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#Ultimate Software Developer
theanonymousclown · 2 years
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So as you all hopefully know, I… REALLY like randomizing shit. So you can’t imagine my delight when I found a list of over 1000 Danganronpa Ultimates.
I immediately started randomizing, and ended up with a Fanganronpa set in a mansion (because that’s where I thought Danganronpa was set originally).
The backstory I came up with includes the fact that the ending of V3 was a lie and the entire thing was virtual (but no-one knew except Tsumugi) because Tsumugi was an Ultimate Despair who believed the former Ultimate Despair were ruined by being redeemed and wanted to kickstart a new wave of The Tragedy. Luckily, she failed and was stopped by the Future Foundation once all the students were recovered…
But that’s not all. When the V3 students were found, the technology used to keep them in the simulation was missing…
Meanwhile, a group of new students at the New Hopes Peak were invited to a charity gathering at a historical mansion (seemingly by their headmaster, Makoto Naegi) but soon realized that they were trapped by a strange mechanical cat named Mononeko who claimed she was in charge of a new Killing Game.
Names, Ultimates, and Slight Spoilers (who lives and dies) under the cut!
Top Row, Left to Right:
Misumi Daitan, she/her, The protagonist and Ultimate Harajuku Journalist. She survives the Killing Game. She initially tried to stay quiet and out of things, but do to her history in journalism she realized evidence wasn’t adding up and became the forerunner in the Game. As the Game continues, she begins to uncover the secrets of the Mastermind… and unfortunately fall head over heels for both the Ultimate Mailman and Ultimate Extreme Frisbee Player.
Genki Hiroyuki, he/him, the Ultimate Mailman and a Helper Character. He’s the last victim of the Killing Game. He’s constantly on guard and uptight, but he’s still kind. His dog keeps him safe from aggressive/poorly trained dogs he may meet while delivering mail.
Takako Yumeno, she/her, the Ultimate Extreme Frisbee Player and a Helper Character. She survives the Killing Game. She’s a team player and acts upbeat to keep her friends from losing their heads, but secretly she’s terrified that at any time she or one of her friends could be betrayed and killed.
Kohana Kiyosho, she/her, the Ultimate Hematologist. She is, by technicality, the last Blackened of the Killing Game. She’s very timid, but when she starts talking about what she’s interested in she becomes very invested in the conversation. She only became a Blackened through manipulations by the Mastermind, and didn’t even realize until it was discovered in Trial.
Bottom Row, Left to Right:
Osaki Toshiyuki, he/him, the Ultimate Glassblower. He is the third Blackened of the Killing Game. He’s a very gentle person who likes making little things for his friends, like simple swans or glass balls.
Matsushima Michi, she/her, the Ultimate Software Developer. She survives the Killing Game. She doesn’t like talking to people, but finds she often needs to talk out her coding process, so keeps a rubber duck at all times. She has long nails and likes how they sound on her keyboard. You can tell if she likes you because she’ll willingly stay in your prescience for a period of time.
Etsuko Rikona, she/they, the Ultimate Speech Therapist. She’s the fifth overall victim but the second of a triple kill. They were hard of hearing as a child and their hearing has gradually gotten worse, but she can speak if she chooses to. More often than not, though, she chooses to use sign with Fumiko acting as interpreter. She’s very energetic and, even if she’s not speaking, she’s very loud and has a large presence.
Fumiko Rikona, she/her, the Ultimate Mbira Player. She’s the fourth overall victim but the first of a triple kill. She’s sweet and quiet, and fluent in Sign Language- however, she has a mean streak when it comes to people who are rude to her or her twin sister.
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learning--tech · 3 months
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Empower Your Business with DDS4U's Comprehensive Services
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At DDS4U, we provide a suite of services designed to streamline your operations, drive growth, and ensure your business stays ahead in today’s competitive market.
AI-Powered Business Automation
Revolutionize your workflows with our AI-driven automation platform. By automating repetitive tasks and integrating advanced AI technologies, we help you save time, reduce costs, and improve accuracy, allowing you to focus on strategic initiatives.
Custom Software Development
Our experienced software developers create tailored solutions that meet your unique business needs. Whether you require a new application or need to upgrade existing systems, our innovative and scalable software solutions ensure your business operates efficiently and effectively.
CRM Solutions
Enhance your customer relationships with our comprehensive CRM platform. Manage customer interactions, streamline sales processes, and gain valuable insights to drive better business decisions. Our CRM system is designed to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately leading to increased sales and growth.
Targeted Advertisement Platform
Maximize your reach and engagement with our cutting-edge advertising platform. Tailor your campaigns to specific audiences and utilize real-time analytics to optimize performance. Our platform helps you achieve higher conversion rates and a stronger online presence.
In-App Advertisement Space
Monetize your mobile applications with designated ad spaces. Our in-app advertising feature allows you to serve targeted ads to users, providing an additional revenue stream while ensuring ads are relevant and non-intrusive.
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Expand your network and drive business growth with our referral portal. Easily manage and track referrals, incentivize partners, and streamline communication. Our portal fosters strong professional relationships and opens new opportunities for your business.
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Connect with industry professionals and collaborate on projects through our dynamic networking platform. Share knowledge, explore partnerships, and expand your reach in a supportive community designed to foster business success.
Social Media Poster Design
Boost your social media presence with professionally designed posters. Our team creates visually appealing graphics tailored for social media platforms, helping you engage with your audience and enhance your brand’s online visibility.
Discount Booklets
Offer your customers exclusive discounts through our customizable discount booklets. This feature helps increase customer loyalty and encourages repeat business, driving higher sales and customer satisfaction.
Self-Managed Advertisements
Take control of your advertising campaigns with our self-managed ad platform. Create, monitor, and optimize your ads independently, giving you the flexibility to adjust strategies and maximize ROI.
Video Promotions
Enhance your marketing efforts with engaging promotional videos. Showcase your products and services, highlight unique selling points, and captivate your audience with compelling visual content that drives brand awareness and customer engagement.
At DDS4U, we are committed to helping your business succeed. Our comprehensive services are designed to address your unique challenges and support your growth ambitions. Partner with us to unlock new opportunities and achieve your business goals.
#At DDS4U#we provide a suite of services designed to streamline your operations#drive growth#and ensure your business stays ahead in today’s competitive market.#AI-Powered Business Automation#Revolutionize your workflows with our AI-driven automation platform. By automating repetitive tasks and integrating advanced AI technologie#we help you save time#reduce costs#and improve accuracy#allowing you to focus on strategic initiatives.#Custom Software Development#Our experienced software developers create tailored solutions that meet your unique business needs. Whether you require a new application o#our innovative and scalable software solutions ensure your business operates efficiently and effectively.#CRM Solutions#Enhance your customer relationships with our comprehensive CRM platform. Manage customer interactions#streamline sales processes#and gain valuable insights to drive better business decisions. Our CRM system is designed to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty#ultimately leading to increased sales and growth.#Targeted Advertisement Platform#Maximize your reach and engagement with our cutting-edge advertising platform. Tailor your campaigns to specific audiences and utilize real#In-App Advertisement Space#Monetize your mobile applications with designated ad spaces. Our in-app advertising feature allows you to serve targeted ads to users#providing an additional revenue stream while ensuring ads are relevant and non-intrusive.#Referral Portal#Expand your network and drive business growth with our referral portal. Easily manage and track referrals#incentivize partners#and streamline communication. Our portal fosters strong professional relationships and opens new opportunities for your business.#Business Networking Platform#Connect with industry professionals and collaborate on projects through our dynamic networking platform. Share knowledge#explore partnerships
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extrusionerp · 8 months
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Elevating Product Quality with Quality Assurance Plan for Extrusion Company
Extrusion is a manufacturing process that involves shaping materials like Aluminium, Plastic, and Food by pushing them through a die. It is used in various industries, including automotive, construction, and packaging. However, extrusion is a  precision-driven process that requires careful monitoring to ensure the quality of the end product. This is where a Quality Assurance Plan (QAP)  comes in.
A Quality Assurance Plan for extrusion is a commitment to excellence that offers real-time monitoring, defect detection, and unmatched quality control.  It is designed to unlock precision in extrusion and redefine the landscape, ensuring elevated product quality and unparalleled customer satisfaction.  The QAP is seamlessly integrated with “Extrusion ERP”, making managing and controlling the manufacturing process easier.
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Real-time monitoring is one of the critical features of the QAP. It allows manufacturers to monitor the extrusion process at every stage and detect any issues before they become significant problems. This ensures that the end product meets the desired specifications and helps prevent costly downtime and rework.
Defect detection is another critical aspect of the QAP. It involves using advanced technologies to identify defects in the extruded product.  This allows manufacturers to take corrective action quickly and prevent defective products from reaching customers.
The QAP also offers unmatched quality control. It provides a framework for tracking and managing quality metrics, such as defect rates, scrap rates, and cycle times. This data can be used to identify areas for improvement and optimize the extrusion process. The benefits of a QAP  for extrusion are clear. By unlocking precision in the manufacturing process, it ensures that the end product meets the desired specifications and elevates the overall quality of the product. This, in turn, leads to unparalleled customer satisfaction and increased market share.
Quality Assurance Plan for extrusion is vital for any manufacturer looking to deliver high-quality products consistently.  It offers real-time monitoring, defect detection, and unmatched quality control. The QAP is seamlessly integrated with ‘Extrusion ERP’,  making managing and controlling the manufacturing process easier. By implementing a QAP, manufacturers can unlock precision in extrusion,  redefine the landscape, and elevate product quality to new heights. 
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Offshore software development has evolved into a crucial business strategy in today's digital economy. Offshore software development has shown to be a wise and cost-effective decision for businesses looking for high-quality software solutions while leveraging their resources.
In this blog, we'll talk about the concept of offshore software development and why it's important for companies looking to hire from a variety of talent pools and cut costs by hiring offshore development teams .
Know more: https://infomatly.com/offshore-software-development/
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consultingwives · 2 months
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As someone who works in the reliability sector of IT I cannot emphasize how much you have to give 0 fucks about professional standards and best practices in order to do something like what Crowdstrike did.
At the company I work for, which you have definitely heard of, there are thousands of people (including me, hi) part of whose job it is to sit in rooms for literal hours every week with the people building new features and updating our software and ask them every question we can possibly think of about how their changes might impact the overall system and what potential risks there are. We brainstorm how to minimize those risks, impose requirements on the developers, and ultimately the buck stops with us. Some things are just too risky.
Many of the practices developed at this and other companies are now in wide use across the industry, including things like staggered rollouts (i.e. only 1/3 people get this update at first, then 2/3, then everyone) and multi-stage testing (push it to a fake system we set up for these purposes, see what it does).
In cases where you’re updating firmware or an os, there are physical test devices you need to update and verify that everything behaves as expected. If you really care about your customers you’ll hand the device to someone who works on a different system altogether and tell them to do their worst.
The bottom line here is that if Crowdstrike were following anything even resembling industry best practices there should have been about twenty failsafes between a kernel bug and a global update that bricked basically every enterprise machine in the world. This is like finding out the virus lab has a direct HVAC connection to the big conference room. There is genuinely no excuse for this kind of professional incompetence.
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skyfallscotland · 1 month
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Writing Advice: tips, tricks & helpful links, from your friendly neighbourhood fanfic author ✨ (part two—the resources)
see part one—the advice here
verbiage: • show, don't tell—a guide by @lyralit • this crazy big list of dialogue tags from @slayingfiction
diversity & inclusive writing: • a collection of helpful posts about BIPOC, gender, and body neutral inclusion in writing collated by @lavenderursa • this post on writing disabled characters by @cripplecharacters if you're not writing from experience
adding depth to your characters: • exploring character backstory and good traits gone bad by @saraswritingtipps • dark past ideas from @sas-soulwriter • @lyralit's list of things to think about when crafting a character
story structure and depth: • plot structures and this story planning template from @wordsnstuff • this collection of links from @oflights including fantasy name generators, child development guides, and height comparison visuals • finally, @writingquestionsanswered full stop, they have some fantastic guides and advice on things like this post on how to deal with writer's block and this one on how to start a story.
smut (i'm not gonna lie, there's a lot of smut resources): • the classic—quinnanderson's 'ultimate guide to writing smut fic' on AO3 • smut synonyms from @plaidstiel-wormstache • @maybeeatspaghetti's smutty dictionary • another smut thesaurus from @prurientpuddlejumper • this list of praise kink dialogue, also a good site for sex positions • sex positions for deep penetration (with diagrams) • this guide by @void-my-warranty • and not quite smut, but this post on how to write a kiss scene from @youneedsomeprompts
writing software: • a collection of alternatives to google docs, by @the960writers • here is @yekokataa's AO3 template for scrivener
prompts, for when you want to write but need a nudge: • @creativepromptsforwriting • @deity-prompts (who also has an excellent masterlist of writer's advice)
I may update this list occasionally who knows, but for now I hope some of you find it helpful 💗
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webzguruservices · 2 years
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The Ultimate Guide To Creating A Progressive Web App List
In this article, we will walk you through the process of building a progressive web app list. We will cover some best practices for building your own progressive web app list, and provide an example of how to put these practices into action. This guide is designed to provide a complete overview of what it takes to build a great progressive web app list, from User Interface up through Progressive Enhancement.
