Taiji’s brother stared at Shinwoo in disbelief. “How did you…th-this shouldn’t be happening! I killed you!”

 

“You killed my body, but my mind never left. It’s been traveling around the spaces of radio waves and Shinwoo’s subconscious. I’ve been waiting until this moment when I could finally talk to you again.”

 

Taiji’s brother grabbed the main control of the computer tightly. “I don’t believe this! And even if I did, there’s no way I’m letting you interfere with my plans.”

 

“You can’t set free an army of robot slaves onto the Earth. It won’t do any good for anyone.” Shinwoo’s voice remained calm.

 

“The people of Earth need to know the truth about your kind.”

 

Shinwoo let out a small, quiet chuckle. “You haven’t been on Earth for a while. I can understand your delusion.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Taiji’s brother snapped.

 

“After the Human Dream Project ended in 2009, everything about the topic was banished from the media. The government broke many laws and made many deals in order for the project to never be known or uttered by anyone at all. Now no one knows about you or me.”

 

Taiji’s brother didn’t respond.

 

“So if you set your creations free, all it will do is create an unnecessary war between AI and humans. It will be pointless.”

 

“No…you’re wrong.” Taiji’s brother said lowly. “In order for history not to repeat itself, I must show the people of Earth the dark side of ‘growing’ robot humans. This is the only way to do it.” He turned around and walked out of the room.

 

Shinwoo immediately followed behind him. “Brother please listen to me.” He touched his brother’s wrist.

 

His brother’s head whipped around and he flung his arm to the side. “Don’t touch me!”

 

Shinwoo stumbled a bit but straightened up. “I know you’re angry at me for being created. I know you never wanted me in the first place.”

 

“Shut up.” Taiji’s brother turned around and walked faster.

 

“I got jealous at one point. I wanted to be as loved as you.” Shinwoo continued behind him, keeping a safe distance.

 

“I said shut up.” Taiji’s brother entered into the room full of cubicles with growing bodies and walked right up to the main computer.

 

“Brother.” Shinwoo watched as Taiji’s brother typed away at the computer. “…I’m sorry.”

 

After several beeps from the computer, the entire room started to rumble and shake. Every growing body in every row leading to the top started to twitch. Their mouths started moving without voices coming out of them.

 

“It’s time.” Taiji’s brother smirked, staring at the glowing cubicles.

 

Shinwoo’s calm gaze remained attached to Taiji’s brother.

 

Then a different sound came from the computer. The screen flashed red and the words “Error” flashed in black.

 

“Wh-what the..!” Taiji’s brother looked at the blinking screen and tried to press several buttons. The screen remained the same and the general alarm started to sound. The cubicles suddenly turned a shade of red and the rumbling of the room increased dramatically.

 

“God damn machine! What is happening!?” Taiji’s brother backed away a couple steps, staring at the cubicles in shock.

 

“It seems like you overlooked something. Your computer seems to be breaking down.” Shinwoo glanced at the main computer.

 

Suddenly one of the cubicles on the bottom exploded. The glass flew all over the room as Taiji’s brother shielded his eyes. The growing body inside felt onto the hard floor twitching violently.

 

Other cubicles started to break as well, the liquid from the inside falling down toward the ground like buckets of rain.

 

Taiji’s brother cursed and tried to access his computer. It was being unresponsive until another set of words appeared.

 

Process Malfunction: Automatic Self-Destruction Initiated

 

“What!?” Taiji’s brother stared at the screen as a timer of 1 minute appeared and started to count down.

 

“Please forgive me for this. You weren’t listening to me before.” Shinwoo said.

 

Taiji’s brother turned around to face him with a look of death in his eyes. “What did you do?”

 

“When Shinwoo first got here, I was able to access your main computer. We have to leave now. Or else you’ll be swallowed up in a large explosion.”

 

Taiji’s brother suddenly lunged at Shinwoo and pushed him against the wall. “YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU ALWAYS DO!”

 

Shinwoo paused. “…then let me do something right. Let me save your life.”

 

“You just don’t get it, do you? I. Don’t. Like. You. I never did! From the beginning you did nothing but get in my way. And now you’ve sabotaged my only way of ruining your legacy. You know what? I’d rather die here than let you help me.”

