𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎[♡]

p r o l o g u e

yongqin sighed for the umpteenth time as he walked through the all-too familiar halls. he heaved a sigh, bored out of his mind to the point where he'd purposely let his shoes squeak against the floor.

"why must grandfather have to call for me?!" he groaned as he made it to a white technological door. yongqin entered the passcode through the door's keypad, unfazed when it automatically opened and he was immediately greeted by beeping sounds.

"ah, ten.." his grandfather called out weakly, urging the boy to walk closer with those weak, shaky and wrinkled fingers. "what is it, grandfather?"

you see, li yongqin is the grandson of a famous scientist and inventor. he's also a candidate for being the successor to his grandfather's renounced research centre. "you know i've always personally wanted you to take over..."

and ten hated it. he didn't wanna be cooped up in a research centre when his dance studio was gaining momentum; he wanted nothing more than for the research centre to be passed down to his cousins or even his sister...

but no.. grandfather just had to choose me of all his grandchildren.

"why not the others? i'm happy with my dance studio and i would rather die than work with tiny bits of detail and scrap metal." his grandfather laughed hoarsely. "because you used to be the most interested."

yongqin had no other option than to nod, it was true after all. ten used to always visit his grandfather and admired it when he worked on one of his robots.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'＊'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

"grandpa!" the then 7 year old yongqin would enter the lab with a smile, showing off a remote controlled car he independently made out of scrap material from his grandfather's table.

"well well well, looks like i have a little inventor of my own." the old man would smile proudly before calling out to the boy. "i wanna show you something!" this made ten excited, thus running towards the man.

"look at this, ten." he uncovered what was hidden beneath the pastel pink cloth which revealed a naked endoskeleton made out of metal and wires. it had eyes as well which moved around and observed ten.

yongqin grew weary of the device, scared that he'd get killed or injured. "w-why is it l-looking at me like that?" he fearfully asked, making his grandfather laugh.

"this is the endoskeleton for my project, hendery0928." "what's that supposed to be, grandpa?"

"h e n d e r y 0 9 2 8 is my work in progress. he is an ai robot whose purpose is to protect, teach, learn and grow."

little yongqin was already astonished by the explanation and he even secretly hoped that hendery would be for him. other than that, the young boy also wanted to contribute to the robot's development, seeing as he had a knack for his grandfather's work and was quite intelligent if he said so himself.

"he'll protect as a healthcare system, able to cure and treat anything. he'll teach whoever needs information on anything at all but he'll still be able to learn through his surroundings and installed senses. most of all... hendery will grow up much like a human; he'll be able to have emotions and act as humane as possible."

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'＊'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

ten is now 23 years old and the hendery project has been up and running for 16 years. not gonna lie, yongqin was curious as to what the result will be.

sure, he's been able to observe the progress ever since he first discovered the project but he's never seen the testing and debugging processes.

"anyway... i didn't call you to discuss the inheritance issue, hell i can't care less if you want the lab or not... i might just give this place to your cousins."

ten smiled, beyond happy with what his grandfather just said. "what's with the change?" "i came to realize... if you don't want to fully own my research centre, i at least want you to keep my prized project."

ten's smile grew wider and he begun bouncing on his heels, he loved watching them develop the infamous ai. "now your job is to make sure that hendery doesn't malfunction. do this for a month and maybe i'll actually disregard you as a successor."

"oh fuck yes!" "li yongqin, language... now, come with me." the man said, walking towards the object covered in pink and once again, uncovered it.

ten smiled, admiring the final product. it had realistic features; long eyelashes, well-defined nose, soft pink lips, a properly-styled tuft of black hair and his physique was much like ten's. hell, the android actually looked halfway like him.

"what are you waiting for, yongqin? switch him on." ten obliged, walking closer to the device and touched the back of its— his neck to look for the button but damn he got distracted by how realistic the skin felt.

as he pressed the button, ten smiled and glanced at his grandfather. "he looks so realistic, grandpa! even his skin is convincing." his grandfather smiled a smile that hid secrets but showed confidence.

ten was about to point it out; ask if he has something planned for the hendery project robot but he then got cut off of his reveries by a mechanical-sounding voice.

"h-hello. i am h-hendery.

i-i was created...

to t-take care of you."

the ai looked around, his hazelnut brown eyes moving from his creator to his new owner. "a-ah.. t-ten... it's b-been a while." hendery smiled, reaching his hand out in a smooth motion. "h-how do you know my name?"

"i-i am an all-knowing robot, remember? a-and i've seen you years ago." hendery explained, his deep voice gradually sounding more human-like.

"all-knowing, huh... what's my full name?" "li yongqin. born in february 27 of the year 1996. i should know, the creator made me to know you well."

"me? why me?" ten asked, staring at the smiling robot curiously. "i am made for you and you alone. i was programmed based on most of your preferences and qualities."