True Beauty (webtoon)

The webtoon opens to six years before the main events of the story. In her last year of middle school, horror comic book enthusiast and heavy metal music fan Im Ju-kyung faces the harsh consequences of not conforming to society's standards of beauty. She is treated like an errand girl to the bullies and she loses her chance to confess to her crush (a handsome cafeteria employee): both of these she attributes to her ugly face. Asking for answers through an online forum, she receives a link from one of the anonymous commenters and it opens to a set of video tutorials on how to use makeup in effectively transforming and beautifying one's face.

Soon, Ju-kyung experiments with a plethora of cosmetic products, browses more references on beauty and makeup, and finally masters the art just in time for the first day of high school in Saebom High School. Her new classmates are awed with her "beauty" and she instantly becomes friends with Kang Soo-ah and Ahn Chae-rin. Her disguise seems to go well until her third year when she is 18 years old when, one night, she runs into a dashingly handsome yet standoffish boy at the comic book store she frequents—in her bare, makeup-less face.

The handsome boy at the comic book store turns out to be Lee Su-ho, who also goes to Saebom High School and leads the Japanese language study group Ju-kyung participates in (along with Soo-ah and Chae-rin). Soo-ah tells Ju-kyung about rumors that Su-ho was friendlier in middle school and "something must've happened" that changed his personality. Ju-kyung runs into Su-ho a few more times in her bare face at the comic book store and realizes Su-ho still does not recognize her to be one of the girls attending his Japanese study group. She recommends a few comic books to Su-ho, all of which suited Su-ho's preferences. In stark contrast to his cold attitude, Su-ho shyly expresses his thanks to Ju-kyung and gives her a token of his gratitude.

Ju-kyung is forced to use her old middle school bag which has an attached doll key fob. Without her knowing, the doll's body from the torso down to the legs snaps and falls to the floor; by chance, Su-ho saw it falling and picks it up. Ju-kyung later goes to a beauty store makeup-less and uses the same bag to carry her new purchases of cosmetics. To her shock, she runs into Su-ho who, seeing the bag and the damaged key fob, instantly recognizes her to be Ju-kyung. Back at school, Su-ho give the doll's body to Ju-kyung who, at her wit's end, finally admits to her two faces and offers herself to him as his errand girl in return for keeping her true face a secret from everybody. In what is supposed to be a servant-master relationship, Ju-kyung and Su-ho start to get closer with each other.

Kang Soo-jin, another student at Saebom High School, sees Ju-kyung hanging out with Su-ho. Thinking Ju-kyung is not pretty and is inferior to her, Soo-jin starts a fake friendship with her and sets her up in a blind date with a boy named Ji Woo-hyun, inwardly regarding her with utmost contempt. Innocent and charmed at first, Ju-kyung notices that Woo-hyun is not replying to her text messages and stands her up when they agree to meet. She later accepts Woo-hyun's advances but his strange behavior continued.

Unbeknownst to Ju-kyung, Woo-hyun is a womanizer and spends his time mingling with his other women or drinking with friends. Su-ho learns of Ju-kyung's "boyfriend" and later discovers Woo-hyun hanging out with one of his women. It is revealed later that the set up was Soo-jin's plot against Ju-kyung: in a phone call, she gets angry at Woo-hyun for ruining her scheme. Soo-jin meets up with Ju-kyung at a café but she ends up leaving early after running into a few acquaintances from an art school she previously attended. Ju-kyung overhears them bad-mouthing Soo-jin at the restroom. More about Soo-jin is revealed later on: she is from a poor family and suffers at the hands of her alcoholic, abusive mother (latter episodes reveal that she has bulimia).

Su-ho sets up a one-on-one study session with Ju-kyung to help her with her studies. While running an errand bare-faced for her older sister Im Hee-kyung in a fast food chain, Ju-kyung trips and accidentally spills soda over two intimidating, muscular men. A handsome boy stops the two men, who are his friends, from getting angry with Ju-kyung and tells them to just leave the restaurant. The next day, Ju-kyung discovers to her shock that the boy, who is named Han Seo-jun, also goes to Saebom High School. She is walking down the hallway with Su-ho when Seo-jun intentionally provokes Su-ho into fighting against him. Surprised that Su-ho and Seo-jun knew each other, Ju-kyung stops Su-ho from punching Seo-jun and suspects that the two might have a bad history.

