| DLC |
SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!
If you haven't played Mystic Messenger completely, you might read something that will reveal to you the complete story of the game. So please pay attention!
THE FOLLOWING PAGE CONTAINS MENTIONS OF PEDOPHILIA AND ABUSE!
Read at your own discretion!
Rika Behind refers to a DLC (downloadable content) story that is obtainable after completing the Secret Ending. It costs a total of 480 hourglasses to obtain every episode, with each episode costing 60 hourglasses to unlock; for a total of eight episodes.
This story revolves around Rika's tortured childhood and what went into making her the way she is.
Contents
Episode 1
As we enter the first episode of this DLC, a supposed ??? says a deeply metaphorical monologue about everlasting love, then we skip to a flashback to an adoption center where Rika was as a toddler. A new character is introduced to us and that is Mika. At that time, Mina (Rika's real name) was 3 years old while Mika was 6. Mika is seen as a very mature and caring character. She introduces herself to a couple that were there to adopt a child and explains how she studies the bible and loves to help around. Mika and Mina step outside to promise each other that they won't be separated and that they consider each other as sisters. Then Mika proceeds to trim Mina's hair because it has grown too long. A few days later, the teacher later calls Mika to announce that she is becoming too old to stay in the adoption center and that in a few months she would have to move to an orphanage. Mika expresses concern to Mina about the adoption and promises that she would protect her from bad parents who forsake their children.
Episode 2
A few months after the first events, we get a flashback of the time Mina and Mika were still together. They envy each other for their hair and talk about the bad parents again. A new couple shows up to the adoption center looking for a child that's allegedly a "sign from God." The first kid to catch their attention was Mika who once again mentions that she's really religious and loves to study the bible, however after the couple leaves, Mika tells the teacher that she knows that these people are bad parents. Jumping to the recent past, now Rika is seen in a therapy session, briefly mentioning Mika. The therapist says that Rika might have to be hospitalized.
Later in V's house, the couple discusses Rika's session for today. She begs him to take a picture of her. They lay in bed while V goes on about how he loves her weaknesses and darkness. Rika expresses how she's convinced that her fear and darkness would one day end up hurting him.
"I guess human beings are bond to rot, if they taste love they don't deserve while they are incapable of believing there's love in them."
Episode 3
Right in the beginning of the episode we go back in time when Rika was in her teen years, her foster mother is constantly seen pushing down a narrative that "God doesn't want her and that she would be expelled to hell" every time she would so slightly misbehave such as louder speech. She starts to question God herself since the one Mika told her about was different then what her mother said. The pastor pays them a visit, mother thanks him for coming while Serena panics. Pastor tells her mother that she might be possessed by Satan and that he should "cleanse" her Serena then, in a monologue, expresses how he had been inappropriately touching her.
We cut to a playground flashback, it's then said that the other kids would constantly make fun of Rika because she wasn't bright like the other kids. Also that she had to be doing what everyone else was in order to be accepted.
Her dad works for the hospital, thus the mother orders the pastor and Serena to go visit him. At first Serena hesitates to go, but eventually accepts. A nurse is seen announcing to Mika that she would be getting discharged tomorrow and that she should take her medication. Serena ends up running into her and they catch up, Mika expresses how jealous she is that Serena has a family and goes to school.
The pastor interrupts their meeting asking Serena to come home with him, saying he's her guardian. Mika then pleads with the nurse, since it was her last day, to take the men out since he isn't Serena's actual father. He leaves, visibly angry. Serena then informs Mika that the God Mika has been telling her about would forsake her for the smallest things. Mika then breaks in tears and Serena notices how skinny she's gotten. Eventually Mika brushes it off as it's nothing, while Serena doesn't want to ask any further questions to prevent triggering her. In the end, they never stopped talking to each other.
"Perhaps that was the most desperate way for her to plead with me to save her."
Episode 4
Serena learns from her father that Mika is suffering from eye cancer. When they meet each other, Mika gives Serena her orphanage address and number which later turned out to be fake. She would then blame herself and question why no one helped Mika. Later, V takes notice that Rika looks dejected and asks if her therapy is going well. She then explains that she needs to go back to her past for it, to which V offers to get a puppy like Sally, but she rejects. The reason why Rika kept the puppy with her was because she was abandoned, and expresses that she would like to save more people. Much more than what the RFA parties had to offer. V takes notice and they continue talking about Saeran's whereabouts. Rika tells him that Saeran switched boarding schools, as V asks her why he can't talk with him, she says that because he isn't letting her talk with Saeyoung she won't let him talk with Saeran.
