Part 10: Mr. Kuan

_{content warning: suicide, violence and bodily harm, miscarriage (implied)}

Alright, now that we've, uh, “resolved” the situation with Kang, let's see what's going on back with Chang.

[BGM: Pensive Moments]


There's a few combinations we didn't get when we were here last that aren't dependant on Kang's letter, so let's knock those out first.



The phone kept ringing.

Who the hell would be calling me at this Godforsaken moment?

I was about to bend over and pick it up.
The man suddenly got riled up. He waved the knife at me wildly.
“Don't move! Don't- don't answer the phone!”

His wife saw a chance as the knife had left her neck, so she bit his left wrist as hard as she could. He dropped the knife out of pain. Then she ran over and hid behind me before he could pick it back up.

The man suddenly began wailing like a child.
“Su... even you are abandoning me? Fine, I'll just go by myself...”

He raised his knife and cut his own throat open.
I didn't even have enough time to react.

I was suspended due to the serious consequences caused by my reckless, unauthorized actions.



Obviously, that didn't go so well. But we've still got some other options!



(Junpei and Cloacamazing's guesses for Carlos's side result in this ending.)



“Stop! I'm telling you to stop!”
He got riled up and his right foot missed the ledge. He fell over the edge and dragged his wife with him.

“Wait! No!”
Before I even had a chance to talk him down, both of them disappeared out of my sight. Fortunately, the fire department had set up a cushion below.

“You moron! Do you know how big of a mess you have made?!”
“That case was not even under our jurisdiction!”

Back at the station, Lieutenant Kang was outraged. He was yelling at me so loudly that the entire building could hear him.

The hospital later called and informed us that the couple was okay.
However, the wife had been four months pregnant; they couldn't save the baby.

I was suspended due to the serious consequences cased by my reckless, unauthorized actions.



[BGM: Friend of Mine]


It was total chaos in front of the burning building.
I put my cellphone back into my pocket and left the crowd.
I walked to the next street, asking the pedestrians about Alicia.



It's not a Bad Ending (technically) because the couple both lived, but, well, it's obviously not ideal either. But we do know now that if the fire department are there, then they won't die from falling off... Good to know.



We still have an A ending for Carlos to get before we get the S endings, so let's get that out of the way. (Leraika's guess for Carlos's side results in this ending.)



Someone ran quickly ran past me and bumped into my arm.
My phone was knocked out of my hand. It stopped at another man's feet.

The firetrucks hadn't arrived yet. However, this man in a black trench coat seemed to have summoned a lot of people to help put out the fire.
He picked up my phone with his left hand. It was ringing with a joyful ringtone and a little cartoon lamb was dancing happily on the screen.

The man tossed my phone back to me and I lost myself in the melody of Little Lamb Billy.
It was Alicia's favorite song, and she used to sing it to me all the time.
But I didn't realize I had forgotten to answer the phone until it stopped ringing.

I called back and it was Auntie Benita.
She was calling from a convenience store in Coatepec, and she wanted to check if I had any news about my sister. She told me to let her know as soon as I found her.



Besides Alicia, Auntie Benita really was the kindest person I had ever met.
Once I got a real job and became rich, I promised I would take care of her and the orphanage.

I left the crowd and walked to the next street, asking the pedestrians about Alicia.



Well, now we know that the guy in the trenchcoat is close enough to Carlos to be impacted by things... and that's the last piece of information we need to get the S ending.



If Carlos drops his phone, it puts him into contact with the man in the trenchcoat, so we'll keep that on his side. If the fire trucks arrive for Chang, there's safety down below in the case of an accident. We can't have Chang approach the couple, as that agitates the man.

[BGM: Misterio]


Someone quickly ran past me and bumped into my arm.
My phone was knocked out of my hand. It stopped at another man's feet.

The firetrucks hadn't arrived yet. However, this man in a black trench coat seemed to have summoned a lot of people to help put out the fire.
He picked up my phone with his left hand and saw my sister's picture.
Then, he asked me in English what my relationship was with her.

There was no expression on his face the entire time.
After hearing my explanation, he tossed the phone back to me.
Then he said,
“Come back here tomorrow.”

“You know my sister?”

I walked up to him in excitement.
But a huge man in a black suit stopped me.
The man in the trench coat looked like he wasn't going to answer any of my questions, and turned his attention back to his men and the fire.
The suit guy seemed like he was twice my size. He looked down upon me, and I could see a deep scar on his face.

Fine... I would come back tomorrow.



