Shin-Ae Yoo has had an unfortunate childhood. Her family being torn apart by divorce, combined with suffering constant bullying and harassment from her peers at school has turned her into an introverted, sarcastic 17-year-old who professes no interest in dating or romance.
One day, after rejecting a Love Confession, she's being treated to a meal by her friends, when the guy she rejected and his buddies enter the restaurant. When they start insulting her and her friends, she throws a drink at them... and hits the ginger-headed boy that was trying to stick up for her instead. And who is now intrigued.
This is the start of her life becoming crazy, and — just maybe — her coming out of her shell.
Currently one of the most popular series on Line Webtoon
, I Love Yoo has garnered a large following since its debut, with fans praising its likable main cast and balance of drama, humor, and romance.
Can be read here.
Tropes:
A-C
- Abel And Cain: Kousuke and Yeong-Gi, their issues come to a climax in episode 212, when Kousuke follows and attacks Yeong-Gi, after previously punching him over a railing. This results in Yeong-Gi being hospitalized.
- Abusive Parents: Yui serves as an abusive parental figure to both Nol and Kousuke. Additionally, it is revealed that Meg and Alyssa's father is verbally (and possibly physically) abusive.
- A-Cup Angst: Mrs. Hirahara gives Shin-Ae a dress she claims she bought for herself and would never wear. When Shin-Ae tries it on, she finds she doesn't quite fill it out properly.Shin-Ae: I don't have enough boob for this dress! I bet her single boob would still be bigger than both mine combined!
- Angst: Lots of it in the later episodes.
- Alcoholic Parent: Shin-Ae's father. She frequently comes home to find him drunk. In later episodes, he makes attempts to change this after suffering though a stroke.
- A Minor Kidroduction: In the prologue, we see a collection of memories from Shin-Ae's childhood.
- Arranged Friendship: Shin-Ae's friendship with Maya and Rika is partially because Min-Hyuk told them to watch over her while he went to Chicago for college. Although his approach worked with Shin-Ae and Rika, her relationship with Maya started to get a bit rocky because of this.
- Big Eater: At the beginning of the story, Shin-Ae is very food-motivated, however, this is toned down in later episodes.
- Bland-Name Product: So very many. WacDonald's, Sunbucks, and WouTube, just to name a few.
- Black Sheep: Nol is often portrayed as the lazy and violent son, although neither of these are true. Although, in more recent chapters, he shows signs of embracing this role, in a more watered-down act of Then Let Me Be Evil.
- Blind Date: As a result of a Prank Call, Maya sets Shin-Ae up on a blind date with Kousuke AND Yeong-Gi. None of the parties involved know it's a blind date though, and only Maya calls it that.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Sim-Han doesn't want Shin-Ae to date any boys, because he would rather her focus on school. In addition, Shin-Ae was born when he was only 19.
- Cat Scare: Shin-Ae hears a noise in her apartment, but only finds her cat, however, the trope is played with when it is revealed that there is an actual stalker in her house.
- Celibate Heroine: Shin-Ae. As she eventually explains to Dieter that it's not that she doesn't like him, she's just not looking for a relationship.
- Kousuke also qualifies. He even carries around a spray to scare away women...
- Chekhov's Party: All parties that are attended in the story lead to important plot points, all leading to subsequent hospital visits.
- Child of Forbidden Love: Nol is revealed to be the result of his father cheating on Mrs. Hirahara with another woman named Nessa.
- The Comically Serious: Kousuke often ends up in this kind of situations.
- Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: Shin-Ae and Min-Hyuk. Shin-Ae is disliked by the majority of her classmates due to rumors about her, while Min-Hyuk is shown to be well-known and friendly, although their friendship results in him loosing some friends.
- Cope by Pretending: A large amount of the cast uses this as a defense mechanism.
- Shin-Ae attempts to be strong, due to her family situation, not wanting to open up and show vulnerability, and pushing people away in the process.
- Yeong-Gi uses humor and cheerfulness to deflect from his more unsavory emotions.
- Kousuke does this by brushing off other's claims of abuse caused by his mother.
D-F
- Dark and Troubled Past: Almost every character in this comic.
- A Deadly Affair: Rand and Nessa's affair ends up with her dead, although the cause is still unclear.
- Deadpan Snarker: There is snark aplenty.
- Does Not Like Men: Yui is alluded to be this.
- Double Meaning: Used several times. One of the most notable examples is the use of the word "nobody" or "no-one" as a way to refer to the character Nol.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Used to introduce lots of characters, including:
- Yujing is depicted briefly in the Black and White formal arc, before being properly introduced in the mall a few episodes later.
