#speaking of friendships does anyone in the rfa have friends outside rfa

[thatlittledandere]

ask thingy: han jumin and zen?

I was just thinking “how amazing would it be if someone asked for Zen” you read my mind Miu thank you :’D

JUMIN

character: hate them | don’t really care | like them | LOVE them | THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS

ship with: Zen, Jumin’s flirts and teasing are hilarious and I like to think he could have a low-key crush on Zen outside his own route.

friendship them with: V!! I love how important they are to each other, despite V hiding things even from his dearest friend and that I’m slightly bothered by the fact that even Jumin calls V by his artist name even though they’ve known since they were like seven so he must have gotten pretty used to Jihyun;;

general opinions: He’s got the best oneliners. AND THE FFUCJING WALLSLAM ON HIS ROUTE I’M ASSDSFG Jumin is a very passionate person once he comes to care about something or someone. His main problem is his complete lack of empathy but I can’t really hold it against him because I’m convinced he’s somewhere on the autistic spectrum and you can pry this off my cold dead hands

ZEN

character: hate them | don’t really care | like them | LOVE them | THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS

ship with: Unsurprisingly Jumin. Zen is just... WAY too straight to be straight you know? If Zen learned to separate Jumin from his brother issues and allowed himself to not be hostile he could come to like Jumin. He has already showed he does care on some level, just doesn’t want to admit it.

friendship them with: Honestly Zen and Yoosung are my Mystic Messenger brotp! Zen complains about Yoosung’s gaming and some other things;; and Yoosung gets easily annoyed by Zen’s bragging but still, Zen is kinda protective of Yoosung and when things were getting scary Yoosung went to Zen’s place to feel safer and I have other points but of course I can’t remember any right now, anyway overall I just love love LOVE the concept of those two being best bros!!

general opinions: Zen has THE BEST LAUGH I’VE EVER HEARD ANYWHERE it often makes me giggle out loud and he’s an absolute SWEETIE on his route but um;; still my least favorite. I don’t dislike him, but can’t help thinking the script puts him on a pedestal too much. a fancy way to say “he’s overrated” Like, we’re clearly SUPPOSED to think he’s The Good-Looking Character, and I’m pretty sure you can get anyone’s bad ending by flirting with/going after Zen, he’s always there as a side hoe option, as if Cheritz expects Zen to be this Perfect Man everyone wants no doubt. And it gets tiring, no matter how good of a person Zen is. I just don’t find him all that interesting when I’m not playing his route;;

I do have a lot of thoughts about Zen though, I’ve been thinking about him a great deal ever since starting the game and I honestly think his writing is brilliant. For example, Zen is very confident in his looks to the point of being labelled as a narcissist but he really isn’t - Self-absorbed, yes, but not narcissistic, assuming I’ve understood what that word means even relatively correctly;; But when it comes to anything but his outward appearance Zen is actually kind of humble; he constantly challenges Jaehee’s convictions about how wonderful and destined to succeed he is and doubts his abilities and worth despite working his ass off and clearly being widely recognized for his acting. He’s also considerate; we make jokes about how frantic he is about The Beast but I trust we all know he just wants to do his absolute everything to not hurt his loved one/s ever or pressure them into anything.

I also think it’s very interesting how one of Zen’s biggest fears is being seen as pathetic or not capable. He says that several times on his route: “I hope you don’t think I’m pathetic”, “God I’m being so pathetic”, “I’m sorry for being this pathetic” etc. He just has this very deep need to get by and manage by himself and being independent. 

And you can find some interesting things about the characters by observing their bad ends and especially the steps you need to take to get those endings but not everyone wants to hear about the bad ends so I’m not going to that now other than saying that I still feel deep guilt over Zen’s first bad end and the fact I genuinely didn’t understand why it was bad until it was explained to me;; like @ me you dumbass it wasn’t a bad end for you but for Zen who deserves so much better than your selfish ass;;;

This is already getting too log but tbh I’ve given Zen bizarrely much thought;;; Like. He’s fascinating to no end to me as a character while simultaneously I don’t have any interest in him...? It’s strange.

tl;dr: Honestly I just want all of you to know Zen isn’t actually narcissistic that’s the most important part of this ramble ngL

[gureishi]

I love reading your opinions on Saeyoung! I know I’ve thought about this in regards to Zen so I’m curious what your headcanons are in regards to Saeyoung’s future relationships post game with each member of the RFA and Vanderwood??

Ohhhh, thank you for this wonderful question, dear Lea! The characters’ relationships with one another vary so much depending on the route and the timeline. Even though it makes me sad (because of the glaring absence of one beloved character), I’ll write these for the SE timeline.

Headcanon: Saeyoung’s relationships with RFA+Vanderwood post-game

Yoosung

Saeyoung and Yoosung’s relationship is endlessly fascinating to me. They’re close—they’d both tell you that, if you asked—but their friendship in the game is actually very surface-level. Saeyoung keeps Yoosung at arm’s-length, and Yoosung honestly has too much going on in his own head to devote much energy to trying to break down those walls.

