Today’s Webtoon: Episodes 9-10

by solstices

To some, their career is a culmination of their dreams. For others, it’s an affirmation that they’re walking down the right path. And to others still, it may very well have become their identity itself, inseparable from their sense of self.

 
EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

Phew, last week’s cliffhanger ending was a misdirect — Ma-eum and Joon-young are actually rushing to the police station, where Dae-ryuk has been detained. It turns out Dae-ryuk tried to sketch a young lady on the streets and her boyfriend mistook him for a creep, jumping aggressively to her defense and beating Dae-ryuk up.

After the misunderstanding is resolved, Ma-eum and Dae-ryuk leave the station together, and she expresses her disappointment. No matter how much he wants to draw his webtoon well, people should always come first.

Ma-eum turns to leave, but Dae-ryuk calls out plaintively, pleading for her not to abandon him. He tells her she’s like a god to him — people don’t like him or his webtoon, but she was the only one who accepted him and saw his worth.

Promising that he won’t do anything Ma-eum dislikes, Dae-ryuk begs her not to throw him away, apologizing pitifully.

Man-cheol recruits Ma-eum and Joon-young for a new project; he hopes to produce a remake of a time machine manhwa that was popular back in the day. They go to meet the author MA HAE-GYU, who has since lost all his earnings through gambling and bad stock investments. His room is messy and strewn with rough sketches, even though his hand tremors are so bad he can’t even draw a straight line.

Writer Ma is less than enthused about the remake, asserting that comics should be paperback and demanding a hefty sum if they want him to sign onto the project. He’s grumpy and rude, even going as far as to toss a glass of water in Man-cheol’s face. Yikes.

As they drive back to the office, Man-cheol advises Ma-eum to keep an eye out for Dae-ryuk — Writer Ma serves as a cautionary tale of artists who pin their entire lives on their craft.

Ma-eum pays a visit to Dae-ryuk’s tiny goshiwon room, and when she realizes he’s been subsisting on convenience store bento boxes, she takes him out for a proper meal, urging him to take better care of himself.

Dae-ryuk’s dedication to practicing his craft is impressive, and it shows in the gradual improvement of his art skills. Still, his one-track mind towards his webtoon is a potential cause for concern, and he seems like he’s already on the path to overworking himself.

Our rookie authors’ works finally get published, and their respective producers wait nervously for the first upload. Joon-young even set a notification for the first chapter of Woo-jin’s baseball webtoon, heh, and he reads it with a wide smile on his face.

Dae-ryuk’s webtoon is finally published too, and it earns rave reviews. Omg, it rises to third place on the webtoon rankings, alongside Woo-jin’s webtoon in fourth place! Reading all the positive comments, Dae-ryuk is moved to tears. Aww, I’m so proud of him. (Also, I want to read his webtoon too, it looks so interesting!)

Writer Ma’s daughter YOO-NA (Jeon Chae-eun) ends up calling Ma-eum (who previously gave her name card to her) when she gets into trouble at her convenience store part-time job. Ma-eum takes her out to a cafe after the ordeal, where Yoo-na confides in her.

Tragically, Yoo-na’s mom passed away trying to support the family while Writer Ma stubbornly insisted on drawing comics long past his prime. As such, she absolutely detests manhwa, because it reminds her of her father’s obsession and her mother’s sacrifice.

We finally get an answer as to the identity of the mysterious woman that keeps appearing in Joon-young’s house — she’s his deceased older sister. Joon-young takes the day off to pay his respects at her columbarium, wishing his late noona a happy birthday.

Later that night, Ma-eum returns home to find Joon-young sitting outside her doorstep, lingering grief weighing on him. She invites him in and cooks ramyun for him, and when he thanks her, it’s clearly for more than the meal.

Their conversation turns to Writer Ma’s manhwa, and Joon-young suggests that Ma-eum bring Yoo-na to her manhwa cafe. After all, it was the very place that managed to spark his interest in manhwa.

Ma-eum heeds Joon-young’s suggestion, and over a dinner of kimchi fried rice, she notices Yoo-na’s phone wallpaper. It’s a photo of Yoo-na and her mom, with a quote that her mom used to always say to her.

Reading it aloud, Ma-eum completes the rest of the quote — it’s a line from Writer Ma’s manhwa. Ma-eum’s mom points out that Yoo-na’s mom must have loved her husband’s manhwa books a lot, and that finally convinces Yoo-na to try reading them.

