After finishing Ray’s Route… I have come up with a bit of a hypothesis, or theory, to what the good end suggests regarding Rika and V.

LONG POST! Spoilers are of course, under the cut.



Feel free to share your own views on this!

Up to this point in time, after everything that happened, with the help of Saeran and the C&R Intelligence Unit, it seems like V’s been reassured that the RFA seem to be handling everything alright now on their own.

His initial goal and hope of protecting Saeran is complete as it’s left in the MC’s hands- she’s already taking good care of him.



The disappearance with Luciel is not yet solved, but he believes that he’ll return as long as the prime minister is… well, ideally, actively pursued and shut down.

(the result of this plan is still unknown)



Looking at this perspective, the only ‘problematic obstacle/unfinished goal’ left… is Rika.



At this point of the route, it’s notable that he still believes that his only purpose in life was to love Rika, for who she is, regardless of her dark self and ways. Unlike in V route, as we’re pursuing Saeran here, the MC hasn’t made too much of a contribution in guiding him to a healthier view.

He hasn’t come to realise that her actions are unjust on himself (because he’s being… stubbornly altruistic.)



During the 03:18 AM chatroom ‘Thought it was a Joke’ on Ray’s Route Day 10

This is what V has to say:

Again, the notion of regretting and not being able to turn back time is prominent here. Even a certain spaceship thought he has in this route “I shan’t look back” comes to mind.



Through the routes, you discover that V ultimately struggles to face the reality that you aren’t able to reverse time itself and do things over, regardless of how much damage has been caused.



(The following is taken from Common Story Day 2: 15:00 | Concerns from V and Zen )

He always wishes to go back and change the events of the past,



Now…



Directly after the 03:18 AM chatroom…



The following Visual Novel sequence takes place and ends like this:



The visual novel stops here. We’re left with nothing after this, until the next visual novel which takes place after the following chatroom.



Day 10| 21:39 Unfolding Clues







What’s interesting to note here is how at this very point after Jaehee’s confused emoji, the music switches from Jaehee’s usual theme to a moment of complete silence, until the MC chooses their choice…



before it finally starts playing the iconic soundtrack, ‘I Draw’ aka the theme that plays in V’s past (and sometimes when he’s in the chat in Another Story)

As usual, V tells everyone not to worry or have concerns for him.

(this notion of ‘change’ will be an important discussion point later on)

Here, V is as usual, showing his gratitude and thankfulness towards the members of the RFA.

But there’s something about it that conveys that this isn’t just a simple farewell…



(and poor Jumin’s just a tad late…)

After this chatroom, as promised, follows this vital visual novel sequence.

I’ll show the main parts:

Now here… is a crucial point:



KEY WORD: INCINERATE

I’m sure you’re aware that these two characters always lace some sort of deep, philosophical symbolism within their words. The re-used symbol of the sun and its light is important here.

Remember: “incinerate”.



Finally, we reach Saeran’s Good End. And towards the very end of it, these two characters once again make their appearance.

The word incinerate is used again .

Now, some of you may be skeptical about this, just because a single word was reused.

But consider this:

I personally find it a bit too eerily coincidental that they had just talked about incinerating, prior to arriving at the twin’s house to incinerate it.

Now here’s what I think:

As harsh as it sounds, Rika’s illness is ultimately…incurable. It’s likely she’ll always be the way she is, forever. There’s no 'suitable’ way, to love her. Even if V tries to satisfy all her conditions, it’s only unhealthy as we’ve seen.

Taking what we’ve seen of V, and how he’s demonstrated that he’s a man who yearns to change the past and always riddled with regret, you could say that he’s the type who wishes to seal things away or 'erase’ things if needed.

If there’s one thing we know for certain, is that V will gladly do anything to protect the RFA and its members, and he even prioritizes that over himself. Even, if he hurts or sacrifices himself in the process.

Now what am I suggesting here, exactly?



I think that he would truly have been with Rika forever, if he had killed themselves… along with the house.

prevent anymore future disaster

By staying by Rika’s side to show that he loves her, by incinerating himselfRika would no longer torment him and face torment herself.By incinerating the burning house, their plan was to wipe away and erase the dark past of the happenings that took place, but also to erase the place where ‘Rika’s devil was begotten’.If he had felt that the one way to love Rika was to embrace all her darkness and come to accept her for who she is; keeping in mind, that so many chaotic things had spiraled because of their tumultuous relationship…by burning not only the dark past that took place in the twin’s house, but also themselves…that wouldby ending it here.

By preventing this said disaster, he would ideally prevent any more chaos happening to the RFA from happening due to their relationship.

Last but not least, if you are still unconvinced that V’s farewell was no longer than an ordinary farewell, look on towards the dialogue he says in his phone calls…

THIS PHONE CALL TAKES PLACE RIGHT AFTER THE CHAT WITH ZEN AND V AT 8:36 AM

(If this doesn’t sound like a final bid of a farewell then I don’t know what does.. ;;)

This is not the end of his calls though, because he has one, one last one.

Which takes place right after… you guessed it, ‘Unfolding Clues’ (the chatroom with Jaehee and V, as he says he’s leaving to change the future)

When tonight passes by, there will be a lot of things that have changed



An indication to the fact that something big was about to happen?

(aka. the incineration at the end?)

And… of course, finally come the worries of his friends on the 8:00 chatroom of the Party Day taking place on Day 11

(for saying this line, the MC earns a V heart. Sobs. )

His friends are naturally hoping that he’ll return.

But given the result, the outcome is rather…ambiguous and grim. Things aren’t exactly looking good.

Oh, not to mention that his profile…

is completely removed.



The last text messages you receive from him are about the sun.

The metaphor of the sun is used heavily between Rika and V, where they refer to each other as the sun.

If in this case, the sun is V…



Then V, is trying to reassure that everything will be alright, even when he’s gone, after his eternal farewell…



