Panthana Cafe'

Panprangdao can see ghosts and has a side job as a “binding releaser,” helping ghosts who are bound to the physical world by unfinished business or strong emotions move on to the afterlife. Her regular workplace is the restaurant of Saifon, a person she has helped twice using her special ability. She has three ghost assistants: Malai and Mali, who are mother and daughter, and a handsome ghost who has amnesia.

Whether it’s luck or misfortune, Saifon has to move abroad and needs to sell the restaurant. She sells it to Thanathan, who doesn’t believe in ghosts or spirits, at a very low price, with the condition that he has to allow Panprangdao to continue working there. Panprangdao knows that this condition made Saifon sell the restaurant at a lower price, but she also learns that Saifon wants to help Thanathan, who is taking care of his sick father.

After Thanathan moves in and opens a cafe in the same place as Saifon’s restaurant, Panprangdao ends up helping him in many ways, almost becoming a cafe employee. She doesn’t mind because she has a crush on Thanathan since her internship at his company. Learning that he broke up with his girlfriend and is single makes her feel more at ease.

However, she becomes increasingly worried about Thanathan as his father, Thorn’s, cancer worsens, and Thanathan seems reluctant to accept help. Fortunately, Samran and Pojanee, Panprangdao’s parents, come to help. With their age and experience, they understand Thanathan and open up to him, making him admit that he can’t handle his father’s situation alone. Panprangdao learns that Thanathan has a complex because his ex-girlfriend, Raksina, broke up with him after finding out he would quit his job to open a cafe and take care of his father. This makes him fear that he and his father will become a burden to others.

Their families get along well and become closer. However, one day, Thanathan suddenly closes the cafe and disappears, only saying that it will be closed for a while. Panprangdao sees him in the evening and greets him. She gets to talk to Thorn and a woman she’s sure is Thanathan’s mother because they look very much alike. This makes Thanathan, who never believed, completely believe that Panprangdao can really see ghosts, not just a mental illness as he once suspected, because his mother has passed away, and his father has just died, which he hasn’t told anyone yet.

Thorn helps release his binding by sending a final message to Thanathan through  Panprangdao, and Thanathan gets through the difficult time with Panprangdao and her family by his side.

Later, Piyangkul, who interned at the same time as Panprangdao and used to bully her when others found out she could see ghosts, comes to see Panprangdao at Thanathan’s cafe. Panadda, Panprangdao’s former best friend who revealed her secret, also returns during this time, bringing a problem with her: the spirit of Noon, an intern who was pressured by Panadda about work until she didn’t get enough rest and eventually died of a heart attack. Although still angry, Panprangdao agrees to help because she wants to help Noon move on. This is the first time Panadda is sure that Panprangdao can really see ghosts, while Panprangdao just realizes that Panadda never believed her.

When Panadda sincerely apologizes, Panprangdao doesn’t hold a grudge, but her relationship with Piyangkul worsens because he shows jealousy over her working closely with Thanathan. They argue, and Panprangdao accidentally admits that she comes to work because she wants to see Thanathan. Panadda also tells Panprangdao that she likes Piyangkul.

Despite seemingly confessing her feelings to Thanathan, Panprangdao feels good because he doesn’t reject her. He just asks for time because he thinks he has too many mixed emotions lately. Later, when Thanathan starts to be sure of his feelings, complications arise when Raksina returns and asks to reconcile. Thanathan and Panprangdao argue because Thanathan is angry that Panprangdao talks as if she wants him to get back together with Raksina. However, because of this, they later reconcile and finally become lovers. Thanathan also names the cafe after leaving it unnamed for so long, calling it “Panthana Cafe,” a name that combines Panprangdao and Thanathan’s names and also reflects their work. (Panthana in Thai means Binding)

Panprangdao’s work of releasing binding continues until one day, Thanathan can’t help but wonder why Malai, Mali, and the handsome ghost are still around, not moving on. This prompts Panprangdao to think the same way, that ideally, all three should move on. Moreover, as she observes, Mali wants to leave, doesn’t want to be a ghost anymore, but is still attached to her mother’s feelings.

Panprangdao and Thanathan work together to find out about the handsome ghost until they find clues about how and where he died. The handsome ghost still can’t remember anything until he sees news about a family where the husband was murdered, and the suspect is the wife. The husband’s younger brother comes out to ask anyone with information to contact him, with a reward as an incentive.

This is when the handsome ghost remembers that his name is Suriya and has evidence from a dashcam that the wife didn’t do it. However, when he contacts the deceased’s brother to provide the evidence, he gets attacked and killed, realizing that the person who killed the husband, framed the wife, and killed him is the deceased’s brother who wanted to steal the inheritance and insurance money. Remembering everything, Suriya asks Panprangdaoto help release his binding, telling her where he kept the evidence.

