Proof of Heart

* Title screen
* Original title card

**Proof of Heart** is a side story that focuses on Alphatrix Innovation.

## Synopsis

*The Vice Chairman of Alphatrix is murdered. The murder suspect in question is none other than Shin Jia, granddaughter of Alphatrix's CEO.*

## Appearances

* Lee Jin
* Shin Jia
* Oh Saerom
* Gabriel Jun the Vicious Breaker
* Kim Chowon
* Shin Jaehyuk (referred to as "Heavyarms CEO")
* Shin Cecilia
* Vice Chairman of Alphatrix Group
* Shin Sanghyuk (referred to as "Mechanics CEO")
* Raphaela Juri the Evil Chaser
* Kang Soyoung
* Lee Yumi
* President of Alphatrix Group
* Shim Somi
* Rifleman (Placeholder for Security Captain)
* Suppressor (Placeholder for security guards)
* Ironside (Placeholder for mechanic engineers)
* Goliath
* Alphatrix Electronics CEO
* Machine G.A.P.
* Shim Somi
* Sysop
* Administrator
* Evolved One
* Mansion Master
* Machine Collector

## Plot

### Act 1

Alphatrix Group is hosting a banquet at their HQ for all its employees and subsidiaries as part of its its annual "Night of Innovation." Mechanics CEO Shin Sanghyuk sees Shin Jia and informs her that the Vice President is stepping down as the acting President of Alphatrix. Sanghyuk wants to become the new President and promises to make Jia the Vice Chairman if he helps him, but he is interrupted by Cecilia, the daughter and lovechild of the deceased President, who declares she will become the formal successor to Alphatrix Group.

After the banquet, the Vice Chairman escorts Lee Jin home on his vehicle, and they privately discuss about who the successor to the Alphatrix President will be. When asked if Shin Jia has a chance, Lee Jin disagrees and describes Jia as an vulnerable and inexperienced girl who just listens to her parents despite having an "uncanny ability." The Vice Chairman switches topics and reminds Jin that she is supposed to get rid of Jia eventually (the reason why he assigned her to Innovation in the first place), but Jin retorts that she plans on resigning from the group because she does not want to corrupt Jia. In response, the Vice Chairman is about to reveal a way to finally get rid of her but gets interrupted when their vehicle is blocked by a car near Central bridge and then rammed by a speeding truck. An unknown gunman approaches Jin and the Vice Chairman as they get out of the vehicle and fires upon them; the Vice Chairman is killed while Jin's fate is not shown.

Nine hours later, Alpahtrix Innovation's office is raided by security forces from Alphatrix Investigations led by Raphaela Juri, lead investigator and Gabriel Jun's twin sister; the board of directors believe Shin Jia was the mastermind behind the assassination of the Vice Chairman and issued an arrest warrant against her and the rest of Innovation. This is in spite of the fact that Jia was on a subway with the rest of the Innovation crew after leaving the banquet. Jia and Kim Chowon escape to Chowon's secret hideout in an abandoned building while Gabriel and Oh Saerom hold Investigation's forces off. A heavily wounded Lee Jin finds Jia and Chowon after being missing in action since the attack, but Investigation's forces catch up to them soon after. Before she can be arrested, Jia convinces Raphaela to allow Jin to explain what really happened, but Jin testifies that Jia, or someone who looked and moved exactly like her, was indeed the the Vice Chairman's killer— she and Raphaela speculate that Jia, who is known for her Matter Manifestation technique, had sent a clone of herself to carry out the attack while she remained on the subway with her team. With no way to prove her leader's innocence at the moment, Chowon gives Jia her Smart Glasses and tells her to flee while she holds the security forces off.

In a brief flashback to Shin Jia's childhood, Jia was visited by her aunt and uncle at the hospital while recovering from an apparent lab accident that killed her family. Jia's aunt taught her how to play chess but got intensely frustrated when the young girl shockingly defeated her three times in a row. Jia and her uncle also noticed that a Watch had suddenly appeared on her aunt's wrist as they were playing.

As she is running away, Jia bumps into Cecilia. Cecilia invites her into her office, which she calls "Betatrix No.1", and Jia explains that she is being framed for murdering the Vice Chairman. Having been estranged by her family, Cecilia decides to help Jia get exonerated, and the two go out to investigate themselves. Raphaela soon forces herself into the office, with Jin following her, but is ambushed by Jia's clones.

