Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#79: Scorching Romance

So fun storytime real quick. Back in the hellish year that was not named, I had downloaded many webtoons for a trip to Hawaii. The trip itself was great, and webtoon wise without that trip, you may not have gotten Weak Hero, so yeah.

 Long story short, most of the downloads I made went over the 30-day limit, and I didn't keep up with any potential new webtoons except Weak Hero. This is my time to correct my mistake as I just spent my weekend completely catching up with the recently ended Scorching Romance by Hongchi. Let's give this series the attention it deserves!

Summary

In the famous Scorching Highschool, no one is hotter than Ember Kim! Cursed with unnaturally high body heat, Ember's temp(ermant) is a little "sunny," to say the least. With the curse getting stronger by the day and summer fast approaching, she soon realizes that she might become too hot to handle! 

The only way to break the curse is to find her polar opposite and share a kiss with them. Except time is running out, and Ember's romance skills are about as fried as Popeyes chicken. Will she be able to kiss this special someone, or will her curse put her out like any good flame? Find out!

Characters

Ember Kim: Our 'fire" main character, Ember, usually brings the heat with her largely hotheaded, impatient, loud, forward, confident, and rude personality. Her curse is often a hot topic in her lists of priorities as it usually makes the life of both herself and classmates alike a living hell. However, for her friends, Ember remains a firewall, one that would do just about anything to protect those she cares for. And after meeting her cool other half, she does aim to be a better person.

Aspen Cha: Ember's cold-shouldered soulmate, Aspen, is as chill as Ember is warm. The boy is sweet like vanilla ice cream and is about as strong as a melted snowman mentally. He may unleash tears so much he can fill up the Roaring Fork River (look up his first name), but Aspen truly is as kind and helpful as someone can be. With Ember's kindness, Aspen goes from soft as snow to hard as ice to protect his relationship.

Harry: Ember and Aspen's best friend, Harry, is often the man who has the most balanced composure of the 3. He is willing to help Aspen with his confidence and get things hairy when he gives Ember advice with a snide remark along the way. Unfortunately, he also has an unhealthy obsession with Ice Cream.

Moxie: The main antagonist of the series, Moxie, is a spoiled, dominant rich girl who maintains a polyamorous relationship with seven boys at a time. And when she sets sights on something, she'll try to get it no matter what. Overall, this woman proves that all that glitters isn't gold and represents her namesake well.

Saint Gabriel: A so-called angel whisperer, Gabriel is the psychic that gets the plot going. She effectively tries to passively help Ember's plight but later plays a more active and holy role.

Rocky: A shallow pretty boy with a heart of fool's gold, Rocky is highly possessive and fickle with his love interests. But his love for Ember will make his resolve hardy.

Overview

This webtoon series is lit, man. Suppose Choco Latte was sickly sweet like the drink. In that case, this series is a cracked egg on the hot asphalt by comparison, which means that mainly every character is about fiery as Ember with the over-the-top personalities befitting of rom-com. However, unlike most webtoons, Scorching Romance also blazes a trail as Ember and Aspen get together and catch feelings like California wildfire, making the pacing refreshingly fast. 

They're a pretty lukewarm couple, but they do pull the opposites attract better than most as we see their influences and interactions on each other. Speaking of that, Ember is a pretty fun break from most female romance protags I've read with her rather volcanic temper and overall negative attitude towards most people. Across webtoon, I usually find that the main guy is a wrong person that becomes better through the girl's efforts, so it's kind of nice that there is a story that puts ice on that.

 Every is entertainingly flawed but at the end of the day, learn to warm up to become better people, from the main protags to the other side characters. This series is also a big ass fan of flame war level cliffhangers and subversions to add even more spice beyond the dumbass or exuberant decisions of our beautiful cast. The art may not be the best, but the many expressions in Scorching Romance are funny enough to give me a face freeze.

Epilogue

Overall I was a little sad that Scorching Romance has ended since it was utter flames. However, it's short and flashy like a firecracker, so I highly recommend it if you want a more innocent rom-com. But with all those nippy puns out of the way, let's put the spotlight on something else.