Jinyoung as Babi in 'Yumi's Cells' Season 2.

‘Yumi’s Cells’ Writers Admit to Using Part of Soonrok’s Webtoon Story for Babi

Fans are eager to see Soonrok develop if a third season of 'Yumi's Cells' is greenlighted. But they will be surprised to learn some of Soonrok's webtoon stories were used for Babi.

by Gabriela Silva

Published on August 3, 2022

3 min read

Yu-mi and Babi fall in love – but it was not enough

Fans were introduced to Babi in the first season of the K-drama, but as Yu-mi’s coworker. Over time, fans saw hints that Bbai developed feelings for Yu-mi after his breakup. While Woong broke off his relationship with Yu-mi in the first season finale, it left the door open for Yu-mi and Babi’s love story like the webtoons.

In Yumi’s Cells Season 2, Babi clarified his feelings for Yu-mi. But Yu-mi rejects his advances until she realizes she was wrong to do so. They soon started what seemed like a perfect love story. Babi was the epitome of a great boyfriend. But their relationship hit turmoil due to Da-eun and her selfishness in confessing her feelings.

After Babi and Yu-mi’s first breakup, Yu-mi focuses on her writing. But a chance encounter has them revisiting their leftover feelings, and they get back together. In the finale of Yumi’s Cells Season 2, Da-eun again caused Yu-mi to realize her heart was no longer with Babi.

While the webtoon clarifies Yu-mi’s love stories, fans hoped Babi and Yu-mi were the endgame couple. But the K-drama teased Soonrok, Yu-mi’s final love. The writers of Yumi’s Cells admit they took some of Babi’s storyline from Soonrok.

‘Yumi’s Cells’ writers took details from Soonrok’s story to make Babi interesting

In the early episodes of Yumi’s Cells Season 2, fans noticed a few discrepancies in storyline events. When Babi and Yu-mi start flirting in the third episode, they are at a coffee shop. As they leave, Yu-mi trips and starts to fall down the stairs. In the cliche trope of K-dramas, Babi catches her like a hero. Fans soon pointed out the scene did not occur between Yu-mi and Babi but between Babi and Soonrok.

The writers of Yumi’s Cells have an explanation for it. According to Soompi, writer Song Jae-jung explains, “Moreover, people’s like and dislike for the character Yoo Babi were so polarized that they had absolutely no anticipation for Season 2. That is why I had to make a lot of adjustments.”

“I feel so sorry to Shin Soonrok’s fans, but I had to take from Soonrok’s narrative. I also wanted to highlight webtoon writer Lee Dong Gun’s creative points, but a lot of those were in Soonrok’s love story,” explained the writer.

She explains because they planned the first two seasons of Yumi’s Cells from the get-go, they worried Soonrok’s webtoon story would go to waste. To make Babi more exciting and use as much of the webtoon’s storyline as possible, they migrated Soonrok’s story to Babi in Yumi’s Cells Season 2.

It is unclear how ‘Yumi’s Cells’ Season 3 will address Soonrok

While the writers and producers of Yumi’s Cells used Soonrok’s stories for Babi, there is still more to the character. He is, after all, Yu-mi’s future husband. Yu-mi’s end storyline was teased in the first season with her wedding portrait.

But director Lee Sang-yeop explains Yumi’s Cells Season 3 is not up for discussion just yet. The team went into creating the K-drama with two seasons in mind, but not a third. “I think I need to take a break as I’ve been working for a long time. If we decide to do Season 3, we should resume our talks then,” said Lee. The fan hype over the K-drama is intense, especially regarding who will play Soonrok in a possible new season.