The city of Seoul was silent, the hour of the day being 07:56am, the males of the house holds were fixing their ties and double checking their briefcases. As minutes tick by slowly, one man in particular sat on the couch, his hands placed on his knees, his back straight.
Black hair was slicked parted to the left perfectly, thin wired glasses sat on his small sloped nose. Thick brows pulled together as he watches the hologram clock in front of him.
The clock chimes with the melody of the latest song from a random pop artist. 8:00am, quickly standing up the man grabs his bag, keys and phone before leaving through the open front door.
He nods to the other men who leave their prison like house. looking around there are android officers patrolling the area, watching everyone, some hold leashes in their hands which are attached to military dogs.
"Sir, start moving, you have 58 minutes to get to work." a low robotic voice speaks, while displaying a small hologram clock in front of the zoned out man.
"Right, sorry."
The black haired male gets into his car, backing out of his driveway he joins the others on the road. The cars are set to auto pilot, the destination of each one was programmed only to take the occupants to and from work during the week.
Making it to work with ten minutes to spare, the male speed walks across the lobby, scanning his ID card he enters the elevator with three other males behind him. He gets off at the fifth floor and walks over to his cubicle.
Placing his bag under his desk he quickly logs into his computer, once it's booted up he checks his emails and calendars for any deadlines he might have forgotten about.
After all that he sets in to focus on his work, work selling new and improved androids to other countries.
Each country has their own creation of androids, so the trading/ selling business was the only job most male humans had. It was a relatively boring job, but the pay was alright. Not that it mattered since there was nothing you could do with the money besides buy food once a month, or new upgrades for your prison aka your house.
"Ayo~ Haneul!" a low cute, innocent sounding voice calls out from over the cubicle walls. Sighing Haneul the man with raven colored hair looks up at his annoying work partner.
"Yes Jaesung?" he replies back in his deep voice, words slightly mumbled due to irritation.
"There's news about a new android... well it's not completely an andro-" Haneul cuts him off by his raised hand, face showing pure annoyance.
"I don't get paid to talk with you about androids Jaesung. I've told you this before, we aren't friends... Nor do I want to be. So please get back to work and stop spewing nonsense."
The two males stare at each other for a minute before Jaesung sighs and drops back down into his hovering chair. "You know you really need to stop being so uptight about everything" Jae mumbles out shaking his head.
Haneul just rolls his eyes, getting back to his boring job he falls into a steady pace of processing orders for locals and overseas. Four hours pass by, an alarm chimes letting the workers know it's noon, meaning it's lunch time.
Haneul groans as his computer screen goes into lockdown mode, prompting him to go rest or eating food before working again. Getting up he reluctantly makes his way out of the room, he watches as some of the workers enter the napping pods, while others head for the canteen.
"Hey! Now that we aren't working I can finish what I was saying..." Jaesung falls in step with Haneul who groans.
"So word is there's some crazy person who is creating the first ever hybrid human!" Jae excitedly whispers, he jumps up and down slightly, eyes wide. "Isn't that crazy! like imagine- soon we humans will be able to 'upgrade'" Jaesung doubles over laughing at his own lame joke. Raising an eyebrow Haneul stares at the shorter male, not understanding what was so funny.
"On a serious note... What do you think about the whole hybrid thing? This will obviously put us before any other country!" Jae rambles on, "oh~ I can't wait for the release date,... whenever that is." he sighs dreamily over the thought of a super human.
"You're dumb, they aren't making any hybrids. There isn't one human who would sign up for something like that." Picking up a steaming plate of lasagna Haneul heads over to an empty table.
"But~ they could be making one! I believe in it, the future always holds interesting things..." Jaesung sets his plate down across from Haneul, who is already scarfing down the hot food.
"It's all nonsense, we were supposed to have flying cars, better air filtration, our houses were supposed to be advanced and grand,"
Han takes a bite of food before continuing his rant, "Yet everyone lives in a prison, the air is shit, and our cars can barely drive themselves."
"Okay I get it, but what if it was true?" Je takes a bit of his spaghetti eyes wide with hope
"On the odd chance of that happening... Which is one out of a billion... Then that would be cool, but I doubt it." Haneul mumbles out, he just wants to eat his food in silence then get back to work so he can go home.