- Shin-Ae's stalker, or older sister is shown long before her introduction, and can be spotted in the background of a lot of earlier scenes.
- Alyssa is shown in a WouTube video, alongside being mentioned by other characters before officially being introduced during the black and white formal.
- Sang-Chul is depicted creeping on Shin-Ae during the masquerade ball before being properly introduced a few episodes later.
- Face Doodling: Yeong-Gi tricks Shin-Ae into standing still for this, by pretending to help her disguise herself. When he admits he was just messing with her, she steals the pen back and doodles on his face as payback.
- Face of a Thug: The students at Yeong-Gi's school think Soushi has this.Soushi: "Yo! What's up ladies."Female students: "OMG HE'S GONNA SHOOT US."
- Facial Dialogue: Lots of the character's faces show feelings that characters never state explicitly. The most well known example of this is the use of closed eyes to convey a character is being dishonest.
- Fair-Weather Friend: Alyssa is this towards Shin-Ae in middle school. Once Shin-Ae starts getting bullied, she starts pushing her away.
- Family Business: Kousuke and Nol's family runs a large business. The Park family also runs a small bakery.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Subverted with the siblings Nol and Kousuke. At first, Kousuke seems to be the responsible older sibling, with Nol as the irresponsible younger sibling. However, once Nol starts working at his family's buisness, he is very competent, and decides that he wants to continue working there. On the flip side, Kousuke is shown to be more explosive than depicted, eventually attacking Nol.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Parodied in Shin-Ae's Imagine Spot.Imaginary!Yeong-Gi: "Fufufu... She fell right into my trap! Now I will follow that cab and find out where she lives so that I can harrass her about paying for my uniform for the rest of her life! And also avenge my pal... The german guy... I forgot his name..."
- Friendless Background: Shin-Ae didn't have any friends until she got to middle school.
- Friendship Trinket: Min-Hyuk gets Shin-Ae a pizza charm and headband.
- Frivolous Lawsuit: Shin-Ae is extremely scared she'll be a victim of this after ruining Kousuke's suit. Later turned on its head, when Kousuke gives Shin-Ae the opportunity to press charges against a lady who threw a drink at her. In neither case does anyone actually chose to sue anyone though.
G-I
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Zigsagged. Soushi is a good guy, and his scar is definitely of the Rugged Scar type, but from the perspective of the students at Yeong-Gi's school it's an evil scar, because they think he's a Japanese Delinquent, as mentioned above.
- Hate at First Sight: Kousuke hates Nol from the first moment they meet, however, this doesn't have much to do with Noel's first impression, but rather certain ideas and fears that Yui has put in his head.
- Hate Sink:
- Sang Chul Kim is the spoiled son of an associate of the Hirahara Corporation, and a loudmouthed and lazy Jerkass who antagonizes others and insults them both to their face and behind their backs. During the formal hosted by his father, he is enlisted by Yui Hirahara to sexually assault Shin-Ae, which he nearly does. He's also all but confirmed to be the masked man who drugged Shin-Ae's drink near the beginning of the comic.
- Yui Hirahara. She initially treats Shin-Ae as a possible baby factory, and subsequently tries to manipulate her and Kousuke into a relationship neither of them want. She then exploits Shin-Ae's position to make her work for the company, under a man who tried to take advantage of her, deliberately sets her up to be raped by said man, hospitalizes her, and is implied to be an abusive parent towards Yeong-Gi.
- Subverted with Meg. Her extremely rude and condescending attitude towards Shin-Ae makes her seem like this at first... and then the party arc happens. When Meg sees the drug vial that Sang-Chul dropped, she immediatley goes to warn Yeong-Gi and Kousuke that Shin-Ae may be in danger. Not only that, but she joins the Hirahara brothers in searching for the drugged Shin-Ae after learning that Sang-Chul had taken her from the ballroom. Despite initially appearing as such, Meg's actions during her second appearance demonstrate that she is definitely not written to be unlikeable.
- Humans Are Flawed: Shown throughout the story. All the important characters have some type of notable flaw, and many of them, despite good intentions, make stupid decisions.
- Humans Are Bastards: This is Shin-Ae's mindset at the start of the story, which makes sense, considering that she was bullied for almost her entire life. She does grow out of it as the story continues."You're a human first, and humans kinda suck." -Shin-Ae
- I Can't Dance: Shin-Ae claims this.
- Informed Poverty: Inverted. Shin-Ae doesn't seem any different from her friends at first, and when she shows up at a Masquerade Ball with a borrowed dress and an ugly home-made mask, the obvious conclusion is that she's a tomboy, who doesn't care about her looks. A lot of Shin-Ae's actions takes on a new light once you realize she's so poor, she relies on her friends for meals, which her friends doesn't seem to realize.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Dieter.
