Stalkyoo

Stalkyoo is the het ship between Shin-Ae Yoo and Yeong-Gi/Nol from the I Love Yoo fandom.

Canon
Shin-Ae was suspicious of Yeong-Gi at first, but later on she feels more attached to him and wants to be a better friend. They're always teasing each other and they are friends. They later are confirmed to have feelings for each other.

They first met when she accidentally pours her orange soda on him, instead of his friend, who she was aiming for. She apologizes and tries to get the stain out of his uniform by punching it.

She runs into him again at his family's formal, where she drops her mask. Yeong-Gi picks it up. Afterwards he follows her and offers her a ride, she mistakes him for a pervert, and he tries to explain that he is not and wants to call her a cab and prank her friends, who had ditched her.

In Episode 5, he asks her to be his partner, for the prank, and she loudly slaps his hands and shouts "Heck Yeah!" He comes up with the idea of prank-calling Rika and May. Shin-Ae originally unimpressed, realises the plan is better, but then quickly thinks it is going too far. Shin-Ae gets accosted by two men, and Yeong-Gi defends her. He then asks to have her drink. Unfortunately the drink was roofied by the two men from earlier. So Yeong-Gi passes out, and Shin-Ae takes him to the ER. After he is safe, and she has a terrible run in with Kousuke, she leaves.

In episode 10, she sees Yeong-Gi again at a bakery, where he asks to be friends. She is slightly suspicious of it, but says she will consider it.

In Episode 14, after she tells Maya about him, Maya sets up a blind date for Shin-Ae as payback. This causes the three to meet again.

In Episode 17, Yeong-Gi then follows her in the mall, and helps return a lost girl to her sister. They then exchange numbers.

In episode 20, They see each other again after school, where she goes to the arcade with him. He approaches her while she is reading a book, and offers to buy her a meal if she can beat anyone in a game. She ends up passing out, and he catches her.

After Kousuke comes to collect him, he tells Kousuke that if he gets Shin-Ae food, he will be cooperative for a week. This causes Yeong-Gi to start work.

In Episode 25, they run into each other at the Hirahara Corp, where Shin-Ae is thinking of applying. Kousuke invites her to lunch with the two of them. When both boys notice she is cold, they both take off their jackets. In Episode 27, Yeong-Gi puts his around her, and laughs at how 'smol' she looks. She refuses the jacket, but he decides to be cold with her.

In Episode 28, On the way home, she falls asleep in the car, and wakes up to something smelling nice. She sees that his jacket is around her. He walks her to the door, and tells her he hopes they can work together. She is concerned on why he would act so friendly if he has a girlfriend.

In Episode 37, they see each other again when he unexpectedly drops by when she is tutoring Soushi and Dieter. He joins for tutoring and pays her extra. She asks about his mom, assuming it is Yui, and he gets a shocked facial expression.

By Episode 43, they see each other again at WacDonalds, and he waits for her break. He tries to encourage her, but to her it comes off as strange. She confronts him on why he is being so nice even though he has a girlfriend. He tells her he was just trying to be a good friend. By Episode 44, they meet again later in the park by coincidence, and she tells him that she appreciates his efforts, but he is coming on too strong. He agrees to tone it down.

In Episode 49, he sees her next at the formal, where she is very upset and tired looking. He offers to do her makeup for her. He says he can learn via Woutube. They then get food and sit down on the floor at the formal. He and her get separated. He runs into her again and asks if they are friends. She says of course. He then introduces her to Alyssa, his girlfriend. She is shocked that Alyssa offers her to dance with him.

Starting in Episode 58, when she is drugged, he goes looking for her. He punches Sang-Chul in the face, and shouts 'Fried Chicken!' to distract her. She ends up falling with Kousuke catching her, and Nol catching his brother. Upon Yui's arrival, Yeong-Gi drops Kousuke. He then fell into water as well. He panics seeing Shin-Ae injured. He then gets arrested for possession of the vial, and assault. He then makes bail, and goes to bring the coats back to Kousuke and Shin-Ae. He sits outside her door. When she finds him, he runs to a balcony. She follows him. They talk and she cries.

