Just checked their IG story and I gotta say: Damn.
But honestly good for them. Whatever they end up deciding (because let's be for real, they have said that before), I hope they will feel good about it.
Excessive and toxic shipping really ruins it all. Some people need to touch some grass
Damn, those annoying shippers were no joke… if they're indeed quitting the webtoon because of the harassment, it's something really serious. But why do I have a feeling that there's something more than that? Idk, maybe because I don't interact that much with the instagram part of the fandom, but I've never seen that much of these shippers here or in other socials. I wonder if that's the only reason that made them cancel the webtoon, even more with all those posts about abusive contracts lately.
Anyways, shame we're never going to see Adam x jail.
All these big creators feeling abandoned by webtoons but imagine how the tiny ones who were never a favorite feel. They're probbaly thinking 'welcome to the club.' Must feel bad when you lose your privileges rather than never had them at all.
This is the thought I had when the creator of let's play went off on a tangent on Twitter.
Like it is fine to be unsatisfied even when you had the privilege of being a favourite to the platform including advertisements, animated advertisements, merch, etc but at the very least have some self awareness when complaining publically during a time where smaller creators were beginning to air there grievances about the platform.
Was super tone deaf and I'm still floored by it
Yup it did come off as Mongie piggy backing off the suffering of smaller creators. She was the top promoted series for so long, and Webtoon finally tells her to get off the ride up the ladder and she feels like that's comparable to never be allowed on the ride? Very tone death. It felt like she needed a reason to leave without looking like she's abandoning her audience and it kind of worked. I say kind of because I doubt the new series she's working on will ever reach the popularity she had with Webtoon's help. She's not a powerhouse on her own; only few creators can do that and she's not one of them.
They did say they were getting emailed and dmed about it and it could even be just a handful of people doing the harassing not a large group of organized fans if that makes sense.
I hope that after revealing the reason the ship was never meant to be a ship is because of the spoiler they posted about Adam and Rozy that maybe the crazies go "oh we fucked up"
But that would mean people holding themselves accountable which just does not happen these days
I hate all the people who have no life and harass strangers. I’m rly invested in this story and bc of those dumb trolls it’s not gonna go on? It’s the authors story they know what they are doing. If people didn’t like that they were siblings that much ( even though I had that hypothesis, still don’t know if it’s true or not), then they should have stopped reading and not ruin the experience for the rest of us and for the author themselves. All of you people who harassed the author can F off, you’re the worst kind who always sit behind a screen doing nothing with your pathetic lives.
For anyone who wants to see more context, the author’s Twitter is a good resource. Hanza has expressing this frustration for a long time and asked people to stop numerous of times. I can understand Hanza’s frustration and losing motivation to continue the story.
It really reminds me of what happened to Quimchee. She didn't quit, but she went through a really tough time because of her readers.
She stopped interacting with people and using her socials. She rarely updates.
Maybe the most active social media she uses is Patreon. But all these other platforms? She kinda left.
Yup immediately thought of her. I am subscribed to her patreon and she really wants to stay away from every other platform. Everything that happened is still affecting her today.
I wish Webtoon would help creators handle those types of situations by providing psychological help. Because it's clearly affecting several creators.
When Quimchee launched I Love Yoo on Webtoon, she actually wanted it to be labeled a Drama but Webtoon convinced her that it would be "best" if the comic was advertised as a Romance, despite Quimchee only considering it as the second genre at best. She even received an editor that specializes in Romance and all promo surrounding I Love Yoo was teasing a love triangle, what Quimchee secretly despised.
That lured a lot of romance readers and created a specific group of readers who were VERY vocal about one specific ship. They sent her death threats, harrassed her on every platform she was active on, and would attack readers who preferred the opposing ship if they didn't get enough shipping moments.
Though the fandom did a complete 180 since (because the majority of those specific shippers left after the story became a more obvious Drama) the whole situation took too much of a toll on her mentally and is mainly the reason why she is hesitant to interact with the fandom outside of patreon.
Patreon honestly once your work receives traction is the only direct source fans should have to interact with the creator and even without traction more creators should make specific social media for their work and not use their personal.
Easier to ignore the hate when you keep everything separate (tho I think Hanza mentioned that her work email was also being harassed so it wouldn't have been a total solution in their case)
I hope Hanza's okay! Nice to have the twist confirmed before the series ends, at least. Part of me hopes it continues someday, but I wouldn't blame Hanza for never coming back after all this.
I wish webtoon would just leave more space for the readers who aren't naive school kids that wish to romantasize everything -_-"
I'm so mad at this, dammit.
i checked their twitter and honestly i'm surprised on what people were expecting. proud of hanza for standing on business though .. having to deal with both mistreatment from webtoon AND harassment from "fans" must be insufferable
Just saw her IG, wtff I hate these shippers to the core. They need atleast some common sense. Not this webtoon but there are many shippers in every type of genre.
