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 Have you ever asked God for help? Do you believe in God's existence? If one day your fate has changed, do you wonder if God heard your call for help...? There was an urban legend. Write your troubles down on a note. Hold it in your hand at midnight, and pray. “God, please help me...” Then God will hear your plea, and change your fate. A young girl wakes up in an unknown room, where a strange dog informs her that they are gods and their duty is to change the fate of any humans that ask for help. Letters appear in their mailbox, and with pen in hand, she begins her job... *** WILL: A Wonderful World is a Chinese visual novel puzzle game developed by the indie studio WMY Studio and published by PLAYISM. It released originally in May 2017, with an English release coming March the following year. It follows two higher beings tasked with the responsibility of reading wishes (in the form of letters) sent by mortals, and using their power to reshape fate... and learn more about the lives of those who would pray for a miracle in the process. Before going any further though, consider this your primary content warning; as I have in previous LPs, I will give specific content warnings for the update itself whenever relevant, but in a broader sense this LP will end up broaching heavy topics such as depictions of violence/gore/assault, suicide (both explicit and ideation), child abuse, sexual assault (not explicitly shown- there is a point where the game is descriptive that I chose to skip entirely), mental illness, human trafficking, and so on. I did my best to make sure everything is tagged and handled appropriately, so just heed the content warnings when they show up. This isn't an 18+ game or anything, it's gotten releases on PS4 and Switch, but it does still broach some really heavy stuff, and the game also does a frankly terrible job of actually preparing you for what topics it contains, so I'd like to think I managed to make up for that lack. This LP is going to cover the main story; while this is not a kinetic novel, it is laid out somewhat uniquely compared to other visual novels in a way that will make more sense once getting into the actual game itself. This will not be a 100% LP (mostly to avoid redundancy), but we will cover everything relevant that the game contains. Rather than there being choices of any kind for the thread to vote on, instead I set things up so that the thread could guess the solutions to some of the puzzles as we encountered them; I gave credit to different posters for what their guesses would result in and have kept that credit in the LP even upon being archived.                                                                       
Mix. fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Sep 20, 2022 |
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Apr 12, 2022 22:18
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 1. Ser Spotty 2. "Gaokao" 3. Tie Breaker 4. The Kid of Tennis 5. Underspin 6. VR 7. Luminol 8. Gas Explosion 9. VIRS 10. Schizophrenia 11. Peso 12. Black Dragon Gang 13. Massage 14. Human Stick 15. Mexican Rabbit 16. Ming Pao 17. Food Tickets 18. Blackjack 19. Panda Bear 20. FFP 21. Morse Code 22. RPG 23. Chungking Mansions 24. Body Handlers 25. Archives 26. Horse Lamp 27. Shaolin Temple 28. "Speed Defines the Winner" 29. Transfiguration 30. Blood Types 31. Go-Stop 32. AWM 33. Baihui Xue 34. Horse Stance 35. Pigtail Fighting 36. 914 37. Musung Gang 38. Bungmun Gang 39. Alzheimer's Disease 40. G43 41. M134  Will contain spoilers if you are not caught up on the LP. Li Wen   Wen Zhaoren   Jimmy   Park Sang-Gun  "Pi"  Carlos   Alicia   Spottie  Chang Gyeong-Min   Kang Baek-Ya     Rocky  Yang Ying  Hotaru 
Mix. fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Sep 16, 2022 |
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Apr 12, 2022 22:18
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There was an urban legend. Write your troubles down on a note. Hold it in your hand at midnight, and pray. “God, please help me...” Then God will hear your plea. And change your fate. It was only a legend though... That has gone viral for a brief period of time. -Excerpt from “Modern Urban Legends” … [BGM: A Family Matter]    …... Ugh... my head hurts... Where... am I? What... happened?  You finally woke up! I've been waiting for so long. I was beginning to worry that you might never wake up. (It's a talking dog!) Er... and are you... my pet?[BGM: Cat Pound]   Must... stay... calm... How dare you call me a pet? Do I look like a pet?! Well... yes? I am your servant. Don't you remember? (Servant? What is this talking dog going on about? Am I having a dream?) Servant? As in... you could help me fetch the newspaper? Have you... lost your memories? Lost... my memories? Yeah. You fell down the stairs yesterday. Then you passed out. I thought you might have hit your head. I fell? But my head doesn't hurt anywhere, there's no bruising... Anyway, let's both settle down a little. How about a quick test? Now, look into my big, beautiful eyes, and tell me: what is my name? Er... Fluffy? Fluffy my rear end! Well... I guess you really did lose your memories. My name is Will... Sometimes, I go by Willy. Willy...? Yes, Willy. Willy... Wonka? No! It's just Willy! I don't own a chocolate factory! Also, don't you know chocolate is dangerous for dogs?! Wait... I'm not a dog! Oh boy. It seems worse than I thought. Listen to me carefully... I'm not a dog, and you're not a human. (That doesn't sound right...) We are gods. (WHAT?!) Yes, that's right. We're gods. How did you know what I was thinking just now?! I'm a god. Of course I know. As gods, it is our job to change the fate of the humans who ask us for help. Humans encounter all kinds of trouble in their lives and sometimes they pray to us, hoping for “miracles”, as they call them. We can help them and grant their wishes. Or not. It's all up to you, of course. Wait, wait, wait... Stop babbling so fast. I don't understand what you're saying at all! I'm not babbling... You're just too slow! You know what, let's start with job orientation, shall we? Come over here. It's time to do some work. Hold on... Are we starting already? I still don't have a clue what is going on... Besides, didn't you just tell me that we're gods? Why do gods have to work? Don't lie to me just because I've lost my memories... I was not lying. In any case, if you don't finish today's work, we won't have any dinner tonight. Fine...… [BGM: New Life]  See that small red box? That is a message from the human today. All right, let's see what she has got herself into this time.[BGM: Air]  I Want to Go Home My name is Li Wen. I am a senior at Yingnan High School. Today I went to a nearby court to play tennis for the first time since I had moved to my new place.  It was a very poorly maintained court, so I guess hardly anyone ever uses it. The light over the tennis court is maintained by some of the residents themselves; the dim light bulb kept making a buzzing noise. One, two, three... I had just hit all 30 of the balls that I had, so I picked up the now empty basket. I walked to the other side of the court and collected the balls before hitting them all again. No one else was on the tennis court. All I could hear was the sound of the balls hitting my racket and then bouncing off the ground. The light bulb flickered twice, and went out. I picked up most of the balls and left the court, walking towards a small alley. I had walked through it earlier on my way to the court. The alley was always dark no matter what time of day it was. I kept humming to myself quietly in my head just to be less scared.  I arrived at my apartment and suddenly realized that my keys were not in my pocket! I tried to think back... I must have left them at the tennis court. If the light hadn't suddenly gone out I would have noticed that they were not on me. Well, this sucked... It was too late to go back to the court. Not to mention that I might not even be able to find the keys without any light. A desk lamp was on in the manager's office, as was the radio, but nobody was in there. I stood outside the window and waited for a long time but Uncle Sun, who was supposed to be on duty tonight, never showed up. The motion sensor lights in the hallway kept turning on and off every few minutes. I was beginning to feel a little scared. A late night talk show was on. The hosts were talking about a popular urban legend that had also been making the rounds at school. It said that if you wrote a note to God in the middle of the night, then God would solve all of your problems for you. Jing was really into this stuff.  Well, if such a God really exists... maybe he or she could help unlock the door for me? Or make Uncle Sun come back to his office soon! Please, please! Li Wen …  Well... Do people always write to gods just because they forgot their keys? Er... Not always, no. But humans are exceptionally annoying. You'll see a lot more random nonsense of all kinds in the future. Forget about why she asked for our help for now. Let's take a look at how we may help her. Now, use this pen I just gave you. We can slice this letter into several pieces. Now see, some of these pieces are black, and some of them are white. To prevent logical chaos, some of these pieces cannot be moved. These pieces are designated in black. Meanwhile, the white pieces can be moved anywhere with one exception. No white pieces can go past the first or the last piece. Now that you understand the limitations in moving these pieces, you may feel free to move the white pieces around. After you rearrange the white pieces, these events will happen exactly as you want in the human world. If your rearrangement has altered the previous causal links within the events, naturally the ending of the letter will be changed. Well... that's about it. What?! Are you telling me that I could change what has happened to the human by moving these sentences around? Exactly. Isn't it straightforward? Oh gosh! That is so awesome! Can you do it too? Only the person who is holding the pen is capable of doing this. Go ahead. Give it a try. As this is obviously an introduction to the mechanic, there's no puzzle here, it's just a matter of re-arranging the order of the white pieces.    It's hard to show in a text LP, but upon changing anything in the letter that will result in a new outcome, the bottom black piece begins flashing to show it's not the initial default order, and there's a Reset button if you want to start over or get yourself mixed up. In any case, now that we've altered things so that a light goes out after Li Wen picked up her tennis balls and left the tennis court, let's hit the OK button and see how things play out from here... …  The alley was always very dark to begin with, and with the light gone it had become pitch black. I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face. I kept having a feeling that something was going to happen... Scenes from horror movies and homicide shows I'd seen suddenly flashed through my head. Since I was too scared, I turned around and picked another longer way home. [BGM: Air Dance]  The detour was a crowded and lively street. It was full of people hanging out and waiting in front of bars. And a lot of arcades were still open. I was planning to head straight home and go to bed, but I saw the latest version of the stuffed Ser Spotty through the window of an arcade!  Hey! There is some text highlighted in blue here! That means it's a term archived in our Dictionary. The humans' letters often include some special terms related to their day-to-day lives. These terms will be highlighted. Since we are gods, there's nothing that we don't understand. Therefore, whenever we encounter one of these strange terms, a definition for them will automatically appear in our Dictionary. By the way, similar to the Dictionary, we also keep a record of the Profiles of everyone who has written to us. Oh wow... being a god is so convenient... Unfortunately, it was not for sale. I had to get it out of a claw machine. And I'm not very good at those... I spent almost all of the cash I had on me, but I didn't come close even once... “Miss, we are about to close. Please check your belongings and don't leave anything behind.” I lowered my head in disappointment. I noticed that there was a bottle of some kind of drink on the counter that had appeared out of nowhere. Perhaps somebody had forgotten it there. I picked it up and threw it in the trash on my way out. I got home and turned on the light. All of the boxes I had moved in two days ago were still lying all over the floor. Tomorrow. I'll unpack them tomorrow. I'm too exhausted now... At least the shower felt great... I got out of the shower, climbed into bed and immediately fell asleep. Good night.  Look, because of what you did, now it's the alley that has a broken lightbulb, instead of the tennis court. Therefore, the girl would not have left her keys at the dark tennis court. Even though it was a tiny change, you have indeed changed her fate. More importantly, you might have changed more than what we are seeing right now. The impact of this tiny event could last for a long time, maybe even influence her entire life. A chain reaction like this is called “the butterfly effect” in the human world. We still can't be certain of how big the impact to her future is going to be. But keep in mind that our power has a potentially dangerous side to it. We must never abuse it. Hmm... I understand. Well, we are done with this letter. Let's go back and see if there are more!… [BGM: New Life]   Being a god is so easy! Heh heh... Don't get too excited. You still have a lot to learn. I have fetched the letters for you up until now. From now on, you should be getting your own letters. I have placed a mailbox at the bottom left; if the flag is up by the mailbox, it means that there are new letters inside. If you've processed all of the letters at hand, go and check the mailbox. Got it!   NEW MESSAGE: The Last Words  NEW MESSAGE: Roses and A Doll  *** Profiles have Updated. 
