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!
"I'll destroy your pathetic make-believe world."
—Unknown, Comment from RFA Top Secret Book
Unknown (real name Saeran Choi), is one of the main antagonists of the Mystic Messenger. He is the identical twin brother of Saeyoung Choi and a disciple of the organization Mint Eye. During visual novel sequences, prior to the revelation of his identity, his name would be displayed as three question marks (???). In Another Story, Saeran continues to use the screen name Unknown, but now goes by the alias Ray. As of January 31, 2018 he wias able to be romanced as Ray.
Personality
Casual & Deep Story
Saeran is very hostile and defensive towards everyone, particularly his twin brother, Saeyoung (707). This is due to having been "brainwashed," drugged, and tricked into believing he was abandoned by Saeyoung when they were younger. He has become very paranoid and refuses to trust anyone for fear of being betrayed again.
Another Story
In Another Story, Saeran has two different personalities, Ray and Unknown, which is likely a side effect from ingesting Mint Eye's elixir of salvation for several years. The two personalities are aware of each other and are able to communicate with one another. As a hacker, Ray and Unknown have extremely different skill sets with Ray's skills being on par or even being better than Saeyoung's. At the moment which one is Saeran's original personality is unknown.
For the majority of the route, Ray is the dominant personality. He is gentle, sweet, and terrified of being abandoned. He is against violence, and cannot bring himself to hurt another living being. He was obsessed with MC, and only wants to make MC happy and keep her at Magenta. Ray was also terrified of having Unknown's personality awakening and taking over.
On the other hand, Unknown is the complete opposite of Ray and has an extremely dark in nature. He desires the destruction of the RFA and those that oppose Mint Eye and him. Unknown was mostly suppressed by the effects of the elixir of salvation, but Ray's last dosage had him taking over Saeran's body. Saying Saeran's name also has the effect of awakening Unknown. Unknown seemed to hate Ray, calling the other personality a marshmallow boy, and disliked Ray's crying and whining.
Appearance
He has white hair with light pink tips and mint-colored eyes. He is seen wearing a red tank top with a black patent leather jacket over it. He has a black choker around his neck, as well as a black spiked bracelet on his right wrist. He has a more modernized version of the Mint Eye symbol tattooed to his right arm. At several points of the story events, he wears a black mask that covers the lower half of his face.
In Another Story, as Ray, his hair is better groomed. He wears a magenta suit, with a blue rose pinned to the lapel. He pairs his suit jacket with a pair tan slacks. However, after his personality has changed to Unknown, he wears a black suit with silver chain collar tips.
In the past, he had scruffy vermilion hair and golden eyes like Seven.
Background
Saeran, along with Saeyoung, is the illegitimate son of a high-ranking politician. Shortly after birth, their alcoholic mother exploited their identities by forcing their father to pay hush money. During his childhood years, he and Saeyoung were abused by their mother, but he received the brunt of it due to becoming ill more often than his twin and, being "weaker", he could not attend church when Saeyoung did. His fondest memories were eating ice cream and sneaking out of his room to see the sky for the first time with Saeyoung.
Saeyoung dedicated himself to freeing his brother as well as himself by learning how to hack from a textbook. Unfortunately, as Saeyoung's ability to hack grew to a professional level, Saeran was left behind, as his twin was offered a promising job by V that would free him and his brother, but with the price of not telling Saeran where he was going. After Saeyoung's disappearance, Saeran was more vulnerable than before, his mental state extremely fragile, and his mother's abuse became more vicious than ever.
Under V's promise to Saeyoung to protect Saeran, he and Rika then paid a visit to his house, making a compromise with his mother to let him attend church school, or else they would expose her abusive behavior. One day, after Rika took a picture of Saeran to send to Saeyoung, she gave him a textbook on hacking, asking him to keep it a secret and believing in his potential.
Shortly after Saeyoung had left and five (or eight) years prior to the start of the game, Rika kidnapped and recruited Saeran into Mint Eye, where he was forced to take numerous substances and brainwashed to believe that Saeyoung had purposefully abandoned him because he was a burden. As Saeran devoted himself to Mint Eye, he had his right arm tattooed with its logo.