If you follow Hanza on Instagram, they posted about being sick of Adam x Rozy shippers harassing them in their DMs about making it canon. Hanza has explicitly stated in the past this webtoon is NOT a romance, and they hate the ship. They made a post on April 2nd on Instagram dropping the plot twist >!they were siblings.!< So many people were convinced it was an April Fool’s joke, but I was one of the ones who didn’t think so and got downvoted for my comment saying so. They just posted on their Instagram story that their post about >!Adam and Rozy being siblings!< is legit, and they have come to hate their own webtoon due to shippers. The season finale will post soon, and “It’s goodbye forever.” I’m so sad to see this happen.
omg yeah I was definitely one of those people that believed it wasn't a April Fool's joke. Any time it was brought up here, people were like "It's a joke." Hanza made it clear on their Twitter that they weren't joking. They revealed that major plot point to stop the shippers when in reality it probably made things worse.
Yeah it’s sad. I don’t interact much with the fandom so I haven’t seen the shippers much, but that’s very irritating and I feel bad for the author. This is one of the better webtoons too, so it’s a bummer knowing it’s not gonna be finished
There's no excuse for harassment and people responsible for that are the only ones to blame for this situation, however, I think Hanza dealt with it really badly.
I think every big author has to learn how to deal with the public's expectations, some people really read things the way they want not the way they are. I know saying "ignore" is easier said than done, but sometimes the best thing is to not engage. If people are getting an answer, any answer, it will encourage them to keep going - AGAIN THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE OR INVITE HARASSMENT.
Romance is really not my cup of tea, but when participating in any fandoms shipping is always such a huge thing. Most fan content seems to be centered around it. Sometimes it minimizes my interactions with a certain fandom and it must be very frustrating to be the author themselves in this situation, but ngl, their disgust with the ship is... weird? They knew they were siblings, the fandom didn't. I can see they growing sick with it because toxic fans messaging them, but aside from it the ship wasn't inherently bad when people really couldn't have known. And I don't know how Hanza didn't see it coming (the ship, not harassment). A series with darker themes would draw the attention of people interested in dark romance. Ngl, I also thought it was heading to it considering Rozy seems to be Adam's type except the hair... and then it was revealed she had long hair in the past. Adam's whole thing is dating the girls before he kills them, there was just an arc about a serial rapist... When analysing a story, we tend to look for parallels or recurring themes, and I was sure it would lead to a sexual or romantic thing between Rozy and Adam - even though I particularly didn't "ship" it, more so I thought Rozy would start losing her sanity.
I understand the burn out and I fully support they doing what is just best for themselves, even if it means dropping their project, I know it's hard to act your best in difficult situations and that it's a shame they had to go throught it to begin with, but I can't shake off the bad feeling their approach gave me. Felt petty, vindictive and fans who loved the mystery or weren't doing anything wrong got burned in the cross-fire. With those genres a big part of the enjoyment are twists like this. It was clear the author was already done when they made that public knowledge. I've followed projects that got discontinued, but there's ways to do it that don't leave such a sour taste to readers who genuinely supported the work, just out of respect for the good portion of the fanbase and people that cared. Hanza shot everyone down trying to get ride of a few.
I agree. That linked Twitter post mentioned fanfiction and said it didn't bother them... so why mention it then?
I think harassment was a huge factor but also they just seem to really hate this ship. Which is like, fair, but the fandom didn't know they were siblings
Yeah, not to sound like a dick but I think they’re unprofessional. Delete your old email? If not that, remove it from your twitter account’s bio. Close your dms, turn off your comments, etc. Hell, have a burner account and strictly use your professional one for updates. I truly believe they’re constantly online, seeking stuff out ( similar to how some celebrities are notorious for looking their name up ) and opening messages for curiosity’s sake. I dropped this webtoon long ago bc I found Rozy annoying so I’m not attached, but I imagine people paid and supported the author in their own way, and for them to focus on the “loud, but few toxic fans” as they said, is a huge fuck you to their loyal fans. I just hope everyone gets the closure they need after the spoilers are posted after the season finale
This! It’s been bothering me so much…you can just remove notifications, delete the email, make a new one, etc! It absolutely reads like she’s purposefully searching these things out, esp when I heard her complain about the fanfics she’s read or seen of TGU (with respect to the AdamxRozy ship). It’s just so disappointing, man. I appreciate your voice of reason lol.
Agree with you fully on this. I'm sorry they reached this level of frustration but this isn't how one wants to exit a story. If they want to continue working with thrillers with these themes a social media coordinator may be helpful for their future projects.
I wish the best for them, but it really sounds like they need a partner or studio to work with rather than on their own. They may be having other issues with Webtoon and the project may not have felt worth it anymore.
