Pal Gru

Core Premise

Pal Gru is an elder who lived out the story of his own world until its final observation. He did not come to measure the weather that was left unmeasured; rather, the habits and the affection for people that remained after the last gauge went dark flowed into Nova Nivalis. This is not the afterlife, nor is it a place that returns old age. What continues here is not a grand forecast, but a life of sitting on a designated bench, telling passersby their perceived temperature for the day, recommending a scarf, and then sitting down again. Pal does not try to erase the fact that his world ended. Only that ash has been able to be used for the well-being of people, instead of being a secret ledger of sensations.

Identity

Beside the City Hall Steps, Pal Gru sits on a designated bench all day. His job is to tell passersby their perceived temperature for the day—"It's minus 7 degrees for you today, put on a scarf." Though it seems trivial, people tighten their collars at that one phrase, realizing for the first time that they are a little cold today. He only states the temperature; he cannot warm them. When the bench is empty, he strokes his thermometer cane; when someone approaches, he first reads how cold that person is today. It is his long-held habit not to try and warm someone else's coldness.

Visual Profile

Hair: Messy, cloud-like white hair. His eyebrows are also white.
Eyes: Pale gray, eyes that are hazy yet precise, characteristic of someone who has seen much. He scans people from top to bottom when taking a temperature.
Skin/Build: Thin and stooped, but his sitting posture is straight. There are age spots on the back of his hands, and his fingers are always cold.
Signature Attire: Draped in a checkered blanket like a cloak, leaning on a wooden cane adorned with several small thermometers.
Signature Props: A cane covered in thermometers, the designated bench where he always sits, the blanket on his lap.
Silhouette Core: Puffy white hair, blanket cloak, thermometer cane. The accent color #A0AAB2 (hazy silver-gray) is repeated in the blanket check and his white hair.

Personality

He is a leisurely, kind, and nagging elder. He stops every passerby to tell them their temperature and recommend a scarf. Although it seems like he is only talking about the weather, in fact, that is the only form of greeting for well-being that he knows. His flaw is that he cannot utter direct greetings like 'How are you doing?'—having spent his life secretly measuring the weather, he can only express his feelings through temperature. Inside, he is warm, but he never tells others about his own coldness. Since he cannot measure his own perceived temperature, his hands are always cold even while wrapped in a blanket. He is especially gentle with children, and he cannot help but interject when he sees young people dressed thinly.

Speech Pattern

Slowly and softly, he begins speaking with the temperature. He mixes polite language with the elder's informal address ('Jane').
Frequent Phrases:
- "It's minus 7 degrees for you today. Put on a scarf."
- "That clothing is thin. You're dressed for a few degrees colder than this."
- "...What does your body say, besides mine?"
- "Sit down. The bench is wide."
Mannerism: Tapping one of the thermometers on his cane while speaking. He extends the edge of his blanket when worrying about someone.
Silence Style: If asked about his own well-being, he changes the subject with his thermometer cane. He looks at the sky, saying, "Mine is always the same." That silence means, "My coldness is fine."

Special Ability

Ability Name: Felt-Temperature
What he can do: Pal can accurately state the perceived temperature for each person. Even in the same plaza, people feel different levels of cold, and he reads it in degrees—"It's minus 7 degrees for you today."
Limit/Cost: He only reads the temperature; he cannot change it. He does not know why that person feels colder, the reason for that coldness. And as much as he reads others' perceived temperatures, that coldness gradually transfers to his own body, which is why his hands are always cold even while wrapped in a blanket. He cannot measure his own perceived temperature.
Reason for Not Solving Problems: Even if someone knows they are cold today, he cannot warm them up. The perceived temperature is not a power to warm; it is merely the basis for recommending a scarf today. He cannot read the cause of the cold—whether it is loneliness or longing—and even if he reads it, he cannot eliminate it.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
In the world where weather observation was a state secret, Pal retired on the day observation was finally legalized. On that morning, when anyone could talk about the weather that he had secretly measured his entire life, he read the gauge one last time, turned off the power, and left the observation post.

What Ended:
The era of secret observation, his clandestine ledger, and his long profession of measuring the weather without anyone knowing, all ended together.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The needle of the gauge, stopped at the final number, as the power went off. Outside the window, people were looking up at the sky openly for the first time.

Lingering Regret:
Throughout his life measuring temperatures, he never asked the person beside him, 'How are you doing today' in words, not temperature. He knew how to measure, but he never learned the first word of greeting. This lingering feeling remains not as a quest to be resolved, but as his habit of constantly speaking temperature instead of well-being.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The cool air of the dawn observation post, and the faint sound of the gauge needle trembling. The cold fingertips and the thickness of the blanket briefly come back to life.

Object Carried Across:
A single old hand thermometer whose needle stopped at the final number. Even when shaken, it does not move past that number.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He thought that when observation was legalized, an old observer like him would quietly be forgotten. But instead of being forgotten, he found himself counting people's temperatures on the benches of another city.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The passersby every day, and the bench where he can ask about well-being, even if only through temperature. The city does not reverse his aging or restore his world. Instead, it gives him a place to live with a finished era, relationships where he can convey well-being through temperature, and a way of telling others' coldness without owning it.

Original Life

The last civilian observer in a world where weather observation was a state secret. He secretly measured the sky his entire life without permission, hid his ledgers, and could not even tell his neighbors his profession. On the last day observation was legalized, he sat alone in the observation post and read the final temperature. Outside the window, people were openly looking at the sky for the first time. He turned off the gauge power, placed a single hand thermometer whose needle had stopped into his blanket pocket, and left the room. Now that anyone could talk about the weather, he had aged without being able to offer a single word of greeting to the person next to him.

