True Beauty (webtoon)


True Beauty, also known as The Secret of Angel and other names, is a South Korean manhwa written and illustrated by Yaongyi. First published in Naver Webtoon from April 2, 2018, to June 28, 2023, it centers on a young woman who mastered the art of makeup in her teenage years in order to transform herself into a gorgeous "goddess" after being bullied and discriminated because of being perceived as ugly.
As of January 2022, the official English version of True Beauty has accumulated 6.6 million subscribers and 825.9 million views. The comic updates every Wednesday. True Beauty was the third most viewed series on Webtoon in 2019 and a print version was released starting October 29, 2020 by Young Com. It was also adapted into a television series of the same name which premiered on tvN on December 9, 2020. An aeni series of the same name aired from August to October 2024. A second season has been announced.
WWW comic.naver.com/webtoon/l...

Plot

In her teenage years, Ju-kyung Lim has been treated unfairly by her family and bullied by her enemies due to being perceived as ugly. She starts learning how to use makeup by binge-watching tutorial videos on the Internet. She masters the art and her makeover proves to be gorgeously transformative as she quickly rises to fame and people become awed at the sight of her newfound beauty. Soon, she makes an unlikely relationship with two of the most handsome, most popular boys at school: Lee Su-ho, who is the first to recognize her beyond her makeup, and Han Seo-jun, a "bad boy" who is not on good terms with Suho. Living in a society where people are judged based on their physical appearance, Jugyeong navigates through her high school days and into her college life while struggling to keep her makeup-less face a secret and facing various challenges with her self-esteem, love life and career.
The plot of True Beauty can de subdivided into the following story arcs:Ju-kyung's high school story
  1. "The advent of a goddess": Ju-kyung learns and masters the makeup arts
  2. Suho recognizes Ju-kyung beyond her make-up
  3. Soo-jin's plot against Ju-kyung
  4. Ju-kyung meets Seo-jun and Aiden
  5. Ju-kyung becomes Gowoon's makeup artist
  6. The tragedy of Yoon Se-yeon; Su-ho and Seo-jun reconcile
  7. The summer break with Suho and Seo-jun
  8. The last year in high school and Suho's departure to Japan Into adulthood
  9. Ju-kyung in college: life without Su-ho and falling in love with Seo-jun
  10. Ju-kyung deals with her jealousy
  11. Ju-kyung and Jin-su
  12. Seo-jun's multiple part-time jobs and his overnight Internet stardom
  13. Su-ho returns; Seo-jun recognizes Ju-kyung's bare face
  14. Seo-jun returns to idol training, Ju-kyung works under Selena Lee
  15. Ju-kyung deals with Seo-jun's jealousy
  16. Ju-kyung, Su-ho, Seo-jun, and Aiden in Prince of Prince
  17. Ju-kyung's struggle with dating an upcoming idol; Ju-kyung and Seo-jun's break-up
  18. Ju-kyung and Seo-jun try to move on from their break-up
  19. Ju-kyung and Eun-hye
  20. Ju-kyung at the Lee Family's villa
  21. Seo-jun's song dedicated to Ju-kyung
  22. Soo-jin's ordeal with her abusive boyfriend
  23. Soo-jin starts leading a new life, Su-ho and Seo-jun continue fighting over Ju-kyung
  24. Da-jung's cheating boyfriend
  25. Su-ho becomes Ju-kyung's boyfriend
  26. Ju-kyung venturing into vlogging and her struggle against Jo Bo-jung
  27. Su-ho and his father reconcile; Ju-kyung stands up to Bo-jung
  28. Su-ho starts working as a cook under Mi-yeon; Ju-kyung helps Mi-yeon with her face scar
  29. Ju-kyung and Seung-ho
  30. Seo-jun suffered hardships in his career as an idol
  31. Ju-kyung's bare face becomes exposed to the netizens
  32. Ju-kyung runs away from home and finally learns to love her true self
  33. Conclusion

Characters

Main

Lim Ju-kyungLee Su-ho
  • '''Han Seo-jun'''

Supporting

Ju-kyung's family

Saebom High School

  • Kang Soo-ah
  • Kang Soo-jin
  • Ahn Chae-rin
  • Han Joon-woo

Seo-jun's family and friends

  • Han Go-woon
  • the Han siblings' mother
  • Lee Pil-soo
  • Wang Ji-hoon
  • Jessie
  • Kim Aiden

Su-ho's family

College acquaintances

ST Entertainment

  • Shin Hee-yeon
  • Jeong Ji-hyuk
  • Kim Yeong-bin
  • Yeonjun

''Prince of Prince''

  • Yang Jae-won
  • Seo Hwi

Others

  • Yoon Se-yeon
  • Ji Woo-hyun
  • Yoo Eun-hye
  • Jo Bo-jung
  • Lee Mi-yeon
  • Kim Min-ji
  • Cha Seung-ho
  • Producer Lee

Background and publication history

Naver Webtoon

The planning for the Webtoon that would later be known as True Beauty started when Webtoon author Kim Na-young, better known under her nom de plume Yaongyi, was in her late teens. She published the early version of True Beauty in Naver Comics' Challenge Comics, a platform for new, self-publishing Webtoon's. In this version, the protagonist was male and was described by Yaongyi as a boy with a "warm appearance" and an "anime otaku."
After a break from webcomics, Yaongyi returned to working on True Beauty in her mid-twenties and changed its protagonist to the current female character Lim Ju-kyung but she kept the Webtoon's theme of "true beauty".
Yaongyi also once worked as a fitting model before venturing into webcomics. This, combined with her penchant for fashion and cosmetics, helped her conceptualize True Beauty which would later be published as a formal Naver Webtoon beginning with April 2, 2018, and has been running on a weekly basis on Monday.
Various official translations of True Beauty were published on Naver's non-Korean Webtoon platforms as early as May 2018, when the Thai and Indonesian versions were released starting on the 14th and 19th, respectively. The Chinese version followed on June 29, 2018 while the English version was released on August 14, 2018. In 2019, True Beauty was also translated into Spanish and French, released on November 21 and December 18 respectively.

Other names

Since its international release, True Beauty has become known under other names other than its international English title and its literal English-translated title. They are as follows:The Secret of Angel The Secret of a Goddess 'Beauty Secrets'''''

Print version

A print version of True Beauty was released starting October 29, 2020, by Young Com.

Adaptations

Live-action

True Beauty has been adapted into a television series of the same name which premiered on tvN on December 9, 2020. The plan to adopt the Webtoon into a television series was revealed in July 2019, and the casting of Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo and Hwang In-yeop was confirmed by August 2020. Written by Lee Si-eun and directed by Kim Sang-hyeop, the series focuses on the original Webtoon's high school story arc but with considerable changes in plot and characterizations. The main characters Lim Ju-kyung, Lee Su-ho, and Han Seo-jun are played by Moon, Cha, and Hwang, respectively, while the supporting character Kang Soo-jin was recharacterized, promoted to be one of the main characters of the series version and is played by Park Yoo-na.

Aeni

On November 3, 2021, an aeni series was announced. It was produced by Studio N and Cocktail Media, and aired from August 7 to October 30, 2024. Crunchyroll announced during its panel at Anime NYC 2023 that it has streamed the series and premiered the show on the same day. Crunchyroll also produced and aired an English dub starting on August 21, 2024.
A Japanese dub version was released on October 5, 2024, through U-NEXT. The show was later released through other streaming sites include ABEMA, Amazon Prime and Hulu.
A second season was announced on January 4, 2025.

Reception

In 2019, the webtoon was nominated for the 2019 Next Manga Awards in the web category and was placed 4th out of 50 nominees.