Mystic Messenger: Days 3 and 4
Masterlist of links
The end of the common route! The wait as I approached path split was TENSE.
So I had no intention of being up til nearly 2am, but I ate chocolate for the first time in a while and had forgotten how easily it messes up my sleep. At least this game makes my intermittent insomnia have an upside.
Seven has changed his icon to a photo of his face! Like Yoosung he tweaks Zen for being vain, but unlike Yoosung then follows it up with real support. It turns out he's actually the one who got Zen famous, with a literal viral video: it wasn't QUITE a computer virus forcing people to watch Zen sing, but was definitely a bit shady, and Zen feels a bit weird about it.
Zen genuinely seemed to find it implausible that someone as high class as Jaehee would be his fan?? I guess he does know she exists after all. That's actually pretty endearing. Even if it's an implicit insult to MC lol.
There's a repeated subtext that Zen feels quite pressured by his job and has mixed feelings about becoming any more famous than he is already.
Don't trust these summaries, anything that happens when I'm too sleepy ends up kind of a blur. It makes staying up to see chats feel kind of pointless. I could rewatch later but am too lazy.
Had to wake up at 6ish for a plumber oh god. On the upside I was in time to catch a "3am" chat with an exhausted Yoosung, who'd been gaming all night. His icon is his exhausted face. I feel you, dude. Later Jumin and Jaehee show up, having just finished work, and she makes an off hand remark about Yoosung needing a girlfriend to keep him in line or something.
Jumin: If you're bored you should date him.
Jaehee: What. How would you feel if someone said "If you're bored, date Jaehee"?
Jumin: Ah, point taken.
Jaehee: I have feelings you know.
Jumin: You'll find working easier if you outgrow that.
Turns out if you skip out in the middle of a chat for a few minutes because the plumber arrived, nobody minds. Good to know!
Zen: Jumin should treat Jaehee better. She acts like a robot because he is a robot.
Me: NO. I REFUSE TO SHIP THIS. DAMMIT GAME.
Jumin: Stop dissing me when I'm not around. Revenge! *posts photo of cat paw*
Zen: MY ALLERGIES
Jumin: Feel more pain meow
MC: Is this gap moe?
Jumin: What's that?
Zen: Attraction from a character with two contrasting traits
Jumin: I assume it's a compliment?
Jumin, in a cat shaped bubble: Meow?
Ok that's not how I was imagining him flirting and it's adorable. This game keep giving me the option to flirt by pretending to be a cat and I find that sort of thing massively irritating in real life but am getting a weird kick out of it in this game *meows at Jumin*
*sets an alarm to remind me to catch the 10am chat and goes the heck back to sleep*
Haa so I have friends coming over tonight and they should leave before I end up missing a chat but if not the temptation to bring out the laptop for 5 minutes is going to be huge.
Ooh and looking at the schedule properly there is a lot of Jaehee today :D
Jumin seems to have taken the "gap moe" thing to heart, he's using a lot of cat bubbles and more slang. He's not quite carrying it off.
Seven: Lol we should get the main character of that movie "The Lady of the Bracelets" to come to the party!
Jaehee: ...she really exists?
haha what. My options are "omg." and "lolol". THE NUANCE OF THESE DIFFERENCES ESCAPES ME.
I said "lolol" and Jaehae didn't like MC being so silly ;_; In general this MC has possibly ended up a bit too jokey for Jaehee and may suit Yoosung better, I don't feel like being serious on a first playthrough when I'll probably fail. But I'll keep doing my best and see where things end up! And MC sobered up and took Jaehee's side when Jumin ordered her to seriously search for this FICTIONAL CHARACTER.
*forces self not to overthink email responses and just go with my gut* I wonder what happens if I ignore them too long. This is a little too like feeling guilty about my actual neglected inbox, though that doesn't have the option of a walkthrough.
I have the option to vet party guests but have just been saying yes to everyone, even though they're all super different (MMO players from Yoosung, romance authors from Zen, snooty rich ladies from Jumin etc) I'M SURE THEY'LL ALL GET ALONG GREAT. Assuming I...actually persuade anyone...(romance lady conversation just keeps going. JUST BE CHARMED AND RSVP)
Haaa I looked ahead and the 3am conversation tomorrow is just 707 and is titled "Do not drink coffee".
Wait is MC living in Rika's apartment?? Does she not...have...a house of her own? With all her stuff?
Ok, new headcanon, this MC is a trans woman in an insecure living situation. I guess she has a job that pays well enough to have time to muck about with this RFA stuff for free, though. Maybe a crappy part time job that doesn't give her enough hours. Her being trans makes Seven introducing her as "a cute girl" a sweet way for him to validate her gender and make it clear he's respecting her privacy. I'm wondering if I can get away with having her be like...old, or an alien robot or something. I like the idea of Jumin with a much older woman (but not Jaehee or Yoosung, so this MC is around their age) Since I have a blank slate I might as well draw something interesting.
