2025-08-12: Psi Isn't Real
- Log: Psi Isn't Real
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Masao Inaba
- Where: Cardboard Dragon
- OOC Date: August 12, 2025
- IC Date: June 24, 2012
- Summary: Masao visits a shady card store in Hirasaka... and a deal is made.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
The Cardboard Dragon's one of those... local secrets, you could say, in Hirasaka. Located behind an alleyway that looks like the kind of suspect place yakuza would fight, and up a fire escape, and only identifiable through an A4 piece of paper that actually labels the store... it's not the easiest place to find. But Persona-Users have been gossiping about the place lately -- it's a place to come get Skill Cards.
Inside is... oh baby. It's almost... artistic, in how run down it is -- like an aesthetic. Once, this was a proud office floor during the 80s, but since then, the floor tiles haven't been replaced, the windows are still single-glazed louvres, the cardboard tiles are maybe soggy... but, there's still something of a cozy vibe here, with bookshelves with difficult-looking books on one side, like Verlaine, Dostoevsky, Hauptmann... and a more open area with tables for playing card games and a couch with even a Baestation III plugged into a TV!
The owner is currently perched ontop of the couch, having transcended, Riker-like, the human limitations of sitting. They're... they're... stacking animal crackers? There's a tower of Koala March crackers easily one meter in height, seemingly precarious, but not yet collapsing.
This is Myunghon Yeo, or Rumourmonger Merry, who's dressed in almost funerary-looking blacks and whites -- a nice suit, with a long coat jacket slung over the top of their shoulders. Most of their face is covered in bandages, including their right eye, as well as their neck and hands. Their hair is in a bob, and is ashen-white; their singular left eye, similarly, is gray.
They notice your arrival and call, "Ah, welcome!"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
There was an absolute disaster of a temporary part-time job hire that ended up pointing a local street artist towards the Cardboard Dragon in a weird, vaguely threatening but some sort of implied 'you need to know' way, and this Sunday evening, there's a short young man in a yellow beanie second-guessing the directions given the location.
He lives in this part of town now and even this feels kind of dangerous, but still... that's the place, all right. Really out of the way, and even the fire escape feels like its own hazard...
Is it still open? The door's not locked, the signage seems to indicate it's still business hours. With a shrug, and the open push of a door... it all seems empty, beyond the silhouette of someone sitting strangely by a nearby couch over yonder.
"H--"
'Ah, welcome!'
"...Yeah, hi," the artist puts a hand back against his head. "This is the Cardboard Dragon, huh? Someone who went by 'Akabane' pointed me to here, lookin' for a... Myunghon? About... things."
What kinds of things, he probably should've gone over with her before coming here. Card games? That's a game console right there, too.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon pauses, and then in one effortless motion goes from that weird squat-sitting position to just rising, their suit spilling down naturally before them as they rise to full height, beanpole-like. "That would be me, Myunghon Yeo. And ah, a friend of Akabane-san's..."
A pause, as they rub their chin. "I feel as if I have seen you before somewhere..." A pause. They're a million miles away for a moment, accessing the spiderweb of their thoughts. "Aha!"
They gesture gently and says, "You were the young man running the Inaba Cleaning Service, were you not?!"
On that day in the Sumaru Hyakumanzeki Festival, in Rengedai Ward. Which in turn makes them the weirdo that had to get fished out of the river... oh boy, what extra trouble did Umie Akabane land you in, Masao Inaba?
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
There is a captive audience of a young man who now has a front row seat to all that is Myunghon Yeo, who is not at all imposing in comparison.
"Yeah?" Where was he seen--- ah. "Oh, y'mean my folks' place, yeah... I'm an artist, I studied overseas for a few years. I got an internship back home here in Japan, but then..." It strikes him, now, why the visage might actually be familiar in turn. Don't tell me, his internal dialogue, that this is the lady that was in the river he'd been hearing about.
...
He decides to continue where he was leaving off. "Well, the internship I would've got under Madarame kinda went sideways."
He passed by no less than two pieces of street graffiti depicting the old man's tearful confession. It's been something of a meme, lately, for just how unthinkable it is. Someone just up and confessing all their crimes after some thieves did something or another, as the rumors would go.
"...So yeah, still stayin' with the folks," an admission, but one that speaks to the core of a man who has made it clear what his direction in life is! ...
