Part 65: A Place to Return To

_{content warning: animal abuse, animal injury + death, child abuse (physical), mouth trauma, child death}

We're getting so close to the finish, but before we open this last letter I feel it worth taking a look back at those we've helped on this journey, now that most of the connections between them are known now.

We started with a high school senior, Li Wen, and her art teacher and neighbor Wen Zhaoren, who would soon come into contact with Jimmy; by becoming entangled with the two, Jimmy would go on to be the catalyst for the spreading of terrible rumors about the two of them _{(rumors which ended up becoming true down the line, but shh)}, and in his shame and guilt he fled back to Hong Kong after graduation, resulting in the two of them spinning off onto their own self-contained path.

After a series of unfortunate events, Jimmy got a taste of his own medicine when inappropriate rumors about him lead to him catching the eye of a serial killer dubbed 'Pi', who preys upon serial predators in turn, viewing his killing spree as a form of justice. Pi's true identity is Park Sang-Gun, a boy who fell victim to one such predator after being placed in a mental institution so that he could be separated from his mother, as Park suffered from undiagnosed mental trauma and would subconsciously spin his abuse into being at the hands of his father- so strongly he would hallucinate his abuse as such. The head of the institution was revealed to be a serial abuser who took advantage of Park's hallucinations, but while in a dissociative state Park ultimately ended up murdering his abuser and escaping.

Park Sang-Gun assumed the false name 'Jack', and spent a few years recovering at a café called Maple House, where he met a young girl named Alicia. She would end up saving his life at the cost of her own freedom, and Jack would soon after leave for Britain, where he would undergo long-term therapy to suppress his traumatic memories. This only lasted so long, however, and during a visit to Hong Kong (and a hook-up with a police officer named Kang Baek-Ya) his memories would return to him, instilling in him a reinforced desire to enact justice on those who, like his abuser, would otherwise go unpunished. This would be the birth of Pi, the serial killer- a situation that could've very easily gone horribly, horribly wrong, as the police officer in his bed had trauma of his own that could've led to a very different outcome for both men.

Kang Baek-Ya had developed dissociative identity disorder as a trauma response to severe, extended torture at the hands of gang members after being sold out by a fellow police officer. This trauma, combined with having to watch his close friends and squadmates brutally murdered in front of him, extinguished his own desire to fight for justice, leading to his role as a passive witness to the deepening corruption within the police force. It wouldn't be until a fledgling officer fresh out of the academy, Chang Gyeong-Min, was assigned to his unit that he would find his detached misanthropy challenged, as Chang mirrored the very kind of officer he himself was upon first entering the force. The two would, like Li Wen and Wen Zhaoren, spiral off along their own path as well, following the deeply rooted corruption to its source; after uprooting it, the two would actually leave the police force entirely, instead taking on positions within the primary Korean intelligence agency so that they could investigate similar incidents on a broader scale.

Pi, meanwhile, would go on to successfully enact his twisted justice for several years. ...at least until he would be defeated by Jimmy, who spontaneously developed superpowers in a critical moment- something he could never have planned for. Pi was arrested and sent to prison shortly thereafter, where he would meet a boy named Carlos. Carlos, originally from Mexico, had come to Hong Kong in pursuit of his sister, Alicia- the same young woman who had helped Pi, as Jack, all those years ago (though he never realized it). Carlos had gotten mixed up in the Black Dragon Gang after they seemed to recognize the picture of his sister, only to find himself backstabbed (and in turn arrested) after he refused to send an innocent woman into a human trafficking ring.

Alicia, Carlos's older sister, had not originally meant to come to Hong Kong- she had intended to travel to America, much closer to her home country. But after multiple brushes with human trafficking, she found herself in the employ of Ray Lin, the second in command for the Black Dragon Gang- the same gang her own brother would come to join years later. He trained her as an assassin, and soon she was taking on higher and higher targets; the most notable ones being a corrupt warden of the local prison and the CEO of a particular company- the latter also requiring her to retrieve a black metal box, which would be shown to contain two oddly-marked cubes, the purpose of which she never learned. Her final target was a young man by the name of Lin Wei, the 18-year-old heir of a particularly influential gang leader. Lin Wei did not resist, as he had already been contemplating suicide on account of being unable to pursue his own desired path in life- with that of his lover, Hotaru, a male geisha living in Japan that he had met several years ago. While this assassination would result in her being released from her employer, Alicia would find little freedom as she quickly became marked for erasure (and thus, pursued by fellow assassins) by her former employer, Ray Lin, in the interest of tying up loose ends.

