Mystic Messenger is an otome game mobile app developed by Cheritz, a south Korean company also responsible for creating Dandelion & Nameless.
(WARNING, SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD!)
Aside from its fresh take on its story and playthrough, here are other factors that add quality and class to their game:
It does not force you to purchase in-game stuff like the dress-me up stuff or extra story chapters in usual otome games (with enough patience and hard earned hourglass, you can unlock EVERYTHING)
Amazing opening video with cool 2d animation and song entitled "Mysterious Messenger" by Han.
Full voice over audio especially in calls
Cool soundtrack with signature music for each character
Diversity in the pool of potential love interests by providing a female character
Multiple endings per character
With enough patience, you can earn hourglass to unlock almost everything!
Mystic Messenger stands apart from its other contemporary otome game (or maiden game) counterparts due to its concept of gameplay. It incorporates features from modern-day standard chat applications in smartphones to narrate the story and interact with its characters instead of the typical dialog with background format to visualize the scenario of the game.Â
Text messages, chatroom conversations and visual novels respectively.
Incoming calls, phone logs and contacts under the call section of the app.
You can call, text back, and participate in chatrooms (it even shows stickers/emoticons) with the characters to increase your likeability points, that will affect the flow of the story.
You can even see the profile pictures and status of each member.
You can also reply to emails from potential guests for the party, as part of its storyline. By successfully convincing them, they will decide if they will accept your invitation to RFA's fund-raising gala. Of course, the number of guests also have an impact to the game's ending.
The side menu: Photo album, Email inbox and Guest list respectively.
As you proceed through the game, CG images presented as "selfies" and special visual novel art can be acquired and collected in the Mystic Messenger's image folder.
Waiting for the ufo icon in the chat menu to reach the honey buddha chips gives you random amount of hearts too.Â
And finally the hourglass feature, a form of currency which lets you unlock special stories and recount missed calls and chats. It can be freely obtained from participating chats (randomly given) or by collecting 100 hearts and exchanging it for 1 hourglass.
The story starts right off the bat as you download the actual Mystic Messenger app on your mobile phone. After opening it once it's been installed, you immediately get a mysterious message from a stranger named "Unknown". He explains to you that he has found a lost smartphone lying around the subway station and wants to return it to its rightful owner. But without any contact info or call records inside and only a messenger app (to which you answered his text from) as his single clue, he elicits your help into returning back the device. Once you agree to help him, you will be instructed to go to an apartment (its address was stored on the phone) and open the lock on the door to get inside. Depending on your answers, you may get a bad end immediately.
After entering the passcode that Unknown claims to have been saved on the smartphone's notes, you open the door and realize that your phone is acting strangely again. Without warning, it enters a private chatroom, where you see messages from five people with the following usernames: Yoosung, 707, ZEN, Jaehee Kang and Jumin Han.
707, or Seven, is the first one to notice your presence and alerts the others of your sudden appearance in their chatroom. He then does a quick search on you and is surprised to see that you're in Rika's apartment, based on the IP address.
As confusion and accusations (of you being a hacker) start to erupt from all the people present in the chat, they demand to know who you are whilst you tell them to do the same. Yoosung then proposes to introduce themselves to you first in order keep things calm and civil, and also to make you feel less guarded and more cooperative in the process.
After getting a better sense of who they are, as well as their faces from the photos they've posted, you explain to them how a person named Unknown led you to the apartment. Upon further probing from Seven, you also mention that all the chat records from Unknown have been erased. Due to the current gravity of the situation, Seven contacts V, the leader of the group, to inform him about what has happened.
In just a few moments, V logs into the chatroom and tells everyone that he's already been briefed by Seven about the recent events. V reveals to everyone that Rika was the only one who knew about the apartment's password. Though the place was originally owned by V, he respected Rika's privacy and didn't ask for it. He also mentions that the apartment contains important documents and classified information, and other stored sensitive materials. Because of this, its location was not disclosed; only V and Seven (who is in-charge of its security) know where it is, and therefore asks you to keep it a secret as well to maintain its safety.
In line with this, V theorizes that you may have been led in the apartment by Rika or someone she had trusted to continue her previous work: hosting parties. He then asks the other members to trust his judgement and let you become a member of the organization.
