It could have been better to write the title as ‘a new work from Ramjak’, but as many readers would remember a mature webtoon Redemption Camp, rather than the author of the work, the title of this review is ‘a new work from the author of Redemption Camp’. Redemption Camp was a webtoon which draw many controversies and much attention from in and out, not limited to its platform, Lezhin Comics. From the setting, the story, and to the characters, it was very sensational and prone to controversies, and on top of them high-quality drawing as a mature webtoon, it made itself to be a popular topic. Recently, it seems to be back in a high place in the ranking, resuming its publishing. 

The Seagull and the Hunter is a new work of Ramjak, coming back after completion of Redemption Camp. It has many differences from the previous work. Let me give you short version of the storyline: the protagonist, Taeyoung, is a would-be film director, who has a famous actor as his mother, Im Haedo. He’s a bit deviated from the ordinary orbit of life: they say he’s studying to re-take his university entrance exams but he’s not studying; instead, he’s living quietly near a lake with his mother, to be a film director. It’s not strange to go on for his dream, but it seems he’s not close to a sociable man, judging by his twisted relation for Haedo, by his attitude toward a commercially successful and famous film director and his mother’s lover Choi Jungwoo, and by his action after showing his short-length movie for the first time in front of them, so his future life won’t be easy, not mentioning his dream.

The one causes a great change in the wobbling relationships of the lakeview mansion is a girl, Ami. She’s Taeyoung’s girlfriend, and a muse of him as a (would-be) director, and the female protagonist in the film. She’s a good lover of him, firmly supporting unstable Taeyoung, but not a long after the webtoon begins they come into conflict, and she attracts the notice of Jungwoo, the lover of Haedo and successful film director. In addition, not like Taeyoung who fiercely berates Jungwoo’s film, Ami calls herself a fan of Jungwoo.

Let me talk a bit more about the previous work, Redemption Camp. In fact, while I read Redemption Camp, I felt the author was lost between popularity as a mature webtoon and his message. I can’t talk much about it, for it’s not a review on Redemption Camp, but I think its basic setting provoked the general readers’ backlash and the development based on the said setting made the reader who wanted full-fledged mature webtoon disappointed. Redemption Camp was a Lezhin Award winner, so maybe the author had to think about the reality of commercial selling in paid webtoon platform.

The Seagull and the Hunter is slightly different from it. Still same it is sold by payment in the same platform under mature tag, but it seems the author casts aside thinking on popularity for a while and concentrates on the taste of the author or the theme. No guarantee to get a good rating by that though, but for the amount published so far, it’s true that this work is good to be expected. This new work is worth to read to find out if it would end a good story, the author breaking free from the vagueness of the previous work.