Near Central Bridge, Jia sends more clones to distract the guards looking over the crime scene while she and Cecilia search for clues in the area. She analyzes an expended bullet using Chowon's glasses and determines that it was fired from the Balance Breaker, her signature gun. Although the Balance Breaker is supposedly a one-of-a-kind prototype weapon, Jia theorizes that another copy exists and believes that more clues can be found at Alphatrix Mechanics, Electronics and Heavyarms as they were involved in the weapon's production.

Meanwhile, two Alphatrix employees, a woman and her nephew, talk over radio about the assassination of Vice Chairman. The nephew's company had, in fact, created another copy of the Balance Breaker and used it to frame Jia, but he questions if it was necessary to assassinate his uncle, the Vice Chairman. The woman claims the Vice Chairman would not have stepped down so easily and insinuates her nephew would have done something similar anyway since he's trying to become the next president of Alphatrix himself. The nephew then hears a knock on his door, which the woman says is his "special present", and gets bewildered when he sees the visitor.

### Act 2

At 17:02, Shin Sanghyuk is assassinated at his private studio by someone disguised as his company's security captain.

Shin Jia and Cecilia covertly enter Alphatrix Mechanic's manufacturing plant and search its database for any records that would indicate the production of another Balance Breaker. Unfortunately, they find nothing and are soon caught by the security team. A Goliath is deployed but is unable to stop Jia, who is able to disable the massive tank's weapons with her clones. The security captain pleads Jia to surrender and turn herself in but is interrupted when the Goliath suddenly charges towards him and his squad in an attempt to run over Jia. Fortunately, no one is injured or killed thanks to Jia's quick movements. Jia and Cecilia subsequently leave the area. When Lee Jin and Raphaela arrive at the factory, Sanghyuk's dead body is discovered by one of the security guards.

One hour after the incident, the nephew confirms the Mechanics CEO's death to aunt and requests for more of the "thing" that led to the assassination's success for his next target.

Alphatrix's board of directors holds an emergency meeting at their HQ. With two key people of their conglomerate murdered within twenty-four hours, they fear that Alphatrix's stock prices will plummet and their appointment of their new president will be negatively affected once the news gets out to the public. Director B wants to cooperate with City Management to handle the case and brings in SWAT 4 for assistance. Raphaela chimes in and claims she's determined who the next assassination target is. Meanwhile, the Alphatrix Innovation team breaks out of their holding cell and begin tracking down their leader.

As City Management publicly announces its joint investigation into the Alphatrix murders, Jia and Cecilia decide to split up to save the CEOs of Heavyarms and Electronics. Cecilia makes her to way to the Heavyarms Munitions Factory, bringing along clones of Jia, but is briefly stopped by SWAT 4. She pushes through and enters the factory, where she encounters what seems to be a Steel Lane rifleman.

Jia makes her way to Electronics's factory but is confronted by Lee Jin and Raphaela. Jin accuses Jia of trying to become the next president by going after the Vice Chairman and anyone the board of directors favor, but Jia maintains her innocence and says she is trying to save the Electronics CEO from being assassinated right now. Jin advises her to stand down and argues that she can be exonerated if the assassination attempt takes place while she is in custody. The Innovation team arrives at the scene and stalls Jin and Raphaela while Jia runs off.

Jia enters the Electronics factory and is ambushed by the CEO and his security team. Before the Electronics CEO can order his men to attack, Jia quickly fires her rifle at one specific guard and shatters his helmet, revealing that the guard is actually a girl who looks exactly like Jia and thus the true murderer. The guard, identifying herself as P-1, attempts to kill the CEO and retreats, but Jia manages to prevent the CEO's death. Soon after, Cecilia calls and informs Jia that she found records of hundreds of Balance Breaker copies being produced at the Heavyarms factory. Unbeknownst to Jia at the time, though, Cecilia made prior contact with the Electronics CEO's would-be assassin, who was the rifleman she bumped into at the Heavyarms factory; she gave the assassin new orders to "for a better world, kill everyone is bad"—revealing that she is in fact one of the masterminds behind the Alphatrix murders—and the assassin complied whilst recognizing Cecilia as "Grandfather."

Now at the verge of being exposed of being the other mastermind, Heavyarms CEO Shin Jaehyuk prepares to flee the country but is confronted by Jia at his office. Jia demands Jaehyuk to not only turn himself in but also explain who her imposter, P-1, is; Jaehyuk answers the imposter is a true clone of Jia created from her biometrics, though he claims not to know who created her. After taking down P-1—whom she finds out isn't a Counter—Jia demands to know who provided Jaehyuk with the clone, but another clone breaks into the office and kills the CEO before he can say anything. As the other clone subsequently retreats, P-1 reiterates her final order before dying. Cecilia comes into the office and asks Jia what went on.