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Introduction
A progressive web app is a type of application that uses modern web technologies to provide a user experience similar to that of a native mobile app. Progressive web apps are designed to be fast, reliable, and engaging.
They are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Progressive web apps can be deployed to any web server, and they will work regardless of whether the user has a native app installed on their device.
Progressive web apps are becoming increasingly popular because they offer a great user experience without the need for users to install an app. In fact, many users are already using progressive web apps without even realizing it!
If you’re interested in creating a progressive web app, this guide will show you everything you need to know. We’ll cover the basics of what progressive web apps are and how they work, before moving on to how you can create your own.
Types of Progressive Web Apps
There are two types of Progressive Web Apps: those that are designed to work offline, and those that are not. Offline Progressive Web Apps: These apps are designed to function even when there is no internet connection available. They do this by caching all of the necessary files locally on the device, so that they can be accessed even when there is no online connection. This type of Progressive Web App is ideal for users who need to be able to access their app in areas with poor or no internet coverage.
Online Progressive Web Apps: These apps are not designed to work offline, but they can still offer some offline functionality. For example, an Online Progressive Web App might be able to cache certain pages or resources so that they can be accessed even when there is no internet connection available. However, the full functionality of the app will only be available when there is an active internet connection.
What is a PWA?
Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, are web applications that utilize modern web technologies to provide a user experience similar to that of a native mobile app. PWAs are designed to be fast, reliable, and engaging, and can be added to the home screen of a user’s device just like a native app.
PWAs are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This makes them cross-platform and easy to deploy. However, because they rely on the same technologies as traditional web pages, they can also inherit some of the same limitations. For example, they may not be able to access certain device features (like the camera or microphone) unless the user grants permission.
One of the key benefits of PWAs is that they can be updated without going through an app store approval process. This means that developers can iterate quickly and make changes without having to wait for approval from Apple or Google. It also makes it easier to roll out new features gradually rather than all at once.
Overall, PWAs offer a compelling alternative to native mobile apps for many types of businesses. They’re particularly well suited for companies that want to move quickly and experiment with new features without being bogged down by app store approvals.
What is a progressive web app list?
A progressive web app list is a type of mobile application that uses modern web technologies to deliver a native app-like experience to users. Progressive web apps are designed to work offline, be responsive, and fast. They are also built using progressive enhancement principles, so that they can be progressively enhanced with new features over time.
Some of the benefits of progressive web apps include:
Offline support: Progressive web apps can work offline, meaning that users can still access them even if they don’t have an internet connection.
Responsive design: Progressive web apps are designed to be responsive, so that they look good on any device, regardless of screen size or resolution.
Fast loading: Progressive web apps are built using modern web technologies such as Service Workers, which make them extremely fast to load.
If you’re looking to create a mobile application that offers a native app-like experience to users, then a progressive web app could be the perfect solution.
Building a PWA list – How To Make A Filterable/Paginated PWA
If you’re looking to create a Progressive Web App list, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First, you need to make sure that your list is filterable and paginated. This will allow users to easily find the information they’re looking for, and prevent them from becoming overwhelmed by too much data.
To make your list filterable, you’ll need to use a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. First, you’ll need to create an input field where users can enter their search terms. Then, you’ll need to add some code that will search through your list items and only display the ones that match the user’s search query.
Pagination is another important aspect of creating an effective PWA list. By splitting your content up into multiple pages, users can more easily find what they’re looking for without having to scroll through a long list. You can add pagination to your PWA list using a Pagination component available in many JavaScript libraries.
With these tips in mind, creating a filterable and paginated PWA list is easy! Just remember to use the right tools and technologies, and structure your content in an easily accessible way.
Conclusion
Creating a progressive web app can be a great way to improve your website’s performance and give your users a more native app-like experience. However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind if you want to create a successful PWA. First, you need to make sure your website is properly optimized for mobile devices. Second, you’ll need to create an app manifest and include it on your website. And third, you’ll need to use service workers to cache your assets and improve loading times. Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful progressive web app that will give your users a great experience.
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tinystepsforward · 2 days
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autocrattic (more matt shenanigans, not tumblr this time)
I am almost definitely not the right person for this writeup, but I'm closer than most people on here, so here goes! This is all open-source tech drama, and I take my time laying out the context, but the short version is: Matt tried to extort another company, who immediately posted receipts, and now he's refusing to log off again. The long version is... long.
If you don't need software context, scroll down/find the "ok tony that's enough. tell me what's actually happening" heading, or just go read the pink sections. Or look at this PDF.
the background
So. Matt's original Good Idea was starting WordPress with fellow developer Mike Little in 2003, which is free and open-source software (FOSS) that was originally just for blogging, but now powers lots of websites that do other things. In particular, Automattic acquired WooCommerce a long time ago, which is free online store software you can run on WordPress.
FOSS is... interesting. It's a world that ultimately is powered by people who believe deeply that information and resources should be free, but often have massive blind spots (for example, Wikipedia's consistently had issues with bias, since no amount of "anyone can edit" will overcome systemic bias in terms of who has time to edit or is not going to be driven away by the existing contributor culture). As with anything else that people spend thousands of hours doing online, there's drama. As with anything else that's technically free but can be monetized, there are:
Heaps of companies and solo developers who profit off WordPress themes, plugins, hosting, and other services;
Conflicts between volunteer contributors and for-profit contributors;
Annoying founders who get way too much credit for everything the project has become.
the WordPress ecosystem
A project as heavily used as WordPress (some double-digit percentage of the Internet uses WP. I refuse to believe it's the 43% that Matt claims it is, but it's a pretty large chunk) can't survive just on the spare hours of volunteers, especially in an increasingly monetised world where its users demand functional software, are less and less tech or FOSS literate, and its contributors have no fucking time to build things for that userbase.
Matt runs Automattic, which is a privately-traded, for-profit company. The free software is run by the WordPress Foundation, which is technically completely separate (wordpress.org). The main products Automattic offers are WordPress-related: WordPress.com, a host which was designed to be beginner-friendly; Jetpack, a suite of plugins which extend WordPress in a whole bunch of ways that may or may not make sense as one big product; WooCommerce, which I've already mentioned. There's also WordPress VIP, which is the fancy bespoke five-digit-plus option for enterprise customers. And there's Tumblr, if Matt ever succeeds in putting it on WordPress. (Every Tumblr or WordPress dev I know thinks that's fucking ridiculous and impossible. Automattic's hiring for it anyway.)
Automattic devotes a chunk of its employees toward developing Core, which is what people in the WordPress space call WordPress.org, the free software. This is part of an initiative called Five for the Future — 5% of your company's profits off WordPress should go back into making the project better. Many other companies don't do this.
There are lots of other companies in the space. GoDaddy, for example, barely gives back in any way (and also sucks). WP Engine is the company this drama is about. They don't really contribute to Core. They offer relatively expensive WordPress hosting, as well as providing a series of other WordPress-related products like LocalWP (local site development software), Advanced Custom Fields (the easiest way to set up advanced taxonomies and other fields when making new types of posts. If you don't know what this means don't worry about it), etc.
Anyway. Lots of strong personalities. Lots of for-profit companies. Lots of them getting invested in, or bought by, private equity firms.
Matt being Matt, tech being tech
As was said repeatedly when Matt was flipping out about Tumblr, all of the stuff happening at Automattic is pretty normal tech company behaviour. Shit gets worse. People get less for their money. WordPress.com used to be a really good place for people starting out with a website who didn't need "real" WordPress — for $48 a year on the Personal plan, you had really limited features (no plugins or other customisable extensions), but you had a simple website with good SEO that was pretty secure, relatively easy to use, and 24-hour access to Happiness Engineers (HEs for short. Bad job title. This was my job) who could walk you through everything no matter how bad at tech you were. Then Personal plan users got moved from chat to emails only. Emails started being responded to by contractors who didn't know as much as HEs did and certainly didn't get paid half as well. Then came AI, and the mandate for HEs to try to upsell everyone things they didn't necessarily need. (This is the point at which I quit.)
But as was said then as well, most tech CEOs don't publicly get into this kind of shitfight with their users. They're horrid tyrants, but they don't do it this publicly.
ok tony that's enough. tell me what's actually happening
WordCamp US, one of the biggest WordPress industry events of the year, is the backdrop for all this. It just finished.
There are.... a lot of posts by Matt across multiple platforms because, as always, he can't log off. But here's the broad strokes.
Sep 17
Matt publishes a wanky blog post about companies that profit off open source without giving back. It targets a specific company, WP Engine.
Compare the Five For the Future pages from Automattic and WP Engine, two companies that are roughly the same size with revenue in the ballpark of half a billion. These pledges are just a proxy and aren’t perfectly accurate, but as I write this, Automattic has 3,786 hours per week (not even counting me!), and WP Engine has 47 hours. WP Engine has good people, some of whom are listed on that page, but the company is controlled by Silver Lake, a private equity firm with $102 billion in assets under management. Silver Lake doesn’t give a dang about your Open Source ideals. It just wants a return on capital. So it’s at this point that I ask everyone in the WordPress community to vote with your wallet. Who are you giving your money to? Someone who’s going to nourish the ecosystem, or someone who’s going to frack every bit of value out of it until it withers?
(It's worth noting here that Automattic is funded in part by BlackRock, who Wikipedia calls "the world's largest asset manager".)
Sep 20 (WCUS final day)
WP Engine puts out a blog post detailing their contributions to WordPress.
Matt devotes his keynote/closing speech to slamming WP Engine.
He also implies people inside WP Engine are sending him information.
For the people sending me stuff from inside companies, please do not do it on your work device. Use a personal phone, Signal with disappearing messages, etc. I have a bunch of journalists happy to connect you with as well. #wcus — Twitter I know private equity and investors can be brutal (read the book Barbarians at the Gate). Please let me know if any employee faces firing or retaliation for speaking up about their company's participation (or lack thereof) in WordPress. We'll make sure it's a big public deal and that you get support. — Tumblr
Matt also puts out an offer live at WordCamp US:
“If anyone of you gets in trouble for speaking up in favor of WordPress and/or open source, reach out to me. I’ll do my best to help you find a new job.” — source tweet, RTed by Matt
He also puts up a poll asking the community if WP Engine should be allowed back at WordCamps.
Sep 21
Matt writes a blog post on the WordPress.org blog (the official project blog!): WP Engine is not WordPress.
He opens this blog post by claiming his mom was confused and thought WP Engine was official.
The blog post goes on about how WP Engine disabled post revisions (which is a pretty normal thing to do when you need to free up some resources), therefore being not "real" WordPress. (As I said earlier, WordPress.com disables most features for Personal and Premium plans. Or whatever those plans are called, they've been renamed like 12 times in the last few years. But that's a different complaint.)
Sep 22: More bullshit on Twitter. Matt makes a Reddit post on r/Wordpress about WP Engine that promptly gets deleted. Writeups start to come out:
Search Engine Journal: WordPress Co-Founder Mullenweg Sparks Backlash
TechCrunch: Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a ‘cancer to WordPress’ and urges community to switch providers
Sep 23 onward
Okay, time zones mean I can't effectively sequence the rest of this.
Matt defends himself on Reddit, casually mentioning that WP Engine is now suing him.
Also here's a decent writeup from someone involved with the community that may be of interest.
WP Engine drops the full PDF of their cease and desist, which includes screenshots of Matt apparently threatening them via text.
Twitter link | Direct PDF link
This PDF includes some truly fucked texts where Matt appears to be trying to get WP Engine to pay him money unless they want him to tell his audience at WCUS that they're evil.
Matt, after saying he's been sued and can't talk about it, hosts a Twitter Space and talks about it for a couple hours.
He also continues to post on Reddit, Twitter, and on the Core contributor Slack.
Here's a comment where he says WP Engine could have avoided this by paying Automattic 8% of their revenue.
Another, 20 hours ago, where he says he's being downvoted by "trolls, probably WPE employees"
At some point, Matt updates the WordPress Foundation trademark policy. I am 90% sure this was him — it's not legalese and makes no fucking sense to single out WP Engine.
Old text: The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks and you are free to use it in any way you see fit. New text: The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.
Sep 25: Automattic puts up their own legal response.
anyway this fucking sucks
This is bigger than anything Matt's done before. I'm so worried about my friends who're still there. The internal ramifications have... been not great so far, including that Matt's naturally being extra gung-ho about "you're either for me or against me and if you're against me then don't bother working your two weeks".