At the same time, Hotaru had learned of his lover's “suicide” and, enraged, packed up and left for Hong Kong immediately, to investigate the truth behind Lin Wei's death. This would result in him willingly entering himself into Hong Kong Central Prison- the same prison Alicia had taken out a target at years beforehand- and coming into contact with both Carlos, the younger brother of his target of vengeance, and Pi, the famous serial killer. Together, the trio hatched a plan to break out of prison- Carlos so he could find his sister, Hotaru so he could follow Carlos to kill Carlos's sister, and Pi because... well, because he wanted to get back to killing pedophiles and abusers. Their jailbreak was successful, allowing Pi to leave Hong Kong, headed to an unknown country, but while Carlos followed his last remaining lead he was unable to find Ray Lin, his former boss- and lost any immediate chance at locating his sister. Alicia, on the other hand, had already killed Ray Lin long before Carlos arrived, which both got the short-term heat off of her but also put her on the map as a proper assassin in a broader sense, leading to a very successful career.

But amidst all this trouble, one final believer remains: a cat by the name of Spottie who was born in Korea. His life has mostly been quiet (as quiet as a stray cat's life can be, at least), including nearly losing his adoptive father cat in a car accident (the same car that was transporting Sang-Gun Park to the mental facility, in fact). He also briefly became trapped in one of the Busan Police Department's restroom, but was let free by a member of Unit 3 without causing any alarm.

What connection could he have to the other believers? And what has this all been leading up to?

...

[BGM: Broken Dream 1]


My Father

My name is Spottie.
I can't recall how long I had been alive.
For many years my life was the same.
I looked for food at the shops or in the trash. I lay in the sun. I looked for food again. And I found a place to spend the night.
Day after day. Year after year.

Although there was one thing that was different – I had been getting older.

I was walking alone along a small path in the suburbs.
I came across an empty lot.

This lot used to be a gathering place for the homeless cats around here. Not too long ago, it had been circled by some yellow tape.
I heard that some rich Chinese real estate developer had bought the place, along with a whole lot of old residences around here.
Soon, they would begin to build a brand new shopping center.



It didn't really matter to us anyway. There were plenty of other spots for the cats.
Besides, the cats that used to hang around here had rarely been seen nearby any more.
Most of the cats whom I was familiar with had died in random corners of this big city.

Unlike house cats, we had to pay the ultimate price for our freedom. Life in the city was brutal and challenging, and most of us were forced to say goodbye to this world before we even turned three.
The few others like me, who were fortunate to survive for more than 10 years, could barely walk too far nowadays. Sometimes cats like us might even slip and fall into a toilet when they were drinking from it.

As my body kept getting slower, my mind, however, seemed to be getting more active. I had been spending more and more time thinking about my cat life recently, especially about my dear old Daddie, and all the lessons he had passed onto me.
Daddie had always been so good to me. Many of the things he had taught me were still so valuable, even now.
I used to think I could stay young forever. But I had reached the same age as Daddie when he found me.



Daddie had mentioned that he used to be a house cat once, and he was one of the incredibly lucky ones.
He was adopted soon after birth by a rich couple and was living a dream life. He never had to worry about food or shelter, and the humans adored him too.
Soon, the couple had a family, with a cute daughter.

One day, the male human took Daddie to the park for a walk. That day, he met a breathtakingly beautiful orange tabby.
Daddie was immediately smitten. He used every trick in the book to get his humans to take him out for walks just so he could see her.

Maybe God had been blessing them, as they were able to get together more and more often.
At last, on the edge of the roof of his humans' apartment, he and his tabby spent a whole lovely night together, harmonizing the most romantic nocturnes ever known to cats, maybe even humans.



While Daddie was enjoying his love life, his home life was abruptly turned upside down.
His lovely family of humans collapsed.
Endless fights and quarrels. Smashed dishes and plates. Every single day.

Daddy's fate took a cruel turn on the 10th day after the male human had left.
He was standing next to his bowl, which had been empty for over a week, and meowed in a hurt and hungry voice at the female human in the kitchen.
She finally exploded and threw the burning hot pan, filled with boiling soup, at Daddie.

That was how Daddie lost almost all of his sight.
He never saw his orange tabby again.
And he never went back to that dreadful place, which he once called home.

When he found me in the trash pile at the market, the first thing he told me was to never trust humans.
I used to feel puzzled about how Daddie ended up like this.
However, a few years after Daddie had passed away, I accidentally gathered enough pieces to put together the puzzle of his fate.



That same night, when Daddie had been enjoying his time with his orange tabby on the roof, his male human was doing the exact same thing with the female human of the orange tabby's, in the bedroom of Daddie's home.
Maybe it was because the male human had been too careless, or maybe the female human had been suspicious for a while.
Or it might even be because of the cat hairs that Daddie and the tabby had left around while they were playing.
For whatever reason, the human was soon out of the bag.

In the human world, besides being in heat, they had things like morals, laws, relationships, and all kinds of nonsense.
The female human probably was not allowed to kick and scratch the male human, so she turned against Daddie, who didn't have what they called “human rights”.
Sometimes I wondered... if Daddie had never met his orange tabby, would he still hate humans?



