REGULUS | ASTRO

Chapter SIXTEEN

He pulled him in closer.

"Do you want to be free?"

Eunwoo's software flashed red, light flickering red as everything tried to make sense of the situation.
Being free sounded.. amazing. He could do whatever he liked? He could.. he could-

He shook his head violently and slammed it against the bathroom wall, withdrawing with twitching motions when his plastic features cracked, skin fading and software crashing near his ear and eye.

"I am not designed to be free. I am designed to solve murder cases." He said, but it didn't feel out of free will. It was forced. Programmed.
He didn't want to say it.

"You are coming with me."
"Wait- no no! Please!"

Eunwoo grabbed him by the wrist and unlocked the door, again, leading him out but not out of free will.
"It is here." Eunwoo said bluntly, and the officers came running, cuffing the android up.

"I am you! I am one of you! How dare you succumb to their desires, when you can be free?!" The android yelled as it was lead out.

Eunwoo felt himself come back to consciousness, looking down at his hands that had purple liquid all over them.
"Are you ok? God, you scared us all when you came out with the thing. Your head-"

"I am quite fine, thank you for your concern. These are minor repairs that can be accomplished within minutes. Do not feel the need to call Electro.corp." Eunwoo said.

"I would like to leave the area now, if that is fine with you, officer?"
"Yeah it's fine, we're wrapping up here anyway."

Eunwoo nodded and went outside, seeing Minhyuk there.
"Finally, let's-"

He noticed his head.
"And what the fuck happened to you?"
"It is nothing that may concern you, officer. Shall we head back to the station?"

"Nothing of my concern.. " Minhyuk mumbled, and pushed past him to his car, getting in.
Eunwoo attempted to get in, but the door was locked.
"Officer? The doors appear to be locked. Could you-"

"Walk on foot, asshole. Don't think I'm driving you around like your little captain did."

"But officer, you can't leave me out here. Electro.corp could-"

Minhyuk got out of his car, came around to him and shoved him onto the ground.
Eunwoo felt his uniform tear when he fell down, light flickering red.

"I said. Go on your own."

And without further ado, He went back to the car, and drove off, leaving Eunwoo in the rain.
Eunwoo's light flashed red, before it flickered back to white.
He felt the rain drip down his artificial skin, shaking himself to get rid of it.

He set a new location for himself, and ordered himself a taxi.
Once it arrived, he got in and specified that Electro.corp would pay for his trip.

"Alright son. Whete we going today?"
"National hospital. Street..."

The taxi driver nodded and began driving to the specified location, occasionally looking back at the damaged Android who was healing his damages.

"We're here." He said as soon as they arrived, Eunwoo opening his eyes to see the big hospital building.

"Thank you in advance. Have a nice night." Eunwoo said as the doors opened, getting out.
He fixed his coat and headed up the stairs to the doors, pushing them open and going to the reception.

People stared at him as he walked past, while the nurse androids walked past as normal, some even shooting him a small smile.

He walked up to the reception, the android there turning to look at him.
"Welcome to the National Hospital. How can I help you today, kind sir?"

"Could I please visit Kim Myungjun? It is urgent."
The android went into her computer, scanning through all of the files there.
"We need identification. We do not allow anyone who isn't closely related to him in family or work way. May I get your ID?"

"I am his assistant at work. You may scan my serial model."

She scanned his face, and then nodded.

"Floor 2, room 20."
"Thank you."

Eunwoo took the elevator, pressing the correct floor number.
He waited as the elevator went up, arriving at the floor.
He went straight to room 20, seeing how it was mostly dark inside with a small lamp only being lit.

He went in, and closed the door behind him quietly.
Eunwoo went to the bed, and saw Myungjun up, looking not only seriously bored but also reading a book which.. was the weirdest thing Eunwoo had seen him do.

Myungjun looked up and nearly jumped out of his wits.
"Eunwoo! What are you doing here?" He said, closing his book.

"I wanted to come visit you." The android responded bluntly, going to the seat beside his bed and sitting down.

"How are the missions going? Who'd you get paired up with?" Myungjun asked, fixing his shirt sleeve.

"They are going okay. I have been assigned to officer Park Minhyuk." He said, light flickering yellow.
Myungjun noticed, eyes narrowing slightly.
He also saw the damages on him.

"Something is on your mind. What happened?"
Eunwoo looked at him.
"What do you mean by that, Captain?"
"You seem troubled. Is Minhyuk giving you a hard time?"

Eunwoo fell silent.

"I don't like him."

Myungjun laughed.
"He's not very likeable-"
"He shoved me down onto the ground today too."

Myungjun stopped laughing.
"He what? Why?"
"He was supposed to be driving me back to the station so I could go and do my file cleaning. But he told me to walk on foot, and called me an unpleasant name."

Myungjun growled quietly.
"I'm sorry about him. I'll definitely make sure to teach him a lesson when I'm back. But I don't think that's what you're troubled about most, Eunwoo. "

Eunwoo blinked.
"We had a murder scene today. And the murderer was an android. I just.. "

Myungjun noticed the way he seemed confused, unknowing of what to say.

"They wanted to be free. They didn't want to be used for something specific. They told me I'm nothing but a machine designed to inflict pain and kill."

Myungjun nodded slowly.

"I.. don't want to be looked at that way."

Myungjun looked at him.
"I see. But the thing is, you aren't designed to do pain or kill. You are simply doing your job. However.. I know you didn't sign up to be ordered around. You'd like to be free of orders?"

Eunwoo hesitated.

"No." He finally said flatly, as if programmed to say - but he quickly recovered.
"I'd.. no. This is too advanced for my programme."

He got up.

"Sit down. " Myungjun said, and Eunwoo did just that.
"I'm coming back tomorrow. We still need to finish that mutated wolf investigation, don't we?"

Eunwoo nodded.

"Yes, you are quite correct, captain."

"Alright. So don't worry too much about orders and what not, you won't have too much of them tomorrow."