Later, while hanging out with the Japanese study group in a noraebang (karaoke box), she recognizes Seo-jun's amazing singing voice from next door karaoke. She tries to separate Seo-jun from Su-ho to prevent another altercation but ends up apparently displeasing Seo-jun, who quickly leaves with his two bulky friends.

Hee-kyung invites Ju-kyung to be a temporary assistant makeup artist at her workplace, ST Entertainment, which has launched a new K-pop idol making program named Pick Pick Boys. She makes the acquaintance of an bubbly biracial trainee Kim Aiden who enjoys her presence and wants to be friends with her. Aiden, who goes to Je-rim Arts High School, tells Ju-kyung that he has a friend who goes to Saebom High School. He later invites Ju-kyung and Su-ho to dine with him and his friend, who turns out to be Seo-jun. The dinner plans turns awry as both Su-ho and Seo-jun leave.

Ju-kyung plans to attend makeup classes in order to pursue a career in cosmetology. But her mother turns down her plea for her tuition though she had let Ju-kyung's younger brother Im Ju-young attend an acting cram school. Broken-hearted, she starts working part-time in a convenience store to earn for her own tuition.

On her first day at work, she meets a younger part-timer Han Go-woon who well resembles her own bare, makeup-less face. She learns later on that Go-woon is a member of Saebom's music club and is talented in singing. Go-woon opens up to Ju-kyung about being assigned for the lead role in a musical yet being ridiculed by her co-members for her physical appearance. Ju-kyung empathizes with Go-woon and offers herself to be Go-woon's makeup artist. After a successful performance, Go-woon introduces Ju-kyung to her older brother who, to Ju-kyung's shock, is no other than Seo-jun.

Witnessing her younger sister's newfound popularity in social media, Seo-jun becomes curious about Ju-kyung and accidentally sends her a friend request. Go-woon invites Ju-kyung to her home after school so that Ju-kyung can teach her how to wear makeup. At the Han family's residence, Ju-kyung notices a photograph of three young boys apparently in their middle school and recognizes two of them to be Su-ho and Seo-jun. After the tutorial, Seo-jun offers to walk Ju-kyung home.

Days before the exams, Su-ho meets up with Seo-jun and asks him: "How long are we going to keep doing this?" Seo-jun is annoyed and immediately leaves Su-ho behind. Go-woon tells Seo-jun that he once saw Su-ho and suspects he might still be seeing a psychiatrist. After the very short conversation, Su-ho wakes up from a nightmare and takes his medication. In the nightmare, he saw a blood-spattered boy begging him for help and pleading him to "pick up the phone." After the exams, Su-ho is rushed to the ER after rescuing Ju-kyung and an old woman from being hit by a bus. Seo-jun dashes to the hospital after hearing the news from Ju-kyung. As Seo-jun watches over him, Su-ho opens up about what really happened on the night of the death of their best friend Yoon Se-yeon (the third boy in the photograph Ju-kyung saw at the Han family's residence), telling him that he did not intentionally ignored Se-yeon's phone call.

In a flashback, it is revealed that Su-ho, Seo-jun and Se-yeon became best friends back in middle school when Seo-jun rescued the other two from bullies. Su-ho and Se-yeon discovered Seo-jun's singing talent; Se-yeon convinces Seo-jun to join him in applying in ST Entertainment as idol trainees while Su-ho gives them the support they need. Both Seo-jun and Se-yeon pass the audition and become trainees. They are later invited to join a K-pop idol making TV program called Wannabe Idol. With Seo-jun getting injured after much practicing of their dance moves, Se-yeon has no other choice but to join the program by himself along with 49 other competitors.

Se-yeon's path towards winning in the competition went smooth until he started receiving hate comments on social media which were triggered by "evil editing" of the program's video clips. He became one of the 6 finalists who later debut as the idol group No-Time, but the online shaming persisted that it worsened Se-yeon's deteriorating morale.

