#071
Yeon Tae-soo took Yoo Seong-woo until the heat completely subsided. Only after ejaculating several times did the heat in his body finally decrease.
Before Yoo Seong-woo closed his eyes for the last time, Yeon Tae-soo whispered to him.
‘It’s okay now.’
Though he should be worried about this situation, should be figuring out how to escape again now that Yeon Tae-soo had found him, Yoo Seong-woo somehow felt reassured that everything would be fine, just as he said.
Even in his hazy consciousness, he emphasized several times that please, no hospital, there was no need to go to a hospital.
‘I understand. I’ll stay by your side.’
I’ll stay by your side. Listening to Yeon Tae-soo repeat those words, Yoo Seong-woo tried not to fall asleep.
But whether due to the side effects of the pill, the sudden drop in his previously high body temperature, or perhaps… the relief of tension for some reason, it was difficult to fight off drowsiness.
When he unconsciously reached out into the air, Yeon Tae-soo’s hand, his warm hand that wasn’t a prosthetic, grasped his.
A long-forgotten sense of relief pleasantly enveloped his body.
***
Even while moving to the nearest safe house, Yoo Seong-woo didn’t wake up.
As Yeon Tae-soo looked down at the sleeping Yoo Seong-woo, all kinds of emotions crossed his mind.
He had suddenly disappeared and now appeared with a large scar on his face. Moreover, his physical condition was abnormal, with a terrible fever making him hot to the touch everywhere.
Fortunately, his abnormally high temperature had dropped after their bodies had joined. He should have taken him straight to the emergency room, but how could he refuse when Yoo held onto him with those pleading eyes?
Yeon Tae-soo was disgusted with himself but rationalized that no one could resist those eyes.
He looked down at the sleeping Yoo Seong-woo. He was still beautiful, despite having lost a tremendous amount of weight and his aura having changed.
Whatever hardship he had endured, dark spots had risen on various parts of his skin, and his fingertips were even darker. Overall, his body showed signs of significant weight loss, but his muscles seemed to have increased. The muscles on his thin body weren’t built from exercise. They were the muscles that developed in laborers, used in real life.
His body looked like something someone had used roughly and discarded. Looking down at that state, Yeon Tae-soo could only sigh.
If you were going to run away, you should have done it properly. Taken my money and lived comfortably. But having failed to find him for weeks, Yeon Tae-soo had no right to blame Yoo Seong-woo.
‘Why were you there?’
Judging from the circumstances, he had clearly been working at the Jirisan restoration site. He knew what kind of place that was. He had heard it was a place ordinary people avoided, with toxic substances flowing from deep within.
He could have lived safely just running the animal hospital, so why?
‘It doesn’t seem like Yacheon Technology was involved.’
If the company had taken Yoo Seong-woo hostage, they wouldn’t have treated him so harshly. They wouldn’t have left him somewhere Yeon Tae-soo could find.
Suddenly, Kim Ji-heon’s words came to mind.
‘Perhaps Mr. Yoo, that person… couldn’t be an android, could he?’
Nonsense.
‘No, really. It’s also strange that he’s connected to Yacheon Technology. And the singer Yoo-hyun’s behavior was a bit odd too. He suddenly quit his activities when things were going well. No one knows why.’
That’s what Kim Ji-heon had said. These days, most strange occurrences could be explained by connecting them to androids.
Even the random assault incident that had happened a few months ago was caused by a rampaging android, wasn’t it?
‘Nowadays, androids are almost indistinguishable from humans. You know… that… Anyway, just test him. There’s nothing to lose.’
He knew there were tools to distinguish androids designed to be indistinguishable from humans. But he didn’t want to use such things on Yoo Seong-woo.
Yeon Tae-soo’s face hardened coldly as he looked down at Yoo Seong-woo. His expressionless face without its mask would make strangers feel hostility.
‘An android making such an expression?’
Impossible. No matter how advanced the technology, such… expressions.
At the mass disposal incident he had witnessed on Jirisan, Yeon Tae-soo had seen androids wailing as they faced death.
It gave him goosebumps to see machines without life pleading for their lives with expressions similar to humans. To the point of revulsion.
Not even high-end humanoids, but clearly androids, with terror rising on their imitation of human skin. Even recalling it now was unpleasant.
He had learned then that androids could make such expressions. Therefore, Yeon Tae-soo’s certainty that Yoo Seong-woo was human wasn’t just because of his “eyes that wanted to live,” but for another reason.
The look in his eyes when he saw Yeon Tae-soo. That was why.
How could an android have eyes that had fallen in love?
‘You were relieved the moment you saw me.’
