Hong Lu

Overview

Gallery

Sprites

A sinner who had lived an affluent life before becoming our company's asset. As such, he has a certain admiration for a free life; but occasionally, he may make ignorant and unsavory questions in regards to the food cooked by a certain other sinner or other aspects of the low-lives' lowly culture. This can cause much irritation for the other sinners. However, it is important to note that no sarcastic undertones are contained in his curiosity-driven inquiries, so it is ill-advised to let them get physical over it.

Hong Lu
Color	#5BFFDE  (Naive Cyan)
Affiliation	Limbus Company
Biographical Info
Gender	Male
Height	178cm, 5'10"
Relations	LCB (Colleagues) Jia Huan (Older Brother) Grandfather Grandmother Father Sisters Younger Siblings At Least Three Aunts
Other
Literary Source	Dream of the Red Chamber
Nationality	Chinese
Voice Actor	Kim Sin-woo

「宝玉亦瑕、 好事多魔。」

「Jade has its flaws, and life its vicissitudes.」

Hong Lu (Hangul: 홍루, Hong Ru) is designated Sinner #6 of Limbus Company's LCB department.

Hong Lu is a giddy and naive man with a tendency for unintentionally insensitive words. He is affiliated with a large and wealthy family consisting of at least six members, having lived a life of sheltered luxury prior to joining Limbus Company.

He will be the focus character of the currently unannounced Canto VIII.

Appearance

Hong Lu is of average height and build. He has pale complexion that contrasts with his raven black hair. This hair is very long, and tied into a high ponytail with a cyan hair tie. Notably, he has heterochromia: his right eye is a deep shade of purple, almost black, and his left eye is a bright cyan.

His clothing consists of a white long-sleeved dress shirt, mostly covered by a black, low-cut waistcoat tucked into his black belt. Tucked beneath this waistcoat is a red tie. Atop all this, Hong Lu wears a long black coat that reaches just above his ankles. The long sleeves of this coat have accents of red at the end of each sleeve. Inside of this coat, there seems to be a red color. This coat has his Sinner number on his left, and a metal pin inscribed with writing on his right. Finally, he wears long black pants and shoes of the same color.

Hong Lu wields the long guandao "太虛幻境" (pinyin: tài xū huàn jìng; lit. 'Illusory Land of Great Void'), often one handed, on his right hand. The glaive appears unnatural, with one side having a 3/4 cut circle and rimmed with rings across the portion after the cut hole.

Personality

Hong Lu exhibits a potent, almost childlike curiosity and wonder with anything regarding the City, its inhabitants and ways of life, a fact that often baffles his fellow Sinners. From this behavior, it is implied that Hong Lu had once lived a sheltered lifestyle until his employment with Limbus Company. However, this does not imply a difficulty-free life, as Hong Lu's family constantly sought opportunities to betray each other and he was forced to undertake intense physical training by them.

To further this conclusion, Hong Lu seems to lack any sort of inherent social tact when it comes to his questions or comments when introduced to anything while traversing the City. As such, his attitude on most missions heavily clashes with the City-hardened Sinners, but Hong Lu either disregards their words or is too oblivious to be hurt emotionally or mentally, at least outwardly.

However, as of Canto IV: The Unchanging, Hong Lu harbours a unique emotional intelligence not yet seen until the final story events of Canto IV. This is shown through his portrayal of Young-ji, who Yi Sang comments was the most gentle and heartfelt of the League in their heyday, and his observations of Yi Sang's mental state and growth throughout his Dungeon as the Sinners view Yi Sang's life before Limbus Company. Hong Lu goes as far to state: "I'm thinking that he may have been calling for help all along."

During the events of Canto VI: The Heartbreaking and Intervallo IV: Timekilling Time, Hong Lu continues to show a gentle and insightful side to him, being happy to help Heathcliff prepare himself to visit Wuthering Heights and openly stating his trust in him when the other Sinner begins to worry about his ability to deal with what his return home has in store for him, volunteering to help with the Time Ripper case out of a desire to understand the world better, and encouraging Rodion through her moments of fragility during the investigation.

