Clone 1

Biography

A borrowed life becomes a separate mind

Clone 1 begins as Yu Jitae's practical substitute, a split copy produced through Shadow of an Archduke and sent to perform police work while the original pursues the dragons. Although created to obey, the copy approaches ordinary employment earnestly, wins the affection of colleagues, and returns each day to transfer its experiences. Its questions about why Jitae values daily life expose an unexpected divide between them: the authority has exceeded its normal limits, formed a personality, and cannot understand its master's new goal even while treating his commands as absolute. (Chapters 3–5)

That personality grows through work Jitae does not want to perform personally. Clone 1 possesses the dead researcher Vera through Mimicry, infiltrates the Undetectables, and sends selected observations and memories back to its master. Under the later Hashimoto identity, it earns Kwok Pan Wei's trust, extracts plans concerning the Melissia Masquerade, and decides how to deal with Pan Wei after Jitae leaves the choice to it. The result establishes Clone 1 as more than a remote pair of hands: it can assess loyalties, preserve a cover, and make lethal decisions within the purpose of an order. (Chapters 39–43, 59, 73–75)

Clone 1's independent judgment does not soften its basic loyalty. It investigates demons, negotiates with BM, and violently confronts Malunga when Yeorum's safety appears threatened, yet it also revises its view when his motives prove less malicious than expected. When ordered to prepare Clone 2, it treats the younger copy as a weak subordinate who must be made ready for the Great Plan. The training is brutal, but Clone 1 applies medicine afterward and explains that both copies must be prepared for failures their master cannot foresee, tying its severity to responsibility for the dragons rather than personal cruelty. (Chapters 83, 98, 117, 145, 149)

Building a place inside the Association

To place Jitae's influence inside the International Superhuman Association, Clone 1 studies Antonio Jefferson, first finding his private insecurity and underground fighting pathetic. Jefferson's willingness to negotiate while expecting death changes that assessment. Clone 1 presses him with overwhelming aura, reveals the approaching Long Nights, and uses three apparently abducted rankers to force cooperation without actually brainwashing them. The encounter shows a strategist willing to manufacture fear and leverage, but also one capable of revising a judgment when another person's military resolve becomes visible. (Chapters 170, 190, 195)

Jitae gives the copy the public name One and presents him as a hidden veteran whose tracking and combat abilities exceed ordinary world rankers. Clone 1 supplies evidence convincing enough to survive the Association's investigation, passes its scrutiny, and becomes a military adviser within a day. Rather than functioning as Jitae's visible second body, One takes separate assignments, manages Association personnel, and accepts responsibility for mobilising troops against a predicted SS+ fissure. His blunt declaration that it is enough if people do not die is mistaken for conventional heroism, but for Clone 1 it means preserving humanity so the regressions can end. (Chapters 199–202)

The First Night turns that constructed reputation into public authority. Ordered to remain behind by a commander who distrusts him, Clone 1 initially complies because his role is to align his strength with the Association instead of appearing as an uncontrolled threat. Once plague monsters overwhelm the formation, he incapacitates the commander, borrows Jitae's sword and the Vintage Clock, and defeats Kyalkaophe in a little over five minutes. He refuses a higher public position afterward, leaves Jefferson as his recognised intermediary, and returns to Association work, securing influence through demonstrated protection rather than openly seizing command. (Chapters 204–206)

Imitation, attachment, and a contested self

Clone 1 continues to advise Jitae from a standpoint shaped by the sixth iteration. During the recovery of Myu, it proposes killing every incoming superhuman and sealing the fissure, the simplest certain solution its model of Jitae would once have chosen. Its time with Gyeoul, however, exposes a more personal residue: remembering the blue-haired child who died in the previous iteration makes it uncomfortable, and she quickly recognises that it is not the present Jitae. Clone 1 eventually calls itself his younger brother and a different person, then endures her games and requests because making her happy is an order equal in importance to stopping the Night. (Chapters 279–280, 284–295)

