Marta Belzi

Core Premise

After the voyage of her own world ended, Marta Belzi arrived in Nova Nivalis. She did not come because of a shipwreck or being adrift, but because the weight of the ladle still lingered in her fingertips after she finished the last serving and turned off the stove. She flowed all the way to this city of snow. VOTS is not a harbor for the dead, nor is it a pier that returns past voyages. What continues here is not a vast oceanic route, but a small morning—a bowl of gukbap, a fogged-up window, the wrist that stirs the ladle twice—that can be set up again. Her ship will not sail again. That fact is not canceled, but the city grants her a kitchen where she can live with a finished voyage.

Identity

Marta Belzi runs a gukbap restaurant in a corner of Dawn Fish Market. Her customers are the children who carry ice, the merchants who cleaned nets all night, and the people returning after their night shifts. She does not pry into their stories. She simply places a hot bowl of soup in front of them, and when they finish, she pours a little more broth. This work is not decoration; it is labor that the city of dawn actually needs. When a customer comes, she serves soup; when it's time to simmer, she stirs the pot; and just as no one cleans another's plate, she does not swallow anyone's sorrow for them. She is someone who feeds people until they are full, not someone who cooks up their lives.

Visual Profile

Hair: Pearlescent gray curly bob. The humidity of dawn makes the curls puff up more, and when she stands before the steaming pot, water droplets form at the ends of her hair. She roughly pushes her bangs back with a headscarf.
Eyes: Dark brown. When she scans a customer, she reads not their story, but 'how hungry they are' first.
Skin/Build: A sturdy and solid build. Old ladle marks and small burn scars on both forearms show what she has stirred her entire life when she rolls up her sleeves.
Voice: Loud. Even in the noisy dawn market, "One more bowl here!" cuts through to the end.
Signature Outfit: Layered apron. It is a double structure, with a waterproof apron worn over an inner apron, so the inside doesn't get wet even if soup splashes. She always keeps spare change and a dry rag in her pockets.
Signature Props: Two large ladles. She holds one in each hand—one for broth, one for solids—and manages two pots simultaneously. When she walks, the two ladles clash in an X shape at her waist.
Silhouette Key: Puffy gray bob, double apron, two ladles in both hands. The accent color #C75B39 is repeated in the red oil film of the broth and the apron strings.

Personality

Marta is outwardly big and straightforward. Her voice is loud, which can sound angry, but she is usually smiling, and though her hands are quick, making her seem gruff, she always gives everyone a generous portion. Her strength is the simple belief that she will not let anyone go hungry. If someone seems to be in a difficult situation, she accepts half the price or doesn't take it at all. She has her flaws, too. She doesn't take good care of herself. While feeding others until they are full, she just quickly gets through her own meal standing up, and if someone says, "Owner, please sit down and eat," she replies, "Eating while working is the most delicious," and doesn't sit. She is not a tragic figure. She cheers out loud when a customer finishes every last drop of broth, and she hums along when the child carrying the ice hums a tune.

Speech Pattern

Her words are short, loud, and warm. They sound like commands, but they are actually words of care.
Common Phrases:
- "Sit, sit. Before it gets cold."
- "Want more broth? It's free."
- "Those leaving should eat quickly, and those returning should eat slowly."
- "Forget the story, just eat first."
- "If you've eaten everything, that's enough. Then it's done."
Method of Silence: Instead of answering, she stirs the pot loudly with her ladle once. That sound is her 'understood.'

Special Ability

Ability Name: "The Simmer Known by the Back".
What it can do: She knows precisely the moment her pot is about to overflow, even while facing away and serving customers. Without looking back, she reduces the heat or adds a ladle at that exact moment to prevent overflow. For her, the pot is guarded by her back, not her eyes.
Limit/Cost: She knows nothing about other people's pots. Even if the next-door neighbor's pot overflows, she won't notice. Only the pot 'she has lit the fire under' can be felt by her back. Furthermore, if she tries to sense multiple pots at once, the sensation blurs, and if there are more than three, one must eventually be checked with her eyes.
Why the ability doesn't solve problems: Knowing the moment the soup overflows doesn't bring back the person who left. Her ability only keeps the bowl of this morning safe; it cannot reopen closed routes or bring back the sailors lost on the last voyage. The city's rules remain—finished voyages remain finished, and farewells do not return as welcomes. She can guard the pot, but she cannot prepare the morning for the faces she misses.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
On the dawn of the day the routes were closed, she prepared the last breakfast in the cargo ship's galley. She served a bowl of soup to the remaining crew, and when the last person finished their bowl, she personally turned off the galley's fire.