Writer Ma heads home with a plastic bag full of soju bottles, and he crosses paths with Ma-eum, who walked Yoo-na home. Chiding him politely but firmly, Ma-eum reminds him that his most important priority shouldn’t be his work, but Yoo-na.

When Yoo-na sees the alcohol that her dad has brought home yet again, she finally has enough. Blowing up at him in frustration, Yoo-na confronts him for clinging onto his past glory days and wallowing in despair instead of moving on with his life.

It’s a harsh wake-up call that finally snaps Writer Ma out of his tough facade, and he shakily admits that he doesn’t know what is left of him without his manhwa. He’s based his entire self-worth on his career, and now that it’s tanked, he feels bereft of purpose.

Except Yoo-na reminds him that he’s still her dad — she doesn’t need him to be famous or a genius, she just wants him to be a father to her. Her words get through to him, and the next morning, a cleaned-up and sharply-dressed Writer Ma walks into the webtoon team’s office. He’s here to sign the contract for the remake, to Man-cheol’s elation.

After work, Ma-eum enlists Joon-young’s help in picking out a perfume for her father. Joon-young walks Ma-eum to the dojo, and she thanks him for giving her a little more courage. He’s surprised that even she gets afraid, and Ma-eum says that of course she does — but despite the fear, she pushes ahead anyway. Aww, Joon-young’s respect and admiration is written across his face.

Ma-eum initiates a heart-to-heart with her dad, admitting that she knows she was his dream, and that she’s sorry she couldn’t fulfill it for him. She gives the gift to her father, except he abruptly stands up, brusquely declaring that he hasn’t given up on his dream yet. He walks away without accepting his daughter’s gift, and from afar, Joon-young witnesses this scene.

A despondent Ma-eum ends up drinking by herself, but just when she’s about to stuff the gift bag into her backpack, Joon-young suddenly shows up and asks her to give the gift to him instead. Eeeee!!

Joon-young takes the seat next to Ma-eum, assuming she’s alone — only for her judo friend to show up literally five seconds later. HAHAHA, Joon-young’s flustered expression!

Ma-eum’s friend is the best wingwoman ever; realizing they’re the same age, she speaks casually to Joon-young. That gets Ma-eum and Joon-young to finally drop the honorifics too, and they’re adorably awkward about it at first. Yay, they’re so cute!

Over drinks at their usual pojangmacha, Ji-hyung comes clean to Man-cheol about Youngtoon’s lucrative offer. Man-cheol’s words of congratulations are a little too enthusiastic to sound natural, and it’s clear that he’ll miss Ji-hyung if he leaves.

Still, Man-cheol urges Ji-hyung to prioritize himself and accept the offer, leaving Ji-hyung even more conflicted than before. Aww, we get a cute flashback to Gingertoon’s early days, and we see that Joon-young’s noona GU AE-RI (Seo Yoon-ah) used to be part of the team too.

Ji-hyung returns to the office late into the night, and his gaze lingers on the coin he gave Ma-eum, which she called her lucky charm. Then all of a sudden, Ma-eum pops up from behind his office desk, scaring the living daylights out of Ji-hyung, HAHA.

Ma-eum is clearly affected by the rumor that he’s transferring to Youngtoon, and Ji-hyung amusedly points out that he hasn’t accepted the offer yet. Just because others covet the position doesn’t mean that he has to want it too, and Ji-hyung says that he’s still figuring out what his heart truly wants.

Ma-eum emails Ji-hyung her monthly homework assignment; when she first joined Neon, he’d thrown her the question of what a webtoon editor is, and instructed her to answer it every month. Ji-hyung finally reads the backlog of email submissions, and Ma-eum’s answers reflect her journey and growth as a producer.

Her latest answer is that webtoon editors are like gardeners; they care for their webtoon artists just like gardeners nurture their plants. Sometimes they get hurt by thorns, and sometimes they have to make the hard decision of pruning off certain branches. At the end of the day, they take responsibility for the garden till the end, in order for the flowers to bloom.

Joon-young’s nasty uncle pesters him to meet, then demands money from his nephew. He claims that he arranged for Ae-ri’s funeral while Joon-young was studying abroad, arguing that he deserves repayment for taking care of the siblings after their mother passed away.

However, Joon-young confronts his uncle with the ugly truth; he selfishly pocketed their parents’ insurance payouts and Ae-ri’s monthly salary. Joon-young is ready to cut his uncle out of his life, until he delivers a shocking revelation — he accuses Man-cheol of causing Ae-ri’s death.

The webtoon team gathers at a high-end beef restaurant, courtesy of Man-cheol, who took it upon himself to organize a farewell dinner for Ji-hyung. Everyone’s mood is somber, and poor Ma-eum even breaks out into tears, aww.

