Rika Behind Story Plot Summary

I spent 2 hours summarising Rika’s behind story so you don’t have to. I tried my best to write down everything objectively, and anything in quotations is directly lifted from the text in the game. (Long post, TLDR at the bottom )

TW: Mentions of CSA. Please don’t read if it triggers you!

Episode 1: Three year old Mina (Rika’s real name) has a close bond with another girl older than her, called Mika, who acts a older sister to her in the adoption center. Mika is growing too old and risk being sent to an orphanage, and is desperate to find foster parents. Mina/Rika is upset and doesn’t want Mika to leave the orphanage. Both of them promise to be adopted together.

Episode 2: A hyper religious lady goes into the adoption center to look for a child who is as devout as her. She is impressed by Mika, who is diligent in her studies. Mika reveals that she has some radical beliefs, that children should be raised by bad parents to learn how to survive in a cruel world.

Time jump back to adult Rika, where she is telling the story of her childhood to a therapist. The Therapist contemplates whether she is in need of being hospitalised. Back at V’s house, Rika laments to V that he is too much of a yes man but V says he loves Rika for her weaknesses? (They start talking with those sun and darkness metaphors again, so it gets confusing) Through Rika’s monologue, she admits that V reminds her of Mika’s love and how she is afraid she might hurt V.

Episode 3: Rika is given the name Serena by her adoptive mother. Her mother obviously hates her, viewing her as an evil girl in the eyes of God. Her mother constantly calls for the Pastor to visit Rika to ‘exorcise Satan’ out of her, and when the mother leaves Rika to be alone with the pastor, Rika begs for her mother to not leave. Because of the idea that Rika is from the devil or something, kids avoid her and she has no friends.

One day, when the pastor brings Rika to the hospital (to try to convert her adoptive father?) she spots Mika lying in a nearby hospital bed.When Mika asks Rika how she has been, Rika lies about her life, as it is revealed the Mika has failed to be adopted and still lives in the orphanage, Mika reveals that she plans to become a nurse and to take care of orphans in the future, and Rika feels that happy that she is reunited with her long lost friend.

Episode 4: Rika learns from her father (who works in the hospital) that Mika has cancer in her eyes. She tries to find Mika, but the address of the orphanage she gave Rika was fake. Bitter, Rika begins to blame parents and herself. Back to the present, V suggest to Rika about getting a new puppy to replace Sally. Rika rejects this, saying that she only kept her dog Sally because she was abandoned and she does not want a new puppy. She reveals what she needs is something that allows her to 'save more forsaken people’ and that the RFA is not enough. V enquires about Saeran, and Rika says that they should separate the brothers in the long term as Saeran is 'weak at heart’, with Saeyong under V and Saeran under her. She then tells V to not talk about the Choi twins anymore, even though V protests that they had promised to look after them together.

Flashback to the past, and it is revealed that although Rika’s adopted mother wanted to adopt Mika at first, the paster decided to adopt Rika instead when she begs to take Mika’s place. It also shows Rika adopting an abandoned dog, who she names Sally, despite her mother’s disapproval. (TW: Mentions of CSA) Rika then mentions how the Paster touches her when they are alone and have done hundreds of bad things to her. but her mother dismisses it as “a ritual to condemn Satan out of her”. As an act of defiance, Rika runs to the church during a sermon and yells at the Pastor about how a God and parents who forsake their children are bad, essentially calls him out. This convinces Rika that the only thing that can protect her is the “devil inside her”. As her mother threatens to throw Sally out for the outburst, Rika threatens she would unleash Satan on the church, which scares her mother. This made Rika realise that she could secure her security through words that stir fear.

Episode 5: Rika joins and helps out in a catholic church, and is praised by the Nuns for her service. Rika suggest to the Nuns to help out in an elderly home next time as she can’t help watching someone being abandoned. At this time, She adopted the name Rika, as she hated the name that her cruel adoptive mother gave her. Rika questions what loving parents are like but prayed for a sign to one day understand that. When Rika turned 18, Rika admits she felt incompatible with “people that shone” as she could not get close to those who don’t need her help. She felt intimidated by such people as she believed that they could “see her darkness"

When Rika is visiting an exhibition, she found herself drawn to one of V’s photos, which she believes she can feel the pure love of a parent from it. For a year, Rika became enamoured with V’s photos and constantly hunted down any of his exhibitions. Rika eventually meets child Saeyong outside the cathedral, where Saeyong mentions he wants to sing for his little brother. Rika notes from his build and clothing that he is most likely neglected, and Saeyong starts to occasionally pop in at the cathedral. Rika starts tutoring him subjects, and Saeyong’s talent of math is revealed. Rika becomes attached to Saeyong as she sees Mika and herself in him. The episode ends with her adoptive mother threatening to kick Rika out.

