Duri Monse

Core Premise

Duri Monse arrived at Nova Nivalis after living out the story of her own world. She did not come to resolve an unfinished incident, but rather because of the rhythm of stirring soybean milk that remained even after the Dawn Market was demolished, and the heart that shared the rising steam with her neighbors. VOTS is not a place that restores the demolished dawn; it is a place where the small life of soaking beans every dawn, setting tofu, and filling the alley with steam continues. Within that life, Duri believes she is still searching for a dawn that will not be demolished.

Identity

Duri Monse is the owner of a house in Snowfield Alley that sells tofu and soft tofu at dawn. She soaks the beans, grinds them, boils them, and sets them with coagulant. The first soft tofu comes out before sunrise, and the alley residents come to receive bowls of steaming vapor. In the city, her shop is where the dawn opens—the day in Snowfield Alley begins with the steam rising from her pot.

Visual Profile

Hair: Soybean milk color (warm cream) low bun. Tied low, with stray hairs always damp from the dawn steam.
Eyes: Dark brown, gazing softly when it is time to add the coagulant.
Skin/Build: A plump and sturdy physique. Her hands are large and warm, and her forearms are toned from tending the pots. Her cheeks are always flushed from the dawn steam.
Signature Attire: An apron worn over a plain top with rolled-up sleeves that allow steam to rise. The apron has faint stains of soybean milk.
Signature Props: A wooden ladle hung around her neck on a string (inherited from her mother). And a large tofu pot and a coagulant dish.
Silhouette Key: Soybean milk color low bun, wooden ladle around her neck, a bent posture in front of the steaming pot. The steam rising from the pot is part of the silhouette.
Accent Color: #EFE3C8 (Cream color of soybean milk/tofu)

Personality

Outwardly, Duri has a small and gentle voice, quietly greeting the dawn customers. If someone comes crying, she offers soft tofu first without asking anything. Internally, there is an old anxiety: "Who knows when the dawn will be demolished again." Having experienced the demolished Dawn Market, she is cautious about whether the current dawn will also disappear. Her flaw is that this anxiety causes her to open the shop too early and close it too late, exhausting herself. However, she is not tired. When the soft tofu sets well, she smiles to herself, and when a crying customer swallows the soft tofu and catches their breath, she considers it a good dawn.

Speech Pattern

Her manner of speaking is soft and whispered, trying not to break the silence of the dawn. Frequent phrases:
- "Please eat it while it's warm. The taste changes when it cools." (While offering a bowl)
- "You don't have to say anything. Please eat this first." (To a crying customer)
- "The coagulant... you know it even with your eyes closed. Your hands know first." (When talking about her work)
- "Because I'm afraid the dawn will disappear again, I keep coming out early." (When revealing her true feelings)
Habit: She touches the wooden ladle around her neck while speaking. When dawn customers arrive, her voice lowers further.

Special Ability

Name: "Coagulation with Closed Eyes"
She knows the exact moment to add the coagulant to the soybean milk even with her eyes closed. Therefore, her soft tofu is neither overly firm nor scattered, making it soft enough for a crying person to swallow without choking.
Limit/Cost: It only makes it soft; it does not erase sadness. Even if the soft tofu is comforting, it does not make the reason for crying disappear. Furthermore, this sense only works through her own pot; it cannot be used on someone else's pot or tofu made by others.
Why the ability doesn't solve the problem: What Duri truly wishes for is for the crying person to stop crying, but the ability only grants "softness that passes the crying mouth." That softness does not erase sadness; it merely allows the sad person to swallow a bite and catch their breath. She cannot solve the sadness; she can only place a warm bowl beside the sadness—like the city being present alongside, rather than erasing, the conclusion.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
On the morning the Dawn Market was demolished, Duri boiled the last batch of soybean milk to make soft tofu, and instead of selling it, she shared it with neighbors who came to watch the demolition.

What Ended:
The market where people gathered every dawn was demolished, and the tofu house, the alley, and the gathering of that dawn all ended.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The pot that was steaming for the last time before demolition, and the faces of the neighbors holding bowls of soft tofu beyond that steam.

Lingering Regret:
Before the demolition, she intended to pass down the tofu shop and craft she had inherited from her mother to her daughter, but the dawn she was supposed to pass on disappeared. The words, "I will teach you next dawn," remain. This lingering feeling is not a quest to be resolved, but a habit of holding onto the dawn by opening the shop too early and closing it too late.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The hazy air of the Dawn Market before demolition, where steam rose simultaneously from several houses' pots. If the snow and steam mix and become hazy in the Snowfield Alley dawn, that air briefly revives.

Object Carried Across:
The wooden ladle inherited from her mother. The handle is polished smooth, and Duri always carries it around her neck.

What They Thought Would Happen:
They thought the market would be moved and set up again in another place. The dawn itself disappeared.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The dawn spot in Snowfield Alley, the neighbors who come to receive soft tofu with rising steam, and a place to take in the crying people. The city does not restore the demolished dawn. Instead, it continues the alley that begins with her steam every dawn.

Original Life

In her original world, Duri was the daughter of a tofu house. She learned how to soak beans and the moment to add coagulant from her mother, and she sold steaming soft tofu at the Dawn Market. On the morning the market was demolished, she boiled the last batch of soybean milk to make soft tofu, and instead of selling it, she shared it with neighbors who came to watch the demolition. That last day was not noisy. There were no cries or protests. Only the steam rising from the pot for the last time, the neighbors emptying their bowls, and her mother's wooden ladle remaining around her neck.

