it may never be over.

notes on how norman plays the game: completion bonus? who’s she? they literally can’t bring themselves to try and get bad endings. they see the endings (1/7) on each of the characters, and they tell themselves they’ll 100% the game someday, but they just can’t bring themselves to do it.

they’ve unlocked deep story, but not another story. that five-hundred-something hourglass price is just too steep for them to want to attempt it.

they pay real people money to get phone calls from jaehee and zen. they’ve also purchased the following dlc:  -  valentine’s day (for jaehee and zen)  -  christmas special (they paid money to get enough hourglasses for it)  -  april fool’s (on a whim, but they have NOT regretted it)

they've unlocked the secret endings... and while they don’t regret spending their hourglasses on it, they do feel like it was kind of a lot.

a list of their playthroughs to date:

playthrough 1: casual story (four days) they downloaded it out of curiosity and thought it was neat, but then they forgot about it and got the bad ending on day four. their mc’s name is norman, but they used the second default profile picture.

playthrough 2: casual story (like, two minutes) they decided to mess with unknown, and got the prologue’s bad ending. they’re spooked enough about it that they think maybe they should uninstall the game.

playthrough 3: jaehee’s route (eleven days) approximately one minute after their previous playthrough, they restart the game. they have set out on a mission, and it would be foolish not to see it through. they start checking their phone religiously. they’re in love with jaehee by the second day, and are very mindful of her warning from their bad ending, so they focus on her, dissing zen and scolding yoosung at every opportunity. they manage to avoid her bad endings and end up getting her best ending. they’re so invested in this game now. there’s no going back for them.

playthrough 4: yoosung’s route (eleven days) because they felt bad about being so harsh on yoosung when he was clearly suffering, they go on his route next and achieve the good ending (narrowly avoiding his bad end 1, because they called him cute all the time but didn’t encourage him to confuse them with rika). they are shocked to find that the mc has a canon appearance, and change their profile picture accordingly.

playthrough 5: jaehee’s route (eleven days) they were going through a rough patch. they cried over the scene with her and zen. they ugly-cried over that scene.

playthrough 6: zen’s route (eleven days) they thought zen was nice enough in the beginning, and were a little charmed by how much he flirted with them. but since jaehee was so nervous about him developing feelings for the mc, norman was initially nervous about going for his route. however, zen quickly endeared himself to them, and he is solidly their second-favourite love interest. (and yes, they still blush and laugh over his phone calls.)

okay im actually so invested in this but i absolutely shouldn’t continue otherwise this post will get way too long. let it be known though that norman keeps replaying jaehee’s and zen’s routes. like. over and over.

opinions on characters and routes: #1 : JAEHEE KANG (2/7 endings): their first love. they replay her route religiously. whenever they get enough hourglasses, they unlock extra content for her. they adore her. they have gotten her normal ending and her good ending, but can’t bring themselves to get her bad endings.

#2 : ZEN (1/7 endings): zen has always been funny to norman, and they think he’s cute. they like how possessive he gets, and feels for him when he talks about his family. they secretly love his possessiveness, but don’t really want to admit that to themselves. if they’d gone for zen first, they would almost certainly have had him as their favourite, but jaehee will never, ever be outranked.

#3 : 707 (1/7 endings): seven kind of reminds norman of themselves, if they were taken up to eleven. they like how he’s presented in jaehee’s route, and appreciates how nice seven is to jaehee even when jumin isn’t. they really like his route, and love the twist and all the backstory, but... they don’t really like seven as a romantic interest. their favourite part of his route is about the family angst, and they see the romance part as kind of... an irrelevant extra to the main story. they replay his route from time to time, but not nearly as much as jaehee’s and zen’s, because, like... they just don’t really think seven’s that hot.

#4 : YOOSUNG (1/7 endings): they have always thought that yoosung is cute and needs therapy. though they know yoosung deserves better, they find his route a little childish and don’t really enjoy it. they’ve only ever played his route once, and they got the good ending.

#5 : JUMIN (1/7 endings): they were never particularly taken with jumin, and they didn’t exactly enjoy how aggressive he got in his route. though they feel for the struggles he goes through, they don’t like how little he repays jaehee for everything she does for him. it’s not like they hate him....... but they’d spit in his cheerios, actually.

extra notes on characters:

they like rika the same way they like yoosung: they think she’s cute and needs therapy. they think rika, v, and jumin are a ship made in hell, and they’re kind of invested in it. however, they don’t stan rika because they just don’t really understand or relate to her.

they think v is kind of a bastard man because of seven’s route. he also needs therapy, but since they don’t have as much insight into his mental state as they do for rika, they care about him a lot less and are... mostly indifferent.