Popular Webtoon “Yumi’s Cells” Has A Character Based On Choa From Her AOA Days—Here’s How She Responded When She Found Out

Here’s Choa’s response to having a character based on her!

The author of popular webtoon Yumi’s Cells recently talked about the webtoon’s main character, and revealed that the character was based on former AOA member Choa!

“Yumi’s Cells” webtoon | Naver

Yumi’s Cells is a webtoon that ran on Naver from 2015 to 2020, and is about a young office worker named Kim Yumi, a woman who is unable to express her feelings to others. The webtoon is currently being adapted into a K-Drama starring Kim Go Eun and Ahn Bo Hyung, and is set to begin airing on September 17.

“Yumi’s Cells” drama poster | tvN

The author of Yumi’s Cells, Lee Dong Gun sat down for an interview to discuss the webtoon, and spoke about the main character, Yumi! In the interview, the question the author received was,

Is Yumi based on someone?

Lee Dong Gun stated that when it came to Yumi’s personality, it was based on multiple people that he’s met, rather than one single person. Yumi’s looks, however, are a completely different story! The author revealed that the physical characteristics were based on none other than former AOA member Choa, who previously rocked a blonde bob that became her trademark hairstyle!

Former AOA member Choa

Personality-wise it’s hard to say she is based on one person. She’s more like that one friend we all have who doesn’t share much about themselves but has a lot of stories to tell. I always wondered what those people are thinking inside their heads, so… I worked on building her personality based on that.

Appearance-wise, I referenced a lot of it from former AOA member Choa. She had Yumi’s haircut back when I started working on her and she looked gorgeous. I thought she looked like a cartoon character.

—Lee Dong Gun

Interview excerpt | @queenchoa_/Instagram

The news eventually reached Choa, who uploaded a post on her personal Instagram expressing her excitement over this, and thanked the author for the honor!

What?!?!? I can’t believe he referenced me when creating this super popular character! That is sooo cool! Thank you so much, webtoonist Lee Dong Gun. Bless you!!!

#YumisCells #YumiChoayo [‘Choayo’ is a wordplay on ‘Joayo’, meaning ‘I like it’]


Yumi’s Cells will begin airing on September 17. Watch the trailer here!