Episode 6: Rika explains how she met Yoosung, and how he reminded her of a child who was raised in his parent’s love. She feels nervous around Yoosung, fearing that he would one day "learn that there is a devil inside her”. As Yoosung and Rika talk, Rika is jealous of Yoosung’s upbringing and believes that he would be ruined if he stays close to her. Yoosung reveals that he wants to be like Rika, and admires her passion and sincerity in helping others. Rika assures him that he will be a good person, while thinking to herself that unlike him, she will never be one. As Yoosung follows Rika around, Rika notes that she had no idea how to handle him and tried to look confident, but it ultimately made her uncomfortable which made her avoid him at times. Meanwhile, she found herself drawn towards Saeyong, a boy “full of wounds”.

One day, she takes Saeyong to visit V’s exhibition, where she finally meets the photographer. She tells V that his photos make her feel the warmth of a loving mother and V gives one of his photos to her as a gift. Rika says she can’t accept such a gift for free, and V offers that in exchange, they meet for coffee after the exhibition.

Episode 7: During their coffee date, Rika is perplexed by V, as instead of seeing him as light or dark, she sees him as a “ White blank container” and is drawn to him. Rika asks him if he thinks that she could ever bask in such love like in his photos, where V answers that she deserved to be loved, and that he would help her believe it. This is when Rika believes that they were fated, and became V’s model and visited his home regularly. However, as his model, they did not talk much, with V merely observing Rika and taking photos. This confuses Rika, and she decides to keep her darkness from him by pretending to be a bright person who was raised with lots of love.

2 months of being V’s model, Rika is expelled from her house by her mother, and Rika finds a temporary home at the cathedral. She begins to lament that the people who have not forsaken her are people like her, broken, and how she can not get close to V or Yoosung as they are nothing like her. Despite this, Rika wishes to be loved and “wants to get close to the light”, even though she thinks she does not deserve it.She decides to stop visiting V’s studio, as she believes that if she ever asks him to love her, that he would “treat her like made and forsake her”.

Due to Rika’s disappearance, V goes to Rika’s adoptive home to look for her, where he runs into her adoptive mother, who reveals that she views Rika as a heathen to V. V finds Rika at the cathedral (via Jumin’s connections), and Rika tells him that they live in “two different worlds that can never combine” and tells him that she is a dark tragic person. Rika admits to him that she is scared that she would be abandoned, and asks V if he could embrace her. V does, and promises that he would be her sun. In tears, Rika begs V to never leave her even if she makes a mistake or does something he doesn’t like. As V agrees, she asks how V can prove himself, and V tells her that he would marry her if she wanted. This made Rika happy as V is like her, “who is far from the ordinary sort"

Episode 8: V and Rika become engaged in the year they met. In that year, she meets Jumin, and with both V and Jumin’s influences and connections, Rika believes that she can finally achieve her dream of "making forsaken people happy”. However, Rika still felt like she had to escape from V at times because of her darkness, and thus created her apartment. (The one that MC stays at during the common and deep routes) Behind V’s back, Rika plans the layout of the cameras of the apartment and sends them to Saeyong.

It is revealed that Rika is in cahoots with Mika (who isn’t dead, but eyes are damaged permanently). Mika does not trust V, and offered a plan to protect Rika from being forsaken. Mika’s plan is to use Saeran and make the RFA believe that all the information from RFA that was stolen by a hacker. Rika is reluctant to follow the plan, saying that “she must save him” and questions whether she should tell V about the plan. However, Mika convinces Rika that she can “save him by using him” and that she must never ever tell V the plan. Rika agrees, and through her monologue, admits that although she knows that both her and Mika are abnormal, “devils cannot forsake each other”. Both Mika and Rika come up with the idea of Mint eye together before Mika’s death. Time jump to the first RFA party, where Rika gives a speech about the sun and how it represents the unconditional love of the mother. She ends her speech by saying “V, I love you. Please stay with me forever and be my sun”

Tldr:

Rika had a close friend in her orphanage called Mika –> Rika gets adopted by a hyper religious mother who believes there is a devil inside her –> A priest gets sent to ‘cleanse’ her, but uses this opportunity to sexually abuse Rika –> Rika meets Mika in the hospital, who has eye cancer –> Rika adopts an abandoned dog and after threatening to unleash the devil on the church in order to keep the dog, she realises the power of inciting fear in people –>She helps out at a cathedral and meets Saeyong there. Rika meets Yoosung and is intimidated by his loving upbringing –> Rika falls in love with V’s photos as she can sense a mother’s love from it and becomes V’s model when they meet –> Rika is kicked out of her house, and where V finds her residing in the cathedral, he promises to love her despite her flaws and her future actions –> The RFA is created, but it is revealed that Mika is residing in Rika’s apartment, and together they formulate what would become Mint Eye, using Saeran as part of the plan.