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Apr 12, 2022 22:18
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content warning: potential stalking, suicide + suicidal ideation  Sometimes, we might see multiple messages from two or more people at the same time. Why do humans have so many problems... In cases like this, you have to read through both messages in one breath before we can start working on them. Hmm... What are you doing? I'm trying to see how long I can hold my breath... I don't think I could finish two letters in one breath... It's just a metaphor... Well, what should I do to find the other letter after reading the first one? After reading one letter, you might see the Next Letter option. Whenever you need to switch between the two letters, just use that button to switch back and forth. Okay. I'll start now.[BGM: Broken Dream 1]  The Last Words It had been 10 years. I had been cursed since the “incident”. Every time I picked up my paint brush my mind would start tormenting me, wreaking havoc. For ten years I hadn't been able to paint anything. I was suffering. And I deserved it. By now I had spent all of my savings, yet I was still alive. A friend was kind enough to set me up with a teaching job at a high school, teaching the art class. I would start tomorrow. It wasn't particularly well paid, but for someone who had been living without power, water or heat in his apartment, it was like a burning pit of charcoal in the middle of a blizzard. I was really grateful to my friend. Ironically, I had just bought myself some charcoal earlier today. I thought I might be able to leave something worthwhile to the world as a painter before I died. Yes, I wanted to make one of those “final masterpieces”. I set up my easel. One hour passed. Two hours... Three hours... I had to put down the brush. Even if I managed to paint something, how would it be different from all of the other garbage in this room?  It would just be another piece of soulless trash. Just like me. All TRASH! I poured the coal into a basin and put it on the bedroom floor. I put on my best clothes. I carefully made my bed. And I lit the coals. I tried the doorknob and realized that the door was not locked. I chuckled. That was careless of me. I double checked all of the doors and windows, making sure that they had been locked and sealed. I couldn't take any chances. I lay down on my bed. All I could see was her face... Here I come, honey. Sorry for making you wait so long.  God, I am ready. Please take me away. Wen Zhaoren  [BGM: Lethal Affair]  Roses and A Doll The apartment building I had just moved into was quite old. It didn't have an elevator so I had to climb the stairs every day. As usual it was already past midnight when I got back from tennis practice. I noticed something at my door as soon as I walked into the 4th floor hallway. Was that... a bouquet of roses? And the Ser Spotty toy I had seen in the arcade a few days ago!  I had a sudden, sinking feeling of anxiety. I had been getting strange emails starting the day before yesterday. This was the first one: [I've been watching you for a long time. Write back to me. (￣艸￣”)<※ <※ <※ <※ <※ ] At first, I thought maybe someone had sent it to the wrong address by accident. Or it could have been some random phishing email, so I didn't pay any attention to it. But the next day I received another one... [Please write back to me ~>_<~] I still have no idea what those weird symbols mean. And whoever had written these emails seemed to think that we knew each other...... My cellphone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. I had a new email. I clicked on the email app with a shaking finger...  [WE SHALL MEET SOON ~~>_<~~] In my defense, I TRIED to replicate the heart as well, but it wouldn't format correctly.I couldn't understand those symbols at all, but the words in the middle... All of a sudden I felt a chill down my back, as if I was being watched by someone... or something. But my body had frozen and I didn't dare turn around. I looked into the reflection in the glass of the window in front of me, trying to see if there was anything behind me. There wasn't... I was just being paranoid. Still, I decided to go and spend the night at Jing's place just in case. I walked towards the staircase, but then I heard it: footsteps, coming upstairs, closer and closer. Who could it be at this late hour... Could it be... the one who had written those emails? I immediately turned around and ran back towards my apartment. But I lived alone... what if they broke in... He would force me into the corner, pull a chainsaw out from behind him and cut me to pieces... Oh god... No!  I stopped at the door of my neighbor, Room 414. I... I choose you! Help me! No matter how hard I knocked, nothing happened. I tried not to cry so much that I wouldn't be heard. But tears were already streaming down my face. Calm down, Li Wen! The footsteps stopped at the 4th floor, and were now moving towards me. There was only one more corner between us... It was too late for me to hide in my own apartment now. I held my tennis racket up. I swung it down as hard as I could with my eyes closed when the person arrived at the corner. The person I had hit wobbled and fell down the stairs. It was Uncle Sun! He seemed to be just going around the building and picking up the trash... Uncle Sun was laying on the ground, and he was not moving at all.  Oh my god... what have I done?! God, please help me, please please... Li Wen …  When there is more than one letter, the white pieces can be moved left and right as well, in addition to up and down. Since it will impact the fate of both people, you must be careful when making your decisions. Once again, we're still getting introduced to the primary puzzle mechanic of this game, so this is a no-brainer; moving the white piece from Wen Zhaoren's side over to Li Wen's will change both outcomes as a result...  ...as it will make him no longer check his door, while Li Wen will notice the doorknob of her neighbor's apartment is unlocked. … [BGM: Broken Dream 1]  God, I am ready. Please take me away. … … … ?! What was that noise? I struggled to sit up in my bed. My head felt like it was going to explode. drat it... Just a little longer, and God would have taken me... Whoever had made that noise... be it a burglar or a utility guy, I would never forgive them... [BGM: Angelic Touch]  Excuse me... sorry for the intrusion... I sneaked into my neighbor's apartment. It was completely dark inside and smelled funny. It was so hard to breathe in this apartment... I wondered who would live in such a place. I shut the door right behind me. I accidentally knocked over some jars that were shelved next to the door, and they made some very loud noises. Still, nobody responded. I supposed there really wasn't anyone home. I looked out from the peep hole while I held my breath. A thin, old humpbacked man walked by the door, with empty plastic bottles in his hands. It was just Uncle Sun, the manager... phew... …  This one is easy too. Hmm, as Shakespeare once said, “security is mortals' chiefest enemy”, which could mean that overconfidence is man's greatest enemy. Shakes... what... who? Shakespeare. He is one of the greatest writers in human history. Overconfidence is man's greatest enemy? Well... but I am no man. Okay. Then do you remember this person's name? Er... Wen... Zhao... Ugh, I have it on the tip of my tongue! Hahaha, you should pay more attention. His name is Wen Zhaoren. Okay... I have a bad memory. I get your point. It's only easy because you are just getting started. You will see soon enough.… [BGM: New Life]  What does this yellow star mean? When you see a yellow star, that means you have unlocked all of the possible endings of that particular event. Oh. Should I try to collect all of the yellow stars? Oh no, that won't be necessary. Our job is just to help the humans with their troubles. No matter how many times we try or how many endings we unlock, for the humans there is only one ending to each story that they will ever know. So it doesn't really matter whether or not you unlock all of the endings. In that case, what is the star there for? Well... I know you're asking me, but... To be honest I don't really know.   NEW MESSAGE: Farewell...  [BGM: Broken Dream 1]  Farewell... Somebody had ruined my plan... drat it... I sat up, and realized I could barely stand. The entire room was spinning; I felt so nauseated that I almost threw up. Just a little longer and I could have seen her again... The room was completely dark since I hadn't been able to pay my utility bill for a while. I lifted my foot and tried to take a step, but I tripped over my easel. The brushes and paints fell all over the place. I crouched down and slowly started to pick them up again. It took me a while as I was so exhausted. I put out the fire and opened a window. I stumbled upon my flashlight and pressed the button.  BOOM!! I heard a deafening explosion. Was that a... gas explosion? I thought I saw a slender figure of somebody fall down in the fire before I passed out. When I woke up, the doctor told me that there was a 17-year-old girl who had been sent to the hospital along with me. She hadn't made it. “Fortunately”, however, I was still alive.  I had third degree burns all over my body. I lost my right arm and I couldn't speak. I couldn't even do something as simple as ask what the girl's name was. God, why... Why didn't you just kill me instead? Wen Zhaoren  *** Profiles have Updated.  