One night, Su-ho discovered his celebrity father Lee Joo-heon dating another woman, merely two years after the death of Su-ho's Japanese mother. Deeply broken-hearted, he ran away from home and slept at the comic book store, unaware that he has missed a phone call from Se-yeon. By morning of the following day, news broke out that Se-yeon had committed suicide, his dead body found in the early hours of the day. Shock and immense grief and guilt gripped Su-ho that it led to his declined mental health, even to contemplating suicide one time.

Back to present time, Seo-jun reflects on Su-ho's revelation and realizes had become hostile to him and had blamed him for Se-yeon's death in order to escape from the suffering of suddenly losing a best friend. In another flashback, it is revealed that Seo-jun had quit from being an idol trainee after Se-yeon's death which has led to his negative views on the entertainment industry. Seo-jun and Ju-kyung nurse Su-ho back to health. Later, Su-ho and Seo-jun visit Se-yeon's ashes together at a columbarium.

The last summer break of Ju-kyung's high school life are punctuated with various moments with either Su-ho, whom she already have a crush on, or Seo-jun, who starts having a crush on her, or both. Unbeknownst to Ju-kyung, Su-ho already harbors feelings for her for a long time but is hesitant to confess. Ju-kyung begins attending her makeup classes. Seo-jun starts using social media after Ju-kyung encouraged him to.

In her meager attempt to make Su-ho fall for her, Ju-kyung pretends to act "cold and distant" by replying curtly to Su-ho's texts but she ends up not receiving any texts from him for one whole week. Ju-kyung hangs out with Seo-jun more than before. Seo-jun is pleased with Ju-kyung's presence and starts to feel jealous while thinking about her and Su-ho. On the other hand, Su-ho notices how Ju-kyung is lively when hanging out with Seo-Jun and becomes jealous also, but to his surprise Ju-kyung admits to Su-ho that she likes hanging out with him more than anyone.

While struggling with her feelings for Su-ho, 19-year-old Ju-kyung prepares for the upcoming CSAT and her college career. She feels that Su-ho likes her but she has doubts because of her true physical appearance. After receiving cookies and vitamins from Ju-kyung, Su-ho meets Ju-kyung outside her apartment and expresses his gratitude for her care for him.

After the CSAT, Ju-kyung prepares for her performance test at the makeup class. Su-ho reconciles with his father who is leaving for Japan for a shooting. Ju-kyung asks Seo-jun to accompany her in shopping for her clothes. Soo-jin runs into the two and, in an attempt to malign Ju-kyung, she secretly takes of picture of them and sends it to Su-ho, but she ends up getting chided by Su-ho for taking someone's picture without due consent.

Su-ho asks Ju-kyung out for a date. While Su-ho cannot find the right timing to confess his feelings, Ju-kyung resolves to confess hers. Su-ho, taken aback when he senses Ju-kyung is going to confess first, stops her in midsentence while unintentionally sounding standoffish, much to his frustration. To fix his mistake, Su-ho invites Ju-kyung on another date but, unfortunately, he learns afterwards that his father is knocked unconscious after being caught in an accident on set in Japan.

Su-ho flies to Japan, stays there for a week and returns to South Korea only to pack up his things: he was asked by his grandparents to live in Japan for the meantime in order to help his father recover. Seo-jun brings Ju-kyung to the airport before Su-ho's scheduled flight back to Japan. Ju-kyung and Su-ho finally confess their feelings for each other and exchange emotional parting words. Thus ends Ju-kyung's high school love story and, as she, Seo-jun and her friends graduate from Saebom, so does her high school life.

Ju-kyung is now a 21-year-old college student in film and makes a living as a social media influencer with user name "Barbie Joo," promoting various products from her sponsors. It is revealed that Ju-kyung was not able to prepare well for the performance test at the makeup class after Su-ho's departure. She was rejected by the university she applied for. Instead, she went to a community college she can manage to apply for with her grades and is now stuck with a major that has nothing to do with makeup. Her dream to become a cosmetologist seems to hang on the balance.

A depressed Ju-kyung gets drunk with Soo-ah and Chae-rin. Seo-jun walks her home while finally confessing his feelings and kissing her. When she becomes sober, Ju-kyung remembers Seo-jun's kiss and starts getting conscious of his presence, soon developing into romantic feelings for him.