Two young male humans were walking towards me.
I remembered them. They worked at the police station that I frequented for my drinks.
When they started to pass by me the younger one stopped, before the other one with purple hair did too.
I sat down and looked at them, hoping for something unrealistic.

The younger human pet my head with his hand. I could smell the alcohol on his breath.
“Lieutenant, are you allowed to have a pet at your place? ...It's too bad that my apartment is not pet-friendly.”

The older man looked uncomfortable.
“Well, I'm not good with this kind of thing...”

Well. Just as expected.
When I was a few years younger, I would always put on a cute face and meow at the humans who pet me.
Now, I knew for sure that even if I sucked up to them, no one would take me home.

[BGM: Silence]


The two police walked further away from me in the other direction.
There were fewer and fewer people on the road. Eventually, there was only me.

At the end of the road, under a dim yellow street light, I saw a big human and a small one.
The adult had a beer bottle in one hand, and his other hand kept hitting the face of the crying child.

I kept walking towards them at my own pace.
I was just a passer-by.

In this city, things like this happened all the time. No one would give it a second look. Not even a cat.

[BGM: Getting Serious]


Just when I was about to walk past them, I suddenly realized that a third person had joined the pair under the light from out of nowhere.
It was a tall, thin, blonde foreigner in a blue blazer.

He grabbed the collar of the drunk human.
Then he started hitting him in the same way that the drunk had just hit the child, in his face.

A blonde foreigner... He reminded me of several blonde foreigners who used to live around here.
They seemed to have disappeared slowly, one by one.
I couldn't remember the last time I had seen any of them.



The foreigner pushed the drunk man.
I heard the loud noise of a huge collision.

A grey truck, with its headlights broken, drove past me, moving quickly towards the direction of the street light.
The child stopped crying.

The grey truck went past the scene of the fight without slowing down, and quickly disappeared out of my sight.
It was like life itself. No matter how hard one struggled and fought, life just kept going on and on.
Meanwhile, we just kept getting older and older. Other than that, nothing ever changed.

That being said, this blonde young human was an exception to humankind, at least.
I sat down near the child and decided to enjoy this “vigilante justice”.



The child stared blankly at the man being beaten.
He mumbled something.

One... Two... Three...

I pondered curiously for a while before I finally understood.
He was counting the teeth that had been knocked out of the drunk man's mouth.

Humans never really understood us.
They thought we all liked being petted and tickled, and that all we ever wanted was dried fish and milk.
Perhaps similarly, we never really understood humans, either.
A true understanding between us was probably something that we would never be able to achieve in our lifetimes.



I left those three humans farther and farther behind me.
I kept walking ahead, looking for a place to spend the night.

Spottie



Well, now we know where Pi ended up- he went back home to Korea. That being said, this letter is strange- it's not as if Spottie is in any particular danger, right? He's not even in any worse shape than he was at the start of the letter, either. There doesn't really seem to be a goal for him here- so why are we here? What are we looking for?

Maybe if we explore some of the other endings, we can find that out. Let's get to it.





The foreigner attempted to grab the child before he was hit.
Unfortunately he was too slow.

Under the street light, the child was lying in a pool of blood.
The grey truck either didn't notice the accident, or decided to ignore it. It didn't slow down one bit and quickly disappeared out of sight.

The drunk man stumbled and ran away as soon as the foreigner left him alone.
He left his son behind.
Or perhaps, it wasn't his son in the first place.

The foreigner set the child down on the side of the road and ran after the man.

Snow began to fall from the sky. It wasn't the right season to be snowing.
I felt the face of the child. It was already getting cold.
If I stayed there any longer I would freeze to death myself.

I left the child under the light, farther and farther behind me.
I kept walking ahead, looking for a place to spend the night.



Well, obviously that's the worst outcome, so let's try something different to make sure the child survives.





The grey truck drove into a small ditch only meters away from the three of them.
A woman with short hair climbed out of the smoking truck, looked around, and ran away as if there was something urgent.
Meanwhile, everything continued under the light uninterrupted.
It was like life itself. No matter how hard one struggled and fought, life just kept going on and on, uninterrupted.
Meanwhile, we just kept getting older and older. Other than that, nothing ever changed.

The foreigner was still hitting the man.
The drunk man was still begging for mercy.
The child stared blankly at them, mumbling something.

Humans never really understood us.
They thought we all liked being petted and tickled, and that all we ever wanted was dried fish and milk.
Perhaps similarly, we never really understood humans either.
A true understanding between us was probably something that we would never be able to achieve in our lifetimes.

I left those three humans farther and farther behind me.
I kept walking ahead, looking for a place to spend the night.

Well, we got a glimpse of the person driving the truck- wonder what's got her in such a hurry? In any case, that still wasn't the right answer. Let's try another.