After the unfortunate wife is cleared of the charges, Suriya wants to move on and invites Malai and Mali to go with him. Malai can’t bear to be separated from her daughter until Mali expresses her feelings, saying she wants a new life, wants to hug her parents for real, wants to live with friends at school like other children, and wants to have love like the handsome ghost had with her mother, and like Panprangdaohas with Thanatun. But she doesn’t dare tell her mother for fear of upsetting her. Malai, hearing this, is sad that everyone will leave her and then becomes an evil spirit. However, the handsome ghost and Mali search for and talk to Malai with love until she regains her senses, realizing that she is the one who used love to bind her daughter. Finally, she decides to let her daughter have the life she wants, and Malai herself has to let go of her long life. In the end, all three spirits depart.

At that moment, Panprangdao sees Panadda’s spirit, but strangely, not all the time, as if she comes and goes. She learns that someone is holding Panadda captive. Panadda doesn’t think it’s Piyangkul, but Panprangdao, Thanathan, Samran, and Pojanee investigate until they are sure it is and cooperate with Panadda’s parents and the police to arrest Piyangkul and rescue Panadda.

Panprangdao initially believes she will have a peaceful life, but she soon finds herself overwhelmed by a growing number of wandering spirits seeking her help. Jupjang, a ghost close to the three departed spirits, acts as an intermediary for these spirits. Panprangdao is unsure how to manage this influx of requests, as the cafe typically closes at 7 PM, leaving her with no workspace after hours. However, when Thanatun learns of the situation, he decides to adjust the cafe’s hours on Mondays and Tuesdays, opening from 9 AM to 1 PM and closing later at 1 AM. This change marks the true beginning of café that unique establishment that not only serves food and drinks but also offers binding release services for both the living and the spirits, living up to its name… Panthana Cafe.

Case in this story;

• The spirit of a husband who was following his wife, who had a lover. He couldn’t move on because he was worried about his child, as his wife didn’t take care of the child and used the life insurance money with her lover. The husband’s spirit wanted the wife to let the child live with the grandparents. This is the most dangerous case Panprangdao encounters because the wife refuses all the husband wants, and demands money from the grandparents, even though they don’t have any because they used all their savings for the husband’s medical treatment.

• A mother who was deceived by her deceased child’s friend, who claimed that her child owed them money. The friend came to her in a dream, crying and expressing regret for not paying the debt. The mother, fearing that her deceased child wouldn’t rest in peace, tried to pay off the debt and kept seeking help from spirit mediums, leading to further deception. Eventually, she met Panprangdao and learned that her child didn’t owe any money and had savings exceeding the alleged debt. The child stayed with the mother, only waiting for the time they could meet again. The child asked Panprangdao to tell the mother to investigate the debt and not to seek help from any more fraudulent spirit mediums.

• A young wife who lost her husband suddenly sought Panprangdao’s help, wanting to know how they could be together again. However, the husband’s spirit didn’t want that. He wanted his wife to be happy and told her through Panprangdao that he wanted to see her do the things she always wanted to do but never had the chance. He also asked her to read a note he left for her before he died. Panprangdao warned her that if she continued to bind her husband’s spirit with such intense emotions, he might fade away. In the end, the wife understood that she had to move on and live a good life, worthy of the love she had received.

• A friend of Saifon asked Panprangdao to check if her deceased husband’s spirit was still following her. Panprangdao saw the husband’s spirit, who expressed his deep love and desire to take his wife with him. Panprangdao quickly stopped him, but when the wife learned of her husband’s intentions, she scolded him because he had been abusive during his life, causing her constant distress. The situation escalated as the husband turned into an evil spirit. However, the wife’s determination not to be a victim again created a miracle. When she cursed her husband to burn in hell, his evil spirit vanished.

• Panprangdao encountered a fraudulent spirit medium who claimed to be able to see ghosts but worked differently from her. The medium claimed to be able to communicate with the dead and swindled money from people who wanted to contact their deceased loved ones. However, these actions caused the spirits mentioned to actually follow the medium. Eventually, Panprangdao was able to make the medium confess to the people who had been deceived, releasing the spirits one by one until they were all gone.

• Panprangdao helped find a stray cat that an old man had taken care of while he was alive, only to discover that the cat had been adopted by someone else.

• Helped a husband’s spirit contact his wife to tell her the location where he had hidden money.

• Helped a mother’s spirit write an email to her child, telling them about their father, a story that was never shared while the mother was alive.