From romance to noir: New webtoons to binge over the Chuseok holiday

Kakao Webtoon, Naver Webtoon and Ridi unveil new titles; highlights include 'Crocodile' by Meen and Choi Kyu-seok, and 'World Destruction War'

Kakao Webtoon's "Erica — When a Friend Becomes Obsessed With Me." [Kakao Webtoon]

Stuck in holiday traffic on the way to or from your hometown this Chuseok? A freshly launched webtoon might be just the thing.

Major platforms — Kakao Page, Kakao Webtoon, Naver Webtoon and Ridi — have rolled out a wave of new titles for the holiday season, spanning romance, occult, noir and action. Unlike long-running hits with hundreds of episodes already stacked up, these series are still in their early chapters, making it easy to catch up in a single sitting. The holiday break is a good opportunity to find a new favorite.

Sweet romance set in fantasy worlds and on campus

For light romantic fantasy, Kakao Webtoon's new series "Erica — When a Friend Becomes Obsessed With Me" fits the bill. The story centers on Erica, an S-rank mercenary of overwhelming skill, and her longtime friend Chaud. The two are the same age, share a similar temperament and have fought side by side on the battlefield — and the series traces how they gradually become something more to each other. The battlefield setting gives the romance a generous dose of flashy action.

Released Sept. 5, the title shot to No. 1 in overall views on Kakao Webtoon on its launch day, drawing a strong early response.

Campus-romance fans should keep an eye on Kakao Webtoon's "Geureomannhan Donggi," a campus romantic comedy. The story kicks off when two "legendary returning students" — each carrying their own complicated backstory — cross paths in the same university class. Dokyung, a former idol-turned-actor with a fiery personality, and Janie, a devoted fan of a rival actor who quit the fandom after an embarrassing incident, bicker their way toward something closer.

It is the third work from the creative duo Pyeonghwa and Jaepil, who previously produced "Nakwon Cinema" and "Ip Matchuneun Sai," a romance webtoon. Released Aug. 31, the series is just approaching its first full month of serialization.

Kakao Page webtoon "Crocodile." [Kakao Page]

For something weightier: mystery and noir

Readers looking for a more unusual premise can turn to Kakao Page's "I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband," which launched Sept. 11. The protagonist Judith is forced into an unwanted marriage, only to lose her husband on their wedding day. All she is left with is a mountain of debt and a cursed mansion that has become the subject of dark rumors.

Then the husband she thought was dead suddenly comes back to life. The mystery surrounding his resurrection, combined with Judith's irrepressible charm in the face of one crisis after another, keeps readers guessing.

For those who find pure romance a little thin, the series offers a blend of mystery and romantic fantasy in one package.

Readers who prefer something heavier than romance have Kakao Page's new noir series "Crocodile" to look forward to.

It marks the first collaboration between Meen, best known for the "Dokgo" webtoon series, and Choi Kyu-seok, the creator of "Songgot," "Hell" and "Gyesirok" — a full-blooded noir from two of the genre's most recognized names.

The protagonist Jeong In-hu walks out of prison after serving 10 years for murder, only to find himself entangled once again with the family of the man he killed. The series digs into questions of revenge and atonement through the fraught bond between a perpetrator and a victim's family.

With immersive spatial staging and intense action sequences that evoke a crime film, "Crocodile" topped Kakao Page's action-genre rankings on its launch day, Sept. 5.

Naver Webtoon's "World Destruction War." [Naver Webtoon]

Action, fantasy and horror to round out the holiday

Naver Webtoon is also welcoming readers with a fresh lineup of new titles.

On the action-fantasy front, "World Destruction War" brings together the mightiest beings from entirely different worlds — a heavenly demon, a hunter, a giant robot, a demon king and a superhuman — and pits them against one another in a single arena. Lose, and your entire world is destroyed.

The catch: ordinary people from a world with no special powers have been dragged into the survival war as well. Just as they are being crushed under the overwhelming force of monstrous opponents, they discover the ability to synchronize with the skills of game characters — and the real battle begins.

The series funnels the familiar tropes of wuxia, hunter fiction, mecha and game fantasy into a single shared universe. The more genres a reader has consumed, the more fun they will have spotting the conventions woven throughout.

There is also something to make late Chuseok nights genuinely unsettling.

Naver Webtoon's "Gongpo Jjukureureu Saengjongi," a horror-game survival webtoon, follows Lee Hyeon, who boots up a legendary horror game called "Unreality" — and gets trapped inside it. Waking up alone in a school in the dead of night, he must team up with a mysterious high school girl named Dayeon to solve eerie puzzles and uncover hidden rules if either of them is to survive. The series transplants the claustrophobic spaces, puzzles and survival logic familiar from horror games into the webtoon format.

Also on offer is "Love Tears Through Zombies," which mixes zombie-apocalypse action with romance. The protagonist is a "suitor" who sets out across a South Korea ravaged by the undead, determined to find the love of his life. He must contend not only with hordes of zombies but also with survivors consumed by distrust and selfishness — all while pressing on in search of his bride.

Proven stories reborn: from web novels to webtoons

On Ridi, several titles already familiar to web-novel readers have been adapted into webtoon form.

"A Dog Needs an Owner" is an adaptation of a web novel of the same name by author Igo, redrawn as a webtoon by Yeonbap and Dalbora. The story follows Erable Vermillion, who has spent nine years trapped inside the world of a book, only to be captured by the most dangerous man in that world, Ezev Abganis — a survival romance that unfolds from there.

"Hwaryeonghan Huhoerul Butakhae," a romantic fantasy webtoon newly illustrated by Jigu and Ranghi from a web novel by Sim Chadol, also launched this month. Artea, the daughter of a count who lost her memories and fell into a coma after a carriage accident five years ago, proposes a contract to Duke Dimion Rocata — a man who appeared in her dreams — offering to serve as a stand-in for his deceased lover in exchange for his help saving her family from the brink of bankruptcy.

Also making the leap from web novel to webtoon are "Pet Sayong Seolmyeongseo," a romantic comedy centered on a cohabitation contract, and "Somun-ui Juingong," a romance following the daughter of a shaman and a national taekwondo team member.

Readers who have already finished the original web novels can enjoy comparing how the characters and scenes they imagined are visualized in the webtoon. For those coming to a story for the first time through the webtoon, the format offers a lighter entry point than working through a lengthy text original.

pink@heraldcorp.com