Those With Steadfast Ambition

The Imperfect Child

The following is recorded in the Video Archive

 "The Imperfect Child"

---

Video Summary: "Hugo, for the sake of Mommy's happiness... just die, okay?"

Story Description: Hugo confronts his inner demons and temptations, recalling the abuse he suffered from his mother, but refuses to seek vengeance through bloodshed, breaking free from the shadows of his past...

---

---

Mother: It's all your fault...

Mother: I wish I had never given birth to you!

The woman's face is distorted with hatred, as if the person before her is not her child, but an enemy who destroyed her future — she blames all her misfortune on this innocent child.

Hugo: ...

Mother: Oh... everything will get better if you just die, right?

Mother: If you die, he'll come back. We'll have another, more perfect child, one who will inherit the Ravenlock family bloodline...

Mother: Then I'll be able to escape this pain!

Mother: So, Hugo, for the sake of Mommy's happiness... just die, okay?

She raises her hand to reveal a pair of scissors, the tip gleaming with chilling light.
She thrusts the sharp point toward Hugo's paler eye—

Then, she suddenly vanishes, as if she had never existed at all.

Hugo: ...

Hugo: So, I wasn't awake yet after all.

Hugo (Inner Demon): That's because you don't want to wake up again.

Hugo: ...Who are you?

Hugo (Inner Demon): I am you. Hidden deep within your heart... your most true self.

Hugo (Inner Demon): You want to kill her, don't you? Your so-called mother.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Every time she beat you without reason, when she tried to gouge out your eyes, when she sold you into that hell, laughing all the while... you wanted to be the one to end her life.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Why not admit your hatred? As you are, you can hunt her down and make her pay for the living hell of a childhood she made you suffer.

Hugo: ...Yes, I hate her.

Hugo: I hate her because she was foolish and shallow, greedy and stupid. I hate her because she doesn't deserve to be a mother. She did everything she could to try and get into the Ravenlock family, believing she could live a life of luxury without having to do anything and never realizing she was a pawn, discarded from the very beginning.

Hugo: So she chose to blame me, blame me for my heterochromia, blame me for my very existence.

Hugo: But I won't kill her — because I know it won't change anything. She was incapable of loving me, just as she is incapable of loving herself.

Hugo (Inner Demon): ...Have you been brainwashed by that dog? Keeping up the act of being some magnanimous and forgiving fool?

Hugo: Don't compare us.

Hugo: I've simply come to understand: love or hate... I make my own choices, and they have nothing to do with anyone else.

Hugo (Inner Demon): She sold you to the Ravenlock family for a huge sum of money. She used that money to start a new life—

Hugo (Inner Demon): Without you. While she was indulging herself, you were going through hell in the Ravenlock manor.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Does it not torment you? Do you not feel the hatred? Do you not want to demand answers?

Hugo (Inner Demon): Kill her, only by killing her, can you be truly free!

Hugo: For a long time, I thought the same way.

Hugo: But now, well... I want to make a different choice.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Stop lying to yourself. You never had a choice.

Hugo (Inner Demon): This weak-minded thinking will only lead you to failure! Like before, you'll be nothing but a worm, trampled into the dirt by those so-called elites!

Hugo (Inner Demon): Do you still not get it? This is how the world is and always has been: hesitate and you'll be the victim; if you don't grab your knife first, you'll end up being on the other end of the blade!

Hugo (Inner Demon): If you want to change anything, you must first become the one who makes the rules.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Just like that woman — the only reason she could treat us that way was because we were weak.

Hugo (Inner Demon): So listen to me, find that woman, kill her, and prove to this world your strength — it's what she deserves!

Hugo (Inner Demon): Why forgive them? They don't deserve it.

Hugo: I'm not forgiving them. Or rather, I don't care about them. They don't even matter, at least not yet.

Hugo: You know, perhaps the person I hate the most, the one I truly cannot forgive, has never been someone else.

Hugo: But rather my weak, powerless past self who could do nothing but hide inside a closet and cry.

Hugo: I hate myself for having neither the strength nor the courage to resist. I hate myself for begging for so-called familial love, even after being treated so terribly. I hate that despite the pain of my wounds, I still hoped to receive the carrot and not the stick.

Hugo: And that me, is you, correct?

Hugo: So, I forgive you. I forgive myself.

Hugo (Inner Demon): ...

Hugo (Inner Demon): You'll regret this, fool.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Your pretty words mean nothing, you will ultimately return here — to me.

After an intense bout of dizziness, Hugo awakens in the dark warehouse.
The ropes that bound him had come undone at some point.
Hugo takes a deep breath of the damp air and stands up.