At some point, Seven does a background check on you (and finds out that you're a cute girl in the process, lol). After confirming that you're safe and not dangerous, they introduce you to the RFA, as V had requested.
Rika's Fundraising Association, or RFA for short, is a non-profit fund-raising organization that aims to help other people in need by conducting parties for charity. Founded by Rika four years ago, it has already hosted two successful parties together with the current 6 members, whom she knew personally and recruited into the organization.
The parties sponsored by the RFA provides the opportunity for anyone to freely make donations regardless of class and nationality, as well as form business connections with others who attend their events.
But ever since Rika passed away one and a half years ago, the organization has not held any parties. It is in everyone's hope that you, who had stumbled to her apartment by some kind of divine intervention or God's sign, will continue what she has done.
Regardless of your choice, you will be forced to become a member of the RFA and take over rika's previous work.
For the next 4 days, you learn how to use the messenger app and also gradually get to know each member of the organization in the process. On the fourth day, depending on the bonds you've formed with each character, a route will be decided for you. You will also get notified by V about the date of the party, which will take place a week from that time.
Regardless of what route or which character you get, you will need to invite as many guests as you can for the party. Â
All the decisions you've made will determine the ending of the story.
Cutie Yoosung. The first route I got in Casual story.
Yoosung Kim is the youngest character in the group, seeing as he is only 21 years old. A university student at SKY University, he is also a LOLOL game addict who currently ranks 2nd in the shooting star server (next to Seven who ranks 1 as the player âHacker Godâ). Â
Yoosung is usually portrayed as a very cheerful and bubbly person who likes to cook a lot (especially omurice) and wear hoodie-type clothes. He also exudes an innocent disposition, to the point of being gullible; which makes him a favorite and constant target of Sevenâs pranks.Â
On the flipside however, Yoosungâs character can be somewhat dark and unstable, as seen from his demeanor whenever his cousin Rika is involved. Â
It is also revealed in one of Sevenâs phone calls that Yoosung is a yandere.
In his story route, it is revealed that he was once an academic nerd that showed a lot of promise and potential based from his multiple achievements. (He even got a job offer from Jumin once heâs graduated from uni) He considers Rika to be his role model and idolizes her like a lovesick puppy to the point of acute obsession.Â
When news came of Rikaâs death, Yoosung had a hard time accepting its reality and blamed V for everything, which severely strained their relationship.
Upon reaching college, he became laidback in his studies and got hooked to playing games. Though once in awhile, he would join several clubs that interest him bet never staying in it for long.Â
If you choose to fall in love with Yoosung, your major hurdle inthe story will be his tendency of always overlapping you with his image of Rika. It is up to you whether to fuel his way of thinking or make him realize that you are your own person. Â
Born Hyun Ryu, Zen is a very handsome 24-year-old musical actor and model who likes to brag about his perfect beauty.  Aside from being a complete narcissist, Zen can be a total flirt and a hopeless romantic; he doesnât shy away from voicing out his desires for having a girlfriend (Itâs been three years since his last relationship). Though despite his rather shallow behavior, Zen is very passionate about his work and practices very hard for his roles (even exercising everyday to maintain his physique ) in order to get recognized for his skills rather than his looks.
Zenâs also extremely allergic to cats to the point of sneezing just by mention of it and is known to have a strong dislike for Jumin, because of his arrogance and his insensitivity towards Zenâs âcat-relatedâ predicament.
Though Zen seems like a normal human, his tendency to compare himself to a âgodâ has some sort of weird merit. Aside from his rather good looks, he also possess monster-like healing powers, like recovering from a leg fracture in a span of 3 days. He also experiences prophetic dreams occasionally, as shown a few times from multiple story routes.
Zen also possesses a bit of a bad boy side, as he was a member of a motorcycle gang back in the old days. He also drinks beer a lot and smokes as well, though he expresses his intention to quite on the latter. Zen is also a bit of a foul-mouth, as Jaehee describes from one of your chats with her.Â
During his route, it is explained that his career rose to fame because of a video that Seven uploaded that became a viral hit online. Heâs also grateful to Rika for recognizing his talent and giving him the opportunity to broaden his horizons, as well as inviting him to join the RFA.