Ju-kyung suddenly gets cold sores and Seo-jun models in her stead for a lip tint she is promoting on social media. Later, Seo-jun and Go-woon's mother gets hospitalized. As Seo-jun gets worried about how to pay for their mother's hospital fees, he learns from Ju-kyung that his photos raked in a lot of views and a cosmetics company wishes to accept him as their model. After receiving his pay, Seo-jun treats Ju-kyung to dinner and asks her to be his girlfriend. Ju-kyung accepts Seo-jun and they formally become a couple.

Seo-jun reunites with his former co-idol trainees in ST Entertainment. One of them, Shin Hee-yeon, has a crush on him since their trainee years. Ju-kyung feels jealous when she sees in social media a photo of Hee-yeon with Seo-jun at the bar where Seo-jun and the trainees are hanging out. Seo-jun gets drunk and accidentally leaves his earrings at the bar. Hee-yeon happens to have retrieved them and meets with Seo-jun so that she can both return the items and confess her feelings. Seo-jun straightforwardly rejects Hee-yeon's advances.

Ju-kyung opens up to Seo-jun about her jealousy. Seo-jun assures her of his fidelity and invites her to a date, only to find out later that he is running out of money, forcing himself to cancel the plan. He browses the Internet for part-time jobs and finds one that "looks alright."

Ju-kyung starts noticing that Seo-jun looks stressed, he does not reply to her texts and she cannot meet him as frequently as before. While working on a group presentation at the college, Ju-kyung makes the acquaintance of a fellow film student named Kim Jin-su, who asks her help in transforming his appearance so that he can pursue a woman he likes. Jin-su first asks Ju-kyung on fashion tips. But when changing his clothes did not seem to work, he asks Ju-kyung if he can become handsome, even just a "quarter as good" as Seo-jun.

To this end, Ju-kyung invites Jin-su to shop for new clothes and fix his hair at a salon; Jin-su compensates her with a generous amount. When Jin-su tells Ju-kyung a day later that his crush seemed unimpressed with his new looks, Ju-kyung resorts to transforming his face using makeup. Jin-su goes to his next date with his crush, who is revealed to be Soo-jin.

A few days later, Jin-su tells Ju-kyung that he still failed winning his crush's hand yet the change in his appearance has boosted his self-confidence. It is revealed later on that Jin-su finally found a girlfriend, a freshmen who fell in love with him at first sight.

The reason behind Seo-jun's apparent stress and busyness is revealed: unbeknownst to Ju-kyung, he is working in other part-time jobs outside his modelling (as a parcel deliveryman, janitor and mall salesman) in order to overcome his family's financial instability. Three weeks later, he meets up with Ju-kyung exhausted after all the labor. Sensing Seo-jun is going through something difficult, Ju-kyung invites Seo-jun to watch a music festival. Seo-jun asks a fellow part-timer to switch places with him while he hangs out with Ju-kyung.

At the music festival, a performer who happens to be Seo-jun's favorite artist asks the participation of anyone from the audience. Ju-kyung lifts Seo-jun's arm for him to recognized. Seo-jun hesitantly goes onstage and sings one of the artist's songs. His outstanding singing talent wows the artist and everyone in the audience, many of which took videos of his performance. A day later, videos of Seo-jun's performance at the music festival becomes viral in social media. Ju-kyung's starts feeling anxious and her self-esteem weakens as she suddenly feels Seo-jun to be "on a different level" than her.

Hee-kyung asks Ju-kyung to talk Seo-jun into returning to idol training in ST Entertainment; she shows her a video of middle-school Seo-jun's performance during the audition that he and Se-yeon attended at ST five years ago. In a date, Seo-jun assures Ju-kyung that she does not have to worry about their relationship if in case he does become a singer. Seo-jun receives offers from various entertainment agencies, including ST Entertainment itself, and starts feeling conflicted whether to accept them (thus, helping him overcome his financial problems) or not (due to his grudge against those who are complicit to Se-yeon's suicide).

