Ch.205The Doll Does Not Shed Tears (2)

My ability, Liar.

To maintain a usable output, it required constant charging.

The method of charging was to recite lies toward others or myself.

The greater the emotional fluctuation caused by the lie, the more effective the charging became.

However, I couldn’t just recklessly spout falsehoods to others.

So in most cases, I preferred to handle it alone.

“I confess to myself. I have never told a lie in my entire life.”

Immediately after the brief statement, a blue screen appears before my eyes.

-Ding!

[A small amount of lie has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 24.3%]

The status window detects lies and calculates the karma for them.

My lips know no sin. They merely add whispers to shallow numbers.

The mechanical sound rings in my ears over and over.

“I had stew for lunch today.”

-Ding!

[A small amount of lie has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 24.8%]

“I am currently outdoors.”

-Ding!

[A small amount of lie has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 25.2%]

“I hate games.”

-Ding!

[A small amount of lie has been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 25.7%]

But at the end, I always tried saying the same thing.

Just to remind myself of my own existence.

“I am not human.”

-Ding!

[Lie…]

The status window message stretches out.

I stared at the letters beyond it with sunken eyes.

Unlike the previous ones, a different sentence was written.

[This is not a lie. Output has not been recovered.]

[Current remaining output: 25.7%]

An affirmation of my previous mutter.

I fell deep into thought.

“……”

Yes, I was not human.

I was merely a doll imitating one.

***

Homunculus.

An artificial human created through alchemy.

In current academia, it was dismissed as a theory pursued only by eccentrics, deemed impossible.

However, human determination is said to overcome barriers.

There was a man who ultimately challenged the realm of God.

‘Gepetto Snakus.’

A lineage renowned as a prestigious name in the field of alchemy.

Gepetto’s genius was evaluated as historic.

Not just within his family, but throughout the continent’s history, it was without precedent.

Perhaps due to his characteristically reclusive nature, he rarely made public appearances, but his name was famous in academic circles.

The birth of an unprecedented alchemist. Gepetto had already reached the pinnacle at the young age of twenty.

Just as alchemy was beginning to bore him, he encountered a certain theory.

None other than the theory of creating life.

‘Homunculus.’

A discipline challenging the realm of God.

It was incomparable to “chimeras” derived from black magic or Demonic Energy.

It was a theory pioneered solely on the basis of alchemy, without defiling the essence of life.

For Gepetto, who had fallen into academic ennui, it was irresistibly attractive.

As geniuses tend to venture beyond the boundaries of ordinary people.

He immediately immersed himself in homunculus research.

-I’m not just making a perfect doll.

-I’m making a doll so perfect it’s close to human.

-I will surpass dolls… I will mold humanity itself with my hands.

-I will achieve that truth.

An arrogant beginning.

The man’s research continued for a long time.

The pen he picked up at twenty was only put down after a full 30 years.

-Finally… it’s complete.

Gepetto had created a perfect creation unlike anything the world had seen before.

However, even such a creation had two flaws.

-How mysterious.

The first was that an unidentified personality had intervened.

According to the original settings, the doll was supposed to awaken around the time of academy enrollment.

Until then, it was supposed to maintain an unconscious state and go through the process of establishing self-identity.

The creation should not have awakened.

‘However.’

The doll opened its eyes three years earlier than the scheduled date.

As if a soul had somehow taken residence, it awakened with its self-identity already established.

Gepetto named this phenomenon [possession].

This was one of the scenes I remembered.

‘When I opened my eyes… I was submerged in a transparent liquid.’

How terrifying it was at the time.

I thought I was having a nightmare.

After realizing I had been possessed, I almost wished it had been a nightmare.

No matter how many times I looked back, the memories of the early possession were not pleasant.

It was a time when everything was just confusing…

‘Anyway.’

That was the doll’s first flaw.

Next, the second was…

‘Tears.’

The doll does not shed tears.

It was the Book of Truth, Chapter 3, Verse 14.

God does not grant tears to artificially created beings.

Even Gepetto’s creation could not escape this concept of a doll.

The body I possessed could not form tears for any reason.

Simultaneously, a paradox that humans cannot step into the realm of God.

-How tragic.

-So identical in every way.

-Despite bleeding like a human, making expressions, feeling emotions… yet not permitted to shed tears.

-Child, you are a failure. However, you will also be remembered as the masterpiece of my life.

-Therefore, I shall call you Pinocchio.

It was a memory that remained vivid.

At first, I had such suspicions.

The suspicion that Gepetto might also be affiliated with the cultists.

It would have made sense if he had created Judas as a weapon to destroy the world.

But that wasn’t the case. If such an aura had been detected, the family would have been wiped out long ago.

Not just Gepetto, but even the servants employed by the family were flawless.

A bloodline with no connection whatsoever to black magic.

‘Moreover…’

Gepetto was a notorious alchemy extremist.

Perhaps due to his origins, he considered everything other than alchemy to be inferior.

A true racist of the academic world. So much so that in his youth, he was even nicknamed a ruffian…

For such a Gepetto to dabble in black magic was absurd.

He was the type who would rather bite his tongue and die than rely on Demonic Energy.

‘Anyway.’

At the mansion, I was called by the name Pinocchio.

The name Judas came later.

I organize my complicated thoughts and stare at the man before me.

A skinny middle-aged man with dark green hair and beard.

Our gazes meet.

“……”

Silence descends over the entire laboratory.

Perhaps due to the somewhat shocking content of our conversation.

The companions standing nearby all seemed unable to follow the flow.

Even if they had roughly heard our conversation, it was too sudden.

This part needed time. I clench my fist calmly.

And part my lips again.

“There’s something I’ve always wondered about.”

The Snakus family.

The actual time I spent here wasn’t much.

A few months after possession when I needed to adapt, and a few months just before entering the academy.

Even roughly calculated, it wasn’t even half a year.

‘I was busy.’

I spent most of my time outside.

Fighting the usurpation battle, founding Astro, building power, recruiting members…

I didn’t even have time to visit the mansion. There was even a time when I was missing for almost a year.

Yet there wasn’t even a slight reprimand from the family.

A doll assigned the role of the eldest son, even if artificially created.

However, far from managing me, they merely watched from afar.

As if they were observers.

“It was always strange.”

Even within the mansion, the family was only indifferent.

It was close to being treated as a non-existent person.

“The Count never acknowledged me. The other servants were the same. Even if they did treat me, it was like entertaining a guest with no connection…”

“Pinocchio. That’s because you were a completed creation.”

“I find that hard to understand. If I was a completed creation, shouldn’t there have been much more active follow-up research or information collection? Instead, the Count placed no intervention whatsoever.”

“That’s a philosophy.”

Gepetto responds with an indifferent gaze.

Eyes like death, without even a hint of vitality.

“That’s how art is. Before completion, it belongs to the creator, but from the moment of completion, it leaves their hands. From then on, it belongs not to the creator, but to the world.”

“……”

“Whatever evaluation is given to that artwork, whatever ripples it causes, cannot be controlled. The creator merely observes the waves that spread through the world. Therefore, creation is a concept similar to non-intervention.”

“In other words, you let go because it was completed.”

“I respected the will of my creation. To let it act as it pleased.”

“That’s an eccentric philosophy.”

“It’s aesthetics, Pinocchio.”

Gepetto responds without even looking this way.

Well, I didn’t care about this gentleman’s artistic views.

I was simply looking for answers.

-The Snakus family.

-Go there. To the place of your origin.

Advice received from the Chancellor.

A voice saying if you seek answers, look for your origins.

He wouldn’t have left such words without meaning.

I ask.

“More importantly, there’s something I want to ask.”