Shin-Ae worries about him and calls him multiple times, but his phone is off while he is at a family meeting with the Kim's and Hirahara's. When he turns it back on, in Episode 73, he calls her back, and she asks if he is okay.

They see each other at work, and he encourages her to see Dieter. He also took the blame for her being late on her second day.

Later, in Episode 84, he is there when she calls Dieter about the intruder. He develops an allergic reaction to Lil' Buddy. He swats away her hand when she goes to check his temperature. She then leaves medicine against colds and ointment for the by Lil' Buddy inflicted scratches in his car for him.

In the Mid Season Recap, she says the following about Yeong-Gi: "That gigantic idiot. He's gotten on my nerves on plenty of occasions. I treated him poorly because of my own personal bias. But even after it all... from the start he always had my back... helped me through tough times... comforted me during one of my lowest moments... I'm sorry I have been unfair to you... you've proven to me that you are someone I can trust... I'm glad I gave you a chance"

In Episode 93, they see each other at the park again, and talk. She helps him pick up his earbud, and asks him to lower the music volume so he doesn't damage his ears.

When she sees him at WacDonalds after both her and his interview with Yu Jing, at the end of Episode 116, he tries to leave, attempting to avoid her. In Episode 117, she gets him to stay, and they talk, and she encourages him. She holds his hand, he reacts shocked and then tells her that he has a girlfriend. She says forget it, that she was just trying to be a good friend. He smiles and offers her a earbud to listen to his music.

Later that night when she is reflecting on it, her hands feel weird and she is embarrassed for saying 'You smell clean' to him.

In Episode 131, Shin-Ae spots Yeong-Gi while he's working, she follows him and hides while watching him work. When he notices her, she quickly pretends she only wanted to ask him to eat lunch together as she gestures putting food into her mouth. He smiles and gives her a thumbs up as an answer.

In Episode 133, he joins her for lunch and tells her not to stalk him while he's working and to just text him instead. While watching him work, Shin-Ae noticed he seems to fit in their workplace, so she asks him for advice as she is still struggling to fit in. He then replies that he's feeling just as lost as she is but he has learned to put on different personas in front of different people and in different situations. She then asks him if he puts on a different persona while he's with her, to which he doesn't reply. The conversation then ends as she notices the scratches on his face have healed and she leans towards him, pointing towards his face. He slightly blushes at that and thanks her for the ointment.

In Episode 151, Shin-Ae finds out about the result of Yeong-Gi's trial via TV, as well as his true name and status as illetigimate son. She spammed him with messages but she realises, he has had her blocked. She goes to his school to face him personally but he ignores her and walks past her. She questions him about why he pleaded guilty and about how long he planned to hide himself from his friends. But because he doesn't respond, she reaches out to pull at his arm and calls him by "Nolan". He pulls away and she falls. She then tells him how she feels sad that the annoying guy she met might not be real and that she doesn't want him to go away. She reminisces on things he previously said and asks him if their friendship was a lie. He pulls her in for a hug and she reciprocates. After they pulled apart, Yeong-Gi notices tears running down her face and wipes them away. But after remembering her unconscious face from the formal, he walks off, telling her to never call him by his real name again. She replies by saying that if she can't say his name, he isn't allowed to call her with familiarity to which he replies with "Alright then...Yoo."

In Episode 152 both are shown distraught over their fight. Dieter and Soushi find Shin-Ae crying in the rain and go to Dieter's home with her. Shin-Ae asks Dieter how they manage to stay so composed over this situation with Yeong-Gi throwing them all away. She asks why Yeong-Gi leaving hurts worse than all the other people who left and betrayed her before. Dieter replies by saying "Because you love him. More than those other friends you had in the past."