Seo-jun receives a call from Su-ho who apparently has returned to South Korea. He later meets up with Ju-kyung and admits that he now wants to become a singer so that he can be a better person for her. Ju-kyung, who inwardly wishes Seo-jun would not become one, becomes more anxious, especially when she learns that Soo-ah has stopped being a fan of an idol who got into a relationship. The depressed Ju-kyung walks home crying while thinking that she could be a hindrance to Seo-jun's career. A voice asks him, "Why are you crying?" When she looks up, it is no other than Su-ho himself.

Ju-kyung is hesitant to tell Seo-jun that she met Su-ho, unknowing that Seo-jun knew first about Su-ho's return. Seo-jun pays a visit to Su-ho and tells him about his relationship with Ju-kyung and his decision to pursue once again a career in singing. Despite his continuing feelings for Ju-kyung, Su-ho congratulates Seo-jun for becoming Ju-kyung's boyfriend. Later, a makeup-less Ju-kyung meets Su-ho by chance and the two a short talk. Seo-jun runs into Su-ho who is walking Ju-kyung home. Ju-kyung, in shock, quickly escapes while Su-ho realizes Seo-jun is still clueless about her real face.

Ju-kyung passes by a part-timer in a cat mascot mask being treated harshly by a man from the crowd. When the incident becomes viral on social media, she recognizes the part-timer's shoes to be the same ones that she gave to Seo-jun as a gift. She returns to the spot where the incident happened and she confirms her suspicion when the part-timer takes off his mask: he is Seo-jun. While Ju-kyung is brought to tears realizing what he is going through, Seo-jun apologizes and admits he does not want her to see him as a poor, struggling man. Ju-kyung comforts him and encourages him to tell her everything about him, but she has to deny Seo-jun when he asks her if she is hiding anything from him, fearing that their relationship will be over once Seo-jun sees her real face.

A resort in Gapyeong offers Ju-kyung a sponsorship on her social media account; the deal includes a free trip to the resort itself so that she can promote it well. Ju-kyung invites Seo-jun to an overnight stay in the resort, planning to remove her makeup when Seo-jun is asleep and to put it on again before he wakes up. Things do not proceed as she planned when both of them stay awake at night and starts making out while Ju-kyung's makeup starts to wear off. They stop halfway when Seo-jun suggests both of them taking a shower first. A panicked Ju-kyung faints and is rushed to the hospital but not before phoning Hee-kyung for help and forcing Seo-jun to go home.

While Ju-kyung fears that Seo-jun has become disappointed in her, Seo-jun is worried about her condition and thinks he made a mistake in making out with her without her consent. Ju-kyung recovers and remains hesitant to open up to Seo-jun. She goes out in her bare face to run an errand and receives a call from Seo-jun who tells her that he is in front of their house. She sees Seo-jun when she turns around and, in mixed shock and shame, she tearfully escapes from him and runs into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Just in time, Seo-jun pulls Ju-kyung to safety and comforts her, realizing that her makeup-less face was the true reason Ju-kyung passed out at the resort. He assures her that he likes her with or without her makeup. Touched by Seo-jun's pure heart, Ju-kyung tell him over the phone, "I love you." An enamored Seo-jun replies, "I love you, too."

While Seo-jun returns to idol training, Ju-kyung starts working in the makeup team of a film production. A glitch in the shooting schedule leads to Ju-kyung volunteering to do the special FX makeup for an actor despite being a newbie. This angers the film's makeup director Selena Lee, who happens to be Ju-kyung's idol in the makeup arts. Embarrassed at first, Ju-kyung musters the courage to apologize to Selena and promises to do better throughout the production. She later meets Su-ho on set but not before seeing Selena hugging Su-ho and calling him "baby."

The film production ends and Ju-kyung spending time drinking with Selena and the makeup team. A drunk Ju-kyung expresses her admiration to Selena and assures her that nothing is going on between her and Su-ho. Su-ho walks Ju-kyung home and, much to her shock, reveals to her that Selena is his elder sister. The two run into Seo-jun, who takes Ju-kyung from Su-ho to finish her trip home.

