Who are the main characters in Topsy-Turvy Yongdo? 8 Must-Know Leads for a Thrilling Read

The eight must-know leads are Lee Jae-hyun, Gong Su-yong, Kim Norman, Kim Pyeong-beom, Lim Minwoo, Choi Sungtaek, Park Cheoljin, and Park Uijin, and the official English release currently runs to 154 episodes.

Based on the publisher’s episode listing and recurring cast placement across key arcs, our ComicK editorial workflow treats these names as the core ensemble that drives the romance, rivalry, and major plot turns. Keep reading for a fast, spoiler-aware breakdown of who each character is, how they connect, and which arc each one truly takes over.

Episode count and why the cast expands over time

If you are looking for a clear starting point, here it is: the series is listed up through Episode 154 (with some special content handled separately depending on the storefront). That number matters because Topsy-Turvy is structured like a long-running BL webtoon with shifting spotlights. Season-style transitions and new relationship threads gradually elevate certain supporting players into lead status.

The first arc is built around a volatile reunion on campus, pushing two opposites into constant proximity. That setup is classic: college life, forced closeness, escalating misunderstandings, and the kind of slow burn that flips into intense physical chemistry. But the author does not stop with one couple. As the story progresses, it introduces a second major relationship line with its own love triangle energy, plus a later arc that drags in unresolved history and new power dynamics. That is why readers asking, “Who are the main characters in Topsy-Turvy Yongdo?” get more than two names as the correct answer.

If you are reading for plot clarity, treat this story as an ensemble drama: each “lead” represents a different emotional problem the series wants to explore, like pride, insecurity, obsession, performative indifference, and what happens when attraction becomes competition. That is also why spoiler sensitivity matters. A character who looks like background early can become central later.

For readers who want an easy path: start with the main couple, then pay attention to the friend group and the “secondary man” perspective that becomes increasingly important as later episodes reshape the narrative. This is also where ComicK readers tend to recommend taking breaks between arcs, because the tone can pivot from comedic tension to darker, more psychological drama.

Lee Jae-hyun: the prideful rival who turns vulnerability into a weapon

Lee Jae-hyun is one of the two pillars of the story, and he is written to provoke strong reactions. At first glance, he reads like the archetypal cold, handsome campus guy: composed, competitive, and quick to interpret everything as a challenge. The key is that his pride is not just attitude, it is armor. The series repeatedly uses him to show how easily control becomes obsession when feelings start winning.

What defines Jae-hyun’s role

Jae-hyun functions as the story’s pressure source. When scenes need escalation, he escalates. When the romance needs friction, he supplies it through sharp remarks, boundary-pushing, and a willingness to keep a conflict alive if it preserves his emotional advantage. That makes him effective in rivals-to-lovers storytelling because every soft moment has to be earned. If he shows tenderness, it lands harder precisely because it contradicts his baseline.

Why he feels like a “main character” even outside his scenes

Even when the narrative focuses elsewhere, Jae-hyun’s decisions often ripple across the cast. He is the kind of lead whose presence creates social gravity: roommates, classmates, and friends adjust their behavior around him, either trying to defuse him or trying to use him. This is also how the manhwa keeps tension alive across long episode runs. Jae-hyun does not just react, he sets the stakes.

If you are reading for character development, watch how his jealousy evolves. Early jealousy is blunt and possessive. Later jealousy becomes strategic, tied to fear of losing status, intimacy, and identity. That change is one of the most consistent long-form threads in the series, and it is a major reason fans keep returning.

Gong Su-yong: the sensitive lead who refuses to stay “small”

Gong Su-yong is the emotional counterweight to Jae-hyun. He is introduced as anxious, easily thrown off balance, and frustrated by how quickly he is affected by the people around him. That sensitivity is not weakness in this story. It is the engine that forces confrontation, because Su-yong cannot pretend he feels nothing and move on. He spirals, argues, retreats, and then comes back again.

Su-yong’s growth arc in plain terms

If Jae-hyun’s arc is about losing control, Su-yong’s arc is about gaining it. Early on, he is pushed by circumstances and provoked by Jae-hyun. Over time, he becomes a character who actively chooses: what he wants, what he will tolerate, and what kind of relationship he is willing to build. This is crucial in a mature romance series, because it prevents the dynamic from becoming one-sided. When Su-yong starts setting boundaries, the entire tone changes.

Why Su-yong anchors the “thrilling read”

Su-yong is often the character through whom readers experience the story’s most human moments: embarrassment, insecurity, panic, attraction that feels inconvenient, and the messy honesty that follows. He also plays a practical narrative role: he connects the main couple to the broader supporting cast. Friend scenes, campus scenes, and “group tension” moments often run through him, making him central even when the plot is not purely romantic.

