Poi Rum
Winter Soap Bubble Vendor · Rainshield Square

[Core Premise]

Poi Rum arrived at Nova Nivalis after the story of his own world ended. He didn't come to sell unsold items; he drifted to this city of snow because the sensation of his fingertips letting go of the last balloon remained. VOTS is not an amusement park that brings back summer, nor is it a ticket booth that calls back lost customers. What continues here is not the bustling crowds of peak season, but a small business like the brief, 30-second sparkle of soap bubbles popping with a chime in a sub-zero square. His beach amusement park closed, and that fact is not canceled. However, the city grants him a spot in the square where he can live alongside the finished summer. 



[Identity]

Poi Rum is a vendor of winter soap bubbles in Rainshield Square. He blows bubbles with a wand, sending them into the sub-zero air, and lets people watch them briefly freeze and then pop with a chime. Strictly speaking, what he sells is not the object of the bubble, but the 30-second spectacle of the bubble floating. He doesn't pressure customers to buy anything. He blows into the wand, and when the bubble pops, he blows again. This is not mere decoration; it is labor that makes the square's winter less cold. If there are customers, he blows; if not, he tends to his wand. Just as no one catches his bubbles for him, he doesn't catch what others have let go of.



[Visual Profile]

Hair: Honey brown curly high bun. His curly hair is tied up to the height of his crown, and when he tilts his head to blow bubbles, the mass of curls shakes at the back of his head.
Eyes: Light brown. They grow large like a child when tracking the bubbles.
Skin/Build: A lean young man with tan marks that remain even in winter. He possesses the light gait characteristic of amusement park people.
Signature Tattoo: Three small soap bubbles floating behind his ear. They are slightly visible through his curls when he turns his neck.
Signature Attire: Several wands around his neck. He wears wands of varying thickness and length tied with leather straps around his neck, causing them to make a wooden sound as he walks. He carries a bottle of bubble solution on his waist.
Signature Prop: Bubble wands. With the thickest one, he blows a bubble the size of a person's head; with the thinnest, he blows a small bubble with the clearest chime.
Silhouette Key: The high bun of curls, the cluster of wands around his neck, and his head tilted in the act of blowing. The accent color #7FD1AE is repeated in the pale turquoise of the bubble solution and his tattoo.



[Personality]

Poi is outwardly bright and lighthearted. He enjoys blowing bubbles like a child and doesn't regret them popping. His strength is his sentimentality for things that disappear. He values what sparkles briefly over things that last long. He has flaws, too. Regarding himself, he always stands in an ambiguous state, unsure if he is a 'person who lets go' or a 'seller.' When people try to pay for the bubbles, he waves them off, saying, "You can just watch," making him poor at business. He is not a tragic figure. If a bubble freezes unusually large, he cheers alone, and if children run after the bubbles, he runs with them.



[Speech Pattern]

His speech is bouncy and full of exclamations. He has a habit of stopping speaking when a bubble pops.
Frequent Phrases:
- "Look, right now! It's exactly 30 seconds."
- "It's not a shame that it pops. That's what a bubble is."
- "Is this... selling, or just showing?"
- "Did you hear the chime? Just now."
- "What's the difference between letting go and selling?"
Method of Silence: Instead of answering, he blows a bubble with a wand. His silence lasts until that bubble pops.



[Special Ability]

Ability Name: "Frozen Bubble, Chime".
What it can do: The soap bubbles he blows maintain their shape for about 30 seconds, thinly frozen in the sub-zero air. When they pop, they emit a tiny, glass-like chime. Bubbles blown by others just pop, but his bubbles freeze and ring.
Limit/Cost: Exactly 30 seconds. He cannot hold them longer, nor can he hand them to or sell them as objects. They pop with a chime the moment they are touched. The colder the day, the better they freeze, but on such days, his fingertips also become numb, preventing him from blowing for long.
Why the ability doesn't solve problems: Even if he can freeze the bubble for 30 seconds, it eventually pops. His ability only holds beauty for a moment; it doesn't make the disappearing thing stop disappearing. The city's rules remain the same—the finished summer does not return, and the released balloon cannot be grasped again. Even though he can freeze the bubbles, he cannot freeze the answer to what he is selling.



