Writer Kang Full has done it again.

Following ‘Moving’ last year, ‘The Lighting Store’, a Disney+ original series based on his own webtoon, has once again succeeded in ‘blockbuster success’. Not only has it become the most successful Disney+ Korean original content released this year, it has also led to a reverse run of the original webtoon.

According to Walt Disney Korea, ‘The Lighting Store’ recorded the most viewers among the Disney+ Korean original dramas released in 2024. This year, a total of 9 Korean original dramas were released, surpassing ‘The Lighting Store’ and ‘The Shopping Mall of Killers’, which was released in January and had the highest viewership numbers before.

‘The Lighting Store’ followed ‘Moving’, which caused a syndrome last year, and recorded the second highest number of viewers among all Korean original content released since the launch of Disney+, establishing Kang Full, the original author and writer, as the true ‘Disney+‘s greatest box office maker’.

The ending of the final episode released on the 18th caught the attention of global fans by containing a cookie video that connects to the ‘Moving’ worldview. The cookie video, which raises expectations for the full-scale expansion of the ‘Kang Full Universe’, featured a surprise appearance by Go Yoon-jung, who plays Hee-soo, a physical education college entrance exam candidate with regenerative abilities and the main character of ‘Moving’. Here, Park Jung-min also appeared as Young-tak, a man with the ability to stop time, who aroused curiosity with his hand in ‘Moving’. Young-tak is a major character in the world of Kang Full’s webtoon, and it is predicted that he will play an important role in the future drama world.

Along with the popularity of the drama, the number of views and sales of the original webtoon also skyrocketed. According to Kakao Entertainment, after aggregating sales trends since the release of episodes 5 and 6 of ‘The Lighting Store’ on the 15th, the number of views and sales of the original webtoon on Kakao Webtoon and Kakao Page increased by 187 times and 159 times, respectively. The original webtoon of ‘Moving’ also showed an upward trend in the number of works viewed, with the number of views doubling and sales tripling during the same period.

Kakao Entertainment stated, “In addition to “‘The Lighting Store’ and ‘Moving’, the popularity of other webtoons that contain the Kang Full universe, such as ‘Timing’, ‘Again’, and ‘Bridge’, is also leading to a binge-watching craze.”



Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com