Hugo straightens out his attire and tidies himself up. Then, he opens the warehouse door.

Hugo: ...I see, this is still an illusion.

Hugo: I wonder who's going to show up this time...

 Find Serena

???: Brother.

Hugo: ...!

???: Hugo, let's play hide-and-seek!

???: I'm already hiding~

???: You'll find me, right? Like you always do!

Hugo: Serena...

(Approach the first point)

Serena: You're looking in the wrong place!

Serena: I found an even better hiding spot this time! Harder to find than any place you showed me~

Hugo: ...

Serena: Hey, Hugo... do you ever wonder why...

Serena: Why I had to die?

Hugo: ...It was because of... me.

Serena: That's right, it was because of you. It's all your fault!

Serena: If only you didn't exist... I wouldn't have had to suffer!

(Approach the second point)

Serena: Still looking in the wrong spot!

Serena: I can't believe you still haven't found me after all this time...

Serena: Have you forgotten about me?

Hugo: I... I haven't forgotten...

Serena: It's okay, I'll forgive you! I'll still be nice to you, just like before~

Serena: I was the only one who was ever nice to you, wasn't I?

Hugo: ...Yes.

Serena: Then tell me... why do good people always suffer?

Serena: Why is kindness always punished instead?

Serena: Tell me, Hugo, why?!

Hugo: ...

 Check the warehouse outside

Serena: Hugo, are you lost?

Serena: Go back the way you came! I left you a surprise there~

(Interact with Hugo (Inner Demon))

Indifferent Servant: What a cruel bastard...

Angry Servant: As expected of a disgusting bastard!

Dissatisfied Servant: Lady Serena was so nice to him... yet he...

Angry Servant: How does he still have the nerve to stay in this house?

Indifferent Servant: They shouldn't have let him in from the start...

Dissatisfied Servant: Filthy, lowly blood...

Serena

The following is recorded in the Video Archive

 "Serena"

---

Video Summary: "I can't believe you still haven't found me after all this time..."

Story Description: Hugo's inner demons make him remember Serena again — the only one in the family to ever show him kindness, and the sister who met a tragic end...

---

---

Curses and insults encircle Hugo, piercing his skin like frozen knives. The mockery and rage form a wave that crashes through him, threatening to drown him.
Then, as the cacophony reaches its peak, it goes silent.

The air seems to congeal in the silence, deep and oppressive.
It is as if time stood still, with only his rapid heartbeat echoing.

Hugo (Inner Demon): I told you that you would eventually return.

Hugo: We meet again, my friend.

Hugo (Inner Demon): I told you, I am you — the side of you that you've always tried to deny existed.

Hugo: Of course. I know. This time, it's about Serena, right?

Hugo (Inner Demon): Yes. Your half-sister, and the only child in the Ravenlock family who was kind to you—

Hugo (Inner Demon): Unfortunately, it was her kindness that led to her untimely death.

Hugo: ...It was my fault.

Hugo (Inner Demon): I don't like the way you blame yourself, because that means I'm to blame as well, and I don't think I did anything wrong.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Your mother sold you to the Ravenlocks. And your father? He saw your talent and wanted to use you to push the other children into competing with each other.

Hugo: ...My brothers and sisters wanted to get rid of me from the moment they first saw me.

Hugo (Inner Demon): In their eyes, you were no more than a slave. But Serena dared to treat you, a slave, as if you were human...

Hugo (Inner Demon): And so, she was fated to die.

Hugo: ...They tried to kill me, many times. But I was careful, and they did not succeed.

Hugo (Inner Demon): So they killed Serena, who was weaker, an easier target, and pinned everything on you — Serena died in your place.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Those cruel brats thought that by reporting this to Father, they could use it to get rid of you, a rival who threatened their positions...

Hugo (Inner Demon): Yet, not only did Father not blame you for the incident, he praised you for it.

Hugo: "In this world, only the ruthless, cruel, and merciless can stand at the top."

Hugo (Inner Demon): And that's exactly what you managed to live up to, no?

Hugo (Inner Demon): You found a perfect opportunity thereafter to catch the ringleader of the group who framed you and almost beat him to death.

Hugo: ...

Hugo (Inner Demon): Hahaha, you should have seen the expression on your face back then... crazed and manic with utmost delight.

Hugo: I don't remember that.

Seemingly unsatisfied with his answer, the inner demon transforms into him again.

Whisperer

The following is recorded in the Video Archive

 "Whisperer"

---

Video Summary: "One day, you will become someone just like your father."