After seeing Su-ho walking a drunk Ju-kyung home, Seo-jun starts overthinking and feeling jealous that he cannot concentrate in his rehearsals and he treats Ju-kyung coldly. Ju-kyung and Seo-jun get into an argument about her and Su-ho; Ju-kyung ends up crying and Seo-jun regretfully admits to his jealousy and apologizes. Later, Hee-kyung tells Seo-jun and the other trainees they will move in to their dormitory and that ST Entertainment is soon going to choose members for the debuting group. Selena meets Ju-kyung and invites her to officially work for her, commending her hard work in the previous film production.

Soon after, Seo-jun feels another bout of jealousy when he learns Ju-kyung is invited to hang out with her peers from their high school Japanese study group which was then led by Su-ho. Ju-kyung asks Seo-jun to join her in the drinking party with the study group. The awkwardness between Seo-jun and Su-ho escalates when they start fighting over Ju-kyung, only to be interrupted by Ju-kyung herself who, due to her drunkenness, vomits between the two men. After relieving her hangover, Ju-kyung admonishes Seo-jun for his seeming lack of trust in her despite her assurance that he is the only one she loves.

After days of silence between him and Ju-kyung, Seo-jun reflects on his mistakes and decides to make up to her. Lee Ha-neul, one of Ju-kyung's seniors at the college, starts getting obsessively close to her. Despite her disgust to Ha-neul, Ju-kyung hesitates from standing up for herself due to her fear of angering a senior. Later, a flustered Ju-kyung is forced to follow Ha-neul to his place while secretly texting Soo-ah about her predicament. Seo-jun arrives just in time to save Ju-kyung from Ha-neul. He apologizes for his mistakes and the couple reconciles, promising not to fight anymore.

Ju-kyung starts her official work under Selena Lee with the TV program Prince of Prince, a fashion competition in which the winner will become the model for South Korea's top cosmetic brand. Three of the five contestants have been chosen—model-environmentalist Seo Hwi, social media celebrity Yang Jae-won, and Aiden who joined the program in order to save his boy group of two years PVC from disbanding and to pay the group's debts to ST Entertainment. Ju-kyung invites Seo-jun as the program's fourth contestant. She later accomplishes a mission Selena gave her: to convince the uninterested Su-ho to join the program as its fifth and last contestant.

Conflicts begin to arise within the program as the conceited Jae-won feels antagonistic and over-competitive against the other four contestants after ranking last in the preliminary round. He targets Aiden whom he believes to have "stolen" a photo-shoot concept he covets to undertake in the first main round (despite the concepts being assigned randomly to the contestants). He attempts to frame Aiden by inviting him to drinks after work and secretly taking a photo of him with a bunch of women Jae-won himself invited. Su-ho, whom Aiden had asked to keep him company, thwarts Jae-won before he could upload the photo. The day after, Jae-won's promiscuity is exposed in social media, putting Prince of Prince in hot water and giving the production team a reason for his disqualification. Before leaving, an incensed Jae-won lashes out at Su-ho, accusing him of being complacent about his dashing looks and half-heartedly performing in the program.

Su-ho takes Jae-won's word personally and decides to do his best for the final round which gives the models the freedom to decide for their photo-shoot concept. Though hesitant, Su-ho informs the production team he wishes to take on a sexy concept, much to Ju-kyung's surprise. Later, Aiden faints on set while preparing for the final round. Recovering at the hospital, he reveals to Seo-jun and Ju-kyung that he has been fasting and has been working hard in order to give PVC more public exposure. Prince of Prince concludes with Aiden emerging victorious in the competition and Seo-jun and Su-ho placing second and third, respectively.

Ju-kyung enters in a renewed inner struggle about her relationship with Seo-jun who has become more popular after Prince of Prince and is nearing towards debuting as an solo K-pop idol. She starts receiving an anonymous DM asking her if she and Seo-jun are dating. She cancels a date with Seo-jun upon seeing a crowd of fans have swarmed to him and, later, she leaves early from a dinner date with Soo-ah and Chae-rin when she gets hurt listening to Soo-ah making a fuss about another idol she stopped supporting due to being in a relationship.

Soon, rumors of Seo-jun being in a relationship start to merge in social media. To protect Ju-kyung from hate attacks, Hee-kyung sends an ST Entertainment employee to talk Ju-kyung out into breaking up with Seo-jun. Despite Seo-jun's strong assurance in their relationship, more emotional distress builds up in Ju-kyung after an anonymous post detailing evidences of Seo-jun and Ju-kyung's relationship appears in social media and gains negative comments against the couple.

