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My ID is Gangnam Beauty #1
내 ID는 강남미인 1
못생긴 외모 때문에 무수히 많은 상처를 받았던 ‘미래’는 새로운 인생을 살기 위해서 성형수술을 받고 강남미인으로 거듭난다. 외모도 달라진 만큼 누구보다 당당한 대학생활을 하리라 다짐하지만, 현실은 결코 만만치가 않다. 더구나 어린 시절 자신의 못생긴 외모를 알고 있는 중학교 동창 도경석을 대학에서 다시 만나게 되면서 일은 점점 꼬여만 간다.
단행본 특전 [미공개 스토리1]
- 두근두근 OT 하루 전! 다들 뭐하니?
단행본 특전 [미공개 스토리1]
- 두근두근 OT 하루 전! 다들 뭐하니?
300 pages, Paperback
Published August 8, 2018
5 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 30, 2024
TOTAL SCORE: 3.8/5
Plot: [3.5/5] I loved the story, I liked transformation stories because I enjoy seeing people improving themselves and showing the struggle behind that improvement. The plot focused a lot on internal thoughts. Caring about others opinions, thinking about how you think of yourself - things like that. But there was so much stuff going on and the fact that none of it got muddied is amazing to me. There was the issue with Mirae self-esteem, and how she thought about people, she has a ranking system. Her dream of being a perfume designer, kyung seok and his mother, how to forgive and learn the truth between his parents. Suah and her views on others and herself, getting over her past and her own warped personality. The whole plot around dating others in general, what is a good and/or bad reason to date someone - is there a healthy and unhealthy version of shallowness when it comes to why you want to date someone (only dating for looks ect…) and that isn’t even all of it. The only reason why I don’t think it was perfect is because the slice of life stuff kind of jumped in areas. So some of those plots, even though you don’t notice, are skipped over. [PARTIAL SPOILERS] Like Mirae meeting the CEO of her favorite perfume company, the CEO and her get very close but her advancement in chemistry and pursuing her dream is kind of cast aside after a while and we never really know why. The dynamic between kyung seok and his mother, they sort of rekindle a relationship but the whole family drama is never really resolved beyond him moving out and allowing his mother to speak to him, but it is still cold and awkward. [SPOILER OVER]. And then the ending of the story was sweet but also felt very unfinished/bitter. If this was the ending of the first book of a series I would be okay with it, but this is THE END, so it was unfortunate.
Profanity:[2.5/5] I got invested in this story because the first few chapters had no profanity in it, but then each chapter came with a warning for strong language, but half the time it was D**n or something like that. But then it got really strong, some of the words were censored but it was still a lot and worst of all, completely out of nowhere. It was just a bunch of language used, some of them were so bad that there were only three or four words uncensored in a sentence and I genuinely could not guess what they were trying to say. And what made it worse is that the characters in the story even said that the language was unnecessary so… why was it there? The good thing is that there weren’t many chapters like that, usually it was only the chapters when there is an angry guy who has gotten rejected. And then the other chapters mostly did not have language but when they did it was only 1-4 words per chapter/episode. And yes it was heavy language (F word, B word, C word I think was only used once) But because it was actually censored it made me feel a bit better and easier to skip over it without giving second thought, and I didn’t lose any context for skipping those bits of dialogue. Although because of how much language there was, I can’t recommend this story wholeheartedly.
Faith: N/A
Moral: [3/5] There were no blurred lines when it came to serious morals. Everyone was focused on looks and it was portrayed as a bad and isolating thing to do when reading. Forcing yourself on someone is a bad thing to do, unhealthy obsession is a bad thing that develops into something worse. But there was also just a lot of drunkenness. Yes it was portrayed as always having consequences but it wasn’t treated as something that is morally wrong to do. There was also a running joke that kyung seok is so monotone that even when drunk no one can tell because he just sits there and doesn’t talk to anyone as per usual. Although at one point I did giggle it made me a bit sad that it was so well accepted as just another pass time when it definitely is not.
Character: [5/5] I won’t go into too much detail with the characters but I was pleasantly surprised. We get to learn a lot about the characters at their own time, but everyone has a well developed backstory that fits into the story as a whole. I cared about everyone and felt like I knew almost everyone, and the secondary characters all had so much potential, I would love to read about their first year in university too. I definitely liked some characters more than others, but it was nice to see some actual dimension.
