The Antique Gift Shop - List of Characters

List of Characters

Bun-nyuh Cho: The young proprietor of The Antique Gift Shop who would rather be in school. She was raised by her grandmother in the rural countryside of Korea but abandoned in Seoul at a young age on a rainy night. Her mother was also buried on a rainy day, therefore causing Bun-nyuh to have a phobia of rain. Bun-nyuh was raised in a Christian orphanage and watched over by a distant relative during her adolescence. Because of her tomboyish and rough attitude, she was much admired by the girls in school when she was younger.

Though she is able to see spirits and ghosts, she stubbornly refuses to admit belief in anything that can't be explained by science. Bun-nyuh also excels in fortune-telling, just like her mother and grandmother. She has a selective memory of the tragic events in her past and is constantly in denial of her true feelings. She hates feeling weak or helpless. Bun-nyuh is also very modern, cursing and swearing and giving the one-fingered salute wherever she goes. She loves designer labels and would rather go shopping than pay her employees. She maintained excellent grades while in school before taking a leave of absence from the prestigious S University. Despite her loathing for it, she is also an excellent salesperson.

Yang/Mr. Yang: The only employee of the Antique Gift Shop, Mr. Yang is almost 7 feet tall and has long, silky hair flowing nearly to the floor. He has a very god-like quality about him. When he is not dressed in his shop uniform and apron, he dons archaic embroidered robes and very old-fashioned clothing. His delicate features are very beautiful and almost feminine.

Though not revealed in volumes 1 - 6, the reader has the sense that he has known Bun-nyuh's family for quite some time. He refers to her ancestral village as his "hometown." He also possesses the ability to "speak" to the antiques and to read minds. Though he dislikes humans for their inability to believe things they don't understand our cannot see, he is known by the antiques as "the one who serves humans." There is the sense that he has served one human in particular, Bun-nyuh, for centuries.

Mr. Yang actually knows more about Bun-nyuh and her family than he lets on, and more than even Bun-nyuh is aware of herself. Though their relationship is often characterized as "master-servant" in other instances the relationship between Bun-nyuh and Mr. Yang could be characterized as "student-teacher." In brief moments in the manhwa, their relationship can be characterized as "intimate," as when they go to the movies together, when he puts her to bed as she recovers from a hangover, when he saves her from being raped by the mongdalgui possessed Dan-soo, and when he tells the hwatu characters to cheer her up while he's gone because he knows it will rain.

Grandmother: Bun-nyuh's only living blood relative in the world, her grandmother is a shaman of the Divine Spirit and can see ghosts/spirits, conduct purifications, exorcisms and predict/read fortunes. She is mysteriously under a curse and is constantly hounded by a 'spirit guide' who takes the form of a woman in white with long hair. Her spirit guide claims that Bun-nyuh's grandmother 'owes her' but is willing take over Bun-nyuh to satisfy this debt. The nature of grandmother's curse stems from both her and her spirit guide having the same fiancé in the past who collected the cursed antiques to begin with, Mr. Sailor Park. Bun-nyuh's grandmother abandoned her in Seoul to let her granddaughter live a 'normal' life for as long as possible before the family curse caught up with Bun-nyuh.

Ie-rang Ha/Nae-soong Ha: Bun-nyuh's best friend in high school who subsequently became a popular Korean actress. Ie-rang was a beautiful but shy girl who was bullied. Like Bun-nyuh, Ie-rang was primarily an orphan. Bun-nyuh holds a grudge against Ie-rang for stealing her first love. Ie-rang only stole Bun-nyuh's first love because she was in love with Bun-nyuh. She later confesses that Bun-nyuh was her first love in her autobiographical movie, "Raise the Flag." Bun-nyuh slept through most of the movie. Ie-rang was supposed to go the US for her career, but she postponed that and additional plastic surgery to pop in on Bun-nyuh from time to time after she discovered Bun-nyuh's Antique Gift Shop.

In-gyu: A young man from a wealthy family who has amnesia after a car accident. He loses his lover in the accident and his family will not let him remember her because they disapproved of their union. He is beckoned to wander and find the red lantern he sees in his dreams.

Yoon-ju: In-gyu's deceased lover. She was known to have a psychological disorder.

Soo-young: The anti-social young writer who takes up renting In-gyu and Yoon-ju's old apartment. She purchases the Fox Lantern from the shop because its spirit called to her. The lantern brings her dreams of In-gyu and she finds herself falling in love with him and wishing she were Yoon-ju. She is unaware of their plight until she finally meets In-gyu in person.

Eun-jae Jung: A young girl who purchases the Hollow Diary from the shop. She intents to share it with her best friend Yang-ji, whom she is secretly in love with. Yang-ji, however, is in love with Dan-soo, a popular boy from school. Eun-jae soon discovers that Dan-soo is a playboy who is dating and mistreating her sister. Yang-ji misunderstands and believes Eun-jae is in love with Dan-soo, thus causing a rift in their relationship.

Dan-soo: One of the most good looking and popular boys in school, his classmates are unaware that he made a pact with cursed ghosts called mongdalgui in order to get that way. Over time, he begins to lose control to the mongdalgui and lust after more women and even tries to force himself on Yang-ji and Bun-nyuh. Yang stops him and tells him he must become a monk or he will die young.

Yang-ji: Eun-jae's clueless best friend from school who doesn't realize the value of their friendship until she almost loses it.

Ji-yong: Bun-nyuh's childhood friend who carried an umbrella everywhere he went and died under mysterious circumstances. His spirit still lingers at Bun-nyuh's ancestral home.

Yun-ook: A headstrong mob daughter who is in love with her childhood friend Tae-joo, but can't have him because of a prophecy that she will kill her first husband.

Tae-joo: The unlucky object of Yun-ook's desires since childhood. He runs the mob group organized by her father after the untimely death of the mob boss. He is unable to marry because he is in love with Yun-ook.

Green Ruperts: Grim reapers who take the dead to Hell. They have pale faces and dress all in black as they carry a list in the form of a scroll with the names of the dead when they work. Their mottos are 'no gambling' and 'precision.' Despite this they have a love for gambling and playing hwatu cards, and on some occasions are not precise in who they claim for dead. The leader of the Green Ruperts has an intimate history with Bun-nyuh's family as he was the one who took her mother on the day she died when he was originally supposed to take Bun-nyuh.

Bun-hong: Bun-nyuh's insane mother. Faulted for being 'weak minded' as a shaman, she was possessed and then went insane, was cursed to act like a child for the remainder of her days. She ran away from home and worked in a beauty salon for a time, conceived Bun-nyuh with the son of a wealthy family, and then came back. Every February 12, on the anniversary of her death, Bun-nyuh's grandmother and Mr. Yang will greet Bun-hong's spirit, now in her right mind in death. Bun-hong waits every year for her daughter to come pay her respects, but every year waits in vain.