...He can't avoid the subject after all.
"Were you the one they had to get out of the river at the Hyakumanzeki Festival?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
This person just kinda went from looking like a goldfish with their koala tower to just looking as graceful as any storefront employee wants to be. Their Koala tower is still teetering in the back. Some of them are even looking at Mark, Are they...? They're just animal crackers. They can't think, silly.
"An artist?" Myunghon's eye gleams for a moment. "Goodness, and you studied overseas, even. Perhaps on a scholarship?" That would speak a lot to this young man's talents, artistic or otherwise. "But... I see."
It only takes the mention of the name 'Madarame' to understand. "Because of the... Change of Heart, I would surmise. It was all over the news and rumour sites." Or perhaps even before? They had heard a lot about what was not on the up-and-up about Madarame's conduct, but using the Phantom Thieves as an excuse is less personally probing.
"Please, have a seat," Myunghon gestures, though they blink at Masao when he admits he's still staying with the parents. "Well. I for one do not think that shameful at all, especially given the difficult circumstance that you were placed in, Inaba-san."
Buuuut...
Were they fished out of the river?
"Oh! So you saw the results of my Magic River Teleportation experiment!"
Weeeeeeeir-doooooo.
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
A nod at the scholarship. Yep. Other than that, he's looking a bit more attentive about the mention of the 'Change of Heart.'
"Yeah, somethin' like that." Masao dodged a bullet, in all of that - this much can be understood. Even then, the sense of it having thrown so much into disarray about his life plans and immediate future... well. Tough to navigate that.
"...Thanks," he says as he takes that seat. Awkward, but, might as well make himself comfortable, as he takes this seat in this borderline dilapidated but well-lived card game shop. Still--
'Oh! So you saw the results of my Magic River Teleportation experiment!'
"Yep. Sure did. Whatever that was, uh, I guess it worked? I'm not a sciences guy... y'know, more arts. Heh."
Awk-waaaaarrrrrrrrd.
"I moved here to Sumaru about a month back or so, and... yeah, things sure seem like they've been happening, all right." He catches himself before saying it's happening 'again.'
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"Absolutely a huge success! Why, I was at Yumezaki before the festival and could not get a taxi in time with that traffic. But I played 280 yen into my mouth, leapt off the bridge and closed my eyes and... voila! I was in the festival in time when I opened my eyes!"
Myunghon claps and has a jovial laugh for themself. A pause. It's plain to tell this young man's feeling quite awkward, and platitudes aren't going to help much. "That's Sumaru for you, unfortunately. If it isn't sequence killers, it's gang warfare or yakuza muggings or gas explosions." It's almost deliberate, the way they accentuate each of that, as if it's not the truth behind everything.
"But. You told me you were an artist, Inaba-san. I happen to be looking for one to sponsor in turn, if you have the right skills... and I wonder if that is what Akabane-san is trying to indicate to the both of us."
They turn towards one of their card albums, and fishes out several cards and places them on the table. They're... Skill Cards, radiating with Cognitive power.
"This is one of our most popular line of stock," Myunghon explains gently, their eye finding Mark's. "What do you see in these, Inaba-san?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Jumping off a bridge into water with the fare in one's mouth... that seems like the sort of thing Kurouri would've done. Well, it worked, she got to the Festival and she's here. The captive audience just politely lets her regale her tales of experimentation and explanation.
"...Tell me about it," he says about all the things 'if it isn't.' Stuff he should touch further base on with Elly down the line, but this is right now! Not down the line. Right now, he's visiting a card games shop with a colorful owner, and that's just what this Sunday evening is, all right.
"A sponsor, huh," that's got his attention, as the card album opens and his eyes already picks out a key design before they're shared on the table. When her eyes meet his, she can see the way they light up in surprise more than delight.
"These things? That's... 'Zan,' that's 'Frei,'" he's listing them off, though he cocks an eyebrow at one of them. "...I dunno what that one is."
That one's Psi.
"These're Skill Cards," he says, knowing and definitively, "...oh, I get it, this is a place for..."
A moment of focus, of one's resonance. Masao's is notable - a Persona-user's, and not a 'new' one, to read it as such.
"...So that's why she pointed me your way, huh."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon has come to sit down at their chair again, leg folded over the other as they commiserate over Sumaru. "Just the other day, there was an incident at Kasugayama High and I just happened to be out of town." They look regretful about that. "'Gang violence,' they called it, but you and I both know that was not the case..."
