Chapter 141

In an instant, a bright light burst from Muell’s palm, revealing the scars on the man’s neck. But those scars turned insignificant when Noah found another sign that was shown before the light. The breath she had been holding burst out of her mouth.

“Letter ‘R’…”

An alphabet stamped exactly on the same position as the mark on Lenia came to view. Their only difference is the case — this was capitalized, but the symbol on the machine that impersonated Lenia was in lowercase. 

“What’s the difference?” Noah whispered to the man whose bruised eyes were barely open.

“Uck…”

But the only thing she could hear from him was the sound of phlegm in his throat. Noah had even removed the gag off his mouth. Her hand raised his bloodstained chin and their eyes met. “Some letters are capitalized, some are not. What’s the difference?” she asked.

However, there was no need to urge the man to answer. As soon as the words left her lips, enlightenment struck her. 

The real Lenia disappeared and a machine took her place…  Noah carefully looked at the face of the man, which was almost crushed, and recognized the familiar feeling of deja vu. 

Her hand groped the ground and caught one of the recorders Penelope had handed her. When the power was pressed, an opaque screen floated in the air.

It was the recording that unfolded Kyle’s little secret, which earned him a confrontation from Noah. 

“I just tore off your waist just as much as you broke my shoulder. Even if you say that, you can’t be fine. Am I right?”

“It’s not hard to move my limbs, unlike you with your right arm blown away.”

“With his right arm blown away…”

A weak groan resounded from the man when Noah held his right shoulder. It was definitely blood that cascaded on the floor. 

This man was the only real human being among the terrorists in Angelic. Noah kept turning the recorder.  

#1. Next, #2. #3…

“Lady Asil, you’re going to have to get out of here…” Penelope whispered; she was becoming extremely anxious.

“Wait.”

Penelope glanced uneasily at the entrance. “The minister will visit the annex soon. Before that, we need to keep the lab and the interrogation room closed-”

“Wait!” Noah nervously interrupted, playing the 7th edited version of the recording. And finally, she found the evidence she was looking for. Among the records that remained unedited until yesterday, the man’s face was captured the closest. 

The video was paused and the lower part of the man’s face could be seen, just before Kyle’s bullet flashed past. Noah looked alternately at the face on the screen and the face of the groaning man in front of her. It was not long before she came to a conclusion.

“…You’re the original.”

The man’s eyes opened wide. Noah raised herself, removing the hand that held his chin. His eyes, which had never shown any emotion before, were filled with fear and followed her movements.

“The face is all the same.”

“Huck…”

“The mark, it is to distinguish the real from the fake.”

The uppercase letter ‘R’ is printed on real humans, and the lowercase letter ‘r’ is printed on the machines made after the people they were designed to replace. The marks were nothing more than a distinction.

Then. there was only one mystery that had not been unveiled yet: how, or in what way, were the machines covered with human skin.  

In this age where omnipotent magic was gradually growing faint… If one was not a wizard who is a master of pure magic, who could make such an eerie phenomenon possible?

At this point, it was all too clear who the people that needed to be identified were.

Noah, clutching Muell in her arms, left the interrogation room. Their backs turned against the shrieks of the ragged man. Penelope, who saw bloodstains on her hands and clothes, stepped back in surprise. 

As soon as Muell’s tiny fingers touched her dress, the dirty marks disappeared as if they were washed away by the water.

Without delay, Noah and Muell left the Bureau of Investigation and Security, and their succeeding destination was the Imperial Palace, where they had been only a few hours ago.