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| ▲ This cover of South Korean webtoon "I-Shopping," adapted into the TV series "The Defects," is screenshot from Kakaopage. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) -- “When I was in college, I came across an article about newborns being illegally adopted abroad. If children are being bought and sold, then they’re being treated as objects. That led me to imagine: what happens if the 'product' is defective? That’s how 'I Shopping' came to be,” said writer Eom Se-yoon.
In a recent video interview with Yonhap News, writers Eom Se-yoon and Ryu Ga-myeong, creators of the Kakao Webtoon "I Shopping," explained the origins of the chilling story.
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| ▲ This image of South Korean webtoon "I-Shopping," adapted into the TV series "The Defects," is screenshot from Kakaopage. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
"I Shopping" features an illegal agency that allows clients to adopt children under fabricated birth circumstances, provided they can pay. If a client changes their mind, they can return the child, who is then discreetly "processed" by the agency.
The title "I Shopping" is a play on words, implying both "eye-shopping" and "shopping for children"—treating children like consumer goods that can be returned.
“I wanted a light yet ironic title for what is a dark and provocative story,” Eom said. “I considered titles like 'I-Dream' but ultimately settled on the current one, which was actually the working title.”
In the webtoon, children who have been returned by their adoptive parents go into hiding and eventually seek revenge. Despite the grim narrative involving child trafficking and even familial homicide, the artwork resembles a pastel-colored fairy tale or classic shōjo manga.
“I wanted the visuals to contrast with the dark theme,” Eom explained. “That’s why I asked Ryu Ga-myeong, who doesn’t typically draw in bold lines, to handle the illustrations.”
Ryu added, “I personally love the black-and-white aesthetic of published manga, so I used soft tones over that style.”
Still, certain graphic scenes, such as a person being burned in a kiln, shocked readers when the series first launched in 2016. “There was a lot of pushback about the charred corpse,” said Ryu. “For scenes depicting prostitution, I tried to draw them in a repulsive—not titillating—manner. Since the story centers on the children’s revenge, we minimized sexual imagery.”
The children in the story don’t immediately commit murder. Instead, they often give their parents multiple chances. “You can’t expect clean-cut revenge in a parent-child relationship,” Eom noted. “It’s hard enough to pull a trigger on a stranger, let alone someone you once saw as your entire world.”
"I Shopping" was recently adapted into an ENA television drama "The Defects," starring Yum Jung-ah, which premiered on July 21. “It feels like someone took my diary from 10 years ago and read it out loud in public,” Eom said, describing a mix of embarrassment and gratification.
Ryu, on the other hand, expressed excitement: “The action scenes were satisfying, and the drama’s inclusion of religion helped frame the story—especially the controversial element of adopted children killing their parents. It feels like an expansion pack of the original.”
On July 22, seven years after the original series concluded in 2018, the creators released a sequel. The new installment follows the children into adulthood.
“I wanted to show that these kids who went through so much still managed to grow up well,” Eom said. “For readers who found the protagonist Si-woo frustrating in the original, I promise a much more cathartic story this time.”
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