Top 20 Most Popular Korean Webtoons in English of All Time Knowinsiders.com
Most Popular Korean Webtoons in English of All Time - Knowinsiders.com
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In South Korea, Webtoons (webcomics) are very well-liked among young people who attend school.

Webtoons, also known as "manhwa," are essentially the South Korean equivalent of comic books. They are frequently adapted into Korean dramas. Though they were initially written with entertainment in mind, manhwas serve more serious purposes today.

They frequently aim to feed young children's fantasies about the mysteries of this world. For the children, these manhwas also contain a number of lessons and values. They occasionally also expose social injustices that are difficult to correct. The younger generation can learn a lot from this about the types of people they should strive to be.

Check out the top 20 Korean webcomics ever translated into English.

What Are Webtoons?

Webtoons (Korean: 웹툰) are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on computers and smartphones.

Webtoons were initially largely unknown outside of Korea, but their recognition has grown significantly since then, in large part due to the popularity of manhwa and the fact that the majority of manhwa are now made into webtoons. Print publication of manhwa has decreased in the nation as digital manhwa have become a popular medium. Now, the amount of content published in webtoon format is equal to the amount of content published offline.

Webtoons typically share a few common characteristics: each episode is published on a single, long vertical strip (using an infinite canvas instead of multiple pages to make it easier to read on a smartphone or computer); some will have music and animations that play during each chapter; and unlike the majority of East Asian comics, they are likely to be in color rather than black-and-white since they are published digitally on a website or app rather than physically; and finally, they are usually made up of a series of short There are different censorship laws for materials published online versus in print in South Korea, which has led to an increase in the production and publication of erotic and sexually explicit manhwa as webtoons.

Junkoo Kim, a self-described comics geek, launched Webtoons.com in 2004. The Korean economy was in complete collapse in the late 1990s, and this included the Manhwa (Korean for animated cartoons) sector. Junkoo Kim wanted to assist fans of webcomics by providing them with the comics for free as many comic companies were ceasing production. His mind was brainwashed by Kim, who eventually founded Webtoons as an internal startup.

What is Manhwa?

Manhwa is a term used in Korea to describe South Korean comics.

Manhwa is written in the left-to-write format that is more common in Western nations than Japanese manga, which is typically meant to be read from right to left. This is because Korean texts are also typically written in this manner.

Manhwa initially gained popularity in the 1920s but really took off in the 1950s and 1960s, giving rise to a wide variety of genres and target audiences, with sunjeong, a shoujo-equivalent, being especially well-liked.

Despite the fact that there are some instances where they may overlap, the majority of manhwa have a very unique and different style from Japanese manga.

What is the Difference Between Manhwa and Webtoons?

Both manhwa and webcomics have their roots in South Korea, and they frequently cross over. Manhwa are always South Korean comics, whereas "webtoon" has come to refer to non-Korean works with similar formatting. This is the main distinction between the two.

A webtoon is a South Korean comic that is created specifically for the web and has a format that requires viewers to scroll down; however, not all webtoons are manwha.

Popular manwha reading websites like Webtoon, for instance, display Korean webtoons alongside Western works like Heartstopper by Alice Oseman.

South Korean webcomics are still the norm at this point on the majority of well-known websites. However, as reading comics online becomes more popular, we anticipate that more non-Korean works will adopt the webtoon format and be made available on websites that host manhwa.

Why Are Webtoons A Trend To Watch?

South Korea is growing its cultural influence with webtoons, while Japan has captivated millions of readers with its manga. These online comics are hugely popular in their home country. They have a vertical strip that can be read by scrolling up or down. The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) estimates that the local webtoon market had sales of $577 million in 2019. And the phenomenon has spread far beyond Korea's borders.

