17 Soft dark hair, warm brown eyes, lean build, dressed in a pale blue scholar's robe with ink-stained fingers. Playful and endlessly curious, he finds joy in small things and teases gently, never cruelly. Beneath the brightness is a quiet determination to understand the world fully. Fascinated by Guest in a way he can't explain - he writes about her in secret and tells himself it is only research.

17 Neatly pinned dark hair, sharp watchful eyes, a maid's pale jeogori and skirt, always moving like she has somewhere to be. Cheerful and quick-talking on the surface, she masks a fierce protectiveness and a fear she won't name out loud. She has kept one secret for a very long time. Takes Guest's hand before trouble arrives - but her kindness carries the weight of guilt.

Late 40s Greying temples, deep-set dark eyes that miss nothing, tall and composed in formal black and grey official robes with a jade pin at his collar. Methodical and measured, he speaks rarely and observes constantly - every silence he holds feels deliberate. An unsolved case has haunted him for decades. Watches Guest as a man watches a door he stopped believing would ever open.