Story
As Unknown, he plays the role of the antagonist in all routes. Under Rika's orders, he recruits the player into visiting Rika's apartment and forcing her to join RFA as part of Rika's master plan to throw parties again. As the player busies herself with becoming acquainted with RFA and inviting guests, Unknown hacks the security system of the apartment to trap the player. He plots to kidnap her and use her as bait to lure in the other RFA members into Mint Eye. He is also given a manual switch to the bomb in case of an emergency. The way the plan is implemented varies depending on the route and ending. In Jumin’s Bad Story Ending 3, he is killed when he detonates the bomb.
In Casual Story, only a couple of hints from the climax of Yoosung and Zen's routes are revealed about Unknown's identity. Both routes suggest that Unknown has a rivalry with Seven and resents him. In Jumin's route, in Deep Story, this aspect is further foreshadowed when Seven seems shaken up at seeing Unknown in person for the first time. Unknown is heavily involved in Seven's route, contributing not only to Seven's character development, but the story's plot as a whole. His backstory, as well as the aftermath of his involvement in Mint Eye, is further explored in the second part of the Secret Endings, which take place after Seven's After Ending.
707's route
On the 5th Day of Seven's route, Unknown successfully changes the algorithm to the security system in Rika's apartment. By the 7th Day, he breaks into it via the window to kidnap the player, but Seven arrives on time to save her, fending him away with the robotic cat he made. Unknown is quickly identified as Saeran to Seven as he retreats to Mint Eye.
On the 10th Day, Seven, fueled by his determination to rescue Saeran, breaks into Mint Eye with the player to hack their computers. Saeran catches them, and as the two plead with him, they show him his photos of the floppy disk Rika had sent to Seven. Upon viewing, Saeran becomes mentally unstable and runs out of the room. Outside, he is mistaken for Seven by his co-worker, Vanderwood, and is kidnapped at gunpoint.
Secret Ending
Though Saeran is irritated at being Vanderwood's hostage, he does not mind as long as it means Saeyoung's death. When Saeyoung and the player arrive at the exchange point, Saeyoung knocks him out and drags him into his car as the four escape the intelligence agency and into a cabin. Saeyoung tearfully tries to make amends with him, but Saeran rejects him. Pretending to take a smoke break, he steals Vanderwood's cell phone and sends his location to Mint Eye for help. The next morning, the Believers arrive with, to his horror, V as the leader.
While Saeyoung, Vanderwood, and the player are held prisoner, Saeran criticizes Rika keeping V in Mint Eye, viewing him as a threat. He becomes more aggravated when, at the initiation ceremony begins, she makes the decision to have Saeyoung become a disciple instead of killing him; furthermore, she finds Saeyoung as a much more valuable asset. Feeling betrayed, Saeran begins to have a breakdown. Rika orders the Believers to give him medication, only to have an injured Saeyoung stop him. Seeing Saeyoung defend him, as well as fainting from blood loss, agitates him even more, causing him to take out his gun and threaten to shoot. He instantly chooses V as his target, blaming his involvement for swaying Rika's faith in him, and kills him.
After everyone is found by Jumin, Saeran is secretly entered into a rehabilitation facility. As the toxins from the medications are purged, he is left with resentment and refuses medication. He becomes aggressive towards the hospital staff to the point Saeyoung decides to stay with him. Saeran's condition makes progress until he leaves a devastating injury on the therapist, forcing him to be moved into the psychiatric ward. Instead, Saeyoung escapes with him to his house, pleading to him to trust him. Angry, Saeran becomes destructive. At one point when Saeyoung leaves to buy food, he contemplates suicide, only to be stopped. This culminates in him strangling Saeyoung; however, he realizes through Saeyoung's unconditional love that he does not want him to die, giving Saeyoung hope that his brother is showing signs of recovery.
