Eunha's high-school life takes a dramatic turn when her bullies force her to perform a ghost-summoning ritual that brings Haesu, a charming yet unsettling spirit, into her life. Claiming to be her friend, Haesu starts exacting revenge on Eunha's tormentors. However, his violent methods concern Eunha, and she begins searching for answers to uncover the past and his true identity.

The Classmate has a story by and art by sooriboo. English localization by WEBTOON. Published by WEBTOON (June 15, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I am, admittedly, a wimp, but The Classmate genuinely terrified me. In a good way, really, because it has all of the elements required for a good ghost story: horror, terror, and an understanding that every story about a ghost is a tragedy in some way. In this case, that's tempered with a healthy dollop of revenge, because while we only get hints of Haesu's truth by chapter eight's end, there's a very good chance that he died as a result of being bullied – and that's why he's so willing to help Eunha.

That's another reason why this story works. Eunha is the victim of regular bullying by her psychopathic classmate Taerin, who at some point in middle school decided that she hated her. Taerin and her flunkies have devoted their high school lives to making sure that Eunha is constantly ostracized and terrified, and none of the adults are willing to see what's going on – although I daresay at least the homeroom teacher is aware. But he's so close to retirement that he just doesn't care, plus Taerin's dad is powerful and influential. It's safer to let Taerin torment Eunha – or at least it is until Taerin forces Eunha to perform a necromantic ritual that results in Haesu becoming her “guest.”

Scary as Haesu is, Eunha's situation really is untenable. Her mother isn't in the picture and her father seems to have abandoned her; at one point she eats moldy bread and remarks that between this bun and what she'll eat at school during the week, she'll be okay. Taerin's bullying is the final straw in terms of what Eunha can handle, and at one point in these chapters she comes close to throwing herself out a window. Haesu seems like a viable answer to Eunha's problems, and he really does seem to like her…or at least, to like the chance to get back at some bullies ten years after his own death. Somewhere in most of us survivors of horrific bullying, there's a voice that whispers that Haesu's in the right, because we all just wish someone had stood up for us and believed us. And don't the bullies deserve what he's going to give them?

The Classmate is, for my money, an excellent horror story. It blends everyday horrors at the hands of classmates with the visceral fear of the otherworld and monsters who live in shadows. Maybe it's wrong to think that Haesu's less of a monstrous being than Taerin. But maybe that's just the trap that this series wants us to fall into.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Eunha is a nice, if naïve girl. Her classmates despise her for whatever reasons they conjure up and together they abuse and bully her. But when the terrifying “ritual” they force her to do works and she gains a malevolent spirit who pushes back on her bullies, they find themselves less anxious to hurt her.

I had to take several grounding breaths while reading this. Of course, the bullies are shitty people, who tun on each other as fast as they turn on Eunha. And of course, Eunha is a baby seal of a human being who, even after being traumatized, seems to be mostly unaware of the horrors around her.

But—and here I ask a question I ask of most literature—why should I care? No one in this class is worth reading about. I am very very done reading about bullies, not because I'm past that age, but because I am past wanting to see those kinds of behaviors at all in any media. I blame fiction for constantly using Nazis as clever bad guys, instead of making them look pathetic and ridiculous. Likewise, I am fully done with bullies getting their way in any situation for any reason when they are, objectively, pathetic. Eunha being so naïve does not endear her to me. Everyone in this story is a two-dimensional character in a thin horror story.

I read every extant free chapter, and have a clear feeling that they spirits who is currently terrorizing the bullies in small ways, is going to have a backstory, like “my friend betrayed me” and it will be predictable and have no depth or meaning at all. If you like curse horror, this is certainly something you could read, but I would recommend About a Place in the Kinki Region over this. Horror is still literature and this manhwa just doesn't have what it takes to grip me.