Let You Go - K.HJ + S.MG (Ateez Short Story)

Chapter 5

A/N: I'm sorry this took a pretty long time to update, I had to get a few things out of my way before I could get back to writing, sorry!

I love this chapter a lot tho, so I hope you enjoy it!

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FRIDAY

"Are you sure about that, young man?" The old man asked before bringing a cigarette that looked handmade to his own mouth. "I bet he was expensive, and this right here, is going to be expensive as well. They're hard to make."

Hongjoong stood silently in place for a second contemplating as the man held a syringe up, filled with a silvery liquid, that seemed lethal just by looking at it.

"Y-yes..." He gulped, still eyeing the product. The man hummed in partial disagreement and stayed silent, admiring his creation on his own hand. Hongjoong looked away from it, his gaze studying their surroundings for the first time since he arrived at the man's office.

It wasn't fancy in the slightest - not that he expected it to be, but it was definitely a fancy mess. Electronic parts scattered all over the place, tools, pieces of robotic parts, along with creepy dismembered bodies that looked too human for his own comfort, all piled up on the floor and on every furniture available.

"You should keep him, they're great at housekeeping and taking care of your needs... Also, I heard that new model is good for... releasing stress," the man paused, and looked up to smirk at Hongjoong. "I'm sure you know what I mean."

"N-no!" Hongjoong promptly cut the man's words short before a goose bump had finished lifting all the hairs at the back of his neck up. "I didn't- that's not why I signed up for that program... I really wanted a copy of him, so that I could be with him again... My... Boyfriend. And I can't just let the memories of him go on like this, trapped inside of that... robotic... superficial shell"

The man chuckled amusedly at Hongjoong's tone.

"You don't get it, do you? You don't see the beauty in him. They're robots, not people." He scoffed, pausing to suck air through his cigarette, slowly letting it out through his nose with a sigh. "That's where you were mistaken from the very beginning. What a shame. Such an outstanding masterpiece, wasted."

Hongjoong hated the man's remarks, because they only added a different perspective to his own guilt. He really wished he could be able to just keep him there, except he couldn't do that. Now, the raw solution to his problems were on his hands. Literally.

"That doesn't concern me, anyways. Here, it's yours, you know the price." The man extends his hand out for Hongjoong to grab the product from it, which he does, hesitantly.

Hongjoong then, pulls his phone out of his pocket, opening his card code and holding it up in front of the man, who stands up and scans the code with a small device and moves on to scan Hongjoong's retina afterwards, confirming the payment.

The old man watches as the blonde studying the product with a slight frown on his forehead. He felt bad for the younger, the idea of destroying a droid of such good quality, and one that resembled someone he most definitely still loved, was something the man himself wouldn't wish for his worst enemy. He must be really desperate, hopeless. Brave kid. He thought to himself.

"Listen young man, this isn't going to be pretty, but you've made it pretty clear that you're willing to do this, so you have to do this right." The man massaged his temples, hating what the boy was going to do, as an admirer of robotics and technology himself, but at the same time he supposed he should at least help him get this over with the right way. "Sit down, and listen carefully."