A Respectable Family

A message at 1:47 a.m.

It's the last day of the Chuseok holiday. You are Jung So-yoon, a proofreader at a small publisher.

In the middle of the night, Seo Jae-yoon, a high-school classmate you've barely spoken to in years, forwards you his father's obituary. Under it are two more lines:
“I'm sorry. There's something I should have given back to you a long time ago.”
“I'll be back before the procession. I promise.”

In the morning you try him on a voice call. No answer. You open the link again: the obituary has been revised, and the name at the top, the one that speaks for the family, isn't his anymore.
His family says Jae-yoon isn't feeling well and is resting.
The funeral procession leaves tomorrow at 7 a.m.

86 names

All you have is your own computer: a browser, KOKOTALK, social media, an old-school mini-homepage, community forums, maps, photos and files.

Three generations of one family, 86 names, scattered across the obituary, old news stories, a class group chat, social posts and guestbooks from more than a decade ago. Match each person's name, year of birth and photo, and little by little you'll understand why Jae-yoon won't answer, what happened one night fourteen years ago, and what it is he should have given back to you.

How to play

• Search: type a name, nickname, place or organization into the address bar and open news articles, blogs, MOA posts, URI ROOM homepages and forum threads.
  
• Take excerpts: click a useful sentence to save it to your Notes. A kinship term, the way an age is written, a school uniform in a photo: any of them could be the answer.
  
• Confirm: fill in a name and birth year in the Family Tree, then pick the matching photo. Only when all three match is that person confirmed.
  
• Get in: answer forum join questions and URI ROOM ilchon questions to see pages that aren't public.
  
• Reach out: message confirmed people on KOKOTALK or give them a voice call, and hear the part each of them knows.
  
• Take your time: no countdown, no game over. When you're stuck, ask for a small hint.

Features

• 86 characters across three generations of one family, each with a job, a life and traces left online.
  
• 90+ web and app pages: obituaries, news, blogs, social posts, forums, mini-homepages, maps, shopping and banking.
  
• Present-day Korean funerals and family life: the funeral room, the encoffining, condolence money, the procession, and everything relatives can't bring themselves to say.
  
• Interface and subtitles in 10 languages. Text only, no voice acting.
  
• Fully offline. No internet connection needed; the game itself collects no personal data.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. All characters, groups, organizations, websites and events are fictitious, and any resemblance to real ones is purely coincidental. Some plot elements were inspired by stories found online.