[Opinion] Is He a Nice Guy?

Most women in their 30s or 40s still remember well `Candy, Candy,` their favorite comic book series from schoolgirl years. ˝I feel lonely and sad, but I will not cry…˝ It was a story about a girl of sunny disposition named Candy, who grows strong loving and parting with boys she loves. As ardent fans of the comic book, young schoolgirls used to have a heated debate on who is Candy`s true love – gentle and tender-hearted Anthony, handsome and rebellious Terius, or William, a Daddy-Long-Legs character who always looks after Candy? It is only comic books after all, but girls liked most Terius with the long hair and handsome-boy image. Good-looking male stars with long hair like pop singer Shin Sung-woo and soccer player Ahn Jung-hwan are still often called Terius.

Ji Eun-sung, a hero in `He Is a Nice Guy,` a best-selling novel that sold more than 200,000 copies in less than two months after the release, bears the Terius image, too. He is tough enough to be a leader of high school mob circle `the Four Great Kings,` yet he looks so pretty. ˝Girls were just crazy about Ji Eun-sung, reading my series over the Internet,˝ said the author of the book, 18-year-old Gui Yeo-ni whose real name is Lee Yun-se. ˝Girls are just the same. They always like a tall, good-looking, rich and rebellious guy.˝ She also said that her mother told her after reading the story, `it reminds me of my school years`.

There are differences between the two stories, though. Candy had to let Terius go and her heart was broken. In contrast, however, Han Hye-won in `He Is a Nice Guy` meets her love again five years later and decides to live with him. Why not have them marry in the end? Gui Yeo-ni replied, ˝Han will only ruin her life if she marries the man like Ji.˝ Yes, you can love a good-looking rebellious boy, but you have to marry a man of competence if you want to live happily ever after. She also tipped that teenage girls enjoy kissing with boy friends and scoff at the idea of imposing charity only on girls. The problem is that parents hardly know about this change in teen behavior.

The old generation does not approve the `Gui Yeo-ni` syndrome. `I feel so happy, sob..sob, Wish I could die at this moment, ㅜ_ㅜ I don`t think so, -_- I am hugry,` the characters in the book say. And their expressions are just like the way teens chat over the Internet and look like lines of comic books. Seeing the book enjoy phenomenal popularity, writers feel frustrated and grown-ups get worried about their teens, who grow impatient and spontaneous without reading books. They also disapprove the teens` idea of love. Looking back, however, those young girls who loved Terius have grown up to become mothers. Then `He Is a Nice Guy` may serve well as a tool of family communication in this month of youth.

Kim Sun-deok, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com