Despite everything, I like WordPress. (If you dig into this, you'll see plenty of people commenting about blocks or Gutenberg or React other things they hate. Unlike many of the old FOSSheads, I actually also think Gutenberg/the block editor was a good idea, even if it was poorly implemented.)
I think that the original mission — to make it so anyone can spin up a website that's easy enough to use and blog with — is a good thing. I think, despite all the ways being part of FOSS communities since my early teens has led to all kinds of racist, homophobic and sexual harm for me and for many other people, that free and open-source software is important.
So many people were already burning out of the project. Matt has been doing this for so long that those with long memories can recite all the ways he's wrecked shit back a decade or more. Most of us are exhausted and need to make money to live. The world is worse than it ever was.
Social media sucks worse and worse, and this was a world in which people missed old webrings, old blogs, RSS readers, the world where you curated your own whimsical, unpaid corner of the Internet. I started actually actively using my own WordPress blog this year, and I've really enjoyed it.
And people don't want to deal with any of this.
The thing is, Matt's right about one thing: capital is ruining free open-source software. What he's wrong about is everything else: the idea that WordPress.com isn't enshittifying (or confusing) at a much higher rate than WP Engine, the idea that WP Engine or Silver Lake are the only big players in the field, the notion that he's part of the solution and not part of the problem.
But he's started a battle where there are no winners but the lawyers who get paid to duke it out, and all the volunteers who've survived this long in an ecosystem increasingly dominated by big money are giving up and leaving.
Anyway if you got this far, consider donating to someone on gazafunds.com. It'll take much less time than reading this did.
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ryo-maybe · 2 years
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can u explain why AI art is bad without fearmongering, moralizing or bootlicking lol
I'm going to answer in good faith, even though the tone you're using sounds like you're harboring anything but. The issue with AI art isn't specifically inherent to the tools used to produce it, because, ultimately, a tool is merely that: something devoid of will which, in the hands of a human, can produce a specific outcome. It's the human element that taints what we could otherwise enjoy for the unquestioningly fascinating topic that is AI art and, by extension, AI software as a whole.
Now, the problem isn't people, period, but the kind of people that are responsible for giving AI the bad rep it's been getting, along with the intent that goes into both the development of AI tools and the things produced by dint of said tools. I'm talking about the tech bros happily rubbing their hands, waiting to provide business moguls with a brand new means to commodify and mass-produce what artists stake their entire livelihoods upon, because when you have enough zeroes lined up in your bank account, your eyes are utterly blinded to the soul and personality that human beings put into their handiwork, and which a machine won't ever be able to reproduce no matter how much stolen art you feed it. Oh yeah, by the way, that's how AI art tools have been making the rounds: by chewing on thousands upon thousands of stolen pictures made by actual people so that they may learn how to ape someone's style and spit out absolutely soulless derivatives, while the original authors don't see a lick of recognition or monetary retribution for any of it. Do I need to tell you why stealing and parading someone else's art as your own is a terrible, vile thing to do?
But sure, you did ask me to refrain from "fearmongering, moralizing or bootlicking", which I guess I've already done. So since you'd rather I skipped straight to the point in a concise manner, lemme offer some quick examples of why the culture surrounding AI art has already developed into one of the most abysmally disappointing displays of how greed and an utter lack of human decency can ruin something objectively brimming with possibilities:
Less than a week after the sudden death of Korean artist Kim Jung-gi, someone trained an AI model to mimic his artstyle, having the audacity of asking for credits if anyone wished to use it. I sincerely hope I don't have to explain to you why this is a ghoulish example of the kind of tone-deafness sported by tech bros who buy wholesale into the AI art craze.
A piece of AI art was submitted to an art contest and won. The "artist"'s work amounted to little more than picking a series of prompts and letting the machine do the work. It's as much art as googling a smattering of terms and making a collage of pictures taken from Pinterest (and even then, you would have put more work into it than this person did). That they won at all says a whole damn lot about how abysmal the respect given to artists - real artists - nowadays is.
There are a multitude of people out there already selling prints of AI-generated art. I could link some of them here, but honestly, type "ai art prints" on a search engine and you'll get inundated by them. I've seen and personally know artists who have had to undersell their works because commissions were the only thin, frayed string they could hang on in hopes of making it through the week without fucking starving themselves, but here we are: any random asshole can now yell "MASSIVE BREASTS, THIN WAIST, COCKTAIL DRESS, HUGE BADONGAS" at a computer, let it mash together a trillion of other people's hard work, and print it for easy bucks that the actual authors of the basic ingredients of their insipid soup will never, ever see a dime of.
It really bothers me that you mentioned "no bootlicking". Whose fucking boots is this side of the debate supposedly tasting? That of the artists who post every day about how angry, sad and terrified they are by the prospects of what the development of AI art will entail for their livelihood and passion? What kind of gall did your mother birth you with that you have the spiteful spunk to type that word, when you've got shit like an artist who had their sketch stolen while they were drawing it on stream, then fed to an AI and posted by someone passing it off as their own art? How does that not ignite your indignation? "Bootlicking". Like anyone's tongues have been tasting leather but those of the same tech bro chodes who kept trying oh so hard to convince us NFTs were the future while ruining the environment to make the absolute stupidest point ever made in the history of humanity.
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commodorez · 2 months
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Cactus fascinates me, does it run on code similar to an existing instruction set or is it completely original on that front?
What can you do with it? What's it's storage?
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Both the Cactus (the original wooden prototype from years ago) and the new PCB Cactus(es) are essentially derived from a minimal 6502 computer design by Grant Searle for their core logic. Here's what that would look like on a breadboard:
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There isn't much to it, it's 32K of RAM, 16K of ROM containing Ohio Scientific's version of Microsoft BASIC, a 6850 ACIA for serial interaction, some logic gates, and of course a 6502 microprocessor (NMOS or CMOS, doesn't matter which). You hook it into a terminal and away you go.
Grant's design in turn can be best described as a distilled, modernized version of the OSI Challenger series of computers. Here's an OSI-400 and a Challenger 4P respectively:
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The left one is a replica of the 400 circa 1976, also called the Superboard. It was affordable, endlessly reconfigurable and hackable, but ultimately very limited in capabilities. No BASIC, minimal monitor ROM you talk to over serial, but you could connect it to a bus to augment its features and turn it into a more powerful computer.
Whereas the OSI C4P on the right from about 1979 has more RAM, a video card, keyboard, BASIC built in, serial interface, cassette tape storage, and that's just the standard configuration. There was more room to expand and augment it to your needs inside the chassis (alot changed in 3 years for home computer users).
Grant's minimal 6502 design running OSI BASIC is a good starter project for hobbyists. I learned about the 6502's memory map decoding from his design. I modified and implemented his design on a separate cards that could connect to a larger backplane.
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Here are the serial, ROM, RAM, and CPU cards respectively:
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Each one is 100% custom, containing many modifications and fixes as I developed the design. However, that's only half of the computer.
I really wanted a 6502 machine with a front panel. People told me "nobody did that", or couldn't think of examples from the 1970s but that seemed really strange to me. Especially since I had evidence to the contrary in the form of the OSI-300:
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This one I saw at VCF West back in 2018 illustrates just how limited of a design it is. 128 bytes of RAM, no ROM, no serial -- just you, the CPU, and toggle switches and LEDs to learn the CPU. I was inspired the first time I saw one in 2015 at VCF East, which is probably when this whole project got set in motion.
Later that year I bought a kit for a miniature replica OSI-300 made by Christopher Bachman, and learned really quickly how limited the design philosophy for this particular front panel was. It was a major pain in the ass to use (to be clear, that's by OSI's choice, not any fault of Christopher in his implementation)
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So... I designed my own. Took awhile, but that's the core of what the Cactus is: my attempt at experiencing the 1970s homebrew scene by building the computer I would have wanted at the time. Over half of the logic in the Cactus is just to run the front panel's state machine, so you can examine and modify the contents of memory without bothering the 6502. I added in all of the things I liked from more advanced front panels I had encountered, and designed it to my liking.
Here's the original front panel, accompanying logic, and backplane connected to the modern single board computer (SBC) version of the machine:
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And here's the new Cactus SBC working with the new front panel PCB, which combines the logic, physical switch mountings, and cabling harnesses into a single printed circuit board.
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So, what can you do with it? Pretty much the same things I do already with other contemporary 1970s computers: play around in BASIC, fire up the occasional game, and tinker with it.
I've got no permanent storage designed for the Cactus as yet, it's been one of those "eventually" things. The good news is that a variety of software can be ported to the hardware without too much trouble for an experienced hobbyist. A friend of mine wrote a game called ZNEK in 6502 assembly which runs from a terminal:
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Right now, you have to either toggle in machine programs from the front panel from scratch, burn a custom ROM, or connect it to a serial terminal to gain access to its more advanced features:
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Here's it booted into OSI BASIC, but I have also added in a modern descendant of Steve Wozniak's WOZMON software for when I need to do lower level debugging.
I've also got a video card now, based on the OSI-440. I have yet to implement a keyboard, or modify BASIC to use the video board instead of the serial connection. Even if I did, screen resolution is pretty limited at 24x24 characters on screen at once. Still, I'm working on that...
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Anyway, I hope that answers your question. Check the tags below to see the whole process stretching back to 2017 if you're curious to learn more of the project's history. I'm also happy to answer any more questions you might have about the project.
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nanowrimo · 11 months
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Write Smarter, Not Harder: 5 Ways to Conquer Chaotic Writing
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Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. ButterDocs, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is an all-in-one writing app built for productivity, collaboration, and a more joyful writing experience. Today, the folks at ButterDocs share a few tips on organizing your writing to meet your goals:
NaNoWriMo is about to start, and you're champing at the bit to get to 50,000 words. But that's no easy feat! Because life doesn't stop when NaNoWriMo starts.
You're still going to have climb a mountain of chaos to reach your goal: Chaos like not being able to find your notes and outlines when you need them since they're scattered across multiple apps, or the constant lure of internet distractions.
And of course, once NaNoWriMo ends, the writing process continues. You'll need to get feedback, be able to actually easily take advantage of that feedback, and make revisions (especially if your ultimate goal isn't just a rough draft, but a polished novel).
Here are five tips from ButterDocs to beat the chaos and make your writing workflow less work and more flow.
1. Know what you're about to do.
We know you want to start maximizing your word count from Day One, but you'll thank yourself on Day Twenty if you lay the groundwork for yourself. Take some time to organize your research, develop your characters, lay out your major plot points, and consider your themes.
You don't need to buy and learn advanced plotting software. A digital whiteboard can be as intuitive as pinning index cards to a cork board.
2. Write in the best environment for you.
You're about to spend a lot of time writing. It's a good idea to get comfortable.
Think about what environment you write best in. Do you need the hubbub and energy of a busy coffee shop? Or the serenity of a cozy nook?
Once you find the right place, put the same effort into finding a writing app you'll actually enjoy writing in.
3. Stay in your writing flow.
Focus and dedication during NaNoWriMo is the whole ball game. Lose either, and your chances of hitting 50,000 words are harder.
Whatever your NaNoWriMo goals are, give yourself the best chances to succeed with tools that will help you get and stay focused. A timer, word counter, and goal tracker will help you with timed writing sprints and hitting daily writing goals.
4. Recover from distractions.
Distractions will happen. Chaotic writing aside, the human brain wants to wander for dopamine. And life inevitably gets in the way.
What's important is how you recover. Don't let one distraction or missed writing day snowball into another and another. Give yourself tools that help you get back on track. A simple notification to come back to your writing can be a big help.
5. Pull others in to help you move forward.
You may be participating in NaNoWriMo as an individual, but know this: you are not alone.
You have the entire NaNoWriMo community, among many other writing communities and groups you can turn to for any genre of writing.
When you feel stuck or need feedback on a draft, don't be afraid to ask for help. Just be sure to invite people into a writing app where you have control over the collaboration.
ButterDocs Early Access + NaNoWriMo Resources
Conquer chaotic writing by using a writing app built for exactly that. With ButterDocs, you can plan, write, share, and edit your writing all in one place, without the chaos. It's by the team that built Arc Studio, a leading screenwriting app with hundreds of thousands of users.
ButterDocs launches today in early access and we'd love to invite you to check it out for NaNoWriMo.
All NaNoWriMo participants can receive a free year of ButterDocs if you sign up by December 1st, 2023.
We're running a free online event on October 25th for everyone who signs up: "Getting (and Staying) in Your Creative Writing Zone During NaNoWriMo." with Grant Faulkner (Executive Director of NaNoWrimo), Matt Trinetti (founder of London Writers' Salon), and Allison Trowbridge (founder of CopperBooks). If you can't make it, we'll email ButterDocs users the recording afterward.
Visit https://butterdocs.com/NaNoWriMo to learn more about ButterDocs, claim your free account, and enter an exclusive sweepstakes giveaway for NaNoWriMo participants!