Zen: I hope Yoosung knows the difference between night and day when he's playing games. He should go out on dates instead.
My options:
He should be more like you, Zen
I want to go out with Yoosung
uhhh /o\
I mean...I kinda do want her to go out with Yoosung, but would she really say that? Where he will see it later?? But it's such a good way to mess with Zen...
SCREW IT. YOLO.
And of course Zen basically ignored it like he does anything MC says that he doesn't like.
Zen was talking about how if he had a girlfriend he'd prioritise her over work, and Jaehee came in all DON'T DATE FOCUS ON YOUR WORK and I chose all the JAEHEE'S RIGHT DON'T DATE options and got a bunch of Jaehee points because she doesn't realise MC isn't being a supportive Zen fan, she just wants Jaehee for herself.
"Relationships are temporary fantasies fabricated by emotions" aww, Jaehee. MC WILL PROVE YOU WRONG.
But right now MC's agreeing because she doesn't want Jaehee pursuing her current romantic emotions.
...this MC is ending up a little yandere for Jaehee. Huh! *rolls with it*
Zen says Jaehee has clearly never been in love.
Jaehee: I do not really understand what made you say that, but as someone who's had a considerable amount of life experience, I cannot say that I have never been in a relationship and I am not an innocent girl who has no experience whatsoever.
Jaehee: ...he left while I was typing.
She tries and fails to delete the message and then gets horribly embarrassed and MC reassures her it's ok. JAEHEEEEEE
Waaaaait Zen just posted an image of himself dressed as this romance novel character he'll be playing and it is absolutely Jisoo from Dandelion
It's increasingly clear that his bravado covers deep insecurity but that doesn't make it not annoying. I try not to be too mean to him, though. I think he's confident of his own attractiveneess but not of his acting ability.
I'm leaning more and more towards Yoosung, I really like Jaehee but Yoosung gives a much stronger impression of liking MC back. Jaehee is just...moderately friendly. There's only one and a bit more days until the paths split, too.
Oh man. So far I have two invitations that failed right off the bat, one saying "completed" in red that I think was also a fail, and one saying "completed" in green that I am hoping was a success. Another two are waiting for a reply. I have no idea how many I need for a good end but it's not looking promising so far...
My friends will be here soon and I'll MISS A CHAT and only have a short window after they leave to see it. It's with Jaehee AND Yoosung, will have to tell my friends I have a hot internet date with my boy and girlfriend >.>
OMG so after I made this MASSIVE SACRIFICE, my friend took a PHONECALL in the MIDDLE OF THE SHOW WE WERE WATCHING from a POLITICAL CANVASSER. YES, FRIEND, I AGREE WE SHOULD REFORM THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM, BUT RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT I WANTED TO SEE THE BOUNTY HUNTERS SAVE THE PLANETARY HEIR. It was too early for me to read the chat so I just passive-aggressively scrolled through twitter, feeling very hard done by, and hissed TRANS RIGHTS towards the phone when I heard the canvasser ask if there were any issues my friend thought the Greens should focus on more. (DON'T GET ME STARTED)
Anyway. My friends left in time for me to see the chat, but I'd misread and it was Seven and Jaehee. He teased her a little about her obvious crush on Zen. THAT'S MEAN, SEVEN.
Meanwhile she's, uh, kind of humourless. It's a bit off-putting. I still like her a lot, but in conjunction with her still not seeming SUPER enthused about MC, even in a platonic way, she's falling behind Yoosung as my primary goal. She's still a million miles ahead of Zen, though. Hopefully I'll warm up to him once I get to know him better.
Some of these choices are kind of heavyhanded, pointswise.
*stares at "Hiya Jaehee" vs "Hey, Yoosung" for some time*
*clicks "Hiya, Jaehee"*
Jaehee: Seven said he was locked in at work, I worry he's in involved in something dangerous.
Aw and you gain points with her for worrying about Seven instead of saying hi to Zen. I didn't think she even liked Seven!
Yoosung: What would it feel like to be locked in?
MC: Wouldn't it feel like you're under someone's control?
Yoosung: *.* I want someone to control me. I can't control LoLoL
MC: I can lock you up lol
SEE. HOW CAN I NOT TAKE THESE FLIRTS.
Zen: Try that game. The one where a cat locks you in if you do something wrong.
Me: Wait, what?
Me: WAIT
(this is a screenshot of Cheritz's first dating sim, Dandelion. One of the catboys gets creepily possessive in a bad end)
End of Day 3!
So one downside of using a schedule is that I see the names of each chat before it happens. But they're not always what I expect.