The scene moves further back in time to when Mina was getting adopted. Mika is seen attempting to fix the situation by yelling at the teacher, explaining that these people are bad parents and to take her instead - to which she fails at trying to convince the teacher. Ever since Serena reuinited with Mika, and seeing how forsaken she was, she promises never to abandon anything in hope of providing it with 'true love'. Serena rescues Sally as she saw her on the streets alone. Her mother is not very pleased with her decision to help the dog. She then expresses the fact that the pastor had been sexually harassing her when they were alone as a way of "cleansing" her. Serena grew tired of her mother's lessons about the God who would forsake her.
Serena and Sally then run away and end up at the local cathedral where the pastor is holding a sermon. She expresses disgust towards everyone and accuses the pastor of being a criminal. People attending are trying to get her out of the cathedral.
"You forsake children just because they've done something wrong. Or just because you don't like them. You call that love?"
Eventually she was kicked out, only 16 at the time. She believes that she made a contract with the devil at that time and she found courage. She would then threaten her mother to let Sally be, due to her beliefs of having a devil living inside her.
Episode 5
At a cathedral, away from Serena's house, two nuns strike up a conversation with Rika. They pointed out how hard-working she is at such a young age. They then call her for lunch, to which Rika says that she would join them after she's done helping just one more elderly person. It is mentioned that Rika would often stay up at the place until late evenings, even on weekdays. Rika suggests to the nun that she would like to visit an elderly home in the south where people who don't have homes are staying in to help them. Since no one deserves to be forsaken. It made Rika happy that whenever she would voluntarily help someone their faces would light up with hope and love, just like Mika's. Rika wished to know what being a truly loving parent would feel like since she was never able to experience that type of love, and thus she prayed.
2 years later, her relationships with people started to follow a pattern, due to her charisma it took less then a day for her to look after and care for them. She would sympathize and help out the wounded and the traumatized, while staying distant from the ones who didn't need her help. She set out wanting to be a light for others, afraid of them noticing her flaws and fears.
By pure chance, she managed to get a ticket for a photography exhibition. She would describe the pictures she saw as enlightening and warm. Rika would soon remember everything that happened in her life, from being forsaken at birth, getting adopted by abusive parents and then having Satan and darkness being used as a treat to her in the church. As days passed, she tried to forget the pictures she saw but couldn't. The every-so-lasting love and light that the pictures would portray would stick to her. In the end she would do personal research to find out who V is and would admire him, hunting down his exhibitions and visiting them.
A few days later, a curious teen named Saeyoung decided to approach the cathedral since he heard someone singing, thus meeting Rika. It was brought to her attention that his clothes were faded and tattered, he also seemed old enough to go to middle school and was very thin. Saeyoung would wander around the cathedral asking a lot of questions regarding what kind of place that was. He asked if he was allowed to bring his brother, Saeran , there one day so he would be able to hear him sing. His visits were irregular and he would avoid talking about his family which concerned Rika. She would teach him basic subjects, it turned out that he was very talented in math which surprised everyone at the cathedral. Saeyoung enjoyed his time at the cathedral, but was always concerned about his brother.
Rika's foster mother would show up again to complain about Sally being loud. The woman expressed how it would have been better if they adopted the angelic girl instead of Serena. Rika despised this behaviour, calling it pathetic and poor.
"Bad parents will never hear what children have got to say, unless the children become devils."
Episode 6
When Rika first met Yoosung she could picture him as forsythias in full bloom, as he grew up basking in his parents' love. Rika mentions that she only belonged to people who have crooks and holes in their lives and not with someone as bright as Yoosung. Yoosung proceeds to ask Rika why she was staring at him "like that." She replies that she thinks that he grew up with kind parents, getting jealous. When he grows up, he would like to be like Rika, who is passionate and sincere when it comes to helping others around her. Yoosung was overly bright for Rika. She was afraid of him getting too close, her darkness would ruin him and thus she tried to avoid him. He didn't need to be saved by her.
