Mino Folt
A footnote character in a finished biography (Currently works in Print Shop Alley doing odd jobs and proofreading assistance) · Print Shop Alley

[Core Premise]

Mino Folt arrived in Nova Nivalis after his own story had been written to completion. He did not come to resolve an unfinished event, but rather drawn to this city by the direction of his own portion and his cut-off story, which remained only as a single line of a footnote even after the biography was finished. VOTS is not a place that returns unwritten sentences; it is a place where a small life continues, proofreading others' writing and hauling type in Print Shop Alley. Within that life, Mino believes he is still searching for a single sentence bearing his own name.



[Identity]

Mino Folt is someone who helps with odd jobs and proofreading in Print Shop Alley. He carries the plates set by the typesetters, points out typos, and organizes cut-off manuscripts. In the biography, he was a friend of a great figure, but all that remained in the book was a single line of a footnote: "He had a friend who helped with the calculations." In the city, his job is to make others' writing neat—to see typos disappear from the plates he handles, and cut-off sentences find their proper place.



[Visual Profile]

Hair: Neat side part, dark brown mixed with ash, parted 6:4. (※Unlike the 115 resident with a royal ash brown part, Mino's is a low-saturation brown mixed with ash, making it heavier and calmer, and the part line is more distinct.)
Eyes: Dark brown. When listening to someone, his focus slightly drifts to the empty space next to the speaker's mouth, toward where the cut-off words are heard.
Skin/Build: An average build that is not overly conspicuous. He has several small dot tattoos behind his ears, like footnote numbers (traces of the numbers attached to the biography editions).
Signature Attire: A sturdy vest stained with ink and arm bracers. Each vest pocket holds a red proofreading pen and a bookmark ribbon.
Signature Prop: A bundle of bookmark ribbons in various colors. He uses them to mark where cut-off sentences were located.
Silhouette Key: Ash-mixed dark brown side part, ink-stained vest, dot tattoos behind the ears, bundle of bookmark ribbons. His head tilts slightly to the side when listening to others.
Accent Color: #856D4D (The brown of the ink-stained vest)



[Personality]

On the surface, Mino is quiet and diligent, skilled at making others' writing neat. He listens to even strangers until the end, discerning the words they swallowed—the parts cut out during editing. Internally, he holds an old self-definition: "I am a footnote." Not the main text, but the line beside the protagonist. That is why his own speech is always brief. His flaw is that he is overly self-deprecating, feeling uncomfortable if someone treats him like main text. However, he is not a pessimistic person. When he finds a cut-off sentence from someone else and places it in its proper spot, he is quietly satisfied, and he remembers the sound of someone clearly calling his name for a long time.



[Speech Pattern]

His tone is low and cautious, and he always abbreviates his own story. Frequent phrases:
- "You just swallowed something. Something unsaid." (When pointing out someone's cut-off words)
- "I am... a footnote. One line is enough." (When humbling himself)
- "You are the main text, and I am the small print below." (When defining his role)
- "My cut-off part... I can't hear it." (When stating his limitation)
Habit: When listening to others, he unconsciously fiddles with a bookmark ribbon, as if marking a cut-off spot. When his own story comes up, he trails off and aligns the type.



[Special Ability]

Name: "Hearing Cut Footnotes"
He faintly hears the parts that were cut out from others' stories during editing—the unspoken words, the deleted anecdotes. He knows the sentences people swallowed.
Limitation/Cost: He cannot hear the cut-off parts of his own story. While he hears others' deletions, he will never know what was cut off behind his own footnote. Furthermore, just because he hears it doesn't mean he can revive that cut-off sentence or speak it for someone else. 
Reason the ability doesn't solve problems: What Mino truly desires is to know the cut-off part of his own story, but the ability only grants him 'others'' cut-off parts. He can only be present beside someone by hearing their deleted anecdotes; he cannot restore those anecdotes or discover his own. The footnote remains a footnote, and the ability cannot change that fact—it only makes him a listener to others' cut-off words.
(※Contrast with 032 Willo Kav: Willo remembers the 'trailing words' others let slip but forgets his own words, while Mino hears others' 'cut-off parts' but cannot hear his own. Both are bright toward others but dark toward themselves.)