Under the street light, the blonde foreigner was lying in a pool of blood with his face down.
A woman with short hair and two dramatic earrings jumped out of the grey truck.
She spit out a few curses when she saw the gruesome scene and then hastily got back into the truck.
She didn't even notice that a metal box had fallen out of her pocket while she was climbing back into the truck.

The woman stepped on the gas as soon as she got into the driver's seat, and the truck quickly disappeared out of sight.
The drunk man survived after the foreigner had pushed him away.
But he had disappeared from under the light with the child and had been gone for quite a while.



Blood was still spilling out from underneath his body.
I walked closer and saw a big dark scar on the back of his neck. Daddie used to have a similar burn mark on his eyes.
He must be another poor soul with a past full of stories.

He probably wouldn't survive with an injury like this.
Besides, we didn't really know each other and I was just a homeless cat. There was nothing I could have possibly done to help.

Snow began to fall from the sky. It wasn't the right season to be snowing.
If I stayed there any longer I would freeze to death myself.

I left him under the light, farther and farther behind me.
I kept walking ahead, looking for a place to spend the night.

Another Bad ending, but notice the orange text in the letter- we're missing one final piece of this puzzle (and, if you bother to check the History, the S ending is greyed out!), so we have to go back to the Letter menu for one last bit of history meddling.

…

[BGM: Lost Memories]


Time is absolutely not on our side here, but the change needed is very straightforward. It's been a long time since then, but remember in the first letter we ever got with Spottie:


That's right. We have to go back and return things to the default state for Spottie- having his Daddie killed in the car accident. But in doing so, we ensure that he in turn sees Park Sang-Gun attempt to escape the car- this is the only time Spottie could see his burn scar, as he hadn't seen it previously and would not encounter Park Sang-Gun again afterwards. (Incidentally, you also have to have this ending to get the Z outcome for Chang and Kang.)





…

[BGM: Getting Serious]




Under the street light, the blonde foreigner was lying in a pool of blood.
A woman with short hair and two dramatic earrings jumped out of the grey truck.
She spit out a few curses when she saw the gruesome scene and hastily got back into the truck.
She didn't even notice that a metal box had fallen out of her pocket while she was climbing back up into the truck.

The woman stepped on the gas as soon as she got into the driver's seat, and the truck quickly disappeared out of sight.
The drunk man survived after the foreigner had pushed him away.
But he had disppeared from under the light with the child, and had been gone for quite a while...



Under the light. A human. A cat.
Blood was still spilling out from underneath his body.

I walked closer and saw a big, dark scar on the back of his neck.
Daddie used to have a similar burn mark on his eyes.
It reminded me of the rainy day when I had lost Daddie, and the accident that had taken him from me.
Blood was spilling out underneath Daddie's body as well.
And I could remember that there was a boy running out of the car that had killed Daddie...



I suddenly recognized that this “foreigner” was born and raised here.
I could not remember what his name was, but I could remember the scar on the back of his neck.
He was the boy from that day.

That's right. It was him.
I still could not remember what his name was, but I could remember that his mother had the same blonde hair as him, and they lived up the hill nearby.
I could also remember that he used to buy me milk when he was a child himself.
Ever since the day of the accident, I hadn't seen him again. Until now.



Snow began to fall from the sky. It wasn't the right season to be snowing.
I lay down on his bleeding leg, thinking that maybe this would help him a little.
If someone else walked by, I could then ask for help.

The air around us was getting colder and colder.
The snow was piling up on us, thicker and thicker.
My eyelids finally couldn't resist the exhaustion anymore. They were closing slowly, slowly, slowly...

[BGM: Silence]


When I woke up, I thought I had died, or maybe I was in a dream.
I was lying on a human's bed, covered with a human's sheet.
Its owner was lying next to me, breathing steadily.

[BGM: Whispered Feeling]


It was a strange room, filled with warm, yellow sunlight.



There were lots of thick books on the bookshelves. A globe was placed on the top shelf, and a row of lively looking, small wooden figurines was lined up next to it.
A light breeze came in from the outside through the window. It had the distinct smell of a sunny day right after it snowed. It tasted a little cold, a little sweet.



On the balcony there was a flower that I had never seen before. It was the color of fire, and it was waving lightly in the sweet breeze like a small, dancing flame.



The sunlight shown through the petals, and cast a bright red shadow upon an unfinished diary that was opened up on the desk.
Beside the diary, I saw a metal box with blue curly carvings. It was the box that had been dropped by the short-haired woman.



The human's blonde hair was shining in the sunlight.
His calm sleeping face seemed to be assuring me that this was just another normal and peaceful day.

I still could not remember what his name was.
I did not know where he had been or what he had been through all these years.
But none of that mattered anymore.



What mattered was...
I had finally found a place to return to...





…

[BGM: Lost Memories]


It's time to go.



***

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