3 twin perfectly engineered dolls on sale for your entertainment and pleasure only.
You buy one, Jumin, but, only after a week, you see something wrong in it. Is it malfunctioning already? Some of its behaviors are not listed in the user guide so you take it back.

The company gives you another doll, Jamin, a perfect twin of the previous one.
This one too, after a couple of weeks, starts showing signs of human behaviors. It pouts, it answers back, its eyes look soft when they were almost expressionless before.

You take it back to the manufacturer to get it analyzed and understand what is happening.
They give you another perfect twin, Jaman, for free, promising to contact you when your Jamin gets fixed.
You know nothing about that happens behind closed doors.
This new doll is perfect,

acts accordingly with the user manual, no one contacts you about your previous one and you think that, maybe, they couldn't fix it. Well, at least they replaced it for free.
What you don't know is that, in their laboratory, they're working on erasing human "feelings" and gestures

from the other 2 dolls. What you don't know is that there's only 3 of them. You bought a limited edition doll, there's no one like them anywhere else in the market.
As 6 months pass, you're happy to spend time with Jaman. You start seeing the doll as a person a little more even

if he's clearly robotic. He's become a friend to talk with, to spend time with, to feel a little less lonely.
One day, out of the blue, you get called to the manufacturer building. They think they have fixed your previous dolls. You tell them you're good, the current one works

perfectly but they insist.
You set an appointment in 3 days time.
The morning of the day you're supposed to go, a clearly shaken and disheveled man rings your bell, asking for help.
The moment you open the door you see him with 2 other identical men behind him.
"What the hell?"

The man, Jimin, explains how he'd given his consent to the doll agency to create 3 dolls just like him. It was good money at the time but now, after seeing what they were trying to do to them to erase something that, no one knows how, slipped through the cracks of the routine

procedure, something that has made them, with time, more human, he decided to revoke his consent, to leave everything. They, of course, didn't allow it, trying to immobilize them all, Jimin included, in their labs, but they managed to escape and run towards the last address

imprinted in Jamin's system, your home where he spent only a couple of weeks, days that helped him improve, helped him be less robot and more human.
"What are we supposed to do now??" you ask Jimin.
"We gotta run"
"Why me too??"
"You're what made them change, you're involved

as well"
"You're crazy..."
"Please.. Help us.. They can't keep doing what they've been doing all this time"
You decide to help them, obviously, but, unbeknownst to you all, Jaman, the only perfectly working doll, had been recording everything and sending it to its manufacturer.

They know where you are and they move fast.
They get to your house before you can leave, making sure to terminate the defective androids, making sure to take Jaman away as well as he might contain more information about what happened, making sure to segregate Jimin away.

You can't forget the pained screams, the pleas for help as they took him away, tears streaming down his face as he watched them kill his twins.
You're too scared to do anything, they might kill you too. But his voice, his soft eyes, his sobs, everything pushes you forward.

You try collecting information about where he could be. You can't go to the same facility yourself, they'll recognize you in an instant so you try sending a friend, telling her to ask for a doll and see if they let her in. They do. But not even near the labs.

Once at home, though, she confesses she could hear someone yelling in the distance and you don't need any further proof that Jimin is still there. Who would scream in a doll making facility??

The police is a bit skeptical at first, but warms up to the thought of you telling the truth when they see your past history with the facility. They took away a perfectly working doll too just to hide their traces, after all. They believe you and organize a task force to break

into the building.
They're not successful at first. Their security systems are smart. By the time the police gets in there, everything has been moved, complete silence inhabits the facility.
You failed. Everyone is gone, Jimin is gone.
You failed and you have no idea where to

look for, now.
Will you ever find him again?
---
After your attempt, the doll brand changes its name, they change location. They're nowhere to be found now.
It's so heartbreaking. Scenes from your memory replay in your dreams, nightmares that have you waking up in tears.

You've met Jimin only once but he stuck to your mind, his wavering voice and tears stained face never leave you. What he's been going through keeps you up at night, but you can't do anything to save him.
It's around 2 years later that someone on the news talks about those dolls

again. Turns out Jimin is not the only person who gave consent to create those androids. Every single robot was made on someone's imprint. Those people though? Where did they go? The news anchor tells everyone how they disappeared right after giving the green light for the

testing and the making of the dolls.
What if they're all kept in the same place? What if they're all suffering just like Jimin?
You listen carefully to all the information they're giving on TV trying to hear something about a location and you do. They do speak about a possible

place. You grab your bags and move.
You've been involved since that day, if there's a chance, you'll get it.
The location mentioned on TV results to be fake and you start losing all your hope.
Sitting at a diner, one evening, you sip on a milkshake and look out of the window.

You're shocked to see Jimin, or Jaman, the only surviving doll, on the streets.
You run outside but you don't approach him. You, quickly, find out that it's not Jimin so you walk behind your previous doll, hoping it will lead you to where they keep the real man.