The "Because you love him" part is separated in its own speech bubble and panel and Shin-Ae is shown with wide eyes right under it.

In Episode 160 Min-Hyuk notes Shin-Ae has acted depressed all week and she vents to him about Yeong-Gi. That she felt a familiarity with him and worries that he might have not felt the same way.

In Episode 168, she texts Yeong-Gi on Instagram, asking if he will come to the party held for Min-Hyuk and tells him she really misses him. After seeing her messages he starts drinking heavily despite saying he can't drink because he's underage just a few minutes before.

Episode 170 shows a flashback from the formal. After they fell into the pool, Yeong-Gi contemplated staying under the surface and thus, ending his life. But he then sees unconscious Shin-Ae and decides to get back up to save her.

""I'm sick of the world above the surface...There's nothing there for me...You!!""

- Nol's thoughts until he sees Shin-Ae

In Episode 174, they almost run into each other but Yeong-Gi hides. Shin-Ae starts telling Min-Hyuk about him and how he changed the way she wants to approach life. That he was like a ray of sunshine and she a gloomy cloud that rained down on everyone. She also says that she would get annoyed by his smiles but she got sad when they disappeared. Yeong-Gi despite hearing all this tries to run away. But he stops in his tracks and runs back when she said that if he were there, she would smile for him, hug him and tell him things will be okay. However, he still hides. At the end, it's revealed Shin-Ae all along knew Yeong-Gi was there.

In Episode 179, she overhears Yeong-Gi talking to her cat from the balcony. They talk and tell each other what they mean to each other. She then reassures him that she's fine with his decision to leave and that she will move on. However, he instead climbs up to the balcony – now facing Shin-Ae.

In Episode 180, Shin-Ae tries to retreat from Yeong-Gi and go back inside but he doesn't let her and holds her wrist. Their dialogue paralleling Episode 11, such as when she tells him to let go of her and he replies by saying that if he does, she would run away. But unlike in Episode 11, he tells her that she needs to get better at that. She says she will scream if he doesn't leave and he dares her to scream but unlike in Episode 11 – she doesn't. She admits that she wanted to see him and talk to him again. That she let him in her life because she had hopes that not all humans would suck, unlike how she told him during the masquerade party. She had trouble seeing the good in people before because when she did, she got "punished" then. He then notices her scar and touches it as he asks if that was "punishment". But she snaps and swats his hand away, telling him that nobody is allowed to touch her scar. She then tells him all about her past with the friend who betrayed her without naming Alyssa.

In Episode 204, they discuss the scars her past left and she asks him about his. But before he can get into detail, he gets sick and vomits because of the alcohol he drunk in Episodes 168 and 169. She gets him inside and he lays down on Min-Hyuk's bed.

In Episode 205, he talks a bit about his relationship to his family. When he gets close to Shin-Ae she blushes slightly and her heart starts to race, even after he already walked off to the other side of the room. She takes notice of the increased heart rate and wonders if it's high blood pressure from all the salt in her food.

In Episode 206, Yeong-Gi figures out that the friend Shin-Ae talked about was Alyssa. She tries to lie herself out of it and when it doesn't work she admits she doesn't want to talk bad about his girlfriend and that she doesn't want to get between him and someone he loves. But he reassures her that Alyssa isn't important to him and tells her about the nature of their relationship and how Alyssa fills him with resentment. After this conversation, christmas music starts playing from downstairs and he reminisces about dancing and singing to christmas music with his mother. Shin-Ae then reaches out her hand to him to ask him for a dance, however, just as he reaches for her hand, Kousuke rushes into the room and interrupts them.

Just after Kousuke and Yeong-Gi got into an argument that ended with Kousuke punching Yeong-Gi through the railing, Yeong-Gi leaves the house. Shin-Ae tries to stop him through telling him that he needs to eat and that the night is "still yeong", the pun he used in Episode 28. However, she doesn't succeed.

