This Popular Webtoon Is Under Fire For Allegedly Copying Artwork—Writer Apologizes

Webtoons have currently been exploding in popularity all around the world! So much so that many Korean webtoons have been receiving their own K-Drama versions. However, every industry has its flaws, and lately, two webtoons have been put into the spotlight for plagiarism.

The first webtoon is titled I Met the Male Lead in Prison and began publishing in 2021. It is written by Park Si Hyun and drawn by an artist who goes by the name passerby. This webtoon has been accused of plagiarizing several scenes from the 2015 webtoon titled The Villainess Turns the Hourglass. The latter webtoon is written by San So Bi and drawn by Ant Studio.

As many have been drawn to webtoons these days, netizens quickly discovered the similarities between the two webtoons and posted them in the online community, theqoo. When looking at the images, it’s quite difficult to say they aren’t extremely similar.

Netizens were outraged as plagiarism hurts artist’s reputations and commissions.

• “Wow, it’s the same drawing.”
• “This is just tracing the photos. I think the original artist needs to sue.”
• “That’s too much, she copied too many aspects to say that it was just a coincidence.”
• “I usually don’t think too much about this but this is too much.”
• “I thought they were from the same artist because the drawing was so similar.”

Moon Si Hyun, the writer of I Met the Male Lead in Prison, has apologized for the incident and stated that they are “checking the facts with the artist.” So far, the artist has not made a statement.