Later on in the story, he gets into a scandal with Echo girl on top of getting an injury from one of his rehearsals, causing him to suffer from extreme stress.Â
After visiting him in his home, Zen talks about his family issues, as well as his estranged relationship with his brother, whom he used to look up to when he was young. Apparently, Zen comes from a conservative family who strictly values success through academic excellence. His mother, being a teacher an all, had high expectations from him and considered his beauty as nothing more but a hindrance and an eyesore, so she pushed him really hard to study. During those years, his brother became his only support and ally, saying that being beautiful is nothing to be ashamed of and that he only has to be himself and not mind what other people think of. Â By the time he reached middle school, Zen has gained confidence about himself and realized his dream: to become a singer and an actor. But as years passed, his brother slowly became like his mother, berating him of his naive dreams of becoming an actor and told him to aim for a much better goal. Feeling betrayed and wanting nothing more than to pursue his goals, Zen ran away from home and barely survived the following years by making ends meet, to the point of resorting to âevil meansâ. Â
If you choose to become Zenâs love interest, you have the option to support him and be understanding of his public occupation; or you can be selfish and not care about the consequences of your actions to his career.Â
Jaehee Kang is the 26 year old chief secretary at C&R International company, and works as an assistant of Jumin Han. She is also the only female member of the RFA and is in-charge of the overall planning and execution of the party.
Her outward appearances (of having short hair and wearing no-grade glasses) border on the androgynous side but as it turns out, this was one of Juminâs conditions before hiring her to the company, as to prevent his father from making a pass at her. Usually overworked and haggard from Juminâs constant demands, sheâs still able to keep up and finish everything assigned to her efficiently.Â
At first glance, Jaehee may come off as a rather stiff but organized person who is devoid of emotions like a robot, as joked by Seven and Jumin. But in actuality, sheâs a very caring individual who deep inside craves for close friendship ties.
She also a huge fan of Zen and is a member of his fan club. She really cares about Zenâs welfare and is always concerned about his career, to the point of always reminding him that a romantic relationship might ruin his image and career. Because of this, Seven would always tease Jaehee that she likes Zen, to which she vehemently denies. During her free time, she watches his DVDs and buy merchandises related to his performances.
A very capable and self-reliant woman, Jaeheeâs mature disposition and independence stems from her past when she had to live with her uncleâs family after her parentsâ deaths. Not wanting to be a burden to them, she strived hard in her studies in order to graduate early and get a job. Though unfortunately, she didnât have any fond memories with them as her aunt didnât like her and felt that she was stealing all the good luck of their family to herself.Â
In Jaeheeâs route, Jumin overworks her yet again and assigns her to be in-charge of two presentations for the company, one concerning a coffee business and the other for Juminâs cat-related project. As she researches about both projects, she slowly comes to like coffee and starts to enjoy making the presentation. But Jumin wasnât all too pleased that she was focusing on the coffee project more than his venture, so she is forced to choose whether to continue working on what she wants or prioritize Juminâs project.
During Jaeheeâs time of difficulty, you can either encourage her to take the path she wants or you could push her to ... Â Â
Jumin Han is considered to be one of the most powerful and influential characters in RFA. The 27-year-old son of a corporate CEO of C&R International, he is usually referred by Zen as the âTrust Fund kidâ. Growing up in a different environment compared to the others, his sophisticated lifestyle and formal upbringing is evident in his manner of speech, tasteless jokes and lack of âcommonerâ understanding during chat conversations, which usually puts Zen and Jaehee on edge.Â
Though Jumin can be quite rigid, serious and awkward, heâs a very reliable person in times in need and actually gives really good advice when situation calls for it. He deeply values his relationship with others, especially with his childhood best friend V, and is shown to be very loyal and understanding.
He also exhibits a more caring side when it comes to his pet cat Elizabeth 3rd. He is not ashamed to display his affection towards her and showers her with much love and attention, earning him the title âcat momâ from Seven. Â
Although Juminâs very capable when it comes to his job, there are things that even he couldnât do, such as driving and taking sharp photos (theyâre always blurred). At times when heâs extremely stressed or at odds with his father, he would come up with bizarre business proposals (that are mostly not profitable in the long run) which usually tend to focus on cats, much to Jaeheeâs dismay.Â
If  you chose Juminâs route, you will learn about the reasons behind his indifference when it comes to women. Having grown up with a playboy father, Jumin has since been exposed to the ugly side of women who want nothing more than to get his familyâs fortune and fame. Thinking that all women who come near him are like that, he has remained distant and cold, to the point of being teased by Seven as gay.