Back at the cathedral Rika asks Saeyoung if he would enjoy doing anything and mentions a movie theater downtown. Or that they could even attend an exhibition. Saeyoung agrees, then gets caught in a science exhibition while Rika on the other hand visits V's. She lost her heart while looking at his works, as if she found her parents that were never there for her. V ends up approaching Rika interrogating her if she likes the photo she's been staring at for a while. Rika admits that she's a huge fan of his works, further admiring him. Rika wonders if he is a 'dark' or 'light' person. Just when V is about to leave Rika stops him and explains how the sun is the mother of all, and then the flowers wouldn't bloom if it wasn't for its embracing energy. Her fears would disappear when she meets the picture. She asks if he believed that one day she would be able to experience nothing but love and warmth.
V was amazed by how deeply Rika thought of his works, so he wishes to give his picture to her as a gift. She hesitates and states that she cant take something like that since it's so priceless. She would hate to get it for free and would never get detached from it. V then suggests she gets him a cup of coffee in exchange for his work and then give each other their names.
"Regardless, I never told him my real name."
Episode 7
V and Rika sat down at a coffee shop and started a discussion. V told her that he needed her and that he has come to the realization that his eyes held hers. He never saw someone as honest and kind as she was. Rika loved what he had embedded into his photos, asking if she can as well bask in love. Even now, Rika would still question if she deserved such a thing, and if V was a sign from God. Shortly after she became his model, Rika thought that she would receive love and affection from him but instead he would end up not talking too frequently with her. Rika tries to suggest a good theater actor she knows that's still in high school, but to her demise V ignores her. In his presence she would pretend to be a bright person, in the end that caused her fear to increase.
2 months after she started working with him, her foster mother kicked her out of the house, now she only had a temporary home back at the cathedral. Naturally, Sally went with her. It's as if no one could understand what Rika has been going through for her entire life. She couldn't stop admiring 'the light'.u She would crave it and later bash herself for it. As if the three-year-old Mina was still in her, Mina wanted to be loved, there was still hope left in her.
V noticed that Rika wouldn't visit his studio for a photoshoot, thus he decided to visit her house, only to find her kicked out. While Saeyoung says his farewell to Rika, a nun informs her that she has a visitor, V. He was desperate to know what was going on. Could she show him his fears? Would he despise her for it and simply hurl her away? V begged her to tell him, and so she did.
"Please don't leave me... even if I make a mistake... or do something that's out of human comprehension, even if i turn into a bunch of flaws..."
He was the only person to accept her for whom she was.
Episode 8
Rika expresses how happy she is to have met V. She wished for a happy ending, but as 'her devil' was too strong, she would ask to be alone. V leaves the apartment. Rika ponders about the state of her life, whether it is going in the right or wrong direction. Rika tells someone to come out, and surprisingly, it's Mika. Mika was actually at V and Rikas engagement ceremony, but due to her eye damage, caused by the aforementioned cancer, she couldn't see well. Mika had no trust in V, believing he would leave Rika, thus making a plan for the two of them to survive in this world without being forsaken.
Part of Mika's plan involved using Saeran to gather information from the RFA, which would be tricked to believe a hacker is after them. Rika firstly refuses, indicating she needs to save that boy. However, Mika continues manipulating her into thinking that she should make secrets and avoid telling V about their plan. Mika tells her that he was going to ruin Rika, since she was "weak." Mika once again thanks Rika for letting her stay in her apartment, and that she hopes to live long enough to see their kingdom being perfected, i.e the Mint Eye. Further down the line Rika begins believing Mika, that she had to follow what she said since Mina deeply depended on her. Rika merely wished to be loved without being forsaken. They had to show people fear to do so.
Later Rika is seen at a ceremony hall announcing their first RFA party. She thanks everyone who was able to attend, but specifically mentions V and how he is her sun. They got together because his pictures were extremely beautiful for her, V represented such a warm person. How she wished that everyone would stay away from calculating thoughts and rather choose benevolence and love, then no person would end up being forsaken. And that we all deserve every right to transcend space and time and share the purest form of love. And because of this, the RFA was created.
"Once the night falls, I'll once again feel space and time on my very skin. But, right now... I am something that has transcended relativity. I pray there is a sun within me."