 

Shinwoo said nothing for a moment. “…I see. All I wanted to do was make amends with you…but if you truly hate me that much…then I guess my actions are pointless.”

 

The timer on the main computer screen counted past 30 seconds.

 

“I only wish that things could have been better between us.” Shinwoo continued quietly. “I only got in your way so much because I was jealous of you. Mom and dad loved you much more than me, and that shouldn’t surprise me. You were their real child. I was just a robot.”

 

Taiji’s brother didn’t respond.

 

“I’m sorry I caused you so much pain and agony. I really am.”

 

The timer reached the 10 second countdown as the room started to flood lightly with liquid from the cubicles.

 

“…at least you’ll truly be dead. That will make me happy.” Taiji’s brother slowly backed away from Shinwoo with an unreadable expression on his face.

 

Shinwoo smiled softly. “Then I would have accomplished one thing.”

 

As the timer hit one, the room was swallowed up in a bright white explosion that consumed everything.

 

The entire building exploded along with the white light and the red grounds of Mars shook violently as a result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then everything faded to black. All sounds disappeared. Soft, deep breathing slowly came into my hearing.

 

I slowly opened my eyes. The sun was peeking through my window and illuminating my apartment. I was home.

 

I remained very still in my bed, blinking slowly and recalling the last images I saw right before waking up.

 

Was all of that really just a dream?

 

I slowly sat up and rubbed my face. My phone vibrated and I slowly looked at it. Sunwoo just messaged me. He ordered me to text him once I got out of my history final.

 

My…history final.

 

My eyes widened. “Oh my god..” I quickly jumped out of bed. As I got dressed and washed my face, I was still in a very confused state of mind. I even felt like I was still dreaming. Nevertheless I grabbed my backpack and ran out of my apartment.

 

When I sat down in the classroom, a chilling realization flooded my mind. I only studied for a few hours for this. And that was a day ago. I also wasn’t at all in the mood to take a written test. The only thing I continuously thought about was the images I saw right before waking up. Taiji and his brother…

 

“You ready?” Jinyoung said next to me.

 

I jumped a bit and looked to my left. “Y-yeah…pretty ready.” I cleared my throat a little and rubbed the back of my neck.

 

Before Jinyoung could respond, our professor walked into the room and announced the test instructions before handing out our papers. As everyone in the class started to write furiously, I just stared down at mine blankly. Everything on the paper seemed like gibberish to me. I feel like I forgot everything.

 

The images from my dream were running clearly in my mind. I couldn’t shake off the strange feeling of Taiji taking control of my mind and body. I could see everything through his eyes even though I couldn’t control my mouth, voice, and body. It was like watching a movie. A very intense, confusing movie…

 

After an hour and a half, I stood up and turned in my half-baked written answers for the final to our professor.

 

“I see you took your time to write out every answer.” Our professor chuckled.

 

I gave him a confused look before turning around. I was the last one in the class and I didn’t notice until now.

 

“Well thank you for participating in my class. I hope you have a great rest of the summer.” Our professor smiled and took my exam.

 

“Yes, thank you.” I bowed quickly and walked toward the exit. Then I stopped and slowly turned back around. “Excuse me, professor?”

 

“Yes?” Our professor looked at me.

 

 I paused. “…if you don’t mind me asking, do you know about the Human Dream Project of 2009?”

 

Our professor’s face seemed to change very slightly. “…no, I’ve never heard of it. I’m sorry.”

 

I sighed a little and nodded. “Okay, thank you.” I bowed and turned around.

 

“Mr. Shin.”

 

“Yes?” I turned back around.

 

“Allow me to give you some professor-to-student advice.” Our professor’s expression suddenly turned very dark. “If you want to keep your humanity, mind your own business and don’t stick your head into something that should never be brought up.”

 

I blinked, very confused. “Y-yes, I understand.”

 

“Good. Have a nice day.” Our professor nodded curtly and moved his gaze down to organize his papers.

 

I left the classroom staring ahead, wondering more than ever if I was awake or asleep right now…