If you are new to the series, Su-yong is the character most likely to make you keep reading because his emotional reactions create momentum. He gets confused, he overthinks, he gets angry, and then the story forces him to articulate what he actually wants. That push and pull is the core of the first major arc and a lasting theme throughout the later episodes.

Kim Norman: the best friend who turns chaos into clarity

Kim Norman is the kind of supporting lead that a long BL webtoon needs. On the surface, he is “the best friend” who adds commentary, humor, and relief from romantic intensity. In practice, he is far more functional than that. He acts as a stabilizer, a mirror, and sometimes an instigator when the story needs a push.

Norman’s most important function: perspective

In romance narratives, the couple can get trapped in their own drama loop. Norman breaks that loop. He provides external perspective, reminding Su-yong (and the reader) what is normal, what is manipulative, and what is genuinely emotional. This is especially important in a series that uses misunderstanding, jealousy, and escalation as fuel. Norman makes sure the story acknowledges the absurdity of certain situations without reducing the characters to jokes.

Why Norman counts as “main cast”

Norman’s presence is not ornamental. He is woven into the practical structure of Su-yong’s life, which keeps him recurring and influential. He also represents a different kind of intimacy: platonic loyalty, the friction of friendship, and the quiet frustration of watching your friend get pulled into a high-drama romance. That viewpoint becomes more valuable as the series expands its relationship web.

If you are reading on ComicK, you may notice that fans frequently cite Norman as a reason the first arc stays readable even when the romantic tension spikes. He makes scenes feel grounded. He can tease, criticize, or support without becoming a plot device, which is exactly what long-form character-driven manhwa needs.

Kim Pyeong-beom: the “secondary man” who hijacks the narrative and earns it

Kim Pyeong-beom is the character who proves Topsy-Turvy is not a simple two-person romance. He is introduced with a meta flavor: a friend who initially feels like he exists to orbit the main couple, only for the story to elevate him into a central perspective. That shift is one of the most distinctive structural moves the series makes.

What makes Pyeong-beom compelling

Pyeong-beom is relatable in a different way than Su-yong. He is not driven by rivalry. He is driven by self-awareness and insecurity about his role in other people’s stories. That creates a character who overanalyzes social signals, misreads intentions, and then has to live with the consequences. His arc leans heavily into romantic comedy embarrassment, then gradually slides into something more emotionally complicated.

How his arc changes the tone

When Pyeong-beom becomes a lead, the series starts exploring different relationship mechanics: unequal desire, competing love interests, and the anxiety of being wanted for reasons you cannot fully trust. That is where the “thrill” shifts from “will the rivals finally fold” to “who is playing who, and who is actually sincere.”

If you are mapping the main characters, Pyeong-beom is non-negotiable because he represents a later major arc with its own emotional center. He is also one of the best ways the story sustains momentum across a high episode count. Instead of stretching one couple forever, it expands the cast and refreshes the tension through a new lead viewpoint.

Lim Minwoo: the catalyst who turns attraction into a battlefield

Lim Minwoo is a key driver of the later relationship threads. Where Jae-hyun’s intensity is pride-based, Minwoo’s intensity is often impulse-based: he follows desire, tests boundaries, and creates complications simply by showing interest. He is frequently described by readers as dangerously charming, partly because his actions can look playful even when they have serious impact.

Minwoo’s role in the ensemble

Minwoo is a catalyst. He is introduced in a way that makes him feel disruptive, and he stays disruptive. When he enters a scene, it rarely stays stable. This makes him extremely useful in an ensemble romance where tension must keep renewing. He can provoke jealousy, bait someone into revealing feelings, or flip a dynamic from calm to chaotic.

Why Minwoo becomes a lead, not just a spoiler

Minwoo is not only there to cause drama. The story invests in his psychology: why he pushes, what he is afraid of, and how much of his persona is performance. This matters because in mature romance, sexual confidence is often used as shorthand for emotional confidence. Topsy-Turvy complicates that idea. Minwoo can look bold while still carrying unresolved issues that shape his choices.

For readers tracking “main characters,” Minwoo is essential because he represents the point where the webtoon stops being a single romance and becomes a broader relationship study. His presence is also a major reason later episodes feel like a new phase rather than a simple continuation.

Choi Sungtaek: the rival love interest who forces honest choices

Choi Sungtaek is a major figure in the expanded relationship landscape, particularly when the story leans into competing attractions and the pressure of choosing. He tends to be framed as confident, persuasive, and willing to treat romance like strategy. If you enjoy love triangle tension, Sungtaek is one of the characters most responsible for it.