For example, "Do not Drink Coffee" with Seven at 3am was not, in fact, Seven being awake because he drank too much coffee. It was him finding out Yoosung joined his uni's barista club and being all "OH NO! YOUR RARE MEDICAL CONDITION THAT I CLEARLY JUST MADE UP TO MESS WITH YOU!". Yoosung, don't believe him, you dumbass.
I had MC do her best to not play along but eventually gave up and just agreed to wake Yoosung with a kiss.
(I was not awake at 3am. I was awake at 5am >.>)
Man, looking at the chat list, I am rapidly heading towards the point where the game decides what path I'm on. It's definitely between Jaehee and Yoosung (and would be even if Jumin and Seven were included) but I have no idea which of them is in the lead.
While I'm adding in images, here's the title screen:
I didn't realise at first, but that's V. Is he proposing to Rika? Is this going to be horribly tragic in context and make me cry later?
Oh, I never mentioned: the very first menu lets you choose between "original story" (what I'm playing), save/load, "After Ending", history, and DLC. Apparently history unlocks once you've reached any full ending, and lets you replay scenes, which will be nice if I miss something and want to remind myself, or get inspired to fic.
Anyway the top of that menu has a little chibi of a random character giving a greeting, and sometimes it's Ray saying something creepy which is unsettling. Right now it's Zen saying "I've always enjoyed the air in the middle of the night". It's 7am, Zen.
Jaehee: I look at this photo and think about my position. I'm only an assistant, my feelings don't matter
;_;
And then she's sweetly grateful to MC for listening and validating her and Jaeheeeeee
(Also she agreed with MC that Seven shouldn't be picking on Yoosung like that, even though she and Yoosung are too different to get along all that well)
OH MAN so I fell back asleep and missed the 9am chat. Seven convinces Yoosung he's going to die and asks if he has any last words, then leaves. BAD SEVEN.
Yoosung: I'll forgive V. Chia...we didn't get to know each other well, but I liked you. Seven , I'm sorry I broke your figurine and hid it from you. Elizabeth, I'm sorry I couldn't play with your more. And my first love in fifth grade, Areum, I'm sorry I didn't return ur eraser, and mom and dad, thank you for sending me to college.
Jaehee slowly explains that he has been tricked, in simple words, until he gets it.
Yosung: MC...please comfort me...
Jaehee: MC is not online
Yoosung: Jaehee, please comfort me
Jaehee: Comfort, there you go.
Yoosung: I must look like an idiot
Jaehee: Kind of
Aw and then I have a missed call from Yoosung. I'M SORRY YOOSUNG YOU ADORABLE DUMBASS
No, Seven, I don't think it's funny, you meanie.
The only way this game makes sense is if I give MC the same sleep cycle as me, but that means I have to come up with some way her life allows for naps at all hours. She's clearly mobile, since she went to that apartment. She could still be disabled and living off government assistance or parents or something. She could work from home, or just be unemployed. Or have a shift work job that just happens to match my sleep cycle, haha.
Something considered socially unacceptable would explain why she never talks about it. Disabled, unemployed, and having some working class shift job all fit that, though the MC I'm playing right now doesn't seem the sort to be embarrassed easily. Sex worker would fit but I'm not sure it would match the sort of gendered sexual dynamics these games generally have.
EDIT: OOh and in one of the later conversations she tells Seven her (previous?) job is a secret. Spy?? ROBOT spy?? Also he made it sound like she's getting paid for this?? A random woman who stumbled into their chatroom. Amazing.
V shows up and announces the party is in a week! (Which I knew was the end date for the game, but hadn't thought of it that way) Come to think of it, with this game in real time, that's only a fortnight for these relationships to develop. Hmm.
Anyway, Yoosung doesn't like V ignoring them for a year and a half then coming in from on high to make these decisions without consultation, and also worries it will be too stressful for MC. Which is fair/sweet, but he is definitely too hard on V for being distant after Rika's death, and V is subtly sad about it. V covers all his emotions with distant civility so I can see why Yoosung doesn't pick them up.
..and now to go back to sleep, hopefully not for so long that I miss all the chats and wake up to a bad end /o\
I want to get to path choice but I have to waaaaaait
Jumin unexpectedly got called away and left Elizabeth with Jaehee, who was supposed to have the day off:
I laughed so hard I interrupted a work meeting Cam was having in the next room, oops.
Yoosung says he's quitting LoLoL to get better English scores, Jaehee is tentatively supportive but I think dubious that cold turkey will work. When it's clear that Yeonho's life plan is "Get good grades and wait for a job to fall into my lap" Jaehee talks about how that approach led to her current well paid but frustrating and dead end job. Afterwards she asks MC about her own life plans, and whether she thinks Jaehee should look into a new job. I had to stop and think about the first question, and eventually decided MC does have a life goal sh's working towards (details to be decided later >.>) But the second answer was an immediate YES. QUIT. TALK TO ME WHENEVER which Jaehee was sweetly appreciative of.
