Bangtan Universe • BTS oneshots

13. The Raven • altered carbon tk

300 years into the future, deep in the dark abyss of the metropolis, there's a little gothic hotel called the Raven, with grand chandeliers and spiralling wooden stairs. Behind the worn out but polished front counter, sits a bright-eyed youth, who watches sappy black and white movies on a small screen and waits for the customer that never arrives.

People no longer frequent AI hotels, they prefer holograms and altered realities that tamper with the mind. AIs are deemed to be "creepy", not quite human enough. JK hasn't had a customer in 50 years.

Suddenly, a man stumbles into the hotel, white dress shirt stained by bloody wounds, with a dozen gunmen trailing behind. He flashes JK a cheerful smile, as sweat beads down his pale skin, "sorry for making a mess."

"Are you looking for a place to stay, sir?" JK gets up and straightens his back, bright eyes gleaming keenly.

The man fires a round of shots and responds, "well, maybe, if I survive."

"Oh! Then could I remind you of the most important AI hotel rule -" JK hurriedly pulls up a screen from the counter, and pushes it in front of the stranger diligently, "- we are responsible for the safety of our clients as long as they are being served."

There's one sentence on the flickering screen, in bold, "will you be our guest?"

The man glances at the shouting gunmen in the lobby, and stares into JK's eyes. Slowly, his lips curl into an intrigued smile. His fingers reach to the screen and tap wearily.

As JK pulls out the guns from under the counter, and activates the automatic assault rifles in the ceiling, he can't curb the giddiness bubbling up on the inside - finally, a customer, a real human customer. It's been too long.

His name is Taehyung, a hitman, he says, some last lineage of recruits with legendary capabilities. JK listens and nods, as he wipes the blood off Taehyung's torso. He's never understood why humans pride in their skills. AIs can do everything better without even trying.
But how he adores humans, fascinated by them, because of everything they seem to feel. He would tilt his head every time Taehyung winces in pain when he changes his bandages. And one day, Taehyung mumbles about pain that's beyond the physical, an ache of the heart.

Humans no longer live and die in this day and age, their soul is digitized in a disk in their spine, a Stack. When their body is damaged, the stack is sleeved into a new organic body, some artificially grown, some used and with the previous owner ceasing to be. As a hitman, Taehyung has gone through many bodies. "Age just doesn't seem to matter anymore after a millennium or so."

"Yet your heart still aches?" JK inquires curiously.

Tae hums and looks away.

Day by day, they would talk more. JK dresses up Tae's wounds, makes food for him (with perfect precision, never deviating from recipes, to Tae's great disappointment), draws his bathwater to the perfect temperature (39 degrees turns out to be Tae's fav).
And Taehyung tells him of a person from his past, a hitman just like him, living through endless time, shedding different bodies, as their lives intertwine and separate but never become one.

JK would stare at the glint of sorrow in Taehyung's eyes, as his mumbles grow quiet, mind lost in memories.
"Do you love him? Is that why your heart aches."

"Perhaps." Tae murmurs, "it's been so long, I can't tell anymore."

"If it hurts, why don't you try to forget then? You can, right? Humans are capable of forgetting."

"Yes, but you see - " Tae's gaze is in a trance, and JK notices mist in his dark orbs, glistening dimly, in the most fascinating way, "- memories don't work that way. What hurts us the most, is often the hardest to forget."