Tuesday, February 13, 2018

The Party (Part VIII)

(This covers the final day of Jumin's route -- The party. This is the Good Ending...and a bit about the Normal Ending because, honestly, I think it's better. And herein almost wraps up the love story of Seong Yi and Jumin Han...except for the After Ending I'm going to write up later.)

Seong Yi woke up early. Dawn was just breaking, the sun colouring the city gold. She lay in bed for a moment trying to hold on to the dream she'd been having. She'd fallen asleep thinking about Jumin and the taste of his lips and her dreams had been filled with him too. But she couldn't remember exactly what had happened in the dream, now that she was awake, and that left her with a feeling of emptiness.

Today wasn't the day for that. Today was going to be a good day. The first day of a new life. She could feel it.

Yeah, you oughta be thanking her. Seong Yi is a saint,
I tell you. Any normal woman would have karate
chopped your controlling butt and run.
She took the dress Jumin had bought her out of the closet. It wasn't like anything she had ever worn before. It was by some designer that she had never even heard of. It was a veritable confection of a dress; a brilliant turquoise with ruffles that swayed as she walked. She wasn't even sure what material it was made of but it felt good against her skin.

(Okay, the dress is kinda ugly, but let's go with it. I personally think it's a bit froofy and colourful for Jumin, but what do I know?)

She logged on to the messenger to see who was on and it was pretty much everyone. And they were all excited, though perhaps not as excited as she was. And afterwards, she talked to Jumin one last time. By the end of the call, her heart was beating fast. How could he say those things so calmly? Still...now she wasn't sure if she was more excited by the party or what must surely come after...

She arrived right on time to find an absolute throng of people and reporters. She'd never seen anything like it. And there was an actual red carpet! It was insane. She wasn't sure if she was glad or not that she had worn the fancy dress. A few reporters snapped pictures of her as she walked in, yelling at her to tell them her name, but she just dashed inside. The first person she saw was Jaehee.

(Possibly the strangest thing to me about the party visual novel bits are that the MC never gets a chance to say a single word. It's a little weird. There's absolutely no agency in the party sections at all. It was the same with Zen and Yoosung. It would be nice if they'd allowed at least a little bit of choice or at the very very least, the ability to say "Hey, Jaehee! You're shorter than I thought you'd be!" or something. It seems really weird to not say a single thing.)

It was a whirlwind of faces after that. Yoosung, Zen, Seven, V...but the face she was looking for...where was he?

Then there was a murmur from the crowd. What was going on? Was it Jumin? But no, it was Glam Choi and she was basically announcing that Jumin and Sarah were going to get married! That wasn't possible, was it? Jumin had talked to his father...he'd said it went well. This couldn't be what he meant!

"Don't worry, Seong Yi," Seven told her. But how could she not?

Jumin took the microphone from Glam. He begin talking about how he had met someone special recently and what that person meant to him. Seong could see Sarah preening off to the side and Glam smiling from ear to ear. But the Chairman looked troubled. Seven patted her on the shoulder. "Just wait," he said.

Seong, I'm sorry you
still have no eyes...
but, hey, at least your hair
looks good. That's something.
"And that person is...Seong Yi--"

(Not the exact wording, but I don't have time to go back through the whole party scene right now and basically this is the important bit.)

Seong took a shaky breath. He had pointed her and the other RFA members out at the beginning of his speech and now everyone was looking at her. Camera flashes were going off everywhere. But then Jumin dropped the next bomb...Sarah was Glam's sister. They had been conspiring together. Chairman Han was reeling and Jumin was threatening a lawsuit. The reporters were going absolutely mad.

And Jumin, calm, cool, collected Jumin, left in the middle of it all to approach Seong. V seemed to be expecting whatever was going to happen next. He had a wry grin on his face.

Jumin knelt down on one knee in front of Seong and took her hand in his. Was this...was this what she thought it was? In front of all these people? Now? Here?

It was.

She could only nod her head yes amid the flashbulbs.