At this point I think I'd be happy with Jaehee or Yoosung, but am doing so badly at the emails I'm not sure either good end is on the cards for this MC. Sorry, kid.
Jaehee, don't tell Yoosung he's single because he's short. *tells Yoosung MC likes short guys*
Seven: Lol, Zen's narcissism gets worse by the day.
Jaehee: He has no choice because he's so handsome. But I worry that more people will harbour passionate feelings for him.
Seven: Well he does want a girlfriend
Jaehee: But scandal is poison to an actor. I worry Chia has feelings for him.
My options are "It's nothing like that" and "Are you jealous"?
Where's "LOL AS IF"??
Seven accuses Jaehee of being jealous and like a good friend I defend her against this blatantly true accusation. Afterwards she sends a message double checking MC really isn't interested, and my options are "I'm starting to feel interested. This is a secret between us, okay" and "No! I just want to watch him from afar...and support him...and those muscles...omg!"
WHERE'S OPTION FOR HE'S NOT MY TYPE??
(Ok, he is actually pretty cute. But I'm not into the muscles. Put your shirt back on, dude)
*is performatively heterosexual to make Jaehee feel better*
Zen, if you're going to connect with Jaehee, I'd rather it not be about how you both enjoy teasing Yoosung about gaming. But feel free to keep bonding about what a shitty boss Jumin is and your mutual dislike of cats. Bonding about how hot you are is...fine, I guess, you do both seem to enjoy it.
I was going to say having two of the initial three love interests dislike cats was an odd choice, then remembered they're apparently an unpopular pet in Korea. And they both have good reason (allergy and non-consensual cat-sitting) and aren't mean to cats, so it's ok by me. I GUESS.
Just had a very calm, grown-up conversation with V and Jaehee. Every now and then V has talked about wanting to "make sure MC is safe", I thought he was making sure she was safe from Unknown, but what he meant was: can she be trusted with the personal information of Jumin, Zen, and the various guests etc? And he's decided the answer is yes.
I get the feeling Jaehee thinks the others were a bit incautious to trust MC so quickly, but also thinks MC is being incautious being so trusting of them, so I don't take it personally. I think she has a point, otome logic aside, but wonder if something specific happened to her to make her so cautious.
I continue to profess faith in Yoosung giving up games even though I...do not think he is actually going to succeed. HE'S TRYING HIS BEST. Seven says he's forgiven Yoosung for breaking his figurine, then takes credit for Yoosung giving up games. Everyone else is confused.
Seven: Because you don't believe in god, you'll never understand.
Zen: You don't believe either, I've never seen you pray.
Seven:
(Seven has never given any context for his occasional cross dressing selfies. It's just a thing. He's an interesting guy, even if he could stand to be nicer to cute dumb things like cats and Yoosung)
Oh no and so of course Yoosung says he'll go back to games to spite Seven. Ah, Yoosung. You're lucky you're an adorable dumbass.
Tiiiiiiime for the final chat of Day fourrrrr
Ray's chibi in the menu: I wonder what will happen if I ever see you
I guess we may find out soon, Ray...
Zen: I had a dream where you were imaginary. And we've never seen your face or heard your voice...maybe Seven's just tricking us?
MC: To be honest, I'm using an app that only lets me say programmed things.
Zen: Wait what?
lol
Zen: At the end of my dream, it turned out all of us were robots saying programmed things lol.
MC: We might both be robots.
ROBOT MC CONFIRMED
That said: He's never heard her voice? I mean I'm clicking text answers during phone conversations but I assumed this was just a game convention??
And thennnnnn..."Story mode" is unlocked. I click it.
There is a blue sky.
For the first time, a sprite appears.
It's Rika. She says "Do you believe in the afterworld?"
o.O
She says she believes that souls that fell in love in heaven can meet again on earth, and thinks that's what happened with her and V.
The game warns me that the story is about to branch, and I should save.
Aaaand...the day 5 image is now Yoosung! I feel a little sad to not get Jaehee but I suspect I'd have felt similarly sad to not get Yoosung, too. I'll get to her eventually! Her path looks like it'll be slow burn on the emotional intensity, which will be more fun without the knowledge there was a more intense alternative waiting for me.
No new conversation have unlocked or anything yet, that's for tomorrow!
*looks up the first few chat times for Yoosung's route*
1:28am, 3:22am, 7:35am, and 9:43am? Oh god. It is currently 11:30pm, so we'll see how I do...
The 7:35 one is the first one where Yoosung himself appears, so hopefully I will at least make that.
But to find out, you'll have to tune in next time ;)
While I remember: I currently have 46 hourglasses and 1072 hearts. So that's 3 hourglasses and 567 hearts over two days.
