Today’s Webtoon: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

by solstices

It’s time to draw a close to this chapter, as our characters finally reap the rewards of the seeds they’ve been painstakingly sowing all this while. They’ve come a long way from where they first started, and adversity has only made them stronger.

 
EPISODES 15-16 WEECAP

Dae-ryuk and Dong-hee toil away at their tablets, and at the end of it, they manage to submit Dae-ryuk’s manuscript before the deadline. The latest chapter goes up right on time, and Ma-eum’s eyes tear up as she reads it. For the first time, there’s color in Dae-ryuk’s art — the yellow flowers reflect the hope that has begun to bloom in his heart.

Ma-eum asks Dae-ryuk how he thought of adding color to his manuscript, and he answers that he recalls doodling with his mom as a child, using colored crayons. It was a happy memory that had gotten lost with the sands of time, until now.

Reminding Dae-ryuk to always remember that he’s not alone on this journey, Ma-eum reassures him that he has the support of the webtoon team and his readers. She holds her hand out for a no-contact air fistbump as they’ve always done, except this time Dae-ryuk makes contact. He’s gotten over his fear of touch!

Ma-eum instinctively pulls back in shocked disbelief as Dae-ryuk smiles sheepishly, and then she fistbumps him again excitedly. Aww, Dong-hee asks if he can get a fistbump too, and Dae-ryuk happily obliges.

Ma-eum walks home with Joon-young after work, and he thanks her for teaching him how to trust people again. Pointing to both ends of the bridge, Ma-eum muses that they once used to be polar opposites, but now they’ve met in the middle.

In response, Joon-young says that he’s glad their differences brought them together then, and that the person at the other end of the bridge was her. Flustered by his sincerity, Ma-eum laughs the moment off lightheartedly.

Ma-eum returns home to find her father reading — and crying over — the latest chapter of Dae-ryuk’s webtoon. He remarks that it’s pretty amazing, and Ma-eum says that she’s glad to be in this line of work.

As long as she keeps working hard, she can make even more people happy with the work that she produces, and no one has to get hurt. Aww, Dad sheds proud tears of joy as he gazes at Ma-eum. He may be gruff and obstinate at times, but it’s clear that he treasures his precious daughter deeply.

Ji-hyung and Ma-eum head to a quaint little restaurant for lunch, where they notice that its walls are plastered with scribbles and drawings made by previous customers. Ma-eum suggests that they try drawing each other, only to end up surprised by Ji-hyung’s drawing skills.

Ji-hyung admits that he used to dream of becoming a webtoon artist, except he ended up choosing to become a “shadow artist” instead — i.e., someone who works behind the scenes. He told himself it was because he didn’t dare to become an actual artist, but as time passed, his perspective changed.

So many people pour in effort behind the scenes just to produce one piece of creative work, and their presence is equally important. We’re shown a montage of the drama’s production team hard at work, which is a really sweet acknowledgement of their hard work.

Ji-hyung admits that he was skeptical of Ma-eum at the start, since she would’ve been used to receiving love as an athlete, rather than giving others support. However, she’s since proven him wrong, and he encourages her to continue doing well.

The day of the Neon executives’ meeting rolls around, and Ma-eum is so anxious she ends up going to the pantry so she can flip her lucky coin. Except she misses as it falls, and it rolls all the way to someone’s feet. It’s Ji-hyung, who picks it up and says he’s taking his coin back. There’s no need for it anymore, since he tells her to believe that luck is always on their side.

Man-cheol presents his pitch to the Neon executives; in order to remain competitive with Youngtoon, he suggests setting up an affiliate company for Kang-nam. This studio can be helmed by Ji-hyung, who will handle the management aspect, while Kang-nam oversees the creative content.

Thankfully, the executives are convinced and Man-cheol is given the green light to go ahead with his plan, but the news is bittersweet. As the co-CEO of the newly-minted Studio Ginger, Ji-hyung will have to leave his position in the webtoon team.

At their team dinner, everyone congratulates Ji-hyung with teary-eyed smiles. Afterwards, Ji-hyung contemplates the coin that he once gave Ma-eum. He reminisces about the day he gave it to her at the Neon interview, and then as if tying a neat bow on his feelings, he uses that coin to buy a drink from a vending machine.

After a team meeting, Man-cheol tells Ma-eum to stay behind. He asks her how many years she practiced judo, and when she says 15 years, he requests that she work with them for exactly that amount of time, too. Omg, she’s getting hired as a full-time employee!

The team surprises her with a cake and handfuls of confetti, and Ma-eum can’t help but burst into overjoyed tears. Aww. Her hard work has finally paid off, and I’m so glad it all worked out in the end.

Chief Heo’s office gets searched by the audit team, under CEO Yoon’s orders. It turns out that Joon-young finally reported Chief Heo’s corruption and backstabbing to the CEO, along with the evidence he’s painstakingly collected. Hah, Chief Heo’s fallen into the very trap he laid. He’s made to take a long break from work, after which he’ll have to resign.

