𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄

𝖮 𝖮 𝟧

⊹ chapter five ⊹

despite going to bed late— really just entering his sleep mode and charging— jeongguk got up early as he had been doing since being activated. he moved around quietly, quickly dressing himself, and padded into the kitchen to make breakfast for jimin. from now on, he planned to do his best to stay out of jimin's way; he'd live like a ghost. out of sight, out of mind, right? jimin would be happy not to see jeongguk, and jeongguk wanted jimin to be happy; this was the perfect solution.

jeongguk moved around the kitchen silently, grabbing everything his internal processors informed him he'd need, and set it to the side on the counter before starting. a quiet whirl filled his head as the directions started flowing in.

he filled a small pot with water for egg drop soup, and with a muffled clink, he placed it on the back burner and turned the eye on. while waiting for it to heat up, jeongguk grabbed the kitchen scissors— he figured the quiet snap of scissors would be better than the louder thudding of a knife repeatedly meeting the cutting board as he was still unsure of how much of a light sleeper jimin was— and began cutting up some of the fermented kimchi.

the soft sound of bubbling water brought his attention back to the stove, and jeongguk stirred in a spoonful of minced garlic along with a bit of fish sauce. he cracked an egg in a little bowl, whisking it with a pair of chopsticks. a soft sound of muffled clinking and sloshing liquid filled the kitchen. he set the chopsticks down and held the bowl over the pot, pouring the egg in a slow circular motion and letting it set to create little ribbons in the amber broth before chopping and throwing in some scallions. once that was done, he placed the lid on it before moving it to a cool eye.

jeongguk placed a frying pan on the main eye. instead of using any oil, he placed thick, pink slices of smoked duck into the pan and let the heat render the fat out of it. the meat hissed and crackled as it cooked and curled up at the edges. jeongguk watched as it turned a savory brown before scooping up the duck and placing the pieces into a plate off to the side, leaving behind the rich, golden oil in the pan. he dropped the kimchi into the duck fat, stirring quickly until it was caramelized before adding some leftover rice into it. using the wooden spatula, jeongguk broke up the clumps of rice that stuck together and poured in some kimchi juice before adding a little sugar.

once everything was mixed and the rice was a vibrant red color, he added the crispy, sliced duck meat and folded everything together. before tightly packing the rice into a bowl, he pressed the rice firmly against the pan so it would form the crust his processor mentioned, and then he placed a plate over the bowl and flipped it, leaving behind a perfectly round plate of smoked duck and kimchi fried rice. he made quick work of wiping down the kitchen counters and washing up the dishes, putting them all back in their places after drying them.

after the cleanup was finished, jeongguk wrapped the rice and egg drop soup up tightly with cling wrap before setting it on the kitchen table, placing a clean spoon, a pair of chopsticks, and a napkin next to it along with a little dish of yellow pickled radish.

he went to grab a pen to write his usual note when jimin's words from last night popped into his head.

"i don't care where you go."

he hesitated for a moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. despite being a robot, jeongguk was an adult. he didn't really need to leave a note, even if he technically belonged to jimin... and jimin had said he didn't care just hours ago. with a sigh, jeongguk slipped on his shoes, looked around the apartment once more, and quietly slipped out the front door.

the sun shone gently as he kicked stray rocks along and stared at the cracks in the pavement. he slowly made it to the small bookstore he had been hanging out at for the past few days, a little bell going off to announce his arrival as he pushed the store's door open.