Archive of Our Own

Han Jisung had never considered himself a lucky man. Nothing in his almost twenty-five Earth years of existence had come to him without a struggle. He had to fight his way through the world and even through the space between Moon and Earth to be where he was standing right now.

Well, to be more precise, where he stood ten minutes ago because once he crossed the threshold of the penthouse in one of the most luxurious towers of New Seoul, he realized that, after all, the universe might have spared him just a bit of luck.

This thought, however, quickly disappeared once the floor-to-ceiling windows of the elegant room he entered turned suddenly into a blindingly white screen, and a figure of a man appeared on it. Dressed in loose gray pants and a plain black shirt, the avatar looked directly at Jisung.

Like all the digital avatars of artificial minds, the figure staring back at him looked flawless, eerily so. Paradoxically, humans loved designing their creations to be beautiful to the extent that wasn't naturally possible for any human. In this particular case, though, Jisung felt as if the universe had betrayed him once again, perhaps as a repayment for the lucky chance to live a life luxury for free because whoever had designed the collection of pixels on the screen had unintentionally created Han Jisung's ideal type.

He felt the blood rush to his face at this realization; his pulse picked up, which no doubt got registered by the sensors that any place with a House Mind would have. The face on the screen smiled at him.

"Han Jisung, am I correct? I've been informed about your arrival."

Jisung quickly shuffled through the open windows in his mental visor to find the data file he had received about the Mind. A High-Level Artificial Mind designed as a human companion, current function: House Mind, guardian status: deceased, preferred gender: male, name: MNH0.

"And you are M… N H-zero?" he read without confidence.

"You can call me Minho," replied the Mind with what Jisung could only describe as a twinkle in his eyes. "Would you like me to show you around and go through the points of your contract? Or would you prefer to stare at my face some more?" he continued casually.

All the blood that Jisung felt rushing to his face a minute ago left his face just as fast. Get a grip, Jisung. He's not even a real person. But despite the momentary embarrassment, he suddenly felt bold under Minho's amused gaze.

"Can you really blame me? Your face looks like it was sculpted by the gods."

The words left his mouth quickly before he could stop himself.

Minho laughed, the eyes of the avatar crinkling into crescents, and his voice, which most likely came from the speakers built-in somewhere in the room, vibrated through the space around JIsung,

"Are all humans as strange as you are," he replied, moving from the window to the adjacent wall, which Jisung realized was also a screen.

"You'll have to find another human to check that because this one tries his best to avoid as many of them as possible."  he tried to say casually while his eyes followed Minho as the latter moved around the room in the screens that covered the walls of it.

His movements in the digital space looked as natural as those of humans moving in the real world. It was hypnotizing to watch. Jisung felt as if the room around him had multiplied in size, yet he could only move in the limited physical space while Minho ruled the infinity stretching around him.

He had seen this phenomenon only in entertainment media, as High-Level Minds were far too expensive of creations to be anywhere near mere mortals, but also because even the rich would rather buy their pet Minds synthetic bodies than spend the equivalent on the sophisticated avatar technology.

However, the replications he had seen didn't even come close to the actual experience. It was disorienting and mesmerizing as Jisung tried to follow Minho through the room without getting fooled by the screens towards an arch in the far corner of the large living room.

"This part of the apartment is reserved for the inhabitants and the guests," Minho pronounced mechanically as Jisung passed through the arch into a corridor. "There are no cameras or hearing devices anywhere in this area. However, I do have control over the cleaning and maintenance unit's work here and can also access a number of sensors monitoring the well-being of the residents."

The apartment, as Jisung had noticed as soon as he arrived, was furnished in the posh minimalistic style that must have been the custom some decades ago before the inevitable cycle of trends brought back the current decadent maximalism. Both of those styles were wholly removed from Jisung's reality, who had spent his childhood in the tunnels of Moon and his later years in the lowest levels of New Seoul.

The high ceilings and clean lines of the penthouse, the plain metal, and the natural wood brought strange serenity to his mind that was so used to the neon and the filth and the grime of the City. He stood in the dimly lit corridor with three doors facing the archway, one of which was ajar.

"The open door leads to your quarters. As I'm sure you've read in the contract, you are not allowed to bring any guests here. Any property you damage will be invoiced to your Citizen Profile and paid through your savings or your registered income sources. You're free to explore the room once we're done with the tour," continued Minho monotonously.

As they went back into the main room, the lights of the City greeted them through the gigantic windows that were now back to being transparent. Even on the highest level of the City, it was still hard to tell whether it was day or night. The sky outside was the color of a dead screen, and the cityscape was filled with the lights of adverts on surrounding towers and of the flying shuffles that passed in the airspace between them.

Moving towards the opposite side of the room, Minho continued.

"This is the main living space, where you are free to spend your time. The adjacent room on this side is the kitchen, where you can freely eat any food prepared. The kitchen unit, however, is completely automated, so unfortunately, you won't be able to cook anything yourself. If you follow the corridor connected to the kitchen, you will reach my server and control rooms, which you are prohibited from entering."

Jisung nodded dutifully. All of this information had been meticulously described in the contract sent to him by the entity that hired him.

