Yoo Jae-suk's 19-year-old act of kindness — repaying an ice cream debt — comes to light

A heartwarming story about comedian Yoo Jae-suk repaying an old ice cream debt and inviting the shop owner's family to his wedding has come to light nearly two decades later.

On Saturday, an Instagram webtoon artist identified only as A published a comic strip titled "The story of how I appeared on 'Infinite Challenge' and went to Yoo Jae-suk's wedding." An "instatoon" refers to a webtoon serialized on Instagram.

A referenced a Seoul sightseeing special that aired on MBC's "Infinite Challenge" in 2007, writing that "the supermarket owner who appeared in this Seoul sightseeing special and gave ice cream to Yoo Jae-suk and the production crew is my boyfriend's father." At the time, Yoo had been on his way to Namsan when he realized he had no wallet and put ice cream for himself and the staff on credit at a small supermarket.

A said she had heard the behind-the-scenes story from her boyfriend a few years ago. Her boyfriend told her: "Back then, Yoo Jae-suk got the ice cream on credit, and later we went to his wedding."

"It turned out that when Yoo Jae-suk came back to repay the debt, he invited my boyfriend's family to his wedding," A wrote. "He also sent pizza and cake through his manager."

The original broadcast had drawn attention when the supermarket owner offered ice cream to Yoo and the staff after noticing Yoo was thirsty during the sightseeing segment. Yoo responded with gratitude, saying, "What can I do without my wallet? I will really enjoy this."

The story, shared 19 years after the fact, drew warm reactions online. "What an incredible coincidence," one user wrote, while others said, "I remember the person who gave him that ice cream" and "Shouldn't they invite him on 'You Quiz'?"