Part 10: Second Opinion

Voting results:
Talk to *Hyun-ae: 12
Talk to *Mute: 3



Well, it's been nice talking to you, *Mute!



Right where we left it.

>disable_ai
SUCCESS: personality *Mute is now deactivated!
you may now activate a new AI personality with enable_ai
>enable_ai *Hyun-ae
SUCCESS: personality *Hyun-ae is now activated!
you may now close this terminal with quit.
>quit



BGM: Hyun-ae (Innocence)

We're back, Hyun-ae! How are you?

As it turns out, she knows what we've been up to.



I'm still parsing this all myself. You know, most of it's new to me, too!
I mean, when I was alive, I didn't even know the Smith family existed. Well, maybe Jae-hwa mentioned them once. I don't remember, it's been six hundred years... but I don't think she did.
I... I really wish I'd known about So-jin at the time... I really, really do.



Oh... well, I'm really sorry.



Yeah... I... I guess it does...
Well... I can't really do anything about that now. I'm really, really sorry.
But that's where it ends...



She still has more to say! Messages sort of piled up while we were hanging out with *Mute.






I think these messages are a little out of order.

Let me take a look now, then.
...Oh... wow. No wonder that was encrypted and blocked off from AI access. I wouldn't have wanted that nosy security AI to read some of these. Oh my. This is dramatic.
I'm not sure if you're interested, but I've given you a couple of entries from there to see for yourself.
But if you don't care, that's perfectly fine! I'm sure I can find something else that you're interested in!



That was an out of order comment! We already have those logs.

What else is up?





Yeah... Well, I was just thinking... you know I've always been into cosplay.



Ah, well, very well! You can use the change_outfit command to, er, dress me up, if you want.
Geeze, I'm sorry, I'm making this really awkward...
It's just that I have a couple that I think are really cute, and you might want to see them!





Um, anyway, you don't have to if you don't want to...
But it's change_outfit, if you really are interested!
Sorry, it's... it really is a weird thing to ask, now that I think about it. Geeze, what am I saying...
I just thought... maybe you might be interested in that...?



Okay, okay. I'll keep it under advisement. In the meantime, let's start with Block 4, and work backwards.

It doesn't matter which one I show her - they all trigger the same reply about the Smiths as a whole.



This is... pretty much all new to me, too, actually.
So I guess you can see for yourself... Oh So-jin did have an ordinary woman's desires at one point!
And even then, she was certainly all about expressing those desires, at least in writing... wow. "Ungraceful" is certainly a way to put it!
Not that I'm judging... I'm sure she'd never say anything like that. I'm... hardly one to talk, either.
So, um... just out of curiosity...



Yeah... I think so, too! It's really cute.
It... sadly, doesn't really seem to last. It looks like her marriage was... well...
Oh. Geeze. That's... it's not quite as bad as mine was, but I really don't envy her, poor woman.
Well, if you're interested in learning more... I've just put together a family tree of the Smith family, which should help you keep track of them all! Um, I'm less certain about this one.
Since, you know, not my family and all...

We already have the Smith family tree.

A pack of idiots - Sept 18th, Year 315, Smith Kyung-sam




Smith Sang-jung. I don't really know how to feel about him... I don't know. It doesn't really sound like anyone thought he was a very good person.
It looks like he never married or anything. I guess he was friends with *Mute...? Well, that doesn't surprise me.
He just seems weird. Like, it sounds like So-jin was kind of off-put by him, and I don't really blame her...
I don't know. I have no idea how to judge him. See for yourself, I guess, I've added a few more things about him.

As you may notice, talking to *Hyun-ae in this order messes with the game a bit - she keeps unlocking content that *Mute already beat her to unlocking. Let's run through it regardless!

Contempt - Sept 23rd, Year 315, Oh So-jin






Here, I'll cut right to the... um... I was going to say "the interesting part." But... that's kind of awful, isn't it?
I mean, given we're talking about a real person's life here... geeze, this is a bit uncomfortable.
The poor girl goes from being cute and excited to... well...
Um, well, what I mean is, she got jaded really quickly. Her family situation sounds like a really awkward arrangement. I'll show you what I mean. Let me know what you think after you've read that.

By example - Oct 4th, Year 315, Smith Kyung-sam



Uh... Kyung-sam?
I've looked through the block that was locked down, but I'm not really seeing anything of note that's related to him.
Well, there's that one letter from Sang-min that was addressed to Kyung-sam's father, Dai-ho. You've already read that, though.
Basically, it just... doesn't really seem like he was very important? Or really ever did anything but complain about the drama in Smith Sang-min and Oh So-jin's house?
I guess all the other noble families were pretty much as dumb as mine ever was.
That's pretty depressing...



That's all she has to say about Block 4. How about Block 3?

Daughter - Jul 10th, Year 313, Oh So-jin




So... High Magistrate Smith Sang-min, huh?
This man is just... wow. He's a real piece of work! He just could not keep his pants on, it seems.
I mean, neglecting his wife, so he could get a courtesan pregnant? Wow. What kind of man does that?



I know, right?
The idea of a woman living only for her man is awful, just awful.
But... there's one way to make that worse: For the man to just ignore her entirely.
Can you imagine living like that? Just being kept away in the women's quarters, with nobody to care about you in any way?
I don't think her marriage was worse than mine, but... at least I had something.
And didn't have to worry about scandals about to blow up in the family's face. There's one thing that's good about being the Emperor's consort, I guess.
So all he ever paid attention to was women who weren't his wife, and all of his assorted business. Here. I'll show you what all that is.
Looking at this, it feels like he spent more time with his brothers than his wife!

No luck - Feb 20th, Year 314, Smith Sang-min



Oh, uh, yeah... I'm not really sure what all that business is about, truthfully.
From what I understand, though, Smith Sang-kyu had a tendency to get in trouble.
He sounds really unpleasant...



And finally, the Hana Saga.

Unsent Letter 1 - Nov 21st, Year 321, Oh So-jin






Oh... um... so you've read those, then...
Not that it was seen as appropriate for women to spend time with anyone but other women or anything, but... um... uh... ah...





Ah... uh, I see...
Well, it's... when she said she wanted to be seduced... I can definitely really understand that?





Not that I could really imagine doing that with any of my servants, but... I...
Geeze, why are we even talking about something this embarrassing? Can we please talk about something else?

No.

Unsent Letter 2 - Nov 26th, Year 321, Hana





I... I said I didn't really want to talk about this more, alright...?

Oh, fine.



That about wraps up *Hyun-ae's thoughts on the new logs. Now, we really should get back to *Mute, but...

Voting time. Once more, one day, two options:
Return to *Mute to talk about the Pale Bride.
Play dress-up with *Hyun-ae using the change_outfit command.

I leave this decision in your capable hands, friends.