That difference becomes a liability when Clone 1 must replace Jitae at home. Jitae activates Complete Imitation, a second form that suppresses more of the clone's personality so its thoughts and behaviour more closely match his own. The state blocks their usual memory and voice transmission, forcing Clone 1 to communicate by watch. Even so, Bom detects the substitution through small habits, especially the frequency with which the copy checks the device. The episode makes the cost of perfect service explicit: becoming a better imitation requires reducing the very personality that gave Clone 1 independent agency. (Chapters 325–328)

Clone 1 remains Jitae's operational anchor during the later crises, relaying Oscar Brzenk's attack, reporting Bom's week-long wait, and trying to retrieve her when Jitae orders observation. When the Witch shields Bom's movement, Clone 1 cuts apart her body but is trapped between dimensions and cannot stop her detached head from escaping. It later apologises while standing over the headless body, having failed the actual objective despite winning the physical confrontation. The failure defines its latest shown position: immensely capable and still absolutely loyal, but neither omniscient nor able to guarantee success against dimensional deception. (Chapters 354, 357, 361, 368–372)

Appearance and personality

Clone 1's undisguised body is visually identical to Yu Jitae, reflecting its origin as his split copy. It rarely keeps one public appearance for long. As Vera it wears the body of an elderly, shaven-headed woman; as Hashimoto it appears as a short Japanese woman in her twenties; as One it commonly uses the body of a Western man of mixed Black and white appearance. The narration changes pronouns with these assumed bodies, while describing the authority's underlying personality as a male persona that has existed for hundreds of years. (Chapters 8, 43, 47, 59, 98, 199)

Its manner is formal, stoic, and intensely hierarchical. Phrases such as “my lord” and “my loyalty” are habitual, and it readily considers killing when that is the most certain way to protect Jitae's objective. It is not mindless, however: curiosity, annoyance, dry humour, revised judgments, and reluctant care repeatedly break through its disciplined exterior. Its treatment of Clone 2 and Gyeoul reveals the contrast most clearly, combining harsh utilitarian standards with medicine, protection, and awkward efforts to satisfy a child's wishes. (Chapters 4, 73, 117, 145, 149, 284)

Powers and abilities

Shadow of an Archduke

Clone 1 is an incarnation of the SS-rated authority Shadow of an Archduke, once used by a demon-world archduke to exert influence in distant countries. The authority creates a split copy that can theoretically use up to fifty percent of the original body's abilities. Clone 1 is housed in a Level 5 artifact body, later identified as the better of the two spare artifacts Jitae possessed. Its exact share of Jitae's total power is never numerically confirmed, so the authority's upper limit should not be treated as a demonstrated personal percentage. (Chapters 3, 145, 149)

The copy can exchange memories and mental speech with Jitae across great distances, allowing it to act as an investigator, infiltrator, and field adviser while keeping him informed. The transfer is deliberately incomplete: memories likely to alter Clone 1's personality are withheld, and the copy itself selects usable observations when reporting. It nonetheless carries portions of Jitae's past-iteration experience, particularly the outlook of his sixth iteration, which supports its military predictions and ruthless contingency planning. This shared foundation does not erase its separate ego or guarantee that its judgments match Jitae's current values. (Chapters 4, 43, 48, 145, 280, 295)

Complete Imitation, the authority's second form, reduces that separation by “killing” more of the clone's personality and making its actions and thoughts closer to Jitae's. The improvement is specialised rather than absolute: memory transmission and mental voice communication become unavailable while the form is active, so Clone 1 must use ordinary electronic messages. Bom still detects subtle behavioural differences, demonstrating that even enhanced imitation does not reproduce every habit perceived by someone who knows Jitae closely. (Chapters 326–328)

Mimicry and covert operations

Clone 1 possesses the AA-rated Mimicry, which allows it to possess a dead existence. It uses Vera's corpse to enter the Undetectables and later operates as Hashimoto, preserving convincing appearances, voices, relationships, and social roles long enough to gather strategic secrets. The copy also collects additional forms, including that of a middle-aged Black man used during the Malunga investigation. Mimicry changes more than facial features, and the narration notes that returning from a mimicked body can leave the copy's body feeling weaker or uncomfortable. (Chapters 39, 43, 59, 73, 98, 117)

