‘Long After the Ending‘ (Korean: 원작은 완결난 지 한참 됐습니다만) also known as ‘It’s Been A While Since the Original Novel was Completed’, is a Korean romance-isekai manhwa-webtoon began being released in 2021 and ended being released in 2023, adapted & illustrated by ‘Dorae‘ (Korean: 도래), based on the web novel by ‘Wonder Dream‘ (Korean: 원더드림) and originally published by ‘Wonder Dream‘ on the Korean platform ‘Naver‘ and adapted in English by ‘Webtoons‘.
Elena Taylor
Elena Taylor, the former villainess of a romance story got possessed by the protagonist, a modern korean woman, who is a major romance novel fan. Now as Elena, she decided to walk away from the original plotline and start a relationship-counselling business.
As an independent woman trying to find her footing in life after breaking up with the male lead, she decides to open a romance counselling business, unexpectedly she is given the hardest request she could ever imagine: help the sub-lead of the main plot, Hugh Godwin, debut in High-Society and get married.
Her kind and competent, yet playful personality is an absolute bliss – Elena is not only beautiful outside, but inside too – seeing her banter with Hugh, her maid Deedee and other characters makes reading very enjoyable.
The World of ‚Long After the Ending‘
“Long After the Ending” is set in a well-crafted, fictional, early industrial-age world. From the stringent standards of beauty and behavior upheld by the noble class to the pressures faced by Elena and those around, every aspect of the world is vividly portrayed. Showcasing the intricacies of societal norms, gender expectations, and class dynamics all serve as captivating storytelling devices throughout ‘Long After the Ending’.
Additionally, the inclusion of societal factions and the heavy expectations placed upon Duke Hugh and Elena adds a lot of depth to the story, making the world feel more vibrant and realistic. Within this conservative society, Hugh faces major pressure from his mother (the Dowager Duchess Godwin), to conform to traditional political marriage, highlighting the complex dynamics of social status, familial expectations, and personal feelings, such as love.
Meanwhile, Elena challenges societal norms by rejecting traditional roles and pursuing her own path, despite facing unpleasant consequences to her bold actions.
Characters
Duke Hugh Godwin, who was destined to a life of misery, being the sub-male-lead aka second male-lead aka forever alone. After having to see the ‘love of his life’ Astel, marry his best friend Lian, he fell into a deep hole of depression and completely gave up on dating.
That is until Elena entered his life and forced him to make changes (on behalf of Hugh’s mom who hired Elena to somehow find him a wife) – being very reluctant and judgmental in the beginning, Hugh starts to realize over time how great Elena actually is, and how much he enjoys spending time with her. On another note, Hugh has got to have one of the most extreme optical transformations amongst male-leads in romance webtoons, looking very unkempt in the beginning, turning into a ‘snack’ later.
Deedee, Elena’s loyal maid and best friend was the only person to support her in her time of crisis – she is a stoic and very confident person, ready to utter a dry roast in anybody’s direction at any point. For example, there was Mathias, Hugh’s knight, who fell in love with her in an early chapter and got rejected a million times, becoming a funny running gag.
As Elena already knew, having read the novel in her past life, Astel Fraser was destined to be the female lead of this world. Knowing that, Elena didn’t really have much of a grudge against Astel, if anything she is a little annoyed by her bubbly personality and tendency to overshare her affection for Lian, even lovingly calling him Ling Ling. She hasn’t got a single evil bone to her body, she really is a pure character, who didn’t steal Elena’s man on purpose (she genuinely didn’t even know Elena actually loved Lian at some point), rendering her a rare exception in the romance isekai genre.
Lian Harrington was the original male-lead in the novel Elena got sucked into – while having hurt the previous Elena very deeply, there were deep rooted reasons for his fucked up behavior – of course this is no excuse, but still, Lian isn’t a pure villain deserving of eternal suffering, rather an emotionally incompetent man, born into a very high position, having to juggle a lot of responsibilities at once.
