Chapter Text
San felt tingles all over his skin when the elevator doors opened in the 11th floor underground. He has never been down here, he’s used to the high end labs in the upper floors, the warm nursery filled with android mothers and the school rooms where he was basically a celebrity.
But the prison wing was new, it was cold and quiet if you block out the sobbing and once in a while scream, or a cheesy pickup line directed to San while going through the many cells. He kept his head low when those reached his ears trying not to show the embarrassment revealed in his reddened cheeks, much more than his usual rosy glow.
“We’re here, Mr. Choi.” said the prison officer who was guiding him.
“Thank you!” San answered, he looked through the glass and could only see a boy curled in a sitting position on the farthest end of the thin mattress of the cell. Noticing the officer still by his side, San turned his attention to the man. “Oh if you don’t mind I’d like to be alone with uhh…” San tapped the screen of his tablet twice. “I’d like to be alone with Wooyoung for now.” He offered a dimpled smile to the officer, who just nodded before leaving.
Giving another look to the file, San could read some more information about Wooyoung the other biologists gathered through the years.
Name: Wooyoung
Sex: Male
Registration number: 1126
Species: Genetically modified human
Date of birth: November 26th, 2985 (23 years old)
Android womb: EK2308
Birth lab: 07, floor 13 - Asian headquarters of TREASURE Inc.
Mutations observed: emotion colored irises, measuring ability by naked eye, self cooling/heating skin, telepathy through established bothended passwords.
Toxicity level: None
Contamination percentage: 0.0%
Observations:
- The subject shows himself socially adapted between humans and genetically modified humans. He can measure any object with only his eyes, the ability does not interfere with equations.
- We are working to understand how far his telepathy can reach, until now it can reach a radius of 50 meters, the subject presents intense migraine after the sessions.
- We can observe in his irises the colors:
- yellow when afraid
- green when focused
- orange when embarrassed
- pink when happy
- red when sad
- black when bored,
- white when angry
- During his teen years the subject presented full or partial heterochromia when feeling two or more emotions at the same time, proving that he is able to combine emotions.
The subject tends to be stubborn.
April 13th, 3006
San’s expression went blank for a while, he definitely didn’t like when people used the subject when reporting about another human. He shook it off, that’s just part of a protocol he did not agree with and found inappropriately ancient. Wooyoung was only four years younger than him and surely was the 330th genetically modified human born in the facility due to his number. San remembers reading somewhere that in the first year they numbered by the birth month and day, after that it became randomized.
“Wooyoung?” San called through the glass. “My name is Choi San, the biology department sent me to accompany you. I know you might be angry about what happened at dawn, and you really don't need to talk to me if you want to. I'm here just to make sure you're doing fine and your body levels are okay.” San kept talking to Wooyoung even if it seemed like talking to a wall, he sighed and peeped at his watch. “Look, it's 7:15am they’ll bring you breakfast in about 15 minutes. They also asked me to talk to you. Apparently I am good with people and I need to convince you to not die of starvation or thirst and that you need to go through some tests. I understand that you don't trust me but I’m here to help, really, I’m not just saying it to make you budge, this talk is not on the script.” He said the last part mostly to himself. San looked at the man inside the cell once again, the only thing that gave out that Wooyoung was still alive was the breathing motions of his body.
As San said, the breakfast came, but Wooyoung did not move. Later, was lunch and San also received his. Both meals were left untouched. The middle of the afternoon came with a snack for San, who accepted Wooyoung's silence and was now reading through all reports about Wooyoung and his peers he could find in the online archive.
When night came with two servings of dinner, San once again tried communicating with the other male.
“Wooyoung?” San cleared his throat that was feeling hoarse due not talking for long hours, with the noise Wooyoung shivered and motioned to lift his head but seemed to give up middle thought. “Wooyoung, I know you're listening to me, I can see that, so I’ll just talk. This is your last meal for today and I know you're hungry, because I am too.” He took a deep breath trying to conceal the rumbling in his stomach. “You see, I also didn't eat anything, it may seem silly but I’m protesting with you, you are well known around and you mean a lot to the incorporation they don't want to lose you. I’m a hundred percent sure that things will get better for you if you eat. I’ve been contacting the staff to get you out from here all day and they told me that if I can make you eat, go through the tests and interrogation they'll get you back to your old dormitory.” San knew how much he sounded manipulative right now, how much he was regretting putting the blame of his own decisions on someone who was not in a good place of mind. But he needed to complete the task he assigned to himself, so San rested his forehead against the glass, closing his eyes and sighing, getting ready to finish the conversation that turned into a monologue. “Please Wooyoung, eat and let me help you. I won’t look at you when you come to pick your serving, I don't need to see your emotions, just… let me help you for now.”