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Apr 12, 2022 22:19
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I honestly don't know how you can keep up this pace, but I'm down for another of your LPs. 
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Apr 12, 2022 22:36
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Hmm... Flashlight first, then put out fire, then tripping over the easel last? Also I wanna give Willy a scratch behind the ears.
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Apr 12, 2022 22:55
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This looks super interesting. I love unconventional VNs.
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Apr 12, 2022 22:57
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Oh. Oh boy. That was…definitely a tonal shift. Is the entire VN like that?
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Apr 12, 2022 22:59
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I was enjoying this game until I got totally stuck, and this LP convinced me to go back and try again. Having reread this first part, I consider the part that stumped me a dirty trick. But I got past it, so thanks for the motivation!
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Apr 13, 2022 00:33
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HereticMIND posted:Oh. Oh boy. That was…definitely a tonal shift. Yes. It's like that. And judging from the content warning, it will get worse.
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Apr 13, 2022 03:01
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Your Everyday NEET posted:Yes. It's like that. And judging from the content warning, it will get worse. oh yeah. the game not warning you what you're in for is its biggest flaw IMO. it has no content warning on steam and it really, really needs one. (I will otherwise hush because yes I have completed this.)
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Apr 13, 2022 03:55
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Yeah, to be clear, I am going to be handling this VERY carefully in some places and already have mods aware of future content (and it'll be vetted long before the update happens), so there'll be no worry of getting blindsided with upsetting content.
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Apr 13, 2022 04:04
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I assume the key here is having the "tripped over the easel" last, since it takes him a long to pick up the papers there can't be an explosion or something like that.
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Apr 13, 2022 15:43
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Put out the fire/open the window, then trip over the easel, then turn on the flashlight. I take it Wen Zhaoren was attempting suicide via CO poisoning? The time it takes for him to fix his easel will hopefully get the concentration of the gas down enough that the electric spark from the flashlight won't trigger an explosion.
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Apr 13, 2022 16:21
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content warning: suicide [BGM: Broken Dream 1] From here on, the puzzles will actually begin (though this isn't the end of the tutorials, as we'll see in later sections). As such, I'll be having the thread give what they think might be the “right” solution for some of these puzzles, and go through each possible outcome (with credit for each). This is still relatively straightforward, though- only one letter and only three sections to re-order. Obviously, we already know what happens if we leave it as-is:  ...and the game doesn't even bother processing the solution, it tells you immediately it's a Bad End. So let's start trying out solutions. It seemed like pushing the button on the flashlight triggered the gas explosion, so maybe if he finds it and pushes it first before spilling the paint?  The night breeze was coming in through the window. I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn't. Perhaps I had spent too much time picking up those things earlier. Had I been poisoned? I held the flashlight in my hand and walked towards the doorway. I found a girl lying on the floor unconscious. Had she been poisoned, too? I suddenly remembered a news story about people who had killed their neighbors by accident while attempting suicide by burning coals. I wanted to go back and call an ambulance, but I could not breathe anymore... If I could at least open the door... I tried to reach for the handle, but it seemed to be getting farther away...  Whoops! They inhaled too much of the smoke because we left the fire burning with no open window for too long. We avoided one Bad End only to arrive at a different one. Let's try something else.  Like putting out the fire and opening a window before spilling the paint, too? (guessed by Junpei and ZCKaiser)  I held up my flashlight. I made sure everything had been picked up and then walked toward the doorway. “Click.” Someone had just shut the door. I hurried up. However, there was nothing there except a broken, worthless ceramic pot on the floor. I opened the door and looked outside into the hallway. There was no one there, either. I went back in, saw the remaining coals, and the smoke that was still lingering in the room. I could still continue with the plan... I lit the coals again and closed the window. I climbed back into my bed. I felt my consciousness leaving me as I started to enter another world...  Unfortunately, while we stopped Li Wen from collapsing/presumably dying, we also stopped any kind of external force from disrupting Wen Zhaoren's suicide attempt, which is not an outcome we want (for, uh, obvious reasons). Another Bad End.  What if we make sure he puts the fire out first? Remove the temptation completely? Well...  Huh? Some pieces are missing! Hmm, sometimes this happens. In this letter, the previous development led to a gas explosion. As a result, Wen Zhaoren would not be able to carry out his following actions. Therefore, the white pieces disappeared. Usually, pieces will disappear when the subject of the actions described in the pieces is no longer active. This is not only confined to the sender of the letter. It could also be because of someone mentioned in the letter. Again, it depends. The important thing is to think about why they might disappear. I see. Important information to have, for sure! We now know it's possible to lose pieces entirely if something particularly disruptive happens as a result of the previous pieces' order. Even though it was the same as the original Bad End, we've learned something here.In any case, here's the actual solution (guessed by dervival):  Open the window and put out the fire immediately, then deal with the brushes and paints (giving enough time to vent/dilute the air inside the apartment), then finally find a flashlight to find out what's going on. BGM: Silence  “Who's there?!” I pressed the button on my flashlight in a hurry and the white light almost blinded me. ”Aaaah!” I saw a shadow fall to the ground. I quickly turned my light toward the sound, and saw that it was a girl that I had never met before. I checked to see if she was still breathing. She was. I remembered a school picnic during my junior high years... I had done the same thing to scare a girl in my class. She didn't faint, even though I had done it intentionally. Kids today are so weak. [BGM: Tender Love]  I carried the girl into my ventilated bedroom, laid her down on my bed and pulled the sheet over her. I went back into the living room and picked up my paint brush. I tried to remember her panicking face when she saw me. I suddenly had a new feeling, a feeling that I could paint something special this time. And yet... I just fell asleep with the brush in my hand while leaning against the wall.  Wow! That was so scary! I don't want to see anything like that ever again... I wonder though, why can we see all of these images? Aren't we just reading their letters? Technically, we are not actually receiving hand-written letters from the humans. You could think of these letters as a manifestation of their ”Will”. That's why they include more than the text you are reading. Sometimes we will receive the images of what they see, or even how they feel. Wow... that's really amazing.… [BGM: A Family Matter]  How did you feel? Whew... everything felt so unreal... Am I really a god? Have I always been living here? And... has the sky outside always been so red? It's even snowing outside. The weather is so weird... I have no memories of any of this. Is any of this real? Of course! Don't worry about it. Your memories will come back to you slowly. Anyway, don't you think this job is perfect for you? And it isn't too hard either, is it? That's true. It is more interesting than I thought. While it is interesting indeed, it is also rather serious. From now on, I won't repeat myself anymore. So, the truly important information, as you see here, will be highlighted in orange text.Or bolded, in the case of this LP.  Things in orange text are *extremely important*. When you see something in orange you should slow down your reading and pay extra attention. The orange text may appear, not only in my words, but also occasionally in the humans' letters as well. The humans' letters might include text in other colors too, such as yellow and blue. The yellow text highlights digital messages in a text message or email, while the blue text highlights messages left in a fax or a note. The orange text, however, emphasizes something else. I'll explain to you later when we see it. You won't remember it all if I say too much right now. In the end, you just need to remember that orange text is extremely important. It looks like you have truly mastered what I have taught you so far. You are truly my master. All right. It seems like you should do just fine now. And I can take it easy too, then. I believe as you go along with your tasks you will eventually make the right decisions. Besides, I can see that you have already made a choice. A choice? Yes. I told you at the beginning that handling the prayers from the humans is our job. However, whether to help them or not, and how exactly you want to change their fates, is completely up to you. I see that you have chosen an S ending for them all. That means you are choosing the path of absolute “kindness”. Well, they were asking me for help, so of course I should help them. What's the alternative... that I should torture them instead? Haha, not necessarily. I just want to remind you that the path of an absolute “kindness” is not an easy one. Especially when you receive letters from two different people, you will have to make the endings for both sides an S. Simply achieving an S ending for just one of them won't be good enough. In other words, you have to solve two people's problems at the same time. I see. Well... I'm sure I can find a way. Okay then. By the way, I suppose you don't remember your own name, either. Your name is “Myth”. “Myth”...? You are a god who can manipulate people's fates through stories and puzzles. That's why they call you “Myth”. You might not know this yet, but you are actually quite popular in the human world. Some of the urban legends that have been circulating are stories about you. Wow! I didn't know I was so impressive! Even though I seem to have forgotten a lot of things, and I'm still adapting and trying to learn... I do feel like helping people, and that makes me happy! If I work very hard, could I possibly grant wishes to everyone in the world? Everyone? Well, you'd be buried by all of their letters first. However... if you try your best, you should be able to shape the world a little closer to your liking, at the very least. Got it. I'll try my best! Well, from now on let me know if you have any questions. After all... it's just the two of us here.[WILL: A WONDERFUL WORLD OPENING MOVIE] … [BGM: New Life]  Let me see what kind of letters we're getting today~   NEW MESSAGE: My New Partner  NEW MESSAGE: First Day at New School  NEW MESSAGE: 20,000 Pesos  NEW MESSAGE: Here I come!  *** Profiles have Updated. 
