#067
The first thing he felt upon opening his eyes in the morning was severe nausea.
“Ugh…”
He dry heaved against a corner while rushing to the public bathroom. Fortunately, nothing came out.
‘Is it because of toxic substances?’
Or perhaps it was because his disposal date was truly approaching.
Either way, it was a serious condition. Yoo Seong-woo couldn’t know how much time he had left.
It was ironic that incomplete microchips were the cause. That incompleteness was the reason for the malfunction.
How ridiculous to be a being dying without ever having been properly created. How strange to be born as a non-human entity yet dying with the same pain as humans.
His headache was severe. It was so bad that his visual display wasn’t functioning properly. When sight fails, other sensory functions should compensate, but he wasn’t a practical model, so he lacked such functions.
Why am I trying so hard to live, to avoid being disposed of?
He asked himself. For what purpose was he going to such lengths? But of course, there was no answer.
It’s just part of the malfunction symptoms. Just a meaningless error. Then what is this?
Why does he keep coming to mind?
The more pain he felt, the more his body broke down, the more Yoo Seong-woo thought of Yeon Tae-soo. Recalling him was an irresistible force.
Despite telling himself not to think about him, why did he come to mind whenever he was in such agony? Was this an error too?
Before he knew it, a drop of sweat formed at the tip of his chin and fell. Yoo Seong-woo looked down at the sight and then got up. Relying on his faintly returned vision, he returned to his quarters. Today’s work would likely be impossible.
***
Yeon Tae-soo rarely dreamed. It had probably been that way since childhood. Perhaps it was the effect of the “measures” his adoptive father had taken on him.
It was an advantage for Yeon Tae-soo. Even after seeing countless child-form androids dying on Jirisan Mountain that day, he didn’t have nightmares.
So when he saw Yoo Seong-woo before him, and realized it was a dream, he felt somewhat resentful.
‘Really. When I want to dream, I never do.’
He had a rough idea of how exhausted his body was. Hadn’t he spent weeks without proper food or sleep? So this dream must be a symptom of fatigue.
‘Or maybe I just miss you.’
In truth, he wanted to say he missed him desperately, but he couldn’t speak. The Yoo Seong-woo in front of him was frozen. Like a statue. Or like the android who had been his mother.
‘Seong-woo.’
Though he called his name, Yoo Seong-woo didn’t even blink. That artificial appearance angered him. He was angry at his own mind for showing him such a scene.
Yeon Tae-soo bit his lip, considering whether to close his eyes or hit himself to wake up from the dream, but he couldn’t do either.
Because then he wouldn’t be able to see Yoo Seong-woo anymore.
He could only stare at the frozen Yoo Seong-woo. He couldn’t even touch him. He didn’t know how his actions might affect this dream and prevent him from seeing Yoo again.
Yoo Seong-woo, frozen like an object, seemed terribly unfamiliar. Just like the androids he so despised.
‘Seong-woo, you know what?’
And…
‘My mother died just like this.’
His adoptive mother, who ultimately vomited blood, also froze completely before breaking down. Headache, memory loss, and then blood vomiting. The final stage was paralysis.
From outward appearances, it seemed like she might wake up at any moment and call his name affectionately, but she couldn’t move at all from her frozen state.
Yeon Tae-soo still remembered. The back of his adoptive father, facing his adoptive mother who was frozen in the same way.
And flowing beneath him, the products of decay from his adoptive mother’s body. Traces of death.
The expressionless face of his adoptive father who had only looked at his mother for days before turning to him.
Yeon Tae-soo knew that his expressionlessness was influenced by his adoptive father. So… it was something he had learned from childhood, even without “this” in his body.
He suddenly felt his own face. And realized that he had been expressionless.
Yoo Seong-woo before him was still firmly frozen. Even for a dream, it was becoming too difficult to watch. He felt he should wake up, or at least try to wake Yoo.
‘Seong-woo.’
Just as he called his name again and reached out his hand.
Suddenly his vision seemed to flip, and the surroundings changed. The ambiguous space that had been like a white room with no patterns or furniture began to be recognized and turned black.