Story Description: Hugo battles his inner demons that manifest as his family shadow, refusing to become a power-hungry tyrant like Hartman. He faces the curse of the Ravenlock bloodline head on...

---

---

Hugo (Inner Demon): Here you go again, trying deny your desires.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Deep down inside, you've always wondered, asking yourself why these evil people never got the punishment they deserved. Why the world is so unfair.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Don't you want to rip them to shreds? Just like that day, when you beat that boy's face into the dirt until he was barely recognizable, his disgusting blood staining your fists.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Recall your exhilaration! Your cathartic release of rage, that outpour of hatred! That victory belongs to you — you deserve it!

Hugo: Those brothers and sisters of mine are all dead... I cannot take revenge against the long-deceased.

Hugo (Inner Demon): They died by Hartman's hand! Dying in the power struggle to become the Ravenlock family's heir, rather than by our scythe — bo~ring.

Hugo: Boring? I find it hilariously ironic. Children who would murder their own kin for scraps of power, dead at the hand of their uncle, who followed their example.

Hugo: Is that not karma?

Hugo: Power struggles pitting kin against each other. Betrayal, suspicion, and hatred between people of the same blood...

Hugo: It's like a curse written into the Ravenlock family's genes, laughably stupid.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Don't forget, my dear, that the same blood flows through your veins.

Hugo: ...

As if to prove his words, the inner demon transform [sic] into Hartman.

Hartman: That's right, my dear nephew.

Hartman: No matter how much you deny it, the blood of the Ravenlock family flows through your veins.

Hartman: Survival of the fittest! Only the strongest deserve to live, only the strongest deserve to rule!

Hartman: This is the path of success that has led the Ravenlock family to victory countless times, a blessing and a curse etched into your flesh and blood.

Hartman: As long as you live, you'll never escape the mark of family!

Hartman: You are destined to one day become someone like me, like your father.

Hugo: ...

Hugo (Inner Demon): Is that fear I sense? I can see you trembling — why does the Ravenlock bloodline terrify you so?

Hugo: I won't... I won't become like my father. Never.

Hugo (Inner Demon): You won't become a failure like him.

Hugo (Inner Demon): So relax — our power eclipses him, and so does our ambition!

Hugo (Inner Demon): So, do not deny your own desires, do not resist your own ambition. This is the talent you were born with, the best gift fate has ever given you!

Hugo (Inner Demon): Admit it, deep within your heart lies a spark, yearning to ignite a raging inferno that will burn everything down—

Hugo (Inner Demon): And I, am that spark.

After an intense bout of dizziness, Hugo awakens in the dark warehouse.
The ropes that bound him had come undone at some point.
Hugo takes a deep breath of the damp air and stands up.

Hugo straightens out his attire and tidies himself up. Then, he opens the warehouse door.

Hugo: ...Lycaon.

Hugo: Never thought I'd be this genuinely thankful to see you.

 Reunite with Lycaon

Hugo: Seeing you means... this never-ending nightmare is finally over, right?

(Interact with Lycaon)

Lycaon: ...Why did you break our oath?

Lycaon: Why did you use me?

Lycaon: My eye, and these legs, they were all your fault.

Lycaon: You know. You...

Lycaon: ...Are exactly like your father.

Hugo: ...

Fate and a Close Friend

The following is recorded in the Video Archive

 "Fate and a Close Friend"

---

Video Summary: "...Why did you break our oath?"

Story Description: Hugo converses with Lycaon in the illusion, firmly rejecting the path of becoming a tyrant. Determined to break his family's cycle, he seeks redemption by severing the chains of hatred himself.

---

---

Hugo: ...I don't want to hear something like that from you.

Hugo: You have no idea what that man... my father, is really like.

Lycaon: A person who stops at nothing for their own interests and ambitions. Just like what you're doing right now.

Hugo: And what do you think I'm doing this for?

Lycaon: All of this was part of your plan. You knew where the Ravenlock family was going to be, so you set Mockingbird's target there.

Lycaon: To seek revenge, you plotted to assassinate your own father. But he was too vigilant, and you failed.

Lycaon: After almost being assassinated, your father was furious and locked everyone in the hall, but was unable to find the assassin...

Hugo: And what a coincidence that a Hollow disaster just occurred in the vicinity. So, he used it to eliminate all the unfamiliar faces there, turning them into victims of the Hollow... An easy feat for the Ravenlock family.

Hugo: So, the one who "killed innocents"... was my father, not me.