This entry was originally posted at https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/720947.html. There are
comments.
The end of the common route! The wait as I approached path split was TENSE.
So I had no intention of being up til nearly 2am, but I ate chocolate for the first time in a while and had forgotten how easily it messes up my sleep. At least this game makes my intermittent insomnia have an upside.
Seven has changed his icon to a photo of his face! Like Yoosung he tweaks Zen for being vain, but unlike Yoosung then follows it up with real support. It turns out he's actually the one who got Zen famous, with a literal viral video: it wasn't QUITE a computer virus forcing people to watch Zen sing, but was definitely a bit shady, and Zen feels a bit weird about it.
Zen genuinely seemed to find it implausible that someone as high class as Jaehee would be his fan?? I guess he does know she exists after all. That's actually pretty endearing. Even if it's an implicit insult to MC lol.
There's a repeated subtext that Zen feels quite pressured by his job and has mixed feelings about becoming any more famous than he is already.
Don't trust these summaries, anything that happens when I'm too sleepy ends up kind of a blur. It makes staying up to see chats feel kind of pointless. I could rewatch later but am too lazy.
Had to wake up at 6ish for a plumber oh god. On the upside I was in time to catch a "3am" chat with an exhausted Yoosung, who'd been gaming all night. His icon is his exhausted face. I feel you, dude. Later Jumin and Jaehee show up, having just finished work, and she makes an off hand remark about Yoosung needing a girlfriend to keep him in line or something.
Jumin: If you're bored you should date him.
Jaehee: What. How would you feel if someone said "If you're bored, date Jaehee"?
Jumin: Ah, point taken.
Jaehee: I have feelings you know.
Jumin: You'll find working easier if you outgrow that.
Turns out if you skip out in the middle of a chat for a few minutes because the plumber arrived, nobody minds. Good to know!
Zen: Jumin should treat Jaehee better. She acts like a robot because he is a robot.
Me: NO. I REFUSE TO SHIP THIS. DAMMIT GAME.
Jumin: Stop dissing me when I'm not around. Revenge! *posts photo of cat paw*
Zen: MY ALLERGIES
Jumin: Feel more pain meow
MC: Is this gap moe?
Jumin: What's that?
Zen: Attraction from a character with two contrasting traits
Jumin: I assume it's a compliment?
Jumin, in a cat shaped bubble: Meow?
Ok that's not how I was imagining him flirting and it's adorable. This game keep giving me the option to flirt by pretending to be a cat and I find that sort of thing massively irritating in real life but am getting a weird kick out of it in this game *meows at Jumin*
*sets an alarm to remind me to catch the 10am chat and goes the heck back to sleep*
Haa so I have friends coming over tonight and they should leave before I end up missing a chat but if not the temptation to bring out the laptop for 5 minutes is going to be huge.
Ooh and looking at the schedule properly there is a lot of Jaehee today :D
Jumin seems to have taken the "gap moe" thing to heart, he's using a lot of cat bubbles and more slang. He's not quite carrying it off.
Seven: Lol we should get the main character of that movie "The Lady of the Bracelets" to come to the party!
Jaehee: ...she really exists?
haha what. My options are "omg." and "lolol". THE NUANCE OF THESE DIFFERENCES ESCAPES ME.
I said "lolol" and Jaehae didn't like MC being so silly ;_; In general this MC has possibly ended up a bit too jokey for Jaehee and may suit Yoosung better, I don't feel like being serious on a first playthrough when I'll probably fail. But I'll keep doing my best and see where things end up! And MC sobered up and took Jaehee's side when Jumin ordered her to seriously search for this FICTIONAL CHARACTER.
*forces self not to overthink email responses and just go with my gut* I wonder what happens if I ignore them too long. This is a little too like feeling guilty about my actual neglected inbox, though that doesn't have the option of a walkthrough.
I have the option to vet party guests but have just been saying yes to everyone, even though they're all super different (MMO players from Yoosung, romance authors from Zen, snooty rich ladies from Jumin etc) I'M SURE THEY'LL ALL GET ALONG GREAT. Assuming I...actually persuade anyone...(romance lady conversation just keeps going. JUST BE CHARMED AND RSVP)
Haaa I looked ahead and the 3am conversation tomorrow is just 707 and is titled "Do not drink coffee".
Wait is MC living in Rika's apartment?? Does she not...have...a house of her own? With all her stuff?
Ok, new headcanon, this MC is a trans woman in an insecure living situation. I guess she has a job that pays well enough to have time to muck about with this RFA stuff for free, though. Maybe a crappy part time job that doesn't give her enough hours. Her being trans makes Seven introducing her as "a cute girl" a sweet way for him to validate her gender and make it clear he's respecting her privacy. I'm wondering if I can get away with having her be like...old, or an alien robot or something. I like the idea of Jumin with a much older woman (but not Jaehee or Yoosung, so this MC is around their age) Since I have a blank slate I might as well draw something interesting.