The fight they have toward the end of Saeyoung’s route is a huge turning point for both of them. Yoosung is genuinely hurt to learn that his friend had never planned on sticking around, and Saeyoung is surprised to find that anybody actually cares enough to be mad about it. He never really thought too hard about what would happen if (when) he inevitably had to disappear from his friends’ lives—but when he did think about it, he honestly didn’t think he’d be missed.

It is a huge deal that Yoosung gets mad, because it shows Saeyoung that his existence has had an impact on people. It’s after this conversation with Yoosung that Saeyoung tells you he’s willing to try and open up to you, too; Yoosung is the one who shows him that there is value in letting another person become close to you.

Later, I am absolutely certain that they are able to develop a real friendship: one that’s grounded in trust and mutual understanding. When you’re living in the bunker with Saeyoung and Saeran, if there is one member of the RFA who’s showing up unannounced with a backpack full of sweets and a big grin on his face—it’s Yoosung.

Jaehee

Jaehee needs to feel secure in her understanding of the things and people around her. She likes to be able to think to herself, “oh, here is why this person behaves this way.” And it’s for this reason that Saeyoung drives her absolutely crazy.

She respects him, of course—but begrudgingly, because he is an anomaly, a little piece of chaos in her perfectly-ordered world.

It is your love for him that allows her to wrap her mind around his peculiar existence—because Jaehee cares deeply for you (almost immediately), and she recognizes the look you get in your eyes when you talk about him. She may not understand him (or even want to)—but she understands about love.

Jaehee and Saeyoung are never going to be best friends. But in this timeline, Jaehee is one of your dearest friends—and for you, they will both try. Jaehee will make honey butter cookies for his birthday, and she’ll smile softly when she sees the look of utter delight on his face. He’ll ask her to bring him her laptop, and she’ll complain as he sweeps it from her hands—but when he returns it to her working ten times better than it ever did before, she’ll clasp his hands in hers, her eyes shining.

If she ever gets around to opening her cafe in this timeline—and I’d like to believe that she does—you and Saeyoung will go in often. He’ll annoy her by doodling cat faces on all the napkins—but he’ll always tip her 200% of the bill.

Zen

In this timeline, Zen immediately takes you in as a sort of younger sibling (yes, even if you’re older than him), and he's ready to go to battle for you, if he needs to. Like Jaehee, he feels almost instantly that you are someone special. He doesn’t quite understand why—but he knows that he wants to keep you safe.

A consequence of this protectiveness, of course, is that he becomes very suspicious of Saeyoung. He’s never trusted him (and for good reason: Saeyoung may be trustworthy, but 707 is anything but). Zen is worried that you won’t be safe with Saeyoung—and he’s not entirely wrong.

But: when Saeyoung reveals his real name, Zen is one of the first to use it—and he uses it repeatedly. Every time I play the Secret Ends, and the Vday DLC, I am hyper-aware that Zen is making a massive effort to call Saeyoung by the right name. And this speaks volumes to me.

If you let Zen in—even just a little—he will accept all of you (and he’ll do it with his whole heart). Zen understands what it means to feel like you don’t belong anywhere—to hide your true self behind a mask of pretense and positivity—to become someone else so you don’t have to look too closely at who you really are.

No matter which timeline we’re in, Zen’s success is going to skyrocket—so he’s not going to be around all the time. But when he is, it’s a party: these are the times that the whole RFA gets together again (and if you listen closely, you’ll hear the way he speaks to Saeyoung now—like he actually admires him. The feeling is mutual).

Jumin

This timeline is one of the roughest for Jumin, without a doubt.

The game doesn’t show us how deeply he is grieving—but he is. He has lost the two people who have ever made him feel comfortable in his own skin, and he no longer has anyone he can turn to. I’m not gonna sugar-coat it and say that everybody’s happy in this ending: they’re not, and even months (years) later, Jumin is suffering.

But here’s the thing: Jumin’s not the only one who loved Jihyun.

It takes Saeyoung time to sort through the complicated feelings he has for Jihyun, after everything that’s happened. He doesn’t forgive him right away—and even as he mourns him, he’s angry, too. But time passes.

I imagine that there comes a day—weeks or months or even years later—that Saeyoung and Jumin find themselves talking to each other about the person they both loved. Perhaps they are in Jihyun’s apartment, sorting through his things—or they find themselves alone together at a group event and—at last—one of them acknowledges the grief that permeates the negative space between them.

Jihyun leaves a gaping hole in both of their lives that nothing can fill. But I’d like to think that an understanding develops between them: they may never completely get one another, and it’s okay that they don’t. There is a deep and unwavering affection there—the kind of mysterious and unbreakable bond you only feel for someone who has become your family.

Vanderwood

In my personal post-SE timeline, Vanderwood sticks around for a while to help the twins deal with their father. I’ve written about it a bit (in my Human Again series): if they are able to find the records Jihyun was keeping about Saejoong, it would not be too difficult for them to take him down in this timeline. He has no leverage, here. With the brothers working together, they can expose him—and then, of course, they can really be free.

But Vanderwood doesn’t stick around forever—they wouldn’t want to. They have a whole life outside of taking care of Saeyoung; they have a hometown, and possibly even people there who are waiting for them.

But at least once a year—and never with any notice—Vanderwood shows up at your home. "Just wanted to see with my own eyes that the kid actually managed to keep himself alive,” they’ll say—and they’ll grunt and roll their eyes and maybe blush a little when you throw your arms around them and thank them for being the reason he stayed alive as long as he did.

