Mystic Messenger — An Introduction to the Otome Game (No Spoilers) (Updated 2021/05/04 with DIY Phone Theme Tutorial)

Mystic Messenger is a mobile otome game by Korean developer Cheritz. It runs on a real-time timeline, lets you make phone calls and send texts, and has seven romanceable characters. It’s available in Chinese, English, Korean, and Spanish — the story is genuinely gripping and the gameplay is incredibly immersive. It’s my all-time favorite otome game. This post covers the basic structure of the game and gives some tips for new players.

They’ve also released an official comic, Invitation of Mystic Messenger! Check out the overview and how to read it for free here:
Mystic Messenger Official Comic Introduction & Summary — Invitation of Mystic Messenger
How to Read Invitation of Mystic Messenger for Free (or Avoid PayPal Exchange Rate Traps)

If you want to change your phone theme to Mystic Messenger, here’s a tutorial:
DIY Mystic Messenger Phone Theme / Wallpaper

About Mystic Messenger

Title: Mystic Messenger
Version: International (the Chinese version shut down on April 30)
Download: Android | iOS
Languages: Korean voice acting; [International version] English, Korean, Spanish text
Genre: Otome, slice-of-life, chat-based; phone calls with voice acting; no dress-up system
Spending: Completely free to play, but you can purchase hourglasses and phone call cards
Gameplay: Choose dialogue options to raise affection with your target; reply to emails to invite guests to the party
Timeline: You set your timezone at the start and can’t change it (the international version lets you update it after a certain period and even add a second timezone). All chatrooms and calls appear in real time.
Story Summary: You download what looks like a fun game app — Mystic Messenger — but when you open it, a stranger named Unknown starts chatting with you and asks you to go to an apartment. When you get there, the app connects you to the private chatroom of a mysterious organization called RFA. After some discussion, they ask you to join and help them organize a charity party…

Game Structure & Romanceable Characters

Mystic Messenger is divided into a few main routes:

Casual Story — A lighter, more slice-of-life story that doesn’t dig too deep into the game’s larger mysteries.
Romanceable characters: Yoosung, Zen, and Jaehee.

Deep Story — The plot starts getting into the core secrets. You need to have completed at least one Casual Story route before playing; playing through at least one Casual Story character first is strongly recommended.
Romanceable characters: Jumin and 707.

Left to right: Yoosung, Zen, 707, Jumin, Jaehee

Another Story — Once you’ve cleared all five of the above characters, Another Story is waiting for you. It’s a parallel-world story set apart from the other two routes, with two new romanceable characters: Ray and V.
(Click here for the spoiler-free Another Story guide)

Mystic Messenger’s standalone Another Story route, with Ray and V as the romanceable characters.

Game Interface Overview

Because Mystic Messenger’s timeline mirrors real life, it genuinely feels immersive.

The international version is officially managed by Cheritz and they’re incredibly generous to players — that alone is a great reason to play it. Also, the early Chinese localization was… let’s say it had some rough patches. I’m not sure if it’s improved since.

The vocabulary in the international version isn’t especially difficult (though you’ll learn a lot of random animal names — like meerkats and lynxes…), so it’s also great for practicing English XD

The game is primarily dialogue-based, and the conversations are a lot of fun — it genuinely feels like chatting with friends and roasting each other. Here’s a basic overview of the interface:

← Hourglass: Unlock missed chatrooms or start a new story; Hearts can be collected by raising affection — 100 hearts = 1 hourglass
← This row lets you view characters’ profile pages, kind of like Facebook XD They even interact with each other on there :P
←← Far left column, top to bottom: CG Gallery, Email (for inviting guests), Guest List
← Message: Text messages — sometimes characters will text you after a chatroom and you can reply
← Call: Phone calls — occasionally a character will call after a chatroom
← Chatroom: Chatrooms — several open each day, roughly every 1–3 hours
← Spaceship: Added in a later update; collect hearts here and check characters’ mental states

CG Gallery

There are tons of CGs. Some are gorgeous, some made me absolutely furious when I got them XDDD

(http://msg.cheritz.com/system/album)

Email

Used to invite guests. After receiving an email, choose based on your knowledge, intuition, or just gut feeling XD The number of guests you successfully invite determines whether you get a Normal End (fewer than 10) or Good End (10 or more).

(http://msg.cheritz.com/system/e-mail)

Message

View texts the characters send you. You can reply to one at a time.

(http://msg.cheritz.com/system/message)

Call

What an incoming call looks like — it can pop up after chatrooms and you have 10 seconds to answer XD
When you pick up, you’ll hear Korean voice acting with English subtitles >///< There are occasionally dialogue choices too.

(http://msg.cheritz.com/system/call)

Chatroom

There are many chatrooms each day, and they show which characters are participating. Most are spaced roughly 1–3 hours apart. If you join a chatroom live, you can pick dialogue options to raise affection; if you miss one, you’ll need to spend hourglasses to catch up, or just read the characters talking to each other without any choices XDDD

(http://msg.cheritz.com/system/messenger)

Romanceable Characters

The game starts with five available characters — each with a very distinct personality. Every one of them has a devoted fanbase >///< I won’t cover the Another Story characters here since talking about them tends to get spoilery.

Jumin Han (Age 26)

http://msg.cheritz.com/characters/jumin

The ultimate cat parent.
The cold-hearted CEO type.