That face that showed relief as if meeting a lost lover.
Androids are creatures whose maternal or paternal love disappears when their function is turned off.
The androids he knew were simple, even if they had learned emotions. They didn’t act unless it was for their programmed mission.
‘Even if that would extend their son’s lifespan.’
Such androids, falling in love?
No matter how much they say today’s androids learn high-level emotions and even create art, that was impossible.
He had grown up seeing how distorted and “mechanical” the “love-like” emotions they displayed were.
After all, this body was the product of that.
“Seong-woo.”
Despite his frighteningly expressionless face, his voice was affectionate.
“You… aren’t, are you?”
He couldn’t be an android.
“Every android I’ve known… has betrayed me, deceived me, ruined me.”
That’s why he hated androids. Because the beings that raised him had betrayed him.
“So you mustn’t be an android.”
Yeon Tae-soo kissed his forehead deeply. He was simply transferring warmth for a long time. Hoping that the lover he had barely found would show him his eyes.
***
When he woke up, Yeon Tae-soo was still by his side, just as before he fell asleep. His gaze looking down was so affectionate that Yoo Seong-woo’s face flushed.
The realistic worries hit him a beat later.
Now that Yeon Tae-soo had found him, he had nothing to say if Yeon Tae-soo got angry or demanded repayment for his kindness.
“How did your face get injured?”
But the first thing out of Yeon Tae-soo’s mouth wasn’t resentment or reproach.
Yoo Seong-woo tried to read his face. Thankfully, his emotion recognition function was working.
Worry
Sadness
…But it seemed malfunctioning. With no choice, he turned off the function and spoke.
“I cut it myself.”
Yeon Tae-soo’s face hardened. His expressionless face had always made the back of Yoo Seong-woo’s neck chill. Today it seemed especially penetrating.
“So I wouldn’t recognize you?”
In truth, it wasn’t just to prevent Yeon Tae-soo from recognizing him but others from recognizing “Yoo-hyun’s” face as well. But since it wasn’t wrong, he nodded. Yeon Tae-soo let out a heavy sigh. Yoo Seong-woo flinched at the sound of that sigh, which seemed to be tinged with despair.
“Is that why you were at Jirisan too? You were hiding from me?”
He couldn’t say he was trying to earn money to move to an android-friendly country and find a way to fix his body, so Yoo Seong-woo chose silence.
But perhaps even that silence was read as affirmation. Yeon Tae-soo’s face hardened a bit more.
“Seong-woo. I…”
Yeon Tae-soo, who kept stroking his face with his hand, looked anxious. Even though that couldn’t be possible.
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t readily understand the words that followed. “I’m sorry,” he said. Why you? Yoo Seong-woo frowned in confusion. No, it was because of an ache in his chest that he frowned. The sudden pain was unfamiliar. Was this also a side effect of the pill? Or because of the toxic substances?
“I’m sorry. So…”
Yeon Tae-soo’s hand reached out to him, then withdrew. Yoo Seong-woo looked down at his blackened hand. Fearing that the hand might somehow contaminate Yeon Tae-soo, he clenched it into a fist.
“Won’t you tell me what I did wrong?”
This time, a purely logical error occurred. Isn’t an apology usually given when one knows what they did wrong?
“I don’t know what wrongdoing you’re referring to.”
For some reason, it was difficult to face Yeon Tae-soo’s expressionless face, those two eyes of different colors. His chest kept aching. What could be the cause of this pain?
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Chairman Yeon.”
Yoo Seong-woo spoke before he could say anything more. As if completely settling the matter.
Yeon Tae-soo’s mouth opened and closed several times. He seemed to have lost his words, or perhaps he had too many words and was choosing among them.
One thing was certain. Yeon Tae-soo was not hostile towards him.
His expression remained expressionless, but Yoo Seong-woo could at least recognize the look in his eyes.
“I… I left because of my own problems. You did nothing… wrong. Really.”
As he stammered his words, relief settled in Yeon Tae-soo’s eyes. This time his hand reached out properly and grasped Yoo Seong-woo’s hand. He tried to pull away belatedly, but the grip was too strong.
Yeon Tae-soo brought his hand to his face and kissed the blackened fingertips. Yoo Seong-woo was startled by this. The poison might transfer. Only then did Yeon Tae-soo slowly release his hand.
“Rest for now. Is there anything you want to eat?”
When he shook his head, Yeon Tae-soo showed a faint smile and kissed his forehead. Then he left the safe house, leaving Yoo Seong-woo alone.
Only after the silence fell did Yoo Seong-woo realize that Yeon Tae-soo didn’t believe his last words.
