✶ the neighborhood files ✶
Narinig Mo Ba? CharactersWho's Who in the Neighborhood, Their Relationships, and the Network Behind the Horror
This page sorts out everyone in Narinig Mo Ba?: the customer who owes you money, the old woman who buys eggs, the patrolman asking questions, and the kid with a wrong shadow behind him. They all look like ordinary neighborhood faces, and they all end up connected to the same little ledger. Here is who is who, who owes whom, and who has been hiding what.
the victim
Junjun / Miguel Jr. – “Mr. Pogi”
case file · subject 01
Junjun is a young man — an adult, not a kid. Regulars call him Mr. Pogi (Tagalog for “handsome”). He is out of work and job-hunting, and he is behind on his payments to the neighborhood's Paluwagan, a community savings pool. His whole story is driven by money he does not have.
counter log
Day 1
Junjun buys coffee. If you ask about his debt, he says he only has ₱50 today, still owes ₱10, and promises to settle everything once he finds a steady job.
Day 2
Junjun is back for black coffee. He mentions he is still waiting on a return call from an employer, and sighs that life is hard for the poor — “Hirap maging mahirap.”
Those two visits are the last you see of him alive.
His role in the story
Junjun is the victim. On Day 5, the patrolman reveals that a body was found by the canal. On Day 6, the identity is confirmed: Miguel Jr. — Junjun. The friendly, debt-ridden regular is the dead man, which retroactively makes the Day 1 debt conversation a great deal darker.
His fate
Junjun's name is the only one crossed out in Lucia's Paluwagan ledger, with “Dealt with” written beside it. The debt he could not pay is what got him killed.
the killer
Lucia – The Neighborhood Elder
counter log
Day 2
Lucia brings up Lea's parents and the custody fight over the child; she does not trust the household.
Day 3
Lucia buys eggs and mentions she is preparing food for her daughter, Lea. After the Day 2 conversation, the way she keeps talking about Lea as if everything is fine reads as a quiet denial of reality.
Day 6
Lucia entrusts you with the Paluwagan ledger and tells you not to open it. You open it anyway.
case file · subject 02
Lucia is an elderly woman, a regular customer, and the keeper of the Paluwagan savings pool's record book. She is also Lea's mother. She comes across as the neighborhood's gossipy elder — the kind of character who knows everyone's business. That is exactly what makes the reveal work.
And the last thing she hands you is the book that damns her.
Her role in the story
Lucia is the killer. She ran the community savings pool and took the money for herself; when Junjun came to confront her over the debt, the argument turned violent and she killed him, dumping the body by the canal. Her motive is money and panic, not ritual — the game stays grounded in a desperate act of survival.
Her fate
When you open the ledger and find Junjun's name marked “Dealt with,” Lucia comes back to the counter, panics, and begs you to open the gate through the grill. The patrolman arrives, and Lucia is taken away as the credits roll.
the open question
Lea – The Daughter Who Never Appears
case file · subject 03
Lea is Lucia's daughter — and she never appears on screen. She exists entirely inside other people's conversations.
counter log
[ no entries — never served ]
Lea herself has no lines and no scenes. She is only talked about: the custody gossip on Day 2, and her mother's eerily normal talk of cooking for her on Day 3.
Everyone talks about her. Nobody has seen her.
Her role in the story
Lea is the neighborhood's open question. The game clearly wants you to wonder what happened to her — and then it never tells you. Her name is not in the ledger, and no later scene resolves her story.
Her fate
Unknown, on purpose. The game never says what happened to Lea — she is a thread left deliberately open.
the investigator
Jomar – The Patrolman
counter log
Day 5
Jomar visits the store and asks whether you have noticed anything suspicious. If you say you have not heard anything, he tells you a body was found by the canal and that he is looking into the neighborhood.
Day 6
He returns with the victim's identity — Miguel Jr., Junjun — and he is the one who takes Lucia away when the truth comes out.
case file · subject 04
Jomar is the community patrolman, a middle-aged man in a patrol uniform and cap. He is the story's investigator.
He asks the questions the neighborhood has been avoiding.
His role in the story
Jomar turns the neighborhood gossip into an official investigation. He is the character who connects the body by the canal to a name — and the one who closes the case.