[The End Of Their World]

Last Scene:
On the day the biography was finished and printed, Mino turned to the last page, searching for the sentence that remained as his portion, and there was only a single line of a footnote: "He had a friend who helped with the calculations."

What Ended:
A biography detailing the life of a great figure was completed, and the stories of all the characters within it were fixed as printed sentences and ended.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The last page of the biography, just printed and still wet with ink, and his own footnote embedded in small print below the main text.

Lingering Regret:
There was a long story he wanted to tell the great figure (friend), but that story was entirely cut out during editing and became a single line of a footnote. He no longer even knows what he intended to say. This lingering feeling remains not as a quest to be resolved, but as the habit of always abbreviating his own story while listening particularly well to others' cut-off words.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The heavy sound of the type pressing onto the paper when the printing press made the final page. When that sound occurs in Print Shop Alley, he briefly comes back to life.

Object Carried Across:
That single page of the biography bearing his footnote. He folds it and carries it in his vest pocket, but he covers the footnote section with his hand and rarely looks at it.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He thought that someday a revised edition would come out and his story would be in the main text. The revised edition never came out, and the story remained fixed as a footnote.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The proofreading spot in Print Shop Alley, the others' writing to make neat, and the people who call his name in the main text. The city does not return the cut-off footnote. Instead, it continues the place where his name is written in the main text in the city's ledgers and lists every day.



[Original Life]

In his original story, Mino was a friend of a great figure. While the great figure achieved great things, he stayed by their side, helping with calculations, carrying burdens, and staying up through the night. However, when the biography was written, his role was reduced to a single line of a footnote—"He had a friend who helped with the calculations." On the day the book was finished and printed, he turned to the last page to check his footnote. That last day was quiet. There was nowhere to protest, nowhere to request a revision. Only the smell of ink and a single folded page remained to him.



[What They Seek]

What he outwardly seeks: A single sentence bearing his name—his story appearing in the main text, not as a footnote.
What he doesn't know but must find: That his name is already written in the main text in various city ledgers. His name appears not as a footnote, but as clear main text in the ramen shop's tab ledger, the loan list, and the alley's calculation records. What Mino seeks is not a new biography to feature him, but the realization that he is already main text in this city.



[Relationships — Residents]

- 121 Teo Gali (Print Shop typesetter): Type and footnotes. Teo sees typos in red, and Mino hears cut-off parts. They are a pair in Print Shop Alley; when Teo sets the plates, Mino proofreads. They laugh, saying, "We are people who only fix others' things," over the fact that Teo can't see the typos in his own letters and Mino can't hear his own cut-off parts.
- 075 Mob Jin (Extra 3 in a completed webtoon): Fellow peripheral figures. Mino is a footnote, Mob is an extra 3. Since they were both people on the periphery of the story, they recognize each other immediately. They share the life of the periphery, saying, "You passed through every panel, and I was the small print below." They vaguely know that just as Mob appears when someone truly looks, Mino becomes main text when someone calls his name.
- 054 Nuri On (Market calculation assistant): People good at calculating. Since Mino's role in the biography was also 'helping with calculations,' he connects with Nuri, who is quick with numbers. When Nuri asks, "Do you calculate well too, mister?" Mino smiles and says, "That was my footnote." They match the market ledgers together.
- 167 Fei Norn (Mobile library cart driver): Books being mended and books being lent. When Fei's book cart stops in Print Shop Alley, Mino mends torn or cut books and returns them neatly. Mino hears cut-off parts in Fei's books, but he couldn't open the biography containing Mino's footnote when Fei brought it on the cart. Fei placed the book inside the cart without rushing him.
- [Existing] Rina Parable (Storyteller's errand runner, behind Threshold Market): The back of the story. When Rina narrates the front of the story, Mino knows the cut-off back of that story. If Rina asks, "Doesn't this story feel like something is missing?" Mino points out, "Here, one line is cut off."



