Webtoons, a portmanteau of web and cartoon, are a digital media form originating from South Korea that has recently garnered international attention and popularity. As a media form that is created, published, and consumed all digitally, webtoons have become a unique South Korean cultural product. This report aims to examine how South Korean webtoons became popular intentionally through an analysis of webtoon scanlation groups. Scanlation, a portmanteau of scan translation, is the process of fan-made scanning, translating, and editing a media form; webtoon scanlation groups are involved in this process of creation, but also in the distribution of webtoons. By examining scanlation groups via the lenses of platformization, participatory fandom, and gift economies, the growth of popularity and readership of South Korean webtoons can be explained.