What Sungtaek adds that others do not

Sungtaek adds calculated pursuit. Where some characters lash out or spiral, Sungtaek pushes forward with intent. He can be playful, but the underlying approach is direct: he wants something and is comfortable applying pressure to get it. That quality creates a different flavor of tension than Jae-hyun’s defensive pride or Minwoo’s impulsive disruption.

Why he matters to the story’s themes

Topsy-Turvy repeatedly asks whether desire is honest or performative. Sungtaek embodies that question because his charm can feel like sincerity or manipulation depending on the moment. The story uses him to force other characters into clarity. When Sungtaek is present, vague feelings turn into decisions, and avoidance becomes harder.

If you are reading for character development rather than pure heat, watch how the narrative positions Sungtaek as a test. He often appears when someone is emotionally vulnerable, which raises the stakes: is this care, opportunism, or both? That ambiguity is part of what makes him a lead-level character in later arcs.

Park Cheoljin and Park Uijin: the late-game disruptors tied to past and fallout

Park Cheoljin is introduced with the kind of energy that signals a major arc shift. He is not simply another love interest. He represents history, baggage, and the uncomfortable reality that some relationships are shaped by things that happened long before the current romance timeline. When Cheoljin shows up, the story’s tone becomes heavier, more psychological, and more plot-driven.

Park Cheoljin: why he changes everything

Cheoljin carries contradictions: someone’s first love and close friend, but also someone’s worst experience. That duality makes him inherently destabilizing. He forces characters to confront what they have avoided, and he forces the narrative to acknowledge that desire and resentment can coexist. This is where Topsy-Turvy starts feeling less like campus romance and more like a relationship thriller, with misunderstandings that have real consequences.

Park Uijin: the “supporting” character who matters more than expected

Park Uijin enters as part of the ecosystem around Cheoljin. While not positioned like the romantic leads, he functions as a key lever in later revelations and emotional stakes, especially when the story digs into Cheoljin’s background and the ripple effects on the broader cast. In long-running manhwa, characters like Uijin matter because they connect present conflict to past context, giving weight to decisions that might otherwise feel melodramatic.

If you are building a mental map of the main cast, treat Cheoljin as the gateway to the later arc and Uijin as a supporting lead within that arc. They are “must-know” because they reframe motivations: suddenly, the question is not only “who ends up with whom,” but also “who can trust whom, and who is still stuck in an old story.”

FAQ: Quick answers about Topsy-Turvy’s main characters

1) Who is the main couple in Topsy-Turvy?

The central couple for the earliest arc is Lee Jae-hyun and Gong Su-yong.

2) Is Kim Norman a main character or just comic relief?

He is a recurring lead-level support because he shapes Su-yong’s decisions and anchors key social scenes.

3) Who becomes the main focus later in the series?

Kim Pyeong-beom and his relationship thread become a major focus as the story expands beyond the first couple.

4) Is Lim Minwoo a love interest?

Yes. Minwoo is a key catalyst and central love interest within later relationship dynamics.

5) Where does Choi Sungtaek fit in the cast?

Sungtaek functions as a rival love interest and pressure point that forces honest choices.

6) Why is Park Cheoljin considered a main character?

Cheoljin drives a later, heavier arc tied to past relationships and ongoing fallout.

7) Who is Park Uijin?

Uijin is connected to Cheoljin’s side of the story and becomes relevant when the narrative explores Cheoljin’s background and consequences.

8) Do the “main characters” change by season?

Yes. The ensemble expands, and later arcs elevate characters who initially feel like supporting roles.

9) Is Topsy-Turvy more drama or comedy?

It blends both, but it increasingly leans into drama and psychological tension as the cast expands.

10) What is the fastest way to remember the core cast?

Think of it as eight leads in three clusters: the original campus rivals (Jae-hyun, Su-yong, Norman), the later romantic web (Pyeong-beom, Minwoo, Sungtaek), and the past-and-fallout arc (Cheoljin, Uijin).

Final takeaway: Who are the main characters in Topsy-Turvy Yongdo?

Who are the main characters in Topsy-Turvy Yongdo is best answered as an evolving eight-person core cast: Lee Jae-hyun, Gong Su-yong, Kim Norman, Kim Pyeong-beom, Lim Minwoo, Choi Sungtaek, Park Cheoljin, and Park Uijin. The series starts as a volatile campus romance, then expands into an ensemble BL manhwa where new leads step forward as the episode count climbs.

If you want a clean reading experience, keep this cast list handy, especially when you switch arcs. And if you are browsing reactions or chapter discussions on ComicK, you will quickly see why fans call these eight the “must-know” names for understanding the romance, the rivalry, and the story’s most explosive turns.

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