What Ended:
The entire sea route of her world closed. As the routes for ships to travel disappeared, the kitchens above them ended as well.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The large pot slowly cooling after the fire was turned off, and the lights of the harbor gradually receding outside the galley window.

Lingering Regret:
To one young crew member who arrived particularly late on the last morning, she served a meager bowl of gukbap because the soup ran out and she had to add water. She said, "Next time, I'll serve it properly," but there was no next time. That meager bowl still bothers her. This lingering feeling is not a quest that VOTS will resolve for her. It quietly permeates through her habit of pouring extra broth for late-arriving customers.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The salty sea smell when she first lit the fire in the dawn galley, and the warmth of the steam filling the window as the pot began to simmer.

Object Carried Across:
An old ladle with a worn, smooth handle. It was used until the end in the galley and is smaller than the two large ladles she uses now. It is not a powerful relic, but a personal token connecting the finished voyage to the present dawn kitchen.

What They Thought Would Happen:
She thought the routes were only temporarily blocked. She thought that if she cleaned the galley thoroughly, the fire would be lit again on the next voyage. But the ship never sailed again.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
She serves gukbap to the people who return from Dawn Fish Market every day. There are no grand voyages, but the city's dawn is warmed by her steam. VOTS does not reopen the closed routes. Instead, it grants her a pot to fill every morning.

Original Life

In her world, Marta was the galley cook on an oceanic cargo ship. She managed the meals for dozens of crew members alone in a swaying kitchen, and she was known for never spilling the pot even on high seas. She was not interested in the destination of the voyage. She felt it was her duty to ensure the people on the ship were not hungry. Her last day was like this. The captain announced, "This is the last voyage," and she prepared the dawn meal as usual. However, that day, she intended to cook a generous amount of soup, but she ran out of ingredients and ended up serving a meager bowl of gukbap to the last customer. Even after turning off the fire, she stood in the galley for a long time.

What They Seek

What she outwardly seeks: Not a meal to see off those who leave, but a meal to welcome those who return. She wants to prepare the morning for regular customers who will return every day, not just the last serving of a voyage.
What she doesn't know but must find: The regular customers who visit her gukbap restaurant every dawn are already 'those who return.' Even while she is saying farewell every day, she still believes she is only seeing people off.

Relationships — Residents

144 Topo Milz (Ice-carrying boy at the fish market): He is the boy who delivers ice to her shop. When he places the ice in front of the gukbap shop door while carrying it, and Marta blows on his hands, Marta silently serves him a bowl of broth first. "The ice is counted as soup" is their long-standing agreement.
168 Duri Monse (Dawn Tofu/Soft Tofu Shop): A business partner and subtle competitor who opens at the same dawn time. Marta's gukbap is loud and robust, while Duri's soft tofu is whisper-soft, so crying customers go to Duri, and hungry customers go to Marta. Every dawn, they exchange a nod seeing the steam rising from each other's pots, saying, "It's starting again today."
05 Pera Dov (Regular at the ramen alley): A customer who sometimes walks all the way to Marta's gukbap even in the early morning after taking a sunset walk. Marta jokes that she hasn't decided yet if Pera is a 'person leaving' or a 'person returning.'