It's all luck. Jaman doesn't notice you, or so you think. It leads you straight to a building and goes inside.
You hide behind a little wall only to be blindfolded and taken inside.
You fight, you try to. But they're too strong.
When the blindfold is lifted, you find yourself in

a way too bright room. You blink once, twice, three time before getting used to it and that's when you see Jimin on the other side of the room, hands and ankles tied up.
"J-Jimin!" you call.
His head snaps up to see you, he talks but you don't hear him.

He's not really on the other side of the room. He can hear you, you can't. A huge mirror separates the two rooms, he can see you for a second before a switch is pulled and everything disappears for him.
You're left there, watching as two men attack him and he can only take it,

unable to move.
"This is what happens when you mess with us" a deep voice says before blindfolding you again and throwing you out in the streets.
You're shocked. A police officer sees you and, worried, takes you to the nearest police station.
You can't talk, they see how in

shock you are and don't ask questions, hoping that, when you feel better and are lucid again, you'll talk yourself.
The officer who found you gives you his card and sends you back to your hotel, making sure you get there safe and lock yourself inside.

What can do you do at this point?
Is there even the slightest hope of saving his life?
You close your eyes and try to sleep, nightmares keeping you on edge the whole time.
Maybe you really can't help. Maybe someone else will.
You call the officer and tell him to go check that

building out but to be careful and to bring back up and, also, to make sure no one knows when they move. Even if a little skeptical, the officer does as told.
You don't know how it ends, you go back home, change address, change phone number.
You hate yourself for walking away.

"Coward!" you hear in your head every time you think about it. They succeded in scaring you, you can only hope the police got them in the end.
---
1 year later, sitting on your couch watching Netflix, you're startled by the sound of your bell ringing.
You're not expecting

anything or anyone, who could it be?
Opening the door you're met with a mop of dark brown hair and pouty, full lips smiling at you.
"Hey"
"Hi..."
"Came here to thank you"
"I.. I didn't do anything..."
"You did, you saved me" "Take this. It's my phone number. If you want to talk

sometimes or grab a coffee".
"Okay.."
"I'll see you then, hope you reach out" Jimin walks away, still smiling at you.
He looks okay.. The police must have succeded.. Maybe the other people like Jimin are, now, free too..
A thousand thoughts run around in your head and you don't

know what to do.
Clutching the piece of paper Jimin gave you, you close the door and go back to your couch, future unknown.

~ the end ~

That was Jimin, right?
You were too shocked to see him that you didn't even think about it, but it had to be him. He said you saved him.
Yes, it was Jimin, you concluded.
One whole week passed and you kept thinking about it, this new encounter, this person you fought to save.

Why did you even get so involved? You out yourself in danger for a perfect stranger.
A whole week passed and you couldn't stop trying to convince yourself that you saw the real Jimin and not one of his robot twins.
Every time you thought about it,your body reacted with a headache

basically telling you to either stop thinking or act on it.
After a whole week, you decided to call the number he gave you and see.
"Hello?" the man replied.
"Hi.. Ehm.. This is Y/N.."
"Oh hi! I thought you were never going to call" he chuckled.

You set up a coffee date.
"Just one time" you thought. "one time to see if it's really him".
When you saw him, in front of the coffee bar, he looked perfectly human, when he ordered for both of you he smiled and his eyes looked soft and kind.
While you drank, he looked at you,

he didn't drink his coffee and that bothered you. He just explained it saying he just liked listening to you and that he would have drank it later on when it wasn't so hot anymore.
"Maybe he's just that nice" you thought.
You saw him sip on it a couple of times and, when you

went back after a short bathroom break, he had drunk it all. You didn't think anything about it anymore.
The day went past pretty well, his smile was everlasting, his brown eyes transmitted peace and happiness.
Everything looked normal and you even thought about seeing him again

and, maybe, even getting to know him better.
Everything looked normal but why are you, now, sitting on a wooden chair, tied up, blindfold over your eyes? Why do your wrists hurt from being held tight before being tied with rope? Why do your lips sting and taste like blood?

Why does this feel like a dejavu? And why do you feel like you've lost it all again?
"I'm so stupid" you think, tears pricking at your eyes. So stupid for thinking he was the real Jimin. So stupid for not noticing, so stupid for falling for it all over again.

"This is what I deserve" you think. You shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place but you have to persevere, you had to get into too deep and here you are, again.
Who knows if you'll get out of this alive this time.

Where is Jimin?

Where are the other poor people involved?

Will this ever stop?