Facts:
Comes from a wealthy family. Self-centered and pragmatic.
Terrible driver.
Recently adopted a cat named Elizabeth the 3rd.

This route is for you if you love: dominant personalities, enjoying the finer things, cats, pragmatism, money-above-all, the aloof-CEO-who-only-thaws-for-you trope…

Zen (Age 23)

http://msg.cheritz.com/characters/zen

Charming, narcissistic, and ridiculously good-looking.
A celebrity musical theatre actor.
Loves working out, playing piano, and smoking.

Facts:
Narcissist.
Absolute disaster around women.
Workaholic and hopeless romantic.
Believes loyalty matters more than wealth.

This route is for you if you love: sweet talkers, handsome selfie kings, attentiveness, being put on a pedestal and adored every single day

707 (Age 21)

http://msg.cheritz.com/characters/707

Chaotic gremlin hacker.
Young, talented, and loaded.
Loves trash-talking and making zero sense XD

Facts:
Works as a secret agent.
Genius with computers.
Completely unpredictable XD
Claims to be a devout Catholic.
Constantly says things that make absolutely no sense XD

This route is for you if you love: chaos goblins, unhinged humor, meme lords, the one who’s surprisingly reliable when it really counts, STEM boys

Yoosung Kim (Age 20)

http://msg.cheritz.com/characters/yoosung

An adorable, innocent, LOLOL-addicted college angel.

Facts:
Hardcore LOLOL (online game) addict.
Hates studying.
Extremely. Easy. To. Fool.
Never had a girlfriend.
Has an internship lined up at Jumin’s company.

This route is for you if you love: younger boys, pure-hearted sweethearts, the type who flirts without even realizing it >///< bubbly and energetic, no ulterior motives, youthful first love
Yoosung Route Review (Spoilers)

Jaehee Kang (Age 26)

http://msg.cheritz.com/characters/jaehee

Jumin’s secretary. By-the-book, obedient, and incredibly organized.
Facts:
Black belt in judo.
Zen’s most devoted fan.
Always working overtime.
Cautious and careful about everything.

This route is for you if you love: venting about terrible bosses, finding a kindred spirit, completing the full CG gallery, being someone’s therapist
Jaehee Route Review (Spoilers)

Gameplay Flow & Endings

There are quite a few endings to discover.
For example, you can just go AFK from the very first conversation before entering the apartment and end up in a Bad End XDDD
Here’s the general breakdown for a first playthrough (details vary slightly per character):

There’s a Common Route covering Days 1–4. During this time, focus on raising affection with whoever you want to pursue (except Jumin and 707 — they’re locked until Deep Story).
On Day 4, you’ll hit a story branch; save your game and confirm to enter the individual character route.
Between Days 5 and 11, there are roughly three branch points where you might end up in a Bad End depending on your choices.
The first two Bad Ends don’t have CGs; the one that appears around Day 10 does (sometimes called a Bad Relationship ending).
If you keep making the right choices, Day 11 brings either a Normal or Good End.

Bad End: Triggered by specific choices; there are roughly three types. The third has a CG — if you want it, start choosing the wrong options from around Day 8 and you can get it on Day 10.
Normal/Good End: Appears on Day 11, determined by how many guests you successfully invited.
A very helpful tip: Don’t open the last email until after it arrives. If you haven’t confirmed any guests at that point, you’ll get the Normal End. Then reload from Day 11 at 12:00 (before the party starts) and open all your emails to unlock the Good End!

And after the main story, there’s a fully voiced After Story too!

Tips & Reminders

A few common questions and things to keep in mind:

• It’s best to start a new game at 00:00 so you don’t miss the early chatrooms. (That said, Day 1 is a little more forgiving.)
• If you make a terrible choice selection, you can close the app before saving and reopen it XD
• The same trick may work for phone calls (assuming you have a call card or are willing to spend hourglasses)
• Chatroom notifications are unreliable — it’s easy to miss one. Checking a walkthrough for timing helps a lot. Day 1 example:
  • 0:03 Welcome
  • 2:21 Welcome2
  • You just need to finish the 0:03 chatroom (and any calls) before 2:21. I usually take the call first, then slip into the 0:03 chatroom right around 2:20 so I’m not panicking. It’s a great trick for busy times or late-night chatrooms :3
• First playthrough: only Yoosung, Zen, and Jaehee are available.
• From the second playthrough onward, you can choose Casual Story or Deep Story at the start — Deep Story unlocks 707 and Jumin.
• My personal recommended play order (not counting Jaehee): Zen → Yoosung → Jumin → 707
• 707’s route ties directly into the game’s biggest secrets, so save him for last. After finishing 707, play After Story (20 hourglasses) before Secret Story 1 and 2 (70 hourglasses each, 140 total).
• Cheritz added a Christmas special in 2016 — it costs 100 hourglasses to unlock!
• 100 hearts = 1 hourglass.
• In the settings, you can customize ringtones for calls, messages, and emails.
• VIP members receive special greeting cards during holidays >////<
• Timezone notes:
  • Recent updates now allow you to register two timezones. After that, you’ll need to wait two weeks before changing either one again.
  • The timezone auto-detects from your phone settings. (Mine is set to auto-detect, so it updates when I switch SIM cards — but you can also set it manually.)
  • If your timezone doesn’t match, you won’t be able to log in and will get stuck on the login screen.
  • You can update your timezone settings again two weeks after your last change.

For other questions, check the official Q&A, or here for a Chinese-translated version.

Thanks for reading :D

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