Part 12: Ryu Jae-hwa

Costume contest results:
Schoolgirl: 0
Hanbok: 1
Maid: 0
Detective: 23
Scientist: 24



That will do nicely, *Hyun-ae!

I will look forward to some scientific analysis when I speak to you next.

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



Long time no see, *Mute. Let's have a look at Block 10.

Confidence - April 5th, Year 319, Ryu Jae-hwa



So, you want to talk about Queen Ryu Jae-hwa, huh...
She was kind of more than just my queen. It's... well, I guess I have to explain my own position for it to make sense.
So like, yeah, I appear to be just a woman like you. But that's just my personal appearance. I'm actually, you know, a computer program.
So when I say I was... well, still am, really... in charge of security for the whole ship, I mean it. I was an actual official.
I outranked pretty much everyone on the ship, save for the Emperor, and of course, by extension, his primary wife.
So while I might've reported directly to the Emperor in theory, and I did with others in the past, Emperor Ryu In-ho chose to let that sort of thing go through his wife, instead. What this is all getting at is, for all intents and purposes, she was my real mistress, not him.
We were pretty close. Well, as close as you can be to your better, anyway.
I liked her a lot; she was actually really intelligent for a woman, and was surprisingly tough for a noble.
I know, I know, it's a little weird, but trust me, with her, it was pretty okay. She managed to be great while still knowing her place.
So... yeah. Like I said... I liked her a lot.
Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked here, this is my point: I remember those admonitions because I actually helped her write them.
I mean... I didn't write a single word or anything, but she asked me for advice. Mostly she was just modest. So let me see. I really want you to get the right impression of her, you know?
She kind of wrote a lot. Well... nobody's perfect.
Don't let that cloud your judgment of her, though, alright? I mean, I'm not impressed either, but at least it means you'll be able to see what she was like! Alright, I've got three for you to see. Well, one's kind of actually about me... but still, it shows you just how good a person she was.
If you want to see the rest of the admonitions, let me know. I can do that too!





That's two new logs in different Blocks - one in 4 and one in 10. Let's go in numeric order!

Mourning dress - Oct 14th, Year 315, Ryu Jae-hwa










Well...
...yeah...
She probably did see me cry. I had a really hard time talking about it, then. Especially not to my mistress.
I really didn't mean to be so vulnerable in front of her, that just isn't proper. Tch, kinda embarrassing, really...
I'm sure you've already guessed, but yeah, the man in question was Smith Sang-jung. Strictly speaking, there was no real mourning obligation, it's not like I was really family...
Still. The man was the closest thing to a husband to me. I mean, don't take this the wrong way! It's hardly scandalous, I'm not a real woman, I'm just a computer!
But we had a really close relationship. So yeah, I thought it'd be appropriate if I honoured him like he was. He never married, so it's not like anyone else would. I just figured... the man deserved that much.
He totally deserved at least that much... Sigh...

The Pale Bride's marriage - Mar 13th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa









No further commentary from *Mute there. How about those admonitions?

Marital admonitions pt. 7 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa




Right, so... her admonitions, then.
Well, you're not married, so I guess you wouldn't really know about this, would you?
Although even if you were, it would really depend on what sort of family you manage to marry into, so that's not exactly a guarantee. Anyway, the point is, it's considered fairly typical for a new gentleman's bride to get a series of verses explaining what will be expected of them as a wife as well as just friendly advice.
Well, the reason why these ones aren't written in verse is pretty simple, I guess: It's because the queen Ryu Jae-hwa had absolutely no ear for it.
Honestly, personally... I think that's pretty endearing? But she was really worried about the Pale Bride, since she was a younger, prettier girl for her husband and all, so she wanted to make a really strong impression.
I suggested to her that she do what she was good at, and just write them in prose. Since if she was as uneducated as I thought she would be - and she was - it's not like she'd know any better, anyway.
...well, I guess that backfired a little, since it turned out she was so uneducated that she didn't actually even know any letters.
Anywhere, here, let me just give you a giant infodump and pass along all the admonitions for you to see yourself.



Oh, boy!

Marital admonitions pt. 1 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa





The admonitions tradition always struck me as an odd addition to the Mugunghwa's culture - after all, wasn't it frowned upon for a woman to be able to write at all?