""Yeong-Gi won't be coming back, Yoo. Don't even think about chasing me.""

- Nol just before he walks out and shuts the door

In Episode 215, he wakes up in a hospital after nearly bleeding out. He panics, thinking he's at Hirahara memorial. But he calms down when he notices Shin-Ae sleeping at his bedside. She wakes up and he pranks her, pretending to have lost his memories. Shin-Ae falls for it, throws her cat at him when he laughs and as paypack, she pranks him too, pretending he had been in a coma for months. He falls for it and throws her cat at her. He then leans on her shoulder, saying throwing her cat has made him feel lightheaded. She slightly blushes and lets him.

In Episode 216, they stay like this a bit longer and he says he feels peaceful, like he could fall asleep like this. Shin-Ae (again slightly blushing at what he's saying), says he might be feeling like this because of morphine. He asks her how she even ended up in the hospital after he even told her to not follow him. She explains how they found him and after that, he nuzzles his face into her neck but he sneezes on her because of his cat allergy and they pull apart. They start bickering because Shin-Ae – despite the rules – brought a pet into the hospital. She tries to reason with him why Lil' Buddy is allowed to be there and he starts laughing, she stares at him and blushes slightly as she looks away embarrassed.

In Episode 217, Shin-Ae finds out about his birthday. While Yeong-Gi finds out that he wasn't on morphine, so he realises that it was Shin-Ae who made him feel at peace. He blushes at the realisation.

In Episode 218, his heart starts to race as he thinks about Shin-Ae crying on his back in Episode 64+65 and their hug from Episode 151.

In Episode 219, Shin-Ae, Dieter and Soushi surprise Yeong-Gi with a birthday party. Yeong-Gi is thankful and he smiles at Shin-Ae while he hugs Dieter and Soushi, to which she reacts with a deep red blush and she looks away. Yeong-Gi takes notice of this but doesn't comment on it. She hides his birthday gift because she's embarrassed it's not as good as Dieter's and Soushi's.

After the celebration, Dieter and Soushi fell asleep on another hospital bed, while Shin-Ae watches over Yeong-Gi and waits until he sleeps. But he tells her he doesn't want to sleep, so she gets mad and tells him that she'd smack him if he doesn't sleep. He dares her to smack him but his gaze makes her turn around and blush. He notices the birthday note in her backpack and she tries to hide his gift but she can't fool him, so she gives it to him. It's an orange, referencing how they met in Episode 2 and how he got roofied by her orange juice. The orange has a face drawn on it, referencing Episode 11. The note says "Happy birthday – you don't suck that much", which also references the masquerade when she says humans suck. He looks over at her covering her ears and listening to music because she doesn't want to hear his answer, he reaches out to her and touches her hair by her scar. They then listen together to her christmas music playlist. Shin-Ae nervously looks around as he is sitting right next to her. She sees his hand and reaches towards it and starts finger dancing. He asks her what she's doing and she says "We got chistmas music playing. Some people dance and sing along to christmas music", referencing their moment in Episode 206. He joins in on the finger dance and they start laughing over how silly they are being. Shin-Ae then switches to finger fighting and kicks his finger with hers, he then hooks his finger around hers, which she interprets as response to her attack. But when he doesn't let go and goes out of the finger-person stance, she blushes. He tells her to take off her shoes, she asks him why and he throws her words back at her.

"There's christmas music playing. Some people sing and dance along to christmas music."

- Nol while holding Shin-Ae's hand to ask her for a dance

She tells him she could've left her shoes on but he reminds her of her dance with Kousuke by doing the peekaboo again that he did back in Episode 55 to cheer her up while she was uncomfortably dancing with Kousuke. She tells him she would practice dancing while he's gone and that he'll miss her two left feet. His smile fades and he pulls her in for a hug.

