#vanderwood

[riuvy]

[reifromrfa]

Mystic Messenger 10th Anniversary Zine Project

To commemorate Mysme's 10th anniversary, our team is making a digital zine to celebrate the game and characters and to thank Cheritz. The zine will be completely free for all MCs to enjoy; but it will also be a compilation of art and stories that will be sent to Cheritz within the year.

• Zine Title: After Party • Theme: Where are they now? (years after the game end) • Accepted pieces: Fanart, fanfics • Number of pieces (maximum): 4 pages/2 spreads for artists; 2 fics of 5000 words for writers | +1 piece for collaborations

Submitting 1 piece is also okay!

• Deadline for all submissions: August 30, 2026 • Pieces will all be SFW only.

Please note that we will be closing invitations for the zine on June 17, Wednesday.

If you're interested in joining, or have any questions, please send me a DM here, or contact me via IG (@reithedreamer) <3

[weepylilart]

Pride

He would so tell me to go the hell to sleep (it just turned 5am oops)

[toxicrelief]

MAID VANDERWOOD I LOVE YOU PLEASE RETURN MY CALLS!!!

genuinely a crime that he doesn’t have his own route. I need this beautiful woman BADLY.

Lowkey the sketch might be better than the finished product 😭

[weepylilart]

Back at my occasional mystic messenger visit hi have a very quick Stark

[marshmallowprotection]

Had to double check to make sure, but yeah Saeyoung more or less tells Vanderwood to go fuck themself 😔 He's (understandably) bitter and not in the mood. (SE 2.2)

Thank you for grabbing it! I knew it was there somewhere, but I couldn't remember the exact episode it was in. Unlike RAE Saeyoung, who knew Vanderwood went out on a limb for not only Him but for Saeran and his MC, too? SE Saeyoung has no reason to give Vanderwood any grace. It must've been hell for Saeran to be stuck with the agency (we're not told if he was with Vanderwood the entire time or not, but either way, there is no denying Saeran suffered while in their custody, and Vanderwood didn't stop it; he made it happen) until the boss made a deal to meet up with Saeyoung.

He's not going to be as kind as RAE Saeyoung was. He's going to tell Vanderwood to go to Hell. The MINUTE you put Saeran in danger, he will drop you like a ton of bricks. It doesn't matter who you are; if you hurt Saeran in any way, shape, or form, you're on Saeyoung's shit list for life. He makes it clear that he only saved Vanderwood to benefit HIS family. If he crosses Saeyoung in any way, well... you know Saeyoung. His hands are stained with blood, and he's not afraid to make them even harder to wash.

[marshmallowprotection]

(Part 1/2 of ask)

About your tags, no worries I figured that a bunch or a lot of people don't like V and Rika so much. We are also in the piss on the poor website and people in any fandom sometimes just can't/don't read lol. Other than that, your rambles are so interesting! It's very nice to get to think deeper about the characters and get to know them better. Even when flawed actions are still flawed at the end of the day, understanding them doesn't mean that we are justifying them, just that looking at them tells us more about the person/character and their background. I'll admit, it took me a while to fully understand that and years ago I used to think Rika was purely bad purely because she runs a drug cult for the sake of running one, but like what you said, no-one is inherently good or evil and there is no perfect villain nor victim.

About the Mother Choi situation, Rika and V being young and barely being out of their teens does do a whole lot. I'm someone around that age, and even around 3 years into adulthood I still barely have anything figured out and do not have much life experience. Helping getting two kids who are trapped in an abusive household a way out of there is already a big task for even two people who just started adulthood. Trying to avoid being connected to something that will put them in danger added more to the weight they had to carry. Not to mention, ending someone's life without meaning to even just for self defense, I can only imagine how it's like.

Neither of them really knew what it was like to be loved, so their idea of what love is is pretty messed up, too. It's not to say that there wasn't any love at all, but V's love being sacrificing himself and Rika neglecting to think of V's needs was hurting both of them. V said that Rika was someone who needed V to embrace her, but she didn't get to embrace V.

I think that what V's light means is him being self sacrificial and enabling Rika to do as she pleases like taking her anger out on him and starting Mint Eye, since Rika said that her darkness cannot exist without his light. Meanwhile Rika's darkness, I think I have a vague idea of what she means but I either don't know how to word it or I don't understand it enough. Her parents have called her the devil again and again, and her killing Mother Choi is the "confirmation" that she's the devil which fully pushed her into the darkness, which has her thinking that she's evil and that's just the way she is and she'll 'die' if she leaves Mint Eye. I remember her using a metaphor about how fish belong in the sea and can't live on land. Do correct me if I got something wrong here, by the way! Other than that, maybe I missed something but she also said that V tried to kill her devil/darkness with his light so that had me confused right after I thought I understood what they were talking about.