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techtimechronicles24 · 4 months
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🇺🇲 Dive into the history of the Apple III (styled as apple ///), a computer that marked an ambitious step forward for Apple Inc. Released in May 1980, the Apple III was designed to be a successor to the highly successful Apple II series, aimed at the business market.
💻 The Apple III was envisioned as a business-oriented machine that would bridge the gap between personal and professional computing. Apple sought to improve upon the Apple II's capabilities, both in terms of hardware and software, while maintaining backward compatibility. Steve Jobs, who was heavily involved in its design, emphasized aesthetics and functionality. The Apple III featured a sleek design and was intended to be more robust and reliable, with enhanced performance.
⚙️ The Apple III was powered by a 2 MHz Synertek 6502A processor, an improvement over the Apple II's 1 MHz processor. It came with 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 512 KB, which was a significant upgrade at the time. The computer featured an internal 140 KB 5.25-inch floppy disk drive. An external floppy drive could also be connected for additional storage. The Apple III supported a variety of display modes, including 24 lines of 80-column text and multiple graphics modes. It ran on Apple SOS (Sophisticated Operating System), which offered advanced features such as hierarchical file system and support for multiple users.
💡 The Apple III introduced several innovations, including a built-in clock, advanced sound capabilities, and a new keyboard design. However, it also faced significant challenges: The Apple III initially suffered from severe overheating problems due to the lack of a cooling fan. This led to hardware failures, with chips often becoming dislodged from their sockets. Early units were plagued by reliability issues, which hurt the computer’s reputation in the business market.
💔 Despite its rocky start, Apple released an improved version in 1981, known as the Apple III Plus, which addressed many of the initial issues. The Apple III ultimately did not achieve the commercial success Apple had hoped for, with only about 65,000 units sold. Nevertheless, the Apple III played a crucial role in Apple's development. The lessons learned from its challenges influenced the design and engineering of future Apple products, including the highly successful Apple Macintosh.
💾 The Apple III stands as a fascinating chapter in the history of computing. While it may not have achieved the commercial triumph of its predecessor or successors, its ambition and the innovative spirit behind its design left an indelible mark on Apple’s evolution. Today, the Apple III is remembered as a symbol of both the challenges and the relentless drive for innovation that characterize Apple's journey.
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extrusionerp · 11 months
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Quality Assurance in the Digital Age: Leveraging ERP Solutions
In the digital age, quality assurance has become a critical aspect for businesses across industries. In particular, the metal alloys industry and extrusion processes require advanced solutions to ensure consistent quality and efficiency. This is where “Extrusion ERP” comes into play. By using Extrusion ERP for the metal alloys industry, businesses can effectively manage inventory levels, track production performance, and monitor quality control measures.
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Key Benefits of Using Extrusion ERP for Quality Assurance:
In an industry where quality can make or break your reputation, Extrusion ERP is the key to ensuring consistent, high-quality products. By leveraging ERP solutions for quality assurance, businesses can unlock several key benefits, including:
Increased Efficiency and Productivity
Enhanced Product Quality
Better Supply Chain Collaboration
Data-Driven Decision Making
Take the Leap to Quality Excellence!
Ready to transform your quality assurance practices in the metal alloy industry? Extrusion ERP is your best partner on this journey.
Don't settle for mediocrity. Advance your quality standards, streamline your operations, and enhance your environmental sustainability with Extrusion ERP. It's time to empower your business for success in the digital age.
Contact us today for a personalized demonstration and discover how Extrusion ERP can unlock a new era of quality assurance in the metal alloy industry. Your quest for exceptional quality begins now.
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ayeforscotland · 3 months
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Ad | Some Humble Bundle Goodies
One for the audio engineers - The Audio Arcade bundle gives you a whole bunch of royalty-free music and SFX as well as plugins to insert in all the major game engines. Ambient tracks, environmental sounds, explosions, you name it.
Money raised goes towards Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
For those who dabble in Virtual Reality, the Upload VR Showcase with Devolver Digital has a bunch of Serious Sam VR games as well as the Talos Principle, a really solid puzzle game.
Money raised goes to Special Effect which helps people with disabilities enjoy games via accessible controllers. I've seen the stuff they do and it's honestly great.
Want to get into programming but don't know where to start? The Learn to Program bundle has a tonne of resources covering everything from HTML and CSS through to Python, C# and Ruby.
Money raised goes towards Code.org which seeks to expand participation in computing science by helping women and students of colour.
The Future Tech Innovators Toolkit is a software bundle with courses on Robotics, Electronics and programming with Raspberry Pi and Arduino.
Money raised goes towards Alzheimers Research UK.
The Home How-To Guides bundle offers a complete set of books for home improvements and projects. Want to know more about plumbing, home repair, bathrooms, wiring or carpentry? This bundle has you covered.
Money raised goes to It Gets Better, a charity that supports LGBT Youth.
Want to pick up the latest Elden Ring DLC? It's also available on the Humble Store with the key being redeemable on Steam.
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seospicybin · 9 months
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REWIND.
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PART I
Hyunjin x reader x Seungmin. (s,a)
Chapters: Part II
Synopsis: As a part of a research team that works on a memory-erasing machine, you work alongside the professor whom you greatly admire and a computer geek who relentlessly flirts with you. But the one that you want is the one that you can't have. (12,6k words)
Author's note: Sorry for the delay. Enjoy this one!
Memories are recordings of our past experiences and experiences can be good and bad, some are in between. There are also ones that we wish we had never experienced in the first place and whether we like it or not, they stay with us. We can only try to endure them in the hope that time will lessen the pain that memory carries.
The thing is remembering is easy. It's forgetting that's hard.
Here at KS Research Facility, forgetting is as easy as pressing the delete button. The research team has successfully built software called Memory Neurons Erasing Machine, in short, MNE-Machine.
With the existence of this machine, now anyone can erase a certain memory from their brain and live as if that memory never existed at all.
The one to thank for this technology is Professor Kim Seungmin, the youngest yet the brightest scientist of the past decade. He is the one who came up with the idea, spent two years developing that idea, initiated the project, and ultimately, led the team building the machine from scratch.
There's only one MNE-Machine in the world for now and once it has successfully passed five human tests, the board will authorize the production of this machine so eventually, anyone can easily undergo the memory erasing procedure which means there’ll be more people to help.
And what is your part in this? You're an assistant to Seungmin, you directly work with the man who invented it and help him achieve his goal. Despite your minor role, you're proud to be a part of it. Despite restocking the coffee pods in his office is one of your job desks, well… yeah, you're still proud of it.
"How much time do I have before the meeting?"
You scramble when you see Professor Seungmin come into the office. You hurriedly finish restocking the coffee pods into the drawer and crumple the empty box behind your back. You glance at your wristwatch and check the time.
"You have approximately 30 minutes," you answer with a smile.
It's not like he'll your smile, Seungmin barely speaks a full sentence to you so there's no reason he looks at you in the eyes as he speaks. He goes to his drawer, scanning through the files with his fingers flipping one file over another to finally find the one he's looking for. He takes it with him as he sits on his desk, flipping the file open and starts reading.
"Is there anything I can help you with, Professor?" You ask because despite it being your job to assist him, he rarely asks for your help unless it's urgent.
He stays quiet until he flips to another page of his file, "Get me the subject's latest psych eval!"
"Right away, Professor!" You reply, picking up the empty box and carrying it with you out of the office.
Considering that there's not much time left until the meeting, you need to get it fast for Seungmin. But you know when you're in a hurry, there's always something that slows you down in the process. Well, in your case, it's a man who dresses like he's in a rock band in his ripped jeans and oversized t-shirts, his dark hair that he keeps long is usually tied in a low, messy ponytail.
At one point, everyone just kind of gave up telling him to put his lab coat on. As long as he does his job well as a tech scientist, everyone just let him be.
However, Hwang Hyunjin can't let you be, he flirts and teases, even seduces you at any chance possible.
"Can you get off my chair?" You ask, then let out a low sigh.
He swivels the chair to face you and grins, making his eyes forming two crescent moons, "I'm making your chair much more comfortable," he simply says while patting his lap, telling you to sit on it instead.
It's only going to be a waste of time trying to tell him off so you relent, sitting on his lap and when he's about to put his arms around you, you glare at him.
Hyunjin immediately put his hands up in defeat, "Want to grab drinks after work?"
He asked you the same question every other day for a few months now and your answer remains the same.
"No," you answer without a beat, getting on your computer to search for the file Seungmin asked.
"How about dinner?" Hyunjin shoves his hand into the pocket of your lab coat, knowing you like to keep sweets in there.
"My treat," he adds while checking the other pocket.
You're clicking open a few folders as you answer, "No."
Hyunjin excitedly gasps as he pulls out something out of your pocket, a caramel. He wastes no time to unwrap it then pops the cube-shaped caramel into his mouth.
"You know you can't keep saying no to me," he says, resting his chin on your shoulder.
"No," you shortly respond.
He hisses at the way you keep rejecting him, "There'll be a day where you say yes," he confidently says.
You look away from the computer screen to look at him and say, "No."
He softly sighs then rests his chin on your other shoulder, "Let's say you already done your part playing hard to get and get to the first base already," he shamelessly says.
Hyunjin is so bold and confident, you can't deny that he's beautiful, he probably never had any problems getting any girls he wanted. Maybe that’s why he won't stop asking you out, he feels challenged to win you over too. As if you would let him have the satisfaction.
Shaking your head, you pretend that you didn't hear him say that. You click print on the file and get up from his lap, walking to the printer to wait for it to finish printing yet Hyunjin follows you there, leaning against the printer machine with his arms crossed in front of you
"The more you reject me, the more motivated I am," he says with a lopsided grin on his face.
"You sound like a serial killer," you tell him.
He bends down to get the printed file for you and hands it to you with both hands, "I'm just saying."
Without looking, you know Hyunjin is trailing behind you like a puppy with his tail wagging behind him. He then sits on the edge of your desk, grabbing the stapler for you to use.
"Go, do your job or something!" You try to send him off even though you know it's going to be a useless effort.
"I am doing my job by helping you do your job," he says with a half-smirk.
See? It's only going to waste your time trying to tell him off, it's easier to ignore him. You hurriedly tidy the files and bring them to Seungmin's office. You place three gentle knocks on the door before letting yourself in.
"Professor, I have the files you need— Ouch!" You bump into someone and you glance up to see that it's Seungmin.
His office is big, in fact, too big for someone who likes to spend most of his time in the lab yet you feel like there's no space left where you can escape his intense stare.
"Oh, God! I am so sorry," you apologize in sheer panic and quickly take off the hands unknowingly resting against his chest.
You expect him to, you know, dust himself off since your hands were touching him but instead of that, he looks at you and not just look at your face but right into your eyes for the first time in a long time. The eye contact only lasts a second until Seungmin takes the files from you.
"I'll read it on the way to the meeting room," he says.
Having no time, you hurriedly grab your things from your desk, clutching them close to your chest as you follow him from behind.
On the way to the meeting room, Seungmin spotted Hyunjin having a donut in the pantry. He stops on his track to say, "Aren't you coming?"
Hyunjin knows well enough that when Seungmin tells him to go, then he should go. In fact, Seungmin is the only one who can control Hyunjin. A part of the reason is because Seungmin personally hired him and has been taking him under his wing, you can say Hyunjin is his protégé.
He puts the half-eaten donut down and happily joins the two of you as you let him link his arm with you, walking together to the meeting room.
-
There are three main buildings in the KS Research Facility.
 A building is the main office and a health facility, B building is the biggest and also a research facility, there are several science projects on the works in there but it's mainly focused on Biochemical, led by Professor Hale and C building is where you work along with the team that works with MNE-Machine, it's the smallest building so the team get to have the building for themselves.
But as a smaller community, you have to go to the B building for meetings and such because most of the board members are there. You have to walk from and through the greenhouse, seeing all the rare plants the scientists are collecting in there on the way to get to the B building.
Today's meeting is to seek approval from the members of the board on the test subject Seungmin has carefully selected from a group of volunteers and once it's approved he can proceed with the procedure.
While the important people are busy talking about important stuff, you and Hyunjin are secretly playing tic-tac-toe in your notebook. He's twirling his pen between his fingers when you subtly nudge his elbow, signaling that it's his turn to place his O.
As Hyunjin observes the game with his tongue slightly sticking out the corner of his mouth, you notice that Professor Hale's assistant, Rina, is staring at Hyunjin.
"Your turn," he whispers at you.
You look down at your notebook and lowly mutter through your gritted teeth, "One o'clock."
It takes him a moment to get what you're saying, and then Hyunjin looks in the direction you hinted. You watch them exchange a look before Hyunjin turns his head back at you, looking unbothered. He clicks his pen to place an O and scratches down the line.