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Apr 14, 2022 16:48
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One of the things I like is that everyone speaks with their native language during their call for help. Li Wen and Wen Chaoren speaks chinese, korean characters speaks korean, Japanese character speak japanese, mexican characters speaks portuguese? Spanish? I can't differentiate between those 2 languages.
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Apr 14, 2022 18:30
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BGM: Silence  My New Partner This problem was so difficult... I stared at the test and it looked like some kind of ancient curse, torturing my fragile mind... A box of chocolate milk suddenly appeared on my desk. My favorite! I opened it up and started drinking it. It was delicious. “Li Wen! What are you doing during an exam!” Thud. Ms. Yang pounded her fist on my desk. [BGM: Air]  My eyes went wide. There was no test, no Ms. Yang, not even my favorite drink, chocolate milk. I was lying in my own bed, still wearing the t-shirt I had put on for tennis last night. How had I fallen asleep like this? Suddenly, I remembered that I had found some strange things at my door last night. I carefully opened the door and looked outside. There was nothing. Was it all just a dream?  In any case, what time was it? I checked the clock on the wall. … It was ten past nine! I rushed to school as fast as possible. The second period had just begun. It was tennis class today. Our school was famous for its emphasis on so-called “Quality Education”. Which meant that unlike other schools we had classes in stuff like tennis, art, and so on, even for the senior students, so that they could get some exercise and release some of the stress from schoolwork. Not many seniors enrolled in these classes, though. Everyone had bet their whole lives on the upcoming “Gaokao”, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. However, I still had no idea what I wanted to do in the future. Nor what major I would be interested in. I supposed I would just go with the flow.  I carried my racket under my arm and ran onto the tennis court. Usually I would just do some hitting practice during the class. But today, I was here with a purpose. Last time I had accidentally hit that knucklehead Rocky from Class 3 when I had been practicing my serve. He insisted that I had done it on purpose, and challenged me to a match to “settle the score”. What kind of obsessive, obnoxious man was this? Well, today was the day of our “duel”. I had agreed to his proposal, with 30 boxes of chocolate milk as the wager. My favorite. We would play a doubles match for one set, and we got to pick a partner for the opponent. I picked Wang Qiang as Rocky's partner first. He was probably the weakest out of all of the people present today. My darling chocolate milk... here I come! Rocky pointed to someone behind me. “You'll partner with him then.”  I turned around. And I saw someone who was looking petrified... someone whom... I had never even met?! The stranger introduced himself as Jimmy. He said he had just transferred from Hong Kong today. Huh. A transfer student in the last semester of senior year, and from Hong Kong no less... that was peculiar. Never mind. I needed to win my chocolate milk first! Since he had enrolled in the class he could be really good. Maybe this would be my lucky day! Just one game later, I realized I had been kidding myself... That sneaky Rocky... he must have known this guy didn't know how to play at all! Wang Qiang might only be a 2.0, but that would make Jimmy a... 0.2! He barely even knew how to hold a racket... Sigh... No matter! For my precious chocolate milk, I would have to do it alone! Half an hour later we were at the tie breaker. The score was 7 to 8, their match point. If I could win this next point, I still had a chance. Otherwise, I would have to go buy the chocolate milk myself at a 7-Eleven...  I was standing on the right side at the back. My hat was soaking wet, and sweat was dripping down my ponytail onto my t-shirt. Jimmy was standing on the left side at the net, and I could see he was sweating through the back of his t-shirt too. Here came the ball. It was aimed at the center of the back court to my left. I squeezed the racket in my hand----- A sudden twist of my ankle. Swing! I fell to the ground and completely mis-hit the ball. Even worse, it went straight into the back of Jimmy's head.  Jimmy fainted... Oh no... did I just give him a concussion?... But I clearly remembered that he was standing much further left, wasn't he? Li Wen [BGM: Sad Clown]  First Day at New School My name is Jimmy. Today was my first day at Yingnan High School as a senior. I flew from Hong Kong to Beijing only a few days ago. On my first night my suitcase, which held my laptop, still hadn't arrived at the hotel. I was bored out of my mind and decided to go down to the arcade to kill some time. There, I saw a girl with long hair.  She had come into the arcade with a basket of tennis balls, and she was sweating from head to toe. She wanted to get the Ser Spotty doll from the claw machine. I wanted to get it too, but earlier there had been a couple hogging the machine for a long time. Throughout my childhood, my father would always buy me anything I wanted. It was usually Game Boys, computers and stuff like that, nothing outrageous. So I never really understood the feeling of wanting something so badly but not being able to get it. I looked at her from a distance. I watched her fail and keep trying, over and over again. Her expression looked so funny, and so cute.  I felt a strange urge. I had gone to an all-boy school in Hong Kong, and I also wasn't someone who liked to go out that much. I had never really met very many girls. And I had never learned how to pick up girls. But today felt different. I really thought she was extremely cute, and I had a special feeling about her that I didn't really understand myself. I didn't want to miss the chance of getting to know her. I mustered all of my courage and decided to get her attention. I wrote down my email address on a piece of paper. Then I bought a drink and quietly left the cup on the counter of the claw machine, with the note under the cup. Now, I just needed to wait for her response.  The first night, I didn't get an email. It must have been too late. She would write me back the next day, I thought. The second day, all I got was junk mail. The third day... (。 _ 。) Maybe she had lost the note by accident? Maybe she had washed it in her laundry? Maybe... I could find out what her email address was instead? All I needed to do was hack into the cashier system of the arcade; I could get information on all of the customers who had paid for tokens using mobile banking. And I could get more than just their email addresses, like their real addresses, and bank accounts... So, I did it. I mustered all of my courage once again and wrote her an email. Yet... (。 _ 。)  Maybe... she didn't really use her email? I had told my father that I wanted to transfer to this school. It didn't really matter to him and the school happened to be quite good too, so he agreed almost immediately. If he had known the truth... he would have slapped me in the face and called me a disgrace. (￣ε(#￣) I had also found out that she liked playing tennis. So, of course, I bought myself a racket immediately. I even finished reading all 42 volumes of the manga series The Kid of Tennis. But I would have never thought that I would get the chance to partner with her in a doubles match on my first day at the new school. And I had also never realized that, well, everything in the manga was a lie! The only time I even touched the ball, it hit the referee. Oh crap. I sucked so bad... She must hate me now...  We ended up in a tiebreaker for the match. I had read about this in the manga. Basically, it was a quick way to decide the winner when both sides had been evenly matched. If it wasn't for me she would have already won easily. The ball was coming again. It was a fast one, and it was flying towards my right side! I was so nervous that my hand was shaking uncontrollably. I tried my best to hold the racket as steady as I could----- I took a step to the right. I rushed forward. I took a step to the right almost out of instinct, but I still let the ball pass. Even if I tried to hit the ball it would never go in. From behind me, I heard her hitting the ball. Good job! But before I could finish my thought I felt a sudden shock of numbness and pain from the back of my head; I completely blacked out...  I was in the infirmary when I woke up. It was... already noon. I looked around. There was no one else in the room but the school nurse. Oh, Jimmy... what did you think was going to happen? (。 _ 。) Jimmy 
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Apr 15, 2022 19:41
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Hoo boy, here's the stalking I suppose. He's a teen hopefully as part of this game we can get him to stop??? otherwise, yikes. uuuh for this one if we're trying to avoid him being hospitalized he definitely needs to fall- or maybe we make him do the swing? Li Wen: Step to the right, twist of the ankle Jimmy: Rush forward, swing ... Though that might result in bad things for the stalking and it definitely isn't good for her. hm. Well, that's my answer for now.
