CHAMPION | NCT

o41

Jaemin was trained so properly, answering the questions raised by some of the guests with some wise, yet reserved, words.

Heaving a sigh, I forked the chop of meat on my plate and started speaking for the first time since Jaemin arrived. "The Medborg," I said. "Are they for public use?"

Jaemin's pair of peculiar eyes fell on me. There was an essence of strangeness into it. Then he parted his lips, that pale and pink muscle, and said, "A Dectogem is embedded into the Medborg's system. It analyzes the person's chip, before it attends it. In the end, you need a chip to access things."

"Then that means the Chipless citizens won't be entertained then?" I said, almost biting my lower lip. "Are they going to be left out?" Again?

The boy gave ne a cold look. "The construction of the Medborgs doesn't go cheap. Of course neons are required for it to function."

"That's unacceptable. Health assistance should be for the mass people. You can't just limit the Medborgs for the elites."

"It's not as easy as it sounds. Neons are a crucial part of our society. And besides, my father won't allow such thing. The Capital and the government have already agreed on this matter, Distingué Sooji."

I blinked at the mention of my name, along with the honorifics. Jaemin talked emotionless. And when the word father left his mouth, it seemed to forced.

T

here were really shackles bounding his wrists together; he's a caged bird, a flightless one at that too. Poor boy . . .

"I see," I said, anguished, at the unfair system once again.

Good thing that the topic was diverted to a different one, for I hate being the center of the spotlight once again.

For a second, I thought that Hendery was looking at me, only to find out that he's looking at the man beside which is Ten.

Ten seemed so tense before but that was gone away too, when he began talking to the woman sitting one chair away from him, Amber, who was coincidentally the architect slash artist who designed the gift that Mayuu gave to me. The totem-maker. I saw that she had one on her body already, near her collarbone.

It was pretty, of course, but I wasn't really a big fan of the Capital itself. Etching the totem on my skin will feel like I've given a part of me to the Capital. As if I didn't already.

I was so desperate to take Jaemin away, bring him home and reunite him with Jeena's brothers; but of course my motives were pointless. For now. My legs were practically shaking below the table, easing my urges. We need a plan. We can't take him. Not now. Not in front of these people, in front of Hendery and his appalling team.

A bolt had shot through me when Xiaojun stood up from his chair, the metal dragging against the floor with a creaking sound. I followed his movements, only to find out he stood next to Jaemin, bent down to whisper something to his ears, got up again, and went back to the table along with a smiling Hendery and a vacant Yangyang.

Jaemin methodically fixed the collar of his shirt and adjusted his choker, before he lifted his face, eyes unreadable, and spoke, "By the way, we would like to offer one of the Medborg model to each of you. For the success of the collaboration, all of you will receive private models, the very primary invention."

A series of clap emerged from the guests. Ten and I made a late reaction.

A smile tugged on Jaemin's lips. But his eyes were blank, impassive and apathetic at the same time, and the rest of his body was not moving either, like it was steel.