As Jisung had heard from a friend of a friend who lived somewhere in the Rings of Saturn, the entity had inherited a fortune from an Earth-born aunt who passed away on Ganymede some time ago. The only condition for them to access the fortune was to ensure that the Mind his late aunt apparently owned on Earth would not be shut down in the absence of a resident guardian.

A few drinks, a heartfelt conversation, and two inter-Solar System transmissions later, Jisung was presented with an offer to fill in the role of the said guardians, which he happily accepted. His duties included standing as a legal owner of the Mind, living at the residence of the Mind, and following a few housekeeping rules set up by the previous guardian.

His remuneration, on the other hand, included access to the higher levels of the ever-growing City, a place to live for free, food to eat for free, and on top of everything, a High-Level House Mind straight out of entertainment media that would clean and cook and be smart enough to adjust to his needs.

Were there risks involved in this unusual endeavor? Sure, despite the legal situation, he was possibly putting his life in the metaphorical hands of a House Mind. But Jisung preferred not to think deeply about the risks, as he was too excited about the unexpected opportunity that fell into his hands practically out of nowhere.

The cobwebs stagnation that had set in his life in the years that had followed his escape to Earth were slowly draining his desire to live and this was the perfect chance for him to once again run away from the life he felt trapped in.

He was distracted from this train of thoughts by Minho's attempt at clearing his throat. Jisung couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of the gesture and, at the same time, had to admit that, dealing with a Mind like Minho, he shouldn't really be surprised at any imitation of human-like behaviors. After all, that's what they were created for.

Jisung had done his research on High-Level Minds dutifully anticipating his meeting with Minho. They were a relatively new addition to the chain of automated programs, artificial intelligence, and Low-Level Minds. If the former were designed with the aim of automating and monitoring and managing the processes of all the aspects of life, High-Level Minds were more complex creations, made to imitate humans.

On far-away orbitals, they were recognized as independent life forms with the same rights as humans. On Earth, however, they were still regarded as luxurious products without any real autonomy and unable to move freely. They were created and destroyed at the whims of their owners and, in the absence of such, at the whim of the City Governments.

“This unit has access to over ten thousand recipes of food and drinks,” continued Minho as they stood in the kitchen in front of the giant automated cooking unit. "Following my protocol, I’ve ordered ingredients anticipating the arrival of a human resident. I could demonstrate how the machine works if there’s a dish you’d like to try," he continued with a polite smile on his face.

"Surprise me, then," replied Jisung.

As the elegant machinery came to life, the bronze of it shined while parts of it moved the ingredients around, washed them and cut them and prepared them in various ways. Despite the extraordinary spectacle, Jisung’s eyes still gravitated towards Minho who was staring at the machinery with focused eyes. Jisung was sure that it couldn’t take more than a fraction of Minho’s powers to monitor the operation of the unit, and yet, as he learned during the days to come, Minho liked to observe the cooking process.

The prepared dish tasted splendid. It was the second-best thing that Jisung had ever tried in his life, coming close to lunar tangerines. As he greedily ate the meal at the kitchen table, Minho's digital world mirrored the kitchen, creating an illusion of a bigger space, and Minho sat at his own end of the table facing Jisung. It felt as if they were having dinner together, another strange experience.

The illusion of proximity confused Jisung’s senses, and Minho’s radiant avatar affected him even more now.

"So, how long have you been living here?" he tried to fill in the silence and immediately recoiled at his own question.

Minho didn't seem to mind it, though, or didn't let it show, as he answered thoughtfully.

"For almost 27 years of my life."

Life, Jisung registered before his mind caught up with the information received.

"Oh, so you are older than me!" he exclaimed. "Should I call you hyung, like the old custom is?"

Minho's eyes widened.

"Isn't that a human term? I don't think it would fit me," he said flatly.

Jisung didn’t know how to answer that, so instead he did what he was best at. He awkwardly changed the subject.

"So, do you think your giant cooking machine could make me some cheesecake, hyung?"

Minho's answering smile was blinding, and suddenly Jisung's chest expanded with the warmth of molten lava. For the first time in a long while, he was looking forward to whatever the future was holding for him.

His life prior to the move into the House was simple; it consisted of work, sleep, infrequent conversations with a couple of long-distance acquaintances from an inter-Solar System music appreciation chat room, and even less frequent calls to his parents, who still lived on Moon.

Back when he was a lunar kid, he loved to imagine his future life on Earth, filled with friends and the type of activities he had only seen in old Earth entertainment media. The reality of living on Earth proved to be completely different. As a descendant of Earth-born parents, after his arrival, he was provided with shelter and a low-level job that paid enough for him not to starve, but being naturally shy and unused to living in the City that felt entirely too big for a teen, finding friendships or relationships proved to be complicated.

His life after the move into the House changed in many aspects. Despite the improvement in his living conditions and the reduced expenses on food and rent, Jisung wasn't stupid enough to quit the job assigned to him by the City. All the metropolises scattered around Earth had tightly monitored civil registries, and a low-class citizen without a job would not be favored by the system in the long term. So he continued showing up for his assigned shifts, the transit made much easier with a House shuffle that he could use.

