A Human with a Charging Port: S-62B’s Core Passes Authentication, but Jaeho Must Hide Being Human | NOV-HUM Ep. 3 Part 2

NOV-HUM · EPISODE 3 OF 25 · PART 2 OF 2

A Human with a Charging Port — Part II

For a long time, Jaeho pressed nothing.

The warning tone repeated so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

Beep.
Beep.
Beep.

At last, he reached out.

MANUAL CONFIRMATION

A new window appeared.

DISCONNECTED SENSOR ITEMS MAY REQUIRE SEPARATE VERIFICATION BY THE ON-SITE SUPERVISOR.

There was a checkbox below it.

Jaeho did not press it immediately. He waited even longer than before.

Then he checked it.

CONFIRM.

The display divided into green and yellow again.

CORE STATUS: NORMAL
ASSET TAG: VALID
BODY SENSORS: NOT CONNECTED

Both states were there at once.

NORMAL.
NOT CONNECTED.

Jaeho stared at the two phrases.

The core was what was normal.

What was missing was the body’s signal.

But in the field, both would be placed under the same name.

S-62B.

Jaeho switched off the terminal. The screen went dark.

The yellow warning he had just seen did not.

It was after one in the morning. Jaeho had not gone to sleep.

He needed to practice his first field scan.

The portable authentication check he had done at home was slightly different from an actual field scan. In the field, the reader picked up the tag from a distance and made a brief check of the exterior and basic operational status.

Detailed sensor connectivity was handled separately.

Tomorrow, Jaeho only needed to pass the first stage.

Stand naturally when the tag was read. If someone asked a question, do not answer too much like a person. If they needed an external diagnostic connection, show them the port at the back of his neck.

Jaeho set a small scanner near the door. He switched it to field mode according to the instructions.

A message appeared.

READY TO SCAN

Jaeho walked to the far end of the room. Then slowly walked back. He stopped in front of the scanner.

Beep.

S-62B
TRANSFER GRACE PERIOD: D-29

Jaeho’s heart was beating fast.

The tag had passed again.

This time he did not only watch the screen. He thought about how his body looked.

He lowered his shoulders slightly. Kept his gaze steady. Turned his head slowly.

“Confirmed.”

Too stiff.

Again.

“Confirmed.”

Too natural.

Jaeho frowned.

“Being a machine is harder than it looks.”

He started over.

Walk.
Stop.
Raise an arm.
Turn.
Expose the port.
Respond.

By the third round, he had begun to sweat. The skin beneath the synthetic patch on his neck itched.

Jaeho raised a hand.

Then stopped.

Would a machine scratch an itch?

He looked at his hand.

“Do I need to know that too?”

This time he did not laugh.

Jaeho opened the window a little. Cold air entered the room.

His breathing deepened.

He looked into the mirror.

His chest rose.
Fell.
Rose again.

An ordinary movement.

Something a living body did.

Tonight, it bothered him.

Jaeho tried breathing more shallowly. The movement in his chest became smaller.

One deep breath and it was obvious again.

He shook his head.

“How am I supposed to keep this up all day?”

A small alert sounded from inside his vest. The core battery was running low.

Jaeho picked up the charging cable from the desk. He did not connect it to the fake port at the back of his neck.

Instead, he ran the actual cable beneath his clothes and plugged it into the core inside his vest.

He felt a brief vibration.

The terminal displayed the status.

S-62B CORE: CHARGING
OPERATIONAL STATUS: NORMAL

Jaeho looked at the screen.

NORMAL.

He touched his wrist. His pulse was beating.

A little fast.

He placed a palm against his neck.

Warm.

He took out a cheap thermometer and held it to his forehead.

Beep.

It showed a human body temperature.

For a moment, Jaeho simply stared at the number.

The terminal still showed another sentence.

S-62B CORE STATUS: NORMAL

Neither statement was wrong.

The core was normal.

Jaeho Yoon’s body was alive.

The problem was that they were not the same body.

Jaeho returned to the mirror.

Inside the vest, the charging cable ran down to the core. A fake service port covered the back of his neck. Joint guards covered his elbows. Grayish synthetic patches covered parts of his skin.

From a distance, it looked reasonably convincing.

Jaeho rotated his shoulders.

Slowly.

Once.

Twice.

Then he noticed his chest moving again.

Up.
Down.
Up.

That was the one movement he could neither attach nor cover.

Jaeho held his breath. His chest stopped.

After a few seconds, it became uncomfortable.

He breathed again.

His chest rose sharply.

“Good grief.”

Jaeho gave a quiet laugh.

“Pretend to be a machine long enough and I’ll start worrying about breathing.”

The laugh disappeared almost immediately.

Breathing was not a malfunction.
Body temperature was not a malfunction.
A pulse was not a malfunction.

But starting tomorrow, he would have to keep anyone from noticing them.

To hide the fact that he was human, he would have to treat the normal movements of a human body as abnormalities.

Jaeho looked at himself in the mirror.

Then shifted his gaze to the terminal.

RETRY FIELD SCAN

With the charging cable still connected, he stepped in front of the scanner.

The tag was read.

Beep.

S-62B
CORE AUTHENTICATION: NORMAL

A small yellow indicator remained below it.

BODY SENSOR INPUT: NO INPUT

A line of sweat ran down Jaeho’s neck.

He did not wipe it away.

He remained standing in front of the scanner.

“Confirmed.”

The screen advanced.

BASIC FIELD SCAN COMPLETE

Jaeho stared at the sentence for a long time.

It worked.

If tomorrow’s inspection went no further than this, he could pass.

Relief came.

It did not stay long.

Jaeho looked back at the mirror.

There was a charging port at the back of his neck. The charging cable ran into the S-62B core beneath his vest. The terminal said the core was normal.

But in the mirror, his chest kept rising and falling at the pace of a human body.