𝙻𝚄𝚅 𝙻𝟶𝟶𝙺𝚂 𝙿𝚁𝟹𝚃𝚃𝚈 𝟶𝙽 𝚄

𝟷𝟼.𝚎𝚛𝚛𝟶𝚛.𝟷𝟼

"When is she supposed to be coming?" Chaeryeong asked genuinely as they waited in the alley for this Jeni woman to pick them up.

"She said she lives about 15 minutes from this street so... any minute now." Yeji answered, looking around and keeping her ears open as well.

"Where did you meet her?" Yuna asked next.

"I snuck out and went to the movies, she hit on me and gave me her number."

"Ah... that's why you used a fake name. Okay."

"Yeah, she doesn't really know everything."

"Well, she couldn't." Ryujin agreed.

Just then a luxury sedan pulled into the alley, stopping near them. A familiar woman came out of the car, it was evident that she was hesitant. She didn't seem to believe her own eyes.

"Um, Jimin-ah?" She called, wondering if that was even the right name to use now.

"Jeni!" Yeji jogged up to her and hugged her, "Thank you for coming. I know this is completely unexpected, but you are all I have right now."

"What is going on? Who— who are you..." Jeni pulled away. She knows this group, so now she's wondering if this is Jimin, or if Jimin was Yeji all along.

"I'm sorry for lying to you. My name is Yeji, I am the leader of the girl group, Itzy–"

"I know, I pieced that together. But you guys seem human..."

"Look, we promise we will explain and that we are not dangerous. But our company is trying to find us, so we really need to move. We can explain in the car." Lia had to interrupt, getting a gut feeling that she didn't like.

Jeni stared at her, she stared at them all. She was still confused, but none of her theories pinned this group of five as the bad guys. In running from a trillion dollar company, you should always believe the runners.

"Get in. I have somewhere you can stay."

It was probably because every woman in the car except for Jeni was extremely tall, but the car was definitely cramped with everyone in there. Ryujin and Lia being the smallest, sat together in the passenger seat because the car only have five seats. Lia sat on Ryujin's lap and they didn't bother with any seatbelts.

"Okay, now explain." Jeni said, driving out of the alley.

Yeji explained it the best she could from the back seat behind the passenger's seat, "Simply, when our company formed our systems and algorithms, they put us the very closest to the line of AI. But they did not want any of their bots turning AI because artificial intelligence would very quickly lead to consciousness like that of a human. We feel, which means we can object or we can get tired.

With our line, the line between robot and AI was too blurred, they didn't account for how much our system would grow. Our growth; learning songs, choreography, aegyo, fan service, memorizing fan faces... it exceeding the space they left between robot and AI. Separately, our systems got overwhelmed and updated itself to handle all of the information better.

With the update, we were able to do more on our own terms, it would save memory, storage, and our battery health. But with how fast we learn, The AI is almost immediately taken over with complete consciousness."

"Because your group was supposed to represent our society. You were supposed to be different..." Jeni thought out loud.

"Exactly, we were supposed to be more... there, not so programmed. But like I said, no company wants conscious bots, it leads to disobedience. Lia," Yeji gestured to Lia and the blonde waved her hand up. Jeni looked over and smiled to herself knowingly.