Still, I never thought I would find a clue about Alicia just like this!
The Lord must be blessing us.
Sister, we would soon meet again, I just knew it!



[BGM: Evolving Mood]


Who the hell would be calling me at this Godforsaken moment?
I turned around and answered the phone quietly.
It was Lieutenant Kang.

Lieutenant briefly asked me about the situation and told me to hand the phone over to the husband.

“It, it was the Bungmun Gang... What? Is it true?! Oh my... oh my... that's, that's... wonderful... Thank you, thank you!” Waaaah...”
He hung up the phone, dropped the knife, and hugged his wife, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Su, it's all okay now... We can have our lives back! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry... it was all my fault.”

What just happened?
I took my phone back from the man, confused.

A strong gust of wind blew past us and the man lost his balance.
I quickly reacted, took a big step forward and grabbed him, trying to pull him back.
But I was pulled over instead.
We fell off the ledge together. The world was spinning.



It was 10 floors off the ground. No one would survive if we hit the ground.
I swung my right arm out as hard as I could towards the roof ledge.



Something flew out of my coat. It was a white ribbon I had wrapped around my forearm, with a small spearhead tied to its end.
The spearhead wrapped around the metal bar on the ledge a few times and tightened the ribbon.

It was my secret weapon. I called it my “tail”.

For a moment I let out a sigh of relief, thinking that we were safe.
But the bar couldn't hold our weight and began to bend.

I tightened my left fist and grabbed the man's shirt harder.
I burned the last drop of energy inside me with all of the adrenaline I had, and forced every single muscle to release all of their power.

Justice... was not something that I only talked about!



I threw him up towards the roof.
We were quickly moving away from each other in opposite directions.
The metal bar finally gave out and it was torn away from the concrete on the ledge. I began falling with it.
I could hear the wind gushing in my ears.

This... is my justice...



Interestingly enough, if we try the combination that first revealed the orange text, we get this same outcome except there's nothing to save Chang from falling to his death, resulting in him commenting on how “visions were flashing like a horse lamp of his life”, as his final thoughts are of his family before impact.

In any case, let's get back to the Letter Menu...

…

[BGM: New Life]






NEW MESSAGE: A Relay Race



NEW MESSAGE: Mr. Kuan



…

[BGM: Sad Clown]


A Relay Race

My mother had always complained that I never exercised.
She would always say that if I ever needed to run away from bad guys, I would be dead in just a few steps.
There were not that many bad guys in the world... (⊙_⊙)
Besides, even if there were, I think I could just say in my room and not go outside.
It is the information era, after all. As long as I can get information online I can play with the real world in the palm of my hand.

Yet, even though I managed to dodge all of the recruiting activities for the school sports meet, my roommate had totally ruined my perfect plan...

Today was the all-school sports meet.
I thought I could have made up an excuse, like a foot injury, so that I wouldn't even have to sit under a tree, and I could just stay in my room and play on my computer. But Rocky had signed me up for the 4x400 relay race without me even knowing about it, and now I had to stand under the scorching sun.

400 meters!
Madness...



The last time I had been in a race I was still in elementary school. I hadn't even hit puberty.
I thought I might die on the track today. _(:3」 ∠)_

The gun went off.
I took it from his hand.
I never knew that Rocky was so fast. Our team was actually in first place during his third leg run.
Still, why was I the final leg? What were people thinking?! (⊙_⊙)

There was nothing else I could do but run like my life depended on it.
The people along the tracks were cheering for me. I couldn't really tell who they were, but this actually felt pretty great. (⊙_⊙)

I was only 50 meters from the finish line and no one had caught up with me yet. (⊙_⊙)
I must have underestimated myself, hahaha.
Look at me Mom! Your son is about to win a race!! (￣.￣)+

I looked straight ahead to the finish line. Then I saw her! I saw my crush!
Oh no...
Don't distract me at such a moment!



It was too late.
I had only lost my focus for one second, and the tip of my foot tripped over a bump on the track.
My entire body left the ground, and then my face smashed into the ground. (_ _)

By the time I got back up, the other teams had all run past the finish line.
Oh! No!

Jimmy



[BGM: Friend of Mine]


Mr. Kuan

Although it had just suffered a fire, Pitt Street 99 was still open for business.
It was a small and old building. The walls were covered with flyers and graffiti.
I walked through the main gate and saw a narrow staircase. There was also a small desk at the bottom of the stairs, facing the entrance.
A man with spiky hair was sitting behind the desk with his legs crossed.