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Apr 15, 2022 19:59
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I progressed in this, but I think I stopped before all the letter senders were introduced. Its been a few years, so I've forgotten almost everything. That said, Jimmy really needs a male role model to talk with, as his father certainly sounds useless. Lets see: Li Wen: Swing Jimmy: Rush Forward, step to the right, Twist of the ankle I'm pretty sure this isn't the correct option, but it is my first thought to get Jimmy out of the way. The ball is aimed behind and to the left of Li Wen, so she can't step forward or right before the swing. I suspect my answer will end up S rank for Li, but not for Jimmy. Vauron fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Apr 16, 2022 |
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Apr 15, 2022 22:48
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yeah, Jimmy needs to stop being a creep I wonder if it has to be unbalanced for this one? I don't mind if he takes a pratfall IMO, especially if it stops a concussion. Jimmy: Twist of the ankle Li Wen: Rush forward, swing, step to the right I'm hoping that if Jimmy doesn't move Li Wen can handle this
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Apr 15, 2022 22:48
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Mix. posted:I even finished reading all 42 volumes of the manga series The Kid of Tennis. There are a lot of really good dictionary entries in this game, but this is probably one of the best. Really enjoyed the game myself, particularly the impressive amount of responsiveness to the letters - IIRC, even the profiles can change to reflect their current state (like I think Li Wen or Wen Zhaoren would have had a cause of death listed if we looked mid-puzzle). Don't blame you at all for not committing to 100%, but hopefully we'll still get to see enough of the
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Apr 16, 2022 01:21
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Jimmy: Step right, twist ankle Li Wen: Rush forward, swing
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Apr 16, 2022 01:26
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Nick Buntline posted:Really enjoyed the game myself, particularly the impressive amount of responsiveness to the letters - IIRC, even the profiles can change to reflect their current state (like I think Li Wen or Wen Zhaoren would have had a cause of death listed if we looked mid-puzzle). Don't blame you at all for not committing to 100%, but hopefully we'll still get to see enough of the yeah, im going to do my best to get as much as I can (while avoiding redundancy, since some outcomes are practically identical lmao) but there's a lot of hidden details that are really specific or blink and you miss it so it would not surprise me if I missed something it's honestly an impressive amount of detail, especially since this was the first game the studio ever made (i think they've said they might be interested in a sequel down the line?) which is part of why i wanted to LP it
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Apr 16, 2022 01:38
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Hey, I picked up this game after the lp having read the content warnings in the front. For the most part I am pretty good going into things with content warnings, having said that I think there's probably one more you should put in the OP. I would not have picked up this game if I knew there was child /sexual/ abuse in it, and the particular scene where it comes up is very graphic about what's going on. I would really appreciate if you would add that to the OP because it caught me all the way off guard when i was pretty sure I'd be okay dealing with the stuff mentioned in the OP.
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Apr 16, 2022 04:51
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Nea posted:Hey, I picked up this game after the lp having read the content warnings in the front. For the most part I am pretty good going into things with content warnings, having said that I think there's probably one more you should put in the OP. I would not have picked up this game if I knew there was child /sexual/ abuse in it, and the particular scene where it comes up is very graphic about what's going on. I would really appreciate if you would add that to the OP because it caught me all the way off guard when i was pretty sure I'd be okay dealing with the stuff mentioned in the OP. the reason I hadn't put it in the OP is because I'm not actually going to be including that in the LP at all and will instead very briefly say that it happened and otherwise skip it entirely; I hadn't brought it up yet because it's not something that's coming for a good while and had I known you were gonna pick the game up I would've warned you pre-emptively, I'm really sorry about that  I'll update the OP to prevent it happening again. (This is actually why I reached out to mods before starting the LP, too, so I can have it vetted)
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Apr 16, 2022 05:21
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It happens, I get how you got to making the decision that way, no hard feelings. I appreciate the change to the OP. In any case, I'm alright now, just needed a bit to calm down.
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Apr 16, 2022 05:26
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[BGM: Sad Clown] Well, we've got a few different possible combinations this time, and the good outcome is pretty obvious- keep Li Wen from falling and mis-hitting, and make sure Jimmy doesn't get a concussion in the process. Let's start experimenting- first off, what happens if we switch both letters' pieces completely?   I swung my racket with my eyes closed. The ball flew over the baseline. It was out. Sigh... I did overestimate myself... _(:3」 ∠)_ The match was over. Ughhhhhh... she must be mad at me now! //(ToT)// [BGM: Air] Jimmy took a swing at the ball. The ball flew out of the baseline. Out... Sigh... 7 to 9. We lost. I lost. Ugh... my precious 30 boxes of chocolate milk... [BGM: Sad Clown]  Well, A+ for effort at least, Jimmy. (Also, although their guess was different, this is the outcome Nea's guess results in.) Let's try making it so Li Wen is the one who swings? That might be the problem.  The ball flew past me. I expected to hear her hitting the ball, but I heard nothing. I turned around and saw her sitting on the ground, hunched over. Did she just get hit by the ball? (⊙_⊙) People were already gathering around. Someone mentioned “the infirmary”. I supposed someone would take her there any moment now. Honestly, I wished that someone could be me... Our teacher walked over. “You, take her to the infirmary.” Wait, he was speaking to me?! Oh my gosh! The Goddess of Fortune must have heard my wish! (=￣ω￣=) [BGM: Air]  The ball was to my left, but I was stumbling to my right. Not only did I not hit the ball, I even lost my racket. And for some reason my stomach suddenly started hurting. Why? Was it because I hadn't had time for breakfast this morning? 7 to 9. We lost. I lost. I took two pills in the infirmary and felt a little better. I lay down on the bed. Everything around me was white and it made me feel sleepy. Jimmy said he wanted to keep me company, so he was sitting beside my bed. I thought maybe I should talk to him a little so that it would feel less awkward. However, I think I was too exhausted and I fell asleep. [BGM: Sad Clown]  And here you can see that the endings aren't intrinsically tied together- Jimmy got an 'A' rank ending because he got to help out the girl he's got a crush on. ...too bad she got a Bad Ending from possibly getting hit by a tennis ball (and also losing the bet). Not gonna fly here. Li Wen said something about how she 'was stumbling to her right', but if we try this combination...  ...Jimmy just gets a concussion still, even though Li Wen didn't fall over. Whoops! (Also, this is the outcome that both Vauron and Junpei's guesses results in, despite the order of the pieces being different.) What if we put it all on Li Wen's side, in an order like.... this? [BGM: Air]  I took a swing at the ball, but I tripped. Although I took another step my ankle was hurting too much to steady myself. I fell on the ground, lost my balance because of the twisted ankle and mis-hit the ball, too. The ball grazed Jimmy's right ear and hit Wang Qiang's nose straight-on. Ouch... that must have hurt... The game ended with the opponents' forfeit. Rocky said that since the match had not been properly concluded, the bet should be called off. That sneaky bastard... [BGM: Sad Clown]  From behind me I heard her hitting the ball. Good job! I felt the ball graze past my right ear and it flew straight at the guy across the net; it hit him right on his nose! That was close... if I had stepped a little too much to my right... (⊙_⊙) They forfeited the match. I let out a relaxed sigh. Finally, I didn't have to embarrass myself anymore... _(:3」 ∠)_ There was still a little time before the end of the class. By the time I had finally made up my mind to go and talk to her she had already left.  It's not a Bad Ending for her because, technically, we DID keep her from losing the match... but she didn't win it, either! Jimmy just gets a Bad Ending because he didn't get to talk to his crush.From here, most of the other combinations we could make that we haven't already will basically just give us the same outcomes we've already seen. Even though there are a lot of different possible combinations, not every one of them is guaranteed to have a unique outcome.  That said, this is the actual answer to this puzzle (guessed by dervival)- what's important that the only one who trips is Jimmy, not Li Wen, but also having her rush forward before she swings helps make sure that Jimmy is out of the way of her shot Furthermore, we want her to take another step afterwards to not run the risk of Jimmy accidentally getting in the way![BGM: Air Dance]  I took a swing at the ball, but I almost tripped. I had to take another step to stop myself from falling over. The tennis ball flew over the net, kissed the baseline, compressed and bounced up. Then it was stuck in the wired fence around the court. Yay! Match point saved! Rocky was such a sneaky bastard. With Jimmy barely able to move he was now aiming every ball at him. But Jimmy was able to get out of my way almost every time, even with a twisted ankle. We were coordinating surprisingly well. After a while, Wang Qiang was left standing there too. The game had become a singles match between Rocky and me.  Maybe Jimmy was a lucky charm, because we eventually won the game 15 to 13! What a great partner! I had won my chocolate milk! Hooray! [BGM: Life is Good]  I fell to the ground and my ankle hurt like hell. Fortunately, we still won the point thanks to her. Now our opponents were hitting the ball towards me almost exclusively, but Li Wen was too good! And eventually, we won!  More importantly, she ran over and high-fived me!  I wasn't just daydreaming about this... she really did just give me a high-five! Her hand felt so warm. I would never forget that moment. (=￣ω￣=)  … [BGM: New Life]  Oh, hey, we have new letters! But, more interestingly, there's not a gold star on the ones we just finished. If we click on the letters again...  [BGM: Air Dance]  ...A new section has appeared: “History.” And if we click on that tab...  ...we can now review all of the endings we've seen for that particular letter! The squares on the right correlate to the squares we saw previously (and in turn, all the possible endings we could've gotten), and they're arranged in SABCDEF(X) order. You can see the eye symbol as well, which is the one that I'm currently viewing. This is a tool to review endings in the event that you ever need information from a previous letter (or from a previous ending, even if that ending “didn't happen” as far as the humans are concerned). You can think of it as something akin to the chat log viewer in most standard VNs, in case you need to re-visit something later. To give another example, if we go over to Jimmy's letter...  ...we can his grouping of endings, which are separate (as each letter's endings are separate). As things get more complicated and letters start having more outcomes that aren't just a handful of Bad Ends, that distinction will be more relevant. In this LP, I'm going to do my best to show every relevant ending for every letter, but in some cases, there's redundancy that can come into play- though the specifics might be different, the outcome is still functionally the same. As I mentioned it earlier, I “missed” a Bad Ending for both Li Wen and Jimmy. I intentionally didn't get it, mostly to show off the History section but also because the missing ending is pretty much the same as the other bad ends we got- Li Wen hurts her ankle and they lose the match. Nothing of note happens otherwise: no missing dictionary terms, no information to be gained, nothing but a slight adjustment to the specifics. When there are ending outcomes like this, I most likely won't include them in the LP to prevent redundancy. (I will still give credit if someone's guess is one that we skip, though!) In any case, let's return to the Letter Menu...   NEW MESSAGE: Strange Teacher Before we get to Li Wen's new letter, we have a pair of letters from before we should check out...  *** Profiles have Updated.  
