that much but my mother always raised roses and daisies and ivies, and I always thought of them as something beautiful. She had a whole room, the walls covered with plants, those sort of plants that climb. My book says that some of them are called hedera rhombea, Japanese ivy or songak, and also are called thunbergia fragans and thunbergia grandiflora, respectively white lady and skyflower. Besides that my mother has always raised other small ones such as indoor palm trees, daffodils, and other small, gentle, tiny flowers.

I really loved spending there some time, because my mother raised them on her free time and also she did that due to my father needing to study them and teach me about them.

I miss the time when she used to come outside during Summer to bring me a cup of juice and take care of me like I always enjoyed. My mother was definitely a busy woman but both me and my sister loved her a lot. I wander how long it’ll take until she gets back.

Oh Sungjong, 14 years old, May 17^th 2032

☆

Sungjong never knew how his mother really died. Nobody saw her body besides Olive but she got sick and unable to talk after a few weeks. She locked herself on her room so she would not be seen nor gazed by any of the humans or robots around. She was tired of humanity, Sungjong ended up concluding. She was tired of living, and maybe having her as a robot since he found a way to ‘convert’ humans into iDolls, making her an iDollized girl.

He was conscious that she was not alive, but she was almost alive. The way science developed in the last two centuries, especially on the latest years, it was impressive. Being born in 2018, Sungjong watched a world where robots were starting to look more and more human. When he was born, androids were alive for more than ten years. Robots were already getting started to be implemented in schools as teachers, as doctors, replacing people’s works after the big tragedy when the poles crashed.

He knew that a few years before he was born the poles started to melt. And, people had to go to the mountains since the waves were increasing and increasing. He could watch that from his bedroom’s window, and admire the beauty of the starving blue sea that wiped so much blood that it should be red. But it wasn’t, the waves had no slight trace of dead bodies.

Maybe that was why the two brothers were collected by his father back on the bay that wasn’t consumed by the constant floods and constantly increasing water level. The poor boys, both born when it all started. Jiseok being a 2014 liner and Jiho being a 2018 liner just like Sungjong was.