"I won," he whispers with his warm breath tickling your ear.
Noticing that the meeting has come to a final decision, you stop talking and fix your sitting position. You watch as the board members take votes on whether Seungmin can continue with the test or not and all hands are raised in favor of Seungmin.
"With all members approving the selected test subject, Professor Seungmin is allowed to continue with the procedure that will be held on the agreed upon time and place," the board leader announces.
Even in his triumphant moment, Seungmin remains calm and still, you can't remember the last time he smiled, even out of courtesy. Ha he always been like this? Honestly, you can’t remember.
"The board members will watch closely the process, before and after the test. We also demand follow-ups and thorough datas on every detail of the test," they warn once again even though it's not the first time Seungmin has run the test.
Everyone scatters around once the meeting has finished, you wait outside of the meeting room knowing that Seungmin will likely stay to chat with the other professors. Rina is still here as well, holding her tablet close to her chest and not-so-subtly staring at Hyunjin
"You should ask her out," you mutter at Hyunjin, subtly hinting the subject of the talk with your eyes.
Hyunjin doesn't even look up from his phone when he flat-out rejects the idea, "No, thank you."
"Why not? She's pretty and she's your age," you point out all of the obvious facts why he should be seducing her, not you who's a couple of years older than him and not having a shiny, healthy hair.
Hyunjin lets out a scoff, then shoves his phone into the pocket of his hoodie, "You're prettier and older," he says with a sly smile plastered on his face.
Whether he tries to compliment you or try to offend you, you feel like you need to check if there's something wrong with him. You poke his side with your pen and he yelps in pain.
"What's wrong with you?" He sharply gasps.
"You are what's wrong," you answer, poking him on the other side this time.
He laughs and leans against the wall facing you, slightly slouching so he can be on the same eye level with you. "Dating older women is hot, you know," he coyly remarks.
You give him a repulsed glare at his words, shaking your head as you look away from him.
"And you're hot so dating you would be ticking two boxes at once," he adds with his sly smile growing wider on his angular face.
Besides your actual job, you have to deal with this 5'10" man bursting with youthful charm and testosterone, you wouldn't complain if you get double paychecks for it. You aim his stomach next and poke him with your pen again, hoping a little violence would put some sense into his small head.
"One more test, huh?" Professor Hale says, patting Seungmin's shoulder as they walk out of the meeting room.
It feels like your body is accustomed to getting on your perfect posture whenever Seungmin walks into your radar, you stop moving altogether and stand up straighter.
"I'll see everyone on Friday!" Professor Hale says one last time, he also smiles at you and Hyunjin before turning to leave.
Now that the team has earned the green light, everyone is going to get busier to prepare everything. Seungmin lists the things he wants you to do as he walks back to C building and you jot down everything on your notebook. He stops by the main lab and gets Hyunjin on the job, ordering him to run a diagnostic test on the MNE-Machine, checking for any issues.
It's one of those times when you can see how passionate Seungmin is about his work.
He's the reason why you applied for the job, not only because you can work directly with him but also because you admire him, his brilliance, his work ethic, and most of all, him as a person.
There are so many things you learned from working for him for the last three years and your admiration toward him only grows bigger with time. And out of that admiration, something else grows, something that makes you excited to go to work, makes you happy at the sight of him and wanting to always be close to him.
Sensing that someone is watching him, Seungmin turns around to find you still standing there, "Don't you have things to do?"
You gulp air before asking, "Uhm.. Professor?"
He starts walking with his hands shoved inside his lab coat pockets, "Yes?"
You half jog to keep up with his wide strides, "Professor Hale said one more test and I thought we're only on our fourth test?"
You wait for his answer while quietly admiring his wide shoulders from the back while struggling to keep up with his fast walks.
All of a sudden, he turns on his feet and then he looks at you, the eye contact doesn't last longer than a second until he looks away, "Notify the test subject first and make sure they make the time for the interview tomorrow!" He orders instead of answering your question.
"Will do, Professor," you respond.
You manage to finish a few things before it's time to go home, the rest on the to-do list are meant to be done tomorrow though. As you're about to get your coat, Seungmin walks out of his office and swings his briefcase on his side.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he says without looking at you.
"Have a great—" You don't even get to finish your sentence as he disappears into the elevator.
Only a dozen people are working in the C building and there are only five people working directly with Seungmin. Professor Lee who worked together on MNE-Machine with Seungmin is being called to give lectures out of the country and taking his assistant with him, so that leaves you and Hyunjin. The rest of the employees are working maintenance on the lower level of the building, you only meet them when you either enter or leave the building.
"Are you sure you don't want to grab drinks with me?" Hyunjin asks, unlocking his car but not getting in yet.
You toss your bag onto the passenger's seat before getting inside your car. It's actually tempting to say yes, you could use it to blow some steam off to prepare you for the busy days ahead.
But you don't want to give Hyunjin the satisfaction. No, not yet.
"No," you answer with a playful smile.
Hyunjin tosses his backpack inside and comes up to your car, he bends down to look at you through your rolled-down window.
"Come on. It'll be fun," he persuades with a smile that is mischievous and seductive at once. You bet this is how he puts anyone under his spell.
You turn your head at him and smile, "You know what would be fun?"
He tips his head to the side and asks, "What?"
"Me running you over with my car," you jokingly say as you turn on the car engine.
“Ooo… feisty,” Hyunjin hisses then slowly, he steps away from your car.
That's how most of your days usually went, dealing with two men who are the opposite of each other. One gives you not enough attention and the other gives you way too much. One is cold and nonchalant, the other one is warm and attentive.
Sadly, the one that you want is the one that you can't have.
-
What is it that he likes about you? Hyunjin can quite put his finger on it.
Something about you though draws him to you, it's almost magnetic and he happens to like the push and pull of it. However, he liked you even before this dynamic formed between the two of you.
He likes that you're unlike the other girls he had met and known, you have a way of carrying yourself, you're outspoken and bold, and he can see how smart you are from the way you act, the way you talk, and even the way you think.
Under that layer of fine qualities though, you're a simple girl, gentle and a bit silly and Hyunjin likes to play with that latter part of you because he knows that even though you act like you don't like being around him, he knows that it’s actually the opposite.
One thing that Hyunjin likes the most is when you're deeply focusing on something. You look so beautiful yet so unaware of it.
"Why are you working so hard? You only get one paycheck," he whispers from behind you as you observe the interview occurring in the next room.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence,” You sneer at him.
Hyunjin stands right behind you, his hand is rummaging inside your lab coat pocket to find something sweet in there. He finds your scrunchie instead and he uses it to tie his hair into a messy bun.
"So, what memories are we going to erase?" Hyunjin asks while rummaging through your other lab pocket. He gasps in excitement when he finds a lollipop.
"A bombing incident, he was trapped under the rubble for ten hours in complete darkness and has been dealing with severe PTSD and claustrophobia ever since," you eloquently explain, jotting down a few things in your notebook as you speak.
"That's tragic," Hyunjin comments while struggling to unwrap the lollipop.
Hyunjin takes a moment to look at the interview taking place in the next room conducted by Seungmin himself. He's asking the test subject about his worst memories and as the test subject talks about them, he triggers the brain to show where these memories are located. It's important to have a map of these memories to prevent the MNE-Machine from messing with the other memories.
"Are you ready to spend another night together?" He asks, finally succeeding in unwrapping the lollipop.
"I can tell you're into threesomes," you joke in a plain tone.
It seems like Seungmin hasn't told you about the personal matter he has to attend on Friday night and as his assistant, you’re supposed to know these kind of things before him. Hyunjin crosses his arms in front of him and tries to make what of it.
"He didn't tell you?"
You stop noting down bits from the interview, "What?"
"Professor Seungmin will be having his wedding anniversary dinner on Friday night and obviously, he can't miss it," he tells you.
From the way your eyes waver and widen, you indeed have no idea about it. You look back at your notebook but stop writing.
He leans in and mutters, "We'd likely spend the night just the two of us, isn't that exciting?"
You put your pen into your pocket and flip shut your notebook, then you get up from your chair. You turn to look at him and pull the lollipop he stole out of his mouth.
"Stop stealing my sweet!" You tell him, shoving the lollipop into your mouth next.
You leave the room looking slightly upset about something but he's sure it's not about the lollipop. However, Hyunjin is mostly focused on how you didn't hesitate to take the lollipop.
"Kinky? Checked," he mutters to himself.
There's nothing wrong with the MNE-Machine and Hyunjin understands that Seungmin wants everything to be perfect until the day of the test, but he worries too much. The MNE-Machine can only get activated by his access key so he goes to his office, knocking on his door before popping his head between the doors.
"Professor, I need the access key to uh..." he awkwardly says because it feels like he's asking his dad if he can borrow his car.
"I'll be right there," Seungmin shortly answers.
Now that he only needs to wait for Seungmin, he has time to tease you. He leans on your desk, watching your nimble fingers busy typing something on your computer with your hair draping around your face.
"Hi, the most beautiful and hardworking girl," he sweetly greets you with a bright smile on his face.
"That's half true," you say without taking your eyes away from the computer screen.
"You know I'm always telling the truth," he says once again, feeling tempted to tuck your hair so he can see your face.
"I am the only girl in the building," you point out with a raised eyebrow.
Hyunjin can't help himself anymore, he reaches for your hair, wanting to brush it to the side when Seungmin gets out of his office.
"Let's go," he says to Hyunjin while fixing his lab coat.
Hyunjin reluctantly drops his hand and offers it to you, "Come with me, dear princess?"
You chuckle at him and take his hand, letting him put your hand around his as you both walk to the main lab.
MNE-Machine resembles one big X-ray machine but the technology behind it is way more intricate than that and Hyunjin's job is to operate it. He's sitting behind the large desk with a dozen computer screens showing a lot of things all at once.
It's a quick check-up for tomorrow's test, Hyunjin gets the machine ready and swivels his chair back to let Seungmin insert his access key to run the program. Hyunjin's long fingers are dancing on the keyboard, checking everything and making sure everything is fine.
"I don't see any issues here, working just fine, Professor," Hyunjin informs, showing him the performance log on one of the computer screens.
Seungmin observes it for a while, checking things himself and Hyunjin is already used to his mistrust. After all, Seungmin is a scientist,  he only believes something when it's written in data, not someone's words.
"Everything is great," he mutters, still checking everything.
"Just like I said..." Hyunjin lowly mutters through his teeth while swiveling his chair to see you, flashing a smile at you when you're clearly not looking at him.
Seungmin then turns around to face everyone but only looks at Hyunjin as he speaks.
"The two of you can come late tomorrow but make sure to be here by four. The test will commence at 5," Seungmin says even though everyone is well aware of it because it's the only thing they've been working on for these past few days.
"And we'll take care of the rest," Hyunjin continues his words while swiveling his chair back to face the computer,
Seungmin briefly glances at Hyunjin then takes a pen out of his lab coat, "I'll stay to supervise," he says.
"Then how about your dinner, Professor?" Hyunjin asks.
"I'll take care of my personal matter myself," Seungmin coldly answers.
Those words are enough to put Hyunjin back in his place, he retreats right away and closes his mouth. His intention is not to meddle in his business but it's a wedding anniversary, it only happens once in a year and he has to wait for another year to celebrate. Maybe Seungmin can celebrate it another time but Hyunjin wouldn't be so sure the missus would be pleased to hear her husband rather stay the night up working in the lab.
And also because—
"I think you should go, Professor," you say.
The heads are turned in your direction, and you're fidgeting with the hem of your lab coat as you speak, "I mean, once you authorized the procedure... Hyunjin and I, the two of us can supervise it..." your voice gets smaller the more you talk.
It seems like a good time for Hyunjin to add his say too, he gets up from his chair to make it a formal appeal.
"We just need to wait until the machine finishes the procedure. We surely can do that for you," Hyunjin assures.
It's going to be a hard case to convince him since Seungmin has trust issues, especially with Hyunjin. Again, it's the scientist in him.
"I don't feel good leaving such great responsibility on the two of you," He says without looking at either you or him.
"There's nothing to worry about, Professor. The machine works fine and if anything happens— which I'm sure nothing is going to happen, Professor Hale is a building away and... so are the other dozen of Professors..." Hyunjin failed not to fumble on his words, he was rambling the whole time.
"What Hyunjin is trying to say is we're trained to do this and if you're worried, we'll keep you notified every hour on the progress of the procedure," you immediately add.
Hyunjin secretly gives you a thumbs-up from behind his back, thanking you for backing him up.
Seungmin looks at him, then at you, probably considering whether to finally trust his employees or not. Whatever his decision is, Hyunjin is ready to be disappointed. After a moment, Seungmin clicks his pen and puts it back into his pocket.
"I'll think about it," he concludes, leaving the main lab with the hem of his lab coat flying behind him.
Hyunjin kicks the floor to gain momentum so the chair rolls across the room and hits the other end of the table, stopping not far from you.