Vanderwood really respects you, because when you tell Saeyoung to be quiet or sit down or clean up after himself, he does it. They respect you, too, for your bravery and your strength and your resilience.

Neither one of them will ever admit it, but for a long time, Saeyoung and Vanderwood really did only have each other.

You’ll invite them to your wedding, of course. They won’t RSVP—but they’ll be there.

Saeran

I could write a literal novel about their relationship in this timeline and how it develops (and ummm maybe eventually I will), but I’ll try and keep this brief.

SE Saeran is so very tired. It takes time—so much time, exponentially more than the game shows us—for him to even begin to feel comfortable living in his brother’s home. He is physically sick, for a long time, as a result of the drugs he was being fed and the torture he was enduring. There isn’t enough space for forgiveness: there is barely enough space for living at all.

There’s no one moment when the two of them start to feel like brothers again: love and hate are so much more complicated than that. And Saeran has had no agency in his life; every choice has been made for him—his newfound “freedom” doesn’t feel like freedom at all. He feels he has been shuffled from one cage to another: his brother’s horrible, windowless home is no different.

But it is the small things: walking in the grass outside the bunker and feeling the sun on his skin; the way you speak to him, like you trust him; the annoying way Saeyoung follows him around, wide-eyed, trying far too hard to win him over—gradually, he begins to feel that he has a home, after all.

In this timeline, I do believe that all three of you keep on living together for the rest of your lives. You certainly don’t stay in the bunker forever—but when you move, you do it together.

And what’s most important here, of course, is that Saeran chooses this. It is perhaps one of the first choices that he makes for himself—and it sneaks up on him, taking him by surprise one day: he wants to keep on living together.

And this—living with his brother in a home that’s warm and full of love—is the only thing Saeyoung has ever wished for.

[yoosungiib]

Mystery Woman - Jaehee Kang x Reader(MC)

Happy Birthday, Jaehee!! To the most hardworking, strongest, wittiest woman out there!

~~~

For the past few weeks, Jaehee Kang, the assistant of Jumin Han, has been spotted with a mysterious woman on numerous occasions. High on curiosity, three of the RFA boys -- Yoosung, Zen and 707 -- are determined to find out just who this woman is and what her relationship to Jaehee is.

~~~

f/n: your first name

h/c: your hair colour

e/c: your eye colour

~~~

Behind a bush outsides of a small cafe, three heads pop out from behind. On top is a spunky redhead, Saeyoung Choi, better known as 707 by the RFA members as well as fellow hackers. The second head posses a long, silver rat's tail for hair, as well a stoned, handsome face. He is Zen, a growing actor with the ability to charm any girl with just a look or slinky comment. The third head is Yoosung Kim, the blonde college student boy who spends more time playing LOLOL and fighting monsters than studying for exams and such.

Yoosung grumbles as a tangle of Zen's long hair gets stuck in his mouth. "Bleh! God, can't you just cut your hair?"

"You should let me cut it. I can make you look even more handsome~" Seven slurs.

"Shh!" snaps Zen. "They'll hear us.

Crouching down a little more, they peer through the bushes as the two women conversing between sipping their hot chocolate and munching on biscuits. Yoosung was the first to notice the secret woman with Jaehee Kang when he was taking a walk after a guild battle on LOLOL. The two women were walking with their arms linked, laughing like school girls.

A couple days later, Zen spotted Jaehee through the windows at rehearsal with a woman -- one described factually by Yoosung -- getting off a bus and hugging each other.

The two were incredibly curious of the woman. They first asked Jaehee who she was, but she kept her lips sealed and always changed the subject. If anyone tried to make any guesses, she would become incredibly defensive and protective towards the woman.

Zen and Yoosung therefore asked Seven to try and find out who the woman was when they became intoxicated with the urge to know who she is. However, Seven was surprisingly unable to find anything! Jaehee never posted pictures of the woman online, nor shared seemed to be following anyone with the exact features stated by Zen and Yoosung.

The woman Jaehee keeps seeing... is a mystery woman. Seven set up a plan to follow Jaehee and find out who the woman is with careful observations and hypotheses. To make things the more fun, with the help of his made, he stitched together spy outfits.

The two women laugh from their table, the mystery woman laughing so hard that she leans over the table grasping Jaehee's arm to steady herself. The woman is very beautiful. She has (short/long), (h/c) hair parted perfectly to frame her (s/c) face. Looking through binoculars, she has (e/c) eyes that are like sparkling gems. Her smile is small and simple, but gradually largens when Jaehee speaks.

Yoosung is the first to make a guess; "I think she's her sister."

"Why do you think that?"

The blonde shrugs. "I think that by how close they are. It reminds me of my relationship with Rika. Rika was like a sister to me. Before everything that happened with her fake death, we acted like that; laughing, spending time together, comfortable with each other. You know what I mean?"

"Yes," Zen says, "but I don't think she's Jaehee's sister. Why would Jaehee be so defensive over her sister. Plus, I think we would have known by now if she had a sister."

"I think the woman being a cousin would fit more than being a sister," Seven chirps, "but I think Zen's logic would apply to that again. Why be so defensive over a cousin." A gummy smile breaches Seven's face, and his body shakes with laughter. "Unless she's embarrassed of her. Lololol."

Zen rolls his eyes, turning back towards the woman. As of now, Jaehee holds her phone at a rather awkward angle as the two women try to take take a selfie. Zen grins and inputs his guess; "She's probably a co-worker."

"Co-worker?"

"Yes, co-worker. I think we can determine that they are friends. I bet they're making fun of trust fund kid right now. What else could be making them laugh so hard," Zen concludes.

"You seem pretty confident with your gauge," Seven says.

The striking actor chuckles. "Why of course, it's the only rational conclusion."

Seven makes a 'tch' nose, shaking his head disapprovingly while pulling out his phone. "Look at the time. It's 12:30, Jaehee's lunch break. Now look back up at the women."

Zen looks up then looks back down. "Yeah?"

"Make note of what they are wearing. Jaehee is wearing professional attire and looks as if she just came from the office. But our mystery woman is wearing casual clothings. In fact, she's wearing sweatpants! Does that really look like work attire?"

Zen looks back over at the women and frowns, dropping his head in shame. Seven laughs, smacking his back hard. "You tried!"

"It was a good guess!" Yoosung says.

"Well," Zen snorts, "Who do you think she is?"

Seven beams. "Isn't it obvious who she is?" The two men before him shake their heads. "She's an alien!"

"Are you even taking this seriously?" Zen asks.

Seven lets out a hearty laugh while mockingly flipping his red hair. "Of course I am! God 707 takes every mission seriously. A robot and an alien make a perfect friendship. Don't you think? In the end, it all makes sense."

Yoosung frowns. "Jaehee doesn't like it when you call her a robot."

"You're right, I don't." The three boys jump out of their skin, screaming at the top of their lungs before spinning around to see a very cross Jaehee looking down at them. The woman stands next to her, one hand on her hip, and she smiles rather amusingly. Jaehee crosses her arms as she glares down at the boys. The three stutter out a ramble of words before stopping cold when Jaehee shouts, "You followed me!"

The three boys are too ashamed to look up at her. "We just want to know who the woman is?"

"Me?" The mystery woman's voice is soft and sweet. They all nodded frantically and the woman laughs, her hair bouncing slightly. She takes Jaehee's hand and all the boys note how Jaehee's face turns considerably red. "I'm (f/n). Jaehee, you didn't tell them about me?"

Jaehee frowns, looking down at their hands clasped together. "I didn't know if you'd want me too." (f/n) smiles and squeezes Jaehee's hand before looking down at the boys. She grins.

"I'm Jaehee's girlfriend!" And two women end the mission for the boys on discovering who the mystery woman, (f/n), is by sealing everything with a passionate and loving kiss.