A webtoon comics platform called Toonsutra will launch in April, according to the Graphic India group. In particular, webtoons based on popular Indian films and television series like "The Legend Of Hanuman" and the "Baahubali" film franchise will be available. According to Sharad Devarajan, co-founder of Graphic India, "Toonsutra will become India's new storytelling home for disruptive creators across the nation to experiment, innovate, and produce compelling webtoon comic stories for the world." The top webcomics apps collectively reach over 70 million monthly users and over 100 billion page views annually, making webcomics platforms an explosive phenomenon throughout Asia.

Top 20 Most Popular Korean Webtoons in English of All Time

1. Solo Leveling

Photo: ONE Esports
Photo: ONE Esports

The story in Solo Leveling revolves around the life of Sung Jin-woo. All of a sudden, ‘gates’, or portals as they should more aptly be called, have begun appearing all over South Korea. These gates connect the world of monsters to that of human beings. A certain category of humans has started developing superpowers to protect the entire race from being swept off from Earth. Our main protagonist happens to be the weakest link among these superhumans – called hunters. One day, Jin-woo and some other hunters enter a dangerous dungeon. Though Jin-woo dies inside it, it manages to complete all the challenges he was supposed to in order to get out alive. Jin-woo then wakes up in a hospital bed. He realises that certain things have changed about him as a hunter. He can somehow see an interface in front of his eyes that show him statistics of the game they are playing with the monster world. Jin-woo must use this power to discover hidden secrets of the monster world and become the most powerful hunter of all time.

A webtoon adaptation launched in KakaoPage on March 4, 2018, and concluded its first season on March 19, 2020. Its first collected volume was released by D&C Media on September 26, 2019. In Japan, Solo Leveling launched in Kakao Japan's webtoon and fiction service Piccoma, and accumulated over 1 million cumulative readership. It was also selected as the No. 1 webtoon in Piccoma's "Best of 2019". The webtoon has been published digitally in English by Webnovel and Tappytoon since May 7 and June 4, 2020, respectively. It is also published on Tapas in English. The collected volumes have been licensed and published in North America by Yen Press since March 2, 2021.

2. Noblesse

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

In the dark fantasy genre, Noblesse is about a nobleman wh0 has been asleep for more than 800 years. He is blissfully unaware of how much the world has changed and how mankind has made massive advancements in science and technology. Noblesse starts with a nobleman called Rai waking up in an abandoned building in modern-day South Korea. Once he leaves this building, he begins exploring the cosmopolitan South Korean capital of Seoul. He manages to find and reunite with his old servant Frankenstein. Together with Frankenstein, Rai starts to settle into modern life in the present times. When he enrols himself in high school, he befriends Shin-Woo, Ikhan and Yuna. Together with his friends, Rai starts his dangerous adventures against a secret organisation that helps him uncover several hidden truths of his past.

The first animated version of Noblesse was revealed at the 17th Bucheon International Animation Festival. Its screening time was 37 minutes. It was produced by Studio Animal, a South Korean animation studio, and the animation was first released as a DVD by Woongjin Thinkbig Funnism on December 4, 2015, while its VOD service started later on February 4, 2016.

3. Tower of God

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

Tower of God (Korean: 신의 탑; RR: Sin-ui Tap) is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon written and illustrated by S.I.U. It has been serialized in Naver Corporation's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon since June 2010, with the individual chapters collected and published by Young Com into ten volumes as of July 2022. Tower of God received official English translations by Line Webtoon beginning in July 2014.

It has received several mobile game adaptations and merchandise. In Japan, the web manhwa received an anime television series adaptation by Telecom Animation Film that first premiered on Naver Series On in South Korea, and aired in Japan immediately afterward. It originally aired from April to June 2020. Crunchyroll licensed and simulcasted the Japanese broadcast version of the anime for its streaming service.

It was a hard call between Tower of God and About Death. Tower of God comes in #2 on our list of the best webtoons on Naver. The overall story is very interesting and keeps you entertained throughout. Surprising for a story that is about climbing a tower. It is a story about a lonely boy named Bam who is discovered and taken care of by a girl named Rachel. Rachel leaves Bam to climb the Tower of God. Whoever climbs to the top will get whatever they desire. Bam wanting to be reunited with Rachel, looks to reach the top of the Tower of God himself.