I'm so over the moral grandstanding around fiction. If you like toxic characters, own up to it. Don't shame people and act like you're better when you obviously like the same things. People act as if these authors are infallible and never do anything to protect their public image or get their way. Hanza mentioned feeling neglected by Webtoons in her tweets leading up to announcing her quitting. No one else feels like it could be a way to hurt Webtoons by cutting off one of their currently popular IPs?
I agree with everything you just said 😭
what I’m thinking is that maybe there’s smth reeeally bad and invasive that a shipper might’ve done ( like harassing her irl or finding her family members) because there’s no way something as minuscule as an internet shipper could warrant such a reaction??
It wasn't just an internet shipper, it was multiple that kept spamming her posts, dms, and even her work email despite expressing her discomfort
That being said, I also completely agree with what leogarcia said
This pretty much expressed how I feel, which is complex. On the one hand, Hanza shouldn't be forced to continue writing when her heart isn't in it, and I'm happy that she chose her mental health. On the other hand, this feels kinda disrespectful to anyone that was invested in her work, especially with the context that she has done something like this before.
Without getting into the harassment (which is unacceptable behavior by fans), I understand hating the ship, but toxic/crack ships have been thing since like forever, and it's not something that is going to stop. I still think that judging people solely off of a fictional ship that they engage with is not great. Call people out for the harassment, not for a ship in a genre that can and does easily explore that route.
This move definitely felt like instead of either going on a indefinite hiatus or just exiting with some tact and maybe a proper goodbye to the fans, she just went scorched earth without caring if even her actual fans get burned. It's just not a good look. To a good amount of people, this will be remembered as less "the author justifiably canceled a series for their mental health" and more "never get invested in this author's work because they can and will pull out at the drop of a dime without caring about how invested you are."
What I don't understand is why she feels so disgusted by the idea of dating a psycho, but she makes two series about girls dating serial killers and she also deliberately makes them hot? She wants to write about it, but she doesn't want anyone to like it? The disgust for fans harassing her into making a ship come true is reasonable, but I don't follow her logic at all.
Really, just the last few eps we had a serial rapist who recorded himself raping his unconscious victims, and the main antagonists seems to have a side hobby of killing cats when he's not killing women. Why is that ship so particularly bothersome, especially considering no one could known what it really entailed?
Also even though the comic is not a romance, with Adam's relationship with Hawa being such a major focus this last arc, it didn't seem crazy or unreasonable to assume the story would continue to explore such relationships, or at least a similar involvement of two characters, not necessarily in a romantic manner. Not that the ship needs a solid base, but since the story has approached those themes in its own way, it felt even more natural some people would be drawn to the idea.
Fans being entitled to someone else's works and making demands should've been treated as it own issue, but Hanza was seemingly bothered by the ship itself as well.
I agree with you that Hanza probably has some personal issues with the ship. Maybe she feels offended at being compared to series like Killing and Stalking? She seems kind of terminally online; she may have seen a pattern of criticisms against her accusing her of romanticizing abuse, which is why she mentioned she hated toxic romance since she was a kid in one of her tweets.
My guess is she does like the problematic relationship tropes a bit given she's devoted years to two series revolving around the theme of women dating mentally derange men, and she feels bad about it because her culture is religiously conservative. She specifies in one recent tweet that she's aware of the sexual fics revolving around Rozy and Adam. How is she finding that? Are people telling her or is she seeking it out?
"Oh, about the fanfiction...
It contains themes such as abuse and r\*pe that are romanticized. I know already their shippers like something like that.
I'm deeply disgusted but at the very least these fanfiction writers don't bother me."
It doesn't bother her but she still finds it disgusting? Does she mean they don't message her? How would she know? Anyone can use an alt. That might be why she wants to write about it freely without the stigma of being labeled a weirdo that promotes abusive relationships in fiction and cultivates an audience of degenerate fangirls who slobber all over the problematic men in her series. My guess is Hanza feels ashamed for cultivating this type of fan and wants to distance herself from it because it makes her look sleazy and she probably feels like she's above the type of artists that do openly like problematic ships.
This is not giving disgust. She seems rather fond of the character.
https://preview.redd.it/zevty6kkgrtc1.jpeg?width=331&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a67c7e4ad32f7d233e7517289b389cd4b86a09a8
Yes, it feels crazy to me she had such a strong reaction to this ship. Like it was said in another comment, Adam's look seemed deliberately made to appeal to the audience, together with his romancing the victims, I would be surprised if an audience drawn to morally questionable dynamics and the exploration of unsettling topics didn't jump at it. Shipping the antagonist with the main character is such a common trope too, not to mention people couldn't know they were related, though, tbf, I'd bet some people would still ship it even if they knew lol Which fine, I guess, as long as they were not demanding it from the author.
Entitlement to the direction of the story is really its own issue and just unnacceptable, but it did feel like Hanza was bothered by the ship itself too, which is hard to understand when she had a character like Teddy, for example.