- to be continued -

"So, we meet again, Miss" someone speaks from somewhere in front of you.
You gulp, too scared to even talk.
"You really couldn't help yourself, uh? You had to involve the police, not once, but twice" the man keeps going.
"I gotta admit, though, you almost got us. Well, you did,

but our mutual friend, here, Jimin, made sure all of our chargers were dropped"
"No..." you mutter. You can't believe Jimin was the one who freed them. You've seen what they did to him, you've seen it with your own eyes!
"You trusted the wrong person, Miss, and look at you now"

"Please" you beg, tears staining your cheeks, eyes shut and still covered by uncomfortable softness.
"Aw, she's crying, guys" he laughs and you can hear someone snarking in the distance, faint voices the pounding of your heart, almost completely, covers.

Footsteps become louder as the man walks towards you. One hand on your shoulder makes you jump, a low, ice cold whisper has you tremble. His words have you, barely, hanging in there and not pass out.
The man leaves you, the sound of the lock clicking telling you you're, now,

alone in this cold room.
Tears fall unrestrained from your eyes, your sobs echo around the room and it's only when you've finished and what remains around you is the sound of sniffling, that something or someone makes some noise.
You weren't alone?? The whole time??

"Hello, Miss" a voice you recognize too well calls you. "You know I'm not him, right? You can feel it" you're paralyzed. "You didn't even feel my presence in the room, I must be really quiet for an android" it chuckles.
"After that stunt you pulled I got an upgrade. You can call

me Jaman 2.0 now" it reveals its identity, not that you needed to know, you already knew who and what it was.
"You're gonna be here for a while. Master won't let you go so easily this time around" tears fall again from your eyes, you breathe in and out, lips trembling, scared.

You're all alone. What can you do in this situation? Surrounded by enemies, no ally on sight. No ally whatsoever.
Jaman walks past you, reaching for the door and unlocking it.
"I'll tell my father you're here. He'll be happy to see you" he says before closing the door.

As hours pass, hunger gets the best of you, thirst joins soon as well. No one comes for you, no one even thinks about feeding you. You end up falling asleep sitting on the chair, still tied up, exhausted, terrorized by what your future holds. It's in their hands now.

- tbc -

How many days have passed? Is it day? Is it night? They've started to feed you, always at the same time, once a day, just a slice of bread and a glass of water, just enough to keep you alive for as long as they need to.
No one comes for you. Is it possible that your friends, your

colleagues, the people you see on the daily, all forgot about you? Is it possible they're not even wondering where you are? You've never felt so lonely your life.
Last time you felt lonely, you bought your first human doll and look where it took you.

Jaman 2.0 visits you at times, they send it to check on you, to provoke you, but there's really nothing you can say or do that would be of any help for them and they know. They know and they're keeping you locked up just for fun because they enjoy seeing you suffer.

It comes a day when you stop thinking about Jimin and what he did, you stop asking yourself questions and trying to understand why he did it. It comes a day when you stop thinking about anything and you just "live", head empty, body empty, soul empty.

You even consider yourself lucky when they let you walk to a little toilet when you can't hold it anymore. But that's it.
You're not going to survive this. You know already and you've accepted this outcome. If no one is willing to help you, you can't help yourself.

One day, or is it night? A man enters the room you're in. He doesn't speak, he walks closer to your weak self and only says 2 words. "Get. Out".
Your wrists are free, your ankles as well. Your legs are too weak to hold your body weight and the man helps you stand.

"Please, get out" he says again and, finally, your brains connects the voice to the person.
"J.. Jimin.." your voice is hoarse, throat as if full of glass shards.
"Shh.. Just go, it's too late for me. Save yourself" he manages to push you towards the end of the corridor leading

to the exit. How no one notices you two limping towards the door, you don't know and you never ask.
Jimin opens the door for you, it's loud, it attracts attention. Someone turns towards the sound and sees you but you're blinded by the sun, you can't see, you can't move.

"Please, please, go!" Jimin yells, desperately, as armed men run towards you.
You don't make it far. The sound of a gun firing shocks you. You can't move, but you try your best. You see the man who saved you fall on the ground clutching his chest and you just try running.

Adrenaline helps you, in the end, but something stops you.
Your legs want to run, want to escape, your survival instinct screams for you to go, to leave but a strong arm keeps you in place.
The same strong arm pushes you down to the ground.
Gun pointed to your forehead, you know

your time has come, you'd already accepted your fate, you're just dying in the open instead on locked inside a darn room.
Your eyes focus on the face of the man who's gonna end your life and, somehow, you knew already who was gonna be the chosen one.

You breathe in and out a couple of times, eyes locked on him, on it.
You exale your last breath with the face of Jaman 2.0 staring at you while he pulls the trigger.

-----

No one calls for you or for Jimin. Months, years go by and your bodies just stay there, hazardly buried.

No one knows that both of your families and friends had been attacked as well. No one knows that they got threatened with their lives. No one knows and no one will know as long as they don't talk,as long as they make sure that your identities will never be found again.

-The end-