Inside the solemn funeral hall, Hyungwon, the person who had made the atmosphere heavy, was bowing before Hyein's portrait, holding back tears that threatened to spill over onto the floor. Hyungwon, who had barely managed to bow twice while denying Hyein's death, finally began to call Hyein's name pitifully, as if the reality of death had finally sunk in. As soon as Hyein's name left Hyungwon's mouth, the clear tears that had been precariously held back finally fell onto Hyungwon's kneeling legs, leaving black marks.
Hyungwon, who always cared about what others thought, always presented himself neatly and perfectly. But now, instead of fixing his clothes, he was loosening his tie, shouting, and messing up his hair. He acted like a half-mad man. Or, more accurately, a fool. The biggest change Hyein's death had on Hyungwon was his style. While he had always worn a three-piece suit when Hyein was alive, he now only wore hoodies, hooded zip-ups, and tracksuits. The aura he exuded as he walked around in this altered outfit was utterly bleak. But that was fleeting. Hyungwon quickly returned to normal, looking no different than before. Even after three weeks, he was still managing his facial expressions and smiling. His style remained the same. He dressed more formally than before, but he still didn't wear formal attire. The occasional formal occasion he wore was for a wedding or other formal occasions. In this way, Hyungwon's style changed due to Hyein's death, and he became the epitome of a workaholic.
Hyungwon was a researcher working for an unofficial government organization. To be precise, his job was to create androids. While they weren't yet fully developed, they couldn't create perfectly human androids, and since they were made by combining the DNA of living people, with just a little more research, they were on the verge of creating a fully human being. Hyungwon and the researchers, responding to the government's request to make the androids more robust, dedicated themselves to research, contemplating how to make them more human-like. Hyungwon was even more dedicated than the others. He thought that if he focused solely on his work, he might be able to forget Hyein, even if only a little. However, forgetting Hyein, who had already spent so much time right beside him, wasn't easy. Hyein was a researcher, just like Hyungwon. The thought of Hyein welcoming him with a big smile and offering him a packed lunch while he was working lingered in his mind, and Hyungwon's life became even more focused on his research.
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to Hyungwon. What was his job? Creating androids. Hyungwon immediately took Hyein's DNA and began creating an android. He tailored it to resemble Hyein's appearance as closely as he could remember, and he tailored it to match her tastes, preferences, personality, and even her personality. He ignored all government orders and devoted himself solely to creating Hyein's android. Since androids hadn't yet been developed, creating androids for personal use was prohibited by policy, but Hyungwon, hoping to see Hyein again, casually ignored the policy and synthesized the DNA. His fellow researchers, oblivious to Hyungwon's work, took care of his mounting workload. They figured he might be tired of doing their work for them. They didn't realize that their well-intentioned actions were becoming toxic for Hyungwon.
And so, Hyungwon's "project to create an android that resembles Hyein" continued. He had already created several androids before, but none of them were identical to Hyein. Some had different appearances, personalities, eating habits, body types, and even.... This continued failure, and Hyungwon's lab was filled with androids destined for disposal. Hyungwon grew increasingly exhausted, and after so many attempts, he had memorized the DNA sequence. He created an android without even checking the recipe or measuring. In the process, something was added to the combinations Hyungwon had tried so far, and the resulting android became the only one he truly liked. The only flaw was that it lacked Hyein's memories. But that didn't matter. After dozens of attempts, a android was created that looked exactly like Hyein. That alone satisfied Hyungwon. Soon, the android opened its eyes, and Hyungwon cautiously greeted it.
"…hi."
"hello..?"
Hyein's android, with no memory left in its head, responded to Hyungwon's greeting with extreme caution. Hyungwon slowly soothed the android, reciting simple personal information about the android he had created. Things like its name and age.
"Your name is Ha-yeon. Lee Ha-yeon. You're 24 years old, and you'll be living with me from now on."
“Why do I live with you? What about my parents?”
Hyungwon hesitated for a moment at the title of "mister," but soon smiled kindly and coaxed Hayeon with the lie, "Because you bought me." They went out together. Hyungwon's car was parked right outside the lab, and after three months in the lab, Hyungwon returned home with an android that resembled Hyein. Soon, Hyungwon and Hayeon's faces were grimacing. However, the reasons for their grimacing were different. Hyungwon was bothered by the traces of Hyein still lingering here and there even after three months. Hayeon's expression was that the dust had accumulated here and there, as if no one had come in for three months. Hayeon, who resembled Hyein in her neat and tidy personality, was despairing at the thought of having to live in such a dirty place. Hayeon sighed deeply and began to clean up. And the nagging that came out of her mouth was a bonus.
"What do you do for a living, sir, that you don't even clean your house? Is this a human home, or an animal cage? And why is there so much dust? How many years have you been out of the house? Or are you roommates with dust or something?"