J-L
- Kids Are Cruel: The bullying Shin-Ae was subjected to as a child is certainly not played for laughs. Another example is when Shin-Ae is at the mall and sees a girl bullying a younger girl at a mall for seemingly no reason.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Even when Shin-Ae can barely feed herself, she still buys food for her cat. When she gets a bit more money than usual, she buys him salmon.
- Laughing Mad: When Nol gets punched off a banister, landing on a glass table, he reacts by laughing and then immediately leaving the party.
- Lonely at the Top: Both Rand and Kousuke are incredibly successful in business, but neither have a social life outside of work. It is shown in flashbacks that Kousuke has left his college friends behind.
- Loners Are Freaks: How Shin-Ae's classmates perceive her.
- Longing Look: Shin-Ae catches Dieter staring at her during class.
- Lost Food Grievance: Sousuke trips Shin-Ae, causing her to drop her plate. As revenge, Shin-Ae chucks a steak at him.
- Love Confession: At the beginning of the story, Dieter confesses to Shin-Ae, but gets rejected.
M-O
- Malicious Misnaming: Kousuke constantly calls his brother "Nol," which is a name that he made fun of aggressively during childhood, ruining it's meaning.
- Masquerade Ball: The first arc of the comic.
- Mature Younger Sibling: Nol, Kousuke is generally good at his job, initially appearing to be more responsible. However, as the story goes on, his younger brother, Nol, is shown to have a more mature worldview and way of handling people.
- Monochrome Past: Most of the flashbacks are either completely black and white or in muted colors.
- Mr. Fanservice: Yeong-Gi, in spades.
- Spoofed a bit in Kousuke's corner, when Yeong-Gi addresses this by trying to take off Kousuke's shirt by force so that it would be 'fair'. Too bad for him (and those fans who looked forward to Kousuke finally getting a Shirtless Scene), Kousuke was wearing a second shirt under the first one.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Yui is first seen as a mother desperate for grandchildren. A bit pushy, but overall harmless. However, she is soon revealed to be very manipulative, messing with the lives of many innocent people.
- Near-Rape Experience: At a party, a group of men accost Shin-Ae and one of them (later revealed to be Sang-Chul) spikes her drink. Yeong-Gi drinks it instead and ends up in the hospital.
- Happens again in Episode 59. While Shin-Ae is successfully drugged this time, she manages to successfully, and surprisingly, defend herself from Sang-Chul before wandering off.
- The Nicknamer: Shin-Ae is quick to come up with something when she doesn't know a character's name. Thus Yeong-Gi was dubbed Mr. Stalker, and Kousuke Q-tip.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Rika and Maya are fangirls of "Tim Hurdleston's" cheekbones and "Huge Jackedman's" biceps.
- Not So Above It All: Kousuke tripping up Shin-Ae to get the last piece of cake is this in-universe.
- Offering a Hand: Used to Show Shin-Ae's development.
- At the beginning of the story, Nol offers Shin-Ae his hand, but instead of taking it she hi-fives him.
- Later, at the black and white formal, Kousuke offers Shin-Ae his hand for a dance, but she takes it reluctantly.
- In chapter 207, Shin-Ae extends her hand to Nol, but they are interrupted before he takes it. However, she takes his hand later on while they are in the hospital.
- Once More, with Clarity: Alyssa and Shin-Ae's past is first seen in a flashback through Maya's POV, before another flashback shown in Shin-Ae's POV.
- Old Money: The Hirahara family very clearly has generational wealth, this contrasts the main character, Shin-Ae, who is very poor.
- Only Sane Man: The Bartender when Rika and Maya are panicking. Though to be fair, he knows there's nothing to be panic over.
P-S
- Paper-Thin Disguise: When Kousuke corners Shin-Ae at the hospital and he doesn't seem to recognize her, she decides to add a little extra to make sure he doesn't remember her. It works. Until it doesn't.
- People Fall Off Chairs: Yeong-Gi falls off his chair when Shin-Ae surprises him while he was spinning around.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!!: When Shin-Ae's father falls into a coma she is desperate, and cashes in the 'favor' she got from Kousuke in order to get money, saying that she will work for as long as it takes to pay it off. She also goes to the black and white formal because of this.
- Prank Call: Done twice. The first is done by Yeong-Gi and Shin-Ae to get revenge on Shin-Ae's friends for ditching her at a party. The second is done by Shin-Ae's friend Maya as revenge for the aforementioned prank.