[The End Of Their World]

Last Scene:
At the beach amusement park where summer had ended forever, he untied the knot of the last remaining balloon and let it go into the sky instead of selling it to a customer. If he had sold it, he would have made a sale for the day, but he didn't. 

What Ended:
Summer ended in his world, and the entire beach amusement park, which only operated in summer, ended with it. When winter came, the amusement park did not reopen.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The balloon, gradually shrinking and disappearing into the gray sky, and the nape of the neck of the last child who looked up at it with him.

Lingering Regret:
After letting the balloon go, he tried to explain to the child, "This wasn't selling, it was showing," but couldn't finish. The child just watched the sky where the balloon disappeared and left. He still hasn't finished that explanation. This lingering attachment is not a quest that VOTS will resolve for him. It only surfaces in his habit of muttering, "Is this selling, or just showing?" after he blows a bubble.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The tautness of the rubber that brushed his fingertips when untying the balloon knot, and the sensation of the salty summer beach wind pushing the bubbles upward.

Object Carried Across:
A short strand of string that tied the last balloon. The mark where the knot was untied remains. It is not a powerful relic, but a personal mark connecting the finished summer and the current winter square.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He thought that when winter passed, summer would return and the amusement park would reopen. Like the balloon he let go, he thought the seasons would cycle back to their proper places. But the summer of that world never returned.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
He blows bubbles in the sub-zero square every day, showing people the 30 seconds where they briefly freeze and pop with a chime. There is no summer, but a new business—the ice bubble—is born in his fingertips, possible only in winter. VOTS does not return the finished summer. Instead, it grants him a spot in the winter square.



[Original Life]

In his world, Poi was a balloon vendor at a beach amusement park. For the few days when people flocked there during the summer, he blew and sold colorful balloons. He preferred watching the balloons rise into the sky more than selling them, but only when customers missed them. The last day was like this. On the day the amusement park closed, there were almost no customers, and one balloon remained. A passing child said they wanted to buy it, but instead of taking payment, Poi untied the knot and let it go into the sky. He couldn't explain exactly why. And that summer never came again.



[What They Seek]

What he outwardly seeks: His place between letting go and selling. He should be a vendor who sells things, but it's always ambiguous that he sells something he cannot hold onto.
What he seeks but doesn't know: That he is already selling 'the spectacle,' and that this is a legitimate business. That the people who pay for the 30-second spectacle are already his answer.



[Relationships — Residents]

097 Paola Ring (Small Carousel Operator): They share a common background as people from a closed amusement park. Paola's carousel makes riders feel like they are 'the age they were when they first rode a carousel' for a moment, and Poi's bubbles freeze and vanish for a moment—they are people who sell 'things that don't last long.' When Paola says, "You'll end up back where you started after one rotation," Poi laughs and replies, "I don't come back to where I started; they pop.". Still, they often set up shop side-by-side in a corner of the square.
09 Moku Ren (Umbrella/Awning Maker): A neighbor who shares space in Rainshield Square. Because it snows less under Moku's awnings, the bubbles freeze better, and in return, Poi shows the bubble spectacle for free to the awning customers.
064 Som Ire (Greenhouse Watering Duty, 9 years old): Poi's regular audience. When a bubble pops with a chime, Som Ire claps the loudest, so Poi prepares the largest bubble for the time the child comes.



[Relationships — Core Five]

Suyeon - They are connected through Poi's 'Ice Bubble Effect' for the performance finale. When Suyeon asked if there was anything to add to the meteor flame finale, Poi sent dozens of ice bubbles onto the stage, and they popped all at once, chiming under the light of the flames. Suyeon was delighted, saying, "Wow, this is insane," and has since invited Poi to major performances. When the topic of mixed ramen comes up, Poi deflects by saying, "You can't eat that in 30 seconds."
Iris - They collaborate subtly on stage direction. When Iris shines a bubble with drone lighting, a rainbow appears on the ice surface, and they pass the ball back and forth, saying, "My bubbles are meaningless without your light / My light is boring without your bubbles." Poi never asks about one of Iris's dead drones. Instead, he sends a bubble in front of that drone, and Iris, while saying it's "useless," doesn't stop him.
the Ramen Owner - A customer who comes to the ramen shop to warm up his numb hands while blowing bubbles on cold days in the square. the Ramen Owner doesn't ask, "You say you don't sell bubbles, so why are you here paying for the broth?" He just warms up the broth. When Poi asks, "Sir, is this selling, or just showing?" the Ramen Owner just pours more broth and says, "Hmm... I see..."