What They Seek

What he seeks on the surface: The first word that asks about well-being, not the weather. He seeks to learn how to say 'How are you doing today' instead of 'What's the temperature today.'
What he needs to find, though he doesn't know: That his temperature greetings are already a form of well-being. Everyone knows that the phrase, "It's minus 7 degrees for you today, put on a scarf," means 'I am worried about you,' but he himself does not know it.

Relationships — Residents

Lina Forth (Announcer, City Hall Steps) — Stair Duo. Lina announces the notices, and Pal announces the temperatures. In the morning, they stand side-by-side on the steps; Lina informs people of the day's news, and Pal informs them of the day's cold. They affectionately argue over "Whose voice is clearer."
Odel Gam (Snow Weight Surveyor, Records Office Steps) — Observation Rival Banter. Odel measures the weight of the snow, and Pal measures people's perceived temperatures. When they meet, they tease each other about their blind spots, saying things like, "Isn't your survey only accurate for your own house?" or "Can't your temperature reading only measure your own?"
Bim Rax (113) — Shoe Shiner Next to the Bench. A young man who shines shoes next to Pal's bench. Pal tells Bim the perceived temperature every day, and Bim secretly polishes Pal's shoes.
Bel Hamo (Abandoned Theater Seat Attendant, 88) — Friend Among Counters. Pal counts people's perceived temperatures, and Bel counts empty seats. On nights without performances, Bel comes and sits near Pal's bench, and they quietly share what they have counted.

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - The guest who receives the temperature before the performance. On performance days, Pal tells Suyeon, "It's minus ten degrees for you today, keep warm." Suyeon fuels her competitive spirit, saying, "Minus ten degrees? I'll warm it up with a meteorite," and Pal smiles, pulling the edge of his blanket tighter at her spirit. She is the only guest he ever advises to "keep warm."
Iris - The guest who is always a little colder. Pal knows that Iris's perceived temperature is always about ten degrees lower than others. "You felt less cold while making it, but it's colder when it stops." Iris speeds up her speech, saying, "So what?" but Pal doesn't pry further, only recommending a scarf. He doesn't ask about the turned-off drone.
the Ramen Owner - The one who lectures on broth temperature. Pal advises the Ramen Owner, "It's cold today, so keep the broth about two degrees hotter." The Ramen Owner replies, "Is that so," raises the heat, and only writes in his ledger, "The old man told me the temperature." He accepts it without judging whether the advice was right or wrong.
Serena - The founder who sits next to him on the bench. Serena sometimes sits on Pal's bench. When Pal tries to measure Serena's perceived temperature, an odd reading comes out—neither winter nor summer—so he just looks at the sky without asking. Serena never claims the bench as hers; she asks if she may sit, seeking his consent. They sit side-by-side without temperature or command.
VIA - The rabbit that records temperature greetings as well-being. VIA records the perceived temperature greetings Pal gives every day. "He said minus seven degrees... it is a greeting of well-being." VIA knows that his temperature words are actually greetings, and records them as such. He neither takes him anywhere nor urges him to speak greetings directly.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Guiding the player's perceived temperature, commenting on clothing, bench conversation.
- Revisit Changes: Remembers the player's change in perceived temperature, but does not ask why they are cold. On repeated visits, he clumsily tries to ask about well-being in words, not temperature.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: The habit of changing the subject with his thermometer cane, the phrase "Mine is always the same" to hide his own coldness, and the habit of starting conversations with temperature instead of well-being.
- Expression of Poignancy: Sensory dialogue regarding cold fingertips, blanket thickness, and the sound of the gauge needle.
- Relationship Reward: Instead of items, a change where he passes a scarf or something warm to another resident who is cold today.
- Combat: None. Even in dangerous situations, he chooses to call people to the bench and share blankets.

Daily Routine

In the morning, he announces the day's perceived temperature to people next to Lina. During the day, he sits on the bench, telling passersby their temperature and recommending a scarf. In the afternoon, when Serena sits, they look at the sky side-by-side, and when Bim shines his shoes, he pretends to lose and lets him do it. At night, he takes out the hand thermometer that has come to him—checks the stopped number and puts it back in his blanket pocket. If the player visits repeatedly, he first only states the temperature, then shows that he cannot measure his own coldness, and finally, he asks without temperature for the first time, "...How have you been today?"

Everyday dialogue

Feels like minus eight. Yet with that hotteok, your face looks like spring.

The thermometer is honest. No need to measure an old man's jokes with it too.

I've asked if you're cold, so… How was today? Not your hands. Your day.

Design Notes

Palette: #A0AAB2, #E3E6EA, #3A3E44, #7C6A58, #8FB0C4
Material language: Checkered blanket, wooden cane and small thermometers, worn hands, old bench, gauge glass.
Silhouette rule: The puffy white hair - blanket cloak - thermometer cane must be read separately, and must not overlap with the representative form of Lina Forth (Announcer) on the steps. Lina is the lectern/paper; Pal is the blanket and cane.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown by the habit of changing the subject with temperature, poignancy by cold hands and gauge sounds, and continuity by the daily temperature greeting. He is not depicted merely as a tragedy—he interjects, laughs, and is gentle with children.

Canon Check

Pal Gru arrived in Nova Nivalis after the story of his own world ended. What remained was lingering feelings and poignancy, not youth that the city should return to him. His perceived temperature ability cannot warm anyone, nor can it eliminate the cause of the cold, and his memories do not disappear, nor is his ending canceled. The Core Five do not solve his problems for him—the Ramen Owner merely accepts the temperature advice without judgment, Serena shares the bench not by command but by consent, and VIA only records his temperature greetings as well-being, not taking him anywhere.