Read 'Cheese in the Trap by Soonkki - Webtoon Review ( stars Park Hae-jin, Kim Go-eun and Seo Kang-joon.치즈 인 더 트랩)
[About the Webtoon]
Cheese in the Trap by Soonkki
Having returned to college after a year long break, Hong Sul, a hardworking, over-achiever, inavertly got on the wrong side of a suspiciously perfect senior named Yoo Jung. From then on her life took a turn for the worst and Sul was almost certain it was all Yoo Jung's doing. So why is he suddenly acting so friendly a year later?
Its the downside of being a non Korean fan who doesn't know how to read Hangul. Its the same when watching Korean drama and variety shows. We need to wait for the sincere subbers and translators to do their jobs. Anyway, here are the list of sites where you can actually read Cheese in the Trap with English trans.
Yoo Jung
A college student who seems kind on the outside, but secretly harbors a dark side that only Hong Seol observes. He is attracted to Hong Seol.
Hong Seol
A college student who is smart, but awkward in society. She struggles to figure out Yoo Jung's true intentions and is the only one that can see through his exterior.
Line Webtoon
Line Webtoon is the official site where you could read Cheese in the Trap with not only English but Vietnamese, Spanish, French and many more languages. Translated episode is usually released every Sunday of the week. However, the English translation as of today is only in Seasson 2, Episode 59. Take note that the webtoon is in its Season 3 already.
The translation here is quiet neat and the good part is the you can actually download the Line Webtoon App that is available in Android and IOS Devices. After downloading the application, there is a feature where you can download and store the webtoon in your device for 30 days which you can read offline. So, if you're kind of a busy person and an occasional comic reader this app is the best for you. But, if you're the type to read something and finish it off in a few days span this may not be enough for you.
Odd Squad Scanlations
After reading Cheese in the Trap in the Line App I got so curious about the next pages so I researched and found out the team of Odd Squad. Odd Squad is pretty much doing their job legally because when reading the webtoon you first should go to the naver page of Cheese. That means you are giving hits to Soonkki, the artist behind Cheese.
Odd Squad is using the so called "English Translation Overlay" technique which is kind of amusing. Its like first you go directly to Cheese in the Trap's naver site which is totally in Korean and then you click on the Odd Squad's overlay technique and magic comes out, the bubble conversations are suddenly turning into English language.
The downside is that you should read the webtoon using your laptop because first you have to bookmark Odd Squad's naver translator plug-in in your search engine. Some peope found it troublesome but I suggest its best to use Google Chrome and then drag and drop Odd Squad's naver translator image in your bookmark bar and your good to go. Just click the bookmarked plug-in in every refresh and next pages of the webtoon. As of now, Odd Squad had translated Season 3, Episode 51 of the webtoon.
The story revolves around the female lead Hong Sul and her love and hate relationship with her "sunbae" (also means senior) Yoo Jung. Hong Sul's character is an ordinary returning college student in one of the top Korean universities who strives her best to be the first in her department to acquire a scholarship given by the school. She is a very sensitive girl who thinks a lot about her environment and the people around her. She's the type that always talk in her head about what not to and what to do. On the other hand, the male lead Yoo Jung is the embodiment of perfect in the university where Sul attends. He is smart, rich and seen as kind by his classmates and upper/lower classmen. But then, the story will not be an exciting one without conflicts so Yoo Jung's real character is something to be discovered by the readers.
Plot
Hong Sul is really oblivious with Yoo Jung at first because she thinks his something so mysterious and one of those people one shouldn't trust fully. There were a lot of instances where she and Yoo Jung can't seem to be a good pair for each other but then, in the latter part of their year in the university Yoo Jung started acting so close with Sul and Sul started to depend on him without her noticing. The underlying question is why did Yoo Jung suddenly got this kind of attitude of wanting to be close with Sul all of a sudden.
It shows the delicate relationship between a female university student Hong Seol (Kim Go-eun) and her senior Yoo Jung (Park Hae-jin). Hong-Seol does part-time jobs since her household is poor, while Yoo Jung is perfect with good academics and athletics plus he is kind. However Yoo Jung also seems to have a dark side with some people holding grudges against him.
I really can connect with Sul's character so much because I myself is also a sensitive person. While reading her thoughts, I was always like, "Oh My Gosh, She's actually me!" That's why I didn't have the problem of reading the story despite of the slow pace. I like that the writer, Soonkki had decided to make the story occur in a college envronment because nowadays stories about highschool life and first love are seriously so mainstream that sometimes I could actually predict what would happen at the end.
Yoo Jung for me is a love me or hate me character. He is frustrating enough that sometimes I don't even know if I like him for Sul or not. But then, I love how Soonkki had drawn him. He is a "typical flower boy come on and get me character".
I also love how Soonkki dresses the characters with different styles and clothings. For example, Sul is a tomboy type so she is usually dressed with fitted jeans, chucks and sweatshirts. Yoo Jung on the other hand, dresses sophisticatedly and manly like his character. It makes me imagine them as real life persons. Also, I love how she made the title "Cheese in the Trap" because oftentimes I can see Hong Sul as a person whom always is cornered between something or someone.
The only thing that can be bothering is the first time reading it because there are a lot of past and present pacing in the story that made me somehow lost but then afterwards, I managed to understand what actually was happening to the story. Readers just need a little bit of time to be accustomed with the past and present thoughts of the characters.
The original soundtrack
어쩌면 좋아" ("Maybe")
I Am Love
Such -Kang Hyun Min ft. Jo Hyun Ah
Go- 솔튼페이퍼 (SALTNPAPER)
사랑인가 봐요- Maybe is love- Monkeyz
우주히피(Cosmos Hippies)
Thanks for reading. That's all. Till soon .o.