Some time in the distant past, the Alphatrix President invited Dr. Ember over to his laboratory and asked her to join his "Singularity Project," a human-cloning operation that aimed to artificially create a perfect and flawless human species. He had been focusing on one particular specimen that he described as an "omnipotent being" and a "fairy" but needed Ember's help to make it obedient to his every command— the President felt he was not competent enough to teach the specimen himself. Additionally, he divulged that one of his sons, who was infertile, has been treating it as if it were his own child. Ember refused to partake in his project, calling it crazy and disgusting, and left.

At the hospital, the President was unexpectedly visited by his estranged daughter, who was recently released from prison for fraudulently using his money. Although she was intensely envious of Jia, whom the President regarded as part of his family, the daughter told him she'll make sure Jia will eventually succeed him as the new Alphatrix president even if she does not want to. Moreover, she told him her plan to extract his memories and experiences through Mental Printing and proceeded to add a paralyzing agent into his IV bag that will make him appear dead. She vowed to destroy everything the President had built before he fell comatose.

### Act 3

Cecilia falsely claims to the board of directors that Jaehyuk was solely responsible for the murders, presenting the bullet at the initial crime scene and production logs from the Heavyarms factory as evidence. Jia is exonerated after the Electronics CEO gives his testimony but reluctantly denies seeing the killer's face as Cecilia had earlier advised her not to tell the directors about the clones for her own safety.

Jia reunites with the Innovation team and introduces them to Cecilia. Lee Jin, aware that Jia is withholding important information, still finds the case suspicious due to the overly-complicated method that the culprit used just to frame Jia. But Jia doesn't trust Jin anymore, having known all along that Jin and the Vice Chairman had been trying to get rid of her, prompting Jin to leave and resign from Innovation. Cecilia is relieved to know that she isn't under any suspicion anymore but wonders why Jia didn't do anything about Jin and the Vice Chairman (revealed to be Cecilia's brother) if she had known about their plans. She reamins wary of her as she moves on to her next course of action.

Shin Jia meets with the Machine G.A.P. at Cafe Strega and asks him for advice— she is uncertain she can make the world a better place as her grandfather had requested and unsure of whether or not she should be following her grandfather's legacy anymore, so she wants the Machine G.A.P. to make that decision for her. The Machine G.A.P. tells her that ultimately only she can make such decisions for herself and whatever path she takes is entirely up to her. Jia is doubtful she can do decide for herself since she's lived her whole life following her grandfather, but the Machine G.A.P assures her she can. Just then, a small-scale Counterside Effect breaks out nearby, so Jia, after a bit of deliberation, decides to go out and help contain the threat before anyone gets hurt.

Back at Alphatrix HQ, Lee Jin goes into the Vice Chairman Office to find any evidence of more people who look like Jia. She spots a painting frame across the room and finds a hidden bookcase containing documents about the Singularity Project behind it. Cecilia walks in as Jin looks through the files, intent on destroying any information about the Project, and abducts her with Jia clones by her side. Afterwards, she calls Jia and asks her to come to her Betatrix office, claiming to have found new clues about the clones; she also lures the rest of the Innovation team by impersonating Jia.

Innovation gathers at the entrance of Betatrix and suspect they might be in for a trap. Raphaela also arrived because the "Voice of Evil Eradication" had told her to come. They all cautiously enter the office and discover a secret laboratory in the basement, where they Jin tied up. Cecilia claims Jin is the main culprit of the entire incident and as evidence presents the Singularity Project documents as well as a transcipt of Jin's last conversation with the Vice Chairman. But Jia sees through Cecilia's deception— she had figured out that Cecilia was the one behind the Jia clones as she was the CEO of Alphatrix Bionics, the only company that could mass-produce hundreds of clones for the many Balance Breaker copies that Heavyarms produced for them. Additionally, she discovered from Kang Soyoung that another girl named "Cecilia" recently vanished from the refugee district, implying that Shin Cecilia had caused the girl's disappearance and stolen her identity; Cecilia is also revealed to the aunt she played chess with during her childhood.