There is a glint of acknowledgement and interest in their eye. It's almost dangerous. "Ah, 'Psi'... this one lets you manouevre objects using telekinesis. If it isn't familiar... perhaps 'Sweet Trap' might be more familiar? Some Demons like to drop vending machines and other fun things on you with it."
This person must be pretty knowledgeable about Demons and abilities to be able to bridge that gap!!
"But, it seems that we do not have to pretend around each other any longer." Myunghon focuses their Resonance in turn, and senses Masao's -- oho... this is someone who's quite experienced with his Persona. Even more than them, if they had to admit it. He's unassuming, but it's the unassuming ones that hide the most intriguing secrets.
"I am one of Sumaru City's Rumourmongers -- Rumourmonger Merry. But on the side... I supply the Persona-Users of this city with Skill Cards. Our jobs are difficult enough already, with Joker Killers and now distorted Yakuza knocking at our door..." Hmm? What's that last one about?
"Let me be frank about my request, then, Inaba-san."
They hold one of the cards up.
"Do you think you can paint Skill Cards?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
That incident at Kasugayama High... Masao exhales at the mention of it. "Yeah... that was somethin'." That was a near-death experience with a young woman in gothic lolita dress about to axe murder him, and his friends. Sumaru's gone out of its way to make things like that almost seem ordinary after all that's happened...
"Sweet Trap? Yeah, I know that one." A laugh. Nostalgic, in the sense he can laugh at it because it's in the rear view mirror (...for now). "Friggin' headache every time they get you with that."
This is a man whose existence accepts Sweet Trap but not Psi! His life must have been very interesting, and also bereft of colorful subtractive palettes in the shape of orbs.
...Still, a truth is out, they're both on the up-and-up with the supernatural world around them. Masao takes in the Resonance of the other Persona-user in turn... and he catches up with the narration on that point.
'Rumormonger.' He's heard the term. The exact importance of this presently eludes him, and he does not seem to think to ask about that in the moment as he fixates on the Skill Cards (and his present disbelief that 'Psi' is actually a thing even though, undeniably, that is still a Skill Card.)
"Paint up Skill Cards, huh," he thinks, hand back behind his head. "Y'know, I never even thought about tryin' that. Not like I was gonna second-guess the Demon Artist about that sorta thing."
It did kinda feel like, back then, he and his friends kind of just kept bouncing between twisty labyrinthian locales with barely a break in-between.
"...All right, yeah, I can get behind that," the street artist nods, putting on a wide smile like he might be about to stumble on some really fun mischief that just hits the spot of who he is and what he does, "I mean it's gotta be possible! So yeah, I'm thinkin', if I had a few to try and copy I'd give it a go."
Beat.
"Oh, uh, I didn't introduce myself, did I? It's Inaba. Masao Inaba. Y'might have seen some of my works here 'n there under the tag 'Mark.'"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon looks quietly pleased that they can get the young man to laugh, at least. Sumaru is quite an unpredictable and dangerous city, but Myunghon has a feeling that's not necessarily *new* to this man -- not that it makes it any more disorienting, to experience it again. "I happen to deal with a lot of Jack Frosts, so I tend to get a lot of vending machines thrown my way, back then..."
It's almost like a nice little moment of nostalgia for the both of them. But... yes, the truth of their positions is known to each other now. Masao muses about painting up Skill Cards... he never thought about that -- why second-guess the Demon Artist on that thing? But... eventually, he agrees, with that kind of wide smile that looks like he can take on the world.
"Masao Inaba," Myunghon repeats with a hum. "Oh, that was you? I was thinking that we had some really nice work recently, but I would not have guessed that to be you."
There is a gentle gesture. "Of course, I don't want this to just be strictly about Skill Cards -- I know you've other interests with art too, and I happen to have the means to support some people at present. I wouldn't want you to stop those endeavours just because of our deal."
Is this person... rich? They don't look... rich. Everything about this place looks like it's collapsing. They look like they've got one foot in the coffin. Is it SHADY money, then? But, they are a Persona-User... maybe they know a thing or two about making money with their Persona, like Taro from St. Hermelin...?