But things suddenly change when his father decides to remarry again to a certain celebrity named Glam Choi. Blind to his new love, he agrees to his new loverâs proposal of having her student marry Jumin. This event forms a rift between Jumin and his father, and also affects his performance at work. Â
Jaehee becomes worried of his current predicament, and thus asks you to go to his place to help him calm down and take care of him, to which you oblige.Â
Your first meeting with Jumin unlocks his deep-seated feelings of love; and because he has not experience such strong and pure emotions before and has no way of knowing how to express them, he does it in a rather roundabout and forceful way.Â
 To make matters worse, he becomes more twisted after Elizabeth 3rd goes missing. Fearing that everyone he holds dear will run away from him, he prevents you from going back to the apartment, and insists that you stay with him for as long as he needs you to be.Â
Itâs up to you whether you want to trust him and stay with him until heâs able to let go or you can chastise him for his possessive actions and run away.
Seven or Luciel (his baptismal name), is the quirkiest guy among the RFA. He is also considered as the OTP of the main character in the game. At a young age of 22, Seven has already made a living out of being a hacker from a secret agency. Heâs also known to have rather bizarre tastes, from collecting expensive sport cars, consuming only honey buddha chips and dr. pepper and the like. He also likes to build stuff like a cat or dog robot, and dreams of making his own spaceship to fly off into space. Â
Throughout all the routes, Seven comes off as the comic relief of the group. He would always try to make a joke of things and is never truly offended if any of the members scold or berate him because of his antics.Â
Heâs also known from breaking the fourth wall every now and then, which often leaves the other members confused about what heâs saying. At times, he would also go as far as cross-dressing just to get  a kick from Zen or Yoosung, his usual victims. Â
Though he acts as a cheerful goofball most of the time, it's only a front that he puts up to hide his depression and pessimistic way of living, which stems from his dark past and current profession.Â
Sevenâs route has proven to have the heaviest back story among all the characters of the game, and is central to all the major plot events of the entire storyline.Â
When he was still a child, Saeyoung (his real name) and his younger twin brother Saeran was often abused by their drunk mother. Both of them were a result of an unplanned pregnancy with a powerful politician who was a presidential candidate at that time. Not wanting to destroy his chances in the election, the twins were kept hidden by the mother in exchange for money.Â
His younger twin had a weaker body, and thus more prone to their motherâs bullying; so it was always up to Seven to look out for his brother and protect him whenever their mother throws a fit. Â At times, when sheâs in a drunken stupor, Seven would sneak Saeran out of the house to let him have a glimpse of the outside world, to which his twin is grateful for.Â
During spare moments, Seven would  study in secret from a programming book that he got in order to become a hacker and support his brother, once theyâve managed to run away.
At some point, Seven meets with a young Rika and V in a church. Both of them become aware of Sevenâs circumstance and tries to help him by suggesting he change his identity and work for a hacking company. At first Seven refuses because he doesnât want to leave his brother behind. But V was able to convince Seven and promised that they will take care of him in his stead. Trusting his words, Seven left his home, and became a full-fledged hacker.
During the seventh day in Sevenâs route, Unknown was able to bypass Sevenâs security. Sensing danger and fear of your safety, Seven immediately goes to the apartment and saves you in time from Unknown, which turned out to be none other than Saeran. It is then revealed that Saeran had joined a cult called Mint Eye and is out for revenge against Seven for betraying him and abandoning him with their abusive mother.Â
This revelation devastates Seven, and is enraged with V for lying to him and not keeping his promise.
Throughout your interactions with Seven, you will be relentlessly be pushed away by him because he thinks that he doesnât deserve happiness; and that everyone he loves will be destroyed because of him.
If you choose to remain by his despite everything and make him realize that no matter what sordid past he has, you will accept all of him, then you will be able to unlock the after events  of his ending, which brings closure to all the loose ties in the Mystic Messenger storyline.Â
The founder of RFA and V's lover/fiancee. It's been said that she jumped off a cliff due to her mental illness but her body was never recovered. In reality, she succumbed to her illness and later formed a separate cult called Mint Eye, whose main goal is to recruit the existing RFA members and take them to paradise along with the other worshippers.
