After a mix-up at a broadcasting studio she finds herself spending the day as the personal assistant for the famous actor Doyun Nam—and quickly lands herself into even more trouble at work.

Yet another miserable day of taking orders from others only to face ruthless criticism, and Ji-eon is left frustrated by her own passivity. But most of all, she blames Doyun, the stuck-up celebrity who she spent the day waiting on hand and foot.

With a dwindling bank account and loss of dignity to match, she lets out her stress on a plush toy. It isn't long before she realizes its magical ability: the doll can control Doyun.

With the power now in her hands for the very first time, Ji-eon gets a taste of what it's like to finally be the boss. But with power comes responsibility—and consequences.

And with a slow-burn romance developing with Doyun, Ji-eon must decide what she truly wants for her future.

Act Like You Love Me! has a story and art by XUANN. Localized by WEBTOON. Published by WEBTOON Unscrolled (November 3, 2026). Rated 16+.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Imagine that you could control one celebrity by talking to a knock-off toy. Ji-eon (not Jiyeon, thank you very much) isn't looking for that sort of power, and certainly not over actor Doyun Nam, but after a series of terrible, horrible, no good very bad events, she ends up with it anyway. It all starts when Doyun inadvertently destroys her temp job at a TV station by mistakenly assuming she's his replacement manager, causing her to lose badly needed money. Then a weird old guy tries to pay for his soju with a crane machine doll, running out before she can get actual cash out of him. When she gets home, Ji-eon vents her frustrations by yelling at the Doyun while holding the doll…and the next thing she knows, Doyun Nam is at her door, on his knees, begging her forgiveness and trying to lick her toes, just like she told the doll she wanted him to do. He has no idea how (or why) he's there, and Ji-eon quickly figures out that anyone can control him with Knock-off Mingji – unfortunately for him, after he's wandered through the city in his bathrobe and underwear and attempted to fight a stegosaurus. (In her defense, that last one wasn't her fault; some kids stole her toy.)

But that's not all that's going on here. Underneath the silliness, there's Doyun's panic attacks, which seem to be preventing him from working on a regular basis, and something's going on with Ji-eon's mom. At first I thought her mother was sick, but the more the book goes on, the more it starts to look more like she's bilking her daughter out of her money. There's one panel that makes me think that she's involved with an unsavory man; whatever the reason, poor Ji-eon is working herself to a frazzle and just wants her mother to act like she cares. This sort of dark underbelly isn't unheard of, or even uncommon, in this type of Korean drama. So far it isn't particularly well balanced, though, and I'd really have liked to get a bit more information about where both Ji-eon and Doyun are coming from. There's also a currently unnamed man who's come into Ji-eon's overnight shift at the convenience store twice who seems out of place right now, although I expect that to change in volume two.

Still, the humor is really quite funny. Doyun charging off to fight a dinosaur (and nearly doing it) and straining to lick Ji-eon's toes both got an out-loud chuckle from me, and the story's assertion that Doyun and Mingji look alike is one of the funnier (and weirder) plot points I've come across. Act Like You Love Me! is shaping up to be fun, and as soon as it gets its plot in order, I think it'll be worth reading. I'm willing to give it at least another volume to see where it goes.

Bolts
Rating:

Do not expect this story to become a hard-hitting romance anytime soon because if there's one thing that Act Like You Love Me! likes to revel in, it's the absurdity of its premise. Imagine you're somebody who is just trying to live their life, working multiple jobs and living paycheck to paycheck. It's understandable to resent those in the illustrious upper-class world, especially if you feel like one of them screwed you over. But what if you could control those people via a mysterious voodoo doll? How would you profit from that ability? Would you use it for personal gain or would you want nothing to do with it? I wish the story bothered answering that question at all.

While there are definitely one or two romantically charged moments, our two main leads barely have any chemistry. The majority of this first volume is stumbling over the main protagonist Ji-eon as she is still figuring out how she somehow has control over this hot actor who has no idea why he is doing half of the things he is magically being forced to do. It's one thing for a story to establish a premise and go with a slow burn, but the pacing for this volume is so agonizingly slow and relies so much on the same recycled jokes that I ended up leaving the volume without any sense of fulfillment. I know the idea of controlling someone from far away is a weird concept, but it takes WAY too long for Ji-eon to figure it out and do anything about her discoveries.

There is one angle that I particularly like, and it revolves around the actor Doyun Nam, who seems to be going through anxiety issues that tie into his past and reputation as a celebrity. It is actually interesting seeing him try to navigate getting his reputation back as an actor while also dealing with mysterious blackouts that happen when he has control taken away from him. However, the story is not told from his perspective at all, so it feels like I'm being teased with a more interesting story about Doyun while Ji-eon flails around trying to figure out what on earth she should be doing. I would say don't waste your time with this because it should not take an entire volume just to start telling your story.