#077
As soon as he regained consciousness, some of his dormant senses returned, and an overwhelming pressure was felt throughout his body.
While catching his breath, his vision slowly cleared and Yeon Tae-soo’s face came into view. When did he arrive? Surely he hadn’t been discovered. He felt a chill, not knowing what he might have looked like while unconscious.
Fortunately, Yeon Tae-soo’s face only showed concern and bewilderment. Judging by the absence of anger, it seemed he hadn’t been discovered.
‘Seong-woo.’
His ears were muffled, and he could barely make out the shape of Yeon Tae-soo’s lips through his vision cluttered with warning messages.
He screamed. Please, leave me alone. Please go away, I’m fine.
Yeon Tae-soo’s face contorted. That expression looked so painful. Knowing how expressionless his face normally was, how deep must his pain be to show so nakedly? How could he ever repay this sin?
‘Seong-woo.’
He called out to him again. Even in this situation, Yoo Seong-woo felt regret that his auditory sensors weren’t functioning properly. The voice calling his name, the tone with which he called the name Yoo Seong-woo had given himself, was unbearably sweet.
‘It’s okay.’
Yeon Tae-soo mouthed the words and closed his eyes. The two stars of different colors disappeared. With his eyes closed, he held Yoo Seong-woo’s hand and said something else.
‘I’ll keep my eyes closed. I’ll just hold your hand.’
He should push him away, but he couldn’t. Yoo Seong-woo gasped, his trembling hand still in Yeon Tae-soo’s.
His body kept wanting to sleep. No, perhaps it wasn’t sleep but operational shutdown.
He should push him away and hide, yet why couldn’t he reject him? Yoo Seong-woo gritted his teeth, blaming this terrible malfunction.
With his eyes still closed, Yeon Tae-soo brought Yoo Seong-woo’s hand to his lips and kissed each finger.
The gesture seemed almost reverent. Despite his damaged hearing and difficulty breathing, the sensation of lips touching his fingers was extraordinarily vivid.
His hands were still darkened at the tips from poison. Yet Yeon Tae-soo seemed unconcerned. Even with good recovery abilities, there was nothing beneficial about being exposed to poison.
The eyelashes of his downcast eyes trembled faintly. Their clasped hands were also trembling. Yoo Seong-woo could read fear in his closed eyelids.
Why are you afraid? Why do you fear just like me? Amid the flood of errors, confusion and sadness flashed through his mind.
It will be okay. Yeon Tae-soo’s lips touching each fingertip seemed to say so.
But in the next moment, surprisingly, the symptoms slowly subsided.
The pressure squeezing his entire body lightened, and though his auditory sensors were still muffled, he could hear sounds. The warning messages about partial sensory shutdown also disappeared.
He couldn’t tell if a few minutes or tens of minutes had passed. His senses returned very slowly.
Though the malfunction symptoms were only temporary until complete disposal, and the symptoms had merely disappeared for now, Yoo Seong-woo didn’t want to believe that.
The man before him, touching him, boldly pressing his lips to his blackened poisonous fingers, seemed to have performed a miracle.
‘…Ah…’
He inwardly sighed. Could miracles be granted to him too? No. Since God exists for humans, miracles bestowed by God would not be given to a machine like him.
So the only one to whom he could offer something resembling faith was this man before him.
The first man an android had made into a religion was there, beyond the machine’s visual display, holding his hand with eyes closed as if in prayer.
With all warning windows gone, his visual display was now filled only with Yeon Tae-soo’s face. When Yoo Seong-woo’s hand in his grasp stopped trembling, Yeon Tae-soo opened his eyes.
His face looked more haggard than that of the patient, or rather, the broken android before him.
Reaching out with his non-prosthetic hand to touch Yoo Seong-woo’s forehead, Yeon Tae-soo let out a small sigh of relief.
“Your fever has gone down a bit. I’m glad the antipyretic worked.”
His heart sank at the words “glad it worked.” He hadn’t been discovered, right? Yes, if he had been, Yeon Tae-soo wouldn’t look at him with such eyes. So affectionate…
“Seong-woo.”
The way he called his name held power. Though difficult to explain, and though his database couldn’t verify its authenticity, it was clear and had a definite effect.
Even now, it made the strength drain from his hand, rendering him unable to push him away. Even though there was nothing good about the poison remaining on his body transferring to Yeon Tae-soo.
Just before his lips parted again, Yoo Seong-woo sensed it. Once he heard these words, there would be no turning back.
“I want to save you.”
The blue star shone hotly.
“By any means, by my side.”
By the hot star about to explode, the meteor would melt without a trace.