With her secrets now uncovered, Cecilia lambasts Jia for stealing her father's attention and destroying her pride with their chess game. She then changes her voice into her father's (which Raphaela recognizes as the "Voice of Evil Eradication") with her necklace and, deriving from the memories she extracted from her father, and gives out a damning revelation: that Jia is nothing more than an artificial human created as part of the late President's Singularity Project. Cecilia tauntingly asserts that the President only cared about Jia because she was an totally subservient pawn and the only successful specimen of the Project, but Jia argues that her Grandfather genuinely loved her and proclaims she will create a better world by her own volition. Slightly amused, Cecilia attempts to control Jia by uttering the trigger phrase "for a better world" while still using her father's voice. Jia tries to resist but succumbs to her "Grandfather's" voice and shoots Jin under her orders.

With their leader now under Cecilia's control, Innovation and Raphaela fight Jia and her clones. As she watches the battle, Cecilia is hit with a surprise attack from Jin, who destroys Cecilia's voice-altering necklace; Jin was able to survive because Jia had preemptively loaded her Balance Breaker with ordinary bullets instead of the usual anti-Counter bullets before arriving at Betatrix. Jia breaks free from the mind-control but falls unconscious, and Jin then attempts to incinerate Cecilia but is unable to kill or incapacitate her. Cecilia steps back and orders the Jia clones to kill everyone.

Jia has a flashback to aftermath of the lab accident that killed the President's son— after seeing her grandfather suffer from depression, Jia tried to cheer him up by showing off her wings and offering him to grant wishes like she did with others. However, her grandfather demanded she never use her wings as it would lead her astray from humanity. To prevent her from ever showing her wings again, he tells her "for a better world, forget everything."

Jia wakes up as the Innovation team struggles against the clones, and Cecilia offers to spare her employees lives if she agrees to join her and let herself become enslaved again. Instead, Jia imagines her grandfather's voice allowing her to open her wings, enabling herself to unleash her full potential with interference and empower her teammates. Innovation defeats all of the Jia clones, but Cecilia manages to escape during the battle. Jia faints immediately afterwards, prompting the team to call for a medevac helicopter. On their way to the hospital, Jia wakes up and tells Jin that she will not be accepting Jin's resignation because she needs someone to keep her humanity in check if she ever uses her wings again. Jin promises to be on Jia's side and calls her the kindest person she knows.

At Alphatrix HQ, Kang Soyoung discloses SWAT 4's investigation on Alphatrix Bionics and notes two suspicious details: firstly, the CEO had not shown up at the company in years despite Bionic's stable performance; and secondly, a significant portion of the CEO's shares were sold off before the Vice Chairman's death. Upon tracking down where the money went, they discovered that an anonymous individual invested huge sums of money on shares of Future-At-War. The board of directors are uninterested in what they perceive as a closed case, but Jia reminds them that Cecilia and her unknown co-conspirators remain at large.

The directors then resume their debate on who their next president should be, with Jia and (presumably) the Electronics CEO being the only candidates. Just then, the Administrator, who is the majority shareholder in Alphatrix Group, interrupts the meeting and presents the directors with the late President's electronic will (it had been personally given to him in secret by the President himself)— in it, the President declared on his deathbed that all patents under his name will be transfer to Jia at the moment the will is played. As a result, all the directors are pressured into electing Jia as the new president.

As the Administrator leaves the HQ, Jia catches up to him and asks why he decided to help her become the President. The Administrator answers he did so simply because they're friends and he wants Jia to know that she'll have to confront herself without outside help. Jia thanks him for the lesson and asks if there's anything he needs help with in return, so the Administrator responds he needs a way to mass-produce large-scale munitions for Coffin Company. As they walk down the street, the Administrator also asks Jia how much she knows about the collapse of the Old Administration.

    Meanwhile, Cecilia vents to herself at her inability to best Jia when she is encounter by the Sysop, the new majority shareholder of Future-At-War. The Sysop and the Dark Council had decided that Cecilia, also known as "Gambler", is no longer a useful council member and so "feed" her to their newest member, the Evolved One. When the Sysop chuckles at how Gambler got her deserved ending, the Mansion Master mocks his enigmatic attitude and suggests he give them his real name, calling the alias "sysop" stupid. In response, the Sysop reveals a peculiar machine behind his back and says that "sysop" is the "title given to whatever once assisted [his father] in orchestrating the world's system." Revealing his real name as "Terrabrain Upsilon Type-001: Causal Calculator," he describes himself as "the one who binds the frayed thread of causality in the dark so that my frail and withdrawn father can complete his mission."