Anyways, owning what one did in the past even when starting over is definitely the right way to go. It's not easy for everyone to face what they did instead of finding someone else to lay all the blame on, running away, hiding, or even denying reality for whatever reason. Everyone messes up at some point, some more greatly than others, and while sometimes things aren't ever going to be back to how they used to be even with a wholehearted apology, some time, and a lot of reflecting, it's part of the process when choosing to grow up and get better.

I have yet to play Ray's route, maybe tomorrow after finishing day 11, there's also Rika's behind story that I haven't gone through yet but for now I don't have much else to add. (Unrelated but my heart got punched and crumpled by his words and what happened 4 times today. This game is insane.)

Oh, you'll definitely get more context in Ray Route, V's After Ending, and Rika's DLC. Essentially, you need all of those completed before tackling Saeran's After Ending. Even then, it takes a little while to sit with the information you're handed before you'll feel like you've begun to understand it. It may not click at first! It may sit with you for a while until you figure it out months later.

God knows I'm rediscovering and discovering new things in the text every day. That's saying something, too, because I've been a fan of the game for as long as it's been out. It goes to show that you never really stop learning. Life is about learning, after all. Whether you learn for the first time or the hundredth time, you're still experiencing what it feels like to be alive.

Let me know what you think after you've played through those parts of the story! Rika's feelings can only truly be digested once you know the full story. It does help if you have Rika's diary from the Special Believer package, but that's not required reading since the game covers a lot of her perspective. Even if it's not the first time you've seen her story, your understanding can deepen as you age! Life experience and all that!

The Normal Ending in Saeran's After Ending is one of my favorites for this reason.

I've never written a story at length with Vanderwood as a focal point. All of my longer stories are based around the twins, so I hardly get the time to talk about him, much less my feelings about the canon character. He is someone who will throw you under the bus to save his skin, but when push comes to shove, if he sees himself in your plight, he does what he can (within reason).

In Ray Route, V Route, and to some extent, Saeyoung's Route, there are things he does for Saeyoung that don't align with how he talks. He says he won't go out on a limb for him. He says he won't lie to the boss. He'll bark, hiss, and growl when the work has to get done. Vanderwood does not mince words when it comes to the agency and what they MUST do if they want to survive. If you only take this into account, then your only impression of this guy should be that he's apathetic to suffering, and he will sell you to Satan for a corn chip if it means he won't die.

But that isn't who Vanderwood is. Yes, there are parts of his character that are selfish, but there are just as many selfless parts. You just have to dig into the way he expresses himself underneath the lies. He has a mask just like Saeyoung. You do that when your only choice is to play a game designed to keep you at the bottom. They will eat you if you don't eat them first.

He hardened his heart because he had no choice, and if he ever let go of that mask for even a minute, he wouldn't live see the next sunrise. In the game, it's revealed that he has a family he left behind. A family that meant enough to him that he turned around to find them once the RAE concluded. That means he wasn't alone from the start. He had family in his life who meant something to him... and he had to leave them behind for reasons unknown to us.

What we learn about how the agency targets and grooms vulnerable youth gives you some insight into how Vanderwood was recruited. To me, I always concluded that he left because he felt like a burden to his family. In the background I've imagined for him, he's an older brother to much younger little siblings. I personally imagine triplets, but I think you can imagine whatever you want there.

His family is kind, but their resources are pretty much stretched thin. They are happy, content with their lives, but their situation isn't perfect.

I think his parents wanted to give him the world. They loved him, but he felt like a lost cause for one reason or another. Despite doing everything he could to look after them to ease the burden, it wasn't enough. Every path he took to make things better seemed to make things worse, and during his journey to find the next step forward, an agency recruiter got to him. They convinced him he could spare his family the burden of the money it takes to keep him alive, and instead focus on the little siblings whom he loves dearly.

If he can't do anything right, what good is he to his family?

So, he leaves his family behind. It was a mistake, of course, but he was a teenager who didn't know any better. There's no turning back for him. No amount of screaming, pleading, or begging convinced the agency to let him go. He signed his life away to the big boss, thinking that his kind family was better off without him, only to realize that was a mistake. He wasn't better off without them, and he has no way of knowing if they're better off for what he did.

He gave up on himself. Why would his family ever want him back? He left them because he made a "selfish" decision. He didn't ask anyone if he was a problem. He made assumptions, as a lot of kids do, and now he has to suffer the consequences. It's not his fault he was tricked, but he knows he has to live with this shame. He believed what he was told by the agency's recruiter and let his insecurities get the better of him!

He can't turn around, so there's no choice but to move forward. But who in their right mind would want to move forward in the agency? It's a place built of selfish nightmares and fueled by people who only care about power, greed, and corruption. He loses sight of the person that he used to be because of the trauma he's subjected to.

Vanderwood starts to believe he is just as selfish as these monsters are because he left his family behind. What if he didn't leave to make things easier on them? What if he left home because he cared more about himself and his needs than theirs? It doesn't matter what the truth was at the time; his memory becomes skewed, biased, and bitter the more time he spends in the agency.

He can't right his wrongs; he can only live in this nightmare.

He becomes selfish over the years because he sold everything, and now just having crumbs is better than having nothing. His life is enough. He could lose his life to get out of this nightmare, sure, but if he does that, then Saeyoung will suffer. That's right. Despite his cruelty, he cares for the brat that's working underneath him. He can't show it. They'll kill him for it. He's seen what happens to agents who show any signs of wanting to return to the past.

So, he does what he can to protect the brat, and although it may not look like he's doing anything, he's doing what he can. He lies to his boss whenever Saeyoung refuses to do his work. You know, Saeyoung shirks off a lot of work because he hates hurting innocent people. He does the job because he has no other choice, but there's a damn good reason he procrastinates as much as he does. It gives people enough time to get out of the way. It's a hopeless display, but Vanderwood knows that this kid wasn't built to survive the agency.

He can pretend all he wants, but Vanderwood's been in his shoes, and he knows what happens to people who hold onto their hearts. So... He plays his part by mistreating Saeyoung, all the while lying his ass off to give him what little freedom he can give.

It doesn't make Vanderwood a good person, not by any means, but I feel like his having a past that's heavy with grief and shame makes the most sense when it comes to why he's so "soft" on Saeyoung. Why else would a hardened man who claims to be selfish and vain care so much about making sure Saeyoung lived a safe life in Hell? Sure, you can say Saeyoung bribed Saeyoung with car rides and tormented him with the robots he makes to procrastinate, but if Vanderwood was as cruel as he claims to be, he wouldn't have put up with bullshit in the first place.

[marshmallowprotection]

I hope Christmas went well for you, Kait!

This month I've just been playing mystic messenger. I got the V route and I'm on day 9. Then I realized that I like Vanderwood more than I previously thought. I like V platonically but there are also times in his route where it gets frustrating to keep trying to reason with him. Sometimes it'd be great to have a certain pretty person with a leopard print helping out in knocking some sense into someone's head. It makes it more tempting to ask said person for a kiss or a few, just because. Not like it has to mean anything or anything, surely

Oh, I love V platonically, too! I know he can be frustrating, but that's a part of his appeal for me. He reminds me of what it feels like to hit your rock bottom and not know how to climb back up to the top. He needs a helping hand, but better yet, he needs to accept help instead of taking it on by himself. Vanderwood doesn't mince words, and he's not one to hold back when he feels something. That's by design, too.

He's been in the agency since he was Saeyoung's age, or possibly younger than that. It's not entirely clear from what he reveals to us throughout the game... but he is in his early-to-mid 30s, and he said being in the agency for as long as he has hardened him. You either die or choose to survive, and he's learned how to survive. He puts himself first because getting close to anyone will get him killed. It's hard with Saeyoung, because it's clear he sees himself in this brat, and while he will value his life first? He does his best to look after the brat when he can.

He says he doesn't care, but everyone knows he does. It's just that the way he shows his care is abrasive, rough, and hard to read if you don't understand why he is the way he is. His matter-of-fact attitude tells you how he feels. He is often the one who says what most people think. The Agency is out of its mind on a daily basis, Mint Eye is too much to deal with for his paygrade, and now he's got to deal with the Prime Minister of South Korea on top of a cult and the group that's held him hostage for over a decade?

Vanderwood is quite the character... and maybe you wanna kiss him a little bit because of that. Who wouldn't want to do that? It doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to. I doubt he's into labels. A kiss here, a smooch there, hey, you only live once!