"I know you want to spend the night together with me," he teases you.
You scoff and look at him, "Mmh. Yeah, sure."
He takes both of your hands and holds them, "What do you want to do tomorrow night, mmh?"
Your shoulders slump as you sigh, "Should I change my mind about this?"
Hyunjin puts his hands on your shoulders and keeps your gaze on him, "How about this? Tomorrow, you come dressed nicely for me and I'll take care of the essentials," he says, slowly blinking his eyes hoping they're enough to soften you.
The stillness on your face shatters as you break into a smile, "Okay," you reply with a nod.
Hyunjin leans down to kiss your hands but you retrieve them before he can place a kiss, "Don't get too excited!"
This proves that you actually like having him around. You could have drawn boundaries and he would have respected it, but instead of that, you keep letting him in.
And Hyunjin hopes you keep on letting him in until the day you finally say yes to him.
-
With Seungmin sending you to pick up his suits at the tailor means that he has decided to go to the wedding anniversary dinner tonight.
The drive from the nearest town to the facility takes half an hour and on the way back to your car, you see a flower shop and think of getting a bouquet as a gift. You pick the nicest one knowing that Seungmin married a woman who comes from a wealthy family and their wealth funded Seungmin's project. In fact, the facility is owned by Seungmin's parents in-laws.
What do you have against all that? This is the bitter pill you have to swallow everyday for the last three years.
As you expected, Seungmin is already in his office as you can see through the glass window, reading his journal and probably working on his new project already. You put on your lab coat and then knock on his office door three times before entering his office.
"Good day, Professor," you greet.
You walk to his coat hanger, hang his suits for him, and then put his mails on his desk. You take a step back and look at him, a way to let him know that you’re at his service.
"Anything else I can do for you, Professor?"
Seungmin looks up from his journal and lays his eyes on you, staring at you like there's something wrong with you. You immediately look down, checking your appearance and you're sure that it's not the first time you wear a skirt to work so what is different about you that gets him staring?
"P-professor?" You stammer, wiping your palms down the front of your skirt.
He immediately looks away and clears his throat as he flips the next page of his journal, "Make sure the serum is ready and check in on Professor Hale uh..." he clears his throat before continuing to talk.
"What time he'll be here, " He takes another look at you before turning his chair away from you.
"Sure thing, Professor," you respond, wasting no time to get on the job.
The sight of the flower bouquet reminds you to put it in the fridge for the time being to keep it fresh, you bring it with you to the pantry, and safely tuck it between bottles of water inside the fridge. You're supposed to go to the B building to get the serum but you make a stop at the main lab, seeing Hyunjin is already busy in front of his computer.
"That's new," you say, commenting on the glasses he's wearing.
Hyunjin rolls his chair away from his desk and looks at you with a grin on his face.
"Yeah, it's uh... I can't see clearly without them," he says while sticking his finger inside the frame, showing you that it's just the frame. Hyunjin has a weird sense of humor but in a way that is adorable, not annoying.
You softly laugh and shake your head, "I have to go to the next building."
He nods and effortlessly twirls a pen between his fingers, "I'd like to come with you but he wants me to..." he shows how busy he is to get everything ready for the test.
"That's okay. I'm working faster this way anyway," you playfully say.
After running around the facility getting everything ready for the test, you knock on Seungmin's office to notify him that everything is ready. As usual, you let yourself in after the third knock and walk up to his desk, "Professor, the test subject is already on their way here," you inform.
Seungmin gets up from his chair to put on his lab coat, "Okay then I'll uh..." he looks down at his desk, cluttered with papers.
"Can you look for the—" he points at the mess on his desk.
"Want me to tidy your desk?" You offer but not moving until you get his confirmation.
"Yes."
While he's busy putting on his lab coat, you gather all the papers and put all of them into a stack, along with old files he took out from archives. You organize them into different piles and when you lift his journal, his access key slips out of it. You don't know if he notices, but you quickly squat down to get it from the floor.
Seungmin keeps a Polaroid photo in the back of his access key, you can tell from the back of it but you're curious to see who's in the photo. The safe bet would be of his wife or them together but if that's the case then why did he choose to hide it?
"Here," you hand him his access key knowing that he needs it to authorize the use of MNE-Machine.
Seungmin looks at you, then at the access key in your hand. He quickly reaches for it and as he takes it from you, his fingers brush with yours, you feel a static current, a slight electric shock that makes you retract your hand right away.
You see that he senses it too from the way his eyes widen and grow a little intense, or maybe because you caught him staring into your eyes again.
"I'll check the main lab," you excuse yourself out of his office.
The preparation continues as Professor Seungmin explains the procedure that he'll be going through and after that, he gives him an injection with the serum that will make the test subject's brain responsive to the MNE-Machine. Soon, the test subject will fall into deep sleep and he'll remain in his slumber while the MNE-Machine is working on him.
Everyone gathers in the main lab to start the test and Professor Hale is here as the representation of the board members, watching over Seungmin who works with a team of doctors to check on the test subject one last time to continue with the procedure.
You walk up to stand next to Hyunjin who also watches everything from the operator room, you quietly take his hand and put it inside your lab coat pocket.
He turns his head at you and smiles when he finds the sweet you keep in there for him. He gladly takes it out of your pocket and his eyes shimmer when he finds out what it is, a small bar of chocolate.
"Good luck for today," you mutter to him.
"Thank you," He whispers as he puts it in the back pocket of his jeans.
It's time for the final step. Seungmin takes out his access key and scans it into the computer, sending the screens light up and the system starts loading.
Hyunjin then takes the role of operating the machine, clicking on his keyboard and getting the MNE-Machine ready for Seungmin. When he's done, he backs away to let Seungmin push the authorization button. He glances at Professor Hale, seeking final approval from him.
"Go ahead, Professor," Professor Hale says, allowing him to continue.
Seungmin confidently pushes the button and MNE-Machine begins by following the map Seungmin has recorded days before and from there, it starts erasing the targeted memories from its most recent to the earliest. The procedure could take 8 to 10 hours, depending on the amount of memories programmed to be erased.
Professor Hale applauds as Seungmin successfully launches another test and comes up to him to congratulate him with a proud smile on his face and pats on his shoulder, "Congratulations!"
"Don't congratulate me yet, Professor," Seungmin sheepishly says.
"We all know your machine is a great success," Professor Hale praises, briefly glancing at you before looking back at him.
You don't want to overanalyze something that could mean nothing but a mere glance. You smile at him thinking he's just being courteous with you.
Professor Seungmin leaves to send everyone off or more like, return to B building. Now that the procedure is truly underway, you come up behind Hyunjin to give him a pat on the shoulder.
"Wow. You're working," you poke fun at him.
Hyunjin takes your hand and pulls at it, dropping his head to the back to look at you, "Do I look smart?"
"You are smart," you simply confirm with a gentle pat on his cheek.
There's no other reason why Seungmin hired him in the first place if it's not because he’s qualified for the job which includes adequate intelligence.
"And you like smart guys so what are we waiting for?" He says, pressing your palm to his cheek.
"Professor Seungmin," you tell him, seeing that he's making his way back into the main lab with his hands buried in his lab coat pockets.
You hurriedly take your hands away from Hyunjin and take a step back, you immediately get on your perfect posture as his figure enters the room.
"What's the status?" Seungmin asks.
"Everything is up and running fine," Hyunjin immediately responds.
"Vital signs?"
"Normal and stable," you respond from the other end of the desk, watching over the state of the test subject's essential body functions.
Seungmin stayed for another hour until the MNE-Machine successfully erased the first memory. He checks on everything once again to finally leave the main lab and goes to his office to get ready to leave.
You don't want to walk in on him changing his clothes so you give it a few more minutes and decide to take the flower bouquet out of the fridge before you forget. As usual, you knock three times on his door but this time, you wait until he lets you in. You knock again when he doesn't respond, afraid that he's still changing.
"Come in!" Seungmin says from inside his office.
Seungmin is tying his tie in front of the mirror when you come in, you stop right by his desk and inform him of the latest status of the test.
"Keep watching it closely while I..." his words trail off as he slides the knot up to the base of his shirt collar. He turns around and takes the suit jacket off of its hanger, swiftly putting it on. He's doing a mundane thing yet it's such a mesmerizing sight for you.
You notice the back of his collar is folded and you reach for it, reflexively fixing it for him. Now that you have crossed into his personal space, you may as well continue by helping him flatten the lapels of his suit jacket. You can feel his eyes on you as you fix on his tie and you try so hard to ignore it.
It's better to say sorry than ask for permission.
You quickly take a step back once you're done and mutter your apology, "I'm sorry."
Instead of scolding you, Seungmin takes his briefcase and coat with him, then heads to the door. You scramble to chase him out of his office and give in once you know that he's going to the main lab to check everything before he leaves.
Seungmin returns with Hyunjin and you hurriedly grab the bouquet you bought for him. You doubt he'll accept it but what's the harm in doing something nice?
Hyunjin pushes the button on the elevator and it arrives in a minute. Not giving him a chance to reject your gift, you wait until the last moment to give it to him.
"Congratulations on your wedding anniversary, Professor," you mutter as quickly as possible, handing the bouquet right into his hand.
Seungmin looks at the flowers in his hand, then looks at you, seeming like he wants to say something but refrains.
"Congratulations, Professor!" Hyunjin also congratulates him as he stands next to you.
"Have a great night!" He cheerily adds with a bright smile and enthusiastically waves his hands at him.
As the elevator doors close, you feel like letting go of something that you can't get back. It's funny that it feels like that when he's not yours in the first place.
The hand rests around your shoulder and snaps you out of your head. You turn your head to find Hyunjin slyly smiling at you.
"Ready to party?" 
-
The parent is finally out of the house and Hyunjin can throw a party in the house.
As promised, he brought a box of things that he deemed as ‘essentials’ that he's been keeping it hidden in the cabinet in the pantry.
"Okay, impress me!" You tell him, standing across the table to see what he bought for tonight.
Hyunjin puts on a cocky smile, he's confident with what he does as he places the box on top of the counter with a low thud. First, he takes out all the bags of chips and cans of soda.
One corner of your mouth curls higher than the other, seeing that he bought all of your favorite snacks. You take a bag of chips and waste no time to tear it open.
"Not the time to be impressed yet," he says to you with the cocky smile still dancing on his face.
You shrug and continue munching on potato chips as he introduces you to the other essentials.
Hyunjin takes a bottle of Tequila next and you respond with a nod of approval. He continues with another one, a tin can, and slides it in front of you.
"Mints?" You ask in utter confusion.
This time, Hyunjin gives you a shrug. He makes you open the tin can to find two rolled joints inside. He sees another smile of approval rise on your pretty face.
Hyunjin suppresses his laugh as he fishes out the last thing, he holds it in his hand and puts it in the middle of the counter.
Your eyebrow raises at the sight of a box of condoms, "This is essential?" 
Hyunjin rests both hands on top of the counter, "If you want to do it raw, I'm more than okay with it," he jokingly says.
You pick it up and observe it like you have never seen it before, reading the back of the box like it’s a foreign object to you.
"Regardless we'll have sex or not, a condom is essential," Hyunjin adds.
You snort when you notice something on the box of condoms, "Are you sure you bought the right size?"
He snatches it from you and puts it back into the box. He stares at you and says, "You have no idea what's coming to you."
You chortle at his words and uncap the bottle of alcohol, "Let's get this party started, shall we?"
He stops from you from getting the bottle of Tequila, "No, wait, wait, now is the time for you to be impressed," he says.
You tip your head to the side, "What?"
"I have Tim from security bring us pizza when he takes his shift tonight," Hyunjin announces with a pride smile.
The facility is in the countryside and ordering food is hard because it takes at least half an hour to get here, even if they are willing to go that far, the food gets cold by the time they get here.
"Now, I am impressed," you remark with a sly smile.
As a start, you both have a few shots of Tequila before mixing it with soda and drinking it from your respective mugs. The party continues in the main lab as Hyunjin has to message Seungmin on the current status. Hyunjin chooses to send a text instead of calling, afraid that he interrupt the romantic dinner.
Hyunjin glances up from his phone to find you leaning against the desk, reading something on the computer. With your lab coat off, he can see the way you are dressed for tonight. Not sure if it's because of what he asked but you indeed dressed nicely tonight. You wear a blouse and a plaid skirt, and you rarely wear a skirt to work, but the one that intrigues him is the black tights you're wearing.
Fuck leaving so little to the imagination, he likes having a lot of imagination when it comes to you. He can imagine a lot of scenarios just from seeing the way you bend against that desk.
You take a small sip of your alcohol then look over your shoulder, "Do you know why I can't open this file?"
Hyunjin immediately comes to your aid, standing behind you until his chest meets your back and maneuvering your hand that is holding the computer mouse instead of doing it himself. His head hanging next to yours to find out the problem of why you can't open the file and he discovered that it's locked.
