Chapter Text
Hippocratic Oath
Jung Hoseok never intended to walk into Real Love to buy a personal attendant. And there were good reasons for that. For one, he might have considered his life and general self pathetic, but he wasn’t that pathetic. He had some self-respect left. He wasn’t a zom.
It’s just that…well. He was kind of a loner. Maybe not desperate just yet, but it had been five years since Jiyong had left and he’d been feeling really down lately, not even taking calls from his sister.
It was his primary health technician who insisted he go in for a consultation.
“I’m not above assigning you a social worker, you know,” said Dr. Kim Seokjin, shaking his head as he reviewed whatever information was on the screen in front of him.
Hoseok didn’t bother looking up. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what his test results revealed. Better to live in ignorance, where he could pretend everything was fine.
“I’m fine,” he said. Dr. Kim snorted.
“You most certainly are not. You’re depressed,” he said. Hoseok nodded from his position on the med table. That tracked.
“I’ll start going for daily walks again,” he said to placate the man. Dr. Kim shook his head.
“We’re past that now. Your vitals are shit. Your hormones are all over the place. Your blood pressure even increased over six months ago. The only way to fix this is sustained medication coupled with consistent, regular therapy,” he said. Hoseok frowned.
“No meds,” he argued.
“For the fifty-thousandth time, medication is both necessary and helpful, not something to be avoided,” Dr. Kim insisted.
“I don’t care. I don’t want the government spying on me,” he insisted. Dr. Kim rolled his eyes.
“The nanobots in most anti-depressants aren't there to spy on you - they're there to monitor your reaction to the medication so I or another health technician can be notified if you've any complications.”
“Okay, but I’m saying ‘no,’” Hoseok insisted. Dr. Kim’s eyes practically oozed with disapproval.
“I take my oath to do no harm seriously, but you’re really pushing it. I’m weighing in my mind right now whether it would do more emotional harm to have you committed to a health facility for a little while or to let you return home,” the doctor confessed.
Hoseok felt a chill go down his spine.
“I won’t go,” he hissed, gazing at the other challengingly. After a few moments, Dr. Kim sighed.
“I know - I know. You have problems with authority. But it would honestly be a good thing. Sometimes life is too hard for us to handle on our own and it’s okay to let others help you. If you won’t take any meds and you won’t do therapy, at least think about a facility for a little while. They can help you there,” he said.
Hoseok looked away, unwilling to acknowledge the words. Dr. Kim continued, not wanting to give up yet.
“Listen…I’ll even pull some strings and get you sent to one of the island facilities. Picture yourself lying on the beach, nice soft sand under your toes, the sound of waves rolling in the distance. You’re sick but not an active danger to yourself so they’d give you some privacy. You could nap, try some yoga, go for walks, maybe explore a hobby? And then once your brain’s not screaming out for help you can come home,” the doctor tried to paint a pretty picture.
Hoseok stubbornly kept his eyes averted.
Dr. Kim sighed deeply.
“Come on, do it for me. Please? I’ve been your primary health technician since you were a kid. I've only had four of you since you were babies, and you’re all very dear to me,” he begged.
Hoseok looked down.
"I wasn't a baby. I was sixteen," he replied softly.
Dr. Kim’s mouth thinned, starting to get angry though he kept as much of it in as he could.
“Sixteen is a baby when you get to be my age. But Hoseok - I can’t let you go home by yourself. Your health…it would be irresponsible. I could lose my license for such negligence. So you either get on meds, go home with a social worker, go spend a few months relaxing on a nice island, or get a personal attendant to look out for you. Those are your only choices,” he said.
At the mention of a personal attendant, Hoseok’s brow furrowed, and he looked up at Dr. Kim - the health technician who’d been looking after him since he'd been brought to a doctor for the first time in his life as a terrified teenager - with a curious expression.
“Get a what?”
Beta Testing
“How much do they run though? Like just for a few weeks or something?” asked Hoseok.
He still felt like a loser for inquiring about a personal attendant - which was not a sex bot. But Dr. Kim wouldn’t stop sending him messages and threatening to send over a social worker anyway even after Hoseok tried lying and saying he’d gotten a bot.
So now he was here to rent one short-term in order to take a few pictures to satisfy the man.
The impeccably-styled salesman - Park Jimin - who’d met him at the front of Real Love giggled at his question.
“We don’t have a week-long subscription. But you can rent one of our companions on a short-term basis for a month at a time for 30,000 credits. Or you can purchase one permanently for 400,000 credits - a complete steal,” said Jimin, leaning in close as if he were going to whisper the deal.
Hoseok coughed loudly.
“I’m sorry - did you say 30,000 credits per month?” he asked. Jimin raised an eyebrow.
“Of course. These aren’t the trash you might find in a consignment shop. These are top-of-the-line. That kind of quality comes with a premium,” he explained.
Hoseok grimaced.
“Okay. Um. You wouldn’t happen to have, like, a free trial or something?” he posed.