Art & Style
When it comes to illustration, ‘Long After the Ending’ does not fail – the art-style is very consistent, the quality is superb, and character emotions are shown in an appealing fashion. The modern art suits ‘Long After the Ending’ very well, tying everything together really well, maybe this has something to do with the illustrator having adapted the web novel story to suit the format better, or maybe it is a coincidence. Nonetheless ‘Long After the Ending’ delivers a great visual package with a story matching that quality!
What’s great
Their naturally growing relationship is shown in a very realistic and wholesome manner. Both carry a lot of traumata from their past love lives, seeing them grow as people and overcome their shared hurt is a very well-built showcase of how a romance webtoon should be written.
‘Long After the Ending’ is veeery innocent in terms of isekai webtoons, it feels quite therapeutic, as Elena and Hugh work through their personal issues, its apparent that both of them are really kind souls who got dealt a painful starting hand. Seeing them overcome the pain and embrace love, as cringey as it sounds, is a really heartwarming experience and ‘restores a bit of faith in humanity’ (even though this a fictional webtoon lmao).
Another great point would be the original stories female lead, usually in these types of manhwa, she would be a witch, who somehow wronged the protagonist and actually deserves to receive some kind of painful ass revenge – not Astel though, she’s an actually good person, while a bit annoying, clingy, lovestruck for the emperor and not being the brightest, she grows very close to Elena over time as they get to know each other.
Even the ending is top notch, every single important storyline started earlier, got tied up and tidily brought to a satisfying conclusion before the finale. While sounding quite basic on the surface, this is really appreciated, since there is no bigger bummer than seeing the author seemingly forget your favorite side character.
Should I read ‘Long After the Ending’?
Short answer yes. But to be specific, ‘Long After the Ending’ is a special romance isekai, which every fan of those genres should 100% read – since the whole story is ‘only’ 60 chapters long it should be a fairly quick read without much potential for disappointment.
If everything written above just sounds like painful cringe to you, then (obviously) Long After the Ending isn’t really for you – if you feel adventurous you should still give it a shot!
Be aware before reading
If you like muscles or like working out, you might get a shock by the worlds beauty standards – tl;dr: muscles = bad; thin = elegant. While this is shown in a certain context to drive the story forward, you might feel upset or disrespected depending on how thick (or thin) your skin is. Elena never body-shames him and does acknowledges the fact that Hugh is an extremely hard-working knight. Nonetheless, since she got hired to make him popular in high society (and societal bias unfortunately matters there), she has to urge him to slim down a little.
Special Features
While this isn’t exclusive to ‘Long After the Ending’ or even that ‘special’ of a feature, but the lighthearted plot and positive character interactions are something to behold. Not many webtoons manage to be this relaxing and therapeutic while still delivering an enjoyable storyline without too much cringy moments. Characters tend to have a certain role in the story, and there isn’t any noticeable content padding at all, 60 chapters are the perfect length for the story to be told, sure it would’ve been nice to get a couple extra chapters after the plot ends, but it is a well-rounded package without too.
Summary
“Long After the Ending” offers a very refreshing take on the romance-isekai genre, where a Korean romance fan got reincarnated as Elena Taylor, former villainess of a novel she was reading, takes charge of her destiny by starting a relationship-counseling business. Set in a meticulously crafted early industrial-age world, ‘Long After the Ending’ explores societal norms, gender expectations, and class dynamics through vivid storytelling. The evolving relationship between Elena and Hugh is portrayed in a realistic, yet heart-wearming and healing way, showcasing their growth from past traumas towards love.
Tl;dr
“Long After the Ending,” is set in an intricately depicted early industrial-age world, the manhwa delves into societal norms and class dynamics. The evolving romance between protagonist Elena Taylor and Duke Hugh Godwin is depicted realistically, offering readers a heartwarming journey of healing and love. With superb artwork and a concise storyline, ‘Long After the Ending’ provides a satisfying read for romance-isekai enthusiasts.