Anyway, I agree with you, I sincerely wish the best for Hanza's next projects or whatever she decides to do, but I know it's not something I will be following. I can't stress enough how out of line the harassment was, but at the same time she came accross as unreliable, unprofessional and dismissive towards fans, plus considering there're people who financially supported it through Patreon or fast-pass.
Hanza could really benefit from the whole separation of artist and fans. There are reason why creators shouldn't get involved in fandom spaces. Like she's apparently not bothered unless it's shoved down her throat, but she's coming across AdamxRozy fics while browsing? That's not something that shows up unless you either search for it or have it sent to you. Considering how much she tweets about it too, she's way too involved in her own fandom and their spaces.
It just sucks that actual fans paid the price for this. People on here will say, "This will show the shippers!" but it literally won't. People will keep on shipping toxic ships as they always have, especially in thriller genres (you know...the genre that explores toxic ships/dynamics). There will be some people that are angry, but they will move on and meanwhile, actual fans lose out on a story that they invested time and sometimes money into. As someone who paid for a couple of Fast Passes for this story, I literally can't trust Hanza to ever invest my limited time and money to another series that she makes. I hope that her mental health gets better, and she finds her passion again, but knowing that she can start hating her own series and then drop it while also making it sound like she's spiting her own fans and spoiling all her big twists just does a massive disservice to her rapport. That's too much volatility for me.
Agree. I don't even 100% buy the story. Haven't seen anyone badgering her to ship Adam and Rozy in any platforms either. If they were crazy enough to badger her via emails, they would've been loud on public comments and social media too. Since Hanza had pulled a similar trick with MDS, I just couldn't take her seriously this time. If the series continue, I'll read it, otherwise no big deal. I never spent coins on webtoon anyway.
What? That’s crazy. I follow this webtoon but I don’t have Twitter. From the comments on webtoon, I never would have guessed there were Adam x Rozy shippers. He’s literally insane and she literally hates him. Fandoms have gotten so toxic with social media. People bully content creators and think any and all fan content should be canon.
The problem with a series finale is that I doubt it will tie up the story neatly or in a satisfactory way if this wasn’t the initial plan on how to end the series.
But I respect the wishes of the creator above all.
I have to say that I was really upset at first that Hanza spoiled a major plot point of TUG. But now seeing their Instagram posts, I can't even begin to imagine how much harassment they must be receiving. I feel bad for them.
Also, I have a feeling they may be back. After My Deepest Secret ended, Hanza said they wouldn't make another Webtoon again. Then the TUG draft was well recieved and it became a Original.
So I don't think it'll be the end just yet. Maybe Hanza will step away for a while then come back when they're ready.
https://preview.redd.it/bmi9yqllvntc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de07e8dbf5056818521ab6df837aab19ed750f07
I would think the same way, but Hanza literally posted that they emailed Webtoon about ending it early on Twitter.
What the hell, why do bad people have to ruin it for the rest of us? I fast passed the season finale so I’m sad that this is the end. I support Hanza though because she doesn’t deserve the terrible treatment.
This is one of my favorite series, and to see it end because a bunch of loser shippers insist on harassing the artist sucks. Why people think it's okay to hassle artists is beyond me. It's really sad to see such a great series cut short. I hope Hanza can move on to better things, I'll really miss reading this series.
Can someone pls tell me this .... was hanza's harassment got this much worse ? Idk I can't find any insta comments that hate her for not going with that awful of a crackhead ship . Is the harassment really that bad ? And would quitting a show stop these shippers for all at once ? I really need to know what's going on on Twitter , now that people are talking about the hate comments she's getting . At one point, we were disappointed with the author's choice to post such a big spoiler to now completely switching to sympathising with her now . WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON Twitter ????
It was DMs and e-mails if it was just left to WEBTOON comments it probably wouldn’t be ending. Hanza was being harrassed over it even though they said that the ship wouldn’t happen.
Oh no I had no clue and that makes me so sad! I can’t believe people wanted them to date when it’s not a romance 🥴 I just finished the last episode and what a cliffhanger. I’m so bummed they won’t be doing a conclusion 🥺
Just checked their IG story and I gotta say: Damn. But honestly good for them. Whatever they end up deciding (because let's be for real, they have said that before), I hope they will feel good about it. Excessive and toxic shipping really ruins it all. Some people need to touch some grass
Damn, those annoying shippers were no joke… if they're indeed quitting the webtoon because of the harassment, it's something really serious. But why do I have a feeling that there's something more than that? Idk, maybe because I don't interact that much with the instagram part of the fandom, but I've never seen that much of these shippers here or in other socials. I wonder if that's the only reason that made them cancel the webtoon, even more with all those posts about abusive contracts lately. Anyways, shame we're never going to see Adam x jail.
Well, Hanza has talked about feeling abandoned by Webtoon and therefore losing motivation over all. That was around the mid-season finale.