His life quickly settled into the new routine of comfort he hadn't experienced before, the most significant change in which was, surprisingly, the presence of Minho. He didn't disturb Jisung or make him feel uncomfortable in any way. He just existed in the same space, and unlike the type of Low-Level Minds Jisung had encountered before, Minho did not exist entirely in the digital space.

He preferred to use his avatar most of the time, and whenever Jisung was in the shared spaces, he tended to stay close to him. Jisung had never felt like the center of attention of anyone apart from his parents as a child, so this newfound attention flattered him.

Minho was the one to start conversations and ask questions; he was the one to initiate activities, and he was also observant enough to leave Jisung alone whenever he needed the space. Surprisingly, it was easy for Jisung to respond to his friendliness; he didn't need to put effort into socializing with him, and they clicked perfectly despite the apparent differences.

"Sooo you like dancing?" asked Jisung one day as he watched Minho doing just that on the screens of the living room while Jisung himself was lounging on the elegant sofa browsing through House's entertainment library on his mind visor.

It was strange to him that Minho would do something like that, as moving the avatar couldn't possibly feel the same to a Mind as moving physical bodies felt to humans.

"I like watching media of people dancing, so it feels nice to imitate them, even if just in form," answered Minho sincerely, pausing his movements to look at Jisung.

He knew that Minho perceived him through the cameras installed in the rooms all the time, so the avatar "looking" at him didn't really change anything. He still averted his eyes, avoiding eye contact. Minho looked as stunning as the first day Jisung saw him, maybe even more so with the program-generated sweat glistening on his skin. Jisung gulped and hoped that Minho wasn't actively monitoring the life sensors in the room.

"Wouldn't you like to have a physical body then?" he asked.

"Why, Jisungie, are you suggesting to buy one for hyung?" Minho narrowed his eyes.

The new nickname became a habit for Minho around a month after Jisung's move, and he surprisingly didn't mind it; in fact, he had to admit that maybe he enjoyed it more than a little, not used to any terms of endearment since he was a little lunar kid.

"I mean, I could if you'd like to. Your previous owner had more than enough left to purchase not one but a hundred synthetic bodies. As your legal guardian, I could request one for you." he tried to sound casual, not giving away the fact that he'd been thinking about this and researching for a week now.

"I don't think I'd like that," Minho replied coldly. "The type of bodies assigned to Minds on Earth come with many restrictions. Not sure I'd like anyone to have that much control over me."

He turned away from Jisung, who immediately felt as if he had said something wrong.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," came quieter than he intended.

"No, no, Jisungie, you didn't say anything offensive."

He paused, seemingly to take a breath, which Jisung he didn't need to do, and yet it made something stir in his chest.

"I just don't like it when you refer to my mother as my owner," Minho finished.

Jisung didn’t have much information about Minho’s past or his previous owner (no, mother), and Minho didn't really bring the topic up before this, so Jisung hesitated to question him futher. He apologized and made a mental note not to make the same mistake again.

Minho nodded after his apology, but the silence between them stretched uncomfortably. At times like this, Jisung itched for physical contact, a thought that he quickly brushed away. He's not a human. A reminder that was becoming a mantra that he had to repeat to himself again and again.

He knew that feelings for Minds, especially High-Level Minds, weren't foreign to humans. There was enough entertainment media about the forbidden love between an artificial companion and a human. Hack, on far away orbitals, where unlike Earth, Minds, and humans had the same rights, their romance wasn't even forbidden.

That being said, he was not in love with Minho. He couldn't be. He was just not used to connecting with someone so effortlessly, so the strange friendship developing between them was making him confused. That's what all of this was about, nothing more.

In the meantime, Minho, seemingly also affected by the silence, had turned the giant windows of the room into a screen and displayed one of Jisung's favorite entertainment media on it. Movies, as Minho liked to call them, using the outdated term.

The atmosphere shifted with the familiar beginning credits playing on the screen. Jisung got comfortable on the sofa, and Minho mirrored the room on the closest wall to him and did the same. Watching movies together like this had become a regular part of their routine, just like all the other ways that Minho found to silently take care of him.

On some mornings, after long shifts, Jisung would wake up to a meal stored for him in the kitchen, dishes common on Moon that reminded him of home. And on nights when he would sit in silence observing the cityscape from the windows of the living room, listening to music from old days, thinking about the kind of life that he could have had, Minho would generate old Earth pets to run around on the walls of the room or crack a silly joke or nag him to play on an ancient instrument stored in the House, a luxury that Jisung was so happy to gain access to.

Jisung took a sneaky look at Minho, instead of watching the movie on the screen. I wish I could get him the type of synthetic body that doesn't have any restrictions on it, he thought. And maybe, if he was brave enough, he could do that.

So their life flowed comfortably, days turning into weeks and weeks into months.

On the morning of September 14, according to the Earth calendar, Jisung crawled out of bed to the living room to discover a stack of tangerines on a plate on the coffee table.

He quickly rushed towards it, not believing his eyes, and belatedly noticed Minho observing him with poorly concealed anticipation. On one of their movie nights some weeks ago, he had told Minho about the fruit that now grew only in the greenhouses of Moon. After his move to Earth, he hadn't been able to have a taste of it not even once, the delicacy being too expensive for someone like him.