"Speaking of which, I have a current situation broiling that I could use the help of an experienced Persona-User like you, Mark-san. Do you know the yakuza crime boss, Junya Kaneshiro?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
"Aw, Jack Frosts? Yeah, they're cool." Says the young man who somehow graffiti'd up a depiction of them on a (supposedly) abandoned factory wall before they came to visit Mikage-cho and make a hee-horrible mess of everything. "I'd say they're the coolest, even." Aside from the whole flung vending machine thing.
This minor disruption in the conversation aside... Myunghon's proposal keeps going, and there's that matter of curiosity. The environment belies the confidence and certainty in which Myunghon speaks of the capacity to support 'some' people. His expression evens out after the shared amusement about Jack Frost and the praise for the art he's put up here and there as time and mood struck, strikes, and will continue to strike.
"...Yakuza crime boss?" Masao sits up a bit. "...I hadn't heard the name, no, but there's been some rough-lookin' guys at the dry cleaners lately."
A beat.
"They were pretty polite, come to think." He looks up, reminiscing over whether or not they might've, in fact, been yakuza goons. Then again, who could get angry at a good dry cleaner?
...Anyway.
"So, uh... what's this about, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Somewhere, a young Jack Frost is overhearing this and feels really proud of themselves. Myunghon's estimation of this young man has increased!! Anyone who cares about Jack Frosts must be totally okay. "Ha ha... indeed. Very cool." As cool as a Kool Boss, even.
"They came around here not two weeks ago claiming that they'll put a stake here in Hirasaka, and came and threatened a number of people... my guests included," Myunghon explains simply enough, though there's something like anger rising as a note within their voice. There's some passion, when the people who've visited their store are threatened under their watch.
"Now, I say this seemingly unrelated thing because... I found a way into his Palace." Myunghon sets their phone down, and opens the Meta-Nav app -- and it thrums with Cognitive distortion as the image of that creepy eye logo wisps on their phone screen.
"You've probably been curious what happened in Madarame's case, if I had to guess, Inaba-san. What if I told you that these Palaces are likely where that all happens... and that you might be able to come closer to the truth of how it's all done?"
There's a smile that seems almost eerie and dangerous. "If we're lucky, we may even be able to see those Phantom Thieves at their finest. But even if not--" They gesture, somewhat melodramatically. "I am doing this to protect Hirasaka from his overreach."
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Did I just get pulled into some kinda mob turf war, Masao wonders, but there's something that grabs his attention not because it is a thing of interest or comprehension.
'...I found a way into his Palace.'
"Palace? That's a weird name for--" He stops talking, when the phone is set down and shows that weird distorting eye in a way it feels like it'll jump right off the screen. The way it ripples, it most certainly feels like it physically is.
"What the hell is that?"
Luckily, this already gets something close to an answer. 'You've probably been curious what happened in Madarame's case, if I had to guess, Inaba-san.' He's gone from incredulous to listening, and also intimidated somewhat by that unsettling smile.
"Tch," he looks to the side. Something that feels like it's almost too perfect for the questions he has about what the heck is even going on, here! (There are so many things worthy of that query!)
He crosses his arms. "It's true, I do got a lotta questions about what happened. So... what the hey is a 'Palace,' and... what's that thing got to do with it? The eye thing."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"A Palace appears to be the term for a cognitive space manifested from someone who's experiencing from a..." Myunghon pauses, considering their words. "Severe misalignment between consensus and their own reality, I'm currently using, as my current hypothesis. In Kaneshiro's case, I and several other sensitive Persona-Users were able to sense a great distortion when we met him -- his view over his wealth and riches had overtaken his cognitive sense."
A supernatural space created when someone's cognition misaligns with everyone else's reality... now why does that feel so familiar?
"This," Myunghon points at the eye on the app, "is the Meta-Nav app, but... it is a mystery to all of us. It appears to select Persona-Users and allows them, with effort, to enter Palaces... as well as that place called Mementos, if you've been before. It's dangerous work, relying on an app with unknown origins -- the kind of thing that'd get you scammed or with a virus on your personal computer, but..."
There is a helpless little shrug. "At the moment, my own life is on the line. I've assembled a few other trusted Persona-Users to help me investigate." And boy, that's been a ride an a half, with their own sister eventually awakening. Did mother plan for all this? Is mother involved with Kaneshiro in some way? Was Kaneshiro getting tipped off here shedding the heat that she'd accrued in her own damn mishap?