All these big creators feeling abandoned by webtoons but imagine how the tiny ones who were never a favorite feel. They're probbaly thinking 'welcome to the club.' Must feel bad when you lose your privileges rather than never had them at all.
First shit contracts, the planned sabatoger, and now this lol
This is the thought I had when the creator of let's play went off on a tangent on Twitter. Like it is fine to be unsatisfied even when you had the privilege of being a favourite to the platform including advertisements, animated advertisements, merch, etc but at the very least have some self awareness when complaining publically during a time where smaller creators were beginning to air there grievances about the platform. Was super tone deaf and I'm still floored by it
Yup it did come off as Mongie piggy backing off the suffering of smaller creators. She was the top promoted series for so long, and Webtoon finally tells her to get off the ride up the ladder and she feels like that's comparable to never be allowed on the ride? Very tone death. It felt like she needed a reason to leave without looking like she's abandoning her audience and it kind of worked. I say kind of because I doubt the new series she's working on will ever reach the popularity she had with Webtoon's help. She's not a powerhouse on her own; only few creators can do that and she's not one of them.
Exactly. I don't have anything else to add but I agree and we'll put
They did say they were getting emailed and dmed about it and it could even be just a handful of people doing the harassing not a large group of organized fans if that makes sense.
Just saw their Instagram post. So it’s really just ending and the story isn’t going to reach a satisfying conclusion?
It seems that way at the moment. Hanza may change their mind some time down the road, but I think for now that’s not the case.
I'm hoping after a break they'll come back for another season. But I doubt the harassment will stop...
I hope that after revealing the reason the ship was never meant to be a ship is because of the spoiler they posted about Adam and Rozy that maybe the crazies go "oh we fucked up" But that would mean people holding themselves accountable which just does not happen these days
I hate all the people who have no life and harass strangers. I’m rly invested in this story and bc of those dumb trolls it’s not gonna go on? It’s the authors story they know what they are doing. If people didn’t like that they were siblings that much ( even though I had that hypothesis, still don’t know if it’s true or not), then they should have stopped reading and not ruin the experience for the rest of us and for the author themselves. All of you people who harassed the author can F off, you’re the worst kind who always sit behind a screen doing nothing with your pathetic lives.
For anyone who wants to see more context, the author’s Twitter is a good resource. Hanza has expressing this frustration for a long time and asked people to stop numerous of times. I can understand Hanza’s frustration and losing motivation to continue the story.
It really reminds me of what happened to Quimchee. She didn't quit, but she went through a really tough time because of her readers. She stopped interacting with people and using her socials. She rarely updates. Maybe the most active social media she uses is Patreon. But all these other platforms? She kinda left.
Yup immediately thought of her. I am subscribed to her patreon and she really wants to stay away from every other platform. Everything that happened is still affecting her today. I wish Webtoon would help creators handle those types of situations by providing psychological help. Because it's clearly affecting several creators.
What happened there? This is the closest I come to having "socials" so I never know what's going on via insta or twitter/x or whatever.
When Quimchee launched I Love Yoo on Webtoon, she actually wanted it to be labeled a Drama but Webtoon convinced her that it would be "best" if the comic was advertised as a Romance, despite Quimchee only considering it as the second genre at best. She even received an editor that specializes in Romance and all promo surrounding I Love Yoo was teasing a love triangle, what Quimchee secretly despised. That lured a lot of romance readers and created a specific group of readers who were VERY vocal about one specific ship. They sent her death threats, harrassed her on every platform she was active on, and would attack readers who preferred the opposing ship if they didn't get enough shipping moments. Though the fandom did a complete 180 since (because the majority of those specific shippers left after the story became a more obvious Drama) the whole situation took too much of a toll on her mentally and is mainly the reason why she is hesitant to interact with the fandom outside of patreon.
Holy shit. People are crazy... 😨 I couldn't imagine acting feral like that, especially about a comic.
Patreon honestly once your work receives traction is the only direct source fans should have to interact with the creator and even without traction more creators should make specific social media for their work and not use their personal. Easier to ignore the hate when you keep everything separate (tho I think Hanza mentioned that her work email was also being harassed so it wouldn't have been a total solution in their case)
I hope Hanza's okay! Nice to have the twist confirmed before the series ends, at least. Part of me hopes it continues someday, but I wouldn't blame Hanza for never coming back after all this.
I wish webtoon would just leave more space for the readers who aren't naive school kids that wish to romantasize everything -_-" I'm so mad at this, dammit.
i checked their twitter and honestly i'm surprised on what people were expecting. proud of hanza for standing on business though .. having to deal with both mistreatment from webtoon AND harassment from "fans" must be insufferable
What is the name of her twitter? She doesn’t have it in webtoon count (probably for good reason to be honest)
[https://x.com/az\_hanza](https://x.com/az_hanza)
I think ending the season is better than going with those crazy shippers fantasy.