Lycaon: You knew what choice an extremist like him would make. And you used the chaos to once again attempt an assassination...

Lycaon: This time you succeeded. You killed your own father... at the cost of innocent lives.

Lycaon: Admit it, Hugo, you don't care about anyone else — the only thing you care about is your revenge. How is that any different from your father?

Hugo: ...Enough. I'm tired.

Hugo: I may hate him for betraying me... but he wouldn't say something like that.

Lycaon: ...What?

Hugo: You aren't Lycaon. You're...

Hugo: The other me, hidden deep within my heart.

Hugo takes a deep breath and slowly opens his eyes — Lycaon is gone, and in his place is that familiar figure.
Without a doubt, he is still within an illusion.

Hugo: I've been waiting for you, my dear.

Hugo (Inner Demon): ...It seems you've already grown accustomed to this place, even turning the tables on me...

Hugo: Just as you said, you are me, and I am you — There's no such thing as having an advantage over oneself.

Hugo: We are ultimately one and the same, forever inseparable.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Then you should know what I want to say.

Hugo (Inner Demon): When you and Lycaon split, you didn't even try to clear up the misunderstanding, didn't deny or argue against what he said.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Because you realized that deep down, he was right about you, you just hadn't acted on it yet.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Some people live only to bring more suffering into this world. Sometimes, murder is what brings justice back into this world.

Hugo: ...For that, I must stain these hands in blood.

Hugo (Inner Demon): That's right! Just like what you said before you faked your death. Were those words really just an act?

Hugo (Inner Demon): "To slay the dragon, you must first become one — with sharp claws, rending fangs, and strength enough to destroy anything."

Hugo (Inner Demon): You know the truth better than anyone.

Hugo (Inner Demon): If you hadn't hesitated and instead seized the first opportunity to kill your father... none of what followed would have happened.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Innocent civilians wouldn't have died, your partner wouldn't have lost an eye and both legs trying to save people... and Mockingbird... would have never gotten to that point.

Hugo (Inner Demon): You can save more people, save good people, save more lives than the evil ones you take!

Hugo: I've spent countless hours in regret over that incident.

Hugo (Inner Demon): So, why not submit to your true nature? You want to be the judge, jury, and executioner of this world... and you can!

Hugo: ...I wasn't responsible for Father's death. The true mastermind is my uncle, Hartman.

Hugo: His schemes to kill the head of the family were all so he could take control. Mockingbird was simply unlucky enough to get caught up in it.

Hugo: So, for a behemoth like the Ravenlock family with its roots so deep, a single person's death, regardless of who that person is, wouldn't change anything.

Hugo: Of course, whether it's TOPS, the Mayflower Family, or even the entire world, it's actually all the same.

Hugo: I refuse to be dragged down by pointless hatred any longer.

Hugo (Inner Demon): ...You foolish, stubborn idiot, do you understand the power of hatred! Have we not come this far precisely because of it?

Hugo (Inner Demon): Or are you going to follow Lycaon and Jack's twisted logic? Come on, you don't actually trust anyone.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Otherwise, why would you hide this whole scheme of faking your death from them?

Hugo: ...

Hugo (Inner Demon): You've built an impenetrable wall around your heart, keeping everyone out.

Hugo (Inner Demon): Of course, you are right to do so. No one in this world can be trusted. Always, all you'll receive is hatred from your own blood and no love, suspicion from your companions, and betrayal that comes all too easily.

Hugo (Inner Demon): But the most ridiculous thing is that you want them to trust you.

Hugo (Inner Demon): You stay silent and long for them to notice your suffering. You yearn for your companions' understanding and trust... Idiot!

Hugo (Inner Demon): That's why you are incapable of exploiting them for your own ends. You care about their safety even more than your own...

Hugo (Inner Demon): But remember, only the weak need companions.

Hugo (Inner Demon): And we are children born from hatred. We are different from them — I will never be like them, and I don't need to be!

Hugo (Inner Demon): Come, let me show you what powers we can wield!

Hugo: ...

Hugo: But you are me.

Hugo: And I'll never lose to myself.

Finally, it's time to meet up with Lycaon...

Never Has the World Turned Away from Him

The following is recorded in the Video Archive

 "Never Has the World Turned Away from Him"

---

Video Summary: Those with ambition stand tall, unfazed by the world's silence.

---

(A cinematic plays)

Lycaon: Hugo, it's time

Lycaon: Hugo, you...

Hugo: Did I scare you?

Hugo: I made it through

Hugo: I won

Hugo: No praise for me?

Hugo: My dearest partner

(Cinematic ends)