# Drinking toast: 짠
짠 (jjan) is the Korean equivalent of clinking glasses and saying 'Cheers!' The word itself mimics the sound of glasses touching. It's used every time drinks are raised together, whether it's soju, beer, or a mixed drink.
9 timestamped notes explaining the Korean cultural context in this episode — customs, idioms, food, honorifics, and history, at the moment each appears on screen. These notes discuss events across the whole episode. To see them revealed scene-by-scene as you watch, use the episode page to find an airing.
# App name: 기리고야
기리고야 (Girigoya) sounds like it could be a playful or archaic Korean phrase. The name evokes old fortune-telling or shamanistic language, giving the app a supernaturally ominous feel that Korean viewers would instinctively pick up on — it doesn't sound like a modern tech product at all.
# Reacting to real deaths with disbelief
When the character insists 'those kids who died back then — that was real,' she's invoking a common Korean teen social dynamic where urban legends and real tragedies blur together. School rumours about deaths tied to cursed apps or chain messages have circulated in Korean online communities for years, making it genuinely hard to tell myth from fact.
# 도혜령's death framed as 자살 (suicide)
자살 (jasal) means suicide. The story of Dohyeryeong's death is presented here as an established fact wrapped in conflicting rumours — a pattern common in real Korean school bullying cases, where the full circumstances often stay murky and online speculation fills the gap. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a crisis helpline in your country.
This note discusses suicide or
self-injury. If you need someone to talk to: in Korea call 109,
in the US call or text 988, or
find a helpline in your country.
# 무당 — Korean shaman
무당 (mudang) is a Korean shaman — traditionally a woman who communicates with spirits and performs gut (굿) rituals to grant wishes, heal illness, or appease the dead. Being the daughter of a mudang carries a strong social stigma in modern Korea; many people find it unsettling or even shameful. It's a key detail that explains why the app Girigoya feels spiritually dangerous rather than just technically suspicious.
# 스미싱 — smishing (SMS phishing)
스미싱 (seumissing) is the Korean term for smishing — a scam where a malicious app installed via a fake text message secretly accesses your phone's data, contacts, and accounts. It's a well-known threat in Korea because high smartphone penetration makes it common; government agencies regularly warn the public about it. Hajun reaching for this explanation is the most rational frame a Korean teenager would grab for.
# Nari's timer calculation logic
Nari is doing the kind of careful manual arithmetic Korean students are drilled in — working backwards from confirmed timestamps to find a pattern. The drama deliberately shows her scribbling exact times, which mirrors how Korean internet communities (especially on Naver Café or DC Inside) crowdsource and fact-check supernatural rumours by lining up precise details.
# 보건실 — school nurse's office records
보건실 (bogeonshil) is the nurse's room found in every Korean school. It keeps written logs of every student visit, including the date, name, and injury description — the paper records shown here are completely standard. Because these files are rarely digitised at smaller schools, they can sit undisturbed for years, which is exactly why the characters treat them as a reliable archive.
# 사주 — Korean four-pillars fortune-telling
사주 (saju) literally means 'four pillars' and refers to the year, month, day, and hour of a person's birth expressed in the traditional Chinese calendar. Telling someone your saju is like handing over a spiritual ID — fortune-tellers and shamans use it to read your fate and cast or lift curses. Tying a wish-granting app to saju instantly frames it in the language of real Korean folk belief rather than mere tech.