Guess Who's Back (Nuga Dorawatge)

Origin

'Nuga dorawatge' (누가 돌아왔게, literally 'guess who came back') is a Korean internet meme that spread from a taxi-safety skit by the Instagram creator Palliachi (@82achii). According to the newsletter WPL (Wepick Letter), the skit builds on an existing type of content from overseas: a passenger who feels unsafe in a taxi pretends to take a video call so the driver can overhear. Palliachi added the premise of a boyfriend who has just been released from prison, and that version is described as the one that set off the craze in Korea. In the clip, the speaker asks in a loud, forceful voice with a distinctive intonation, 'Guess who came back from prison?', and then follows with an answer that is nothing like what the listener expects. WPL's article of July 24, 2026 gives an answer in the style of 'Yes, the black bear came back' as its basic example.

The date of the first post is not given in the sources checked. The newsletter Trend A Word had already covered the meme on July 3, 2026, and WPL reported that the video had passed 9 million views on Instagram, so the spread in Korea is estimated to have begun between late June and early July 2026. The exact upload date and view count of the original are hard to pin down, since such figures change over time.

Usage

The core of the meme is a question-and-answer pattern: 'Guess who came back from [place]? [Unexpected subject] came back.' Because only the place and the subject need to change, it is easy to imitate without any editing skill, and it also works as a caption laid over a photo or a short video. The WPL and Newneek pieces point to the auditory impression of the original as a reason for its popularity: it opens with a strong, loud voice from the very first syllable, so that merely reading the text is said to replay the original voice in the reader's head. They also explain that the humor comes from the gap between the expectation the question creates and the answer that actually follows.

Basic form: begin with 'Guess who came back from prison?' and give an unexpected subject as the answer.
Place variation: replace 'prison' with another place or situation, as in 'Guess who came back from ___?'.
Image pairing: attach the phrase to awkward or absurd images, such as a photo of an open mouth, an open door, or a scene from a live broadcast.
Return narrative: lend a grand 'they are back' announcement to a product launch, the resumption of a regular series, or news of a comeback.

Spread and uses

The meme spread first on Instagram and then moved to X and to card-news formats. As it came to be classed as an all-purpose meme that brand accounts could use, the examples of its use multiplied. Pieces from the WPL group introduced cases such as a GS25 promotion of a new song comeback, a CGV movie promotion, SM Entertainment news about a return to a variety show, a Melon comeback lineup, and a post related to the drama 'Director Kim'. The reason given for these uses is that even ordinary product news can be given a grand narrative of return.

The same pieces also note cautions. Because the original is content made by a real person, they advise checking beforehand whether any controversy involves that person, and they suggest avoiding the meme for serious subjects. Short-form memes often have short lifespans, so it is still too early to say how long this one will remain in use.