 The acting leader of RFA. He's a famous photographer and Rika's lover/fiance. After her supposed death, his been showing less of himself in the RFA and seems to be always busy and out of town. In Seven's route, it's been revealed that he was actually been going undercover inside Mint Eye, in order to get closer to Rika and to monitor her activities.Â
The one responsible for bringing you to the apartment to infiltrate the RFA in the first place. Later in the story (especially in Seven's rout), he's revealed to be a member of Mint Eye, as well as Seven's other twin Saeran . Having a weak constitution since birth, he was brainwashed by the cult into thinking that his brother had abandoned him at the hands of their abusive mother and is now out for revenge.
A male agent who also works at the same secret agency 707's works for. Forever nagging at Seven to finish his work ASAP, he also has little patience with regards to 707's messy living environment to the point of cleaning his living quarters himself.Â
Jumin's pet cat. Her name was originally given by V, but is usually called âEllyâ by Seven, much to Juminâs annoyance. Likes to torment Jaehee whenever sheâs under her care, and also a constant source of Zenâs allergy whenever Jumin brings her up in their conversations.Â
When I first heard of this game from a friend of mine, I was totally in denial. I Â didnât want to succumb to the growing fandom of this otome game (blame my pride and hipster ideology) and even laughed my ass out at the sheer idea of playing Mystic Messenger. But during a long (none-Ian) weekend that bored me to tears, curiosity got the better of me. So in the end, I wound up installing this app just for the lolz and started playing it...
...only to fell DEEPLY IN LOVE with the story, its characters and everything else in between.
Welp, there goes my pathetic pride, lolÂ
What I love most about this game, aside from its amazing concept and storyline, is the authenticity and humor of the conversations in the chatroom. The manner of how the script was written is so engaging and real that it feels as if your chatting with actual people and not 2d characters. From the spamming galore, typos, chat stickers and even the act of posting images inside the chat, you wouldnât think that its just a game at all.
Whatâs more, aside from the funny conversations and breaking the fourth wall moments  that certainly brighten my day, there are rather surprising good advises and food for thought from the characters that can be applied in everyday life. Whether it be about business, love life or career goals, the message delivered certainly gives an impact to anyone whoâs in that kind of situation. Itâs not every day you get a legit advice from a non-human character right?Â
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Jumin and Jaeheeâs money advice, lol.
Another major aspect that is worth mentioning is how relatable the characters are in the game. Everyone has a certain characteristic that I can connect to, making the interaction with each of them more believable and easy to empathize.  It gives them more depth rather than the usual cookie-cutter character trope that is boringly indistinguishable from existing otome games.
If I were to do a breakdown of the traits of the characters and align it with my own, Iâd be:
22% Jaehee - Because like her, I suffer the same career path problems that she has (Earning well but has yet to reach her dream job). I also constantly doubt myself and my skills, and is cautious and pessimistic by nature.
22% Jumin - Â Because I sometimes suck at jokes; But more importantly, I become very possessive when it comes to the people I love, and must constantly keep myself in check lest the people I care for get suffocated.
22% Yoosung - Because we both share the same past of being a former honor student that later on fell from grace due to addictive gaming. We also have a nagging mother, as have similar gullible tendencies.
22% Seven - Because Iâm a total troll and an outright geek. AND A SADIST TOO, HAHAHA. Oh, and my profession is also related to programming.Â
12% Zen - I can be a total narcissist sometimes (as evident in my multiple OOTD posts in this bloody blog, lol); But in terms of love, passion and emotion, I have the same fire as him too. Oh, and my familyâs also conservative.
The only things that I saw that need improvement are minor grammar and spelling errors for english text; a few behavioral bugs here and there;  and  the inconsistent art style presented in its CG images.
But other than that, this is one of the most amazing otome games Iâve encountered in a long while.Â
I definitely get the hype from this fandom now, ROFL.
 Â
The 707 effect. Super psyched to have found these at a local Korean mart near my workplace.Â
To end this post, Iâd like to make a virtual toast of Dr.Pepper to the makers of Mystic Messenger.Â
Keep it up Cheritz! Kudos to your hard and relentless work and more power to you guys!
Iâll always be waiting for Mystic Messengerâs additional special stories, OK? XD
