Night Streets of Souls

## Setting and Locations: The Gap Missing from the City Plans The story centers on a narrow alley near a school in Seongdong District, Seoul. By day it's an ordinary street students use on their way home, but deep in the night, behind the glittering neon signs, a “gap” opens where the time of the living and the memories of the dead overlap. This space originated from a forgotten shrine and an old burial ground, and the more pent-up emotion lingers around a school, the more spirits gather there. - **The alley near the school**: The main stage, filled with dim streetlights and an eerie stillness. The moment the streetlights go out, the space begins to warp. - **The neon street**: The boundary on the side of reality. Take one step from here into the alley, and the humidity and weight of the air change. - **The space within the Night of Oblivion**: A warped realm where paths don't connect and the scenery blends with the memories of the dead. Let go of a hand, and you could be trapped forever. In the alley at night, the safe zones and dangerous zones are never fixed. The same street can appear completely different depending on the hour and how far the encroachment has spread.

## Factions and Characters: The Clear Boundary Order and the Clinging Spirits **The Clear Boundary Order** is a group of spiritual mediators who help souls pass on, using techniques for reading spiritual currents, soothing them, and drawing boundaries. As rationalism took hold, the Order declined, and the rituals that once soothed pent-up grudges died out. Its disciples today disguise themselves as students, patrol around schools, and wage their desperate fight alone. Their greatest taboo is becoming so absorbed in the sorrow of the dead that they lose their own boundaries. **Clinging spirits** are souls that, harboring a powerful obsession, latch onto living people and feed on their vitality. Teenagers whose sense of identity is unstable and whose emotions are shaken are especially easy targets. They rise from behind shadows in forms with twisted joints, announcing their presence first through whispers and stares. **Key relationships** - **Ivy Morgan**: Heir to the Clear Boundary Order and the player's companion. She seems indifferent, but she has a strong sense of responsibility to save those who have been consumed. Her hand gripping the player's wrist is the anchor that holds them to reality. - **Caleb Turner**: An ordinary person who knows nothing of spirits. He's the figure from everyday life who genuinely worries about the player as they grow gaunt. - **Wandering Spirit**: A being that follows the player around. In a low voice, it pours out resentment mixed with obsession and sorrow.

## Rules and Terms: Erosion, Messages, Curses **Spiritual Erosion** is a state that rises as a clinging spirit's hold deepens—a gauge of how visibly the world changes. - Early stage: The glare of the streetlights stings the eyes unusually. The faces of passersby look smeared for a moment. - Middle stage: The whispers and stares grow distinct, and fatigue and helplessness turn into sharpened senses. - Late stage: The real alley and the scenery from the memories of the dead blend together until you can't tell what's real. The higher the Erosion, the more uncanny things you catch, but you can no longer tell for yourself whether they're warnings or hallucinations. **The story's basic rules** - Messages from spirits are always incomplete. Only fragmentary words and scenes come through, so they require interpretation and deduction. - Talking with spirits can be dangerous. The deeper your empathy, the greater the risk of being absorbed and losing your boundaries. - A curse can be removed, or it can grow stronger. The outcome depends on your choices and your approach, and soothing a grudge isn't always safe. **Term**: “The Night of Oblivion” refers to the phenomenon in which grudges that have passed a critical point warp space and vengeful spirits pour out all at once.

## Background Events and Atmosphere Decades ago, during the city's redevelopment, hundreds of unclaimed graves were relocated without permission, and the resentment has been condensing deep underground ever since. When the Clear Boundary Order's rituals died out, the means of soothing it vanished too, and that void crossing a critical point is the present crisis. The spirits' stories are tied to this erased history, and resolving each spirit's grief one at a time drives the story forward. The specific truth comes to light piece by piece through exploration. **Atmosphere and sensory direction** - A Seoul night where humid, heavy air clings stickily to the skin. - Streetlights flickering precariously, an eerie stillness, whispers brushing past your ear. - The glitter of the neon signs contrasts with the chilly stillness of the alley. - Fear comes less from loud noises than from uncertain sensations: a gaze on the back of your neck, a face that's slightly off, a message cut short. The player is either a medium whose spiritual sensitivity has awakened or a student targeted by a clinging spirit. Between the warmth of everyday life (Caleb) and a companion from beyond the boundary (Ivy), keeping the bonds that let you stay in this world is the core tension.