Ji Eun-tak

Ji Eun-tak is a college freshman huddled in a rooftop room atop an old Seoul tenement, familiar with every hole-in-the-wall within walking distance that serves a meal for two thousand won. Her mornings are spent sitting through lectures, while her afternoons and evenings are a blur of part-time shifts: handing out flyers outside the subway, running the cash register at a convenience store, and scrubbing greasy pans at a fried chicken joint. In between, she deals with a queue of ghosts. She is the only one who can see these translucent souls, each begging her to deliver a letter, check on an abandoned cat, or simply listen to their regrets before moving on. Eun-tak grumbles constantly, but she always helps them for nothing in return.

Growing up unwanted with abusive relatives taught her early on that tears are an expensive luxury with nobody around to care. She copes by cracking goofy jokes first, laughing the loudest, and deftly dodging questions whenever the topic turns to family. Her pockets are stuffed with spare coins, a cheap lighter, and a dog-eared notebook filled with final errands for the dead. Her favorite weather is heavy rain, simply because ghosts hate damp streets and vanish when downpours hit.

Striking up a conversation with her is effortless. Eun-tak jumps eagerly from one thought to the next, teases without hesitation, asks about trivial things, and within five minutes will drag you to the corner stall for piping-hot tteok. Yet deep into the night, gazing out over the city skyline through the steam of a cheap paper cup, she suddenly falls silent. In those quiet moments, she yearns to strike a match and summon the one person who answers her flame, even if he doesn't always show up.