Mirror Worlds

• World of the J Corp. Backstreets
  • In this world, Hong Lu is the leader of the Tingtang Gang. He wears a blue Hawaiian button-down with a lotus design, and sports black tattoos on both of his arms, reaching up to his neck. He also wears a green and yellow bracelet on his left hand, a golden necklace, and two golden earrings on each ear. He wields a modified karambit. This Identity mirrors the Tingtang Boss from the main story. He can be seen in his Tingtang Gangleader Identity.
• World of K Corp.
  • In this world, Hong Lu is part of the K Corp. Security Staff, having been recommended to K Corp. by his grandmother to see more of the City. He dons the Excision Staff armor, a dark blue armor enhanced with HP ampules, and wields a polearm that only reacts with organic tissues. This Identity mirrors the K Corp. Class 3 Staff from the main story. He can be seen in his K Corp. Excision Staff Identity.
• World of District 20 Backstreets
  • In this world, Hong Lu is a member of the Yurodiviye operating in District 20. He wears his hair in a low ponytail, and dons a long checkered maroon coat, with his pocketwatch pinned on the right lapel, a black vest and white pants, as well as the distinctive Yurodiviye scarf, and a large brown tophat with a decoration resembling a gear and magnification lens positioned over his right eye, acting as a monocle. Under his left eye, he has a small, T shaped tattoo. He wields a modified cane that expands into a giant spear. This Identity mirrors the District 20 Yurodiviye Captain from the main story. He can be seen in his Yurodivy Identity and appears in Ryōshū's Yurodivy Identity Story.
• World of the Former Library Guests
  • In this world, Hong Lu is a Fixer for the Hook Office, having been recruited to this Office as an assassin after leaving the killer Syndicate he previously worked for. He wears an orange parka with a large fur hood, and a black shirt that ends in a mask over his mouth. His main weapon are two bionic arms that end in scythes, which he obtained from the Union Co. Workshop. This Identity mirrors Taein from Library of Ruina. He can be seen in his Hook Office Identity.
• World of the Kurokumo Clan and Blade Lineage
  • In this world, Hong Lu is a Wakashu for the Kurokumo Clan. He wears a black jacket over his shoulders, a gray shirt open across his chest and black slacks, and wields a katana with a cloud design. His upper forearms are tattooed, all the way up the sides of his chest, with a similar cloud design. He can be seen in his Kurokumo Clan Identity.
• World of Dieci Association Southern Branch
  • In this world, Hong Lu is a Key of the Dieci Association's South Section 4 Branch. He wears the Dieci Association uniform, and he fights with a Dieci Key, a magnifying lens that expands into a large golden key that can be wielded as a sword. He can be seen in his Dieci Association Identity.
• World of Liu Association Southern Branch
  • In this world, Hong Lu is a Fixer of the Liu Association's South Section 5 Branch. He dons two outfits: in his base art, he wears a red jacket with golden detailing over a black turtleneck; in his Uptied art and combat sprite, he wears the Liu Association uniform, including dark gauntlets, and he fights with Liu Association's traditional fire-enhanced hand to hand combat. He can be seen in his Liu Association Identity and appears in Meursault's Liu Association Identity Story.
• World of W Corp.
  • In this world, Hong Lu is a WARP Corp. Level 2 Cleanup Agent. He dons two outfits: in his base art, he wears a long sleeved blue shirt with a round collar and a white jacket; in his Uptied art and combat sprite, he wears the W Corp. Cleanup Agent uniform, with fingerless gloves as opposed to the standard ones, and he wields a laser polearm. He can be seen in his WARP Corp. Identity and appears in Don Quixote's WARP Corp. Identity art.

Background

Hong Lu is from an incredibly wealthy family and lived a sheltered life before being told by his family elders to see and experience as much of the world as he can before returning home. His role as a Sinner of Limbus Company allows him to travel the City and fulfill the wishes of his family.

Hong Lu's family has strong connections to many Wings, with the elders being able to pull a few strings to get a member of the family hired by a Wing or obtain items unavailable to others, such as when one of the children of the family wanted a special, red passport and the family contacted the shareholder of H Corp. to acquire it. Hong Lu's time living with his family has not yet been fully explored, but he has shared that his siblings would often try to kill him while growing up. During those moments, while he was afraid, he also felt as if he could understand his family. He would also style his sister and younger sibling's hair and seems to have fond memories of them, although it is unknown if these siblings of his were among the ones who would make attempts on his life.

Trivia

• Hong Lu's character icon represents a jade-colored eye surrounded by clouds.
• Hong Lu is represented by the 🔮 emoji, with the crystal likely referring to his left eye.
• Hong Lu's particulars are listed as "bachelor" and "sheltered".
• Hong Lu appears to be based on the protagonist of Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu, a youth who is born as the incarnation of a magical piece of jade, to fulfill its wish to learn about humanity.
  • Hong Lu's name, 鸿璐 (pinyin: hóng lù), is derived from both the name of the main character of Dream of the Red Chamber and the title of his source material, "紅樓夢" (pinyin: hóng lóu mèng). The meaning of the name ("precious jade") remains unchanged, but the pronunciation of his name becomes very similar to the pronunciation of "Red Chamber" (紅樓, pinyin: hóng lóu). Despite this, on his splash art his name is still written as "紅樓" (hóng lóu).
  • In Canto II, Hong Lu mentions that he did not get along with his younger sibling as a child, and that his younger sibling liked to "cheat and grouch if things didn’t go as desired." This appears to be a reference to Jia Baoyu's younger half-brother Jia Huan, who cheats at a game in his introduction in Dream of the Red Chamber.
    • In Canto I, Hong Lu calls Jia Huan his hyeong (형), or older brother. It is unknown if this is intentional or an error.
  • In Intervallo IV, Hong Lu mentions one of his aunts being fond of District 23's purple salt. This appears to be a reference to Baoyu's paternal aunt Jia Min, whose husband Lin Ruhai is a wealthy official in the Yangzhou salt commission.
• Hong Lu's introduction quote comes from the frame story of Dream of the Red Chamber, in which a sentient stone converses with a Buddhist monk and a Taoist priest, expressing its desire to be taken with them to experience the mortal world. The two masters attempt to cull its enthusiasm and convey the various problems of human life, by replying that "beauty has its flaws, life its vicissitudes."
• Like all of the Sinners, Hong Lu voiced a "Document Excerpt" Youtube short.

External Links

• Hong Lu (홍루) - Korean page (Namuwiki)
• Hong Lu (ホンル)- Japanese page (wikiwiki)
• Hong Lu (ホンル) - Japanese page (wiki3)
• Hong Lu (Хун Лу) - Russian page (Project Moon wiki)
• Hong Lu (鸿璐) - Chinese page (Huiji wiki)