- The Prankster: Shin-Ae, Yeong-Gi and Min-Hyuk.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: The students surrounding Yeong-Gi at school. Of course, the minute he leaves the classroom, they start insulting him.
- Rags to Riches: Rand is shown to have been an orphan before eventually becoming a wealthy chairman.
- Safety in Indifference: Rand presumably cares more about his children than he lets on, however, he pretends to be apathetic towards them as a way to prevent Yui from harming them.
- Self-Induced Allergic Reaction: Shin-Ae somehow comes to the conclusion that Yeong-Gi fainted because of an allergic reaction to the orange juice she gave him, even though he knew it was orange juice. Of course, the real reason why he fainted is because someone spiked her drink.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: A downplayed example. Kousuke is a food connoisseur, but apparently, he's never had rice-cake from a food vendor, because he thinks it's unsanitory. He has, however, eaten a hamburger before, and is a little offended Shin-Ae thinks he's that out of touch.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Maya. So far, she's been shown to ship Shin-Ae with either Dieter or Yeong-Gi, but according to herself, any male would do really.
- Yeong-Gi as well initially ships Shin-Ae with Dieter.
- Min-Hyuk also starts shipping Dieter and Shin-Ae after his return from America. Unfortunately from Dieter, Min-Hyuk's earnestness gets him in trouble more than not.
- Shoe Slap: Shin-Ae throws her shoes at Kousuke.
- Shout-Out:
- To Unordinary (with two students resemble John and Serafina) and Siren's Lament (a name in the scoreboard is Ian the Goldfish in chapter 21 and ‘Lyra Fishbait’ is on the visitor sign-in sheet for delivery in chapter 64+65).
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Yeongi-Gi. Shin-Ae meeting him (the second meeting, to be more precise) is what kick-starts the plot.
- Slipping a Mickey: A guy does this to Shin-Ae's orange juice at the Masquerade Ball.
- Solomon Divorce: Shin-Ae was separated from her sister when her parents divorced.
- Somebody Named "Nobody": When Nolan(better known as Yeong-Gi) was younger, he shortened his name to"Nol"- which his brother made fun of him for, noting the similarities it had to "null" and "net operating loss", along with stating that it means "nothing" in several languages.
- In addition, throughout the story "nobody" is used to refer to Nol.
- Stalker with a Crush: Kousuke is constantly fending off Meg, a woman who keeps following him around insisting they're a couple even when he's all but threatening her with a restraining order. Doesn't help that his father seems to be trying to facilitate a relationship.
- Stalking Is Funny if It Is Female After Male: Meg's stalking and harassment of Kousuke was played for laugh, and although Meg has matured and expressed embarrassment about her actions, this has still to be properly addressed.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Shin-Ae disappears very quickly when Kousuke tells her the price of the suit she just ruined.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Kousuke and his mother have the same hair and eye color, as well as similar facial structures. The same can be said for Nol and his father. Additionally, Shin-Ae and her sister look nearly identical.
- Successful Sibling Syndrome: Subverted with brothers Kousuke and Nol. At first Kousuke seems a lot more successful than Nol, graduating early and being successful in their family business. However, it is revealed that Nol might be faking his incompetence in school, and it is shown that Nol is very good competent he starts working.
- Played straight with Meg and Alyssa, Alyssa is a member of a famous girl group, while Meg has struggled with finding a major in college.
- Surprise Party: One is held for Min-Hyuk.
- Sweet Tooth: Kousuke. In fact, the first time he and Shin-Ae meet is when they come in conflict over the last piece of tiramisu.
T-Z
- Themed Party: One of the major story arcs takes place during a Black and White themed party.
- There's No Place Like Home: Shin-Ae prefers staying at home, and only reluctantly goes out. This is mostly an attempt to avoid conflict.
- Took the Wife's Name: After marrying Yui, Rand adopted the Hirahara surname.
- Too Hungry to Be Polite: When eating with Kousuke, Shin-Ae eats her cheesecake so quickly she gets whipped cream all over her face.
- Vague Age: Kousuke's age wasn't revealed until over 100 episodes into the story, despite every other character having explicit ages. It is later revealed that he is 24 years old.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Inverted. Kousuke insists that he owes Shin-Ae a debt for taking Yeong-Gi to the hospital discreetly. Shin-Ae doesn't see how that deserves a reward, and has no intentions of cashing in on it.
- Workaholic: Rand, often prioritizing work over his family, and making both of his children feel ignored by him. This in turn causes Kousuke to also become a workaholic, hoping that it will make his father proud.
- You Remind Me of X: Although never stated explicitly, it is clear that Kousuke subconsciously compares Shin-Ae to his younger brother.
