I’m currently [ participating in the Nexon PEAK Post Challenge].

Pretty trash? No—beloved collectibles!

Games are a total art form. The moment you boot one up, the screen hits your eyes, the BGM hits your ears, and your hands get dragged into the experience too. Some games even recruit your whole body. Out of the five senses, games do a pretty solid job covering three. Feeling a little cheated that taste and smell didn’t make the party? Well, that’s where goods come in. From the characters you interacted with in-game to the clothes they wore, the food they ate, and the places they visited—just about every part of a game can become merch.

Even now, I sometimes catch myself wondering what the Traveler’s Snack from Mabinogi Mobile actually tastes like. It’s made with eggs and meat, so what are we dealing with here? Boiled eggs and dried meat? Meat and egg mixed together and cooked? Or some kind of yukhoe with raw egg worked in? Honestly, I wish someone would just make and sell Traveler’s Snacks already. That would finally let merch cover taste and smell too.

Anyway, that was a long preamble, but to me, goods are either a kind of secondary creation born from wanting to know something you love a little better, or objects made because you want to keep what you love close by, always within sight. Why am I talking in circles so much, you ask? Because I took a quick look through the goods I own and realized... I have more than I thought. In the end, I arrived at one conclusion: goods are love. Maybe that’s just how people work. If you love something, you end up wanting the things connected to it too. So from here on out, let me show off some of the goods I own—and a few I really wanted but never managed to get.



Childhood video game memories - Nintendo goods

Nintendo—you know it, right? When I was little, I was always jealous of the video game console at my friends’ houses. These days I just think “Nintendo,” but back then... was it called the Super Famicom? I think so. Last summer, I got lucky and won a ticket to the Nintendo Museum lottery. I quite literally went all the way to Japan just to visit the Nintendo Museum. While I was there, I bought a Nintendo cup and a cushion. There was something oddly satisfying about finally “owning” the Super Famicom I couldn’t have as a kid—except now, in my thirties, I own it as a cushion. Goods really do have a way of summoning old memories. Since Kirby, Bowser, and Mario figures were there too, I took a photo with them as well.





The worldbuilding is great, sure, but the characters are the real charm! - Reverse: 1999

Reverse: 1999 is a game built around a world where a storm sends time backward. The story is great, of course, but the character writing is especially excellent. In character-collecting games, the narrative usually ends up orbiting the highest-rarity characters, but Reverse: 1999 gives every character a story. Naturally, the level of importance and frequency differs. Still, it doesn’t just focus on the big names from the main story—it fills in all kinds of episodes and anecdotes, giving the whole cast their own narrative weight. And when a game does that, it’s only natural that certain characters start to feel especially dear.

Personally, I’m really fond of Regulus. She’s actually the only character I’ve ever spent money on to buy a badge for. One day when I was out in Hongdae, I stopped by Animate just to look around, and I was ridiculously happy to find a Reverse: 1999 section there. It’s not exactly a mainstream game, so you don’t run into it very often. I also still make good use of the Ulrich coaster I got through a random draw there. As for the Vertin keyring and the Winter Unimo doll, I happened to get those through an event. I treasure those too, of course.





The characters look great in-game, but who could resist their cute versions too? - Dungeon & Fighter

Loving a character as they appear in the game is already great, but one of the extra joys of goods is getting to see different sides of them. I mean, your favorite character is already your favorite, and now they show up even cuter and in physical form too—how is that not a win? Just putting them on a bookshelf and looking at them makes me happy. Sure, some people might say, “What’s the point of something that just sits there and has no practical use?” But if simply looking at something makes you happy, isn’t that incredible practical value in its own way?





Impossible to leave out: Mabinogi Online & Mabinogi Mobile, which shaped my life

I’ve done a lot of rambling before getting here. Why so much? Because this is the part I really wanted to talk about. If I list the Nexon RPGs I’ve played, the line of my game history runs from The Kingdom of the Winds to MapleStory, then Mabinogi Online, Mabinogi Heroes, and now Mabinogi Mobile. Out of all of them, Mabinogi was the first RPG that made me start buying goods. I first encountered Mabinogi when I was fifteen, and now I’m past my mid-thirties and staring down forty, and I’m still playing it. That alone tells you how enormous this game’s impact on my life has been.



Mabinogi Online and Mabinogi Mobile share the same IP, but they’re different games. Even so, because the IP is the same, they share a universe and some of the same characters. Back in Mabinogi Online, I never ate the bread Nao gave me—not until the day I quit the game. Same with the Traveler’s Guide she gave me. I always kept it stored with Pawan at the Tir Chonaill bank. I just couldn’t bring myself to use it! But in Mabinogi Mobile, Nao is now my reliable companion. We have shared bread together by the campfire, yes, but she’s never given me any separately.

Starting with the residents of Tir Chonaill, there are so many NPCs with their own stories, and even Lorna and Pan, who appeared quite a while after the game launched, are characters I’m deeply fond of. I’ve kept these unopened because it feels like a waste to open them. And last winter, I also went in person to the Mabinogi Mobile event held at Starfield. Personally, I really love coasters and cups, but when I went, they either weren’t being sold or were already sold out—I’m not sure which, but there weren’t any. And the cushion I wanted was definitely sold out, so I couldn’t get it. There was a display sample, so I even asked if I could buy the sample itself, but I was told no. I’m still disappointed about that.



I like goods I can actually use in everyday life. A coaster I’m going to use anyway, a keyring I’m going to carry around anyway, something I love sitting on the bookshelf I look at all the time anyway—that’s just nice. How do I put it? I just like it. I like being able to enjoy the things I love in more ways. Right now, the only Mabinogi Mobile goods I have are the Nao balloon I got at Starfield (I still refill it with air regularly) and the character card I made, but I’m still always keeping an eye out for my next chance. Ah, I really hope something comes out that makes me think, I absolutely need this.

Life is exhausting enough already, so isn’t enjoying what you love one way to carve out a little everyday joy and happiness? To me, goods are a small but certain happiness. They let me enjoy what I can, as much as I can, and it’s always such a fun experience when the range of things I love expands a little further. And my Mabinogi Mobile card is even more special to me because I made it together with someone precious, so it also lets me remember the giggling we shared that day. I really wish there were more chances for experiences like that. Of course, it would be even better if more goods came out too—especially coasters in my taste, and all kinds of other merch.



So, wishing happiness to everyone
reading this today as well,
this has been Jagyeongssi.