"It would be cool you're right- damn it we have five minutes left of lunch." the two eat quickly, knowing that this will upset their stomachs later but they don't care.
After the lunch break the two are back in their cubicles working. The office is quiet, the only sound being the soft hum of the ac unit in the room.
That is until a shrill alarm sounds, causing the workers to jump up, they look around with mildly scared looks on their faces.
"What's happening?!" one male with chestnut brown hair yells out over the blaring alarm.
"I don't know-"
"This is not a drill, please exit the building calmly." a robotic voice sounds over the intercom, it repeats the saying every five seconds.
Confused the group of sales man leave the room, entering the hallway they meet up with the others on the fifth floor. Heading to the stairs they stand in single-file line and descend down the stairs.
"Hey what do you think is going on?" Jae whispers into Hans' ear, his hot breath made the taller squirm.
"Back up, and I don't know but whatever is happening, it's cutting into my work..." standing up straighter Haneul takes longer strides to try and put distance between him and Jaesung.
"Rude!... Woah~ What is the military doing here?" Jae points over to the left where a military truck sits abandon, "Okay I'm scared.." Jaesun walks closer to Han.
"Why would you be scared?" pushing the short male away Han goes to stand with the others. He stands there listening to what was being said
"Apparently an android went rogue... I was in the bathroom when it bursts through the ceiling!" Minchan a chubby man with thick rimmed glasses explains, "It was a female android! Was basically naked, no skin, no hair, no anything! Just the mechanical body! It was creepy!" the man shivers as he recalls what happened.
"Wait did it do anything?" Kyungsoo a short skinny man asks, his eyes were beady and he had greasy black hair.
"No, before it could the military came and detained it, shut it down right in front of me." the plump man pushes up his glasses, before pointing over to the gathered military officers. "That one holding onto the dog was the one that took it down!"
The group looks over to the officers, they were shocked to see a human standing among the androids. He was tall, well built body, his arms were on display showing off his tattoos, the vest he was wearing fit snug around he toned chest. Legs were tight with pure muscle the cargo bottoms he was wearing fit him like a second skin.
Feeling the eyes on him the human officer looks over to the group, his eyes were cold as he glared at them. Dismissing the androids, the buff male walks over to the men standing on the sidewalk.
Stopping in front of the group he looks them over once, "Work has be canceled for the remainder of the day, since they need to repair the building." His voice was smooth and deep, running his hands through his hair he looks at Minchan standing before him.
"You'll need to give a statement about what happened today, you can either set up an appointment at the department or we can send someone to your house." He waits for a reply, the dog he was with growls slightly before sniffing the man in question.
Confused the group watched as the dog nudges the right side of the man, his nose digging into the pocket of his slacks. the dog then barks loudly, growling at the man. A sharp whistle stops the dog, but not the growls.
"Do you mind stepping forward?" the officer steps back giving the sweating round man space to come forward. "Please spread out your arms,"
Haneul watches as Minchan sneakily drops a chip and kicks it backwards, it stops right in front of him. The dog seems to be trained on the mans pocket and the officer is too busy on watching over the aggressive dog to notice.
Crouching down he pretends to tie his shoes, picking up the small thin chip he tucks it into his shoe before standing back up. Failing to notice the set of eyes watching him.
"I'm going to simply pat down your body, remain still and it should go smoothly" the officer holds up his hands, before slowly stepping forward and starting the search.
Patting down the fat mans legs he stops over the pocket his dog was sniffing out, sticking his hand into the pocket he pulls out a small bag of crystals. The crystals inside the bag were blueish purple in color.
"Synthetic simulate, Purathane." the dog growls louder, pouncing onto the cubby man. holding him down as the officer places the substance into his back pocket. "Sir, possession of any type of drugs is illegal here in Seoul. I'm sorry but you're under arrest, anything you say now can and will be used against you."
The group of men including Haneul watch as the round man on the ground was placed in handcuffs, an android takes him away and places him in the back of the military truck.