Its infiltration depends as much on discipline as supernatural transformation. Clone 1 withholds its true reactions, reconstructs the behaviour expected from its cover, reads demonic auras through altered faces, and transmits the resulting intelligence without exposing Jitae. The cover can still create psychological and physical friction: the centuries-old male persona complains about maintaining Vera's female presentation, and trusted associates can become dangerous once contradictions arise. Its usual solution is careful manipulation backed by overwhelming force, not a demonstrated ability to make every disguise immune to scrutiny. (Chapters 43, 59, 73, 75)

Combat power and military expertise

Clone 1 inherits enough of Jitae's physical power, mana control, killing intent, and accumulated combat knowledge to overwhelm veteran superhumans. It wins an arm-wrestling contest against Bell Baryon instantly, incapacitates Malunga with casual blows, and pressures Jefferson with an aura beyond what he had felt from leading rankers. Association examiners consequently judge One to possess extraordinary military understanding, mana, and tracking technique, while the organisation's strategists predict that One and Jitae together can sharply raise its effective strength. (Chapters 98, 117, 195, 200)

Against Kyalkaophe, Clone 1 manipulates enough mana to create a tornado hundreds of metres across, repel plague-laden currents, immobilise the flying monster, and complete the battle in just over five minutes. That victory also depends on the borrowed Level 4 sword Dream Eater and temporary access to the Vintage Clock, so the entire result is not purely innate. Its later fight with the Witch demonstrates another boundary: Clone 1 can dismember and behead her, but cannot prevent dimensional escape after being drawn into a trap. Its latest direct combat evidence therefore supports transcendent-scale force without establishing immunity to specialised magic or deception. (Chapters 204–206, 368–372)

Power progression

Relationships

Yu Jitae

Clone 1 treats Yu Jitae as its absolute lord and defines its purpose through the success of his plan. Their shared memories make it his closest operational extension, but their outlooks diverge as Jitae changes through daily life while Clone 1 retains the harsher logic of his sixth iteration. Jitae trusts it with infiltration, Association strategy, and the dragons' safety, yet also restricts personality-altering memories and later suppresses its ego to improve imitation. (Chapters 4, 145, 195, 280, 295, 326)

Clone 2

Clone 2 is Clone 1's junior, trainee, and fellow product of Shadow of an Archduke. Clone 1 initially regards the younger copy as weak and subjects him to severe conditioning, believing that unforeseen failure makes redundant protectors necessary. Its conduct is not purely contemptuous: it treats his wounds afterward, explains the responsibility behind the training, and serves as the senior from whom Clone 2 seeks both guidance and recognition. (Chapters 145, 149, 195)

Gyeoul and the household

Gyeoul is the household member who most directly forces Clone 1 to acknowledge a separate identity. She senses that it is not Jitae, while her death in the sixth iteration makes the copy reluctant to share its feelings with her. Once exposed, it describes itself as Jitae's brother and lets her impose childish games, hugs, cooking requests, and photographs. Bom later proves even harder to fool, identifying Clone 1 through tiny deviations in routine despite Complete Imitation. (Chapters 280, 284, 326–328)

The Association

Antonio Jefferson changes from a target of coercion into the public intermediary who legitimises One inside the Association. Clone 1 respects his recovered resolve and uses his position to enter the organisation, while remaining willing to frighten him and manipulate institutional procedure. Kang Ahjin is assigned as an assistant, but Clone 1 distrusts the arrangement and redirects her toward Jitae so it can continue its own work independently. (Chapters 195, 199–201, 206)

Items

Shadow Artifact Bodies

Creating a Shadow of an Archduke requires a Level 5 artifact. Clone 1's body consumed the better of Jitae's two spare artifacts, a later explanation for why the first copy is markedly more capable than Clone 2. The artifact is the material basis of the clone rather than equipment it can simply hand to another bearer. (Chapters 145, 149)

Borrowed field equipment

During the First Night, Clone 1 temporarily carries the Vintage Clock and borrows Dream Eater, a Level 4 sword taken from Noah. The sword is dangerous enough to consume an ordinary user, but Clone 1 can draw on Jitae's nature and mana to wield it against Kyalkaophe. Both tools are explicitly borrowed for the operation, so their effects are not permanent additions to Clone 1's innate abilities or independent possessions. (Chapters 204–206)