All spoilers are unmarked!
Story
- "The Death of *Mute". This log is her last-minute message to her future, amnesiac self...and Old *Mute, who up until then has been a harsh, snarky, and ruthless Iron Lady, is caught somewhere between scared out of her mind, and cursing her many failures as a security AI for not seeing Ryu's coup coming. It becomes even worse if said new version of *Mute is with you for the *Mute or Harem routes, where the log is what finally causes her to have the breakdown that's been building ever since you've started the game, and she collapses into a pit of shame and self-loathing for her own failures. One she doesn't crawl out of...at least, not without *Hyun-ae's help.
- On that note, *Mute's suicide letter to the player. She makes it clear that not only is she still colored by the Neo-Joseon society she served, she asserts there's no way she'd survive in the Investigator's current world. But she also tries to pass on some of...that society's most positive memes:Please don't grieve for me. Like, grieve for all the people me and Old *Mute failed... but please, don't grieve for a worthless, broken security program.
Whatever you do, whatever you think of the world you live in, wherever you go... please, be a good person. Don't betray your principles like the old me did, okay? Respect your elders, and protect the people who depend on you. Please... do that for me.
- On that note, *Mute's suicide letter to the player. She makes it clear that not only is she still colored by the Neo-Joseon society she served, she asserts there's no way she'd survive in the Investigator's current world. But she also tries to pass on some of...that society's most positive memes:
- The existence of an achievement that's ostensibly unlocked by keeping *Mute to the end, even though that's impossible.
- It's only mentioned offhand, but the death of *Star, the navigational AI, in a rebellion centuries prior to the logs. It's because of this that the Mugunghwa never made it to its final destination and is destined to drift in space for eternity.
Soundtrack
- The otherwise light-hearted song "It's Not Ero!" has a couple of gut-punch lyrics if you know the story.
- One set alludes to to the moment when Kim Hyun-ae had her tongue cut out with a scalding hot butcher knife.Could you press your lips against mine
And help me to forget why
My first kiss was only burning steel? - Another speaks both to *Hyun-ae's past existence as a deliberately maimed wife, as well as her guilt and refusal to let go of the past, and her desperation in seeking some kind of absolution from the player.Could I ever say I'm sorry?
Could I ever ask forgiveness?
But the words refuse to come
Leaving me helpless, deaf, and dumb
All of your sweetness turns to dust
And I am speechless
- One set alludes to to the moment when Kim Hyun-ae had her tongue cut out with a scalding hot butcher knife.
- Old
, Old *Mute's Leitmotif. It's a slow-paced arrangement of two of Analogue!*Mute's tracks from the previous game, reflecting how the *Mute of the 40th century is an exhausted old woman (or at least the AI equivalent of one) who's bogged down with far too much data in her storage and wasn't meant to serve for more than a few centuries.