"You need an access key to open this," he simply answers.
"You're saying Professor Seungmin is the only one who can access the file?"
He quietly gulps air before answering your question, "Yes."
You turn your head to the side to look at him and he can't keep his calm when your lips are only inches away from him.
"Can we have that joint now?" You sweetly ask with your alcohol-tinted breath brushes his lips.
He softly smiles and answers, "Of course."
Hyunjin lights up the end of the rolled joint and takes a drag, passing it to you after while letting out a long curl of white smoke out of his mouth.
"Why do you think he locked it?" You ask as you take the joint from him.
"I don't know," Hyunjin honestly answers with a shrug, "Maybe it's his new project or something."
You take a long, slow drag and pursed your lips as you exhale the smoke, filling the room with the sweet-smelling smoke.
"I found it in among the data files of previous tests," you tell him, passing the joint to him.
You turn around to face the computer again to show him where you find the locked files, "See?"
It's supposed to be a fun night and discovering what's inside that locked files isn't a part of the plan. Hyunjin needs to intervene so when you're about to take your turn to smoke, Hyunjin keeps it tugged between his teeth and rolls his chair away from you.
"Hey!" You shout in complaint.
"Puff and pass!" You remind him of the unwritten rule of smoking pot.
Hyunjin shakes his head and reclines on his chair, "Come and get it," he says, smoke escapes his mouth as he speaks.
Once you come close enough, he pulls you until you topple and have you sitting on his lap. You don't seem to mind, you get comfortable instead, resting your back on his chest and let his arms wrapped around you.
You take the smoke from his mouth and finally take your turn, "You think he'll be back soon?"
Hyunjin's forehead wrinkled at your random and sudden question, "Professor Seungmin?"
"Yeah," you answer, handing the joint back to him.
He takes it from you but keeps it between his fingers, "Uhm... I don't know. Rich people tend to take their dinner seriously, they probably have a full-course dinner, and after that... sex," Hyunjin emphasizes the last word.
He then takes a quick drag and looks the other way to exhale the smoke, "God, I hope he gets laid. Man needs to lighten up!"
He passes the joint to you even though there's not much left of it but you refuse by shaking your head. He finishes it and throws the butt into his empty can of soda.
"Don't worry. We'll have time for a foreplay or two," he jokingly says with his hand rubbing down your arm.
You laugh at that and his body shakes along to your crisp laughter. You turn your head and there it goes again, your lips merely inches away from him.
This palpable sexual tension... Hyunjin can't take it anymore yet he does nothing but keeps staring at your face.
"Are you going to keep staring and not kiss me?" You say but it seems like you're reading his thoughts out loud to him.
You take his glasses off and toss them away, "Or do I have to do it for you?" 
Your hand curves around his neck and you angle his head towards you, not hesitating to lean in first to kiss him.
Hyunjin always thought that when the two of you kiss, he imagined it would be romantic but it's not, it feels way better than that. It feels natural and familiar like he has kissed you a thousand times, like your lips belong to be kissed by his lips.
And you know what? Fuck romantic kisses.
Hyunjin wants kisses that feel right like this, tightening his hold around you and engulfing you in his warm embrace as he deepens the kiss. The more he kisses you, the more he can't stop, and worse is, you keep trying to quench his endless thirst.
The sound of his phone ringing shatters the intense moment, he keeps kissing you and mutters against your lips, "Let's pretend none of us hear it."
You chuckle and slowly pull away, "It could be Professor Seungmin," you say, then console him with a quick peck on the lips.
"Mmh... 'kay," he heavily sighs.
Hyunjin reluctantly reaches for his phone on his desk while his other arm is still wrapped around you, not letting you get off his lap. He accepts the call right away and talks on the phone, it's Tim from security telling him his pizza is here. He ends the call with another sigh.
"I have to go and get our pizza," he pouts at you.
"Then go and get our pizza," you simply resolve.
Hyunjin holds you close and allows himself to plant a kiss on your neck. He stays there for a moment with his head buried in your neck, getting himself drunk in your heavenly scent.
After a moment, he forces himself to let you go, "Guess I have to go," he says in defeat.
You take that as a cue to get up from his lap and immediately smooth down your skirt, "I'll be waiting here."
Hyunjin ties his hair into a messy bun and takes his phone with him, in case Seungmin is going to call him to ask for the current status.
"Don't go anywhere, okay?" He warns you.
You lean your hips against the desk and take a sip of your alcohol, "Okay."
Hyunjin heads to the door and then turns around by the doorway, "We'll continue the kiss when we get back."
You manage to not spit your drink and swallow it before answering, "Okay."
Impulsively, Hyunjin rushes to you and places a long peck on your lips. He then breaks into a run, not giving you time to change your mind about continuing the kiss.
-
It's going to take at least 20 minutes for Hyunjin to pick up the pizza to and fro.
As you wait for him, you're going to your desk to check on a few things, and then you see Seungmin's office and get intrigued to get in there. You're not going to steal anything, you just want to take a look around and perhaps, get a few hints on what Seungmin is working on.
You've seen the books on his shelf one too many times so you come to his desk because that's where you usually get any hints. It's either something he randomly jot down on his notebook or the journals he's studying.
Seungmin happens to have a stack of them on his desk, you're going through them one by one, only reading the front page to see what it's about and moving on to the next one. However, between those scientific journals, you find a different file. You open it to see that it's a lease statement whether he wants to continue the contract for another year or not.
The first thought that comes to your head is that maybe Seungmin bought a nice beach house as a wedding anniversary gift but why did he rent it? He's more than capable of buying a property, especially a house with only one bedroom that—
Wait, what if they've been living separately? You check the address and find that the conclusion is rather implausible. It's two hours of drive, commuting from there and here would be tiring. 
The faint sound of the elevator chimes open can be heard from his office, it seems like Hyunjin has returned from picking up the pizza. You tidy up the stack and put them back where they belong, then quietly leave his office. You can hear Hyunjin calling for your name.
You jog to meet him in the pantry, "Smells nice!"
"Where were you?" He asks, opening the fridge to get another bottle of soda.
"Bathroom," you lie since it’s easier then refill his mug with more alcohol and Hyunjin pours soda after.
It must be the effect of the recreational drug you smoked earlier that makes the pizza taste exceptionally delicious and the next thing you know, you already ate three slices of them. Hyunjin has been so quiet and it's because his mouth is full of food. He smiles at you as you catch him taking a big bite out of his pizza.
"Hyunjin eats so well!" You coo, addressing him in the third person and poking at his cheek with your index finger, treating him like a little baby to annoy him.
"Do you have any memories you want to erase?"
The question just sort of pops into your head and you are kind of curious to know his answer. You pick up another slice and alternate it with a sip of your spiked soda in between bites.
Hyunjin slows down his chewing, he puts down his pizza slice to grab his drink, and takes an earthly sip, "Maybe that one time I pissed my pants during the school field trip," he answers.
"How old were you?"
"Second grade."
You take a small bite of your pizza and ask, "What happened?"
"I got bitten by a spider," he answers.
"And how did you piss your pants?"
"Because I'm afraid of spiders," he innocently answers.
You burst into laughter and have a hard time swallowing your food after, you wash it down with your Tequila soda to help.
"But I'm not sure I wanted to erase it though," Hyunjin adds, adding more alcohol to his mug.
You give up on finishing your pizza slice and put it back in the box, "Why is that so?"
"That day, I found out I'm allergic to spider venom," he answers.
You scrunch your nose in perplexity because it's bad experiences, one after another and he chooses not to erase it,
"Why not?"
"Then I would forget that I'm allergic to it," he simply answers.
You don't get enough explanation from him so you keep looking at him with a questioning look on your face.
"What if I get bitten by a spider again and I don't have the knowledge that I'm allergic to spider venom?" Hyunjin lays out a scenario for you.
"Well, yeah..." you nod in agreement as the logic in his answer registered into your head.
"I could have died," Hyunjin dramatically adds with a squeeze on your shoulder.
"I get it, I get it," you answer, half chuckling at him.
Hyunjin takes a long sip of his drink and gasps once he swallows it all down. He leans on the counter and leaves not so much space between your faces.
"But think about it..." he says.
You nod, ready to listen to what he's about to say.
"Life would be boring if we only remember the good memories," he says.
That simple notion speaks so much and when you think Hyunjin couldn't be more profound than that, he comes with another remark.
"There wouldn't be good moments in the first place without the bad ones too."
Hyunjin lets a moment pass in silence to let those words sink into your head and you're indeed still processing them. He makes a good point that you can't add anything to that. You can't believe that Hyunjin has left you speechless.
But looking at the test subject, going through the procedure to have their bad memories erased doesn't mean that they're being cowardly. They have must thought these things through before deciding to volunteer as a test subject.
“But when you look at babies, they’re so pure and free because they come into this world with no memories. And adults are… a mess. They’re sad, depressed, and anxious and have phobias, and Professor Seungmin, he makes them all go away,” You deliver your opinion.
Hyunjin nods in agreement and that regardless of everyone’s stand on whether they want to erase their memories or not, the work all of you are doing here helps people.
-
"They're on their sixth, yes," Hyunjin speaks into the phone as Seungmin calls the office for a status check.
"Vitals?" He glances at you.
You hurriedly hover to the other end of the desk to check and give him a thumbs-up.
"Pulse rate, respiration, BP, all stable," he informs.
The call ends in the next second and Hyunjin places the handle of the phone down, he leans against the desk, panting as if he has just run a mile. It seems like you both have sobered down after munching on pizza together. You exchange a look at each other and break into a smile at the same time.
"Card game?" Hyunjin offers.
"Sure."
You can taste the imbalance of the alcohol and juice ratio you put into your mug but you need it to fuel yourself for the card game.
Hyunjin shuffles the card in his hands and splits the deck into two even stacks, he pushes one at you and draws the other closer to him.
"Whoever draws the smaller card value, loses," he explains the game rules.
You take a gulp of your drink and ask, "And when I lose...?"
He ties his hair into a ponytail and puts his hand on top of his card stack, "Whoever loses has to take a piece of their clothing off," he says with a devilish smirk that makes him more attractive.
It's obvious that Hyunjin has been wanting to play this game, the excitement is drawn on his face and somehow, it makes him more adorable, you can't help but smile.
"Are you sure you split the card evenly?" You jokingly accuse.
"You're welcome to shuffle your cards if you want," Hyunjin calmly responds, then sips his canned soda.
You laugh at how he gives you the side eyes, "When do we start?"
"Eager, are we?" Hyunjin says that it's him who's been anticipating this.
Hyunjin rubs his hands together before placing his hand on top of his deck of cards and pinches a card in between his fingers.
"Ready?" He asks.
You slide the cards down the table and intensely look at each other before turning it over, revealing the cards at the same time. A gasp escapes your mouth as your 7 of Heart card beats his 2 of spades. You prop a hand under your chin and wait for him to do his punishment as he lost this round.
It doesn't faze him, he takes his sweater off and tosses it onto the empty chair next to him. He's wearing a plain white t-shirt underneath and he rolls the short sleeves up to his shoulders, exposing the muscles on his arms.
The next round is won by Hyunjin as his 9 of hearts card beats your 6 of spades. You calmly take your blouse off and hang it on the back of your chair.
Your Jack of Diamonds forces Hyunjin to remove his t-shirt next and you didn't expect him to have a toned body considering that you always find him sitting on his chair and working in front of the computer. You try not to be obvious that you're ogling him but he catches you looking already, so...
"And you've been hiding that under your oversized clothes?" You poke fun at him.
He coyly shrugs in response to you and tidies his deck of cards, "Want to switch decks?"
It seems like a trap because your cards have been doing good and switching decks may switch your luck too.
"No. I like my cards," you refuse his offer with a smile.
He shrugs again and this time, his Jack of Clubs won against your Ace of Diamonds. He triumphantly smiles and crosses his arms watching you getting off your chair to unzip your skirt. You take a step away from the counter to shimmy the skirt down your legs. It feels wrong to be this exposed in the pantry of your workplace.
"You sure you don't want to switch?" He offers again with a lopsided grin.
It's tempting but you trust that your cards will bring you luck, you shake your head and take another card from the top of the stack.
"How about I reveal my card first?" Hyunjin daringly offers.
"Okay, sure," you coyly agree, letting him flip open his card first.
His long fingers are holding the edge of the card and at once, he turns it over, revealing a 9 of hearts. It is supposed to be easy to get a card higher than that. Oddly, you suddenly lost the confidence you had in your cards a minute ago. You put on a calm face and flip the card, not looking at it until you let go of your hand.
"Fuck!" You lowly curse at your 7 of clubs.