After much contemplation, Ju-kyung finally decides to break up with Seo-jun in order to protect his career and stop the dating scandal from getting worse. In an emotional breakup, Ju-kyung and Seo-jun promise to be friends and to keep in contact with each other. Seo-jun makes a successful debut days after.

Su-ho starts taking up a cooking class. Trying to move on from the breakup, a dejected Ju-kyung returns to taking up a makeup class which happens to be held in the building as Su-ho's cooking class. Ju-kyung also accepts suitors, gets into multiple blind dates and attends drinking or dance parties. Behind the glamour of his popularity, Seo-jun remains sorrowful after Ju-kyung broke up with him.

Ju-kyung makes the acquaintance of Yoo Eun-hye, a younger fellow student at the makeup class. They make a warm friendship, but soon Eun-hye starts to behave strangely. She imitates Ju-kyung's makeup and fashion to the extent that even Su-ho mistakes her from Ju-kyung. To Ju-kyung's suspicion, Eun-hye asks her if Seo-jun is his ex-boyfriend. Later, Eun-hye attends a fan signing event for Seo-jun, who thought at first glance that she is Ju-kyung. Much to Seo-jun's surprise, Eun-hye asks for his autograph to be addressed to "Barbie Yoo," starkly similar to Ju-kyung's social media user name "Barbie Joo." Ju-kyung's suspicions heighten when she sees Eun-hye's socmed user name have changed to "Barbie Yoo" and Seo-jun confirms to her that Eun-hye was at his fan signing event.

It is then revealed that Eun-hye is Seo-jun's sasaeng fan.[lower-alpha 4] The walls of her room are plastered with fan paraphernalia and even photos of people who are close to Seo-jun (his family, Ju-kyung, Su-ho). She is also able to monitor Seo-jun inside his bedroom through a hidden camera she smuggled using a teddy bear fan gift. Ju-kyung learns from Soo-ah that Eun-hye was also a sasaeng fan of Pick Pick Boys' derivative boy group. Ju-kyung later DMs Seo-jun, telling him to check his room for any suspicious fan gifts. Seo-jun notices the teddy bear and uncovers the hidden camera inside it.

Meanwhile, Su-ho starts getting suspicious of Eun-hye who reveals to him that she knows about his relationships with Ju-kyung and Seo-jun. He reminds Seo-jun through a phone call that he must, at all costs, contact him if anything happens to him. Seo-jun makes a post in social media calling out his sasaeng's behavior, attaching a photo of the hidden camera and the disemboweled teddy bear. Eun-hye arrives at Seo-jun's place and tries taking a picture of him through the window when, just in time, two girls claiming to be Seo-jun's fans interrupt her. The fans, who saw Seo-jun's post, warn Eun-hye that they will report her to the police but Eun-hye remains unfazed.

By the next day, Ju-kyung confronts Eun-hye at the makeup academy but Eun-hye denies the sasaeng allegations in feigned tears. After receiving a strange text message from Eun-hye, Seo-jun discovers in his drawer a filled out marriage certificate and a photo of him and Ju-kyung (which the ex-couple took during their high school graduation) but with Ju-kyung's face replaced with Eun-hye's; this confirms the fact that Eun-hye is able to enter his home. Ju-kyung opens up to Seo-jun about Eun-hye, and she later resolves to meet with Eun-hye alone and talk her out of her sasaeng behavior, texting Su-ho prior to doing it.

Ju-kyung visits first a local police station where she learns that the victim must be the one to file the complaint. She instructs Seo-jun to make a phone call to her and record it. She meets Eun-hye near Seo-jun's home and tries to reason with her; an enraged Eun-hye lunges at Ju-kyung. Seo-jun hears the struggle over the phone and rushes to the scene. Just in time, he stops Eun-hye from strangling Ju-kyung on the ground. After rejecting Eun-hye's acts of "love," he ends up getting wounded from thwarting Eun-hye's attempt in killing herself with a utility knife. Su-ho arrives with the police and Eun-hye is arrested. The trio reunites after the incident, having fun over drinks.