Pacing: [5/5] The pacing of this book was smooth and timeless. If you like highschool drama/slice of life type books or shows. I think this could end up being one of your top favs. I think the best part about this was that this wasn’t a “raunchy” manga so you don’t have to worry about that. Although there was one scene in the end when one of the moms says, using protection to the new couple, like sex before marriage is no big deal. They do not end up doing that though, the concept of their first kiss is weighed very heavily which I adored! But the story covers a lot of different personal trials that the side characters also weigh their opinion and struggles with, so sometimes I would be thinking about a side character and wondering how they were doing, just like I would in school about a nice acquaintance. The two main character’s storylines (Mirae and Suah) were both developed very well. I wasn’t sure how they found some reconciliation, without spoiling anything I will say that it was bittersweet so beware, but I understand why/how it ended, it was realistic. I would say that some of the characters didn't fully get over their pride but realized that they did have some deep seeded issue that needed to be worked on some more.
Spoilers: [Favorite scenes and concepts worth mentioning]
The kiss scene -
This is the very last chapter (it’s an add on) and I loved it. It’s the scene every girl waits for, when there is serious fangirling over the love interest kyung seok. I loved how quite he was. It seemed like as Mirae got more comfortable with know she was pretty and not caring about what others think to focus on her own happiness, she became more bold, while kyung seok was still bold and blunt, but was finally able to show a sensitive side only with Mirae since they are both dating for the first time. We see this alot when it is his birthday and Mirae wants to do something nice for him, but they have been dating for months and haven’t kissed yet. So he asks if he can do whatever he wants on his birthday as his gift and she says yes. Most of the chapter is in kyung seok pov (which never really happens in the book), and it is him trying to find the perfect moment to kiss her, wondering when it could be, but every time he tries, Mirae does something to ruin the mood. But then we learn that Mirae new all along and just loved seeing him so flustered because he looked so cute (which I agree seeing kyung seok flustered is adorable, especially when he sulks I FEEL SO BAD!) But we od a recap of the events and learn from the beginning that he would want their first kiss for his birthday, and she ends up pretending that he got him something the very last second of the night before they part ways and kisses him. Loved it.
Suah the monster-
This isn’t a specific scene but just in general, wow I was not expecting Suah backstory. She is very beautiful and slim with long hair. Over time we see the typical stuff. “Oh this beautiful slime and pure girl is actually bulimic, had a dark/shallow side” but it just kept on getting darker and darker, to the point that we see that her and Mirae are the same. They were both bullied severely, both ugly, both saw life through a lens of scanning someone's beauty in exchange for value. But both of them took different paths, Mirae decided that when she became beautiful she would still be kind while Mirae decided that she was going to make sure she was never alone and always fawned after regardless of how her fans felt, she lived very two face which people noticed because she only did what she thought she had to do to be the perfect girl. Skin, not too smart, curious, submissive and shy ect… It commented a lot about how important it is to value yourself and others and what happens when you don’t. When Suah’s good girl vibe cracks and we see how hateful she is to Mirae for being plastic from the beginning and when she kind of stands up to herself because of the spy cam pictures (nothing inappropriate) it is too late because she had sent so many mixed signals. The acid attack was diluted but she still tried to kill herself because she thought her face was ruined. Although that seems extreme, it is a mentality that a fair amount of women have, or in a more mild sense wanting to die young to never experience living without beauty, It is a very real problem that only God can fix. But when Mirae realizes that she doesn’t like Suah either, she still finds herself worried about her and tries to help her the best she can but it is too much. SUah slaps her and tells her how awful and ugly she is, and they have a serious heart to heart - Mirae goes on to say her happiness shouldn’t be based on her appearance and that this shouldn’t be the case for any girl, yet it is. We see Suah kind of keep to herself after that, cut her hair again and disappear and she gives Mirae a perfume when she is asleep in school and disappears.
Suah’s Cat -
It is a big improvement but seems small, when Suah is asked what she likes and she doesn't know the answer to that. All her life she has just done things and smiled to gain points and be the top of ehr class as the beautiful one, the best girl. But a stray cat that she has been feeding recognizes her when she is walking with one of her neighboring classmates and she realizes that she likes cats. The best we get from that scene is that she needs a part time job to feed her newly adopted cat.
THINGS WORTH MENTIONING:
I also hated the way some of the boys spoke, it was all put in a light that was correct, it wasn’t okay. But when the boys started ranking the girls and commenting on their bodies in a derogatory way like they were nothing but dolls that you could poke and fix, cut and paste. I hated it. Even though some of them got what they deserved like a good beat down and forced to apologize, things like that. Some of the comments weren’t well punished in my opinion.
