I find Mandogi's ending up as a "ghost" ironic because he was able to get the last say even though he was "only a temple hand" in real life. Mandogi's good actions upon other people was not as recognized in life as something for other people to aspire to, but instead people were confused by these actions. Which lead to them making fun of him, but once he turned into a ghost, rumors of his good deeds spread. Mandogi ending up as a ghost is also ironic because these rumors spread, but they included snippets of actual events in Mandogi's life. Like, "refusing to point the gun at the partisan in the substation" even if it lead to what they believed was his execution (114).
Mandogi may have been nothing much in real life, but his ghost stories turned him into a kind of legend for the people. The ghost stories allowed this 'nobody' to turn into something more that will transcend his eventual death. In the end he turned into an inspiration for people who would not have thought of him as such in real life. I like the part about his ghost stories being "put away for safekeeping in the people's bag of stories" because it means he will continue being an inspiration for other people (114). It shows that he matters, and that there was something about him that other people were able to relate to. Or otherwise, ghost stories would not have been created around him. It works best for a 'nobody' to become a ghost and have rumors begin to spread because there are many more "nobodies' in society versus the powerful 'somebodies,' who would have no use for ghost stories. Mandogi can live on in some form, which means he clearly represents the 'nobodies' of society through the telling of "The Curious Tale of Mandogi's Ghost."
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