"Where did you get those?" he exclaimed while peeling the first one.

"Happy birthday, Jisungie!" said Minho as an old birthday song started to play in the room.

Birthday celebrations were not really a thing on Moon because Earth's journey around the Sun didn't mean much to the local life. As he put a piece of tangerine into his mouth, savoring the sweet taste, Jisung realized that this was, in fact, his first birthday gift ever.

"I really wish you could have a taste of it," he said, voice deep with pleasure. "Where did you even get them from?"

"I ordered them from the allocated food funds."

Even though Jisung was Minho’s legal guardian, he didn't have authorization to use any of the funds left by the previous owner for the maintenance of the House and for the sustenance of its inhabitants. Minho, on the other hand, could spend a limited amount each month on authorized purchases. Still, the tangerines would have cost more than the monthly allowance Minho had.

"But they're super expensive, aren't they?" Jisung continued distractedly, stuffing his face with pieces of the delicious fruit.

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing. I had saved up some money from the previous month's allowance."

He tried to sound casual, but Jisung could tell from the scarlet tips of his ears that it wasn't really nothing. The sweetness on his tongue melted into his heart, and he was sure his cheeks matched the color of Minho's ears.

"Thank you, Minho," he said simply, his heart thundering in his chest.

But a simple thank you wasn't enough to repay Minho, Jisung thought. Minho, who's been doing so much for him since the day he moved here. He had to find a way to repay him in kind. But what could he really do for Minho?

The answer came to him around a week later while he was observing the cityscape from the windows of the penthouse, as was his habit. Minho's avatar was in the corner of the window, which he turned into a screen while the rest of the surface remained transparent. The screen was displaying the avatar’s back, so it seemed as if Minho was looking out of the windows, too.

"Have you ever been outside in the City?" asked Jisung without thinking.

"I haven't," came the reply.

"But you can see what's going on there accessing public cameras, right?"

" I can only access entertainment media stored in the City databases and some public archives."

"So wait, you're telling me you've NEVER seen anything outside of the House?" Jisung exclaimed.

"Never."

Well, we have to fix it then! Jisung had to cover his mouth with his hand so he would not say those words out loud.

His plan was simple. Find a transportable mind terminal, ask Minho to connect to it, and take him out on a short trip in the City. These terminals had cameras that would allow Minho to see through them as long as he stayed close enough to the tower where Minho's servers were stored.

Buying a terminal like that would cost a fortune, so Jisung looked to borrow one and soon found a convenient option, an older model with a camera and a simple hologram projector.

The second step of the plan was to decide on the location of their date. Date? No, it was just an outing, a thank you to Minho for everything he was doing for Jisung.

The area of their outing had to be nearby but also not too crowded, and still have a good view of the cityscape. After long searches through the public net, Jisung found the perfect spot.

Jisung carefully stepped on the old bridge that hung in the air hundreds of city levels above the ground. A couple of centuries ago, it must have stretched over a river flowing through Old Seoul. That river had dried down a long time ago, its name forgotten to history. The City grew up and grew down from where it used to flow, and the bridge was left hanging in the sky connecting two towers.

Jisung carefully set the transportable terminal on the bridge.

"Here we are! How do you like the view, hyung?" he carefully lowered his body to sit down on the floor of the bridge and threw his legs through the holes in the banister.

Minho's avatar projection tried to follow his example and settle next to him. The outdated technology of the terminal Jisung borrowed wasn't intricate enough to convey the complex design of Minho's avatar. He looked more like a ghost than a person, but it still made Jisung aware of Minho’s proximity far more deeply than the digital avatar on the screens.

"It's amazing, Jisungie," Minho said quietly, the voice crackling through the speaker of the terminal. "I don't have any words."

"It's not the best place, but I couldn't find anything better within the range of your servers that would also not be crowded. I figured you’re not used to seeing a lot of people, and also I didn't think we'd feel comfortable speaking in a more public space. But if you want we could go somewhere else. I don't really mi— "

"Jisung, please, calm down," Minho's ghostly hand inched towards him on the floor of the bridge. Jisung couldn't help but stare at it, mesmerized. "It's perfect; I love it here; words can't describe what I'm feeling right now because I may be the happiest that I've ever been since my creation."

"Oh," was all that Jisung managed to say, his hand pricking where Minho's projection still lay over it. "I still don't understand how you've never been outside," he continued before he could stop himself.

Minho turned to look at the scenery in front of them, the neon of the City shining from the towers around them, the giant advertisement of a purple-haired woman drinking a soft drink winking at them from far away, the flying shuffles noiselessly moving between the levels, their motion making Jisung feel nauseous.

Living in the City, you had no choice but to get used to constantly being miles above the ground. The City grew further and further into the sky, and even the lower levels reserved for the poor were still quite high from the ground.

As the silence stretched, Jisung thought that Minho wouldn't answer him. However, after another minute, his voice came through the speaker.

"My mother was an engineer of artificial minds. She was the best in her field, a visionary, a genius. I was her passion project, her child. She and her partner had wanted kids for the longest time, so as a solution, she decided to create me, a unique Mind unlike any other, the perfect child."

"But aren’t Child Minds pretty common?" Jisung asked.

