Friendly Competition (Webtoon)

* Current Cover
* Former Cover

## Image Gallery

**Friendly Competition** is a Korean **YLAB** webtoon and the 5th Blue String webtoon. The story was written by Chaeyun Song and illustrated by Jaeyeong Sim. It is published by YLAB.

## Synopsis

"Seulgi was no.1 in her old suburban school. Now, having transferred to the prestigious Chaehwa Girls’ High in Seoul, she must engage in fierce, friendly competition with her rich and talented rival Jay."

## Release Schedule

The series began on Naver Webtoon every Thursday starting July 1, 2020, and was completed with the review and epilogue posted on December 15, 2021. It became a paid service on February 8, 2022. It will be provided as a recommended completion in early March 2022. There is currently no official English.

* From December 6, 2020, the series was translated on the Thai page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From May 15, 2021, the series was translated on the Indonesian page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From July 24, 2021, the series was translated on the simplified Chinese page of Dongman Comics, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From November 5, 2021, the series was translated on the Chinese (Taiwanese) page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.

## Reading Order

You do not need to read any other Blue String webtoons to understand this.

For recommended reading order of the Webtoons click **here**.

## Where to Read

**Official Links**

* Korean (Complete): https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list?titleId=748069
	+ *Note: Requires Naver Account + Pay to Read.*
* Thai (Complete): https://www.webtoons.com/th/drama/good-competition/list?title\_no=2380
	+ *Note: Requires Webtoon Account + Daily Pass + Final episodes are pay to read.*
* Indonesian (Complete): https://www.webtoons.com/id/drama/friendly-rivalry/list?title\_no=2784
	+ *Note: Requires Webtoon Account + Daily Pass + Final episodes are pay to read.*
* Chinese (Complete): https://dongmanmanhua.cn/CAMPUS/shanyidejingzheng/list?title\_no=1721

**Unofficial Links**

***WARNING***: These links are provided for viewers to read and as references for editors. As they are unofficial, exercise precaution at your own risk as we cannot guarantee the security of these sites although we do use them without issues. However, this is mainly for any links besides English as English scans are usually safe. Regardless, be careful!

* Korean (Complete): https://newtoon205.com/toon/end/%EC%84%A0%EC%9D%98%EC%9D%98-%EA%B2%BD%EC%9F%81
* English (Incomplete): https://mangabuddy.com/friendly-competition
	+ *Note: Unofficial English translation stops at chapter 12.*

## Background

There is only 1 season.

* Ep. 1-6: Chaehwa Girls’ High School
* Ep. 6-12: Smoking Fuss
* Ep. 13-16: Midterm Exam
* Ep. 17-20: Volunteering
* Ep. 21-25: Bumsoo kim
* Ep. 25-42: Woojin Cha
* Ep. 43-47: Competition
* Ep. 48-51: Expulsion Commotion
* Ep. 52-65: Sooah Jo
* Ep. 66-70: Final Exam
* Ep. 71-75: Youngsoo Yoo
* Ep. 76: Finalisation

### Characters

* Seulgi Woo
* Jei Yoo

Full Character List

**All Characters with Pages**

**Beomsu Kim****Gamin Youn****Jei Yoo****Kyung Choi****Seulgi Woo****Suah Jo****Woojin Cha****Yeri Ju****Youngsoo Yoo**

### Organizations

* Chaehwa Girls' High School
* Korea University
* J Medical Group -
	+ JLAB - a hospital and the best plastic surgery location.
* Juchang High School -
* Coin Karaoke -

### Setting/Locations

The main setting is Daejun, Gangnam, Seoul There was a mention of Juchang (주창), the place where Seulgi once lived but is unclear what location is it in.

## Blue String Universe

The year that this webtoon were implied to take place is the year 2020, with tests coming from the year 2020 during episodes 14 & 43. At the least, this webtoon takes place after or during 2017 due to the mentions of "Brave Girls' Rollin." In the beginning, both protags are 18 years old. Two years had passed after graduating Chaehwa Girls' High. Now 20 years old, they meet Gamin Youn who is 17 years old during this webtoon whom was about to be enrolled into Yusung Tech High. That means that the year gap between Friendly Competition and Study Group is by two years.

**Crossovers*** Korea University appears which was first appeared in **Study Group** and appeared later in **The Age of the Barbarous.**
* Gamin Youn appears in the last episode.

**Appearance in other webtoons*** Chaehwa Girls' High was mentioned in season 2, Ep.2 of Study Group
* Taeeun Jung mentions this webtoon title in Ep.78 of My Bad Boyfriend

## Criticism

There appears to be no evaluation except for some criticisms.