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Apr 19, 2022 20:35
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[BGM: Russian Horse]  20,000 Pesos My name is Carlos. I'm 18 years old. It was a big day. Because I was finally going to leave Mexico! Uncle Depp, who had always helped out at the orphanage, and Auntie Benita, who was the matron of the orphanage, used to tell me that, if I ever wanted to go to a foreign country, I would need to have a passport first. And then I would need a visa. Finally, I could go to the airport and buy a ticket. Then, I could fly wherever I wanted to go! I had gotten my passport, and apparently going to Hong Kong didn't require a visa. All I needed was a plane ticket.  Uncle Depp and I had headed out early, before the sun even came out. He had been driving me through the mountains for six hours to get to the international airport. He then stuffed a couple of warm burritos wrapped up in paper into my backpack before I said goodbye. I didn't know when I would ever see him again. I already missed him. I walked into the airport and I couldn't help slowing down in admiration. The place was so big! No wonder the tickets were so expensive! I needed to ask someone to tell me where I could buy a ticket. I bumped into another man. The three boxes he was carrying all fell to the ground. I helped him pick up the boxes and stack them. I hoped nothing inside got broken... The man was wearing a pair of glasses with golden frames. He seemed like a nice person. He took the boxes out of my hands and was not mad at me at all. He just nodded and walked away. He really was nice!  Even though there were signs in the airport, I couldn't read many of them. I walked around twice before I found the ticket counters. A ticket cost over 10,000 pesos, just like Uncle Depp had told me. I had all of my savings with me, including the money my parents and sister had left me, as well as what I had earned doing part-time jobs. It was only a little over 20,000 pesos altogether. However, something terrible had happened. I couldn't find my wallet! I clearly remembered checking to make sure that I had it when I left. Maybe I had dropped it in Uncle Depp's car?  I ran outside of the airport. I saw the man whom I had bumped into earlier. He was still wandering around with those three boxes. Was he lost? But I didn't have time to worry about him. I had to go check and see if Uncle Depp had already left. I couldn't find him anywhere outside the airport. He probably had headed back. I had to walk toward the mountains along the road that we had arrived on. I had my backpack on, feeling awful. It wasn't a popular road, and it was already too late. There were no other cars in sight. I hoped that I could get a ride tomorrow morning... Lord, why was I so unlucky? Carlos  What is Mexico? It is a big country in the west. West? To our west? Do we live in the east? No, of course not. We don't live in their world, so there is no east or west to anywhere. The Earth is a round planet, so east or west is all relative. Relative? You are not making any sense... Do you mean that the Mexican people would say that their own country is in the west too? Hmm? Er... Now she's confusing me, too... Oh, by the way, the writers of the earlier letters, are they from China? I always feel a strange sense of closeness when I think of China. Mexico feels more distant to me. Why is that? Um, I guess more people write to us from China, maybe? I hear that Chinese people are all over the Earth. There are a lot of them in every country. Really... So is this letter written in Chinese, too? As well as the earlier ones? Because they all look the same to me. Oh no, this is our language. In fact, the people who wrote to us came from many different countries, and they would use different languages. But once we receive them, they are all automatically translated into a language that we can understand. Oh wow! Being a god is so convenient![BGM: Sunny Day]  Here I come! My name is Chang Gyeong-Min, and I recently graduated from the Korean Police Academy. I'm 23 years old. It was my first day reporting to the Busan Police Precinct. I hadn't realized that I had overslept until my Ser Spotty alarm clock had gone off for the 10th time! I jumped out of bed, slipped into my pants and shirt, and rushed out of the door with my coat in my hand. I even knocked over my neighbor's flowers by accident. Sorry! I'll clean it up later! I'm running late! Still, I was 45 minutes late when I finally got to the station. The captain was sitting behind the desk. He squeezed a “Kids these days...” out of his mouth, then he seemed to lose any energy or interest to even speak to me. Then... I was transferred to the Archives.  How could I have overslept on my first day?! Please Buddha! Please help me fix this! Please, please! Becoming a member of the Criminal Investigation Department has been my dream since childhood! I don't want to go to the Archives!!! Chang Gyeong-Min What is Criminal Investigation? Is it that much better than Archives? Well... Criminal Investigation is the place where the police try to solve cases and catch bad guys, but you can't completely disregard the Archives either... ...yeah, it's not exactly a puzzle this time. Just gotta move the piece over and that's all it takes, since it's pretty obvious the guy that Carlos bumped into was a pickpocket With that done, their outcomes will change... [BGM: Russian Horse]  I noticed that there was a sign ahead. Although I couldn't read it, I had a feeling that it must be pointing to the ticket counters. I had always had great instincts, haha. A ticket cost over 10,000 pesos, just like Uncle Depp had told me. I had all of my savings with me, including the money my parents and sister had left me, as well as what I had earned doing part-time jobs. It was only a little over 20,000 pesos altogether. I hoped I would be able to come back some day.  Three hours later, with a booming noise, the airplane took off. I felt something suddenly pushing me into the seat cushion. I could see Mexico City becoming smaller and smaller outside the window. And the orphanage in Monte Tláloc had turned into a small white dot. I suddenly started to feel nervous. My mind was racing. What if the plane went down? I hoped it would fall in the ocean so I could still swim back but this seatbelt thing was so annoying and if I couldn't untie it would I be dragged into the water with the plane. I heard there was something called “insurance” that would pay a lot of money if someone died I should get that and maybe it would be enough for Alicia to buy a new house in Mexico City... Just when my brain was spinning with all of these questions, a beautiful lady asked if I would like some water. Oh, no, no, no!  I checked my wallet again. There was only a little over 10,000 pesos left. From now on, I must be careful about spending every single one of them. I heard everything was really expensive in Hong Kong. I must save up before I find Alicia. Alicia, sister, I'm coming to find you! The Lord will bless us! [BGM: Justice!]  I heard the voice of a woman screaming in the crowd, “Stop him! He's got my purse!” I looked down and the man I had bumped into was holding a woman's purse. He actually tried pushing me away. As a policeman defending justice, how could I let a criminal escape the judgement of the law? I grabbed his collar. Take this!  I took the bastard to the police station. I ended up late of course, but the captain let me off the hook for stopping the robber. Captain Gong glanced at the blood stains on my shirt, gave a faint smile, and asked me why I wanted to become a police officer. I stood up straight, put my hands behind my back, held my head high and replied firmly. “To defend justice!” The captain scratched his balding head and smiled. “Haha, go and report to Unit 4.” What? Unit 4?! I felt my heart start to sink. I had heard so many rumors about Unit 4, even when I was still in the Police Academy...  … [BGM: New Life]    NEW MESSAGE: My Sister  NEW MESSAGE: Case: Kidnapping  ... [BGM: Air]  Strange Teacher The last class of the day was art. I pushed open the door to the classroom and I was shocked by what I saw. What was happening? The room that usually had onlya dozen people in it was now almost full. It was like a scene from a beach in the middle of summer. There wouldn't be enough easels for everyone. Just when I was wondering whether I should leave and go study, I saw Jing waving me over from the front row.  “Why are there so many people today?” I sat down at the seat Jing had saved for me. “You really don't know anything, do you? Ms. Liu is on her maternity leave, so we have a new substitute today. Somebody saw him earlier in the office and posted his pictures on the school BBS. He looked so handsome!” I looked around, and only then did I realize that almost all of the newcomers were girls. Why was Rocky here? What was a boy doing here... I took my phone out and tried to log in to the BBS. I found myself unknowingly imagining what the new handsome teacher would look like while waiting for the page to load. Well-made pink shirt... rolled up sleeves... top button unbuttoned... pale and flawless skin... impeccable face from the side... Heh... heh heh... The wi-fi signal wasn't very strong and I couldn't look for a long time. Then the front door of the room was slowly pushed open.  With everyone staring at him, the new teacher slowly walked across to the podium and softly wrote his name on the blackboard... “Wen Zhaoren”. “I'll be teaching the art class for the seniors... starting today.” I looked him up and down, and I noticed that this Mr. Wen... was wearing flip-flops to class. His ensemble also included a pair of casual pants with the legs rolled up, a grey t-shirt and a wrinkled jacket... Not just that, his chin suggested that he hadn't shaved for days. I turned to my side and whispered to Jing, “How is this old man handsome?”  Jing ignored me. I looked up, and realized that the teacher was staring right at me. Oh no! He must have overheard me! Suddenly, Rocky raised his hand and asked loudly, “Mr. Wen! How old are you, and do you have a girlfriend?” The entire class erupted into a loud murmur. Everyone was staring at the teacher even more intensely. Thank you, Rocky, for getting me out of trouble. Mr. Wen slowly took off his jacket and laid it on the back of the chair next to him. “Thirty-five.” The girls immediately began whispering to each other. His response certainly had intrigued everyone even more. Rocky, however, didn't seem to be satisfied with the answer. Mr. Wen ignored the commotion in the room and took a banana-shaped statue out of the accessory cabinet. People with an easel began to prepare their paper. The ones without one took out their sketching pads.  The class was going to be over soon. Near the end of the class, Mr. Wen said he would like to pick an assistant from the class. Anybody who was interested could stand up and nominate him or herself, however, he would need to check his or her sketch. Jing stood up! How brave! Mr. Wen walked over and picked up the sketch. He shook his head, and tore it into two halves. Rocky stood up from his seat. I stood up from my seat too. And then the bell rang.  Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too. Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her, “Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.” We were just some regular high school students. We were not in an art school! Are YOU serious?! Rocky jumped right in front of the teacher. I tried to stop him, but it was too late. Rocky punched Mr. Wen right in the face! Mr. Wen, however, didn't react, despite having just been hit by a student. He simply gave Rocky a glance and walked out of the room without saying a word.  Rocky... he was always so self-righteous. The only thing more important in his life might be his “ball games”. I bet if the bell had rung and the class had been over he wouldn't have bothered, and would have gone off to play basketball. After that, Mr. Wen never came back to the class. Maybe somebody filed a complaint about him, or maybe... I had always had a feeling that he... didn't look like he wanted to be a teacher... The next art teacher always dressed impeccably well. He was also incredibly dull. Li Wen  *** Profiles have Updated.  