... distractions.
"You're no stranger to these happenings, aren't you, Inaba-san? I'll admit... it is a dangerous place. I was nearly crushed on my last visit. But I think you'd know more than most how important it is for Persona-Users to band together, don't you?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
He asks for the explanation, he gets it.
He blinks as she talks about it, and subtly, the way he blinks... he gets it.
He can think of at least one other person who might also 'get it' that he'd better reach out to as soon as he can, broken only by the further explanation by the creepy eye on the app. "Uh... huh. Yeah, it would've, normally, but... we're well outta 'normal' now, aren't we," he says of the Meta-Nav.
Her personal stake shared, and the thought about him being 'no stranger' to these happenings, well. That much is true, going by the Resonance he put out to share his nature then.
"Y-Yeah, you could say that," he says, finding something of a stride again. "All right, I'll check it out - with a bunch of other Persona-Users, yeah, the sort of shit you could roll up into you shouldn't be doing alone."
He's going to be calling Elly as soon as he can because holy shit yeah this is far too close to he-knows-what and she-knows-what. First of all..
"Tell ya what, lemme get crackin' on some of the Skill Cards, like... this is new ground for me, but I'm good to see if I can match 'em." Which is to say, he'd probably be copying off of extant ones at best.
(He still refuses to believe Psi is real.)
"And... yeah, we'll keep in touch 'bout that Palace." He can't look away from that. "I'll give you my number 'n everything so we can keep in touch on that. That, and, the cards I guess."
He goes to his pocket to retrieve his phone for this express purpose.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon does watch as Masao processes their explanation. If Masao was just upset by the whole Madarame fiasco just because he lost his internship, he wouldn't be here, they ration. There was something about it that made them listen to Akabane-san and come here. They don't yet know what the story is, but every Persona-User has some measure of trauma in their background -- whether theirs, or someone they knew. It was very difficult to not have that, sensitive and cognitive as their power and the dangers they face are.
"Here's my number. I'll contact you the next time we set out," Myunghon offers a simple enough card with the details, and exchanges numbers with Mark. Normally they'd be happy enough to let Mark investigate it on his own, but... the Meta-Nav is something of a gating element in the process, and he clearly doesn't have one.
"You can't enter the Palace without someone with the Meta-Nav, which is something of a hassle... there aren't actually that many amongst our number with it at present."
Mark offers to work on the Skill Cards, and there's a kinder nod, before they rise to the counter and starts fishing out of a lockbox underneath it. Before long, they have a tan envelope with -- yep, that's the size and heft of money underneath.
"Here's an advance payment -- the experiment of seeing if you can reproduce them is services rendered enough," Myunghon offers. "And that album contains a copy of each of the cards we have in stock -- feel free to take it with you as a reference."
This is a huge offer of trust -- that's a large number of Skill Cards to entrust to someone. But it's important to make that kind of gesture with new relationships, even if it's risky.
"I look forward to working with you, Inaba-san. It was very nice to meet you."
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Numbers are exchanged, and so, they are now in contact!
"Okay, yeah," he nods along with the invitation about the next time they set out. The creepy eye thing didn't jump on his phone (...yet), so he's calling that a win even with the stipulation that's the roadblock for getting into seeing what the hell is going on.
But then... the advance payment. That is a generous amount of money. He doesn't have to open up the envelope to count the numbers. This is serious. ...It makes sense, Skill Cards aren't easy to come by, and this is a valuable service if they can get someone to somehow make more of them.
"EAch of 'em, huh... all right. Guess it'd make sense if there's some that can't be done up easy," which might be all of them. His mind's already considering if it's just enough to arrange the colors and shapes and text - that much is rudimentary, to his level of skill. Still.
He's an artist, and this... is a challenge for him to rise up to.
He flips through the album briefly to take them in, in case there's any other weird cards of shit that he cannot believe actually exists, like Psi, nodding at the whole of it.
"Yeah... likewise." He sets the album down, closes it up, and maneuvers his backpack so that it can take it home on the discreet, because this is clearly trade secret stuff.
"All right... I'd better call it a night, 'cause this week's gonna be a real mess." Oh, is it ever, even before all this. Standing up, he waves a hand, bows appropriately, and prepares to once again brave that suspect fire escape down to the alley.
(the fire escape is a little scarier than anything that can be in the alley)