You let out a low sigh as you’re about to do your punishment and reach your hand to the back to unclasp your bra. You maintain eye contact with Hyunjin as you let the bra straps slide down your shoulders. In one swift moment, you take the bra off and let it join your pile of clothes on the back of your chair. You lean back and see Hyunjin smiling ear to ear.
"Christmas came early for you, huh, Hwang Hyunjin?"
It doesn't even bother him that you called him by his full name which he dislikes. He's enjoying his triumph, his tongue is slightly sticking out on the corner of his mouth as he smiles.
"I think it is," he says.
Instead of showing him your defeat, you feel motivated to win the next round. You put all of your hair to one side and lean onto the table, slapping the next card on the table.
"Want to raise the bet?" You challenge him.
One of his eyebrows raises in intrigue, "What are you proposing?"
"Whoever loses next has to take two pieces of clothing," you answer with a daring smirk.
It's a fair game since Hyunjin has only his jeans and his underwear on and so are you, with your tights and underwear.
"Let's raise the bet," Hyunjin calls to your bluff.
"I'll reveal my card first," you dare yourself even though you have no idea what card you're keeping under your hand.
"Be my guest," Hyunjin delightfully says.
You hold his gaze and flip the card, surprising yourself with a Queen of hearts. You can almost taste that sweet victory knowing that Hyunjin needs a King to beat your card. However, Hyunjin is looking nowhere near your card and you know well enough where he is looking.
You purposely lean forward on the table, presenting him a clearer view of your chest then tap your fingers on the table, "Ground control to Major Tom!" You summon his consciousness back to reality.
After a while, he finally looks away and immediately takes a sip of his can of soda to gain some sense back into his head.
"It's your turn," you remind him, propping a hand under your chin and waiting for the grand reveal.
Hyunjin clears his throat and puts his focus back on his card, he's fiddling with his card. He realizes that he's in a predicament.
He holds the card in his hand and tosses it upward, showing a Jack of Heart which means you won this round. You take a sip of your drink in celebration and victory indeed tastes so sweet.
Hyunjin reluctantly gets off his chair, he finishes his can of soda first before reaching for the waistband of his jeans. He begins by unbuckling his belt then slowly, he unzips the fly of his jeans and it's instantly loosening around his dainty waist.
"Wait, wait," you abruptly interrupt him from his stripping show.
You get off your chair and lean your side against the counter, "On a second thought... you can keep your pants on," you say.
Hyunjin looks rather flabbergasted by the turn of the event, he stands there with his jeans hanging open, "You can't do that!" He protests.
You calmly sip your drink and reply, "Oh, yes, I can."
Hyunjin rests his hands on the counter and looks at you, "You have to see!" He insists with his eyebrows furrowed.
You shake your head and pretend to not care, "Nah. I'm losing interest."
He takes a step closer at you, "Once you see, you will be interested," he boldly remarks with a cocky smirk.
You scoff and put down your empty mug, "Still not interested," you shake your head again.
Hyunjin inhales air and places his hands on each side of his waist, "You have to see!"
"No!" You refuse while half laughing.
You see Hyunjin about to take another step toward you but before he can do that, you turn to leave the pantry.
"You have to see!" He shouts as he follows you.
"No!" You shout back and immediately break into a run. 
You're squealing as he chases you but you know well enough that you will likely lose against his long legs. That doesn't stop you from running, holding your breasts with your hands as you make a turn in the direction of the staff lounge and Hyunjin catches you right as you're about to enter.
With the absence of lights, you can see the glimmer of the city lights from afar.
Hyunjin pushes you to the wall, he grabs both of your hands and pins them above your head as he presses his nose into your ear.
"I got you now," his breath feels hot in your ear.
When you tilt your head to look at him, his lips immediately capture you in a kiss, a kiss that consumes you whole and makes you feel hot all over.
He drops your hands around his neck and that way, he can freely roam your body, feeling the smoothness of your skin under his fingertips.
He puts his arms around you and draws you impossibly close while his mouth is busy lathering yours, his tongue is prying open your mouth, wanting to taste you more and more.
As much as you want to keep kissing him, you have to let go to catch some air and fill your lungs with oxygen.
Yet Hyunjin uses the opportunity to kiss you somewhere else, dragging his plush lips down the column to your neck, and from there, he starts a trail of kisses down your front.
He kneels in front of you with his fingers tugged at the elastic band of your black tights, he looks up at you and in the dark, you can see his eyes like two gleaming marbles.
Slowly, he pulls the tights down and you hear the faint whimpers escaping his mouth as he keeps pulling it down your legs.
The silence that hangs in the room only intensifies the tension, it's so quiet that you can hear your ragged breath as Hyunjin successfully takes your tights off.
He keeps looking at you with his wide, lustful eyes as his hands climb up your legs. He slowly leans in, landing a soft kiss on your inner thigh to earn a low whimper out of you.
Wanting to hear that soft whimper again, Hyunjin places another kiss on the other one, higher and closer to where you want him the most.
Just like he reads through your mind, Hyunjin drags his mouth higher and kisses your clothed core. You grab a fistful of his hair as he presses another kiss with his nose rubbing against your clothed core and then he softly inhales air.
The breath he lets out between your legs feels hot and it sets your body alight with desire yet you feel more alive in this heat.
Hyunjin opens his mouth wider and takes more of you, his wet mouth dampens the thin fabric of your underwear and all you can do is whimper at how erotic this very scene is.
Then he stuck his tongue out and starts to trace your clit through the fabric, repeatedly running his tongue in circles that it begins to pulsate under his slick tongue.
Your legs are wobbling and you can only hold onto his head and shoulder to keep you steady as he keeps his mouth buried between your legs.
Impatient to taste you, Hyunjin puts your underwear to the side and lifts your leg, putting it over his shoulder so he can dive deep into your wetness.
You keep your back close to the wall with your hands in his dark locks, tugging at it when the pleasure gets too overwhelming.
"Oh!" You gasp as Hyunjin inserts one digit inside you and not long after that, he adds another digit.
His fingers and mouth are moving in sync to give you immense pleasure, making the knot in your stomach tighten and your hands tugging harder at his hair.
Unknowingly, your hips start moving against his mouth, riding his face as you please as your hands keep his head between your legs.
"I'm close, oh, I'm close!" You breathlessly tell him with your eyes barely focused on him.
Hyunjin opens his mouth wider and runs his tongue between your folds before sucking on your clit, taking you to your high so that a loud moan falls out of your open mouth and echoes in the room.
Mischievous, Hyunjin teases you by touching your sensitive bundle of nerves, lightly circling it with only his fingertips.
"You're having fun, huh?" You look down at him and gently twist his ear as a way to get back to him.
In the dim light, you can see he's grinning at you with his face wet around the mouth from your essence. You pat his head and place his hand on the strap of your underwear.
"Help me take this off, mmh?" You seductively ask, turning around on your feet to face the wall.
Hyunjin wastes no time tugging his fingers on the waistband of your underwear and pulls the soaked underwear down, then off your legs.
You shiver as his fingers lightly graze the side of your thighs and the back of your legs. As you press the side of your face on the cold surface of the wall, Hyunjin starts placing kisses on the back of your thighs and he goes upward.
Eventually, his mouth lands on your ass cheek and he playfully bites at it, letting out a laugh knowing that you enjoy it.
"Go ahead. Bite the other one," you encourage him with a laugh.
He's going to do it with or without your permission anyway as he immediately bites the other cheek. From there, he continues his trail of kisses up to the nape of your neck.
His arms around you, touching your body and kneading on your breasts as his mouth busy planting ferocious kisses on your neck and shoulders.
It's rather sensual that he pinned your naked body against the wall when he still has his jeans on yet you can feel his member poking through the fabric and rubbing against your rear.
"Mmh..." you hum as his fingers circle your nipple.
You turn your head to the side only to let him capture your lips in a hungry kiss where his teeth almost collide with yours.
"Ouch!" You yelp as he pinches on your nipple while he smiles in satisfaction.
You turn around to face him and put your arms around him, not worrying that you'll fall when you have his arms tightly wrapped around you.
Without breaking the kiss, you maneuver his body, pushing him in the direction of the sofa until he finds himself plopping down and you let yourself sit on his lap.
You take a moment to catch a breath and look at him, seeing him this up close, in this light, hit differently. With the moonlight shining through the big window and casting a glow on his head, Hyunjin looks so ethereal.
"You're so beautiful," Hyunjin says, taking the word out of your mouth.
You smile at his praise and lean in to deliver your gratitude with a kiss, a kiss that takes things further. As your lips are busy lathering his, your hand makes its way down his body and slides it into his boxer.
You delightfully hum against his lips as you wrap your hand around his swollen member which you take out of its confine, letting his erection sprung free.
With your own eyes, you can see how impressive his size is and glance at him, "Now I know you bought the right size," you mutter with a seductive smile.
"Told you," Hyunjin says with a sexy smirk.
You sit close to his crotch, wanting to feel his cock against your cunt and wetting it with your essence while you keep stroking at it.
"I uh..." Hyunjin's words trail off as you rub his tip with your thumb.
"Yes?" You breathlessly ask.
"I have to get the uh... I have to get the condom," he stammers, almost couldn't finish the sentence as you rub his tip between your folds.
"You said you're okay doing it raw with me," you tease.
He drops his head to the back and you can see him swallow air with the way his Adam's apple bobs in his throat. He then shakes his head, "Don't think that's a good idea."
You tip your head to the side and pout, "Why not? I'm on the pill."
Hyunjin shakes his head again, he stands firm on his principle even in the trying of times. You cup his jaw and then plant a long peck on his lips.
"Go get that condom," you mutter.
He slowly opens his eyes as you pull away from the kiss, "You're not going to change your mind, right?"
You softly laugh at his words and even though you feel bad to tease him more, you can't help yourself.
"Uhm... maybe, I don't know," you jokingly say with a shrug.
He grips at your waist and pouts, his lower lip jutting out more than his upper lip. He's so adorable that you can't stop yourself from pecking his lips again.
You get off his lap and sit on the sofa, "I won't change my mind," you tell him.
Hyunjin can't shoot up from the sofa faster, sending his jeans drops and pools around his ankle, he hurriedly kicks it away, "I'll be back in a minute," he says.
-
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science-sculpt · 8 months
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Epigenetics: A Journey Through Inheritance Beyond Genes
For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the mysteries of heredity and how traits are passed down from generation to generation. DNA, the molecule that stores our genetic code, was once thought to be the sole determinant of our characteristics. However, a new frontier in biology, revealing a captivating layer of complexity beyond the DNA sequence itself: Epigenetics.
What is Epigenetics?
The term "epigenetics" was first coined in the 1940s by British biologist Conrad Waddington, but it wasn't until the late 20th century that its significance truly blossomed. Epigenetics, literally meaning "above genetics," refers to the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occur without alterations to the DNA sequence itself. Imagine DNA as the musical score, but epigenetics are the conductor and musicians who determine how the music is played. Through chemical modifications and adjustments to the proteins around DNA, epigenetics dictates which genes are turned on or off, influencing how cells function and ultimately shaping our health, development, and even behavior. Think of your DNA as the hardware: it contains the basic instructions for building and running your body. But epigenetics acts like the software, fine-tuning those instructions and determining which genes get turned on or off at specific times and in specific cells. These modifications, like chemical tags or changes in the packaging of DNA, don't alter the underlying code itself, but they can have a profound impact on how it's read and interpreted.
The Key Players:
DNA methylation: This process involves adding a methyl group to DNA, essentially silencing the gene it's attached to. Imagine it like putting a dimmer switch on a light bulb.
Histone modifications: Histones are proteins that package DNA, and changes in their structure can make genes more or less accessible to the cellular machinery needed for expression. Think of it like adjusting the curtains around a window - open wide for full light, slightly closed for filtered light.
Non-coding RNAs: These are molecules that don't code for proteins but can regulate gene expression in various ways. They're like the backstage crew in a play, ensuring everything runs smoothly.
The Power of Epigenetic Regulation
Epigenetic regulation plays a crucial role in various biological processes, including:
Development: During embryonic development, different cell types emerge from the same DNA blueprint by activating or silencing specific gene sets through epigenetic modifications.
Cellular differentiation: Specialized cells like muscle or nerve cells have unique functions due to differences in their active genes, controlled by epigenetic mechanisms.
Learning and memory: Epigenetic changes in brain cells are thought to be essential for learning and forming memories.
Aging: As we age, our epigenome accumulates changes that can contribute to age-related decline and disease.
Environmental influences: Diet, exercise, stress, and exposure to toxins can leave epigenetic marks on our genes, potentially impacting our health and even the health of future generations.
Epigenetics reminds us that we are not simply products of our genes. Our environment, choices, and experiences leave their mark, shaping who we are and potentially influencing our children's health. This deeper understanding of ourselves opens doors for self-awareness, empowerment, and potentially reshaping our narratives – not just as individuals, but as a species with the potential to leave a healthier legacy for generations to come.
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