No, it wasn’t black. A tsunami-like wave of dark blue, gray, white, and deep green colors surged around him.
Yeon Tae-soo reflexively reached out to Yoo Seong-woo, but lost his balance as he was pushed by an unknown force.
His body and Yoo Seong-woo’s frozen form floated up in the air. It was like being in zero gravity. Yeon Tae-soo twisted his body to regain balance, but Yoo Seong-woo floated up in his frozen state. And the surroundings were just…
‘It’s like outer space.’
White specks twinkled among the dark blue aurora-like waves. If this wasn’t space, what could it be?
That made Yeon Tae-soo even more anxious. It felt like if he lost Yoo Seong-woo here, he would never find him again.
He reached out with all his might, but his prosthetic hand moved unrealistically slowly. Just a little more, just a little more.
Don’t you know how hard I’ve tried to reach you?
He was about to finally reach him by squeezing out his remaining strength. The surroundings distorted, and the lights embedded in the darkness suddenly converged as if exploding.
Yeon Tae-soo saw the tip of his prosthetic hand reflecting light and turning white. His fingertips finally grasped Yoo Seong-woo’s arm.
Ah, I caught him. With that relief, he woke from his sleep.
Drenched in sweat, he opened his eyes in the car. It was raining. The sound of raindrops falling bit by bit restored his sense of reality.
Without even thinking of wiping away his sweat, he started the car. The vehicle moved quickly through the rain.
As soon as he woke up, he realized.
Yoo Seong-woo was in danger right now. Despite not being one to trust intuition, this time he felt inexplicably certain. That he was in danger. That he needed to find him immediately.
***
It felt as if he had met Yeon Tae-soo in a dream. Even though he couldn’t dream.
It was probably a kind of hallucination sent by his brain. Showing him a scene he wanted to see to ease the pain a little. He couldn’t believe that it happened to be Yeon Tae-soo.
Only when he saw the ceiling light flickering did his mind gradually clear. This was the lodging of the Jirisan restoration team, he had failed at work today, and that meant his escape from this country was delayed further.
Now that he had assessed the situation, he needed to find a way to recover physically. He had to somehow squeeze his brain, which was hardly better than a human’s.
But Yoo Seong-woo couldn’t do anything.
He realized he was crying.
It wasn’t because of the pain. It wasn’t an anomaly.
The inside of his chest hurt terribly. It was even harder to endure than the headache. Yeon Tae-soo’s face, the face he had seen in his dream, kept appearing before his eyes.
You looked relieved. Right after you grabbed me, after you caught my arm.
That face, faintly smiling as if truly relieved, was the last of the dream.
Did Yoo-hyun, his brother, know? That dreams are this cruel yet still on your side.
How could it show so vividly the scene I wanted to see? How could it read my wishes so nakedly?
He couldn’t forget Yeon Tae-soo’s face smiling in relief just after grabbing him. There’s no way he would be this happy. If anything, he would be furious, thinking, “I fed you and sheltered you, and you ran away without even a word of thanks, only to send me this garbage now.”
No, perhaps he wasn’t even angry. Maybe he had already forgotten someone like him. Maybe all he did was slightly furrow his handsome brow, wondering what these things were – the carving and the transmitter.
So this dream-like fantasy was solely a reflection of his own desires.
Having come to this conclusion, Yoo Seong-woo forced himself up. He needed to find a way to recover physically. Fortunately, there was an infirmary with basic medicine in this lodging. He thought he should at least take headache medicine, which would work even on a non-human like him.
Yes, if the headache improved, his physical condition would also improve a bit. Making this positive judgment, Yoo Seong-woo left the room.
As he walked through the corridor, he encountered one or two workers staying at the lodging. All of them passed by the staggering Yoo Seong-woo without paying attention. They were deliberately trying not to look at him.
His legs felt numb, and his sense of direction was half-paralyzed. Still, believing that he would feel much better after taking headache medicine, he continued walking.
His upper body suddenly lurched forward. At the same time, blood gushed from his mouth.
Only then did Yoo Seong-woo realize that his condition was far from normal.