Hyungwon let out a small chuckle at Hyein's seemingly repetitive nagging, but his face soon turned gloomy. He'd thought he'd become a little numb from all that research, but the moment he stepped foot inside, memories flooded back, and he was met with a dummy human he'd created, a replicant of Hyein. Although he'd created the dummy himself, yearning for Hyein, the very act of juxtaposing the dummy with Hyein felt like a sin against her, and a part of him felt uneasy. The fact that Hayeon was a naive person, completely clueless and thought of Hyungwon as a cook, also played a part. But Hyungwon couldn't help but think of Hayeon's every action as Hyein, because of the similarities in atmosphere, speech, voice, appearance, and habits. As each day passed, Hyungwon's heart grew heavier, and Hayeon, though she didn't express it, noticed Hyungwon's discomfort, and she felt a growing sense of unease. Still, as time passed, living together, the distance between them gradually diminished, and they became close enough that at first glance, they might pass for friends. Enough to tease each other mischievously.
"Sir, why on earth are you walking around like that? Get some good-looking face and live."
"I'm better than you even without makeup. Why do you keep wearing that stretched-out T-shirt? You have so many other pretty clothes."
Now, Hyungwon occasionally takes out the suit that's been stashed away in a corner of the closet and wears it. If Hayeon dressed up less, he dressed up less, but the number of days Hyungwon didn't dress up at all gradually decreased. And an unspoken rule emerged between them: since Hayeon is an android, she must leave the house with Hyungwon. This led to Hayeon visiting Hyungwon's lab more frequently, and for some reason, Hayeon thinks Hyungwon is a chef. It was a similar sentiment to Hyein, who thought Hyungwon's meticulous DNA combinations were akin to a chef. There were also reasons other than being an android, like his resemblance to a specific person, but the reason he didn't mention it was because of another rule Hyungwon had: never tell Hayeon about Hyein, never show her pictures, and never reveal that he was the one who created the androids. Initially, he had told her everything. However, Ha-yeon resembles Hye-in so much that she even resembles him in the way she gets hurt easily. Hyung-won kept his mouth shut out of fear that Ha-yeon might run away or start to hate him.
But there are no secrets in this world. Hayeon, who had longed to see her work, suddenly disappeared on the day she returned from the lab after Hyungwon had gone to clean. She left behind a broken picture frame in Hyungwon's study and a photo of a couple lying beneath it. When Hyungwon returned home, patting her hunched shoulder, only to find the already chilled house welcoming him. Hyungwon looked around the house, checked the study one last time, and then ran outside. He wouldn't know the way, he wouldn't have anywhere to go, he would be hungry. Worries about Hayeon filled his mind, only to be consumed by the dark thoughts welling up from below. If only I had told him about Hyein from the beginning, or even if not from the beginning, if only I had mentioned it when we had become even slightly closer. Those thoughts, which had been lingering on and on, were silenced by that one thoughtless remark, as if a power source had been turned off.
“But why am I looking for him?”
The moment Hyungwon uttered those words, a dull, disconnected feeling swept through his mind. He was left confused, a worry he'd never experienced before in all the countless androids he'd created and disposed of. Hyungwon paused for a moment, then quickly set off again, searching for Hayeon. He tried to rationalize it as Hayeon's resemblance to Hyein, but strangely, Hyein's thoughts never crossed his mind when he was with Hayeon. Even when he saw Hayeon repeating the same behaviors Hyein had once shown him, even when he saw her strikingly similar appearance. Instead of Hayeon reminding him of Hyein, Hyungwon treated Hayeon, a virtual human, as another human being. Realizing this too late, he searched desperately for Hayeon when his phone rang loudly. Frantically, he pulled it out, wondering if it was Hayeon, and it was indeed Hayeon.
“Where have you been?”
After reading the text, Hyungwon immediately set off for his home. He ran the distance, which should have been a 30-minute walk, and arrived in just 10. As he gasped for breath, Hayeon, who was waiting at the door, greeted him with a bright smile.
“Where did you go? I found you.”
"I just wanted to think about something while I was walking around. But I have something to say."
“Let’s go in. Let’s go in and talk.”
“No, just talk here.”
"What is it?"
"I don't want to live with you anymore."
"… why?"
"If I'd gone into your house, I would have seen that too. The broken picture frame. First, let me apologize. I went into your study without permission and broke your precious picture frame. I'm sorry. But, sir, when you look at me, have you ever thought of your sister in that picture?"
Despite the words, "Tell me the truth. I'm fine," that followed the question, Hyungwon couldn't answer Hayeon's question and just mumbled. Hayeon seemed ready to wait for Hyungwon to respond, but Hyungwon simply kept his mouth shut and refused to answer. This was because he was starting to forget Hyein more and more. At first, he had thought of Hyein a lot when he looked at Hayeon. After watching Hyungwon with a calm expression for a few minutes, Hayeon broke the silence.
“I asked you why you didn’t want to live with me?”
"Because I like you so much. But you can't help but think of that girl when you look at me. That's why."
With those words, Ha-yeon once again walked away from Hyung-won's house. Hyung-won couldn't hold on to the person who was leaving him again. This time, it was utterly Hyung-won's fault. But even after hurting someone like that, and knowing it was wrong, Hyung-won was now creating a cyborg who resembled Ha-yeon, not Hye-in. Hyung-won had reached the point where he couldn't live the rest of his life without someone who resembled them both. That exacting Hyung-won said today, as he created another cyborg the same way he created Ha-yeon, "I'm cooking to your taste today, too."