Except… Ji-hyung isn’t leaving. HAHAHA! Ma-eum’s homework assignment struck a chord in him, and he realized that above all, he wants to take responsibility for his projects and his colleagues. He’s going to see it through to the end, until the trees he has planted eventually blossom and bear fruit. Yay, Ji-hyung, you’re the best!

Later on, Ji-hyung steps outside to take a call, and Joon-young follows after him. Showing Ji-hyung a photo of Ae-ri, Joon-young asks if he knows her, and Ji-hyung’s eyes widen in recognition and shock. At the confirmation that Ji-hyung knows his noona, Joon-young’s hand curls into a fist — and from afar, Ma-eum witnesses this confrontation.

We end on this cliffhanger this week, which leaves me nervous for the subsequent fallout. I have enough faith in Man-cheol and Ji-hyung that I don’t think they directly had a hand in Ae-ri’s death, but given how hard they were working to get Gingertoon up off the ground, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ran herself ragged from overwork. Joon-young’s already facing even more pressure from Chief Heo, who even instructed him to obtain Young-bae’s performance records this week — he doesn’t need any more incentive to tip over to the wrong side.

This week’s episodes centered on the theme of work-life balance, highlighting the consequences of basing one’s entire identity on one’s creations or achievements. In a world that lauds productivity and rewards accomplishments, it’s easy to end up tying our self-worth to the pursuit of excellence. When we fail, it cuts deep like a personal flaw. It’s something I’m no stranger to myself, and I appreciate that the drama addressed it.

I’m so glad that Ji-hyung chose to stay on the team, and I respect him even more for making the difficult decision to reject Youngtoon’s offer. I never doubted Ji-hyung’s loyalty to the team for one second, but the stakes were high for him, and his conflict was compelling given their team’s uncertain future. His decision to follow his heart instead of chasing material gain was an admirable one; I particularly liked his line about choosing the path he would regret less. Either way, there’s an opportunity cost, but what matters most isn’t the prestige or the wealth — it’s that he stays true to his values and chooses what makes him happier.

This ties into the side plot with popular comedy writer OH YOON (Son Dong-woon of Highlight) and producer CHOI DOO-HEE (Ahn Tae-hwan). Writer Oh attempted a completely different genre in order to counter the naysayers who accused him of only getting popular off his looks, but his overambitious sci-fi webtoon fell flat and recorded rock-bottom ratings.

Unfortunately, trying to prove yourself to people who already have it out for you from the outset is simply a losing game. Writer Oh lost sight of the forest for the trees, allowing the harsh criticism to chip away at his self-esteem. Hence, I’m glad that Doo-hee encouraged Writer Oh to take pride in his ability to make others laugh; everyone has their weaknesses, as well as their strengths.

Ma-eum has a knack for helping the people around her to recognize their inherent worth; we’ve seen it with Writer Baek, Kang-nam, and Dong-hee (whom we see reading Dae-ryuk’s webtoon, aww). In the same way, she’s inspiring and empowering Dae-ryuk, guiding him through his fears and advocating for him to others.

Dae-ryuk clearly struggles with abandonment issues as a result of his traumatic past, and I worry that his admiration and idolization of Ma-eum may escalate into an unhealthy attachment. He views her as his savior, and his proclamation that he would do anything to avoid upsetting her was frankly quite worrying. Dae-ryuk deserves to be his own person, instead of bending to the whims of others. Rather than relying solely on external validation for affirmation, I hope Dae-ryuk learns to see how innately precious he is.

On a side note, the gradual development of Ma-eum and Joon-young’s relationship has me so giddy with excitement! The way Joon-young gazes at her with a fond smile on his face is so swoon-worthy, and I love that it comes from a place of genuine admiration. His care and concern for her runs deeper than just superficial attraction, and I love that it’s reciprocal, even if Ma-eum may not have caught feelings yet. Both of them are pillars of support to each other, always there to offer a listening ear or a fistbump of camaraderie.

Also, while the Pomme plot line progresses at a snail’s pace of five minutes per week, we do get an important bit of information. It’s starting to look like her hidden camera stalker is her webtoon assistant, who secretly crumples up Joon-young’s name card upon receiving it. (That doesn’t go unnoticed by Ma-eum, but she doesn’t comment on his rude behavior for now.) Plus, Pomme’s cat hissed aggressively at the creepy assistant, and I’m inclined to trust its instincts. Can we get a heroic kitty to the rescue?

 
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