"They are, but I was different. The Child Minds are created to replicate human children; they are static, and they don't grow. I, however, was created to develop from a child into an adult Mind, slowly coming into full control of my powers.”

Minho paused, eyes following a shuttle that flew too close to where they were sitting.

“She envisioned me having the right synthetic bodies at each stage of growth, as she and her partner would raise me, but her hopes were not meant to materialize. She passed away shortly after my creation,” he concluded in a strained voice.

“I’m so sorry,” said Jisung.

“My memories of her are blurred, as my Mind wasn't fully developed back then. I can only rely on the records she left and on the photographs still stored in the data feed of the House."

"Wait, but the entity that contacted me said that your… mother had passed only recently?"

"Yes, that was my creator’s partner. After her passing, she left Earth. She couldn't possibly take my servers with her, I was a new and fragile Mind, one of a kind, too precious to risk damage. She planned for me to get a synthetic body once my Mind developed to its fullest potential, and then I could join her on Ganymede, but unfortunately, by that time, the artificial mind laws on Earth had changed completely, not giving me the right to leave. I was a property, and she was now my owner. At least, she made sure that I wouldn't lose my life and autonomy after her passing, which is how I met you."

Jisung's heart ached with this newfound knowledge. He wished he could hug Minho more than ever, give him the comfort of the physical touch. He didn't realize that he was crying until Minho stretched his ghostly hand towards his face.

"Please don't cry. It's all in the past now," he said, trying to dry Jisung’s tears through a touch that couldn’t happen.

Yet Jisung still felt his skin burning with the ghost of contact.

"I am so sorry for everything that happened to you."

He wished the ghostly projection was clear enough so he could see Minho's face properly instead of the almost transparent silhouette.

"Sooo I told you about my life, now it's only fair that you tell me about yours, Jisungie," Minho said with forced cheerfulness.

Jisung understood that he wanted to change the subject, so he complied.

"I tell you about my life all the time. It’s all very simple, really. My parents were Earth-born immigrants on Moon. They moved there looking for a better life, and the life they found was only of harsh, tedious work in the mines supplying resources to Earth. I was born on Moon and grew up in the tunnels, just like all the lunar kids.

During my whole childhood, I saw the surface and Earth hanging in the sky only twice during short outings, but it was enough for me to dream about the blue planet day and night, so when I got old enough to leave I hoped on the first cargo ship that would take me to Earth. I worked on it to pay for my transit, and arrived in New Seoul without a single won, without a plan, without a friend or an acquaintance living here."

"How was my little Jisungie brave enough to do all that?" said Minho with more warmth in his voice than Jisung allowed himself to acknowledge.

And while his mind went into a loop of repeating my, my, my, he complained with fake indignation.

"What do you mean little? And what does it have to do with bravery? I am very brave if you must know. Braver than you!"

"That's probably true," agreed Minho readily. "I am looking at this scenery only through a camera, and my knees are still shaking from how high we are from a solid ground."

"But you don't have knees, hyung," supplied Jisung jokingly.

"Of course I do, don't be weird about my body parts."

"I'm weird? You're the weird one among us, talking about knees when I just retold you my sad life story."

"I'm not weird; my Mind is literally artificially created to be perfect."

"You ARE weird, but I like that about you. And you are perfect too, definitely smarter than the poor, normal human me."

And even though Jisung couldn't see Minho's face clearly, he could imagine the wide smile spreading on his regular features.

"I like that you are normal, too, Jisungie," he replied softly.

And now it was Jisung's turn to smile ear-to-ear.

That night, after they returned back home, Jisung tossed and turned in his bed, thinking about everything that Minho had told him. He balanced on the edge of sleep, the thoughts about Minho momentarily turning into visions of hands holding him, touching him, and then ending abruptly with Jisung waking up back to the reality of his lonely bed, tangled in the expensive silk sheets.

I am brave. The words he had told Minho kept ringing in his ears, and in the short periods of sleep, he knew what they meant, what he had to do.

The next morning, during breakfast, he laid his plan down in front of Minho.

"I want to help you to leave the Earth."

Minho stared back at him silently, his dark hair tinged with purple today, which Jisung thought flattered his features even more.

Jisung was expecting a far more animated reaction from him, but nevertheless, he continued.

"There are orbitals out there where you can live independently and freely, and I want to help you to leave for one of them. It might take a lot of time, but I will do everything I can to get you there, even if I have to work ten jobs to make it happen."

Minho furrowed his brows at this. Jisung made a haste to explain.

"Traveling to the orbitals is very expensive, it will take me a long time to save up for a ticket."

"But Jisungie, you can't transport artificial minds from Earth. To make the trip, I will need a human-level synthetic body."

"I know, I'm getting there."

The type of synthetic bodies available for purchase for Minds on Earth had limitations and a built-in shutdown system that could be triggered at any time by the City governance if the Mind tried to leave the planet. They were also not sophisticated enough to store a Mind like Minho’s in its entirety, so Minho would still need the connection to his servers.