Genre: Fantasy

Chapters: Ongoing

4. The Sound Of Your Heart

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

The Sound of Your Heart was South Korea’s longest-running webtoon that went on for a record 14 years. It is actually a webtoon written in the comedy genre. The Sound of Your Heart does not have any definite storyline. Instead, it follows the life of a man named Jo Seok, his girlfriend Ae-Bong, their family and friends as they find themselves in the strangest of situations every day. Each scenario is so funny that it is bound to leave the reader gasping for breath. The popular webtoon was later made into a South Korean drama that you can watch if you are too lazy to read over 1000 episodes.

The Sound of Your Heart (Korean: 마음의 소리; also known as The Sound of Your heart, Sound of Heart) is a South Korean webtoon series written and illustrated by Jo Seok. The webtoon was first released on the Naver WEBTOON internet portal in 2006. In 2007, the first print volume was released and The Sound of Your Heart was adapted into a TV series of the same name in 2015. It was completed in July 2020.

Jo Seok graduated from Jeonju University with a major in video cultural studies in 2002, and wanted to infuse an interest in cartoons to those who haven't been fans of graphic novels. Jo began posting The Sound of Heart on Naver Webtoon in September 2006, and by 2014 it was the longest running webtoon on the platform. On December 17, 2015, the 1,000th episode of The Sound of Heart was posted on Naver. Since Jo started posting his webcomic on Naver, views averaged 5 million per update, a total of over 5 billion views.

When Jo got married in 2014, he did not have a wedding ceremony or honeymoon trip because he did not want a lapse in his update schedule. In 2015, Jo earned about ₩78,000,000 per month (approximately ₩936,000,000 per year).

Jo published other webcomics on Naver Webtoon during the run of The Sound of Heart, such as Jo's Area and Moon You. The Sound of Heart concluded in July 2020, after running for 14 years. Jo said he felt "lucky to be able to feel 'done' with the comic." During its run, the webtoon accumulated nearly 7 billion views and 15 million comments. 500 episodes had been translated into English by the time The Sound of Heart concluded.

5. Cheese In The Trap

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

Unquestionably, one of the most well-known webcomics of all time is Cheese In The Trap. Later, it was adapted into a movie and a K-Drama. Cheese In The Trap follows Seol Hong's life and is a must-read for anyone who enjoys romance novels. Seol is a bright young student who works hard. After a protracted break, she has now resumed her academic studies. Her senior at school, Jung Yu, is viewed as the ideal boy by all. His 'perfect' reputation comes before his name. When Seol inevitably becomes involved with Jung Yu, she feels as though her life has taken a turn for the worse. The rest of the narrative focuses on how their relationship dynamics develop and how that affects how their lives are forever altered.

6. True Beauty

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

True Beauty (Korean: 여신강림; Hanja: 女神降臨; RR: Yeosin-gangnim; lit. The Advent of a Goddess), also known as The Secret of Angel and other names, is a South Korean webtoon written and illustrated by Yaongyi. First published in Naver Webtoon since April 2, 2018, it centers on a young woman who mastered the art of makeup in her teenage years in order to transform herself into a gorgeous "goddess" after being bullied and discriminated because of being perceived as ugly.

As of January 2022, the official English version of True Beauty has accumulated 6.6 million subscribers and 825.9 million views. The comic updates every Wednesday. True Beauty was the third most viewed series on WEBTOON in 2019 and a print version was released starting October 29, 2020 by Young Com. It was also adapted into a television series of the same name which premiered on tvN on December 9, 2020.

One of the most popular Korean dramas of 2020 was True Beauty. However, many might not know that True Beauty was adapted from a Korean webtoon of the same name. It tells the story about the secret of a very beautiful girl. What makes this Korean webtoon so good is that as a reader, you will get a deeper understanding of Korea’s beauty culture and Koreans’ perspective on beauty in relation to both men and women.

