A Study on the Punitive Antihero in “A Killer Paradox”: A Comparative Analysis of the Webtoon and Drama

This study analyzes the punitive anti-hero narrative, which punishes only criminals, focusing on the Naver Webtoon A Killer Paradox (2010) and its Netflix drama adaptation of the same title (2024). To this end, the study compares the murder cases involving the protagonist, Lee Tang, by categorizing them into the situational context, the internal rationale, and the manner of the killings, while also examining the changing perceptions and attitudes of the surrounding characters toward him. The analysis reveals that although both the webtoon and the drama depict the punitive anti-hero, their narrative strategies diverge significantly. Typically, the punitive anti-hero justifies personal crimes under the pretext of protecting citizens’ safety, which makes the “identification of criminals” an inevitable narrative issue. In the webtoon, Lee Tang is portrayed not as one who kills after identifying criminals deserving of death, but as a figure who reveals the victim’s culpability after the killing—thus subverting the causal logic of criminal identification. Conversely, the drama reconstructs Lee Tang as a more conventional anti-hero by endowing him with a transcendental ability to recognize criminals through bodily signs such as goosebumps. The responses of surrounding characters to Lee Tang also differ across media, providing insight into how anti-heroes are granted legitimacy within the community. In the webtoon, characters such as Noh Bin, Jang Nan-gam, and Song Chon undergo betrayal by paternal or paternal-like authority figures, which leads them to repudiate the social values once regarded as virtues. Encountering Lee Tang—who fills the void left by collapsed paternal authority and exposes justice as an illusion through logical leaps—they fall into confusion. In contrast, the drama depicts these characters as relatively stable, as their belief that justice can be achieved by upholding social virtues remains unshaken. Consequently, when faced with Lee Tang, who symbolizes an alternative to the existing order, they do not experience comparable disorientation. Through this analysis, the study demonstrates that while the webtoon presents the anti-hero as a figure that dismantles boundaries and raises the fundamental question of “what is justice,” the drama emphasizes a conventional anti-hero model that ultimately reduces conflicts to a justice firmly bound to ethics. By identifying these two distinct modes of the punitive anti-hero, the study suggests the potential for exploring the conditions under which different anti-hero models become valid across media.