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Apr 21, 2022 17:37
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Make the bell ring before the teacher has time to rip the sketch apart? Or maybe sacrifice either Li Wen's or Rocky's sketch by moving them before "Mr Wen walked over...".
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Apr 21, 2022 20:04
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Cloacamazing! posted:Make the bell ring before the teacher has time to rip the sketch apart? Or maybe sacrifice either Li Wen's or Rocky's sketch by moving them before "Mr Wen walked over...". The only way Zhaoren survives his suicide attempt from the night prior is by seeing Wen outside his apartment, yeah? I'm guessing we're supposed to get those two to talk, but I'm not sure how...
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Apr 21, 2022 20:46
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kinda  at our hero of justice getting blood on his shirt catching a pickpocket...
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Apr 21, 2022 21:31
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dervival posted:The only way Zhaoren survives his suicide attempt from the night prior is by seeing Wen outside his apartment, yeah? I'm guessing we're supposed to get those two to talk, but I'm not sure how... Maybe through: And then the bell rang. Rocky stood up from his seat. (Presumably, everyone leaves at this point, except for Li Wen and probably Jing) Mr. Wen walked over and picked up the sketch. He shook his head, and tore it into two halves. I stood up from my seat too (to confront Mr. Wen)
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Apr 21, 2022 21:37
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I'm going to suggest letting Rocky take the fall: 1. Rocky stands up 2. Mr. Wen rips the paper 3. Bell rings 4. I stood up Idly, can two letters only be connected if their person's timelines are right next to each other? So Li Wen will only have letters connected to Jimmy and Wen Zhaoren, Jimmy will connect only to Li Wen and Carlos, Carlos is only connected to Jimmy and Chang, etc? Or will we eventually have, say, Wen Zhaoren and Chang connected letters, or Li Wen and Carlos or whatever? Also is 2 letters at once the max, or will we ever have more than that?
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Apr 22, 2022 03:56
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content warning: suicide [BGM: Air] Okay, so, the goal here is pretty obvious- keep Rocky from punching the teacher out. Maybe we can also keep Li Wen's friend, Jing, from being humiliated? But with four pieces to re-arrange there's plenty of possibilities here, even with it only being one person's letter.  Let's start with a small change and see how that goes. What if Li Wen is the first one to get up, rather than Rocky?  Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too. Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her, “Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.” Seeing Jing crying like that, I couldn't control my anger, “Mr. Wen! You are way out of line! You need to apologize to Jing!” Mr. Wen gave me a glance and picked up my sketch. Rocky stood up from his seat, “Hey, didn't you hear her? You need to apologize!” Mr. Wen didn't pay him any attention, so Rocky jumped in front of him and punched Mr. Wen right in the face! Mr. Wen, however, didn't react, despite just being hit by a student. He simply gave Rocky a glance, put down my sketch, and walked out of the room without saying a word. Rocky... he was always so self-righteous. The only thing more important in his life might be his “ball games”. I bet if the bell had rung and the class had been over, he wouldn't have bothered and would have gone off to play basketball. After that, Mr. Wen never came back to the class. Maybe somebody filed a complaint about him, or maybe... I had always had a feeling that he... didn't look like he wanted to be a teacher... The next art teacher always dressed impeccably well. He was also incredibly dull.  Well hey, it was worth a try. The game's hinting pretty strongly that we need to get the bell to ring sooner, so maybe if we re-arrange things like so... ...and have him not pick up and tear the sketch til after the bell rings, that'll be a better outcome? (Guessed by Cloacamazing!; PepperedMoth and Junpei's guesses also result in this ending ) Mr. Wen tore up Rocky's sketch and said, “Why don't you bring this to the class next time, so everybody can practice with it?” Rocky's face suddenly turned into the brightest red I had ever seen. A minute ago he had been acting like the king of the world. What did he draw exactly?... “You, you... aaaaargh!” He punched Mr. Wen right in his face! Mr. Wen, however, didn't react, despite just being hit by a student. He simply gave Rocky a glance, put down my sketch, and walked out of the room without saying a word. Since then, Mr. Wen never came back to the class. Maybe somebody filed a complaint about him, or maybe... I had always had a feeling that he... didn't look like he wanted to be a teacher... The next art teacher always dressed impeccably well. He was also incredibly dull.  Okay, obviously THAT wasn't what we wanted to happen, either. Though we can probably make a good guess as to what Rocky's drawing was... In any case, let's keep trying and see if we can get a better outcome. Maybe the problem was that Rocky needs to get out of the picture sooner so he won't be goaded into assaulting a teacher. If we have him get up and the bell to ring immediately, that might do the trick?  Mr. Wen tore up my sketch, and he even said to me, “I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.” Jing was frightened and she sat back down. I was in complete shock and my nose started to feel stuffy. Was that really necessary? “Hahaha... you IDIOT!” Rocky loudly jeered. That bastard! I made a face at him.  Well... at least he didn't assault the teacher? That's an okay outcome (which is why it's a B ending and not a Bad one), but I think we can do better- we're going for the S ending, after all! Maybe we need to have the bell ring immediately? That could solve the problem.  Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too. Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her, “Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.” We were just some regular high school students. We were not in an art school! Are YOU serious?! “Bo-ring--” Rocky picked up his basketball from under his seat, casually walked out of the classroom and disappeared into the after class crowd that was filling the hallway. Other people were leaving as well, while talking with each other about what had just happened. Nobody ever mentioned picking an assistant ever again, either. I walked with Jing on the track field and told her dozens of jokes until she finally felt a little better. That old man... not only did he dress terribly, his temper was even worse! How could the school hire such a person to be a teacher?  ...Well, we did have the intended effect of 'Rocky is too distracted by the fact he can go play basketball to get goaded into fighting with his teacher', but this doesn't really feel like that happy of an outcome, either, so we're still not where we want to be.  This is the solution to get us the S ending. While it may not make much sense right away, let's see how this plays out...  Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too. Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her, “Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.” Seeing Jing crying like that, I couldn't control my anger. “Mr. Wen! You are completely out of line! You need to apologize to Jing!” Mr. Wen gave me a glance and picked up my sketch. “Bo—ring--” Rocky picked up his basketball from under his seat, casually walked out of the classroom and disappeared into the after class crowd that was filling the hallway. Other people were leaving as well. There were fewer and fewer people left in the room. I collected my stuff into my backpack, getting ready to leave.  “You... stay and clean up the room.” What? I stopped what I was doing and looked at Mr. Wen in disbelief. He handed my sketch back to me. “After all, you're now my assistant for this course now.” He turned away and walked back to the front of the classroom. I then realized that everyone who was still in the room was staring at me. Everyone looked like they were gawking at a circus monkey on the street. What the hell... I had no intention of being a freaking assistant to that guy.  Jing put her arm around my shoulder. “'Congratulations!' Let me buy you dinner some time, you poor kid, haha.” I burst out laughing. Well, whatever. Haha.  For starters, we need to isolate Rocky's getting up from 'Jing and Li Wen stand up', because that in turn changes the context- he's not getting up to volunteer, he's getting up to leave. The problem with having the bell ring immediately was that people had already been getting ready to go the whole time, so the class was essentially “over” and Wen Zhaoren would never end up looking at Li Wen's art (and picking her as his assistant for the class).Jing unfortunately is still humiliated by having her drawing torn in two- whatever it was, there's no getting around it- but quickly realizes that she may have dodged a bullet, especially when her friend gets the assistant role to a teacher who's just shown himself to be a bit of a tactless jerk. This helps her get over the pain quicker, since there's someone who 'has it worse' than her. Therefore, the S ending.… [BGM: New Life]    NEW MESSAGE: In the Alley  NEW MESSAGE: Tennis!  … [BGM: Friend of Mine]  My Sister Hong Kong was different than what I had imagined. Back home in Mexico, everything was so colorful. But Hong Kong was just grey. Grey streets, grey buildings, brey store signs. Grey homeless people. And there was me, sitting in the middle of them, looking odd. I never knew that pesos couldn't be exchanged into Hong Kong dollars here! When I woke up I found a few more coins by my feet. I had to take them. I must survive. None of the homeless people seemed to like me very much, perhaps because they could only get about half as many coins as I.  