Overview
True Beauty (Korean: 여신강림; Hanja: 女神降臨; RR: Yeosin-gangnim; The Advent of a Goddess), 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.
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:
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).