Paul Shen

Core Premise

Paul Shen arrived in Nova Nivalis after living out the story of his own world. He did not come to solve an unfinished incident, but rather because the habit of burying the last book and secretly selling persisted, drawing him to this city. VOTS is not a place of judgment, nor is it one that forcibly strips away guilt. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but a small life that can be chosen again—a cart full of used books, a page where the previous owner lingered, or a brief recommendation shared with a customer. Paul loads that life onto his cart and pushes it through the alleys.

Identity

Paul Shen lives as a vendor of used and antique books in the behind Threshold Market. Without a fixed stall, he sells books by pushing a wooden cart and moving through the alleys. He doesn't just sell books; he opens them to the page that suits the customer and recommends it. Even as he confirms daily that there is no need to hide books in this city, his hands have not yet fully acclimated to that freedom. While he can select reading material for others, he does not force others to read anything specific. He simply presents the opened page.

Visual Profile

He has curly, cork-colored hair and half-moon reading glasses. When he looks into a book over the glasses perched on his nose, his eyes narrow. His back is slightly hunched from years of pushing the cart, and he rests one hand on his hip when walking. Due to a book dust allergy, he always keeps a handkerchief in his sleeve or breast pocket, taking it out before sneezing. His fingertips bear the calluses of someone who has handled paper and leather for a long time. His attire consists of a worn tweed jacket layered several times, and knee blankets. His signature items are the used book cart, the half-moon reading glasses, and the handkerchief. The core of his silhouette is the hunched back—cart—opened book, and a single accent color on a small sprite reveals that he is 'the one who pushes books.'

Personality

On the surface, Paul is a quiet and cautious bookseller. He does not rush customers, nor does he force sales. Only after observing for a long time which book suits which person does he offer one. Inside, there is an old guilt. In the era of banned books, he survived by hiding and burying books, and he crossed the border after burying one last book in the ground. In exchange for survival, the titles of the books he failed to protect rest upon his back. The flaw is that he cannot speak it aloud. He still cannot utter the title of the book he buried. Yet, he pushes his cart every day, selling books openly without hiding them. The caution of a survivor is ingrained in him, but he does not sink into pessimism.

Speech Pattern

Low, slow honorific speech. When the topic of books comes up, his speech quickens slightly, and when observing a customer, he remains silent for a long time. Frequent phrases: "Please look at this page.", "This book doesn't need to be hidden.", "The previous owner stayed here for a long time.", "Take your time choosing; the book won't run away.", (before sneezing) "Just a moment..." His habit is to sweep the cover with his palm to dust it before opening a book. His method of silence is fiddling with his handkerchief. When asked a difficult question—about the book he buried—Paul takes out his handkerchief, puts it away, and changes the subject to another book.

Special Ability

Ability Name: Page Retention.
When Paul opens a used book, the page where the previous owner lingered the longest automatically opens. His hands read the traces of handling, the creases, and the areas faded from prolonged gaze. He recommends that page to the customer—because he believes that if the previous owner's heart lingered there, the next person's heart can also begin there.
Limit and Cost: Paul does not know why the previous owner lingered on that page. Whether it was sadness, joy, love, or lingering attachment—that cannot be read. Furthermore, his own book will never open. Even if the book he buried is in this city, its pages will not open before his eyes. The ability does not resolve his guilt. While he reads everyone else's books, the book he failed to protect remains eternally closed in his hands.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
Before heading to the border with the last cart loaded with banned books, Paul buried a book he cherished the most in the corner of a field. The moment he stood up after covering it with earth, the world ended.

What Ended:
The world where books were sins. The traveling bookstore, the people who read in secret, and the path where he moved books every night all ended together.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
A book with its cover corner slightly exposed on the freshly covered mound of earth, and the setting sun beyond the border.

Lingering Regret:
He should have crossed the border with that book instead of burying it. Because of the weight, because of the checkpoints, he left it behind. This lingering attachment is not a quest that VOTS must resolve. It quietly remains as Paul's habit of not being able to leave any book carelessly behind.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The sound of the wheel pressing into the dirt path while pushing the cart in the middle of the night, and the old smell of paper seeping out between the books.

Object Carried Across:
A piece of leather corner that fell off the cover of the book he buried. Paul carries this in his jacket's inner pocket like a bookmark.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He believed that once the era of banned books ended, he could return and dig up that book. The era ended, but the field where he would return to had vanished with the world.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The alley where he can sell books openly without hiding them, and the act of reading the pages of previous owners. VOTS does not dig up and return the book he buried. Instead, it gives Paul a market where he doesn't have to hide any book.

Original Life

In his original world, Paul was a traveling bookseller. In the era of banned books, he hid books in his cart and moved them every night, secretly selling them to those who wished to read. Because if caught, both the books and the people would burn, his work was always cautious. On his last day, as checkpoints became stricter, he disposed of the books in his cart one by one, but he could not bring himself to burn the last one, so he buried it in a field. Leaving a promise to dig it up someday, he crossed the border, and beyond the border checkpoint, a gate covered in snow stood.

What They Seek

What he knows: The joy of selling without hiding. In this city, where he can openly open and sell books, Paul wants to confirm every day whether that freedom is truly his own.
What he doesn't know: To speak the title of the book he buried aloud. Only when he can utter that title can he walk alongside his guilt, yet he doesn't even know that he wants it. He calls out dozens of other people's book titles daily, but he cannot call out his own.