* **Glorification of Evil Characters** - Although the evil deeds of Jei Yoo, Kyung Choi, and Yeri Ju in the beginning are vicious acts that completely go beyond the limit, there is not much depiction of them paying a clear price for their evil deeds because they are the protagonists of the work. Later on, the characters that did these deeds tried to be redeemed and moved on abrasively. In the end, the three main characters did not pay any penalty and the story ended in a happy ending.

* **Readers Defending Evil Actions** - This is the biggest problem along with the glorification of evil deeds. Only a very small number of readers point out this. Even though Jay Yoo, Kyung Choi, and Yeri Ju's actions in the story completely crossed the line, rather than recognizing and criticizing them, majority of comments defend and support their evil actions often occupy the top rankings due to the writer's continued push as the main three. The victim, Beomsu Kim, were ignored by readers.

* **Seulgi Woo's Inconsistent Character** - Seulgi from the beginning, she suffers from conduct disorder and tries to avoid harming others as much as possible. However, the story goes on, Seulgi suddenly becoming angry and using her conduct disorder as an excuse to threaten people who offend her. Readers agreed mostly she tolerates bullying from Miyoung Kim, Nari Kim, & Soyu Han but not from Soah Ju & Youngsoo Yu.
	+ There is also a counter-argument that this is a process in which Seulgi's feelings of caring for others, which she was unable to feel due to her illness, were created. It was consistently revealed that she had an illness, and she seemed to get more upset when the people around him were in crisis rather than when she was in crisis. Criticism remains as to whether this process should have been portrayed as an attempt to harm and kill others.
* **Initial Themes Gone** - In the beginning, it was popular because it was a malicious academic competition disguised as goodwill within the school, and the main element of its popularity was the thriller based on deception between the characters centered on Seulgi & Jay. However, due to the intervention of some character later on, the importance of academic competition gradually decreases towards the end, and the thriller and story of the early part are almost gone. It became more like ***The World is Money and Power's*** themes.

* **Blue String Implication** - Many readers question as to whether it is suitable for blue strings. Bluestring has a lot of characteristics as an action + shonen, but this work is far from it. Since it is a female-oriented work, female readers may not know or be indifferent to the worldview. In fact, readers "My Bad Boyfriend" were not interested in Blue String at all, but the author's next work. However, fortunately, Gamin Youn, who is well-known among female readers, appeared and readers recognized Blue String, thereby promoting Blue String.

## Media and Merchandise

### Media

* **OST** - There are two songs for the webtoon. The first is by Choa with the song named "**Dont Touch Mine.**" The second is by Shirts Boy FRANK with the song named "**FATIGUE**."

* **Drama** - in June 2023, DART's securities report following YLab's initial public offering announced plans to begin filming in the first quarter of 2024 and to begin airing in 2024.

### Merch

* On the YLAB Store, can buy stuff like acrylic stands.
	+ https://smartstore.naver.com/ylabstore/category/c30d9a2ff21c4e7aa4ba23aa34f07f8c?cp=1

## Trivia

* One of the few blue string webtoons to have merch.
* This webtoon was released when YLAB announced its new lineup in May 2020.
	+ The title of the webtoon at the time was 'Better Dead'. The title appears to be a reference to episode 19. The English title was titled "CRUSH."
* Most of the reviews at the beginning of the series found it creepy or scary even though there were no scary scenes, but as Jay and Seulgi's unknown emotions continued, some were saying that the webtoon may become a Yuri webtoon. Such example is when Jei Yoo kissed Seulgi Woo while she was sleeping, but instead of being angry or disgusted, Seulgi was embarrassed.
* In Ep.43, a math problem was shown to be from Mathematics Type 30 of the 2020 College Scholastic Ability Test, and partially quoted Woojin's solution. The time frame for the webtoon appears to be 2020.
	+ In Ep.14, a test paper was also from 2020. There was also a mention of "Brave Girls' Rollin," which was released on 2017.

## Gallery

WallpaperORP Fan ArtSohee Bom Fan ArtFull Gallery Page
## References

1. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%84%A0%EC%9D%98%EC%9D%98%20%EA%B2%BD%EC%9F%81#s-3
2. ↑ http://ylabcomics.com/bbs/board.php?bo\_table=02\_02\_eng#2
3. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%B8%94%EB%A3%A8%EC%8A%A4%ED%8A%B8%EB%A7%81/%EC%84%A4%EC%A0%95#s-3
4. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%84%A0%EC%9D%98%EC%9D%98%20%EA%B2%BD%EC%9F%81#s-6
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%84%A0%EC%9D%98%EC%9D%98%20%EA%B2%BD%EC%9F%81#s-7
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%84%A0%EC%9D%98%EC%9D%98%20%EA%B2%BD%EC%9F%81#s-8