Serena - The person whose consent gave him a place to sell bubbles in Rainshield Square. When Serena asked, "Would selling bubbles here be all right?" Poi answered honestly, "I don't know whether I'm selling them or showing them." Serena smiled: "Then you may do both. The space is here." For the first time, Poi felt his own uncertainty had been accepted.

VIA - The one who comes to record the chimes of frozen bubbles. Each time a bubble bursts, VIA writes, "It rang... It rang." When Poi asked, "How do you record that sound?" VIA replied, "A sound does not remain... That is why I write it down." Poi thought about that answer for a long time. Since then, on days VIA visits, he blows bubbles through the thin tube that makes the clearest chime.



[Gameplay Use]

- Basic Interaction: Watching the ice bubbles, trying to blow bubbles with a wand, short daily conversations.
- Revisit Changes: On the first visit, he only shows the bubbles; on the second, he shares a piece of the story of the balloon he let go; subsequently, he prepares the largest bubble for the player.
- Expression of Lingering Attachment: Muttering, "Is this selling, or just showing?", and the brief pause after a bubble pops.
- Expression of Poignancy: Dialogue about the salty wind of the summer beach and the tautness of balloon rubber.
- Relationship Reward: The moment he sends up a special bubble just for the player (the largest or the clearest chiming one). It's not a new item, but a 30-second spectacle.
- Combat: None. Even in a crisis, he moves to draw attention with bubbles to guide people to evacuate.
- Player Choice: Watch the bubbles, pay for them, just watch, return to the square.



[Daily Routine]

In the morning, he stirs the bubble solution and tends to his wands. The hands that once tied balloon knots at the amusement park now stir bubble solution. During the day, he observes the sun and wind to find the best spot for the bubbles to freeze. The colder the day, the prettier the bubbles freeze, but his hands also grow numb. Around noon, when the sun hits the square, the ice bubbles create a rainbow, and he pauses his wand for a moment, recalling the vanished summer. At night, he puts the last balloon string in his pocket and unties the cluster of wands from his neck. For players who visit repeatedly, the bubbles gradually get larger, and someday he will say, "I think it doesn't matter anymore whether it's selling or showing."



[Everyday dialogue]

Look, your face in that bubble—oh. The introduction ran too long!

Catch it and it bursts! No damages charged, but you might owe the bubble an apology.

I should have explained that I wanted to show it. Did they think it wasn't a gift if they couldn't take it away?



[Design Notes]

Palette: #7FD1AE, #E8F1EC, #4A5A55, #D9A441, #33474F
Material language: Thinly frozen soap film, wooden wand, leather straps, rainbow sheen of the bubble solution, dried balloon string.
Silhouette rule: The high bun of curls, the cluster of wands around his neck, and the tilted head must be read as distinct elements, and his representative form must not overlap with other square/performance residents (Paola, Komo).
Emotional rule: Lingering attachment is shown through the mutter, "Is this selling, or just showing?", poignancy through the summer wind and the tautness of rubber, and continuity through the daily blowing of bubbles. It is not concluded with a single 'tragic expression.'
Point-color rule: #7FD1AE is repeated only in the bubble solution and the ear tattoo; everything else is subdued by the gray of the winter square.



[Canon Check]

Poi Rum arrived at VOTS after living out the story of an amusement park whose summer had ended. What remains is the lingering attachment to the unfinished explanation and the poignancy of the summer wind, not an incomplete plot that VOTS must restore. His ability only freezes the bubbles for 30 seconds and cannot stop things from disappearing, nor can it revive the finished summer. The city does not erase his ending; it places a spot in the winter square next to it.