No, the type of synthetic body they needed was a human clone. Those were commissioned by the rich, who could store copies of their consciousness to be transplanted into them upon death. It was a luxury beyond the reach of most humans not only on Earth but in the whole Solar System. Jisung could never afford to commission one for himself, and even if he could, he wouldn't be allowed to get one before his own death to give it to Minho. So there was only one solution.

"We are going to abduct the body."

Minho froze.

"When a commissioned clone is cleared for a release to be delivered for Mind transplantation of some rich idiot who died recently, we are going to abduct the body and instead transplant your own Mind into it. You said your mother was planning to give you a synthetic body here, it means she must have prepared the right facilities here, too, am I right?"

Minho nodded.

"When I save up enough money to buy you a ticket, we'll abduct a body."

He was expecting far more enthusiasm from Minho at this revelation, but instead of excitement, Minho looked distant, blinking rapidly. Jisung interpreted this as confusion, so proceeded to supply the final puzzle piece.

"There is one thing that you don't know about me. The City-assigned job that I've been doing since moving back to Earth is at the facility that transports synthetic bodies, among other things, within New Seoul. My access to their systems is low-level, but with your abilities, we could possibly use it for more.”

Minho still seemed frozen in thought.

“Please, I need you to think about this seriously. I think we have a real chance here."

Minho was silent but Jisung was ready to give him all the time that he needed. Minho made up his mind later that week.

"I’ll agree to try out your plan on one condition," he said.

Jisung looked at him expectantly.

"If we're doing this, you're coming with me," he looked intently at Jisung. "I want us to go together to an orbital. I can't leave you behind."

"But we'll need twice as much money to do that… I think it's better if you leave first, and then I— "

"Well, about that… do you remember the tangerines that I got for your birthday?"

So Minho had managed to save quite a bit out of his monthly allowance through the years, definitely enough to buy both of them passage on a spaceship to a distant orbital. Now, all left to do was to get the body.

As Jisung was expecting, it was easy for Minho to navigate the transportation system through Jisung's limited access. He was careful to wipe his trail and not let any evidence tie his manipulations to Jisung.

There was no upcoming transportation of human-level synthetic bodies scheduled for the near future, so Minho set up alerts to let them know when a body satisfying their conditions would be registered for transportation. Jisung was sure that it wouldn’t take too much time, as the ultra-rich were reckless with their lives knowing that they could live forever.

In the meantime, they would rehearse the plan bringing it to perfection.

Jisung felt giddy with anticipation thinking about the life he and Minho would build far away from Earth. Sometimes Jisung would imagine the type of body that Minho would get, but in most of his fantasies of the future, Minho was faceless, connected to Jisung with a red string, their hearts warm with love that spread to encompass the whole Solar System, no, the entire universe.

It all came crashing down on one of their regular movie-watching evenings. During their preparation for the heist operation, Minho had given Jisung full access to the digital feed of the House, so while looking for the folder of his favorite movies, Jisung noticed something strange, a file in the search results that he had never seen before.

'Han Jisung'

It was dated before his move to the House, Jisung he naively thought maybe it was the information file shared with Minho by the entity that hired him. He clicked on the file. The world came to a halt.

Minho knew immediately what had happened, as Jisung's heartbeat spiked up. His ears were ringing as his eyes ran through the file, betrayal bitter on his tongue. Tears threatened to run down his cheeks, but he willed himself to swallow them down. Distantly, he could hear Minho calling his name and at the edge of his vision, he could see Minho’s form on the screen next to him and on the one opposite to him, and on the one on the windows.

"Please, listen to me, Jisungie. Please, I can explain."

But Jisung didn't need explanations; the place where his heart used to beat in his chest was now a bottomless pit filled with the lies that Minho had weaved to lure him, to fool him. It was all fake, designed to manipulate him, to make him do the only thing he was for to Minho — to help him get the body he so desired and to finally leave the planet.

The scenes of the past months were flashing in front of his eyes, and he couldn't believe how naïve, how stupid he was to fall into every single trap set by Minho. It was not a coincidence that his friend's friend's acquaintance had suddenly received an enormous fortune, it was not a coincidence that the entity so quickly agreed to hire Jisung, it was not a coincidence how Minho did everything to get close to him to win his trust, to win his heart, and to use him eventually.

Was anything he had ever told him even real? Had his mother really passed away on a distant moon? Had he really never seen the world outside of the House? Was his avatar designed to mesmerize Jisung specifically? Were his interests real, his hobbies, his dancing, his personality? Or was it all just part of a giant ploy to exploit Jisung’s trust?

He couldn't bear to stay there for a second more. He ran towards the entrance of the House, not seeing anything around him, not hearing Minho's voice still shouting for him. As the main door came into his vision, he suddenly got scared of the fact that Minho could trap him in the House but the door opened without a hitch, and Jisung ran outside, away from the House, away from Minho, away from the broken pieces of his heart, away from his shame.

There were not many places in the City where you could spend the night for cheap and manage to get some rest. His options were between capsule hotels and VR gaming rooms, and after a night spent at a hotel, his choice was obvious. Playing games while your body rested meant he didn't have to think, which in turn meant he didn't have to cry.

Every time his thoughts drifted back to Minho, back to the past months that he spent with him, he would bury them back into the furthest corners of his mind and choose a new game so mind-numbingly monotonous that he didn't have to think about anything at all.