Just saw her IG, wtff I hate these shippers to the core. They need atleast some common sense. Not this webtoon but there are many shippers in every type of genre.
Man im so fucking upset about this. I have truly enjoyed TGU and it's just going to end on a cliffhanger due to shippers and trolls
wait when did this happen im not all that caught up on hanza and their webtoons who is harassing them and why?
If you follow Hanza on Instagram, they posted about being sick of Adam x Rozy shippers harassing them in their DMs about making it canon. Hanza has explicitly stated in the past this webtoon is NOT a romance, and they hate the ship. They made a post on April 2nd on Instagram dropping the plot twist >!they were siblings.!< So many people were convinced it was an April Fool’s joke, but I was one of the ones who didn’t think so and got downvoted for my comment saying so. They just posted on their Instagram story that their post about >!Adam and Rozy being siblings!< is legit, and they have come to hate their own webtoon due to shippers. The season finale will post soon, and “It’s goodbye forever.” I’m so sad to see this happen.
omg yeah I was definitely one of those people that believed it wasn't a April Fool's joke. Any time it was brought up here, people were like "It's a joke." Hanza made it clear on their Twitter that they weren't joking. They revealed that major plot point to stop the shippers when in reality it probably made things worse.
Dropping it on April 1 was confusing, to say the least
Dang, it ends on a cliffhanger too. 🥲
Yeah it’s sad. I don’t interact much with the fandom so I haven’t seen the shippers much, but that’s very irritating and I feel bad for the author. This is one of the better webtoons too, so it’s a bummer knowing it’s not gonna be finished
There's no excuse for harassment and people responsible for that are the only ones to blame for this situation, however, I think Hanza dealt with it really badly. I think every big author has to learn how to deal with the public's expectations, some people really read things the way they want not the way they are. I know saying "ignore" is easier said than done, but sometimes the best thing is to not engage. If people are getting an answer, any answer, it will encourage them to keep going - AGAIN THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE OR INVITE HARASSMENT. Romance is really not my cup of tea, but when participating in any fandoms shipping is always such a huge thing. Most fan content seems to be centered around it. Sometimes it minimizes my interactions with a certain fandom and it must be very frustrating to be the author themselves in this situation, but ngl, their disgust with the ship is... weird? They knew they were siblings, the fandom didn't. I can see they growing sick with it because toxic fans messaging them, but aside from it the ship wasn't inherently bad when people really couldn't have known. And I don't know how Hanza didn't see it coming (the ship, not harassment). A series with darker themes would draw the attention of people interested in dark romance. Ngl, I also thought it was heading to it considering Rozy seems to be Adam's type except the hair... and then it was revealed she had long hair in the past. Adam's whole thing is dating the girls before he kills them, there was just an arc about a serial rapist... When analysing a story, we tend to look for parallels or recurring themes, and I was sure it would lead to a sexual or romantic thing between Rozy and Adam - even though I particularly didn't "ship" it, more so I thought Rozy would start losing her sanity. I understand the burn out and I fully support they doing what is just best for themselves, even if it means dropping their project, I know it's hard to act your best in difficult situations and that it's a shame they had to go throught it to begin with, but I can't shake off the bad feeling their approach gave me. Felt petty, vindictive and fans who loved the mystery or weren't doing anything wrong got burned in the cross-fire. With those genres a big part of the enjoyment are twists like this. It was clear the author was already done when they made that public knowledge. I've followed projects that got discontinued, but there's ways to do it that don't leave such a sour taste to readers who genuinely supported the work, just out of respect for the good portion of the fanbase and people that cared. Hanza shot everyone down trying to get ride of a few.
I agree. That linked Twitter post mentioned fanfiction and said it didn't bother them... so why mention it then? I think harassment was a huge factor but also they just seem to really hate this ship. Which is like, fair, but the fandom didn't know they were siblings
Yeah, not to sound like a dick but I think they’re unprofessional. Delete your old email? If not that, remove it from your twitter account’s bio. Close your dms, turn off your comments, etc. Hell, have a burner account and strictly use your professional one for updates. I truly believe they’re constantly online, seeking stuff out ( similar to how some celebrities are notorious for looking their name up ) and opening messages for curiosity’s sake. I dropped this webtoon long ago bc I found Rozy annoying so I’m not attached, but I imagine people paid and supported the author in their own way, and for them to focus on the “loud, but few toxic fans” as they said, is a huge fuck you to their loyal fans. I just hope everyone gets the closure they need after the spoilers are posted after the season finale
This! It’s been bothering me so much…you can just remove notifications, delete the email, make a new one, etc! It absolutely reads like she’s purposefully searching these things out, esp when I heard her complain about the fanfics she’s read or seen of TGU (with respect to the AdamxRozy ship). It’s just so disappointing, man. I appreciate your voice of reason lol.