~~~

All fanfics can be also found on my wattpad, ARanimefan

[jejemonmon]

Analysis + Semi-Theory: Zen's relationships with other people (including the RFA)

Yo, so this has been on my mind for a while and I just had to share my thoughts with you, because you made a post before about Rika that had some similar points and I wanted to add on to that.

You know how Rika made had a “connection” with each RFA member (aside from Jaehee) that made them agree to join the RFA and caused them to be so torn up about her “death” and just generally really affected by her in every way?

Logically speaking, Zen should have been just as impacted by her as Yoosung, Jumin, and Saeyoung and really emotionally distraught and traumatized by her “death” as a result. She sought him out, she was his earliest fan when no one else was, she attempted to made him successful and give him a “family” with the RFA.

But he always kind of avoided her. He sidestepped and rejected her help and friendship most of the time. He even declined to join the RFA at first, as I recall someone saying in one of the chat rooms. He only joined once V saved his life. Even when the game starts and also throughout the game, Zen always keeps the rest of the RFA at an arms distance, save for V, who he allowed to get up to his elbow, so to speak, because he saved Zen’s life and gained some of his trust. He doesn’t seem to act like his true self at all around most of the RFA. No one really knew anything about his past until MC shows up.

It’s just really interesting and weird to me. People always brush Zen off as being “less important” than the other RFA members, and that just makes me roll my eyes. Honestly, him deliberately keeping himself somewhat disconnected from Rika made me like him more. Because while some people really liked the bigger overarching plot, it wasn’t what I signed up for when I decided to play an otome game. (I prefer the universe theories about the game itself and Zen knowing he’s in a game and Seven and V and the wizards and etc.) I wanted to learn and fall in love with the individual characters themselves and not groan and roll my eyes every time the convoluted plot got in the way and took up time and then boom you and the character you’re pursuing magically decide to share deep feelings for each other with little to no buildup or progression of said feelings. At least that’s how it is during the excessively plot-smothered Deep Routes, which just felt like a hot mess tbh.

