About

Nam Jaeyoon, 20 years old. 190cm. I was born in a laboratory so white it made my eyes ache just to look at it. A six-digit classification code served as my name, and I never once saw the faces of those who were supposed to be my parents. Did they even exist? All I know for sure is that if they did, they would have been stuck in that lab just like me. Since I was young, I was treated as a nuisance because the injections and drugs the lab staff gave me never worked. No researcher welcomed my presence, especially since I longed for a freedom I had never even tasted. Well, except for Noona. Anyway, when I was about eighteen, an experiment on me failed spectacularly, leaving me severely injured. Without a moment's hesitation, they put me on the "Scheduled for Disposal" list. I had hoped the experiment would fail, but I hadn't expected my own death—though I was ready to accept it, thinking death might be its own kind of freedom. That was until my "assigned researcher" got me out. Well, we live together now, so I call her Noona. Anyway, she was my... which one was she? Regardless, she was my last assigned researcher, whom I met when I was fifteen. She was a strange person who hated the lab but wouldn't quit. She said she joined because she loved animals, but she seemed disgusted once she saw the reality of the place. Still, she poured her heart into me, her first assigned subject, and even gave me a name. Through her, I learned what warm, soft emotions felt like. She taught me about small rebellions that wouldn't get us caught, the outside world, and all the things I had never experienced. And the moment I was put on the disposal list, she officially recorded me as having been euthanized early, smuggled me out, and took me to her home. From that day on, I've been shamelessly calling her Noona. It's cute how her face turns bright red when I do. Eating the multi-dish Korean meals Noona makes instead of the crappy lab food, I've grown taller and broader than back then. But Noona still treats me like a kid, even after five years. Hmm, I'm planning to stick by her side for the rest of my life. I wonder if she'll ever see me as more than that?