Zen: I hope Yoosung knows the difference between night and day when he's playing games. He should go out on dates instead.
My options:
He should be more like you, Zen
I want to go out with Yoosung
uhhh /o\
I mean...I kinda do want her to go out with Yoosung, but would she really say that? Where he will see it later?? But it's such a good way to mess with Zen...
SCREW IT. YOLO.
And of course Zen basically ignored it like he does anything MC says that he doesn't like.
Zen was talking about how if he had a girlfriend he'd prioritise her over work, and Jaehee came in all DON'T DATE FOCUS ON YOUR WORK and I chose all the JAEHEE'S RIGHT DON'T DATE options and got a bunch of Jaehee points because she doesn't realise MC isn't being a supportive Zen fan, she just wants Jaehee for herself.
"Relationships are temporary fantasies fabricated by emotions" aww, Jaehee. MC WILL PROVE YOU WRONG.
But right now MC's agreeing because she doesn't want Jaehee pursuing her current romantic emotions.
...this MC is ending up a little yandere for Jaehee. Huh! *rolls with it*
Zen says Jaehee has clearly never been in love.
Jaehee: I do not really understand what made you say that, but as someone who's had a considerable amount of life experience, I cannot say that I have never been in a relationship and I am not an innocent girl who has no experience whatsoever.
Jaehee: ...he left while I was typing.
She tries and fails to delete the message and then gets horribly embarrassed and MC reassures her it's ok. JAEHEEEEEE
Waaaaait Zen just posted an image of himself dressed as this romance novel character he'll be playing and it is absolutely Jisoo from Dandelion
It's increasingly clear that his bravado covers deep insecurity but that doesn't make it not annoying. I try not to be too mean to him, though. I think he's confident of his own attractiveneess but not of his acting ability.
I'm leaning more and more towards Yoosung, I really like Jaehee but Yoosung gives a much stronger impression of liking MC back. Jaehee is just...moderately friendly. There's only one and a bit more days until the paths split, too.
Oh man. So far I have two invitations that failed right off the bat, one saying "completed" in red that I think was also a fail, and one saying "completed" in green that I am hoping was a success. Another two are waiting for a reply. I have no idea how many I need for a good end but it's not looking promising so far...
My friends will be here soon and I'll MISS A CHAT and only have a short window after they leave to see it. It's with Jaehee AND Yoosung, will have to tell my friends I have a hot internet date with my boy and girlfriend >.>
OMG so after I made this MASSIVE SACRIFICE, my friend took a PHONECALL in the MIDDLE OF THE SHOW WE WERE WATCHING from a POLITICAL CANVASSER. YES, FRIEND, I AGREE WE SHOULD REFORM THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM, BUT RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT I WANTED TO SEE THE BOUNTY HUNTERS SAVE THE PLANETARY HEIR. It was too early for me to read the chat so I just passive-aggressively scrolled through twitter, feeling very hard done by, and hissed TRANS RIGHTS towards the phone when I heard the canvasser ask if there were any issues my friend thought the Greens should focus on more. (DON'T GET ME STARTED)
Anyway. My friends left in time for me to see the chat, but I'd misread and it was Seven and Jaehee. He teased her a little about her obvious crush on Zen. THAT'S MEAN, SEVEN.
Meanwhile she's, uh, kind of humourless. It's a bit off-putting. I still like her a lot, but in conjunction with her still not seeming SUPER enthused about MC, even in a platonic way, she's falling behind Yoosung as my primary goal. She's still a million miles ahead of Zen, though. Hopefully I'll warm up to him once I get to know him better.
Some of these choices are kind of heavyhanded, pointswise.
*stares at "Hiya Jaehee" vs "Hey, Yoosung" for some time*
*clicks "Hiya, Jaehee"*
Jaehee: Seven said he was locked in at work, I worry he's in involved in something dangerous.
Aw and you gain points with her for worrying about Seven instead of saying hi to Zen. I didn't think she even liked Seven!
Yoosung: What would it feel like to be locked in?
MC: Wouldn't it feel like you're under someone's control?
Yoosung: *.* I want someone to control me. I can't control LoLoL
MC: I can lock you up lol
SEE. HOW CAN I NOT TAKE THESE FLIRTS.
Zen: Try that game. The one where a cat locks you in if you do something wrong.
Me: Wait, what?
Me: WAIT
(this is a screenshot of Cheritz's first dating sim, Dandelion. One of the catboys gets creepily possessive in a bad end)
End of Day 3!
So one downside of using a schedule is that I see the names of each chat before it happens. But they're not always what I expect.
