ROXANA to be removed from Tapas in August 2025

On April 7, 2025, Team Tapas announced that the webcomic Roxana will be delisted from the platform starting August 29, 2025.

The official statement reads:

Dear Readers,
Thank you all for your support of Roxana! The series will no longer be available starting August 29, 2025. All free episodes have been converted to paid and can now be purchased prior to the unlisting date. Previously purchased episodes will remain accessible via the Tapas app’s “Settings” > “Transaction history” > “Series” section.
For more information on how to access your purchased content, please visit: Tapas Help Center
– Team Tapas –

Tapas began publishing Roxana in 2021, with the most recent episode—Episode 43—released on April 16, 2023. The same number of episodes is available in the original Korean on Kakao Page, with Episode 43 released on August 29, 2022.

Also known as How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother, Roxana is based on a story by Kin with original character designs by Hae-Yun Choo. The manhwa adaptation features a script by Ji-Yeon Baek and artwork by Juniljus.

In August 2022, artist Juniljus shared a heartfelt statement on X (formerly Twitter), describing their health struggles and challenging experiences within the webtoon industry. In their post, translated by Reddit user froggle_w, Juniljus detailed their decision to take a medical hiatus and expressed hope for both personal recovery and improved working conditions for creators. The artist emphasized the importance of support from readers and industry leaders and asked for compassion rather than speculation regarding the situation.

Juniljus’s message in its entirety reads:

I was in a state of confusion after reading yesterday’s news article. I couldn’t get a word out as I originally intended to.

What I wanted to post yesterday was that I met with my team leader (first time meeting him) and VP of Kakao Webtoon. Given my schedule, I decided having a same-day meeting would be for the best, and shared what happened to me and everything else.

I wasn’t seeking out an apology or compensation [when I posted on twitter]. For what I had to endure, and what I suffered healthwise, I couldn’t bear it any longer and I had to share. The management acknowledged where I came from. I shared my story because they told me they would listen. We will discuss the future direction today when my husband can join us.

The news is already public, but I ask you to refrain from unverified speculations. Journalists keep reaching out to me, asking for the identity and whereabouts of my ex-PD.

As I already stated, I have no intention to ruin someone’s life, someone’s family. Regarding my ex-PD, the company is taking appropriate actions. However, I am not set out to ruin a child’s future. I do not accept calls asking for the identity and whereabouts of my ex-PD.

Also, I do not want a news article written without my permission. If what I said is not accurately conveyed, that is also a lie.

It is a lie to say someone cast 1 stone or 3 stones when 2 stones were cast. Even if everything is accurately described, what I see is my sorrow. Team leader, VP, family friends, acquaintances, readers all know what happened.

I appreciate your anger [on behalf of myself] for the truth, but please do not get angry for the lies and speculations. I don’t want to see the very people who are angry on behalf of me, whom I am thankful for, becoming liars themselves.

If you must, if you think of me, please consider this. I don’t want the people who care about me to turn into bad actors towards someone else.

If there will be a news article, please consult everything with my husband. I’m still too nervous to do this myself. I would much prefer an article written in the presence of my team leader and VP who fully listened to my story, and I believe this is what will happen. That is good enough for me. So that good people can continue to make the webtoon industry better and create an environment where webtoon creators are taken care of.

When I met with team leader and VP with my husband, we chatted about many things, including a future plan for my health treatment, and what this means to the future of the webtoon industry.

For the unforeseeable future, which be a long time, I decided to get medical treatment.

Many of you already know my body and heart are broken. Truthfully speaking, I am more afraid of my mental health. [Management] agreed to support that I need time to heal my heart [mental health] first.

So that I can go back to my ordinary self.

After getting help to heal my broken heart, I’m going to continue with medical treatment [for the body] and continue with the rest. It’s been only a short while since Roxana S2 launched, and I am very sorry that I have to bring up another hiatus. Many readers may have to wait for a long time, but I am not going to give up. It would delight me if you [readers] don’t give up on me as well.

During my recovery period, I imagine there will be more meetings like today’s. During that process, we will discuss more about making the future of the webtoon industry better.

If what happened to me brought attention to the [poor] working environment of webtoon creators, I consider this fortunate. Many creators cannot afford to give up, stop, or speak up in this environment. If this can become a step towards improving every creators’ working environments, that would be great. I would love to see more discussions, including the topic of hiatus system and illegal piracy, so that both creators and readers are rewarded and we can take proper weekend off [note: original posting says ‘weekend that is as given can come’ so I translated it as having a work-life balance]. I expressed my desire to see positive changes in the working environment, and the team leader and VP listened to me and showed their sincere support to continue this conversation. So I am hopeful that better days will come.

This has been a long post. Thank you for supporting me.

For carrying my sorrow alongside me, for getting angry on behalf of myself who is too exhausted to get angry anymore. I hope your life will be full of happiness.

Roxana will return one day. Until then, I’ll go take care of myself and restoring what was neglected. I’ll return afterwards.

I look forward to the day when I am doodling again.

I look forward to becoming a person who brings good news instead of bad news.

I look forward to the day when I am back to my ordinary self.

Stay healthy and happy, everyone.

Tapas is the only platform with the official English license for Roxana. Readers have from now until August 29 to unlock all the chapters. All previously free chapters have been converted to paid and will still be accessible through the Tapas app’s transaction history, even after the series has been taken down.

Source: Tapas