Plot: [3.5/5] I loved the story, I liked transformation stories because I enjoy seeing people improving themselves and showing the struggle behind that improvement. The plot focused a lot on internal thoughts. Caring about others opinions, thinking about how you think of yourself - things like that. But there was so much stuff going on and the fact that none of it got muddied is amazing to me. There was the issue with Mirae self-esteem, and how she thought about people, she has a ranking system. Her dream of being a perfume designer, kyung seok and his mother, how to forgive and learn the truth between his parents. Suah and her views on others and herself, getting over her past and her own warped personality. The whole plot around dating others in general, what is a good and/or bad reason to date someone - is there a healthy and unhealthy version of shallowness when it comes to why you want to date someone (only dating for looks ect…) and that isn’t even all of it. The only reason why I don’t think it was perfect is because the slice of life stuff kind of jumped in areas. So some of those plots, even though you don’t notice, are skipped over. [PARTIAL SPOILERS] Like Mirae meeting the CEO of her favorite perfume company, the CEO and her get very close but her advancement in chemistry and pursuing her dream is kind of cast aside after a while and we never really know why. The dynamic between kyung seok and his mother, they sort of rekindle a relationship but the whole family drama is never really resolved beyond him moving out and allowing his mother to speak to him, but it is still cold and awkward. [SPOILER OVER]. And then the ending of the story was sweet but also felt very unfinished/bitter. If this was the ending of the first book of a series I would be okay with it, but this is THE END, so it was unfortunate.
Profanity:[2.5/5] I got invested in this story because the first few chapters had no profanity in it, but then each chapter came with a warning for strong language, but half the time it was D**n or something like that. But then it got really strong, some of the words were censored but it was still a lot and worst of all, completely out of nowhere. It was just a bunch of language used, some of them were so bad that there were only three or four words uncensored in a sentence and I genuinely could not guess what they were trying to say. And what made it worse is that the characters in the story even said that the language was unnecessary so… why was it there? The good thing is that there weren’t many chapters like that, usually it was only the chapters when there is an angry guy who has gotten rejected. And then the other chapters mostly did not have language but when they did it was only 1-4 words per chapter/episode. And yes it was heavy language (F word, B word, C word I think was only used once) But because it was actually censored it made me feel a bit better and easier to skip over it without giving second thought, and I didn’t lose any context for skipping those bits of dialogue. Although because of how much language there was, I can’t recommend this story wholeheartedly.
Faith: N/A
Moral: [3/5] There were no blurred lines when it came to serious morals. Everyone was focused on looks and it was portrayed as a bad and isolating thing to do when reading. Forcing yourself on someone is a bad thing to do, unhealthy obsession is a bad thing that develops into something worse. But there was also just a lot of drunkenness. Yes it was portrayed as always having consequences but it wasn’t treated as something that is morally wrong to do. There was also a running joke that kyung seok is so monotone that even when drunk no one can tell because he just sits there and doesn’t talk to anyone as per usual. Although at one point I did giggle it made me a bit sad that it was so well accepted as just another pass time when it definitely is not.
Character: [5/5] I won’t go into too much detail with the characters but I was pleasantly surprised. We get to learn a lot about the characters at their own time, but everyone has a well developed backstory that fits into the story as a whole. I cared about everyone and felt like I knew almost everyone, and the secondary characters all had so much potential, I would love to read about their first year in university too. I definitely liked some characters more than others, but it was nice to see some actual dimension.
Pacing: [5/5] The pacing of this book was smooth and timeless. If you like highschool drama/slice of life type books or shows. I think this could end up being one of your top favs. I think the best part about this was that this wasn’t a “raunchy” manga so you don’t have to worry about that. Although there was one scene in the end when one of the moms says, using protection to the new couple, like sex before marriage is no big deal. They do not end up doing that though, the concept of their first kiss is weighed very heavily which I adored! But the story covers a lot of different personal trials that the side characters also weigh their opinion and struggles with, so sometimes I would be thinking about a side character and wondering how they were doing, just like I would in school about a nice acquaintance. The two main character’s storylines (Mirae and Suah) were both developed very well. I wasn’t sure how they found some reconciliation, without spoiling anything I will say that it was bittersweet so beware, but I understand why/how it ended, it was realistic. I would say that some of the characters didn't fully get over their pride but realized that they did have some deep seeded issue that needed to be worked on some more.