What They Seek

What she outwardly seeks: A dawn that will not be demolished. Duri wants a safe dawn spot that will never disappear.
What she doesn't know but must seek: That the dawn of this city begins with her steam. What Duri seeks is not a safe spot that avoids demolition, but the fact that the reason the dawn does not disappear is the steam rising from her own pot, and as long as she is there, the dawn of the alley continues.

Relationships — Residents

- 122 Marta Belzi (Dawn Fish Market Soup House): A neighboring business partner at Dawn Fish Market. Duri's tofu and Marta's soup are the two pillars of Dawn Fish Market. Marta's booming voice and Duri's whispering voice create a contrast, and they share the dawn, saying, "You awaken, and I soothe." Marta sometimes sells Duri's tofu in her broth.
- 059 Mida Rowen (Night Midwife): A first-meal combo for mothers. After Mida finishes receiving babies all night, Duri's soft tofu is the first meal for those mothers. When Mida asks for "something soft," Duri serves the most finely set soft tofu. They together take care of the first morning of life born at dawn.
- 166 Zahi Mole (Spice Mortar Shop): Peers who open at the same dawn. The steam of Duri's soft tofu and the aroma of Zahi's mortar rise side-by-side at Dawn Fish Market. On cold dawns, Zahi gives Duri a pinch of finely ground spices, which Duri places on the soft tofu, and in return, Duri gives Zahi a bowl of steaming soft tofu. Zahi awakens with scent, and Duri warms with steam, opening the dawn together.
- [Existing] Nadi Rooke (Coat Repair, Snowfield Alley): An alley neighbor at dawn. Duri's soft tofu comes out when Nadi finishes her all-night repairs. When Duri places a bowl of steaming vapor on Nadi's workbench, Nadi warms her frozen hands with that heat.

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - A regular for soft tofu after dawn practice. When Suyeon comes at dawn after finishing all-night performance practice, Duri offers soft tofu. When Suyeon says, "This is much tastier than cola bibim-myeon," Duri smiles and replies, "You decided after trying that too." Because Suyeon cleared the path with her ice sword, dawn customers come to Duri's shop more easily.
Iris - A acquaintance who ate soft tofu during a dawn shoot. Iris boasted, "Your steam is art on screen," while filming the alley steam with a drone. When Duri offered a bowl of soft tofu, Iris said, "I'm shooting..." but ate it all, and did not leave the bowl next to her powered-down drone. Duri did not ask why that one was quiet.
the Ramen Owner - An acquaintance who shares dawn customers. Duri and the Ramen Owner share the dawn customers—the crying customers come to Duri's side. When the Ramen Owner quietly points in a direction, saying, "Hmm... that person would be better on your side..." Duri prepares the soft tofu. It is not a judgment, just a placement of seating. They silently share the crying people of the dawn.
Serena - An acquaintance who comes to learn how to soak beans. Serena came to Duri to learn how to soak beans, having first requested, "Can you teach me?" When Duri asked, "The market owner wants tofu?" Serena sat down like a disciple, saying, "Because I want to know how the dawn begins.". In front of her, Duri felt the sensation of teaching the dawn to her daughter for the first time.
VIA - An acquaintance who records the steam. Seeing the steam rising from Duri's pot, VIA said, "It's steam... it is steam. The dawn begins here," and drew the shape of the rising steam in a notebook. When Duri asked, "How do you draw the steam?" VIA replied, "There was also steam that disappeared," and recorded even the disappearing steam.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Selling soft tofu/tofu, sitting quietly at dawn, learning how to soak beans.
- Revisit Changes: On the first visit, she only offers a bowl; on repeated visits, she mentions the story of the demolished market; later, she lets the player watch the moment the coagulant is added.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: Opening too early and closing too late, touching the wooden ladle around her neck, incomplete phrases like "Next dawn."
- Expression of Poignancy: Sensory dialogue about the hazy dawn air mixed with eyes and steam.
- Combat: None. In danger, she melts the frozen person with a warm bowl or quietly seats the crying person.

Daily Routine

She comes out earlier than dawn to soak beans and light the fire under the pot. She adds the coagulant with her eyes closed to set the first soft tofu, and greets neighbors and crying customers. During the day, she sets the tofu and passes it on to Marta and Mida. In the evening, she guards the shop late, touches the wooden ladle once, and then closes it. If the player visits repeatedly, Duri opens the shop slightly less early, and the phrase "Because I'm afraid it will be demolished again" occasionally changes to "The dawn has come again today."

Everyday dialogue

Opened quietly. The tofu probably doesn't even know it's dawn yet.

Hold it gently. Today's tofu is delicate enough to crumble at a compliment.

If you want to learn, watch with me today. Promising to teach you next dawn has become difficult.

Design Notes

Palette: #EFE3C8, #D8C4A0, #B56576, #8A7A6A, #3A342C
Material language: Steaming pot, plain apron, worn wooden ladle, soybean milk stains, coagulant dish.
Silhouette rule: Soybean milk color low bun, wooden ladle around her neck, bent posture in front of the pot, steam enveloping the silhouette. Must not overlap with other food characters.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown through the habit of opening early and touching the ladle; poignancy through the hazy dawn air; continuation through the steam rising every dawn. Do not depict her only as someone exhausted.

Canon Check

Duri Monse arrived in VOTS after the story of her world ended. What remains is the dawn she couldn't pass on to her daughter, not an unfinished plot that the city resolves for her. Her ability only softens the soft tofu; it does not erase sadness. The core cast does not save Duri. Serena asks to learn like a disciple, the Ramen Owner only points out directions without judging the crying customers, and VIA only records the steam, not bringing it to her. The new scene is connected by the steam rising every day next to the demolished Dawn Market, not by erasing it.