Cheese In The Trap - By Soonkki (9.5/10)
"Be Careful Of Men!"
A fortune teller in a shoddy tent. A stressed our scholarship student with a perm. Two...four...one? I actually can't guess how many romantic options there are. There's too much going on. This is an action packed tale of paranoia. It's exhausting. It's a classic for a reason. It got a kdrama. It's a bumpy ride.
Cheese in the Trap is a rich and full story about growing up, friendship, romance, and standing up for yourself....and stalking and bullying and realllyyy bad misogynistic bullcrap. It's frustrating enough to make you scream, and pretty much everything is morally grey.
Everything is tied together by our frustrating yet loveable protagonist. Hong Seol is pretty in a non-traditional way and she's an overly strict student. Which means she has few friends and no real dating experience. Also she's bad at working in teams. She overanalyzes everything everybody says to her. She doesn't learn how to say no for a long time. She doesn't stand up for herself until it's too damn late all the time.
She can't handle being the top business student in her fairly prestigious school. She wishes she could blend in more, and she wishes her personal business wasn't public property just because she's smart.
She decides to take a break from school because she's going crazy.
She keeps meeting insane assholes, and she thinks the most popular (and overall smartest and richest) student....is behind all of her misfortune...
....even though they barely know each other.
She knows it's nuts.
She just can't stand the stress anymore.
None of the spoilers I could possibly write are capable of ruining Cheese in the Trap for new readers. If you know everything about the romance that's just one layer of the cake. The family drama and the friend drama and Hong Seol's development as the protagonist are all excellent enough to carry you through. The world of this webtoon feels full and fresh and lived in. The clothes look comfy and cozy. The color palette is a delight, and the cheesy happy ending is a gobsmacking surprise worthy of debate and doubt.
No way!
It actually worked out?
It's that kind of story.
I personally think it's one of the most realistic "Haha I married a rich guy" stories out there.
The sheer amount of drama that led up to this perfect white wedding is like running a marathon. From chapter 1 it's a fucked-up runaway train.
Hong Seol doesn't get to take a break.
This is a theme that follows the entire story. At page one Hong Seol is already spread thin. In desperate need of a change of scenery. A long break...
Nope.
Her paper won the full scholarship.
She's confused. It's impossible. She's a very smart woman, and she knows when she's beat.
Yoo Jung is the number one student in her school. By a landslide. An embarrassing dirty landslide that buries everything around it. Yoo Jung is a flawlessly handsome, wealthy and decorated student.
He makes her feel like a charity case....sometimes when she's feeling down about her father's struggling business...
Her mother says no break.
They aren't rich enough to turn away free money.
No mental health break for you.
The mental stain on Hong Seol shows. It festers and remains until she lashes out at almost everyone in her life at some point.
But hey...free school!
That's a blessing in disguise right???
Surely it cannot all possibly be a romantic?? ploy to keep her within flirting distance.?? That would be insane haha.
Yoo Jung is one of the most unpleasant and weird main love interests I have ever met. Before this series ended I questioned who Hong Seol would end up with....entirely because of him. She improves as a person constantly. She becomes tougher and more motivated to find her dream career, instead of pure stability. She supports her family through hard times. We get to watch her become a queen...
...or do we?
I really hate to bring down a girl boss, but technically I'm not the one doing it.
Hong Seol gets paranoid about all of the good stuff coming her way, because it happens the second Yoo Jung invites her out for lunch. Their "friendship" is very forced and one-sided at first. Like, nails-on-a-chalkboard-I'm-holding-pepper-spray awkward.
Yoo Jung is a king, but not in the way you're imagining. He gets away with murder. Crowds of lapdogs follow him around. He has too much influence, and too many connections, for someone his age. Some of them were cultivated within the teaching staff. He has too many huge, unfair advantages.
Hong Seol begins to benefit from these before she even starts dating him.
When Hong Seol needs money a secretary job falls into her lap. When she needs a break Yoo Jung is there for her too. With regular niceness, in between the discounted English Tutoring and the free tuition.
It doesn't make sense.
He didn't care at all, and in fact it seemed like he enjoyed looking down upon her, last year.
A short year ago she hissed at the sight of him.
She got caught laughing at him too many times. She watched him play both sides. Her grudge was legendary. Some people might think Hong Seol and Yoo Jung are equally bad, and that's why their relationship worked out.
That's bananas.
Yoo Jung has conspired to maim other people.