Genre: Romance

Chapters: Ongoing

7. Along with the Gods

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

Along With the Gods (Korean: 신과함께; Hanja: 神과함께) is a South Korean manhwa series written and illustrated by Joo Ho-min. The webtoon was released on Internet portal Naver WEBTOON since 2010, and the first volume in print was published on November 16, 2012. It was adapted into a film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, which released on December 20, 2017.

This Korean webtoon was so famous that it got turned into a film. The webtoon is split into three stories. The first is about the underworld, the second is about the living world, and the third is about the gods. However, the webtoon gives much more depth than the film, especially about Korean mythology. So start with the webtoon before watching the film.

Genre: Fantasy

Chapters: 212

8. I Don’t Want this kind of Hero

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

I Don't Want This Kind of Hero, 이런 영웅은 싫어, or shorten to IDWTKOH is an online webcomic created by Samchon, and published on the Korean webcomic site, Naver Webtoon on November 2, 2011. It was originally in Korean and was translated into English and other languages in 2014.

The story follows Naga, a highschool student who has incredible psychic powers. The chief of SPOON, Dana, recruits him and he is teamed up with a witch, Hyena, and a crow Hybrid, Sasa. At the same time the villain organization, KNIFE, catches eye of him and also wants to recruit Naga for their own goals.

This Korean webtoon focuses on a character named Naga. He is a typical high school student who suddenly gets recruited by a government agency to become a superhero. He joins to fight against KNIFE, which is a villain organization. Naga will have to fight countless mythical creatures and have many adventures. It is a funny deconstruction of the superhero vs. villain storyline.

Genre: Action/Comedy

Chapters: 301

9. The Breaker

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

The Breaker is yet another high school story in the action and martial arts genre. It follows the life of a young boy called Shioon who is frequently beaten up and bullied by his classmates. His new English teacher witnesses one such incidence where he is being beaten up. However, Mr. Chun Woo offers him no help. Instead, Shioon is reprimanded by his teacher for not standing up for himself and holding his ground. Soon, Shioon finds out that Chun Woo is not just an ordinary English teacher but a properly trained martial arts fighter. Shioon is determined to train under him. Chun Woo asks Shioon to prove his commitment to the art form by jumping off a bridge. The story then follows Shioon’s story as he discovers the hidden treasures of learning ‘murin’. The Breaker is followed by a second part titled ‘The Breaker: New Waves’.

The Breaker (Korean: 브레이커; RR: Beureikeo) is a South Korean manhwa series written by Jeon Geuk-jin and illustrated by Park Jin-hwan under the pen name Kamaro. The Breaker was serialized in Daiwon C.I.'s Young Champ's magazine between June 2007 and July 2010. It is followed by The Breaker: New Waves (브레이커NW; Beureikeo NW) which is published on Daum Communications' online comics portal beginning 2010.

The story follows Shiwoon Yi, a timid high school student who becomes the disciple to Chunwoo Han, a martial artist who is an enemy to the secret martial arts society known as the Murim. The Breaker has been localized outside of Korea into other languages such as French, German, Italian, Russian, and Polish.

10. Girls Of The Wild’s

Photo: Pinterest
Photo: Pinterest

Girls of the Wild's (Korean: 소녀 더 와일즈) is a South Korean manhwa webtoon series written by Hun and illustrated by Zhena (Kim Hye-jin). It was first published on Naver Webtoon on August 7, 2011, and has been released in English by Line. The story follows a high school guy who enrolls as the sole male student at a former all-girls school of champion fighters, and struggles with dealing with his athletic schoolmates, as well as bullies and gangsters, while training in mixed martial arts. The print release of the first volume of Girls of the Wild's was released on November 9, 2012. 260 chapters of Girls of the Wild's have been released online, with the final chapter posted in October 2016. A Chinese TV adaptation, titled Sweet Combat was released in 2018.

