SMNTCERR, Special Chapter 1: Exception #1.
The fact that Android robots can feel and have emotions is indeed interesting, but that’s all.”
Sangwoo spoke after the screen turned black and the End Credits appeared. Jaeyoung, who was lying stretched out, grabbed a piece of fried potato chip from the table and started eating.
“Really? It means it wasn’t very enjoyable.”
“The process of self-control and having original thoughts went too far. Plus, someone repaired it, updated it, gave it synthetic skin, and installed the reproductive organs without any desire. This is damn expensive science fiction.
It’s like having a supernatural being.”
Jaeyoung laughed without saying anything, while the ever-critical critic’s skills were continuously developing. Sangwoo took a sip of beer before running his fingers through Jaeyoung’s hair.
“It’s funny because it’s an android robot designed to assist in everyday life, but it’s language application skills are so low that it doesn’t understand specific terms at all. The plot is that he is tasked with making a music box with his hands and ends up becoming a millionaire… The scene where the androids talk loudly is just ridiculous.”
“You lack imagination, don’t you?”
“I get frustrated because I don’t see anything that reflects reality.”
“So that’s why it frustrates you, huh? It’s a great movie.”
“This group doesn’t care what kind of movie it is. Sangwoo, who doesn’t watch movies as a hobby, watches them attentively. Normally, he is interested in science fiction genres that are far from reality, while historical and cyberpunk genres with potential for errors receive low ratings. However, if there is content that stimulates the desire to win, such as sports competition, gambling, or game shows, it will receive high ratings.”
“So, what do you think?”
Jaeyoung turned his head to face up, in a position perfect for admiring the handsome face of his boyfriend. Jaeyoung gently placed his hand on the side of his own face, near the corner of his mouth before giving a loud kiss. At that moment, Sangwoo, who was looking at the TV, secretly glanced down and caught the kiss.
“It’s normal. I just don’t like that the problems are too easily resolved. But I focus more on the direction of the story rather than the sci-fi elements.”
“Oh.”
“If you look at it in terms of emotions, love, creativity, and the changes in emotions that wish to have a life that could die, it’s not bad… The amount of drama is still minimal, and it’s true that I feel like the scientific details are too sensitive for your taste.”
Sangwoo paused, his face blank, and looked at the screen again without any emotional expression, muttering to himself.
“And the subtitles are also typed wrong, and there are so many spacing errors that it distracts attention.”
“That’s right. Did they translate it wrong? They should pay more attention.”
It should have ended there, but Jaeyoung casually spoke without thinking, unaware that he was interrupting the sleep of the lion that was snoring.
“But don’t overlook the matter of spacing, it’s only exhausting to pay attention to you all the time.”
Darkness fell for five seconds. Jaeyoung yawned. When he lifted his gaze, he met Sangwoo’s slightly cool eyes. Sangwoo looked down at Jaeyoung and spoke.
“Spacing is a form of alliteration [1], isn’t it?”
“Who would care if they’re not linguistic freaks or grammar police?”
Up until this point, Jaeyoung still couldn’t perceive the tension of the situation and continued speaking without thinking. Sangwoo just laughed.
“Why do we need rules if no one enforces them? I’ve been wondering all along, but now I think I understand.”
Sangwoo continued speaking with a somewhat mocking tone.
“Why don’t you use spacing?”
Jaeyoung felt a pang of unease as the words left, he rubbed his cheek and fidgeted with his spoon, then hesitantly replied.
“They use that time to think about you instead.”
“Are you always like this even before you started dating me?”
“…”
This is not a situation that can be just let go. Sangwoo picked up his phone from the table and looked at the screen for a moment before handing the communication device to Jaeyoung. When Jaeyoung took a look, he discovered that it was a message he had previously sent to the other party. [♥Jang Jaeyoung♥: Come back today no matter what, prepare yourself for 15 punishments _6 days ago.]
And so what? It’s just a regular message. Jaeyoung looked at Sangwoo with an unfamiliar gaze. Sangwoo took the phone back, his expression didn’t look good.
“Now I see that spacing while writing is not the only problem.”
“It’s not that important, why are you like this?”
“The text doesn’t follow grammar rules, so it takes a long time to decipher. It may be convenient for yourself, but it wastes other people’s time.”
He never really thought about it before. And more than that, decipher it like this…It doesn’t even have a secret code. Jaeyoung felt slightly annoyed, but then he stood up and pulled Sangwoo close, hugging him before the atmosphere could worsen. Meanwhile, the other side was still staring at the mobile phone, annoyed.