[Relationships — Core Five]

Suyeon - Someone who shared the contrast between footnote and protagonist. When Suyeon grumbled, "I was a max-level hero, so why am I an office worker here?" Mino replied, "I was the footnote next to the protagonist. I want to be the main text here." Suyeon became serious for a moment and shouted so loudly that the alley echoed, "Then I'll call your name out loud. Mino!" and Mino remembered that sound for a long time.
Iris - Someone who created name captions. Iris boasted, "Should I display your name in large letters as a stage caption?" When Mino said, "A footnote would be fine," Iris replied, "What do you mean by a footnote? It's your name," and displayed it in large letters. One drone had no caption displayed, and Mino didn't ask about that one.
the Ramen Owner - Someone whose name is written in a ledger. One dawn, Mino quietly cried when he saw his name written in the ramen shop's tab ledger not as a footnote, but as clear main text. The owner just poured more broth, saying, "Hmm... there's a name..." and didn't ask why he was crying. Mino couldn't explain to himself why the writing in that ledger stayed in his mind so long. However, after that day, he started saying his name a little less quietly.
Serena - Someone who asked his name first. When Serena gave Mino the proofreading spot in Print Shop Alley, she asked first, "May I ask your name?" instead of his title. When Mino said, "A name written in a footnote..." Serena replied, "Then we'll write it in the main text here," and gave him the spot with his name, not as an order.
VIA - Someone who recorded him in main text, not as a footnote. When VIA recorded Mino, it was written in main text, "Mino Folt hears others' cut-off words," instead of the footnote, "He had a friend." When Mino said, "I'm a footnote," VIA said, "Here, you are the main text... you are the main text." VIA also carefully transcribed the biography page Mino had folded, saying, "This is also a record."



[Gameplay Use]

- Basic Interaction: Request proofreading, point out others' cut-off words, help with print shop odd jobs.
- Revisit Changes: On the first visit, he retreats, saying he is a footnote; on repeated visits, he murmurs summaries of biography stories; later, he points out the player's cut-off words.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: Abbreviating his own story, covering the footnote section of a biography page with his hand, fiddling with a bookmark ribbon when hearing others' cut-off words.
- Expression of Poignancy: Sensory dialogue about the sound of type pressing onto paper.
- Combat: None. In danger, he organizes the situation by pointing out cut-off information or quietly writing down people's names.



[Daily Routine]

In the morning, he organizes the plates in Print Shop Alley and checks the vest pocket for biography pages (he doesn't look at the footnotes). During the day, he proofreads Teo's plates and points out cut-off parts in others' manuscripts. In the evening, he matches ledgers with Nuri or discusses peripheral stories with Mob. If the player keeps visiting, Mino summarizes his own story a little less, and the phrase "I am a footnote" occasionally changes to "My name is Mino."



[Everyday dialogue]

My story's short… Oh, no need to shorten it? Then I'll pull up a chair.

I correct footnote typos too. Small print isn't permission to be wrong.

I had so much to tell my friend, and I've forgotten what it was. Today I'll write whatever comes without cutting it.



[Design Notes]

Palette: #856D4D, #B7A484, #5A4C3A, #C9BBA0, #2C2620
Material language: Ink-stained fabric, metal type, red proofreading pen, bookmark ribbons, folded print paper.
Silhouette rule: Ash-mixed dark brown side part, ink-stained vest, dot tattoos behind the ears, bundle of bookmark ribbons. Clearly distinguished from the 115 resident with an ash brown side part by color and weight.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown through abbreviating his own story and covering footnotes; poignancy is shown through the sound of type pressing; continuity is shown through the daily act of making others' writing neat. He is not allowed to be consumed only by self-pity.



[Canon Check]

Mino Folt arrived in VOTS after his story was completed. What remains is his own story cut off behind a footnote, not an unfinished plot for the city to resolve. His ability only lets him hear others' cut-off words; it cannot revive his own. The core cast does not save Mino. Serena asks his name first, the Ramen Owner pours more broth without asking why, and VIA records it in main text but doesn't bring him out. The reason why the name in the ramen shop ledger remains so deeply imprinted is left as a lingering feeling without explanation. The new scene continues not by erasing the biography fixed as a footnote, but by the name written in main text next to it every day.