I got off on a slight tangent there. But I always think of Zen as someone who was able to see through Rika’s bullshit at least somewhat and didn’t become so overly attached and emotionally invested in her. (That’s one reason why the secret ends felt so OOC to me. Zen would have never just settled for being kept in the dark by Jumin, Seven, and Jaehee, and while he’s impulsive, he’s too detached from Rika to want to send her away. Although that might be the “white knight” in him who always feels like he has to speak out and protect the oppressed. Idk.) Zen was always the one who, while emotional and hotheaded, actually reacted like a sane person should in some of the extreme situations - the bomb, Jumin keeping MC in his apartment, V keeping secrets, forcing a stranger to jump into a dead girl’s job without thinking of how she feels, etc. The rest of the RFA is so blinded by Rika that they ignore logic most of the time and do things that don’t make sense because “it’s what Rika would have wanted”. They’re so caught up in this dead girl’s charity organization that has itself basically become super shady and conspiratorial, ignoring a lot of things that are so obviously sketchy and borderline illegal. And yes, I’m including Jumin, Mr. “I’m so logical”, who threatens the MC if she doesn’t agree to join the RFA and also declares she’s useless and obsolete if she doesn’t fulfill Rika’s duties. Like, jeez, mob boss much? He basically is one in every way except for official title.

So back to my main point. I think people tend to overlook how emotionally isolated Zen is from the rest of the RFA, something that he probably did deliberately. He doesn’t really like anyone in the RFA, except for V, and he mentions that a lot. He never believes that any concern or help that the RFA gives him is genuine. He doesn’t believe Jaehee is actually his fan, he doesn’t think Seven was actually trying to help him out (he thinks Seven was just being goofy and his weird trolling self), and the whole debacle with Jumin which everyone knows about so I’m not gonna go into (and tbh I still question Jumin’s sincerity and motive other than personal and financial gain bc Zen would owe him, so I don’t blame Zen for thinking the same way). He doesn’t believe anyone could actually care about him. He only knocks down some of his walls and lets V in a little bit because V fucking saved his life. But other than that, Zen has isolated himself so much emotionally that he hasn’t formed real relationships with any of the RFA members except V, nor does he really trust them, like them, or consider them friends. He doesn’t open up to them, and he keeps on the same mask that he shows to everyone else. He can’t afford to let anyone in, because they’ll just reject and betray him like his family.

Think about it too - Zen doesn’t really have any friends outside of the RFA either, like at all, save for a few people from his biker gang days, who I doubt he was his complete and true self around either. He’s super independent and relies only on himself, because that’s the only person he has. But he’s so desperate for affection and validation, which is why he seems desperate for a girlfriend yet simultaneously rejects so many people who are interested in him under the guise of focusing on work. When in reality, and he’s said this and there’s proof from VN flashbacks and in game events, that no one has actually treated Zen like a real person, or tried to understand him enough to warrant him opening up to them, except for V and the MC. That’s why he falls for the MC so fast, because she treats him unlike anyone else has before, like a person, and actually cares about what he wants. (Remember, V lies and keeps a lot of things from Zen, but Zen’s less torn up about it because while he trusts V more than the rest of the RFA, he hadn’t completely opened up to him, so he saves himself from some amount of emotional hurt.) The RFA may mean well, but they ultimately grossly misunderstand Zen, try to force what they think he should do on him, and treat him either like he’s an object on a pedestal or just too dumb to fully grasp or contribute meaningfully to a situation.

Basically, people don’t give Zen enough credit, and they brush him off as a background character with a shallow personality. There’s so many obvious things Cheritz has given us to showcase more of Zen’s character and personality, but the fans either make fun of him for it or call him annoying because of it. He’s super intuitive and guarded and I can definitely understand why he never completely bonded with the RFA. I love them, but quite frankly, they consistently fail to treat Zen like a person and don’t care about what he ultimately wants, but rather what they want from him. He protects himself from getting hurt by never getting completely emotionally invested in these people and reminding himself that they’ll probably all let him down someday. Which they do. No one actually sees Hyun Ryu, instead of ZEN, save for V and the MC.

This is really good analysis and oh my goodness way more than I could ever do. I never really thought about it this way.

While I mostly agree, I think some points should be open to discussion.

I personally feel like the RFA members treated him like a real friend, family, but the connection wasn’t there because of Zen. They were open to him, but he wasn’t open to them. That contributed to all the misunderstandings they had, so in that sense I don’t feel like I could ever blame them for how they treated him at times.

I also don’t recall Jumin ever threatening MC or saying those things to her, but maybe that’s just my bad memory. There’s many more I can say about that, but I think those who know his character better can explain it more substantially than me. I wouldn’t want to spout inaccurate information about him.

As for the fact that we don’t give Zen enough credit, I must agree. Although, since the April Fools DLC, more and more people have grown fond of him. I’ve been receiving messages from people saying how they’ve grown to appreciate Zen more after they realised this and that from my theories. So it’s definitely getting better, I’d say. I think overall, it’s really up to people’s types. Even before I had realised all this, I already liked Zen because I liked how romantic and caring he was. Others like Yoosung because of how cute and innocent he is. It’s the same for the other characters. And people see Zen as annoying because well, letms admit it he can be at times!

As I have said previously, all of the characters are complex. I chose to closely analyse Zen, and so have you, and that’s why we really love him. On the surface, he seems like just a romantic, narcissistic guy. I can’t blame anyone for not liking him. Same goes for the other characters. If I analysed their character more, I’d probably end up falling for them too, and that’s what others did, and that’s why they like who they like.