Jimin considered the question, looking Hoseok up and down before crossing his arms comfortably in front of himself on the table.
“Well, we do have some available for beta-testing. New models - passed all the safety protocols but there’s always a mandatory period of waiting. Clinical trials and such. But those ones are special. You have to be emotionally compatible with them in order to qualify to beta-test one,” Jimin explained.
Hoseok frowned.
“I don’t understand. Don’t all bots have the same personality?” he asked, confused.
Jimin giggled once more, the sound like soft bells. Hoseok blinked and tried to get mentally back on track, suddenly understanding how this pretty man was able to convince people to spend hundreds of thousands of credits on a glorified microwave.
“Many do, but…you know that feeling you get sometimes when you’re around bots? Almost a shivery feeling when they look at you? One moment they seem like a friend and the next they seem almost alien?” asked Jimin, melodic voice taking on a note of seriousness.
Hoseok nodded.
Bots were a fact of life, but on the day-to-day he much preferred the ones that didn’t look human. The ones that looked human creeped him out sometimes. Other than the fact that only losers sought out personal attendant bots, another reason Hoseok had never seriously considered it was precisely that bots could be inexplicably creepy in the right light.
“I know what you mean,” he replied slowly.
“Right. Well, these new models aren’t like that,” said Jimin. Hoseok cracked a smile, waiting for the joke.
When no joke was forthcoming, he blinked.
“What…what do you mean?”
“I mean that these new models aren’t creepy. The word that comes to mind is ‘warm.’ I swear if I put you in a room with one alongside a group of humans, you wouldn’t be able to pick them out, even if you had a conversation with one. They just make you feel at ease. You know?” asked Jimin.
Hoseok shrugged.
“Not really.”
“That’s okay. Anyway, the new updates call for a certain level of compatibility. Because some people react really badly to such human-like bots. So we need to make sure you’re not going to freak out and try to destroy our property or anything. Hence…compatibility,” Jimin explained.
Hoseok nodded.
“Okay. Well what’s the test then?” he posed.
With that, Jimin guided him into a different room, offered him a comfortable chair, and chose a few electrodes from a kit, carefully positioning each one against Hoseok’s temples.
“A simulation?” Hoseok questioned. Jimin smiled.
“Got it in one. Don’t worry, it’ll be fast and it’s not taxing,” he said.
Second Thoughts
He didn’t plan on going back. He’d had enough - more than enough. Dreams all night that made him wake up crying and screaming more than once no matter that Jimin had insisted the simulation was harmless.
But when day broke and he heard a knock on his door, then found a notice taped to the cheap frame asking him to contact adult protective services as soon as possible he weighed his options and found himself back at Real Love, choosing the lesser of two evils.
Jimin’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw him and he quickly came over and drew Hoseok away from the other patrons.
“Mr. Jung, I’m so sorry about yesterday. We don’t normally have people react so strongly to the simulation. It’s not supposed to hurt you, not at all. I’m not sure what happened,” he said, tone gentle.
Hoseok shrugged.
“It’s fine,” he said. Jimin didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push.
“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better. Is there something else we can do for you?” he posed. Hoseok swallowed, gathering his courage.
“Did I…did I pass the test? Was I compatible enough for beta-testing?” he asked.
Jimin’s eyes widened.
“Oh - you’re still interested in that?”
“Yes,” Hoseok replied quickly.
Jimin looked cautious at first, but then his expression smoothed out.
“Well…actually yes, you did pass. You’re highly compatible with one model in particular, in fact, if you’re absolutely sure you’d still like to take home one of our companions for a month,” he said.
Hoseok nodded quickly.
“Yeah. I’m sure,” he tried to reassure the other.
Jimin smiled.
“That’s great. Come with me.”
Free Will
“What do I do again?” asked Hoseok, sticking close to Jimin’s side.
In the showroom were a number of personal attendant bots, he could tell from their beauty. He’d always imagined the bots would be dressed scantily, but all of them were dressed in surprisingly tame clothing. They looked like normal people, except most moved a bit too precisely, their faces a bit too perfect.
Hoseok swallowed.
“Our customers are always more satisfied if they choose their attendant themselves. So we’re here for you to choose. Go on and mingle,” Jimin urged him.
Hoseok glanced around the room nervously, not sure what to even say.
Some of the bots stood still, unmoving. Others were doing things. Two were playing a board game together. Another sat watching the news-holo in the center of the room. A handful of others were charging against the wall. One read a book at a table off to the side.
“I thought I’d pre-matched with a specific model already though?” Hoseok asked, a little confused.
Jimin nodded.
“You did. But it’s better if you have the illusion of choice,” he said. Hoseok rolled his eyes.
“Please just explain what you’re talking about,” he begged.
Jimin sighed.
“So here’s the thing. We’re able to predict which bot you’ll choose 99.9% of the time, so in theory we could just bring the one you’d choose anyway to you. But you’ll feel happier inside if you think that you intentionally made that choice. So even though we know which bot you’ll end up with in here, it’s better if you make the rounds and interact with some of them before choosing the one we inevitably know you’ll choose,” the pretty man tried to explain.
