Fixer Fundamentals and the Path to True Ending
What's with this carefree talk of romance? I've mentioned it once before, but let's dive into monster threat levels. These levels are closely tied to the ending conditions.
Threat levels range from 0 to 6, determined by the scale of damage they inflict on humans. Threat Level 0: Harmless (Nigredo) is completely safe. Level 1: Scar (Caudapavonis) causes minor injuries. Level 2: Defect (Albedo) can lead to loss of body parts. Level 3: Death (Viriditas) means individual fatalities. Level 4: Massacre (Citrinitas) wipes out groups. Level 5: Devastation (Rubedo) dooms villages or cities. And Level 6: Apocalypse annihilates entire nations—or several.
The most critical is Level 6: Apocalypse. These monsters are insanely dangerous, but encounters are rare for good reason. If they were swarming everywhere, humanity would've gone extinct ages ago. The fact that society still functions is thanks to forces keeping them contained: the Foundation, the Special Task Force, the Deep Web, and even the pure villainous Cult. Each faction isolates its share of Level 6 threats, staving off our doom.
Ending conditions revolve around resolving these Level 6 monsters. Clear one contained by the Foundation? Foundation ending. Handle the Special Task Force's? Their ending. Take down the Cult's? Cult ending. You get the idea.
True ending? Resolve all four factions' Level 6 monsters to unlock it.
You have achieved great feats by resolving the various incidents thus far.
Now, anything you desire will come to pass.
What do you crave?
That's the true ending in a nutshell—three lines of text, followed by the credits roll and fade to black. User forums are split on why it's so cryptic, with endless theories. It's as enigmatic as a Soulslike ending. Maybe the grueling journey to reach it empowers the protagonist to manifest any wish.
Whatever. I just want to go back to my original world, so I'll pin my hopes on those three lines. "Anything you desire," right? That should send me home. To make it happen, I have to confront each faction's Level 6 monsters—which is why I'm becoming a fixer.
To become a fixer, I need two main things. First: rent an office. Luckily, our king-god-cat Ari brought in some cash, so that's covered. Might as well aim for a good deal—sunny spot, prime location, decent transit. And crucially, low terror risk.
"...The Foundation and Special Task Force are at least reasonable."
The Cult? A nest of psychos who don't negotiate. Half are terrorists; the other half are potential terrorists. If they catch wind of my Cute Girl Mod power, they'll flip and come bombing. Ugh, don't even wanna think about it. Good thing I have a spot in mind—I'll negotiate later.
Second—and maybe even more vital: business registration.
"What's business registration?"
"...Skip it, and you're a criminal."
That's what I told Lisa. Running an unregistered office? Illegal operation. Earning cash without it? Tax evasion. In Korea, it's mandatory for any self-employed gig. The hitch? I'm aiming to be a monster specialist fixer.
"...The government's hiding the monsters' existence."
Most Koreans live blissfully unaware. Makes sense—public knowledge would just spark chaos. Yet they tolerate "monster specialist private fixers" to some degree. Say Person A stumbles into resolving an anomaly. With anti-monster skills proven, the Special Task Force offers: Join us? Or get your memory wiped?
Memory wipe means losing a potential asset who might've cleared dozens of cases. They'd just be a clueless civilian, dumping more work on the Task Force. Better to let them freelance as a fixer—it lightens the load. So they greenlight registration for those with anomaly-resolving chops or track records.
"But I can't reveal the Cute Girl Mod power...."
Too much misunderstanding potential. Turning monsters into girls to "resolve" them? They'd think I'm nuts—or worse. Better keep it hidden. Which means proving myself with a vanilla monster takedown for registration.
"Alright. Let's head out now."
"Heading out?"
"Yeah. Both of you, come with."
I grabbed Ari and Lisa and hit the streets. Perfect quest lined up: solvable without the mod, plus witnesses to vouch for me.
Find My Father
📍 You've received a flyer with an old man's face printed on it. The woman who handed it over pleaded with desperate eyes: "Please find my father." Her dad went missing. Typical elderly cases involve dementia, but he has no such history. Something's off.
Checked the police site on my phone—found "Lee Kang-un." That's my target. Should've prepped more, like for the Carnival Chef with its mental corruption. Ari's power got me through that unscathed; otherwise, I'd be a raving lunatic from one bite. This one's bare-minimum doable—no mental defenses needed. Items would help, but...
"Borrowing Ari's power again would make it a cakewalk, huh?"
She offered to help with startup. Once I open shop, she'll be on payroll? Her stuff's mine, mine's mine. Her power's mine too. Hate it? Go independent. Worst case, if she bails, straight-up brute force still works. Hedged my bets—should be fine.
"Um... could I get your number?"
One thing this perfect cutie overlooked: the raw power of beauty. It's practically a sin. Or rather, I'm so pretty and cute, it's sinful.
We were on the bus, drawing stares the whole ride. Now some guy's hitting on Lisa for digits.
"Number? Not sure what you mean?"
Bus back row: Ari innermost, Lisa beside her, me on the end. Dude who'd been peeking sidled up to Lisa.
"Y-your phone number..."
"H-hey! She's got a boyfriend!"
Couldn't take it—I jumped in. Kinda pissed, honestly. Not that I care about romance. Zero interest in dating amid monster hell. Love? No clue. Guys as prospects? Nah. Getting hit on is just annoying; I'd shut it down anyway.
...But skipping me, the cosmic cutie, for Lisa?
"Y-yeah, figured... Sorry..."
He bolted at the next stop—his or not, who knows. I saved you, dude. She's the girl who drives men mad. Problem is, she maddens everyone—men, women, young, old.
'Right... I'm an untouchable cliffside flower, so he picked the approachable Lisa.'
That tracked. Or my kid-like build's out of his strike zone. Knew it was the latter, but mental victories thrive on denial. Gotta pack sunglasses and mask next time. This charm might get me labeled a monster.
"Mayuri, what's a boyfriend?"
"...You don't need to know."
One more guy asked Lisa later. Sigh... We switched transit a bunch: bus to station, four stops, transfer, four more, backtrack...
'...This the right way? Gotta be.'
Started doubting midway. Normal flow: meet NPC, accept quest, investigate missing person, trace clues to anomaly. I skipped 1-3, trusting prior clear memory. Hope it's solid...
"? No people around?"
Lisa piped up. By then, I noticed: empty subway car. Memory checks out.
[This station is One Person Factory. End of the line: One Person Factory Station. Exit on the left.]
*Static crackle*
The train halted. Beyond the doors: no platform, just acrid smoke and a factory sprawl.
We'd arrived at the monster-run factory.