San sat down on the floor, head low and back against the glass wall separating him from Wooyoung. He took off his glasses and massaged his forehead, feeling a hunger headache creeping up in his skull.
Then after a few minutes, finally he heard the clattering of utensils against the metal bowl where Wooyoung's dinner was. He whispered a low ‘Thank you’ and proceeded to devour his own dinner.
Wooyoung sat with his back facing San’s, the glass there didn’t seem as cold as it should be, maybe due the other man’s body warmth heating the surface. The food was bland, supposedly some kind of savory oatmeal, something to keep him full and nourished if he wanted to go noneating again.
He hoped San said the truth about going back to a normal dormitory, that part of the building was too cold for him. Wooyoung still had to learn how to control his body temperature, he got out in the same week the experiments started and the weather was getting colder this time of the year.
“Pretty good for jail’s food huh?” San tried.
“Please let’s stay quiet, you’re not a friend.” Wooyoung said back.
“I know, but since we’ll be working together maybe we could try.”
“Sorry, I’m not interested.” He faked a nice tone, his eyes were absolutely black at that moment, but San couldn’t see.
“Okay Wooyoung, I’ll be back in the morning. Sleep well!” San slipped a rubber wristband through the tiny window of the glassdoor, where they put food for the prisoners. “And if anyone tries to do anything with you just press the button on this band twice, I will be on my way. You’re mine to keep safe now.”
As the steps on the floor started to get distant Wooyoung picked the band, and started observing it, from the bored black irises the focused green ones took place.
Maybe San wasn’t that bad, giving him a device to call for help and… No! Every employee of this place was evil, why would someone nice work here? Wooyoung wasn’t sure what San plans for him, but he could use that niceness on his own behalf.
🧬
San got home later that night. He stepped out of his shoes, hung his backpack and headed to the kitchen. A traditional stone pot resting on the stovetop had some cold soup in it. San smiled, living with his parents did have its perks.
“My son? Is that you?” He heard the house slipper steps of his mother coming from the corridor.
“Ah… Yes! I just got home.” San turned to look at the woman entering the kitchen.
“It’s so late, my lovely heart.” She put a hand against his still chilly cheek. “Too much research today, hm?”
“Actually I was assigned to a new job today.” San let his mother lead him to the kitchen table, where he took a seat and she went to the stove to warm up the soup. “Oh mom, no need to heat it, I already ate at work.”
“Oh really? What kind of job?” She ignored his request and turned the flames on anyway.
“I’m dealing with a mutated human.” San replied sighing, but still smiling. He knows he’s being cared for.
“Hm?” She replied curious.
“Yeah, he was caught this dawn by patrol searching for the ones who got out in the breakout, so I stayed all day in the jail wing trying to talk to him and making him eat and…” San was cut by the sharp sound of a metal spoon falling on the ceramic floor of the kitchen.
“My baby!” San’s mom sobbed and rushed towards him, putting both hands on his cheeks. “You don’t have to do that, that’s not why me and your father let you go to college! Besides, you already know you don’t even need to work at all!” She smiled with a hint of despair. “Dad’s company still makes enough money to keep us all! Why don’t you follow your sister’s steps? She’s a great painter, and mom is pretty sure you can be just as great.”
“That’s not it, mom, I like working there. And I know I can help Wooyoung with whatever he needs.” San held his mother’s hands reassuringly.
“You promise, my heart?”
“Yes, I promise.” She nodded and went back to the soup that was starting to boil. “Oh mom, he’s so fascinating! He’s one of the first mutated humans doctor Jeong created. He shows his emotions through colored irises!”
San’s mother placed a bowl of soup in front of him. “Well, he really seems to be fascinating! Wooyoung right?”
“Yes, Wooyoung.”
After having dinner for the second time San headed to the bathroom in his suite, did all the cleaning someone who stayed in the prison wing the whole day needed and laid down to rest.
“Wooyoung…” San whispered to the twin rubber wristband he gave to the other man.
The exchanged words between them kept floating inside his brain. Wooyoung’s voice and the mocking tone he used to speak with San, had him feeling all the still tiny caterpillars in his stomach.
Sorry, I’m not interested.
But San was, and he was sure Wooyoung somehow could be interested too.
That night San fell asleep holding his band and hoping it would glow and ring with Wooyoung needing him.