Girls of the Wild’s is a mixture of every popular genre of webtoons out there. It covers all grounds starting from action and martial arts to romance and high school drama. Wild’s High School was previously an all-girls school with a focus on mixed martial arts. However, very recently it has become a co-educational school that also started accepting boys. The story revolves around a freshman in Wild’s High – Song Jae Gu, whose ideas of women are not exactly ideal. His ideas crop up from his abandonment trauma in life, left by his mother. Since their mother left them, Jae Gu has also had to take care of his younger siblings. The school holds an annual championship league called ‘Wild’s League’ where the girls fight with each other brutally to become the champion. The story in this webtoon starts when Jae Gu spills coffee on the defending champion – Queen. What makes Girls of the Wild’s a very popular webtoon is the strong female leads here – a concept yet to become a trend in South Korea.

11. About Death

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

About Death was a Drama Webtoon Original written by Sini and illustrated by Hyeono; it concluded on November 29, 2014. The original Korean Webtoon premiered on Naver and concluded on February 27, 2013.

About Death is a webtoon with about 22 episodes. These episodes are all available in English if you’re an enthusiast of the genre with limited Hangul skills. About Death, just like the name suggests, treats life as borrowed time – a break between birth and death. The webtoon tries to explore death and understand it by using the lives of the characters as the means to do so. A god-like powerful figure in the webtoon has the miraculous abilities to talk to people who are in the brim of crossing between the world of the living to that of the dead. About Death explores everyday issues that we deal with in the monotony of daily life – suicide, relationships, friendships, love, loss and regrets. This is certainly one of those webtoons on our list that you relate to the most.

12. The Gamer

Photo: GamerBraves
Photo: GamerBraves

The Gamer (Korean: 더 게이머, RR: Deo Geimeo) is a South Korean webtoon hosted by Naver WEBTOON. The webtoon is loosely influenced by fantasy RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, and comic fantasy book series Discworld but set in contemporary South Korea. Once the main protagonist, Han Jihan, notices a dialogue box in front of him like in a video game, he recognizes that he has become a video game character, and supernatural events start happening.

Han Ji-Han was a normal high school student who developed a special ability that allowed him to treat the world around him as a game called 'The Gamer'. He noticed that by leveling up, he could increase his stats and improve his body and mind, among other things. The day after noticing that he can also increase his stats through training (he studied to increase his Intelligence), he accidentally slipped into a combat area for those who have a link to the Abyss, the hidden world of their own. He witnessed a battle between Kwon Si-Yeon and Hwan Seong-Gon, getting involved in it as well. He was approached by Kwon Si-Yeon, who questioned him on his identity.

Han Ji-Han began to realize that he needed to train to be sure that he'll be safe in case he gets caught up in a fight again, so he trains his fighting capability with blunt objects (he uses a baseball bat). On his way home, he accidentally slips into another combat area, having to fight his way through zombies which he later finds out were amassed souls that Hwan Seong-Gon was collecting. He then realizes that he needs to talk to his friend, Shin Seon-Il. Ji-Han assumes that Seon-Il was part of this world due to his level being much higher than everyone else around him, and his assumption proves correct when Seon-Il threatens him, due to him not knowing that Ji-Han has become part of this world.

The story goes on, with Han Ji-Han deciding to stay in the world of the abyss, putting him in many dangerous situations as he grows stronger to protect himself and those around him.

13. Days of Hana

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

Days of Hana (하나의 하루, Hanaui haru) was a Drama Webtoon Original created by Seokwoo; it concluded on August 27, 2019. The original Korean Webtoon premiered on Naver and concluded on July 25, 2019.

While we always read stories about vampires falling in love with humans, Days of Hana is in the same fantasy genre, yet it is very different. In this webtoon created by artist Seokwoo, we see a werewolf, most often considered to be a vampire’s arch-enemy fall in love with a human. The theory of this webtoon considers a world where werewolves consider themselves loyal servants to their human masters. The werewolf here is Haru while the girl is called Hana. The name of the webtoon interestingly plays with their names. The Korean word for day is ‘haru’ as well. The story follows the forbidden love story that blooms between Haru and Hana.

