Top 5 Webtoons on LINE Webtoon

LINE Webtoon was first launched by South Korean search portal Naver in South Korea in 2005. This came after an economic collapse in in Korea in the late '90s and early 2000s, in which many comic publishers were being shut down and comics were being censored for being "harmful influences". The founder of Webtoon, JunKoo Kim, was looking for a way to create new comics and have them consumed for free. Kim came up with launching scroll comics online after observing how online users scroll through webpages rather than flip through them. In 2014, Webtoon was launched overseas with the messaging tool LINE, a family company to Naver. Webtoon is now available in Korean, English, Taiwanese, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish, and French. More information about the history of Webtoon can be found in this article from Business Insider Australia.

I first became interested in webtoons my first semester in college. I stumbled upon one webtoon, Cheese in the Trap, and because it was ongoing at the time I quickly caught up and wanted more. At the time, webtoons updated weekly at midnight EST and I would stay up to read them (now, webtoons update at 9pm EST weekly or you can pay to read a few episodes ahead). I believe they helped keep my spirits up during the rough transition to college life. Prior to college I read a lot of books in my free time, but felt they were too time-consuming. I also don't like watching movies or television often because I get restless. Webtoons, however, are always accessible on my phone and divided into smaller chunks of content for the reader. I also started learning Korean my sophomore year of college, and downloading the Korean Webtoon app has been a fun way to study and broaden my vocabulary. I still look forward to reading new episodes each day two years later, so I wanted to outline the top 5 (English) Line Webtoons (in my opinion).

Cheese in the Trap

The story follows Hong Seol, a business student returning to college after a yearlong break. Seol is extremely independent and hardworking, as she is the oldest child in her family and is constantly trying to earn approval and attention from her parents. Upon returning to college, she gets off on the wrong foot with her college senior Yoo Jung, who is the only son of a wealthy family and seems to be "perfect". Seol takes notice of the coldness that lies beneath his exterior, causing Jung to become wary of her and develop a resentment towards her. However, his attitude towards her changes as he gets to know her and discovers that she is "someone like him". Cheese in the Trap was originally published on the Naver Webtoon app in South Korea in 2010. The official English translation of Cheese in the Trap was published on the LINE Webtoon app in 2014. The Webtoon was then picked up as a Korean TV drama in 2016, airing 16 episodes and starring Park Hae-Jin and Kim Go-Eun as the lead actors. The English translation of the Webtoon completed with 297 chapters in March of 2020.

No matter how many other Webtoons I read, Cheese in the Trap will always have a special place in my heart as the Webtoon that got me interested in Webtoons in the first place. Cheese in the Trap tackles societal and familial pressures, allowing the wide variety of characters to each confront their inner struggles. The characters each have multi-faceted personalities and undergo major character development throughout the series, making the characters of this Webtoon some of my favorite overall.

Character Seol from Cheese in the Trap webtoon.

Lore Olympus

The Lore Olympus webtoon is a modern retelling of the well-known Greek Mythology story of Hades, god of the underworld, and Persephone, goddess of spring as well as queen of the underworld. The story starts when Persephone has her name changed from Kore to Persephone, due to her committing an act of wrath, and she moves to Olympus. The story is mainly told from Persephone’s perspective, and the main genre of this retelling is romance. While the story is mainly focused on the story of “The Taking of Persephone”, other stories and aspects of Greek mythology are present within the webtoon as well as Persephone interacts with those around her. Lore Olympus first premiered as a Line Webtoon original on March 4, 2018. It is coming up on its first season finale in May 2020 and will begin its second season in August.

The main reason I chose this webtoon to put on my top 5 list of webtoons is the creator’s unique art style. Rachel Smythe utilizes colors and shapes in her storytelling like no other, to the point where her art is recognizable anywhere. She also has an amazing sense of storytelling, as each character introduced in the story has an important role to play. While Persephone and Hades are the main characters of this webtoon and experience more than their fair share of trials and tribulations to flesh them out and provide them opportunities to grow, the same can be said for many of the “side” characters within the webtoon as well. Due to Persephone’s interactions with the other gods, goddesses, and nymphs, we get insight into other popular Greek myths, such as the battle between the titans and the gods through the character’s flashbacks. Smythe also incorporate lesser known Greek myths, such as the story of Eros and Psyche, displaying an in-depth knowledge of Greek mythology. Many readers enjoy studying Greek mythology in order to theorize what will take place in the webtoon, as Smythe sticks closely to the mythology despite the creative freedom she sometimes takes with the webtoon. Lore Olympus is also the most popular webtoon currently on the Line Webtoon platform, as it is ranked first overall, in the romance genre, and in every age group for females.

Hades as depicted in the Lore Olympus webtoon.

Purple Hyacinth

The Purple Hyacinth webtoon focuses on a young woman named Lauren Sinclair, who works in the police force and has a gift of being able to identify when others are lying. Her main goal is to take down the Phantom Scythe, a terrorist group aiming to take out the royal family. This goal is more personal for Lauren than it is for the sake of the royal family, as Lauren wishes to avenge her childhood friend who she lost to the Allendale Train Station Tragedy, a terrorist act by the Phantom Scythe that took place ten years before the events of the webtoon and claimed the lives of 243 citizens, and led to 328 being wounded and 176 reported missing, although it is not clear which of these categories Lauren’s childhood friend falls under. At the beginning of the webtoon, Lauren forms an alliance with the Purple Hyacinth, the Phantom Scythe’s most notorious assassin as they share a goal of taking out the leader of the Phantom Scythe, though no one claims to have seen him in person. Lauren and Kieran (the Purple Hyacinth), take on the alias Lune together and work on getting to the leader of the Phantom Scythe through his underlings. Lauren must do this in secret while still playing the role of officer, and Kieran must continue carrying out acts as the Purple Hyacinth. Purple Hyacinth aired as a webtoon original on May 20, 2019. The webtoon is currently on hiatus as season 1 wrapped up on April 13, 2020.