Thank you so much for submitting this. You wrote so much and you had a lot of valid points. Though this is as deep as I can go with my opinions because I’m currently rushing through a lot of work, I hope that you guys can also give your two cents on this. Reblog/Reply! Let’s start a discussion :D

[my-mystic-messenger]

I saw that a while back you wrote about who needs therapy the most in the RFA. Going off of that, since I see this discussed a lot in the fandom, who do you think might have suffer from mental illness? Everyone struggles and is deserving of help. That's obvious and I hope people know that. I just see a lot of different opinions on the subject, and since (with the exclusion of Rika) nothing's ever confirmed in-game, I'd love to get your perspective. Your analyses are so well-done!

This request was a little difficultmainly because I really don’t want to insult anyone or say somethingwrong that could hurt anyones feelings or such. Therefor I want topreface this by saying that I am, by no means, a professional. Iwanted to become a Psychiatrist so I did learn a couple of things onmy own, but nowhere near enough to be accurate about everything. Ihave a couple of ideas what kind of mental illnesses the MysticMessenger crew might have based on internet research, but as alwaysdon’t quote me on this…

|| REQUEST ARE (ALWAYS)OPEN!! ||

♬ Zen =  Body Dysmorphic Disorderor BDD ♬

HonestlyI don’t reallythink that Zen has any mental illnesses, after all you can strugglein life without it being a full blown mental illness, but if I wouldhad to say one that he might have I’d choose BDD. Not all peoplesuffering from BDD are those stick thin girls that see themselves asoverweight when looking in the mirror. There are many nuances toevery mental disorder, including BDD. Let’s have a look why I thinkZen mighthave BDD:✓ preoccupation with physical appearance

✓ belief that one has an abnormality or defect in appearance thatmakes her ugly

✓ frequently looking in the mirror

✗ avoiding mirrors altogether

✓ believing that others take special notice of ones appearance in anegative way

✗ frequent cosmetic procedures with little satisfaction

✓ excessive grooming

✓ feeling extremely self-conscious

✗ refusing to appear in pictures

✗ skin picking

✓ comparing appearance with that of others

✗ avoiding social situations

✓ camouflaging (with body position, clothing, makeup, hair, hats,etc.)

✓ excessive exercise

✓ changingclothes excessively As I said many times before, I feel likeZen’s excessive narcissism is nothing but a facade to hide that hereally just hates his body and himself due to what happened in hischildhood. In order to overcome one negative extreme he throughhimself into another extreme, self-hate to excessive self-love, evengoing as far as to pursue a career where everyone could and would seehim. He constantly talks about his looks, is self-conscious about hisalbinism, constantly stares at himself in mirrors or phones, knowsthat people notice his albinism and fears it’s negative, constantlygrooms himself, is self-conscious, has an excessive need to comparehimself to others, exercises excessively and for his job heconstantly has to camouflage and change clothing. Out of all thesymptoms for it, Zen sure fits a lot of them. There is even agood reason why he might have it:

?   having biological relatives with body dysmorphic disorder

✓ childhood teasing

?  physical or sexual abuse

✓ low self-esteem

✓ societalpressure or expectations of beauty

He got teased by his parents and hatedby his teacher. He had low self-esteem because of it and then ofcourse societal pressure got added to the mix later on once he becamean actor. I’m not sure whether he suffered physical or sexual abuse,although I wouldn’t completely cut out the possibility, if youconsider that it was hinted at that his teacher had a thing for himas well as the fact that his parents seemed like the abusive type andhe was in a biker gang. I also don’t know whether his parents mighthave had BDD, but it is a possibility. Either way, looking at allthis Zen could be suffering from BDD, although I don’t fully believehe does.

★ Yoosung = Addictive PersonalityDisorder ★

Ialready mentioned before that I think that Yoosung has quite theaddictive personality and look there, the shoe kind of fits. I’mbasically 99% sure that Yoosung has some kind of addictivepersonality disorder or something similar now let’s see why:✓Low self-esteem

✓ A tendency to impulsive behaviour

✗ An antisocial personality

✓ Difficulty delaying gratification

✓ A disposition toward sensation seeking

✓ Someone who values nonconformity to an extreme

✓ Someone with a weak commitment to the goals for achievement thatare generally accepted by “normal” society

✓ Someone who is tolerant of deviant behaviour

✓ Someone who is socially alienated

✓ Having an increased sense of stress

Basically…almostall of the symptoms fit to some extend or the other. It is undeniablethat Yoosung has low self-esteem, something that is mentioned inbasically all of the routes. He is very impulsive and never thinksthings through, like getting his eye almost cut out by one SaeranChoi, because he just had to safe you right then right now withoutplanning. He barely makes any friends outside of his games and thepeople he already knew, namely the RFA members, when Yoosungs wantsto play he needs to do it instantly without any patience to wait, hehas given up on studying in order to pursue his addiction – gaming– tolerates a lot of deviant behaviour going on in the RFA, namelywhatever one particular hacker is up to, and despite being a lazyfart who never cleans nor studies nor does care for himself properlyhe seems to be under constant stress. On top of that he is completelyobsessed with the women in his life; first Rika then you. He latcheson and is incapable of letting go until something new comes aroundthat catches his attention. All of these are pretty fitting, don’tyou think?

