WEBTOON| Ghost Teller – People Are Scarier Than Ghosts?

February 25, 2018

No Live Action Sunday post from me today. Sorry loves. I’m out of town and won’t be able to properly review a movie or series. You all know how I really like to get into the things I talk about. However, I thought I’d try something different today!~

You know, I probably read more manga than I actually watch anime series. I’m also a pretty big fan of reading webtoons, especially the Korean ones. In this digital age, webtoons (or online comics) have really grown over the years. I thought I’d start sharing some of the webtoons I’ve been interested in!~ I know I’m still kind of new to the BAYOG crew. When I first joined BAYOG, I remember the guys saying that they’d like diversify our content and appeal to different crowds. And that’s how I started doing Real People Stuff for BAYOG. So I wanted to try something new with this as well~

“I overheard a conversation between ghosts. ‘Dude, it’s their world that scares me.'” – Tablo (Epik High) | 20150911 Blonote
(Random Note: Tablo is a freakin’ genius. Definitely check out his group, Epik High!)

That is basically the premise of the webtoon Ghost Teller (귀전구담/Gwijeongudam) by QTT. It’s a horror webtoon published on Naver Webtoons and Line Webtoons. As of February 11, 2018 Line Webtoons has started putting an official English version as one of it’s featured webtoons. If you’re interested, you can read it [Here]. However, there are only a few chapters up so far since it’s only -just- been officially published in English. So…if you want to binge read, click [Here] for fan translations of all the season 1 chapters (You’re welcome fam). So far the series only has one season, but there may be a continuation in the future. Who knows… I’m using images from the original Korean version to avoid too many spoilers for y’all.

Synopsis on Line Webtoons:
Humans get together to tell ghost stories. Ghosts get together to tell stories of humans more terrifying than ghosts.

I made this gif before the official English release… Literally had this post started a week before Line Webtoons pushed for it…

Basically a group of different ghosts, or supernatural entities, gather together to tell terrifying stories of humans. You have a grim reaper, a dokkaebi (goblin), a gumiho (nine tailed fox), and several other characters. It’s not that it’s bone chilling scary kind of horror though. These stories are scary in the sense that they tell the dark and twisted side of human nature. Basically, it shows that humans are hella fucked up. I found it quite interesting. It’s definitely an interesting concept since I also agree in that people can be quite terrifying. Of course, I’m also interested in those human nature and psychological kind of stories. I enjoy breaking down characters and seeing why they do what they do, or why they are how they are. These scary stories also seem to be quite personal to the ghosts as well. Which I think helps you connect even more to the characters and their outlook on humans.

The stories are obviously extreme, but at the same time not too far off. It’s something you can see and believe actually happen. The things and thoughts that lead to such twistedness and tragedy are plausible things you can see in everyday life.

Still, you see some really dark things about how humans can be. You really see the dark and rotten depth humanity. It really does make you think and doubt humanity.

One of the stories that really resonated with me was the last story in season 1. It was centered around a female idol singer, false rumors, and cyber-bullying. It probably really resonated with me because the situation was something that absolutely happens in real life way too often. If you follow the Asian music/pop culture scene, particularly with Korean celebrities, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Netizens (aka all the internet people), can be crazy and make up hella unfounded bullshit. They think that it’s all just fun and games, and that there are no consequences. It could be proven that there was absolutely no truth in it, but it can gravely ruin people’s lives. There have been many instances where it truly ended in tragedy. Of course, this kind of shit happens outside of the celebrity world as well. But again, it resonated with me because I’ve been a long time fan of the Asian music/pop culture scene (I was former K-pop trash…now I’m low-key K-pop trash), so I’m quite familiar with stories about the dark side to that glitz and glam. The story was frustrating and absolutely heartbreaking for me to read.

Of course, I found all the stories to be pretty frustrating and heartbreaking in some way. You couldn’t help but feel anger, sadness, and come to the conclusion that humans are trash. Some of the things in the stories I kind of expected and could see. However, the stories often do a wonderful job of surprising you with the unexpected. Some of the things are dark, but the webtoon itself isn’t completely dark and heavy. There are some comedic aspects. I also found the art to be beautifully done. I’m a sucker for stories that have gorgeous art, but the story has to be interesting too~ QTT’s illustrations are really beautifully drawn. It’s definitely a different kind of horror story, but I do recommend giving it a try. Have you read Ghost Teller? Which tale were you most surprised about? Which do you think are scarier, people or ghosts?