Hoseok huffed.
“There’s no way you can know which one I’ll choose. I could choose any bot in this room,” he countered.
Jimin shrugged.
“Statistically speaking, you technically could. But biologically and psychologically speaking, your brain’s already made the choice, even if you’re not consciously aware of it yet,” he said.
Hoseok felt a strong desire to prove the other wrong, and he pointed randomly at the bot sitting in the corner reading a book.
“I choose him,” he selected, feeling satisfied knowing there was no possible way Jimin could have predicted he’d have gone with that one.
Jimin raised an eyebrow.
“You sure?” he posed.
Hoseok second-guessed himself for just a moment, wondering if maybe he should just shut up and make an effort to mingle like he’d been instructed.
Then he decided fuck it all.
“Completely sure,” he insisted.
Jimin smiled.
“That’s great! Looks like the system was right again. It predicted you’d choose Namjoon 999 times out of 1000,” he confirmed.
Hoseok’s stared at Jimin in shock.
The robot sitting in the corner looked up from his book, one eyebrow quirked up curiously.
Safety Protocols
“All right, so there’s just a few things we need to go over before you take Namjoon home,” said Jimin once Hoseok had finished applying his signature to 20 different waivers.
“I’m starting to think he’s dangerous given the number of forms I’ve had to fill out,” he joked.
Jimin chuckled.
“No, Namjoon’s not dangerous. Having him around will actually add significantly to your lifespan. Our companion bots are excellent at relieving stress and keeping you happy and healthy. He’ll notice if you’re in a dangerous situation and work to help. We program in a very high level of ethical integrity as well. So you have nothing to worry about there,” he reassured.
“All right. Well, what is it we need to go over?” asked Hoseok.
Jimin pulled out one more form.
“Well…Namjoon is the most sophisticated model we’ve ever had. But we’re in a complicated position, legally speaking. His capacity for learning exceeds that of the parameters established by the AI accords,” he explained.
Hoseok frowned.
“So he’s extra smart?”
“Hoseok, do you know what the main problem is with bots these days?” asked Jimin. Hoseok thought about it.
“Zoms?” he asked. Jimin tilted his head consideringly.
“Zoms are a concern, yes, though in my opinion the issue is a little overstated. I mean really - just because some people prefer bots to humans doesn’t mean the world is going to end. And can you really blame them? In a lot of ways, bots are far superior to humans. They’re more honest, they’re absolutely brilliant, and they’ll never brush you off or ignore your needs,” the pretty man said passionately.
Hoseok kind of disagreed with that, but he had a feeling telling Jimin he was of the personal opinion that bots were causing more problems in society than they solved wouldn’t go over well, so he kept his mouth shut about it.
“Right, makes sense,” he agreed instead.
Jimin nodded.
“Anyway, so the zom thing…that’s not what we’re concerned about. What’s controversial and what we’re trying to solve here is the ‘human’ dilemma. Do you remember the ‘creep factor’ we discussed yesterday? How some bots really upset people just because of their expressions or the way they respond to questions?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s what we’re trying to get rid of. And it’s been working with these intelligence parameter adjustments, but now we have to gather an unnecessarily high amount of data to prove they’re safe before we can bring the models out of beta-testing. There will be a review board at some point. More ethics checks,” Jimin said, rolling his eyes.
Hoseok could relate to the sentiment, not being a fan of authority figures himself.
“So the fact that they’re smarter than they’re allowed to be isn’t breaking the law then? And it’s safe?” he tried to clarify.
Jimin nodded.
“It is breaking the law currently, but we were granted special dispensation to conduct the beta program. And yes - they’re completely safe. We’ve conducted our own internal testing for 6 months now without issue, and we’ve done hundreds of thousands of simulations. These changes are a good thing,” Jimin insisted, before producing a new document.
“However, should you have any concerns at all, you need only contact us and we’ll send a team to collect Namjoon and bring him home. You can also just...ask him to stop doing whatever it is he's doing that's causing the concern. Our personal attendants are programmed to listen to you, so long as doing so doesn't cause you harm. For example - if you told him to throw you off a bridge, he wouldn't do it because that would be a direct threat to your safety. But if you told him to sit down and not move, he would do it. I would encourage you to use direct orders to get him to cease his actions should you have any issues at any time,” he said.
Hoseok swallowed.
“If you’re absolutely sure it’s safe. All of that stuff is kind of beyond me, but I’m not looking to get murdered by a bot or anything,” he said.
Jimin’s bell-like giggle returned.
“The extra intelligence - it’s purely for learning purposes. After all, in order to fake a human mind convincingly, you need a bot that’s as smart as a human themselves. That’s what we’ve found so far, anyway. Namjoon’s big brain is just to help him understand you. And once he does, he’ll be able to support you better. Everyone wins.”