Yeah, like I said, I suggested she just wrote them in straight prose. As for the reason why she didn't get anything from her own mother-in-law, well... that's pretty complicated... there were some issues in the family there. You'll see what I mean if you read on.

Marital admonitions pt. 2 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa





Well, if that sounds like a kinda simplistic explanation, you have to understand, it's not really like anyone had the frame of reference to really get space travel. Even I only sort of barely understand it, and I'm the ship computer! Imagine what it must be like for some barely educated woman in a society that doesn't really understand its technology, having only ever lived inside the ship.
So her description of the Captain and Emperor's role is... well, it's a little mythologizing, okay, but it's pretty much accurate, right?

Marital admonitions pt. 3 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa







Yeah, that's... okay, what she's suggesting? That is gross and wrong and definitely... well, I don't think "a bold move" even begins to cover what she's saying.
I feel bad saying this... I liked her, we were close, she was a good woman! But my real master was the Emperor, and it would be a disservice to give her a pass on this: she was way over the line there.
I think it's damned irresponsible of her to have even considered telling the Pale Bride that. Why would she even need to know?!
Anyway, I don't even buy the implication. I don't think it's even true.
I don't know if you've noticed, but the Mugunghwa's birth rates are... well, it's not good.
They had been bad for generations, but they were just getting worse and worse. Among noble families, they weren't even at replacement rate anymore.
I have no idea why. Nobody really ever wanted to acknowledge it.
So what I'm saying is... even ignoring the fact that he wanted, and her suggestion is just wrong, I don't think the Emperor would have to contrive it so that there weren't any noble daughters of proper age.
The simple fact of the matter is, eugh, that sort of incest ended up being necessary. And apparently didn't help, since even she couldn't deliver a son anyway!
No awful and inappropriate theories are necessary.

Marital admonitions pt. 4 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa







Well, I guess I'll grant the Pale Bride one thing: you never had to worry about her speaking out of turn.
Really, at the time, she seemed like the perfectly virtuous wife, right up until she snapped at the end.
I know, how do you even reconcile that, right? How can someone seem so close to being the pinnacle of feminine virtue, then turn out to be so completely messed up?
I still don't get it. Not even slightly.

Marital admonitions pt. 5 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa





Marital admonitions pt. 6 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa





She's right in what she instructed the Pale Bride, but man, I don't really agree with her assertion there.
I wasn't a gossip! Look, yeah, I'm a social creature, of course. That's my job! I'm glad that my mistress valued me, but I don't really like the way she's characterizing me as just being some chattery gossiping woman.
I was always way better than that! I wish she'd have realized it.

Marital admonitions pt. 7 - Jan 30th, Year 321, Ryu Jae-hwa




Well.
I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that letting my mistress tell that crazy bitch the admin password was surely the greatest mistake any man has ever made in the entire ship's history. "Ha ha, whoops, didn't realize you'd actually use it!" As if anything good could have possibly come from trusting a woman with that sort of power.
I mean, I'm sure he was counting on her not knowing how to use the computer, rather than being some sort of genius with it, but... come on.
...well, I'm sure you'll see for yourself soon enough.



OK, no more dodging the issue.

Tell me about the Pale Bride.

The month of good fortune - Feb 29th, Year 319, Kim Jung-su




So... like, you've talked to her a fair bit, right?



Seriously? You can stand her?



No, of course not. I'm sure even that awful bitch is ashamed of what she did.
It's probably better if you don't hear it from me, though. I don't think you'd even believe it. Better to ask her yourself.
Okay, so what I'm going to do is give you an entire block that's full of nothing but questions for her.
It might be a little hard to get the whole story out of her, but if you fake sympathy, she'll probably actually believe you.
So there you are, a few questions to give to her. Drag the truth out of her, then tell me how crazy you think she is.



A new block!



Rather than logs, this just has questions, from me to *Hyun-ae. Rather than the usual flow of things, I'm just going to take a peek at all of these now.



















Now for the most important decision in the game. Do I...

Trust *Hyun-ae to tell me the truth, and ask her these questions?
Trust *Mute to give me the full story and ask her about it instead?

You have 2 days.