2025-07-11: Coolest! The Cardboard Dragon Interview
- Log: Coolest! The Cardboard Dragon Interview
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Maya Amano
- Where: The Cardboard Dragon
- OOC Date: July 10, 2025
- IC Date: June 08, 2012
- Summary: Maya arrives to interview Myunghon.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
The Cardboard Dragon is not... what one would consider a hip and premiere book and cardgame store. It's not anywhere near the common Hirasaka commercial centres -- not in homely Kameya Alley, nor trying to make it in the aging SMILE Hirasaka Mall. Instead, it's nestled in a forgotten street some few blocks away, behind a foreboding alleyway that looks like yakuza could be fighting down there...
Then up a fire escape and a door only marked by an A4 piece of paper and -- voila! The Cardboard Dragon, a store that uses an office that looks like it last had hopes and dreams in the 80s. Cracked floor tiles, old single-glazed windows, dilapidating ceiling squares...
And the books on the shelves... Paul Verlaine, Fyodoro Dostoevsky, the brothers Goncourt... this isn't a store that sells books even remotely recent. There are no authors here that wrote anything in, say, the last 40 years. And the cardgame front looks a bit healthier, but... there are no kids right now, on account of it being schooltime at Kasugayama High, and the delinquents think this place is too lame to come here.
Myunghon Yeo is in the middle of all this, and to call them 'sitting' on a couch is... no, what are they doing? They've transcended the human art of sitting, perched on the couch in an almost physically impossible manner with their god-ankles, typing away at a laptop.
They're a lanky, white-haired person, just like Maya last saw them at Honmaru Park -- still dressed in that white dress shirt and black dress pants, with the loose black tie and the black suit jacket slung over their shoulders. The most notable thing about them is how basically almost their entire upper body is covered in bandages, including half their face and over their right eye, and a large square of bandage on their left cheek.
There's a corkboard beside them, with a map of Sumaru City, with lots of red thread and photographs and post-it notes, and beside the laptop is... is...
Nine Happy Meal boxes from Peace Burger? The somewhat soggy smell of uneaten food lingers in the air as they pick up one of the Happy Meal toys -- a pink racecar -- and intently squints into it.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Hey there! I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Maya is only halfway through the door whe she calls out to Myunghon; she hasn't yet had a second to take in the scene visually, but she has had a chance to take in its... unique odor.
That odor may have disturbed some people, but not Maya. The odor gave off a comforting, homey quality. Perhaps because Maya's room is presently littered with just as much food as can be found here.
...she really needs to clean her room sometime.
"No customers yet?" she asks, as the door shuts behind her. She immediately looks around, not yet noticing the shopkeeper's apparent fascination with their free toy. "That means we should be able to get some good clean shots without disturbing anyone." It looks entirely different from the collectible card shops she saw when researching online, but Maya supposed there were all kinds of card shops these days.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon doesn't immediately respond, their singular eye bulging as they continue typing into the laptop -- but by the time Maya half-finishes the sentence, they jolt into awareness, and then rises from the couch in one effortless motion. "Oh! You're Amano-san, aren't you, from the Park? I'm sorry for the mess, I was fixated on something." Something involving the toys from Happy Meals from Peace Burger.
Myunghon lets out a little genteel laugh as Maya asks if there aren't any customers. "It isn't terribly common in the mid-day. Most of the delinquents who cut class would rather go somewhere like the Prison or somewhere more hip! Anyway, it's nice to meet you -- again. I'm Myunghon Yeo, owner of the Cardboard Dragon."
There is a pause, and then they just start wholesale grabbing the Happy Meal boxes to try to clear some space. "Just bear with me one moment...!" Nothing's been eaten from any of those boxes... are they going to waste food??
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"You aren't going to eat that?" Maya asks, pointing at the pile of Happy Meal boxes Myunghon is gathering. She can hear the food shift in the box and it doesn't smell as old as the stuff in her room.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon pauses, and then stares at the Meals and... shakes her head. They have the dumbfounded look of someone who didn't even consider that there's food in there. "Oh. I suppose I wasn't hungry... do you want some, Amano-san? It was delivered some twenty minutes ago. You're free to have some if you'd like." Is that considered rude, offering lukewarm takeaway fastfood to your guests?
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Well, I haven't had lunch yet..." If it is considered impolite to offer lukewarm fast food to your guests by polite society, Maya is firmly not a member of that community. "But why did you order so much?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon stops for a good long five seconds, before admitting, "I wanted the Happy Meal toys. It was important to my investigation. I'm sure there's a connection between it and..." Oops, they shouldn't just immediately spill that name. But wasn't Amano-san also involved in...? Hmmmm. It might be worth...
"... the Joker Killer."
... okay even with that revelation tipped out, how is the Joker Killer involved in Happy Meal toys??
"Oh, but you also needed an interview with me for your work, didn't you, Amano-san? I shouldn't interrupt that, my apologies."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Wait, the Joker Killer?" That stops Maya dead in her tracks; she even stops reaching for the Happy Meal she was going to claim for herself. "Do you know something about him?"
The absurdity of fast food being somehow linked to the serial killer doesn't even register to Maya. Plenty of absurd things happen in her line of work, and she's more than happy to tug at any lead she can before Editor-in-Chief Mizuno can find another way to discipline her.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon does pause, and then takes a deeper breath and reclines back in their chair like a normal person for once. "Yes. On its off hours, the Cardboard Dragon is also the home of Rumourmonger Merry... and I do deal with Sumaru's latest ins and outs. I've met with your companions, Serizawa-san and Suou-san, who have explained to me a little of the situation you're in, Amano-san."