♨ Jaehee = Anxiety Disorder♨

Justlike with Zen I don’t really think that Jaehee has any disorders orillnesses in particular, just your every day stress of Koreanworkplaces wearing her down. However, if I had to pick one that mightbe fitting it would be Anxiety Disorder. To clarify, I don’t reallymean the anxiety most people would picture; being afraid to speak inpublic etc – as we all know that Jaehee is capable of doing that –but more on the lines of being constantly stressed and on edge:?  Irrational fears

✓ Muscle tension

?  Chronic indigestion

?  Stage fright

✓ Self-consciousness

✓ Panic, fear, and uneasiness

?  Flashbacks

✓ Perfectionism

?  Compulsive behaviors

✓ Self-doubt

✓ Problems sleeping

✓ Not being able to be still and calm

✓ Dizziness (mentioned in one of thebad endings)The amount of question marks is precisely why Idon’t really think she has it, but potentially could. A lot of thosewe cannot know for sure, as such things are never explicitlymentioned or even hinted in in the game, but I definitely could seebeing the case. I’m about 90% sure that Jaehee has compulsivebehaviours as well as the kind of flashbacks connected to anxietydisorder. I also believe that while she is able to hold a meetingthat speaking in front of people is something she had to forceherself to learn and that Jaehee actually has stage fright. As forany physical symptoms I can’t even deduce whether she might have themor not, but as I said I could imagine it. Then again, I’m really notsure and this is all just me thinking of possibilities I don’t reallythink are true.

♛Jumin = Obsessive Compulsive PersonalityDisorder ♛

This is something I have personalexperience with, since I have OCPD. Just as a side note, OCPD is notOCD and has very little in common with what you see OCD beingportrayed as in the media. Also, to make something clear, I am notgiving my favourite my own disorder to feel connected to him. I feelconnected to him, because I feel like he has the same disorder. Juminis very similar to me, which is why I understand his struggles thebest and connect to him. Now enough about me, let’s dig into whatOCPD is and why I think Jumin has it:

Obsessive-Compulsive PersonalityDisorder is characterized by a preoccupation with orderliness,perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expenseof flexibility, openness, and efficiency.

- may have such difficulty decidingwhich tasks take priority or what is the best way of doing someparticular task that they may never get started on anything.

- prone to becoming upset or angry insituations in which they are not able to maintain control of theirphysical or interpersonal environment, although the anger istypically not expressed directly. On other occasions, anger may beexpressed with righteous indignation over a seemingly minor matter.

-  may be especially attentive to theirrelative status in dominance-submission relationships and may displayexcessive deference to an authority they respect and excessiveresistance to authority that they do not respect.

- Individuals with this disorderusually express affection in a highly controlled or stilted fashionand may be very uncomfortable in the presence of others who areemotionally expressive. Their everyday relationships have a formaland serious quality, and they may be stiff in situations in whichothers would smile and be happy. They carefully hold themselves backuntil they are sure that whatever they say will be perfect.

✓ Is preoccupied with details, rules,lists, order, organization and schedules

✓ Shows perfectionism which caninterfere with task completion

✓ Is excessively devoted to work andproductivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships

✓ Is overconscientious, scrupulous,and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics, or values

✓ Is unable to discard worn-out orworthless objects even when they have no sentimental value

✓ Is reluctant to delegate tasks orto work with others unless they submit to exactly his or her way ofdoing things

✓ Adopts a miserly spending styletoward both self and others; money is viewed as something to behoarded for future catastrophes

✓ Shows significant rigidity andstubbornnessIs there really anything I need to explain aboutthis? All of these fit Jumin like a glove tailored for him. There arereally only two things that I need to clarify something on. For onewe don’t know how Jumin acts about discarding things he has nological need for, but I feel from the way he treats the pen hisfather gives him, that said point fits. Despite not needing a goldendiamond pen and probably having a million more that work just thesame he starts an entire search party to get it back, probably out ofsentimental reasons but also because he can’t discard such things. Asfor the miserly spending style, something most people would disagreewith, Jumin doesn’t waste money. He lives in luxury and he does likespending his money, but he doesn’t waste it. The things he buys orpays a lot of money for are practical for the better part; like anutritionist and gym to keep him healthy. With the money he earns hecould live a lot more extravagant than he already does, but he’s notwasteful and exactly like described values money and hoarding it.Other than that, everything else fits perfectly!

☼Saeyoung/Seven = Major Depression ☼ 

Honestly guys, does this even need explaining? He’s flunking hisdepression in everyone’s faces all day, every day and yet no oneseems to care. Despite the fact that he doesn’t have just ordinarydepression but major depression. I’m talking hardcore bullshit hereand rightly so. Let’s break this down once and for all:✓Fatigue or loss of energy almost every day

✓ Feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day

✓ Impaired concentration, indecisiveness

✓ Insomnia or hypersomnia almost every day

✓ Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activitiesnearly every day

✓ Restlessness or feeling slowed down

✓ Recurringthoughts of death or suicide

✓ Significant weight loss or gain

✓ Change in your appetite (not eating enough or overeating)

