What comes to your mind when the word ‘Webtoon’ is in front of your eyes? You may have thought of its neon green logo, one of your favorite stories or maybe nothing at all. 

I bet you didn’t think these three words: I Love Yoo.

Making its debut on April 6, 2017, the online comic can be described in five words: poor girl meets rich guys. 

Many thought that it was a rom-com, which is why they started reading the story in the first place. It was placed in the romance category, creating a large fanbase with more than 35 million likes, 500 million views and four million readers. However, when the typical promise of a rom-com––a happy-ever-after––was unfulfilled and the story’s label was changed from romance to drama, many readers started to feel as if they’d been misled. 

Readers who have been with the Webtoon since its start, once praising it for its comedy and writing, have begun to criticize what they once loved. The fact that the story was on an indefinite hiatus just added more fuel to the fire, creating a cesspool of hate, and then––

Nothing. 

The words ‘I Love Yoo’ faded from the minds of millions of readers. But amidst the scorn, I want to remind you why I Love Yoo is still one of the best stories on the platform. 

The story follows a jaded teenager by the name of Shin-Ae Yoo who meets Yeong-Gi by spilling soda on him. Shin-Ae is a jaded, antisocial teenager who wants nothing more to do than get good grades and graduate, whereas Yeong-Gi is optimistic and outgoing. He tries to force a friendship between them after that initial meeting, but lets it go after he sees how uncomfortable it makes her. 

They then start running into each other through coincidence and actually become friends. However, as they get closer, they get entangled in each other’s lives and problems. While Shin-Ae grows closer to Yeong-Gi, he starts to grow more distant. Eventually, they once again grow closer in the future as they confide in each other about everything that’s happened.

The main focus of I Love Yoo isn’t love, but rather a journey of two characters and the people around them portrayed through intricate art and writing. It is the type of story that can get someone hooked easily, binging within a couple of hours, and leaving you wanting more. 

When I first got into Webtoon, I would only read thriller or mystery stories, tired of the formulative romance stories continuously pushed out. I was eventually convinced by my friend to check out I Love Yoo. I entered my reading experience with no expectations. After all, it was just going to be another romance story. 

What I didn’t expect was that I would fall in love with the story so easily. I would burst into laughter at the absurdity of some moments, rage at heartless betrayals, stress for our main characters’ sanity, feel touched at bittersweet moments, and absolutely fangirl while analyzing the story. Eventually I grew so attached to the characters and story, that I started to wait every Thursday evening for the next episode to update. 

It took me a while to appreciate I Love Yoo, because I, too, had thought that it was ‘another romance’ story. But the way that it had taken such a standard plot and portrayed in such an intricate way- through its art and writing, it had made me its fan. 

So when you open Webtoon again, old reader or new, check out I Love Yoo. 

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