Delivery Man | Viki Original Korean Drama Series

Delivery Man is a Viki Original Korean drama series released 2023. Do you like ghost stories? If so, you will probably like this short series. It’s only 12 episodes and the plot is rather “unusual”.  It’s a combination of genres: supernatural/crime and mystery/romance/drama.

Who is the Ghost Passenger?

Seo Young Min (played by Yoon Chan Young) is a young man who was studying to become a police officer. His mother supported his grandmother and him by driving a taxi. However, when his mother is killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, he discontinues his studies and takes over his mother’s taxi service.

One day he gets into his taxi and he already has a passenger. She’s a lovely young lady named Kang Ji Hyun (played by Minah). Wait! She’s not a human. She’s a ghost! But Seo Young Min can see and hear her. He would like for her to leave. Only every time she tries to depart, she only gets so far, and then a force pulls her back inside his taxi cab. That’s not her only problem. She is suffering from memory loss, and doesn’t know anything about herself; especially how she ended up in his taxi.

Seo Young Min decides that since he can’t get rid of her and nobody else can see or hear her except him, he might as well keep doing his job. He soon discovers that every time he picks up a passenger they become ill. They have to get out of the car which means he can’t earn any money driving his taxi. That’s not good! He and his grandmother will lose their home and be on the streets if he can’t pay the bills.

A Taxi Service for Ghosts?

One day he stops to pick up a man who is hailing his taxi. The man is surprised that he can be seen and heard. He’s a ghost, you see. But Young Min doesn’t know that until he gets into the cab.

This is becoming a bigger problem. Now Seo Young Min has two ghosts he’s dealing with. He decided to sell his mother’s taxi cab. Get rid of the cab. Get rid of the ghosts. Right?

When he goes to sell his mother’s car he meets another ghost. This ghost is trying to get into a car that’s on the car dealer’s lot because his wife sold the car without realizing that he had left gold in a bag. His wife needs that gold to pay for his daughter’s medical bills. Seo Young Min opens the car door, quickly grabs the bag of gold, and leaves the car lot. In other words, he didn’t get around to selling his mother’s taxi.

Instead, he goes to the hospital where the mother and daughter are and gives her the gold. He is about to leave when the little girl stops him and hands him a gold ring. She says her dad told her to give it to him. He did a good deed not thinking about the money, but he got paid.

Think about it! Ghosts were once humans and some humans have money they left behind. Since he can no longer pick up human passengers, why not offer his taxi service to ghosts who can pay him?

It sounds outrageous! But it turned into a profitable business endeavor. There are a lot of ghosts who are only lingering because they have “unfinished business”. Once they take care of it, they can go to the afterlife.

Ghosts Who Were Victims of a Crime

Being able to see and hear ghosts has another advantage if you’re trying to solve a crime. Seo Young Min is trying to catch the culprit who is responsible for killing his mother in a hit-and-run accident. In the process of regaining her memory, Kang Ji Hyun discovers that she was a detective who had been killed in the line of duty. It was said that she died on the same day Seo Young Min’s mother died. The two deaths are related somehow, but it is a mystery that must be unraveled. There are also other murders occurring and all the victims seem to be connected to this unsolved mystery. Even though the police are investigating these murders and/or suspicious deaths, Seo Young Min works together with Kang Ji Hyun to conduct an investigation on their own. They have an advantage over the police because the murder victims became ghosts and these ghosts can reveal the missing details to them that the police are having difficulty figuring out.

Viewership and Ratings

• Per Reviewgeek.com: “Delivery Man is an intriguing and suspenseful K-drama; it has a great plot, well-timed components, a talented cast, and an excellent script.”

• Per Midgard Times: “The drama has mystery, humor, and a fun vibe which makes it even more interesting.”

What an unusual storyline.  To create a team that consists of an experienced ghost detective and an inexperienced but intelligent taxi driver, who was studying criminal procedure and investigation techniques was genius! On top of that, developing a romantic relationship between them keeps you interested all the way to the very last episode. There’s this terrific young guy who never had a girlfriend and the first girl he falls in love with is a ghost! You’ve just got to know this ends.

Viki viewers rated Delivery Man 9.3 out of 10 stars. I agree.