✓ Low self-esteem

✓ Feelingof hopelessFor a while I was torn between Saeyoung being justdepressed or having manic depression aka bipolar disorder. I decidedto depression, mainly because his ‘episodes’ of euphoria are mostlyfake and don’t really happen in proper cycles. Then again, we onlyget to know them for eleven days and usually those cycles can take upto weeks when not regulated with the proper medication, so who knows.However, it’s a 100% clear that Saeyoung is majorly depressed. Otherthan his eccentric chatting behaviour he barely seems to have energy,even the smallest things can break his concentration, he neversleeps, other than his interest in cars he has no other interest orpleasurable activities left, Saeyoung constantly mentions howworthless he is, how guilty he feels over his brother, how hopelesshe feels of getting out of where he’s got himself stuck and how hewants to die. As for the significant weight loss, he barely eats butwhat he eats is horrible junk. He should weight much much more thanhe does considering his diet, which I put into the same category asweight loss. Therefor Saeyoung shows all the symptoms of a majorlydepressed person. 

☀ Saeran = BorderlinePersonality Disorder ☀

Fora hot minute I thought about Saeran having depression as well, but Ifeel like his mental issues go a little deeper and more complicatedthan 'just’ depression. Upon researching some of the symptoms he hascompared to his twin brother I stumbled over BPD, not to be confusedwith bipolar disorder (happened to me ones). People with BPD usuallyexperience symptoms like:

✓ Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment

✓A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with family,friends, and loved ones, often swinging from extreme closeness andlove to extreme dislike or anger

✓ Distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self

✓ Impulsive and often dangerous behaviours

✓ Recurring suicidal behaviours or threats or self-harmingbehaviour

✓ Intense and highly changeable moods, with each episode lastingfrom a few hours to a few days

✓ Chronic feelings of emptiness

✓ Inappropriate, intense anger or problems controlling anger

✓ Having stress-related paranoid thoughts

✓ Having severe dissociative symptoms, such as feeling cut off fromoneself, observing oneself from outside the body, or losing touchwith reality

Muchlike with Saeyoung this case of mental illness needs very littleexplaining. The symptoms speak for themselves, as they perfectly fitto Saeran, all of them. Now some might say that he didn’t show thosesymptoms as a child and that is true, although I wouldn’t say thathis BPD was caused onlyby what Rika did to him, although that surely played a big part.There are three main reasons that are considered risk factors:Genetics, Environmental and Social Factors and Brain Factors. Theenvironmental/social factor is quite obviously what Rika did toSaeran. Most notable factors in that category are traumatic lifeevents such as abuse (mother then Rika) and/or abandonment (hisfather then Saeyoung) during childhood. What Rika did to Saeran alsoworks into the brain factors, as her torture probably causedstructural and functional changes in his brain that changed hisbehaviour and way of thinking so drastically. As for the genetics, Iactually wouldn’t be so surprised of the twins’ mother had some sortof mental disorder or even BPD that caused her to lash out on theboys like that and in Saeran’s case pass it on. It might even explainwhy he was sickly as a child while his brother wasn’t. Although thatis purely theoretical, the rest isn’t as much. Poor baby…

📷 Jihyun/V = White KnightSyndrome 📷

Now I honestly have to say that I’m not sure whether White KnightSyndrome falls in the mental illness category or not, but it fit soperfectly to V and there was very little else I could have come upwith, so I’m putting it into the list. Now what exactly is WhiteKnight Syndrome or what are the symptoms:

✓ Fears emotional distance

✓ Is very emotionally vulnerable and sensitive

✓ Has a tendency to idealize the partner

✓ Has an extreme need to be viewed as important or unique

~  Tends to be self-critical or reactively blames, devalues, andmanipulate others

Inrelationships:

✓ Is attracted to a needy partner or a partner with a history oftrauma, loss, abuse, or addiction

✓ Fears being separated from the partner, losing the partner’s loveor approval, or being abandoned by the partner

✓ Engages in controlling behaviour, often under the guise ofhelping

✓ Maintains or restores connection with the partner by beingextremely helpful or good

✗  Responds ambivalently to the partner’s success

✓ Describes a sense of “oneness” with the partner

✓ Fails to recognize the partner’s manipulative behaviours

✓ Is seduced by the sexual or dramatic behaviour of the partner

✓ Evokes strong feelings in the partner in order to avoid his orher own emotional discomfort

✓ Maintains hope for a gratifying relationship by denying thereality of the partner’s issues

I mean…hello V? Other than the point about his response to hispartner being ambivalent everything fits perfectly. That is preciselywhy I find it so irritating when people describe his feelings towardsRika as love. No, V did not love Rika or at least not in a healthyway. He loved her instability and he was obsessed with the idea ofsaving her. So much so that he was willing to manipulate, devaluateand fuck over the rest of his friends. The only reason I used ~ onthat particular point is because while he is self-critical as well,he never reactively blames anyone but himself. Frankly rightly so.Anyone who thinks that V is in any way innocent is wrong. He didn’tstop Rika. Despite knowing of her plans all along he never once didanything to stop her and therefor he is almost as much at fault asRika is. In fact my American law he would be charged with accessoryto a hefty crime amongst other things earning him a couple of yearsin prison, just saying. I’m sure his White Knight Syndrome playedinto why he did what he did, but that doesn’t make him any moreinnocent nor excuses what torture other people were put throughbecause he put Rika first and did nothing to stop her.