His fate
He survives the story and ends it as its resolution: with the killer identified and taken away, Jomar's case is closed.
the horror beat
Axel – The Kid with the Wrong Shadow
case file · subject 05
Axel is the little boy who keeps coming to the store for candy and snacks — the actual kid customer of the neighborhood, easy to mix up with the adult Junjun because both are regulars.
counter log
He calls on Day 1, and he comes in to buy vegetables on Day 4. During that sale he says something disarmingly sweet — that he eats his vegetables and fruits — and as he turns to leave, the game delivers its first outright horror beat: the visuals distort and a wrong shadow appears behind him or just outside the store.
The sweetest kid in the neighborhood gets the worst scene in the game.
His role in the story
Axel carries Day 4's horror beat. The shadow that appears behind him is the game's first visible break from reality — and it lands precisely because he is so ordinary and so well-behaved.
His fate
Unresolved, on purpose. After Day 4, Axel never shows up again, and the game never explains what the shadow meant for him. Like Lea, he is left open.
the listener
You – The Storekeeper
case file · subject 06
The player character is the storekeeper behind the counter: no name, no backstory, and no way to leave the shop.
counter log
You are present every day, behind the counter, with the dialogue choices the game offers during conversations. Those choices change the tone of a single exchange — never the outcome.
Everyone else leaves the shop. You never do.
Your role in the story
You are the listener. Every customer brings gossip, and you piece the neighborhood's truth together from what people say — the debt, the missing child talk, the body by the canal, the ledger. The game keeps you in place so that the horror arrives through the people you serve rather than through anything you do.
Your fate
When the credits roll, you are still behind the counter — the one who heard everything, while everyone else's story resolves around you.
the web
The Neighborhood Network
The relationships form a small, tight web with Lucia at the center:
Lucia
kills Junjun, dumps the body
Junjun
owes money to the pool · confronts Lucia over the debt
Lea
daughter
Jomar
investigates · confirms the victim · arrests Lucia
Axel
kid customer · the wrong shadow appears behind him on Day 4
You
storekeeper · hears all the gossip
The thread that ties everyone together is money — the Paluwagan pool. Junjun owes it, Lucia keeps its books and took its funds, Lea's family troubles hang over the same household, and the ledger is the physical object that finally exposes everything.
the key object
The Paluwagan Ledger
The ledger is the game's key object: the community savings-pool list, titled on the cover with “Utang Ina.” The membership list includes Alex, Charles, Anna, Mario, Anthony, Rex, Ed, Malu, and Junjun — a nod to the developers, since Anthony, Rex, and Ed are the names of three of the six creators.
Utang Ina
paluwagan — membership list
- Alexsettled
- Charlessettled
- Annasettled
- Mariosettled
- Anthonysettled
- Rexsettled
- Edsettled
- Malusettled
- Junjundealt with
Out of all those names, only Junjun's is crossed out with “Dealt with” next to it. Everyone else is marked with amounts or “Settled.” The single crossed-out name is what turns a harmless community book into the proof of murder.
open threads
What the Game Leaves Unresolved
Two threads are deliberately left open:
open thread · 01
Lea's fate.
The game builds her up as a question — custody talk, her mother's strange calm — and never answers it. She is not in the ledger, and no ending scene mentions her.
open thread · 02
The shadow behind Axel.
What appeared behind the kid on Day 4 is never explained, and he never returns.
These are not gaps in the documentation — the game itself chooses not to answer them. They are part of the horror: in a neighborhood where one murder is solved, you are left wondering about the others.
marked wrong
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Thinking Junjun is a child.
He is an adult young man — “Mr. Pogi,” job-hunting and in debt. The kid regular is Axel, who buys candy. The two are easy to confuse because both are store regulars.
Looking for a cult or ritual.
There is none. The crime is a plain, grim money dispute: Lucia took the savings pool's money, Junjun confronted her, and the argument turned fatal.
Assuming Lea or Axel are also victims.
The ledger marks only Junjun as “Dealt with.” Lea and Axel are unresolved threads, not confirmed victims.
Expecting the game to spell relationships out.
Much of the network is implied through dialogue — the game trusts you to connect the debt, the gossip, and the ledger yourself.
before you ask
Characters FAQ
Lucia, the elderly regular who kept the Paluwagan ledger. She killed Junjun over the money she took from the community savings pool.
A young man nicknamed Mr. Pogi, out of work and in debt to the savings pool. He is the murder victim found by the canal.
No — he is an adult. The child regular is Axel, the boy who buys candy and vegetables.
The game never says. She appears only in conversation and is left unresolved.
He stops appearing after Day 4, and the shadow that appears behind him is never explained.
The community savings-pool record book, with members listed by name. Only Junjun's name is crossed out, marked “Dealt with.”