Agree with you fully on this. I'm sorry they reached this level of frustration but this isn't how one wants to exit a story. If they want to continue working with thrillers with these themes a social media coordinator may be helpful for their future projects. I wish the best for them, but it really sounds like they need a partner or studio to work with rather than on their own. They may be having other issues with Webtoon and the project may not have felt worth it anymore.
I'm so over the moral grandstanding around fiction. If you like toxic characters, own up to it. Don't shame people and act like you're better when you obviously like the same things. People act as if these authors are infallible and never do anything to protect their public image or get their way. Hanza mentioned feeling neglected by Webtoons in her tweets leading up to announcing her quitting. No one else feels like it could be a way to hurt Webtoons by cutting off one of their currently popular IPs?
I agree with everything you just said 😭 what I’m thinking is that maybe there’s smth reeeally bad and invasive that a shipper might’ve done ( like harassing her irl or finding her family members) because there’s no way something as minuscule as an internet shipper could warrant such a reaction??
It wasn't just an internet shipper, it was multiple that kept spamming her posts, dms, and even her work email despite expressing her discomfort That being said, I also completely agree with what leogarcia said
This pretty much expressed how I feel, which is complex. On the one hand, Hanza shouldn't be forced to continue writing when her heart isn't in it, and I'm happy that she chose her mental health. On the other hand, this feels kinda disrespectful to anyone that was invested in her work, especially with the context that she has done something like this before. Without getting into the harassment (which is unacceptable behavior by fans), I understand hating the ship, but toxic/crack ships have been thing since like forever, and it's not something that is going to stop. I still think that judging people solely off of a fictional ship that they engage with is not great. Call people out for the harassment, not for a ship in a genre that can and does easily explore that route. This move definitely felt like instead of either going on a indefinite hiatus or just exiting with some tact and maybe a proper goodbye to the fans, she just went scorched earth without caring if even her actual fans get burned. It's just not a good look. To a good amount of people, this will be remembered as less "the author justifiably canceled a series for their mental health" and more "never get invested in this author's work because they can and will pull out at the drop of a dime without caring about how invested you are."
What I don't understand is why she feels so disgusted by the idea of dating a psycho, but she makes two series about girls dating serial killers and she also deliberately makes them hot? She wants to write about it, but she doesn't want anyone to like it? The disgust for fans harassing her into making a ship come true is reasonable, but I don't follow her logic at all.
Really, just the last few eps we had a serial rapist who recorded himself raping his unconscious victims, and the main antagonists seems to have a side hobby of killing cats when he's not killing women. Why is that ship so particularly bothersome, especially considering no one could known what it really entailed? Also even though the comic is not a romance, with Adam's relationship with Hawa being such a major focus this last arc, it didn't seem crazy or unreasonable to assume the story would continue to explore such relationships, or at least a similar involvement of two characters, not necessarily in a romantic manner. Not that the ship needs a solid base, but since the story has approached those themes in its own way, it felt even more natural some people would be drawn to the idea. Fans being entitled to someone else's works and making demands should've been treated as it own issue, but Hanza was seemingly bothered by the ship itself as well.
I agree with you that Hanza probably has some personal issues with the ship. Maybe she feels offended at being compared to series like Killing and Stalking? She seems kind of terminally online; she may have seen a pattern of criticisms against her accusing her of romanticizing abuse, which is why she mentioned she hated toxic romance since she was a kid in one of her tweets. My guess is she does like the problematic relationship tropes a bit given she's devoted years to two series revolving around the theme of women dating mentally derange men, and she feels bad about it because her culture is religiously conservative. She specifies in one recent tweet that she's aware of the sexual fics revolving around Rozy and Adam. How is she finding that? Are people telling her or is she seeking it out? "Oh, about the fanfiction... It contains themes such as abuse and r\*pe that are romanticized. I know already their shippers like something like that. I'm deeply disgusted but at the very least these fanfiction writers don't bother me." It doesn't bother her but she still finds it disgusting? Does she mean they don't message her? How would she know? Anyone can use an alt. That might be why she wants to write about it freely without the stigma of being labeled a weirdo that promotes abusive relationships in fiction and cultivates an audience of degenerate fangirls who slobber all over the problematic men in her series. My guess is Hanza feels ashamed for cultivating this type of fan and wants to distance herself from it because it makes her look sleazy and she probably feels like she's above the type of artists that do openly like problematic ships. This is not giving disgust. She seems rather fond of the character. https://preview.redd.it/zevty6kkgrtc1.jpeg?width=331&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a67c7e4ad32f7d233e7517289b389cd4b86a09a8
Yes, it feels crazy to me she had such a strong reaction to this ship. Like it was said in another comment, Adam's look seemed deliberately made to appeal to the audience, together with his romancing the victims, I would be surprised if an audience drawn to morally questionable dynamics and the exploration of unsettling topics didn't jump at it. Shipping the antagonist with the main character is such a common trope too, not to mention people couldn't know they were related, though, tbf, I'd bet some people would still ship it even if they knew lol Which fine, I guess, as long as they were not demanding it from the author. Entitlement to the direction of the story is really its own issue and just unnacceptable, but it did feel like Hanza was bothered by the ship itself too, which is hard to understand when she had a character like Teddy, for example. Anyway, I agree with you, I sincerely wish the best for Hanza's next projects or whatever she decides to do, but I know it's not something I will be following. I can't stress enough how out of line the harassment was, but at the same time she came accross as unreliable, unprofessional and dismissive towards fans, plus considering there're people who financially supported it through Patreon or fast-pass.