Spoilers: [Favorite scenes and concepts worth mentioning]
The kiss scene -
This is the very last chapter (it’s an add on) and I loved it. It’s the scene every girl waits for, when there is serious fangirling over the love interest kyung seok. I loved how quite he was. It seemed like as Mirae got more comfortable with know she was pretty and not caring about what others think to focus on her own happiness, she became more bold, while kyung seok was still bold and blunt, but was finally able to show a sensitive side only with Mirae since they are both dating for the first time. We see this alot when it is his birthday and Mirae wants to do something nice for him, but they have been dating for months and haven’t kissed yet. So he asks if he can do whatever he wants on his birthday as his gift and she says yes. Most of the chapter is in kyung seok pov (which never really happens in the book), and it is him trying to find the perfect moment to kiss her, wondering when it could be, but every time he tries, Mirae does something to ruin the mood. But then we learn that Mirae new all along and just loved seeing him so flustered because he looked so cute (which I agree seeing kyung seok flustered is adorable, especially when he sulks I FEEL SO BAD!) But we od a recap of the events and learn from the beginning that he would want their first kiss for his birthday, and she ends up pretending that he got him something the very last second of the night before they part ways and kisses him. Loved it.
Suah the monster-
This isn’t a specific scene but just in general, wow I was not expecting Suah backstory. She is very beautiful and slim with long hair. Over time we see the typical stuff. “Oh this beautiful slime and pure girl is actually bulimic, had a dark/shallow side” but it just kept on getting darker and darker, to the point that we see that her and Mirae are the same. They were both bullied severely, both ugly, both saw life through a lens of scanning someone's beauty in exchange for value. But both of them took different paths, Mirae decided that when she became beautiful she would still be kind while Mirae decided that she was going to make sure she was never alone and always fawned after regardless of how her fans felt, she lived very two face which people noticed because she only did what she thought she had to do to be the perfect girl. Skin, not too smart, curious, submissive and shy ect… It commented a lot about how important it is to value yourself and others and what happens when you don’t. When Suah’s good girl vibe cracks and we see how hateful she is to Mirae for being plastic from the beginning and when she kind of stands up to herself because of the spy cam pictures (nothing inappropriate) it is too late because she had sent so many mixed signals. The acid attack was diluted but she still tried to kill herself because she thought her face was ruined. Although that seems extreme, it is a mentality that a fair amount of women have, or in a more mild sense wanting to die young to never experience living without beauty, It is a very real problem that only God can fix. But when Mirae realizes that she doesn’t like Suah either, she still finds herself worried about her and tries to help her the best she can but it is too much. SUah slaps her and tells her how awful and ugly she is, and they have a serious heart to heart - Mirae goes on to say her happiness shouldn’t be based on her appearance and that this shouldn’t be the case for any girl, yet it is. We see Suah kind of keep to herself after that, cut her hair again and disappear and she gives Mirae a perfume when she is asleep in school and disappears.
Suah’s Cat -
It is a big improvement but seems small, when Suah is asked what she likes and she doesn't know the answer to that. All her life she has just done things and smiled to gain points and be the top of ehr class as the beautiful one, the best girl. But a stray cat that she has been feeding recognizes her when she is walking with one of her neighboring classmates and she realizes that she likes cats. The best we get from that scene is that she needs a part time job to feed her newly adopted cat.
THINGS WORTH MENTIONING:
I also hated the way some of the boys spoke, it was all put in a light that was correct, it wasn’t okay. But when the boys started ranking the girls and commenting on their bodies in a derogatory way like they were nothing but dolls that you could poke and fix, cut and paste. I hated it. Even though some of them got what they deserved like a good beat down and forced to apologize, things like that. Some of the comments weren’t well punished in my opinion.
December 19, 2022
Cute, but the k-drama was better.
December 23, 2022
Uu por fin leo esta joyita😩👌
Pensé que Kjungsuk iba a ser más malo
No soporto a SooaAaaaaaaaah 😵
Pensé que Kjungsuk iba a ser más malo
No soporto a SooaAaaaaaaaah 😵
November 30, 2025
Is it basic? Yes. Am I still eating it up? Definitely. Just one thing I didn’t particularly like - at times the story moved too fast from one thing to another, making it a tiny bit more confusing than it was meant to be
December 4, 2023
overall 3.25★
May 8, 2024
Tibio en sus ideales, pero como es coreano lo vamos a dejar pasar
January 18, 2025
I love the TV show but I cannot deal with the webtoon at all.
April 7, 2023
This was a good read. Handled very realistically, I would definitely recommend to others.
Read
October 7, 2022started with introspecting on my internalised misogyny but i have now come full circle to accepting that girl-on-girl crime romances are entertaining and it's okay because it's an investigative study and not selfprojection!
Read
December 11, 2024Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.
After reading the first couple chapters a long long time ago, I do not really see a reason to go back to this manhwa as it just did not capture my atttention.
After reading the first couple chapters a long long time ago, I do not really see a reason to go back to this manhwa as it just did not capture my atttention.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews