SUSANGHAN MESINJEO CHODAE

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CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

• 

  Julyfire

  18/100
  A Pointless Fanservice Webtoon That Honestly Shouldn't Exist. Not Even For The Most Hardcore Fans.

  CAUTION: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. FOR BOTH THE WEBTOON & THE GAME. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

  I loved the Mystic Messenger mobile game. Even when I deleted all the other otome games off of my phone to make space for other things, I kept Mystic Messenger. It's undoubtedly one of the best otome games I've ever played on the mobile platform that didn't require you to constantly pour money into it, and had the most engaging story and set of characters to go with it. A very distant second would be Liar: Uncover the Truth, but that one has been abandoned by its company, so it'll never be completed in English. So I haven't been able to find anything else to fill the void that Mystic Messenger left behind. But when I saw that Cheritz was making an official Mystic Messenger webtoon, my heart was racing, because this could be it, something to reignite my love of otome games. What could be better than my favorite otome game crossed with a webtoon, my current preferred source of entertainment? It couldn't possibly go wrong, right? How wrong I was.

  I think maybe in my excitement, I forgot what kind of story Mystic Messenger was. Well, to be fair, I haven't played it for many years now, stopping after finishing Ray's route. I do plan to pick it up again sometime in the future to collect the other endings of all the routes, but currently, I don't have the time to do so.

  You see, Mystic Messenger is a game that revolves around choice, which isn't all that surprising considering it's an otome game. But your choice has significant consequences that will completely change the tone of the story. It's not simply choosing a character to pursue, and ending up with them in a happily ever after ending if you succeed, which is the main goal for this genre. Who you pick in Mystic Messenger will reveal bits and pieces of a much larger puzzle, and the people who you don't pick will continue to play important roles in the story, despite you not having picked them. Usually, that's not the case. In most otome games I've played, the characters you don't choose will fade away in importance, relegated to becoming background characters, or just straight getting killed off, so that you and your selected one will get plenty of alone time together. In that sense, Mystic Messenger is not only an otome game, it's also a mystery game, because you, the player, must navigate the thread of secrets and lies to get to the core of who the true mastermind is, and what they're planning. People who seem friendly can turn on you if you make the wrong choice, and people who despise you initially may become your steadfast allies.

  That's why the story of Mystic Messenger cannot be turned into a webtoon. Even if you changed the whole story and the timeline in which the new story takes place, it just won't be the same. I think the only way that something so plot-heavy and intense could be adequately covered in a readable format must be done like in the style of Higurashi: When They Cry and Umineko: When They Cry, which follow possible storylines in different, separate arcs. But of course, a small studio like Cheritz won't be able to hire so many artists to draw something that long-spanning, because the margin of profit would be extremely low. It's just not worth putting the time and money into, when they can be working on their next big project. Like, whatever happened to The SSUM? So they settled for something which is much lower in production value, which is why we get this watered-down webtoon that honestly has no purpose in existing, because it unabashedly insults the original story that it was based off of.

  In a webtoon, you cannot choose between the characters, you can only ride along with what the author has laid out for you. There will only be one true pairing, and everyone else is just a bonus, only serving as cheerleaders who wish the main character happiness. Unless you go with a reverse harem, but that's clearly not the case here. Usually, in a reverse harem, the female protagonist has some way of compelling all the men to fall in line behind her, either because she's an interesting character, or because she's a insert-yourself-in-her-shoes blank canvas for readers to imagine themselves into. But even then, for the latter, she usually has something unique about her that helps you understand why all sorts of impossibly handsome dream men want her, be it a special power or because she's so frail that she can't survive without them. The female lead of this webtoon, Hana, is none of those things.

  It's pretty remarkable that Cheritz was able to come up with a faceless protagonist, which is meant to be you in the game, and give her an actual personality along with it. Although she barely speaks, not including your own selectable responses in the chatroom, you can draw all sorts of conclusions about what kind of person she is. While her personality will be slightly different if you choose the bad choices to get a bad ending, in all the good endings, you have a firm sense of who she is. She is kind, dilligent, and reliable. Even though no one has met her in person, they come to care for her well-being, simply just from interacting with her through their phone screens. And when they do meet, they aren't surprised by her at all. She is an honest person who they feel comfortable with, despite never having met her face-to-face, until that point. Indeed, in the game, it's always a pleasure to meet the characters again in each route, because their responses are slightly different depending on whose route you're on. However, the eternal constant is that you, the faceless one, are someone they wholeheartedly trust and have irrevocably become part of their inner circle, due to the remarkable, quiet strength she exudes. That's why she's a catalyst in changing all of their lives, no matter who you ultimately pick in the end.

  That is not replicated in this webtoon. Hana is your typical, average, run-of-the-mill shoujo protagonist. She is an upbeat, lively, energetic girl who blushes easily and gets upset over small, inconsequential things. She is also a walking paradox of a character at times, bouncing from bubbly cheeriness to tearful forlornness with a drop of a hat. Her wild mood swings make her a caricature of a character, and she has no real agency. I don't even know why she is working so hard to organize the party, other than the stupid reason they tacked on for feels, which is that she's a foster home kid. In theory, it could have made her a compelling character, but in reality, it was not addressed in any sort of impactful way, so I believe it was just a sad little sob story that essentially did nothing to flesh her out.

  It's pretty spectacular that Hana lost so badly to a girl with no face, no background, and can't even talk all that much. What the faceless protagonist in the game doesn't say with her words, she says with her actions. Even when she's almost bombed to death, kidnapped, or beaten, she doesn't lose her cool, remaining calm and poised to help diffuse the situation. While she is somewhat of a damsel-in-distress, she succeeds as a heroine because she is able to save the other characters in her own special way, returning the favor. The relationship she has with them is balanced, and the power is not tilted in one way or another, which is pretty amazing, considering that she's in the ranks of a rich businessman, a musical star, a genius hacker, an ultra-capable secretary, and a top gamer.

  Hana, on the other hand, is always being saved by the other characters, because she's utterly useless. Even she herself acknowledges her own worthlessness. She didn't go to university because she had no money, and had to go straight to working a minimum wage job at a convenience store after graduating high school. When she suddenly gets laid off, she has nowhere to go, and she doesn't have any particularly noteworthy skills which will help her land a new job to keep a roof over her head and food in her belly. I understand that. I think many people have been in her shoes one way or another at some point in their lives. But beyond the life-changing experience of picking up a stranger's phone which will open up her world to a whole slew of new possibilities, she doesn't really change from who she was in any significant way. I suppose she becomes a little more confident, finally deciding what to do with her life, new friends in tow, but that's all. I can't even buy into her newfound self-worth, because she hasn't been challenged in any sort of way which will bring about much-needed introspection and growth.

  This story wants to rush to a destination without giving you the journey, and it goes for all the other characters as well. By the end, Jumin and Zen miraculously get along, Jaehee quits her stressful job and starts a bakery, Yoosung starts to study seriously instead of gaming his days away, and Seven is now happily in love with Hana. Players of the game will understand why, but people who have only read this webtoon will be utterly confused how a plain Jane like Hana caused everyone else to change so drastically just by coming into their lives. That's because she didn't. This ending is an amalgamation of everyone's routes stitched together in the most clumsy and haphazard manner possible, and she's taken the credit for everything that the faceless protagonist did in a span of 11 days, multipled by each character, which is 55 days in total.

  Let me tell you right off the bat that this story doesn't span that many days; it must have only been a couple weeks at most on-screen, because the plot just chugs along without much rhyme or reason. Even if the author changed the dates around, I don't think it gives the passage of time here any meaning, because sometimes it goes so slowly and nothing happens, and then it rushes forward to jump to the ending as soon as possible. There's no conflict whatsoever, and there's no villains here. All the mystery is lost, and the key person that everyone's been talking about and raising multiple questions on Hana's end, Rika, doesn't ever get properly addressed.

  It's like the author forgot she ever existed...or did they really? I'm more inclined to think that Rika was left out to avoid spoiling people who have never played the game, but even so, it makes no sense to not achieve some sort of resolution about Rika, not even a superficial one, which happens and is well executed in the common routes in the game -- That is, Zen's, Jaehee's, or Yoosung's routes. Despite not finding out about Rika's true self in their routes, you still get to learn about what kind of person she is from their personal relationships with her, which gives a sort of closure as they move on from their past memories to make new memories with you, the faceless heroine. It's like closing a chapter of their lives, and beginning a new one. But in this webtoon, Rika's identity is left hanging, and none of the characters fully disclose how Rika has changed them, and that's the reason why they don't actually change after meeting Hana. In some ways, you could say that Hana is not actually part of their close-knit circle, because they're still keeping many things away from her, and she's not (and never will be) enough to fill Rika's shoes, despite the author desperately trying to convince you otherwise.

  It's not just Rika who was left on the table, it's all the other main characters as well, who are all shadows of their game versions. Just because these re-imagined webtoon characters look like them, act like them, and imitate their interactions with each other, doesn't make them them. I've read fanfiction and doujinshi that do a more convincing job at portraying these characters that this official webtoon here. Everyone is dull and bland, a milquetoast cast to complement an equally uninspired protagonist. They all shower her with praise and undying support, when they should be rightly suspicious of her, which is what happened to the faceless girl in the game.

  But no, Hana is so perfect and woefully boring that she doesn't arouse any sort of caution or suspicion on their end, besides maybe Seven, but it's handwaved away early on. Now, you can argue that that's because Hana was able to meet everyone face-to-face because she's not trapped in an apartment, so it's easier to gain their confidence that way. Yes, but definitely not so easily, as it happens in here. Even if you meet a stranger in person, it doesn't mean that person is trustworthy or doesn't want to cause you harm. Actually, in some instances, they could be extremely dangerous people, so I really cannot believe that this particular group with several people that are suspicious by nature, would let their guards down so quickly, simply because of how innocent Hana appears to be. But hey, the story's got to story, so everything comes easily to Hana.

  Haha, except for inviting guests to the party. Or even coming up with a party theme, which is not something that's important in the game itself. The whole premise of Mystic Messenger was that there is an app used to invite guests to Rika's charity parties, and the members of her association used it to communicate and recommend guests. Sure, it's not the main goal of the actual game, but it's the ongoing underlying thread that is common in every route, because that's the whole reason why the characters interact with the heroine in the first place. They want the faceless girl to take on Rika's mantle, because they haven't had a party in ages, and now they think it's time to try again, and that role falls on you, the player, acting through the girl. Hana is the one who this role falls into in the webtoon, and she struggles with it quite badly in the beginning, prompting one of her downward slumps of confidence.

  In particular, she fails to impress Rui, who is the first guest recommended in most of the routes, and noteworthy for being the easiest one to successfully invite. I almost cried tears of mirth at how he viciously slammed Hana for being underprepared and how she was nowhere near competent to take on Rika's job. I feel like the author might have been trying make Hana sympathetic here, but all I could do was agree with Rui. Who the hell goes to a meeting with a famous professional who's short on time with zero details about when the all-important party (the whole reason you're meeting in the first place!) is going to take place, where it's going to be held, and a vague idea of the decorations, which Rui rightfully ridiculed as childish? "Is the party for adults, or for children?" is what he said without mincing any words with her. If she didn't have any details, why did she go see him?! It just boggles my mind how stupid Hana was, and how accepting the other characters are over her ridiculous screw-up, rushing in turns to cheer her up. Particularly Jumin, whose standards are sky-high. If it had been the game Jumin, I'm sure Hana would have been fired. She wouldn't have gotten a second chance, like she does here.

  Now, let's talk about another main issue with the webtoon's story. It wants to give us the illusion of choice, despite it being impossible, because it's not a visual novel. Unless it is a reverse harem, which it isn't, Hana has to eventually pick a character in the end as her romantic interest, to keep in the spirit of an otome game. Or I guess she could end up with no one, but then again, that would break the immersion of this webtoon being a spin-off of the otome game that it was based on. So what does the webtoon do to present us with a choice? They split the characters' time with Hana nearly equally, so that they initially all spend roughly the same amount of time together with her, in what appears to be dates but not really, which makes their interactions with her painfully superficial. It's just enough so that your favorite character gets a little screentime, but not enough that they can develop a true relationship with Hana. They all seem like overly caring acquaintances at best, because they don't bond with Hana beyond who she is in relation to the party-organizing preparations, never quite opening up about themselves to her. Sure, Hana opens up to them about her own past, but it's not reciprocated on their end. They just go, "Aw, how sad. Glad you're going to make a difference with the party, good luck! I'll be happy to help in whatever way I can!" to her, and that's it.

  The notable exception is Jumin, who gets the least screentime out of the five characters because I believe that the author didn't know what the heck to do with him. Out of the main cast, Jumin sticks out like a sore thumb -- he's privileged and unimaginably wealthy, very serious and blunt, and has zero time for chitchat. He doesn't fit with the others in a way that makes coherent sense, because everyone else is silly in their own way. In the webtoon, there's no time to explore his character and his obsession with Elizabeth the 3rd, so the author just opted to remove him from the story as much as possible, because he can be a very problematic character if not handled correctly. He's one of the main obstacles in the game, and depending on which route you choose, he can even be a minor antagonist. Taking him out of the equation in the webtoon facilitates Hana's meteoric rise in the ranks of their group, so she becomes able to access the vast resources of his company, giving her more importance that she actually deserves and that she definitely didn't earn from hard work alone.

  It's really not a surprise that Hana falls for Zen, who is equally handsome and charming. She and Jaehee both fangirl over him together, helping her get close to both characters simultaneously. But then she goes through some weird selfish thought process about not being able to match up with Zen, because he's so loved by fans, and not wanting to steal him away for herself, that she does a 180 and jumps to the next available guy, which is Seven. Keep in mind that she barely discusses any of these feelings with Zen, the initial target of her affection. Why are you doing this?! Seriously, what happened to heart-to-heart talks and good communication? Why do you think you have the right to decide who Zen can like or not? Just because you're not willing to deal with his fans, doesn't mean that you can just sweep his feelings under the table. Did you even care about what he thinks? Are you guys even friends if you can't even talk things out and see if you can work on them together? And Zen here is nowhere as aggressive or blazing with confidence as he is in the game, so he just shrugs the whole thing off, despite him feeling mutually about Hana. Sigh.

  But hey hey hey, that's a good thing, right? Hana gets to end up with Seven! Woohoo! All is well, we can die happy now. The female protagonist picked the best man, and the story is done. Wow, I didn't see that coming, not at all! Pshhhhh, yeah right. It's not really a well-hidden fact that Cheritz intended Seven to be the leading man in the original game. After Rika, Seven has the most important role throughout all the routes, because he's the one who made the app, and the one who knows all the deep, dark secrets of the association, because that's his job and his mad hacking skills will get him anything else he doesn't already know. Not to mention that his character is the most unique, being wildly flamboyant and completely insane-sounding at times, he brings manic energy to the chatroom that's usually filled with arguing and complaining. He has the most memorable lines, and the theme song of the game is told from his perspective. Seven's route is the last route you want to play in the game, because it will answer the rest of the lingering questions brought up by the rest of the routes. That's why his route is considered the True Route, and I do believe that this was the intention when making this game.

  Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who think that Seven is such a desirable partner. It's quite funny that playing his route made me actually start to dislike him as a character, when it should be the opposite in an otome game. I don't want to get into the details of it, but I honestly find Seven to be problematic character. We learn that the personality he presents to others is not his real one. Yes, people do put up some sort of act when interacting with other people, especially those that they don't trust, but not to the point that they could be mistaken for two different people. While Seven has his reasons, I just find it uncomfortable that he's acting everything out to fool the people who are the closest to him, although maybe he never felt like he could be himself around the others either, which is just sad. All in all, the concept of Seven is a lie, and you only discover what's underneath in his route, which consequentially left a bad taste in my mouth when I think about all the other routes before his. It meant that even in the end of those routes you've successfully completed, Seven is still pretending to be someone he's not, because he doesn't trust anyone, not even you, and that's because you've picked the wrong route.

  While Mystic Messenger is great in all sorts of ways, I think leaning so heavily on one character to uphold the mystery is not a plus here, especially with the final reveal. You've teased his iconic character in every route, only to find out that it's not the same guy you had liked from the beginning of the game, because Seven does not exist. It's a letdown on my end, because I had hoped to love him even more in his route, only discover I've fallen for a con man instead, and I'll never see him again in the same way. That's why I can't accept him as a legitimate romantic interest anymore after completing the first component of the game, and that's why I don't accept him as the true pairing for Hana in this webtoon either. He's still a great character though, and I have to say he's my second favorite in the game, but I simply can't join his hordes of adoring fans because he's not what I would consider to be an ideal boyfriend, which is the point of scoring in an otome game.

  So yada yada, some party prepping stuff and more of the insanely fast-developing relationship between Hana and Seven, and the party soon ends without a glitch. So I'm sitting here, with my phone, thinking "That's It?!" when I see the words "The End" on the bottom. What the heck, author? What was the point of this thing? Is it a long promotional ad for readers to go and play the game, if they haven't had already? Is it a fanservice comic to make original players nostalgic so Cheritz can get some money for their next project? Either way, it fails on both levels. The entire time, I was waiting for Rika to pop out and flip the script, but no, she has been forgotten. I was waiting for something major to screw up with the party, so Hana could showcase some new character growth or develop something more meaningful with the other characters, but no. We had some tiny-ass scandal thing that was quickly brushed away like lint, and made me wonder why everyone was so worried about it to begin with. They thought the scandal would put their party plans on indefinite hiatus, but it easily went away with an amateur video starring Hana and why everyone needs to support her cause, filmed and promoted on the internet by Seven, with his genius internet skillz. I felt like I wasted all of my time reading this uneventful and pointless webtoon, when it could have been better spent playing the actual game, like the new bonus stories that were released not too long ago. Honestly, I'm pretty mad about it, and hating the fact that this webtoon was even created in the first place, because not only did it fail to deliver any modicum of originality or inspiration, it just gives a bad image to people who haven't played the game, and it's worse than the plethora of good fanfiction and other fanworks that have been created.

  Artwise, it's fine, but not good. As in, it doesn't make your eyes bleed, but it's a little below average for what I would think is the standard for webtoons. There's a limited use of colors, everyone is drawn very simply, without much detail, and the backgrounds are lackluster. It's alright in panelling, so there aren't weird jumps in the narrative, but it's not particularly creative about the vertical format. The only aspect that was a little interesting was depicting the chats as real interactions, which was both weird and understandable as to why the author chose to do it in that way. I've seen webtoons and manga do chatrooms and forum posts very well, particularly in the horror and thriller genres, but not everyone wants to look at cell phone screens, I suppose. Although there's not that much texting going on in this story compared to in the game, which is 90% chatroom interactions, so it could have been done in the straightforward chat style here as well, but I appreciate the effort to do something else with the art here. It's still a shame because the art in the game is far more beautiful than that in this webtoon -- like, where are my Zen selfies? Coughs

  Long story short, this webtoon is below mediocre, and if you have time, you should just play the game instead. I know I will. Soon™.

  Overall Breakdown:
  Characters: 2/10
  Story: 1/10
  Art: 3/10
  Lore/Worldbuilding: 1/10
  Enjoyment: 2/10

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