Hong Seol sometimes lacks empathy, and she struggles to let friends into her personal life.
These two types of people are not "the same".
However, due to a series of coincidences Yoo Jung starts to suspect they are alike. Which is why he starts watching the other star student.
At first he's very dissatisfied, and she even catches him calling her pathetic. Under his breath.
Like a creep.
Hong Seol, obviously, holds onto her grudge for a really long time. She even suspects his sudden kindness a year later is an act. A special type of bullying. Yoo Jung is surrounded by stupid assholes that aren't actually friends with him. It's revealed later on that literally only one guy in a group of about thirty is actually close with him.
Most of his followers are genuinely dangerous and troublesome students, who wear sheeps clothing.
Hong Seol is afraid she'll have to deal with that crowd if she's caught acting friendly with him.
Yoo Jung is not entirely responsible for the way his friends behave....but let's be real here.
Nobody actually needs a pack of thirty friends. He carries around a big group as cover. Yoo Jung is a disturbed modern man, who is very good at hiding.
Back when they were enemies he did save her....from a monster of his own creation. Yoo Jung didn't do much when a pretty woman joined his party pal gang. He didn't care about her. She blended into the shiny gang. All was well. She started acting like his girlfriend whenever she could, and he didn't do much but keep his distance.
Long story short Hong Seol almost drinks a liquid laxative (before an exam!) because of her jealousy.
Even when they were enemies Hong Seol and Yoo Jung kept bumping into each other. Often enough to make fake girlfriends and gossipers upset.
None of the bumping was ever Hong Seol's fault either. It's easy to see why she thinks she's being bullied.
There's no way he doesn't know his gang is full of toxic assholes, and her paranoia is totally right!
Long story long a homeless woman attacks Hong Seol, because of Fakeass Girlfriend.
Yoo Jung loses it and he starts to make plans for the future, because the incident makes him finally realize why he's so mad.
He likes Hong Seol...and he's not really sure how to make her like him.
I suppose step one is actually helping with the mega obvious bully, but now look at this mess.
Hong Seol has scars on her hands forever because of the incident. She suspects Yoo Jung had something to do with it...
....and he called her pathetic.
Is there really a way to salvage such a twisted mess???
Also Yoo Jung maimed his adopted brother. Oops sorry one of the two poor wards his father took in out of pity.
I'm actually not going to talk about In-ho or In-ha much. They are the drama. If you do choose to read this one you'll want to see the "adopted siblings" in their full gold-digging glory!
In-ho genuinely worries for Hong Seol's safety and future after she starts dating Yoo Jung.
That's all I'm gonna say.
In-ho was a piano playing scholarship student and now his hand is mysteriously broken. I would be sooo gone not even for the money not even if he's hot byeee I need all my fingers!!! Bitch wtf!!!
Now I'm hissing and throwing rocks get back demon!!! Also In-ho and Hong Seol become friends but they accept that they can't stay friends. The perfect wedding ending is very costly that's all I'm saying.
The ultimate question is this.
Can he become a real boy?
Yes.
Is he capable of being a positive force in the protagonists life?
Yes.
We get to put down the pepper spray with Hong Seol. It turns out that everything under the sun isn't Yoo Jung's fault. This isn't high school. Hong Seol and Yoo Jung are top students. Hong Seol isn't used to dealing with scrutiny or jealousy. Being queen ain't easy. Some of the enemies she blamed on him belong to her! She's more famous than she gives herself credit for. More envied too. It's tough and competitive at the top, and that's alot easier to deal with beside a bulldozer. Maybe easy is the wrong word. Life is more fun when you date somebody who cares about you, and Yoo Jung meticulously planned out their semester together.
He delayed his graduation so he could keep going to class with her.
He lost his report so he could keep going to class with her.
He threatened a teaching assistant so he could keep going to class with her.
He harasses a struggling gay couple alot actually, until they break up. They're a toxic gay couple though. So uh-
I need to rescind my previous statement.
Let me replace "positive" with "strong".
Good enough.
She finds out about everything he did so he could keep going to class with her.
She almost leaves him over it, and I don't blame her.
The flashbacks shift and eventually come together. Even when he thought he hated Hong Seol he stepped in to save her from a man who was trying to get her drunk. When he does become her boyfriend he's super excited, and he's willing to put in alot of regular people effort for her. Not just stalker effort. When there's no drama in the way they enjoy hanging out.
To me their future marriage didn't seem likely, but I could see why she would miss him.
I haven't even scratched the surface.
