Remember that little girl? The girl who went missing?
"I remember how surprised I was when I first saw this case. Everyone involved was lying, for one reason or another."
#No_Case_Should_Remain_Unsolved is a Visual Novel developed by Somi and released in 2024.
In all her career as a policewoman, there is one case that Jeon Gyeong hasn't solved: the disappearance of a little girl named Seowon. She doesn't like thinking about that old case, still feeling guilty about never solving it.
One day, she is visited by... Seowon's ghost? Or another police officer? Or the Adjudicator who came to bring judgement upon her? Jeon Gyeong isn't really sure. She's not sure of many things: her memories are faulty and her mind is unravelling.
And yet, as the Adjudicator keeps pushing her to remember that old case, Jeon Gyeong sifts through her patchy memories discovering more and more lies and mysteries surrounding it. She needs to get to the bottom of this. Maybe then she would finally be able to lay to rest the one case that haunted her for years.
#No_Case_Should_Remain_Unsolved provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Seowon's father begged Jeon Gyeong to stop looking for his daughter and keep her out of her mother's reach, implying that something nefarious was going on and leading Jeon Gyeong to suspect that Seowon's mother was the reason for her disappearance. This ended up subverted, because Seowon died from natural causes, and her mother suffered a mental break, believing that her daughter is still alive. Her husband was merely trying to preserve the illusion to keep her from a complete breakdown.
- Accidental Kidnapping: Choi Seowon was kidnapped by a mentally ill woman not out of malice, but because she mistook the girl for her own daughter.
- Anachronic Order: The memories you uncover are linked thematically, not chronologically. You need to figure out yourself how they fit together.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kim Seowon is dead through no-one's fault, but Choi Seowon is perfectly fine. And while Song Minyeong spent years in a mental institution, there are people willing to help her and she does get better, eventually.
- Dead All Along: Kim Seowon died long ago, her death was just never reported and her delusional mother has convinced herself that she is still alive.
- Dead Person Conversation: The protagonist at first thinks that she's talking to Seowon's ghost, though she quickly dismisses the idea.
- Fake Memories: Everything the protagonist remembers about the case is a mix of her own experiences and what the real Jeon Gyeong told her. The events themselves did happen, but she is not the police officer who lived through them.
- False Confession: The ex-teacher lied that he's the one who kidnapped Seowon because he wanted to protect the real kidnapper and because he blamed himself for feeding into her delusions and causing this entire mess.
- Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue: The visuals are few and far in-between and the gameplay revolves around piecing together scattered fragments of dialogue, figuring out where they fit on the timeline and who exactly was talking.
- Framing Device: You take the role of a police detective who is being asked about the events of an old unsolved case. A few scenes take place in the present time, but the bulk of the game has you sort through years-old memories.
- Grief-Induced Split: The ex-teacher and his wife divorced after their child died.
- Hired Help as Family: A disabled single father hired a caregiver to help him look after his young children. His son calls her Auntie and she pretty much became a mother-figure to the kids.
- Holier Than Thou: Seowon's mother is convinced that her prayers blessed their family, and one of the grievances she levels against her ex-husband is that he refuses to pray when he's facing problems that he can't solve.
- Identity Amnesia: At the very end, it is revealed that the protagonist isn't Jeon Gyeong. She is actually Song Minyeong, but due to her mental illness and addled memories, she keeps convinving herself that she is other people.
- I Have Many Names: The Adjudicator is also referred to as Seowon's Ghost, Janus, and Jigsaw Puzzle Master. She is actually the real Jeon Gyeong.
- I Miss Mom: It's been a few years since his mother died, but Myeongho is still clearly affected by it, always carrying around the Tragic Keepsake.
- Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: You must dig through the protagonist's faulty memories and find clues necessary to put them in order and figure out what happened to the little girl who went missing years ago.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Jeon Gyeong compares herself to a jellyfish that drifts through life stinging everyone who comes close. She is quite cynical but she has still spent many years helping people as a police detective.
- Legally Dead: Inverted. Kim Seowon is on the list of children stated to start school, even though she's gone.
- Meaningful Name: Seowon was born very small and fragile. Her mother gave her this name ("Seo" for "rhinoceros" and "Won" for "origin") hoping it would give Seowon the strength of a rhino. Her father thinks this name cursed her: Seowon charged forward like a rhino and left everyone behind.
- Mistaken for Afterlife: The protagonist isn't sure who she's talking to. She guesses that the Adjudicator is here to judge her at the end of her life. The Adjudicator is a normal human, and the protagonist isn't dead or dying, though she is mentally ill.
- Monkey Morality Pose: Seowon's brother was told not to say anything "just like that monkey [they] saw at the temple". This snippet of dialogue is accompanied by a picture of three monkeys covering their ears, mouth, and eyes.