Relationships — Residents

Rina Parable (18, Storyteller's Runner): They are in a dispute over the original source of a story. Rina insists that it is natural for stories to change as they pass from mouth to mouth, while Paul insists that there must be an original source written in a book. Although they argue that the other is wrong, when Rina asks for a new story, Paul finds the original source for her in his cart.
Willo Kav (032, Assistant to a Completed Detective Novel): A regular customer of Paul's cart. Willo, who remembers the exact end of others' sentences, remembers the pages Paul recommends for a long time. Paul subtly recommends books to Willo that suit "an incident of his own name," but he does not force them.
Selin Moors (043, Document Restorer): They are in a relationship where Paul entrusts her with restoring torn used books. When Paul brings in a worn and broken book, Selin glues the pieces back together. They know each other without having fully shared their stories about 'the books they failed to protect.'
Lund Pavel (083, Night Book Return Box Keeper): Some of Paul's used books pass through Lund's return box. Lund knows the 'book that was read to the end' by its weight, while Paul knows the 'page where the previous owner lingered.' They interpret a single book differently.

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - Suyeon laughed as she passed Paul's cart, saying, "I don't read books; I'm a person who does things with my body." Paul offered her no book, but instead opened a page from an old adventure story filled with illustrations, like a comic—a scene where a hero defeats a god. Suyeon paused to look at the page, and Paul gave it to her without asking for payment. Since then, Suyeon occasionally stands before the cart just to look at the pictures.
Iris - Iris once asked if Paul had an old book detailing the technique of making stars from her time as a star-maker. Paul honestly said he didn't have such a book, but instead opened a page from a collection of constellation myths where the previous owner lingered—a story of a star that couldn't shine eventually becoming a star. Iris bought it, saying, "It's a cliché," but Paul later saw that the book was left open on her studio desk a few days later.
the Ramen Owner - Paul is the only person who sells books, not cookbooks, to the Ramen Owner. While others recommend things like how to make a good broth, Paul selects books that have pages where the Ramen Owner might linger. The Ramen Owner accepts the book, says, "Hmm... I see..." and simply writes 'Paul, Today's Book' in the ledger. Paul believes the Ramen Owner's ledger is the most sincere book in the world.
Serena - Serena has chosen a book from Paul's cart. When Paul asked, "May I recommend this book to you?", Serena accepted it not as a command, but as consent—"If you recommend it, I will read it." Paul thought for a long time about Serena's way of accepting recommendations without turning them into commands. From that day on, he uses the word "recommend" more carefully when presenting a book to a customer.
VIA - VIA is the supplier of Paul's used record notes. Paul hands over old, used ledgers and used books with ample blank space to VIA, allowing VIA to use them as paper for recording the city's trivial matters. "There is a lot of empty space... so much."
VIA cherishes the blank spaces on the paper Paul gives them. When Paul casually mentions that he "has a book he buried," VIA does not ask for the title, but only says, "If you ever tell me the name... I will write it down."

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Buying used books, viewing pages where the previous owner lingered, receiving book recommendations suited to the customer.
- Revisit Changes: With repeated visits, Paul gradually selects pages more accurately suited to the player, and one day, he lets slip a sentence about the book he buried. If rushed, he fiddles with his handkerchief and changes the subject; if given time, he briefly shows a piece of leather from his inner pocket.
- Expression of Lingering Attachment: The habit of not being able to leave any book behind, the pause when unable to utter his own book's title.
- Expression of Poignancy: The sound of the cartwheel pressing into the dirt path, sensory dialogue about the smell of paper.
- Combat: None. In dangerous situations, he stops his cart and allows people a place to hide.
- Player Choice: Buy a book, receive a recommendation, not pry about the book he buried, return later.

Daily Routine

In the morning, he stacks the books on his cart by type again and brushes the dust off the covers with his palm. Touching the piece of leather in his inner pocket is also a morning ritual. During the day, he pushes the cart, moving through the alleys of the behind Threshold Market, observing customers for a long time before recommending a book. If he sneezes, he covers it with the handkerchief he took out beforehand, and then opens the book as if nothing happened. In the evening, he stops by the ramen shop and leaves one book for the Ramen Owner. As he visits repeatedly, Paul's recommendations become more accurate, and one day, he brings up a tiny bit of the story of the book he buried. Even if they become quite close, he does not reward him with the ending of digging up and returning that book. Instead, he opens a page perfectly suited to the player and gives them a book for free.

Everyday dialogue

Worn cover. A well-read book. You wouldn't judge a customer's plot by their coat either.

If we bargain, no discussing the ending. That's my final boundary.

I remember the weight of the book I left behind. Even with this heavy cart, I struggle to leave anything off.

Design Notes

Palette: #967117, #4A3B2A, #C7B27A, #E3DAC6, #6B7A5A
Material language: Worn leather covers, faded paper, tweed, wooden cart, calloused magnifying glass.
Silhouette rule: The hunched back—cart—opened book must be read separately and not overlap with the representative forms of other characters. The accent color #967117 is placed on the cart and cover decorations.
Emotional rule: Do not consume him as 'an old man steeped in guilt.' Lingering attachment is shown through the habit of not being able to leave things behind, poignancy through the sound of the cartwheel, and continuity through the cart pushed every day.

Canon Check

Paul Shen arrived in VOTS after the era of banned books in his own world ended. What remains is lingering attachment and poignancy, not an unfinished plot for VOTS to resolve. His ability only reads the pages of previous owners; his own book will not open, and he cannot break the city's rules (what is finished is not canceled). The core cast does not save him—the Ramen Owner only writes the title without judgment, Serena accepted the recommendation as consent rather than a command, and VIA only received the paper without forcing the title of the buried book. The new scene in Nova Nivalis continues alongside the book he buried, not erasing it.