On November 29th this year, Rakuten Viki, the US streaming service to watch your favorite Asian TV shows and movies, held the first-ever International K-Drama Day. The day brings in companies and brands worldwide to celebrate the rising popularity of the K-drama genre. Despite the actual day having passed, some celebrations continue, including WEBTOON’s K-Drama Day Readathon.
Up to December 3rd, WEBTOON users can participate in an in-app reading event focused on the webtoons that on-screen K-drama adaptations. US users can redeem a free month of Viki Pass Plus! by reading six episodes of one of the six featured webtoons: A Good Day to Be a Dog, Perfect Marriage Revenge, True Beauty, Sweet Home, The Girl Downstairs (Doona!), and Vigilante. To learn more about the six adapted series, continue below.
A Good Day to Be a Dog
A Good Day to Be a Dog is a completed romance WEBTOON by Lee Hey. The webtoon follows the main character Hana (Hae Na) as she attempts to break her family curse. Except, the family curse means that the first person she kisses transforms her into a dog. To break it, she must kiss that same person in dog form. For Hana, circumstances bring her first kiss to be with someone afraid of dogs. While the webcomic is complete, the TV adaption is still releasing episodes and is set to finish the first season in 2024.
Perfect Marriage Revenge
On-going as both a webcomic and a TV show, Perfect Marriage Revenge (written by Yibambe, adapted by So Young, and art by Jerryball) follows Iju Han after she gets a second chance at life. When she discovers her husband is actually in love with her stepsister, Iju runs off, only to get killed in a car accident. Instead of the afterlife, she wakes up to discover it’s a year previous when she was only engaged to her eventual husband. She vows revenge and uses this second chance to right all that she was wronged.
True Beauty
Created by Yaongyi, True Beauty takes place in a high school where Lim Ju-kyung has transformed herself into a beautiful goddess overnight. Previously shy and plain-looking, her makeup skills convince everyone at school that she’s effortlessly flawless. While trying to hold onto this newfound status, she befriends the wealthy, cold boy Lee Su-ho and the talented Han Seo-jun. The WEBTOON and the first season of the TV show are both completed.
Sweet Home
The first thriller of the list, Sweet Home, written by Kim Carnby and illustrated by Hwang Young-chan, follows the terrifying new life of high school student Cha Hyun-soo. A family tragedy forces Cha to leave his home, but life becomes much worse when monsters start appearing everywhere. He must learn to survive and fight with the help of reluctant heroes (his neighbors). The WEBTOON of this series is complete, and the first season aired on Netflix in 2020.
Sweet Home finally returns for its second season on December 1, 2023! You can watch this binge-worthy series on Netflix.
The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
Released this year as a show on Netflix, The Girl Downstairs (Doona!) was created as a webtoon by Min Song-ah. It follows the complicated relationship between new college student, Lee Won-jun and ex-celebrity, Doona (Duna) as they live on different floors of an apartment. While Lee wants nothing to do with Doona at first, he finds himself intrigued by her. The WEBTOON is complete, as is Doona!, the TV adaption.
Vigilante
It’s been 17 years since Jiyong Kim’s mother was murdered. The killer, though tried in court, only served a measly three and a half years. In the present day, Jiyong is in college studying to be a police officer. When not being a stellar student, Jiyong is known as Vigilante, punishing criminals who receive light sentences but continue with bad deeds. As a WEBTOON, it is still being updated, written by CRG and drawn by Kim Kyusam. All eight episodes of the K-drama are now out, with a potential season two in speculation.
OMG! I’m a big fan of this webtoon. I will watch this film
I hope it’s good! 🙂