For example, "Do not Drink Coffee" with Seven at 3am was not, in fact, Seven being awake because he drank too much coffee. It was him finding out Yoosung joined his uni's barista club and being all "OH NO! YOUR RARE MEDICAL CONDITION THAT I CLEARLY JUST MADE UP TO MESS WITH YOU!". Yoosung, don't believe him, you dumbass.
I had MC do her best to not play along but eventually gave up and just agreed to wake Yoosung with a kiss.
(I was not awake at 3am. I was awake at 5am >.>)
Man, looking at the chat list, I am rapidly heading towards the point where the game decides what path I'm on. It's definitely between Jaehee and Yoosung (and would be even if Jumin and Seven were included) but I have no idea which of them is in the lead.
While I'm adding in images, here's the title screen:
I didn't realise at first, but that's V. Is he proposing to Rika? Is this going to be horribly tragic in context and make me cry later?
Oh, I never mentioned: the very first menu lets you choose between "original story" (what I'm playing), save/load, "After Ending", history, and DLC. Apparently history unlocks once you've reached any full ending, and lets you replay scenes, which will be nice if I miss something and want to remind myself, or get inspired to fic.
Anyway the top of that menu has a little chibi of a random character giving a greeting, and sometimes it's Ray saying something creepy which is unsettling. Right now it's Zen saying "I've always enjoyed the air in the middle of the night". It's 7am, Zen.
Jaehee: I look at this photo and think about my position. I'm only an assistant, my feelings don't matter
;_;
And then she's sweetly grateful to MC for listening and validating her and Jaeheeeeee
(Also she agreed with MC that Seven shouldn't be picking on Yoosung like that, even though she and Yoosung are too different to get along all that well)
OH MAN so I fell back asleep and missed the 9am chat. Seven convinces Yoosung he's going to die and asks if he has any last words, then leaves. BAD SEVEN.
Yoosung: I'll forgive V. Chia...we didn't get to know each other well, but I liked you. Seven , I'm sorry I broke your figurine and hid it from you. Elizabeth, I'm sorry I couldn't play with your more. And my first love in fifth grade, Areum, I'm sorry I didn't return ur eraser, and mom and dad, thank you for sending me to college.
Jaehee slowly explains that he has been tricked, in simple words, until he gets it.
Yosung: MC...please comfort me...
Jaehee: MC is not online
Yoosung: Jaehee, please comfort me
Jaehee: Comfort, there you go.
Yoosung: I must look like an idiot
Jaehee: Kind of
Aw and then I have a missed call from Yoosung. I'M SORRY YOOSUNG YOU ADORABLE DUMBASS
No, Seven, I don't think it's funny, you meanie.
The only way this game makes sense is if I give MC the same sleep cycle as me, but that means I have to come up with some way her life allows for naps at all hours. She's clearly mobile, since she went to that apartment. She could still be disabled and living off government assistance or parents or something. She could work from home, or just be unemployed. Or have a shift work job that just happens to match my sleep cycle, haha.
Something considered socially unacceptable would explain why she never talks about it. Disabled, unemployed, and having some working class shift job all fit that, though the MC I'm playing right now doesn't seem the sort to be embarrassed easily. Sex worker would fit but I'm not sure it would match the sort of gendered sexual dynamics these games generally have.
EDIT: OOh and in one of the later conversations she tells Seven her (previous?) job is a secret. Spy?? ROBOT spy?? Also he made it sound like she's getting paid for this?? A random woman who stumbled into their chatroom. Amazing.
V shows up and announces the party is in a week! (Which I knew was the end date for the game, but hadn't thought of it that way) Come to think of it, with this game in real time, that's only a fortnight for these relationships to develop. Hmm.
Anyway, Yoosung doesn't like V ignoring them for a year and a half then coming in from on high to make these decisions without consultation, and also worries it will be too stressful for MC. Which is fair/sweet, but he is definitely too hard on V for being distant after Rika's death, and V is subtly sad about it. V covers all his emotions with distant civility so I can see why Yoosung doesn't pick them up.
..and now to go back to sleep, hopefully not for so long that I miss all the chats and wake up to a bad end /o\
I want to get to path choice but I have to waaaaaait
Jumin unexpectedly got called away and left Elizabeth with Jaehee, who was supposed to have the day off:
I laughed so hard I interrupted a work meeting Cam was having in the next room, oops.
Yoosung says he's quitting LoLoL to get better English scores, Jaehee is tentatively supportive but I think dubious that cold turkey will work. When it's clear that Yeonho's life plan is "Get good grades and wait for a job to fall into my lap" Jaehee talks about how that approach led to her current well paid but frustrating and dead end job. Afterwards she asks MC about her own life plans, and whether she thinks Jaehee should look into a new job. I had to stop and think about the first question, and eventually decided MC does have a life goal sh's working towards (details to be decided later >.>) But the second answer was an immediate YES. QUIT. TALK TO ME WHENEVER which Jaehee was sweetly appreciative of.