When Chief Heo runs into Man-cheol in the hallway, he’s as unrepentant as ever, putting on an air of superiority. However, Man-cheol isn’t cowed, and he asserts that his webtoon team will continue to grow even stronger. Ever the bigger man, he advises Chief Heo to stop sabotaging others and playing dirty, and to instead treat the people around him with sincerity.

After a meeting, Pomme asks Joon-young if he’s confessed to Ma-eum yet. When she realizes he hasn’t, she urges him to, coyly musing that she might just confess first. Joon-young freezes in surprise, asking if she… possibly… likes Ma-eum? HAHAHA. Hey, at least he’s supportive?

Joon-young heads to Ma-eum’s manhwa cafe that night, and he tells her that he’s moving out since he’s finally paid off all his student loans; he doesn’t have to work at the rental service anymore. Joon-young asks her to recommend him a manhwa to read as he wraps up this chapter of his life, and she deliberates for a while before pointing to herself. Ma-eum offers to be his listening ear, and he says he’ll take her up on her offer once he’s done moving.

Now that the webtoon team is finally producing good results, they have more leeway to launch projects, and they decide to hold another webtoon contest. When the winners are announced, first place turns out to be the author of a slice-of-life travel comic that both Young-bae and Ma-eum have their eyes on.

Oh no, the artist is Seul-ah, who submitted her entry using a pen name. After the traumatic experience working with Young-bae previously, Seul-ah is very much inclined to choose Ma-eum as her PD in charge.

However, Young-bae’s years of experience and knowledge about the webtoon industry would certainly be more beneficial to Seul-ah, and everyone knows it. In the end, Seul-ah chooses Ma-eum, but Ma-eum offers a suggestion — how about she works with both of them?

Since Ma-eum cares about doing justice to Seul-ah’s story above all else, while Young-bae focuses on exposure and raking in views, Seul-ah can get the best of both worlds. It’s a nice resolution to the arc, with both Ma-eum and Young-bae maturely recognizing the merits to each other’s work.

At night, Joon-young considers calling Ma-eum, but chickens out at the last minute — until his ringtone has him tripping over himself to answer Ma-eum’s call, HAHA. She calls him out to their usual pojangmacha for a drink, and she tells him that she also feels like she’s ended a chapter of her life.

Ma-eum recounts her last judo match, confiding in Joon-young about how she finally mustered up the courage to see that friend again. She muses that she doesn’t think she could’ve done it without the lessons she learned and the strength she gained from the webtoon team, but Joon-young disagrees, saying that he thinks she’s fully capable as her own person.

The next morning, our webtoon team begins packing up their things. Thanks to their consistently improving performance results, the webtoon team finally gets to move to the Neon main building like they’ve always dreamed of. Yay! As they carry their boxes to their new office, Joon-young good-naturedly teases Ma-eum that she hasn’t given him an answer yet.

We flash back to the rest of their conversation at the pojangmacha — Ma-eum asks Joon-young what kind of person he thinks she is, and he replies, “A good person… as well as someone I like.” Eeeee! He finally confessed!

Joon-young good-naturedly reassures her that she doesn’t have to give him an answer right away, and that he’ll be waiting for her response. Back in the present, he walks off with a smile, leaving Ma-eum flustered.

We see a montage of the team’s past moments, as Ma-eum narrates that we may stumble and fall, but ultimately we still persevere in the pursuit of our dreams. Sometimes, we have to make difficult choices, but that’s how we keep on writing the story of our lives.

The team calls out to Ma-eum, beckoning her to join them, and she runs after them with her trademark exuberant grin. In voiceover, she says that a new story unfolds every day — just like today’s webtoon. (Heh, title drop!) Together, the team walks towards a better and brighter future.

I think one of the reasons why I loved this show was also one of my biggest gripes with it — it was hopeful, but sometimes too hopeful. That made its story heartwarming, but it also ended up oversimplifying problems at times. For example, Young-bae’s now more generous with deadlines, and he even shows concern for his authors’ health. That’s because he’s now the new deputy editor, and he can afford to take things slow instead of rushing deadlines to meet sales requirements like before.

Perhaps this was intended to show that Young-bae was a good person all along and was merely constrained by circumstances. Except this insinuates that the moment things take a turn for the worse, he’s going to go straight back to being unreasonable and uncompromising. This narrative robs him of character growth, and feels somewhat like a cop-out.

I suppose that’s why it’s difficult to sum up how I feel about this drama, since its many contradictions give me mixed feelings. I appreciated the sensitivity with which it handled its character’s struggles; for example, I thought Ma-eum’s guilt over hurting her friend and her struggle to find a new identity outside of judo was woven quite well into her character trajectory, shaping her decisions and outlook on life. Similarly, Joon-young’s gradually growing trust in the team felt organic, making it all the more rewarding when he finally developed a sense of belonging there.

Yet, other crises were dialed up to the max for dramatic effect, which diluted the realism and broke immersion. Perhaps some of it could be chalked up to an intentional quirkiness that was meant to reflect a webtoon style, such as Han-seul’s childlike temper tantrums. However, others came across as contrived, such as that one week when the drama piled on problem after problem onto Dae-ryuk in quick succession.