“If it’s a strategy to increase typing speed, I don’t think it’s a good thing, but
I understand.”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Not at all. If you look at this, you’ll see that it’s only using the same unnecessary sentence structure.”
[♥Jang Jaeyoung♥: “Picture.” _9 yesterday.]
[♥Jang Jaeyoung♥: Actually, Sangwoo, this is a suit that I made for you, so I’ll order it right away for you to wear for the upcoming Red vs
Blue game. _9 yesterday.]
[♥Jang Jaeyoung♥: Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!
_9 yesterday.]
“…That’s right. Why did I type like that?”
Sangwoo’s expression turned sour as he continuously looked back at the messages. He handed his phone to Jaeyoung and hugged him.
[♥Jang Jaeyoung♥: Ah, today I’m going to uni. I love you. _17 yesterday.]
“The difficulty level of deciphering it is extremely high.”
“…I must be drunk.”
“That’s why I released it. I won’t say anything.”
“Then why did you act all jealous just now?”
Jaeyoung’s tone became more aggressive without him realizing.
As he started dating Sangwoo, he made an effort to be a perfect lover and only focused on the matters of the current week. On Saturday morning, he coerced himself to stay up late and traveled to the beautiful lakeside of Chungju City. He took a single-track train and a tourist boat, and at night, they enjoyed a barbecue at a pension guesthouse, followed by a warm evening together full of love making escapades. On Sunday, they went parasailing and had fun in the lush green fields, with a panoramic view of the city. Then they returned to Seoul, where the atmosphere was truly superb, suddenly something happened just because of a poorly translated movie subtitle.
“Am I not enough for you? If you just cared a little bit, wouldn’t that be enough? Why can’t you do it?”
Jaeyoung leaned back on the sofa, exhausted, and covered his face with his hands as he spoke sternly.
“Oh, I think I’ve gone too far with this. It looks a bit excessive.” “…”
As he lowered his hands and looked around, Sangwoo noticed that Jaeyoung was staring at the floor with an uneasy expression. It seemed to be a matter of great concern. Jaeyoung couldn’t find the right words to say and couldn’t even bring himself to give in to Sangwoo, as he usually would. He threw an empty beer can far away, the can floating in an elegant arc from Jaeyoung’s fingertips before landing gracefully in the trash bin.
Sangwoo glanced at him, then quickly got up from his seat and walked tensely towards the trash bin to retrieve the beer can. He placed it neatly in the recycling box before walking back. Sangwoo stood in front of him instead of sitting on the sofa. Jaeyoung hugged his chest and looked up at the other.
“It’s not that difficult, really. You can do it, but you choose not to.”
“It may be easy for you, but it’s not for me.”
“What’s difficult about this? You just don’t make any effort for me, that’s all, isn’t it?”
“…How did it come to this conclusion?”
“Don’t just say ‘I love you.’ Show it through your actions.”
Jaeyoung felt so overwhelmed that he couldn’t find the right words to say. Should he say that he doesn’t show it through his actions? But if that’s the case, then what has he been trying to do all this time? Every morning, he had to wake up an hour earlier to prepare breakfast for Sangwoo. After work, if it wasn’t necessary to go out to eat, he would rush home immediately. He constantly thought about what he could do for Sangwoo, and while living together, he tried his best to understand and comply with Sangwoo’s rules. He maintained it throughout his life, and he even quit smoking.
“I’ll just think that I can’t help with what happened in the past. From now on,
I’ll just do good things for you.”
Sangwoo talked with mercy before starting to collect the table. Jaeyoung looked at the other side holding a plate of fried potatoes and a can of beer to the kitchen and decided to step back a step, because he didn’t want to cause any arguments.
When Sangwoo returned from the kitchen, Jaeyoung immediately pulled to the other side to sit on the stool before he could complain about anything else. He glanced at his wristwatch and found that it was already five minutes past midnight. So by going to bed now, it would turn into Monday.
[Rule No. 32: No sex on weekdays.]
That was a rule set up after they had been together for about a month. Back then, they only flirted with each other, but they did have sex like animals, causing many problems. When Jaeyoung slid his hand into the shirt and brushed the back, Sangwoo raised his arms around his neck and tapped their foreheads together.
“You only have forty-five minutes, not another second , okay?”
“I understand.”
When he closed his eyes, the other side gently pressed their lips together. As the kisses began, all the sadness and confusion that had plagued them disappeared. Jaeyoung hugged Sangwoo around the waist and lifted the other side. At first, Sangwoo was very surprised, but after doing it several times, it seemed like he was used to it. This time, he entwined his legs around the waist, laughing. It must be fun for him.
[Rule No. 33: No sex outside the bedroom.]