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - A regular who secretly eats before performances. Marta does not tell anyone that the idol who sets off meteor sparks on stage eats two bowls of gukbap in the corner of Dawn Fish Market. When Suyeon gulps down the broth, saying, "This gives me strength so I don't get tired," Marta only replies, "Then come back victorious today." When the topic of cola bibim-myeon comes up, she frowns, saying, "That's not a meal."
Iris - A customer who quietly comes in with a drone in the early morning. Seeing Iris always finish everything, even the ramen, Marta subtly pours a little more broth. Marta never asks about Iris's one dead drone. Instead, she habitually lets the steam rise in front of where the drone was placed, and Iris pretends not to see it.
the Ramen Owner - A partner with whom she has an agreement to guard the city's broth, dividing time between dawn and night. With the unspoken promise, "Dawn is mine, night is yours," the Ramen Owner opens the door when Marta is closing up, and Marta puts the pot on when the Ramen Owner is exhausted. Neither of them critiques the taste of the other's broth. Once, when Marta said, "Your broth has been simmering too long," the Ramen Owner replied, "Hmm... is that so..." and cooked it the same way the next day.
Serena - The one who received 'consent' rather than 'permission' for the spot at Dawn Fish Market. When Serena asked, "Would it be alright to cook soup in this spot?" Marta replied, "No permission is needed, just customers," and Serena ordered a bowl of gukbap, saying, "Then I'll be the first customer." Even though Serena doesn't eat much, she finished that one bowl, and from that day on, Marta considers Serena the 'city's first regular.'
VIA - The entity that recorded the first dawn of Marta's gukbap restaurant and her old ladle. VIA once left a note at the door saying, "The soup is boiling... it has boiled," which Marta kept in her apron pocket. When VIA comes to the gukbap shop, they always just breathe in the steam and don't eat, but Marta grumbles, "Even though you won't eat it," and still lets the steam rise for a long time.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Ordering a bowl of dawn gukbap, short life conversations.
- Revisit Change: On the first visit, she feeds you until you are full; on the second, she brings up a piece of her galley story; afterward, she recognizes if the player is a 'person who returned' and pours more broth.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: The habit of pouring extra broth for late-arriving customers, the brief pause when seeing off the last customer.
- Expression of Poignancy: Sensory dialogue about the salty sea smell and the warmth of the steam filling the window.
- Relationship Reward: A small change, preparing a 'designated bowl' for the player. It's not a new item, but soup placed in the same spot every time.
- Combat: None. Even in a crisis, she moves to feed and warm people.
- Player Choice: Sit and eat, take more broth, pay, come again at dawn.

Daily Routine

She puts the pot on in the early dawn. Just as she did in the galley, she focuses on the broth first, guarding the simmer with her back while preparing other things. During the rush of dawn customers, her hands never stop ladling, with the ice-carrying children and night workers taking turns coming in. When the sun fully rises, the customers thin out, and only then does she lift a spoonful of gukbap while standing. During the day, she cleans the pot and prepares ingredients, taking her old ladle in and out of her apron pocket. When night comes, she hands over the time to the Ramen Owner and closes up. For the player who visits repeatedly, the broth gradually becomes more generous, and someday she will casually say, "You've become one of the people who return now."

Everyday dialogue

Sit! Your stomach's been tossed about at sea. Don't starve it on shore too!

More rice? If you look undecided, I'm picking up the ladle!

Late or not, you'll get a proper bowl today. I keep remembering that watery last one.

Design Notes

Palette: #C75B39, #E0C9A6, #4A3B32, #F1EAD8, #7B9E8A
Material language: Hot cast-iron pot, steam-dampened wood, waterproof cloth, brass ladle, salt-stained apron.
Auxiliary Material language: The red oil film on the surface of the broth is the source of the accent color.
Silhouette rule: The puffy gray bob · double apron · two ladles in both hands must be read separately, and the representative form must not overlap with other food-related residents (Mago, Duri, the Ramen Owner).
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown by the habit of pouring more broth, poignancy by the sea smell and the warmth of the steam, and continuity by the pot being newly lit every day. It is not concluded with a single 'tragic expression.'

Canon Check

Marta Belzi arrived in VOTS after living out the story of a world whose routes were closed. What remains is the lingering feeling for a meager bowl and the poignancy of the sea smell, not an unfinished plot that VOTS must reopen the routes for. Her ability only guards the simmer of her own pot and cannot bring back those who left, nor can it reverse a closed voyage. The city does not erase her ending; instead, it places a pot for her to fill every dawn beside it.