In “Shadow Beauty”, Koo Ae-Jin has the appearance of an ordinary student attending Sangsil High School. However, similar to Disney’s “Hanna Montana”, she hides her celebrity status. Unlike Hannah Montana, who is a singer/entertainer, Koo Ae-Jin is a popular social media influencer named Genie. The image for Genie is gorgeous! An untouched photo of Koo Ae-Jin shows that she’s … eh! … not so gorgeous.
Lee Jin-Sung is her only true friend at school. They are both outcasts. She is an outcast because she’s too ugly and students hate her. He is an outcast because he is too cool. He’s a trainee at an Idol Agency, and students are envious of him. Lee Jin-Sung complimented Koo Ae-Jin by telling her she looks like the lead actress, Kim Go-Eun, in “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God”.
(NOTE: Interesting compliment written into the script since in real life Kim Go-Eun, people criticized her looks and said the actress did not measure up to Korean beauty standards.)
It is bad enough that Koo Ae-Jin is bullied at school. So when she receives a text message with a photo of what she really looks like and the sender indicates that they know her true identity … Koo Ae-Jin has now entered the world of cyberbullying. She immediately starts displaying the symptoms of a person suffering from extreme anxiety and stress, and a panic disorder.
Now she’s afraid to post any new photos or update her social media account. On top of that, people who asked her to sponsor their products started threatening her for breach of contract. That dark black hole keeps getting deeper and deeper. Her 770,000 followers are wondering why she disappeared.
The anonymous person who posted her untouched photo demands that they meet each other in person. She came to the arranged meeting place, but the anonymous person did not show up. The school security guard came into the room and made her leave.
She doesn’t know who this person is, and her mind starts thinking of the possibilities. Could it be Lee Jin-Sung? He’s the only one who really knows her, although she does not think he knows that she is Genie, the social media influencer.
But what if he does know? Suppose he’s been pretending to be her friend and waiting for the right moment to begin psychologically torturing her. The awful thing about her situation is that she does not have a good relationship with her parents or the school officials, and no trustworthy, reliable friends to talk to. The only friend she thought she had, she is suspicious and won’t tell him what is happening to her.
Her distress, stress, and anxiety levels increase more and more. What if … What if … What if … AAAAHHHH!! Koo Ae-Jin even contemplates suicide. She is really spiraling downward. This madness has got to end. But how will it end?
My personal rating is the same as My Drama List.
Shim Dal-Gi and Lee Jin-Sung cut their baby teeth by being part of the supporting cast for the popular Korean dramas “Revenant”, a Hulu Original K-drama, and “Move to Heaven”, a Netflix Original K-drama. Clearly their performances proved their worth because they were both cast as the lead characters in this Viki Original series, “Shadow Beauty”. They did good! Since there are only 13 episodes, it’s easy to binge-watch.
{P.S. This is just a side note. In real life, this high school student might have been able to get a job as a Photo Editor. In Texas USA, this job pays $29 an hour. Some can get part-time jobs and earn $1200 to $2500 a month. Cool huh?}
Viki Global TV. “Shadow Beauty – OFFICIAL TRAILER | Korean Movie | Shim Dal Gi, Choi Bo Min.” YouTube Video. YouTube, November 24, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2kJpmgz4jc.
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