He used the back door of Sangwoo’s bedroom instead of his own room, which had a lot of junk on the bed that made it impossible to sleep.
Although there was more food than before, everything was organized. Next to the table with a lamp was a cabinet, and on it were cameras, DSLRs, recently purchased professional cameras placed, and hanging beside them were Sangwoo’s original dark-colored clothes. “Jaeyoung filled the closet with clothes, but the rule is that it can only be opened on the day of going on a date.” There were posters on the wall, versions of musicals with Jaeyoung’s invitation to perform attached.
Jaeyoung laid Sangwoo down on the bed and climbed up to straddle him, they closed their eyes and kissed for a long time. At the same time, Jaeyoung reached out to open the drawer next to the bed and took out ‘what was for preparation’. Jaeyoung’s shirt was quickly removed by Sangwoo. Although it has been three months since they confirmed their feelings for each other and started dating seriously, the passionate heat still hasn’t cooled down. Jaeyoung felt the rush that was similar to every time he took off Sangwoo’s pants.
“Hello.”
“Uh, why?”
“About the spacing, can we fix it?”
However, if it’s about determination and firm belief, he must understand. As Jaeyoung flicked his side-colored bangs, Sangwoo shifted his gaze and twisted his body. Jaeyoung laughed and kissed Sangwoo’s cheeks, forehead, and nose affectionately.
“Are you still thinking about that? Lie down ass up.”
“I just asked out of curiosity.”
Sangwoo grumbled in dissatisfaction but still turned around.
***
As he raised his gaze, Jaeyoung quickly grabbed his phone to silence the alarm. It was 7:30 a.m. displayed on the screen above the image of a man eating pasta at the table.
Once he tossed the phone onto the blanket and turned around, he came face to face with the man on the screen. Jaeyoung hugged the waist of the other person lying face up, pressed his body against theirs, and gently kissed their neck, but
Sangwoo did not wake up. He only made a small noise, and his lover Jaeyoung would always go to bed at around midnight and wake up at eight o’clock. And he would sleep soundly for those eight hours without waking up.
Jaeyoung hugged Sangwoo, and after a while, he rolled off and lay there for about ten minutes before getting up. He came out of the room wearing only his underwear before closing the door carefully and going to take a shower. After getting dressed, he headed straight to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator wide and took out chicken, various vegetables, coconut oil, eggs, and others, placing them on the table. Once they were both there, Jaeyoung would cook rice, while Sangwoo would take photos as his hobby. When Jaeyoung started cracking eggs into the pan, Sangwoo walked out of the room.
“You appeared in my dream just now.”
“What was the dream about?”
“It was a scary dream. I have nothing else to tell you.”
After that, he walked into the bathroom. When Jaeyoung finished making the chicken salad and omelet and arranged a complete plate, Sangwoo came out again in jeans and a black long-sleeved t-shirt, with wet hair.
“Did you sleep comfortably?”
Sangwoo sat down at the table and asked. Jaeyoung stopped and put the dishes on the table, after pouring milk into the glass until it was full, he sat down across from Sangwoo and crossed his legs.
Sangwoo drank a glass of milk before scooping a spoonful of porridge and putting it in his mouth. Why did he have to sit still and watch the other person eat? Jaeyoung always wondered, but he couldn’t know for sure. Chu Sangwoo thought that eating was just a way to replenish energy. He didn’t eat fancy or delicious food, just sat politely and ate in the same posture. He looked at the hand holding the spoon, the corners of the mouth chewing slowly, the moving Adam’s apple, and even the elbow resting on the table.
‘Does it give a feeling of nurturing animals?’
Jaeyoung wanted to take care of the rare and beautiful black mamba snake with all the good things in this world. Sometimes his father’s love might give him a similar feeling. Jaeyoung tried to capture an image of Sangwoo. Then he realized that Sangwoo had been in the same position in the album for about thirty pictures before giving up his intention. At that moment, his eyes met with Sangwoo.
“Are you not eating?”
“Eating.”
“Hurry up and eat, or you’ll be late.”
“That’s right. If I don’t take my eyes off of you, I will definitely be late.”
Jaeyoung didn’t miss the faint smile that appeared on the corners of Sangwoo’s lips before it disappeared. In the third month of dating. Although it might have been enough time, on the contrary, Jaeyoung became more and more submissive. Now, he could only hear Sangwoo’s breathing, he knew what state the other party was in.
________________________________________.
[1] Typography, the writing method and the use of the writing system of a language correctly, “In one language, there may be more than one writing system, such as the word language.”
[2] Paragliding. It resembles a parachute, vibrant colors, and players sit and slowly descend. There are tools to control the direction.
To be continued.
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