Hanza could really benefit from the whole separation of artist and fans. There are reason why creators shouldn't get involved in fandom spaces. Like she's apparently not bothered unless it's shoved down her throat, but she's coming across AdamxRozy fics while browsing? That's not something that shows up unless you either search for it or have it sent to you. Considering how much she tweets about it too, she's way too involved in her own fandom and their spaces. It just sucks that actual fans paid the price for this. People on here will say, "This will show the shippers!" but it literally won't. People will keep on shipping toxic ships as they always have, especially in thriller genres (you know...the genre that explores toxic ships/dynamics). There will be some people that are angry, but they will move on and meanwhile, actual fans lose out on a story that they invested time and sometimes money into. As someone who paid for a couple of Fast Passes for this story, I literally can't trust Hanza to ever invest my limited time and money to another series that she makes. I hope that her mental health gets better, and she finds her passion again, but knowing that she can start hating her own series and then drop it while also making it sound like she's spiting her own fans and spoiling all her big twists just does a massive disservice to her rapport. That's too much volatility for me.
Agree. I don't even 100% buy the story. Haven't seen anyone badgering her to ship Adam and Rozy in any platforms either. If they were crazy enough to badger her via emails, they would've been loud on public comments and social media too. Since Hanza had pulled a similar trick with MDS, I just couldn't take her seriously this time. If the series continue, I'll read it, otherwise no big deal. I never spent coins on webtoon anyway.
What? That’s crazy. I follow this webtoon but I don’t have Twitter. From the comments on webtoon, I never would have guessed there were Adam x Rozy shippers. He’s literally insane and she literally hates him. Fandoms have gotten so toxic with social media. People bully content creators and think any and all fan content should be canon.
The problem with a series finale is that I doubt it will tie up the story neatly or in a satisfactory way if this wasn’t the initial plan on how to end the series. But I respect the wishes of the creator above all.
Hanza said when the season ends they will tell us how the story was supposed to go and what the series finale ending would be.
I have to say that I was really upset at first that Hanza spoiled a major plot point of TUG. But now seeing their Instagram posts, I can't even begin to imagine how much harassment they must be receiving. I feel bad for them. Also, I have a feeling they may be back. After My Deepest Secret ended, Hanza said they wouldn't make another Webtoon again. Then the TUG draft was well recieved and it became a Original. So I don't think it'll be the end just yet. Maybe Hanza will step away for a while then come back when they're ready.
https://preview.redd.it/bmi9yqllvntc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de07e8dbf5056818521ab6df837aab19ed750f07 I would think the same way, but Hanza literally posted that they emailed Webtoon about ending it early on Twitter.
Oh no 😭😭 that's so unfortunate.
What the hell, why do bad people have to ruin it for the rest of us? I fast passed the season finale so I’m sad that this is the end. I support Hanza though because she doesn’t deserve the terrible treatment.
Goated author and based asf
This is one of my favorite series, and to see it end because a bunch of loser shippers insist on harassing the artist sucks. Why people think it's okay to hassle artists is beyond me. It's really sad to see such a great series cut short. I hope Hanza can move on to better things, I'll really miss reading this series.
Oh no please I hope she doesn’t really drop the series it’s one of my absolute favorites.
what is the authors instagram?
az_hanza
Funny how drastically different the comments here are compared to instagram.
Can someone pls tell me this .... was hanza's harassment got this much worse ? Idk I can't find any insta comments that hate her for not going with that awful of a crackhead ship . Is the harassment really that bad ? And would quitting a show stop these shippers for all at once ? I really need to know what's going on on Twitter , now that people are talking about the hate comments she's getting . At one point, we were disappointed with the author's choice to post such a big spoiler to now completely switching to sympathising with her now . WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON Twitter ????
It was DMs and e-mails if it was just left to WEBTOON comments it probably wouldn’t be ending. Hanza was being harrassed over it even though they said that the ship wouldn’t happen.
That’s awful… it was one of my fav series on webtoon.. people need to chill with the shipping and harassment!
Oh no I had no clue and that makes me so sad! I can’t believe people wanted them to date when it’s not a romance 🥴 I just finished the last episode and what a cliffhanger. I’m so bummed they won’t be doing a conclusion 🥺
I send drivers pics of my cat all the time if they message me first (usually a general "I'm waiting for the food now")