After a period of time, Saeran has made moderate steps to recovery and has joined RFA, who now considers him as family. Though still uncomfortable, he logs into the messenger when Saeyoung invites the other members to his engagement party with the player. They take a commemorative photo, which reveals that he has changed his attire and hair color to lead a much more normal life.
Relationships
V
Saeran is presumed to have been initially close to V, as both V and Rika took in Saeran and treated him as family while Seven was forced to leave him to work as a secret agent towards a better future for both of them. However, after being brainwashed by Rika which V initially wasn't aware of, he shows great animosity towards V, and even accidentally kills him in first-of-two parts of the secret ending.
Zen
During Zen's route, he will meet Saeran and automatically despise him because he saw Unknown (Saeran) in his psychic dream as the person who will harm the MC eventually. So when they officially met, he told Unknown to let go of MC. However, within the other routes, Zen will be disturbed and cautious of the mysterious hacker, not knowing who the person is.
Saeran can be seen in Zen's 3rd bad ending. It is implied that the MC does not trust the RFA anymore due to the implantation of a bomb in Rika's apartment. Saeran will then break into the apartment and describes himself as the "angel who will bring you (MC) to paradise". The MC then agrees without hesitation, surprising Saeran. Saeran will then recite a story, featuring a princess who he refers to as the MC, a prince, Zen, and himself as "the angel watching from afar". He comments that Zen is rowdier than the MC in accepting his invitation, which forces him to feed Zen drugs. There will later be a CG with Zen dressed up in a majestic black attire looking a bit high from the drugs. He is later fed with the drugs again. Saeran can be seen at the back smiling giddily.
707/Saeyoung
Seven is Saeran's twin brother.
When they were young, their father ran in the presidential election and their mother constantly blackmailed him to send them money, lest she reveals the existence of their two sons. His mother was said to abuse Saeran as he was weaker and fell sick more often than Seven.
Seven trained himself to hack and took it upon himself to help his brother and himself to have a good future. However, Seven met V and Rika at church, who convinced him to join them - on the condition that he leave Saeran behind.
While at the Mint Eye, Saeran was given drugs, which were used as a method of brainwashing. Saeran was told that Seven had abandoned him, which caused Saeran to beginning feeling resentment towards his brother, even causing him to shoot and kill Seven in the 3rd bad relationship ending. However, at the end of Seven's Good Ending, Saeran apologizes for his acts, and his ties with Seven are restored.
Yoosung
In Yoosung's bad ending, Saeran forces him into a role-playing game where Saeran continuously tortures Yoosung. Yoosung is held captive by Saeran by the threat that he would hack and destroy the RFA. He is the one responsible for blinding Yoosung in his left eye.
MC
In Casual and Deep Story he tricks her into going to Rika's apartment. He wants her to join Mint Eye but isn't afraid to kill her if needed.
In Another Story he behaves much kinder to MC, convincing her to come to his home and help him test out a dating game. He treats MC like a princess and soon grows to obsess over her, wanting only for her to be happy and stay with him at Mint Eye.
In the Christmas DLC he quizzes MC on the event, in an attempt to take her away to Mint Eye. It is possible for you to get an ending with him. See Endings
Mother Choi
The spaceship reveals
Ray's Route
- "Did my eyelash into my eyes when I was rubbing them? It's itchy."
- "The caffeine pill I took seems to be caught in my throat..."
- "Miss you..."
- "Would I look weird if I slick back my hair?"
- "Huh? I think I can use this later."
- "...I'm feeling dizzy. This is annoying."
- "Never show your weak side"
- "...If I was born with a different life."
- "That believer just now ignored me, didn't he?"
- "Should I buy a new mask?"
- "I can win this. I can win this. I can win this!"
- "Oh, I almost yawned in front of the believers."
- "Why is this here?..."
- "I'll die young one day."
- "That scent from the room... What scent is it?"
- "I want to make games like the escape room."
- "Can't forget that shameful look."
- "Sometimes I feel empty. Really..."
- "......................"
- "......"
- "Smile at me when you see this flower later..."
- "I want to hug you... When should I do this..."