“I want you to live by my side.”
He had thought he wouldn’t act like a moth drawn to flame, knowing this fact. He had resolved not to.
But before an exploding star, even such resolve was useless.
“I like you, Seong-woo.”
Who would have thought that Eden’s king, notorious for his philandering, would make such a simple confession?
He should have answered no, said he didn’t like him. As long as there was no sure way to hide that he was an android, he couldn’t stay by his side.
If you learn that I’m an old, broken android, this declaration of yours will change. You’ll curse me, trembling with betrayal.
But his mouth opened of its own accord.
“…I also like you, Chairman…”
Words he had never commanded or inputted flowed out, defying the machine’s mechanism.
“I like you, Chairman.”
At last, he imitates a human confession.
“I like you so much it hurts when you don’t pull away from me.”
Not stopping there, he now poured out his own language. Yeon Tae-soo’s eyes revealed his surprise without filtering.
“So I wish you would save me, Chairman.”
I wish you would be by my side. I wish you would hold my hand like before. I wish you would tell me it’s okay.
“Save me.”
Though he had never begged before, he now voiced what he had always desired.
“Please save me.”
Yoo Seong-woo moved his facial muscles. As he had learned. To draw more affection from him.
“…Please.”
As Yoo Seong-woo smiled sadly, Yeon Tae-soo’s face gradually distorted. That face, which had contained something indescribable, finally made an expression similar to his own.
Yeon Tae-soo, smiling sadly, embraced him. Trapped in arms that held him with all their might, Yoo Seong-woo tried hard to smile and smile again. Afraid of unlearned emotions, he showed a learned expression.
Although Yeon Tae-soo wouldn’t be able to see his expression due to their embrace, he felt that if he didn’t do this, he would collapse.
“Yes.”
Yeon Tae-soo’s voice, almost a whisper, was pleasant.
“Let’s live together, Seong-woo.”
Let’s live together, let’s live… together. Yeon Tae-soo repeated the words several times. It sounded like a promise to himself.
Yoo Seong-woo was still afraid of his own emotions. This emotion, which he had never experienced or learned before, yet was clearer than anything else.
And the desire that followed it.
I wish you would “truly” like me.
The android foolishly made too grand a wish. That your emotions would be real.
Even while knowing that emotion isn’t genuinely human. Even knowing it’s a fake emotion created by him, a machine.
And even knowing that his own emotion is just an error.
***
Their meeting lips stole each other’s breath. Yeon Tae-soo’s emotions roughly flowed into Yoo Seong-woo’s mouth. It was overwhelming, like facing a tsunami.
Everything was unfamiliar and frightening. The emotion drenching his entire body, and this desire wanting more of him even though their flesh was already pressed together. But he didn’t want to stop.
Even though he might shut down again, Yoo Seong-woo clung to him, gasping. He wanted Yeon Tae-soo to dominate his body.
He felt that Yeon Tae-soo could draw out all the senses that existed within him. He was certain that Yeon Tae-soo could do what even his creator couldn’t.
As if reading his mind, Yeon Tae-soo moved roughly. Every time his lips touched Yoo Seong-woo’s skin, stars flashed before his eyes. A brilliant universe filled his mind.
Neck, shoulders, chest, arms, legs, and everywhere else bore Yeon Tae-soo’s marks. The bright red marks blooming looked like clusters of flowers. Like blood spilled by recklessly blooming emotions.
“Ah, aah…!”
Breath and voice roughly escaped together. His body trembled. Not from pain. Just anxiety.
Fear of ruining this moment. Fear that this brilliant time might be ruined by some malfunction.
Please, praying that this body would hold out just a little longer, he tightened his hands around Yeon Tae-soo’s neck.
Then, Yeon Tae-soo, who had been roughly exploring his body all along, suddenly stopped.
“Hng…?”
He kissed him. A tender kiss that made it hard to believe he was the same person who had been so fierce just moments ago.
Without crushing his lips, gently giving him breath and then taking it back, it felt natural, as if perfectly matched to his breathing. Yoo Seong-woo gently opened his eyes. Yeon Tae-soo’s two different-colored eyes were right in front of him.
Their lips parted, and those eyes looked down at Yoo Seong-woo. It was like tenderness crafted from stars. Who knew blue could be this warm?
As if even that brief separation was regrettable, Yeon Tae-soo overlapped their lips again. It was still a tender kiss.
Yoo Seong-woo suddenly thought that perhaps he was deliberately restraining himself and being gentle for his sake.
The probability was low, but… Depending on a low probability wasn’t machine-like. But if it wasn’t zero…