Myunghon does feel a little bad that they ended up finding out about the reporter's situation second-hand, but her own account of the situation would still be extremely valuable. "I've offered some guidance to them... and I can also provide my services to you, Amano-san. I don't think this Joker Killer is someone we'll be able to catch working alone."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"What do you want in exchange?" Maya asks. There's no suspicion in Maya's tone, no wariness that registers itself on her face. She asks the question with the practicality of someone who's dealt with a Rumormonger before and will probably deal with many more in the future.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon looks to Maya plainly for a few more seconds. Hmmm. Yes, there's definitely a drive in them; no wonder she rejected the safety of the Sevens emblem, even after being offered a way out. Leaving the truth buried half-way didn't seem like their style.
"I'd like you to keep me in the loop of your own investigation," Myunghon speaks in turn, one leg crossed over the other. "There are several facts I've been made privy to by some people I need to keep anonymous, but also... someone desperate enough to call the Joker Killer themselves to try to exact revenge on them. So I'm somewhat on the clock regarding the matter."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"I think I can manage that!" Maya answers cheerily. "I'll drop off some issues of Coolest the next time I'm in the area. They don't have anything I'm sure you don't know already, but there's nothing wrong with being thorough."
Maya doesn't publish everything she's found out about the Joker Killer in Coolest, though. "You have an email address? I'll send you my case notes, too." 'Case notes' sounds much cooler than what it actually is, but Maya's pretty proud of it. She organized it and everything!
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
There's a gentle nod from Myunghon as they draw a piece of paper -- then writes an address on it. It looks a little random, not something that someone just looking can immediately trace back to an identity or this store. "Here you go." There's a chuckle as Maya doesn't waste any time to promote her magazine! Well, they've been seen flicking through some issues of Coolest... ...when they can find it at a coffee store.
"I wasn't aware you were publishing the Joker Killer on Coolest, actually..." Myunghon does admit. "But I suppose it is a sensational point of gossip amongst the crowd at the moment. If I might be so bold, Amano-san, what is it that drives you to chase after him? I'd heard about how you went to Chief Todoroki to spread a rumour to be protected from him. That was a clever move. But you aren't going to settle with that, are you?"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Of course not!" Maya says, tucking the slip of paper into a safe place in her bag. "Originally, I was sent to investigate the Joker Phenomenon by my editor, but..." Maya rubs the curve of her ear, a habit of hers whenever she was thinking hard about something. "...we all just got pulled into it. A lot more than with a regular story." Maya got sucked into those, too, but this was on an entirely different level. "I can't let go of the story until I see it to the end."
But that's not all, is it?
"And then there's Déjà-vu Boy. He's got to be involved somehow, but I still don't know how."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon regards Maya's story with serious intent, considering the facts for a long while as they press their thumb up to their lips. They turn towards the corkboard again. Maya can see now that she has the context that it's a grid of all the known victims, including notes and theorems and little tidbits and even photographs obtained from CCTV. There's some under-the-hood stuff here that'd likely be pretty grey and unadmissible in court.
"You're right, Amano-san. There's a lot more to it than just a regular sequence killer," Myunghon remarks. Shinjiro said as much. Ten Years ago... it started that early? "And... it's highly likely it's not just someone on their own either. The way they can always give the police the slip, and stay clean afterwards without a trail... there's power masking the evidence trail."
A blink of the eye, however, as Maya mentions a figure. "Deja-vu Boy?" Uh oh, eels!
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya's eyes are fixed on the board now, taking in all the details she can read from where she stands. "That's what I thought too," she says, quieter than before. "It's too neat. There's got to be more to it that we're not seeing." Or that they can't see at all. "Eventually, someone's bound to make a mistake and I want to be there when it happens."
Let's think positive!
Her gaze shifts back to Myunghon at the mention of the nickname. "Yeah. Déjà-vu Boy." She says the name with equal parts frustration and affection. "He saved us once. He was even the one who gave me the emblem and told me to spread that rumor."
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<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon does find Maya's confidence infectious. They never thought of someone who really needed the boost -- but they're human just like everyone else, no matter how much they want to label themselves as disqualified from being human. Or perhaps they just don't want to admit that acknowledging that some of the horrible things happening are human would be worse.
".... hmmm," Myunghon's thoughts are clearly spinning at a thousand miles an hour as their gaze becomes distant for a short little while. "I can safely tell you that there's history behind this case. It didn't just start now, and that there's history... people who were hurt in the past because of it, long before the public even knew of 'the Joker Killer'. Perhaps this deja-vu boy is one of those people. It doesn't sound like he's just an ordinary boy, in that regard."
There's a kind little smile as they say, "And... you're in a position where you have steadfast allies, it seems like. Serizawa-san was really concerned about you, so much that she came looking for how to wield more power for her Persona. It's good to have people you can count on in a time like this."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Really?" Surprise briefly registers on Maya's face, but it quickly softens. Of course Ulala would. "Well, I'm not going to slack just because Ulala's here to take care of me! I'm going to protect her, too." And the others, of course! But especially Ulala.
"Were you able to help her?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"Mm," Myunghon nods. "I didn't get a chance to explain before, Amano-san, but I also deal in little artifacts of power called Skill Cards here, which can empower your Persona. Both Serizawa-san and Suou-san have found some that are useful, for when you next have to deal with something dangerous -- whether Demons or the Joker Killer himself. I can be of service to you, if you are interested in some."
They hold a singular card that they effortlessly pull out, seemingly from their sleeve. "In such a dark time, we Persona-Users have an interest in sticking together..."