I had a big sister, named Alicia. She was nine years older than me. We both grew up in an orphanage in Monte Tláloc. It was a rural place. You had to travel 4 kilometers to get to the nearest town, Coatepec, just to make a phone call. I couldn't remember anything about my own parents. My big sister was the only person I had in this world. Nine years ago, Alicia had left Mexico to make more money. She used to write me letters every few months. Every time the mailman came, I would be so excited to see if there was an envelope with my name on it. Even though I couldn't read much, Auntie Benita would always read them to me. Alicia didn't seem to have the easiest time, but she had seen so much of the outside world. And by reading her letters, I felt like I got to see what Alicia had seen as well. I could almost feel like I was right there with her in the big, new, interesting, and fascinating world that we had never seen before.  However, we had stopped hearing from her about a year ago. Her last letter had come from Hong Kong. So I had asked Uncle Depp to find a tutor for me who could teach me how to read and speak a little of the local language. I had worked so hard to make more money for the trip. I had done all this just so I could come to Hong Kong... even though I wasn't sure if she was still in this city. Still, even if there was just the tiniest hope, I would never give up. I knew I had to find my sister and make sure that she was okay. I had arrived at Pitt Street. Pitt Street had been on the postmark of Alicia's last letter. Maybe someone nearby might have seen her. Before I left, Auntie Benita had given me an old cellphone. I pulled up a picture of Alicia on the phone. I held up the phone, asking people door to door to see if they had seen my sister. I couldn't tell if they simply couldn't understand me. They would wave their hands at me every time, before I had barely spoken. Almost halfway through the street, I found myself behind a huge crowd of people. Thick, dark smoke was coming out of the building nearby. People were shoving and running out of it. More and more people started to gather on the street. Many of them were even taking pictures with their phones.  The firetruck finally arrived. My cellphone suddenly rang. My cellphone fell to the ground. My cellphone was vibrating on the ground. Then it fell through the storm drain! No!! The sewer water was flowing rapidly in the drain. I held onto the drain and tried my best to look down. Maybe the phone was stuck somewhere? I looked for a long time, and even tried to reach in with my hand. But I couldn't get it!  I was so tired, disappointed, and desperate. I couldn't pretend any more; I fell to the ground, feeling like poo poo. That cellphone was the most valuable thing I had. It had the only picture of my sister on it! Lord, please help me. I really didn't know if I could ever find my big sister without it... Carlos [BGM: Sunny Day]  Case: Kidnapping The office wing of Criminal Investigation Unit 4 looked like a small warehouse that hadn't been organized in forever. It was crowded and messy in the first place. Then, almost every desk had stacks of files that were at least 20 centimeters tall, as well as all kinds of evidence and other random items. I stood up straight and gave a salute.  “Chang Gyeong-Min! Reporting for duty at Unit 4!” There were only two other people there besides me. One of them was wiping down his rifle. He looked at me with a strange, examining look on his face. The other one had dark circles around his eyes, which made him look like he hadn't slept for days. He was looking over some files. Judging from his seat, this must be the infamous lieutenant of Unit 4, Kang Baek-Ya. Liutenant Kang gave me a glance, with a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth. Then he mumbled. “You... Over there.” I followed the direction of his look and saw the desk that he seemed to be referring to. Many old bags from McRonald's were stacked on top of it, all filled with leftovers and trash. It was also directly opposite the bathroom, facing it. Ahaha... It was okay. As long as I had somewhere to sit...  I was about to ask Lieutenant Kang what I should do next when the phone on his desk rang. He took the call, put down the phone and announced to us that there was a gang-related hostage situation two blocks from the station. I never thought my opportunity to defend justice would arrive so soon! Lieutenant Kang put out his cigarette in an ashtray and stood up. I followed him. He grabbed his coat and asked, “Hey, new guy, have you got your gun?” My gun? No, not yet. “Then where do you think you are going? Stay by the phone. Take notes if anything comes up. Don't speak too much.” “I-I can still help without a gun! As a policeman I swore to defend justice, to prevent all offenses against people and property...” “Justice? Hahahahahahahah!” Lieutenant Kang burst into laughter before I could finish my sentence. “You think justice is going to block a bullet from hitting you? Well, kid, I've seen plenty of idiots like you. In my unit, there is only one rule you need to remember at all times, which is to FOLLOW THE ORDERS.”  Eh? That wasn't what I meant at all, I was just trying to help. First day on the job and I was already having such a misunderstanding with my lieutenant. But before I could explain myself, Lieutenant Kang continued. “If you have a problem with staying by the phone, you could just go home, and don't bother coming back tomorrow either. I'll let the old man know.” After they left I sat down at my seat opposite the bathroom. As my nose was catching glimpses of the faint smell I let out a defeated sigh. When I had been in the police academy, people would always have an understanding smile on their face whenever Unit 4 was brought up. Everyone had heard all sorts of rumors about this place.  Lieutenant Kang was the infamous “dictator” of the Criminal Investigation Department. Everyone must follow his orders without question. He had a peculiar personality and he was extremely rough, even cruel with the criminals. Besides, Lieutenant Kang was a lot younger than the other units' lieutenants. Therefore, many people speculated that Lieutenant Kang had only gotten his position because of nepotism. As a result, no rookies ever wanted to join Unit 4. As for the unit that everyone dreamt of getting into, that would have to be Unit 1. Unit 1 had over 30 officers, and it was widely considered to be the best unit in the department. Yet, here I was, assigned to Unit 4... I was sulking when the phone rang again. There was another hostage case in Bupyeong-dong! Since no one in Unit 4 was available... I supposed this was my time to shine! [BGM: Pensive Moments]  I hurried to the scene in ten minutes. It was a ten-story apartment building. I could vaguely see two people on the ledge of the rooftop. People told me that they were a married couple. The husband had borrowed too much money from loan sharks and couldn't pay them back. That was why he wanted to jump off the building, and he had forced his wife up there with him. Well, let's see how I, Chang Gyeong-Min, would brilliantly solve this crisis! One of his feet was already at the edge of the ledge. He was holding a knife against his frightened wife's neck. I walked over there.  “Stop! I'm telling you to stop!” He got riled up, and his right foot missed the ledge. He fell over the edge and dragged his wife with him. “Wait! No!” Before I even had a chance to talk him down, both of them disappeared out of my sight. It was a terrible scene at the bottom of the building. Even though I was 10 floors above the ground, I felt like I could still smell the blood. It almost made me sick. I stood there in shock. For the first time I finally recognized what it felt like to be a real policeman. Oh God... What the hell have I done?! Could I be any more stupid?! Please Buddha! Please let me have another chance... please! Chang Gyeong-Min  *** Profiles have Updated. 
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Apr 22, 2022 20:03
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Well let's see a few possible options: 1. Make a firetruck arrive to the cop, so they can use the firefighter equipment to catch em when they fall. 2. Then the cop's cellphone drops. On the other side: 1. Get prank called. 2. Walk into a building like an idiot.
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Apr 22, 2022 21:51
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I feel like having the firefighters not be there at Carlos's scene will cause things to get worse. Carlos: 1. Firefighters come 2. Cell phone rings Chang: 1. Drop cell phone 2. Walk over
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Apr 22, 2022 22:01
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I think just swapping firefighters and walking over would work, since the key is to keep the dropped cell phone from falling through the grate.
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Apr 22, 2022 22:27
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Leraika posted:I think just swapping firefighters and walking over would work, since the key is to keep the dropped cell phone from falling through the grate. did...did you miss that part where 2 people dropped to their deaths.
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Apr 22, 2022 22:31
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Regallion posted:did...did you miss that part where 2 people dropped to their deaths. Yes, that thing that the firefighters were being moved to take care of? I'm saying that Chang doesn't need to mess with his cell phone at all.
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Apr 22, 2022 23:05
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We need to stop Chang from yelling at the guy taking a hostage, so him dropping his cellphone as it rings sounds reasonable. Firefighters arrive for Carlos, "I walked over", "My cellphone rang" and "I dropped my cellphone" for Chang.
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Apr 23, 2022 07:38
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