(So. Okay. That was the Good Ending. I'd saved right before the party and went back and played it for the Normal Ending as well. And...yeah. I think the normal ending is better. It doesn't really make sense how Cheritz did this. In the Good Ending, he very publicly declares everything and shoves the MC into the spotlight. Sure, a marriage proposal is cool, but he's basically just turned their lives into a celebrity circus and is still spending all his time working. 

Now then...in the Normal Ending, when asked who his girlfriend is, he doesn't name her. Not only that, but he steps down from his position as Director so that he can concentrate on more important things in life -- and, quite frankly, isn't he like a gazillionaire already? It's not like he needs to work. His family still owns the company and he'll get dividends or whatever -- then he goes over to Seong and tells her he loves her and wants to be with her always, etc. 

Then it cuts to a year and a half in the future and they are married. It's a surprise birthday party thrown for Seong, not by Jumin, but by their employees. So, obviously they've started some kind of smaller business together and they are both very beloved by their employees. Jumin is even wearing a more casual outfit and not all armoured up in a business suit looking all untouchable. The MC is also wearing something that seems more in keeping with her non-flashy personality. They look happy, their employees are happy...they are probably spending WAY more time together than if Jumin had stayed as the Director at C&R and they are bound to be doing well financially as he was already rich as Midas...So. Yeah. The normal ending is better AND more romantic. The only thing it doesn't include is the actual proposal, but they are married, so who cares? I definitely like it better.)

Seriously...who the hell is that?
Hit man Jumin?
And he just got back from his
honeymoon. Why does he look
so pissed off?

After Ending


Welp, they got married awfully quick! And this definitely assumes that the Good Ending is what came before based on the paparazzi factor. The quick marriage part seems about right, though, with the way Jumin is. I think he's the kind of guy that isn't going to wait around once he's figured something out. He loves Seong Yi, ergo they should be married. And I think he'd be able to convince her, so long as he wasn't continuing to say creepy stuff. I think the first thing she'd do is get rid of that cage...

There's not really anything to write up here, though, as the majority of it was an RFA chat where all you find out is that boy, they got married fast, Zen is jealous, and reporters are hounding them. Then there's a brief glimpse of them at the airport where Jumin doesn't even look like himself. Seriously. What happened to the art? That's not Jumin. I dunno who that is. It was a little freaky. And that was it.

Basically, you find out they got married right away. Not exactly an earth shaking revelation. Yeah, guys, we kinda knew that would probably happen.

So... I'm going to write up a different after ending as soon as I get a chance because I can't leave Seong hanging like this. I think it'll be right after the party but with the Normal Ending...perhaps after they have dinner with The Chairman and return to the Penthouse. Because I don't think Seong Yi goes back to Rika's apartment after the party...after all, there's something that Jumin's been thinking about all week long and I don't think he can wait anymore...

EDIT: Go on to the After Ending...

Valentine's Day


Zen, you're probably right.
I didn't actually like this After Ending bit in Mystic Messenger much either. Basically, it's their first Valentine's Day together. Jumin's had to go on a business trip for 4 days. They talk on the phone and he sounds like he's not going to be coming home after all. Does he even know what day it is? Zen calls and is righteously angry that Jumin is treating his beloved wife so poorly on Valentine's Day of all days. Then Jumin shows up with an armload of gifts and tra la la la la, everything is happy.

I was a bit meh about this one. It doesn't fit in my head for the character I created, though I get why they did it. I imagine they were thinking, hey, what woman wouldn't want to be completely spoiled rotten by their uber rich husband? Well, how about one who won him partly by NOT being a gold digger? Still, Jumin was sweet in that you could see he was thinking about her while he was gone and each thing he bought sort of had a reason behind it. But, let's face it, it was just stuff. The whole thing was about stuff -- the MC wanders around the penthouse looking at things they've bought together or been given. Stuff and things.

The best bit, to be honest, was the phone call with Zen. Ah, Zen. You are always looking out for me. His righteous indignation is a thing to behold.

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