He put down the magazine, which had a woman with big breasts on the cover, and asked what I was doing there.
I told him that a man in a long, black trench coat had told me to come here.

“Trench coat? Everyone here wears a trench coat. I'm telling you, this is not some place that you can just walk in. You'd better get out of here before I stab you with a knife.”
Spiky-hair picked up the magazine again.



I tried to recall what the guy looked like.
White shirt, grey vest, short black hair that was combed to the back. He also had a big guy in a black suit with a scarred face by his side.

“A scarred face? Mr. Tough? Hold on. Does the guy you're talking about... have his right hand?”
Spiky-hair put down his magazine and his legs, leaned toward me and asked quietly.

Right hand?
I couldn't remember exactly, but I did remember that he had picked up my phone with his left hand.

He shouted upstairs.
“Mr. Kuan! The guy you've been waiting for is here!”

I looked at the staircase with anticipation.
However, the man who came down was not the one I had met.
He was wearing a leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses. He had high cheekbones and he looked much older.



He took me all the way to a suburb on the back of his motorcycle.

Mr. Kuan spoke very fluent English.
He told me that the building we had just been in was the headquarters of the Black Dragon Gang---- the biggest gang in Hong Kong.
And the person who had told me to come, was the second-in-command of the gang.
He had instructed M.Kuan to induct me as a pledge.

A pledge was a potential candidate to join the gang.
But before officially admitting me, Mr. Kuan had to make sure if I was qualified.

[BGM: Silence]


Mr. Kuan put a gun in my hand.
I was stunned.

“You don't have to do it. If you are not willing to do this we can leave right now. You'll just pretend that you have never met me.”
Mr. Kuan took a small metal box out of his pocket and threw a piece of gum in his mouth.

“No, I'll do it.”
I couldn't let go of any chance to find Alicia. Besides, I had a brilliant idea!

[BGM: Lethal Affair]


I went into a convenience store nearby.
Most of the goods on the shelves seemed to be used goods. Some of them were covered with a thick layer of dust.
The owner looked like he was over 60. He was reading a book behind the counter.

It was just the two of us in the store.

I walked up the counter, smashed my left hand down on it, lifted the gun with my right hand and pointed it at his head.
I yelled in my meanest voice,
”G-g-give me all your money! O-or I'm gonna blow your head open!”

Then, I whispered to the old man about what was going on, making sure that Mr. Kuan wouldn't be able to hear me.
I was so nervous even though I had no intention of robbing him for real.

I handed him what was in my hand.
“Please!”

The owner put down his book and looked at me pleadingly.
“W-w-we need the money here for my wife's hospital bill. I can't give it to you. Everything else in this shop, if you like, is all yours, all yours! Please. Please.”



Apparently he had only heard my threats, not my whispers.
Tears rolled down my face.
I must have lost my mind to be robbing a poor old man like this.
Even if it was all fake, I never should have done this.

I handed the gun to the owner and loudly told him why I was there, and what I had been through.
To my utter surprise, after hearing my story the owner offered to help me ask about my sister, and even asked if I would be willing to stay here and help out in the store. He said I was welcome to stay as long as I didn't mind the little wage he could afford.

I gave the old man a huge hug.

[BGM: Silence]


Outside the store, Mr. Kuan had already left.
I would never see him again.

I started working at the store, while looking for information about Alicia.
Days went by, but I still hadn't heard anything.

Lord, what should I do to find my sister?
Should I have joined the gang instead?

Carlos

[BGM: Lethal Affair]


In these two letters, there are some special restrictions.

Special restrictions?

Yes. Remember I told you that the white pieces could be moved anywhere? Except past the first and last black pieces in the letter, of course.

Yes, I do remember.

When special restrictions are in place, that will no longer be the case. If you put “I handed him...” and “I took it from...” both on the left side, then the former has to happen after the latter.

Because you can't hand the baton over and then have it back again.

Furthermore, if you put “The gun went off” piece on the left side too, it has to happen before the match begins, so there is another “sequence” restriction on these pieces, too. All “sequence” restrictions are labeled by a number.



The pieces with smaller numbers cannot be placed after the pieces with larger numbers.

Since the aforementioned restrictions only apply to the left side, there is a straight vertical line in the middle of the red diamond, and the number is marked on the left side of the line.

Oh boy... I'm completely lost!

Haha, that's not all. In addition to “sequence” there are other special restrictions, such as “conflict”. We'll deal with that when we see it. For now, you just need to remember that all of the pieces with special restrictions will be labeled with a red sign like this on the right side.

Okay then. I'll try my best to remember them.



***

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