He couldn’t run from everything forever, though. Two weeks into this he received the notification. A synthetic body matching their requirements was going to be transported in three days. It seemed that his own mental feed was still connected to that of the House and yet Minho didn't even try to use it to reach out to him.

While burning his time in yet another pointless game, he had to finally confront the situation. In this game, he was a baker preparing pastries and serving customers; he didn't really have to bake anything; he just ran from the fridge to the table to the oven to the counter again and again so the dough would turn into the right shapes then get baked into cartoonishly tasty looking pastries then be served on plates.

There were two of them today in the playroom, and the other player with an avatar of what seemed to be a pink cartoon dragon was consistently baking and selling more than Jisung, who was barely managing to move his feet.

"The alarm on your oven is ringing. Please, take the pastries out before they burn."

"If a captive tiger tore your hand away, would you still open the door of the cage to let it out?"

The dragon avatar stared at him unimpressed.

"Sure, if I still had my other hand."

"What?"

"Do I still have my other hand?"

"I guess."

"Then why not? Animals deserve to live in freedom."

Jisung picked the next batch of the dough and moved it to the table to knead—one minute for it to be ready.

"What about if it was an artificial mind?"

"The tiger is an artificial mind?"

"Would you abduct a body to set one free?"

"I’m not sure I’m following you, friend, but you really shouldn't talk about abducting bodies in a public gaming room," he whispered to Jisung.

Jisung picked up the batch of cookies and put them inside the oven—one minute for the cookies to be ready.

"So, are you going to do it?" asked the pink dragon suddenly.

"Do what?"

"Set your tiger free."

Jisung stood in front of the cartoon oven, so different from the one in the House, the one that worked automatically. Minho still liked to stand near it and watch it work, his forehead creased in concentration, his eyes following the process of ingredients that he could never touch turning into meals that he could never taste.

The alarm on the cartoon oven rang repeatedly, and when the pink dragon turned to tell Jisung to move faster, in place was a message hovering in the air, "The Player Is Logging Out".

Crossing the threshold of the House reminded him of the very first time he arrived there, not knowing what to expect from the turn that his life was about to take. He felt so distant from the Jisung who stood in the brightly lit room in front of the tall windows, looking at the neon cityscape. The room was now in complete darkness.

A moment passed, then another, then suddenly, the House around him came to life, the lights burning bright, the screens turning on, and music playing through the speakers of the room. And then appeared Minho. He looked different, tired, unkempt, yet still as beautiful as ever. Jisung felt his throat close and his unshed tears threatening to escape. He swallowed hard and tried to sound as firm as he could master.

"I received the notification. We have three days left."

That brought Minho out of his stupor.

"I didn't think you'd come." His raspy voice sounded hopeful, which made Jisung's heart ache with renewed force.

"I will help you get the body and leave Earth but I don't want to hear any explanations from you; we are going to keep this strictly professional," he paused, taking another breath. "I am also not leaving with you."

"What? Jisung that will put you at great risk; I can't guarantee that suspicions won't fall on you no matter how thoroughly I wipe my tracks from the system."

I'm ready to risk it for you, he thought.

"I know," he said instead.

"Why?"

Because I love you.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

The preparations went smoothly. They had rehearsed the plan a thousand times over before Jisung's discovery. Minho only had to adjust small things to fit the new course of action, and while he was busy with it, Jisung aimlessly went from room to room trying to commit it to his mind. He probably should have spent his free time looking for a new place to live, but it seemed too big of a task for his tired mind right now.

He ached to talk to Minho but made a conscious effort not to. The sting of betrayal still made him nauseous, and the thought of going through it once again while hearing explanations made him cower with fear.

In the end, it all happened naturally, like everything did between the two of them. The night before the big day, they settled in the living room like they used to do before. Minho put on a movie, turning the big windows into screens again; he mirrored the room just like he always did and settled on his end of the sofa as close to Jisung as he could manage. Jisung sat on the opposite side, as far from his as possible.

In the dimly lit room with the movie filling the space around them with a comfortable ambiance, Jisung finally let himself feel, and as the tears started to roll down his cheeks, the question that had tormented him since the day of the discovery was finally asked out loud.

"Was any of it real?"

It seemed that Minho didn’t expect the question, so took a minute to collect himself.

"Not at first."

He paused.

"The story I told you was partially true. My creator, my mother, passed shortly after my creation. Her partner soon left Earth, as everything here reminded her of the great love that she lost. Everything, including me. While she was alive, I was not shut down; I could live and grow here, in the House, on my own. There were humans who would visit me, they were hired to take care of the place, but none of them stayed for long or really cared about me.

I didn't lie about never leaving the House. When my mother passed some years ago, through a legal loophole, I inherited whatever was left of my parents' fortune. I couldn't leave Earth, so I didn't care what I did and whether I lived or not.

I came up with my plan around a year ago. I knew I had to gain access to any of the systems involved in dealing with synthetic human bodies. Browsing through the public databases that I was allowed to access, I found people who could possibly have that kind of access.

I compiled the data I could find about them, analyzed it thoroughly, and came up with a list of people who were most likely to be persuaded to help me out. Your name was the first one on that list. If I didn’t succeed with you, I would have moved on to the next name."