- My Greatest Second Chance: For years, Jeon Gyeong blamed herself for never solving the case of Seowon's disappearence. The Adjudicator pushes her to revisit the old memories and finally solve it.
- Mystical 108: Kim Seowon died as a baby. She only lived for 108 days.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Seowon's father never reported her death because he wanted to keep up the illusion that she's still alive for his wife's sake. Unfortunately, this only worsened his wife's mental state and led her to kidnap an innocent little girl in her delusion.
- Once More, with Clarity: The plot revolves around piecing together the protagonist's faulty memories. She remembers snippets of conversations, but she often doesn't remember who she was talking to and when exactly it happened. Putting those memories in context slowly but steadily clarifies the Jigsaw Puzzle Plot.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Kim Seowon died when she was just a baby, and her mother suffered a mental breakdown. Her father handled it better, but he's still grieving.
- Parental Substitute: A caregiver hired to look after two young children is treated like a family member and a mother-figure by them. Seowon outright calls her "mom".
- Restoration of Sanity: The entire game turns out to be Jeon Gyeong's attempt to help mentally ill Song Minyeong regain lucidity.
- The Reveal: You are trying to uncover what happened to Seowon, a little girl who went missing, but everything the protagonist remembers is inconsistent and contradictory. What really happened is that there were two girls named Seowon. Kim Seowon died as a baby and her mother Song Minyeong suffered a mental breakdown, convincing herself that her daughter was still alive. She kidnapped Choi Seowon in a delusional belief that this was her daughter. Her ex-husband returned the girl to her father and lied to the police, trying to take the blame for the kidnapping himself. Jeon Gyeong let him go, but left the case open so that Song Minyeong can still believe that her daughter is alive. Finally, the ending reveals that the protagonist is actually Song Minyeong and the Adjudicator is the real Jeon Gyeong, who's been trying to help her work through her addled memories and delusions.
- Revisiting the Cold Case: Jeon Gyeong never solved the case of Seowon's disapperance. Now she gets the chance to revisit it and finally solve the years-old mystery.
- Rousseau Was Right: Despite the fact that the plot revolves around the mysterious disappearence of a little girl that happened under very suspicious circumstances, the story is surprisingly idealistic. Song Minyeong didn't harm Seowon and only kidnapped her because she was suffering from a serious mental illness. Her ex-husband returned Seowon to her father and tried to take the blame himself to protect his wife, but the detective in charge of the case let him go. Seowon's father didn't even press charges, he was just grateful that his daughter was fine. And while Song Minyeong's mental state worsened and she was institutionalized, her ex-husband still cares about her and constantly visits her. Even Jeon Gyeong, who doesn't really have a stake in this anymore, spent months helping her recover.
- Sanity Slippage: When Song Minyeong lost her child, she suffered a mental breakdown, and despite therapy, she never became better. A certain incident fanned the flames, driving her to kidnap a child in a delusional belief that this was her daughter.
- Significant Name Overlap: A major plot point is that there were two girls named Seowon.
- Speech-Centric Work: The game is very dialogue-heavy with very few visuals, which adds to the mystery since you need to figure out who you're speaking to and when it happened.
- Taking the Heat: The ex-teacher tries to take the blame for kidnapping Seowon to protect his mentally ill ex-wife.
- That One Case: Jeon Gyeong never found the little girl who went missing and the case remained unsolved, haunting her for years.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: The ex-teacher remembers his wife being completely empty-eyed and lacking any hope or drive to live when they visited the grave of their child. That's why he played along with her delusion that their daughter was still alive: so that she would have something to live for.
- Title Drop: One of the reasons the Adjudicator is pushing Jeon Gyeong to revisit this old case and finally solve it is because she believes that no case should remain unsolved.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The person we thought is Jeon Gyeong is actually Seowon's mother Song Minyeong. The real Jeon Gyeong is the Adjudicator.
- Tragic Keepsake: Ever since his mother died, Myeongho started to carry an umbrella with him everywhere. His mother had promised that she would watch over him from heaven and ask God to stop the rain if he ever forgot his umbrella, since she wouldn't be around to pick him up from school on rainy days. Myengho claims that he doesn't believe in heaven, but it's clear that on some level, he's still holding on to hope.
- Wham Shot: Jeon Gyeong got involved in this case because the city hall administration asked the police to check on the families of the kids who hadn't showed up on the first day of elementary school. When we finally see the list of absentees, it explains the many inconsistencies and contradictions that plagued this case. The girl who went missing is Choi Seowon. The name on the list is Kim Seowon. There were two different girls who shared the same name.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Myeongho acts very serious and mature for his age. It's mentioned that living through a tragedy forces children to grow up fast.
