The Time When We Were Young [Manhwa/Webtoon]
It's an ongoing isekai genre manhwa/webtoon and OMG, it's so fucking good, y'all!!!
I'll talk about the manhwa with spoilers, so read this at your own risk!!!
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The story is about a 37-year-old female lead (Choi Ah-Ran), who's now a renowned novelist and publisher of a famous publishing company, had once wrote a well-known web novel (named Cheonyang City) back in her high school days. Since she wrote it back when she was 16-17 years old, the web novel was full of cliches and had all those cringey troupes that you see/read in your average shoujo manga/manhwa. Also, the novel happened to be a self-insert story and it was an alternate reality of her own personal life. Like for example, in her real life, her younger brother passed away in an accident but in the novel she wrote about a reality where her brother was still alive and well. In real life, she had a best friend who stopped talking to her because of a misunderstanding, but in the novel, she/her character also had the same kind of best friend who never left her side and they always cleared up their misunderstandings if any confusion ever arose between them. Also like in her own life, her parents got divorced after the death of her younger brother and she had a very toxic relationship with both of her parents all these years, but in the novel, her imaginative parents were in a happy marriage and were lovey-dovey with each other. Or like how she was bullied in real life when she was still a high schooler, but no one bullies her in that novel's world. In other words, the novel was an alternative reality of her own life which she created to escape from her pain and actual reality, and the novel characters are based on real people in her real life.
So in the present time, 37-year-old Ah-Ran recently broke off her engagement and was going through a tough time at her workplace. Life was quite hard for someone like her who was in their late 30s. Then one day she decided to visit her mother (who's now married to another man and had a son together) one afternoon for lunch and at that time, she went to her old bedroom and noticed her computer (which she once used to write her web novel) was still there on the table. Feeling a bit nostalgic, she tried to turn on her old computer and before she knew it, she was sucked into the world of her own web novel "The Cheonyang City". She got isekai-ed into her novel where her younger brother was still alive, her parents weren't divorced and happy, and her best friend was there for her in every thick and thin.
But alas, unlike other female leads, she doesn't want to stay and live in this cliche-filled web novel she once wrote in her teenage years and was finding a way to go back to her actual reality. And the only way to get back to her reality was to change the flow of the story of her own and make the characters around her say stuff that they need to say. Every time she would get isekai-ed in her web novel, a small piece of paper would magically appear in the pocket of her clothes, and in those papers, there'd be these cliche phrases/dialogues that the characters around her would say to her, like for example, one time in the paper a dialogue was written and it went like - "My heart is sick because of you", meaning the male lead of the story (Kang Hwiyoung; a typical high school delinquent with a bad boy persona but also has a heart of gold) has started to fall for her, and in order to make him say this, Ah-Ran has to get closer to him and make him fall for her. And when he said that dialogue, she again went back to her own reality/world.
And in this way, Ah-Ran was going back and forth between her own web novel and her own reality/world, and through this journey, she learned a lot of things and those things helped her to overcome her fear and traumas, they taught her how to deal with her painful past and move on with her life etc. Like going through this unusual journey made her recall back her actual high school life where she was bullied and her best friend abandoned her. She also recalled back the time when her brother died, her parents got divorced, and when she was self-harming herself. As she interacted with those fictional characters in her novel, she learned a lot of stuff about their lives and how they dealt with their traumas and stuff and when she would go back to her own reality/world, Ah-Ran would gain the courage to face her own problems and traumas and would also take steps to overcome them.
And while going through this journey, in her real world, she came across her old classmate from high school named Cheon Jonghyeok (who owns a bar-n-cafe in the same building as her publishing company), and guess what? That dude is the spitting image of the male lead (Kang Hwiyoung) from her novel!!! I mean just look at them, y'all!!!
(the right side column is Kang and the left side column is Cheon...)
Firstly it was speculated by readers that Kang was probably based on someone from Ah-Ran's real-life and they even teased us with a panel of this bartender...
And after that in Chapter 50 Cheon's face was finally revealed and he looked exactly like Kang from her novel!!!
Knowingly or unknowingly, it seems like when Ah-Ran wrote her web novel years ago, she portrayed Kang's character and physical features based on Cheon's looks and personality. The only difference is that Kang (in the web novel) is a popular delinquent and leads a gang called "Four Heavenly Kings", meanwhile Cheon (in the real world) is a popular handsome dude with a good and caring personality and was liked by everyone in school back then. Other than that, both Kang and Cheon are absolutely the same person. I mean Ah-Ran created Kang based on Cheon, so obviously they'll be alike.
So yeah, overall I'll give this story a 10/10 rating. If you like a modern setting isekai story with teenage high school romance, adult workplace romance, drama, and comedy, then this story is for y'all.
Links to read the manhwa/webtoon -
소설가이자 출판사 CEO 최아란은 자신이 20년 전, 상고짱과 평범한 여고생의 사랑을 다룬 소설로 대히트한 인소작가 조아한이라는 치부를 숨긴 채 출판사를 운영하고 있다. 어느 날 아란은 파혼 사실을 알리기 위해 어릴 때 살았던 부모님 댁을 찾았다가
Choi Ah-ran, a novelist and publisher, runs a publishing company while hiding the humiliation of her past as Jo Ah-han, a writer who made a
Choi Ah-ran, a novelist and publisher, runs a publishing company while hiding the humiliation of her past as Jo Ah-han, a writer who made a
What We Liked Those Days Choi Ah-ran, a novelist and publisher, runs a publishing company while hiding the humiliation of her past as Jo Ah
Reading Manhwa The Time When We Were Young at Manhwa Website Choi Ah-ran, a novelist and publisher, runs a publishing company while hiding t
Read The Time When We Were Young - What We Liked Those Days / Choi Ah-ran, a novelist and publisher, runs a publishing company while hidin