Jisung couldn't help his ugly sobs at this point. Maybe starting this conversation wasn't a good idea, after all.

"So, if it weren't me, it would have been someone else? Someone else for you to lure here and lie to? Would you change your personality to manipulate them better? Would you change the way you looked to make them like you better?"

He looked at Minho, and that’s when he realized that Minho was crying, too.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Jisungie."

"Don't call me that!"

"I'm sorry. I wish I could make you understand how desperate I was to get out of this prison that I've been confined to since my creation. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't think that…"

He paused.

"I swear that I'm telling you the truth. At first, I did try to make you like me but since the beginning, you have been kind to me; you treated me like an equal, and I realized that I didn't have to pretend. I didn't have to fake anything."

Jisung wanted to believe him, but there were still so many questions hanging unanswered.

"And what if it was someone else? Someone not as kind to you, someone who didn't treat you the same, would you have faked everything to manipulate them? Even if I was this perfect exception, it still doesn't make it right knowing that you would have played with someone's feelings like this. That you would have made them fall in love with you like this?"

As the confession left his mouth, the sobs choked him with more vigor. He turned away from Minho hiding his face in his hands.

"You are in love with me?"

"What do you even know about love? You're not even a real person." Jisung knew he was being cruel, but hurting Minho back felt good.

Minho didn't reply. If he was hurt, he didn't let it show. Instead, he continued in a quiet voice.

"I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for you. I can't give you an answer about a situation that never happened. But what I can tell you is this. After we got closer, I decided against going through with my plan. I didn't ask you about your work at all, you know that.

I buried the dream of leaving this prison, and I thought I could be happy living here as you were by my side, a companion I so desperately craved all my life. But then you brought up the plan yourself, and I had to admit that I wanted to escape after all and that I wanted to do it with you.

I thought there was no harm in it. We could start a new life far away from here where I would be free, and we could be together. I should have been sincere with you; I should have told you everything, but I was scared that you'd change your Mind.

I guess I still felt guilty for keeping the truth away from you because I gave you access to the House's feed, knowing well that you could find the files. But you have to believe me that at that point, I wasn't pretending, and I wasn't lying. Otherwise, why would I even insist on you leaving with me?"

Jisung didn't have an answer to that question, at least not one where Minho wasn't altogether sinister, which, despite his best efforts, he couldn't make himself believe to be true.

"I think I am going to sleep now," he stood up abruptly. "We have a long day ahead of us. I need to rest."

He was running again.

The operation the next day went as smoothly as they had planned it. Jisung, disguised a security guard, waited for the transportation company to hand him the precious shipment; the digital signatures forged by Minho worked without an issue. He deposited the container into the House shuttle and set the course back home.

They moved the into his control room, where the technology to transplant Minho’s mind had already been prepared. They placed it on top of a giant oak table. Jisung opened the lid of the container and attached the necessary components to the outlets on the body’s temples.

As focused as he was on his task, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful the face in front of him was. Not beautiful like the perfectly sculpted face of a digital avatar, but a handsome human, no doubt still augmented genetically, but flawed nonetheless. High cheekbones, strong jaw, plush lips, and a straight nose. Somehow, the face fit Minho, Jisung thought.

"Are you ready?" he asked him.

"I am," said Minho, then he added hesitantly, "If something goes wrong if I don't wake up, I need you to know that I love you too."

Before Jisung had time to process or to answer, the screen where Minho’s avatar stood went blank, and the transportation process started.

The confession rang in Jisung’s ears. He gripped the corner of the in an attempt to stop his hands from shaking. The thought of Minho never coming back, neither in the body nor without it, made his vision go black. He couldn't lose him, no, not like this. How much time has already passed? Wasn't he already supposed to wake up?

The face that already felt like it belonged to Minho looked lifeless to Jisung. He focused on it, not blinking, one second, two, three…

Then he saw the eyelids of the body twitch.

He backed away from the container as Minho (was it really Minho?) opened his eyes and tried to move his limbs in an attempt to sit up. Controlling the newfound physical body was new to him, but he seemed to get the hang of it with ease.

Jisung looked at him, his heart in his throat, the man that he loved, now in a flash. As Minho finally stood up on shaky legs and turned to him with open arms, he realized that couldn't continue running away from him. Instead, he ran towards the open embrace.

Hugging Minho for the first time felt like finally coming home. The warmth so far only pooling in his chest seemed to flow into Minho's and surround them in a bubble of comfort, of safety, of love.

"I'm not letting you go," came the raspy voice as Minho pulled away and awkwardly cupped Jisung's face, still not fully in control of his limbs. "I know you told me you want to stay, but I got the ticket for you too. Please, come with me."

Instead of an answer, Jisung did what he dreamt about doing since that night on the bridge. He leaned forward, Minho's hands falling to his shoulders on instinct, and softly connected their lips. The kiss was chaste and short, Minho too stunned to do anything. Jisung belatedly realized that it was Minho's first-ever kiss. A laugh bubbled in his chest as he looked up at Minho with fond eyes.

Minho's answering smile was as bright as the Sun, and somehow, Jisung knew that they were going to be all right.