In addition, I found the drama’s pacing uneven at times. Often, it would spend several scenes on setting up a seemingly important plot point, only to have it resolved all too simply and quickly. The most recent example would be Writer Baek’s storyline this week; after a successful surgery for his back pain, he didn’t regain consciousness for a while, making everyone worry a fair deal until he eventually woke up.

This allowed the show to touch on the topic of how much webtoon artists are willing to risk for their careers, but it also felt like a way to manufacture a cliffhanger ending for Episode 15. Which didn’t even work, because I’m pretty sure all of us expected that Writer Baek would come out of it safe and sound.

That’s primarily because the drama has demonstrated a consistent pattern of choosing a happy ending over leaving things unresolved or bittersweet. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, and in my opinion, it works in the context of this show. While some of us may prefer our slice-of-life dramas a tad more realistic, I think this tale was always about hope.

In a world where we may often find ourselves worn down by our circumstances and our struggles, Today’s Webtoon reassures us that it’s okay to persevere and pursue what truly makes us happy. Not everything may work out the way we want it to, but we’ll learn and grow along the way, and the journey may end up being our most precious takeaway.

Where the drama falters, then, is when it prioritizes a hopeful plot over organic and genuine character growth. I’ve already said my (strongly opinionated) piece on Dae-ryuk’s character arc last week, but I’m still upset over how his character was shortchanged and the dangerous message about trauma that was conveyed as a result. I know the drama wanted him to end up happy, but it shouldn’t have come at the expense of a proper trauma recovery process.

Dae-ryuk has made leaps and bounds from where he first started, and I’m so proud of him for his growth and how he’s overcome his trauma. Yet I can’t bring myself to be as enthused as Ma-eum is about it, because he could have gotten there via a different path — preferably one that involved therapy and a solid support system, instead of him being shoehorned into forgiving his abuser. Still, I’m glad that Dae-ryuk is free of his metaphorical shackles, and that he’s finally found hope and happiness in his life. (And I’m gonna go watch a happier Kim Do-hoon in The Law Cafe!)

One thing I particularly liked about this drama was how it set up plot points that seemed inconsequential and purely for laughs at first, only to have them become plot-relevant and come full circle later on. One example is the webtoon review channel run by Ma-eum’s sister; it was a pleasant surprise to have her platform be the key to resolving Dae-ryuk’s false allegations, as well as the catalyst to sisterly bonding. Plus, she had her own mini growth arc through realizing how deeply malicious comments can cut, and learning how to use her influence for good.

Since I haven’t read the webtoon that this drama was based on, I don’t know how much of this ought to be credited to the original work, but I do think the drama did a good job of bringing these arcs to life in an amusing and endearing way. As much as Writer Oh and PD Doo-hee’s scenes were mostly played for comedic effect with not much impact on the main storyline, I found myself developing a soft spot for their antics by the end of the show. I also really liked how Woo-jin’s webtoon was used to parallel the drama’s loveline; it was cutely creative, and I enjoyed her recurring appearances.

Above all, though, I loved how the drama handled our central trio of characters. Perhaps the romantic payoff (or relative lack thereof) might not feel all that satisfying to some viewers, but I liked that the boys’ feelings arose as a result of how much Ma-eum helped them grow as people. She spurred them to reflect upon themselves and confront the fears they’d been repressing, allowing them to find closure and gain the strength to move on.

Similarly, both of them have inspired and supported Ma-eum in their own ways. Thanks to their guidance and encouragement, she’s grown into a more mature, thoughtful, and considerate version of herself. Beyond the romance, this is a trio that has one another’s backs through thick and thin.

I’ll admit I started this show purely for the main cast, since I loved them all in their previous roles. Kim Se-jung is simply a breeze to watch; her effervescent exuberance always brought a smile to my face every week, and I liked the touch of vulnerability she gave Ma-eum.

Nam Yoon-soo was adorable as the awkwardly reserved Joon-young, and it was so endearing to watch his heart gradually thaw out as he developed feelings for Ma-eum. (If you want to watch him in another cutely lovestruck puppy role, I’d recommend the web drama The Temperature of Language: Our Nineteen!)

Of course, Daniel Choi is great in the mentor role, as always — I first watched him in School 2013, and while he was certainly more prickly there, he has a reassuring presence that exudes a steady dependability.

Today’s Webtoon may have its shortcomings, but if I’m willing to overlook them and suspend my disbelief in certain scenes, I think I still enjoyed the drama a fair bit. Just like how the team healed one another and grew together over the course of the show, their determined optimism and words of wisdom touched my heart. As much as the plot could be frustrating at times, the central tale was one that offered comfort and warmth, and many of its quotes will stay with me. One particularly poignant line I liked was uttered by Dong-hee this week:

Just because we’ve woken up from a dream today, doesn’t mean we can’t dream again tomorrow. There’s always room for hope; where one door closes, another opens. Just as the sun always rises every morning, heralding the start of a new day, we can always pick ourselves back up and continue onwards towards what makes us happy.

 
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