"We are going to have to do a search on all of you, just to be sure. So if you can please stand in a line with your arms spread out."
Groans could be heard from the men before they all comply, standing in a line Han stands towards the back.
Jaesung slips in behind him, "So what did you pick up from the ground?" He whispers lowly, looking around at the androids near by.
"What?" Han looks over his shoulder confused, "I didn't pick up anything just tied my shoelaces." looking forward he rolls his shoulders back before stretching his neck.
"Sure, let's just say that..." Jae rolls his eyes, he knew what he saw but for now he'll let it go.
The line moves quickly as no one had any drugs on them, soon enough Haneul stood in front of the hot officer who's eyes roamed over his tall fit build. Swallowing nervously he steps forward, he didn't see the dog anywhere near by so that was a good thing.
The mans hands roam over the outside of his suit, he could barely feel his touch, it was quick and swift. moving down his sides the officer ever so slightly squeezes Han's waist, before moving down to his legs. He stared at the officer with furrowed brows, confused by what he did.
"You're all good, you can head back home now." the officer pats his shoulder before gesturing Jaesun to step forward next. In a daze Haneul nods his head before walking away towards the car parking lot. he couldn't go back into the building to grab his stuff so he just left. He'll be back tomorrow morning anyway.
_______
That afternoon Haneul didn't go home right away, since the time was 3:50pm he had time to head to a cafe before curfew. Entering the corner cafe, he stood by the counter, waiting. There was no one inside as everyone was at work or at home, the only time this place would be busy is on the weekend.
A minute goes by before a handsome man comes out from the back, drying his hands. Looking up he notices someone standing in his cafe, spaced out.
"Hey, uh, we aren't open... come back tomorrow." the mans words are slightly slurred due to his accent.
"I know you aren't open but, the door was unlocked and I didn't feel like going home yet." Haneul glances over to the man with cat like features, his eyes were sharp and feline like.
"Look, we both can get in trouble if they catch you in here... come to back I guess." opening the counter door up, Haneul hesitates before nodding his head, following after the cafe worker.
"So how are you out right now? Shouldn't you be at work?" the shorter one out of the two asks, Han just shrugs his shoulder.
"Some android broke into our building... apparently it went rogue or some shit." rubbing his neck he leans against the counter.
"Shit, for real?! That's crazy, did you see it happen?" the barista moves about the kitchen cleaning and tidying up.
"No, I didn't."
"Wow, that sucks. I'm sure that would have been a sight to see," crossing his arms over his chest the shorter man frowns.
"Damn I would pay to see some shit like that happen, life is so boring... But what happened? Did the android get away?"
"Nope, the military came just in time I guess... I just realized I never got your name, I'm Haneul and you are?" he holds out his hand for the handsome cafe worker to shake.
"Ujin. Do you want anything to drink? You have about 20 minutes until you 'get off work', so coffee?" Ujin goes to wash his hands again, before turning on his espresso machine.
"Uh yeah, that's fine with me." Han drops his hand and goes to sit at a small table in the kitchen. Watching Ujin make two cups of coffees, after he's done he sets the two cups onto the table.
"Let me know how it taste, I added cinnamon, a little spice, and nutmeg." Ujin smiles, waiting for Haneul to try it.
Hans' eyes hold amusement, he sips the hot drink the flavor was interesting, definitely not something he would have combined.
"Uhm, that's... that's odd. Definitely not something bad." he clears his throat, laughing he shakes his head.
Ujin laughs with him, picking up the cup he tries out the coffee, cringing he spits it out. "Fucking liar!" standing up taking the two cups he places them in the sink.
"It's 4:43pm, you should definitely stop by tomorrow. I'll have a new coffee recipe and I would love some feed back on it." Ujin leans on the counter arms crossed and a amused smile on his thin lips.
"We will see, I have a busy day tomorrow" Han stretches and yawns, "Thanks for allowing me to stay here, I appreciate it."
"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it." waving his hand, walking back to the front of the cafe he waits for Haneul to join him. Opening the door he allows the taller man to leave first before following after him, he locks up the shop.
"See you around" Haneul gets into his car, he waits a minute or two before he drives off, joining the other cars on the road.