In Episode 222, the continuation of Episode 219, Yeong-Gi takes Shin-Ae's headband and covers his eyes to give himself a handicap for their dance. They dance happily, swirling around and laughing even when Shin-Ae steps on Yeong-Gi's feet. Until Shin-Ae notices her shoulder being damp. She looks up at Yeong-Gi and realises he covered his eyes not to be blind, but to cover his tears that he cried while they were hugging.

In Episode 223, Shin-Ae tries to take the headbead off of him but he doesn't let her. She gets upset and goes outside. Outside, she talks to her cat and says that she wants to see him and that she will keep trying to get him to put down his mask.

In Episode 224, Dieter comforts her over Yeong-Gi. While Yeong-Gi talks to his grandma, he fiddles around with Shin-Ae's headband. Nana takes notice of this and points it out. He looks down on it, remembers Shin-Ae and blushes to his ears but tells Nana he's just reacting to the cat dander in the bandana.

In Episode 231, Nana uses the headband to tease Yeong-Gi in front of Shin-Ae, implying it's dirty because he jerked off on it when he didn't do that. He blushes furiously and kicks Nana out, now with Yeong-Gi and Shin-Ae alone, Shin-Ae tells him about how Dieter has become distant. He quickly understands why he is and tells Shin-Ae to leave because he can't be alone with her any longer. An argument ensues in which Shin-Ae doesn't understand that Dieter didn't overinterpret something romantic in their interaction from before (Episode 219) but that it was – that they were acting on feelings. Yeong-Gi asks Shin-Ae why she cares about him, she replies by saying that it's because he's her friend but he wants her to convince him. She looks at him and blushes. He kicks her out.

In Episode 232 Shin-Ae tries to get back into his hospital room but he doesn't let her."Go away, Yoo. You're so damn annoying."In Episode 235 Shin-Ae asks Maya for advice on her problems with Yeong-Gi and Dieter. Maya helps her by getting her to talk about why she's friends with Maya, Rika, Min-Hyuk, Dieter and Yeong-Gi. She has no problem explaining why she's friends with them all, except for Yeong-Gi. She thinks back to Yeong-Gi taking her hat, drawing on her face (Episode 11), doing her make up (Episode 49) and taking her bandana (Episode 222) and goes off while clenching her clothes on her chest: "You f****r! You're making my blood boil! Get out of my mind! I'm too young to be feeling like this! Making my blood pressure soar! Asshole! I'm gonna get all my stuff back!

If you won't let me have you, then I'm not letting you keep anything of mine!" Maya asks Shin-Ae if she has feelings for Yeong-Gi, she denies it but blushes and curses at herself after kicking Maya out. Going to sleep, hoping those feelings will be gone once she wakes up.

Quotes
"You’re more than enough in my book!"

- Nol to Shin-Ae in Episode 45 "Goodness. My hands feel kinda weird...I wonder if his hands feel weird too..."

- Shin-Ae after holding Nol's hands

"The night you asked me to be your partner...You said we made a great team...Our friendship...How much of it was genuine? I'm guessing it was all a lie too, huh?"

- Shin-Ae to Nol in Episode 151 after she found out about his lies "I'm sorry, okay? I never wanted to hurt her! I really liked her! She's special to me!"

- Nol to Lil' Buddy in Episode 178 "Your last dose of morphine was given several hours ago when you were admitted. You were never on a morphine drip."

- The nurse to Nol, when Nol believed that the reason he was feeling good it was because he was “lightheaded” "Still...I wanted to see his face so badly. I want to see HIM and I feel like I got a glimpse of it this evening...So I'm going to keep trying."

- Shin-ae in Episode 223

Fanon
Stalkyoo is arguably the most popular ship in the fandom. Its main rival ship is Yootip.

Stalkyoo won 'The OTP to rule them all" at the first Webtoonies 2023, a fan-voting awards event held by Line Webtoon.

Fandom
FAN FICTION