[Seong Chan-eol's Comics] The extreme realism of 'Soohee0 (tngmlek0),' the webtoon that had readers saying, 'This author is clearly obsessed with streaming'

We live in an era where influencers rise and fall every day. The dramatic advancement of social media and live-streaming platforms has brought us to a point where audiences can choose the stars they want, rather than being handed manufactured celebrities. Viewed that way, modern diversity seems almost ideal. Yet we know it often remains only an ideal. The era of solo creators is far from peaceful. Just as many influencers flare up and fade in a single day, numerous incidents and controversies follow. And those who chew over those incidents can themselves become influencers. There is a webtoon that captures the internet-streaming world as if it were a separate ecosystem. It is Soohee0 (tngmlek0).

Soohee0 (tngmlek0), a Naver Webtoon by the author Saengilgibun, follows Cho Soo-hee, the eldest daughter in a single-parent household, as she stumbles into internet broadcasting. When her younger brother, Cho Kyung-min, is streaming, Soo-hee appears on his channel, and his once-obscure stream — a so-called "hako," slang for a stream or channel with very few viewers — begins to pick up traction. As the family’s de facto breadwinner, Soo-hee appears on Kyung-min’s channel a few more times and then launches her own personal stream. You might think there’s not much more to a comic about streaming, but Soohee0 (tngmlek0) does far more: it painstakingly depicts the many facets that arise in the process.

Internet broadcasters (and entertainers, for that matter) often describe themselves as clowns. At first, viewers seek them out because they like them, but at some point broadcasters must adapt to viewers’ demands to retain existing audiences and draw in new ones. Does it end there? As people think differently, anything said on air can be archived, reproduced and spread endlessly. Broadcasters who do ‘just chat’ — conversation-driven streams without fixed content — find it particularly difficult to separate their on-camera persona from their actual self. Unlike entertainers who have the invisible walls of agencies or broadcast stations, streamers lack that intermediate barrier, and viewers often fail to distinguish between the person on screen and the person off it.

Soohee0 (tngmlek0) probes that precarious tightrope with relentless focus. Internet broadcasters, whose private lives and on-air personas blur, are vulnerable at that seam. Of course it’s a problem when someone stages lies on air, but unlike traditional celebrities whose controversies may eventually fade or be tolerated because it’s “just a show,” internet broadcasters can find that stigma following them indefinitely. Soohee, too, hides parts of her private life for the sake of her stream and, when exposed, suffers a severe backlash.

One of the most common comments on Soohee0 (tngmlek0) reads: "The author is clearly an internet-broadcasting maniac." That phrase is a derogatory, self-mocking label used for someone obsessively attached to a single streamer — the equivalent of diehard fans in show business. Readers using that term for the author is itself proof of how convincing the webtoon feels. Soohee0 (tngmlek0) depicts the life of a full-time internet broadcaster and the ripple effects that follow with sharp clarity. Viewers who once seemed ready to defend a streamer unconditionally will start pummeling them the moment the broadcaster deviates slightly from expectations. After repeated cycles like that, internet broadcasters face only two choices: treat viewers purely as an audience for the show, or run away. In that either-or struggle, Soohee fights to carve out a path of her own. The story also makes clear that Soohee is far from perfect.

What gives this narrative its depth is the author's craft. It feels unusual to use the word craft for a webtoon, but the narration, dialogue, and descriptive sentences Saengilgibun writes intensify the bleak mood of the drama. That craft reveals each character’s interior life while highlighting the gap between what they feel and how they behave, letting readers glimpse their dual nature. Beyond that, Soohee’s situation — the pressure of being the family’s provider — is woven throughout, conveying the sticky, grinding reality of poverty. Readers understand from the start that the reason Soohee tastes streaming and, despite the pain, cannot leave is the steadily accumulated, wearying poverty. That makes it impossible to blame Soohee for the choices she keeps making.

After running for about four years, Soohee0 (tngmlek0) expands its view from internet streaming to the YouTube ecosystem (called HuTube in the story), exposing the missteps of the solo-creator media era in detail. Because the work is rooted to a considerable degree in reality, readers will naturally recall various real-world incidents. Looking back, it's hard not to feel regret over how many incidents played out during the era of solo creators. Even while this series runs, the real world remains a place where trust is overturned and betrayal continues. Readers may find themselves taking a second look at a YouTuber or streamer they once casually criticized.

Starting with Joo Seong-chul's Locker, which reads meaning into objects in films, then Kim Ji-yeon's Jewel Box, an instruction manual for actors hoping for a sudden breakout, Chu Ah-young's Music Box, a listening room for film scores that moved me, and now Seong Chan-eol's Comics, Cineplay reporters will begin a biweekly series in which each writer contributes according to their tastes and perspective.