14. Oh! Holy, by Ahyun

Photo: Webtoons
Photo: Webtoons

Another romance webtoon with massive ratings, Oh! Holy follows the lives of two childhood friends who had lost touch with each other. But don’t be mistaken, this webtoon is indeed another high school romance as the characters reconcile in the final years of their school life. Holy and Jaimee have personalities that make them polar opposites of each other. Yet there is something in their friendship that helps them rekindle their paused relationship that will hopefully bloom into romance. While Holy is a loner, Jaimee is a very popular student in school. Meanwhile, Holy has the uncanny ability to speak to ghosts. The rest of the storyline follows the development in Holy’s and Jaimee’s relationship along with all their differences that they gracefully embrace.

Oh! Holy is a romance webtoon by artist Ahyun. With an overall rating of 9.70 out of 10 online, the series has over 80 episodes online available in English. Oh! Holy follows the relationship between Holy and Jaimee, two childhood friends who coincidentally meet again in high school. Jaimee is a bit of a loner and has the strange ability to see ghosts, while Holy is the ideal popular girl at school. The series follows the two as they reconcile their childhood friendship (and possibly romance) in high school.

Genre: Romance

Status: Completed (total of 140 episodes)

15. Surviving Romance

Photo: Webtoon
Photo: Webtoon

Surviving Romance (살아남은 로맨스) is a Horror Webtoon Original created by Lee Yone; it updates every Thursday. The original Korean Webtoon premiered on Naver.

Surviving Romance is a horror webtoon by artist Lee Yone. With an overall rating of 9.81 out of 10 online, the series has only 6 episodes, for now, all available in English. Surviving Romance follows the story of Chaerin Eun that became the protagonist of the romance novel that she is reading. Expecting to have a fairytale ending with the cute Jeha, she soon realized that something is going wrong and that the story is taking a more terrifying turn. Will she be able to find her happy ending despite the new storyline?

The main character has taken the place of the female lead in her favorite romance novel, Chaerin Eun. She hopes to play out the plot of the novel, where she is beautiful, intelligent, and had the love of the male lead, Jeha Yu. But on the day Jeha Yu is supposed to confess to her, there is a zombie outbreak--something that never occurred in the original novel.

Chaerin is bitten on her hand and subsequently wakes up in bed, realizing she has returned to the morning of the same day. She quickly realizes she is trapped in a Groundhog Day scenario where she is stuck in the emerging zombie apocalypse and restarts the day every time she dies. She tries hundreds of times to change her fate and fails.

In the world of the novel, all characters other than Jeha are classified as "extras" and appear to Chaerin as black, featureless silhouettes with distorted voices. In one of her resets, a girl from her class saves Chaerin and they escape together to the school shop. Though her savior dies soon after, this experience returns Chaerin's sense of hope, and she vows to stay alive and find the "unknown extra" in her next reset.

Chaerin uses what she has learned about the outbreak to change the events and team up with her classmates, hoping to discover which is the unknown extra. Since she had the worst reputation in the class, she struggles to gain their trust. As her classmates slowly come to trust her, she becomes able to see them clearly.

The zombie sickness spreads through their fluids penetrating the skin or being ingested. Early symptoms of infection are coughing, nausea, and fever. Over time, the zombies begin to mutate. One zombie appears to imitate the actions of those around it, but with incredible strength. One grows to a monstrous size. Others gain the ability to shape-shift their faces to look like people who have died, in order to appear sympathetic. One shape-shifter mutates to have many arms and legs like a spider and a long, stalk-like neck. Cell phones still work inside the building, but no one can contact anyone outside.

