Girl from Random Chat, serialized in Line Webtoon, is one of popular works and never missing a high rank out of works updated on Tuesday.

Having high school students as main characters, this work depicts high school romance as the title suggests.

There are quite a few high school student romance series in Line. Speaking of my impression of this work, it reminds me of A Bitch and a Punk.

While A Bitch and a Punk illustrates the friendship and love story of high school students who have painful personal affairs, Girl from Random Chat shows the beginning and changes of the main characters’ relationship through a similar but unusual setting.

The main character Jun-woo is a freshman in high school, who has little presence as he doesn’t exist at school.

And his hobby is Random Chat!

Jun-woo has low self-esteem so that he can’t properly have a conversation with his peers in reality. Through Random Chat, he talks with people and relieves his frustration unresolved in reality. 

Meanwhile, Jun-woo happens to have a conversation with a girl who is of the same age.

While talking with people, Jun-woo cheats his age and status. He discovers by chance that a Girl from Random Chat is his classmate and falls in love with her at first sight.

Sung-a who did Random Chat with Jun-woo has a bright and friendly personality, hanging out with friends well as opposed to Jun-woo who has little presence. While she has no idea Jun-woo is the one she’s talking with at Random Chat, she continues to chat.

Sung-a started Random Chat for getting dating advice about her one-sided love. And Jun-woo gets a hint that Sung-a’s crush is Dae-hyun who is their class president.

Even though Jun-woo has a good feeling for Sung-a, he decides to connect Dae-hyun and Sung-a for her. He tells her Dae-hyun’s ideal type, trying to connect them.

On the other hand, Tae-yang, Jun-woo’s classmate, hates Jun-woo alone and harasses him. They used to best friends since their childhood, but some incidents made Tae-yang misunderstand that Jun-woo betrayed him. Since then, Jun-woo becomes an eyesore to Tae-yang, being harassed by him.

Because of Jun-woo’s low self-esteem, he tends to feel suspicious and keep a distance when someone shows some interest in him. Since he had Random Chat with Sung-a, he improves gradually.

Jun-woo usually has no courage and feels intimidated all the time, but particularly he takes the lead at resolving an incident, being greatly courageous for the first time. When Sung-a is stalked by a person who she met from Random Chat, he sets out to help her without letting her know. 

Sung-a is stalked by a person who she briefly chatted with, feeling terrified. Jun-woo induces him and confronts him one-to-one, doing good for her. During the process, Jun-woo is awfully beaten by him but strives to save Sung-a.

Of course, it’s a secret to Sung-a. She rather talks about her worry to Dae-hyun that she is stalked by a person from Random Chat, asking him for help.

That’s right. Jun-woo is a dweeb who is mostly beaten and trying to be a cupid between a girl who he likes and another guy. However, there is a girl who gets a good impression of him. That’s Hamin.

Jun-woo blocks a ball that accidentally flies toward Hamin in the playground which makes her become to have a good feeling for him.

Hamin is a versatile figure who is the top in her academic performance and games as well. She becomes close to him through games. While Jun-woo feels burdened to talk to girls, she’s one of few girls who he feels comfortable with. Hamin often discloses that she has a good feeling for him, but Jun-woo feels suspicious because he doesn’t understand why she treats such a person like him well. And he gradually keeps a distance from her.

In addition to Hamin, Yuri is a close girl friend to Jun-woo.

In this work, Jun-woo interacts with quite many girls than readers might have thought he would be. Yuri is a friend whom he found in the middle school, attending the same private tutorial institution with him. When Tae-yang and Jun-woo were in a good relationship, she had a crush on Tae-yang. Her chubby and ugly appearance made her picked on in the past, now her appearance has been transformed from her weight loss so that she also gains confidence.

The existence of Yuri was also the prominent reason why the relationship between Jun-woo and Tae-yang drifted apart. After she met Jun-woo again in high school, she has kept a close relationship with Jun-woo.

This work depicts that a coincidental connection started from Random Chat gradually changes the life of Jun-woo who has narrow relationships with people and low self-esteem so that he’s only thinking negatively. It describes Jun's psychology in detail, characterized by allowing readers to deeply immerse into the main character.

The story continues to be developed through various situations and dialogues with surrounding people, however, Jun-woo’s thoughts in each situation are often described as monologues.  

Also, the cause to bring Jun-woo to have trouble with human relations is acquired rather than a natural influence. He’s depicted to be unable to trust others and have low self-esteem as he went through a major incident with friends. In reality, some people are changed in terms of human relations after they’re betrayed by others who they trust. Certainly, it’s case by case but the story has a setting that anyone can thoroughly understand and empathize with.

A story of romance and friendship among teenagers gains popularity because everyone has gone through the process.

Jun-woo, the main character of this work, is a real stick in the mud with a negative personality so that readers have to feel frustrated by him. Despite all these, he has his charm making us unable to hate him but root for him.

Although degrees and situations differ, we all have felt his emotions at least once, and there must have been some situations that we experienced low self-esteem.

Sung-a has a good feeling for Jun-woo more and more while chatting with him through Random Chat. As time goes on, Jun-woo is more convinced that she will never like him so that he keeps a distance from her. And Dae-hyun looks at Sung-a and suspects Jun-woo. Tae-yang wants to restore his relationship with Jun-woo. Hamin often worries about Jun-woo with a good feeling for him. If you’re curious about how the story of these teenager boys and girls will be unfolded, I recommend this webtoon. It’s a must-read for you.