I am personally a big fan of the mystery genre, and this webtoon is the most suspenseful webtoon I have personally read on the Line Webtoon app so far. The two creators of the story, who go by Sophism and Ephemerys, have worked together to really flesh out the plot. With each question answered there are several more posed, keeping the readers on the edge of their seats with every episode. This webtoon is also unique in that nearly every episode has an accompanying soundtrack composed by one of the creators, Sophism. Other webtoons occasionally utilize soundtracks as well, but they tend to be used mainly for big plot points rather than most episodes. It is also rare that the creator of the webtoon will take extra time to create the soundtrack themselves. Sophism’s compositions can also occasionally be found in other Webtoon Originals.

Lauren from the webtoon Purple Hyacinth.

Refund High School

Refund High School is a fantasy webtoon that focuses on Aru Kim, a high school student who endures an early end to her life. Because her life was ended so early and she has built up good karma throughout her life, she is granted the opportunity to attend Refund High School. At this school, students are given the chance to build up good karma in order to be reincarnated as an ideal version of themselves. Aru Kim is joined by a diverse cast of characters, including the three who were killed in the same accident as her. The students have the memories of their past life erased and can gain some of these memories back with their good karma. As Aru and her friends regain some of their memories, a strain is placed on their relationships as they work towards reincarnation and learn the parts they each played in each other’s deaths. In addition to her human friends working towards reincarnation, students who are not human work towards nirvana during their time at Refund High School. Refund High School was originally published as a Korean webtoon on Naver Webtoon before it was translated and published on the Line Webtoon platform on April 18, 2018. The Line Webtoon version of Refund High School was completed on July 20, 2019, though the company LICO has since announced there will be a season two, but there are no known details on this.

Like the other webtoons on this list, I found the characters in this webtoon (side characters included) as well as the plot to be fleshed out and developed very well. Although subtly and lightly, this webtoon confronts large social issues facing society today, such as discrimination. The world building of this webtoon is also impressive, as the whole refund high school system and world build off existing ideas to create a new world of their own. I believe a large reason this webtoon is so well done is because unlike other webtoons, this webtoon has an entire team behind its production. The digital content professional production company Life Is Comic, or Lico for short, was created by Naver Webtoon in 2017. Lico focuses on experimenting and producing various digital contents through storytelling, illustration, animation, and then expanding the use of the content they create. An example of this could be the figurines made of some of the most popular characters of the Refund High School webtoon. In addition to Refund High School, the company has also created the Save Me webtoon, based off of the alternate universe BTS Universe created by Big Hit Entertainment, as well as Ghost Theater, which takes place in the same world as Refund High School. Due to the many opportunities that come with operating out of a content production company, I believe Refund High School can and will be built upon much more than reader’s have already seen.

Devil Number 4

Devil Number 4 is a supernatural story that follows Hanna Yoon, a hardworking college student at the start of the webtoon. She has essentially been alone for all her life, as she was raised by a single mother who made it clear she did not want her daughter. Because of this, Hanna has worked part time jobs to sustain herself while making excellent grades in college to be able to continue her education. In the beginning of the webtoon she is fired from her job and kicked out of her dwelling along with her roommate when she runs into a devil who wishes to make a contract with her. The only issue is Hanna Yoon has no desires for them to be able to make a contract. The devil offers her a job at a coffee shop and houses her and her roommates in order to get closer to her while she ponders what her desire will be. When another devil comes to collect Hanna’s soul as collateral, Hanna’s past lives are discovered through the other characters experiencing flashbacks. Hanna is discovered to have been “companions” with the devil in one past life as well as with her classmate from another past life. In addition to this, Hanna’s angel has developed a special attachment to Hanna as they feel they have watched Hanna grow up and accomplish so much independently, with no one there for her. The relationships Hanna fosters with her angel and the devils are forbidden according to god, but they are unable to forget their attachments to each other. Devil Number 4 was first published on the Line Webtoon platform on August 7, 2019. The webtoon was originally published on the Naver Webtoon platform before being translate to English and serializing on the Line Webtoon platform. Devil Number 4 is an ongoing webtoon, currently updating every Wednesday.

Devil Number 4 is my favorite ongoing webtoon on the Line Webtoon platform at the moment. I love the art style of Um Bi, the artist for the webtoon. I also love the storytelling courtesy of Jang Jin, the author. I think using flashbacks throughout a story can easily be distracting and hard to follow, but that is not the case for this webtoon. Each flashback clarifies something about the plot or about a character, as good utilization of flashbacks should. The characters and their wardrobes change when showing their past lives through flashbacks to reflect the era their past lives took place in, which is also a nice detail. I appreciate that this webtoon shows that the world is not as black and white as some make it out to be and show the complexity within human emotions.

Title character Saho, or devil number 4, from the Devil Number 4 webtoon.