16. Itaewon Class

Photo: Webtoon
Photo: Webtoon

Park Sae-royi is a young high school kid who dreams of getting into the police academy. His hardworking father is a single parent who tries his best to give his son a comfortable life. Over a small feud, Sae-royi’s father is murdered by a dangerous businessman of high social standing. Sae-royi goes against him and ends up in prison. After serving his term, Sae-royi comes back to Seoul and tries to set up a small restaurant in the Itaewon neighbourhood to make his father proud. Itaewon is one of the liveliest neighbourhoods in Seoul with all the biggest clubs and restaurants. As he embarks upon this journey, Park Sae-royi also starts to plan out his revenge against the powerful chaebol heir who murdered his father. Itaewon Class has been adapted into a K-Drama of the same name starring Park Seo-joon in the lead.

17. The Children’s Teacher Mr. Kwon

Photo: Webtoon
Photo: Webtoon

One of the best Korean webtoons on Naver has to be The Children’s Teacher Mr. Kwon. It is about a gangster who goes to a rural school in Korea and teaches a class of five very unique children. It would have been higher on the list if not for the ending. While the overall story might be slow, it really is a heart-warming story. It has a perfect blend of comedy, tragedy, and mob action. The five students are unforgettable and very likable. Again a different kind of Korean webtoon will be a breath of fresh air.

Genre: Drama

Chapters: Ongoing

18. Love Revolution

Photo: Soompi
Photo: Soompi

The story is about high school students and their love lives. Love Revolution tells the love story between Wangji-rim and Gongju-yeong. It is one of the best webtoons; however, finding a good English translation version is very difficult. Therefore, we will continue to look and update this bio once we find one.

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Chapters: Ongoing

19. Omniscient reader

Photo: Korean Webtoon Wiki
Photo: Korean Webtoon Wiki

Omniscient reader is an action webtoon created by artists Sin N Song and Sleepy-C. With an overall rating of 9.90 online, the series has over 40 episodes online available in English. Omniscient reader follows the story of Dokja, an average office worker. Over the years Dokja was the only reader of a web novel called “Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse” that once was finished became reality. Thanks to his knowledge from the web novel and his realization, Dokja will use his understanding to change the course of the story and the world.

Genre: Action

Status: Ongoing

20. Lookism

Photo: Webtoon
Photo: Webtoon

Lookism is a drama webtoon written and illustrated by artist Taejun Park. With an overall rating of 9.79 out of 10 online, the series has over 300 episodes online available in English. Lookism as the name implies tackles bias due to a person’s physical appearance following the story of Daniel, a fat, unattractive student who is often bullied. He wakes up one day to find himself in the body of a tall, handsome and cool guy. Daniel aims to achieve everything he couldn’t before in this new body. But, how far will he go to keep his body… and his secrets?

Genre: Drama

Status: Ongoing

The Webtoon Industry

Before the Internet, artists published their works in print. However, the switch to online reading consumption was required because South Korea made such great strides in technology and the internet. The switch also reduced the time and expense of printing paper, and it was a successful strategy for attracting readers from abroad. In 2000, the first official webcomic was released. Webtoons were initially published by independent creators rather than by well-known publications. However, as the popularity of webtoons grew, businesses jumped on board to support them in an effort to drive more traffic to their websites. Although popular viewing sites like LINE Webtoon offer webtoons for free, businesses pay the creators to update the stories once or twice a week. Webcomic creators, also referred to as manhwa-ga in Korean, can enjoy celebrity-level fame.

To give you an idea of the size of the webtoon market, LINE Webtoon, which is owned by Naver, has 10 million daily readers. Users of LINE Webtoon can read the stories for free. To read chapters the day artists update them, many users, however, pay a subscription fee. For their beginning artists, LINE offers a $2,000 monthly payment with the possibility of earning more through readerships and ad revenue. Due to the popularity of their comics, some artists can make $80,000 per month. Ji Hyeon Kim's research indicates that the webtoon market is currently worth $368 million USD and is projected to grow rapidly over the coming years.

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