At this point I think I'd be happy with Jaehee or Yoosung, but am doing so badly at the emails I'm not sure either good end is on the cards for this MC. Sorry, kid.
Jaehee, don't tell Yoosung he's single because he's short. *tells Yoosung MC likes short guys*
Seven: Lol, Zen's narcissism gets worse by the day.
Jaehee: He has no choice because he's so handsome. But I worry that more people will harbour passionate feelings for him.
Seven: Well he does want a girlfriend
Jaehee: But scandal is poison to an actor. I worry Chia has feelings for him.
My options are "It's nothing like that" and "Are you jealous"?
Where's "LOL AS IF"??
Seven accuses Jaehee of being jealous and like a good friend I defend her against this blatantly true accusation. Afterwards she sends a message double checking MC really isn't interested, and my options are "I'm starting to feel interested. This is a secret between us, okay" and "No! I just want to watch him from afar...and support him...and those muscles...omg!"
WHERE'S OPTION FOR HE'S NOT MY TYPE??
(Ok, he is actually pretty cute. But I'm not into the muscles. Put your shirt back on, dude)
*is performatively heterosexual to make Jaehee feel better*
Zen, if you're going to connect with Jaehee, I'd rather it not be about how you both enjoy teasing Yoosung about gaming. But feel free to keep bonding about what a shitty boss Jumin is and your mutual dislike of cats. Bonding about how hot you are is...fine, I guess, you do both seem to enjoy it.
I was going to say having two of the initial three love interests dislike cats was an odd choice, then remembered they're apparently an unpopular pet in Korea. And they both have good reason (allergy and non-consensual cat-sitting) and aren't mean to cats, so it's ok by me. I GUESS.
Just had a very calm, grown-up conversation with V and Jaehee. Every now and then V has talked about wanting to "make sure MC is safe", I thought he was making sure she was safe from Unknown, but what he meant was: can she be trusted with the personal information of Jumin, Zen, and the various guests etc? And he's decided the answer is yes.
I get the feeling Jaehee thinks the others were a bit incautious to trust MC so quickly, but also thinks MC is being incautious being so trusting of them, so I don't take it personally. I think she has a point, otome logic aside, but wonder if something specific happened to her to make her so cautious.
I continue to profess faith in Yoosung giving up games even though I...do not think he is actually going to succeed. HE'S TRYING HIS BEST. Seven says he's forgiven Yoosung for breaking his figurine, then takes credit for Yoosung giving up games. Everyone else is confused.
Seven: Because you don't believe in god, you'll never understand.
Zen: You don't believe either, I've never seen you pray.
Seven:
(Seven has never given any context for his occasional cross dressing selfies. It's just a thing. He's an interesting guy, even if he could stand to be nicer to cute dumb things like cats and Yoosung)
Oh no and so of course Yoosung says he'll go back to games to spite Seven. Ah, Yoosung. You're lucky you're an adorable dumbass.
Tiiiiiiime for the final chat of Day fourrrrr
Ray's chibi in the menu: I wonder what will happen if I ever see you
I guess we may find out soon, Ray...
Zen: I had a dream where you were imaginary. And we've never seen your face or heard your voice...maybe Seven's just tricking us?
MC: To be honest, I'm using an app that only lets me say programmed things.
Zen: Wait what?
lol
Zen: At the end of my dream, it turned out all of us were robots saying programmed things lol.
MC: We might both be robots.
ROBOT MC CONFIRMED
That said: He's never heard her voice? I mean I'm clicking text answers during phone conversations but I assumed this was just a game convention??
And thennnnnn..."Story mode" is unlocked. I click it.
There is a blue sky.
For the first time, a sprite appears.
It's Rika. She says "Do you believe in the afterworld?"
o.O
She says she believes that souls that fell in love in heaven can meet again on earth, and thinks that's what happened with her and V.
The game warns me that the story is about to branch, and I should save.
Aaaand...the day 5 image is now Yoosung! I feel a little sad to not get Jaehee but I suspect I'd have felt similarly sad to not get Yoosung, too. I'll get to her eventually! Her path looks like it'll be slow burn on the emotional intensity, which will be more fun without the knowledge there was a more intense alternative waiting for me.
No new conversation have unlocked or anything yet, that's for tomorrow!
*looks up the first few chat times for Yoosung's route*
1:28am, 3:22am, 7:35am, and 9:43am? Oh god. It is currently 11:30pm, so we'll see how I do...
The 7:35 one is the first one where Yoosung himself appears, so hopefully I will at least make that.
But to find out, you'll have to tune in next time ;)
While I remember: I currently have 46 hourglasses and 1072 hearts. So that's 3 hourglasses and 567 hearts over two days.
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